ajtaylor29

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.

Hmmmm, i'm pretty sure they didn't leave us that survey but maybe they did and i lost it in the shuffle!? I know people love them and that's great, i'm just one person and i save RC money on blocks/cost them money on other things!!!

I just don't understand the allure of these blocks i guess....and i had no idea they were selling on e-bay?? (or maybe i should say "offered" on e-bay....does anybody really buy them for $100 or more....?? Hubby and I just received our first blocks on Symphony last week. Ok, they're pretty. But, what am i going to do with them when i get home?? I already have cups, t-shirts, koozies, hand sanitizors, drink coolers, lanyards, masks....all with RC logo on them and most sitting on a shelf in the closet (well, except for the koozies, we USE those!!). We love Royal, and we do appreciate the gestures to thank us for our loyalty, but i'm trying to PURGE at my house and don't need more stuff that we won't use!!! Also, those things are heavy and i didn't need to extra weight in our suitcases since we were flying home. So, we returned our blocks to guest services where they were VERY happy to get them back?! So if anyone is anxiously awaiting your Symphony block and you receive it this week - you can thank ME!!!! 😁

We took a short 4-day cruise on Voyager in December and it was my least favorite casino experience at sea yet. Very crowded, weird layout. There's a whole side of the casino walled off that was apparently a high-limit area when it was in Asia that is now just empty (which leads to the rest of the casino being so cramped). I'm sure at some point they'll open that up which will be a big improvement. The day we boarded we found: 3 ANCIENT single line games by the bar that were turned off. And, 5 new-looking super star machines against one wall that were non-operational. I think they had just been brought on and they hadn't had time to get them set up yet. We found a host and complained about there being zero video poker on board....they didn't seem too concerned but later that night they "turned on" the 3 by the bar. My husband played there some, but i love playing multi-line games so for me there was no vp at all. I played blackjack and a few slots. Saved me some money that weekend! I'm sure by now those machines are up and running.

Hubby and I are video poker players and we've been on many RC cruises. Usually, they will have several SuperStar machines, which play a variety of single or multi-hand games. Then they will have a few single line games. Usually some on the smoking side and some on the non-smoking side. Pay tables are bad. We know better than to play on a ship but we always do!?!? Superstar machines have straight poker, super times pay, ultimate-x, spin poker. And most will have jacks or better, bonus poker, double double, deuces wild, etc. The usual games. Rarely we see triple double.

We just got off Symphony this past Sunday. 2 couples both in owners suite so we had CK available to us all week. Everybody is different so this is just my opinion - but we love CK and avoid the MDR (it takes too long and often the food is just so-so). So on our 8 night cruise, we never went in the MDR or Windjammer. We ate breakfast in the Solarium once. (smaller scale buffet assortment, but we love the ambiance, smaller crowds, etc.) Multiple days we had room service breakfast (very good and i love coffee in the morning on my balcony!) One lunch at El Polo Fresh one dinner at Chops one dinner at Hibachi Grille all other meals at Coastal Kitchen I think the quality in CK is very good. I only had one meal (fish) that i didn't love, but other nights i always found something i liked. I agree with someone's comment that the menu is getting a little tired, it's time for them to update it. All other meals we had were great as well. Honestly, we had no problem finding plenty of great food on this trip!

also, note that it is not a $20 LIMIT, but a $20 credit (for free w/ the UDP) so if you eat more than that they'll charge you the difference!

I'm pretty sure that would be $20 for each person who bought the UDP, so if all 4 of you have the package then you would each have a $20 allowance at Playmakers. If only 2 of you have UDP for example, then only 2 of you can dine with the $20 credit...

We stayed on eastern (ship time) all week. However - that meant that in Aruba and Curacao the local time was an hour later than we were. That always confuses me?!? My husband keeps his watch set to ship time and we take our phones off "auto-adjust" for the time so they don't change when we're on the islands either. You do need to be aware if you're taking a private excursion that their starting time is different than your ship time!

