Hi Lincolnshirelass

I am not doing Transatlantic however I go on the Vision on 8 March for a 2 week cruise. Would be interested on anyone giving any advice on the ship as not cruised with RCI before.

1 week and 6 days and counting!

Are you flying Thomas Cook - we are having problems trying to get the luggage allowance confirmed. So far been told 20kg and 23kg. Obviously hope it is the latter but don't want to get to the airport and find it should be 20kg?!

Sadly we are not doing the VoS Transatlantic, although I had tracked it for a good few weeks. We could have done it at a total cost of about £600 each for an inside guarantee from Glasgow, including all travel costs, but ended up booking the Costa Fortuna T/A, sailing on 15 March which suits our holiday entitlement better....got a similar deal on the Fortuna, the value on these cruises is incredible.

Enjoy, and report back upon your return!

Hi Pestee
We are not flying thomas cook. we booked with who we thought were Virgin but then found they were a sudsidury company and our flights are supposedly royal carribean who are chartering a flight from a
airline i have never heard of so the only thing that we are certain of is the the ship is the Vision of the Seas, we have also never traveled on an American ship befor and i am really worried about the tip situation (weather to pay beforehand of tip as and when) I realy hate the idea of being told what i must pay to who. so I to would welcom any advise about the American liners. anyway I hope you have a great time and look forward to hearing about it when you return home
best wishes
Tina

Hi Tina

Went on American ship in the summer Carnival Freedom and was not impressed (I did leave a cruise review)
However this has not put me off other American ships I believe everyone is different and you need to try yourself. Regarding the tip situation we thought really long and hard about this and I know some cruisers have very strong views on this, however we declined to pay up front, as like you I wish to tip those who go that extra mile. I was given envelopes from reception to place money in at the end of the cruise to tip who I wanted. There was no fush at reception when I asked this. I thought I would be cursed and everyone would know!
Yes I will let you know what it is like when I return. 12 days and counting!

Hi Pestee, I will also be on the VOS for 2 weeks on the 8th March. We also had two different luggage allowances quoted to us but after checking and re-checking, our TA has told us it is 20KG and 5KG for hand luggage. Be wary, it costs lot if you are over.

Hi Chix1

I rang RCI and was quoted 20kg and 5kg too, so that's what I will take.

Where are you flying from?

I can't wait!

Pestee

Royal Caribbean does not do the 'upfront' tipping. You can elect to pay anytime during the cruise, or leave it until the last day, or not pay the automatic amounts and tip at whatever you feel appropriate. The gratuities are a very basic amount to show appreciation for all the work the staff put in to take care of you. The service staff are dependent upon these as a huge part of their income. You may or may not agree with that system, but it is what it is..
On the final day they will leave vouchers (if you paid) and envelopes for you to distribute to the team members. If you prefer, you can just put cash in those envelopes, but the employee who receives cash has to put it into a pool so that all are rewarded....

Hi Pestee, I am flying from Newcastle on a chartered Thomas Cook flight. We are from Scotland and are travelling with friends from Newcastle.

Yeah we too are flying from Newcastle. Never know may bump into each other on the cruise!

Hi Chix1
Have you had your luggage allowance confirmed as 20kg?

Thanks Pestee

Don't forget to join the cruise critic roll call for your trips.
A good way to meet people and get some inside info from regulars.

A link to all vision roll calls

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=274

Hi Lincolnshirelass,
My husband and I are booked on the same trip by the sounds of it. Leaving Gatwick on 12th April for a week or so in Caribbean, then transatlantic back to Harwich.
We've cruised before but not transatlantic and not with Royal Caribbean, so I'd be interested in advice about a few things.
1. Recent drinks prices, draught beer (if they have it) and wine
2. Whether the soda package deal includes mixers like tonic or only coke/lemonade etc
3. Whether many of the men actually wear a tux on formal nights, or do most stick with suits
4. What else you have to pay for. I expect to pay for drinks, trips, spa etc but someone has suggested that some of the activities on board will cost too.
Any advice appreciated - about anything really, like pitfalls to look out for, what's not to be missed and bargains in the shops or trips.
Thanks in advance

We love the TA's loads of ship time and no rushing to get up and off the ship.

