rekkie

Wow great choice for a B2B!

 

LOL yeah but work wont be too happy. They already think there is something wrong with me with all the cruises we take! Really looking forward to Exploring Explorer!

Just booked another B2B.. Explorer OTS Repositioning Cruise Singapore to Perth, then Perth to Sydney via NZ South Island (26 Nights in total)... Bring on 2015 :)

When I found out that Royal would be moving Quantum to China I was not happy.

Being that it is Royal Caribbean International I am very happy to see them mixing it up finally and sending their premier ships to all corners of the world and not just the USA. Great decision for cruisers, great decision for RCI and I look forward to maybe one of these beauties visits Australia in the near future.

Great question Michelle.  I would love to see RC sail more overnights in ports they already go to.  Overnights really make port stops more interesting since you have significantly more time.

Oh I agree.. When we did our circumnavigation an overnight in Wellington, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane would have been wonderful. I guess its probably the port fees that are restrictive.

Now if only they would do a Sydney -> New Zealand -> Tahiti -> Sth Pacific -> Sydney Itinerary and one up to PNG they would have the entire market covered, almost :)

Hi Murray and Dave, great photos looks like you had a great cruise.

Thanks Stan it was wonderful. Unfortunately it ended way too soon.

OMG LOVED the photo with all the candy on the bed! Great shots.

 

I actually sat at the table NEXT to the table where your servers were serving when I was on Radiance OTS in Alaska Aug. '13. How funny that I recognized them and they weren't even our servers!

The Candy was because we visited the Cadbury Chocolate Factory in Dunedin... It was so cheap 4 Blocks for NZ$10 and we didn't eat any of it before our return.. I think the entire crew from the ship went there that day everyone had bags and bags of chocolate, was hilarious :)

Just thought Id post links to our photos for the cruise we just did. It was a 33 night circumnavigation of Australia. The cruise also took in New Zealands South Island and Bali.

 

Bottom End (17 Nights)

Sydney - Picton - Wellington - Akaroa - Dunedin - Dusky/Doubtful/Milford Sounds - Melbourne - Adelaide - Esperance - Albany - Perth

Gallery

 

Top End (16 Nights)

Perth - Geraldton - Port Hedland - Benoa - Darwin - Airlie Beach - Brisbane - Sydney

Gallery

 

The photos are best viewed in full screen mode... 

 

2 Ports were missed

 

Admins: If this isn't the best place to post this feel free to move it.

Yes, I was offended when I choose Chops for formal night for our anniversary & they seated a table of four next to us who looked like they had just come from the beach. Thats probably way more than enough time on that soap box.

That's interesting that they would permit that in Chops. We saw them turn away many people from the speciality restaurants, even on casual nights, for inappropriate attire. The people returned more suitably dressed. I think as long as people are neat and tidy and not in beach attire, they should be permitted to the dining room any night, even formal nights. I honestly think dressing formal, as nice as it is "sometimes" it is still a relic of the past mostly clung onto by the older generations who's casual day wear used to be long pants and button up shirts. As with the new "Dynamic Dining" I think small tweaks/loosening of some of the rules are what will bring new cruisers on-board.

Technically, that's against the suggestions and if you are wearing shorts and a t-shirt, they might not let you into the main dining room.

 

I'm taking this guidance from this page where it says:

I took what I said from my 3 recent cruises with RCI.. The dress code is only a guide.. I was surprised they were letting people wear shorts but staff say its ok on "Casual nights" .. tank tops and thongs (flip-flops for Americans) are never permitted.

 

From the linked page:

 

Suggested guidelines for these nights are:

• Casual: Polo shirts and trousers for men, sundresses or trousers for women
• Smart Casual: Jackets and ties for men, dresses or trouser suits for women
• Formal: Suits and ties or tuxedos for men, cocktail dresses for women

 

it does say "Suggested" not "Enforced"

Okay so there have been several rumours about the Australian Market. Id like to know if anyone else has heard anything about what ships will be based here in the future.

