Saman

3 hours ago, cb at sea said:

There is rarely a view of anything but ocean once you leave ports!

We had great scenery in Fjords Norway , but maybe that was an exeption!!

I have just got a quote for Mariner 3 night cruise to Bahamas , there are 4 of us traveling we have been offered a 6B cabin ( if i go ahead and book i will check available cabins) only doubt is , when we were on Seranade we had a cabin with a sofa bed and a pullman , on the phone they said this type of cabin is not available for mariner , but the cabin offered on Mariner is 20 sq ft larger than the 1D on Seranade , and looking at cabin plans i've not managed to find any cabin with the symbol of sofa and pullman so i'm presuming she was right .

Also is the sailing to Bahamas for Port Carnaveral scenic or is it just looking at open sea?

Still not 100 % decided as this is going to bump up the price of our holiday to Orlando quite abit , but offer includes free cancelation till 21 days before and i get the price reductuions if any come up (booking from Spain).

We will be visiting Orlando in november and have decided to do a 3 night cruise to Bahamas while we are there , there seem to be Royal Caribean or Carnival Cruises that fit in with our dates , initially Royal would have been our preference as we have sailed with them before , but have seen the Carnival Cruises work out  quite abit cheaper for us , does anyone have experience with both and can give us any tips , we have a 24 and 21 year old that i think might enjoy the cococay and we did enjoy the food on our Royal Cruise. Do these cruises usually book up quick or might there be offers nearer the date. Would appreciate any help .TIA

Now have flights booked so getting somewhere , i have seen there are some Carnival cruises also available for my dates and quite abit cheaper , just thinking maybe i should read up on cruising with them , is food quality , drink prices similar?  We will have 8 nights so i think it will work to fit a 3 or 4 night cruise in there. Our flight out in around 4.00 pm so i'm presuming we should have no problem even if we return that day on cruise docking at 7am.

18 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

I'd book as soon as possible to get the best possible choice of staterooms.

 

Cococay still has free beach, pool, loungers, shade, BBQ lunch, and another food venue.

 

Drink packages are available.

 

They charge tips by the number of nights.

18 hours ago, grapau27 said:

 

Don't forget to get your ESTA

Book through the official Homeland security website $11 and lasts 2 years.

If you have one and used it previously you can skip the visitors queue and join the US citizens/Previous Esta use queue.

Try for a 4 night cruise as it is less hectic.

Get a JS or higher cabin if there are 3-4 of you sharing.

Thanks for your help , i was thinking of booking early to get a good cabin , i think its worth paying the extra to get the choice , the ESTA i had read about but think have to find the right site as i think some are agencies that just charge extra for doing it , now i know what price it should be that will help.

Another doubt if bad weather is forecast , what probable option would they give , cancel or cruise elsewhere?

Price and booking terms seem to vary alot if i book here in Spain i can cancel free up till september , if i book through UK site i have to pay part of cruise now and can see no refund option !!!

We live in Europe and are planning to visit Orlando in november , we are thinking of combining this with a 3 night cruise , our previous cruise in europe was on seranade and we were very happy so have been looking at royal again , or should we consider other options?

Should be book now ? as we will want a cabin for 3 or 4.

Cocobay is any of it included or all extra?

Also are there drink packages available for these short cruises?

Tips if it is 3 night cruise are we charged for 3 tip charges or do they count the 4th day too?

Thanks for any help.

On Seranade in may most of the staff we were in contact with were very friendly , our steward and all around our cabin were very pleasant and helpfull , restaurant staff if anything were abit over talkative for me , if i did find anyone that could of been more pleasant it was the bar staff , and we were paying for drink no package!!!

Hi We did the Norweigen fjords on seranade this year and it was great , great views even from the dining room while eating .

I live in Spain and booked directly with their spanish office , we do get price drops in Spain i got one !! we booked well in advance and choose cabin 8020 , booked around august 2018 at good price , got price drop in november and sailing was end may 2019 .

Always wash the odd t shirt or small things in bottom of shower with shower gel or shampoo ,on our cruise purposely took some pegs and pegged them on back of chair on balcony overnight.

this evening my daughter said i could just eat one of those ceasar salads i had on the cruise (seranade may ) so i guess she was impressed with the food , i must say food was much better than i expected it to be .just wondering if anyone has any ideas of comparison of food on MSC versus Royal ?

I had registered a cash account , and on final day i went to guest relations and paid my account and it showed the cash going off my prepaid card , that evening i spent about 50 dollars , surprising thing was overnight my card was charged those 50 dollars and again the amount i had already paid so double the amount was blocked of my card , i thought in a couple of days it would then be available but i think it took about 20 days , in my case was not an issue but other people could have difficulties i had other cards i could use.

On 8/7/2019 at 8:48 PM, fscool said:

I have one question that has really bothered me especially on our last cruise.  It has to do with "All Aboard" time.  If you are late for the All Aboard time, could the ship leave without you? 

