ARandomTraveler

I like the Voyager class ships (which explorer is part of). I actually prefer the slightly larger Freedom class ships over the Voyager class (and Oasis class might be my new overall favorite), so in my opinion, the voyager class ships are "small." The explorer is big enough to be able to find something to do everyday, but not so big that you leave the ship feeling like you never saw most of the ship. The other thing I like about this class is that there is a lot of outdoor space where you can get fresh air and sunshine. I also like that it has a promenade (the indoor area of the ship that is open, basically from one end of the ship to the other and has a bar, a cafe, some shops etc.) which Grandeur doesn't have. I've never been on Grandeur or that class of ship, but don't think I would like it because it's smaller, older, and lacks the promenade inside the ship. I love St Lucia. If given the option to sail to St Lucia on grandeur or explorer, I would pick explorer. If given the option to sail St Lucia and the only way to go was to sail on the Grandeur, I'd opt not to go.

This was my experience as well. I had about 800 euros for my trip last fall and came home with almost all of it. Not only are credit cards used everywhere, but you don't even need the actual card because they take Apple Pay everywhere (at least in France and Italy they did).

My Chase Sapphire Reserve doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee, but it DOES charge a cash advance fee, so using the credit card to get cash out of the ATM is a bad idea.

Question - I'm filling out the form right now, and there's a question on the application that asks for an "intended residential address in Vietnam." What did you put there? The email from RC said to use Nha Trang seaport for your "entry and exit," but that's not what the form asks for. Also, Nha Trang is not even an option in the "city/province" section, but I googled it and it's in Khanh HOA, so that's what I selected. I can't imagine everyone is filling out this form correctly with this garbage info RC gave us.

I would highly recommend leaving from Puerto Rico at least once. Beware that it will cost you quite a bit more money because airfare is usually kind of pricey, and hotels in San Juan are somewhat expensive (they have a really high tourism tax). But it's worth it in my opinion. There are other islands besides the ABCs that are also great. St Lucia and Barbados are 2 of my favorites. I like both of those more than Curacao (I haven't been to Bonaire). In Aruba you can also check out the Aruba Trikes tour, it's a 3-wheeled motorcycle tour through the island, you can seat up to 3 people on the trike. I've done that tour twice.

Aruba was my favorite too. So much so that I've been back a couple times for land vacations.

Is it possible that they used to obtain the visas for everyone pre-pandemic and now they don't? I just don't feel comfortable showing up to the ship and hoping they did it for me, especially since the email is giving us the info to do it ourselves.

We are on this cruise as well. I've been struggling to figure out whether I should just do the ports on my own or book tours. I don't want to miss out on seeing special sites because it's unlikely I'll ever come back to these places again. However, if there are things to do within walking distance of the port, I'd be ok exploring on my own. It's so hard to figure out because there's so little information on this cruise route. I did get an email today from Royal Caribbean with the links for applying for visas (you'll have also received it). In Singapore, we're staying at the Marina Bay Sands. I booked it almost 10 months ago, and we'll have a view of the gardens by the bay and it cost almost $800/night, even booking way in advance. I also have a backup hotel booked, the Conrad Centennial Singapore (it's a Hilton branded hotel). It's quite a bit cheaper, not quite as centrally located, but gets good reviews. You might check that one out if Marina Bay prices are too high. Thanks for starting this thread, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one having a hard time figuring out how the heck to plan for the ports.

This seems like such a great service! I've looked at a couple websites that explain the service and how to use it, but it doesn't look like there's a place at the Yokohama cruise port where you can walk off the ship and send your bags to a hotel or 7-11 in Tokyo. I wonder if we were to just bring a big bike lock and tied our luggage up at a bike rack or something, if that would work to go to the Ramen museum before heading to Tokyo. Are bike racks common out there?

I got an email from Royal Caribbean today and they gave the info about who might need to apply for visas, and it seems pretty clear that everyone has to apply for their own (they don't do it for you).

The water is prettier (it's more calm, it's crystal clear, and it's warm for more months of the year than the islands that are on the eastern and western routes). These islands are also much less crowded because less tourists make the longer flights to get there, and less ships visit these ports, especially in summer. They're just prettier, and more unique in my opinion, and they have a different vibe than say, Cozumel, Nassau, Roatan, St Maarten etc. Barbados and St Lucia are also on that list of southern route islands that are gorgeous and unique.

Thanks for the heads up, I'm gonna go put a deposit down on that one. Last time I did the ABC route, they changed the itinerary and skipped Bonaire, so I obviously need a do-over.

