ajtaylor29

I hear ya. The only people who will bother to read it are vp players and that's who I posted it for. For everybody else....a boring post with tmi. 🤣

My husband and I both having issues with RC's website, and have been on and off for months. for me, i have to log in every time i go to their website (even tho i've selected "keep me logged in". For him, whenever he clicks "plan my cruise" it logs him out. That's been going on for a while....

So, first of all - i'm pretty loyal to Royal! And still am after last weeks cruise. But this was one of the worst casino at sea experiences i've had so i'm sharing with others for information purposes. It won't prevent me from sailing with RC again (already have 3 more booked) but I will definitely hesitate to sail on Navigator again. My hubby and I sail several times a year, we're big video poker players, and spend a lot of our free time in the casino. We always research each ship before sailing and when we watched youtube videos of the Navigator we saw a whole wall of VP machines (supposedly taken less than a year ago) so we felt good knowing we'd have plenty of machines to play! Once on board, however - we discovered they had rearranged the machines, and now all (8) VP machines were crammed in a corner, back to back, very close together. If you were against the wall, and needed to get "out", at least 2 people had to stand up and move so you could squeeze by. It was pretty uncomfortable for sure. So, the casino solved the problem in this way: starting day 2, 1 of the machines messed up so they shut it down. Next day, another one. Next day, another one. By day 4 we only have 5 (of the 8 machines) working. Less crowded.....but of course, lots of frustrated players who can't get a machine. I saw no attempts by them to fix any of these machines. Day 6, another machine messes up, but they reboot it and it appears to be fine so they leave it online. Then, on day 7 i'm playing on this messed up/not messed up machine, when i see 4 Aces deal across the screen. That's $1600 and a handpay! But i don't even have time to nudge my hubby and tell him before the screen goes black and "call attendant" pops up. Long story short - the machine lost all data regarding this handpay. They spent time looking in the logs and found zero data, no record of it, no error messages or anything that would give them any hard proof that it happened. Therefore, they would not pay me the $1600. (Only later did i wonder - why didn't they look at the cameras?? there was one right over the machine. Maybe they don't work either....??) The staff was very "nice" to me in dealing with this, and apologetic that they could simply not pay without any proof of it to go by. . I actually understand why their policy mandates this (in theory, i guess we could all scream for payments of non-existent hands, if we're cheats....which i definitely am not and they knew that but still....). They did come back and give me $200 free play My biggest complaint was that the machine had messed up the day before, almost exactly what happened to me. The difference there was, when they rebooted the machine the "lost" handpay popped up, so they paid it. And, kept the machine in play. My argument was that it was their fault for having a machine on the floor that they KNEW was having issues, yet they let us continue to play it. (i asked them to shut it off after my fiasco so it wouldn't happen to anyone else, which they did). I also told the Casino manager that i felt bad for those VP players boarding the next day, because they would have only 4 VP machines working?! So, for those boarding Navigator any time soon, just beware of the video poker situation. I will also mention that last year, we sailed on Explorer and had the exact same "machines crammed in a corner" scenario. However, that sailing was in Europe, with family, so i spent a lot less time in there. And, there weren't 4 broken machines....it was crowded but at least we could play!!

As i've seen others post about, Labadee is VERY removed from the populated areas of Haiti (something like a 7 hour drive from Port-au-Prince??) so the likelihood of there being trouble is probably pretty slim. However - maybe part of the consideration for cancelling these excursions might be that some of the locals who normally staff these excursions are not available right now?? Maybe their country is in the middle of a civil war and they don't have time to take us jet skiing??? I think everybody should enjoy their beach day, swim, eat the food, sit int the cabanas, tip the locals?!?! Be happy for a nice day at the beach instead of worrying and/or complaining that you can't go swim with pigs and therefore RC must be trying to steal your hard earned dollars. Many of the islands we all enjoy in the Caribbean are unsettled and deal with poverty, unrest, political struggles. They usually hide this from us but sometimes it rears it's head. We all (most?) can go home to our nice warm beds. They will live with it.

We sailed last October on Explorer. On returning to Ravenna, we took the RC shuttle to the airport (to wave our kids home!) then we grabbed a taxi in to town where we stayed for another couple of days. Loved Bologna! I don't remember exact times, but there were several buses so i think they left as they filled up. I would recommend the RC bus transfer to get you to the airport, then taxi over to the train station? It sounds like the train to Bologna may be really crowded and uncomfortable; the bus was comfortable and easy.

I second other comments that you should try to do private excursions in the med if you can. Taking the ship excursions will involve a busload of people, which is slower and harder to get around and see the sites. You spend valuable time loading and unloading the bus! We've been several times now and almost always book private excursions. We feel like we get to see more and beat the crowds, especially if you're headed to a tourist area. BTW, you might try looking on the ports of call boards here for advise of others who are doing this same route. I always find great tips and advise there! Also, look for a roll call for your sailing?

I just came back to add - once we shift to daylight savings time this weekend...the ship time may be the same as local time now?!? Why can't we just keep time the same?!?! It's so confusing.... 🙂

This makes sense! I had always heard that it was the captains decision that's why it varies from ship to ship. Don't know why it would be his/her decision but that's what i've heard?!? Aruba/Curacao - they WERE an hour ahead....once we realized that we did have to contact our excursion company to adjust our arrival time with them.

