abbydancer2003

We stayed at the Renaissance on Saturday night. It's always been my go to hotel here, but this was a less than stellar experience. I'll talk about it again in my Apex Live on Saturday, but there are two issues. First, the lounge is still not open, over two years after the post Covid reopening. The very (plus for hotel) friendly clerk who checked us in had no idea when and if it would. She did give us water and chips though. And I get free breakfast buffet, so that was Ok. The bigger issue is that they are replacing the elevators and only one was working. Sunday is a very busy ship day (ships I saw: Symphony OTS (us), Caribbean Princess, Ruby Princess, Celebrity Ascent, Celebrity Equinox, and a Holland America - Niew Statendam I think. So elevator waits were over 5 minutes. We were on floor 10 of 12. When it came time to take our shuttle, we waited 6 minutes, and the elevator opened, no room for us, so we ended up taking the service elevator. My view was that with only one elevator, they should have only filled the hotel to no more than 2/3 capacity. We have it again in February, but I'll be calling in a month to see if elevator construction is done. It will be in my 2/9 Beyond blog. I can live with the lounge, but not the elevator.

Posting the first half of boarding day ... rest tomorrow, but we have an early start. Symphony/Apex Day 1 We’d set an alarm for 9:00. Our plan was to have breakfast, and then pack up and head to the 11:00 am shuttle. We had plenty of wiggle room, or so we thought …. We headed to breakfast around 10:00. Since we. Were last there, they’ve reopened the buffet, so we were given that (no more menu ordering for the freebie). It was fine and I had a very light bacon, eggs, one pancake and some fruit. At about 10:30 we went back to the room, packed up, and headed to the elevator at 10:44 for 11:00. Why so early? There’s one elevator out of service. We waited about 6 minutes, and the elevator came, but it was full of people and bags. At that point, I called the front desk and asked for someone to come up to get us from the service elevator. I waited by the regular elevator, and Glen by the service one, which came first. There were two people in it, and we stopped at a couple more floors and it was full with people going to ships. I guess this is high season. We went to the front of the hotel, and one of the valet people called the shuttle and told us it was on the way. What they didn’t tell us was that it doesn’t pull up to the front of the hotel (we’ve never taken it before). At 11:01, a different valet person asked us what we were doing there. When we said we were waiting for the shuttle, that’s when they told us we missed it. He did find another one and said it would be 5-7 minutes. The shuttle arrived, and several of us piled in. We left about 11:15. In the meantime, people in the Facebook group were reporting being onboard. First stop was the Caribbean Princess. There was a ton of traffic and it took about 10-15 to drop them off. Then our driver took a bunch of shortcuts through parking lots, and about 5 minutes later we were pulling up to the RC pier. Our luggage was quickly picked up, and we headed into the building. Our security took a few minutes, because the people in front took forever to get the carryons up, etc. Once past security it went well. We found the suite area, and got checked in with no wait, then headed towards the ship. There are escalators up to boarding level, and everyone going through went to the right, so we went to the left. We had a scan of our boarding passes, and then were cleared to board. I think we were the only people in the very long switchback gangway. We entered the ship just at a very crowded guest services area. A crew member looked at our passes and told us how to get to our muster station. Here’s Glen on the way: Our muster is at the Aqua theater. From there, we were told we could go up the nearby (aft) elevators to the suite area. So we did. The elevators were full, but there were a lot of them. We found the hallways to the rooms closed, (it was about 12:10, so we made good time after the shuttle) so we found the lounge. We parked there and got lattes from the machine and hung out. I met one of the concierges and took care of moving our Wonderland reservation, and letting her know about our special circumstances of debarkation. About 12:50, when finding the restroom I noticed the door to the rooms was open, so we grabbed our packs, and head out. At the elevator bank, we had a discussion about which way to go, and our room number was even so we thought we’d head right. And there were even numbers starting with room 2. Ours was 54. We went 3 quarters of the way around the suite area, and found our room because they are all even. Now we know. We opened the door, and wow! A crown loft suite is a two story suite, with a living room downstairs and bed in a loft upstairs. And there’s a bathroom on each level (when I looked at the deck plans it wasn’t clear to me there was one upstairs). Also, our luggage was in the room. Here are some pictures. The balcony from the bedroom area The entrance from the living room. The bathroom is on the right next to the door. The room from the entrance. I unpacked, and Glen started, but at about 1:15 we decided to go have lunch. We went over to the suite restaurant, Coastal Kitchen, which is co-located with the lounge. We waited a couple of minutes and then were seated at a window table with a nice view forward of one of the the kids pool area. We both started with a Caesar salad. I had short ribs, Glen had spicy spaghetti. I finished with creme brûlée, and Glen did fruit. (Good for him). Service was good, although the assistant waiter seemed less involved than I’m used to on Celebrity.

