Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[bobmacliberty]

The suite experience this time was just meh.  No suite check in and no suite walkoff.  As I said before, neither were really necessary.  We did hear from a couple of people that there was a long line to get into the terminal if you arrived around 12:30.  One couple was mad because they waited until their assigned time and felt that many others did not, resulting in them waiting much longer than they should have.  We almost walked right on at 11:30.

 

Coastal Kitchen was a big disappointment.  Breakfast was mostly good but not so for lunch and dinner.  There were several nights where I looked at the dinner menu and nothing jumped out at me.  I settled for something knowing that I could always get a snack later if needed.  We planned to eat at CK every night but ended up booking Izumi and Giovanni's for dinner on days 5 and 6.  Izumi (sushi, not hibachi) was great.  Giovanni's was just OK...maybe.  More on that in another thread.  We also had a bad reservation time at 6:00.  When we arrived, the 5:00 and 5:30 people were still eating and the only place to sit was in the middle section with no view, and one person literally facing a wall.  As someone said earlier, the view is the best part of CK, and we usually didn't have one.

 

The Suite Lounge was good for happy hour.  We could always find a place to sit and service was good...sometimes a little too good.  There were 2, sometimes 3, waiters taking drink orders.  We would regular put in an order with one waiter only to have the other waiter ask us for our order 30 seconds later.  Same thing would happen in CK.  The last morning for breakfast, Micheline had to tell 3 different people within a span of less than 60 seconds, that she did not want any more coffee.  It all felt a little uncoordinated...like they don't have their rhythm down yet.

 

Dexter, the suite concierge, was very friendly and mostly helpful.  He did book specialty dining for us for 2 nights when the app said that there were no good times left.  Both restaurants however were half empty, so I'm not sure why there was nothing available on the app.  When making the specialty dining reservations, Dexter said that he would cancel our CK reservation for those nights.  For both of those nights, we had a message on our cabin phone from CK saying that they see that we have reservations at 2 places that night and asked us to call back and confirm that we want to cancel CK.  Something got lost in the shuffle between Dexter and the CK staff.

 

Our great TA got us a $667 OBC a couple of weeks before the cruise.  It was available in our cruise planner but we decided to wait until we got onboard to decide what to do with it.  We already had internet from the suite, were not going to but the drink package, and were not using any Royal excursions.  After 2 days, the OBC had not been posted (I know that it takes a day or 2) and I asked Dexter to look into it.  He passed my concern on to Guest Services, who left a message a few hours later that the OBC was a mistake and I would not be receiving it.  Dexter couldn't do anything because this was coming from Miami.  Fortunately, my TA (same TA that some of you know and love) went to bat and after about 1.5 hours on the phone with Royal, got them to issue the OBC.

 

We had invitations left in our room for a "virtual" back stage tour in the Amber theater.  I'm not exactly sure what that means.  We guessed that we'd be sitting in the theater while someone used a camera backstage and the video was projected on a big screen.  We passed.  Nothing else related to meeting or eating with any officers (which I think is normally a C&A thing rather than a suite thing...unless you are Star??).  No reserved areas in any theaters for suites. We were supposed to have early access to shows (45 minutes before curtain) to choose the seats that we wanted but all shows seemed to be allowing in all guests at the same time.

 

The Crown Loft Suite was great. We love having 2 bathrooms and the upstairs shower is much nicer than a standard bathroom or even a JS tub.  We are still OK with climbing stairs, but I can see us not wanting to do that before long.  The balcony is very deep with 2 comfortable lounge chairs.  We spent quite a bit of time reading on the balcony during sea days.  It's very easy to get to the SL or CK from the cabin, and we took advantage of the free beer and wine from 11-11 many times to enjoy a drink in our cabin.  I'm still not sure if we are supposed to take the 11-11 drinks out of the SL, but there were no signs and no one ever said anything.  

