TLex

I’m with my wife.  What do you think? 
 

🤣

twomarkets. Naměsti Republiki (and the Palladium and Kotva Department Store), Naměsti Stàromětske in Old Town.  In the blizzard.  Happy Happy, Joy Joy! 
 

I was in this trip for the bier. SHE is in it for the shopping!!! 😆

Well, we’ve been happily married for three years. However, we’ve been married 27.  So much for delayed 25th anniversary cruises!

thank you for the “Bon Voyage” in Czechia.  
 

BR,

T Lex

Dobre Rano from Praha.  Notamermaid, I’ve been on the CC since 2001 so not a newcomer but all on many Royal Caribbean cruises.  So I’ve been reading your excellent posts since we booked our AMA Magna Christmas markets in 2020 only to be delayed for nearly three years due to the Pandemic.  Excellent information and thank you!

But now IRT, we arrived in Praha on Thursday evening and right as we began touring Prague Castle on Friday morning, the snow began falling.  We are now under a blanket of cold and snow which by radar covers almost all of Czechia and into the Donau watershed!! 😳

We may be limited today but we are supposed to board the buses tomorrow at 0800 and head for Regensburg then Vilshofen and no let up in this onslaught until later Sunday.  Do you foresee any negative impacts on our sailing? The gauges appear to indicate high but not impassable.  Prosim!  😄

T Lex 

16 hours ago, notamermaid said:

With rain sweeping over the area, a rise in the water levels is expected again. For now Passau is doing fine and actually has dropped since yesterday. Current figure is 552cm. That gives a nice buffer and as of now the level is not expected to rise so much that it may be critical for ships passing under the bridge. I dare say it looks quite good for the weekend.

 

On the Rhine we have the situation that a fast rise is forecast in the Upper Rhine valley bringing the level close to a river traffic ban again. We will know more there by tomorrow.

 

notamermaid

 

If you get to the 8th parallel (Panama), there won't be any risk of hurricanes (you didn't note from where you launch so the voyage down to the Isthmus may be a different question).  Panama doesn't get hurricanes mostly due to the Coriolis effect at that latitude.  

Now, as for the weather, the Rainy Season starts in late April/early May, runs through the summer and peaks with occasional torrential downpours (much depends on whether it's an El Nino or La Nina year) through October/November.  The Dry Season, which corresponds to "summer" in the Panama school system, is late December through April (Christmas to Easter).  

But Bob is 100% correct: whether Dry Season or Rainy Season, it's always very hot and very humid.  

I oughta' know: lived there from 1982 to 1999!  😄   

Regardless, going through the Canal is an amazing experience.  I haven't been back since 2009 and Panama completed the third set of locks which can now take ships up to 1400 feet long and 180 feet wide (60 feet deep).  Much larger than the original locks.  

VR, 

T Lex

14 minutes ago, Petroplex said:

It is a lovely place to drink and smoke, but there weren't a lot of great alcohol choices. The service also seemed inattentive on this trip.

Hmmm....

RonDon and I will work on that come January!!!  
 

🤣

Again, even though we’ve sailed about 20 times in Royal and 9 or 10 of those out of Galveston, I genuinely appreciated your excellent and detailed review of Liberty and actually all of your group’s reports. 
 

However, it appears that the bar choices are going to expand significantly out of Galveston even as we lose the last Connoisseur Club. Royal’s supposed to announce the new terminal later this week and maybe Allure by 2021. Vamos a ver. 
 

VR, 

T Lex

49 minutes ago, Doug S said:

On air definitely has a bar, and I think it has hours outside of Karaoke, though I don't frequent it except to watch an occasional bit of questionable singing.

 

Maybe we'll see ya'll crawling from bar to bar, as we are on that sailing.

Are you on our Roll Call? Come on over!

and sign up for Meet & Mingle, too!!

😆

VR, 

T Lex

39 minutes ago, Petroplex said:

Liberty of the Seas Bar Crawl.docx 12.37 kB · 1 download

 

Sooooo...... I may have had a lot of free time one day in the office before our cruise on the Liberty this Summer. I then created the attached bar crawl, which we never got around to actually doing. It seems like we liked Boleros and Olive or Twist, and we camped out there. However, this may be useful as a map of which bars are where. Also, I have all of the bar menus from the Liberty to assist you in deciding what sounds delicious. Personal hint... they have Four Roses Single Barrel at the English pub, and the drink package covered it.

Well, WOW.  Thanks for joining this thread. 

I read all of your reviews from earlier this summer and thoroughly enjoyed them, especially the links to the MDR Menus, Cruise Compasses, and the Bar Menus.  I provided those to our Roll Call for Liberty for the voyage beginning on 12 Jan 2020 as we are planning an “abbreviated” bar crawl. 

