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

[Keksie]

47 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

When you check in for the cruise (online about 35 days before  sail date or whenever available) there will be time slots to select. The Key will not give you a particular time, you pick your own time from the list. Then whenever you get to the port, you will be in a priority line. But if you want to avail the embarcation lunch (perk of the Key), I would say pick anything before 12 noon so you have enough time to check in at the port and get to your lunch without rushing. At the port you will be directed to priority and will probably board via the suites /Key line.

So happy you are cruising again. Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy! The Grandeur was our 12 night cruise out of Baltimore right before pandemic shut down. She did one more final sailing after that. It has its goods and not so goods, but I really enjoyed the cruise.

I was wanting to get to the port around 10:30 a.m.  We are driving, staying the night before close to Tampa and parking at the port.

[sgmn]

11 minutes ago, Keksie said:

I was wanting to get to the port around 10:30 a.m.  We are driving, staying the night before close to Tampa and parking at the port.

Can I ask where you're staying?  We have a cruise out of Tampa in September and want somewhere with an easy taxi drive of the port 

[helen haywood]

12 hours ago, Vibe said:

Coming home to to a pet that loves you helps ease the reality that your wonderful vacation has come to an end.  🐈🐶❤️

It also means you must put off unpacking and doing laundry!

[DaniDanielle]

6 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

@h20skibum

 

Mark, my thoughts are with your daughter.

 

Does she see the end of the "tunnel"?😘

Mine too.  Praying every day🙏

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Good morning!  I’ve just spent the last 2 hours catching up on this thread while enjoying my coffee. 
Sorry for being m.i.a. last week but internet on the ship was cr@p.  Yesterday was a tiring travel day, lots of delays but we made it home around 11:00 last night.  
I need to go out for groceries but I’ll be back later today to post about our experience once I’ve had time to put my thoughts together.  Spoiler alert:  we won’t be sailing on NCL again.  

I take it the weather messed up MIA as much as it did FLL? 

[ATG]

38 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I take it the weather messed up MIA as much as it did FLL? 

We were only delayed about 30 minutes boarding.  But there was a backup waiting to takeoff, pilot explained that to us.  We slowly move and suddenly I notice a young man walking up the aisle!  He proceeded to complain about the delay.  Pilot had to pull over until he sat his a$$ back down.  We got in line again. Pilot came on and said if anything else happens we have to go back to the gate.  If I was next to him, he definitely wouldn’t have gotten up again!  Ended up being about an hour late.  I thought flight crew handled it very well.

[h20skibum]

Hibachi lunch today. 
 

 

[Jimbo]

5 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Hibachi lunch today. 
 

 

With YumYum Sauce 🙂

[ReneeFLL]

18 hours ago, Coralc said:

We were advised to pick the latest time, since you won't be using it anyway. ☺️ That leaves earlier slots for the people that are boarding that day.

 

16 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

This cat has not left me alone since I got home. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the pictures. Love the green eyes.

[lenquixote66]

Sunny and 52 degrees here this afternoon .A nice early April day.

[Sunshine3601]

3 hours ago, sgmn said:

Can I ask where you're staying?  We have a cruise out of Tampa in September and want somewhere with an easy taxi drive of the port 

I am curious too since we will be on the same cruise as you and Gary.    I was looking at the Hilton Tampa Downtown, Embassy Suites or the Hyatt Tampa Downtown yesterday.   They all look like they are close to the port and have access to the river walk area and the aquarium.    

We have very good friends that retired and moved to the Clearwater area last Fall so we hope to connect to them with them the day before our sailing. 

Any comments about the 3 hotels I noted above are appreciated or other suggestions will be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

[bobmacliberty]

This is where my daughter found her new kitten Roo this morning.  I think Roo will be a bit of a challenge for her.  😁

 

[Ocean Boy]

4 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

This is where my daughter found her new kitten Roo this morning.  I think Roo will be a bit of a challenge for her.  😁

 

Very cute! 

[HBE4]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I am curious too since we will be on the same cruise as you and Gary.    I was looking at the Hilton Tampa Downtown, Embassy Suites or the Hyatt Tampa Downtown yesterday.   They all look like they are close to the port and have access to the river walk area and the aquarium.    

We have very good friends that retired and moved to the Clearwater area last Fall so we hope to connect to them with them the day before our sailing. 

