LXA350

Let's see where things are heading. Icon Class kind of is the successor of the Oasis Class, hence either a additional Oasis Class or Icon class ship could get ordered. With the Arrival of Icon I guess we will see at least two Oasis Class Ships leave the Caribbean market. Likely one Oasis Class Ship will be permanently based out of Brisbane and Wonder eventually to be moved to China, or at least Singapore. Interestingly, it's not all about th biggest and largest ships, at the end the ports they can access is still limited. Hence, I am also expecting to see a announcement in the near future about a replacement of the Vision and eventually Radiance Class. Supposedly there was a project called "Destination" Class in the making but put on hold once the pandemic hit looking at a class of ships slightly larger than Radiance Class today. Looking at the Vision Class ships, they are really outdated and given their age always more costly to operate, so at least these need to go within next 3-5 years max.

Captain Tasos is currently on vacation and he will join the ship again in November, don't know who is on currently.

Oh yes. and wearing their badge all the time thinking they are part of the ship inventory 🤣 Supposedly some of the Zenith's are also quite demanding but they are much more discrete 😉

The overall experience on Celebrity is slightly more exclusive compared to Royal, starting already with a higher staff to guest ratio. Especially on the Edge Class Celebrity is aiming to create a stylish modern atmosphere on board also attracking younger adults. Although they do offer kids clubs, I would not recomend them for kids as there are not enough activites offered to keep them busy, especially the ones looking for action. When it comes to the Food, the main dinning room experience is probably slightly better than on Royal, but I would also not say significantly, same goes for the Buffet. On the Speciality dining side Royal in my oppinion is even better. Especially when comparing Eden on X to Wonderland on RCL, same goes for the Steakhouse Finecut on X and Chops on RCL. For the Suites, I guess the game changer is the Edge Class of X with the seperate pool deck. Also here, not sure if the Suite Restaurant Coastal Kitchen on Royal is not better than Luminae on X. Then again the Retreat Lounge and overal Suite service probably better, especially if comparing to Suites not getting Genie. For all Royal Ships not having "Suite Clsss", then Suite experience on all X ships is for sure better due to more perks etc. I would still say that RCL is better than Carnival. Hence if you are looking for a less premium experience but for excellent entertainment, action etc then RCL is not a bad choice; Voyager class and larger.

It seems in general the trend in the hospitality business is pay more and get less. YOu also feel this trend on the cruiselines. Even at X, crews are great but when it comes to quality of amenities and also the food the trend is on the negative.

If you place a bid for a Royal Suite or Edge Villa and the bid is accepted will you receive all the Suite perks such as unlimited Speciality Dining, Premium drink package and upgraded internet?

It is true that you will find a large number of staff that opened Edge, were moved after to Apex and are now on Beyond. This has more to do that these staff members are in the meanwhile very familiar with the launch process of a new cruise ship, hence it's more efficient to use especially the best performance repetedly to bring in their gained experience. Nevertheless the company wants to keep a certain minimum standard fleet wide, hence you should be able to expect the same great service on Milenum as on Beyond. As we are dealing with humans, there can be a hit and miss everywhere.

You can check the night before the MDR menu for the next day and if you see a dish / dshes you would like to have you can check with the maitre d if they could arange it for you the next day. This will depend on the maitre d, hence on one sailing this would be possible and on the next one not.

this is what happens, ships at starting to be full again, people don't wear masks, everyone can serve themselves at Windjammer to their food and then it's people not taking care of following strict hygiene measures. Autumn and winter will be again very interesting for cruising.

In Europe, especially in EU and Shengen countries it's not an issue to disembark the ship before the termination port. For other countries where more bureaucracy is involved it could be again another story.

You could do self assist at around 07:00 and be in a car that picks you up at the pier by 07:15, hence by 08:15 - 08:30 you should be at FCO. If you fly Business Class or have a higher tier status card that enables you to use priority lines no problem. Pre Covid 2.5 hours before departure should have been no problem either, now it will depend on the airport situation next year, if it will be more towards pre COVID RE staffing etc you should be absolutely ok. Given there are uncertainties it is a bit of a gamble at this stage.

Maybe now with the overbooking fiasco Miami will finally wake up and get rid of them.

Great review, looks like these cruises are doing really well. Would be nice to see RCL offering a mini season out of Haifa going forward every year. Now they just need to get rid of SUNORAMA and find a capable agent. If I understood your comment correctly, there is a non kosher menu for the traditional dinning and for MTD they serve you the same dishes as on the kosher menu?

Looking at the staff shortages which means every additional staff member that falls sick is an issue, better to keep the mask protocol for staff members to wear masks. Depending how things will evolve in the comming months, those maks might be back quicker than we think.

It looks like the chance to hit really rough weather is higher during the westbound crossings in autumn due to huricane season still being quite active whereas this factor is less so during spring time. But as mentioned by others, weather is unpredictable and if someone is sensitive about motion sickness maybe a transatlantic would not be the best choice.

Since most passengers are locals the bookings are handled through the local agent of RCL in Israel, SUNORAMA which is probably the worst agent there is, hence no suprise that this happened. I really hope RCL will finally get rid of them.

RCL was known already before the pandemic not really keeping their older ships in great shapes. At least only in areas that involve revenue, such as adding cabins on each dry dock or revenue space. The industry is not sleeping and especially MSC is getting always stronger comptition for them and also some other cruiselines that maybe are offering a more premium experience but not necesary on the cost side. Hence, more than ever RCL needs to be pro active and if they do want to keep Voyager and Radiance Class for another 10 years or so in the fleet it gets time to get these ships in better shapes including the cabins etc. On the other hand, staffing issues, supply issues etc this is faced all over the place, hence no matter if on land or at sea hospitality is currently not what it was before COVID.

You will for usre not go out hungry, you can always ask to get a additonal dish. Or if you liked a dish very much to get a additional portion. The waiters have good experience on how much dishes to recomend. Of course if it's not your first visit then you know already for yourself the favorites to pick

Do as you feel the safest / most comfortable. On the last sailing to Iceland COVID cases officially reached 3% last monday once in Belfast after which wearing of masks at all times (except when in the Restraurants) wasmandated by the Captain. Likely the cases onboard were even higher at this point as the 3% only considered crew and or guests officially tested positive and that are in Isolation.

She migh take a smaller break in between. For sure she will be on the sailing departing September 5th which will be the presidents cruise and the sailings before. Likely she will go on vacation right after president's cruise or 1 / 2 sailings after.

It's not a drama, but given that X is presenting itself as a uper scale cruiseline each cabin at least Concierge and above should be equiped with a Nespresso / Lavazza Coffee maker as this is not even considered as a luxury amenity anymore now a days.

Favorite: Curries, Asian dishes and there is something about the mashed potatoes of the WJ Least Favorite: Fast food items such as burgers, hot dogs and overcooked meat and fish

Celebrity is generally doing a great job in keepin it's older ships in shape also if they did not get yet the "Revolution" refurbishment, well I am taling about pre COVID until begining of 2020. One thing I do have to note is the customer service of X and RCL, it's absolutely umprofessional and in case you have issues you need to push to get what you need if you even manage. Hence, yes the actual cruise experience once you are onboard is mostly excellent but this is not enough at the end. The whole epxerience must be that way, which starts alread at the booking phase.

Very likely not "Descend" How about Eden of the Seas 😉