 

At the end of the cruise, we actually discussed whether or not the CLS was worth it.   We could get a JS and buy both the drink package and the ultimate dining package for less money.  We could have our own happy hour whenever we wanted and eat better food whenever we wanted.  We would miss the large cabin with 2 baths and the large balcony.  We have a GS on Harmony next spring (thanks again to @molly361 for the Majesty L&S idea!) and will see if that idea still makes sense when hopefully the suite experience is more normal.

[Sunshine3601]

I think someone hit the switch this weekend and put us into fall weather.  Happy the humidity is gone but hate that summer is basically over.  

Weatherman says we will continue to have several nice sunny days with mild breeze in the 70s, today will be the hottest at 81.  

I do enjoy having windows open with a nice breeze.  

Going to head to Sherwin William's at lunch break today and pick up swatches for shore house.   We will head back to LBI next week for painting the interior ourselves.  

Eric was sad we didnt get on our Oasis cruise yesterday, which surprised me since he was the one that said he didnt want to go. 

Have a Great Monday everyone🥰

[island lady]

16 hours ago, jagsfan said:

I love 12 day cruises. With 7, I feel like I’m just starting to remember where I put everything, and it’s time to pack again. 
Our  last cruise was a 27 day Princess in 2019. It was fantastic, but wore Dick out.  He said he was done with anything longer than 7. Hence our 7 day March 2020/21/22. I hope 22!
Now he says he will do one under 14 days…drive to port. Royal is not accommodating us…best I could do was an Allure 8 day. 
Vision has an itinerary that would give me maximum days, but what I like about Royal is the Aqua Theater and ice show. 
That eliminates Vision. 

 

Luckily both Bucky and I love the longer cruises.  And we have our share of B2Bs plus built up again.  Sooo many were cancelled the last couple of years, including the bucket list Aussie, Tasmania, NZ, South Pacific, TP to Hawaii we had scheduled for earlier this year.  😞   Have it rebooked for 2023, as I did not want to take a chance on 2022.  

[jagsfan]

5 hours ago, sgmn said:

We've just back from a few days away in the Cotswolds . Beautiful scenery and cute villages but I'm really a sea/river person. My happy place is by the sea so we came back via Bournemouth and had a beautiful few hours walking the promanarde to Poole and then a late lunch in our favourite dog friendly cafe 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful photos.

Even the sand is lovely against that blue sky.
I love the cozy English village look in the bottom one. 

[molly361]

6 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

The suite experience this time was just meh.  No suite check in and no suite walkoff.  As I said before, neither were really necessary.  We did hear from a couple of people that there was a long line to get into the terminal if you arrived around 12:30.  One couple was mad because they waited until their assigned time and felt that many others did not, resulting in them waiting much longer than they should have.  We almost walked right on at 11:30.

 

Coastal Kitchen was a big disappointment.  Breakfast was mostly good but not so for lunch and dinner.  There were several nights where I looked at the dinner menu and nothing jumped out at me.  I settled for something knowing that I could always get a snack later if needed.  We planned to eat at CK every night but ended up booking Izumi and Giovanni's for dinner on days 5 and 6.  Izumi (sushi, not hibachi) was great.  Giovanni's was just OK...maybe.  More on that in another thread.  We also had a bad reservation time at 6:00.  When we arrived, the 5:00 and 5:30 people were still eating and the only place to sit was in the middle section with no view, and one person literally facing a wall.  As someone said earlier, the view is the best part of CK, and we usually didn't have one.

 

The Suite Lounge was good for happy hour.  We could always find a place to sit and service was good...sometimes a little too good.  There were 2, sometimes 3, waiters taking drink orders.  We would regular put in an order with one waiter only to have the other waiter ask us for our order 30 seconds later.  Same thing would happen in CK.  The last morning for breakfast, Micheline had to tell 3 different people within a span of less than 60 seconds, that she did not want any more coffee.  It all felt a little uncoordinated...like they don't have their rhythm down yet.

