rjwinneberger

I realize we are all not cruising right now and many things may change once cruising resumes, but I have a question regarding the age at which kids can self checkout of Adventure Ocean on the Oasis (based on pre-COVID cruising).

Our entire family is cruising on the Oasis in October of 2021. We are curious at what age kids can check themselves out of the new concept AO (with parental approval of course) on the Oasis? Our two granddaughters will be 6 and 9 at the time that we cruise. Our daughter wants to understand if there are changes to the self checkout ages are in the newly designed AO as compared to the previous AO. We are aware of the fact that Adventure Ocean on the Oasis is different than other ships due to the Amplification. We are also aware that on the other ships Aquanauts, Explorers and Voyagers ranged from ages 6 -11 and that with the new AO 12 year olds are included. Does this change introduce a change to the self checkout policy?

Thanks in Advance and Can't wait to cruise again!

-Rebecca

Good Afternoon!

We are a group of 10 that will be doing the northbound Radiance of the Seas cruise from Vancouver to Seward on 05/29/20.

We are looking at booking a private tour for our group in Ketchikan. We have done ship sponsored excursions in the past, but prefer the personalization and service we get from private tours.

That being said, I am struggling to find private tour companies in Ketchikan. Anyone here have any recommendations for ones they have used that have provided great experiences and great customer service?

Thank you,

-Rebecca

Hey Everyone!

We are headed to Alaska in July/August on the Ovation of the Seas. One of our stops is Skagway. I was looking at tour options while we are there and saw the Gold Panning, Sled Dogs & Exclusive Scenic Railway tour offered through the cruiseline. We prefer to book private tours (we tend to like the more personal approach), but we cannot seem to find a tour comparable to this to book on our own.

Does anyone have any experience with this? We are a group of 8 - 12 9 (depending on how many want to do the tour), so we could easily make up our own group! 

Thanks a ton!

Check your cruise planners people!

We are cruising on the 04/25/19 IOS cruise to Cozumel and he 07/26/19 Ovation Cruise to Alaska. We just saved $ on our Cruise Planner purchases.

Saw that Royal was hosting a sale.

For Indy, we had already booked the Ultimate Dining Package (at $106pp) and the Behind the Scenes Tour (at $97pp). Went out to the website, and UDP was $95pp and BTS was $89pp. Cancelled and rebooked. That's $38 back in our pockets! 

Also checked the Behind the Scenes on the Ovation (which we hadn't previously booked), in July and it had dropped form $119pp to $109pp. So... we booked it.

No additional discounts on the drink packages for either cruise beyond what we got on Black Friday, but it never hurts to check!

Happy Savings (I hope) Y'all

4 minutes ago, KKB said:

So the cruise we are taking over New Years with our children (18-23) is their Xmas present. 

But we still do stockings so I would like to do do some stocking stuffers they could use on the cruise.

I have gotten a card game (Dutch blitz) & a dice game (tenszi), so that covers 2/3 kids. I'd like another card game. We have Cards Against Humanity already. 

Other ideas?

THANKS!

(figured others might like ideas, too!)

Phase 10 is always a good option!

We were on the Oasis in back in 2014 with three other ships. We went to Secret Harbor Beach for the day and there were maybe 20 people total at the beach for the whole day. It was quiet, the beach is in a protected cove and the water was perfect. Secret Harbor has a restaurant/bar right there, beach chairs and nonmotorized water sports for rent if you want them. Even though it rained all day we had a blast!

We are going back next week on the Harmony and planning to spend the day there again!

My husband is curious what camera and lenses you are using for your pics. TIA!

6 minutes ago, StormiB said:

Ohh. I am excited to see about the Reidel Wine glass tasting class. When / Where did you sign up for this?  And do the drinks in the Cellar fall under the drink package as well? 

We signed up for the class at The Cellars on the first day. The actual class was offered a couple of times during the week. As for the Wine... some is covered by the Beverage Package and some is an upcharge. It just depends on what you drink.

