skatie

they now are able to anchor the ship much closer, the tender ride was 11 minutes and yes, I timed it.

That's good to hear! You said you were on first tender -did you have a RCI excursion? -What time did you line up to get tender tickets? Thanks

I've only seen lobster at WJ as part of a special suite dinner on Explorer.

When we sail on Royal, we eat in the MDR for dinner, but like to go to the WJ after that to check it out. Sometimes, we have a second round of food!

 

I made this video while on the Adventure of the Seas out of Southampton to Iceland and Norway. The objective was to remind myself (and show my friends) what was available for dinner on the cruise ship at the WJ. Maybe it will be a useful reference here too.

 

I must say after watching this video again, the variety of food offered in the WJ on Royal Caribbean is much more than on the MSC Preziosa (our most recent cruise).

 

A closer look at the Create your own Pizza station on the AOS. We had a lot of fun with this ]

Thanks! That was a great video to show the variety!

There may be one or two nights when we don't feel like doing the sit down dinner in main dining room, so wondering what types of food are available in WJ for dinner. Is it all buffet or is there some made to order items? I had heard that some of the MDR dinner selections are also in WJ - is this true? Thanks

I suspect that cruise lines (as most businesses do), set their exchange rates once maybe twice per year and accept the ups and downs. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a new exchange rate set in the new year, but does anyone know for sure - like when was the last time they adjusted their rate from $1.10.

We had hump cabins starboard on Indy two years ago. The only issue we had was the one that was past the hallway wall...we had 6340, 6338, and 6336. If you search for deck 6 independence of seas you can see what I'm trying to say. We did not prefer 6340 because your door when opened showed the inside of the cabin to the hallway and everyone walking around the lounge area by elevator. But it had the best view front to back on the balcony. So just beware when door is open. I prefer the other two because the door opened to the wall/hallway. We booked front hump cabins for Oasis last week. Still prefer hump cabins just to see forward and back better on the balcony.

We are in 6334 on Indy in Feb. Do these sixth floor balconies have the steel railing so I won't be able to view ocean while sitting? Thanks

I've had the exact same thing happen with RCCL. I CLEARLY specified I did NOT want dynamic currency conversion. RCCL did it anyway! They converted my on board account to Canadian dollars (at a 3% premium above the exchange rate) to charge my TD US dollar Visa. TD then charged me 2.5% to convert it back to US dollars. To pay the Visa bill, I had to purchase US dollars at the borderless preferred rate, which seem to run around 1.25%

 

Never again do I want to risk being 'triple-charged' currency conversion premiums! That's another reason I use my Marriott Visa...worst case, if RCCL does their dynamic currency conversion, I'll only be charged conversion once!

Just so I'm crystal clear as I also have a US TD Credit card - if I want any remaining OBC to just be put on my US Credit Card (no currency conversion back to Canadian), what do I tell them when I go to Guest Services on the last day when i provide that CC to the my account? Or is it safer to withdraw all of it in cash to be certain no issues?? Thanks

My 19 year old daughter and I are on the Feb 13 Independence. It's a quick Mom/daughter getaway during her University reading week. We look forward to our time together, but I'm also hoping she can meet up with some others her age to have some extra fun. Does anyone go to the 18-20+ events I see in the cruise compasses? Or will she be allowed into the bars or dance and comedy clubs with me (here in Canada she is legal age to drink but I understand on the cruise she won't be legal)? Thanks!

My daughter and I arrive at FLL airport at midnight before our cruise the next day. I'm looking for a quick place to lay our heads for about 8 hours sleep and somewhere ideally near a drug or grocery store to stock up on supplies before heading to port. Anything such as free shuttles exist too?! With Canadian dollar exchange rate so poor, I'm looking for something nice but not expensive. Doesn't help that I'm arriving on the Friday night of the long weekend (Feb 12)! Thanks for any ideas!

Called today and asked for $1000 us onboard credit. No problems charged my credit card $1100 Canadian. Awesome deal , savings of almost 300. Probably going to call back and get another $1000 before we leave.

Do you mind me asking what number you called? I'd like to get more than the $499 that agent allowed me earlier today. Thx

Thank you thank you so much for this info on the dollar exchange using OBCs. I just called and asked for $500 US OBC and he laughed and said I can only do $499. So I took that and was charged $548.90 to my Canadian Credit Card (i looked up the exchange on line and at todays rate would have been $692 Cdn if I pulled out of bank!) I forgot to ask if I can add another $499 another day or is there a limit - I believe I've read various responses so maybe next week I'll try again. Also my 19 year old daughter is travelling with me so maybe I can ask for another $499 for her?

I've set up my online check in as Cash and as per all the valuable learnings here, my plan is to withdraw cash as needed from casino or slot cash-out vouchers throughout the cruise and on last sea day I'll go to front desk and give them my USD TD Visa to return any leftover OBC. I will just let that excess sit on my US Visa to pay off any Cruise expenses like my hotel night before or until my next cross border shopping trip! Do I have this right - am I missing anything in the process!!

A question - there is a "free" $300 US OBC given to me as part of the promotion when I booked the cruise. I doubt this will happen, but if I don't even use up $300 of extras on the cruise, will they refund any of this $300 credit back to me or is it lost as it was their promotion? Thanks everyone for such great info! Jo-Anne

Loving the reports and it sounds like you are having a great time! Would you be able to take a photo of the starbucks menu so we know how much to put aside for my husbands coffee fix each day! Also is there a menu board in the cafe promenade and Park cafe to see what they offer? Thanks and enjoy!

We're also staying at the new Hyatt South in a couple of weeks prior to our cruise. I think I read somewhere on their website that you can use their free shuttle van to get around the area if it's within 5 miles of the hotel. I think we may do that for dinner or quick shopping the night before cruise.

quote=sunneesmile;22649311]Skatie...

We are staying at the Best Western near the a/p pre cruise and I have been looking for wine to purchase closeby to take aboard. I have contacted the folks at Penn-Dutch Foods and they are very helpful and courteous.

Penn Dutch foods Hollywood Location:

3950 North 28th Terrace Hollywood, FL 33020 954.921.7144

The Hollywood Penn Dutch is located just WEST of I-95 between Stirling and Sheridan. (Closer to Stirling Road)

Thanks Teresa! After more research, we've decided to stay now at the new (not yet opened) Hyatt South Airport. It had breakfast, shuttle to and from airport and port for $143 for 2-Queen Suite. It's also in Stirling Road area. Sounded like a good deal to me.

I've been trying to research hotels for our Mar 5 overnight before Oasis cruise and our criteria is shuttles from airport to hotel and hotel to port, free hotel breakfast and some grocery store/drug stores nearby (walking) to get water, beer and ideally some restaurants. I'm looking at ...

a) Best Western on Stirling,

b) Hampton on Stirling and

c) Hampton North Airport.

Any thoughts on which would be preferred? THanks

We have 9322 booked on Mariner next month - how was noise from elevators? Also, are the balcony walls plexiglass/see through? I"m looking forward to some fresh sea air and relaxing on the balcony as we've only ever had interior cabins! Guess my only concern would be if we were beside smokers, but I guess we can't control that! Thanks,