Daily Log, Explorer of the Seas, Jan. 16-27

[red devil]

From the Explorer, No it is not our Captain

[macfin]

empress is there any more info that you know, have heard on here that it may have ben a child???

[EmpressofPurple]

Okay, update and questions first, then I’ll get back to my daily log. Of course, once again I am a day behind… I was simply too tired last night to write it or post it… and today was quite busy, too – it’s now quarter to twelve, and if past history is any example, it will take nearly two hours to write the new update of the past 48 hours!

So: there was a single medevac today at about 4pm. We watched it from deck 12 above the pool area (deck 12 forward was closed, as was the fitness center, spa, peekaboo bridge, etc.) – couldn’t see much, just the helicopter arriving, hovering, and safely flying away. There were hundreds of people on deck watching – and cheering when the helicopter left. The good news is that CD Jimmy Rhodes announced at the show tonight that the patient had been successfully transferred to a San Juan hospital and was in surgery.

 

I did not hear any more details about the nature of the medical emergency(ies)… do not know if it was a child or an adult… a passenger or the captain… indeed, I don’t know whether the captain changeover was a normal part of operations or somehow related to this event, positively or negatively… so I shan’t speculate! (And I didn’t attend photos with the captain tonight, so I don’t know who was there.)

Never2Late2Cruise, Re: Original and New Captain: We received a letter today signed Henrik Loy, Master, Explorer of the Seas (I guess that’s the new Captain); yesterday’s Compass (for today’s activities) indicated “Formal Night Portraits with Captain Tore Grimstad” (who was the original Captain). No indication for any reason about the change, and whether it was part of the regular schedule or was in any way related to the onboard emergency – nor do I imagine that RCI would share that information with passengers.

The letter provided a little detail about the medical emergency, and told passengers with connecting travel issues to come to the front desk for help in rescheduling their flights, communicating with travel agents, family, etc.. Those with air booked through RCI have their travel automatically rebooked; those with air booked privately were offered reimbursement for airline change fees up to $150 per person.

The final sentence offered the same sentiment held by everyone I have spoken to onboard, and most of us online as well: “I sincerely regret the impact this medical evacuation has had on our return to port, and I think you for your understanding. The health and safety of all our guests is always our top priority. Like you, we wish our guest a speedy recovery.” (I guess that indicates the sick person was a passenger, not staff.)

Harry, I don’t know exactly when we turned back, but it was sometime during the night; by the time we were up and about by 7:00am, we were headed back south, the weather was notably warmer, and the sun was on the wrong side of the boat compared to the previous day!

Kijjy, cost for announcement in the Compass was $25, it had to be under 3 lines long, and only appeared on port days (too many activities listed on sea days). I’m not certain, but I think the lines are about 30 characters long. There have been many lovely announcements, about family reunions, engagements, birthdays, anniversaries – even a marriage proposal!

For those who are more experienced cruisers than I am, I have an interesting question: what happens to the staff in this situation? Do they lose a day of tips? I assume that our auto-tips will not be extended to 12 days, nor will the passengers on the subsequent shorter sailing be billed for a day of tips for a day they were not aboard. I plan to cover any difference in cash, but I was concerned that most people may not think about this, and the staff will suffer a loss in income. (Also, do the passengers on the shorter cruise have their fare reduced by the value of their lost day? We’re certainly not paying any more for this unexpected extra day aboard, even though we’re being fed, entertained, our rooms are being cleaned, etc., etc.) Just some interesting cruising questions…

 

Okay, I think I’ve covered all the questions, now I’m back to my daily log! Come along for the past two sea days, now with two more to come.

Tuesday, January 24 – Day 9 – First Sea Day Return

(As I said, I collapsed in bed last night, unable to write anything down… so I jotted some notes on a pad this morning while I was waiting for stretch class to start… hopefully I’ll capture most of this day from those notes, and fill in the details as I go…)

Up at 7am for 7:30 stretch class, followed by 8:00 abs class. Afterwards I returned to the room, planning to get my water belt and visor and head up to deck 12 to do my 3 miles (part of my half-marathon training schedule). Ariel was up, so I encouraged her to come up to the Solarium and relax there, rather than continue to sleep in the room. She came up with me, and we found her a deck chair where she could sit and read. I headed up the stairs to deck 12 and started around the jogging track. Five laps equals one mile, so I had 15 laps ahead of me.

