Engineroom Snipe

There are many images and videos of the outside of the ICON as it entered Miami port on web and You Tube. Since you know where your current room is, possibly scour them to see what RCI is talking about. The "cleaning" equipment is probably in its 'resting' place during the port entry. Just a thought after reading your post.

I am not doubting your opinion because I have read on CC about so many itineraries being changed on short or no notice and other things like weather, civil unrest, or sickness onboard not being mentioned. Do you know of any sites which keep track of itinerary changes? That information would be interesting to peruse. Kind of like a J.D. Powers consumer survey, "Which class of current Royal ships is most reliable to complete their itinerary without scheduling changes?"

I remember some very fine dining in MDR over the past 35 years on Royal and you are correct that maybe things in the rear view mirror seem "closer than you think". I am not expecting much anymore. All I am expecting now is consistency. I do not pay suite prices so I am not going to Coastal Kitchen. I still appreciate and celebrate when I do get a better than average meal experience onboard. Those celebrations just seem to be happening less often since the start-up. Yes, I had some misses before on cruises but I had many more celebrations. From many postings, buying an unlimited dining package is not always a guarantee for better meal experiences. I will cruise again after this year but for now, unless I get an outstanding value. If the price is low enough, I can tolerate misses and shortcomings. I will lower my expectations with the price.

On each I have in my planner, the "suggested original retail price (without the discounts) is different from about $95 to $105. From there, throughout a year of tracking, the best deal I have seen is 30% off the per-person original retail price with one exception: We have been offered 35% off certain cruises at certain times of the year under a "Senior Discount" which requires, as best I can figure it out, all of the occupants of one cabin are over 65 years of age. I do not know if it applies to anyone else booked in the cabin or suite. I realize the the price per day is the ultimate hard dollar calculation but after years of tracking, the percentage rarely exceeds 30% off the original retail 100% price per person.

Agreeing with @Tree_skier. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/celebrity-cruises-captains-club-loyalty-program You will be at Diamond level with 'Royal'. Add on, one day each person per cruise internet access. There are some smaller perks beyond these but the major ones have been noted, just go to the Crown and Anchor benefits page and look under the Diamond (not +) benefits.

Yet another item in the "included with the cruise price" disappearing. 😢😭😉

+1 !!!

If you have the unlimited drink package, I would get a shot of Bailey's and slide in with that caramel! 🤫

Oasis, September 2023, Escape room was $29/per person. I enjoyed it.

The OP opted for the unlimited dining package to enhance their options above the standard free meals. This would bother me more knowing that I spent additional monies beyond the standard cruise fare and it did not seem to matter to the final enjoyment of the meal experiences. Another point to consider a "3 meal package" during Black Friday Discounts. If the meals are good at the specialty restaurants, it might be worth it to book the remainder at onboard prices. If they fail to deliver, you can call it quits on specialty dining and survive on MDR rations. I have never gone hungry on a cruise but I have had some bad food experiences over the years. A thought to work around this problem.

I feel as I am at the poker table of the Gambler (1980). https://genius.com/2484202/Kenny-rogers-the-gambler/You-got-to-know-when-to-hold-em-know-when-to-fold-em-know-when-to-walk-away-and-know-when-to-run-you-never-count-your-money-when-youre-sittin-at-the-table-therell-be-time-enough-for-countin-when-the-dealings-done. Every cruise price and experience is getting what you are willing to gamble on it. 😉

There were vibrations noted but no noise. Highly unlikely with the few shipboard experiences I have encountered regarding honeymooners. 🤣

Radial or bias-ply? Static or dynamic balancing? One has to be over 50 year of age to even remember those questions. 😁

There could be a ground fault vibration there (earth quake). 😄

Many years ago, the "economy" chains of hotels had a mechanical vibrator attached to the bed called at the time, "Magic Fingers", that could be activated for about 15 minutes for a Quarter. Everyone tried it if just for "What the heck is 'Magic Fingers'?" There might be small but niche market for this room. 🤑

Your observation about how many credits are left in the system is accurate. To the best of my calculations, most of them had to be applied to cruises by last December of 2023. The spring and early summer of 2024 still seem to be strong but not as good as 2023. Big wildcards, long time repeat cruisers maybe considering a test of another line. First time cruisers might not repeat at the same price. The summer bookings are strong but not at the high prices of last year. 2025 prices are soft. One year at a time.

Three cruises after reopening before the menu change: I attributed the lack of quality of the food to supply chain issues and getting the dining crew fully staffed. The food was adequate at best. I did not go hungry but there was nothing special about it. Three cruises after the menu change: The first two were adequate with the last one in November showing noticeable improvement in the quality of the food and its preparation. Again, food is subjective and crews constantly change so the experience can be very different for someone else. I have said many times that all ships have had the same reduced menu for the MDR for almost a year, but there seems to not be any consistency from one week to the next or one ship to another. Since reopening, on a 1 to 10 scale, my cruises have been between 3.5 to 8.5 concerning food: no consistency.

