rocknroll

Seated on the plane. We're a little late taking off due to a tardy flight attendant. Conveniently John and Mary flew first class so we were able to get into the admirals club while we waited for our flight.

 

Security at EWR was essentially empty, we were all really surprised. Not super excited to go back home, but spending Christmas with my parents will be relaxing too. [emoji4]

 

 

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Thanks for your wonderful posts. Can you tell me more about Coastal Kitchen. Where is it located, is there a cost, and do you need reservations?

You've had a fantastic trip. Now, enjoy Christmas!

We sailed in a balcony cabin on deck 11 in June. My two teens, DD age 14 & 5'7 and my DS age 15 & 5'9. The two shared the sofa bed. I can confirm that the sofa bed is definitely larger than a double bed, and is the size of a queen bed. My kids each had their own top sheet and blanket, and had plenty of room. My daughter complained the bed was hard and that it was the worst bed she has slept in all of her 9 cruises (she typically gets the top pull down bunk on Carnival and NCL). However, the hardness of the sofa bed did not bother my son one bit. My best description of the sofa mattress is highly dense, non-compressible foam wrapped around a steel tube!

 

With that said, the quad cabin sleeping arrangement is a huge negative when deciding if we will book another Quantum class ship. The ship is already more expensive than most cruises, and if we had to book two cabins instead of one... it will put this ship out of the running.

 

 

 

The sofa bed is next to the balcony. Although the pathway to the balcony was tight, it was manageable and not a problem.

 

Hi . . did you bring the fan, or did they provide one upon request? Thanks.

Hi . . . haven't cruised on RCCL in over a decade. Can you explain what the MTD is? When I booked, i just asked for early dining . . . which I'm assuming i have dining at 6 p.m. in the main dining room. But, how does MTD work and what makes it appealing? Thanks. Diane

We are on Navigator right now. No need to reserve shows. You just go to the ones you want to see. The ice show is now offered by muster station number, so no need to line up for tickets.

Hi,

Can you explain the muster station/tickets? Do you mean that everyone at a particular muster station is assigned a particular area at the rink . . . like if you are at muster station #1, there will be a section identified for muster station #1? And what do you do for identification . . do you get an actual ticket for entrance? Thanks in advance for clearing this up for me. Diane

We just got off Navigator today . The ice shows were assigned by muster station number on 2 of the sea days, two shows each day.

Thanks for the information Diane

We were on the NoS earlier this month. The internet is slow, but usable. I find that with the purchase of a day at a time, that I care less about speed, since I have am not trying to conserve minutes.

 

We also have the S7, but, we didn't pick them up until we got home. Love that phone. The battery life is amazing.

I only wanted internet for a day or two to confirm non RCCL excursions the day before arriving at that port. What would the cost be per day, and can you just buy one day at a time?

Also, we haven't been on RCCL for a number of years. If we purchase wi fi, can we use our tablets anywhere . . . or do you have to go to their computer area and sign on and sit there for your messages?

And, if you have WiFi, can you also use Skype on your tablet for telephone calls?

Thanks,

diane

Thanks.

No freestyle machines, but there is an open area in the windjammer where you can walk up and fill up your soda cup. The waiters say it's ok to do.

 

Also, I forgot to mention that the Ice show was really good and a must see.

Do you need special reservations or tickets for the ice show or is it a first come first served like the evening shows? Are they held during the day or in the evening? Thanks.

Its actually four nights, and the reason for considering moving would be to absorb some of the other culture England has to offer besides London life. We've traveled fairly extensively, and for the most part, a city is a city is a city. Also, I have been to London a couple of times already. As I mentioned, we do not intend to do any museums, etc., and have plans to see an opera while in Sicily, so will most likely not do any theater in London either.

 

However, to your point, I am still not sure about moving. If we had a car, it would be a no-brainer and I would definitely spend a couple of days elsewhere. But.... driving on the left side of the road does not appeal to either me or my husband. So, having no familiarity with towns in the areas I am interested in, I don't want to feel "stranded" either. For that reason, I feel I will probably opt to just stay in London and do day trips.