It was about 9:00am by now, and a few sunbathers had started to set up on the chairs. Fortunately there still weren’t too many to make it hard to run around the course. The tail winds as I went around the bow were tremendous – made me run much faster than I am comfortable moving forward – but the head winds at the opposite ends literally made me feel that I was standing in one place, despite the fact that my legs were moving. (Please note that I often feel as though I am standing in one place, since I am passed on this track by people who are walking. Yes, walking. On legs with bumps and lumps and wrinkles, and they pass me. Easily. Comfortably. While I am huffing and puffing and pumping my arms. Sigh. Well, at least I have the courage to start – and to keep going!)

After about 6.5 laps, I could see a huge rain cloud ahead of us on the ocean, and I prayed that the captain would steer around it… but no, he drove straight into it. I ran downstairs to meet Ariel, who was huddled on the side under the Solarium roof, and we decided to go have breakfast. I would complete my run later.

We headed to the Windjammer, where I once again had wonderful Miso soup with tofu, shallots and mushrooms; stir-fried veggies, this time with green beans and onions; my favorite smoked salmon, red onion, tomatoes and cottage cheese (no bagel required); a piece of carved ham, a hard-boiled egg, and a fruit salad made with pineapple, kiwi, banana, and melon (I added the banana and kiwi).

We then ran down to Maharajah’s lounge, where today’s Progressive Trivia event was being held, rather than in the usual Schooner Bar location. (The napkin folding class was there… I ran down during the scoring period to see if I could pick up a brochure, but apparently there will be a third session – hopefully I can get to that one, so I will have something to remind me how to do the napkin folding techniques I have learned onboard.) Well, back to trivia: even with multiple-choice selections and many hints, this was one of the hardest trivias ever – we got 8 answers out of 20 (and most of those were guesses).

After that sorry performance, we went back up to the pool deck. Ariel huddled in a corner, sheltering from the wind, while I went back up to deck 12 and did another 8 laps to complete my 3 miles for the day. We then headed inside to the fitness center, where we relaxed in the indoor whirlpool, and dried off in the sauna. After that, we returned to the cabin, where I dressed for spin class at 4pm, since I would not be back to the room between now and then – as I said, it was a busy day!

We went to the Main Dining Room for lunch, and the good news is, it went very well! We were seated immediately with two other couples (who, it turned out, were all from Canada). Our assistant waiter promptly served water and brought a bread basket which included a small dish of olive tapenade. Two brand new cruisers asked about the salad bar, and I encouraged them to check it out; if they didn’t like it they could always order off the menu, after all. They came back with big smiles and big bowls of salad, exclaiming how amazing the salad bar was!

I actually ordered off the menu for the first time at lunch – I love that salad bar so much that’s usually what I do. Today I ordered Moroccan-style lamb sandwich on pita bread with a side of tzatziki (a delicious yogurt dip). I also asked for a smaller portion of the Greek salad entrée, since it came with grilled calamari on top, a personal favorite. Both items arrived quickly, and both were delicious. For dessert I had an “apple packet” which I had hoped to be something like a baked apple in a pastry, but alas was more like a strudel; oh well, I ate the filling and left the crust.

After lunch, since we were on deck 3 we looked at the photos. We actually had a couple of nice ones, and used my diamond coupon on the formal night photo. We also purchased two smaller pictures from Labadee in which we both looked relatively pretty and relatively happy. (Strangely, we also saw a number of photos of another mother and daughter – the mother slightly large and fair, the daughter slim and dark – and we kept asking “Is this us? We have doppelgangers onboard!!!” We also loved looking at the funny photos of other people. You know they’re good when you want to buy photos of strangers! That would actually be a great plot for a creepy cruise-based stalker mystery novel…)

At 2:00pm we met with our Cruise Critic gang for the slot pull, gathering in the Aquarium Bar right outside of the Casino (where there is the clear floor with twinkling gold and other riches underneath… and where we are greeted by two scantily-clad and seductive-looking female statues. “That’s Lady Luck,” I said to Ariel. “And that’s her sister, Lady Whore,” she replied.) We each got a slip of paper with a number on it, and stood in line to feed our $15 into the Wheel of Fortune $1 machine. We had agreed that we would all play the max bet ($5) for 3 pulls each. We cheered each other on and had great fun; we had a couple of hits, but mostly losses, and ended the day down $6 each (we received $9 back at the end of the event).

