Shippy

I thought it a bit strange a few months ago when I was shopping for a cruise on the Allure, we had sailed the Oasis last year.

There are just the 2 of us & we are not handicapped. The cruise is not until this October but the ONLY JS available was handicapped. The price was $1699.pp which I thought good for a JS.

My internet TA called Royal to make sure we could book it & they said yes so we did.

Although they said how 'lucky' we were to get such a good room...on the 14th deck..I was a bit uncomfortable about it. I actually though it was bad karma to take it so far out from the cruise date so I thought I would just watch for another JS to become available.

There have been tons available since I originally booked. A few weeks ago, I switched to one of the coveted ones on the 'hump' of the ship with a double balcony.

I am convinced Royal Caribbean just wanted that catagory booked in advance! It was the only one. Right after I booked they started showing a lot of JS....there still are.

If I were handicapped, & nothing looked available, I would request for them to check & see if people in the cabins were really qualified to get them. If so, they should be bummed out to other rooms.

We are older & I LOVE to eat. I never pass by a course & always have a scoop of ice cream with my dessert.

We go to the show afterwards & then bed. We never stay up really late & love to get up early. There is no way I could lay down with a full stomach.

There are many health reasons for that....heartburn, sleep apnea , medications, etc.

Over the years, I have had 3 different doctors & none has ever questioned this. I do not even speak to them. Just call their office & explain to the receptionist....next thing you know, they send a note that simple states I need early dining because....

They are probably glad you didn't take up an appointment time with this.

When I book my cruise I ALWAYS mention to the cruise agent I have a 'medical' issue & need early dining. Since we do a lot of last minute bookings early dining is always full, but that is usually accomodated,even if they say it is not.

When I board, the first thing I do is check the dining time AND the table. We always request a large table.

It doesn't seem to matter what you get in writing for your confirmation, it can still be different when you board.

If I do not get either of those things, I speak to the head dining person as soon as they are available. I say about the 'medical' thing & then whine about how my husband will be so unhappy if he doesn't get a large table.

We always then get what we requested.

Like a few previous posters....

I have never known of a restricted M&G.

Usually the info is shared on the roll call site. Someone agees to put the list together & make the contacts.....on the 2nd part you are doing a superior job.

This is our 40th cruise....over decades...and almost every cruiseline.

I prefer the usual way of an 'open' meet & greet......I bet the cruiselines do to.

This is basically a cruise critic party.....not a 'private' cruise critic party where one person refuses info to whoever does not email them directly.

I too am interested in finding out this information. Hope someone comes forward soon with the answers.

Called 'Blue Chip Club'......it is only a page or two back. There is a lot of joining info on it. It is not as hard as you would think to join.

They let us upgrade for a nominal amount.

We are really small peanuts when it comes to the casino......quarter slot players.

We figure the bigger you play , probably the better the room you get offered.

Makes me wonder what percentage of the cruise will be casino players.

I was really amazed by this one....beginning of August in Alaska. That is prime cruising time there.

We just received a letter from the Blue Chip Club with some dates for their cruises.

The offer is for a 'deluxe inside room'.

I want to know if there is any chance to pay the difference to get a balcony room.

I have called the number provided but just get a recording. I have left a message but thought this would be a quicker way to find out.

They stress that this is a limited offer.

Thank You for helping.....

...& it can be very confusing.

We always 'buy this option' while onboard.

We do it for an 'unknown' cruise because we only book through internet agencies that give us the most perks.

We put our $100. down last year. We just booked a cruise on the Equinox for next March. This really is the best we have done because before we have always done 7 day cruises & got $100. onboard credit. This next cruise is 10 days so we get $200. OBC !

Can't beat that. My original $100. became the down payment.

BE SURE TO GET YOUR PAPERWORK WHILE ON THE SHIP & CHECK IT CAREFULLY !

Make sure there is NO agency listed. That way when you book, you just sign it over to whoever you like.

One time they automatically put the name of the agency we had used for that cruise we were on. I did not notice it. A year later when I went to use the certificate, they said I could only use that agency. What a nightmare. It took a week of calls. I had to get that agency to 'release' their rights & the next agency to accept them.

