Artemis908

Worst cruise ever....2006 Radiance cruise. It had nothing to do with the ship or cruiseline. My 19 yr old son's 19 yr old friend who joined us on the cruise climbed onto the outside of the ship and tried to jump off . This took place on the 4th night of the cruise. After he had jump down several decks on the outside of the ship he finally ended up on Deck 2 or 3 going through the crew quarters and out on a "ledge" on the back of the ship. He was out there for several hours with crew trying to talk him into coming back in.

Finally after about 3 hours the Captain came down and threatened to throw him off the ship himself if he didn't come back in and sure enough he came back in.

 

We were escorted to our cabin and had security posted outside our door. The next morning we were politely asked to get off the ship and stay off in St Marrten. We were escorted down the pier with all of our luggage and were on our own.

I must say through all of this RCCL was wonderful to me! They helped me secure flights to get back home ( at a cost of over $5000) in no way did I blame them for putting us off the ship.....I didn't want to be there with this idiot either.

This friend of my son's we had known for 10 yrs and had no idea he was on medication for ADD and some psychological disorder.

This is why I always urge people to never take any of your kids friends on a cruise. If they are under 21 you are responsible for them and if they screw up you are screwed!!

The night this all happened the ship was put on lock down and they also put 2 life boats in the water in case he jumped. There was talk that I could have been held financially responsible for the fuel costs for that as well but thank goodness that didn't happen!!

Wow! What did his parents have to say about that? Well, I guess since he's 19 and an adult it's not required to have the parents involved, but if this kid is in college and still being supported by his parents you'd think they tell you.

You know I don't think I have bothered to have breakfast on the last day, is the buffet the only choice or can you go to the Park Cafe on Oasis?

When your cruise is coming to an end, is there anything special you do? Do you go straight to the airport? Do you have breakfast? Do you carry down your own luggage? Take a taxi? Do you try to stick around as long as you can? I have done so many cruises and I feel like every time I have done something different!

It's too late for me to edit the post, but if anyone wants to read further about the history or characters from Cats, visit the Wikipedia page here. I got a lot of good information from that page along with some other online resources.

I was just trying to give everyone the basics so I didn't go any further into history even though there is definitely more to it. I just wanted to give anyone who knows nothing about Cats some quick information. I just thought it would be a shame if someone left the show because they were confused. If the talent isn't up to par, that's unfortunate.

And I don't think Cats is as good as Phantom but I personally think that you are might like the music of Cats if you liked Phantom. It's all Andrew Lloyd Webber after all. Of course you might hate Cats, but was just my opinion!

Hmm, I just found this when I clicked a link in my reservation:

 

Luggage Valet

If you're sailing out Miami, FL; Los Angeles, CA; or Port Canaveral, FL; you can take advantage of our Luggage Valet service. It allows you to get your boarding passes and luggage checked in before you get to the airport. To use the service, your final destination must be in the U.S. Participating airlines are American, Continental, Delta, and United. You can purchase it while onboard the ship for only $10.

 

Seems way out of date to me :) Doesn't even mention Port Everglades. Plus Continental was merged into United several years ago.

 

But, I wonder if Air Canada is included, and/or flights to Canada are included. I'll give them a call and report back later.

I think this link is more up to date: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentWithHero.do?pagename=luggage_valet_service

This service is available in these selected ports:

 

 

• Fort Lauderdale
  
• Port Canaveral
  
• Miami
  
• Seattle
  
• Seward
  

 

and on these selected airlines:

 

 

• Air Tran
  
• Alaska Airlines
  
• American
  
• Delta
  
• United
  
• US Airways
  
• Jet Blue
  
• Southwest Airlines
  

 

 

Participating airlines vary by port. Consult the Guest Relations Desk onboard for specific port qualifications and additional information. An additional fee will apply

Thanks very much for this. My wife saw it on broadway. But I've never saw it. I'm looking forward to it.

Your welcome! I hope you'll enjoy it. If you like Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, I think you'll like it. I think it's up to par with Phantom of the Opera. And by the end of the night you might just have 'Jellicle Cats" stuck in your head. It's already stuck in my head tonight and I haven't listened to the song in years! :)

I have been reading up on Oasis of the Seas and reading people's reviews. I was actually really surprised by the reports that people were not understanding Cats so they left the show early or didn't enjoy it.

When I was a teenager I took a class where our teacher spent months explaining Cats to us and then brought us to see on Broadway before the show ended. I thought it helped a lot to learn about the show before going in, it helped me enjoy the show much more and I really liked it. So here is my short tutorial about the musical. Feel free to ask questions!