(I should note that it was during this event that I heard the announcement “Alpha Alpha Alpha Deck 14” and explained to Ariel what it meant. She didn’t believe me… until the next day when we heard about the medical emergency onboard. So apparently they tried to treat the person onboard from about 2:30pm until sometime during the night, when their condition must have proved to require more serious medical attention, requiring us to return to Puerto Rico so they could be airlifted to a hospital.)

Once we collected our winnings, we DASHED into Studio B and got seats at 2:30 for the 3:00pm special C&A showing of “Spirit of the Seasons”. It was freezing, and Ariel kindly ran back up to the cabin to get my fleece jacket; we used my pareo to cover our legs (she was in shorts since she planned to go running while I was in spin class; I was wearing capris and a tank top). The show was amazing, cycling through the seasons with stage sets “dressing” a bare tree at the rear of the ice rink with autumn leaves, winter icicles, spring flowers and summer greenery, while the performers danced and twirled and did amazing jumps to seasonal songs – in the good old summertime – do you remember that time in September – I can’t remember all the songs, about spring, summer, winter and fall! How I wish I’d taken notes the same day. I recall costumes for Halloween, with a giant jack-o-lantern in the background… winter costumes that included Victorian skating costumes plus vegas-style carnival outfits… a barbershop quartet in summer… a bee boy in a yellow-and-black striped jacket dancing with several brightly colored girl flowers… just a treat!

After the show, I ran up to the fitness center for my 4pm spin class, challenging as always, and particularly so because I hadn’t had much sleep the night before… while I was in class, Ariel did 3 miles on the treadmill, then came to stretch out as we were finishing our last hill climb. We then headed down to our stateroom together to shower and dress for dinner. I wore black leggings, a black stretch lace top covered by a tunic-length sheer black silk blouse with an amber bamboo pattern on it – something I had bought over a decade ago on sale in Hawaii and had maybe worn twice! What fun to have an opportunity to dress up for dinner virtually every night. I also wore some mother-of-pearl jewelry from my late mother, a long jointed fish and sort-of matching oval earrings, plus a flat pearl bracelet.

Dinner was tasty: I enjoyed our nightly cheese plate (the remnants of which I am snacking on as I write these notes) and a savory bite (yep, I can eat just one!) – I had an appetizer of shrimp salad (tiny shrimps with a pink sauce on the side) – Ariel had fruits in a wine sauce which was nasty (that is an objective report: sour, mushy and tasteless. Ick). Main course was sole meuniere for me (very nice, good lemon sauce) and roast chicken for Ariel (which was good, but oddly sweet tasting). We had also ordered the mustard-crusted roast beef to share, medium rare, but it was really too rare to eat – we couldn’t even cut it. For dessert I tried the “pecan butterscotch tart” – which appeared to be a regular slice of pecan pie, one of my favorites – but was dry and hard, and I didn’t eat it. Fortunately, one of our dining companions was celebrating a birthday, and her friends ordered one of the dining room’s delicious (and costly) birthday cakes! It was yummy, true devil’s food with a thick buttercream icing – so rich I couldn’t eat more than a few bites, and considering I can eat a whole wheel of brie by myself, that’s saying a lot!!!

After dinner we went to meet our friends for a Movie music trivia contest – where we scored 19 out of a possible 20 and once again came in SECOND since one team had a perfect score! Argh!!!! We drowned our sorrows by going at 8:30pm to get front-row seats for the last production show, “Fast Forward” at 9:00pm. This was a fun, high-energy show based on the music from movies (there seems to be a theme here) – including Footloose, Flashdance, Saturday Night Fever and many others. What terrific performers! The singers, the dancers, the orchestra all exceed expectations, and received a standing ovation for their terrific work. Ariel and I shared a coca-cola in the show to help us stay awake… but it was to no avail. After five hours of sleep and 4 workouts today, nothing was going to help…

But I tried! I kept my clothes on when we got back to the room, determined to go for a stroll and listen to some of the music listed daily (or nightly) on our Compasses. I could barely keep my eyes open. Finally, we got up and stumbled down the hallway to the Centrum stairs, walked down to deck 5, made a zombie-like progression through the now-empty Promenade (the stores had closed since it was nearly 11pm) and arrived at Maharajahs, where they were playing the new “Run Around Quiz Show”. We were too drowsy to even figure out what was going on, so we crawled back up to our room and fell asleep. I didn’t even have time to hang up my clothes or lay out my workout gear for the morning, much less to make notes for this daily log.

