The Big Booper

You can say that again!

 

That is why I never check out the nekkid guys at Club O. But DW does.:D

Excuse me? Not sure what this post means...

 

RCI has banned smoking except for a few outside spots. They included E-cigs in the ban. And Celebrity is even stricter.

 

Quite a few smokers are leaving the line(s) because of this.

 

Princess allows E-Cigs.

E-Cigs, that's why.

We have done 7 cruises on Voyager class and 2 on Freedom class.

 

To start, while Freedom ships are a little less then 100 feet longer then Voyager class and 18,000 GRT larger, they have a poorer space ratio then the Voyager class. Still better then any Princess or Carnival ship.

 

On the pool deck they have the innovative H20 kiddle pool and a larger Solarium pool, which has the modernistic aluminum palm trees.

 

You really notice the increased size on the Promenade which seems to stretch out much further. Plus, on the Freedoms, Cafe Promenade is broken up into 3 stores, one at each end and a third storefront in the middle. The Voyager class has one fixed bridge in the Promenade for shows while the Freedoms have two flying bridges that can go up or down doing Promenade shows.

 

We don't do specialty restaurants but I think that the Freedoms have more of them or at least used to until RCI started to revitalize the older ships.

 

On deck 4, the Freedoms have the On-Air Bar. between the elevator tower and the ice rink which can hold several hundred people. On our Independence TA in 2008 with all the sea days we had a fierce progressive trivia war going with around 40-50 teams. Way too big for the Schooner Bar so it was moved to the On Air Bar.

 

I wouldn't want to take a Freedom class in June or July when school is out and the ship is crawling with rug rats, that is when you notice the poorer space ratio. Other then that the Freedoms are OK. Itinerary counts then.

 

EX - 4

NAV - 2

ADV - 1

FREE - 1

INDY - 1

 

<edit> Freedom and Voyagers both have the crypt in the same spot.

 

Entrance to the casino is larger and flashier on the Freedom class then the Voyagers.

After losing at trivia (twice), a quick nap in between sessions to get rid of a headache, and watching the last tender bob through swells and white caps to return to the ship, we are now headed for our first full sea day.

 

I asked the Passenger Services Desk for the total passenger count (3,192) and the Captains Circle Hostess (Heather) for a breakdown (599 Gold, 403 Ruby, 869 Platinum, 364 Elite, and 957 first timers). Not sure how many kids are aboard, but in the past two days I have seen 5 kids. They're either hiding or not on board.

 

And I watched my first fountain show early this evening which was titled 'Rain'. As if I needed a reminder of our Sail Away lol. As for the fountain show, call me 'simple' (just kidding, please don't ;)) but I rather enjoyed it. But as many have said that real estate could have been best served by something else.

 

Dinner was a quick bite in the Horizon Court; creole ship, mozzarella, grilled fish, turkey something or another, and some olives.

 

Watched the comedian Troy Thirdgill (not bad, not great either), then dancing in the atrium, a quick tasty treat from Gelato (butter pecan), then later tonight some football on MUTS (I'm about all trivia'd out for today). After that I'm not sure what I'm doing but it may involve alcohol. ;)

 

Setting the clocks ahead tonight, too.

 

Tomorrow is our Meet and Greet and I've received verbal confirmation from Ryan (Deputy Cruise Director) that he and Sam our wonderful Cruise Director would stop in and say 'Hello'.

 

Made reservations for this Friday's Crab Shack dinner.

 

More tomorrow...

 

Tonight's quick bite dinner

 

If Princess fixes the Regal (central stairway and all that) then for the first time in our total of 40 cruises, we might actually sign up for Anytime Dining and eat in the HC. Those dishes look GOOD! A balcony would be a waste for us on this class of ship so we would go inside, 167 ft is OK.

 

<<edit>> A double take here - there are less then 3,200 people on a 4,000 pax max capacity ship. WOW!

Somebody here likes chocolate........

Saw a February sailing has been cancelled due to problems. How do they know this far in advance? I have not;however, checked their cruise schedule.

 

Premature bearing wear on Allure's center Azipod. The ship will have a quick drydock in Freeport to replace the unit.

 

This has been discussed here for months.