 

Here is why I ask.  I felt cheated by what RCL puts on the Invoice for Port times vs what the reality is. They shave an hour off of the port days.  I guess I can deal with the Gangway Down times.  Stuff happens in-transit.  But the All Aboard Time was HEAVILY promoted as when you MUST be back on the ship.  They mentioned it at all sorts of events.  

 

Bermuda:  8:00am – 4:00pm

Gangway down:  8:30am

All Aboard:  3:30pm

Ship Departed:  3:45pm

 

Labadee:  9:30am - 5:00pm

Gangway down: 10:00am

All Aboard:  4:30pm

Ship Departed: 4:45pm

 

PR: 7:00am – 3:00pm

Gangway down: 7:30am

All Aboard:  2:30pm

Ship Departed: 2:45pm

 

Sint Maarten:  12:15pm – 8:00pm

Gangway down:  12:45pm

All Aboard:  7:30pm

Ship Departed: 7:50pm

 

 

yes i was very surprised our cruise in may seemed to leave every stop beforethe departure time!!

Hi i live in Mallorca and it's quite easy to get from Barcelona to Mallorca but many flights are full , the flights are cheap with ryanair but booking in advance i would think it is risky expecting to get availability on the day , only option for me would be booking a barcelona - mallorca flight now in case you need it , also if you are checking in luggage will put the price up , ferry would be an option and you would arrive at the port so would save the 20 min drive from airport to port but also take into consideration ferry crossings can be cancelled due to bad weather .

The other more expensive airlines might have availabilty on the day but cost could be high , i personally wouldnt risk it , i would fly in to barcelona the day before even if cost you more in the end it could get expensive going from Barcelona to Mallorca , please ask if you have any questions .

Hi i have been looking at a cruise out of venice that stops at split and dubrovnik , i found the rhapsody cruise first week in sep 2020 but looking at the dubrovnik stop i think it was only from 12,30 - 18,30 and if we have to be back an hour before i'm not sure its going to give us much time see much , also is there anywhere where i can check if the stops are docked and walk off or tender .

We were on Seranade in norway in may and we were on the floating dock so had no problems but there a a ncl ship in and the waiting line to get back on ship by tender went all round the small village !!

16 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Asking for a friend. Did you tip the bartender the first time you got your Pina Colada?

No and i did wonder if this was why she said no ,i had no drink package and had pre paid tips . 

Hi i ordered a piña colada at the bar nearest the pool tables on serenade a couple of week ago , next evening went to the same bar and same girl said sorry i can't make it , i was quite taken back by the way she said it and did'nt believe her , went to another bar slightly farther away and got it no problem , but must say i was quite dissapointed at her attitude .

We asked steward and he said we could use cabin till 8.30 so we left out luggage there had breakfast about 7.30 went back to cabin picked luggage up and self disembarked, a couple of weeks ago on seranade.

Hi we were on Seranade last week we had no noise in cabin 8020 but each time we left the centrum we mentioned how much noise the first cabins along there must have . we had a great time and really enjoyed out trip !!

8 hours ago, kernow said:

This is the dining room wine list. All the prices on Indy already include the service charge.

Much appreciated , i hope the weather improves for you !!!

Thanks for all this info , we are sailing Baltic cruise next week not on the same ship but info on what goes on in Europe is good , if you have a chance could you look at prices of bottles of red wine in dining room?

I live in Spain but i'm from Cornwall too . Enjoy your holiday xx

2 minutes ago, Luminated67 said:

We are UK citizens, I’m think that due to the fact it’s Sunday to call out a doctor would be considerably more than running down to the medical team on the ship. He’s on antibiotics but would like someone professional to take a quick look and advise whether to keep it covered or let the air at it, also whether to bath it regularly or not.

 

Last year we didn’t make our holiday, in the airport he took very unwell and was rushed by ambulance to hospital for several days. To say we are nervous would be an understatement.

I would also try and see a doctor onshore before you board ,are you sure you dont have any credit card cover by the card you paid for your holiday? That would cover you for onshore consultation.

Usually we dont bother with insurance as our credit card gives us basic cover and we live in Europe so we are covered for medical cover all through Europe ,but i think a cruise is a complete different story ,if we need to be airlifted for any reason it could cost a fortune so the 100 euros we have paid i think is well worth it , i think it was 80 euros for this cruise or 100 for a years cover so we took the yearly one.

I am in Spain and with my price drop when i called they were saying they could not see it coming up any cheaper so in the end i made another reservation (here we get about 2 weeks to pay deposit) and phoned with that booking number which was for the same thing as in my original booking but about 300 euros cheaper and the automatically gave me the discount on my original booking and cancelled the new one , but actually it was them that originally tipped me to do it this way . I had a refundable deposit so could of cancelled original booking but prefered to stay with that one as i had a good cabin.

We live in Europe so we can use our sims in europe when we are in port or ashore , but on board when we are out at sea we will have to use the ships package .

7 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

My BIL insists that his room on Serenade was haunted.  One night he woke up and saw a man staring at him.  BIL woke up SIL and said- there is a man in the room!  She looked, and didn’t see anything...  the man was there several minutes, then disappeared.

Can you remember the cabin number ,if its mine i might need the drinks package 🤣🤣🤣