twangster

My photos are offline while I hunt for a new hosting provider.

The genie contacted me in advance and told me to book CT and Hibachi if I wanted them for a group dinner as they are more likely to fill up. Genie email: **************************************************************** I want to ensure that you have the full gastronomic experience you desire, so I would like to confirm your preferred dining time. Should your dining time conflict with any of the awesome shows that we have in store for you (show schedules are yet to be confirmed), I will tweak your dining time as required so as to allow you to have a leisurely dinner either before or after a show. While we always endeavor to fulfill all your requests, please understand that due to reduced seating capacity in our restaurants , last-minute requests may not always be possible. If I may kindly ask whether you are travelling with any family or friends, who may be joining you for dinner. I would highly recommend you to book Hibachi and Chef's Table online at https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked if you are interested in sharing a table and meeting other guests because these are the only restaurants that we cannot confirm ahead of time due to its limited seating, the Hibachi table seats a maximum of 10 guests whereas Chef's Table seats a maximum of 16 guests. All reservations open up online prior to the remaining inventory being available on board a day before your sailing. We will process your refund once you are onboard. **Important**: Chef's Table has a charge of $25 per Star Class Guest and this is for the wine served at the Wine Pairing that is not included in the Beverage Package for Star Class Guests. The rest of the restaurants have a larger seating capacity hence I can confirm the reservations well in advance.

Except Hibachi and Chef's Table. They sell out and once on board the genie can't fix that so they advise Star guests to buy them at regular cruise planner rates and the genie refunds it on board.

When Quantum went to Asia they yanked the Broadway show (Mamma Mia!) well short of it's normal contract end. I recall during an entertainment tour backstage on another ship the black shirt talking about the process to get the set off the ship and ship it back to the US. Took a month. That's how Mamma Mia! ended up on Allure.

I'm curious if WWRY on Anthem will reach the end of the contract in 2025. Royal seems to be done with Broadway shows or in this case a West End show and paying all those license fees. That can also hamper deploying a ship if the production company that owns the rights to the show has a say in the region where Royal can offer the show. Anthem may have been captive to the greater NYC area and the UK because of WWRY. If they don't renew it then they are free to send her anywhere.

The same Michael Bayley who stated Icon would sail from the UK first?

Maybe they were confusing the old Empress Schooner Bar? It was full width.

Like they say for the trivia contests on a streaming radio channel I listen to... "You win pride, not prize!"

If you are a foodie you may find the food is mediocre on any mass market cruise line. It's hard to prepare 4,000 to 6,000 meals three times a day and be gourmet about it. Food is subjective but keep expectations real for mass market cruising in general. I have cruised a fair bit on many different lines but mostly one US mass market line. MSC is trying to break into the US market since they have historically had a bigger presence in Europe. IMO they still have to adapt a few things before they'll be able to become a serious player in the US cruise market. With that understanding I still book MSC and have more bookings on them right now compared to the other US centric lines where I have done a lot of cruising. This is primarily because they are less expensive as they try to lure cruisers away from the other US centric lines. That approach is working with me and I tolerate the differences knowing I'm saving a bunch. There are things to like and dislike about every cruise line. On one hand it's great to save money with a bargain fare but when booking or buying the cheapest anything in life you can't use that one experience to judge other options that cost more. Enjoy a bargain but keep an open mind.

Don't forget the visuals. At night with the curtains open everyone can see into the rear facing loft suites. On the side facing loft suites you can leave the curtains open and no one can see in, until you reach port and then only guests on the upper decks of tall ships have a chance to look in from across the pier. On a sea day it's great waking up to ocean views from the two story glass wall of a side facing loft suite.

But that's kind of the point. MSC has brand recognition in Europe and they are adding a lot of capacity on new ships that will drain the market and make it hard for a line like Royal to take any market share. On a typical Royal Europe cruise there is usually a decent size American guest count. It might not be a majority but it's always a significant number of the passengers. Will Americans cruise Europe in the winter? If not that lobs off a big number of guests. Combine that with MSC putting new ships into play and that MSC has more brand awareness it's likely that many Europeans will book MSC new ships over Royal not-new ships.

Back in December I booked the Seaside for this coming May. I talked a friend into booking their own cabin. Approaching final payment my friend noticed his fare went up ~$82 since we booked in December. Checking my booking I had the same ~$82 rate increase. The two bookings are separate and not linked. I have the original booking confirmation email from December and it clearly shows the rate I booked under. Now the cruise invoice is showing a total that is ~$82 more. Granted it's a cheap 3 night Seaside to OC overnight in a guarantee interior. It included Easy Plus and wifi. It was a great rate but that doesn't mean they should be able to arbitrarily increase the fare for a confirmed booking months after booking it. My booking included the prepaid the hotel service charge. My friend's booking did not include the hotel service charge. Both went up the same ~$82. Anyone else seeing unexplained price increases for confirmed bookings?

