impatientlywaiting

Judging by your signature, you haven't even tried a larger ship, so you can't yet say it isn't for you.

OK, maybe not an Oasis Class ship, but you might not mind the Freedom Class or similar.

Our first cruise was on Majesty and if we had our choice, that's the size ship we'd always cruise on. The Radiance and Vision class are almost too big for us. We don't want, or need, anything bigger than what we've sailed on already. We don't need all the hoopla of the promenade, or a zip line, or 14 decks of cabins, or 20 different eating options, etc. We know what we want in a cruise ship, and the bigger ships aren't it.

We are on Brilliance 30 June for 12 nights with two grandsons ,E1 balcony. I am a bit concerned about stateroom storage! Never been on a Radiance class ship before. We usually go with Celebrity. Never had more than two in stateroom either but that doesn't really bother me. I will make sure two cases fit into other two and hopefully will go under the bed? But maim concern is space for clothes!

We had 3 adults in a balcony on Serenade and there was plenty of room for all our clothes. I always take a cheap over the door shoe holder for the bathroom door so that takes care of a lot of small items. And I open up our large suitcases and slide them under the bed.

I don't get people who say that they like the smaller ships because they like being able to see the ocean. The only time I am really looking out at the ocean is when I am top side or on my balcony. I never actually find myself looking for a place inside where I can stare out at the ocean other than in my room when I have the curtains pulled back. Then looking out of windows at night does not make a difference anyway. But hey that's just me. :cool:

I guess it's fortunate that we don't cruise together then! We love watching the ocean on Deck 5 on the many sea days when we're on a TA or sailing up from, or down to, Australia in the South Pacific. IMHO, that's one of the main reasons for cruising, to be out on the ocean. If I wanted to spend all my time in the casino, or walking around in a park like atmosphere, I'd just stay on land.

We too only cruise on the Radiance and Vision class ships. I want to see the ocean, not the inside of the ship. Those bigger ships are just not for us.

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Anyone who would stay with one cruiseline these days is plain St#$%d.

There is so much other stuff out there.

Do the same cruise over & over because of a few free drinks....

Since you don't know anyone's circumstances, or their reasons for staying with one cruise line, your comment is insulting.

I haven't cruised a ton, but would consider myself loyal to Royal. However I am open to trying other lines to give me more variety of departure ports (like New Orleans and Boston), and sailing routes (Panama Canal). None of the status perks are worth enough to me to make me choose royal Caribbean over a more enticing or convenient cruise with another line, but I do like the "product" I get with RC and feel it is consistent enough across the ships I've sailed to know that I'll like what I get.

 

If I want to take a cruise, I start with looking at RC, but have looked at other lines if an RC ship isn't available where I want to be. For example I'm sailing NCL in a couple weeks because RC wasn't available, but I also have a future RC cruise booked.

 

 

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You're in luck - Royal is going back to New Orleans and doing the Panama Canal!

May I ask what you did not like about Vision? Just wondering since she will soon be just 3 hrs away from us and am considering a 5 day on her.....

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the Vision. She's a smaller ship which is probably why people don't like her. We prefer the smaller ships and have no desire to cruise on the bigger ships. Sailing out of NOLA is pretty awesome too! We did a Christmas cruise in 2013 and happened to be living in the area at the time for DH's work. It was one of the most organized terminals, both getting on and off the ship, we've encountered. :D

We did it last fall on the Radiance in Giovanni's. The menu was very limited (only got to choose from two items); it was expensive; and we'll never do it again.

I was able to score an aft facing balcony cabin on Brilliance. I had this on Jewel and thought it was amazing. Yet it is my experience that it is less expensive than other balcony cabins of the same class. Is there some reason for that or is it just part of the vagaries of cabin pricing?

We spent 29 days last fall in an aft cabin on Radiance, deck 9 (we didn't want to be directly under the Windjammer or Solarium as the staff starts rolling carts around, moving tables & chairs and getting ready for the day around 4:00 in the morning). We didn't mind the long walks to/from the cabin. We also didn't get any soot on our balcony. The only time we weren't happy being in the aft cabin that high up was when we left New Zealand and hit very heavy seas the last 2 days. There was definitely no sleeping or you'd have gotten thrown out of the bed. We spent those days down on Deck 5 where the ship definitely didn't move nearly as much.

We caught the train from the airport to downtown Rome. It was very easy.

Always stay in Afts, deck 8-10. Get my walking and never take the elevator...

Last fall we spent 29 days on Radiance and were Deck 9 AFT. Not only was it a long walk, but we rarely took the elevator. So even though we didn't curtail our eating habits (probably ate and drank more than we did at home), we didn't gain at weight at all!

