CaribCruiser54

Personally, with so many sea days from Vancouver to Hawaii, I'd choose Ovation for the greater number of activities and entertainment.

Hi "Scott in TX", I see it now, "first timer" mistake :D , I search for the wrong cruise "Oasis of the Seas" instead of "Ovation of the Seas". Thanks.

Thanks Biker19 for quick reply.

Hi phfirstcruise, come join us on the Ovation RollCall. Some cruise info sharing/discussion going on. If you are looking for things to do in the various Ports , you can also check the Hawaii "Ports of Call" boards.

Yes. I use antibacterial wipes on phone, remote door knobs, toilet, sink taps only takes a few minutes and makes me feel better. I do the same in hotel rooms and check the beds in hotels, haven't done that on a cruise yet. Makes me feel comfortable.

Radiance or Ovation for Hawaii to Vancouver. Both have 5 consecutive sea days. Radiance has 2 days in Honululu.

 

Thanks

Come with us on Ovation , it will be like old times. I might even try iFly this trip! :D

Our price has dropped to less than half for May 2 - 13th.

Can you still take advantage of price drops if you have a non-refundable deposit (meaning your could cancel and rebook)?

I've gotten several price drops with non-refundable deposit on an upcoming cruise.

WorkerBee74 , as others have said, it's best to book /down payment at a price you're comfortable with and monitor for price drops. I've never had a significant price drop on past cruises but my upcoming cruise is paying off big time. I booked a midship balcony on Ovation for an 11-night Honolulu to Vancouver in April and have already scored 2 price drops saving almost $2,000! Plus $100 USD OBC. 😎

We've cruised Royal Caribbean on Oasis and Allure. We'd like to cruise to celebrate our 25th next June. I can't decide if we should stay with Royal or try another cruise line. We enjoyed both ships and I'm sure we'd like a newer ship. We like the Caribbean but would like to try ports other than St. Thomas/St. Maarten. Any advice on your favorite ships/itineraries would be appreciated. Thank you!

Congratulations on your upcoming 25th Anniversary. We are doing an 11 nite cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver on Ovation of the Seas from May 2 - 13, 2019. We will be celebrating our 40th Anniversary on that cruise. It will be a definite change from the Carib.

Unfortunately the per minute plans are no longer offered. You can buy the package with 5 days to go (at $16/day for Surf and $20/day for Stream) or single 24 hr periods (at $23 for Surf and $27 for Stream).

Biker 19, We are doing a 10 night cruise end of month. I need Surf capability not Stream but that isn't an option in the Cruise Planner. Called Customer Service and was told Surf alone is available on board but would be more expensive than their current sale for Surf and Stream. Does this seem logical? The 10 night Surf and Stream pkg for 1 device is $204.67 CAD.

Unfortunately the per minute plans are no longer offered. You can buy the package with 5 days to go (at $16/day for Surf and $20/day for Stream) or single 24 hr periods (at $23 for Surf and $27 for Stream).

Biker 19 - We are doing a 10 night cruise end of month. I need Surf capability not Stream but that isn't an option in the Cruise Planner. Called Customer Service and was told Surf alone is available on board but would be more expensive than their current sale for Surf and Stream. Does this seem logical? The 10 night Surf and Stream pkg for 1 device is $204.67 CAD.

Please

https://issuu.com/hochmania/docs/merged.compressed_c8f985daf0620d/1?ff=true&e=2025714/57431995

We are on the same sailing. I found the 10 night Cruise Compass from January. Hopefully the link will work for you.

Now if they would get the NHL network I would be very happy!!!

 

Starting that petition on the Jewel in April:'):')

That would make my husband Very Happy :D

My mom is the OP. The meet and mingle was held this morning at 9:45 in Dazzles. The prizes were 3 bottles of wine, 3 pack packs and the gift certificate my mom won. One of the pinnacle members gave us a bottle of wine.

 

We’re having a great time on Harmony.

Wow, that's excellent!

We have a Southern Caribbean cruise coming up. Several of the islands we have been to before and toured but I don't know about the others. St. Johns, St. Lucia & Barbados are three we've never be to. Any information as to what there is to see, tours or don't waste your time? Appreciate any help.

IMO These are great ports. In Barbados we did a Jeep tour which included the Harrison Caves (amazing). St Lucia, is so beautiful. We began on tour bus which included stops at the inactive volcano, mud bath, Pitons and a Creole lunch. We then transferred to catamaran enjoyed refreshments, music, dancing and visit to a Black sand beach. Antigua we did a Catamaran Day, 2 beaches for swimming/snorkelling and a lobster & champagne lunch. Lots of music and fun in the sun!