Have you thought about doing the "Ceremony of the Keys" held at the Tower of London at night time? Tickets are free, but they are limited and you need to request them ahead of time. This was a different and interesting experience.

We had a nice dinner at the Counting House and then took the tube one stop away to the Tower.

Diane

or did this stop after two pages?

Hi Caroldoll . . we are on the same cruise on the 11th so I was anxious to read this report also. Quite surprised when there was nothing after page two. I went back up to the first post and clicked on the URL regarding 27thousandwaves and that brought me to the full report. Enjoy! . . and will see you at the Meet and Greet. Diane aka rocknroll

Starting to make plans for our 40th Anniversary, Celebrity, Infinity 10 day cruise around the British Isles for next June. Will be flying into London for a couple of days before the cruise. Any suggestions on a nice place to stay in a "touristy" area? (Big Ben, Parliament etc.) Not looking for B&B. Not looking for Holiday Inn budget hotel. Also NOT looking for a place that's too too expensive. Even suggestions on which part of London to stay in will be helpful. I expect that we will do a little walking, a little taxiing, and maybe even a private tour or two of a few major tourist historical/cultural spots over those two days. Priceline, Hotwire,TripAdvisor, etc all have sooooo many listings that it's a little overwhelming. Fortunately, we are starting our research 9 months in advance!!! Thanks so much, Geoff and Donna.

Hi . . we will be in London for 3 nights in August 2014. We booked the Grange Rochester. It has decent reviews and was fairly reasonable . . especially if you book directly with them. There is quite a variance of opinions in the review, but I like the atmosphere it seems to offer. The only problem will be if it is very hot during the time we will be there because they only have a few rooms that are air conditioned. Seems to be common in a lot of the hotels . . . except probably new hotels. Just keep checking out all the suggestions and take your best shot. Good luck.

Re: "Rolex" watches

Wow . . that is something my husband and my friend's husband hadn't heard about.

We just lumped their cost into our overall summary of "miscellaneous souvenirs." We had no idea there could have been a problem. I'm sure we didn't see anything on the customs form.

The "Rolex" watches sound like a hoot and a good thing to bring home for friends! The chopsticks too! Did you see any silk kimonos? I would love to get some for the grandchildren and, if they are cheap enough, for friends.

 

 

Another visitor said she got kimonos along the stop at the Great Wall. We spent most of our allotted time (2 hours) climbing the wall so we only shopped at the stands close to where the bus was parked once we got back down. I believe she said they were further away from the parking area and we just didn't have time. I don't remember seeing any at the places we stopped during the rest of the trip. . . oh, but I bet they had them at the silk factory. We bought ties and scarves, but didn't think of kimonos during the brief shopping time. But you would not be getting "a bargain" there. As I remember, things were priced reasonably . . not super cheap.

My sister just called Gate 1 to require about any restrictions with carry on with wheels. We will be going on the tour together with our husbands. Gate 1 said there was no restrictions regarding wheeled carry ons. Confusing to say the least.

 

 

I wouldn't worry about it then. They may have changed their policy, or as with many situations, one rep tells you one thing and another tells you something different.

 

Since there was more than one couple who had roll ons as their carry on bags and there were no problems, I would take them as planned because it really was a drag carrying a couple of totes instead of using the rolling bags as we are used to doing.

 

Have fun!

P.S. My husband bought four "Rolex" watches for $10 total. They were the best gifts he brought home. They are still running, and now he wished he had bought more . . . even got extra batteries for the asking! I bought packs of 10 sets of decorated chop sticks each in their own silk pouch for $2.00 on the street. They say to haggle, but for that price, I just couldn't . . . but maybe you could.

