PamUK

Hi everyone, we were on the same sailing as George and agree with him 100%. The food was great, we ate in every food outlet including Portofinos and Chops and we couldn't find fault. I don't eat beef, and eat very little other meat but I still had plenty of choice, and ate many really tasty dishes. The ship was fantastic, the staff were all pleasant, always smiling and eager to help you. There was always plenty of things to do and we always got a sunbed on the days we wanted to do nothing. The production shows and ice skating shows were excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed them. This holiday was one of the best we have ever had, if I could, I would do it all again tomorrow.

Pam

This might be old news (but it was new to me:D ), I was reading a review from the Mariner and the OP said that Graham Seymour was the CD but he was transferring to the Independance when she comes into service. We had Graham on the Navigator last year and we thoroughly enjoyed him, he was very funny.

Pam

We were on page 4!!

:eek: Oh no! What happens if nobody posts? Do we just keep going pages and pages further back or do we eventually drop off into cyberspace:eek: We can't do that, not before the Indy is even launched! Plus I need my daily fix, its only CC that gets me through the day at work, I then go home to give DH my 'interesting cruise fact of the day':D

Pam

Pam look forward to meeting you onboard!

Definitely!! Even if we don't get enough for an official M&M, I think all the people on the roll-call should get together for an unofficial social gathering one night.

See you in less than 20 weeks:D

Pam

Whew! Thanks everyone for your help & advice, no need for me to worry about tipping now. I'm doing the pre-pay grats thing which to me is paying for an integral part of my cruise I don't see it as an additional 'extra' that I'm having to pay for.

On the question about voltage, on the Navigator I think there were 2 different types of plug socket, one needed a US adaptor, the other a Europe adaptor. I found that my hair straighteners heated up faster on one than the other but I can't remember which way round it was:rolleyes: . Will the Indy have dual sockets as well?

Pam

Pam :D

 

An Alpha is "Alpha Alpha Alpha" the announcement made on the ship when there is a medical emergency.

 

With regard to the tips...dont worry,if you did the prepaid gratuities then you were fine. A lot of Brits removed them and didn't tip in any way,hence the unhappy crew. We didn't have that many kids on our sailing but they still were allowed to run free it seemed and upset pax by jumping in the hot tubs and splashing people,the parents being too busy topping up their tans and watching the footie to notice what was going on.

This is what I love about these boards, I learn something new every day:D Todays lesson - I now know what an Alpha is:)

I'm curious about the tips though, I thought that if you didn't pre-pay the gratuities they were automatically added to your seapass account? Is this not the case or do people take them off their seapass account after they've been added? Also, even though I pre-pay my grats, should I also cash tip bartenders/waiters who are not covered under the pre-pay vouchers? I'm aiming to 'get it right' this time as I hadn't found these boards before we had our 1st cruise:)

Thanks

Pam

cruzobsessed :D

 

Mmm Navigator....on our sailing I found..oh heck how do I put this without being rude....mmm....too many of the very much older generation (I am talking 80s+) who were used to P&O and weren't happy with the RCCL way of things. Such as "why are people who are in staying in lower deck cabins allowed to eat in the same dining room as ourselves from the higher decks?":eek: And gawd help you if you got in the way of the electric scooters/walking frames etc etc...oh and you daren't sit in the lounger in the solarium that they had occupied the day before:eek:

 

And then we had..oh help me....we had some younger Brits who overindulged in the drinkies and puked where they fell and were abusive to crew members....and rules..oh hey forget them...if they wanted their little anklebiters to jump in the hot tubs then gawd forbid anyone who said "it isnt allowed" because they were allowed to do it on another cruiseline so they could do it on RCCL ship!

 

Oh and we did have 11 Alphas and 4 Medivacs on our sailing,mainly due to the older pax and drunken pax.

 

Does that give you a wee idea....oh wait...very unhappy crew because they weren't recieving tips.

 

As I said...a learning curve for RCCL. I would most certainly cruise on a RCCL ship on the Med again if I got the chance. The ports on the Med & the rest of Europe as soooo worth seeing,loved everyone of ours and I think we had 9.

 

I am still a "cheerleader" for RCCL :D Loyal to Royal and proud of it.

Liz

OMG! I am so pleased there wasn't (or I didn't see) much of that sort of behaviour on our Navigator cruise last June. I know there was problems on the following cruise with kids running wild but we hardly had any kids on board. We always try to avoid the school holidays when booking which does help.

However, I do feel reallly really guilty about something that I didn't do, and didn't even think about it until I read your post! Other than pre-paid gratuities, I didn't tip. As you know its not the 'norm' here in UK but I always do it when Im in the USA, it just never crossed my mind to do it onboard. I feel dreadful that I was one of 'those Brits' that made the crew unhappy:( :( . I must make sure that I have plenty of $ for this year so I don't make the same mistake again.

Also, what is an 'Alpha'? We had one medivac on our cruise when a crew member was taken seriously ill and they had to divert the ship to get closer to land so they could get a helicopter out to us. I've never heard the term Alpha used before.

Thanks

Pam

We were on the Nav last year - nightmare !!

 

Read my review !!

 

 

 

 

jj.....

jj

Please could you post a link to your review or is there an easier way for me to find it? We were on the Navigator last year but as it was our first ever cruise we were probably oblivious to anything that wasn't right or any problems. We were the dumbstruck ones walking round with our mouths open saying 'Wow, isnt this fantastic' all the time:D

Hi Pam :D

 

Sorrentos is a really nice pizza place. It does have more than pizzas though it has desserts, cookies, paninis, pasta salad, bruschettas...and all at no extra charge.:D It was one of the places we missed most while on the Navigator :( having had it on the Freedom.

 

Now..Oslo...yes we have the Oslo webcam link, a big heartfelt thanks to Roland for sending this :D

 

http://www.ohv.oslo.no/cgi-bin/ohv/imaker?id=15072&visdybde=2&aktiv=15072

Thanks for that Liz, I now have the webcam link saved as a favorite.

I think I'm going to love Sorrentos, and as our cabin looks like its right above it I wont have far to go to get a fix:D

Pam

Liz,

 

Thanks for starting this thread! We will be on the June 14th sailing and are so excited. We also look forward to several pre-cruise days in England.

 

We're on the same cruise:) I am so excited about it.

This thread is great, there is some excellent information coming out about the Indy, thanks to all of you who are contributing.

One quick question, we've only been on the Navigator which didn't have a Sorrento's, what sort of thing does Sorrento's serve and do we have to pay for it?

Thanks

Pam

We are so excited about going on the Independence, it will only be our 2nd ever cruise but we know already that it definitely won't be our last:D This thread is great, any information on the Indy is most welcome, it makes our holiday seem that little bit closer (we sail on 14th June 08).

Englishrose - It would be great if you could take some pics of her coming into Southampton and post them on here.

Happy sailing everyone

Pam