A very plausible explanation. The show is extremely complex (and loud). There was one cruise on the Oasis in September 2022 that had the show shutdown. All kinds of rumors about sickness or performer problems. I was on that cruise and saw many actions concerning the Aqua Theater each and everyday as I walked about on deck 5. The end result was hydraulic fluid from the jumping platforms in the waters contaminating the visibility in the water. The safety divers who make sure all of the divers are safe could not see. They stopped all performances. Drained the area as they repaired the hydraulics and filtering mechanisms in the pool. I missed it in 2022 but saw it in 2023. Worth waiting for.

You noticed that too. A couple of guesses: The day bed materials or kits did not arrive in time so they are postponing them. Royal is saving labor by not having to have dry clean bedding on a day bed which requires it to be removed daily (I have noticed in the past that the mattresses are stored near the Solarium Bar), stored, reinstalled daily, and cleaned occasionally. As I said, just a guess. 🤔

I use orange electrical tape on all the handles too. I might have one of your bags. I knew it was not mine when it had all of the money it. 😇

My emphasis on above line. I do longer cruises on older ships also and I notice very few children but did one summer cruise when school was out and I try to avoid them now. This one caught my eye because it was a summer cruise when more children would be available without regard to how long the cruise was. April 10, 2025, out of Baltimore on the Vision, they are already advertising "Kids Sail Free" for instance and that is an eight day I have booked a specific interior at a very good price at the time. "Royal" keeps trying to bump the price up every two or three weeks but the price eventually goes back to the original lower price. Royal only in the past two weeks started advertising it as Kids Sail Free for that particular cruise. They are trying different bait on the hook because the fish do not seem to be biting the current pricing. We discussed on other threads how some long time customers were considering other lines for a test cruise. They still will cruise "Royal" but maybe not as much. The other factor is still being decided, how many revenge cruisers that paid premium prices on their first family cruise are coming back for more? Demand is high but as we are discussing, not as high as last year if we are getting price adjustments on existing cruises.

I find it interesting that this subject even came up after last year's record breaking prices that saw absolutely no price drops before final payment. In every case, they seemed to soar upwards. I sense a weakness in prices going into the midsummer prices as opposed to last year's extraordinary prices in July and August. I have shadow-boxed interior room availability on August and September cruises for multiple ports and found them unchanged. An example, Baltimore, 9 days, August 8, 2024, 100 interior rooms have been available for the entire month of January, no change. Think about it, a fully booked ship with only one pool for everyone and one pool in the Solarium. At the last minute, "Kids Sail Free" in order to fill the ship to capacity. Where do all of the under age of 18 go? I have children. I love children. Do I want to fight say, 800 to 1,000 children in one pool or two whirlpools? I will pass on this one like it seems so many others have already done. A summer cruise which has so many free rooms at a very low price is a harbinger of change for "Royal". Very interesting.

Adding to @Biker19's point: I sailed on Oasis in September of 2022 and 2023. I have mentioned that my wife and I walk at least five miles per day on a cruise. In this case, it was on deck 5. Normally from 7:55am to 10am. EVERY day we saw crew washing the decks, vacuuming the gunnels of water (so they would not rust), touch-up painting (to the point of having to shutdown part of the walking track so they did not drip paint on passengers) and maintaining the lifeboats. This was not a one-off. I saw crew working on that deck everyday. We greeted the crew with a smile and "Hello" and were always responded in kind. We passed many of them our whole walk (15 revolutions). Side note, I did see dishes and cups go unnoticed by this crew for almost two hours. I joked with my wife that the officers left items for clean-up to see how long they would go without action (failure, we constantly noticed the same dishes and cups in different locations on different days with crew just walking by them). If the ship showed some wear, I felt the crew was constantly trying to address it. I can appreciate trying to keep a ship this large from showing signs of rust in a corrosive saltwater environment as it is nearly impossible to address every little rust streak instantaneously. The OP does have a point about how badly some of the wear looks on that particular ship at that particular time. I rarely pay a high price point for older ships so I am willing to accept some of this wear compared to paying peak top dollar cruise prices (I would not be a happy camper). I adapt my expectations according to the price point I pay.

Enchantment, April, 2023: Overall, ship seemed to be reasonably maintained (nothing out-of-the-ordinary of minor repairs or upkeep). Staff service was very good. Solarium and pool deck seemed in good shape compared to your pictures. Cabin bathroom was worn but everything was safe and functional. Windjammer was clean but food was mostly stews at lunch and dinner in Windjammer. Very little stand alone meat, fish, or poultry. We tried MDR a few nights and were not impressed. I got the cruise for a great price-point so maybe I was more forgiving. I would cruise her again for the right price. Jewel, November 2023: Overall, in good repair. Showing some wear but nothing close to the OP pictures. Very good service, Windjammer food much better than recent Enchantment in April. MDR was the best I have had since reopening. I would cruise her again for the right price.

A very honest review about how our expectations color our food experiences. We have set our expectations much lower than what we experienced in the past so we are not disappointed. Food is food. We do not go to bed hungry. I just really enjoy a good food experience which seems harder to find on a consistent basis with 'Royal' compared to years past. Thank you for your opinion.