 

If you take the rick shaw tour through the Hutong area, you will be inundated with people running by your side to sell silk like bags filled with the chop sticks, fans and 4 more nice sized silk bags and small ones as well. . . all this for $10. I bartered for additional chop sticks and got them. I must have come home with 80 sets and I gave them to my bowling buddies, friends, family and ladies at church. Very light weight and a small welcomed gift.

Thanks for the info. I did not see anywhere that Gate 1 said no rolling totes. Is that because there are too many steps to the hotels? How about rolling suitcases. I think that is all they sell anymore.

I am surprised that everyone took US dollars. That makes things easier. I might reduce the amount of Yuen I take. Did you follow the tipping suggestions? We thought the amounts they suggested were high and added a lot to an already very expensive trip. I agree that the main tour guide deserves his amount, but the bus driver, etc seems to get an excessive amount. Is it handed to them in cash or in an envelope each day?

 

 

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The following is from Gate 1 site. Because I am cautious, I called Gate 1 and was told no rolling carry ons. "Due to the limitations of motor coach luggage compartments, all escorted and guided tour packages allow one piece of luggage per person and one carry-on bag. Excess luggage will be subject to charge of up to $100 per piece." As it was not spelled out on their site, some folks did bring carry on roll ons and they had no problems. Since I was specifically told NO, I just didn't want to take a chance of being charged an extra $100. And yes, rolling suitcases were fine.

I read on another feed that someone took $200 in ones and a certain amount in fives. For the most part, we followed the tipping guidelines, but if the bus driver didn't offer his hand to help us off the bus and just stood there, I made an adjustment. Our leader and our city guides were wonderful and I was happy to give them the suggested amount. Most people just walked up to the bus driver and placed something in his hand. He had no idea who gave what. We did give our guides an envelope with cash and a small note because they were great. They tell you to wait until the morning of departure from a particular city to give the tips instead of something each day you got off the bus. That made things a bit easier because the bus driver would be the same one each day for each city.

I would take a poncho just in case. I'm not positive ALL places provided umbrellas, but I think they did . . I know for sure the boat did. It did rain unexpectedly one evening, and I was able to buy an umbrella on the street.

Also, I had a problem with my converter. I've used it many times in Europe, and although it has many settings . .one for China as well . . it just did not work. However, each of the hotels and the ship had one available to borrow should you have any trouble. Our friends had no problem with theirs.

We found we had the most opportunity to do our shopping in Beijing and the beginning of our trip, so we had to be careful about adding weight to our suitcases. If your trip starts in Shanghai and ends in Beijing, then you can buy 6 more pounds of stuff because your weight limitation goes from 44 lbs to 50 lbs on the way home. LOL.

Did they have hair dryers in the hotels and on the ship?

I believe they all did. They also had robes, slippers, umbrellas, as well as shampoo, conditioner, etc. in the bathrooms. Some had ironing boards and irons as well.

The hotels provided two bottles of water each day. You CAN NOT use water from the faucet . . even for brushing your teeth. Gate 1 provided water every day on the bus so it was never a problem having bottled water. . . even on your day trips.

rocknroll, Can you tell me how much the drastic time difference affected you. Seems like it might be very hard to go to sleep at night, etc.

Just remembered . . we did wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. for a number of mornings.

CARRIN

At the airport, we retrieved our own luggage and used the free carts to take them to the awaiting bus. The driver placed them in the bus. Luggage arrived at the hotel and was brought to our room. All luggage except carry ons was placed outside the hotel door late in the evening before checking out the following morning. Gate 1 says no rolling carry ons. We complied; some did not, but it didn't seem to pose a problem . . although we only had 13 on our tour. If there are 30, there might not be space under the bus. At one port, there were many steep steps, but we managed. We ate McDonalds because the meals we had during the day were filling and we had enough Chinese food. One group tried a Korean restaurant in Beijing. No one spoke English, but it all worked out.

MCKYM

Order the gadget!!

