Goes Cruising

That is pretty much how we have done it in the past. Must be a Kansas thing. I agree about the "stealing" aspect. If someone brought a gift from their home town, location or of interest to them it might seem a bit tacky of someone to say I don't want that one I want the one over there.

 

We have set the limit of $10-15 and as others have said the gift is representative of the giver in some way.

 

I like the idea of having each person who brought a gift come up and introduce themselves and then select a gift. The giver of that gift then comes to the front until all the gifts have been received.

 

Obviously the more participants the longer the time it takes so if there is a way to shorten it without losing the concept of getting to know each other better....:rolleyes: Difficult decision.

This is a very timely thread! I am the organizer of the gift exchange for our TA that leaves Wednesday. I am trying to put together a poem for a "Left/Right" game, but I think I might steal your idea of selecting the order by who gave the gift. How do you start out? Who is the 1st person to go?

No, darn it, we picked the second night. Maybe we can connect and do one of the other restaurants together.

That would be great. See you on board in 20 days!!

Woot! We booked this for the cruise also, maybe we will be at the same Chef's Table!

Hi Margie, I booked for the 9th. I wanted it to be near the end. Will we be dining together :)?

You have to book the other restaurants on board.

Thanks Bob. That's a process RCCL could improve. In a perfect word, the reservation system would recognize you have paid for them :confused:

At least I know it's not me!

When booking the Chef's Table Dining Package in advance, I am able to pick the date/time for the Chef's table, but I can't figure out how to book the other three restaurants in the package. When I try to book them, it wants additional payment.

Is it possible to advance book the rest of the package, or do I have to wait until we are on board?

Wonder if I can request a filipino dish just because? Love lumpia and sesig/rice :D

On our Serenade cruise this January, I asked the waiter if there would be any Indian curries on the menu for the week. Once upon a time, there was a curry every night.

He was delighted to report back to me that I would have a curry the next night. He asked if I had any particular preferences (meat,seafood,other), and how spicy I liked.

Sure enough, my very own curry was ready for me the next night. They really do go out of their way to please the guests!

I did the repositioning from Hawaii to Vancouver last year with my two sisters on the Rhapsody. I originally had a large interior booked at a good location, but when my second sister decided to join, we had to scramble to get a room and ended up with a standard interior room. Radiance interior = 165 sq ft, Rhapsody Large interior = 142 sq ft, Rhapsody standard interior = 132 sq ft.

I am one of those folks who always says we don't spend much time in the room, it's just a place to sleep, etc. I'm all about saving money. If you end up in a standard interior on a Vision class ship, you better really, really mean that. I have had great cruises on Vision class, but they were all very port intensive. I have to say I would think twice about an inside on a Vision class again, especially with so many sea days.

Awesome video. They look like they had a blast making it!

We've had some amazing table matches, then some not so much. I have so rarely been paired with CC Roll Call members, that I think the 1-2 times I have were luck of the draw.

You can however link reservations with CC Roll Call members, and hopefully that will get you all at the same table. I have heard that doesn't even always work.

I am not a balcony or nothing kinda cruiser, but the more sea days, the more I lean towards a balcony.

Our 1st one was a Spring crossing on a southern route like you describe, and we had BEAUTIFUL weather all the way across. We had an aft balcony which does cut down some of the wind, but we used it extensively.

I'm going on my 2nd TA next month, and we cross from Boston to Cork. We again have an aft balcony, but I'm a bit apprehensive if we'll get as much use out of it. As Bob said, it is nice to have the natural light in the room. On the many sea days you may find yourself spending more quiet time in your room than you would normally.

The only thing about 2 tops in MTD is that they are so close together they might as well be connected.

On our recent Serenade cruise, we had a row of 2 tops behind our table for 5 that we sought out every night. As we had reservations for the same time every night, and has sought out the same servers, we recognized several of the folks at the 2 tops each night. They were interacting with each other by the end of the cruise like they were tablemates.

Does anyone have a picture of the pendant?

I know I'm going to get blasted for this, but is RCCL really responsible for searching for lost goods? Yes, it would be great if they could, and yes, it would be awesome if they could connect the pile of found merchandise to the list of phone calls/emails I'm sure they receive every single time they sail.

Why is RCCL responsible and not the person that lost it? I just don't understand the mindset that RCCL is "responsible" for everything everybody does on the ship. Isn't ANY effort they make to help recover lost merchandise above and beyond the call of duty?

What ship(s)?

