alfaeric

Except for oasis class ships. Deck 5 is the running track- easily the best one in the fleet.

How long would it take to line up the suppliers to add those favorites every night? For every ship. I agree with you, but it's not as easy as just saying "add them". Not sure how many people here are bourbon drinkers, but I really think Royal adding Buffalo Trace products is one of the reasons Blantons got so very hard to get- they have so many ships that they need to supply every single week, many more than once a week, all over the world. On a daily basis, they are feeding over 100,000 people- that's a lot of food to get.

I'd bet that when they set new menus, they have to sign long term contracts with the suppliers to make sure that they get the supplies regularly and all over the world. So they have to at least let the contracts run out or re-negotiate them. But things never happen instantly- this new menu isn't that old, and it takes a while to completely redo it.

Which is really nice to walk on. Can walk at pace and have no problems, and even get some stairs put in your step count. We would always do our post meal mile there. The only issue is that the front is occasionally closed off. But then turn around and repeat that. You will still get a lot farther a lap on the promenade than on the running track on the upper sun deck. The actual draw back is that one side is for smoking. But it's not really that bad.

Honestly, the more people do that, the faster fares will go down.

That's as much a transition away from cash and checks as it is bad economics. According to Lending Tree- 35% of card holders pay off their debt every month. American Bankers Ass says that is more like 44%. Lending Tree also says that only 46% of debt will take more than a year to pay off. We constantly have CC debt, but we also pay it off every month, so technically, we are both part of the problem you think and not at the same time. Using phones to pay for stuff also contributes to that.

Given the time between regular menu changes, no. Maybe another year.

So this thread isn't actually about hamburgers, is it? We, too, have been disappointed by the WJ burger. On the other hand, the free on you get in the MDR or even Coastal Kitchen is not bad at all. A good alternative, as we see it. The free fries are pretty good too. Goes well with the free wine and water we get to drink for free. free free free.... Get over it, people. You want to be Don Quixote about words, go for it. It doesn't add what so ever to the discussion of burgers, so that you are aware.

Did it really take you 34 years to figure that out? That was obvious on my first cruise 23 years ago. But that's not why we cruise. FWIW, you can do South America a whole lot better not on a cruise- it's a huge continent. Let alone Iceland. The only "destination" that is really unique to cruising is the canal and the various fjords that are only accessible from sea.

We've recently met some crew that were offered Icon, but either have turned it down, or are really thinking about it as they are not sure.

If this is really a demand bubble, the only reason is because those massive number of new cruisers were not satisfied enough to do it again. We just got off two weeks of the Symphony and the numbers were almost identical to what you saw. Given the number of possible berths in the cruise industry, I really find it hard to think that most of them are being filled with people living beyond their means. RCI probably hosts over 100,000 customers per day (they have just under 50k cabins available) and Carnival has at least that many. So probably over 500,000 per day are cruising. I can't fathom even most of them doing stupid things like living that far beyond their means- especially given how many people here clearly would not do that. The only "hope" we have of this going down is that people are not happy with the spend-benefit equation. Or that "once in a lifetime" is enough.

Unless you are at a restaurant that grounds their own meat, you will never get a burger that is not cooked through anymore. And even some of those will only cook the meat through. Too much of a risk of meat issues the leave it undercooked. Which is pretty ironic when you get the burger in Coastal Kitchen- where you can get beef tartar- a raw patty of ground meat. But the burger has to be cooked through.

We've been able to reserve all shows on the Allure and Harmony on the app after 1pm on boarding day.

We've been able to consistently ask for late check outs, so noon check outs. Some even allow for 1pm- but we've never gone that late. Totally get not having things to do, though. And I'm sure that those who have to pay for breakfast would prefer to get an early free lunch on board.

You didn't- I'm just pointing out that people leave the ship before 7am, when we wake up. Crazy to me. You see that in some of the "live" threads, and they got on the ship at 11am.

People are off the ship by then. Getting up at 7am is fine- we are clear of the room in time and can leave by 9am. Why leave before 7am?

It’s interesting that some of the people who want to be first on are the ones who want be first off. To us, boarding around 1pm is easy, and departing at 9am gives us a little more sleeping time.

We just got off the Symphony and found that there seems to be half of the main casino has signs saying no smoking or vaping. Which was nice as the machines we wanted to play were there and not in the former jazz club casino area.

Last time the economy was actually bad, cruise fares were cheap, and most ships didn’t sail full. Quite the opposite of what is happening now. in addition to that, at least for RCI, the number of cabins has gone up 50% (so actual people sailing is more than that). More people are sailing, more ships are sailing, and people are all paying more money. I really don’t see the economy as being bad right now.

Last time the economy was as bad as people want to convince you it is, cruise prices plummeted. It’s what got us back into cruising back in 2009. Travel isn’t the same as material goods you need to get by- this is almost totally optional and luxury spend. It’s not just cruising- hotels, flights, campers, camping, etc- the demand is up. Again, sure, some people are living beyond their means. But not everyone. At the same time. In all travel segments. High cruise prices are a strong sign that the economy is humming. Beyond what many retirees planned for.

There is little difference between this and booking a cruise to Bermuda because you saw the sun and pink beaches only to have it randomly canceled due to the weather. The schedule was to have her on the ship, and an unexpected thing happened. A low odds unexpected thing. I see no fault in how they chose the cruise.

Why do you extrapolate your experience and situation to everyone else? People can afford it, or they would not be doing it. Maybe some people are living beyond what they can do, but not the entire ship, across the entire fleet, every single week. Has anyone checked if resorts are doing as well, or have they all figured out that cruising is a better deal?

Captain Angel.

Supply and demand. Econ101. In Jan, supply was there, and demand was nominal. Now, so close to sailing, supply is almost gone, and people are willing to pay more. In the past, the lack of demand would often lower prices after final payment, but demand is so high now that it’s unlikely to happen. Let alone the Royal up process.

At least you are not forced to cruise, right? This come back to book as early as possible to not compete with people who will spend anything to get away at the last moment.