NikC

59 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

The weather problem is not in Southampton. It’s off the coast of Portugal. The ship was headed to SouthHampton but the problem is back in Portugal.

Other ships for example the Queen Victoria have just passed Explorer going in the direction it was supposed to be going without diverting as far as I've heard up to now?  

I'm not suggesting either Royal or Cunard are being unnecessarily cautious/careless but the inconsistency is hard for people to understand I admit.

1 hour ago, CruiseeCrazee said:

Is the surf + stream internet up to doing video and/or voice call meetings for up to 3 hours a day?

From my recent experience on Explorer the wifi is very slow and video of any kind including FaceTime, YouTube etc was almost impossible.   Internet browsing is fine but slow, voice calls might be possible.

The ship doesn't have the newer O3B satellite technology so has a much higher latency than the ships with upgraded voom.

Here's a few speedtest results from across a 2 week period.

It's no longer available to book for the 3 upcoming cruises in my planner, and it was there for all of them a few hours ago. As it affects all of them, it can't be a sold out thing, must be more company wide.

We absolutely loved the fine line, but when we got to see it on the Harmony TA the twirly man section did not feature. He was in the hideaway heist later in the cruise though and I can see how that would be a bit weird in the fine line. Maybe his absence was the reason we enjoyed it!

For me it was one of the best productions I’ve seen anywhere on land and sea. The music score is pretty much a collection of my favourite tracks which is probably significant.

Looking forward to Hiro on Symphony soon.

You can definitely check in together, deck is not taken into account during check in and boarding.

There are priority check in lines for people with certain levels of loyalty status (Crown and Anchor Society) and if any of you are one of these statuses but the others aren't then they'll usually let you all join the priority queue so you can stay together.

Your cases will be taken off you by porters as soon as you get them out of the car at the drop off point, its all very efficient and hassle free at Southampton :)

I imagine the fact they haven't just rescheduled the TA means there will be a combination of a few more days in the dry dock (possibly using up those spare 5 days) then a non passenger TA with crew finishing work during the crossing?

On our recent Harmony TA I was waiting near the elevators while my wife visited the bathroom. As we'd approached, two members of crew (one of which was cleaning on the stairs) were greeting each other. From the short conversation they had it sounds like they were friends and hadn't seen each other for some time either because they had been on different ships (or maybe Harmony really is that big!).

When my wife returned, she told me that another lady in the bathroom had turned to her in disgust at these two crew members saying "Who on earth do they think they are? Guests?" I'm pleased to say my wife responded with exactly what she thought and put the lady in her place.

Sadly this wasn't the only disrespect for crew we witnessed. While waiting for the aqua show we also witnessed a guest unhappy that they couldn't get the central seating position that they desired tell a member of staff that they were Pinnacle and should 'bow down' to them.

We are both 'millennials' and find this sort of thing very uncomfortable. We'd like to think we treat crew members as we would our friends and with respect for the work they do to allow us to have an amazing time.

It is a little strange. With this area, and the large new deck area on top of the new cabins, at times you feel like there is a lot of wasted space, when other parts of the refurb have been to clearly maximise revenue from every last bit of space on the inside of the ship.

I'm guessing these areas have been deliberately left empty for more sunbed space now there is a higher number of guests on the ship, but if that is the case then they need to actually provide more sunbeds or other seating options.

To some extent it feels half completed or as if there needs to be another dry dock at some point in the near future to do something with these areas.

Just thought I'd post a pic of the new area on top of the new panoramic cabins.

This is a warm, sunny sea day and it's very quiet compared to the other decks. This is probably due to there being no sun beds up here other than the few people have carried up the stairs over the course of the cruise. I wonder if a delivery of additional beds is yet to arrive for this?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Nic

Giovannis looks tempting but not sure even I could tackle four courses & dessert. How would go about buying someone a drink at dinner, would you be able to take it from your drinks package or do you just sign and have it added to your bar tab?

