Straughn

This is a great series of posts. We are booked on a 9-night cruise in January. This is our first cruise on Explorer and I am looking forward to it, so all these nice comments are negating any concerns I had. I am especially pleased to hear that the food is quite good. Please feel free to share any other experiences you have had on this ship and we are looking forward to the reports on the ship when she sails from PC.

With the continual overflow crowds, I think it's only a matter of time before the CL is Suites+Pinnacle , the DL is for D+, and D gets vouchers only. The positive reaction to the vouchers will make this easy for RCL to write the press release

 

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You have touched on something that I have long wondered about. With the ever increasing number of D+ cruisers (myself included), the Diamond & Concierge lounges are becoming crowded, which makes the experience not as enjoyable. One of the things I noticed on my last two cruises was that, not all, but some of the D & D+ passengers were only interested in the free booze, not the social aspect of the lounges. Therefore providing the vouchers relieves the crowding and, also enables Royal to put a limit on how much free booze they have to provide. Yes, I realize you can drink in the lounges and use your vouchers, but I agree that this is the first step to turning the Diamond lounge into a D+ lounge with the Pinnacle level having access to the CL as well. In addition, with the large number of suites eligible for the Concierge services, those passengers alone would fill up the Concierge Lounge. Back when the only suites available were GS, OS, RS and maybe a Family suite, there was room for all the Diamonds in the CL lounge. With the increased volume of suite passengers and D+ passengers, a distinction may need to be made.

 

I don't think that there is a huge distinction to be made in people's attitudes toward the CL based on whether they are a high paying suite passenger or a long time Loyal to Royal D+ or Pinnacle passenger- you can find obnoxious ones in both categories. I have never seen a Concierge on any of my cruises treat D+ passengers any differently than he he/she treated suite passengers.

We just finished a cruise to Bermuda on Explorer. After the BOGO promotion and Military discount, we were able to book a Owner's Suite (cabin 1600) for the cruise for a very reasonable price... Very nice..... The largest we every had before was a Jr Suite and the Owner's Suite is about twice as large. I took a quick video of the cabin and put it on YouTube. If you want to see what the Owner's Suite looks like on the Explorer,

 

Thank you for the video-enjoyed it. Almost identical to the Owner's Suite we have stayed in on the Radiance class ships. Besides the table, what furniture is there on the balcony?

In the past, we have been able to either carry or have delivered a partially consumed bottle of wine back to our stateroom from the dining room/specialty restaurant. Also, we were able to go to one of the bars and select a bottle of wine from the package and take it a back to the stateroom. Are one or both of these options still available?

Have another question which didn't occur to me until now. Does the 125% single supplement apply only to the cabins listed in the sale or does it apply to any solo booking regardless of the cabin type?

 

Thanks.

Do you have to go thru a travel agent or can you book the 125% rate directly with RCCL?

 

Thanks.

We've been quite fortunate in snagging senior rates especially in early fall when the kiddies go back to school. The entire cabin gets the rate even if only one occupant is a senior.

 

DH and I got one on a short lead time booking for a suite on RCCL. I guess they wanted to fill the ship. Just to be clear, HE was the one over 55!

The comments re the 3-night cruises being party cruises came from the staff and other passengers who had been on similar cruises on RCCL. I heard similar comments primarily about the 3-night cruises. It was very clear that that was their perception of the demographics on those cruises. I am sure that it did not apply to all passengers, but to the majority. Lets face it, the party crowd is not the most likely member of CC.

I/we are the aforementioned neighbors in 8028 and CC member. Spookwife's review pretty much sums up the cruise. As to the question re the noise from the Windjammer, yes, we heard rolling carts late at night and early in the morning. The noise did not wake me (thank you Advil PM), but was noticeable if you were awake. If you are a light sleeper, you might have a problem.

 

A couple of things to add-

Entertainment: we went to the first stage show by the RCCL singers and dancers. I am sure there are folks who will disagree with me, but let's just say, I was underwhelmed. Singers were weak and the dancers weren't in step (and it was a very calm night at sea, so can't blame the motion of the ocean). The musical groups (and I use the term loosely) I heard from the Centrum didn't make me want to hear more.

 

Dress code on Formal Night: I would sum it up by asking why RCCL even bothers to have one. For the most part, passengers ignored it and RCCL didn't seem to care. I counted, at most, a dozen tuxes on formal night. Most male passengers wore open collar, maybe a few jackets and ties. The women were slightly more appropriate. (This is not to start a dress code discussion; just my observation- not a political comment.)

 

As to the GS "sound system", my significant other summed it up by commenting that it was "1980's state of the art".

 

Best thing on the ship: if you have access to the CL, it is Reyno. What a guy!

