Engineroom Snipe

My recent voyage on the Vision was a hoot because Bryan, our Cabin Steward, brought some great towels to life and I appreciated his efforts. On the first sea day morning, Bryan left us "Mister T." watching some TV. I made him comfortable in his own custom bed. Life was as good as it gets with unlimited beverages and snacks. He even has his own perch in order to get a higher perspective on life. But as with so many things in life, too much of anything can be a source of stomach and head aches. And then Bryan created Miss T. They hit it off immediately and a special dinner and show led to romance. The next day, along came Baby T. and then there were three. Family fun arrived on the Royal Caribbean Slides. Bryan created a unique Teeter Tot Slide. SO COOL! Every family needs a loyal pet and along comes Pet T. from Bryan. Baby T and Pet T get along famously. Pet T gives Baby T a waterfall at his bath time. At the very end, they want to Stowaway with us but I ask them to stay so they can give joy and happiness to the next cabin visitors. Bryan, of the Vision of the Seas, April 4th, 2024, embarkation, THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES! We had so much fun challenging each other. I will bring a higher game next year.

The fixings bar for toppings is sooooo goood. The tacos toppings are the absolute best except for the "sour cream" which seems to have separated into water and 'something'. Someone did not tell the preparers to smooth the sour cream so that the water would not separate from the solids and placed it back into the refrigerator. The guacamole, cheese, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, jalapeno peppers, and everything is soooooo gooooood. Cuban sandwiches are extremely good. I have stated, "Why can't the ship not make this stuff as good as Coco Cay." I would eat that stuff, "Everyday," No question, the highlight of my trip for dining.

Yes, let us put one toe into the water to see if a crab nibbles at it or a shark arrives to bite the whole foot off. 😉

Pardon my typos, getting tired. Goodnight everyone.

The Enchantment of the Seas in April of 2023 was one of the ships at the time which had turned off the ability to get ice from the Unlimited Soda Machines. My goodness, all I was trying to do was get some ice and it was a journey. This is why I distinctly remembering it so well. I made a very heated response in my Royal questionnaire. Since then, the soda machine have been distributing ice on my last November 2023 cruise on the Jewel.

Add on, April, 2023, I can quote you the room. I did not even have ice for two days after requesting it on the first day and I posted it on CC.

Enchantment on the third deck, no cooler. trust me.

I have purchased 3 GTY interior no view cabins in the past three years. I was fortunate on all three to like the cabin placements. I did bid on other rooms in higher categories bud none were successful. My bids were slightly more than minimum. Others have posted you might have a remote chance of switching rooms but the new room must be an identical category to the GTY. With ships filled beyond double capacity in the past year, very few rooms if any are available at 45 days out. I never called my TA to try and change them so I do not know if he could have helped but again, I was happy with the GTY cabin.

Maybe some of the newbies do not read CC or know about CC until they have a problem and do a search engine which leads them to this site.

@time4u2go Good to know. I never tried. Do they add a room service charge for the drink?

Add on: The standard US "shot" is 1.5 ounces of 40% spirits in general mixed with approximately 6 ounces of soda if it is say, a rum and coke. The 375 ml will roughly translate to 12 ounces (13.2 ounces if you want to get picky) which gives you 8 US standard shots. The package includes 4 X 12 ounce sodas which happens to be 8 x 6 ounce servings of soda to go with the 8 US standard shots. At $45.99 for the Rum and Coke package, it comes out to 8 drinks for $5.75 per drink. Not bad if you did not want a drink package or wanted something for your balcony since they do not deliver drinks to cabins. There is a caveat that it should be consumed in the privacy of your cabin but I do not think anyone cares if you take the glass or cup out of the cabin. They just do not want to see you pouring the alcohol from the bottle in public spaces. I.E. Going to the Schooner Bar area at a table with the bottle, the pool deck, dining areas (you get the picture). This is a nice add-on for Crown & Anchor members who might like a bit more alcohol than their voucher minimum and it can be consumed over multiple days of your cruise.

Years ago, Royal used to give "Ship Shape" dollars for engaging in physical activities onboard. I can't believe how hard we worked for those yellow paper Monopoly style money dollars to exchange for shirts, water bottles, and visors. So much fun and so many memories. The competition was brutal and some people tried to pull the "New York Marathon via the subway" run. We might have to do ten laps around the promenade deck to get a "Buck". They would do slow laps, disappear for a while and mysteriously appear during the "last" lap. I still laugh when I think about it. "Money for nothing and your chicks for free." (Dire Straits, 1985) Now , Royal is helping us to get additional steps in as they are consistently ported at the furthest dock. Now, at Nassau, I think I walk more steps from the gangplank to the exit of the port area than ten times around the promenade on the Nordic Prince. Where are my "Ship Shape dollars" for doing my exercise? Come on Royal, "Throw me a bone."