I've found the bar men very relaxed about drinks at dinner, so if you wanted to buy someone a drink covered by your package just ask for it yourself. For us the sea pass cards are taken towards the end of dinner service and drinks charged to the cards with suitable packages. I can't imagine the bar men have the time or interest to keep tabs on who ordered what drink at every round on every table. I'll probably get shot down for suggesting drink package 'sharing' now lol.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I assume you have to pay extra to eat at Giovannis, Isumzi and chops, is that right. Can you use your drinks package in these restaurants ?

Yeah, drinks packages are usable for drinks in the specialty restaurants, provided your package includes them. Milkshakes in JR are extra as they are not on any package. And the S. Pelligrino sparkling water in Giovanni's was only free if you have premium or above that includes bottled water.

The cover charges for specialty restaurants are:

Giovanni's Table - $20 (15 for lunch)

Chops Grille - $30

Iszumi - no cover charge, but a-la-carte pricing, I.e. you pay for what you choose from the menu.

Johnny Rockets - $4.95

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the advice on wifi. My eldest daughter is devastated about no wifi but me on the other hand so thankful lol. Getting excited seeing all the pics of the upgrade.

I forgot to reply about the wifi. It's currently much more expensive than the prices quoted in recent threads about wifi. We've paid $242 for 2 devices unlimited, and that includes a 10% crown & anchor discount. Good job its going down as a business expense!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Does the explorer now have a park cafe in the solarium? Thanks

No Park Cafe on explorer unfortunately

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The pictures look great. Is Giovannis open for lunch, and how much does it cost?

It's open for lunch at $15 per head or dinner in the evening at $20 per head

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Giovanni's continued...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Giovannis Table:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

New seating / upholstery in Palace Theatre:

And the same in the Star Lounge :

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

NikC,

 

 

 

How is the ship looking in general? I know a number of people had said that she was quite rusty in places before going into dry dock...

The outside is gleaming, freshly painted and no rust in sight. I had a long look while in a bit of a queue to get back on board today :) I did notice a small amount of dirt in the solarium pool today, as someone has posted on Twitter, but it's nothing major. Our toilet had a similar sediment in it at one point too but that's cleared now.

I have noticed a few bits of woodwork that have been sanded and not yet varnished, but we're talking minor details here that to be honest shouldn't cause anyone to complain.

The poor room attendants are having their work cut out as an unavoidable symptom of new carpets is they are still shedding quite a lot of fibres so need constant vacuuming at the moment.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you check the royal website regarding the drink packages it states that the premium package also includes house spirits with mixer. On the drinks list above it does not show that anymore. We are on the select package but i am also going to upgrade the wifes package to premium as she drinks spirits and cocktails.

Yeah I've noticed that the spirits with mixer isn't always listed, but it is included. I believe this is just down to interpretation of the word cocktail, as some people would call this a cocktail, but in the UK we consider a cocktail to be something a bit more fancy than a simple spirit with mixer.

All spirits with a mixer (other than perhaps some super premium well aged ones) are covered by the premium package. We've had Jack D / JB / absolut so far no problem

I've not seen anything to suggest a nursery exists, but hadn't replied as if not really explored the whole ship

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dinner service for us was excellent this evening, last nights issues clearly resolved and additional staff seemed to have been allocated where needed. Couldn't fault tonight really.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I can't say I've seen any issues with dirt at all, but there were loads of issues last night with dining, and windjammer has been massively overcrowded for breakfast and for several hours around lunch time with no tables available and certain food items not being replenished quickly enough.

There seems to have been quite a few maintenance issues stateroom doors / keys not working and freestyle machines weren't being restocked.

I have to say most of the bar and waiting staff seem fairly unhappy and not particularly friendly so far too, for people who have just had 45 days break from customers. Maybe that's why, back to work blues!

Hopefully things will be better tonight, I'm sure they'll get on top of the issues.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Anyone?

The only updates to the bathroom is a brand new shower tap, hose and head. The shower cubicle and rest of the bathroom are unchanged.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Brilliant photo's Nic! Thanks. Cannot wait to see more and hear all about how it was. My girls are praying for Dreamworks but I don't think this happened. Did they remove the small waterslide at the Aft? Have a great holiday.

I don't think there is any Dreamworks on here I'm afraid :(

See above for the kids slide area which has now been removed and pools filled in. Now an oddly underused area of the ship it seems.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk