Wndrwomn

When I first sailed on Disney the food was *Amazing*!! The second time we cruised we were disappointed at the menu changed. The host told us because people wanted burgers, hot dogs and chicken nuggets they had to scale back the menu. My reply was, who cruises wanting to eat junk food?!?!

I thought cruises were all about trying exotic dishes from around the world? Why would someone want to eat hot dogs and bad pizza after spending thousands of dollars on a trip with free food? Not putting anyone down, but I totally enjoyed the old way of a daily menu that served up dishes you couldn’t pronounce lol

I’ve cruised Carnival and after cruising Disney and RCI I said I’d never go back to Carnival.

You definitely get what you pay for.

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Hi!

The Independence of the Seas has a Facebook page and people have been posting about it and there are even a couple of videos showing the refurbishment and HOLY COW it looks like it will be a new ship!

Agree with above, I've been on 4 cruises since having to go GF. My biggest complaint is the lack of consistency across the fleet in what is available and variety. I found longer cruises (more than 7 days) are really a challenge. Sometimes you have to educate your head waiter. You can be your own advocate and still be polite. I tip my headwaiter and waiter extra, and give a tip to WJ staff that do extra for me. Also be sure to get their names and mention them in survey.

 

Become best friends with the WJ manager or head chef and the executive chef in mdr. When I told chef how I disliked GF penne and wanted spaghetti he told me to bring a box and he would fix it for me. Some items you have to ask for like the udis packaged cookie.

Will do! I appreciate your response!!

Last two RCCL cruises were good. Enchantment was better than the Independence. Choose a set dining time rather than MTD if possible. Let special needs know in advance. First day, ask for a head chef in Windjammer, who will ask what you want and bring it out to you from the back to avoid cross contamination (and depending on the cruise, sometimes WJ has a special GF buffet section separate from the rest). In the MDR, your head waiter will bring you the next night (and breakfast if you want) menus for you to order from in advance. You can ask for extras to take back to your room, and theu should bring you GF bread. Sorrentos has GF pizza: give them 15 minutes to make it. Cafe Promanade or Lattetude has prepackaged Udis cookies. I have Celiac (and am vegetarian) and haven't gotten sick. Happy to answer any other questions about my experiences.

 

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Whoa! That’s great! I’m happy to hear of your great experience, it really puts my mind at ease!! Truly! Thank you!

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Hello,

How are gluten free options aboard RCL?

The last time I cruised was on Carnival, and while I was promised before the cruise by Carnival reps that there would be many gluten free options, I was made to feel bad whenever I requested it. Lots of huffs and puffs and rolling the eyes, it turned out there was no gluten free pizza and anything that came with bread wound up to be a pound cake-type of hard crust, really gross. I would *Love* to bring a loaf of Udi's bread on board with me just so I can have toast in the morning, but I'm sure that's not allowed.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for any replies :)

5 to 8:30. You get half an hour more than you thought!

 

The reserved seating in the theater is usually the front of the balcony.

 

The Pullmans are in the smaller bedroom. The living area has a sofa bed.

 

Yes. Just ask if they are not in the suite when you arrive.

 

Yes

 

Daily gratuities are $17.50 per person for your suite. It is generally accepted protocol to tip the concierge in the Concierge Lounge. Also, you should tip the servers who bring you your drinks.

 

There is no charge for room service. Treat yourselves.

 

The reserved seating for the ice show is good, but if you get there early and run, the seats in the front row, center, are better.

Thanks again!!!

Thank you for the info!

Any additional info or other experiences are appreciated as well!

Hello!

We're going on my 50th Birthday Celebration cruise - my daughters, my sisters and a few friends - next winter 2019.

There's going to be 8 grown women in the two bedrooms. I have read it sleeps 8 so I chose this room. I know one of the bedrooms sleeps 4 (two twin beds and two pullman beds) but I would like to know if the master bedroom has any pullman bed? I know the king bed can be separated into two beds.

How about the livingroom? That couch bed Does Not look like it can sleep two people. We are all thin women and I still don't think we'd fit two on that couch bed.

Are there any options? More pullman beds in the livingroom? A cot? Something? Bueller? Bueller? lol

Also, information on the RCL site is pretty limited and I'm trying to figure out all the perks of renting the two bedroom Grand Suite. Can someone direct me to a site or let me know all the perks?

Do all 8 of us get robes for the spa?

I know we'll be on the 9th floor.. How close is that to the spa?

Do we get reserved sun loungers?

Thank you!

Hi! I just booked the family suite for my 50th birthday celebration for Feb 2019 with my sisters, daughters and girlfriends, we're gonna have an awesome time!

I found out that we all have access to the spa for the steamrooms, showers, whirlpools which is great because I usually shower and get ready for the eve up in the spa. I found out that the Concierge Lounge hosts drinks before dinner 5:30 - 8:30 each eve for open bar. I found out we have front row access at the shows, priority boarding and disembarking.

A few questions: Can someone please tell me if there are pullman beds located in the Master bedroom or the livingroom area? I know they're in the second bedroom (2 bunks and 2 beds).

Any photos of the suite with all the beds made up?

Do we all get bathrobes to use for the trip?

Any closet space in the living room area?

Do we need to tip more than we would if we had reserved a regular room, ex. the concierge? Who will need to be tipped?

Any other tips or tricks that we should know about? I'm all about being fancy when I cruise!

Thanks!

YTD: Hated it! When seated, felt like we were forgotten about. Staff seemed overwhelmed. We went back to early seating and rather have the traditional seating.

Sorry to hear you felt like that :(

We did not have that experience. On the Splendor, one section of the restaurant (the third floor of the Black Pearl Restaurant) is devoted to YTD cruisers, the fourth floor was for set dining times, as well as the Gold Pearl Restaurant)

I don't know how it is on the other ships.

Most nights we had the same server. Only 2 nights did we have a different set of servers.

I don't think anyone is offering.

 

My cousin's boyfriend's neighbor's dog sitter went to Jamaica one time and they said ...

 

Are you freaking kidding me? You didn't even GO TO Jamaica on your cruise and you are going to tell us a bunch of 2nd hand information you heard from someone at the airport.

 

Oh, and someone at the airport told ME the exact opposite of what you just said.

Whatever :D

If I hear the same story from loads of different people, I'm going to trust their opinion. I am born and raised in The Bronx and do not typically scare easily. However, stories of Jamaica do scare me. The person asked for opinions and I gave mine :)

Have a nice day!:)

Hello Fellow Cruisers!

Prior to my cruise, I searched all around for an updated version of the Splendor Western Caribbean Fun Times and I couldn't find it. I know how important it is to plan, so I took pics of the Fun Times and posted them onto an old Photobucket account I have. I apologize that I forgot to take a pic of Friday - Grand Cayman!

I hope this helps!

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thorgersen/Carnival%20Splendor%20Fun%20Times/story

I wore a swim suit into the thalassotherapy pool and steam rooms. I draped my robe nearby or hung it on a hook.

I also showered in the regular, private showers in the locker room. I have a nice set of loungewear that I put on after I dried my hair and did my makeup and walked back to the cabin wearing that with my bathrobe.

No biggie walking around in the Cloud 9 robe :)

Just got off the Splendor this past Sunday (4/10). Me and my sisters booked a Spa Balcony room steps away from the Spa entrance. I used the Spa every single day, I loved it :)

I've had regular rooms before and would buy the spa package, but this did not compare. So much better being close to the spa.

Have fun :)

I realize that FTTF will allow you to debark earlier than others, but will it allow you to debark at any time that you want? For example, could I choose to debark at 9:00AM - 10:00AM since I have no reason to be at the airport for an early flight back home?

We purchased FTTF for our cruise last week and was very happy we did.

The water in our cabin (sink, toilet and shower) was boiling hot and required a trip to Guest Services every day in addition to the many phone calls we made.

With a line of 20 people, walking right up to the FTTF/Diamond Guest Services line with no one in front of us was pretty sweet. Of course, those 20 people on line didn't think so.

Tendering in Belize and Grand Cayman we were met with lots of nasty remarks, people hurling slurs of us being line cutters. No amount of explaining would calm the crowd.

Did we care? Nah... We were ushered to the tender lickity split!

When issued the luggage tags at the conclusion of our cruise, we were #3. We awoke early and ate breakfast at 0730. By the time we were finished, our number was called. We get downstairs to the luggage carousel and it was almost empty. By the time we retrieved our luggage and got on line for customs, the place was a mad house.

I will absolutely get FTTF again :)

Thanks, Carnival!

A few friends in our group are thinking of saving some money by trying to do dunns river falls in Ochoa rios on their own. Does anyone know the cost of the falls. And what taxi rides would be to and from the falls from the dock?

 

Also. Are their any benefits or hazards to this

Hello!

My last 4 cruises I've always gone with booking excursions through the cruise line. This year me and my sisters took the Carnival Splendor, we just got back on Sunday, and my sister booked all excursions through an outside vendor. The same exact packages as the cruise line, we just had a different meeting spot outside of the port.

As for Jamaica, on our way to the airport while in a shuttle, we spoke with cruisers from other cruise lines who went to Jamaica last week. They said they will never go to Jamaica again. One woman travelled with her teenaged granddaughter and as soon as they stepped off the pier and onto the street, they were surrounded by men telling them they will give them free rides, offered the young girl a job, were saying vulgar things to the young girl. The grandmother (who only looked about 50, she was hot stuff herself!) grabbed her granddaughter and they "Fled" (her words) back to the ship.

The shuttle driver (I think also the owner of the shuttle company) stated that Jamaica is a big place for sex traffickers and that it's not reported in the news but there have been young girls offered free taxi rides when they leave port and they're never seen again.

Personally, I wouldn't touch Jamaica with a ten foot pole. While I work with many Jamaicans and they are wonderful people, I remember the time when going there was dangerous to foreigners.

I also recall the huge commercial promotion exclaiming with song, "Come Back To Jamaica" because in the 70's and 80's Jamaica was so violent and full of crime. There was also a bunch Venus or Ujena Swimwear models who did a photo shoot in Jamaica back in the late "80's, after the whole "Come Back To Jamaica" promotion. The bus with all the models was hijacked by guerrillas and they were held hostage, shot.

No amount of money will get me to Jamaica.

I do wish you well and hope you have a safe trip :)

I booked a cruise for August, and the early dining is watilisted.

 

From experience, has anyone who's been waitlisted, actually gotten their choice?

 

Other option is My Time. I did NCL last year and they are all my time, and didn't find it an issue. But I kinda enjoy carnival's waitstaff entertainment, etc... For those who have done My Time Dining, what are your impressions of it?

Me and my sisters chose the My Time Dining. One night we went to dinner around 7:45, but most days we were at the dining room between 6 and 6:30. We waited *Once* for a table but only five minutes.

Last time I cruised with a friend and the same thing, basically just walked into the restaurant, sat down and ate dinner :) Never a problem.

Also, I have a GF allergy and needed to order my meals the night before. My meals were always fresh and ready for me!

Black Pearl Deck 3 is for My Time Dining. Black Pearl Deck 4 and Gold Pearl are for those with regular early/late seating.

We just got back from a B2B onboard the Glory and had the social package ($25 each week) for both weeks. And while it was wonderful to have access to Facebook while on board- the plan clearly states Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram (LIES!!!) LOL I was unable to get any updates on anything but Facebook and neither could anyone else I talked to. When I asked the tech person they said "yes that is a problem we are having with the program".

 

I have an Android so I don't know if the issue was the same with IPhones also??? I would have purchased the plan just for Facebook alone so I could stay in touch with my kids but I wanted to be sure others understood that even though the plan lists all the other apps...they were not a working part of it.

Both me and my sister bought the "Social" package as well. She was able to send voice messages and photos via WhatsApp, but I could only send text messages. We tried checking all the settings, etc. and everything was the same. I was able to upload pics (videos took a day to upload) to FB.

Both of us also had problems with FB, it wasn't updating, we were getting the same old stories from Sunday on Friday lol

Not a deal killer, but I did get the Social program because my daughter was sick and I needed to keep in touch. Thankfully she wasn't admitted, but the WhatsApp really helped :)

Would I get it again? $25 to keep in touch for the week via text is pretty good.

After taking the few cruises that I have, I learned not to pack so much! I am also visiting my daughter for a few days before the cruise and will do laundry there, but I also like to do a little laundry while I'm away, I hate packing dirty underwear :p

I have the FTTF pass so I will be doing my ironing as soon as I get on the ship, get everything pressed and ready to wear for the week.

Thanks for posting this :D

Thought it was the hairy chest contest

LOLOLOL!!!!!

I am Very happy we are not cruising next week to Costa Maya, that port gave me the *creeps*, very desolate and I did not like it one bit!

For those who have recently disembarked, can you please let me know about Bingo? and how was Anytime Dining? What was your favorite food on the cruise?

Thanks!

Thanks, everyone! I called and arranged it with the rep, now I will just speak w the head waiter!

Thanks for the update FLSteve!! Me and my sisters are on the April 3rd cruise with xoWendyxo and are trusting that there won't be any issues. As for the Costa Maya situation, I understand, that happened to us on a Disney cruise. But honestly, Costa Maya reminded me of a ghost town, I didn't like the isolation. It's like the cruise ship industry created that port but never finished it. It felt very strange to me, very strange...

As for the regular menu, I'm excited to try the "Didja Eva..." menu! I'm also excited to have gluten free bread, rolls, pizza and GF CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE!!!

I believe its OK to hang the organizer on the interior closet doors, if someone could confirm this?

That's what I thought was illegal because I heard it scratches up the door. Another Cruiser stated she has never seen it hung on the stateroom door, but that's not the problem, the problem is the potential to scratch up the cabins bathroom door.

Disney has a lot of restrictions, so for my two cruises all my door decorations were printed out pictures on magnet 'paper'. I'm doing the same for my cruise in 2 weeks :)