BecAus

Thanks Biker

Couldn’t remember it offhand & didn’t have time to look it up : )

Hi there

I have to get ready for work so don't have alot of time but will try and quickly answer your questions.

We just got back from our 4n sailing out of Singapore on SOTS on June 6th.

We had a great time on  board. Ship is still beautiful and still looking brand spanking new!

We were in a Silver Jnr suite.  Access was exactly the same as when we briefly sailed her on the inaugural sailings out of Singapore.

Silver's had full access to the Silver Lounge / Dining (bit like a CK set-up)

No 'snacks' being served in there during Happy Hour but one night we went there during that time (eating elsewhere that night) and made our own pre-dinner snacks from the buffet (no eating in the actual lounge) and they were happy for us to do that at a table - never a problem with tables.

You definitely have access to the Solarium, in fact whole ship does.  You can enter through the Silver Lounge into that area.  Half is roped off f, supposedly only for Silver guests but I saw quite a few people read the sign, look around and walk through into that area who I suspect weren't but it was NOWHERE near full anyway

Loved the SIlver Lounge! Tried the jammer for B/F and my husband hated it, it was chaos. The Silver Lounge was lovely. We never made it there for B/F unfortunately as we were up too late.

I haven't got time to post welcome letters but YES as a Diamond I would have had full access to the same as Junior suite so if I'd booked balcony instead of suite I would have had the same experience but the extra room in the junior was nice even though it was only 4n.

I don't think Diamond's get priority boarding.  By pure chance we got called over to the 'suite' boarding lane and I did note that it said Sea Class (which is Silver Jnr) and the Classes above - Sky and ??.

But it was not super crowded when we boarded and wouldn't have been an issue either way.

Asked Silver concierge and they were sailing with 3018 guests which is a little over half capacity.

Only time I noticed C & A priority was at the Two70 show where D+ and above and the two higher classes of suites (not Silver Jnr - Sea class) were allowed in 5mins before others.

On that note - the Two70 show 'Silk Road' was showing.  I didn't think it was as it wasn't in the app the week before but it was.  Made a reservation for it in the app just after we boarded.

Show seems different to when I first saw it in 2019.

Reservations needed for bumper cars.  They charge for Ifly and Northstar - we've done before so weren't worried about going on but I think it's pretty rude to charge people for these - I guess it keeps the numbers down for it though.  I know when I was on in 2019 they didn't have enough space to accommodate everyone on  a 3n cruise and it was a real problem for guests who didn't know they had to book early or miss out so maybe that's why they did it but I still think it's disappointing they charge.

It was $20 Northstar, $40 'extended' Northstar and $40 Ifly.

Re: Gold suite - they definitely have their own areas up on decks 15 / 16.  They can go to Silver dining room but have their own up there.

They wouldn't have exclusive access to Solarium, their deck is above it.  They might have a balcony up there overlooking it but that would be it.  My husband wanted to look at the area and reckoned he would get in, I told him he couldn't and he was back a minute later - yep, no access!

You swipe your room card to open door to Silver and Gold areas.

On boarding day we went to Silver lounge before we had our cards (they are waiting at your stateroom) and there was a staff member at the Silver door letting people in and checking names off a list.  After that we used our card to swipe for access.

In conclusion, I would have got the same access to everything as a Diamond in a regular inside or balcony suite as I did in a junior suite.

Gotta go now.  If you have any more questions I'll try and answer for you later.  I can try and post our welcome letter although posting photos ain't my specialty!

Hope that helps

Grat's are included like they are in Aus.

If it's about the same price then that's all good, just thought I'd mention it.  I was a little shocked to find the same cruise was 1K more on the AUS site!

I believe it is the start of their school break but I only had a one week window available to me so couldn't be choosy.  Could have something to do with the pricing I looked at, not sure?

I read thru all the T&C and could find nothing that said I couldn't book thru the SIN site, you're just bound by their T&C which seem similar to ours.

The OBC was $50 then, the new offer is $76!

I too have been looking at this recently and it was hard to get much info but was able to find a couple of recent articles by googling and I think the Singapore Cruise Society blog had some info.

Spectrum has only been back sailing in Singapore for about 5 weeks.

We too are Diamond.  From what I read there is not really any priority boarding at the moment like there used to be.  Perhaps full suites but I'm not even sure about that.  It did mention The Key had priority and ? Pinnacles - I think an article said Singapore just got their 2nd Pinnacle.

You have to choose your check-in time and they are very strict about that to control the number of passengers in one area.  If you arrive early you will be turned away.

