xCANCELLEDx Rhapsody of the Seas - Mar 16, 2024 - Mar 23, 2024 (7 Night Costa Rica & Panama Canal) - RoyalCaribbeanBlog Group Cruise

[JC Pats]

5 hours ago, Ken in Texas said:

Anyone else doing the RCLBlog cruise?

The answer is Yes..

[sk8erguy1978]

On 7/5/2022 at 10:31 AM, Matt said:

I can find very negative reviews of pretty much any Royal Caribbean ship, CocoCay, Star Wars, and ice cream.

Negative reviews of Star Wars? I must be in the upside down. 

[sk8erguy1978]

Well... Nothing official yet but, sent an email to my MEI agent. My thoughts are book refundable with some FCC as a deposit and hope for the best. I'd really like to make this trip.

[Snotarni]

On 7/6/2022 at 3:25 PM, Matt said:

Awesome!

CONFIRM-I-FIED!!!  Looking forward to this!

[YOLO]

8 hours ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Negative reviews of Star Wars? I must be in the upside down. 

Or maybe Bizarro World from "The Bizarro Jerry" Seinfeld episode...

[sk8erguy1978]

On 7/17/2022 at 11:22 PM, sk8erguy1978 said:

Well... Nothing official yet but, sent an email to my MEI agent. My thoughts are book refundable with some FCC as a deposit and hope for the best. I'd really like to make this trip.

Holy Sticker shock! Refundable deposit for a balcony is Oasis Class prices! With that said, sent Kathy (my MEI agent) the go ahead with some FCC's to use and a few cabins I'd like to sail in. 

Hope to see everyone onboard! This is really going to be an epic group cruise.

[sk8erguy1978]

On 7/10/2022 at 12:13 PM, YOLO said:

Anyone thinking of making this a B2B to preserve the embarkation & debarkation ports for roundtrip to one airport?  Two likely choices would be:

Colon, Panama [MAR 16th & MAR 23rd] @ ONX

Panama City [MAR 9th & MAR 16th] @ PAC or BLB

On 7/10/2022 at 12:39 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Yes.  We are on 9th and 16th

If it was 2025 I'd be all over it. That's when longevity at work earns me another 5 vacation days. LOL! 

[Matt]

New Rhapsody video tour!

 

[Dave_Aus]

On 7/29/2022 at 10:53 PM, Matt said:

New Rhapsody video tour!

 

Love the ship tour. The “smallest” ship I’ve done is Voyager class, so this will be a whole new experience.

Just a mere 594 days to go - but who’s counting hey?

[sk8erguy1978]

On 7/29/2022 at 9:23 AM, Matt said:

New Rhapsody video tour!

 

Little bump!... Love this review/tour. This will officially be the smallest ship we've sailed on. We have both been discussing this more recently, we are in, 100%. Might lose inaugural Icon of the Seas because of it but we both are digging this trip more. 

Peeked at the cruise planner, only a few day 5 excursions available but enough to wet the palate. 

Now if it was only December 2023 and not 2022 LOL! 

Happy Holidays - back to regular scheduled programming. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

I don't see a thread yet for this one, but if there is, please move this over.  Thanks !

It won't be long and we will be able to start booking air travel for this one; 4-12-23 according to the AA website.

1.  Which airport do we fly into (PTY ?) ?

2.  Has anyone started looking into hotels for the pre-cruise stay ?

We are going to be on the one prior to this (3-9-24) as well as this (3-16-24) group cruise sailing; we want to traverse both directions since this is likely to be our one and only Panama Canal cruise.

Who else is coming along ?

[smokeybandit]

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

I think you merged my thread into the wrong existing thread.  My thread was for the 16-23 March 2024 Rhapsody/Panama Canal group cruise, not the Navigator group cruise.

[AshleyDillo]

6 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I think you merged my thread into the wrong existing thread.  My thread was for the 16-23 March 2024 Rhapsody/Panama Canal group cruise, not the Navigator group cruise.

Doh..I think I fixed it!

[smokeybandit]

You would fly into PTY. I'm kind of expecting some deals from Air2Sea on this route due to the "nicheness" of the route.

There are some well known hotel brands in Panama City. My question will be the best way to get to Colon since that's where this one departs from.

[wordell1]

I am now booked on this cruise.  I had originally booked the week before because I thought it was spring break and my wife works in the school district, but the district changed spring break!  

Only 1 year to wait!

[smokeybandit]

Speaking of 1 year, has there been any discussion, official or unofficial, of a group hotel or maybe more importantly transportation to Colon from Panama City?

