Hoopster95

1 minute ago, Tree_skier said:

If outside of final payment waiting never makes sense to me.  Book it, if the price goes down get a price adjustment. If the price goes up you win... 

 

Many of my bookings the past 5-6 years have been after final payment... and I've booked for a lower price than anytime before final payment.

The "sale" was unadvertised and is now gone.

As is normal for RCL, the "normal" price is jacked up $100-$250 across every category as of yesterday... I assume in anticipation of the July 4 sale whereby they'll offer $250 OBC or something like that....

Why do I know this? About 5 days ago I put two well priced cabin on hold for December. I was going to also put a hold on Jewel in January (but I didn't), and I already have Grandeur booked for January. I have been looking at prices/timing for various ships December and January... and every single one of those sailings, interiors to balconies, went up an average of $100-$250.

6 hours ago, Fairsky84 said:

RC will only build smaller ships if there's a strong business case for doing it. Right now their total fleet passenger capacity is about 94,000 berths. The capacity of their 8 smallest ships combined (Vision & Radiance Classes) represents only 17% of that. And I'd guess those ships represent an even smaller % of the company's profits since the larger ships generate much more revenue. 

 

I've been told Vision ships are good re profit. They are paid for, capital cost depreciation at 0. They are making good money... until an engine fails, or some other super high cost event happens. Like an old car with 250,000 miles on it... run it until it breaks down. Don't replace a $5000 engine on a car worth only $1000.

In other words, there's not much of an economic argument for RC to build smaller (sub 150,000 grt) ships. 

 

THIS ^

The only possible reason would be to maintain a presence in cruise markets or homeports restricting larger ships (Tampa, Baltimore, Alaska, New England, ect.) 

 

Radiance to Jewel are "only" 20-24 years old. I feel they'll end up home porting in Tampa & Baltimore the remainder of this decade if/when Vision class ends.

 

As I said before, I would LOVE for RC to build the Discovery-class ships. But I wouldn't bet on it. I'll believe it when I see it

 

Oh I think they will... Voyager is 25 years old. Will we see Voyager still in the RC fleet in 2029 when she's 30? Discovery Class is not to replace Vision/Radiance... perhaps it's to replace Voyager Class when they are too old to keep running.

Fantastic post.

Expand the window above.

Some of my thoughts in blue

4 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Everyone has a different perspective. 

Yep 👍

Just my 2 cents, not someone else's experience.... and you got to see those same table mates at dinner everyday (proving my point a little bit I think)

20 hours ago, grouchomarx said:

Symphony. I will be traveling alone. .... I have cruised many times but never alone ....

I want to do and see everything and I’m very into specialty dining. I’ve been on Anthem twice

2 hours ago, Tatka said:

More musics in various venues

In addition to 2 great Production shows there are

2 amazing Ice shows!!!

Water show

Zipline, mini golf, great waterslides

Jazz group is amazing and they perform everywhere for many hours - in Central Park, on Promenade in Dazzles.

Central park is an attraction on its own... also bar that goes from Promenade to Central park.

 

I only quoted Tatka's thoughts here to increase the value of my post.....

I really think the only people who should be giving the OP advice are those who truly have sailed solo, and especially on oasis Class. I have sailed solo often on RC for more than 10 years... in the past year alone solo on Symphony, Harmony & Oasis. If, like Tatka points out, you are super interested in all the shows and activities, note that during those shows and activities you will not be interacting with anyone. There are shows/activities everyday that will take up all your time, therefore your chances of meeting people and connecting are almost zero.

Also, with 2-3 shows going on at the exact same time, those people you will be sitting beside in the various shows, at the various bars, in the various venues, will almost always be different everyday of the cruise... it will be like day 1 every day on any cruise whereby you don't know anyone, even on day 7.

My point is, Oasis has been my least favorite ship to cruise solo. There are a majority of groups that are involved within themselves (ie. families & couples alike). You will also rarely meet anyone on day 1 that you will see again for the rest of the cruise. If you go to specialty dining, you're sitting alone... then a show, the lights dim, and you're sitting alone.... then the bar for example, where you may meet someone for the first time.

