I cant believe it, we booked another cruise for Aug 2008. Yes, 16 months away. They opened a brand new cruise terminal in Norfolk, VA, the next town over. They have had some ships cruise out of here already the last few yrs. Now, Royal Caribbean is offering more ships here. We are doing a 9 day Eastern Caribbean cruise. There will be 4 port visits. We cruised with Carnival last August, and was not happy with the service at all. People say you get what you pay for.
We are going to Disney in June, it seems werid to have 2 vacations coming up, but very exciting to say the least.

By Dancermom on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 08:37 am:

Oh, I love to cruise. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Carnival. Can I ask what ship you were on??? I did my first cruise last year on a Carnival ship and my second cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship. Both of the smaller older ships. The service was awesome on both, but the food was better on Carnival.
The rooms on RC are much smaller. Are you getting a couple of rooms are going all out on a suite??
Oh, and what a great location. Nice.
I wish we could drive to port. I'm sure I would go on many more cruises.

By Jackie on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 08:44 am:

We were on the Carnival Valor last August. It is a beautiful ship. It was full to capacity, and it didnt seem like they had enough staff.
Tables in the buffet area WERE always dirty, they ran out of food on the buffet the first day after people boarded. Our room was not clean fully, there were still dirty towels and ladies products in one of the closets..We even had problems in the regular dining room for breakfast. Several mornings we were seated, and it took 15 mintues before anybody took our orders. Apparently nobody knew who was suppose to handle which tables.These werent big complaints, but we had SEVERAL small complaints that kept happening. When we complained when we came home, they offered us a 200 shipboard credit. It was a joke, my travel agent could of offered the same thing.
We went on RC 4 yrs ago, on the Majesty of the seas. It was a great cruise, never had one complaint about service.
This time we are going on the Grandeur of the seas.
We are getting 2 inside cabins that are connecting. The suites are too much money, 2 inside rooms are cheaper.

By Dancermom on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 09:34 am:

Oh, that's too bad. No excuse. When we were on the Imagination we were actually joking about how there were no dirty dishes anywhere to be seen. Your room looked like that after they cleared it for entry??? Yuck. Again, no excuse for that. Our room wasn't ready but they let us drop our carryons so we didn't have to carry them around for a couple hours.
I think the breakfast delays are pretty common. I've heard the dinning room service in the mornings is pretty hit and miss. We only ate in the dinning room once for breakfast, but it was fine.
I hear you on the prices of the rooms. I would do an inside but my hubby has to have the window. But, so far it's only been about $20 more for the oceanview rooms so I've been lucky.

By Jackie on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 09:52 am:

Its funny because we were on the Lido deck of the Valor. So we would walk down the hall to the pool area, which was right outside the buffet area. There were constant dirty dishes on all tables. I would walk the track in the mornings. You had to pass the pool area to get up to the track. I would see broken glass on the floor, dishes laying around etc...I just was not impressed.
Yes, the room was still dirty when we were given the ok to go the cabin. You know how when you first get there, they have the cabins blocked off. Well when they let everybody in we looked around and that is what we found.
We had requested a crib to be there as well. The crib did not come until like 7pm..We made do with my youngest napping on the bed, but it would of been nice for it to be there when we got there.

By Kittycat_26 on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 10:39 am:

Oh Jackie!

I've been on the Grandeur of the Seas twice and I just love this ship. It is large enough to wander around on but small enough not to get lost. The crew were fabulous both times and I never found a "dirty" spot.

I'm so jealous. We just cancelled our December cruise because of the new baby coming in October. It was sort of bittersweet.

By Dancermom on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 10:57 am:

That is really bad. It's either a really bad crew or they were switching. Sometimes the replacement crew is not quite up to snuff.

The only dirty dishes we found were the ones left outside of the cabins from room service. I hated that but since the rooms are so small I understood the need to get them out of there fast.

Nasty, nasty on the room condition.

I had some friends just go on a cruise and they said they will never go again. I'm just in awe because I loved both of my cruises so much.

I hope your next cruise is better.

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 11:09 am:

Congrats Jackie!
We just noticed several new itineraries for 2008. We plan on looking in May (when some will be available for booking) for October 2008. I love knowing that there is a big vacation on the horizon. Part of the fun is the planning...and dreaming

By Jackie on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 11:40 am:

Yvonne, what itineraries are you looking into?

This ship is going to Puerto Rico,St Thomas, Domican republic and Hati. We have never been to any of these places. Well My husband has been to Puerto Rico when he was in the Navy LOL..

I am not too sure how I feel about the 2 1/2 days of sea time until we get to Puerto Rico..hopefully it will be ok.

By Jackie on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 11:42 am:

Amanda..So you have been on it. Glad to hear a good review on this ship.

By Marcia on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 01:13 pm:

We didn't have anything to complain about on the Carnival Victory. Everything about it was just amazing! My mom has cruised with several different lines, and said this was the best room she's been in. She didn't love that she was one of the oldest people there, since we were there for spring break, but that was our fault, not theirs.
That itinerary sounds great, Jackie! The ship time will be lots of fun. There's always so much to do!

By Breann on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 02:08 pm:

How exciting! We have been looking into cruises as well. Are you taking your kids? I think I remember you took them last time. We are wanting to take ours with us. Do you have to book 2 rooms or does everyone fit into one?

You are turning into the travel queen!

By Kittycat_26 on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 02:10 pm:

You're booking the same itinerary that we just cancelled. I can't wait to hear how it was. For a little while I'm going to have to live through each of you.

There is an assistant waiter from Chile named Victor who should still be on the ship. He is great and spoiled Timmy rotten. He brought him candy and always was playing and entertaining him. He is worth his weight in gold and then some.

The second time we were on, we also saw our waiter from the first cruise and he remembered us. How can you tell? He remembered that we had a little boy that we'd left at home the first time and now he was with us.

Can you tell that I just loved this ship?

By Jackie on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 03:01 pm:

Yes, we are taking the kids. We always travel with them.We did book two inside connecting rooms. It is more to get a suite then to get two inside rooms. We dont mind the inside rooms, we are use to it. Last yr on Carnival, my sister in law and brother in law were on the cruise, and they had an oceanview room. I will say, looking outside made me dizzy, it was so weird.It was a beautiful view.

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 03:03 pm:

Did you call Buycruises for a quote?
When we booked our cruise that far in advance we ended up with a suite that was cheaper than the standard balcony rooms.

By Jackie on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 03:19 pm:

No, I havent looked at that site yet. We used the local TA...who only does cruises. He said the price should go down, but who knows. It so far in advance, if we find a better price we will switch in an heartbeat.

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 03:26 pm:

I would call them. Email me if ya want the phone#. We have always gotten a lower price through them AND they follow the pricing and if it drops they make sure you get the price drop.
Booking way out should be much cheaper.

By Jackie on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 03:30 pm:

I just looked at their website and saw the phone number. I could not even pull this cruise up on their website. Other cruises came up, but not this one. I wonder if its because its a new port?

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 03:34 pm:

I always call. I get better than online quote and personal service.