[EmpressofPurple]

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 – day 10 – second sea day return

I got up at 7am and tried to catch up from last night: I hung up my clothes, tried to find my workout gear in the dark (fortunately Ariel had left the curtains open to the Promenade, so I had a little light to work in) and get up to stretch class. I brought along my tiny RCI notebook and pen set so I could write notes about yesterday – if I let more than 24 hours go by, I have a hard time remembering any details, such as meals, activities, events, etc.

I went upstairs around 7:15 and had time to make notes on everything from the previous day, pleased with my recollection. Bea led the stretch and abs classes today, saying it was the last time we would see her (although given subsequent events, probably not!) since SJ would be leading the morning classes tomorrow. I have really grown fond of these classes over the past 10 days, and want to try to approximate some of the moves at home, which is why I have been writing the details down as I remember them.

At 8:30 I called Ariel in the room to remind her to come join me for Yoga at 9:00am. She asked if I had heard the announcement from the captain, something about us getting back to Bayonne on the 28th. I figured either she had mis-heard, or the captain had mis-spoken, and didn’t worry about it. In between Abs and Yoga I worked out on the Universal weight machines, including the lat pull, chest press, incline chest press, seated row, tricep rope, bicep curl, and leg extension and leg curl machines.

Ariel came up to Yoga at 9:00am, which was led by SJ, a nice combination of gentle stretching and challenging poses. During the class an announcement came over the loudspeaker from the new captain: indeed, there had been a medical emergency the previous night, and then a second one this morning, and they decided they had to turn around and go full speed ahead to Puerto Rico, where we would be met by Coast Guard helicopters for a medical evacuation… and we definitely would not be back to Bayonne before Saturday, he hoped in the morning. There would be additional announcements once there was more information.

Wow, a fourth sea day! No problem for me, I could be happy on a transatlantic (although I know some people find too many sea days to be tiresome, especially when unplanned and added to a line of them already in place). My main concern, along with everyone else, was about the individual who was so ill we had to turn around a ship of over 3500 people to provide care for them… and about the confusion and difficulties in travel arrangements for the many people we had met who had traveled from far and wide to get on this wonderful cruise. Fortunately, it seemed that everyone took this change in stride, and simply dealt with it very matter-of-factly, expressing more concern for those who were sick than their own problems with transportation. Yay, cruisers! (Though I daresay the guest services desk had to deal with some difficult people; they always do.)

After Yoga we ran through the Windjammer, where Ariel grabbed a muffin and I grabbed a banana, and we headed up to deck 14, wandering through the 19th hole and down a flight of stairs to find the mini-golf course. We had signed up for a CC mini-golf tournament, and met up with our competitors at the start to the course. Two other women there did not want to play; one served as scorekeeper and the other sat with our bags (I had brought up my sneakers and a jacket for mini-golf, since I thought the weather would be cold – but of course since we were now heading back down south, the air was quite warm). We had a fun group, and cheered each other on as we went around the course. There were a couple of spectacular hole-in-ones, and I had a number of twos and threes… enough, in fact, that I won the course with a score of 24! Yay, me!

We ended at 10:55 – and the Windjammer closes at 11:00, so Ariel and I DASHED downstairs… I managed to score my Miso soup and stir-fried vegetables (snow peas and green peppers today) right before they closed down the Asian selections station – plus my first-ever eggs over easy (and Ariel’s first omelette with everything) at the empty omelette station!!! I also had smoked salmon/tomato/red onion/capers/cottage cheese, ham, and fruit salad with banana and pineapple.

After lunch we headed back to the room to change into our swimsuits, and I sent a few emails to my son at home and my friends who are supposed to pick us up at the pier about our changed itinerary. I then met Ariel on deck 12 (no chairs available in the Solarium) to catch some rays, thanks to our unexpected return to more southern waters. That was delightful! We had planned to go for the introductory German class at 1:00pm, but were enjoying the sun too much; instead, we stayed on deck until 1:45, when we ran down to meet with our team for Progressive Trivia at 2:00pm in the Schooner Bar. No hints today, no multiple choice, just brutal questions – and we did pretty poorly overall. I’m afraid we are really out of the running at this point… I’d be surprised if we were still even in a battle for fourth place anymore. Sigh.