Any comments about the 3 hotels I noted above are appreciated or other suggestions will be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

 

I stayed at the Hyatt Place Tampa Downtown last June when the Rangers were playing the Tampa Bay Lightening in last years playoffs.   Nice place, clean, quiet, friendly staff, great free breakfast. Typical big city hotel prices. Only complaint is the roof top pool didn't have a bar but I guess that's because it's more of a business persons hotel, not a resort.  Don't confuse it with Hyatt House Tampa Downtown which is in the same building with the same lobby & amenities but the rooms are geared towards extended stays trips with more room amenities.   Not sure why they advertise it as two different hotels.  I would definitely stay there again.

 

The area is very walk-able with plenty of places to grab a bite to eat or drink. As you noted, the Riverwalk is nearby as is Sparkman Wharf - a collection of shops & bar/restaurants right next to the aquarium. All walkable from the hotel. If you want to get adventurous, take the free trolley to Ybor City. It reminded me of a mini New Orleasn Bourbon Street without the scariness or crime.

 

Below is a pic taken from my 12th floor window. It is zoomed in but I'm guessing Carnival & Royal terminals should be near each other??

 

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by HBE4

[grapau27]

17 hours ago, Keksie said:

We booked the Grandeur cruise and I have a couple of questions for those who have cruised recently.  I have read about getting boarding times.  How is that done?  We will have the Key so does that just give us an early boarding time?

 

We are struggling to find what to do in Costa Maya.  We went to Maya Chan last time.  It will be closed while we are there because of the seaweed.  I don't think we want to do another beach club because of said seaweed.  There is a river rafting excursion at Bacalar.  It seems that the drive to and from will be long so we are not sure if that would be worth the drive.  We do not want to do ruins or climb a lot of steps (my knees protest).  Any suggestions or should we just stay on the ship?

A short walk from the ship brings you to a lovely shopping area with a pool and sunbeds in the centre.

Swimming with the dolphins is next to the shopping area in a small pool area.

[HBE4]

4 hours ago, sgmn said:

Can I ask where you're staying?  We have a cruise out of Tampa in September and want somewhere with an easy taxi drive of the port 

 

7 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

I stayed at the Hyatt Place Tampa Downtown last June when the Rangers were playing the Tampa Bay Lightening in last years playoffs.   Nice place, clean, quiet, friendly staff, great free breakfast. Typical big city hotel prices. Only complaint is the roof top pool didn't have a bar but I guess that's because it's more of a business persons hotel, not a resort.  Don't confuse it with Hyatt House Tampa Downtown which is in the same building with the same lobby & amenities but the rooms are geared towards extended stays trips with more room amenities.   Not sure why they advertise it as two different hotels.  I would definitely stay there again.

 

The area is very walk-able with plenty of places to grab a bite to eat or drink. As you noted, the Riverwalk is nearby as is Sparkman Wharf - a collection of shops & bar/restaurants right next to the aquarium. All walkable from the hotel. If you want to get adventurous, take the free trolley to Ybor City. It reminded me of a mini New Orleasn Bourbon Street without the scariness or crime.

 

Below is a pic taken from my 12th floor window. It is zoomed in but I'm guessing Carnival & Royal terminals should be near each other??

 

 

 

@sgmn

 

Just wanted to add, there is a British Pub within walking distance of the Hyatt Place Tampa Downtown called the "Yeoman Cask and Lion". Now, I can't vouch for the authenticity of the place since I've never been to England but they sure like to make the menu items sound very British with items like "The Suffed Englishman",  "The Fergie Melt" or "Union Jack Nachos".

 

You may judge for yourself.

https://yeomanscaskandlion.com/tampa/

 

I had the "The GHERKIN PASTRAMI TOWER". Looks messy but oh so good.

 

 

 

 

[Tree_skier]

On 2/3/2023 at 12:44 PM, Ocean Boy said:

Well here it is, the next in the collection. I know some of you don't care about them but I am not one of that group. 🙂🙂

 

 

 

 

I'm jealous!

[Momof3gurlz]

3 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I take it the weather messed up MIA as much as it did FLL? 

 

2 hours ago, ATG said:

We were only delayed about 30 minutes boarding.  But there was a backup waiting to takeoff, pilot explained that to us.  We slowly move and suddenly I notice a young man walking up the aisle!  He proceeded to complain about the delay.  Pilot had to pull over until he sat his a$$ back down.  We got in line again. Pilot came on and said if anything else happens we have to go back to the gate.  If I was next to him, he definitely wouldn’t have gotten up again!  Ended up being about an hour late.  I thought flight crew handled it very well.