 

Rhapsody is heading off to the middle east, that's already in the pipeline. (not a rumour)

 

- A freedom class ship will be based in Australia

- Radiance of the seas will not return after the 2014/2015 season and will be sent to Europe

- Anthem/Quantum 3 will be based in Sydney

 

These 3 rumours seem to be floating around, does anyone know if there is any truth to any of them? Have your heard anything similar?

If the dress code is casual then its ok to wear shorts and t-shirt

For all other codes (including formal) you can get away wearing jeans and a polo.

 

I am not a fan of Formal nights, its just not me however I will general do formal properly at least once on a cruise but then just do pants/dark jeans and a shirt for the rest.

wow these all sound great!  would love to hear more about your most recent trip? what ship was this on?

It was aboard Radiance of the Seas... It was awesome I have to say and I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime in the future. The highlights for us was the sounds in NZ (Doubtful, Dusky and Milford Sounds). Milford sounds was truely amazing. It was pouring with rain and literally 10 waterfalls every 500 metres, just stunning.

 

The other highlight for me was Darwin. We did a "Jumping Crocodile" tour. I am still amazed that we just drove up to this river, got on a boat and these 5m monsters were just swimming about in the river, scary stuff. The Great Barrier Reef was also lovely, but had been there before so we chose on this day to stay at a resort for the day. There were so many other great sights. I might upload some photos over the weekend for you.

  nearly all the cruisers were 60+ including some folks that probably shouldn't have gone on a cruise.

 

60's would have been awesome... this cruise had a majority on their 70's and 80's.. We have alot of the longer cruises here as everything is so far away, plus we have better leave entitlements in Australia.. The majority of the cruises here are all 10+ nights

I share your addiction. We have eaten at all except Sabor. Enjoy the dining experiences! Izumi is unique.

 OMG I love Izumi.....on our last cruise we ate there 6 times hahahaha Addicted very, but you're hard pressed to find anything comparable on land.

Want a cruise in a Nursing home them join a lengthier cruise from an Australian port. We just did a 33 night B2B on Radiance OTS.. The first leg we were the youngest people at our 10 person table by 30 years (Im 46, partner is 40) there were only 50 people onboard under 18 and 7 people under 12. Every time we docked at a port there was a line-up of ambulances waiting to carry people to hospital... was quite an experience.

I think the new dining is awesome. It's different and that's what being on vacation is about. I've always loved the speciality restaurants and think this is a fresh and exciting new arrangement for dining. 

For my partner and I we personally prefer ships tours. You get to go further, all the planning is taken care of and you are covered should anything go wrong. There are some ports where we have done our own thing but I get highly paranoid about getting back on the ship and not being left behind. LOL

We have just completed a 33 night Circumnavigation of Australia that took in the NZ South Islands and Sounds as well as Bali... So we are saving up our vacation time again to head to the USA in 2016 and do an Alaskan Cruise, a cruise on Quantum out of New York and then cruise back to Sydney from Hawaii. It will be our biggest adventure yet.

We werent given them and basically no one on our cruise was. We had to request them from the Loyalty staff

 

35 nights? WOW!  :o

 

yeah we don't like short cruises.. its not a holiday really if its less than 14 nights.

Ours begin in November for the Summer cruising season in Australia:

 

26th November - 5 nights Radiance East Coast Highlights

 

Taking friends who have never cruised before on a shorty

 

17th January - 3 Nights Solstice

 

then 14th Februrary B2B 35 Nights Radiance - Australian Circumnavigation + NZ South Island & Bali

 

really looking forward to our long one :)

Pinnacle of the Seas, Spectacle of the Seas, Mirage of the Seas, Fantasy of the Seas there are quite a few

Im Murray. I live in Sydney Australia where we get the RCI ships from September to April. We have 4 cruises booked for the upcoming season and can't wait to be back on board :) Our favourite ship is Radiance :)

We usually arrive at the port at 10:30 for 11am boarding. I figure we have paid for the first day so I want to get on and start my vacation as soon as I can :)