SteveH2508,

 

I do have to say, I agree that the staff were under a lot of pressure. My cabin steward was very nervous, and always going above and beyond to make sure I was happy. When he mentioned filling out the survey, he said "we're his only hope because his manager is always very upset with him". :( Poor guy. It's one reason I didn't complain about the remote batteries or push it with the room service menu. He wasn't a slacker by any means! He took a lot of care and pride in doing his job well, yet he was nervous and sweating and working all the time. I think this is my 14th cruise, and I've never felt so bad for my cabin steward! We actually left him an additional cash tip (in addition to the pre-paid gratuities) and some bags of candy when we left!

 

Also, to your point, it was only on the last day that we realized the Cafe Promenade was 24 hour food service! Granted, the selection is quite small, but I did appreciate having water/coffee/tea available on deck 5 vs. trekking up to deck 11 like I do on Carnival ships...

 

This is not the first time I have read of "management" issues on ships sailing under RCI UK management. Be interesting to see what happens now that Indy, like all the snowbirds, has arrived in Florida for the season. Does she sail at night?;) or drive in the fast lane at 45 mph?;)

[quote name='Nebr.cruiser']We like Princess, obviously, since we'll be on our 10th cruise with them in one week. But, some changes I'd like to see:

Bigger showers, or at least a footrest in the shower, or a shower door.

Bring back the longer shows; I hate the 30 minute format--and the down-sized productions (sets, dancers, etc.)

Interactive TV like they have on Celebrity and the new Royal Princess, with movies on demand.

Larger and better organized buffet area--it's just too cramped.

Get rid of the horrible new balcony furniture--and I've heard it's coming on the sun decks too!

Don't let people who aren't signed up for it into Anytime dining, as it ruins it for those who actually belong there.

Truly monitor chair hogging.[/quote]

You do realize that you have described in every detail what you find on a Celebrity S class ship.;)

Yes, I can say Quantum, we are looking into that very seriously. Our daughter is still at our home in NJ which is a half hour from the pier. She drives us there just like you were driven to NYC the last time. We got three cruises on NCL from the AC casinos and they were all in the Winter, leaving from a cold port to me is not a big deal..

 

From what I can see the Quantum will be the S class on steroids including the permanent glassed in Solarium pool. If we still lived in NY we would be booked on it right now. Instead for us, wait for the Anthem out of FLL.

Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas is doing three cruises to Bermuda from Ft. Lauderdale in 2014. It also makes a stop in Charleston.

 

When I first looked at the cruises, the one in September had a price of $1200 for 10 days for a balcony. Now it's over $2100 and climbing. I think there's a hunger for new itineraries (look at Century going to St. Barths).

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll check on availability.

 

jls

 

The Vision itinerary was mention 3 weeks ago on the RCI boards and we booked it the next day. They were running a November special and we got an ocean view for the price of an inside.

 

I would expect the pricing to increase.

 

The Vision has just had a major renovation this fall.

Look at all the flack Princess is taking over the brand new first-new-design-in-13-years Royal Princess. The regulars on the Princess board love it and ignore the many design flaws but the general cruising public, as shown on the reviews section, are lukewarm at best with many 3 and 2 and even 1 star assessments. That has to sting the suits at HQ.

 

Nothing shows incompetent management more then this.

 

When RCCL rolled out, in short order, the Oasis class followed by the S class, you never saw any reactions like this. And I'll bet that the Q ships will be well received.

 

Even many NOOTS have relented and tried the Oasis or Allure and liked them.

The original Island Princess is still sailing as the MV Discovery... we saw her a couple of years ago at Barbados (along with P&O's Oceana which was the original Ocean Princess).

 

I'm guessing that the Ocean Princess you referenced here is the Sun class Ocean Princess from the 90's? Unless you had a suite, the standard outsides or insides on this class were tiny, especially the rhomboid inside, which our former travel agent stuck us with on a Christmas cruise. Officially 125 sq. ft. but really only 110 sq. ft. usable. No wonder Princess hustled these 4 ships out of the US market as fast as they did.

Hmm, good question. A number of the characters were the same - Shrek, Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda, but I think the second parade had all four of the penguins and a few other characters. The first parade was very crowded; the second parade had much fewer people.

 

Thanks for the answer.

 

It appears that both parades feature the entertainment staff dressed as Dreamworks characters, same as 2011 when we first took the ship.

