Anton

The machines have an espresso option, in fact the new Melitta machines they are installing fleetwide have a double espresso option - but as noted above it's not like that made on a real espresso machine. More like really strong regular coffee to my tastes. I have to add three espressos to the cappuccino I make every morning to get it tasting right. It might do for an iced coffee since you are blending it with a protein shake.

If you’re using the app for checking in have you tried deleting it and reinstalling?

Lots of reports lately that Royal has stopped offering any onboard discount for buying the package on either day 1 or day 2. My friend was on Radiance for two weeks ending this past weekend and he said if you wanted the package it was full price, other than the C&A discount offers that D+ and Pinnacle have. A “popular Royal Caribbean” fan website reported it was not offered on three other ships recently - Icon, Freedom, and Enchantment. It would seem they are either eliminating it or testing reaction and bar sales impact.

Royal Caribbean used to do this with souvenir shot glasses you kept.

1. You can only book the BOGO offer when you are on the ship. 2. You can use your C&A drinks in Chops.

You say your mother has almost always cruised on Royal Caribbean so she likely might be at least Diamond level in the Crown & Anchor Society, and if so she gets 4 drinks a day free. 5 drinks if she's Diamond Plus. 6 if she's a Pinnacle member. Bear in mind that the other person in the cabin would have to buy a drink package too, so if your mother gets on, her friend has to get one. That's the rule. As said above, she'd also get unlimited free drinks during the evening suite happy hours.

I’ve stayed in cabins all along that passageway behind the Schooner Bar many times on Symphony and other Oasis class ships. You don’t hear anything from the bar or the lounge area. It’s a great location to book.

No. They randomly show up. I’ve seen two since last October. The two I’ve seen were for excursions and offered a few days before the cruise started. We got a cabana at the oasis pool for something like $400 last October.

Absolutely, they went to Royal Up to make more money. Free upgrades are gone. I don't think they are even mentioned on the Crown & Anchor benefits list anymore. The Royal Up program is administered by a contractor, not directly by Royal Caribbean. They take bids even if a sailing is sold out, just in case of a late cancellation or no-show. And, this gives them valuable data on those who like to bid, and more importantly how much they are willing to bid. I don't do it.

It depends on the ship. The price isn't the same across the fleet. I've found that the price they show in the cruise planner for the onboard price when compared to the online discount price has been accurate for the past year. Look at your cruise planner and see what it shows. Onboard price examples: $105 on Mariner per person per day, $90 on Explorer, $100 on Brilliance, $105 on Freedom.

Yes that is correct. It also drops to 150% for Crown & Anchor members that have 340 points and higher, with some exceptions for black out dates.

I tapped the square that shows my pinnacle points on the app screen where you see your next sailing. It then went to another screen where you should see a Loyalty Match tab. That is where I found it.

The cabin attendant is supposed to ask you on boarding day which time you prefer. I've found that they are not consistent in doing this and like to default to only morning service so they can have less to do at night. Junior Suites and higher still get service twice a day.

Indy has been using terminal G which is next to the Carnival terminals. My agent went from the Carnival Celebration to the Indy two weeks ago and walked it. They did have to detour around some stuff and she said they walked around 100 yards.

Exactly. In the interview Jason Liberty gave to one travel news outlet, he stated he doesn't want a regular Royal customer straying into the arms of the competition as their vacation conditions change. He said that loyalty is one way to ensure that those people stay within the corporate umbrella.

The point system is based on several factors. For a non-suite cabin each cabin occupant gets 1 point per day. For a suite they get 2 points per day. Those two instances are if you have two ore more people in the cabin. But then if you are sailing solo in a cabin that normally holds two or more guests you would get 2 points per day. If it's a suite then the solo guest would get 3 points per day. Example: You and your wife in a balcony cabin for a 14 night cruise each get 14 points. You, booked as a solo guest in a balcony cabin, would get 28 points for that 14 night cruise. You and your wife in a Junior Suite would each get 28 points on that 14 night cruise. You, booked as a solo guest in a Junior Suite for 14 nights would get 42 points. The kids points are not lost. They get their points too. Here is the Crown & Anchor Society benefits list. Note the extensive footnotes explaining everything. It's quite tedious to read through.

Scroll down towards the bottom. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-are-the-benefits-of-the-suites-program

He was posting tweets as late as Friday touting Royal entertainment.

Royal has been handing our leftover covid vaccinated guest wristbands as trivia prizes on some ships lately.

It's really sad that a cruise line that trumpets their high tech ships and onboard entertainment - the WOW factor (are we still doing that?) - has a shoreside operation where mediocrity is the goal. If someone is sneaking around 1050 Caribbean Way at night stealing toner cartridges from another department's printer so they can print their own reports, it wouldn't surprise me. (Yes, I worked for a corporation where we had to steal office supplies from each other to get by. We had a very Jason-esque CEO).

The email saying that you either have or don’t have suite lounge and CK access should arrive tomorrow or the day before you board. But then I got one email saying I didn’t make the cut and when I got to the cabin I had a card saying I did get access.

King Ranch Casserole...they need to put that on the menu for the Texas cruises, at least in the Windjammer.

The Ford F Series King Ranch model for instance. If anyone doesn't know about the King Ranch, it's a prime example of "everything is bigger in Texas".

Yep. No phone numbers or email addresses. Just links to FAQs.

It’s quite common now for main seating to be at 5pm. It’s been what we’ve experienced for the past several cruises even though it’s shown as 5:30 elsewhere. They want to get people in and out earlier so they can clear tables for the My Time Dining crowd.