At 3:00pm, we headed back to the room to change for spin class and running. There was a message on my machine, and when I checked it I learned that spin had been canceled and was rescheduled to Friday at the same time. I posted a quick note to my Cruise Critic thread about the events on the cruise, and while I was typing an announcement came from the captain that the medevac had been moved up to 4pm, and that all forward areas on deck 11 and deck 12, including the fitness center, were closed to the public. (No wonder my spin class was canceled!) We headed up anyway to get in our 30 minute workout quickly before 4pm… but while we were on the elliptical, we were told they were closing at 3:30pm, and we had to leave right away.

We headed up to the deck above the pool deck to wait and watch for the arrival of the helicopter. We enjoyed the music of the poolside band, and seeing all the activity on the upper decks. The crew had closed off the front part of decks 12 and 11 (and we had seen them pulling all the curtains down in the gym while we were there, and shooing people off of the peekaboo bridge, too). We got a couple of good shots of the approach and departure of the helicopter, and everyone cheered when the helicopter was heading off with the patient and the nurse safely aboard.

By then it was 4:30, and we ran back to the room to shower and dress for formal night, and make it for classic rock trivia in the Schooner Bar at 5:15pm. We did pretty well, but didn’t even make it to second this time – more like fourth or fifth. Oh well. We stayed and chatted with our teammates for about 15 minutes, a lovely couple from Ireland who enjoy traveling to Vegas, so we asked them about the differences between casinos in Europe and the US, and learned all sorts of interesting things: European casinos generally require membership (which they’ll do on the spot, but still…) – and they have more sports betting and table games than slot machines – not the same atmosphere at all. They tend to go off the beaten path in Vegas, eschewing the Strip for casinos in Summerlin or downtown, more like locals than tourists. They love the restaurants and the shows and the shopping, too, and were familiar with all the big hotels and developments. It is so much fun meeting and talking to all kinds of people on cruises! I just love it.

We walked on the rain-covered outer deck to dinner; sunset was expected after 6:00pm today, so we couldn’t wait for it without being late to dinner. Everyone looked just lovely in their second formal outfit of the cruise, and we all took pictures of each other, in pairs and groups and all together. Ariel had on a lovely knee-length white lace dress with a black ribbon belt and wore her hair down and simple jewelry; she looked like an angel. I had on a floor-length blue velvet gown with a lightly sequined bodice, square neckline, and dramatic drape in the back. I have lost so much weight that it drags on the ground, without enough bulk to hold it up in the air! However, I love this dress so much, and get so many compliments on it, that I am simply going to have it taken in and tailored – no way is this joining the dozens of other outfits I’ve gotten rid of over the past year as the weight has dropped off. (And yes, I’m getting rid of everything as soon as I under-grow it, because I’m never going back. No need to keep my “fat clothes” in the back – or the front! – of the closet or the drawer anymore.)

Ah, formal dinner: appetizer was cream of asparagus soup, and seafood salad (with two shrimps, two scallops… and a wheel of smoked salmon! Well, I love it, but I have it every day for breakfast… not really what I wanted for dinner). Main course: Fisherman’s platter, with a warm-water lobster tail, 3 shrimp, yellow rice, baby carrots and broccoli. I left the rice, but I ate everything else on not one but two servings! Yum. I had the dessert sampler, but only ate the mini-cheesecake and flourless chocolate cake – I didn’t dare eat the Savarin since it is usually soaked in rum; I can cook with wine and alcohol as long as the spirits are cooked or burnt off, but when they are poured on, I simply can’t tolerate them. The chocolate cake was so sweet, I had a piece of cheese leftover from our appetizer cheese plate so the protein would slow down the streaming of the sugar into my bloodstream!

After dinner, we went to nonsmoking night in the casino, used our 5 free spin-to-win coupons (2 for Ariel’s Platinum book, 3 from my Diamond book) but didn’t win anything. I also used 3 of our match-play certificates with $5 bets on the Roulette table, also with no luck. We cashed in all of our singles (maybe about $10 total) and played the 25-cent slots… and lost it all in about 15 minutes. Sigh. Clearly Lady Luck was taking a break and her sister Lady Whore was in charge of our evening.