We have a Southern Caribbean cruise coming up. Several of the islands we have been to before and toured but I don't know about the others. St. Johns, St. Lucia & Barbados are three we've never be to. Any information as to what there is to see, tours or don't waste your time? Appreciate any help.

IMO These are great ports. In Barbados we did a Jeep tour which included the Harrison Caves (amazing). St Lucia, is so beautiful. We began on tour bus which included stops at the inactive volcano, mud bath, Pitons and a Creole lunch. We then transferred to catamaran enjoyed refreshments, music, dancing and visit to a Black sand beach. Antigua we did a Catamaran Day, 2 beaches for swimming/snorkelling and a lobster & champagne lunch. Lots of music and fun in the sun!

Looks like that's the answer.

Yes 2 of us. Guess I didn't notice the difference in Grats on our previous cruises. Retired now - maybe too much time on my hands 😬

I inferred it as two people, 2 x ~$17.603 x 10 = $352.06 which is $82.06 more than $270 (which is $13.50 x 2 x 10).

 

I got the ~$17.603 rate from my bookings in the last year in CAD, by working backwards.

 

 

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Yes it's for 2 people. Thank-you😀

Correct. The $13.50 is US.

Thank-you both. Happy to know I'm not being overcharged

Don't know if this is the best place to ask this question, but here goes. I called RCI to pay on our upcoming 10 night cruise and also pre-pay Gratuities. Our booking confirmation shows our booking charges in CAD, which I expected. Further down the document it reads $13.50 per person per day gratuity will be added to each guests Seapass account on a daily basis ..... BUT when The Client Service Rep calculated the total amount, the Grats are $82.06 more than I expected. When I questioned it she said was because the $13.50 per day quoted was USD (that isn't stated) and it had to be converted to CAD. Is this correct or should I call again?

Thanks everyone for your comments. Sounds like ppl have had differing experiences. I'm not sailing Serenade until end of March so I'll decide if it's worth the cost (and possible frustration) closer to my sail date.:-)

Serenade uses the same internet service as Jewel did several years ago, but they have supposedly increased the bandwidth, so the download speed should be better, but as mentioned above, the latency (delay) will be the same poor performance.

Thank-you both for the feedback. I would only use it for email, return flight checkin and possibly FB,

Have a 10 night cruise booked on Serenade next Spring. Haven't sailed on this ship before and wondering if the internet is as fast as on the larger ships, i.e. Oasis, Anthem. I was on Jewel several years ago and it was painfully slow.

Cruise with RC Leaving Cape Liberty on Oct 23, 2017. Thinking of flying into Newark 1-2 days early no car. Where is good reasonable place to stay. Also best options for getting from airport to hotel and hotel to cruise terminal. If we come 2 days early would like to see Statue of Liberty or maybe do the hop on/off bus tour. Is that possible? How easy would it be to do either of those.

We sailed out of Cape Liberty last month. We also arrived 2 days early. Booked Hilton Newark Penn Station (were able to book on points). Hotel has free shuttle shuttle from EWR to hotel, (think it runs on the half hour but I called day before to arrange pickup), free Wifi, there is a restaurant/bar (no comp breakfast). They are connected to Newark Penn train station and it is approx 23 minutes via PATH to WTC, $2.25 pp. They arranged Lincoln SUV for 3 of us and our luggage for $60 total to Cape Liberty morning of cruise. Clean, smooth ride and driver avoided construction areas. After cruise 2 of us took a "shared shuttle" from port to EWR Tofly home that afternoon. Shuttle is $20 pp, not as comfy as the SUV but got us there. Enjoy your cruise!

We booked a Guaranteed Balcony late 2016 due to a great price and the fact we could drive less than 10 hours to get to the port. This will be a brief review of our likes and dislikes especially when compared to our typical cruise on Adventure of the Seas.

 

Bayonne Port:

Got there early and minimal lines. Check-in was delayed as they has to go get someone specific to check us in. It appears that my email to RCCL CEO and follow-up phone call to one of his executive service people called for special service. There was an email that they had that said "this couple MUST receive expedited boarding. After check-in we sat in the Suite area check in. A few minutes later, the departing and the newly arriving Hotel Directors come down to say hi to us and chit-chat about our concerns. Right after they boarded Suites, we were immediately boarded.

 

Sailing out of Bayonne:

Probably never again especially if not the summer. It just doesn't seem right to leave or return to a port that is not HOT.

 

Our Room:

The Guarantee Balcony was great. Deck 11 with a great view and plenty of room for storage. As always (IMO), beds are firm not hard and much to our liking. Each day we received a special treat including. Over the week we receive: (3) baskets of fruit, (2) plates of chocolate dipped strawberries, cut plate of fruit, cheese plate and a bottle of champagne. We guessed this was due to the email to the CEO. We didn't each much of this as there is plenty of food on the ship already.

