NutsAboutGolf

I'm just being fair, the newer RCI ships have two casinos, and the smaller one is smoke-free, I only saw a few slot players and never saw anyone at the tables (I'm just one datapoint) which could be good or bad With Cafe al Bacio, I've been seeing chaos in the mornings as recently as April; 25+ in line, officers doing their best to lend a hand, and zero open seating. I found the Cafe Promenade to be far more orderly in the morning. Yet with Cafe al Bacio once the morning rush is over it becomes a relaxing experience

There is no better kind of smoking! I've been to every X restaurant except for Lumnae or Le Voyage, I think the Rooftop Garden Grill has the best food on X

Perhaps a better idea which may kill two birds with one stone is to hire a private transfer Assuming you need a ride, an idea to kill two birds with one stone would be to hire a private transfer and have them waiting for you with the lei. If you're okay with a private van, my good friend Mark runs this company which charges $43 for 2 people from the AIPORT to Waikiki hotels. The cruise port is a little closer so I can't see them charging more yet I'm not sure if you're going to a Waikiki hotel anyway. If you want a nicer vehicle, I'd search Viator which will cost more Private Van: Be sure to include all details such as date/time, pickup location, dropoff, etc., if interested https://www.hawaii23.com/

Your info could be right as the term "smoking" is a vague blanket term that is therefore ambiguous. The CDC does NOT consider vaping smoking but does consider chewing tobacco, cigars (which are rarely inhaled), etc., smoking

It SEEMS like yes on the E-Class ships and maybe on the others. In @Jim_Iain's comment you quoted, he mentioned he's casting an internet browser, not a device

Not for the OP yet here's a visual for the casting crowd

Yup. Also, you couldn't get tickets in the app, we had to wait in a long line at the ticket venue (I think it was a bar) and sign up with a crew member

I did leave out another major downside of RCI. The main scheduled shows require tickets and folks were lining up 30 minutes in advance to get the best seats. They did have some no-shows/standby and we did find if you were okay with standing, you could show up to the Aqua theatre right when it started without tickets On the WoS they had two casinos, one was smoke-free but there was barely anyone in there

We did our first RCI in April, WoS in a regular balcony...I made a list of what I thought RCI did better: -Outlets on both sides of the bed -Drink Vouchers -Diamond Lounge which had coffee and snacks -Far more shows, we noticed one night there were at least 3 shows (main, comedian lounge, aqua theatre) scheduled about the same time along with the ongoing Karaoke bar and piano bar -Buffet open longer hours -Hot tubs open 24/7 -All hot tubs were huge, never had a problem finding room for two which can be challenging on X sea days -TVs above the hot tubs in the solarium, great for sports -Adult comedy was at 7 pm...X, which usually has very few kids, doesn't have Adult comedy until the 1015pm showing which usually happens once per cruise -Buffet servers carry a tray of drinks, water, OJ, coffee, etc -In the app, you can use the chat function to reach guest relations; I believe on X you can only do that if in a suite and you're talking to your butler -Food selection, far more than X Some downsides: -Kids everywhere; this is obviously the biggest difference and with talking with others, we think from time to time that if RCI had some regularly priced 18+ itineraries, it would be the favorite cruise line. I have no problem with kids, as long as they're not screaming inside...There was way too much of that often in the MDR -Confrontations; witnessed almost 4 fights, I've been on Carnival 55 nights and have never witnessed this before yet know they do happen -Diamond Lounge wasn't open every morning (perhaps wasn't open ANY mornings) -Food, overall, better on X, although a few of RCI's comfort foods were better like burgers

What's interesting about it is every cruise ship that makes a Nassau call will sail right by it. This may cause some who find it appealing to book an RCI sailing

Too simplistic, like it or not, I'm where I belong as I have more X sailings booked than any other...No cruise line is perfect, they all have their pros and cons...Without us critics, cutbacks wouldn't have been reversed and there would be vaping in the casino...Cheers

Short answer, no. Longer answer, I'm sure some more experts will chime in and it's probably ship-specific. Someone recently claimed it's now easy to mirror your screen (phone, tablet, laptop, etc) without wires which wasn't the case before. This past April on the Summit, this did not appear to be the case

X like most if not all other cruise lines are for-profit companies, everything they do is to make a profit and there's nothing wrong with that. Royal is building another private island by Nassau, no idea if X has plans to stop there but would imagine it's inevitable they do https://www.royalbeachclubatparadiseisland.com/

We will get a "taste" of what the new leadership wants to do with the Xcel but Laura said she was only given a few white spaces. Will really need to wait until the next class of ships to see what direction X wants to go

No thanks and I'm way ahead of you, I do other things with my tourist dollar 🙂

The removal of CEO was intentional, that's a pretty big item to "forget". Sure, X has always been under the parent company's control but only with the most recent X leadership change have we seen changes on X that mirror RCI; as I pointed out previously, more short itineraries, CoCo Cay which is mostly a kids port and Port Canaveral which often attracts families visiting parks in Orlando

Laura isn't the CEO, she's only the President. For whatever reason, they stripped the CEO title once LLP departed. Based on how X has become more Royalized, the speculation was the parent company wanted more control

For better or worse, the Royalization of X includes shorter sailings, CoCo Cay, and Port Canaveral which are known to attract younger families We also have to remember at the start of 2023, dinner buffet options were reduced to one station, MDR classics were removed, steak only appeared on the MDR twice on a typical 7-night sailing, the addition of the infamous MDR Dinner double cheeseburger appeared, casino vaping, SS Butlers removed, etc...X/RCG dismissed any feedback until it all came crashing down thanks to everyone's favorite, "cookie gate" which even turned some lifetime loyal X cruisers to other cruise lines

My second guess was "One dollar!" ha ha

Absolutely, the Alaska option wasn't cheap, $350ish in the summer of 2019, probably around $500 now. With Alaska, the small boat picked up passengers directly from the ship. As you're pointing out for Norway, the cruise ship could dock where allowed and then sell fjord tour executions on small boats

X could also do what they have done in Alaska, a paid "tour" in which a small boat that comes up alongside the cruise ship, boards the paying guests, gets up close and personal with a glacier (or Fjords for Norway), and the boat drops you off at the next port. For Norway, they just need to charter a boat that's in compliance

To add, in many cases these third-world countries don't always have STRONG air conditioning. When it's 100f out, their A/C may only get it down to 85f which is better than nothing but not the 70f you were expecting

You rarely have a sailing where everyone shows up, there's usually a few who have an unexpected emergency, missed flight, flight delay, etc

I can't speak on the other two's behalf, but I want to point out that you can continue to comment on Stickys or "pinned" posts. I didn't see anyone "complaining" and I also didn't see anyone being directly rude toward you. If you somehow found my post offensive, that was not my intention...Cheers!