We left the casino and headed into the theatre at 8:30pm to get front-row seats for the 9:00pm Headliner Showtime, Horizon “Motown and More” show. We held a seat for the only one of our dinner companions who wanted to see the show, and she showed up promptly. We ordered a coke to help us stay awake, and we really enjoyed the pre-show by Frankie from the CD staff, where he pointed to different sections of the audience and had us clap on command… until we figured out he was playing the intro to “We will Rock You” and sang along.

The show itself was terrific. Horizon sang and danced and had some funny bits in between, great audience participation (and very comfortable). They hit a lot of Motown highlights, including Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Chubby Checker, and many, many more. The orchestra simply outdid themselves in this show, with the guitarist, drummer, and horn players all performing at a very high level for these visiting singers. The show received a standing ovation, which led to an encore where the entire audience was asked to stand and perform along with the band on an original Antiguan song. It was a delight.

Afterwards, Ariel and I wandered around the ship and took pictures of each other in our formal dresses. More than once people saw us and kindly offered to take pictures of us together, so we have a lot of great shots. We also headed into Maharajah’s to play “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire.” We weren’t going to stay past the first contestant (the game was a little slow), and we didn’t get chosen – but one of our trivia friends did, so we decided to stay and cheer her on. She won everything! Keychain, lanyard, luggage tags, magnet, wallet, hat, travel mug, travel bag – hooray! Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person. We were so happy for her.

Then we trundled back up to our room, taking a few more photos on the way; Ariel read and then fell asleep while I wrote up this belated two-day report. Once again, it’s after 1:30am… and yes, I will be up by 7 tomorrow for stretch class. You have NO idea how good it feels to stretch my body every morning! Really gets out all the kinks and lets me start the day feeling great. I’ll check the board once more before I post this (again in two section for hopefully easier reading) to see if there are any additional questions – and then I hope to be fast asleep by 2:00am. Wish me luck!

 

Another aside: It is amazing how much there is on offer to do everyday. I feel like a newbie cruiser, wanting to do everything and running from event to event! I brought half a dozen books, 3 sewing projects, a dozen magazines – and I haven’t touched any of them. Maybe with this extra sea day I’ll have some time off… and I’ve missed several events I would have loved to participate in because they conflict with something else I’m committed to. For instance, I wanted to do “Walk for Wishes” yesterday, but it was at 2:00pm, the same time as our Progressive Trivia. Choice, choices – I’ll just have to cruise again so I can try it all!

[Merion_Mom]

For those who are more experienced cruisers than I am, I have an interesting question: what happens to the staff in this situation? Do they lose a day of tips? I assume that our auto-tips will not be extended to 12 days, nor will the passengers on the subsequent shorter sailing be billed for a day of tips for a day they were not aboard. I plan to cover any difference in cash, but I was concerned that most people may not think about this, and the staff will suffer a loss in income. (Also, do the passengers on the shorter cruise have their fare reduced by the value of their lost day? We’re certainly not paying any more for this unexpected extra day aboard, even though we’re being fed, entertained, our rooms are being cleaned, etc., etc.) Just some interesting cruising questions...

 

"Past experience is not a predictor of future events", but.............

 

when I was on the Crown Princess, and she listed over and we had to disembark in Port Canaveral and fly home, we received a letter telling us that Princess would be paying the staff the standard gratuities for the entire time that there were no passengers on board.

[EmpressofPurple]

Thanks Carol, that alleviates some concern. Hopefully RCI will do the same.:)

[Mewissy]

Ariel had on a lovely knee-length white lace dress with a black ribbon belt and wore her hair down and simple jewelry; she looked like an angel.

 

How sweet! I'm glad you're enjoying your cruise with your daughter!

[catalexis]

We were scheduled to sail today on the Explorer, but were advised by phone our sail date was moved to Saturday because of the emergency. Hoping all on board are doing ok. Is captain Olaf still on board? Does anyone know if he will be sailing Saturday. A shout out to Patrick the supervisor in the Windjammer, looking forward to seeing you Saturday!

hugs

cat :)

[magneto1]

I think I can answer the question of how the cruise line handles a delayed cruise. I cruised on Grandeur of the Seas in 2005, and we were delayed a day by Hurricane Ophelia. Then we got caught in the middle of Hurricane Rita. I've learned my lesson about cruising at the peak of hurricane season!

