RCCL cruisers...

[XYSRUS]

How can you tell what you're getting with the stateroom categories? I got some quotes for a cruise for E1, E2 and GTY? We want a room with a balcony. Anyone have any answers? I'm trying to get a quick cruise for Oct for my anniversary and we've never been on a cruise before.

 

[Disney-Kim]

How can you tell what you're getting with the stateroom categories? I got some quotes for a cruise for E1, E2 and GTY? We want a room with a balcony. Anyone have any answers? I'm trying to get a quick cruise for Oct for my anniversary and we've never been on a cruise before.

It all has to do with location. You need to look at the Deck plans for your ship and make sure you pick a room that isn't under the disco or something.
E rooms are smaller balcony cabins, D rooms are a big bigger. GTY means you are guaranteed that category but don't get to pick your room....which means you could be all the way stern or aft.

try for the middle of the ship on Deck 7,8,9,10 if you are booking the Freedom or Mariner classes of ships. We have always been on deck 9 on the Mariner of the Seas.

Good luck and try wandering over to cruisecritic.com for great RCCL boards with TONS of info

 

[a1tinkfans]

How can you tell what you're getting with the stateroom categories? I got some quotes for a cruise for E1, E2 and GTY? We want a room with a balcony. Anyone have any answers? I'm trying to get a quick cruise for Oct for my anniversary and we've never been on a cruise before.

Try for midship especially for a first cruise, most stable. That being said, middle of ship (up/down) is also a good choice.
We stayed balcony, Mariner deck 7 and it was amazing! We were mid ship, right side (forgot ship terms) and it was perfect location. the ONLY time we ever "felt" anything was in front of ship at breakfast sometimes, otherwise, no meds, nothing and RCCL is recommended highly. Great Service, Great Food choices and restaurants, Lots of amenities..........research everything about the itinerary..cruisecritic was great for info!! Its like the DIS of cruising,
have a great trip, but be warned, you will get HOOKED!

 

[huckster]

as they said pic mid ship rccl is almost they only other we will sail besides disney .. have fun enjoy ..

 

[Muushka]

My tip? Don't book GTY. Pay a little extra and pick your cabin

 

[CPT Tripss]

My tip? Don't book GTY. Pay a little extra and pick your cabin

Unless you can get a really good price for GTY. We have been upgrade several cruises after booking a GTY.

 

[Muushka]

Unless you can get a really good price for GTY. We have been upgrade several cruises after booking a GTY.

We got a really great price on our first and last GTY cabin cruise. I still laugh at the picture of my poor husband in that cabin.
Such a sad face......

 

[omghidanielle]

Has anyone ever been to Labadee, Haiti on a RCCL cruise?

If so, how safe would you say it is?

There is a cruise we are scoping out for March of next year, and this is one of the stops, but I am NOT keen on going to Haiti.

 

[DawnCt1]

Has anyone ever been to Labadee, Haiti on a RCCL cruise?

If so, how safe would you say it is?

There is a cruise we are scoping out for March of next year, and this is one of the stops, but I am NOT keen on going to Haiti.

Labadee is part of a peninsula leased by RCCL. It is absolutely beautiful and absolutely safe, at least as long as the ship's crew is there. It is not only surrounded by a huge fence but has razor wire on top. You can't really notice it unless you walk the perimeter. There are some vendors that they allow in an established vendor area. If you aren't into aggressive marketing, stay away from there. But if it doesn't bother you, go for it. If you never want to shop, stay on the beautiful beach. Its a great beach day there. The picnic is nice and its worth getting off of the ship for. We have been there a few times. It always is an enjoyable stop.
Haiti is a very poor island. One of the crew members told me that if they have any clothes or items that they don't want, they leave them in Labadee. The problem she said, is that the vendors take the clothes and she isn't sure that it gets to the people that really need them. The vendors are among Haiti's wealthier citizens.

 

[bumbershoot]

You should be able to get the descriptions of the cabins, along with size, on RCCL's website.

We did the guarantee thing for our honeymoon on Radiance. Didn't get an upgrade, but we feel we paid a fair price for our room. Though we got the worst room for a seasick person...at the very bow, deck 7 if I recall correctly. Hubby isn't seasick, he worked on oil tanker ships in the proper ocean off Alaska (not the inside passage that we were cruising in). But I was brand-newly pregnant and was a bit queasy already.


If you like the rest of the cruise, but really don't want to go check out labadee...just stay on the ship! We ended up not liking Ketchikan at all, after spending an hour walking around, and we just went on back. Had the hot tub and pool to ourselves, instead of dealing with the 12 year olds cannonballing into the pool during sea days...

Be sure to check out cruisecritic dot com. The RCCL board can be especially contentious for some reason, but it's good info there. I couldn't have planned our honeymoon cruise without it!

 

[janets]

I second (or third) suggesting cruiscritic as a great source of cruising information. You can also check out deck plans for all major lines by going to each of their individual websites, and selection ships or fleet and then looking at the deck plans.

I would suggest for a first cruise, you choose your own cabin rather than going with a guarantee. If you enjoy it and want to cruise again, then maybe take a chance on a gty and let the line select your cabin. But remember that you may end up in the most undesirable cabin in that category (some are right next to laundries, boiler rooms, cabin steward storage areas, room service access rooms), so you might get noise or interruptions at odd times.

That said, look for a cabin that is sandwiched between decks of cabins, rather than above or below public space (which can contribute to noise), and check to see what is beside and across from your selected cabin to minimize any noise or distractions. Look at the legend for each deck to see if a cabin will have the proper layout for your family (some will have 2 twins to push together and a double sized sofabed, others have a single sofa and a pullman bed above it, others have two upper pullmans. Check to see what works best for you.

If you have any questions, go to cruise critic and post on the board for the specific cruiseline you are thinking about and you will get a ton of good information.

Good luck. Remember, once you start cruising, you'll be hooked.

 

[MM27]

Has anyone ever been to Labadee, Haiti on a RCCL cruise?

If so, how safe would you say it is?

There is a cruise we are scoping out for March of next year, and this is one of the stops, but I am NOT keen on going to Haiti.

I've been to Labadee. It is very safe and they set up a buffet there so that you don't even have to go back to the ship for lunch. You tender into Labadee. I did a kayak tour there and on the tour they actually took us to a beach where the vendors were selling their goods. If you don't want to buy anything, just say NO and stand firm. I felt a lot safer there than I did in Jamaica.

 

[Bay Hill]

A pier is under construction in Labadee. RCCL wanted the pier to be just like Disney's Castaway Cay. The island is safe, the lunch is delicious, and the zip line is fun.

As the fellow DISers have said, check out Cruise Critic.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Has anyone ever been to Labadee, Haiti on a RCCL cruise?

If so, how safe would you say it is?

There is a cruise we are scoping out for March of next year, and this is one of the stops, but I am NOT keen on going to Haiti.

Agree, totally SAFE, totally a BLAST (zipline, beach, amenities, YUMMY lunch!
It cannot be beat. We went to beach way at end to the left and LOVED our Palapa and the beach and food and bathrooms were right there.
The shoppping area was fun, they are pushy but my ds loved it and we bargained for a great painting of the ship which now hangs in his game room! A lovely reminder of our trip.
Personally, it was my FAVORITE port stop. Though we had a blast everywhere!
RCCL was amazing....truly, take the time to go to cruisecritic dot com as you will learn so much!!!

 

[Caradana]

Labadee is one of our favorite aspects of RCCL. It is SO relaxing and beautiful and fun ... hope you like it as much as we do!