The main benefit appears to be a bigger room of course and you have access to the Silver Dining Room for B/F, lunch and dinner - it used to be only dinner like CK on their other ships but changed recently from what I've read.

My son and I flew up to Singapore for a short cruise on SC on the inaugural voyage across from Europe to Asia when it called in there for a week.  We were in an inside room and had access to the Silver Lounge as Diamonds - they didn't have a DL and this replaced that.  To me it is a mix of a DL and CK.  

It has the lounge area and then a restaurant area where they have a (smaller than WJ of course) buffet which I believe is for B/F and Lunch and then for dinner there is the buffet plus you can order

a la carte items as well.

I could find nothing mentioned about whether Diamonds were still being able to access the SIlver Lounge so I'm not sure about whether that is still the policy or not.

It did mention the 4 x vouchers that Diamonds now get.

I hope that helps a little bit.

As an aside... I found the same 4n cruise to be $1000 cheaper on the RCI Singapore site as opposed to the Aus site!

On 5/3/2022 at 1:02 PM, RCCL Fan said:

We're sailing to Naples, Ephesus, Mykonos and Santorini on Odyssey of the Seas

 

I know zip about any of these places but am looking for private tours.

 

 

Thanks for this thread RCCL Fan (and thanks to all the contributors)

We are on the WC leg that goes to all these places and I've had no idea where to even start as we've not been to this region at all.

I'm just starting my research for when excursions are released and I have cut and posted most of this thread which has such useful info and tips.

Hope you have a great time on your cruise!

I was reading your review of Wonder just out of interest and then came across these last 4 posts which were very interesting and helpful for me! 😃

I've just booked a 4n on Spectrum out of Singapore in 2 weeks, travelling from Perth, Aus.

It was hard to find much information about the current info / conditions and the current requirements for sailing out of Sing on SC.

My son and I did duck up to Singapore to check out Spectrum on her inaugural sailing over to Asia so I am somewhat familiar with the ship.

We are Diamond and on that sailing (we had an inside room) we were able to use the Silver lounge & buffet - loved that venue, especially the dining area!

I've booked a Silver Jnr Suite for my husband and I.  Might be a bit of a waste if we are still allowed to use that area as Diamonds, I wasn't sure if that might have changed by now.  I only paid ~ $480 extra for the Jnr as opposed to a Balcony though so it's no big deal and the extra space will be nice even if it's only a 4n cruise - short and sweet but gotta take what we can get at the moment!

Very much looking forward to it as we haven't had the ships here for 2 years and are crossing our fingers hopefully that it is looking more promising that they will be able to return to Aus this November.

So...thank you for your review of Wonder xxHadleyxx which I was reading with interest even though I'll probably never sail on it unless they bring it downunder

and thank you to you & ChC for the last few posts which was timely and helpful for me to read 😃

6 hours ago, direptor said:

I only been to Nha Trang on Singapore -> Shanghai sailings. I forgot if the Singapore to Hong Kong sailings stop there too. Hopefully we get something more than just Penang/Phuket bah. Phuket especially isn't as nice to visit from about Mar-Oct since they ship doesn't dock near Patong Beach and its a 45mins ride from the Deep Sea Port to Patong Beach.

We did the Singapore to HK sailing on Voyager, July 2018. 

15 hours ago, island lady said:

Feeling bummed about losing the Aussie adventure on Radiance (again)....I have made three trips to Next Cruise while here on EX.  

 

1st day booked another Wonder B2B

Yesterday another Jewel B2B

 

Today....tacked on leg 4 of World Cruise to rejoin the ship 5 months after we depart from leg #1.   Both leg one and four have really great itineraries!  

 

OK...now I feel better!  😉 😄 

WOW!!! - "tacked on leg 4 of World Cruise to rejoin the ship 5 months after we depart from leg #1."

Congratulations!!!  (if that's the right term for it! 😁  ) how exciting for you.  I'll have to go back and check the details of that leg - I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time!

We have booked one of the other two legs and am pretty excited about it.

Did you get a decent cabin you're happy with on that leg?  I'm really interested to know how 'sold out' the WC is - as one can't book/check online it's hard to tell.

I'm so sorry about the cancellation of your Aussie  Adventure, again!  It really sucks that RCI has done this to people, especially after everything that's gone on over the last two years.

I'm still not sure how our upcoming season will go but it's still a while off yet.

We have a cruise out of Sydney to NZ booked for late Nov - at this stage I'm not confident, but hopeful, that NZ will allow cruise ships in.

I booked a back-up cruise (this is a 'big birthday' celebration cruise) out of Brisbane to the Sth Pacific but a lot of people think there's even less chance of the Sth Pacific having cruise ships due to their low vaccination status but I really have my fingers crossed that NZ will be open.

