riviera

Does anyone know if the car rental company that was located just OUTSIDE of the gates at the cruise port is still there? You go outside the gates and turn right and walk a little ways around the corner? We can't think of the name and we liked the cars and the service and wanted to rent there again. Thanks!

We are also frequent cruisers on the Explorer (over 10 times) and are booked on a B2B for January. We have met some wonderful crew and I agree with other posts: she has the friendliest and hardest working crew in the fleet. We were told at one of the "welcome bacK' type events, that the Explorer is the ship with the MOST repeat customers, so that should speak for itself. She is wonderful..........we will miss her.

Ok thanks everyone. From the link Clarea provided, looks like Explorer started in June, so we are good to go. :-0

Anyone recently on the Explorer, have they started putting the drink vouchers on your card yet for Diamond and Diamond Plus members? I have heard of people receiving emails before their cruise regarding this new feature. We leave in less than 3 weeks and I haven't gotten anything. So I am curious..................

Just called this morning and a very helpful gentleman adjusted the price for our back to back reducing our cost by well over $500 and we are keeping our OBC also. And then booked a repositioning 13 day out of Boston Oct 2015 and paid slightly more than $2000 for BOTH OF US in an inside. Life is sweet and the BOGOHO deal is sweeter. Loyal to Royal for sure!!

We will be stopping in Labadee in August aboard the Explorer. We booked a cabana on line and I just looked at our shore excursion page and it has cabanas available......2 kinds...one for suite guests and above and one for the "rest of us" So.... did you check your shore excursion page for your cruise??

There are 6 of us (3 couples) traveling on Quantum in December. I understand we will be able to make dining reservations on line before the cruise. How do we "link" the reservation to be sure we will be seated together?? Sorry if this seems like a silly question, but this will be our first time sailing on a ship where "traditional dining times" aren't set before you board.

Thanks for your helpful tips....

We just received our first block on Explorer (and happy since that is our favorite and most traveled on ship). Much to our delight, we were invited to a "top tier event" followed up by a phone call to our stateroom to be sure we attended, as we were seated in reserved seating up front, brought up on stage and presented the block with a certificate and then had our picture taken with the captain and cruise director and given the photo later that day. NICE! I am thinking the crown and anchor loyalty person on board is responsible for these and she did a great job on our cruise.

Just noticed that this person has only made 4 posts. Another individual who only seeks out forums to complain!! I was on the same cruise and this person sounds just like the one who went to the Captain's Corner ( a question & answer session with the Captain) and was the first person to raise the hand and start complaining about everything including Coco Cay.

I might add that nearly everyone in the room disagreed and realized that "safety first" when it comes to tendering. We had a wonderful cruise and found the crew to be amazing and very friendly.

Subscribed and thank you for this. We are boarding when you get off and we are going again in August. Have already been on Explorer 9 times. What does that tell you? We love her and the crew has always been amazing. Will be sad to see her leave, but looking forward to having Quantum here on the East.

You will have a wonderful time and thanks again for posting.

We live in Lordstown, between Akron and the Pa. line. We LOVE the Explorer. Will miss her when she leaves..............

Thank you for your prompt reply. Just the info I was looking for....:)

We will be on Explorer 2/23 out of Bayonne. We stop in Port Canaveral from 1PM until 11PM.

Have done the Space Center and Disney World. We are 4 people 60+. Considering finding transportation to Cocoa Beach or surrounding area for the afternoon and perhaps a nice seafood restaurant for lunch.

Any suggestions?

Interesting topic. We are diamond plus members and have never received a call before our cruise for any reason and have never gotten an upgrade of any kind....... :-(

But I do enjoy some of the benefits of being diamond plus, so all is well.

Thanks for the review. I'm going on this cruise this Saturday. I will not be happy with slow service for dinner. I was on Brilliance in October (Canada/New Eng.) and some nights I thought dinner would never end. I'm just not a fan of two-hour meals.

We will be going on Indy on the 18th also.

Agree with you about the l-o-n-g meals. That is the primary reason we avoid the pay for restaurants. We don't choose to make an "event" of eating. Just our opinion, of course...

Apparently they REALLY pay attention to those surveys. We have cruised ALOT and usually make a request for certain waiters before we board. Has never been a problem. We just emailed the Explorer for our February cruise and instead of getting the usual response "your table is confirmed and request noted" We got this response: "Waiters stations are being done on every boarding day according to their evaluation and performance. We will keep your request on file" Really? Hey, even if the past guests and YOU think a waiter is awful, WE happen to think their service is phenomenal and we want them to be our waiter on our upcoming cruise.

We were also on this cruise with you Emeraldcity and are enjoying your thoughts and style of writing. Ahhhhh...memories. Thank you....Looking forward to more....

We are doing a B2B on Indy beginning Jan 18th. My sister booked the "sweet/suite" for the first leg because we are Diamond Plus and they wanted access to the concierge lounge with us. It seems like perhaps the perks vary from ship to ship, so I will post on my return about her experience with the noise and the perks.

Thanks so much for your prompt reply. Very helpful!

Tallyho, I just remembered where the Rum Barrel is. We were in St Kitts just last month and didn't do a tour, but stopped there to have a drink. It is right in the middle of the shop area right? So, again we just go there and tell them we'd like a tour of the island? Sounds great to me!!! And thanks!

Tallyho, so you are saying that you just walked off the ship past the shops turned left to the Rum Barrel and booked a tour there for $10? You didn't make arrangements ahead of time?Tell me more, please. We will be there in a couple of weeks. Thanks for the info.

Thanks to all my cruising critic friends. I told her I would get the right answer on these boards.... LOVE IT! "-)

My sister has an evening flight home to Chicago after our cruise. Her flight leaves from West Palm Beach. Is there a way she could rent a car for the day then return it when they arrive at the airport for check-in?

we will be on Indy out of Fort Lauderdale in a few weeks.......Also, since my flight is 11:50 am will I be able to do the luggage valet? I think I read somewhere that it is only for flights after noon.??

So...........if I do the luggage valet, are we still eligible to do the "self-assist" early walk off the ship? That would be really helpful if we didn't have to drag that luggage! We have a "just before noon" flight so we would like to be the first to walk off the ship. Any info on that?