mlbcruiser

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

The reason I didn't post all the ports was because I thought there might be others wondering the same thing who would be visiting additional or different ports on a similar itinerary. Some of them might take a look at this thread and find things for additional ports.

To be specific, the ports I am wondering about are:

 

Valparaiso

Puerto Montt

Punta Arenas

Ushuaia

Puerto Madryn

Punta del Este

Montevideo

 

We'll also be in Santiago and Buenos Aires, but we'll likely stay in those cities a couple of days, so that's a different situation.

Just curious. Does the lack of roll call activity ever influence your choice of a cruise? Have you ever switched cruises because there is another date or similar cruise that is much more active? Also, have you ever switched because the roll call has TOO many posters? Inquiring minds want to know! ;)

 

While it's common for a roll call to pick up shortly before the date of the cruise, when the cruise is a "biggie", last min. bookings/roll call additions are often not so numerous.

Guess it is quite a worldwide product and a worldwide ad at the time, then. Sorry, but I just wasn't sure if those outside of the U.S. would know of the reference or not so I threw that in.

On some lines all they do is give you a small, plainly iced cake at dinner one night. It's rather redundant as there are already several desserts to choose from at dinner. Actually, if you get balloons and/or a door sign, that's at least a little more!

I will admit, I am curious about Rotorua and cultures interest me a lot more than shopping. (Although I do like to bring home a few gifts and souveniers!)

We'll have to find a tour that encompasses as much as possible. Hopefully, we will get in a lot! (I am like the Energizer Bunny when in a new place! Idon't know if those of you down under know that is a reference to a commercial in the states that concerned a toy bunny whose batteries never wore down). So many interesting things in the world to see!

Good explanatory reply, lol. Now I have to figure out what we SHOULD for sure do in the area. I'd love to just at least get driven through the area just to see it, then go see some more naturally beautiful sight. I have not done the research I will surely do yet. So have just been picking up tidbits like this here and there.

 

Anyone else with an opinion on Roturua, feel free to chime in!

MMDownunder and Mike, so if you had NEVER been to Rotorua, you would not go, knowing what you know now?

 

Bigdavefc, that is the ship and the NZ itinerary is the one I was actually talking about, only when we'd go it's an 11 day itinerary. We've been on that ship as well as several others in that same RCI class. We love that class the best out of all of them. (The only thing I wish RCI would do is have a covered, open air area with tables and chairs (usable as a dining or snack area) like Celebrity and NCL and a few other lines - have out on deck in back of their main buffet areas.

In most cruise ports there are usually local tour companies, excursion companies, and taxi drivers, waiting at the port hoping to be hired by cruise pax who have not arranged anything in advance. There are almost always tours similar to the most popular ones offered by the ships. Is this usually true in most South American "around the horn" ports? (Those between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso/Santiago.)

 

I am hoping those of you who have cruised to these ports can tell me.

Thanks for any info!

In most cruise ports there are usually local tour companies, excursion companies, and taxi drivers, waiting at the port hoping to be hired by cruise pax who have not arranged anything in advance. Is this usually true in most Australian and New Zealand ports?

 

I am hoping those of you who have cruised to these countries can tell me.

Thanks for any info!

Wonderful replies! Just the sort I was after.

 

The fjords seemed to scenic a thing to miss, but having never been to NZ, I just had to be sure We wouldn't be missing something too important to pass up on the other itinerary. I am sure cruisers going to Pitkin will be interested to see the tips provided for that port.

 

Thanks so much to all of you.

Can't decide! Should we choose the one that includes the fjords, Dunnedin, Auckland, Bay of Islands and Tauranga or the one skipping the fjords that stops at Wellington, Picton, Tauranga and Auckland ( might have one more stop but can't recall.). Would especially Italy love it if someone who has done both could comment. Thanks for any replies!

