BethV114

I'm sure this has been discussed, but I'm at work and am not able to spend time sifting through posts.

We are sailing on Summit out of San Juan on Saturday, 3/19. We have select dining and are a group of six made up of three adults and three children (ages 6, 7 and 10). Considering the later muster drill time, what would be the best time to make a reservation for dinner that doesn't have us having to interrupt or rush our meal, but also doesn't have us eating very late in the evening?

Thank you!

Sorry. I don't have personal experience with this, but I wanted to give the OP a positive response as most have been somewhat negative and some have even suggested that the OP should pay more for a family verandah or sky suite.

We are in a similar position. We have always gotten a good deal and sailed in a suite with our daughter on X. The one time we sailed on Royal, our daughter's first cruise, we did a normal balcony cabin. She was young, in a pack and play, and it was tight. But guess what, we survived and had fun!

This next cruise, prices are higher, funds are tighter, and we went with a C3 on the Summit. We would have loved a family verandah, but they were all booked, as were all of the normal verandah cabins, and we simply can't justify spending nearly twice as much for a sky suite.

I'm apprehensive about the space and the sleeping arrangements, but I just keep reminding myself that it's vacation! No dogs to walk, beds to make, laundry to wash, meals to prepare, etc. So, if it's tight, who cares?! We'll make it work and so will you! :)

Am I the only person who is finding it interesting that Celebrity is remaining silent on this issue? They have posted responses on other threads. Why not respond to this issue? It's really a big one that has literally been going on for weeks. In what world is that acceptable?

This has been going on with me for at least a week and a half. Simply not acceptable!

Just enjoy yourselves. Summit is a beautiful ship with wonderful staff. They will treat you well. If you enjoy wine, my one suggestion would be to visit the wine bar (Cellar Masters). They have a great selection of wine tastings and the sommeliers there are quite knowledgeable.

We have been on Summit twice and are looking forward to our third time in March. For wonderful staff, service and food, you really can't beat it.

I have an office that doesn't even face the outside world. It just faces the rest of the office. And we do open our windows at home when the weather is nice. So we do spend the extra bit to get a balcony cabin. I love the ocean, so when we are sailing on the ocean, I want to be able to open a window/door and enjoy the sound of the waves and the fresh ocean air. To me, that is worth the extra cost. But that is just me. It's an extremely personal choice.

If you have a port-intensive itinerary, then I would definitely say stick with X. The S-Class ships are beautiful and have lots to do for all ages. Our daughter (now 6) has been on Eclipse once and Summit twice. She loved, loved, loved those cruises. The food is better, as is the service. Our daughter enjoyed the kids club and the attention she got from the staff all over the ship. We took her for Allure on her first cruise and she was just another kid in the crowd. No personalized attention whatsoever and the ship just felt way too big and crowded, with nothing upscale about it.

The way I look at cruising is that we can go see a show, go on a carousel, or visit a waterpark any time we want on land. When we cruise, we are going to have family time and do things in port that we can't do at home.

We have been to Antigua before and done the stingrays, which our family enjoyed. However, we are traveling with a family new to cruising this time and the kids aren't 100% sold on snorkeling with the stingrays. Since Stingray City is the only thing we have done in Antigua, I'm hoping to get some recommendations. We have three kids in our party ranging in age from 6 through 11, plus three adults in mid-thirties, if that helps. Beach, nature excursions are good, but we don't want to spend the whole day driving around. The 11 year old has also mentioned that he would love to go kayaking at some point on our cruise.

Thanks!

Our family of four, 2 kids 4 & 8, will be going out on the Rumbaba for a full day sail while in St Thomas later this month. Our 4yr old can swim but has never snorkeled. Hoping it will work out, but looking for thoughts or suggestions from anyone who has been on their tour. Thanks!

You will have an excellent time. We have done Rumbaba several times. Last time we went (2 years ago, oh no!) our daughter was 4 and not experienced with snorkeling. My sister and I worked with her a bit on the snorkeling near the boat, then went off exploring once she was comfortable with it. We had a life vest from home that we brought on this cruise and also gave our daughter a noodle. Additionally, my husband had a tether that we attached to her and I held in my hand (think kiddo on a leash!). I was skeptical at first, but this worked out really great. She was able to just focus on snorkeling and enjoying the view while I did the hard work of swimming and towing her along. Plus, there was the added security of knowing she couldn't float out to sea without me!

As others have said, the food is amazing and drinks are free flowing. I'm really hoping to do this again in March as it is hands down one of my favorite excursions.

We are booking a cruise for the spring and it includes the classic package. Before I book, two quick questions:

1. Are martinis at the martini bar included in the premium package?

2. How much per night does it cost to upgrade?

Thank you!

Which end of the beach is Spinnakers located at? I'm somewhat directionally challenged. If we are facing the water, would we look to our left or right? Is it close to an end or near the middle? We had a so-so experience last year at Reduit Beach, probably due to our own failure to look around for beach chair vendors and restaurants. In fact, I don't think we even knew that there were restaurants on the beach! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Does anyone have pics of the refurbished suites? We're staying in a royal suite on our upcoming cruise on Summit and would really like to see photos so we can know what to expect.

Also, how are the bathrooms in the suites? Are they getting any major work done?

Thanks!

My sister is thinking about taking DH, DD and me on Eclipse in a few months. DH and I are Elite, but the only time we sailed X was before the CC program changes. My sister would not be Elite yet. Will she be allowed to accompany us to the Elite event? I not, is there a comparable event for suite guests as on Royal Caribbean? She's looking at booking a Celebrity suite for the 4 of us.

Thanks for the help!

Just in case anyone else out there is considering these cabins, here's the response I received from Royal Caribbean:

Dear Mrs. V:

Thank you for your email. We apologize for the delay in our response.