 

Dexter, the suite concierge, was very friendly and mostly helpful.  He did book specialty dining for us for 2 nights when the app said that there were no good times left.  Both restaurants however were half empty, so I'm not sure why there was nothing available on the app.  When making the specialty dining reservations, Dexter said that he would cancel our CK reservation for those nights.  For both of those nights, we had a message on our cabin phone from CK saying that they see that we have reservations at 2 places that night and asked us to call back and confirm that we want to cancel CK.  Something got lost in the shuffle between Dexter and the CK staff.

 

Our great TA got us a $667 OBC a couple of weeks before the cruise.  It was available in our cruise planner but we decided to wait until we got onboard to decide what to do with it.  We already had internet from the suite, were not going to but the drink package, and were not using any Royal excursions.  After 2 days, the OBC had not been posted (I know that it takes a day or 2) and I asked Dexter to look into it.  He passed my concern on to Guest Services, who left a message a few hours later that the OBC was a mistake and I would not be receiving it.  Dexter couldn't do anything because this was coming from Miami.  Fortunately, my TA (same TA that some of you know and love) went to bat and after about 1.5 hours on the phone with Royal, got them to issue the OBC.

 

We had invitations left in our room for a "virtual" back stage tour in the Amber theater.  I'm not exactly sure what that means.  We guessed that we'd be sitting in the theater while someone used a camera backstage and the video was projected on a big screen.  We passed.  Nothing else related to meeting or eating with any officers (which I think is normally a C&A thing rather than a suite thing...unless you are Star??).  No reserved areas in any theaters for suites. We were supposed to have early access to shows (45 minutes before curtain) to choose the seats that we wanted but all shows seemed to be allowing in all guests at the same time.

 

The Crown Loft Suite was great. We love having 2 bathrooms and the upstairs shower is much nicer than a standard bathroom or even a JS tub.  We are still OK with climbing stairs, but I can see us not wanting to do that before long.  The balcony is very deep with 2 comfortable lounge chairs.  We spent quite a bit of time reading on the balcony during sea days.  It's very easy to get to the SL or CK from the cabin, and we took advantage of the free beer and wine from 11-11 many times to enjoy a drink in our cabin.  I'm still not sure if we are supposed to take the 11-11 drinks out of the SL, but there were no signs and no one ever said anything.  

 

At the end of the cruise, we actually discussed whether or not the CLS was worth it.   We could get a JS and buy both the drink package and the ultimate dining package for less money.  We could have our own happy hour whenever we wanted and eat better food whenever we wanted.  We would miss the large cabin with 2 baths and the large balcony.  We have a GS on Harmony next spring (thanks again to @molly361 for the Majesty L&S idea!) and will see if that idea still makes sense when hopefully the suite experience is more normal.

You're welcome.  Can you still get complimentary beer and wine all day in CK?  Our first L and S is January and the excitement for an OS from when I first booked has seemed to have waned .  Maybe things will be better by then.  It's on the Harmony have another one next May

[Arzeena]

13 hours ago, Luckynana said:

Question:  after buying the alcoholic beverage package for your cruise, how can you find out the going price when they are having a "sale"on it.  When I try to look up the price, it just tells me I've already purchased it.🤷‍♀️

Watch out for posts alerting the Beverage Pkg Sale on Cruise Critic.😉😁. That's how I check.

[Sea Dog]

13 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

  Fortunately, my TA (same TA that some of you know and love) went to bat and after about 1.5 hours on the phone with Royal, got them to issue the OBC.

 

 

He's the best. Thanks for your observations on CK and the CLS.

[island lady]

14 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

If you do make it you want to put toothpicks, usually 2 each, to hold together.

And I spread grey poupon dijon mustard on inside before I put in slices of swiss and ham, then roll up, toothpick to hold, then lightly brown then simmer in gravy for about hour makes it so tender.

 

Thanks!  Will have to try that!  I like the way you make it...which does remind me of Chix Cordon Bleu, but without the annoying breading.  🙂 

[Arzeena]

15 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

 

He's the best.

He must be Canadian?