It wasn’t initially the weather. We were on Southwest scheduled to depart MIA at 1:45 pm, arriving in Baltimore at 4:20, then departing Baltimore at 7:25 pm. We boarded on time in MIA while planes were still taking off.  At 2:00, I looked out my window to see ONE baggage handler loading luggage into our plane. And this guy couldn’t possibly have moved slower.  The pilot comes on and informs us we now just need to wait for the forward luggage hold to be loaded.  Again, same slow motion guy does the loading as the skies start looking worse.  We finally push back from the gate and taxi when the captain advises there are 18 planes ahead of us, so we wait some more. Next thing, the pilot powers down the engines to conserve fuel because now they’ve stopped departures while the storm passes.  We finally took off around 3:30.  Our flight from Baltimore to Boston was fine. Seems to me the baggage loading caused our delay. 

[Jimbo]

13 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

 

@sgmn

 

Just wanted to add, there is a British Pub within walking distance of the Hyatt Place Tampa Downtown called the "Yeoman Cask and Lion". Now, I can't vouch for the authenticity of the place since I've never been to England but they sure like to make the menu items sound very British with items like "The Suffed Englishman",  "The Fergie Melt" or "Union Jack Nachos".

 

You may judge for yourself.

https://yeomanscaskandlion.com/tampa/

 

I had the "The GHERKIN PASTRAMI TOWER". Looks messy but oh so good.

 

 

 

 

 

I m

 

 

PIPED UP PHILLY CHEESE STEAK

Se

PIPED UP PHILLY CHEESE STEAK

Served Any Way You Like It, Mild, Medium or Hot, with Grilled Onions and American Cheese on an Authentic Philly Amoroso Roll - $14.99

rved Any Way You Like It, Mild, Medium or Hot, with Grilled Onions and American Cheese on an Authentic Philly Amoroso Roll - $14.99

 

I would like to know where they get the Authentic Amoroso Rolls in Tampa?

[HBE4]

5 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

 

I m

 

 

PIPED UP PHILLY CHEESE STEAK

Se

PIPED UP PHILLY CHEESE STEAK

Served Any Way You Like It, Mild, Medium or Hot, with Grilled Onions and American Cheese on an Authentic Philly Amoroso Roll - $14.99

rved Any Way You Like It, Mild, Medium or Hot, with Grilled Onions and American Cheese on an Authentic Philly Amoroso Roll - $14.99

 

I would like to know where they get the Authentic Amoroso Rolls in Tampa?

 

Amazon, maybe?  They didn't say it was fresh😉

 

https://www.amazon.com/Amorosos-Italian-Rolls-Packs/dp/B00U9VOYM0/ref=sr_1_1?crid=32HNEUXZUKPR7&keywords=Authentic+Amoroso+Rolls&qid=1675715858&sprefix=authentic+amoroso+rolls+%2Caps%2C235&sr=8-1

 

I always say that that you need  great bread to make a great sandwich .

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by HBE4

[Momof3gurlz]

Okay, grocery shopping complete, suitcases emptied and two loads of laundry done.  I’m ready to summarize our cruise on the NCL Encore.  
The ship is beautiful.  Very sleek and modern looking.  For fun stuff they have two water slides,  a go-kart type track, a whole gaming/virtual realty area and laser tag.  

 

 

There’s also something called The Waterfront that consists of outdoor seating for some of the bars and restaurants.  We didn’t utilize this much but I like the concept.  

 

There are lots of options for pay as you go dining.  We had two free specialty meals and chose their Teppanyaki hibachi restaurant and their Italian restaurant called Onda.  Both were excellent. We also paid to eat in the Texas barbecue restaurant one night and it was pretty good.  Two dinners in the MDR’s and two in the buffet - these were “fine”, nothing great but nothing terrible.  Breakfast each morning in the buffet was good but the layout there is terrible. It’s just too narrow all the way around and we all know how crowded these places get.  

 

There’s an Atrium where they do a lot of the game shows and trivia contests.  Guest Services, Excursions, Starbucks and a bar are also in the Atrium so it’s convenient to all be in one spot but I much prefer a royal promenade or esplanade.  
We did make all our port stops which hasn’t been the case recently from what I’ve read on the NCL boards.  They were Great Stirrup Cay, St Thomas, Tortola and Puerto Plata, DR. 
That’s my report on the positive stuff 🙂.

 

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Momof3gurlz

[Ocean Boy]

41 minutes ago, Momof3gurlz said:

 

It wasn’t initially the weather. We were on Southwest scheduled to depart MIA at 1:45 pm, arriving in Baltimore at 4:20, then departing Baltimore at 7:25 pm. We boarded on time in MIA while planes were still taking off.  At 2:00, I looked out my window to see ONE baggage handler loading luggage into our plane. And this guy couldn’t possibly have moved slower.  The pilot comes on and informs us we now just need to wait for the forward luggage hold to be loaded.  Again, same slow motion guy does the loading as the skies start looking worse.  We finally push back from the gate and taxi when the captain advises there are 18 planes ahead of us, so we wait some more. Next thing, the pilot powers down the engines to conserve fuel because now they’ve stopped departures while the storm passes.  We finally took off around 3:30.  Our flight from Baltimore to Boston was fine. Seems to me the baggage loading caused our delay. 