[wordell1]

6 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Speaking of 1 year, has there been any discussion, official or unofficial, of a group hotel or maybe more importantly transportation to Colon from Panama City?

I would definitely be interested.

[AshleyDillo]

On 3/25/2023 at 5:51 PM, smokeybandit said:

Speaking of 1 year, has there been any discussion, official or unofficial, of a group hotel or maybe more importantly transportation to Colon from Panama City?

I'm sure if/when it gets closer @Beci will be on it!

Also maybe some other folks who have visited that area can offer some suggestions.

[Beci]

15 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

I'm sure if/when it gets closer @Beci will be on it!

Also maybe some other folks who have visited that area can offer some suggestions.

Hi!  yes!  I am currently working on the Navigator -- and this will be next in line with Serenade.   Have a great day!! 

[smokeybandit]

Great, thanks.

Normally those types of logistics are easy, but this one is obviously a bit different.

[wordell1]

My TA said that she expects Air to Sea to open up at the end of April. I have never done Air to Sea before, but I will definitely be interested to see the pricing and routes.  It looks like flights to Panama are limited.

[smokeybandit]

Domestic airline flights to Panama are Delta via Atlanta, American from Miami, or United from Houston.

Copa (Panama's airline), which code shares with United, flies to PTY from a bunch of US cities.

[smokeybandit]

Something I did not realize about Panama: they use the US Dollar as legal tender.

[smokeybandit]

We're now in the window for Copa/United flights. United has a huge markup right now though (like insanely huge).

 

Nothing on Air2Sea yet.

[Mark_A]

I just got the Deluxe Bev package for 67.99 a day

thought it was darn good price, especially lately with all the 77 and 88 a day prices

I have been seeing.

so if anyone is interested, go check it out in the cruise planner.

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

We're now in the window for Copa/United flights. United has a huge markup right now though (like insanely huge).

 

Nothing on Air2Sea yet.

Delta only goes out to March 15..but the one-way prices are promising.

[smokeybandit]

So many hotel choices, jeez.

Looks like the passenger train route to Colon is still not running with no evidence it will restart.

[AshleyDillo]

10 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

So many hotel choices, jeez.

I hear folks are doing the Waldorf Astoria. I haven't decided yet since I need to have a better idea of flights first. 

[smokeybandit]

Well the most expensive hotel in town wasn't on my radar 

[AshleyDillo]

28 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Well the most expensive hotel in town wasn't on my radar 

Yeah..they made comments that it was reasonably priced and then I looked it up and

I have the Hamtpon and Best Western on my radar. Now those are reasonably priced to me.

[smokeybandit]

Residence Inn was the first I saw. Near a grocery store and a few restaurants.

[AshleyDillo]

21 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Residence Inn was the first I saw. Near a grocery store and a few restaurants.

Yeah I figure I can stay affordable and just Uber to anything I need. Are you planning to come in several days early?

[smokeybandit]

21 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Yeah I figure I can stay affordable and just Uber to anything I need. Are you planning to come in several days early?

Planning on 2 days early.  Fly in that Thursday.  Gotta decide between the redeye Wednesday night or a super early flight Thursday morning

[WAAAYTOOO]

There’s a Waldorf Astoria in Panama ?  Wow.

We haven’t even started looking at hotels or flights.  Until just a few days ago I wasn’t even sure we would be allowed to go on this one but it looks like they’ve eliminated all vax and testing requirements so maybe we will be ok.
 

We will be on the 3-9 cruise as well so we’ll be coming in a week or so before everyone else.

[sk8erguy1978]

On 4/21/2023 at 6:07 PM, smokeybandit said:

We're now in the window for Copa/United flights. United has a huge markup right now though (like insanely huge).

 

Nothing on Air2Sea yet.

I just looked at United from NYC (EWR) area and ... YIKES! (~$1300 RT PP!)

See what happens over the next few weeks and months. 

[smokeybandit]

United must just be artificially high at the start of a release window.

A code shared flight on Copa is over twice as much if I book via United than it is if I book direct on Copa

[smokeybandit]

I booked the Residence Inn. The room has a kitchen and is next to a grocery store. So I paid a bit more for the room than I may have wanted, but if I can cut meal costs in half for 2 days, that'll be a wash.

[wordell1]

I ended up booking Air to Sea.  I'm flying direct from Austin on Thursday (flight is on Copa and isn't offered Friday) so that will give us a full day to explore Panama City.  Flight back is United/Copa through Houston.  It's just over $1000 each for basic economy so I'm hoping for a reprice.  I'm not sure on Hotel yet.

[smokeybandit]

Air2Sea's website doesn't even show available flights for me yet.