splashsmom

13 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

When was promo day? Was it listed anywhere? I haven’t seen it anywhere listed so we always just send it out whenever. I hope they don’t change it to only a certain day.

We didn't see any obvious promo day notice on this cruise, but we weren't looking for it either.

50 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

I do recall - once - a LONG time ago - the room attendant telling us that it was not "laundry day" the day that I wanted our W&F to go out.  I really don't remember anything more about it but it did happen - once.  Hasn't happened since, and frankly, I don't recall ever hearing about a "laundry day" ever again.

We never had an issue with sending W&F laundry on any day of the cruise, until Oasis this past May.  Our stateroom attendant said we could only send it on the promo day.  Loyalty Ambassador disagreed with that assertion.

I’m into my third week on the ship (the TA preceded the OP’s sailing).  While Oasis is still a beautiful ship, the sounds of hammering and chipping have gone on throughout the TA and now this cruise.  One of the water slides is down, the solarium pool is closed with the tile being removed, two hot tubs were out of commission during the TA for a complete overhaul, and a third one is closed on this cruise.  During the TA, our balcony was off limits for 3 days for rust removal.  They are being very thorough in their maintenance.  With all that, the TA was fantastic and this cruise is shaping up to be the same.  Great crew!  Great ship!

16 minutes ago, laurieal said:

If I understood the announcement correctly, and I’m really not sure I did, one of the passengers has fallen very ill and we are rushing to get them some medical assistance. To Bermuda, perhaps? Really hoping all goes well for the person. 
 

If you are on the ship and understood the announcement, feel free to correct me or add some details. 

You are correct that we are heading toward Bermuda.  I believe that the captain said we will get close between midnight and 1 am when a rescue vessel will arrive for the patient transfer.

I was so excited to see that you were doing another "live from" because your reviews are so much fun to read!  Then I realized that we are going on the same TA!  Looking forward to meeting you on the ship.  Have fun and safe travels.

Joan

5 hours ago, Dewaldcruiser said:

If I can link, this is who my TA recommended and who I am using.  Very responsive.  I asked about a side trip to Stonehenge and they repriced it and we are going to Stonehenge on the way to the port.  They have Mercedes V-Class minivans with wifi.

 

https://www.airport-pickups-london.com/Heathrow/Heathrow-Taxi-Prices.asp

We were very happy with Airport Pickups London and plan to use them again.

6 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Is the Crown Lounge on Allure still two story.  Pretty sure it will be moved to the dungeon after its next dry dock. 

While the venue itself is still two stories, the upper level is used for Chef’s Table. The Chef’s Table guests enter through the Crown Lounge.

On 1/12/2024 at 8:24 AM, Mum2Mercury said:

Exactly!  

That's exactly what I don't understand ... any passenger could help himself to your bag while it's sitting there waiting for a crew member (purposefully or accidentally).  The crew member (who's dropping off multiple bags) could accidentally leave it in the wrong room.  I don't carry on items with little value (like an extra outfit or a paperback book); no, I carry on my electronics, medicines and jewelry.  Things I want to keep in my control.  

Agree.  We were recently on a B2B, so had early access to our room.  The door to the room next to ours was wide open with no crew around and with the new cruisers' carryon bags (dropped off by the Key program) in plain sight.

2 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Yeah, the whole "voucher' term throws me off.  Makes me think of something in hand, like a ticket.  (kind of like the old 10 drink card for $80-$90 that they are starting to roll out again).

 

I'm now used to the 4 drinks per day on our card.  It's interesting that they can load another credit, specific to coffee drinks, onto our Seapass cards.  I'll be interested to see if we ever run into this in the future or not.  It certainly wasn't needed on our latest two cruises. (Anthem and Quantum)  Diamond lounge was almost always empty which made it nice to grab and go with the coffee.

When we have had the daily coffee credit on some other ships, we received physical vouchers.  However, as previously mentioned, a daily coffee credit was loaded on to our seapass cards on the recent Anthem TA.

What was odd, to us at least, was that the coffee posted on our account just like the drink "vouchers" for Diamond through Pinnacle.  Even odder, we were in a suite, and the "free" drinks provided to suite guests in the concierge lounge on the Anthem also posted on our account like the D/D+/P vouchers.  It took a bit of sorting to know which were our actual vouchers, and which were the additional "free" drinks.

We had stateroom 8181 on Celebrity Infinity as well.  It was perfect for Alaska.  Thanks for the video!

I don't have an issue with this if I knew that 100% of the increase was going to the crew.  However, Royal doesn't rank high on my trust meter these days.

20 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

 

I'm on the same TA but I didn't book until April.  Do either of you have the itinerary update?  Just want to confirm that I have the correct (updated) itinerary.  Thanks!

Vigo and Lisbon were affected:  Vigo arrival is now 10 am and Lisbon arrival is now 8:30 am.  Departure remained the same.

We were notified in March of this year that the time in some ports for the October 2023 Anthem TA were modified in order "to maintain a safe and comfortable speed."  I appreciated the advance notice.

Is there a reason why Royal didn't think speed would be an issue for subsequent cruises down the East Coast?  Were they hoping that the issue would have been resolved by then?

