The Fun Researcher

Good point regarding the closeness of the lounger. The last time we were on the Equinox was in 2017 and I seem to remember the same thing. The area around the main pool is not that huge so I think they try to cram in as many loungers as they can, and it does make for difficulty getting in and out of them due to so many. There is no excuse for not opening the Buffet for lunch until noon. We ran into the same thing on the Royal Caribbean Quantum in Alaska this past July. To make it worse the earliy seating for dinner was 5 PM at the MDR, so by the time we got done with lunch, it might be 1pm and then you had to turn around and get to the main dining room at five. No one was hungry for dinner yet. It was absolutely ridiculous and I let them know in my survey.

We also grab ice water at whatever venue is closest. 👍🏼. I’m not sure nelblu was saying the crown lounge is the only option, just one they brought up since we are talking about Diamond stuff in this thread. Off topic a little, but…. We are fairly new Diamond members and speaking of the now called Crown lounge I was surprised how empty it was all day long on our Quantum sailing to Alaska in July. Never more than 2 (and normally zero) others in there whenever we would stop in to grab coffee. Also lots of untouched appetizers. We were never there during happy hour though

Remember, if you would like you can take up to twelve 500ml (16.9 oz) bottles of water onboard with you. You must carry it on (not in your checked bag) so it’s kind of a pain but you’ll pay far less.

Like all classes there are the plus’s and minus’s. Love: The 270 lounge Fantastic Solarium Lots of music and music venues A few new novelty experiences like iFly, Northstar and bumper cars Reasonable connection to the sea Don’t love: Lack of ice rink Smaller Promenade area Lack of one beautiful MDR, instead it’s chopped up into four themed MDR’s all serving the same menu. (they fixed this with Quantum Ultra class) Overall we would sail Quantum class again. It has enough pluses to keep us happy.

Very interesting, looking at your signature, we've sailed identical ships. (except swap Mariner with the two Quantum ships we've done.) Almost all ships the same with the majority being Freedom and Voyager class. 👍 👍 👍

Couldn't agree more. While I like the Oasis class for numerous reasons, to me, the biggest drawback is the connection and views to the ocean. This is one thing the Voyager and Freedom classes excel at.

Sounds like the consensus is yes, generally sold out. Thankfully with most Royal and Celebrity ships they were designed well to handle full capacity. You will always have situations where you will "feel" the crowds like pool deck on a sea day, or buffet for breakfast or lunch (especially on a sea day)

Looks like a proper filet, and dang, now my mouth is watering.

Solid plan Oh man that made me laugh out loud, but, C’mon brother 😂…. I know you know by now it’s called the “Crown Lounge”. Ooh. Ahh. All in jest of course

Thank you so much!

I fully admit, that may be true. 🙂 I always tip at least $1 for my diamond drinks and typically return to the same bartenders. I just don't think of asking for bottled water at the bar. I'll have to remember that at the end of the night to grab one or two next time Last cruise (July Alaska) I paid $22 for a case of bottled water. Ended up being about 36 bottles since they were slightly smaller than 12oz. On top of that were our loyalty water bottles. Was nice to have them waiting in my room all the time and ready to be placed in the room's fridge. I think I like that versus getting them piecemeal throughout the cruise. To each their own though. I fully support folks (including me :D) getting free bottled water!

How do we use our vouchers? Not for water. I purchase the bottled water package which I find is reasonable, plus we get our free waters in the cabin upon embarkation as well. Assuming you drink... I'd rather use my vouchers on $14 drinks than bottles of water that are only a few buck if you were to buy them. If our 22 year old daughter is cruising with us (she hasn't reached Diamond quite yet), my wife and I will each let her use at least one of our 4 vouchers and we'll use the rest. All on alcoholic drinks. If we weren't drinkers I'd probably use them on coffee's, soda, virgin drinks, and maybe an occasional bottled water.

Wow, you always this judgmental? Let's go with your plan and let the daughter figure it out on her own. Oh wait, she doesn't even realize this is a "thing" until she's trying to embark on the ship. Parents are just trying to help and get ahead of this before the cruise, and obviously will be in communication with their daughter to decide what she wants to do. Parents did the booking.

Good find. I wonder if this is specific to CoCo Cay? I just looked at our 5 night to Bermuda in June and no special pricing for Diamond and above. We're Diamond so I assume it would show up if they did have special pricing.

Yeah, I'm happy to see how the ship settles into the dynamics of the fleet. Will it end up having a far higher ratio of kids to adults than the other ships? I'm eager to find out (via reviews and YouTube) over the course of the first year or two. Royal has so many great ships I have no pressing need to be on the latest (and not necessarily the greatest)

525 more to Pinnacle, so in other words.... 3X more than it took to get to Diamond Plus 😲

Same. Many times that price is for a guarantee stateroom. Once you choose the option to select your own room location many times the price jumps just from that alone. Then come the taxes and port fees, and then prepaid gratuities or insurance if you so choose.

Did the taxi stay with you the entire time, or are you saying you found a new taxi each time you were hopping from place to place? Rough estimate of taxi cost? We'll be a party of 6 in June, so either one large taxi or two normal ones. Thanks.

OP, If you search on the net you can probably find photos of these... The order is as follows: Welcome Aboard Taste of France Taste of the UK Taste of the Caribbean Taste of Italy

Very odd. Did you mention something to them? Agree, a ribeye is very easy to differentiate from other cuts.

Thank you! I'm used to checking in with Royal and wasn't sure what the timing was for Celebrity Well, it helped me out since I did a search on the site for this very information and this thread popped up.

You can always call and reprice up to final payment.

We are doing the same itinerary and ship in June. We love Freedom Class (which Liberty is part of). It is smaller than Oasis class, but so is every other ship on the planet by a good margin. Liberty is still a big ship. What we like: Closer connection to the sea. The deck 4 walking track is not blocked by life boats so has great spots to sit and enjoy the view. Same as the helipad. It is accessible on the Liberty and awesome to visit at night. You can go to the very front of the ship Still has the nice large Royal Promenade, and we find it less busy (especially at night) than on Oasis class (especially by Sorrento's) Still has most of the same highlights: Ice Skating shows, great theater productions, Flow rider, Putt Putt, etc. It is VERY well laid out and easy to get from point A to point B (unlike Oasis class with the carved out middle of the ship). Voyager and Freedom classes are the best laid out ships we've ever sailed on. Excellent pool deck. Windjammer is sized better versus passenger count. The only ships we've ever had to be held back from entering the buffet are Oasis class. It can get slammed at peak times. What we miss vs Oasis Class: Covered Solarium Aqua Shows Central Park

Or just book 3 or four to that cabin, and have one or two of them “no-show”. You will get the taxes and port fees back for those individuals as well.

I don't get the fascination that folks are willing to shell out that kind of cash. Christmas and New Years weeks always jump heavily but still... We'll hope to sail Icon class eventually, but there are so many other ships with better prices, and even those are up ~40% or more.