We were on Symphony the end of January! He waws NOT our room steward, thankfully!

Which is important to remember because the time in ports will be different (Aruba and Curacao) so if you've booked private excursions you need to make sure you coordinate the local time vs. ship time!

We just did this itinerary in January and had a great time! I'm not always a big fan of the shows, but i loved Hiro and Hairspray!! We also saw 1 comedy show late night, and the ice show, enjoyed them both!

A couple of weeks ago there were a lot of cabins in all categories. So, they must have sold a bunch and now getting pretty full!

The good news for us is that this cruise now shows up again on the website! SO, hopefully it was just a glitch in their system and we're back on track! Now i have to worry about no hot water - what have you done to me?!?! 🙂 That would NOT be good....let's hope they have everything worked out before we board. Interesting that you're going to have so many ships/choices sailing out of LA. This is our first west coast cruise out of LA, so we're looking forward to a new ship and itinerary for us. We live in TX so often sail out of Galveston but usually fly to Florida. We still occasionally do a Carnival cruise (usually because of the itinerary) so hope you enjoy your Firenze cruise. We've done Alaska twice on Carnival ships. I pretty much love every ship I'm on, anywhere and anytime! Haven't had a BAD one yet....although definitely can rate some better than others!

oops

wow, that's amazing!!! so, yes they still sell it! i buy in giant bottles then pour it in to my travel size bottle!

well, everybody's hair is different, so i have no idea if this would be good for you or not!! But - i have very fine hair so most conditioners add weight to my hair and any style i try quickly falls flat! I use a product called Infusium Pro 23, it's a clear (looks like water) leave in product that helps untangle but doesn't weigh my hair down. I've used it for years.

My hair care routine is pretty easy BUT i have a certain conditioner that i have to use or my hair will not be good!!! So, i always take a carry size bottle of conditioner. The other products work fine for me.

😮

What does this even mean?!? i'm old i guess.... 🙂

We're booked on the April 12th sailing of Navigator OTS out of Los Angeles. The ship is currently in a scheduled dry-dock and this cruise is the 1st one upon the ships scheduled return to sailing. As of 3 days ago, it looked like there were approx 200 available cabins (including all categories) I know because we've been stalking the website because of our Royal Up bids!! Anyway - as of this morning, this cruise no longer shows up on the website AT ALL. I think it's pretty unlikely that it sold out in 3 days. The only explanations i can come up with are either A) the website is messed up and it will correct itself any minute or B) some delays are becoming evident in the drydock and they're anticipating having to cancel this cruise....??? I hope this is not the case, but wonder if anyone else has any info? Am i just being paranoid? We've never had a cruise cancelled, but we've also never booked the 1st one out of drydock and i know these things happen some times.

We just got off a couple of weeks ago and my husband played video poker in there (but i played vp in the regular smoking casino because, you know - vaping.... 🙂 ) but i'm pretty sure there was not a craps table in there. maybe roulette, bj, one other like texas hold em....someone else should confirm this for sure as i only walked thru a few times so i wasn't really paying much attention.

hmmm, what was the negative feedback? Celebrity is already non-smoking in the casinos, right? So, they introduced vaping as an option to totally non-smoking and got complaints....i can imagine why?!? in RC's case they would be taking away some form (smoking) which i think would be met with cheers?!

As a former smoker and current vaper, i'll weigh in with my 2 cents on this very sensitive subject.. First, i totally understand the questions and frustrations from non-smokers as to why they won't change the policy. My big question is why won't they ENFORCE the policy that smoking is only allowed while playing?!? Years ago (when i still smoked) i was shocked and disappointed when they outlawed smoking on the balconies. Outlawing that forced me and others to 2 areas on the whole ship - either pool deck or the casino. Pool deck was great during good weather and/or while sailing, but the main go-to place was the casino and we smokers would congregate in there from the minute we got on the ship. It was NASTY (but there I was as it was the only place to go)....This still happens (non gamblers hanging out just to smoke) but nobody does anything to enforce the rules. Now that i'm a former smoker, i'll admit that the strong smell really bothers me. I hate having smoke blown in my face and/or ashes spilled all over the machines. However, i am sympathetic to the smokers since there's really nowhere else for them to go. My situation is also complicated because as a vaper, i can only vape in smoking areas. I know many non-smokers feel that these should be lumped together, but please remember that my vape discharges NO smoke, very little smell, disapates quickly, etc. But in order to enjoy my vape i have to play in the smoking casino. If they would outlaw smoking in the casino but allow vaping, most everybody would have a MUCH better experience, the smell would be gone, and most smokers (i think) could tolerate this rule because they could vape while gambling then go out to the pool deck for a regular cigarette. I doubt this will happen but imo it's a viable solution.

Just personal opinion here, but we've tried JR's several times and i just don't think the burgers are very good...?!? Some times it's nice to have a change of pace and a burger sounds good, but then it's just ok....i don't think i've ever tried the milkshakes, tho and i hear they are great!

I don't remember any balconies called "sunset" balconies so i'm not sure....? is that what they're called on RC's website? We were just on Explorer last fall and didn't notice that room type. Best advise i have is to look up deck plans on a site like cruisedeckplans dot com, there you'll get a detailed description of each cabin and cabin type.