[George C]

23 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

The suite experience this time was just meh.  No suite check in and no suite walkoff.  As I said before, neither were really necessary.  We did hear from a couple of people that there was a long line to get into the terminal if you arrived around 12:30.  One couple was mad because they waited until their assigned time and felt that many others did not, resulting in them waiting much longer than they should have.  We almost walked right on at 11:30.

 

Coastal Kitchen was a big disappointment.  Breakfast was mostly good but not so for lunch and dinner.  There were several nights where I looked at the dinner menu and nothing jumped out at me.  I settled for something knowing that I could always get a snack later if needed.  We planned to eat at CK every night but ended up booking Izumi and Giovanni's for dinner on days 5 and 6.  Izumi (sushi, not hibachi) was great.  Giovanni's was just OK...maybe.  More on that in another thread.  We also had a bad reservation time at 6:00.  When we arrived, the 5:00 and 5:30 people were still eating and the only place to sit was in the middle section with no view, and one person literally facing a wall.  As someone said earlier, the view is the best part of CK, and we usually didn't have one.

 

The Suite Lounge was good for happy hour.  We could always find a place to sit and service was good...sometimes a little too good.  There were 2, sometimes 3, waiters taking drink orders.  We would regular put in an order with one waiter only to have the other waiter ask us for our order 30 seconds later.  Same thing would happen in CK.  The last morning for breakfast, Micheline had to tell 3 different people within a span of less than 60 seconds, that she did not want any more coffee.  It all felt a little uncoordinated...like they don't have their rhythm down yet.

 

Dexter, the suite concierge, was very friendly and mostly helpful.  He did book specialty dining for us for 2 nights when the app said that there were no good times left.  Both restaurants however were half empty, so I'm not sure why there was nothing available on the app.  When making the specialty dining reservations, Dexter said that he would cancel our CK reservation for those nights.  For both of those nights, we had a message on our cabin phone from CK saying that they see that we have reservations at 2 places that night and asked us to call back and confirm that we want to cancel CK.  Something got lost in the shuffle between Dexter and the CK staff.

 

Our great TA got us a $667 OBC a couple of weeks before the cruise.  It was available in our cruise planner but we decided to wait until we got onboard to decide what to do with it.  We already had internet from the suite, were not going to but the drink package, and were not using any Royal excursions.  After 2 days, the OBC had not been posted (I know that it takes a day or 2) and I asked Dexter to look into it.  He passed my concern on to Guest Services, who left a message a few hours later that the OBC was a mistake and I would not be receiving it.  Dexter couldn't do anything because this was coming from Miami.  Fortunately, my TA (same TA that some of you know and love) went to bat and after about 1.5 hours on the phone with Royal, got them to issue the OBC.

 

We had invitations left in our room for a "virtual" back stage tour in the Amber theater.  I'm not exactly sure what that means.  We guessed that we'd be sitting in the theater while someone used a camera backstage and the video was projected on a big screen.  We passed.  Nothing else related to meeting or eating with any officers (which I think is normally a C&A thing rather than a suite thing...unless you are Star??).  No reserved areas in any theaters for suites. We were supposed to have early access to shows (45 minutes before curtain) to choose the seats that we wanted but all shows seemed to be allowing in all guests at the same time.

 

The Crown Loft Suite was great. We love having 2 bathrooms and the upstairs shower is much nicer than a standard bathroom or even a JS tub.  We are still OK with climbing stairs, but I can see us not wanting to do that before long.  The balcony is very deep with 2 comfortable lounge chairs.  We spent quite a bit of time reading on the balcony during sea days.  It's very easy to get to the SL or CK from the cabin, and we took advantage of the free beer and wine from 11-11 many times to enjoy a drink in our cabin.  I'm still not sure if we are supposed to take the 11-11 drinks out of the SL, but there were no signs and no one ever said anything.  

 

At the end of the cruise, we actually discussed whether or not the CLS was worth it.   We could get a JS and buy both the drink package and the ultimate dining package for less money.  We could have our own happy hour whenever we wanted and eat better food whenever we wanted.  We would miss the large cabin with 2 baths and the large balcony.  We have a GS on Harmony next spring (thanks again to @molly361 for the Majesty L&S idea!) and will see if that idea still makes sense when hopefully the suite experience is more normal.

