The Fun Researcher

42 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

I don't know about boring, but a dining venue with nice décor and good service with good food is okay with us.

 

bosco

 

A nice looking venue, I agree, especially if I wasn't used to the three story dining rooms on other Royal ships...  but still nowhere near what we've come to love about the MDR.  It wouldn't ruin our cruise, but a significant drawback for us. (everyone has their quirks right.  🙂 )  Is it available for My Time dining? 

In all our cruising we've never done specialty dining, with the exception of Murano on the Celebrity Equinox.  It was a unique experience, but we didn't feel it was worth the up charge (good thing we were using OBC).  We can generally find something on each nightly menu that we really enjoy, especially the appetizers, so no need to pay more.

Dan

1 hour ago, boscobeans said:

Yes L. Lutoff-Perla is now with Celebrity and before that she was in charge of operations on Royal Caribbean back when there was DD or Dynamic Dining which has since been phased out.

Rehashing old discussions...  but the problem is the Quantum class was designed around this dynamic dining idea and now there are multiple rather small, boring, low ceiling main dining rooms.  Gone is the grand dining room of this other ships.  This is one thing that is keeping us off Quantum class (Anthem in particular).

Dan

1 hour ago, frito58 said:

Oh I don't disagree with you they have made a lot of cutbacks throughout the years , I have made to  Diamond on Royal and Platinum on Carnival 

Just curious, what does Platinum get you on Carnival and how many nights to reach that level?

Dan

55 minutes ago, vacationlover_mn said:

I know some will find mine silly 🙂. But, if they did away with the loyalty program, we would no longer be Loyal to Royal.

Not silly.  All else being equal (or even close) working our way to Diamond keeps us with Royal.  (Mainly for the nightly happy hour).  We’re within reach 

1 hour ago, rimmit said:

 

I wasn’t the biggest fan of quantum class initially,  but if you go on a couple cruises where the weather is cold or less than ideal you will quickly appreciate the quantum class.  It is an excellent cold weather ship.

True, we had a cruise booked on the Anthem in March until we switched to to the Liberty out of Galveston.  The Anthem is setup well for cold weather cruising, and there were some things I was really looking forward to.  The problem is I don't want cold weather cruising.  I could have save a lot of $$$ by cruising out of Cape Liberty on the Anthem, since we can drive but I didn't want 4 out of my 7 days in March to be cold-ish weather.  That's what I'm trying to get away from in March.

Dan

If RCCL started producing ships that I just didn't care for.  Fortunately they've already built ones that I love, and I hope they keep them for many years to come.

I am a little concerned though, because I'm not a huge fan of the Oasis class and I'm not sure I'd like the Quantum class based on my research.

I'm happy to stick with Freedom and Voyager class as long as they do itineraries that we like. 

Dan

22 minutes ago, HardyVA said:

After reading some of these comments, I’m beginning to rethink our scheduled 12 day  April cruise on Grandeur.  We always sail on Celebrity and have liked the food and service.  Any thoughts?

They are far more similar than different.  I wouldn’t worry

Dan

11 hours ago, BixBebe said:

Disney does chocolates, plus a lot of other little unexpected treats that make the cruise extra special, but they are so much more expensive than Royal. 

Agreed, about twice the price.  We know two families who are close friends that used to sail Disney... until they sailed Royal, Celebrity and NCL.  They never looked back and now exclusively sail those lines.

Disney has a lot to offer, but they now don't feel it's worth the price, at all.  One comment was pools just jam-packed with kids (almost dangerous), and the chopped-up feel of the ships making it weird getting from point A to B.

Dan

11 hours ago, thtalks said:

In Bonaire rent a golf cart (Bonaire Cruisers) and tour the island on your own. 

This would be a fun way to get around.  We rented a couple of small SUV's for our group of 7 instead, because the golf carts only hold 2 people.

Either way, Bonaire is absolutely drivable on your own and it made for such a fun day.  It's kind of hard to imagine going everywhere that we did on a golf cart (we covered the whole island), but I suppose it might be doable. 