Can't decide! Should we choose the one that includes the fjords, Dunnedin, Aukland, Bay of Islands and Tauranga or the one skipping the fjords that stops at Wellington, Picton, Tauranga and Auckland ( might have one more stop but can't recall.). Would especially Italy love it if someone who has done both could comment. Thanks for any replies!

Kryssa, yes. I do realize Portuguese is spoken in Brazil. However there are sometimes many Brazilians on south American cruises. The reason I asked the question is because my neighbors parents went on a South American Cruise about three or four years ago. Like Rhapsody is now, it was one of the older RCI ships at the time. Anyway, I recall that one of the things they did not like was finding that many of the shore excursions were in Spanish or Portuguese. They happen to speak Italian and English. As do we, they sometimes do independent excursions but that time they mostly did excursions through the ship. Often times the English explanation seemed much more brief and tour guides tended to speak in the local language for a much longer period of time. Therefore they felt they missed a lot of the explanations. From what some of you have written about English, that is encouraging. I don't mind the other languages as long as my own language is represented when instructions or information is given. I am glad some of you have done this type of cruise before and have found the language issue not to be a problem. Thanks for replying.

We are considering an around the horn cruise in South America on which English will be the 2nd language. I am guessing Spanish and/or Brazilian will be most prevalent though the ship does not go to Brazil. Since RCI went to the trouble of notifying those already booked that this will be the situation, I am wondering if we will run into issues on tours? Especially independent tours? Although I speak a pretty good amount of tourist Spanish, I am certainly not fluent enough to understand everything a tour guide might explain. Since the ship will be a Royal Caribbean ship, I am hoping someone with experience with RCI on an around the horn itinerary will clue me in. Please do not hesitate to include info on any other aspect of this type of cruise.

 

Thanks for any replies.

caribbean is our back yard like the So. Pacific is Aus/NZ's "back yard". In 35+ cruises, with about 30 of those being in the caribbean, attending many meet & greets and just meeting people at dinner, etc., we have met only one couple from NZ on a cruise. I think it was on Celebrity cruise from Italy to Turkey several years ago. Due to transportation costs, I can easily see why the passenger base in the caribbean isn't heavy with those from NZ or A

 

Since Celebrity is owned by Royal Caribbean and they are both mostly based out of the U.S., just getting to Australia or NZ is often more expensive than the entire cruise! So I agree that having a presence in the ports will increase a line's "local" customer base.

You are right, Big M. It's between deck 5 and 4, between the promenade and casino. Just got it mixed up with an odd thing that looks like it's maybe a stairwell between decks 2 and 3 near the rear elevators on the Explorer, which I have been looking at for another cruise.

Seems many countries can make that claim. In the U.S., New York City has people from EVERYWHERE. Los Angeles has many Asians and Mexicans. Sao Paulo, Brazil is super multi-ethnic. London seems inundated with those from India and the middle east. Many large Mediterranean cities are seeing more and more people from the middle east and Africa. I could go on and on with cities around the world. Immigrants come in waves when things in their own countries get tough. But it makes things more interesting!

Serene56, I agree that the cruise lines never seem to really show all of the cabins available for a particular cruise. However, according to RCI, there are no others available in the 2 categories I was looking at. I specifically asked if they were holding them for a later release or if they were booked. The agent did a good job of skirting the direct question. He didn't reply directly to my question. Instead he said something like, "Hmmm", and went on to say he was going to "check 2 more" in one of the categories, but then neither of them were available. (I wonder if he knew anything - ? I think sometimes the agents are as in the dark as we are!)

 

cb at sea, I don't know what was under the deck when we had cabins on the lowest deck. However, there was a lot of "clunking", thumps and bumps. We actually do tend to choose cabins near elevators when we can get them. On decks with mostly just cabins, no problems. However, there is sort of a little area, almost likea small "lobby" outside the cabin. It has access to some public venues (D.R. entryway, for instance) and the stairs that lead into it are not the usual stairs that go from deck to deck. They are stairs that you use to reach just that deck from the Promenade deck, creating more "activity" right outside our door.