I don't remember seeing the CK menus before we got on the ship, but somewhere on here i know someone has posted them so keep looking i guess! The menu is pretty small in CK but we always found something we liked and enjoyed, both at lunch and at dinner. We only had breakfast in there one day but it was great too! We did go to Labadee, and rented a cabana at Barefoot Beach (reserved for suite guests). There were 4 of us, and while we enjoy the hilltop cabanas, we spent most of the day in 4 loungers on the beach and there were plenty of them available. Next time, we might just go and park ourselves on the loungers! Also note, there were plenty of water floats available for use. I'm not sure if that's the case on the other beaches but it was at Barefoot. We've started travelling with our own floats since some beaches we go to don't provide any, just fyi.

We were on this cruise with you and had a great time! We were fortunate to be sailing in a suite, so we had access to Coastal Kitchen all week, and to the suite lounge. Food was great in CK all week. We also had dinners at Chops and the Hibachi Grill and they were both really good! Had room service breakfast most days (love having coffee on my balcony!) The suite lounge serves wine and beer all day (11-11) and full bar from 5-8 every day for HH. That plus our 4 free drinks w/ Diamond status and free drinks in the casino....no need for a drink package for us for sure! Saw several shows and enjoyed them all! (Hiro, Hairspray, 1977, one late-night comedy show). Symphony is my favorite ship. Well maintained, great staff! Only complaint is with the casino. They took my money. 😞 And also, the casino hosts were not very visible - they usually come introduce themselves to us but that didn't happen this time. Also, several video poker machines were out of order all week, and no one seemed interested in fixing them.... We still enjoyed our time in there of course and can't wait to sail on her again!

Yes, we booked our transport thru RC. They have a bus that will shuttle from Venice-Ravenna or Bologna-Ravenna and back. fyi - Ravenna is a lot closer to Bologna than Venice. We flew into Venice a few days pre-cruise, then went to Bologna for 2 days after the cruise then flew home from there) You cannot book the RC transport on the website, you have to call them (i don't know why?!?) It wasn't that expensive, i'd have to look up exact price, but there were 6 of us and it was the best option. Super easy to find the bus station. This worked out great for us! I loved Venice, and loved Bologna! So we got to add 2 Italian cities to our trip instead of one!

We sailed on Explorer to Greece and Croatia last September, had a great time! The ship was wonderful and the crew was friendly and helpful! I suggest you join the roll call for your cruise, also go to the boards for Greece and read other peoples comments about what to do in your port stops. There's a wealth of information out there (mostly good! :))

Last year on Odyssey, my hubby and i reserved one. This was our one and only (so far!) Star suite experience so it came at no charge! We selected one on the pool deck, the area was packed, and honestly i didn't love it at all?!? There were people constantly walking thru our little "private" area, pushing their chairs right up next to ours (to share our shade?) and in general it just felt like i was sitting in the busiest spot possible. Oh, and the bar was nearby so we had that traffic as well. Maybe in our younger days when partying by the pool was our vibe, this would have been fun! But we're a 60-something couple now, and even tho i think we're fun-lovers, we're not so much into the loud, drunken pool scene as we were years ago! The cabanas on the upper deck would have been much less crowded, however on this specific day it was pretty windy so they were blowing up there! If i had paid for it i wouldn't have been very happy, as it was we stayed for a couple of hours then left. I probably won't book one again.

We did this in October after our cruise. We took RC's shuttle to the airport to see our family members off as they were flying out that day. Then my husband and I took a taxi back into the city where we stayed 2 more days. We stayed at the Hotel Metropolitan, it was really nice and in a great location. We loved Bologna and I'm so glad we stayed there a while so we could walk around and explore. Had some great food there too! I think it was a very short cab ride (it was early on a Sunday so not much traffic, maybe 15 minutes to our hotel) I would recommend that you stay in the city center instead of by the airport so you can see the city... I think if RC's shuttle isn't available, you could look into the train schedule. I'm sure you can take the train.

Agree! When we boarded Explorer in September, the first thing i did (well, almost the first thing - i was in Italy after all and SO excited to be there!!!) but anyway - one of the first things i did was go searching for where they might show the Cowboy game that Sunday night (late because of the time difference). I was first told at each of the bars that "no, we're not showing NFL football at all, the World Cup is on".....so i was resigned to them not showing it at all....then after dinner and casually walking thru the bar on the way to the casino and looked up and there was the cowboy game on the screen!!! Don't dispair, it'll be showing somewhere!

