FrankNBrew

My last cruise was over 20 years ago, with a different wife, and a different life. All memories of that cruise have been erased (other than beautiful Key West, that terrible Calica port, and a HUGE onboard bill at the end). Anyway, we've decided to take a cruise in February. I've done lots of planning so far to get from home to boarding the ship. It's the return trip I'm now thinking about. Our ship returns to Galveston on a Sunday morning 6:30 AM. Our flight leaves Bush airport at 3:30 PM. I see lots and lots of posts about getting off the ship as early as possible. Why the hurry? I'm thinking we might stay on the ship until they kick us off. Enjoy breakfast and avoid the crowds rushing to leave. Then grab a shuttle to the airport. Or an Uber.  When do they generally kick us off? Are the crowds huge at certain times? How late can we eat breakfast? Are there any issues with acquiring transportation you can foresee with this plan?  Should we join the herd of cattle for whatever reason? 

Thanks!

Great news! The Black Friday/Cyber Monday pricing is the same on No Special Name Wednesday!! 😉

On 11/22/2018 at 5:19 AM, Host Clarea said:

 

If you click in the search box, you are given the option to limit the search to the present forum.

I still can’t figure that out. I’ll keep trying. 

I forgot I can bring 12 bottles of soda on board. And if my wife doesn’t care for the on board water we can get a case of water and a coffee card for much less than 1 drink package. 

On 11/24/2018 at 12:46 PM, navybankerteacher said:

There may be many who have been successful with them - that is if you believe every CC post you read.   Then, there are a lot of posters who report winning most of the time (some claim EVERY) time in the casino; and those who buy jewelry in the Caribbean and have it appraised at much larger value when at home; or those whose shipboard “art” purchases have turned out to be worth multiples of what they paid.

 

In any case,  I tend not to place too much credence on the veracity of people who think it is cool to boast about cheating. 

I’m guessing if they did not work 5% of the time there would be far more posts of their failure, rather than success.im guessing most who get away with it keep their mouths shut so as  to not draw too much attention. 

And as far as smuggling marijuana, my wife was a medical marijuana user several years back. Unfortunately it’s not legal in Florida. However filling a diabetic test strip container and packing it with a blood sugar meter will get it through airline security, as I’m sure any other security checkpoint. 

First off, is there a way to search the boards by cruise line? I only see one search box, and it searches all boards. A better search may reduce the number of postings.

Now on to the important question: How much do drinks cost on board Liberty of the Seas? Bourbon and coke. Vodka and cranberry. Bud Light. Bucket of beer. And those types of things. We have a $225 on board credit, and plan to use this for drinks.

If we decided to buy the drink package in advance, to take advantage of upcoming black Friday/cyber Monday deals, we could not use this on-board credit (from travel agent) toward a drink package, can we? 

How does the non-alcoholic drink package work? What prevents 2 people from sharing one soft drink package? Let's say the wife likes a good coffee in the morning, bottled water throughout the day, and her husband likes a soda with dinner. 

Last question. What other items can we expect to use the credit to purchase on-board? 

I was on a 3-day Carnival in around 2004, and my wife was on Royal Caribbean around 2000. So we're practically virgins cruisers. All answers appreciated!!

I appreciate all the responses. What I’ve gathered so far is some cruise lines specify no fortified wine. But RCI does not. And the Galveston port appears to be much friendlier than others from what I’ve read. So far I have not heard a single person has been denied bringing a bottle of port onto an RCI cruise. Unless something changes in the next couple months I’ll be bringing a bottle, or two, of port on board. 

10 hours ago, Capt_BJ said:

I'm sailing tomorrow - this is from the eDoc for my trip .. copied right now:

 

Alcohol Policy

 

Guests are not allowed to bring beer, hard liquor, fortified wines (vermouth, sherry, sake, and port wines)

The RCI rules don’t mention anything about types of wine. I’ll give it a try. Worst case I have to check 2 bottles of port that go back in the liquor cabinet when I get home. 

My wife and I will be taking a Western Carribean cruise in February. We will be stopping in Cozumel, Georgetown and Falmouth. On our trip to Key West last Fabruary we rented a 50cc Yamaha for a day and had a blast exploring the island. We would love to do the same on at least one stop on our cruise. Has anybody rented scooters at one of these stops? I'm mostly looking to find out which of these ports have reliable scooter rentals, and would have enough places to visit by scooter that would make a 5 hour rental fun and worthwhile.

Has anybody experienced difficulty hiring an Uber upon exiting the ship on a Sunday? We're considering taking an Uber to Texas City and picking up a rental so we can make some stops on the ride to IAH.

1 hour ago, George C said:

I know someone who took foil off bottle of wine then removed cork, then removed wine then replaced wine with scotch. Not that hard depends on type of foil on wine😁😁

I may have viewed some videos on Youtube with regard to that. I also may have seen some videos about Rum Runners. 10 years back I would have worked all the angles. But my wife and I don't drink like we used to. I'm hoping the 2 bottles of port and our $225 on board credit will be all the alcohol we consume on board the ship for the week. I'm guessing we will do more drinking at the 3 stops than on the ship.

I guess no bad news is good news. I've got three months to keep an eye on the boards for more feedback. And worst case scenario is we lose a $6.00 case of water at the port. Thanks!

I've already read the RCCL rules. I'm looking for personal experience with my questions. Thanks.

Or would it make more sense to run around all day Saturday, drop off the car Saturday night and Uber to a hotel in Galveston for the night?  Any preferred Mariott/SPG property in Galveston for convenience to the port?

We will be taking our first cruise on RCCL out of Galveston in February. We fly in to IAH Saturday morning, but our ship does not depart until Sunday afternoon. We plan to spend Saturday night somewhere other than Galveston, and make our way to Galveston Sunday morning. Our plan is to rent a vehicle from IAH Hertz at noon and drop it off in League City by noon Sunday (I have enough Hertz points for a 1 day 1 way rental) and grab an Uber/Lyft to the port . The Hertz location will be closed and I'll have to drop off the keys in a drop box. Has anybody dropped off a rental at this location and can see any issues we may have with this plan? Is Uber/Lyft popular in this area? Or will we be waiting a while for a pickup? If our ship leaves at 4:00 PM what's the earliest, or best, time to arrive at the port? All responses appreciated!!

Looks like I jumped the gun. I now see the individual forums for each cruise line. I appreciate the responses!!

My wife and I will be enjoying our first cruise on Royal Carribean this February. We're not big wine fans, however I do like a burboun, or a cognac. Because of this I've taken a liking to port wine. It's almost twice as much alcohol as regular wine. I'm wondering if the cruise check-in folks will have any concern about the type of wine I bring on board. I'm guessing no, but it's worth asking. I'm also planning to bring a case of water bottles checked in with a luggage tag. And I'm also planning to bring a dozen bottles of soft drinks in my carry on. Everything I've read so far says these will not be a problem. Several folks on other forums have commented that it could be an issue, but nobody has personally experienced any problems with these items. If you've personally had an issue bringing aboard any of these items on Royal Carribean please let me know. Thanks!!