Upon researching your inquiry, we have been advised the room is an air extractor room. Rest assured, it does not make any noise and will not obstruct any views from your balcony.

Mrs. V, thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International. We look forward to welcoming you onboard.

Oh, and I wanted to add that these are balcony cabins I'm referring to and the deck plans show these blank/white spaces as having balconies, as well. I took a look at some recent Allure photos and it appears that these areas do, indeed, have balconies attached to them. I know that a white/blank space often means something like closets, crew access areas, etc., but it seems odd to me that they would "waste" perfectly good balcony real estate on such matters. So that's why I'm confused.

Does anyone know what the blank space between cabins 6138 and 6142 port side or 6538 and 6542 starboard side is? Trying to figure out if we need to change cabins. Thanks!

Has anyone stayed in either of these cabins? Cabin 7330 just opened up and I told my TA to upgrade us to it from our D1 since I thought we'd have a bit more space to move around with our DD. She'll be 15 months old at the time of our Allure sailing in December and we know we've got a ton of stuff to bring with her including her stroller and car seat. I did a search and saw that one person had this cabin booked for Oasis in May. I would really love any info, thoughts, photos, etc. Now I'm having second thoughts about whether it will be too loud being near the rock climbing wall and Aqua Theater.:confused:

Thanks for sharing your review about the fun mobile. It looked like you had a lot of fun.

 

I think we have decided to go with St. Maarten as more people have given us feedback on that one. We have found a website that offers this excursion for $69 bucks per person of course this is not with Royal Caribbean but the tour looks all the same.

 

One other question if I may, did you book in St. maarten through cruise or on your own for the ATV's. If it was booked on your own what website and was it a packed tour or just a few people.

 

Thank you,

Mike

My sister and I ended up doing this tour a few years ago when our western caribbean cruise got turned into an eastern caribbean cruise due to the weather. As you can imagine, it was virtually impossible to book any excursions through the ship since everyone else was scrambling to adjust to the change, as well, and they weren't allowing you to book through your televisions. Since we couldn't even book a diving excursion through the ship (even those sold out within minutes!) we decided to just wing it in port. We went to the information center at the pier when we left the ship and easily booked ourselves on the ATV tour. The price was lower than what was offered through the cruise ship, and our group consisted of people who had booked independently like us, as well as others who had booked through Royal Caribbean and Carnival (which as also in port that day). We had a great time and I would highly recommend this tour.:)

I'm almost embarassed to say that this happened to my on my first cruise, and of course it was our honeymoon, so I was not as happy all week as I should have been! Don't get me wrong, I had a great time, I just would've had an even better one if I didn't constantly feel like my stomach had turned to lead. The problem for me, as it turned out, was simple - I was dehydrated. We flew in the day of embarkation (never again!) and flying always dehydrates me (I guess it's a combination of all that dry, recirculated air and the fact that I drink less because I don't want to run to the bathroom constantly/am afraid we'll hit turbulence and they won't let me go when I have to:eek: ) and I just didn't drink enough water or other beverages while on the ship the first few days. When DH told another couple we met onboard about my tummy woes, the wife said she had experienced the exact same sensation in the past, and had felt much better after loading up on fluids. I took her advice and felt much better!:D

This past cruise, my second, I planned a bit better. I drank more clear fluids the week prior to the cruise, drank a lot of water the night before we left, and drank more on the plane on the way down. We also flew in the night before, so I was able to "recover" better from the flight and my sister just kept forcing water/other non-alcoholic beverages on me whever we weren't doing anything. Sure enough, I felt absolutely fine the entire time.:D

"It's interesting that the description of the room matches that of a junior suite, but the "guarantee" is only for a superior ocean view (i.e. D1, D2, or D3). I checked several dates and they were all worded the same way.

The wording is interesting, so I did some research on these boards and posted a question about it. The general consensus is that although it says "superior ocean view," the description (i.e. dimensions) corresponds to that of a JS, which is the minimum you will get with a W guarantee. What I found to be really interesting is that yesterday they opened up a JS guarantee in addition to the W guarantee, but the JS guarantee was $150 more per person. One poster suggested that the difference between the JS guarantee and the W is that the W can't be combined with air and he or she is correct - when I pretended to book air with the trip, it would only give me the JS guarantee as an option. Now the W is gone and just the JS guarantee remains.

It's really kind of interesting to see the different cabin and guarantee types open, close, open, close and so on as the sailing date gets closer.:eek:

JS Gty is where you are taking any JS anywhere on the ship

 

W Gty is where you are taking any Suite anywhere on the ship - this could be a JS, GS, OS or RS....so much better opportunities of getting a really good stateroom. The W, X, Y, Z Gtys usually come in a lot cheaper as the OP has found.

Basically you know this JS is the minumum grade you are going to get but you could get better.

 

I'd take the W Gty over the JS Gty anytime!

But I will keep my fingers crossed for an upgrade from a JS! Not that we're not perfectly happy with the JS we have now, but who wouldn't be even happier with an upgrade to a "true" suite?!:eek:

I believe that the W can't have air added to it -- but, the GTY can.....I think. Good Luck!

Finally, someone with an answer!:D I found it interesting that they would appear to be offering two different categories at two different prices for the same cabin, but if the air add-on thing is true, then I guess that might might be worth the price difference for some cruisers. Thanks for the info.:)

Okay, so someone please explain the difference to me. I was checking the prices on Royal Caribbean's website today and I'm totally confused. They are offering a JS guarantee for $1,199 and a W guarantee for $1,049. With both you're guaranteed a JS, right? So why would you pay $150 per person more for the JS guarantee than the W guarantee?:confused:

We already booked a W guarantee when the prices were slightly lower, but I'm curious to see what the difference is here. Thanks for the help.:D