I figured it's probably because there's only 3 left and so they're priced really high. I can do 2 insides for about $7000 vs $11000 for the one balcony. It's for the October 5th 2024 sailing. I didn't pull the trigger on the inside rooms yet because I'd really prefer to do a balcony for a 16 day cruise, and I just need to convince myself that $11,000 is worth it (it's probably not). I'm doing a 12 day cruise this summer in a balcony on a much nicer ship (spectrum) and it cost me less than $5,000. Of course the rest of the vacation, (airfare, hotels, and the land portion of that vacation) is costing me 5x that amount, but if I'm just comparing the cruise fare, it's ridiculous to be charged $11,000 a year and a half in advance when I got a similar trip on a nicer ship for less than $5,000 when I only booked it 10 months in advance. I might put a deposit down on a refundable fare to hold the room and watch to see if prices drop, but I'm unlikely to take a 16 day cruise on a crappy ship in an inside room for 11 grand.

I'm excited to see these Panama Canal cruise itineraries! There's a few 14-16 day itineraries going from Los Angeles and ending in Ft Lauderdale in 2024. I almost booked one today until I saw that the one I wanted had balcony cabins starting at $4400/person, plus an additional $2000+ to make it refundable ☹️. I guess I discovered this itinerary too late because there's only 3 balconies left, even at that price.

When I was doing research for Italy and France, a lot of things I read (and Rick Steves videos I watched) said to be prepared for a strike on at least one form of transportation while you're there because they happen all the time. I think train strikes happen more than airline strikes. Not sure about Spain, but you should be prepared with a backup plan just in case, especially for Rome, even if your backup plan is just making sure you have travel insurance that covers strikes and will reimburse you for having to buy new airline or train tickets, or extra nights in a hotel while you wait out the strike.

Doesn't seem like there's much value in booking on board anymore. I remember back in 2004 when the next cruise desk offered increasing amounts of on board credit each passing day of the cruise to try and entice people to book another cruise. They gave out $600 of obc for booking a regular balcony. It may have just been that particular cruise I was on, but I remember the discussion about what a great deal it was. Those days are long gone.

Not with this recent strike, but I had travel affected by an airline strike in France last September. The airline (Air France) let us know a couple days in advance that the strike was going to happen, so we changed our travel plans to leave on an earlier flight. My travel insurance policy paid for the additional hotel night, and reimbursed me for non-refundable tour tickets etc. so it worked out ok, although we did miss a day in Italy because of it.

True, the one that goes to Aruba and curacao have those 2 southern islands on them, but it also has one of the private islands, and so many sea days, so I guess that's more what I was thinking - that itinerary is missing the opportunity to hit up so many other islands. But to each their own I guess. If I was going on the cruise to hit up southern islands, I'd personally choose to leave from San Juan where you'll get more islands, and not "waste" one of the port days on a private island you could get on pretty much every other itinerary. If the only 2 options for the southern route are to sail the odyssey or symphony, I'd pick symphony, Aruba and Curacao route.

True - if you're looking for more time on the ship vs caring where it goes, these longer cruises are nice, plus it's nice to have more time on these bigger ships too. I was speaking more about the itinerary, which in my opinion, these aren't real southern routes. Then again, looking at what Royal Caribbean is currently offering in their San Juan southern route itineraries, those don't look all that appealing right now either. I miss the days when they had a freedom class ship sailing out of San Juan and hitting up St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St Kitts, Aruba, curacao and Bonaire. Now it's a jewel class ship (at best) going to obscure islands that still haven't recovered from the hurricanes like Dominica. I've looked at the offerings through April 2025 and there really isn't much I'd be excited for right now.

I would do symphony because the southern Caribbean has great weather, so you'll want an outdoor ship. That being said, if you really want a southern Caribbean route, I'd take a ship that leaves from San Juan Puerto Rico rather than one that leaves from Florida. They're very different experiences. Leaving from San Juan, you actually get 4-5 southern islands (5-6 if you include Puerto Rico). You usually get a port stop every day, with mayyyyybe 1 sea day. Those are the best southern itineraries. These ones that leave from Florida, in my opinion, aren't very good "southern" route cruises.

Since you've both sailed on Spectrum by now, can you confirm that there are in fact no freestyle machines? And if there really are no freestyle machines, what kind of soda can you get at the bar? Someone mentioned in another thread that it was hard to get Coke products in Asia, so I'm curious if they have different brands, or if they simply don't have soda at all?

Thread hijack: Someone asked recently if the Spectrum has them, and it sounded like the answer was no, due to the inability to get the supplies to keep them working. That's making me wonder though, if they can't get supplies, then do they even have soda at the bars for making mixed drinks? I bought the drink package yesterday for my Spectrum cruise because of how cheap it was, but if I can't get a bourbon and Coke, do I even want the drink package?

Just have a male friend or relative call and say they're him.

I forgot that option, definitely check your credit card. That's one of the biggest benefits of having a good travel credit card.

Yes it's too late, unless you booked the cruise within the last 14 days, in which case you can buy cancel for any reason insurance (you'd get 75% back if you cancel). You might be able to buy a policy that allows pre-existing conditions but I'm not sure how those work or what they cost.