Conversely, and as twangster and Biker has seen on our last cruise on Jewel, on the smaller ships (like Radiance and Vision classes) I get to know a ton of people including staff. I see them everyday. It's fun. We get to see shows together the odd time, you get to plan dinner together. And often even plan excursions together. During game shows, many people know who you are.... so much easier and enjoyable cruising solo (for me) on the smaller ships. I am an extrovert and like knowing people... if you are an introvert, then Oasis will be just fine.

 My 2 cents from experience on all classes of RC ships.

9 hours ago, Cruiscs said:

Horizons?

My bad.... Sky Lounge. Horizons is on another ship.

9 hours ago, Cruiscs said:

We are more interested in the food, itinerary snd the service. And less kids around the pool. But it is in September so maybe there are much less kids on Royal. How was the food and service Silhouette vs Odessey?

Ah... not typical to 30's something. Then in your case, Silhouette for food and itinerary (Istanbul overnight 👍)  for sure. Be sure to book Le Petit Chef for one night.

15 minutes ago, Cruiscs said:

Thanks. We will go for Silhouette. Have booked Murano, Lawn Club grill and Tuscan. 

And there you go. Have a great cruise

16 hours ago, bajathree said:

Odyssey of the seas in basically a Solstice series ships.....which is what Silhouette is. So essentially they are similar ships.

I has thought this as well... until I sailed on my first S Class sailing on Silhouette this past January. RCI Q Class vs.Celebrity S Class were surprisingly night and day imo!

I found Silhouette dark in most inner public spaces, except for Horizons. It has an inner focus.

Odyssey is totally opposite... bright, fun, and with an outer focus with fabulous views everywhere.

17 hours ago, Cruiscs said:

30s something couple without kids.

10000000000000% Odyssey... hands down winner not even close

9 minutes ago, Joesantos said:

Looking forward to September 15 day cruise to Greenland but considering dancing opportunities to keep my wife happy?

Is Zumba offered, live music on Jewel? Latin music and dancing opportunities. If anyone can help me out I’d appreciate any recent information. Thanks 🙏 namaste 

Hello. I see you were going to post on the "Jewel live" thread from last week. If you go back a few random pages on that thread you'll see downloads for the cruise compasses if you wish.

There was/is a 2 piece Latino band called "Sagitarios" on board. They were good the few times I watched... however they were not playing at peak times (same times as other shows for example). If they were, they were in the Safari Club. The other Rock band got most of the better times/days to play in the more popular Centrum. The Rock band, Wave Benders, played most of the peak times and they were barely "danceable" with the music they performed (large focus on  70s & 80s classic rock). Of course, depending on their contracts, either one of those bands may be gone by the time you sail in September. And yes, there was Zumba offered, but only on sea day mornings in the Centrum. 

Also note that 1/2 hr-3/4 hr dance classes were offered in the Centrum (Jive, Tango, Cha Cha Cha) on various days, and also there was line dance events. 70s and 80s nights there was lots of dancing, and the silent disco "hush" was offered as well, so lots of opportunities for you

2 hours ago, hellokitty_kt said:

which excursions is part of your visit to Sunnmore Museum? In your opinion is 1.5hours in the museum enough time spend?

Hello. Looking back, if I remember correctly, it was slightly longer than 1.5 hours (we had closer to 1 3/4 hours perhaps?). Yes, it was about the right time for a quick overview. I enjoyed it, and personally I didn't need anymore time

If you are visiting this museum yourself and wish to immerse yourself more, If you are mobility challenged, or if you're interested in reading every signpost regarding the history if each building/boat you walk by, add more time. As part of a full tour which included other areas of Alesund, I feel we had perfect time to roam the grounds and I still had 15min to enjoy a latte & Svete, and then get going for other things to see.

https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/tour/alesund-the-ultimate-sightseeing-tour/

1 hour ago, twangster said:

 

Time 7:08 am

Time 8:03am

Nicely done… that’s about right, a stress free 50-60min.

