twangster

Recently on Grandeur out of Tampa we retained the Starlink Miami gateway city for the whole cruise including while at Cozumel and Costa Maya.

Last year I was on Radiance out of Tampa.  Itinerary was Cozumel and Costa Maya.  A pinnacle friend was on Mariner out of Canaveral with the same itinerary on the same days.  We met at each port. 

Radiance changed to Starlink Mexico City as the gateway city once we were near the top of Cuba.  Mariner stayed on Starlink Miami as the gateway city for the whole cruise.

Since that time Starlink has launched many more v2 mini satellites which may be facilitating more satellite-to-satellite hopping so that more ships might retain Miami as their gateway city.  I think they also beefed up the Miami gateway site so more ships can use it as opposed to Atlanta as a gateway city.  If you start on Atlanta you may run into a distance limitations forcing the switch to Mexico gateway cities along the way. 

The point is that Starlink continues to build out the constellations and ground sites.  What someone experienced in 2022 or 2023 may not be what will be experienced in 2024 or 2025. 

Despite that some itineraries, South America, Panama Canal, etc, will not always stay on US Starlink gateway cities.  So you may at times appear to be in another country.  

15 minutes ago, Jkaczanowski said:

So the saga continues…  I sent an email to shoreside today (5 days out) asking who our genie is and when I can expect to hear from him/her.  Get an email from our onboard genie within an hour.  Somehow onboard genie sent the email to my 16 year old child’s email account they don’t use.  Please explain how shoreside has been communicating with me, but onboard sends welcome email to a totally different email?   But it gets better.  Her itinerary is completely different from what I had arranged with shoreside.  Coastal Kitchen night 1 has been replaced with Jamie’s (we like filet night at coastal), lunch at Izumi Sushi (we don’t eat sushi and had Chops planned) and playmakers (had Jamie’s planned), and our dining times have changed to earlier (I ride flowrider and am not getting off early before they close).  So now 5 days before our cruise, I’m having to get this all fixed.  Hopefully there’s still availability for Coastal night 1 at our requested time for 7 people (we have the 4 br villa suite) as concierge sent out their email yesterday morning.  
 

This is not the experience we’ve had in our other 7 or 8 star class cruises.  Not sure what the point of shoreside is when so much was wrong 5 days out.  Not happy.

 

That's so Royal.

Despite being Pinnacle, lead guest on a reservation, the person who booked it and the person who pays for it all, Royal will send RoyalUp emails to my cabin mates but not to me.  A minor child with no credit card?  Sure, send them the RoyalUp email!

If you really don't want to be recognized on your 700 cruise just book a 3 or 4 night cruise to be your 700 cruise and there will be no Top Tier event 🙂.

Then next cruise after you will have all the Pinnacle perks.  

Congrats @watcher_62 and @Ashland.

Gold to Emerald - Soda package

Diamond/Diamond Plus - Refreshment Package

Pinnacle - Deluxe Beverage Package

< putting on my steel suit of armor now > 

🙂 

I think every cruiser should experience Oasis class at least once in their cruising career.  

For more than a decade they were in a class by themselves because no one had a ship that came anywhere close to them.  Even now while some other lines have ventured into the mega ship arena, they did so by copying Oasis class.  There is a reason for that.  Oasis was the original game changer and still is.

You won't know if it's your thing, too big, too much to do, too many venues, too many people, etc. until you try it.  Each of us is different with different likes, dislikes, preferences, tolerances, etc. 

Try it and then you'll know if it's for you.  If it is there are many more in the class, each unique in their own ways.  If not, you tried it and now you know.

Don't listen to my opinion, you are not me.  Make your own opinion.

I thought a took a picture but can't find it.  There was a guest in the cabana infinity pool who was up to his neck.  He may have had his legs bent.  It didn't look like a wading pool.  I have one reserved in Oct.   I'll know for sure then.  

An added benefit of Royal Caribbean productions is that many of them only restrict flash photography.  Broadway shows come with restrictions that often don’t allow guests to take pictures.  
 

For a modern cruise line having guests post awesome experience photos to social media helps to sell the experience.  
 

This isn’t the only factor involved but it’s one factor.  

Have gone both ways, different classes of ships (Vision and Radiance Class).

The actual lock experience was the same, just in reverse. Equally enjoyable both times.

Sometimes the ports of call beyond Panama are different so check that out.  

Some months are hotter or dryer, but it rains a lot there, at least it should, most months.  Weather is never a sure thing.   Some months have longer daylight hours which can be a plus as the transit is long, a full day typically.  

24 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

Does Utopia not have a Broadway show? I thought it got Wizard of Oz. Or was that the Icon?

No Broadway show on Utopia and while Icon does have Wizard, it isn't from Broadway, it's Royal's adaptation.  Still pretty great though.  

Booked OA.  Pretty great rate for an unusual cabin.  The reduced single supplement is very real.  Saved a bunch compared to what two would pay.  
 

Yesterday there was a super cheap solo GTY for both interior and OV.  Those increased ~$30 today, but still attractive.  
 