The option for a car or SUV is the Hertz location at the Divi Flamingo resort, which is only a 5 minute walk from the ship.

15 minutes ago, bilyclub said:

 Nightclub didn’t open until 11pm or later each night.

 

Royal used to have the Dungeon, a two story dance club/disco on the Freedom and Voyager Class. They got rid of it, replacing it with a specialty restaurant and cabins. They now have moved the dancing into the Viking Crown Lounge and start it late at night.

Surprised there was no parties up by the pool or solarium.

 The dungeon is right. Never liked that Gothic scene. I love the Viking Crown so much better at night for the DJ, dancing, etc

 Better yet, I would have loved to see them turn that gothic two story area into a proper modern night club.  The venue was great. The theming was horrible

Dan

15 minutes ago, Glide_Path said:

There is going to be a JR express on the Explorer Of the Sea, but it doesn't look like it's going to be free either. 

Not a free venue.  However I did like the ala carte version on the Navigator way better than paying a fixed price.  I'm not a huge eater in general and loved that I could just buy the burger I was eyeing up instead of paying, IMO, a fixed price that is overpriced.

1 hour ago, vacationlover_mn said:

On Carnival, our first cruise, when we were young and dumb, we didn’t tip much.  I know, it’s bad, and we always tip well now. But back then we didn’t know any better and were broke and thrifty.  Anyways, our room steward actually put sand in our bed the last night, after getting his tip envelope!  Yes, this really did happen 😞. Where did he get the sand?  Well, I had filled a bottle with it to take home, and I assume he used that, since it was 1/4 empty that night.

This is incredibly wrong behavior, but something inside me thinks it's hilarious.  What a story to tell!

Dan

36 minutes ago, vacationlover_mn said:

Some ships have a couple more free food options, like Park Cafe, Sorrentos, El Loco Fresh.

Not arguing, but OP had Sorrentos on her ship and El Loco fresh is great but is on very limited ships right now (but expanding).   Park Care is needed on more ships.

It does appear that Royal is trying to address the issue to some extent of the complimentary food offering.  El Loco is one.  On the Navigator this past march I was SUPER happy to have a bar food menu to order off of late at night in Playmakers.   Wings, burgers, etc...  The wings were great.   Even though it was an upcharge it was SOOOOOOOOOO much better than relying on pizza or finger sandwiches.  Every.  Single.  Night.

Dan

1 hour ago, amandaepperson21 said:

Better: 

 

1. They didn’t care if we brought back on large quantities soda or juice from port - like two full size bottles of juice or a 2L of Pepsi. 

 

2. Actual lifeguards at all pools. I’ve never seen this on a ship before. 

 

3. Kids life vests available at the pools. Major plus!! We didn’t bring our kids this time, but we always have to bring their life vests. 

 

4. The layout of the ship is soooo awesome. Everything is together and easy to find. Plenty of elevators. It didn’t feel like a huge ship. 

 

5. VERY food allergy friendly!! I was not cross contaminated once! Someone at my table couldn’t have gluten. They presented her with the next days menu each night so that it could be cooked separately. They also gave her GF bread each night. And there’s a GF buffet section. Never seen this before. Excellent. I’m cross contaminated with my allergen almost every time I dine out, but was not on the ship. 

 

6. Embarkation with The Key was crazy fast. We brought our bags to lunch in the MDR and our room was ready when we were done. 