We were able to board the plane quickly and settled into our seats. Because we were in row 1, we had to put everything up. We’ll see how many times I have to get up to get stuff (turns out twice). The plane left on time, and we had a good tail wind, so the flight went quickly. Since we were in first, three days before we left, we got a notice that we could preorder breakfast. There were 5 choices. I selected a frittata and Glen a shatsuka. The flight attendant confirmed it and we got exactly what we ordered. Yes, that is actually a frittata. The egg itself was good, but the rest was meh. Spinach tasted like frozen spinach (I’ve had better on dinner plates) and the potatoes were OK if after scraping the cheese sauce off. Next time I’ll go with a waffle or French toast. We arrived at Fort Lauderdale and pulled up to the gate about 20 minutes early. Luggage was reasonably quick, and once we found the cab line, a cab was readily available. We arrived at the hotel roughly 45 minutes after landing, and 15 after the official arrival time. Yay! We’re here! I asked them about their shuttle to the ships (did we look like we were cruising? I don’t know. Luggage tags just went on), and the price is 8.00 per person. We decided a cab would be about the same, and probably, once you add tip, Uber or Lyft similar, so I went downstairs and signed us up at 11. Next week we’ll be very early for X, so no need to do that twice. We hung out in the room until about 6:45 when our friends from our Caribbean Princess cruise in September came and collected us to go to dinner. On that September cruise we’d hung out, toured and ate together a couple of times, so we’d agreed to have dinner. They’d made a reservation at an Italian restaurant that was about 5 minutes away, and we had a very nice dinner. I had a traditional entree (Chicken Piccata) but my friend and I shared a corn salad. Everyone else had pasta. Our friends have been on Harmony of the Seas and gave us some suggestions on what to do, and where to eat outside of dining rooms. After dinner, we took a walk through the shopping center across the street. There are a couple of restaurants, nail salons, and a lot of yacht sellers, all with very similar title models. I guess yachts are a big business here. Since it was night, I have no idea how much business they get. Maybe I’ll look around again when I have a day here in February. After that it was back to the room, I took care of some odds and ends, and now at 11:30 pm I’m going to bed, because it’s been a very long day.

Labadee - probably will go off, maybe have lunch and wander around. Falmouth Jamaica - get off the ship and by some JBM coffee. Nassau - just see the new terminal. See you in a week!

Symphony/Apex - Day 0 Good morning from the United Club at SFO. Unfortunately (or fortunately on the return) the time difference between the coasts means that to get to Florida in time to have a true dinner, and not something from a convenience store, you have to fly early in the day. Of course the flip is that you can get on a plane home at noon, and be home well before dinner. We have a private driver who is willing to pick us up at ridiculous hours, and he came through this time. We were up at 5 and at 5:50 he texted that he’d arrived. We finished closing up the house, and drove the 30 minutes to the airport. Check in was easy, and not too long a line, although they first put us in the premier line for service, but then, after waiting a whopping 5 minutes, they told us to go to the bag check line, and that was quick. Security was easy. We were in the recheck line and as we were going through, they opened up a new station, so almost no waiting there. The United Club was also surprisingly empty, although, now as I start to wrap up to go to the plane, it’s a lot more crowded. I’m sure someone will appreciate our soon to be empty seats.

I think side. Looking at the layout of the ship has been a bit overwhelming.

Those match my pictures (we had the fruit thing on the bottom)

Tomorrow we leave for our Side by Side on the Symphony of the Seas/Apex cruises. I decided that I'll start this over on the RC board, and then move over here next Saturday. I will probably reply here tomorrow, because people have asked about the current state of the Renaissance on 17th in Fort Lauderdale. Here's the link for anyone who is interested.