I'm one of the contrary ones who never use a TA. In the past I've had good and bad TA's and ended up deciding I prefer to keep control of my own bookings. :)

When we did the Canal many years ago, we had an inside cabin. Even if we'd had a balcony, we wouldn't have used it as we spent all our time up on the decks or we would have missed both sides of the canal.

I witnessed a lady at Guest Services stamping her feet, pounding her hands on the counter, screaming she wanted a supervisor/manager - all because she put her pillow in one of those 99 cent reusable grocery bags, sent it through with her luggage, and one of the seams got ripped. The seamstress that works on the costumes came out, with the grocery bag, and told her she would repair it, but that wasn't good enough. The passenger wanted money and extra OBC - which she didn't get. Her husband was standing off to the side trying to act like he didn't know her. It was ridiculous.

I put mine in the extra large zip locks; then wrap each bottle in bubble wrap; then use packing tape and tape the bubble wrap up. I've never had a broken bottle yet. In January I brought back 5 liters (they don't have 5ths) from Grand Cayman (we were there on vacation, not a cruise) and each bottle was packaged that way. I informed Customs in Houston I had 5 bottles of rum in my checked luggage and they sent me on through. We've done it that way for years. Good luck!

When we left Vancouver last September, there were only two ships in port at Canada Place: Radiance of the Seas (which we were on) and a Celebrity ship. We were dropped off in the basement (where the taxis and shuttles drop off passengers) but DID NOT give our luggage to the porters as they were very confused as to where luggage was to go. It was a total DISASTER. We took our luggage inside the building directly to the Royal Caribbean luggage room and deposited it directly with the person there. I can't imagine how bad it's going to be with three ships in port. My suggestion is take it inside the building yourself and take it directly to the assigned luggage room for your ship.

Interesting responses to the OP's question of whether magnetized boss's work and if anyone had other suggestions. There were some helpful answers, but also someone taking the opportunity to tell them door decorations and message boards are eyesores. Nice, coming after several people endorsed the idea and said they do it. I always wonder what makes a person want to belittle people.

 

 

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I've decided that people who put other people down, or belittle others, must be very unhappy.

College kids can't usually afford anything more than 3-4 night cruises...and they have to be either 21 or 25....so you won't get a slew of 19 and 20 year olds without parents.

WRONG! 7 night cruise out of Tampa on Vision two years ago, 3rd week in March with well over 1,000 college kids WITHOUT their parents. They all had their drink packages and were quite proud of the fact that they'd used their parents credit cards and yeah there'd be hell to pay when they got home and the parents found out they'd charged the drink packages to them. I've never encountered so many rude, obnoxious and inconsiderate "adults" ever (and yes, I have kids of my own). They destroyed cabins; they blocked the walking path and refused to move so people could walk; staff had to bring in dumpsters to haul away their trash at the end of every day and hose down the decks because it was so sticky with spilled drinks and food; and they made little children cry on the tenders because they thought it was quite hilarious to shout their Tennessee Vols fight song at the top of their lungs.

Needless to say, we learned our lesson and will never cruise during March or April again.

Don't waste a voucher taking a drink to dinner. Just take one from the lounge, they don't care much anymore.

That's what we did on our last two cruises - went to the Diamond Lounge before dinner and took a fresh drink with us, from the Diamond Lounge, to dinner. That way you're not using up any of your 3 drink vouchers.

If the weather is too bad in Georgetown, the ships will move to Spotts Bay on the south side of the island and buses will pick everyone up and bring you to town. We've done this in the past on Legend of the Seas. Also, we spent 2 weeks on Grand Cayman this past January and witnessed it at least 4 times due to bad weather.

Our first 2 cruises we only ate in the MDR and then switched to only eating in the Windjammer. The last 3 cruises we decided to go back to the MDR and decided the food is so much better there than the WJ. We still eat breakfast & lunch in the WJ but won't go back to the WJ for dinner, even for formal night (which we don't dress up for but do wear nicer clothes than casual wear).

We always take our dry-erase message boards for our cabin doors to let everyone know what's going on. Sometimes other passengers leave us notes as well. :D

Don't wear Lanyards.

It is a very bad look.......

Apparently there are a lot of us with very bad looks! We wear our seapass cards on our lanyards so we don't have to carry a purse around on the ship. IMO that's ridiculous. When I'm off the ship, I put my lanyard inside my clothes and nobody knows I'm off the ship.

We did 29 days this past fall (b2b). Once a week there is a special where you can stuff the laundry bag full for $20 or $30 (can't remember exact price) wash & fold. DH always sent all of his things to laundry. I didn't send my "unmentionables" or t-shirts. Instead, I brought a small bottle of Tide, hand washed them myself and either hung them in the shower to dry or out on the balcony. It worked perfectly for us. Have fun!

I bring my Tervis insulated water bottle and fill it. The water on the ship tastes just fine.