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Everything posted by twangster
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Deployment 2025-26 booking season begins
twangster replied to SummmerInKefalonia's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Keep an eye on April 3 - 16. This isn’t official yet but a potential cruise that might be offered. 13 Night Sydney To Singapore, Ovation Of The Seas Apr 3 - Apr 16 -
Someone explain this to me.
twangster replied to TheLargeFamily's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Cabins are assigned to a muster station. Muster stations are assigned to specific lifeboats. Every soul on board requires a seat in a lifeboat. This design criteria impacts their ability to make cabins that can sleep large numbers and where they can be located within muster zones. It would be wasteful to make every cabin capable of sleeping four, or five, or six, but limiting bookings to satisfy the lifeboat criteria as different sized families book cabins. So they fix cabin capacity to maximize potential guests versus lifeboat seats distributing guests around the ship in what can result in an imperfect solution as it relates to large groups. The current outcome has been arrived at over decades of ship building with a lot of data behind the typical sized groups that book cabins. The need to accommodate a party of eight split between two adjoining cabins of the same cabin type must not be a design criteria they feel is a requirement that will be in demand often enough, or the few such possible cabins that can accommodate this have been booked and you don’t see them available, or perhaps the request has been more popular for interior cabins since large family groups might seek to save money. -
Deployment 2025-26 booking season begins
twangster replied to SummmerInKefalonia's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Signs of Ovation Sydney to Singapore April 3 - 16, 2025 but with so many changes to her I can't tell if this is a remnant of a former deployment or signs of a potential new one. -
Deployment 2025-26 booking season begins
twangster replied to SummmerInKefalonia's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Do we have Jewel going to Fort Lauderdale from April 2025 through October 2025? Potential signs of her joining the short Florida market with an occasional Key West visit vs. the standard 3/4 Monday-Friday-Monday Nassau-PDCC. -
We only crossed the Drake near the end after leaving Antarctica. The route to the Falklands and South Georgia at the beginning of the cruise is not part of the Drake passage. The Insta360 and a GoPro are not, in my opinion, great still cameras. I use them for the unique perspective that can't be achieved with a conventional camera. I've all but left the GoPro platform. I have a hero9 but it rarely sees any use these days. The vast majority of my photos are from my Sony full frame camera with the smaller point and shoot accounting for the second most frequently used pictures in this thread. The point and shoot does fine at wide angles but in a place like Antarctica a long telephoto lens is king. There were computers (iMacs) next to the photo studio but since I brought my laptop I never ventured in to use them. I went to many lectures but not all lectures. Sometimes I needed some down time or time to work on my photos and running this thread pretty much live most of the time. How interesting the lectures are will vary by each individual. I learned something in every lecture I attended.
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Maintaining the same cabin is desirable but at the same time sometimes when I am on the same ship for long periods of time I like to move cabins to change it up a bit. Moving cabins isn't that hard so it's not really a big deal, it's a few hours on turn around day when you are stuck in port anyways. Being in the same cabin for more than a month can get old. Because there are no booking incentives or discounts for consecutive cruises you can sometimes find that a particular cabin type is a good deal for one and a terrible rate for the next. I've sometimes had a balcony then moved to an interior then into a suite. I shop deals and I won't pay outrageous fares just to keep the same cabin. All consecutive cruises are treated like individual cruises by Royal. Each onboard account has to be closed as a cruise completes. New seapass cards for each cruise. Make sure to call once all consecutives are booked and have Royal or yout TA note that you are a consecutive cruiser.
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FCC, are they transferable?
twangster replied to Seville2Cabo's topic in Royal Caribbean International
There are many types of FCC and for a brief period they allow some FCC from pandemic cancellations to be transferred. Since there are several different types of FCC there is no blanket statement that applies to each type, -
I didn't find boot cleaning process to be a problem or require the use of fingernails or toothbrushes. I brought new boots with me just like the ones they rent. Boots are stored in the mud room where the crew will go over them overnight when required. The Wind had a boot wash machine you walk over while rubbing your boots in the machine. There was also manual boot cleaning brushes and water to rinse them after the boot wash machine if you had something stubborn on your boots. After that you were in the mud room where you take off the boots and put on the footwear you used to walk from your suite down to the mudroom. This live trip report has photos of the boot wash machine and mud room on the Wind: Boot wash machine: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2979890-live-from-the-winds-of-antarctica-dec-19-2023/?do=findComment&comment=66617765 and the mud room: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2979890-live-from-the-winds-of-antarctica-dec-19-2023/?do=findComment&comment=66672033 Expedition cruising isn't for everyone. Personally I love nature of expedition cruising and the opportunities to see things you can't see on a non-expedition cruise while staying in luxury accommodations. If that isn't your thing that's okay too. To each their own. Antarctica and The Galapagos are my top two cruises ever and it would be very difficult to experience these destinations on anything but a ship.