Some typos are better left uncorrected if only to make us smile and laugh as we tend to take ourselves too seriously. Thank you for leaving us something to chuckle about.

I am on vacation and hate to read all of the fine print. Only those who look at the final bill sometimes say, "Where is this x.xx% VAT coming from?" I am still in the United States. We are used to the foreign islands tacking this on. Domesticated VATS, they are multiplying everywhere. The cruise lines can pass them on and keep that price per person double occupancy number looking very lucrative to the newbies.

In thirty-five years of cruising, I only applied for one military discount on Royal which was worth about 10% off of the cruise but conditioned that with non-refundable deposit. I had insurance and knew, short of something going catastrophic, we would make that cruise. I took it and saved some money. Maybe once in my lifetime considering my cruise experiences. TA's pricing is so good that I have never been able to get a price adjustment on any of my cruises to date. I am hoping this changes because I might have lost my house on a bet about the timeline of the Baltimore shipping channel. I need all of the discounts I can get! 😬

🙄🤭🤣

Yeah, they really love the ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo and fresh Jersey tomatoes. We take turns guarding each other as we eat under a beach umbrella....I always carry a loaded flyswatter with us. The ammo is unlimited until I get exhausted. From Finding Nemo (2003), "Mine,...Mine...., Mine, Mine...." 🤬

As my TA explained to me: I qualify for LEO, Veteran, and over 55. I have seen LEO and first responder discounts on a few cruises this past year but it was in the last ninety before embarkation. I book almost as soon as the cruises are listed on the TA's website. I normally get to pick my room for the same price as Royal's GTY of the selected cabin class. I get a small amount of OBC from my TA and in most cases OBC from Royal. My deposit is fully refundable until 120 days when final payment is due as part of my TA's contract with Royal regardless of the length of cruise. If I try to apply the discounts in most cases, the deposit becomes non-refundable. I am not sure if it would be worth the 4 to 5% savings to lose my ability to refund unless my cruise was within the 120 embarkation period when the full amount would be due upon booking anyway. If you click discount check boxes for all of the discounts, it normally defaults to 55 plus discount because all of the them are the same percentage and it only allows one discount in most of my mock bookings. I could click any one of them and get the same discount and the deposit changes to non-refundable.

I was thinking the same thing. If all of the equipment used for tendering was stored and the anchors up, maybe any attempt at boarding was considered unsafe? I cannot imagine what would happen if someone fell into the water during the transfer.

Spot on.

Thanks for the all the responses. The question has been answered. As the Madagascar Penguins would say, "Nothing to see here." 🤐🫥😶‍🌫️

This is something that took me some time to digest with my TA. Everyone wants to combine every discount they see with their current discounts. He had to "edukamate" me. Still learning the ins and outs of it all.

No, absolutely not. Drinking vast quantities of alcohol are long gone in the mirror that says, "Objects appear closer than they seem." Just preparing myself for a cruise that might have passengers jumping through some hoops to make a voyage, getting there, and finding out THEY cannot numb themselves a bit after some stress to start their cruise. I was more concerned about placing my out-of-state licensed vehicle in a public parking garage for eight days in an area where would be car thieves know no one will report the car stolen for seven days. I have that handled now. thanks to some great advice from fellow cruisers on this site who did not tell me to put my "big pants on" but actually gave me solutions which I am grateful. I am great. No need for alcohol until day 2, 3, or 4. I just hope passengers who are not well informed are prepared to go "Sugar Free" for a bit or be informed of the price they might pay. 😁

Sounds logical to me and that is what appears to be happening after @smokeybandit responded in a similar way. I have never seen Cruisehive.com report this in such a specific fashion but it must just be because of the events happening in the reshuffling of Baltimore cruises. Another question: Does this affect Crown and Anchor complimentary drinks the same way? I know, I am starting to sound like Lt. Columbo with the "one more question" routine.

Thanks for responding. I never purchased a drink package but this sounded a bit unusual. Per your response, this is not unusual and happens in certain ports. Something they do not advertise when you buy it. 😁