Best wishes for your upcoming adventures, hopefully you might get to do your Aussie Adventure at some point in the future, if you haven't completely given up trying at this point of course!  😃

As Chiliburn mentioned, they extended the Double Points offer for Aussie's last week.

It doesn't apply to most posters here on CC so didn't bother posting about it.

We have a GS booking x 2, and a JS booking x 1 (2 of the reservations are for a TP - to/from Aus at each end of the season, we would only take one of them - the dates work out better for the April '23 one for us now)

I expect the reservations in these rooms to attract 4 points p/night - the regular 2 points/night for a suite doubled to 4 with the promotion.

Of course - one actually has to have a 'cruising season' to be able to actually get the points!!

Fingers crossed!!

>>>Dear Crown & Anchor Society Member,

We have great news to share with you! Over the last year, we’ve received many comments and feedback on our Double Points promotion which you were unable to participate in due to the halt on domestic and international cruising for Australians. Today, we are excited to advise that we will be offering the Double Points promotion for bookings made by our Australian members through 31st March 2022 for sailings departing prior to 30th April 2023. This means that your booking will qualify for double points! <<<

I hope I'm allowed to ask this question here

I'm wondering how noisy the rooms are above the Casino.  Balcony room on Starboard side just forward of the hump.

Would you hear noise from the Casino in the room?  Not worried about the balcony so much but would you hear noise when sealed in the room, mainly night-time I'm worried about obviously with regards to sleeping 

Thanks for any advice.

7 minutes ago, island lady said:

Was just too convenient to hop off in LA and keep it to non-international flights. 

Ahh, that definitely makes sense!  Makes sense with all your other plans too  - wow, sounds amazing!

I see Biker posted today our cruise ban is extended to April 17th which is not a surprise. We don't really have a winter cruising season down here

I think there is some hope we will have a season starting this October here in Aus however I think (at this stage) NZ may pose a problem : (

I'd heard they were opening to Aussie's in July and everyone in Oct.  I briefly searched out a self-drive of the Sth Island for October and then thought I'd just check their official travel website.  Whilst they are opening they are expecting travellers to quarantine for 10days on arrival!!   Can't see any way they'll be letting ships in if that is the case!

I have a 11n NZ cruise booked from Sydney in November and I'm a lot less hopeful about that now  : (

There's a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and then of course but geez, just when I started to have some hope that it would all be looking up by then.

Glad you enjoyed your experience today and had fun!

22 hours ago, island lady said:

OK...yet another trip to Next Cruise. 🤑  Didi came through for us, calling me late last night.  Finalized it this morning.  We are now booked for 1st leg World Cruise, 64 days Circle South America with stops in Antarctica!!!  🤗

Hi island lady

Hope you're enjoying your second week.

I was wondering what about the 1st leg interested you the most as opposed to the 3rd or 4th leg.

I know why the 2nd leg didn't appeal, same reason for me.

Cheers

I was curious what Zone Zero was as I hadn't heard about it, googled it and the above info was from the 'Blog'

Not sure about cost - might be one of these activities that has a complimentary and a $$ component depending on which option you choose - Northstar and Ifly come to mind that have these additional options.

Hopefully IslandLady can give some more info when she does it

3 minutes ago, John&amp;LaLa said:

Spent a lot of time chatting with the couple in front of us pre show. It was nice sharing.

 

After show headed to Music Hall for the Rock Band, but got there early enogh for Laura to join the 60 seconds game show

 

 

 

Lovely photos - I love the outfit she's wearing!

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

 

The self serve bottles of water is one of the best perks I have ever seen in an SL!!  Nice!!  🙂 

I was going to ask John about that photo of the soda/water fridge in the SL and whether it is standard issue for all of the SL's (in particular Quantum and Ovation) although I don't think those 2 sail down in your part of the world usually?  I have read on and off about soda/water being available in SL's.

It sounds like from your post that it's not necessarily a perk available in all SL'S?

Our next 2 cruises are booked in suites (our first time in one) so I was interested.

That's 'IF', and it's a big if (unbelievably) whether we have a cruising season down-under this coming season starting in September.  Hard to believe they may not go ahead with another season, fingers crossed they can bring the ships down here.

Really enjoyed your thread and the photos John and also your contributions island lady.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise, it really looks delightful!

Thanks so much for your trip review and all your brilliant photos - it looks amazzzzing!!!

Loved all the food photos and that you also included what the dishes were.

Your tour photos are beautiful and it sounds like you've had a really great trip.

Just a teenzy bit jealous sitting here reading it all from down-under in (Western) Australia.