 

I'm sure we'll be fine on either of those decks but just trying to find the best location we can. Thanks for the input!

Guess none of us has a corner on those of a different or mixed heritage. Here in the U.S. there is a mix as there apparently is in Australia and New Zealand.

 

The cruise we are looking at depart from Australia but actually visits a number of ports in New Zealand.

 

 

Thanks for everyone's input!

Cabin options in our price range are slim pickins for our particular sailing of the Oasis (Sydney to New Zealand) next yr. Our options for an outside cabin are on decks 2 or 3 ONLY. I'd prefer an outside cabin as our itinerary includes 3 sea days in a row through some scenic areas.

 

Which is the debarkation gangway deck for ports, and where is it located on the deck?

 

If you have stayed on Deck 2, did you hear any "clunking" noises stemming from the engines room, stabilizers, the anchor or any other irritating noises coming from the deck below? (We have had cabins on lower decks of a couple of other lines' ships and heard more noises than we have with other cabins located on a higher deck.)

 

Our outside cabin choice is limited. Mostly cabins 3617 to 3630, starboard side. There is a stairwell going to the deck above and a formal dining room entryway nearby). The deck is divided so we'd have to make sure to use aft elevators anytime we want to access our cabin.

 

About to book and can't decide what to do!

Thanks, Clarea. You actually knew more than the RCI sales reservationist did today! First I called and spoke to someone who picked up for the ext. re: "questions about a future cruise". She verified the cabins with the virtual balconies were cat. Js, but after checking said they were all booked. I asked about getting on a waiting list. She then transferred me to someone else in reservations. That person searched several ways only to find not only were those cabins not booked, there weren't any! He searched future cruises and found one in June, I think, or maybe July. Also, some dates offered them and some did not. Crazy! It's another "right hand not knowing what the left is doing" thing, I think. (At least the reservationist tried hard to find an answer for me.)

On the Oasis in March, I believe it was the last day of the cruise (I know it was a sea day for sure) when our friend got a drink at either the Mast Bar or the one on the other side of the ship. She then walked down the steps to the deck below. On a bar there she saw a sign stating $50 for a one day drink pkg. So she took her drink back to the bar where she got it and asked if the bartender would sell her the drink pkg., minus the cost of the drink she had purchased or at least refund the cost of that drink. He said no. So she went down to Customer Service to see if RCI would fix the situation. She was prepared to purchase 2 of the one day pkgs. One for herself and one for her husband. They would not make any kind of an adjustment for her. So RCI gave up $100 to keep from letting the cost of her drink be covered by the pkg.

 

At any rate, I don't know if they always throw in a day like that, or perhaps the ship wasn't making it's bar sales quotas so the capt. o.k.'d the one day drink pkg. offer to make up for the soft alcohol profit on that sailing.

I'd love to know what those who have sailed in a cabin with one of the new virtual balconies liked it? (Esp. if you sailed on the Voyager with their new VBs.) Not sure if the ship we are planning to sail on will have one, but just in case. . . .? Hoping someone w/experience will reply!

Great news to hear the Explorer is being refitted! (Didn't care for the little, windowless Diamond Club Lounge, for one thing.) I read something about the Voyager having the virtual balconies offering real time, outdoor views. I wonder how to know if the Explorer is getting those and if so, which inside cabins will have them? We are trying to decide on a cabin for a sailing in 2016 right now. :confused: The savings to us for an inside over a not very well located outside cabin would be great. However, our cruise will have 3 sea days in a row plus about 2 others, I think, out of an 11 day cruise. Seems like a lot of time to go w/out ever having daylight in the cabin as we tend to chill out inside our cabin a little on sea days on a longer cruise. A virtual balcony would make it a bit easier, I'd think.

Just wondering what to expect w/regard to the types and percentages of International passengers that tend to book Royal Caribbean cruises out of Sydney. We don't mind a mix at all, but are just wondering what to expect. Does this vary at all by cruiseline, with certain nationalities preferring certain lines?

 

Thanks for any replies.