funfamilyof6
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Posts posted by funfamilyof6
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Hello All. In the process of picking a cruise for my family and learned that menus have been changed and are not gluten free friendly. Has anybody had this experience? Also, I don't see that sorbet is offered on the menu now, did RCCL take this option away also? Thank you.
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5 hours ago, Coral said:
I think Whistler is beautiful. It is a winter ski resort but has become a summer destination with a lot of different things to do. They have more summer visitors than winter now. It is less than 2 hours North of Vancouver. Nice hotels and restaurants.
Great info...I think they will like this. Thank you!!!!
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Thank you all for all of the helpful and very detailed information!
Mapleleaves and AuroraRose I truly appreciate the "extra" details. I think my daughter has come to the conclusion that due to time restraints, cost, and possible new job(s) the Celebrity Solstice will probably be the safest choice for now so they plan to do tours within a few hours of Vancouver. AuroraRose Celebrity Millennium was another possibility, but my daughter felt that it was a touch too small since we have only cruised on larger ships the smallest one being Freedom of the Seas and also because Seattle is much cheaper and easier via plane.
Can either of you provide good Vancouver tour options within 3 hours (longer if they are really worth it)? Thank you so much!
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My daughter and fiancé are planning their honeymoon. They are able to fly out of NY 7/27/2020 but need to come back to NY no later than 8/8/2020. They do not want to fly in and out of Seattle as they have researched and learned that Alaska Inbound North or South one way are better and Seattle does not interest them that much since they want to see more of nature/natural tours. They want to see glaciers, dog sledding on snow, and possibly seeing Dinali. The only other factor involved is that my daughter has Celiac's disease and needs a gluten free diet. In terms of cruise choice, food is very important to them but they would love to have some kind of entertainment on the ship. My daughter has done mostly Royal Caribbean ships and have loved them not so much on Carnival. Her fiancé has not cruised at all so it is important to my daughter that they do not go on a ship that will scare her fiancé to the point of never wanting to cruise again lol! Their budget is around $8000, but they both agree that they will be fine with an interior if necessary which I think will be due to the expense of the excursions and airfare. The 3 cruises that I am leaning towards for them are:
7/31/2020 Celebrity Millennium (Vancouver to Seward)
7/29/2020 Coral Princess (Vancouver - Whittier)
8/01/2020 Royal Princess (Whittier - Vancouver)-not sure about this choice as I have read some negative things about it
Also, should they reconsider the round trip Seattle option (Celebrity Solstice) as they would be able to get a balcony. Would they be able to take some sort of train from there and get to see something with nature?
Thanks in advance for any help given as I am getting a headache from all of the research!!
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Thank you so much for replies...earplugs would not be enough for me lol!
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I am looking at booking several cabins on Allure or Harmony. Only available cabins available on both ships are cabins directly above restrooms on ship. This may be a stupid question, but will there be any chance of me smelling restrooms? :o
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Great review so far...looking forward to hearing details about shows. :)
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So glad that you got your luggage back. If anybody tried to get a peak of me that may be the last peak they will ever attempt to do again LOL! ;)
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He most likely will not be able to fit under the showerhead comfortably, but this will depend on what is comfortable to him.....I copied the info below from the RCCL website. The website does say info may vary according to ship.
"What is the height of the shower? Showers are European telephone-style, adjustable from 1.4 m to 1.9 m, or 6’2”, max. clear height. Someone taller than 6'2" will fit in the shower but will likely have to duck to get his or her head under the running water."
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I have had to cancel a few cruises and have never had to wait more more than 4 days for a refund.
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Had a family and regular promenade cabin on deck 7 and LOVED it....only noise was during the parade and it really wasn't that bad.
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Breakaway, because it has more days....5 days in not enough!
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I would definitely take it....we have been on the Freedom a few times and loved being on deck 2.
The best part of deck 2 is that there is never a line waiting for the elevator. Also, the dining room is usually only one deck up unless you have mytimedining. If you have a child under 11, the children's club will pick your child up from the dining room if you get into myfamilytime dining. Myfamilytime dining is not offered with mytimedining and is only offered at the earlier dining time not the late time.