But I would like now to confirm whether I accurately synopsized your Bar Menu comments or unintentionally overreached.  Many of us are again looking forward to enjoying the Connoisseur Club on Liberty with cigars and libations and I thought you had indicated it would have been one of your top choices as a bar but for the limited selection menu.  Is that correct? 

 V

5 hours ago, Tulsacoker said:

I'd say you all make it to R Bar before you all are cut off.... im my opinion 😉

Can't disagree with that....but your CC avatar looks like you got cut off at Squeeze!!!!

Sorry.  Couldn't help it.  🤣🤣

Keep on posting.  They're ALL good!

As for me: whether vel non we get a crawl underway on our voyage in Early January 2020, I plan to enjoy on the balcony of my big ol' suite!  🥃

VR, 

T Lex

That’s a very good point. 
 

Hardly enough!!!!!!

🤣

VR, 

T Lex

P. S.  Pretty much past my limit!  But guess that’s why it’s known as a “Crawl!!”

😂

I believe Navigator still has the Connoisseur Club.

Bob, having deja vu all over again with this latest thread, but I’m pretty certain the Liberty still has a Connoisseur Club. And since I’m boarding it in less than six weeks - with my cigars and great tips from Cigar King, D.S., - :D....it better still be there!

VR,

T Lex

Bob, I opened up the link and there are two pages of the Cruise Compasses but not the page with the hours of operation for the bars, food venues, etc. However, if I recall correctly (and that's ALWAYS an adventure! :D:D:D), the Starbucks type coffee bar opened at 0600.

VR,

T Lex

I have seen thousands of photographs over nearly twenty-three years of sailing with Royal Caribbean and some were quite excellent. But these are works of art. Incredible framing, eye popping color, and tremendous composition.

Very well done, Sir!

May we inquire of your equipment?

VR,

T Lex

I may have been a little premature in my post. The Mariner and Adventure lost their cigar bars in their recent drydocks. The Freedom and Explorer will both be drydocked in 2020 and will most likely loose theirs.

The Liberty still has theirs.

That’s GREAT news! But I think you may have meant “lose” vice “loose.” Those lounges that still exist are pretty loose already. :)

And, please, don’t worry about that premature post.

Heck, we’re all getting older, right, my King? :D:D:D

VR,

T Lex

Wasn't aware that the Connossieur's Club on Liberty had been converted. When did that happen?

C King, I could've sworn someone recently posted that the cigar lounge was still active on the Liberty.

Ah ,well, plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!!!

VR,

T Lex, Esq., DS+++ 😂

I agree, the cigar lounge probably did make some money, but I think they felt that the installation of the Suite Lounge was more important to the bottom line than the cigar lounge, and they didn't want to give up the card/game venues.

Bob, I was on Adventure of the Seas, as we discussed on other topics, last late November when it still sailed out of San Juan and I can attest that there was no longer a Connossieur's Club on deck 5 which had been replaced by the Game Room. BTW, the Suite Lounge was still unfinished and the area was sort of "fallow" pending the drydock that happened earlier this year. But I can attest - and maybe "Cigar King (never got real name)" can confirm this since he sailed one week after we did - that room was not occupied at any time I visited it. And I visited it at least four time during the cruise, usually stopping by after dinner, just to see if anyone was in it. Totally empty. IMO, Royal may have done the politically or environmentally correct thing - although my memory of the air filtration systems on the Mariner and Voyager was that no smoke ever left the room and there was actually very little smoke in the room notwithstanding those enjoying cigars in it - but what a waste of space! At some point, I suspect management will re-look that and decide to do something else besides a card/game room.

FWIW, I know maybe 1/100th what Cigar King knows in terms of cigar smoking and quality, but I have good memories of meeting great folks, enjoying a cigar or two and also a sip of Whisky and Cognac sold at that bar (BTW, the bar was still there as was the humidor but there was nothing in either on AOS), watching March Madness on Mariner and other sports on Voyager. This was, BTW, when both of those were sailing out of Galveston.

Also, we were on Allure in March 2013 and the cigar smoking area really was on the Suites Deck, Deck 17, but only after dark. It was very windy, couldn't even light the darn thing, and the bar closed at 2300 and wasn't particularly amiable or happy to see us there. Oh, and by "us" I mean four folks. Since I was in Crown Loft and had the "gold card," we could go up there at any time anyway, but I think of the four on the deck that evening, all of us were in suites. So I am not surprised management decided to move it IF it did (based on some other entries to this thread).