The year round Europe market is only so big. With MSC, Costa and others offering year round Med based cruises that may satisfy all the demand there is. If Royal stays all they can hope for is for some portion of the year round market to sail with Royal while many cruisers will stick to their home brands, like MSC, Costa and P&O who have brand recognition in the region. With Royal the one consistent factor in where they deploy their ships is where can the asset make more money. It's not good enough to say there is some demand here or there, or that they can turn a profit. If they can make more money with a ship somewhere else that is where Royal will send their ships. That shouldn't be perceived as not caring about a region or a lack of interest, it's only about making the most money with the asset.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/media-assets/pmc/content/dam/menus/en/chefdinner/CHEFDINNER.pdf CHEFDINNER.pdf This was identical to Chef's Table in December except the wines were different. I imagine wines will change based on availability.

A couple of years ago after boarding a Royal ship in PEV I saw a Carnival ship in the berth next to terminal 18 having it's outdoor screen replaced. They had a crane lifting several large crates onto the pool deck. It's not something they would break down and try to bring all the pieces up through ship elevators or take all the old screen pieces off the ship using ship elevators. Some pieces might not even fit through inside spaces or a ship elevator. Several bins and crates of equipment were lifted by crane to the pool deck. Before going to Cape Liberty a few weeks later this is probably high on the list of possibilities. They might also also need to clean the ship's hull before she starts heading into Canadian waters from Bayonne. That's another possibility.

I don't think it's a fixed time or predictable. Sometimes when a cabin is cancelled it isn't made available to the public. They could be in a near capacity situation, oversold or they may have a need for a contractor on board who needs a cabin. There are many reasons why a cabin that becomes available isn't offered for sale. Depending on factors for each sail date the result is unpredictable.

Pretty windy in Central Florida yesterday, same winds probably made it to South Florida later in the afternoon.

When I booked a B2B for the holidays the refundable balcony rate was the same rate as the NRD rate for balcony. Not only was it a great rate but it was also fully refundable. That has since been adjusted. Refundable is more than NRD and rates for both have gone up. For whatever reason when Adventure first opened up for booking the last time new itineraries were released it was cheap. Then again the same could be said for Voyager from PCN that they later redeployed to Texas. Voyager had great refundable rates when it first opened for 2023 bookings.

Sea, Sky and Star are the three levels of suites in the Royal Suites Class program. Complimentary Voom in a suite is a feature of Sky and Star Class. Only Quantum, Oasis and presumably Icon class are Royal Suite Class ships. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-rooms/royal-suite-class BOOK YOUR ROYAL SUITE CLASS NOW ON ALLURE OF THE SEAS ANTHEM OF THE SEAS HARMONY OF THE SEAS OASIS OF THE SEAS ODYSSEY OF THE SEAS OVATION OF THE SEAS QUANTUM OF THE SEAS SPECTRUM OF THE SEAS SYMPHONY OF THE SEAS WONDER OF THE SEAS Older ships before Oasis class are not part of the Royal Suite Class program. For example there is no Sky or Star Class on Freedom class, or Voyager class, or Radiance class, or Vision class. Therefore there is no complimentary Voom for any suite on the older ships. Should the older ships offer complimentary Voom for full suites? In my personal opinion yes! When asked about it Michael Bayley pointed out that suites are so much less expensive on older ships that those cheap fares can't include complimentary Voom.

iMessage usually works great with a paid Voom internet plan. Without a paid Voom internet plan you will get exactly what you paid for while trying to use iMessage - nothing.

$15.99 per day on Brilliance in May.

Paid version at Dawes. I'll avoid posting the pictures that Royal uses. Here is one they didn't pick up. 10am time slot. I had also booked a complimentary ride that was the first complimentary ride after the paid ones in Endicott Aem. We were almost back to the Inside Passage but still in Endicott Arm. I don't think they do complimentary rides at sea anymore, just while in port recently. Pictures don't do it justice.

I did North Star at both Dawes Glacier and Hubbard Glacier in 2019. Royal negotiated the rights to use some of my photos that I often see in Alaska promotional material, on the website, social media feeds and in marketing emails. The biggest issue at Dawes is timing. The moment the ship is closest to the glacier and turns varies one week to the next so picking the right time for booking North Star has some luck factored into it. I ended boarding right as the ship was turning and starting to head back down Endicott Arm. Folks who booked the one after me or the one after that would have seen less of the glacier and more of the narrowest parts of Endicott Arm which is still pretty special.

Maybe Harmony will get a Playmakers in a future dry dock. I could see that being of interest to folks.

At CocoCay the ship wifi is extended onto the island. That is not currently available at Labadee so without ship wifi at Labadee the free chat in the app won't work at Labadee.