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Posts
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About Me
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Location
Dallas, Texas
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Interests
Traveling, making things, reading, having a good time
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Favorite Cruise Line(s)
NCL
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Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
Southern Caribbean
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aubreyc1988's Achievements
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Tips and tricks for doing a B2B
aubreyc1988 replied to NoShoes2's topic in Royal Caribbean International
I've done 2 b2b cruises on Navigator, a 3 day + 4 day in July 2023 and a 4 day + 7 day in May 2024, my experiences were slightly different, even though they were the same ship July B2B: Got a letter the night before explaining how our room steward would move our luggage if changing rooms and what time to meet in the morning. We met in Star Lounge at 8:30, waited there until 9:30 (Where I assume that was when all other passengers were off) and then we got new keycards which we kept separate from our current keycards. They they scanned us off the ship, we went down to customs...those with passports did facial recognition, those with BC it did take a bit longer. Then we went back to the ship, scanned in with our new keycards, did muster and waited for our rooms to be ready May B2B was the same as July except after we went through customs, they had us sit in the waiting area of the port terminal for over an hr before letting us back on the ship AFTER the Suites/Pinnacle/Key members. Not a whole lot of tips to share, but I liked going to the b2b lunch to kill time and then I just hung out at a bar until rooms were ready. One tip I'd give is that if you can stock up on water on the first leg (I'm prime in the casino, so I always have a fridge of water), you can put that in your suitcase and your room steward will move it over and it will not go through any sort of inspections as far as I know so you could have 2-3 cases in there for all they know. -
Just an FYI, all of your clothes when sending off laundry bag with Royal will be washed HOT. For some things, that is ok, just make sure you don't put anything in there you don't want shrunk. I had a friend who had a some dress clothes that shrunk a lot in size.
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Might Wanna Pack Conditioner
aubreyc1988 replied to SMMRLUVN's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Someone told me this one so I am passing it on...rinse your hair with bottled water. You still need conditioner, but using bottled water helps me with getting it to lather. -
Here are my choices for each port that I am interested in and would love any personal feedback on any of these tours I will be sailing solo so only want to take cruise line excursions this trip. Sierra Madre Tour in Mazatlan (7 hrs duration listed) -78.00 pp Hop on Hop Off in Mazatlan (2.5 hrs duration listed) 35.00pp A Day at Deer Island in Mazatlan (5 hr duration listed) 125pp Colonial San Sebastian in PV (7 hrs duration listed) - 88.00 pp Sierra Madre Hiking and Private Villa Day Pass in PV (5 hr duration listed) - 51.00pp
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How much cash do you bring?
aubreyc1988 replied to sunlover2's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Now that I am Prime, usually 500-600 for excursion tip money and for emergencies, and then I just room charge for my gambling. It is a relief to not have to have large amounts of cash on me when traveling but I hate seeing that room bill lol. -
I got my first crystal block last week on the Harmony. I kind of forgot about them until I got one in my room and I was so pumped! I remember being a newbie cruiser, thinking I would never get one (in the natural fashion) but I did get one, I made it, I am a super cruiser lol! I am thinking of how I am going to display mine somewhere in a guest room or something, because why not! I don't care if it is cringe or not haha!
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I concur. I guess they might have to go far to the bar or something, but bar service (for us) has always taken ages when ordered in MDR. We just get a drink right before entering. I feel a little bad since the bartender is always like "ohhh you have one already" but most of the time it is slower than our food, and usually the wrong drink.
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Just off of the Navigator - had fun
aubreyc1988 replied to SbbquilterUT's topic in Royal Caribbean International
I agree, best ice show! -
Labadoozie drink on Mariner?
aubreyc1988 replied to jordanaire's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Took me quite a few years sailing royal to piece that together lol! Honestly so lazy to repeat the drink, they could make the color different at least. It’s really not my favorite anyhow, I find them to be really weak -
Labadoozie drink on Mariner?
aubreyc1988 replied to jordanaire's topic in Royal Caribbean International
I think the labadoozie and the cocoloco are the same drink -
Side by side cruisers, I need to know...
aubreyc1988 replied to aubreyc1988's topic in Royal Caribbean International
When was this? I didn't see any spot to cross the street at terminal C. I definitely could have made it if there were sidewalks, but I was not chancing going into that parking garage by myself. In future, I'll just prebook an uber, but it was frustrating about the lack of the promised "Easy to find shuttle" and how it was "totally possible to walk it" but really it wasn't. -
wow my experience has been the opposite and I've cruised a bit since the cutback to once a day. My room steward was always asking when best to come by, and even if we were in there, he would be overly apologetic and say "Oh I'll come back later" and he always did. I am sure their workloads haven't decreased, even tho we are only getting our rooms cleaned once (probably increased knowing how companies work) I will say that they need to bring back the magnets that say "please make up room". They used to have double sided "Do not disturb/Please make up room" but they are gone now.