Do you who to call for past playing? We are platinum and always play quite a lot. I am sure we qualify. Would like to call and see if we qualify. On Carnival, we always get free drinks from the first day on.

Tell them you are interested in joining & you want to be tracked. As I said a few posts back...it is much easier for slot players to be tracked so let them know right away you are interested. I am assuming you are a table player.

They might give you some drinks halfway through. I do not think they sign people up until the last day SO BE SURE YOU CHECK IN WITH THEM THEN BECAUSE ONCE YOU LEAVE THE SHIP, YOU CANNOT SIGN UP !

Club Royale will send you a letter about 6 weeks after that with your membership card & how much $$ you will get for your next cruise. The hosts on the ship do not have the authority to do that.

When you go on your next cruise, the casino hosts actually has a printed list of every member on that cruise. Since we play slots, they can see when we put our seapass card in the slot machine & then they find us, introduce themselves & give us drink tickets.

The last few trips we have had chocolates in our room when we boarded.

More info in my post on the prior page.

One thing that will be very interesting is that we are sailing on Celebrity in May & they are honoring our $$ that we qualified for on the Navigator. They said we still must qualify for their club officially but they are run the same so there should not be a problem.

I hope it is the same because we find Club Royale very generous with their comps & I love the free drinks !

We have been members for a few years.

I play primarily quarter machines although on the Oasis I played mainly penny machines. I always play the max coin in, so on the penny machines it is usually $1.00 to $2.00 a spin.

I did actually hit a $2400.00 jackpot on one of those machines last year!

Aside from waving the 3% fee for money, they put another sticker on our cards letting us into any of the shows without reservations....if you have been on the Oasis before, you know how great that can be.

When we first joined there was a sticker placed on our card for free drinks. On the last few cruises they have given us coupons. Like everyday the host will come up to me, say hello & give me more coupons. I can never use them all. But I do have to show my card so I cannot give them to other people. They also send a bottle of wine to the dining room for us & chocolates to our room.

From our last cruise I have $375.00 & my husband $325.00 coming.....here is a great thing about it......from reading the Celebrity boards I found out they have the 'Blue Chip' club. I cannot believe I did not know this since we have sailed with them before but then

I realize from the postings how many people do not know about Club Royale !

These clubs are connected ! I called Club Royale & told them we will be on the Celebrity Infinity in May. They said they will transfer our cash to that ship & we can pick it up at the casino cashier cage. They other day, I actually got a cAll from the Blue Chip club confirming this.

I have only been on the ships where you can put your seapass card in the machine.

ALWAYS put your card in. You can actually see your point total. Your bet size does NOT matter. It is all about the points. You need to average 300 points a day. If I do not play one day, I make it up the next.

IF YOU MADE ENOUGH POINTS ON YOUR CRUISE, FIND THE CASINO MANAGER & SIGN UP.

THIS MUST BE DONE ON THE SHIP. YOU ONLY NEED TO QUALIFY ONCE.

The Elite breakfast is sometimes held in different venues, there will be a letter in your cabin on embarkation that will list all Elite events on the ship and will give the location of the morning and evening Elite lounges.

 

There is another recent thread that included some discussion of the elite breakfast: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1573286

 

The food items vary by cruise. It is basically a continental breakfast that is sometimes expanded quite a bit and sometimes very narrow. Usually there are no hot items other than toast. Common items are pastries, muffins, toast, bagels, lox, fruit, cereal and yogurt. They serve espresso based coffees, juices, smoothies, and alcoholic breakfast drinks such as bloody mary or mimosa. While it isn't required or absolutely necessary many people bring a little cash to leave a small tip for the serving staff there.

Can you really get a bloody Mary or Mimosa COMPLENTARY there if you are Elite ???

