lovewine

Any suggestions for reliable transportation to get us from Port of Miami to FLL in time for an 11:40am flight.  We will walk off with our luggage.  We have a party of 6 including 2 kids (will need car seats or okay if it is a sprinter van with seat belts).  We are scheduled to arrive into Miami at 7am. Thanks!

We are on September 9th 11 night Edge cruise and we are trying to plan our dining and show times.  Does anyone know what times and days the shows are on?  Thanks!

Does anyone know what times the shows are in the evening. We want to make dining reservations and do not want to miss shows

 

What time did you disembark? we might try to get on an earlier flight(standby) that leaves at 11:30am. We normally send our luggage straight thru from the ship but if we think we can get on the earlier flight we will wait and check it ourselves at the airport. Thanks!

We will book another NCL when the policy allows you to book Vibe reservations when you book dining, spa passes and shows online in advance!! It is very dangerous to have passengers running to get the passes when boarding!!

How far in advance can we book and prepay for the Thermal Spa package?

I will pay for the little extras as long as NCL keeps me entertained!

We were on a Carnival ship over New Years and the entertainment was the worst! We will never go on a Carnival ship again we were with a big family with ages 22-55 and all of us decided it would be our last Carnival Cruise because of the lack of quality entertainment and many other issues.

Howl at the moon and the jazz club were our favorite evening entertainment on the Epic. Wish they would have it on the Escape!

We love RCCL and NCL and thought we would try Carnival last December and our list of complaints was so long that we will never give Carnival another chance. They missed on major safety issues, had the worst entertainment choices, the employees had terrible attitudes and when we tried to talk to guest services during our cruise and after they did not care to listen to any of our constructive criticism!! The good news is there are many other choices!

We have sailed on many lines and had an opportunity to sail on NCL, Carnival and RCCL in a three month period of time and we were extremely impressed with RCCL. We normally are happy with all cruise lines but on our last cruise with Carnival after spending several thousand dollars we decided that the other cruise lines are far superior and we would rather spend our money elsewhere. I think you will love Oasis! The crew was very friendly and we loved all of the choices and the layout of the ship made it feel not as crowded as ships that are half the size. Have a wonderful cruise!

We are frequent cruisers and we were on the Oasis for the first time the first week in Feb/2014 and loved all of the wonderful shows, dining choices and felt like we were on a floating city. We reserved our shows and most of our dining in advance and never waited for anything! We did not feel like the ship was crowded at all because of all of the choices and places to go.

 

We do not take the elevators so I cannot comment on that.

 

Enjoy!

We were on Freedom in December and we were not impressed!!

 

We were on the Oasis 2 weeks ago and the food, service and entertainment was 100% better!

 

Enjoy while you are on and look to switch for the next cruise. We also love NCL.

 

The good news is there are choices!

How many electrical outlets are there?

We did have a great time. I did a live report if you want to see the pictures.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2151400

 

Thank you!! Do you remember when the diamond events were? Did they do a sail-away party for diamond on the Labadee day? We are trying to plan spa treatments and do not want to miss the diamond and Crown and Anchor events.

Thanks!

Every menu should have a gluten free symbol next to it for the GF SELECTIONS. have you called RCCL to tell them of your allergies so they mark your folio? When you get onboard there should be one place where a Maitre D is available. Go there, speak to him and tell him where you'll be eating.

Cheryl

GF is marked on my folio! It sometimes gets tricky when there are a lot of dining venues and because we are not in the MDR the first or second night I was hoping that when we first board that it would be easy to find the Maitre D to find out GF safe items. Is the GF symbol on all menus - Vintages and specialty restaurants also? Does anyone know where the best place to find the Maitre D is after boarding? Thanks!

Our first two nights we are booked in the specialty dining rooms, who should we talk to when we get on the ship and where do we find them in the first day craziness?

 

We are on Oasis and there are a lot of dining venues what is the best way to find out the gluten free choices in all of the venues?

 

Thanks!

Carnival Freedom December 2014 Notes

 

Negatives:

1. Deck chairs overboard at 1 am – loud crash and banging sound. Hit our railing. A life vest was thrown overboard as well – terrible customer service and safety response

a. Multiple different answers given as to ramifications of actions of cruise passenger

b. First they told us they did not know who threw them over, then they said they read the incident report and that the passenger was on board but they couldn’t elaborate. Then they got the “head” of security and they told us the passenger was being monitored by cruise security personnel.

c. When we were at the front desk a different day for an entirely different issue, they offered (without us asking) that the passenger was actually thrown off the ship at the first port. We asked the crew member why we had been told otherwise. They got the same “head” of security and we were then told the old answer that the passenger was still on board but being monitored.

d. They basically tried to brush us off each time we mentioned we were nervous to go out onto our balconies.