 

Up-selling:

We found that the up-selling was very low key on this cruise compared to previous cruises. RCCL people had booths set-up but generally didn't bother you. We did get asked about speciality dining a few times around the pool but a quick no thanks or we've already booked worked.

 

Ports:

Port Canaveral delayed from Tuesday to Friday due to propulsion engine issues. This really sucked as we didn't plan to get off of the ship here and customs made everyone get off. This took 2.5 hours of our day sitting outside on the concrete with no water or other refreshments.

 

Nassau on Wednesday was an Okay port. We walked around some and that was it.

 

Cococay on Thursday was great. RCCL has built this up since our last visit over 10 years ago. The beach is great and the BBQ cookout was very good. The lines were a bit disorganized but the food was excellent.

 

Entertainment: We really liked the shows as they are better than Adventure although we miss not having an Ice Show. Resurrection, the Journey Tribute Band, was excellent and I'm not a huge Journey fan. Dru and his staff are fine but not completely to our liking. I think it's the interaction differences between one of the big ships and a smaller ship. Quest was good as always but certainly different having it in 270. I preferred Quest on Adventure, due mainly to the Activities Staff participation.

 

MDR:

For the 1st time, we had a table to ourselves. It was fine, but I prefer to meet other people and we've always had good luck getting interesting and friendly table mates. We did not like the dining rooms being (4) separate rooms with low ceilings. I would not have thought this would make much of a difference but it made for a closed in feeling and not a Wow feeling that we get on the Adventure. Service was very good although less engaging staff than we are used to. The food ratings (1 -10 with 10 being best). Note that we aren't expecting 5-Star dining on a cruise:

Pork Shank: 9

Lobster Bisque: 1

Vegetable Pot Pie: 4

Arancici (spelling?): 8+

Prime Rib: 8

Grilled Shrimp: 9

Hazel Nut Chocolate: 8+

Apple Pie Alamode: 5

Dark Chocolate Brownie: 10

Cilantro Cod: 7

Cream of Cauliflower: 8

4-Cheese Ravioli: 8

Beef Duo: 9

Asian Pork Tacos: 7+

Chicken Parmesan: 7

 

Windjammer:

Many options for Breakfast and Lunch. Food good for a buffet especially for Breakfast.

 

Other ship food:

Kummelweck: 10

Tuna Wrap: 10

Johnny Rockets: 8

Promenade Cafe: 7 (good for a quick snack, pizza is Okay a maybe a little better than on Adventure)

 

Jamie's Italien:

This was free from our TA. Food was very good but I would not pay for this. The lamb chops were great as was dessert, The rest was good.

 

Cookout Ratings:

St Louis Ribs: 8+

Gyro: 9

Cola Chicken: 9

 

Promenade Area:

This was a bit closed in compared to Adventure. We really like the open feeling on Adventure.

 

Activities:

We did not do I-Fly,

North Star was good but nothing spectacular.

Bumper Cars were a lot of fun.

Escape Room was fun.

 

Summary compared to Adventure:

Food is a little better than Adventure and we like the additional complimentary options.

Entertainment is better than Adventure.

The feel of the ship (MDR and Promanade) is much better on the Adventure

Cruise staff is equivalent on both although we prefer Adventure Activities Staff

Ports: Adventure has this hands down.

Weather: Adventure wins here.

Activities: Since we don't have kids, only a little better on Anthem.

Pool: Equivalent. Anthem has an additional indoor pool but with the cold weather and more people this just evens it out. Pool closed 1 day due to waves.

 

For what's important to us, Adventure out of San Juan is the clear winner. We had fun on Anthem just not as much as Adventure. I am anxious to see what replaces Adventure in San Juan.

Nice to see the comparison, we have done both Southern itineraries on Adventure and loved them and the ship. I too am interested in seeing what ship replaces Adventure. Boarding Anthem for first time on Saturday for Bermuda and Boston, look forward to exploring a couple of new ports.

Thank-you very much for this information. I'll keep this information in my cruise notes in case I decide to do the Broadway show . I really want to go but being a "small town girl" I'm a little nervous about making my way back to the hotel that late in the evening. ;-)

We are sailing on Anthem out of Cape Liberty on April 29th, staying 2 nights pre-cruise at the Hilton Newark Penn Station. Planning a day/evening in NYC on Friday, April 28th. I know that we can take the PATH from the hotel to WTC which will put us in the vicinity of most sites we plan to visit. However, we are considering going to a Broadway Show that evening on West 45th Street. My question is (a) is there a train that we could take back to the Hilton Newark Penn Station around 10:30 p.m., (b) would it be within walking distance and if so, directions to the train. Any advice would be greatly appreciated since we have never taken the train before. Thank-you.