CATS: The Musical. Now showing on Oasis of the Seas

A brief history

Cats was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and debuted on Broadway in 1982. It was the longest run Broadway production during it’s time and won several Tony awards before it ended in 2000.

What to expect

Cats is a musical and you actually won’t hear any spoken word. All dialogue is spoken through song. You’ll hear several types of music genres from classical to pop, etc. The background set is an oversized junk yard, so you feel cat size with the performers. Each performer is dressed like a cat and in the Broadway version of the musical the performers walk down the aisles as cats, some even briefly interacted with them.

Basic plot

One cat is to be chosen to be reborn and given a new life in “Heaviside Layer” (symbolizes paradise or heaven) and Old Deuteronomy will choose which cat will get to take this journey. Each cat will sing a song that will introduce them to the audience and also try to convince him and the other cats they are worthy. Their songs give you a sense of who they are.

Characters

I don’t want to ruin the story or the characters, but you’re going to meet lots of different cats. Just listen to the lyrics and you’ll learn a lot about the characters. There is your protagonist, Grizabella who is introduced in Act One. And your antagonist, Macavity, that is introduced in Act Two. The story ends with Old Deuteronomy choosing which cat gets to go to Heaviside Layer.

We have a shore excursion to go swimming with turtles for our cruise in two weeks and wondering how cold the water will be. Anyone have experiences with the weather in January?

My mom got me rum cake from Bermuda during her cruise back in October. I opened it in mid November and haven't finished it. It looks good (still nice and moist), I don't see mold or anything. Think it's still okay to eat?

I am going to print out the page on the site and hopefully it will get us an upgraded buffet if they aren't offering it outright.

Included:

•Private ocean view cabana rental for the full day

•Furnished with 2 luxurious resort-style lounge chairs & a sofa

•Four bottles of water (in a cooler)

•Floating beach mats and snorkeling gear.

•Towels for your use during the day

•Barefoot Beach cabanas have a private beach only for cabana rental guests

 

I understand that only the Barefoot Beach cabanas (available to suites only) get the upgraded buffet. Used to be that the Nellie Beach cabanas got escorted to the upgraded buffet, but that was discontinued.

Actually it sounds like they brought the upgraded buffet back - it's now listed under "highlights" for cabanas again.

I have used Luggage Valet twice now, and both times I was flying on Southwest - to Philadelphia. ;)

 

I absolutely check myself in! I sit at that keyboard and wait for the exact second, and BOOM! Hit "submit".

 

:)

 

And yes, if you have two bags to check, just sign up for "one person" and pay just $20 to Royal Caribbean for the service.

 

Be sure to keep back what you really need to disembark and get home for your carry-on(s)!!!

 

There will be TWO tags to attach to each of the bags. Don't miss one of them. (ahem. Yes, I did that once. :rolleyes:)

You sound just like me :) I sit at the computer and wait for the moment check-in comes available lol

Was thinking of doing the Luggage Valet. My only thing is that I would rather check myself in because the sooner you check in, the better your boarding order number will be. Since Southwest allows you to check in two bags for free, I was thinking that we could check in two bags under one person and just pay $20 instead of $40, then check-in online ourselves instead of having Royal do it for us. That wouldn't be a problem right?

I had read that Royal IQ would be coming to Oasis in "2015". Well, it's 2015. So I am not sure when it was suppose to happen? I happen to love technology and the idea of using an app to see what is going on around the ship sounds awesome. Has anyone heard of when it will arrive or maybe it'll just come with Dynamic Dining...?

Our trip on Oasis in two weeks will be our first trip using MTD. I had read a recent review that said your reservation time is just the time you show up to wait in line, not what time you go to sit down. I am afraid now that maybe I didn't leave ourselves enough time in between dining and shows. Can anyone share their experiences or have tips? I am wondering if I made a mistake and should have gone with the traditional dining...

I was telling my husband about your review and was saying that only times I lose my luggage are when I don't have direct flights. When I went to Ireland we had a stop over at London and they lost my luggage coming home. I didn't get my luggage for 4 days and since the plane tickets were purchased by my mom, they wouldn't send the luggage to me. I had to go to a different state to get it.

Thanks for your review though, going to Oasis in two weeks and love reading recent reviews. Our ship seemed pretty packed, I guess since it's over the MLK holiday.

Wanted to do some shopping in Cozumel, but we are going on a shore excursion so won't have much time when it's over. Not sure if I want to chance taking a cab to the downtown area if our time is limited.

Is it fairly intuitive to find shops outside of the port? We'd like to go outside the gated area for cruise passengers. And should we have pesos or do they take USD since it's so close to the cruise ports?

We did a Dolphin Swim at Nassau that we excellent. I have to admit though Nassau is my least favorite port, I found the area around the ship lacking. We got harassed a lot by people selling stuff and the restaurants around the area were overcrowded.