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Side by side cruisers, I need to know...
aubreyc1988 replied to aubreyc1988's topic in Royal Caribbean International
wow that is crazy about the free bus. Going forward, I will just take an uber or something from G-A, but it was weird all the port employees insisted it was walkable (even though far) when it actually wasn't. D concierge and Guest Services INSISTED there was a free shuttle. When I asked how to locate said shuttle in the morning/where to meet it/what time, they said "Oh it will be OBVIOUS". I knew it wasn't going to be obvious and I felt like they were really dismissive onboard about what my plan should be. I would have preferred it if they said: "You will need to take your transport". Of course, as you know, it was NOT obvious, like I predicted, and who knows if the shuttle even existed anyhow. I certainly didn't want to wait forever. I DO wonder if one could potentially walk through that parking garage, but it just seemed super sketchy to me. -
Side by side cruisers, I need to know...
aubreyc1988 posted a topic in Royal Caribbean International
How you get from one terminal to the next?! I have a little storytime for you and more questions Recently, I did my first side by side cruise. First leg was on Independence, second leg was on Freedom. Independence disembarked at terminal G and Freedom was embarking in terminal A. Diamond Concierge AND Guest Services told me there would be a shuttle for me at 8am to catch to terminal A. After disembarking Indy, I asked a porter about the shuttle and he said "It would be around". After waiting for 30 minutes, I asked the porter if it was possible to walk to terminal A. He looked stunned and said "Sure, but it's a mile walk". I said "Ok, is it flat and are there sidewalks like this the whole way" and he said "Yeah, totally walkable, just a loooong walk" So at this point I decided yes, I could walk it. I had a small carry-on suitcase and a backpack, but I usually walk 3 miles daily at home so I was not deterred. Plus, had to walk off all that pizza! So I started my trek from G-A. Once I got to terminal D, which was MSC, a porter stopped me asking me if I needed a taxi and I sort of mentioned I was on my way to terminal A. He laughed and said it was so far, take the shuttle. And I asked him how long of a wait for the shuttle and he said "30 min". So I said "it's ok, I'll just walk." then I asked him "Is it possible to walk from D-A, are sidewalks like this the whole way there, I won't encounter a busy road where there isn't pedestrian path" and he said "Oh you can walk it, it's just far" So again, I decided to continue my trek to terminal A. Once I got to C, a Norwegian terminal, I came across my first roadblock. The sidewalk ended, and it was just a dark parking garage. NCL didn't have a ship in port that day so it seemed pretty deserted. Google Maps seemed pretty confused about what I was supposed to do, and it seemed like my only option was to walk on the side of a busy road that didn't have any pedestrian sidewalks. My walking optimism was gone and just wanted to GET to terminal A, I just gave up and called an Uber to get me the rest of the way to terminal A, LOL!! SO my question is, IS it really possible to walk to terminal A from terminal G or is a car the only way to get there? I wonder if I could have walked. through the NCL parking garage but it was so dark and I was by myself, I decided it wouldn't be in my best interest to find out in that manner, but I am curious. 🙂 -
we can agree to disagree Hotels HAVE gone up in price, whether or not they pass that to housekeeping who knows On a recent cruise, my husband accidentally DECIMATED the soap dispenser in the shower with his elbow and the room steward was so kind about it, brought us little tubes of product, we got a cute little towel animal every day and our room was cleaned really well the one time it was cleaned. I also talked to a family and they said that their room steward did set up/take down their extra bed and would kind of tidy up in there when he was in there. I guess I still don't understand why a room steward is needed in a room 2x a day beyond the setting up and tearing down of bed(s). What exactly is there for them to do? I try to make sure my clothes are put away and such because I don't want to have them touch things like that. Most of what I see is done is making the bed, giving towels, vacuuming, emptying the trash cans, cleaning the bathrooms a bit, all of which once a day seems fine to me still Also, I want to say that I understand and agree about being salty for paying more for less service, but seems to be the norm right now. I've decided I can either be grumpy about stuff like that or just accept that I have no say in most things and just live my life as happily as I can.