 

7. Self disembark was a snap. 

 

8. No mystery smells, even on deck 1. Almost every ship I’ve been on has an area with a weird smell lol. 

 

Not as good: 

 

1. The food. We ate in the dining room all but one night. The food was okay. Desserts were VERY meh. Completely agree with you on this one.  I was shocked at how bad they are on my first Royal cruise.   Creme brûlée top layer was liquid, not that normal hard shell. This is NOT normal.  I don't normally get dessert, but once in a while get the creme brulee and it's always been done right.  No soggy top.  I only took 1-2 bites of dessert every night because it was just meh. Sometimes even gross. Entrees were meh to okay. Escargot was fantastic though. Dining room breakfast was limited and meh.  Buffet has more options, but they were again meh. Only 2-3 foods on the whole cruise made me say, “Wow this is so good!” I ordered steak twice and it was over cooked both times. Not normal

 

2. Restaurant service was slow. We were often the last ones out of the place. Long waits for drink refills. Long waits between courses. Not normal.  We've never had unusually slow service, or even what I would consider slow service .  I would have asked for a new table assignment after a couple of occurrences..   During our Chops key lunch, the service was just plain ridiculous. We had our appetizer before the appropriate server even came by to take our drink order. On that note, our Chops meal was of quality I’d expect in the main dining room - just okay. I’m a steak connoisseur and was not impressed. It was also over-cooked.   

 

3. WiFi in our cabin was a joke. We own a business and check in daily. I’d much rather do this from my room than a public space. Unlimited WiFi was the biggest reason we purchased the key. 

 

3. Cabin steward bombed. Sand in our sheets most nights due to her not changing them. No offense, but why did you have sand in your sheets?  I don't believe it is common practice in the cruise industry to change sheets daily.  I kept stacking our dirty room glasses so they’d be swapped out - she just rinsed them in the sink and put them back. I know because they still had lipstick on them. Minimal tidying.   Not normal, but seriously unfortunate.  Having cruised enough now to know the level of service to expect, I would have either talked with her directly about it or gone to guest services after about day 2.

 

4. Cabin was not great. You could see the dips in the mattresses when the bed was made. Never had this.  I believe it though.  The ship is due for a major refurb in a few months so some things may be at their end of intended use.  It was so hard my hips and shoulders hurt in the morning (side sleeper). No bath robe. Refrigerator didn’t work. Shower head was possessed. The bath towels were good though. 

 

5. Towel exchange stinks. Agreed.  This is normal.  It's even worse when they throw a $25  (I believe) each towel charge to your account the morning of disembarkation.  This happened last cruise even though we KNEW we returned all of our towels.  Had to go to guest services that morning.   Cabin stewards swapped them out on every other cruise I’ve been on. Ours just folded the soggy things and stacked them in the floor. The towels themselves were pretty sad and desperately need to be replaced. All of them. 

 

6. Lots of nickel and diming.  This is unfortunately rather normal for RCCL.  Room service is usually free + tip on cruises, but not on this one.  The bar mixed drinks were expensive compared to other ships. $9-10 including gratuity for the daily drink special, which is usually cheaper. This is normal, and those prices actually look low.  I'm used to more like $10-12, which IMO is ludicrous.  However, Royal does let you bring two bottles of wine onboard per stateroon at the beginning of the cruise so that helps a little.  Also the daily drinks didn’t come in cute souvenir cups or anything. I don’t mind paying extra (hello I purchased The Key) but the extras on this ship were priced higher than most. 

 

7. Limited hours for ice skating and flow rider. Never experienced this.  There have always been many hours every day that the flow rider is open.  The ice skating rink is used more for the skating show than for open skate.  However we've never had a problem finding times to open skate.  Long lines when it was open. The Key only had one designated hour each for these on our one sea day. 

 

8. NO LAUNDRY. WHAAAAT!? Normal.  I would guess, but I could be wrong, that cruise lines offering self service laundry is in the minority.  This ship departs from San Juan PR, which means most people arrive the day before the cruise, aren’t hauling massive amounts of luggage (which I am guilty of when we drive to FL for cruises) and might be staying a day or more after the cruise. Lots of laundry. Why on God’s green earth are there not at least a few guest laundry facilities on the ship??? Oh but of course you can pay $$$ to have your laundry done lol. We did this trip with one carry on and one personal item because I had planned to do laundry on the ship. After numerous cruises, I’ve never been on a ship that doesn’t have a laundry facility for passengers. 