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Deployment 2025-26 booking season begins
twangster replied to SummmerInKefalonia's topic in Royal Caribbean International
When NCL Breakaway+ class stop in Cabo they consume all of the local tender boats leaving other ships to tender using their own boats. Great if on NCL, sucks if on any other line. Maybe a Q class will negotiate the same treatment. -
Sorry to hear about your mother. Good call buying travel insurance.
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RCCL announces new addition coming.
twangster replied to JJK2008's topic in Royal Caribbean International
He went on to say (under his breath) "... and we are dreaming of the biggest prices the industry has ever seen." -
Luxury cruise line that's Royal-ish??
twangster replied to chill6x6's topic in Royal Caribbean International
I imagine a luxury line being Royal-ish would be the grounds for a complaint thread. “I booked luxury line xyz and it was just like Royal!” “Bait and switch!!!” -
I was hoping to win the lottery this week. Didn’t happen. That’s about equal to the opportunity to expect CK added on this class.
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Basic maritime maintenance, the true purpose of all dry docks.
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Is Travel Agent Charging Sales Tax Legit?
twangster replied to Soundview77's topic in Royal Caribbean International
I had a TA do something similar. Then the crane fell on Oasis. What I discovered was that from Royal‘s perspective my cruise fare was that lower amount that the TA had identified as being the cruise fare and the sales tax amount was basically the agency commission, markup, profit and maybe a few other things. This became important because when it came time to issue the 100% FCC that Royal offered for canceling the cruise when the crane fell on Oasis, my cruise fare was that lower amount and that was the basis of how Royal determined my FCC. Everyone else who booked on the website or a reputable TA received a much higher FCC while my FCC was lower because of the wholesale or whatever funky rate the TA used in obtaining my cruise fare. The overall cruise total was correct, but the portion that Royal decided was the cruise fare was lower through this TA, and therefore my FCC was lower. -
2 bookings I paid deposits on I no longer need
twangster replied to davidrlewis2302's topic in Royal Caribbean International
The change fee is applied inconsistently. It’s classically Royal. -
Passport card - Wonder of the Seas
twangster replied to Mkripke's topic in Royal Caribbean International
I routinely cruise from Port Canaveral using a passport card. That is for round-trip cruises. I have the passport book which stays safe within my backpack. I use the passport card because it is much more durable and can ride around in my pocket without getting damaged. -
Permanent change to lounge access?
twangster replied to BND's topic in Royal Caribbean International
My personal thoughts are anything less than 1,400 or double pin as some call it, is basically junior pinnacle level. I think Royal avoids using a point level as the threshold since then it becomes a new level in an already too-many-levels loyalty program. I think they are trying to use top X such as top 30 regardless what their actual points tally is. -
Permanent change to lounge access?
twangster replied to BND's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Some Pinnacle do this but it's not like it's taught in Pinnacle school rather they do it because they are frequent cruisers who are trying not to sit alone with their partner. They don't do it to exclude anyone intentionally, that is more of a reaction from folks like myself who don't normally look to participate in group sessions like this. It doesn't bother me they do it, it's just not my thing, so I tend not to join in. I've been invited into the circle as a stranger so it's definitely not exclusionary by nature. If anyone walked up to available chairs and introduced themselves or simply asked to join them I'm confident they would welcome you regardless of your suite-ness or CAS level. In my neighborhood there are certain houses that tend to gather in someone's garage and before you know it there are several couples sitting around a table or in a circle in the same garage night after night or every several days. It's very similar. I'm not in their circle of garage friends but I'm pretty sure I could be if I wanted to be. -
Heated pools on Independence?
twangster replied to FusionMJM's topic in Royal Caribbean International
They can heat fresh and/or sea water. Sea water is typically used for guest pools but some ships can produce enough fresh water for a pool if the circumstances warrant it. On Oasis class for example the Aqua Theater pool is fresh water for the benefit of the eyes of the performers. When ships are in colder climates such as Alaska the outdoor pools are heated. That same ship when in a warm climate such as the Caribbean will not typically heat the pools. Recently in a cold climate I saw an outdoor pool being filled. A few hours later it was open and it felt like warm bath water. It wasn't as hot as the hot tubs but it was quite pleasant to swim in the pool. The air temperature was within a few degrees of freezing. -
Deployment 2025-26 booking season begins
twangster replied to SummmerInKefalonia's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Yet other cruise lines manage.