Definitely agree with above poster. The good thing is that you can exchange currency at guest relations and at a fair cost.

I've done maybe 7 Caribbean/Bermuda cruises and 1 Mediterranean. The biggest difference, as stated above, is that Med was really port intensive. You want to take advantage of all of the great ports (especially since in my case, it was an once in the lifetime experience).

We barely saw the ship because we were so exhausted at the end of the tours that we spent a lot of time in our room, resting. We also barely took advantage of the pool and didn't take any shows.

A lot of passengers on Med cruises are from Europe, many don't speak English. They always made announcements in multiple languages, English was always spoken by crew members. I didn't want to chance sitting with non-English speakers during dining, so a group of us on Roll Call had a table together for dinner.

Since Athens was so important to me (was the one place I always wanted to visit) I set up a private tour with a large group from Roll Call. We had our own tour guide in a small bus and she took us anywhere we wanted and made suggestions, it was lovely. If was cheaper than going through the cruise ship and we got to see some locations the cruise ship groups cant get to. I can give the information of the tour company I used if anyone is interested.

Also since you're making such a long trip there, I highly recommend spending additional time outside of the cruise in Europe. We did a few days in London before going to Rome because our flights to Rome were limited from Philadelphia. We then spent a few days in Rome after the cruise at a great B&B near the Vatican.

It was truly an unforgettable trip. Not really a relaxing one, but still incredible.

Were you able to get any kind of drink you want at the Prohibition Party?

Some things that come to my mind - some of which was my own fault:

1. On two cruises I have gotten really bad sunburn that kept me in the room. One of which was bad enough I think I had sun poisoning. It was so bad that we missed a shore excursion, I just couldn't leave the room - I was in so much pain.

2. On a Disney cruise, I had accidentally booked a flight too early. I had called the cruise line beforehand though and asked if it was possible to make my flight if I used the cruise transportation, they said they can never guarantee anything but yes, they thought we'd make it. They recommended speaking with guest services when we arrived and letting them know our circumstances so we could make sure we could leave immediately when disembarking. When I did that, the guest services person said there'd be no way we'd make it, the bus wouldn't arrive until 30 minutes before our flight. They also refused to refund the cost. I ended up crying and it was so stressful, went back to my room and tried to make a last minute private ride. Went back to Guest Services and asked to talk to a manager. When I did he said the person I spoke with was wrong and that the bus arrived early enough that I had a good chance to make our flight. Suffice to say we made, we were at the gate an hour early.

3. Princess had horrible buffet food, I literally disliked everything they had and I thought the quality was bad. Ended up eating in the MDR for every meal. Luckily the MDR had great food.

4. Oh and on disembarkation day when everyone goes up on the elevator because it's crowding, leaving anyone on a higher deck forced to take the stairs with luggage. We don't even bother with elevators anymore on disembarkation day, we just make the trek down all of the stairs with two large suitcases.

I tend to favor during shore excursions through the cruise ship because if you're late, they hold the ship for you. When I was in Sicily, our tour was running so late that the ship was constantly calling our tour guide, asking us where we were. It was kind of funny, I was so glad they were holding the ship for us!

For some place like Europe, the shore excursions were very important to me, especially in Athens. Athens is that one city I had always wanted to see, so I wanted to make sure I saw everything I could pack into a day. The cruise shore excursions use large buses that can't get into certain areas of the city and there are temples that require some walking to get to. So I went to my Roll Call, asked people if they would be willing to split a private tour and we ended up getting enough people signed up that we had two groups! We were able to control everything and see what we wanted to see. We gave ourselves plenty of time to get back to the ship in case of delays, it was perfect.

On the other hand, I have been to the Caribbean enough that there is usually nothing specific I want to do. I go to the RCI website and see what is there. The prices are usually a little higher than if I did it on my own, but it's worth the peace of mind. In Labadee we decided not to do any shore excursions because this is Royal's island and we decided we'd just sit on the beach. The prices seemed too high for the types of excursions they were offering. Also, if you're considering going to one of the hotels for the day with a day pass, I'd do it on my own and choose a hotel that is not a cruise shore excursion. I have read that when cruise ships come in those hotels get packed because remember, you're not the only cruise ship usually in port. I had seen a few hotels in Jamaica that were offering day passes and I hadn't seen them on the shore excursion list.

Those of you who have had lunch at Giovanni's on Allure, did you make reservations ahead of time?

I wanted to give my mom lunch at Giovanni's for Christmas when she goes on Allure in March. I called up and they said no specialty restaurants do lunch. I could have sworn that they did lunch at a reduced rate, did that change...?