Crism

Icon cruises are on some of the certificates for August sailings.

Loving this review and can't wait for more. I've got Spectrum in February for the 9 night. I can't wait to eat my way through the Hawker stalls. I'll be rolling ON to the ship! Were you allowed to get the one time eVisa for Vietnam or did they require a full Visa? From what I've read the eVisa should be ok because they have you arriving at the first port and leaving at the last if there are no other countries in beyween. Nothing's been published from Royal yet this far out. We were supposed to do the Royal onboard Visas back in Feb 2020, but it cancelled.

YES YES YEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!! Perfect dates for the Suez trip!

I made an 8:25am flight, no checked bags, coming off the Jewel TA. 🤣

Noon flight is no problem if you get off early, but customs is a ZOO. No facial recognition like a normal closed loop cruise. EVERYONE has to process manually via customs agent.

Brilliance now is Capt Pietro (spelling?) and Staff Captain Heather. Both new permanent positions.

You must be new here...🤣

Not sure but I'm counting the days until they put her back on 7 night cruises! I love love LOVE the ship and the amps!

Everything is posted for Spectrum. Lots of short itineraries, a few 7s, and a 9 over Christmas.

Week of July 24. I had it marked in my calendar!

Woohoo!!! 15 night Singapore to Dubai or 18 night Dubai to Athens. I think it's going to be Singapore to Dubai though. Both are huge bucket list trips! The dates work out better for the 15 nighter.

Oops thanks!

Any word on when the breakdown cruises will go on sale?

I've been to Copenhagen for work, but never cruising. One of my favorite cities...even better than Stockholm in my opinion. I was planning on Voyager last year, but I wasn't able to due to work and training limitations. I'm SO sad they pulled the Baltic. I'd have done it even without St. Pete.

Norway's excursions were fairly cheap last summer. I'm not sure if it was a 2022 only thing. We booked all Royal excursions, and it didn't break the bank. I was completely outpriced by Celebrity 2 weeks ago doing South America around the horn. I did all off-cruise tours that trip. Alaska was a mixed bag last summer. Sitka was small and quiet enough that we could tour the main sites on our own. Bears, animals, etc. Mostly walkable or a short van ride that we purchased in town after the bus ride. Skagway we took the touristy train via Royal excursion just to get us organized and on the thing. Juneau we also did a Royal excursion up to a botanical garden and Mendenhall Glacier. Nothing too exciting, but we wanted to see it all. We did spend half the day touring downtown Juneau on our own before the tour. It's all in what you're interested in seeing. If you can pull off the Jewel from Amsterdam for 12 nights, that was incredible. Going all the way up to Honningsvag and the Arctic Circle was fantastic. We were lucky in June and had awesome weather. Definitely in my top cruises with transatlantics and Panama Canal.

No kids here, but I did both Norway (Jewel 12 nights) and Alaska (Ovation 7 nights) last year and found Norway to be MUCH more beautiful. Alaska is very Americanized and expensive. Norway was quaint, quiet, and mostly off the beaten path of major tourism. That said, I've got Round 2 of Alaska in July of this year to mix it up leaving on Brilliance from Vancouver.

I was on last month and all he did was talk and talk and talk endlessly. Didn't even bother to show up at bellyflop or Quest. Terrible CD in my opinion. Too old and needs to go. I'm on tomorrow...it's the one thing I'm not looking forward to for the week.

Everything looks bookable. Allure on the Miami 4/3 rotation, Freedom in FLL with Grandeur and Oasis. Serenade, Radiance, Enchantment in Tampa. Rhapsody in SJU. Brilliance in New Orleans. Explorer is a nice bump up on 10/11 from Miami from a Vision class ship. Mariner from Galveston. Still nothing for Anthem, Ovation, Quantum, Spectrum which leads me to believe there may be a beautiful reposition of Anthem to Asia somewhere in the plans!

Any rumors on when the World Cruise individual segments may be released?

Starlink now on Grandeur. Too bad the entire day it was 0.04 down and 0.04 up. Tried on a wired Royal computer and it was 61mbps+. This ship desperately needs new access points.

This is partially incorrect. Airlines are not allowed to land the other way in SXM due to the terrain. ALL landings will be over the beach. Some takeoffs MAY be the other direction due to winds, but this is very rare. May I also recommend the Driftwood Bar opposite the Sunset Beach Bar on the other side of the beach. Drinks are slightly cheaper! Public "buses" (vans) run from downtown Philipsburg to Maho for $2. Pickup on Back St. MUCH cheaper than a taxi if you're willing to walk into town and sweat a bit.

I'm absolutely IN for the Singapore to Dubai trip. I was SO envious of that 2018 report! If I can pull it off at work, I may stick around for the Suez to Athens also...knock 2 bucket list trips off together!