Early Congrats!!! :)
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I would go for the December 14 Breakaway cruise, for the better pricing. I've done the early December cruises out of NYC the first couple of weeks of December the last few years they tend to have great pricing. As for pricing I believe you'll see the prices increase shortly, and they will come down close to cruise time. If you are very flexible and can wait until the last minute to book you'll get a great bargain pricing as long as they don't fill the ship a couple weeks before all at once which has happened to us in the past so it is a bit of a risk.
Another strategy I've used is booking the cabins as far in advance as I can with a price I'm ok with, then watching pricing. Up until final payment time you can call and get the reservation adjusted (Cancellation/Re-Booking). After final payment continue to watch the pricing and possibly move to a higher category of cabin as those come down close to cruise time....sometimes with no extra charge sometimes paying the difference to move up.
I do prefer the GEM's itinerary, but since price seems to be of more importance and you are already booked to do the Eastern Caribbean the ship and price for the BREAKAWAY win out in my opinion.
*Freestyle is always an option but you will be able to make dining reservations in the main dining rooms on both ships in advance of the cruise....times available are 5:30, 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30.
Thanks so much for the feedback...it looks like you are booked on the cruise we are looking at. :)
If we try to book last minute for a better rate, will we still be able to book whatever we need to online?
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Planning a December 13th or 14th cruise for just my husband and self. We haven't been on a vacation by ourselves since having our 4 kids (oldest now 19) and I have finally convinced my husband to do so LOL!!! It is very important to keep this cruise in low as cost as possible since 3 of our children will be in college next year and we do have a cruise booked for this July to celebrate 2 of our children's high school graduations. We are taking this opportunity to give NCL a try.
I have narrowed our search down to the 12/14 BREAKAWAY, Bahamas itinerary, $479-$579-$669-$749 OR the 12/13 GEM, Eastern itinerary, $769-$699-$899-$1319. The lower cost and it being a new ship is leaning me towards the Breakaway, but we definitely prefer the Eastern itinerary. For this cruise, the ship is more important than the itinerary since we are doing the Eastern this summer with our kids.
A little about us (50 and 45) - neither of us are drinkers or foodies, but we both love the shows and the occasional games liked Quest and such. We both like early set time dining (I am a type 1 diabetic), but do know this is not available on either ship and do look forward to seeing how "Freestyle Dining" works. We love RCCL, but didn't really care for Carnival, and are curious about which line NCL is more similar to. We would do Carnival again, but not with our kids since they were more disappointed by Carnival than us. We like the food and the way the buffet system works with RCCL a lot more than Carnival. We also thought there was more to do on RCCL ships. The itinerary saved our Carnival cruise LOL.
Is the Breakaway a good choice for us and if yes, should I wait to book after the final payment date, is it likely that the price will come down lower than what it is now (which is really good IMO)??? We are not really picky with cabin choice.
Thanks for any opinions!!! :)
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What a disappointment for this couple but I really can't understand why they refused to have the photos re-taken. Who would have known but them that they were not the originals.
This is exactly what I was thinking! What else could RCCL have possibly offered??
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We have 6 in our family, so we felt the value was good for us since the cabana rental includes mats and water. We are all very fair and all take a medicine for a thyroid condition which makes us sensitive to sun.
We had an over the water cabana which was right on the water. The beach cabanas are also very close to the beach. With the cabanas on the hillside, you will definitely have a longer walk compared to the other 2 options.
We enjoyed the private buffet but it is my understanding that the Nellie's cabanas no longer come with the private buffet at Barefoot. We are doing a cruise next summer and will be doing the cabana again even though the private buffet is no longer included.
With all of this being said, I don't know if I would be booking a cabana if it was just for the 2 of us.
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We actually liked our family promenade cabin more than 2 connecting cabins. Ours teens didn't miss the extra bathroom and appreciated the extra space more.