A quick secret regarding the Escape. We just got off the Escape yesterday and though the ship a whole has paper straws for use, there were "Standard" Starbucks plastic straws available for cold coffee drinks in the Atrium Cafe. I saw a couple of people order a cold drink and then just hang onto the straw.

We just got off the Escape yesterday and had a fabulous time. We are seasoned cruisers, but this was our first NCL. WE found that the Waterfront was our favorite public place to chill. You could sit there, see the water, relax and get a drink if you wanted one. Plus there are so many areas around that desk that you were pretty much guaranteed to find a spot with as many or as few people as you wanted to have around! On the days when it was cold and/or rainy, we spent our time in The Cellars. It was quiet and there were never too many people. Even on a ship of 4000+, I think the most in The Cellars at any time was 10. Also Cecilia (the Cellar Master) and Si Thu (her Wine Steward) provided some of the best service on the ship. If you get the chance and like wine, take the Reidel Wine Glass tasting class. It is really interesting!

They normally have specials on Labadee days.

At least they did when stopping there on HOTS.

Thanks for the response! Hope they have them when we stop too!

We have done multiple cruises with Royal before and have gotten hooked on the last few on the Couples Hot Stone Massage. We have always done them either on standard port days (after we get back on board) or on sea days.

We are on the 8 Day Eastern on the Harmony this November and one of our stops is Labadee. We are curious if the "Port Day" in Labadee normally is a day where they discount spa pricing or if since you are on Royal's beach and at their mercy, they still charge the full spa price that day.

Thanks in Advance!

My husband and I will be sailing on the 05/17/18 overnight to Cuba on the Empress. We are curious if the Chef's Table menu on that specific ship changes nightly or by cruise or is the same across sailings.

Thanks in Advance!

Thanks! I ended up just emailing Thenford Grey tours directly. I gave them an idea of what we am looking for and they built me a tour with my specific stops and requests. We will see come November if it is what our group is hoping for! :)

Do some research about St Kitts & Nevis. There is a lot of interesting things to see & do. With so much online, you can find most of the information you need. This site as well as TripAdvisor can provide much information. There are many tour operators at the port offering tours. Do your research & have a list of what you want to do and see.

This is what we did/are doing. I am just looking for recommendations or any prior experience from the group here.

Happy Friday All!

We have a group of 12 cruising on Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas in November of 2018. One of our stops during our cruise is St. Kitts. We are all seasoned cruisers, but St. Kitts will be a new port for all of us.

We noticed that Royal Caribbean offers an Island History and Rum Tasting tour. We are interested in doing an Island Tour similar to this, but do not want to book through the cruise line.

In our research of other tour operators, we have either found more robust Island Tours OR more limited tours with the Rum Tasting, but not quite what we are looking for.

1. Will we have enough time to do a solid Island Tour (Romney Manor, Brimstone Hill Fortress, Basseterre, etc) and the Rum Tasting?

2. Do any of the island tour operators offer more of a build your own tour experience?

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

-Rebecca

Thanks for the feedback everyone! It has really helped. None of us had thought about the weather thing. We think cruise and default to tropical in our brains (even though Bermuda in November isn't really tropical). :)

Based on this we are leaning towards the Harmony. We have done her sisters and some of the ports, but in the end relaxing beach weather is what we are all aiming for so she just seems more of a fit for us this time.

Hope that maybe we will see some of you out on the Harmony with us in November of 2018!:)

Tough call.... new experience vs. slightly better itinerary and extra day. Are prices equal?

If you were to offer the Anthem 11 night itinerary (Nov 25 or Dec 10) to Antigua, St Kitts, St Marten, etc.... this would be an absolute no brainer for me... it would be Anthem all the way. Can you change your vacation time to that later week?

Prices are comparable. Harmony costs a little more, but that is to be expected with the extra day. Unfortunately 11 nights isn't really doable for most of the group as it is a little long. Tho I agree that it would be an amazing trip if we could do it.