It's also not likely that any hotel will simply let you "walk out the door" if your credit card is rejected. No one is being treated as a "deadbeat," it's simply that your card, for whatever reason, was rejected. Are you suggesting that Royal Caribbean should just let you go home and hope that the issue resolves?

Are you a business man? Would you let a customer leave your place of business with your product paid for by a card that is rejected and just assume it'll be paid for? I doubt it.

By the way, even the rich will sometimes "skip out on a bill at Denny's," just ask Lindsay Lohan.

The OP didn't say his credit card was rejected, he said the last charge was rejected.

I am close to an RCCL cheerleader, but I agree with the OP. I have never had this experience on board, but if the card/bill was clear the night before, the OP should not have to deal with this as he's walking off the ship. What if this caused him to miss tours, or flight, etc?

Not our thing but too each their own. I have read on these forums where some Cruisers have posted having decorations removed from their doors.

The very first time we decorated our door, some of it disappeared. We were very disappointed. Since then, nothing has been touched.

So, yes, don't put anything on your door that you would be sorry to lose. However, 9 times out of 10, spoilsports won't ruin your fun.

Decorate away!

Boy, you "wild and wacky fun people" are touchy.

And getting your point across is important to you, isn't it?

I don't have pictures either, but we generally decorate our doors with printable magnet sheets, which are available at craft stores. I make up some cruise theme pictures (using powerpoint) for each member of our party, with names, dates. We just sailed on the Serenade out of New Orleans, so my theme pictures were Mardi Gras masks & beads.

With more time and energy, I could get more creative, but my travel companions always seem to be happy with my feeble efforts. It is a nice way to easily spot your cabin in a long hallway, even when you are sober :)

I never understand why posters feel the need to respond negatively to door decorating questions. The OP did not ask if it was to your liking to decorate doors. They asked for ideas. Since you have none, it doesn't seem like comment was really necessary.

Decorate away. You will not be the only one. Just have fun with it.

Beachnative, can't agree with you more. Another favorite is Leigh on the Explorer and Tobi from the Serenade. Tobi is very talented.

 

My very least favorite is Jimmy Rhodes, who we have had too many times on the Explorer, was a nice change to have Richard Spacey and Frank, and Leigh with Frank and most recently Leigh with Erky from Turkey. They were a hoot on my December Explorer cruise. Drew was CD on daughter's wedding cruise and again on her cruise with me last February.

We just sailed with Tobi on the Serenade. I wasn't sure how I felt about him at 1st, but he really was very entertaining, talented, and just plain interesting. He did an awesome job with Love & Marriage. I also enjoyed his travel videos. Very different from any CD I've sailed with.

I also love Clo. I have never seen a CD out and about on the ship as much as her. Had her on a TA, and her and her staff did an outstanding job keeping things interesting on all of those sea days.

Assuming the teenagers will be linked to your credit card as well? I have split on board credit across everyone in my room, but have never tried to combine or split with another room.

I would suggest calling to try to get it moved around before you board.

Does anyone have any feedback on Steve Davis? It looks like he'll be taking the Brilliance back to Harwich on the TA.

Clo was the CD on the last TA I took, and she was brilliant! The CD plays such an important roll in TAs, and I'm hoping Steve can keep us as busy as Clo did!

We made an 8:50 flight, and actually had almost an hour sitting around at the gate. You know the drill - Carry your bags off, be in line when the ship clears.

Of course it's risky. There are many variables that could cause you to miss the flight. If you are comfortable with travel, it is doable.

The craft stores sell 8 1/2 x 11" magnetic sheets that are great for door decorating. You can print anything your heart desires on them!

Nobody has mentioned, don't put any decoration on your door that you would not want to lose. Door decorations have been known to disappear.

Reading is a skill, please reread what I wrote. You asked for a table for two and got it. I stated if you ask you can get a table for two. The poster stated it is like a restaurant they will seat you alone no matter what. :eek:

And tact is an art.

I never really felt the towel policy was to discourage stealing. I agree, who would want them?

I can't say I ever waited in a long line for a towel, or ever had erroneous charges on my account. We checked towels out at the beginning of the cruise, and just kept exchanging them for clean until the last day, when we checked them back in. I was not offended by the process.

I do think it was intended to discourage chair hogs, but it never worked. Clearly, you just need to argue a little to get the charge backed off your seapass account. Since the policy did little to discourage chair hogs, what is the point of wasting staffing to man the stations. Hopefully it will free a few more up to referee chair arguments :D