For 2024 it’s a bargain and still available in many categories.  4D balconies became available today.  

Aqua show, ice show and theater.  I’ve stopped going to comedy due to hit or miss comedians.  Some use same old stuff for years, some think swearing makes them funny.  I’m okay with cuss words, but they make no one funny. 
 

Note sure if you are 3 or 4 night.  
 

At least in the case of Oasis it's an odd 3 nighter, leaving Thursday, back on Sunday.  That means a lot of weekenders can't book it without more time off work.  It's immediately after a TA so they are doing it to bring Oasis into sync for her regular home port rotation. 

The odd departure day of the week means deals for us.

Interesting in that the CAS balcony discount appears to be combinable, at least for Oasis Nov. 7 2024.

FL Pinnacle rate $432.77 ($0 OBC) for a 5D balcony

   5D BOGO60 NRD , Balc Suite NRD , Resident NRD , Singles NRD

FL No CAS rate $499.77 ($50 OBC) for a 5D balcony

    5D BOGO60 NRD , Resident NRD , Singles NRD , OBC NRD

2 hours ago, Ken at the beach said:

I would not count on it since you only paid for one person and there was no additional supplement

Historically as long as "Singles NRD" appears on the booking then double points applies. 

The Royal app will have the location of your muster station once checked in prior to boarding.  

Look for the "Safety" icon under "more" at the bottom of the app.

Quantum class is often a good class to go with a GTY as long as you won't be disappointed if you get exactly the cabin type you booked.

This class is mostly balcony cabins.  There aren't very many interior or oceanview compared to the number of balcony cabins.  Consequently ending up with a balcony can occur from an interior or oceanview GTY booking. 

That isn't guaranteed to occur, but compared to other classes of ships it does occur from time to time.  

CAS status has no bearing on GTY assignments.  Each GTY booking is assigned without any consideration to anything other than satisfying the cabin type booked at a minimum.  Each assignment is done independently.  

Got the call last week for my Reflection sailing this week.  The X equivalent of a suite concierge (but the shoreside team) calls each Zenith member to review any needs for an upcoming cruise.

Caller ID says Royal Caribbean but if you see a call coming in from Royal just before an X cruise it's probably the X suite/zenith shoreside team calling to review your needs for the cruise.  

LOL.  That would work well.  People eating at slots.  Sticky buttons.  

How does everyone feel about the Crown Lounge on the Boardwalk?

Easy access to the Carousel...

2 hours ago, OdieCarol said:

We just returned from B2B on the Harmony and found out real quickly what ‘not Pinnacle enough” meant. It’s the first time we were completely shut out from Coastal Kitchen - not even one night was allowed. At 911 points we were surprised it meant nothing. The Loyalty Ambassador seemed miffed that we even asked about the cut off line. He informed us between suites guests and casino masters it’s unlikely we would be allowed in Coastal Kitchen going forward.  So free internet and one extra drink and bottle wine was the only real difference between us and Diamond+. It was really a bit of a let down and like some previous posters stated, we are hoping for a refreshing change on our future Celebrity cruises. Although we may not get full Zeneth benefits, we don’t get full pinnacle benefits with Royal anymore either. 

The full premium drink package on X is pretty great compared to the one extra drink Pinnacle get on Royal.  

The cow is gone on Freedom.   No more obstructed view so the perks with the former sweet room are also gone.  
 

It’s now a Royal branded ice cream venue.   

8 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Thanks for clarifying. I was directing my comments at JS's as that was the category being discussed.  The suite benefits are different based on level of suite category, with the highest offering more. But I believe within those categories the benefits are consistent.

Full suites don't include Voom on most classes.  However on Quantum, Oasis and Icon Voom is included with full suites.

With full suites on Quantum class you don't get complimentary beer and wine from 11am to 11pm in the suite lounge while Oasis and Icon class does include beer and wine complimentary 11am to 11pm.

Some classes have an extensive suite sun deck, some classes have no or minimal outdoor suite area.

Coastal Kitchen as you mentioned, versus breakfast only for full suites on older classes.

14 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

I think the only inconsistency is with regards to access to Coastal Kitchen, but that is because not all ships have that venue.  What other inconsistencies are there regarding JS benefits?

I was referring to suite amenities in general.  JS have very few suite benefits on any ship.  Slightly bigger cabin, extra CAS points.   

8 minutes ago, ocdb8r said:

Just off 7 nights on the Explorer out of Ravenna and no lobster night on this 7-night cruise....

No complimentary Caribbean lobster on European cruises. Never has been.  

Wow so many uninformed and ignorant opinions in this thread.  Feelings hurt anyone?   
 

It’s more complex than Norway, which as a country capitalizes on oil as much as it can or some ER dinosaurs doing their best to increase emissions with short sighted look at me FB actions.  

3 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

 

Demand pricing and dynamic pricing are synonyms which are always compared to "supply and demand" pricing.

 

Everyone, everywhere, stop cruising for one year, I want a highly discounted cruise!

 

😉

let me know which year and I’ll join you. 
 

doh! That defeats the purpose.  You first!