I was offered to share a UberXL by hesitant friends who weren’t sure of the train, so I accepted so that we can hang out to the airport. After standing in the rain for 15min for the Uber to arrive, we arrived at the airport, like you, in about an hour.
 

45euro vs. 9euro for tram+ train

17 hours ago, twangster said:

an experience that will be difficult to ever surpass on a mass market cruise line, no disrespect to Royal intended.

+1 …

and we still love Royal for what it is.

They’ve done their job keeping us around with the C&A program, haven’t they? 😉

2 hours ago, jeb1990 said:

If you had to choose your top five cruise itineraries, what would they be? 

 

There are so many amazing places a cruise ship won't take you....including the Arctic Circle after this year. 

You’re very welcome! its awesome To hear value coming  posts like my old days of reviewing… Thx to twangster for allowing me to join this thread.

Next for me is the Amazon and back to Peru, then Cambodia (Angkor Wat) + Vietnam… no cruises even on my radar until December.

As far as my own personal top 5 cruises… the Royal ones aren’t being repeated and I don’t think ever will, but if you can match ports on two Or three itineraries the. It would be great!

1. Oceania - French Polynesian & Marquesas

2. Oceania - 12 night Rio to Buenos Airies, 9 ports + land trip at both ends + the absolute MUST MUST MUST see Iquazu Falls.

3. RCL - Serenade 2014 from Rome visiting all the very best ports in one cruise incl. Malta, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Venice overnight, Santorini, Salerno

4. RCl - Ovations very first Alaskan sailing ever in 2019, 11nights included Hubbard and Tracey Arm. 
5. Rhapsody - just last year b2b2b included ABCs, Grenada, St Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago, St Licia, Dominica

honourable mentions:

Jewel + Brilliance - British Isles circumnavigation

Jewel - b2b western then eastern Med

Celebrity Constellation - Istanbul home

Port overnight to Ephesus, Bodrum, Marmaris + 5 Greece ports.

Take note that no one … ever… says their favorite most memorable cruise destinations is on Oasis Class. Unless you’re favorited place to go in the entire world is Nassau or CocoCay.

32 minutes ago, twangster said:

Wow @Hoopster95 that looks insane!

Yesterday in Kristiansand I booked independently a 2 hour e-bike tour with Go Norway and it was a great final choice for this long and tiring trip. Truth be told if I had not booked this bike tour I would have really put a lot of thought on staying on board… which I would’ve regretted. 
 

Kristiansand is a very nice city with some history. German occupation, old quarter, beautiful parks… and of Course what would a Norwegian day be without a 5 degree Celsius drop in temperature and 15-20 minutes of driving rain! BRRRRRR 🥶

Finished at 1:15pm, I could’ve easily gone back to all the areas we visited on foot, but I was totally done with cold and rain, I needed a nice hit meal and some time in the sauna. So that was it for me! 
 

It’s been a wild ride the past 2 weeks… for those who remember I was on Voyager before this and b2b on Brilliance, so it’s been a long haul. Back to work reality in a couple of days.

Before I forget, I wish to say thank you for all the nice words many of you have expressed to both twangster and I. Hopefully we’ll meet someday… inevitably someone (this cruise also) comes up to  me and says “you’re that hoopster guy on CC” as I’m blogging away in the Schooner Bar or where ever lol! 👍😃

This was awesome!!! We had our lunch up there, helped other with photos, etc. we decided to leave by 1pm in order to make our 3pm bus, however at about 12:45pm we witnesses a major storm cloud making its way down the fjord directly towards us. It was at that time we also all shivered and felt a minimum 5 degree Celsius drop in temperature. 
 

We bundled up and prepared for our descent.ill have less pictures on the way down for two reasons… duplication and I wanted to protect my phone from All rain and hail that dumped on us!