I have sailed both Princess and RCi and will NEVER go RCI again. I was on Star Princess in October and on Adventure earlier this month for a conference. I thought I was at Walmart every day on AOS except the passengers only spoke Spanish. I am sprinting,not walking away from the RCI product. Embarkation in San Juan was a nightmare-so bad in fact that we got a bottle of champagne late in the cruise apologizing for the horrible delays. We sailed out of San Juan with only 2/4 stabilizers working and in Curacao there were divers working on the other 2 stabilizers that were leaking oil and broken-we left that port with NO stabilizers or ballast with 50 mph winds-people were so seasick and I am sure there were injuries. Don't even get me started on the Puerto Rico locals-it was a zoo-stairs were blocked at all times with people sitting in the way,children pushing and knocking people over,no discipline and the crew turned a totally blind eye. Many crew members appeared very stressed and unhappy. The food was awful compared to Princess. Dinner in the MDR was constantly interrupted with loud music and constant parades of the wait staff-do I really want to hear Olympic theme music,the macarena accompanied by wait staff jiggling their butts,etc, and a head waiter asking us to applaud the service? NO. Walmart at its worst on that trip.

The cafe Promenade had its still unedible pizza,donuts and crap compared to the Princess International cafe with wonderful salads,pastries,paninis and specialty coffees. The cardboard masquerading as pizza on RCi cannot compare to the Trident Grill specialty pizzas which are different everyday on Princess. There was constant pressure in the MDR to buy booze packages,even at breakfast. Could also not believe RCI even had a breakfast and lunch buffet set up in the MDR! Princess doesn't.

I am glad that I did not have to pay for the RCI trip. I would have demanded a refund if I had spent my own money for it.

The only thing decent on that cruise was the coffee.

Sailing on Ruby Princess in March and cannot wait to be pampered.

Since you NEVER intend to sail on them again !

That being said...I did find what you interesting although a bit slanted. I had noticed the Royal cruises out of San Juan were a bit cheaper & had actually thought about them because of that. What had held me back was the airfare.

My husband and I got married on a Princess cruise ship in June. Their loyalty program is better. I would say most things like food was comparable though I hated their quick service food (like Windjammers, I can't remember the name). I am usually alright with Royal Caribbean's Windjammers.

 

The ship was very nice but I missed having the ice skating rink and mini golf. There is also no "wow" factor. I love the Promenade on Royal Caribbean ships and it felt so nice and big. Princess doesn't have that, their shops are closed in and I wasn't impressed by them.

 

The age group was definitely older on Princess, we rarely sat with people our age for meals. Most people were old enough to be our grandparents.

 

For us, Royal Caribbean is just our preference. I know plenty of other people who prefer Princess, it's just what's important to you. The only other cruise line I am interested in checking out is Disney. I am a Disney World fanatic and I am impressed with the technology I have heard about on their newer ships, like the inside rooms having digital port holes and you can see Nemo swimming by now and then etc.

One of our favorite things about Diamond on Royal is the Diamond lounge with free drinks EVERY night on some ships (Oasis class). Other Royal ships have free wine & beer EVERY night with discounted hard liquor.

I do not think Princess offers anything like that.

...now that we have Diamond status :O)

Royal has one of the best loyalty programs around. I love the perks.

Also, we are gamblers and belong to Club Royale, the Royal Caribbean casino club so we get lots of perks through them.

& we do not use the brand name rum runners, just similar large plastic flasks bought at the local beverage store. They are MUCH cheaper.

My husband has used them for years. This last summer he was called to the 'naughty room'.We were sure he got caught but they just asked him to take out the bottle of wine from his suitcase & said nothing about the 2 flasks which he left in !

There are no 'usage' charges.

I think it was on deck 3 where you get them. They can tell you at the guest services desk. I have no idea why we had to wait until 1:00 to get them. There were not a lot of people in line to get them. I think that is because you could get the regular phones when you first boarded at the guest services desk & perhaps people did not know you could wait for the other kind.

Do get in line a bit early though. It takes about 10 minutes to get them because you have to sign a bunch of different papers in case you loose them. They have to explain everything to you. Then they have to program them for use only between your family/friends.

So you can see if you are way back in line it would take awhile.

There is NO comparison between the I-phone and a walkie talkie. For one thing...people seem to shout into their walkie talkies & everyone around you can hear both conversations wether they want to or not.

I loved the gps feature. It saved me from making a call most of the time.

The cruise compass is loaded every day so you can always see what is happening without carrying the paper around.