It feels more roomier when you are actually in it and the walk in closet is huge compared to the regular closets you get in the standard cabins.
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I have always booked my RCCL cruises over the phone with RCCL and have always been able to pay online.
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Hey funfamilyof6! I tried to figure out how to send you a PM and couldn't figure out how, so forgive me for posting here in public. We just got off the Grandeur and are looking to our next cruise. Considering the Freedom in March, 2016. For $400 less than an OV cabin on FOS, we could get a balcony on Carnival Liberty. I'm particularly interested in hearing your thoughts given that you've sailed both in the past few years. I hear you to say the Liberty felt more crowded, and others say the food in the MDR is better on Carnival. My boys will be 11 and 12 by this time and the itineraries are quite similar, both desirable to us. Is the Freedom really worth skipping the balcony and paying a bit more? Thanks!
I don't think you can PM on Cruise Critic.
We almost always get oceanviews on our RCCL cruises. With Carnival, it was so much cheaper that we were able to get a balcony and still saved over $1000 getting the balcony compared to what we spend with RCCL (we usually get 2 cabins). With all that being send, we rarely use our balcony so not getting a balcony isn't a big deal for us.
I personally would choose the FOS. If getting a balcony is a big part of your cruise experience, then the Liberty would probably be a better way to go for you. If crowds bother you then definitely choose FOS. Only you know the answer to this!
As far as food goes, our family personally likes RCCL's better. I find it amazing when I read that people like Carnival's food better. But this is why I didn't want to touch the food topic because this is truly a very opinionated topic. The food was one of the main reasons our teens did not like Carnival. They especially missed RCCL's pizza. They hated Carnival's pizza so much that they would not even eat it and that says a lot LOL! Carnival's pizza was really crunchy (burnt in some areas). Our kids also really like the promenade area on FOS which Carnival lacks.
If you have any other question please feel free to ask! :)
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We gave Carnival a try a couple of years ago (Carnival Liberty) and had a definite preference towards RCCL ships and service. As far as dress code in the dining room, people were definitely dressed nicer on RCCL, but this is not to say that you will never see t-shirts and shorts in the dining room on a RCCL cruise, but it is certainly not the norm. Food is subjective, so I will not even give my opinion on this.
The thing that bothered us the most (especially since we cruise during the summer months) was that Carnival Liberty always felt crowded, especially at lunchtime in the buffet area. It was very hard to navigate the buffet and very difficult getting a table. We never experienced this on our RCCL cruises, but I do want to remind you that Carnival Liberty was our one and only Carnival cruise. We also didn't like how the food was separated into completely different areas. We purchased FTTF passes which was a lifesaver, especially for getting on the ship and getting off at the ports.
A pro for Carnival were the ports...this was the lifesaver for our Carnival Liberty cruise. All in all, we have never had a "bad" cruise, but we definitely lean towards RCCL. If we booked another Carnival cruise, it would definitely be for the ports! Our kids told us that they would never want to do Carnival again, so if we did give Carnival another try, it would have to be without them.
Sometimes you need to try something different and spice things up a bit. ;)
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We already had an interior for 4 and promenade for 3 booked for 8/2015 on the Oasis. We saved $800! Thank you Cruise Critic and RCCL! :D
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Or if she does not really need a wheelchair or scooter, how about a walker or rollator? I have had foot surgery and a knee replacement in the last couple of years and am about the same age as your mother. I was dangerous on crutches but a walker with wheels was a real help and kept me much steadier, more mobile and I felt less self-conscious (although I was probably more obvious).
This is also a great idea...they also have scooters with seats in case she gets tired!
Liberty OTS New Menu Celiac/Gluten Free Concerns
in Royal Caribbean International
Posted
When we have cruised with RCCL in the past, and I have always emailed both special needs and RCCL dining to be safe.
I only had concerns this time because of the numerous negative reviews I have read regarding gluten free being difficult now due to the new menus. Maybe the negative reviews were because they did not notify RCCL ahead of time.