Davebhoy

Sometimes helping isn't helping. In doing so, you have now potentially given an irrational person another perceived target for his or her ire. This rarely helps to calm the situation.

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I’m planning on buying an orange holiday sim with 10GB of data for 40 euros. I will place thin in my iPad & use this as a hotspot for data on my phone

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Found Grandeur to be perfectly stable sailing up to Canada recently.

Food variety was excellent too - Windjammer had lots of options, as did the Park Cafe, to compliment that offered in the MDR.

Plenty of entertainment, with better sailaway parties than in Navigator the year before. Centrum is well used.

Rooms had everything we needed, and not greatly different in size.

Nothing noticeably worn or tatty, and the amazing views from all the bars (we were able to see whales and dolphins from the Schooner bar) was excellent.

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That's all well and fine. I certainly don't condone trash and littering of the highways.

 

Question: How many plastic straws on a cruise ship end up in the ocean? Answer: Probably NONE!!!

 

As Billy Shakespeare would say, it's all "much ado about nothing."

There's absolutely no need for these single use plastic straws, so even if it's a minimal improvement, why wouldn't they be banned?

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Given the chance, I can't see why you wouldn't visit Cuba

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They could change their procedures by strictly enforcing curfew. Kid out after midnight, you and your family are off at the next dock. Would cut down on parents who arent aware of where their minor children are.

 

Could also use sail cards to meter drinking. Bartenders shouldnt guess if a person is intoxicated. The computer could cut passengers off if theyve had more than 3 drinks.

 

Hiring a couple dozen extra TV watchers would actually not cost the cruise ship because they could pass these costs on to passengers.

 

The anything goes nature of cruising is likely ending as the industry grows and matures. Lawyers seeking a windfall from deep pocket corporations is a reality of America now and the cruise industry needs to get with the times.

So many things wrong with this post...

There's no midnight curfew, and there couldn't be a blanket ban as there's always a possibility of extenuating circumstances.

They're not going to cut folk off after 3 drinks as (a) they'd make no profit and never sell another drinks package and (b) most folk won't even feel the effect of three drinks over the course of a full day.

Employing banks of TV watchers is a terrible use of resource from an employers point of view - its going to take up extra space for the viewing stations, extra infrastructure to stream CCTV to all these new viewing stations, as well as the cost of their wages, which will drive customers away.

Royal Caribbean provide a service beyond simply America, and the services they provide shouldn't be entirely focused on one overly-litigious market.

If you think that NYPD monitors every single camera they have in real time than you are living in a dream world .

 

While they may monitor a large number of them in real time, there are many more that are used as an investigative after the fact.

 

The same is true for a cruise ship. With the ENORMOUS amount of cameras they have there is no way you can monitor every one in real time .

Agree with this completely - anyone that thinks large-scale CCTV installations monitors every camera 24x7 is incredibly naïve. Within a single building, even, would be a major challenge - city-wide just doesn't happen.

I think your fine bring food back on the ship.

 

Where you run into problems is taking fresh food off the ship. Countries tend to protective of any plant or animal products that have not be processed and could have bugs not native to that country.

 

Chips are a highly processed form of potatoes. Your not likely to have a problem with them.

 

The odd thing going back to the US is kinder surprises. To protect its children the US banes kinder surprise candy going into the US. Canadians don't quite understand why there is an issue.

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Thank you all for the information. My problem isn't with my cup (because I know I'd clean it) but with the many others who never clean theirs. It just seems really unsanitary. Thanks for the information though!

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It's at least 40-45 minutes from the ship to Boston Common. Longer if you don't make the lights and/or lots of foot and car traffic.

Looks to be about 2 miles, so doable. Happy to stop off at a cafe on the way, and we're in port for about 12 hours so no rush.

Would be getting an Uber back to the ship, so would like to see as much as possible.

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Currently planning to walk from our ship to Boston Common, then do the Freedom Trail. Think it'll take us about 30-40 minutes to walk up - is this unrealistic ?

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Yeah, I'd love the chance to visit Cuba

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Question as this thread seems to be a lot about jeans. My 15yo son has Aspergers & doesn’t like the feel of collared shirts (there aren’t any age appropriate polo shirts that I’ve found here in Australia). Will he be able to enter the MDR with pants and a

T-Shirt? He will look neat & tidy. He may wear a collared shirt (not buttoned up) over a T-Shirt.

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Absolutely nothing in their suggested dress code about not wearing jeans. Feel free.

If you honestly believe that, you're mistaken. Formal nights have been a part of RC Cruising for as long as I remember. Very little revenue is now derived from "picture income" since everyone now has a digital camera and/or phone.

 

 

Now that we're down that rabbit hole of dress etiquette where no one is right or wrong, lets just say that "most " prefer to NOT wear or even see shorts in the MDR or even "pay for" restaurants, particularly at dinner time. What you do is your business and I respect that. You do you and I'l do me. Just know this, that you'll never see a person "out of sorts" at the Captains table.

Personally I wear trousers to dinner, but I really couldn't care less what anyone else wears, and in suspect that's the case for the majority of cruisers.

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Really enjoying this review - thanks for the time/effort !

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Might be a bit late if the OP's sailing in July, but I'd echo the comments above and recommend a private tour with one of the local companies - we used Alla, but SPB and TJ Tours also had excellent feedback from the folk that used them.

Overnight in St Petersburg onboard the ship had a HUGE queue at the Excursions desk with folk complaining about how rushed the RC excursion was, and how little they were able to see at each of the stops. We spoke to a few folk, and it really did affect their holiday badly, as this was the "big" attraction for the cruise - which is shocking considering the RC trip was more expensive than the local operators but the service was abysmal.

Regularly choose inside cabins for our cruising- you'll rarely spend time there other than sleeping or changing.

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They can't call it a service charge in the U.S. due to a monetary legality of some sort that Royal would have to pay the IRS on those monies.

 

 

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Not sure a tax loophole is a good reason.

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It's my experience that American hotels do not quite daily service charges on their base rates. Same as taxes. This would be a similar practice. BTW, I'm all for calling it a service charge.

 

 

 

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Personally, I think it would be great if they slightly lowered the gratuity and made it mandatory.

No issue if they were to go that route, but its no longer a gratuity - its a Service Charge, and should be quoted as part of the cruise price.

No, he's just wrong.

Not sure that anyone's necessarily wrong or lying here.

You can adjust the % of the auto-grats you pay - to as low as 0% if you're of that mind, or to over 100% if you've got money to burn.

What you CAN'T do though is specifically what the Poster asked - to remove tips from a single person. If you reduce the tip to 80%, then everyone who was on the list will get 80% of what was expected - it won't give everyone else their full share and zero to the one person intended.

Thanks for the detailed review - can't wait to get on Grandeur in July.

We were the last three folk off our Med cruise last year in Southampton - it was just around 0915, and we were 'encouraged' to leave !

On a Med cruise, I think the smaller ship should be fine - as others have mentioned they're VERY port intensive, with the days being busy. Our kids were quite happy catching up with their friends and chilling at the club, or watching the shows of an evening.

Sea days might be more of an issue looking for things to do, but as they're pretty rare, then the pool and kids club might be enough.