Engineroom Snipe

If you get that great price point you like, not having the perfectly located cabin is very easy to handle. As always, be proactive and bring ear plugs and a small white noise machine in case you do not get the quietest of cabins. If you do enough activities and get plenty of fresh air, you will sleep like a zombie anyway. With the money saved, you can have other experiences on the ship or put it towards another cruise. We rarely spend that much time in our cabin except to recharge, shower, and change.

I had a GTY interior on the Enchantment in April 2023. Ended up being one of the best interiors I could ask for on deck 3. It was almost the exact middle front and aft and middle side-to-side. It was in a short hallway so very little foot traffic past our cabin, extremely quiet with little to no motion felt the whole trip. The price was much lower than getting to select my cabin at the time and the choices of cabins were limited. I do not mind gambling a bit with interior cabins but I always select my balconies. Talk about getting a great night's sleep. Enjoy your cruise.

@leaveitallbehind They just changed the lunch hours to only sea days recently. I was going to book one on a port day hoping to have a quiet lunch to find out hours have changed. I do not do UDP so I cannot say if it has been like that for a while. Some people like to maximize their UDP with lunches and dinners. Did Royal cut back lunches only to sea days to save money? I do not know.

In the MDR, the braised lamb can be absolutely great, almost the best I have had in general or it can the the "iffy" which is not good. Depends on the ship and chef of the day.

Normally on Mariner's day of embarkation: Chops Grille opens at 5:30 pm. Chops is open at 12pm for lunch on sea days. Izumi Hibachi opens at 5:30pm. Izumi Sushi opens at 5:30pm. Jamie's Italian opens at 12pm - 1:30pm. Johnny Rockets opens at 11:30am. Hope this helps.

You are correct, I should have clarified that it is not a "must" stop but a convenient way of meeting legal requirements when non US flagged ships start and stop in a US port.

You are correct. My intent that it is an easy port that can hold up to seven ships at a time. As opposed to Coco Cay that can only handle two. Bimini might handle two ships. Nassau can handle a huge amount of port excursions and activities which is key driver of cruise company income.

Yes, the horse is always ready if the discussion is productive. Trumpet playing before the start of a race. "And they're off!" 🐎

I am correcting this post that the port charges are added at the end of the original purchase but they are not advertised in big print when you shop for cruise prices. Another correction would be that gratuities are mentioned at the end of the booking process but again are not calculated into the advertisements for "2 People to a cabin per person cost on the least expensive prices."

The cruise ships that are not American registered must stop at least once during a cruise that originates and returns from an American port. Royal like most cruise lines, saves money when their ships are docked because they are not using their propulsion systems, passengers who bought "Unlimited Dining" and "Unlimited Drinking Packages" are not using those packages when they go ashore. The cruise lines make money from shore excursions from every port they stop in. The cruise lines can transparently keep their "Per Person Cabin Price" the same because the cost of the additional port stops are hidden in "Taxes and Port Fees" which are quietly added at the end of the booking. Just like the four dollar increase in gratuities is not reflected in the "Per Person Cabin Cost" until you check out the last day, the port fees become invisible until you get to the final total. Many of Royal's ships are registered in the Bahamas. This gives them more influence over the ports that they visit in the Bahamas as they seek better financial terms or priority in assigning port docks. I could go on and on but you get the theme I am presenting.

Add on that I forgot that Royal's insurance program provided a "Future Cruise and Air fare Credit, in many cases, you do not get cash back. That is why I use my Travel Agent insurance carrier. There is a whole topic dedicated to insurance and it explains all of the ins and outs of flying, hotel, and cruise fare insurance as they often happen during one cruise.

Only if you book the cruise and air travel through Royal's program will you get refunded for a canceled cruise automatically. I go through a travel agent and get my cruise with insurance. If I am flying, I add additional insurance for the flight. I will have to file for the insurance.

First, thank you for coming back and posting the outcome of your situation. I meticulously followed and replied in your first thread. Due to some of the context of that thread, certain posts were removed but I read them all before they were removed. Good, bad, or indifferent, my original advice was given in good faith. Royal has completely ticked you off with their treatment of the situation. You always have the right to pursue litigation and that is your prerogative. Not many minds will be converted here. Almost all of the posters "for or against" your actions will continue to cruise Royal despite Royal's treating you the way they did. I cannot add anything more to the conversation. I wish the best for you. Regards.