Some activities like aerobics, spinning, martini tasting, wine tasting. some lectures, computer classes may also be chargeable, plenty of free things to do.

One thing to watch out for is that you have a 5hr time differnce so there will be 5 23hr days on the crossing, on our RCI TA the capatain decided to do this at midday, so one hour less for lunch and activities normally this is done overnight so one hour less sleep.

Tuxes will be worn but smart casual is still ok if you don't want to bother carying the posh stuff.

Make use of the outdoor areas early in the trip it can get a bit colder as you head north.
We were on Navigator and the decent drafty beer ran out after 4 days so ask how much they have and get drinking early if supplies are low.

Not been on RCI for over a year so cannot comment on prices

Check the dailies carefully for things that are on, take a highlighter.

Thanks Windjammer,

I just hadn't thought about the time difference at all. You don't always know the right questions to ask! Isn't that an odd time of day to cut the hour though?

My husband would quite like to wear the tux but wouldn't want to be the only one - and finds the thought that the draught ale might run out quite worrying!

Thanks for the info about the weather. How do people manage with the luggage allowance then? There's quite a range of extra clothes needed. When heading to warm climes, I normally only have the trousers I travel in. The rest are all sunny weather stuff. Here you need that plus some extra layers. I just need to be rather more selective I guess.

Hi Swinstan
We are also 1st time RCI cruisers and know little or next to nothing about the ship except what we have read on here and other forums and ferreting out info for ourselves, Virgin have been as much help as a chocolate teapot. did you know that you can choose your cabin if you call RCI UK we did and got just what we wanted.from what we have read the drinks on board are quite expensive and then have a 15% service charge added and we dont know about draughft beer.the soda package is also something we havent read that much about, I am sure there will be a lot of Tux's and a lot of suits(well i hope) my husband will only take his suit. again I am not sure what else you have to pay for on board as I keep reading different things, we have not signed up for the pre paid tips and will tip ourselves in cash at the end of the cruise. we have done a TA befor and it has spoiled us now for future cruises it is so restfull to end the cruise in england and have no long cattle truck flight home.
Tina

You don't actualy need loads of extra clothes for the different weather conditions since ships tend to be on the cool side anyway, wind and rain are the things to protect from so a decent jacket is the bit of kit that covers most angles.

IF it is not warm enought for shorts/T-shirt then the jeans/shirts are the fall back which you have for the evenings anyway if not good enough to be outside you tend to just stay inside on sea days so shorts can be OK if the ydon't have the ship too cold.
(talking blokes stuff, ladies similar just pack more of the casual evening stuff for the day rather than sunny stuff)

I tend to only take one coat a ski jacket with a t-shirt under that does for most conditions outside since that is what I wear in the winter at home anyway.

With a lot of ship time people do dress down a bit during the day relaxation is the key.
A different outfit for every day is not required.

The TUX will not be out of place on formal nights, but not everyone does it.

Hi Windjammer,

Just how cold does it get transatlantic then? We go 12th to caribbean but don't leave until 21st for 5 days travelling to Madiera. I'd rather hoped it wouldn't be too cold.

Thanks

you never know.

Across to Madeira should be fine, we came up via the Azores but had to skip Bermuda due to a Storm in April
Been across in Dec ok one year storms(nasty) the previous year.

I have taken 3 T/A trips. The first in April starting in Houston ending in Rome and we had fantastic weather all the way. The 2nd was Fort Lauderdale to Southampton and was in March. The weather was good until we left the Canaries and then was pleasant but not sun bathing weather. I didn't need the winter clothing at all except the final day.
The 3rd was Venice to New York and was in August. The weather was good for most of the way but stormy on the 2nd final day and the day we arrived in NY was glorious.
As W/J says you never can tell but I love the T/A crossings and have done 2 also on QM2.

Sue