The weather for the beginning of May was warmer than expected. We took light jackets and rarely used them. My husband took a blazer and never wore it. As for jet lag, etc., we had no problems going over or during the trip. It took every bit of 2 WEEKS to feel normal upon our return. Not just us . . at least 4 others that we have had contact with upon our return.

CABINLUVN

We had laundry done on the cruise portion, and it was reasonable. Some, maybe all hotel bathrooms had the clotheslines.

DONMAR

An older gentleman, early 80s, did the 17 day tour with his son and daughter-in-law and was off to Tibet by himself. Gate 1 agent helped him secure rail transportation. On the Yangtze cruise, if you weren't on a tour, they implied you could not go off on your own. We were off enough on the tours we had signed up for so we did not do the two others offered. Just found the cruise ship daily newsletter. It states, "Please note: Port Authority Restrictions: only passengers with shore excursion or docking fee tickets are allowed ashore at white Emperor City," and "Due to Port Fee Restrictions only passengers on tour or with dock fee tickets are permitted to disembark the ship." (You might inquire ahead of time, what are dock fee tickets.)

JUNE1

There were ATMS in the hotel lobbies. We didn't use any ATM so we didn't look elsewhere. Only took 500 YUAN and that lasted a long time. People on the street took US dollars. We also gave the same to the bus drivers as well. And for our Gate 1 tour guide, we paid him in whatever left over YUAN we had as well as US dollars. Everyone thought the tipping was time consuming figuring it all out and putting it in envelopes at the end of each city. Only use credit cards in big, well established retailers or at the silk, pearl, jade, etc. factory tours. Although called factories, these were very nice establishments. There is a 12 hour time difference so it was easy. When it was 6 a.m. there, it was 6 p.m. in the states . . east coast anyway.

Another note . . the hotel lobbies had free wi fi and 75% of the time, we had a good hook up.

Hope this helps everyone who inquired

Hi . . (knee how in Chinese)

We visited China from the end of April until the middle of May. Our 17 day trip through Gate 1 cost about $7,300. (As the time neared, we decided to upgrade to Economy Plus for our flights across the ocean. . . our Christmas presents to each other! These costs were additional, but I would recommend upgrading because the flights are about 13 hours, and having already traveled from the east coast, our total time came to between 19 and 20 hours.) Our experience with Gate 1 was very positive. Our tour manager, Stone, and our local guides all spoke English very well. They were personable, in their 20s, and knew their history. We were well taken care of.

Everything went on schedule from restaurant reservations, airline reservations and tours. (The US airlines could learn a lot from the Chinese airlines. The flight attendants were just that . . attendant . . as well as smartly dressed with perfect hair and makeup.) Our hotels were centrally located and clean. We did not explore much of the area near the hotels because frankly, our days were pretty full. We were up and out by 8 or 9 each morning and returned back to the hotel just before . . or just after dinner. Each hotel offered western style breakfast buffets and egg stations as well as local cuisine. They were all very good. I would rate the hotels as 4s at the most. The hotels had beautiful lobbies, full baths, robes and slippers.

The Victoria Grace was the riverboat for our cruise on the Yangtze. It is an older boat, recently refurbished and was fine for our purposes. Would have liked something more modern, but really didn't need anything else. The food on board was good as well.

I did research before we left regarding the bathrooms, toilets, etc. in China. I would suggest to any woman going to China to go to Amazon.com and order a gadget that allows women to stand and go to the bathroom. It is called Krysta's Cups - pStyle. You will be lucky to find a western toilet. There may be ONE handicapped stall amongst the squatting toilets which are the norm and range from ugh . okay to disgusting. There is privacy as far as having individual stalls, but going to the bathroom without this helping gadget is challenging.

It is a trip of a lifetime. Maybe if you pay more the hotels and restaurants will be fancier, but for one who has traveled a lot, I wouldn't put out any extra money for 5 star hotels because each day is a full day and you don't do much at the hotel but sleep and bathe and there were no problems with these.

Have fun!