Thanks again for all the info you have posted, I am definitely disappointed with suite perks in general that you have received , we have a grand suite in November and hope some will be changed, on our celebrity suite in July all the normal suite perks including being walked off by concierge at end of the cruise was still there. We never were a big fan of CK , when we tried it on oasis after a couple of dinners we had rest of meals in specialty restaurants, so we did book the all inclusive dinning package, although I normally like CK for breakfast and lunch. Love the thought of two bathrooms but my knees hate stairs, might do a royal up to a upper suite but we are very comfortable in the GS. I am debating on canceling drink package since we are diamond plus and will get 5 free drinks, plus suite lounge. Finally I am sure you enjoyed yesterday Bills game as much as we did, might go to a local pub that has lots of bills fans for next weeks game. 

[island lady]

17 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

We did many 4 week land cruises😀

 

I just finished my 4 month land cruise in Maine.  😉 

[island lady]

16 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I got tired of paying for OV cabins with so much salt encrusted on the windows that I couldn't see anything.

 

LOL...Need air...need fresh air... 😉 

[island lady]

16 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I have done that in the past. In addition to birds I have encountered hornet nests also. Now I try to do most of the trimming in late fall.

 

Bucky keeps stepping into fire ant nests when trimming.  The damn things are moving into the edges of the back yard due to too much rain lately making our swamp...even swampier!   Guess they are not interested in setting off on an Ant cruise back there.  

[island lady]

13 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

When I was young we had a neighbor who had the same problem but instead of birds they had bats.  I remember watching football at my neighbors when a bat flew through the room.  I ducked and my neighbor grabbed a tennis racket.  The next thing I knew he hit it, scoped it up, and tossed it out the front door.  After awhile it flew off.  

 

LOL...bet you wish you had a video of that!  😉 

[bobmacliberty]

39 minutes ago, molly361 said:

You're welcome.  Can you still get complimentary beer and wine all day in CK?  Our first L and S is January and the excitement for an OS from when I first booked has seemed to have waned .  Maybe things will be better by then.  It's on the Harmony have another one next May

 

Yes...still free beer, wine, soda, water from 11-11.  Dexter was surprised when we told him that there was no suite check in.  He had heard that it was supposed to start up again last week.  He said other suite benefits will be phased in over time.  Hopefully things will be more normal by the time you cruise.

[bobmacliberty]

20 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

He must be Canadian?

😉

[island lady]

43 minutes ago, molly361 said:

You're welcome.  Can you still get complimentary beer and wine all day in CK?  Our first L and S is January and the excitement for an OS from when I first booked has seemed to have waned .  Maybe things will be better by then.  It's on the Harmony have another one next May

 

My May 2022 Harmony cruise is also an L&S.  (Only one I have ever done).  And also an OS, nice to know it is already paid for.  😉   Rescheduled anniversary cruise...not the 25th as planned, but will be a nice 26th anniversary celebration.  🙂 

[island lady]

7 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Yes...still free beer, wine, soda, water from 11-11.  Dexter was surprised when we told him that there was no suite check in.  He had heard that it was supposed to start up again last week.  He said other suite benefits will be phased in over time.  Hopefully things will be more normal by the time you cruise.

 

Bob...it's been way too long since I cruised, can't seem to remember.  When does full happy hour start in the SL, and what time is earliest dining available for CK?  We usually do 7 pm, which seemed to be a good time in the past...after early bird diners are finished...but I think we may start earlier like we do at home now.  

 

 

[island lady]

duplicate.