 

They offered everyone an on-board cruise credit, rather than a refund, and it was roughly equal to 1/9 of the price we paid for the nine day cruise. Most people thought they had to use that money for buying excursions or other stuff on the ship. I found a better way - go to the casino and get the cash! (as an aside, you can also get cash from the casino on your credit card without it being charged as a cash advance, which is especially nice if you have a credit card that gives you a rebate). They only charged us tips for the days we were on the ship, so don't worry about the automated tip charges. I can't speak for the people on the previous cruise, but I'm sure that they didn't have to pay for the extra day and were reimbursed for airline change fees. I'm not sure if the cruise line covers all expenses, so this is where cruise insurance actually comes in handy (we had it on our cruise, and it paid for a night in a hotel).

 

The biggest annoyance from losing a day was the cancelled ports. We were supposed to have five ports, but that got cut down to three, and then with Rita it got cut down to two - Cozumel and Port Canaveral. Port Canaveral is hardly a travel destination - it's where they go to get food and supplies. Since we were cruising out of Baltimore, there was a lot of mileage to make up, hence the lost stops.

 

I also learned another lesson on that trip. When we checked in, we asked about upgrade options. For an extra $500 we upgraded to a suite, and they actually gave us a grand suite. The room was huge and lovely, but it's also on the part of the ship where you feel the most motion (deck nine forward). During Rita's sixteen foot high waves it was really the worst place to be! Now I prefer lower decks near the center of the ship. The cruise director summed it up by saying that it was easy to spot the drunk people because they were the only ones able to walk in a straight line! :)

[boop3]

Denise- Thank you for your wonderful post and keeping us updated on the emergency status. I will be on the ship on 2/6/12.

Could you send me some of that motivation to get up and go to the gym :D

 

Enjoy the rest of the trip!

Nora

[bigeagle12]

I found a better way - go to the casino and get the cash! (as an aside, you can also get cash from the casino on your credit card without it being charged as a cash advance, which is especially nice if you have a credit card that gives you a rebate).

 

I do not believe there is anyway to avoid the 3% service charge any longer :(

[Host Kewlguy]

I think I can answer the question of how the cruise line handles a delayed cruise. I cruised on Grandeur of the Seas in 2005, and we were delayed a day by Hurricane Ophelia. Then we got caught in the middle of Hurricane Rita. I've learned my lesson about cruising at the peak of hurricane season!

 

They offered everyone an on-board cruise credit, rather than a refund, and it was roughly equal to 1/9 of the price we paid for the nine day cruise. Most people thought they had to use that money for buying excursions or other stuff on the ship. I found a better way - go to the casino and get the cash! (as an aside, you can also get cash from the casino on your credit card without it being charged as a cash advance, which is especially nice if you have a credit card that gives you a rebate). They only charged us tips for the days we were on the ship, so don't worry about the automated tip charges. I can't speak for the people on the previous cruise, but I'm sure that they didn't have to pay for the extra day and were reimbursed for airline change fees. I'm not sure if the cruise line covers all expenses, so this is where cruise insurance actually comes in handy (we had it on our cruise, and it paid for a night in a hotel).

 

The biggest annoyance from losing a day was the cancelled ports. We were supposed to have five ports, but that got cut down to three, and then with Rita it got cut down to two - Cozumel and Port Canaveral. Port Canaveral is hardly a travel destination - it's where they go to get food and supplies. Since we were cruising out of Baltimore, there was a lot of mileage to make up, hence the lost stops.

 

I also learned another lesson on that trip. When we checked in, we asked about upgrade options. For an extra $500 we upgraded to a suite, and they actually gave us a grand suite. The room was huge and lovely, but it's also on the part of the ship where you feel the most motion (deck nine forward). During Rita's sixteen foot high waves it was really the worst place to be! Now I prefer lower decks near the center of the ship. The cruise director summed it up by saying that it was easy to spot the drunk people because they were the only ones able to walk in a straight line! :)

We were also on that Grandeur cruise back in 2005. Quite an experience.