2. We waited 45 minutes for a comedy show (you have to arrive early or you won’t get a seat at all) and were told with less than 5 minutes before the show started they were going to postpone the show until 1 am and continue having the football game play instead.

a. Normally this wouldn’t matter, but the international lounge was right above our cabin and the comedy shows are LOUD. This would keep us up until way past 2 am.

b. We went down to the front desk and we were told there was nothing they could do and that it was a “corporate” decision. They couldn’t move the comedy show to another location, or the football viewing to another location. Basically, we’d have to deal with a lot of late loud noise for one night.

c. The staff were clearly not trained in good customer service skills. Instead of trying to apologize or make us feel better, they made us feel like it was our fault we didn’t like waiting 45 min for a show to be cancelled and then having to wait until 1 am to see it, or not even sleep because it was going on above our heads. Instead of taking the approach of the “customer is always right” they took the approach of always making us feel like we were being interrogated for complaining or asking what was going on.

3. Aruba

a. We specifically booked this cruise for the chance to get to Aruba on NYE. The original port time was until 11:30 pm. As we were approaching Aruba, the captain came on and said the port personnel were closing port early so we would have to be back on the ship at 8:30 pm. This drastically changed our plans on the island for the day. When cruise ships book ports, they know and the port knows ahead of time all the timings for coming and leaving, meaning, Carnival knew ahead of time they would have to leave port early and still tried to advertise that the cruise ship would be staying in port later. (Obviously port times can change due to weather conditions) We might not have booked this cruise if we knew we would have been leaving Aruba that early and would miss a lot of the NYE celebrations that Aruba is so famous for.

4. Breakfast Buffet

a. BORING. Seriously beyond boring. Same items every single day. Nothing ever differed except the type of sausage you were offered. I ate two hard boiled eggs every morning with a slice of fruit. Plain pancakes and waffles. Same egg benedict.

b. They did have an omelet station, but the lines were so long that it was almost pointless. You should eat breakfast, then get in line to have an omelet ready by lunch. The staff didn’t speak English, so ordering was nearly impossible. They also didn’t have signs with the options to put in the omelets so every person that walked up asked the same question, “What are my options?” and the staff would have to figure out how to communicate it back in English. Once waited over 30 minutes in line and the line never moved, so gave up and went through the regular buffet.

5. Room Service

a. Breakfast. They only really offered yogurt, coffee and cereal and a few baked goods. Nothing else. Pointless if you are trying to eat before you get off the ship in your own room. Honestly pointless. They also wouldn’t let you order anything special – like hard boiled eggs (which they could just take off the buffet).

b. In general – there was almost nothing on the menu. A couple sandwiches and salads and that’s it. Not even pizza. Never even bothered to order it.

6. Pizza station was always a long line and it took forever to get a slice. They hand make each piece, which is great, but really too time consuming.

7. Entertainment. This was the worst I have ever seen on a ship.

a. Piano bar: The piano guy was not playing 2 or 3 nights of the cruise. No notice, just a sign up on the door of the bar that it was closed for the night. The one night we caught him, it was packed in there, but then he decided to go all religious on us. Sang a gospel Jesus song. So inappropriate on a cruise. No one even asked for the song to be played, he just decided he wanted to preach to us all.

b. Main shows: We only sort of saw one. We had to walk out. I’m shocked my glass didn’t shatter from the horrific singing. Whoever decided to give a microphone to that group is nuts. They were terrible.

8. Smoke. Yuck. IT was everywhere on the ship. Even in the non smoking places. Based on the layout of the ship you can smell it inside almost everywhere you go. Plus, with vaping, people thought they could smoke anyplace they wanted. And did.

9. Cell phones. Carnival has a great deal for social media access and internet access while on the ship. While it was incredibly convenient for folks who needed, it was really distracting to people who wanted to really “disconnect” while at sea. Cell phones popped up in inappropriate places – for example, at the highly acclaimed Chefs table. Put down your phone and enjoy the meal! Normally I wouldn’t care, but it held up the meal because the Chef wanted everyone’s attention before he spoke (and rightfully so!).

10. We love cruising, and cruise often across many lines, including the Carnival family of brands,and were very disappointed with our cruise experience regarding passenger safety and the poor attitude of the front desk. They were not professional.

