radarcruiser

Hi and thanks for the review. We get on in Buenos Aires Saturday. We love Gede and also Adi, another bartender at Martini Bar. If you get a chance can you ask Gede and Adi if they will still be on for the next cruise?? Thanks in advance!!

Sadly, this is another example of the Carnivalization of Royal. The cruise experience we loved (relaxed and moderately refined) has sailed away. The short cruises are especially full of people that display a lack of regard for anyone’s experience other then their own. Royal thinks they need these customers since they tend to spend more $$$ on drink packages, etc. We now completely avoid cruises from Florida that are less the 7 days, and may have to completely move to even longer cruises on Celebrity, although I’m certain things will go downhill there as well.

We’ve done Aqua Class on several cruises and have always had great experiences in Blu. We are going on a longer cruise on Infinity next month and are in Aqua. Found out we have some long lost friends going on the same cruise, but they are not in Aqua. What are the chances we could drag them along with us a night or two to BLU, with an appropriate “accommodation” donated to the Maitre’d, of course?

We were there on Celebrity last month. We did the “free” beach the shuttle takes you to. The young entrepreneurs there wanted $60 for two chairs and an umbrella. Could only talk them down to $50 so we passed. Beers were $11. We blew that and took a taxi to Joe’s Conch Stand for some tasty conch and cheap(er) beers at a local shack. Not much to look at, but the food was outstanding.

So will the ship have to cancel any upcoming cruises to undertake repairs?

My friend calls the hot tubs “human soup”

We were on Infinity last week and will also be on in January. The ship is definitely showing her age, but was not too run down. They were replacing carpets in cabins on our deck. The cabin furniture was a bit worn, but the beds were firm and comfy. I have no concerns about returning. Ate at Tuscan a couple of times. Service was great, but food quality was a bit lower than our last few visits to Tuscan on other M class ships. I would be remiss if I did not mention the entertainment. We had three full production shows on a seven night cruise. The musicians, singers and dancers were top notch.

Say helllo to Dana and Dewa at the Martini Bar. Both great bartenders. Dewa does a great Martini show.

Some things never change.

We flew through LHR this summer and had to change terminals. It took well over two hours to walk to the bus, take the 20 minute bus ride, clear passport control and security in the new terminal. I would not cut it close there. Barely made it. Avoiding connections in Europe is my new mantra.

We used them this summer for business class open jaw to/from Europe. The price was about half of what could get from the airlines. No issues. I have purchased premium economy round trip to Buenos Aires from them this winter. Got to select seats months ago and just paid for it the other day. Saved about $1000 each over the airlines rate.

At this point I think you could write “COVID test” on the strip with magic marker and it would get you on the ship.

Pack sexier clothes.

Can tier cruise trade in value be used to pay upgrade fee on another Club Royale cruise offer. Same account.

On the Walgreens website check yes to question #2 (that you have been exposed to a suspected or confirmed case in the last 14 days). If you check yes to this it will not say you have to pay.

IMHO, Barbados is the best beach spot. We have been to all of the islands you list and we prefer the beaches at Barbados. Perfect sand, crystal clear water. The Boatyard is a good choice. Kind of close to the pier. You get a decent look at Bridgetown on the way there and back. Harbor Lights is a couple of blocks south of them and is also a great spot.

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So I see where the north berth on the Railroad Dock is closed for the rest of the year. Has anyone tendered in from the south berth yet on Ovation? If so, how long did it take to get off the ship? We have tickets purchased directly from the train leaving at 845am. Ship docks at 7. My fear is the ships excursions get priority on the tenders and we scramble to make our train.

Where do you see this on the Celebrity website?

I have a situation where I will need to transfer FCC. Called RCL since their website says you can't do this. The agent verified that you can. Pointed me to this on the TA website. May be helpful to have documentation....

We are on Ovation next month. Port arrival is 7am. We have train tickets direct from the railroad. Have to get off and make it to the station before 8:45. I hope we aren’t still tendering then.

We did ships excursion to Capri and Sorrento. The seas got rough while we were on Capri and our tour leader moved us to a bigger ferry to Sorrento as they were too rough for the smaller fast ferry. I would have not liked being on our own making it back to the ship in that situation.

We arrive at 5pm and DW/DD have signed up for tea at the Empress starting at 5:30. Is that doable? Long walk to exit port? Taxis plentiful? It’s a Thursday afternoon.

We did trains from Ravenna to Florence and back a few days later in June. Celebrity offered bus transfer to the train station. I thin it was $10. Takes a while as they want to fill the bus and then it’s about a 20 minute ride to Ravenna. Make sure you leave yourself plenty of time. Bologna is a HUGE train station. If you are connecting there I’d recommend at least 20 minutes to find your way around. Lots of different levels. On the return we booked a private car to the port through the NH Hotel in Ravenna. Was 40 EUR. Couldn’t get a straight answer from Azamara on whether they would offer busses. Ravenna was an unexpected treasure. Go see the mosaics if you have time.

It seems like all of a sudden last weekend inventory dried up on several cruises we were looking at. Could it be that Royal is holding back pending new protocol announcement? Is it possible non-vaxxed cruisers would have to pay more for their cabins? Or maybe pay for testing every couple of days? A new revenue stream?