And boy oh boy, the weather gods stormed on us for a bit … I feel so sorry for those people still up on pulpit wanting to get their once in a lifetime pictures and so forth.

it rained. Drizzled, hailed twice, got warm so had to shed a layer, got cold so had to put layer back on, etc etc etc …fall, winter, spring, summer all In 5 hours.

Within 20min of base camp, the weather cleared and we celebrated the final steps at the trailhead market. We arrived at the base camp Parking lot at about 2:40pm With a day full of memories we’ll never forget!

By the way I’ve converted a couple of movies to mp4 so That you  folks can quickly watch without downloading, however this review would take me days to post this review if I converted, saved, etc all my videos so Take a looks at the previous one and these here on this post…

Finally the reason why we endured this hike! This last kilometre I went ahead of my new group of friends as I did not want to wait on them and we were behind (my) schedule a little bit, and I’m almost exactly 2 hours we reached pulpit rock (I think I could’ve done it in 1.5 hours with a brisk climb.)

This was worth all the effort.

If you’re afraid of heights, you may not like the video!!! 

This last kilometre becomes very interesting. It’s rocky, slippery, steep in areas, and the last bit before actually reaching pulpit rock you have 10-15 feet width to walk on for about 300-400 feet on the ledge of the cliff. Those afraid of heights do not do well here. I saw people quickly doing this section as close to the wall of the mountain as possible.

Watch the short movie for sure on this one!

After this Point, the weather cleared with mo drizzle or rain. I was able to pack the poncho, and even at the first real high viewpoint I was comfortable and warm enough to get some Photos in my T-shirt.

1km to go from this first viewpoint!

In the first 1.5 Kim’s, we encountered racers  doing a 65k Wilderness marathon… now THEY are totally nuts! The weather rained, drizzled, stopped, rained… etc etc. all

over the map. It was a slow and steady uphill, rocky, slippery trudge. We also

encountered workers building a new section of the trail by cutting/splitting rock to form a new path. There were also a few areas of relief whereby you have a level walk for 5 minutes until the next incline. We finally reached mile Marker 1.5kms (out of 4km) behind schedule as two of the people I was walking with were slower.

From 8:46 - 9:00am the bus filled up to at least 80%, so I wasn’t the only other nut job making this choice today. Beside me on the bus I went two couples Ontario whom I hung out with most of the way and down so that was great! Everyone was prepared for the weather and so forth, so pretty much is was a go to give it a shot regardless at this point.

The travel time to the base camp one way is 45min, not what is shown below, however this gives you a picture of the distance required. 
 

We went through the miles and miles of underground highway tunnels, the longest being over 14kms. Popping up out of the tunnels the weather was still

horrid, however arriving at the base camp it was just drizzling (not full on rain). So I bought a heavy duty rubber “Norway”  poncho and we prepared for our hike….

And the time was set right away with an immediate and steady incline to let you know the next 2 hours were not going to be a walk in the park.

Hey twangster, I just finished catching up to all your posts from yesterday… great photos as usual! Love those 360 shots.

I promised I would come back to post about Stavenger (Pulpit Rock). I’ll also add a bit from yesterday, however you killed it! I did an e-bike tour which was great, saw most of what you did and a bit more in outlying areas. I’ll comment a bit on that after Stavenger. Without further ado!…..

i booked in independent transfer to the Pulpit Rock Trailhead and base camp through a company called Go Norway. You book a predetermined transfer return trip to “Preikestolen”, this is the base camp.

I will tell you right now, Norwegians are punctual and they mean business regarding schedule keeping. It’s not a joke, it’s their culture. My bus was scheduled to leave at 9am… when the click on the bus clicked over from 8:59 to 9, the driver already had engines on, pulled up the parking brake and off we went. Same with the return… 3pm on the dot he was outta there. It’s not like

North America where sometimes they “wait”,  or you complain if you miss it, or you saunter back slowly because you know you can (entitlement)… you’re screwed if you don’t keep the schedule. I LOVE IT. Timely, orderly, efficient, reliable … everything transit and many other systems in North America are not.