Day -1. Packing day On Sunday, we board the Symphony of the Seas for our very first Royal Caribbean cruise. I’m traveling with DH (aka Glen) and we’re combining it with a 7 day on the Celebrity Apex. I’d booked the Apex cruise earlier this year, and then decided I wanted to try Royal, and specifically one of the Oasis class ships(if I’m gonna do, I’m gonna go big). I found that the Symphony was leaving 6 days before on a 6 day cruise, so that was perfect. We live in California and I’m getting over going to Florida for just a 7 day cruise. So here we are, two grown ups with no kids or grandkids. We did book a Crown Loft Suite, which apparently is a Sky class suite. We’ve had a very small roll call on this cruise, but others on the Royal Caribbean board (and FB) who have helped me understand things like reserving shows, etc. We are Diamond because of our Celebrity status, and light drinkers, so the included drinks and lounges should be enough that we would not need a drink package. We leave tomorrow on an 8:00 am flight, and will stay at our go to hotel, the Cruise Port Renaissance on 17th street. Very convent to the port. On Sunday, we start cruising. This is my first ever RC live thread. I hope you all will enjoy it, and I’ll try to give you my perspective as a regular Princess/Celebrity cruiser. Back to packing.

We did this version in the Infinity in March, and it was a different menu. All I remember is our entree was short ribs, and they were the best part. In fact, I just went through my pictures (drat no menu pictures) and the food looks nothing like what you had.

What they take off for me is 1/2 the burger - sliced horizontally to make it a quarter pound burger (sometimes it's hard to explain it the first time, but after that, they totally get it). Once or twice we've turned it into a grilled cheese with onion jam.

Fun. Enjoy both. I'll be interested in your comparison, as if I even mention MSC DH says no.

Epic fail. He tried, but said he can't get me a reservation, because all they have are tables for 4 or 6, and they can't put two people on for that table. And he said he can't give me the email for a ship. Very friendly and polite guy though, and he did try. I'm pretty sure that on the ship they'll be able to do something. And I'm also thinking that there's a good chance if we show up an hour before they close, they'd probably be able to seat us. Thanks anyway

Wow that looks great. I'll have try that on my cruise in 9 days, with my own usual modification, of course.

I'm reading David Grann's "The Wager". I may never think about Cape Horn the same way again. I've done it 3 times, and the scenery was spectacular, and much better in a ship with stabilizers etc.

thanks. I know last spring, about 3 days before the cruise we got an email from a shore based concierge about 3 days before the cruise, and I asked about a dinner reservation they said they couldn't get it to the ship. But I'll give it a shot. Thanks

Hi, I'm sorry if this has been asked before, it was hard to search. Does anyone have the email addresses of the retreat concierges on board either the Apex or the Beyond? Thanks

Does anyone have the email address for the retreat concierges on Apex?

They haven’t answered my email yet.

When we went to Volunteer Point in the Falklands, we were told we could absolute not approach or engage with the penguins. There are signs all over with that. However, penguins can't read.

That's pretty much what I did. I said I wanted 8:45 every night. I also asked about moving my specialty dining reservation once onboard, since I want to base it on the menu at Coastal, which is not online. The current cruise is not the same itinerary, so I can't really use that.

For suites, me too. I did get one low bid from Concierge to Aqua last year, but there were lots of Aqua rooms open.

Thanks. I did get an email early this morning from the concierges. It contained a lot of information about the experienc, but all it said about dining was to make reservations on the cruise planner or the app. I don't see how to make Coastal Kitchen reservations on the app, so I guess I will reply as that falls under "if you need assistance". Thanks again.

I'm on my first RC cruise on Sunday, and in a Sky level suite. You're saying a concierge will contact me? Someone told me it would be a week before the cruise, and that was today. While we do eat late, I'd hate to have to eat in open seating main dining because I couildn't get in to Coastal Kitchen (which is advertised as a perk of my room). Thanks

We did a TA on Silhouette in 2022, and loved it. I hope you enjoy everything.