Great thread here and it proves the point that there is never ONE right answer to a question like this!!! I think that most people figure out what works for them and that's what they go with. Great! As it should be! I agree with the comments about overall quality diminishing lately, but i have never gone hungry on a cruise. I have learned to be selective about what i eat and where based on past experiences, but other people will make different choices. I also agree that we've already "paid" for the buffet and the MDR so some will argue that paying for specialty restaurants is a waste. In my opinion, the specialty restaurants add to my overall enjoyment on a cruise, so to me it's worth a few $$s. We used to eat exclusively in the buffet or MDR, but over the years we've decided that those aren't our favorites so now we rarely go there at all. We're fortunate enough to cruise in suites most of the time so often that gets us Coastal Kitchen which is almost always a very satisfying meal. Then we'll sprinkle in a couple of specialty restaurants. Some times breakfast in Solarium Bistro. Some times Park Cafe for a great salad at lunch. Like i said, i won't go hungry on a cruise. And, i usually won't go to a venue that i KNOW will disappoint me. all that said - i totally understand that i am fortunate to be able to cruise a lot, i'm fortunate to be able to afford a suite or a specialty restaurant. I know some people cruise on a much tighter budget than I do and that's fine! There is food for ALL of us to enjoy!!!

You can ask to be seated at a two-top for dinner and i'm sure they'll accommodate your request!

I'm a huge nfl football fan (mostly Dallas Cowboys but i'll watch whatever game is on!!) and I've never missed a game at sea. Even on our Explorer cruise in Greece/Croatia this past September i was able to watch a Cowboy game in one of the bars (luckily, late night broadcast after all the soccer games were over!). For Oasis class ships, i've watched a couple of games at the Aqua Theater, they also were showing in Playmakers on multiple screens. I recently watched Cowboys/Eagles in the Aqua Theater with lots of fans from both sides, it was a lot of fun! Enjoy!!

We ended up doing what my instincts told me to do and had a great day! I booked a 1/2 day Blue Lagoon/Trogir private boat tour thru Viator. The boat crew were super nice, took us first to Trogir where we walked around for about an hour and got something to eat. Then we went to 2 different beaches which were both beautiful! The water was a little chilly for me (late September), but most of our group did swim and i enjoyed sitting in a lounge chair on the beach. The time spent on the speedboat was worth it too just seeing the beautiful landscapes around us! After the tour finished we still had a couple of hours to explore Split, see the Palace, shop a bit. It was a great day! Hope this helps!

i don't think you need to make a reservation in advance. Usually only one or two specialty restaurants are open on boarding day, but if you have the UDP then you can walk in and eat for no charge. We usually go to Chops on boarding day...

I haven't sailed on Rhapsody yet but am booked for this summer. Our cruise will be out of San Juan with 5 stops in 7 days - so very port intensive and only 1 sea day. If yours is anything like this itinerary, i would say that your niece will be too busy in ports to care whether there are bells and whistles or not! On a cruise with multiple sea days, some of those fun things on the big ships are great, but not critical to me either way. That said, we've sailed old and new, big and small, love them all (mostly!)Took our extended family to Europe last year on Explorer (older, smaller) and everyone loved it, including a couple of first-time cruisers. If we're booking just to get on a ship and go SOMEWHERE, we tend to go for the new big ships with lots to do, since they tend to run on the most popular routes (how many times can we go to Cozumel? or Labadee?). But if we're seeking out a new or interesting itinerary it almost always works out to be on the older, smaller ships., and we've yet to be disappointed. Enjoy!

We've been on 3 Alaska cruises and never have had an issue, ie it was a little rocky but not that bad. I know it can be bad, and also some people are more susceptible to motion sickness than others. Take some things with you just in case!

Totally agree! Once we had it and it was really tasty, tender and delicious. The next 5 attempts to eat one have not gone well.....last try on Harmony (Park Cafe) last month, the meat was so undercooked that it was inedible.....i'm sure i'll keep trying but my expectations are now pretty low....