 

Edited September 27, 2021 by island lady

[bobmacliberty]

17 minutes ago, George C said:

Thanks again for all the info you have posted, I am definitely disappointed with suite perks in general that you have received , we have a grand suite in November and hope some will be changed, on our celebrity suite in July all the normal suite perks including being walked off by concierge at end of the cruise was still there. We never were a big fan of CK , when we tried it on oasis after a couple of dinners we had rest of meals in specialty restaurants, so we did book the all inclusive dinning package, although I normally like CK for breakfast and lunch. Love the thought of two bathrooms but my knees hate stairs, might do a royal up to a upper suite but we are very comfortable in the GS. I am debating on canceling drink package since we are diamond plus and will get 5 free drinks, plus suite lounge. Finally I am sure you enjoyed yesterday Bills game as much as we did, might go to a local pub that has lots of bills fans for next weeks game. 

 

We skipped the drink package this time and were glad that we did.  We drank whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, and only had to pay for drinks twice.  Between our 4 diamond vouchers, 11-11 beer/wine, and SL happy hour, we had more than enough to drink.  We also don't drink as much as we used to.

 

I will add that the SL happy hour seemed to be a little more flexible with what was on the menu, maybe because other suite benefits are not yet in place??  Micheline typically drank Sauvignon Blanc which is not on the menu but was no problem.  I got a Buffalo Trace on the rocks a couple of times and I think they also just called it part of HH, although it's possible that they used a D voucher since I didn't really track that.

 

We had a great time watching the Bills win yesterday.  There's a fairly large open air indoor/outdoor bar/restaurant near me that has the NFL Sunday ticket.  Like a BW3, they have different sections set up to watch different games.  We had a large table of Bills Mafia but we were surrounded by many other fans watching other games.  We also had one lonely WFT fan sitting at the table next to us with his wife and young kids.  He had his moment with their 2 quick TDs in 2 minutes, but that was about it.  Nothing better than beautiful weather with lots of exciting football action happening all around you.

[Sea Dog]

13 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

exciting football action happening all around you.

And then there was the Chiefs not so exciting.😉

[DaniDanielle]

Just finished making Chicken Marsala for tonight.  All the chicken talk inspired me!

Speaking of football try living with a Giants fan😳

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

Bob...it's been way too long since I cruised, can't seem to remember.  When does full happy hour start in the SL, and what time is earliest dining available for CK?  We usually do 7 pm, which seemed to be a good time in the past...after early bird diners are finished...but I think we may start earlier like we do at home now.  

 

 

 

I heard 2 different times for HH.  One was 4:30-8:00 and the other was 5:00-8:30.  Not sure which is the official time.  I would also see people dressed for dinner in the lounge before 4:30 being served drinks (not just beer/wine).  It could be that there were also being loose with the start time, or maybe those people were using a package/vouchers.  Sorry that I can't be more specific.

 

We started with 6:30 dinner reservations and many of the early birds were gone at that point.  Several shows start at 8:00 though so we moved up to 6:00, when we had table availability issues.  Since there were no suite seats reserved, we wanted to get to the shows a little early to get preferred seats (ideally first row in the upper section on the aisle...easy to sneak out for a bathroom break or to leave early without interrupting anyone).  6:30 dinner was cutting that too close.  I think 7:00 would be fine for getting a CK table but would be too late for 8:00 shows.  

[bobmacliberty]

9 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

And then there was the Chiefs not so exciting.😉

 

It's still WAY too early in the season to worry, but my hope is that the rest of the league has figured something out about how to play the Chiefs, and that the Bills will benefit from such knowledge.  I fully expect the Chiefs/Mahomes to be right there at the top of the AFC at the end of the season.

[lenquixote66]

13 hours ago, jagsfan said:

Actually, our first cruise was an inside cabin with upper and lower berths. 
We thought it was the most marvelous cruise anyone could have. 
However, once you move to the next category, it’s hard to go back. Once we had our first balcony, for sure we weren’t going back…or rather I wasn’t. 
I absolutely love being able to look out and see the ocean, and even better, to sit outside with my Kindle and soak it all up. 
If I could only cruise if I had an OV or an interior, I’d still love it. 
My only suite was on QM2, and that will never happen again!

Our favorite type of cabin was a Lanai on HAL.