Tippyton

Background - 1x HAL (Mexican Riviera), 1X Princess (Alaska), 2x NCL (Alaska and Western Caribbean), 8?x CCL. Self, DW, 2X adult DD (21/24), MIL/FIL. At this point we look at itineraries first and price, not necessarily line or ship. In no particular order... Itinerary - only Costa Maya was new for us. They cut the port time short before the cruise, so all board was 12:30 PM. Our excursion had been cancelled due to this, so we walked (squeezed?) around the base port for an hour or so. Like our short stop last year in Ketchikan on NCL - a completely worthless stop, We did not venture out of the "trap". On Cozumel we rented a jeep and drove around the island, stopping at a few bars and the Punta Sur preserve. In Roatan (our 4th visit) we did the Jolly Roger tour through the ship. We ended up in the water for about 45 minutes. The catamaran was not near as well appointed as one we took in Barbados in 2019 (CCL trip), and the overall excursion was....boring. Considering the price, I would go private tour again all day long. A huge disappointment. Ship - the ship was nice. We did not feel it was difficult to get around or navigate as some ships seem to be. The decor was more modern and lacked the kitchy (sp?) look many other ships. It seemed more like a destination resort a la Gaylord Texan than a cruise ship, and there was plenty to do. The downside was that with >6000 PAX, it is crowded. In some cases (e.g. karaoke) a large crowd is more fun. Otherwise it was difficult to find a quiet spot outside of your room. At the end of the day, I don't really know how I feel about that size of a ship. I did love the 5th deck walking track going all around the ship - I love that feature on some of the older boats. Entertainment - We did Mama Mia and the Aqua show - both were probably the best shows we've seen on a cruise ship. The music groups on the ship were all very good. There was a group (5-piece band with a female singer) that played in Razzles and on the promenade and they were really good.. We also sat in on (also Razzles) a 9-piece jazz/swing band that played some old tunes from the early 20th century and on. Very entertaining to listen to - I could have sat there if they played all night. We went to the booking desk as soon as we got on the ship and reserved the two shows that were "no availability" pre cruise. As mentioned above, if there is an activity you want to attend (karaoke, trivia, game shows, etc.) - best get there plenty early. Room - we were on Deck 14 aft in a inside balcony. Never really felt the ocean because we basically had flat seas the whole trip. Again - the experience was more like a destination resort than a cruise ship The rooms were decently sized and appointed well. Beds were very comfortable if you like firm beds, Our A/C worked fine - nice and cool if you kept the room shut up. One of these days it would be nice to have the lines put light switches and plugs by the beds. Oh well. One minor complaint is that the towels were the thin, small white prison-grade towels. Really? The room was fairly well insulated from noise from the hallways or from the plaza - surprisingly so. Dining/Food - Windjammer was average at best. Aside from the 1st day, they did not have a lunch carving station. The main entrees seemed bland and uninspired, and the variety lacked IMO. We did my time dining for dinner. Pre-cruise we could only get 8:30 PM (not knowing the new drill) but we went to the dining room right after we booked the shows and they had a 6:45 opening for 6. Perfect!. I don't like RCLs version of MTD. Either you have a set time to eat or you don't. On other lines you queue up for dinner on a FCFS basis or you have a set time to eat - but we were fortunate to get a good time and never had to wait on our table. The managers do a phenomenal job juggling those who have reservation vs those showing up. I think everybody gets seated fairly quickly from what I could tell. We did find out if you have a set time and don't show up twice in a row they open your table up. As it should be. We did do breakfasts either in the MDR or Windjammer. Both were fine options. Did one day at Johnny Rockets for breakfast - food was cold and meh at best. Did eat one day at the Mexican restaurant by the sports courts. I did not like it- really and I eat anything - flavors were either off or bland. The salsa was a pre-packaged poor-mans imitation of Pace. I thought the dinners overall in the MDR were very good. All of our meals came out hot, well-seasoned, and the vegetables were always cooked perfectly. The desserts were pretty good too. The only off day was Italian night. Some in our party had lasagna and it had a weird flavor profile, and the noodles were more like pasty dumpling dough than a cooked noodle. Very off-putting TBH. The sole was over cooked per one on our party, and my Chicken Parmesan lacked in the parmesan department. It was not what I expected but I did eat it and it tasted good. My one real complaint in the food department...the salad dressings were horrible with one exception. The dressing on the Greek tapas on Med night was good. All of the other "home-made" dressings did not taste very good, and the others were the worst versions of what they pretended to be. Think YMCA camp as a kid. The vinaigrette was sweet and fake, the bleu cheese was bad, the ranch tasted cheap, and the Caesar was equally bad. Good dressings, made fresh, are very easy and inexpensive and also can be readily done in bulk. Come on RCL. People/Clientele - OK, let the controversy start. We really don't pay attention much, so there's that. There were ~ 6200 PAX @ 98% capacity, and roughly 1000 children (per staff). Did not see really untoward or out-of-bounds behavior, not did we really see any obnoxious, loud drunks. By and large, a pretty normal crowd (remember - destination resort feel vs. booze cruise). Discussed this with DW on the way home - I think the size plays into this positively. [Volume drowns out the anomolies?]. Retirees, families, mixed single/married groups, families. all good. As for the kids, really did not see any obnoxious kids standing out or running amok - they were all pretty well behaved. [Same getting lost in the masses phenomenon?] Misc. - the app was ok, except the chat feature worked only part of the time. I had the internet package and that worked ok for web surfing, emails, and even some streaming like YT. Getting on the boat was quick, and getting off the boat was quick too (we self-disembarked). Although thee were a lot of people (have to have the "when in Rome" attitude towards this), did you rarely feel completely packed. In fact, I've never seen it easier to get on or off at any port than this. No backlogs, lines, or people pushed up against one another. Just another piece of the overall layout that was I think intentional to manage 6000 PAX. I'm sure I forgot a few things. Any questions I will try to help. Bottom line - no reason not to cruise RCL in the future, and no good reason not to sail on a mega ship either. EDIT - the Solarium is a nice space too.

