RC Dancers

We had the Key on Allure a couple of months ago.  We arrived at the scheduled time of 11:00 am and were among the last to join the key group. The key group was called after Suite guests and Diamond Plus.

7 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I think either your expectations are too high or you have never sailed on a new ship that has just starting cruising from the states. 

Well, we have been on all of the Oasis class ships and previously I had marveled that the only time the ships felt crowded was trying to get an elevator after the shows finished.

Thank you for letting me know that this is normal for inaugural season cruises from the states. I will avoid in the future. We had done inaugural season cruises in the Mediterranean and they did not seem to be this crowded.

I have to say that the food is probably the best of any Royal caribbean cruise we have been on. In particular, meat dishes have been very moist and tender.

I am just trying to report what I see, but it could be that the government of the Peoples Republic of China’s relaxation of their Covid policies last week have filled this ship at the last moment.

I do not know this as fact. It is purely speculation on my part.

We are on fixed early dining and no one showed us to our table. We had to find it on our own.

We were on Allure of the Seas about a month ago with 5,400 or so fellow passengers and things were much more pleasant.

We hope things get better.

This is our sixth cruise since the startup. I have never been on a ship that is so crowded. The MDR line last night went back to the elevators and wrapped completely around. You can’t find a table in the Windjammer. The ship would be understaffed at “normal” full capacity, but with so many people, service is lacking.

I wish that I could make a happy report, but we just told our friends to try to cancel their booking on this ship.

Thank you all, we will let our friend know.

Our friend from the UK would like to cruise on the Divina. She cannot book from the US website so she has to book through the US website. She would like to share a cabin with her friend who is a US Citizen. Does anybody know if this combo is possible to book? 

Wow! That is some detective work.

The 16 night Trans Atlantic looks interesting too.

We heard that MSC was keeping a couple of decks clear for Covid quarantine.

Does anybody know if this is still the case? My favorite deck 8 cabin has not been available for some time on Divina.

What do you like about the Aurea level?

We booked a Fantastica balcony with the complimentary drinks and wifi, and have the spa package. The only thing I don't think we get is access to the Aurea outdoor area, but I'm not crazy about it.

I agree on the security at the metal scanners. Very unpleasant. Even at Ocean Cay. If we have a similar experience on our next Divina cruise, we will be done with MSC.

If MSC changes the on board protocols, we will consider changing our cruise plans.

On 6/29/2021 at 9:55 PM, ipeeinthepool said:

So, are you saying you don't believe them when they say 50% is a break even number?

I don't think you can use pre-covid figures right now. I'm sure there is extra staffing everywhere. I saw on a youtube video, that even the soft serve machine has an attendant.

Does anybody know what percentage of cabins are being booked on cruises from US ports?

I hope that he can improve US customer service so phone calls and e-mails actually get answered.

We enjoyed that our regular Yacht Club waiters were working in Ocean House. They already knew our preferences.

We visited Ocean Cay on 3 January from the Seaside. We were in a Yacht Club interior. We really enjoyed the island.

We took the sunset cruise excursion, but can't recommend it because it was very rough.

Our last cruise had an excursion which stored our luggage and gave us tickets to the Miami Hop on Hop off bus and finished at the airport. Our next cruise doesn't offer this excursion so we will rent a car.

We enjoyed the Samba Grill a few weeks ago. You have to be a meat lover, though.

Thank you, this is very helpful for us. Your format was very easy to read.

The free trolley was not running last week, and the people we asked said that it did not run the previous week.

We recently lost a bid on RCCL's Royalup program. We booked a balcony and tried to upgrade to Junior Suite. We were happy in our balcony and happy that we didn't spend the extra $700.

I guess the key is to book the cabin that you are happy with and if you find a reasonably priced upgrade, go for it.

We are booked to YC interior and would bid on balcony if the price is reasonable, but no worries either way.

18 hours ago, WinksCruises said:

 

Believe it or not, most of the photos you see in this review were taken on our cell phones - the Pixel 2XL. Of course, a lot of the real magic happens in Photoshop, where you can crop, brighten, sharpen, combine and add snarky text.

 

I noticed the perspective correction on your Guest Services picture. Not many people take the time to do those little things.

Thank you for this entertaining and very detailed review. Your pictures are excellent. What camera did you use?