SnoopyJS

I'm hoping we'll hear a lot more about their idea of options to replace the buffet before we sail on the Jewel next year. I really wonder where they get their new demographic of 35-55 as their 'average' passenger. Are they trying to kick the over 60s out? We love the Waterfront for dinner, but always prefer the wide variety of the buffet for breakfast and lunch.

I have no source or fact ccl will end traditional anytime soon or the next 20 years just a simple guess if all other major lines are changing ccl will also to keep up ..

 

 

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Official source - email arrived in my inbox 20 minutes describing exactly that as to what is going to happen. NOT IMPRESSED.

RCI have also sent out emails informing the demise of traditional dining room set time dining.

We are going on our first ever cruise, on the Pacific Jewel in August, and seasickness is something I am quietly, and without being too much of a drama queen, concerned about.

I take comfort in hearing that being mid ship is better, as we are in cabin 8110 which is pretty much smack bang in the middle on deck 8.

 

I'll see the doc before I go, take something before I board, then refuse to let it concern me or get in the way of my holiday :)

Hi Shellfisch, My twopence worth in case it helps with your decision.

I have been known to get terribly seasick, carsick and all sorts of motion sick. My husband booked us a fabulous cruise year and I was terrified about being sick all 18 days. No over the counter pills, doctor's pills or injections had ever worked for me.

I ended up using two things which both separately and together kept me totally well for the duration of the cruise.

1. Andrew Ettingshausen's 'Escape Seasick capsules' http://www.escapewithet.com/sea_sickness.aspx

I have a helicopter pilot son who gets airsick if he is flying a long distance with lots of updrafts. He has always been a motion sickness case and nothing worked for him either. He and his pilot friends put me onto ETs capsules because they have found them the best to take and for my son they worked.

With nothing to lose I ordered them and took one every night if it was predicted to be rough the next day. They did not make me drowsy.

2. Accupressure sea bands - but the pretty bracelet kind called 'Queasy Beads' (google it). I wore them every day and even had some made to match my evening outfits.

Even on the days I didn't take a capsule, the sea bands worked brilliantly for me. We were on Rhapsody of the Seas and for two days were in 60 knot winds and 5 meter swells .... and I wasn't at all sick.

As for my particular choice of combination, I'm not sure if I needed both, but the fact that they worked a treat for me meant that I didn't care. I only took the tablets on the cruise, but have worn the Queasy Beads on winding road car trips and shorter boat trips since and have never been motion sick while wearing them.

I'm off on another cruise later this year and both ETs capsules and my cute sea band bracelets will be the first things packed :D

Oh yes .... and a midships cabin :)

This is probably after the fact, but .... I have several pairs of queasy beads - the genuine ones from Queasy Beads ~ Stylish Motion Sickness & Nausea Relief Bracelets and for me they are BRILLIANT!! I have worn them in the back seat of cars while driving up mountain ranges and most importantly on an 18 day cruise across the Pacific ocean. I get car sick in the back and very sea sick, but if I'm wearing a pair of Queasy Beads I have no problem at all. At one stage of our cruise we were in 6 meter swells and 50 knot winds and I was so proud of myself because I wasn't sick at all. I will never be caught on a cruise wearing those towelling bands, but I LOVE my queasy bead bracelets. I was even able to design my own bracelets to match my formal wear for the cruise :)

I think you've already decided cruising will be a negative experience, so I would recommend against it. You're going to be miserable and will make those around you miserable.

 

Roz

I'm hoping for some reassurance from you experts here, but I'm prepared for the worst:eek:

 

I've never been on a cruise, and have never had the slightest desire to. The nearest we've got to cruising was a couple of week-long trips on small boats (max 12 passengers) in the Hebrides, visiting remote and uninhabited islands and watching wildlife. It was brilliant, but the idea of going on one of those monstrous cruise liners really turns me off!

 

Now as my username suggests, I just love islands, and on my list of islands to visit before I die are the remote Atlantic outposts of Ascension, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. Now these are not easy (or cheap) places to get to, but we've found a cruise in early 2015 which goes from Cape Town to the Canaries calling at Namibia, St Helena, Ascension and the Cape Verde Islands. It's on a ship called MV Voyager, which belongs to a company called Voyages of Discovery.

 

Now on the one hand we really do want to get to these destinations, and there are not many other options for getting there - certainly not affordable ones. On the other hand, I've got this horrible feeling that we will have to endure being trapped in a floating old-folks home surrounded by people playing bingo, eating vast quantities of terrible food, and having to endure dressing for dinner and (worst of all) being subjected to 'entertainment'. I've read some reviews of this ship, and they are mixed, to say the least. Any comments - should we go for it, or not touch it with a bargepole? All advice gratefully received. Thanks

Sorry to say, but after your dreadfully negative comments, and your determination to be miserable I would not inflict you and your attitude on the other passengers.

Find another way to travel.

For such as vast country Australia has remarkably little variation in regional Aussie English regional accent or dialect. Some vernacular words vary according to region, eg bathers, swimmers (ie, swim suit) but the slang is fairly universal because most of it comes from the British convict first settlers. If you have a good ear you can pick out a Queenslander from a South Australian but its not always obvious.

... and you can pick a Victorian by the way they pronounce 'you' :D

On our 4 RC cruises there has been the wishes at seas event, selling T-shirts and the walk ( one 1 the walk was cancelled due to weather). On one cruise (Cruisin Country in 2011) over $7000 was raised.

We always support this cause, and since we already have the shirts, we make a donation & not take a shirt.

Lovely, thanks for the info. I will look out for it on our cruise. Talking with my son he says that RC lines are very loyal supporters of Make A Wish and that he has a very easy task when arranging a Wish cruise for kids under his area care.