We're on the May 14 sailing currently. I asked and was told 98%.🤷‍♂️

FWIW we are on the cruise and they are at 98% capacity. Not 100, not 104.

The Dream passed us (RCL Allure OTS) leaving Galveston Sunday 5-14, and was returning to the port about an hour later. What happened?

Not an economist, but since most currencies are anchored on the dollar, and the dollar is devalued by printing money (inflation), it begs at some level that our fiscal policy has a part in worldwide inflation.

Water was very clear, and the reef drops from ~ 30 feet to something like 3000 feet, and that edge had lots of fish of all sizes. I think the variety of aquarium-sized fish was phenomenal. I found myself snorkeling down to 30 feet often.

MIL, DW, and DDs will be happy. Thanks.😁👍

Add My Time Dining availability...Part of vacation is not having to pre plan EVERYTHING....

[Moving on from the drama....😁] 1st time on a megaship and first time on RCL (Allure) leaving next week. Relatively experienced cruisers never had any issue getting show seats on a FCFS basis. Last year on NCL Encore we didn't do a show, and the comedy ones were booked up - our first experience with "reservations needed". We live busy lives and haven't paid much attention. All shows are booked for the entire cruise and the ladies wanted to see Mama Mia. Any tips other than "better luck next time"? Thanks in advance.

[Cue Sad Trombone Sound] I am a cynic by nature, and all of this came though my DWs email as she was telling me (I am the voice of reason). I posted the whole offer here before I really looked. I also have a penchant for taking things apart and trying to put them back together again. As we were looking through options the math started not to add up. They were still selling seats on our cruise, and I know how that works. Then I clicked on the link - some survey site and no HTTPS in the address (my cue). So I added dummy info, including a dummy booking number, dummy email, etc. No stoppage- or data validation - that's all I needed. I'm sure the next pages would ask for a CC number. But alas. Drama aside, it wouldn't work out anyway, and we have three booking numbers. The "no calling" and "we will let you know if your booking changes by email" were the other pieces to the puzzle that didn't fit. Some guy named Adrian Dueker is going to get some emails. I hate thieves with a passion.

[Lots of texting and sidebars going on ATM]

Because of schedules, we're looking at the June 17th. There are 3 booking numbers linked. The way I see it we get a free 5-day cruise plus $300 per cabin. Downside is it's 5-day not 7. But its a free 5-day cruise. [We are local in TX FWIW] Am I high? LOL🤪

1 in college still and 1 of us tied workwise to school schedules somewhat. (start of school mostly). MIL/FIL retired. If we were empty nesters a no-brainer.