We're so tightly locked down here it's anyone's guess when we'll be able to get on a ship again.

Enjoy the last days of your cruise - loved reading about your trip!

>>>Wrong again. Each capacity is 2800.  
must have been a covid thing. <<<

Actually, I don't think this is related to Covid.  I googled earlier and found an article about it.

There had been a push from locals from as far back as early 2019 to change the number of passengers arriving, particularly on large cruise ships.

They are concerned about the impact it is having on their surrounding environment, particularly as companies build bigger and bigger (mega) ships.

? Perhaps not dissimilar to Venice who were concerned about the impact of cruise ships there.

There was mention in the article that the President of French Polynesia said an exception might be made for TP voyages.

A few stops in Tahiti are affected and Bora Bora was specifically mentioned as only allowing 1,200 daily cruise passengers to arrive.

O.P. - Apologies, sorry to go off topic and derail your thread although I think you did get the answers you were after (hopefully!)  Happy New Year to all!

I have no idea - I'd been going to ask the question here on CC.

I feel like a while ago I read people talking about changes to port/s in that region and didn't realise it applied to us until I got the email from RCI but maybe i was imagining it. 

I agree, it seemed to be very early to be making that call!

No, we've never been . Have rebooked this TP a few times now and who knows if they'll allow cruising by then into AUS - gosh I really hope so.  It may be iffy as, if it happens, it would be the one of the first ships arriving down-under since the pandemic began.  If they do allow the cruise ships in it may be without passengers on the TP crossing but we will have to wait and see.

I was confident enough that I've booked all flights and hotels so my fingers are crossed that things start to look more normal by then!

Not sure if you are referring to pre-cruise or once onboard?

When we've missed a port a few times (mainly South Pacific but also a couple in NZ) we didn't receive any compensation, not even port fees as far as I recall (but we may have as most people report getting back the port fees but not sure we did.)

For our upcoming (hopefully) TP in October we received notification on 11/19/21 that Bora Bora had been dropped and was being replaced with an additional day in Moorea.

We had until Dec 3rd to advise if we wanted to cancel for full refund of monies paid if you wanted.

If you wished to keep your booking then we were offered $100 USD obc - this appeared on our cruise planner automatically a week or two after the Dec 3rd deadline.

I used it to rebook my 5n Dining Plan which I'd purchased with my other items in the Black Friday sales - the DP wasn't on sale but I'd purchased it anyway, however taking the $100 off made it a bit more palatable and felt like we'd therefore got it at a bit of a sale / discount!

Lovely review - such helpful details for people with upcoming cruises.

Love your style of writing.

Your photos are all brilliant and gorgeous photos of your kids (and yourselves of course)

It sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas cruise.

Thanks for taking the time to review - it is an enjoyable read sitting here in AUS with no cruising in sight for the forseeable future!

I believe Wonderland is only on the Quantam class ships

Edit: sorry, actually might be on a couple of the Oasis class ships - maybe Harmony and Symphony but not Oasis by the looks (I actually thought it was only on Quantam class, shows how much I know!!)

I think others have said recently that the dining pkgs, Chops + 1 etc.. will sell out, they only release a certain number of them, but keep checking - if people cancel some bookings may open up again

I think somebody might be confused.  RCI cancelled the upcoming season through till March 2022 due to the Govt's dithering and not giving them any clue as to when & how they might be able to restart.   I didn't think there was anyway these cruises would go ahead anyway. 

Things are looking a lot better in NSW now and if it was up to them they probably would allow the cruises to go ahead but the cruise ship suspension is up to the Federal Govt and whilst they are pushing for everything to open back up we don't have any international travellers coming in by air yet and I don't think they'll allow cruise ships back for a while.  

I think it's way too early to talk about the next cruise season starting in October 2022.  You would have to think that things will be settled down enough with vaccines etc.. & starting to learn to live with Covid that it should go ahead and hopefully be back to normal.

The website (the AUS one anyway) has been playing up for the last few days and not showing all the cruises that should be available.  I'm not reading too much into it at this stage.  It would be way too early for them to pull the pin on next season now.

I can see my Oct '22 Qu TP online and on my app but can't see my Nov '22 Ov NZ cruise online, only on the app.

Time will tell, but I"m not worried about them being cancelled at this stage.

ETA. to clarify, both cruises are in my RCI account when I log in.

But.. if I go to 'search' for a cruise on the AUS website I can see the TP but can't see any cruises available for Nov' 22 and for other months around it appears not all cruises are loading properly at the moment, I could see it a couple of days ago.  I think it's just the website being dodgy which happens every now and then.