Apparently they have even arranged for a MAW luncheon to be served on one of their ships whilst in port to let all volunteers see what goes on so that they can relate to it when organising a wish. He knew we are going cruising, but hadn't realised that it was with Royal Caribbean. Typical son - they don't take in the details of what we get up to until it is stuck under his nose as we are leaving :D

I have used AUD at most places without a worry. Saying that, in noumea I did, but got francs back as change. The lady gave me 50 francs as a 50 cent piece, so you need to be careful there.

 

The people on the small island stops will take AU$.

 

Suva - they like you to have Fiji money at a lot of shops, but some take either. I got some from the hole in the wall and paid $7 for it.

 

I have heard that you can get local $ from guest services, but I have never done it.

Thanks for the advice :)

On the recent Voyager of the Seas itinerary I was on, there was a "Walk the Equator" Make A Wish item in the compass every day from Port Hedland to Bangkok, and I recall another Make A Wish programme on the previous Radiance cruise but can't recall the fine details.

 

So it does seem like a regular item on RCI cruises.

Oh that is good to know. I know how hard my son works for Make A Wish and the kids they look after. Thanks for adding to the information for me.

Your Compass scans again Ken: Interesting to see the reference to Make A Wish and their 'Wishes at Sea' programme. I'm hoping that this may be a regular cruise activity, and not a special one off for the cruise you were on.

One of our sons is the president for Make A Wish (Brisbane South East Branch) and at 33 years old he's been a volunteer for the past 13 years. We've done our bit supporting him and the foundation in those years, but it would be a special privilege to do so at sea.

I have all the CC's there now plus some info for decks 6 & 5.

 

New link for it as well. My Cruise Diary

I'm just now getting a quick chance to read through all your Compass scans. Thanks for doing that, it's very nice to be able to see what to expect.

I'm wondering if you and other passengers (if you know) got amounts of the local cash before leaving on your cruise, or if you were able to use just Aussie $. We were advised by our bank that Aussie $ in the Pacific Islands would be fine and American $ in The Samoas was all that we'd need, but I'm reading in Compass that perhaps we would be wise to have some local currency. We have looked into a multi currency 'travel card' but I'm sure that we'd be better off having cash for villages in the Pacific.

If that's the case I'd rather be able to scare some up locally here rather than have to chase down some on the ship.

Again, any advice is welcome. Thanks, Helen :)

32 days - not that anyone's counting of course :D

I have added days 2 & 3 to this. After today I have a few days off and I will try my best to get all 10 of them online for everyone to see. I will try to get some of the other pages done as well including pictures.

Thanks Ken, Appreciate the effort.

Cruise diary is a work in progress. I am not sure how much info and detail to put into it though, and it was not till i started that i realised i could have taken heaps more photos!

 

I have all 11 days worth of the CC and was not sure if people wanted to see them or not, looks like people do so when I have time off I will scan them all.

 

Catr13, I see you will be doing the same 12 nighter as us next month. I am looking forward to visiting the island of Santos.

I think in terms of preparing for a cruise as a newbie (except for 40 years ago) and given that I like to be well prepared I'd like to see a thread called 'little details' .... or 'nuts and bolts' .... or 'obsessive compulsive' :eek:

Nope I'm not that bad. There must be a balance on this website where you have to pick out the best and ignore the bad. I'm trying to do just that while planning to have an absolute ball when I get there.

Here is day 1 of our February cruise.

 

Day 1 Compass

THANKS KEN. Nice to get a look at Compass and the rest of the blog is a great read. Our travel agent has booked us into the IBIS the night before we sail. I'll probably be too excited to sleep much that night anyway.

It only took two days (lol) but I've finally finished this thread.

 

I'm one of those obsessive planners too, however as everyone else has said, I am SOOO glad I found this thread prior to leaving.

 

You have cut my packing in half.

 

We're driving to port, and had planned to leave the morning of, but now we're driving down the night before.

 

I've made my own "can't be without it" list.

 

I am so flippin' excited I can hardly stand myself. I come home from work everyday telling my DH something new I learned and he just rolls his eyes. He's the "tell me the day before we leave and I'll just pack a bag" kind of guy! I think he's getting tired of my daily updates, lol.

 

Thank you guys so much for being willing to share all this great information!

My DH is the same. That's why this site is so great so I can obsess without driving him mad for 478 days!

Chuckle .... I also like to be 'prepared and organised' .... aka planned to a huge degree ;) .... but this time I can drive my husband as nuts as I like because our cruise is HIS choice of holiday with HIS choice of destination and HIS choice of travel :D :D :D

I just found an item that I will never cruise without. QueasyBeads! They work the same way the SeaBands work but aren't ugly! On my last cruise I hated putting on the SeaBands with my formal attire. Those ugly sweatbands just made me feel less pretty in my fancy dresses. And, when you wear them everyone knows you're seasick. I like this option much better.

I came back to find your post Eris to say THANK YOU. I followed your link to Queasy Beads about a month ago and I'm now the proud owner of several very pretty sets ready for my up coming cruise :D

THANK YOU - We are off on our first cruise since our honeymoon almost 41 years ago. So looking forward to it and more so having read through Cruise Critic threads such as this one.

I much appreciate the time taken by people to put their tips up for new cruisers to learn from.

We honeymooned on the 'Marco Polo' - Far East Dominion Line in 1972. We sailed from Sydney, Australia around the South Pacific Islands and back to Sydney.I believe it was previously called 'Princess Isabel' and afterwards 'Aquamarine' and then 'Odysseus'. I haven't researched its history totally.

It's a tad smaller than the Rhapsody of the Seas which we are about to cruise on :D