91354guy

Are the unlimited plans offered on Serenade of the Seas? If so, I would love to know the prices.

When I was on a RCL cruise in June 2014, YES...there was an unlimited plan and I forget how much it was but it was not "too" expensive...

Scott

OK...I just booked the cruise...June 1 - 8 in a D2 cabin... Now...I need to get to Galveston! Would the closest airport be HOU? (If yes...they'll likely mean us flying from LAX > DAL > HOU...yuck!

Thoughts?

Suggestions?

(Ahh...now I get to register for the cruise on the boards!!!)

Scott

My dh & I are sailing the May 4th sailing, D2 category, oversized balcony $658 pp. It is a 6 day cruise. Sailing before schools release so should not have a lot

of kiddos running around…… We like sailing out of Galveston as we can drive to port and not have to pay airfare. We are from KCMO….

Hmmm...yeah I was looking at the "D2" category and it looks nice...wonder what changes they'll be making after the dry-dock. OK...I need to confirm my DD's school calendar and then make some reservations!

Thank you!

Scott

OK...THIS is why I love this board! I'm in the initial stages of planning our next vacation and I was considering this boat in June 2014 (DD17 and single dad). As she'll be fairly fresh from dry dock and refitted...I'm ALMOST ready to book but now I have the question...what category? I know I'll be booking a balcony but not sure if there's any I should "stay away from" or "grab if you can find it"... Any suggestions?

Thanks!!!

King...true...very true. Proxy servers have become cheap and small. Still, they're only good for fairly static content.

"Faster" internet...? Hmmm...(ok this next part may not make much sense to some of you).

Remember that there's a .5 second lag for the up-link to the orbiting satellite...then another .5 second for the down-link to the terrestrial station....then you're basically on the Internet...so add any delays navigating there. You'll have the same "delay" times for any traffic coming back to the ship.

Basically, if you wanted a stock quote the MINIMUM delay you would have is 2+ seconds from what you would have t home.

Remember that traffic is multi-plexed so your inbound and outbound packets are intermixed with EVERYBODY using the network.

The "speed" increases are in the number of channels they have going to/from the orbiting satellite AND within the ship's backbone network.

OK...raise your hand if my techno-geek babble has caused your eyes to glaze over..

Sorry...this is all part of my daily work / fun.

Scott

Does anybody know for sure if you can rent phones onboard? The last two RCL cruises I took I was able to rent older model iPhones.

Scott

Not sure of your data plan but mine is something like 50 cents per received message. Depending on how verbose the conversations can be, that could be expensive at the end of a week. That's why I was asking about those rented iPhones. The cost was something like 20 bucks for the week and besides text messages you could call the other phones and use it for various things while on board the ship.

Interesting....I'm REALLY looking forward to this upcoming vacation for a number of reasons.

I do have a question although it is a little off-topic for this thread...the previous two RCI cruises (the last being June 2012 on Allure) we were able to rent iPhones to keep in touch with eachother (instead of using our own cells or those noisy hand held walkie talkies). I have not been able to confirm that this service is still offered...does anybody know? Perhaps point me in the right direction?

Scott

Remember that typical connections via satellite carry a built-in lag of 1/2 second (500 milliseconds) uplink (connection from YOU to the satellite) and then another 1/2 second back down to the land-based station....then you will need to add whatever lag the ground-station has in relation to the closest backbone. Therefore, the typical minimum overhead is likely 1500 milliseconds (1.5 seconds) up and then the similar connection overhead on the return connection (total of approx. 3 seconds...3000 milliseconds). While that may not seem like a great deal of time, keep in mind that this will be compounded by the loading of multiple "frames" that come from different locations (e.g., small windows with adds)...therefore each of these would add to the total amount of time that YOU are waiting for the web site to load (each minute costing you $$).

(Yes, I do this kind of stuff for a living...)

Scott

Hmmmm, I missed THAT part. OK, good to know! THANK YOU!!

Unlimited access? Really? Is that available on all ships (ok, my focus right now is on the Freedom).?

Given the prices, that's not bad....hmmmmmmm

Thanks,

Scott

OK...I'm a noob...it's early Monday AM and I'm trying to multi-task...apparently I can't read either.

Gina, so sorry for confusing you! Not my intention!

The original information came from KRRIECAT and it reads as follows;

"I had cabin 1256 on Liberty about a year ago. It is not under the hot tub. I was a little concerned because it looked like it was when I first tried overlaying the deck plans. Then I noticed that deck 10 and 11 plans were not the same scale (elevators don't line up) and realized that the hot tubs were further toward the back of the ship then they originally appeared. All the GS balconies are covered, but the hot tubs hang out and block most of the sun from some of the cabins. I'm like the OP and want to have some sun when I'm on the balcony. Cabins 1260, 1560, 1268, & 1568 have balconies that are partially blocked from above by the whirlpool. Cabins 1264 & 1564 are completely blocked. I wouldn't want any of those cabins!

The OP didn't mention noise issues, but on Liberty the people in cabin 1264 complained about a low "humming" noise and wall vibrations when the hot tub motors were running. We didn't have any problems with noises in 1256. The area on deck 11 above cabin 1256 is somewhat enclosed and not an ideal place to catch rays. We didn't hear chairs scraping or any noise from bands.

SCOTT: I would try to change cabins if I were you. Your balcony will be about 1/3 - 1/2 covered by the hot tub overhang."

Sorry....

Scott

We've moving aft!!!

Just booked 1286!

THANKS so much for the heads-up!

Scott

GINA!

THANKS!!!

I'm calling Costco Travel right now!

The set up of Freedom must be different from IOS. When we were in 1264, the hot tub only covered about half our balcony, which made it nice ,because we had some shade to relax in if we wanted. Also, the plexiglass had more of a yellowish tint to it which didn't bother us at all.

I have 1260 booked for a cruise in June. This thread now has me wondering if I should not try to move the room now.

If you indicated that 1264 had some of the balcony covered....do you remember if the majority of the hot tub was further forward or aft of your old cabin?

Geez I never thought that this would be a problem.

Thanks

Scott

I'll admit to being somewhat of a lurker when it comes to this thread. I'm newly widowed and I just made a reservation for the Freedom of the Seas in June 2013 for myself and my teen daughter. I know I'll have a great time but I'm wondering about not only my social graces for engaging others but meeting others as well. Please don't get me wrong, I'm no looking to "hook up" with somebody for the cruise but some social interaction is very much welcomed.

After reading these threads I realized that I need to be a tad more outgoing and not waiting for somebody to engage me in conversation. Yet I need to know that this may not be met well in all circumstances.

Scott