 

9. Limited food options without paying extra. COMPLETELY agree with this.  It's normal and one of my major beefs with Royal.  I'm sick of only having pizza and finger sandwiches for food once the buffet closes. IMO there’s no reason Johnny rockets shouldn’t be included in the cruise fare. I mean, burgers are on the buffet. Maybe charge for shakes. Other ships we’ve sailed offer more than MDR, pizza/cafe and buffet. That’s all that’s included on Freedom. Others have at least 1-2 options that were premium on this ship. MSC Divina has an American style sports bar with full menu and a burger/brat/dawg place beside the pool. At the Divina pizza place by the pool, they’d cook whatever pizza you wanted on the spot - you didn’t have to pick from whatever 3 were in the warmer. All these are included in cruise fare. 

 

There were a lot of other things where I’ve had better experiences elsewhere. Like medical, they didn’t call to check on me after my visit (unrelated to the ship) the way Princess did when my daughter broke her arm (and they called once or twice daily!). Slow drink service at the pools. We were booted from the pool for having a drink but two other people holding the exact same cup weren’t. Nightclub didn’t open until 11pm or later each night. Smoking section beside main pool (should be by adult pool at best). The ship is going to dry dock soon and it is definitely needed. No nightly chocolates on the pillows (smh even Carnival does this). Little touches. 

 

This post is not to dog RCI because we did very much enjoy our cruise!! I’m just wondering if this is the norm for this line. Thus far, MSC has been our favorite (and they are expanding their Caribbean itineraries). If our experience with RCI is par for the course, IMO it’s not worth the premium rate. 

I inserted my comments above.  What other lines  have you cruised on to compare ?  

Many of the things should have been no surprise is a little research had been done.  The dining room service and room steward have no excuse.  No excuse for that, and sad that's how it was for you.  It is not the norm.

Dan

13 hours ago, ckrobyn said:

Hopefully the refurb is on schedule......

We are on very fixed schedules during the school year.  In our case if they cancelled the cruise I would have a land based vacation booked as a backup... so no need to change flights.  For us, that would probably mean a land based resort somewhere in the Florida area with no cancellation fee (if cancelled within few days per se).  If the cruise is a go, cancel the resort.  If the cruise is cancelled, well we'd suck it up and make the most of touring/enjoying Florida.  No way I'm going to sit it out up in frozen Michigan when I could be someplace warm with my family enjoying the week.

Dan

3 minutes ago, msstatemom said:

Nado44, do you remember how much notice there was between getting the letter and the actual cruise?

11 Days

10 hours ago, ckrobyn said:

Hi Bob! Thanks for the info - I wasn't expecting cabins to be updated but was hoping for it 😊

Hopefully the refurb is on schedule......

I personally would be wary, and be prepared.   The Navigator had to cancel it's first (and maybe second?) cruise after it's AMPED drydock due to running over schedule.  I'm not sure how the other AMPED schedules have gone.

Dan

12 hours ago, micmacmissy said:

 

I think you and I have discussed this before...having lived in NYC, we pretty much avoid all cruise ship "entertainment".  😉  (We avoid the pizza, too!)

I completely understand the pizza comment.  It's the same reason I hardly ever order BBQ ribs anywhere.  They hardly ever live up to what I can do myself.  It's a passion of mine, and has been one of my favorite meals since childhood.

8 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

And don't forget Labadee  you avoid Labadee....  😉

 

 

We're booked on Adventure. 

 

We've been doing old a small ships lately after years of big ones.  My wife adores the small ships,  I like big.  We think Adventure is going to be the happy medium. 

Love, Love, Love the 8 and 9 night ABC itineraries, but I think skipping Labadee is a negative.  (Love chilling at Columbus Cove).  The ABC itineraries out of Florida are at the VERY TIPPY TOP of our desired cruises.  (Especially if they are on a Freedom or Voyager Class ship).  Our 9 night ABC cruise this past March on the newly AMPED Navigator will be hard to ever top.  It was just simply amazing.   I'm super bummer that our spring break schedule this upcoming March doesn't line up with a week that the Adventure is doing an 8 night ABC.  We're "stuck" doing the Liberty out of Galveston to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica.  Still a decent combo and we we really like the Liberty when we sailed her early 2018.