1st time on RCL. Our Allure sailing May 15 is overbooked, so they are offering 100% refund plus 100% FCC. What would you do?

What happens if you bring your open bottle to dinner?

Debating (for work purposes unfortunately). Opinions?

Since you love snorkeling, in all of your travels over the years, where was your best/most favorite? Mine has been Grand Turk, followed by Curacao (which has the most beautiful beaches and coves).

Done CCL a bunch. Doing our first RCL in May.

Glacier Bay also. And those throwing jackets on the lounge chairs in the Observation Lounge.

Same as my formal CC review with some bullet adds at the end.... All questions welcome. Great ship. This was our first time on a newer ship. Liked the layout, the design, the decor. All modern, with some smart features throughout. Easy to navigate. Even though it was a large ship, it did not seem big. Granted, we were only about 70% full but it never seemed crowded. Loved the observation lounge. Gym was nice but not enough floor room for stretching, etc. Atrium entertainment was great - all acts. Did not go to a show except the comedic magician. Pretty milquetoast stuff, a bit boring. Saw one comedian 1st night in the main theater. Did not like the limited seats at the comedy venue, but the adult game shows in the Atrium were plenty humerous. Staff was great. Always attentive, bussing tables and offering beverages. At the same time, there were never intrusive or in your face. Food was good. Not "Wow", not yuck. Lots of good, creative salads at the lunch buffet. We ate in the main dining room every night (Manhattan) and had breakfast in one of the smaller satellite rooms once. I could sit here and pick apart a lot of things but I won't. We did find the desserts lacking in overall appeal - only ordered once - creme brulee. The rest we went up to the buffet after some tummy settling and had ice cream. I did like the fact they had real ice cream with revolving flavors. All were good. Breakfasts got boring in the end. The pancakes need a lot of work. Did like that they had muesli every day. No bacon shortage either. Itinerary needs help due to port times. Juneau you get in at 3:00 PM and leave at 11:00 PM. If you do an excursion not much time to peruse the town in daylight. We had to skip Skagway and did Icy Strait Point. Way too long for the port - not much there outside of some excursions. We took advantage and relaxed. Victoria is a joke. We pulled in late, did not go off the ship (2.5 hours in port, arriving at 830 PM). Others that did found not much open. Ketchikan was the biggest joke. Tied up at an industrial dock at 7:00 AM, last bus to town at 930 AM, and last bus to the ship at 1100 AM, leave port at 1:00 PM. Weather - one decent day at ISP. Rain in the other ports. Our whale watching in Juneau it poured. Prepare for it and its all no problem. Covid and Masking - maybe 5% masking in the beginning pax and crew, perhaps less at the end. One guy on the last sea day looked miserable - not sure what. A couple of uncomfortable coughing pax on the bus to the airport. Crowd - older crowd, a few kids and teens. All well behaved for the most part. Overall a decent bunch of passengers. You still have your rail hogs, those who don't get elevator etiquette, etc. but what else to expect from a crowd of 2800 or so. Food - again, buffet salads were interesting and good. Lots of ethnic choices too. Something for everybody. Ports - FJB needs to use his pen for good use and fix the disaster that requires stops in Canada. It benefits nobody and is archaic. That results in these quirky and almost worthless port times. Documents - nothing was scrutinized upon embarkation; could have used my neighbors vax card and covid test... ArriveCan did what for us exactly? Also had to fill out a customs form on ship (hand written), not sure why since we had to do the ArriveCan. WiFi - if using internet minutes LOG OUT at LOGOUT.COM or your minutes will disappear. Closing the app doesn't do it. Throwing your phone in the ocean won't do it. I went to guest services and they restored my unused minutes without objection which was nice. Wildlife - lots of whales, porpoises, otters, seals, and bald eagles. And a drunk couger or two. 🤣

See my review of a DIY from 2018.

Both are great. In Skagway we aw black bears long the highway. In Haines we've gone to Chilkoot Lake and watched brown bears feeding on the salmon.

Saw on another SM site that there was an active rockslide today in Skagway, closing one of the docks again. No other info.

Rain isn't unusual in Alaska. And sorry the glacier butlers did not tidy them up for you. [ In poker that's called a tell.]

Special Economic Operation. FTFY