Anyhow, knowing this. I begrudgingly prepared my backpack With many layers, extra socks, snacks, water, etc… one thing I forgot was a first aid kit which I would recommend. There is absolutely NOTHING out there when you start the hike.

Getting off the ship I was trying to decide whether to even go or not. It was raining sideways and windy, cold, totally miserable. And likely may be that way all day long. No one was walking with me down the street past the RCL excursion buses… was I nuts?? I decided I would get to the bud and ask the driver a few questions about taking an early bus home, etc

So off I went for the 5 block walk into the city Center of Stavenger to the meeting point. The bus driver says no problem

Coming back early, but the weather changes constantly and to see how it

goes. So I hopped At about 8:45… only

5-6 other people in that bus and only 15 minutes to go…. I’m still questioning my decision. 

On 6/8/2024 at 11:13 PM, twangster said:

I was informed by a very cold ship photographer on the pier I was the 7th person off.  

 

Off so early?!?!? Yikes!

Looks like by now you’ve been hit with that heavy rain a Little while ago. More rain coming off and on until 9:30’ish then mostly sunny by 10am per accuweather radar.

Hang in there twangster!

BTW to everyone, I’ve been using accuweather almost everywhere. They have a great radar that shows rain cloud and approx time. I’ve used it all over Europe as well. It’s excellent.

On 6/8/2024 at 6:45 PM, Jimbo said:

Guess this wouldn't be a  an excursion to bring young children run loose on would it?

 

If a big gust of wind comes up unexpectingly that would be bad wouldn't it.

 

What is the bathroom situation like on these 5 and 7 hour hiking tours people are taking?

Nope, absolutely not good for young children. There was a young couple with a girl (3’ish) and boy (5’ish). The dad was carrying the girl. I witnessed him fumbling her and she hit her head on the stone. On the way back, the dad was carrying both, one in each arm. We talked to them to see how they were doing How he made it all the way up and all the way down like that is a miracle to me.

Gust of wind at the top, hail, rain… i can just imagine a rowdy 5yr old who doesn’t listen or is simply In their own world/head space not paying attention. No way in hell a kid should be up there.

No bathrooms, no food, no Ambulance, no support, nothing anywhere. You make sure you go at the base camp. At about 2.5kms there’s an emergency shelter and that’s about it (I’ll have pictures).

On 6/8/2024 at 9:16 AM, mil76 said:

Interested to hear how this one went.  We're in Stavanger in 2 weeks and I am trying to convince my wife to do the hike.  I thought I had her convinced until the news of the tourist death.  If the forecast is for rain, I know she won't be doing it.

I have to say first and foremost…

I am so very very very blessed, and I am humbled, and grateful, to be sitting here in Chops looking out the window, having just finished an awesome perfect rack of lamb… and here I am in Norway of all places in the entire world… and I can say I climbed up to Pulpit Rock!!!! How fortunate am I?

Secondly, I now have a story to tell! A story I’ll remember forever, and.you can bet the next time Mission Impossible comes On I’ll be yelling at the tv “I was there! I was there!”. We were rained on, hailed on, we had sun, I was down to t-shirt a couple Of times, then back to layers in a chilling wind. I think I experienced all 4 seasons up there in 5 hours! 

I’ve been travelling for over a month now…. When this cruise ends on a Tuesday I travel home and it’s steady work for me. I’m really really tired!! lol. So I’m crashing a bit. I wish to chill This evening so I’ll probably post regarding this day tomorrow or on the final sea day.

I will say that if you and your wife can walk, then you should do it. There were many seniors up there for example

and people who had to go slower than others It is definitely hard work getting up there, It’s a slow and steady, slippery grind, However WOW!! Talk about a rewarding day. By far the most memorable of this entire cruise… even more than Gerainger and Flam.

a couple more teaser photos….

O M G …. Live