And here we both are, back in RI. 🙂

[Momof3gurlz]

Now for the not so good.  The biggest thing for us was the service, or lack thereof.  And I don’t believe this was due to staffing problems.  As Andy said, their service consists of lip service, there’s no actual substance to it or effort to resolve issues and answer questions.  Crew members saying good morning as they pass you is nice, but that’s not really service.
 I never once met our room steward. Andy only bumped into him once when he ran back to the cabin to grab his Kindle and the steward who was making up the room just stepped out, never introduced himself.  

We visited many of the bars in the ship and while we were waited on, there was never a greeting or any effort to engage, even a bar with only one or two other customers. There were just a lot of unsmiling, sour faces on many of the crew.  Guest services was a joke. First trip was embarkation evening to advise them we never received our excursion tickets. We had a clamshell reserved the next day at GSC and needed the tix.  They said we had to visit the Excursions Desk and they would open at 5pm the next day. So we ended up paying for the clamshell and having to request a refund which took 3 days. Then I stopped at Guest Services to ask where I could view the MDR menus for the week. They didn’t know and sent me to the restaurant reservations desk.  She tells me. “Oh, it’s not in our app but you can see it on the TV in your room”.  We couldn’t find it anywhere on the TV so asked the MDR head waiter/maitre’d.  He says the only way is to look day by day at the menus posted outside the MDR 🙄. 
We had booked a ship excursion for St Thomas. A two hour tour of the island with a 2:30 start time.  (We did eventually get our excursion tix).  Meeting time was was 2:15 on the pier just off the ship.  We arrived just before 2pm to learn our excursion had already departed!  What?! Now more folks start arriving, just as surprised as us. There were a total of 12 of us, all yelling & arguing with the Shore Excursions guy. Lots of finger pointing between him and whoever was running excursions from the island. No one could explain why a 2:30 trip left before 2:00 and short 12 booked passengers.  Shore excursion guy finally days he’s sorry but what he “can do for us” is refund the cost of the tour.  We all not so politely tell him that’s not doing anything for us, he has to do that because he didn’t provide the service. We also tell him we’ll be showing up en masse at the shore exc desk when they open at 5 pm and expect some OBC for this fiasco.  A woman from one of the taxi co’s heard what was going on and arranged an island tour for us.  One couple had already walked away in frustration and two other ladies weren’t comfortable not being on a ship sponsored trip, so it ended up just eight of us.  We asked her only to promise we’d be back on time. It was a great tour with stops at all the highlights and lots of history & background provided.  Probably better than what we booked, but shhhh.  We also all got 50% off our remaining booked excursions which worked out to about $200 so ultimately they did the right thing there.  

[Sea Dog]

@Momof3gurlz Sorry to hear that about your excursion. You would have thought that the vendor would have checked with the ships person about the missing passengers.

 

Excited to hear about your excursion to JVD.

[Momof3gurlz]

I’ll try to wrap this up here.  As I’ve mentioned before, Andy doesn’t drink alcohol.  Our booking came with their Free At Sea promotion (free plus the gratuity on Free), so he ended up with a drink package anyway.  Now we knew going in that this didn’t include soda or water as it does on Royal.  So he could order a Diet Coke with rum on the side, leave the rum and just drink the soda.  After the 2nd day of doing this, he says he doesn’t feel right about it and visits Guest Services to ask if they will swap him to the soda package without any monetary adjustment. Of course the answer was “no”.  So (and I hope you’re paying attention here NCL) he continued to order his Diet Cokes with rum on side all week, probably 3 or 4 a day.  
We’ve had a couple of really nice cruises on NCL pre-Covid.  And not every cruise on Royal has been perfect but they seem to be a little bit smarter and a little more willing to put in the effort to make customers happy.  And THAT is service (to us anyway).  
So we will spend our cruising dollars on Royal going forward, although we would like to try Celebrity.  
It wasn’t all bad.  We were at sea, our friends enjoyed it, we escaped some horribly cold weather and I got to visit my favorite place, Jost Van Dyke.  Although I’m still feeling bad about missing @Sea Dog Greg’s surprise for me.  
How bad can it be when this is happening?