41 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Just curious, with the soda package can you get cans of sodas at the bars, MDR, etc.

I have not been able to get cans of soda with the soda package.   If I see a server bringing me a can, it usually means they have charged my drink vouchers in error.

Serenade - same front and back

1 hour ago, Scoobydobe7 said:

How did they know???  Set sail pass only says "suite"

Boarding pass showed Sea Class for Wonder. 

I wasn't surprised, though, by not being allowed in the suite line for an Oasis-class ship at PC (though I would have liked a heads-up), because "back in the day", Oasis at PC only allowed Sky/Star classes and Pinnacles to go through the suite line.  Back then, though, there were special signs they used to indicate such for the Oasis boardings.  I didn't see any such signs for the Wonder boarding.

13 hours ago, LindaD22 said:

We sailed from Civitavecchia this past May.  We were in a Jr Suite, but were not allowed to wait & board with Suite guests. Staff were at the Suites waiting area with a laptop, looking up passengers and cabins before allowing entry. Jr Suites did not make the cut and had to wait & board with everyone else 🤷🏼‍♀️

18 hours ago, Ashland said:

Not just in Miami but at every port.

We were not allowed in the suite line when sailing in a junior suite on Wonder out of Port Canaveral in April.

18 hours ago, orville99 said:

With Mariner docking at T5, parking on that side of the port is not bad at all (especially now that they have changed to a "pay as you enter" model for the garage). T1 where Wonder and Independence dock is quite packed most days and if you don't get there early, you probably will find yourself parking in one of the overflow surface lots.

Thank you for posting about the change to "pay as you enter" for T5 parking.  Good news that I must have missed if it was published earlier.

8 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

But I was SO MUCH CLOSER to the coffee machine, food, and bar! That was my ideal location, lol.

 

Glad we were both happy with our locations. In reality, I think you know I wouldn't have cared where I was. I'll be perfectly happy with my deck 9 & 10 interiors for the next 2.

 

We didn't actually notice many wanderers and the SL was incredibly quiet during the day. Multiple family members from our party were often alone at the bar getting to know our favorite bartender, Ajit.

We were in a junior suite on our Wonder cruise, and as Island Lady mentioned, the doors were propped open when we went to CK right after we boarded to make dinner reservations.  That was the first surprise.  The second surprise was that they were already taking reservations at CK before 11 am.  The third surprise was that we never had to do the dreaded junior suite knock on the CK door for the three dinners we reserved because the doors were always open.

A question that I have for you - were your seapass cards specially keyed for the elevators that went to the suite deck?  Our room was on deck 8 so we tried to take the elevator up to CK.  Without fail, we would always get the elevators that would only take us to deck 16.

2 minutes ago, shitbow said:

 

Oh no, conflicting info just as I expected 😬.  Even with 4pcs, did you find it worth it? 

It was plenty for the 2 of us:  2 wonton soups (instead of dessert), 2 firecracker shrimp orders, the two rolls, and two teriyaki bowls.  Ordering ala carte may bring different results.

We did not have the dining package on Wonder, but did pay in advance for Izumi sushi.  Under the prix fixe menu, we had 4 pcs for spicy crispy shrimp (probably paraphrasing) and 5 pcs for futomaki rolls.  We previously (before the change) had 8 pcs under the prix fixe menu for each.

As stated, with the Wonder at PC, the Key will allow you an earlier check-in time and earlier boarding.  If I recall correctly, you also can sit in the suite area in the terminal if you arrive before boarding.

Having a junior suite on the Wonder did not get us any of the above (which was expected), including going through the pinnacle/suite line for security.  If we ever have another junior suite on the Wonder, we'll probably follow your lead and get the Key.

We were just there recently with Wonder and Liberty.  While crowded in some areas, it was not oppressively so.  We didn't use beach loungers, but food lines seemed to be short, and even the pool looked pretty manageable, except around the swim-up bar.  Wonder arrived after Liberty; you may wish to check the timing of your ship's arrival.

18 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

How does ordering brunch at Mason Jar work? One entree plus a dessert per person? More than one?

 

My SIL just booked it for our family cruise next month so naturally I need to spend 30 days preparing my order. 😁

We were on this cruise, as well.  Great review from 7680.

OCSC Mike - I believe we exchanged some foodie comments regarding Playmakers on another ship.  I agree with 7680 that the onion rings were very good at Playmakers (if they serve them when they are at least warm), as were the jalapeno poppers and the famous Campfire cookie.  Nachos were lacking.  Bar service was very good.  In fact, we found bar service to be very good around the ship.

We also ate at Mason Jar for brunch on embarkation day, and I agree with 7680 that you can plan out your menu exactly as you would like.  If I recall correctly, we had 3 entree-type dishes to share between the two of us, no hesitation from the crew.  Great experience.

8 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

How's the parking there?

 

I only sail from PC because it's so close and I don't really care for ships below Voyager class but we were considering some cruises out of Tampa b/c of price (and it's only slightly farther away).

We use valet parking at the Port of Tampa, which tacks on just $20 to the total parking charge, regardless of cruise length.  That has been a great option for us.

Because of that, it's been a while since we self-parked there.