 

11. I cannot tell you how completely disappointed we were with the response of the cruise line failing to have a passenger be tossed off the ship when the passenger purposefully threw TWO lounge chairs off over the back of deck 10 that crashed on our balcony on deck 6 (gouge marks were quite visible, along with the lounge chairs on the back railing near the water line). This passenger endangered our well being, and could have caused us great bodily harm or worse had we (or one of your crew) been on our back balcony at the time. There is no plausible excuse for this at all. The passenger was allowed to stay on board, was being "monitored" but that didn't mean under 24 hour surveillance. Simply said, the passenger destroyed your property and could have KILLED someone on board by his actions. Forget about the implications of a lifevest being tossed overboard, which also occurred at the same time. The further comment from your staff was that if there would be another incident, he would be asked to leave. Some comfort to us. We didn't enjoy our overall experience, our cabin, nor appreciate your blatant disregard for passenger safety or security. I recognize that you have no control over passenger behavior, that is precisely the point of why you establish, or should establish, safety policies; and those policies should have greater regard for those passengers who DON'T destroy your property nor endanger your passengers or crew. This passenger should have been tossed off the ship. This passenger was afforded more concern when he (and if necessary his family) should have been unceremoniously tossed off the ship, just like he did with your lounge chairs. So, Carnival FUN takes on a whole new meaning. Oh, and by the way, we understand that there were fees and fines assessed against the family, Nice way to boost the Carnival bottom line, how about us? What do we get for having lounge chairs rain down on our balcony? Essentially, blown off...don't worry, it won't happen again, we promise. Really?

Positives:

1. Chefs Table – this was a wonderful experience. Highly suggest for anyone going on a carnival cruise. Remains a highlight of all of my cruising experiences across many lines. Chef was personable and the food was fantastic. The wine server was also very passionate.

2. Steakhouse – had the best chocolate martini off my life. Ivan was the bartender up there and he was absolutely amazing. Liquid gold! The food was also fantastic, service was great and we really enjoyed our evening up there.

3. Internet

 

Thank you so much for all of your time and effort. We sail on Oasis on Jan.31, 2015. I booked shows but I have not been able to book dining. I hope we will be okay to book when we get on board. Your pictures and descriptions have been wonderful.

Thank You for all of the reassuring posts! I wish RCCL had employees in the special services area that know what actually happens on board. I would have cancelled our cruise based on what I was told. Thank you to all of my cruise critic posters for your assistance. I am now looking forward to a safe gluten free cruise not being stuck in the MDR for every meal.

I did contact the special needs department and my first response was very generic and said that I had to wait until I arrived on board. I wanted to make my specialty dining reservations in advance so they were not full and I tried emailing the special needs department and received the same response. I called the special needs department and they are the ones that told me that I could only eat safely in the Main Dining Room.

Help! I booked and paid in full for Oasis of the Seas and I was told before booking that eating gluten free would be no problem. We are diamond and have never had a problem with gf eating and when I went to book the specialty dining I was told that the only place that they could guarantee gf dining was in the main dining room. We enjoy specialty dining and would have booked another cruise line had we known that it would be a problem. We have done The Chef's Table on other cruise lines and they have always been very accommodating as well as at all of the specialty dining venues. When I reviewed the RCCL website and listened to this video it clearly states that they are able to accommodate gf in the main dining room, buffet and specialty restaurants but when I called to double check I was told " ONLY GF IN THE MAIN DINING ROOM COULD BE GUARANTEED! " Here is the link to the video from RCCL http://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/295/royal-caribbeans-special-dietary-options-lactose-and-gluten-free-dishes-offer-more-choices/ . The representative that I spoke with was going to email the chef but since the chef's change and our cruise is not until January she could not be sure things would not change with a new chef. Any suggestions? Thanks!!

We would love to do both Ocean Blue and The Chef's Table but we only have a week. We want to spend at least two nights at The Haven Restaurant and one at Moderno, Le Bistro, Cagney's and Imaginarium.

 

We are very excited and we will most likely have to come back to try everything else! A good problem!

 

Thank you for all of the input!!!!!!

Hi! We are trying to plan reservations and wanted to know what night the chef's table is on The Getaway? Has anyone done it recently and any feedback. Thanks!

We are trying to decide between having dinner at Ocean Blue or The Chef's Table and would appreciate any input. Thank you!

Hi! Thank you for the great reviews! Are there any special events for suite passengers and do you remember when they were, we are trying to decide on restaurant and show reservations and did not want to miss any suite events. Any suggestions as to how to get the most out of the suite experience? What did you have delivered to the pool? Thank you!