We are on the Westerdam sailing leaving next Sunday and I am curious as to what changes will occur. This is only my second HAL cruise, the other being 4 years ago. On my most recent cruise (Dec 2011) on Celebrity, I was appalled at how the muster/safety/emergency drill was handled. My group met in a small lounge and the way the room was laid out, not everyone could see the crew member doing the life jacket demo. They did call cabin #'s, but nothing was done, to my knowledge, about the ones that were not there. There were a number of passengers standing (and complaining because they got there at the last minute and all the seats were taken); a number had beverages of the adult and soft varieties, several people checking and sending e-mail and texts, and a few talking among themselves. The actual emergency drill information lasted maybe 10 minutes max, the remainder was a commercial by the cruise director on the specialty restaurants and the shore tours.

 

I remember years and years ago, on one of our first cruises on RCCL, an incident that occurred during the muster drill. We were wearing our jackets, lined up on deck, by our assigned lifeboats. The cruise director is making the speech over the PA system, when all of sudden, in mid sentence he stops. There is silence for 10-15 seconds. The captian comes on and says that he has been notified that some passengers' felt that their personal conversations were more important than the emergency drill, so he was stopping the drill to give these passengers time to finish their conversations. There was total silence for about 60 seconds. Then the cruise director came on and started the whole announcement all over again. Obviously one of the muster stations was not listening and it was reported to the bridge. Our group was not the problem, but we all stood there for the remainder of the drill afraid to look right or left, hiccup or sneeze.

We are returning to RCCI/Enchantment after several years on Celebrity. From what I read, there are some new benefits for suite passengers that did not exist when last I set foot on an RCCL ship. I also read that the availablity of these amenities can vary by ship. I am most interested in knowing if there are reserved areas for suite passengers by the pool, in the Windjammer and in the theatre. If so, are these areas usually crowded.

 

Another question- One of the things that drove us away from RCCL was the numerous announcements throughout the day. Has there been any reduction in the frequency of these?

 

Thanks.

I guess I am lucky in that my SO works in a business casual office and only wears a suit/tie when he has meetings outside the office. Normal attire for him is nice slacks and open collar shirt. He loves an excuse to wear a suit and sometimes shows up in one when I least expect it. He is looking forward to packing his charcoal pin stripe, white monagrammed Frech cuff shirts, cuff links and striped black and silver tie. He is also planning on packing two sport coats for smart casual evenings.

 

We debated the "tux" issue and decided that based on what I was reading on the boards, there were more suits than tuxes, especially in the Caribbean. If I had said "bring the tux", he would have done so.

 

However, I must agree with the statement that sometimes a sport coat and slacks can be dressier than a suit. I would prefer a double breasted navy blue blazer and grey slacks any day over a wrinkled khaki or seersucker summer suit. There is something about a navy blue blazer with the right accessories that I find very elegant.

I just returned from the 11/21 Mercury sailing and I parked my car. The process is:

When you drive in, you are given a slip of paper for your dash which says "Parking" (mine was green- I don't know if the colors stay the same from cruise to cruise.). You then are directed to drop off your luggage. After that you are directed to the line to pay for parking ($15.00/day) - one line for cash/ one line for credit cards. When I parked, the cash line was considerably shorter than the credit card line. When you pay, you receive a colored hang tag to display on your rear view mirror. From there, they direct you to the parking lot where you could park anywhere you wanted. By 11:15 AM, most of the really close spaces were gone. I was able to park about 10-12 cars down the row and the row was probably 3 times that long. It was an easy walk to the terminal. However for someone who needs assistance or who can't handle longer walks, I would ask the parking staff if there is a way to drop someone off closer to the terminal. There must be a provision for handicapped individuals. The parking people are all very helpful and friendly.

RCL does not have any solo cabins. What they do have is a 150-200% single suppliment for most cruises if you want to occupy a cabin by yourself. Occasionally, you can find a cruise where the suppliment is only 125%, but that is very rare.

 

Where are you from in Delaware? I grew up in Delmar and went ot the Univ of Del.

Add me to the list of folks who do not want to share their cabin with a stranger. I have cruised twice with a girfriend who could be a real PITA. All she ever did, on both cruises, was complain. No wonder she has had three husbands! I decided that I would settle for a smaller cabin and be by myself. They say you really don't know someone until you live with them and how true that statement turned out to be about my friend.

As with all real estate, location, location, location.

She should try cruising again, albeit not on Royal Caribbean. She might like Cunard, or (if she doesn't mind the price) Crystal or even Seabourn.

 

Mother is 93 years old, lives in a retirement community. When I try to get her to cruise with me, she says two things-1. I want to remember the way it was and 2) my cruising/dancing partner is no longer around and it was only fun with him.

This thread brings back memories of my parents' cruises on Nordic Prince, Sun Viking and the Song of Norway in the 70's and 80's. Talk about being dressed to the nines- for boarding the ship in Miami, my mother would wear a suit, heels and stockings and my father wore a blazer and tie. Most nights, he wore a jacket and tie for dinner and she wore a very nice dress with high heels. Formal nights were truly formal! Based on the pictures I have seen, the vast majority of the passengers dressed that way. No one even thought about wearing jeans or shorts in the dining room. Most of the dinner food was served French style by your waiter-very few courses were preplated. Children were few and far between-occasionally there would be European children who were extremely well mannered. When I tell my mother our experiences on RCCL today, she just shakes her head and says that is why she no longer cruises.