Ken Jones just left Radiance this morning for vacation. Not sure who replaced him.

Wonder...I'll take fully enclosed all day, every day!

Such a tough question....I sailed on every type of ship in 2022 so I'll give you my random list of thoughts which turned into a dissertation apparently: Vision Class....I'm here for the itinerary vs. the ship. The shower curtain? No thanks. But a Panama Canal cruise? I'm in! I just got off Grandeur a few weeks ago, and having been on Jewel many times and once again this past June, I definitely prefer the Radiance class vs Vision class. They're VERY similar, but Radiance "fixed" a lot of the smaller details. I wasn't a fan of Enchantment for various reason this past June. I enjoyed Grandeur without the "extra section" they added. Boleros...ugh! Radiance Class...I've only been on Brilliance and Jewel so I can only speak to them, but I'm hopping on Radiance in January. I can't wait! Having been on a number of big ships lately, I'm excited to get on Radiance. Jewel is always a favorite, but that Nascar bar has got to go. They also don't use the space on the aft of the top deck well. It could be converted into something much more useful. Other than that, they REALLY were taking care of the ship back in June our Norway cruise. The staff was awesome and the ship upkeep was perfect. I should also mention...the aft balconies on the Radiance class BLOW AWAY the Voyager and Freedom class. Perfect aft ocean views with no metal obstruction. Radiance and Brilliance have a Pub in place of Jewel's Nascar bar which I much prefer. Voyager/Freedom Class....I group these together because they're virtually identical. However, there's a LARGE variance by ship due to the Amps they've had done. I was on Freedom most recently, and they absolutely killed it. That Playmakers is a game-changer during football season, World Cup games, and any other sports that are on. I love the Promenade, Ice shows, Pub, and theatre shows! Freedom wins over Navigator because of the bigger Playmakers, and Freedom's untouched gym. Poor Navigator's awesome gym in the front was chopped up and put in the aft with the kid's club. Mariner is even worse. Quantum/Quantum Ultra...Grouped together because they're so similar. Odyssey wins this, hands down. Again...I'm a sucker for a Playmakers. However, I really, really enjoyed the shows on Anthem and Ovation this year. Anthem's shows made up for a boring Bahamas/Florida cruise. Ovation's itinerary to Alaska was awesome even though the weather was crummy. I initially didn't like the layout of the ships, but it grew on me. Another mention...this class WINS for the Solarium! Fully enclosed! I also LOVE the stateroom bathrooms and showers here! That giant glass shower is a true winner. Identical to the later Oasis class. One major MINUS? The disaster of dining rooms that are Anthem and Ovation (I've never done Quantum). A+O have 4 separate dining rooms from the Dynamic Dining days, and the line to get in was always a MILE long and the service some nights was terrible. I attribute this to poor layout vs servers though. I started just going to the Windjammer lately to avoid the mess. (And Anthem's cruise was in April and not even full). Oasis....Oh the O class. Another class similar to Voyager/Freedom where each ship has different things to offer. The only ship I have NOT been on is Harmony, but I'm fixing that in January. Favorite ship? HANDS DOWN...SYMPHONY. Entire fleet. I love it. Best shows, hands down. Flight, Hairspray, Hiro. I've been on Wonder...I'm not that impressed. That TV at the pool deck is the worst thing to happen to an Oasis class ship. Positioned over Central Park BLARING movies at 11pm that echo though the CP balconies...woof. Definitely built for China...everything was cheaply done. Public bathroom doors are extremely hard to open...so much so my friend RIPPED the handle off the Deck 4 port side men's bathroom. Shows aren't as good as Symphony either...Voices? Ugh. I do LOVE how they enclosed the Solarium though! Now now...to the older ladies? Allure wins. I tried to love Oasis, but she didn't win my heart over. I love the Amps and the ship was good...but just good. Allure's shows are much better even though she isn't Amped. Mamma Mia was a riot and the cast is perfect for it. The Ice Show was quirky but fun also. The older O's make me want the newer style staterooms and decorations though. What am I a sucker for? Old school Vintages...Gio's Wine Bars have uncomfortable seating and aren't dark and quiet like the Vintages. Awesome Production shows Newer style bathrooms (big glass showers) Unobstructed aft views Ships that offer Giovanni's over Jamie's Italian...Jamie's menu is no good Playmakers Exotic itineraries Any ship Voyager/Freedom class ship with the Diamond Lounge intact in the Viking Crown Ships? 1. Symphony 2. Odyssey - Love the ship. Great crews back in Feb/March of this year. We had a crummy crew for the Halloween TA this year though 😞 3. Jewel - mainly a historical/itinerary perspective. MANY enjoyable trips on her with exotic itineraries. 4. Freedom - I can't wait until she's off 3+4 night cruises! 5. Navigator