So I am looking for some guidance. We are a group of 15 - 20 (exact group varies a little each time), that cruise every other year. We vary in age from teens to retirees, but the bulk of us are in our 30's/40's. We have done the Allure Western Caribbean in 2012 (my husband and I got married on this cruise and it started the trend for the group), the Oasis Eastern Caribbean in 2014 and the Freedom Western Caribbean in 2016. We are some long time cruisers (for example... my husband and I are Emerald with Royal) and some are first time cruisers each time. We live all up and down the East Coast and throughout the Midwest.

I have started our planning for our 2018 adventure as I generally the one that puts the plan for the trips together. I have come to a fork in the road and need some intel.

I have narrowed our choice down to two cruises. The first is an 8 night on Harmony of the Seas to St. Thomas, St. Kitts, San Juan and Labadee from 11/10/18 - 11/18/18. The second is a 7 night on Anthem of the Seas to Bermuda from 11/10/18 - 11/17/18.

We know we love the Oasis class, but none of us have done the Quantum class yet and would like to try it. At the same time, most of us have not been to St. Kitts and San Juan or Bermuda.

Any thoughts, recommendations or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I was traveling on the Freedom last week as part of a group of 16 friends and family. My Husband, stepdaughter and I ate at Chops on the Freedom Tuesday of last week and had a wonderful meal and experience. My Stepdaughter and I each had the filet and my husband had the dry aged strip. All three steaks were cooked perfectly. The started and sides were great (and the sides we ordered provided more than enough for the three of us to share). Our service there was spectacular as well.

I can say as of last week, that after the first night, the Escargot was back on the menu all other nights. in the MDR

That being said, we were underwhelmed by the food in the MDR as a whole. We ate there all but one other night (we ate Giovanni's on the first formal night with a larger group - 10 of us total - and that meal was fabulous too). The options in the MDR as Robyn has shown were definitely changed/cut back and the quality just wasn't up to what we have become used to with Royal. They did have the roasted striploin more than once, which was nice, but definitely was not the Prime Rib we have all come to know and love. Regularly our food was cold or just blah. My first lobster on the second formal night (which is always a highlight) was exceptionally fishy tasting. They brought a couple extras to our table, so I tried a second one and it was better. Still a little fishy, but better.

The one thing I can say is that service in the MDR was spectacular! It was some of the best we have had on Royal.

I will say that our group as whole has been very loyal to Royal (some subset of us has cruised with them at least every other year, as a group since 2010). We are generally VERY happy across the board with our experience. Everyone in our group had the same feelings about the service (great) and the food (meh). That being said we are not overly picky or high maintenance. We still had a great time and we still believe that a day on vacation (and especially on a cruise) is better than any day at work or any day where we have to cook for ourselves. :)

Huge thank you to the OP! We leave on the Freedom on 11/05 and had previously purchased two Ultimate Packages at the 20% discount price back in June. This news just saved us another $132 for the week! Now I can put that savings towards that Couples Hot Stone Massage that we love so much. :)

Once note... I called Royal because the card I used in June expired. If this happens you can still get the refund. It will take a little longer tho. Royal will have to cut you a check for the refund and according to the Customer Service Representative from Royal that I talked with that will take about 4-6 weeks.

So... I cancelled my original drink package and just paid for the new one upfront. I am hoping that the check shows up in time for us to use it as spending money on our cruise. :D

So bad, I know, shame on me.

I hope you're not upset i posted that picture. Like I said, my fingers were glued to that shutter.

It brought a smile to my face when I saw it. :) Now I will be looking for others from our group in the background of your pics. ;)

Hey! We sailed with you last week on the Allure! This is a great review and has brought back all of the fun. :) It was a wonderful week and I have enjoyed your pictures and review. I was happily reading along on your post when I saw some familiar faced in one of your pics. The female on the right-hand side in the aqua tank top and red backpack is me, the guy in red with his back to you is my husband (we got married on Sunday 11/04/12 in Dazzles before the ship sailed) and the guy in the blue hat is our good friend Chris (one of 20 friends and family that sailed with us for the week).

Thanks again!

-Becca