The reception is good anywhere on the ship but you MUST charge them every night.

They do NOT work off the ship.

Are the chocolate breakfasts only held during the Character breakfasts? I like the chocolate breakfast but am not really interested in seeing the Characters, but if I have to I will.

It was in the main dining room on the regular menu. I think it was Friday morning.

Chocolate waffles, milkshake, etc.

This was on the regular side NOT the character breakfast side !

Hi there

 

We are grandparents travelling without any of the kids (hurrah!!;)) We are sailing on the Liberty TA and don't expect a lot of kids onboard from previous experience. We booked' date=' with 4 friends, the character breakfast for my birthday. I think it will be a hoot. I would be mortified though, if by booking I had excluded a child from enjoying this activity. Perhaps a way of allowing parents with children to book first by a certain cut off date, and then throwing it open to all would be a good idea. As for the CL question, not sure during cocktail hour but definitely ok during the rest of the day.

 

Sue [/size']

We have 6 grandkids but traveled without them & enjoyed the character breakfast. DO IT & DO NOT FEEL GUILTY ! Seniors are just as deserving !

Just 2 older adults deciding to go. We had made our show reservations weeks before.

Since there was still availability for the breakfast shortly before we sailed, the assumption would be that families chose not to make their reservations.

Royal sent enough emails to remind us to make reservations. If you choose not to make reservations .......you take your chances. There are enough postings on these boards warning people of this.

As I said in an earlier posting....if you try immediately to make reservations with no luck, call Royal & they will help you.

If you have trouble with the online reservations they will help you. Just call the main number & they will transfer you. They have a department that just helps with that type of thing. They helped me with my show schedules.

Sometimes the online thing has limitations. I am sure they could have arranged for you whole family to attend the breakfast.

My husband & I did attend the character breakfast by ourselves & totally enjoyed it.

The only annoying thing I saw was 'late' people with or without children. I do understand it is a bit early for kids. You are suppose to be there at 7:45 am & it starts at 8am.

They need to get all the orders in as everytime a character comes in, the waiters stop & dance with them. It is very hard on them if people are lagging.

I think the lounge is ok for kids EXCEPT the cocktail hour. It would be like bringing them to any other cocktail lounge. There is also a lot of adult type conversations going on that children should not be around.

They are $25. a week. For $5. more you can rent the I-Phones. They have the capability to call, text or GPS. Plus have the daily activity schedule.

Also......they made the best eggs benedict in the main dining room. They are not listed on the menu. Just ask for them.

Has anyone been able to book a character breakfast online recently? We're sailing next month on FOS and I haven't seen this as an option online to book. I haven't called C&A yet to ask them, was hoping I'd see it one of these days.

 

Anyone else been able to do this? Am I just computer illiterate? Thanks!

Our cruise is in September. It was not offered everyday & the time was 7:45 am !

Pretty early....just me & hubby, both in our 60's. I am forcing him to go :O)

We are on the Oasis. Perhaps it is not offered on your ship.

I was to surprised to hear this. We store our luggage under the bed. Will there still be any room there ?

We are leaving next week & have a room next to yours. The report of noise does not bother me but the lack of storage space does. We have never been on a Cunard ship before but I just assumed with an A1 catagory that you would have enough space in the room & in the bathroom to store your things.

We just got back from a cruise on Azamara....I find it impossible to believe that there is a ship with a smaller shower than theirs !

Not everyone realizes that they do 'toga ' night in the Caribbean.

We found out about it by reading these boards before our last cruise on Costa. They leave a sheet on your bed and thats it ! you are suppose to tie it on you like a toga. They give you some vauge instructions. About a third of the ship participated. It was a hoot.

Since we knew in advance, we went to a costume store and brought our own accessories.

Roman jewely, belts, an olive leaf wreath for my husbands head. He looked like Ceasar !

Be a sport & participate ! It was a load of fun.

Also, like MSC cruiseline, they had carafes of house wine at dinner. Great buy, I think it was $8.00. We each got 2 glasses out of it. On the whole, all liquor is cheaper than american ships and they did not add 15% gratuity !