[nancronin]

Denise - Great review - thanks so much! :)

[magneto1]

We were also on that Grandeur cruise back in 2005. Quite an experience.

 

So you remember the "Cruise to Cozumel and Back" itinerary :D

 

I remember so many people were irate at the number of "at sea" days, but even more irate that we had to spend an extra day in Cozumel.

[magneto1]

I do not believe there is anyway to avoid the 3% service charge any longer :(

 

I guess too many people were taking advantage of that loophole. 3% is reasonable since AmEx charges them close to that. What's unreasonable is the new Blackjack rules I keep seeing now - like paying 6:5 instead of 3:2 for blackjack, or taking out all of the queens from the deck!

[island2islands]

I just returned from the cruise before this one on Jan 16th. Everything was fine on that one and the Captain met his son ( another ship Captain) at one of the ports for lunch. The 3% fee for getting cash at the casino is until you score up to 100 credits on their sheet, then no fee. Thanks for reporting. Kevin

[windjamming]

The chocolate cake was so sweet, I had a piece of cheese leftover from our appetizer cheese plate so the protein would slow down the streaming of the sugar into my bloodstream!

 

I never thought about doing that to lessen those sugar rushes right after dinner! Good tip.

 

By the way, I'm really enjoying this review, not only for the cruise details (which are always fun) but because it's so well written. Your descriptive words and use of imagery make me feel like I'm on the cruise with you (though I would pass on the spin class!)

 

I can only imagine that "in real life" you are a professional writer. If not, you should be -- you've got talent!

[jlpalmer]

I guess too many people were taking advantage of that loophole. 3% is reasonable since AmEx charges them close to that. What's unreasonable is the new Blackjack rules I keep seeing now - like paying 6:5 instead of 3:2 for blackjack, or taking out all of the queens from the deck!

 

 

What!?! Really? Why are they doing that? Less people are going to play now and they will lose revenue. Do they do it for the Black Jack tourney as well? Also is this for all RCI ships or just EOS?

Edited January 26, 2012 by jlpalmer

[Cruisers425Years]

I just returned from the cruise before this one on Jan 16th. Everything was fine on that one and the Captain met his son ( another ship Captain) at one of the ports for lunch. The 3% fee for getting cash at the casino is until you score up to 100 credits on their sheet, then no fee. Thanks for reporting. Kevin

 

We play blackjack, what exactly does "until you score up to 100 credits on their sheet" mean?

[phoenix1181]

We play blackjack, what exactly does "until you score up to 100 credits on their sheet" mean?

 

If you play the slots & remember to put you card in, you receive points like in any casino. (but not as many) One of the things you can get with those points is a waiver of the 3% when you take cash against your SeaPass.

 

Once you do that, the points are [naturally] removed from your balance so if you take more cash, you need to have 100 points again to avoid the 3% charge. If I remember correctly, there was something posted by the cashier identifying what you could get with your points.

[johneeo]

We play blackjack, what exactly does "until you score up to 100 credits on their sheet" mean?

 

It means you have lost a lot of money and would have been much better off just paying the 3%.:eek:

[MonaCK]

If you play the slots & remember to put you card in, you receive points like in any casino. (but not as many) One of the things you can get with those points is a waiver of the 3% when you take cash against your SeaPass.

 

Once you do that, the points are [naturally] removed from your balance so if you take more cash, you need to have 100 points again to avoid the 3% charge. If I remember correctly, there was something posted by the cashier identifying what you could get with your points.

 

I did not see this as an option on my cruise. I racked up 150 points, and all I got was 3 lousy keychains. ;)

Edited January 26, 2012 by MonaCK

[Cruisers425Years]

It means you have lost a lot of money and would have been much better off just paying the 3%.:eek:

 

Good one! I needed a laugh today.:D

[darbar21]

Denise

 

Thank you so much for your diary. I've been enjoying it for the last few days. Hubby and I leave on the EOS for our 1st cruise on the 6th of Feb. I feel a little less apprehensive since reading your diary and also sooo very excited! Hope all is well with the ill guest and you enjoy your extra day at sea. Thank you again for all the time put into your writing, truly appreciated.

[familyof4cruising]

Sorry to repost I was hoping you could answer thanks:

 

I think I read the movie theatre was not working last week. Did you go see any movies in the movie theatre? What are the movies this week on the TV and movies? Thanks