Dan

I think they call them a Kummelweck.  Yummy indeed.

Dan

My trip report details what we did in the ABC's.  We wanted to see the most of Bonaire and Curacao and I think we accomplished that.  There was a little beach time both days, but a LOT of other cool stuff that we did that was not beach related.  In Aruba we did Jolly Pirates snorkling with lunch included.  A fun time but not nearly as good of snorkeling as the other two islands.  We're dreaming of getting back to the ABC islands.

Dan

Great review, and sounds like you really made the most of your time.

You just sailed on what may be our favorite ship in the fleet.  (Royal, please give us an AMPED ship out of North America for longer itineraries!)  Love what Royal is doing to AMP their ships.

Dan

28 minutes ago, vacationlover_mn said:

I have a basic question...  we’ve only started using the Solarium our past maybe 5 cruises...  do all RCI ships have one?  I never used to pay attention to if they had one or not...

Most, if not all do.  They vary a lot by ship though.  Freedom and Voyager class are in a forward portion of the main pool deck and are uncovered.  They have their own pool and hot tubs.  Other ships have glass covered solariums towards the very front of the ship for instance.

11 minutes ago, Tulsacoker said:

shows to be amp in 2020

 

http://www.royalcaribbeanincentives.com/content/uploads/2018-2019-Fleet_Guide.pdf

 

24 minutes ago, vacationlover_mn said:

Has the Freedom dry dock been scheduled?  If so, do you know the date?

January 13-March 7th is it's break in the schedule for the AMPED drydock.

Dan

17 hours ago, kcsavage said:

 We used Ricardo Riley with libertytoursjamaica.com and they were fantastic.   We went to the Blue Hole.   We had our parents and kids along too and everyone had a great time.  One of the best excursions we've ever been on.   Have fun!

Thanks again for the reply.  Can you describe this tour for me? (Blue Hole, specifically with Ricardo)  Did you do anything on the way to the Blue Hole, or after?  I think I read that there is a small hike through woods/jungle to get there?  I'm trying to understand what you all get to do on the Blue Hole tour.  I always love excursions that give us a good appreciation for the islands we visit.  We've done Dunn's River Fall's and Green grotto cave in previous visits so don't need to repeat those.

I'm trying to decide between the Blue Hole or rafting the Martha Brae.  I'm also open to doing both depending on timing and cost.

Thanks.

Dan

 It’s funny you mention this because I just sent a request in to them asking for prices and availability on our date.   I found their name on another thread but I do appreciate the additional  recommendation!  Thanks 

Dan

On 9/22/2019 at 9:57 AM, Host Clarea said:

 

Outside promenade deck with chairs to have a quiet place to enjoy being outside with a view of the water.

 

Viking Crown area open to all guests.

 

Windjammer that is less crowded.

 

Schooner Bar that is a central part of the ship, not a seeming afterthought.

 

Helicopter pad open to all guests.

 

Fitness Center with expansive views (for now).

On 9/22/2019 at 10:03 AM, Host Clarea said:

Forgot to add:

 

Solarium with a real pool.

 

Solarium that is not uncomfortably hot.

On 9/22/2019 at 9:51 AM, VaTech8912 said:

- Have more quiet public areas to  relax in chairs and view the ocean on various decks (promenade deck for example). 

- WJ seems to have better variety and quality of food  (maybe due to ability to server fewer people at once).  Seems less crowded and relaxing.

You both pretty much summed is all up right there.  It's great to see the love for the Freedom and virtually identical (IMO) Voyager class.  I bolded the things most important to us.  

As another poster mentioned, the expanded offering of ports on the Freedom and Voyager classes make a huge difference as well.  LOVED our ABC cruise this past March.

Dan