@OCSC Mike I have been watching Coco Cay prices for my April cruise out of Baltimore and they are extremely low compared to previous cruises last year. I am estimating the two ships docked that day have about a 7,000 max capacity. Time of year? Low capacity compared to say an Oasis and Icon which would almost be twice the passenger capacity? Colder water temperatures? I am trying the Hideaway at $19 per person in April. Next November (non-Thanksgiving cruise) on a larger ship, they want $59 per person (discount applied). Dynamic pricing, what a concept! 🤔

And it begins.....

Nothing is for sure at this moment. Lots of flux concerning this port. The cruise contract says the "flux" is up to Royal to interpret. I was in Haiti in 1989 for a seven day cruise out of Miami. I was with another military officer and his wife on their honeymoon. Everywhere we went, they keep saying, "Rambo, do you want something?" Most probably it was our haircuts and body language which they are very attuned to. Very concerning as we tried to keep a low profile upon our decision to go back to the ship.We were worried about our spouses. We could take care of ourselves but did not want to put them in any type of jeopardy which was supposed to be a "perfect" vacation for us and a honeymoon for them. This is not a new situation.

One thread just slowed down this week titled, "Anyone Else Considering Leaving RCL over Prices?" 331 replies and 14.5K views. In so many words, it seems like for this year at least, the prices do not go down significantly in most cases. There is a bit of softening with Royal dangling some onboard credit during "sales" periods but no significant price decreases. @mets123 stated a good option. Book fully refundable fares and make a decision about four months out to cancel if you do not see the final price within your budget. Everyone has talked about the significant increases and it is affecting many cruisers.

Weekly postings have occurred for months documenting cruise ships obeying Maritime Laws demanding that they provide rescue at sea for those in distress on international waters.

I was there when two large ships were docked. We docked first and left the ship as soon as we were allowed to. At the free pool by about 8am. We walked and swam our 90 minutes of exercise in an empty pool until about 9:30am when noticeable crowds moved in. The crowds increased constantly and it was difficult for groups of four or more people to find a spot to park by 10:45am. There were loungers and umbrellas available but maybe two here and four there. Some larger families looked a bit irritable that they could not find seats near the pool. I do not know if they were the second ship or just late arrivals from our ship. At about 2pm, people started to go back to the ship and there was plenty of room for everyone. We stayed until about 4pm as the request was to be aboard by 4:30pm. The weather was sunny with occasional clouds and a moderate to light wind. All for free. The food was better than what we had onboard at a regular Windjammer Lunch.

Survival of the most popular or financially fittest seems to be a good observation. I am going in your mental direction. I am not saying it is wrong, just not going in the direction I would like. Again, lamenting being left behind as Royal goes in a new direction as they try to survive a pandemic extinction event. I have other opportunities as I cruise less with Royal. It is what it is.

Agree to disagree in a polite discussion which I DO appreciate. You will not change my mind nor I will change yours. But we can discuss and present reasonable thoughts without attacking each other personally. I like that.

The Vision is one of the smaller ships with about 2,400 passenger maximum capacity. I looked fleetingly at an August 8, 2024 out of Baltimore. Decisions not to book for me were obvious. Summer cruises almost always sail full and Royal is advertising the "Kids Sail Free" program for that cruise (this was before the current all ships today). The Vision has only one pool and four hot tubs in the non-solarium area. There is a rock climbing wall and not much else. Just not many activities if the ship sails with a large quantity of children. They will have nothing better to do than run in the passageways if they are bored. I went on an Oasis Cruise out of Bayonne in September, 2023, thinking most children would be in school. If I did not check my calendar, I would have thought it was July with it being heavily booked with children. The time of the month is not predictable anymore like you stated.

I am not so optimistic considering the size of their recently completed ships and those on order. Historically, Royal has only built larger ships as time goes by. I am not ignoring where Royal is putting their major investments and I am not aware of any mid-size or smaller size ships being in the pipe line.

Some people found swimming with the pigs to be "repugnant" so they changed it to swimming with adorable pug dogs. Now charging twice as much. 🤣

I think most of the cruisers posting here do live in the current reality. There is high demand now. Royal is moving its customer base to a younger family demographic. I always weigh the vacation experience against the price point and in their own different style, I see that in every post. Sometimes reality sucks. 😑