All in all, not sure that killing the Connossieur's Club was such a great decision. And our next voyage is in October on Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston and the last I checked, the Club was still in operation on that vessel. But perhaps its time is also numbered as you noted.

Just my thoughts, Sir! :D

VR,

T Lex

Really disappointed to see who is the CD on our next Liberty cruise....May well be one of the most aloof CD's we have ever encountered.

This is somewhat concerning. I thought I saw your Roll Call for late August (we're mid-October).

But the list states that current CD boarded on 27 May for two months which would be late July forvhis ending date. So did I miss something about his replacement or was he extended?

Thanks,

VR,

T Lex

Yep, I know that 😀! Thanks former Chief Engineer!!

The speed was old and the website states that one can obtain a satellite fix but wasn’t sure if that entailed registering with Marine Traffic and rendering payment. So I didn’t.

FWIW, Liberty shows that it’s at Falmouth now.

BREAK//// Internetwhiz (sorry, I’ve read many of your posts but never caught your name), did the Master announce why they could not make Grand Cayman? Just curious.

Thanks.

VR,

T Lex

Makes sense. Aside from additional fees such as bunkering, the ship would be better off moving to Falmouth. But it’s nearly 2300 CDT here and last check on Marine Traffic site showed Liberty moving at 23.4 knots. From your observation, it appears Grand Cayman just wasn’t feasible.

Spent nearly 18 years serving in Panama and I’m very cognizant of the costs associated with missed stops and having to re-route.

VR,

T Lex

Thanks for the update.

From the map track, it didn't appear that Liberty got very far out of Cozumel before returning to the island. I wonder if it was allowed to moor at the International Pier overnight and maybe allow passengers to debark.

VR,

T Lex

Before opening this post, I checked the board and saw nothing on this.

From review of Marine Traffic map this week, it appears Liberty left Cozumel from normal stop on Tuesday, then doubled back and is now directly en route to Falmouth, skipping Grand Cayman.

Maybe that was planned, but I thought this was the Cozumel, Grand Cayman, then Falmouth week.

So if anyone knows what's going on or whether I just misread the track, please post here.

Thanks!

VR,

T Lex

That’s pretty steep!

Was this in USD or Australian dollars? I believe the Australian dollar is 75% of USD.

VR,

T Lex

Alas, no, for the same reason.

 

My grandson.

 

I'm now his full time caregiver. :) Having the time of my life.

Mazel Tov! But I thought that you were still on some Roll Calls; am I utterly mistaken?

FWIW, I actually listened (OK, READ and heeded) your "advice" and finally met my own grandchildren last Labor Day weekend up in Bothell (near Seattle), WA. So I am off THAT list! :D:D

Maybe when he gets old enough to cruise....??? :')

VR,

T Lex

Royal uses dynamic pricing, there is no fixed price. Can vary cruise to cruise.

"Now, if Bob provides different information, GO WITH HIS! "

And, of course, you did! HA!

Seems that pricing per day appears higher on the newer classes, especially Quantum Class, but that's purely an anecdotal impression I am getting from reading the threads. And, of course, I didn't even mention TA or Europe or Asia because I know that those prices are very "dynamic," to employ your term.

VR,

T Lex

Bob (Host Clarea) is probably typing right now and he is an encyclopedia of all things cruise-related!

But I can relate that on Adventure of the Seas for a 25 November 2017 cruise out of San Juan, I paid $38 per day with the discount which means the undiscounted price would have been $55. And that seems to be the going "regular" price for cruises to the Caribbean out of US ports. Please note that these prices did NOT include the 18% gratuity which is always added to the package.

Now, if Bob provides different information, GO WITH HIS! :D

VR,

T Lex

I agree.

 

I think that you are safe, waiting until you are on board, Bruce.

Well, safe for the purchase of the package....now, as far as life expectancy with "La Reina," Not sure about that!!!

Great to hear from you and truly regret you didn't join us for the Adventure "Rescue of the Seas" voyage last November. :D

I promised Bob a full review but was so nonplussed by the time we were bussed to the airport, I sort of "let it ride." Believe me, I really do not think you would have regretted missing that one and possibly even some after it. But we thoroughly enjoyed 1320!!

Any chance you could make Liberty of the Seas on 14 October? :)

BR, VR,

T Lex

Thanks!!

And for the record, you respond at the speed of LIGHTNING! :D

Bob, is it strange no one has yet posted about Sub tropical Storm Alberto which is currently parked 60 miles south of Cozumel and from the satellite imagery is pounding that poor island with rain? Winds are about 40 mph which isn't too bad for us seasoned hurricane seasoners, but they are allegedly consistent.

And, yep, Liberty is parked right there today! Harmony was there yesterday but has since moved far away....

BR, VR,

T Lex