 

On Oasis the first parade has no Dreamworks characters and looks like the parade on non Dreamworks RCI ships. Just the second parade features Dreamworks characters.

 

So next week we'll just do the second parade.

Is the Island Princess, the double for this Pacific Princess, still floating around somewhere?

 

Princess brought the Pacific Princess into NY some years ago to compete with the Zenith, Horizon, RCI Empress and NCL Sea (?) but I guess it was badly outclassed. We went into Manhattan on a Sunday and got some shots on West Street as we scurried South to keep up with her as she sailed South.

 

Many happy memories watching the Love Boat on Saturday evening. In those days we did not go out on Saturday evening and inflict our small kids on other people.

 

Also, the plane boss, the plane!

I was thinking that about Mom :D

 

Yes, us DOM think that Mom is just as cute as son. :D

 

We did a TA on Indy in 2008, her first season, from Southampton to Miami. Love that ship, hope to take her again now that we have relocated from NY to Fl.

 

...>>>SNIP<<<...

 

Next is quite oddly one of the highlights of the trip. In port we were beside RCCL ship I think it was Freedom of the Seas. We had 3 starboard balconies in a row they faced their ship. Both ships were waiting on last minute passengers. RCCL ended up winning the race for the last passengers on the ship. For awhile there it was like a horn match going on, we won the race on this one because what ship horn could beat one that was The Love Boat Theme?? Finally the last RCCL passengers arrived via golf cart. Everyone was out on their balconies hooping and clapping as they boarded.

 

...>>>SNIP<<<...

 

We were docked years ago on the Disney Magic alongside two other ships, RCI and Carnival. The three ships got into a horn farting contest which Disney won quite easily.

 

Sorry folks but "When You Wish Upon a Star" trumps everything.

Were both parades the same (Dreamworks characters)? Oasis has two different parades.

I was checking my cruise history this week and noticed that we had been on Radiance thrice, Brilliance twice and a singleton on Serenade. Time to book the Jewel and complete the grouping.

 

Our all time leader is Explorer with 4 (love those no fly cruises when in NY). Now that we are in Florida time to look around for interesting trips.

We drove down to Port Everglades today to get some shots of the five ships leaving but it was way too windy to walk to the rocks from secret public parking spots we know. So I parked at a gap between the houses lining the channel where this a sightline to the ships but trees interfere. As Oasis floated by all lit up with her lights on I could see dozens of flashes going off taking pictures of the houses from 17 stories up and 400-500 feet away. GAAHHH:eek::eek:

Let us give full credit to the PHOTOGRAPHER who knows what he is doing. Give this camera to a chucklehead who takes flash photos of the island scenery from the pool deck as the ship leaves port in late afternoon, and the results will still be as bad as a shot taken with a cheap camera.

Yes right but what u dont know is Australia have Princess cruises, Carnival and holland america and others here also so P & O dont hold the menopoly on cruises here anymore. I will say I love RCCL but they could take a leaf out of P & O on fun activities on board.:D

 

All the lines are now sending newer ships down under to try to get market share, including =X= as well as RCI.

 

Rumor is that as Oasis III rolls out the drydock door, Oasis I will wind up in Barcelona or maybe Asia. If Oasis IV is built then Allure will follow to wherever Oasis I didn't.

The wind was really fierce today. We actually drove down from Boynton to watch and photograph the 5 ships leaving today but decided not to venture out onto the exposed beach near the rocks. We know of public parking spots 3 blocks from the rocks but instead just parked on a driveway of a vacant house alongside the channel where there are no houses at a bend so we had clear shots of the last 3 going out. Trees blocked the lower parts of the ships and the pics were meh so nothing good to post.

 

DW thinks I'm crazy but if the weather cooperates we'll be back tomorrow when there are 6!

 

To support small business Saturday we ate at a restaurant owned by friends of ours, also refugees from NY. Grill 17, great burger place. In the same shopping center as Duffys and 5 Guys.

Never having been on a ship that stops at Belize, my take -

 

1. Don't book a ship that stops at Belize or

 

2. If we ignore #1, treat Belize as a day at sea.:D

Another point, the main cruise line in Australia is P & O, which uses old hand me downs from Carnival. Next to those, the Voyager class seems like the Allure. Right Oz folk?