Tatka

I do not like Carnival at all, but why do you call Rustbucket Cruise Lines and mention their newest Mardi Gras ? It was deployed in 2021?

I am not criticizing opinions. I voice mine. Maybe it will help others to make a choice. Some people think that you must book park or cabana, or anything else to enjoy CC. (Based on my opinion they may change their plans. We are there 2-3 times per year lately as we sail from Northeast and 7 days Bahamas/Florida is often the only choice for 7 days. Not my favorite destination as I like Southern Caribbeans more, but we are limited to 2 Southern cruises per year due to their length). My husband is not snorkeling. He is really lazy on vacations. He just swims in pool or ocean, lays on his lounger and drinks. I think CC is a perfect place for lazy people. 🤣 CC is not a place for sightseeing or shopping. Everything else can be easily done there. Including being lazy.

Why is that? It depends on preferences. Who is rating it? We are 50+ years old and we like it. We obviously do not use park, but we like how now umbrellas are added to loungers. Loungers availability. Several beaches to choose. Nice pool. All available food if we are hungry. Nice snorkeling off the beach. We do not need to take a taxi to the beach as on most islands. Is there a sightseeing? Of course not. Frankly, aside from several islands Caribbeans are not major sightseeing place (we sailed to Bahamas and Caribbeans probably 45 times or more and we've seen all islands except for St Vincent & Grenadines and Guadeloupe). We do not shop on islands, but I think Coco Cay has some shopping for fans. Main point of Bahamas and Caribbeans (Bermudas too) is SUN and nice OCEAN (beaches, snorkeling) . If people are looking for something else there they are misinformed. So for us Coco Cay is not overrated. It is exactly what it is. And we are glad RCI is making money on everyone who wants to pay for cabanas, club and park. We are just doing our things for cheap. 🙂

Exactly. As much as I am ready for a new ship after 8 on Anthem, Odyssey won't work families. Anthem "stealth" business from NCL ships during winters this way. 😍

I believe it is not legal on federal level or in all states.

I do not think color of passes in Apple valet matter. I have all different colors from different cruises in the same status.

We had extremely spotty Surf on Thanksgiving for the first time out of 8 on Anthem. I used to work using it with no problems many times! Anthem since thanksgiving has moved to Starlink now so hopefully it will be faster. I was able to secure Surf & Stream for $15.99 per day for Jan cruise. Hopefully it is MUCH better,

I’ll pay RCI prices not to sail with Carnival!!! Although I’ve heard that Carnival is not cheap anymore When we started sailing with RCI in 2004 menus were much weaker than now. Also I remember when Classic section was not a thing on RCI, but also on Celebrity or Holland. And that was without huge inflation we are having now. Do you know how difficult is hiring abroad is now?

Of course it did we booked about 7-8 cruises with double points. I honestly do not want Pinnacles to suffer .. and frankly I am not suffering at all. Gap between D+ and P is huge. I don't expect huge number of P anyway. As a former cruiser with multi lines ... RCI is not risking much. I do not remember similar benefits on most if not all of other lines. Especially comparable in quality/pricing.

So you want to take D benefits because people booked a suite? I cannot see this working at all. It is their benefit after all. Why and how they use it is their business. I suspect suite people will in most cases use Suite Lounge. They have Happy Hour there too. Unless they want to be with their friends/families and forgo HH.

Ok for us. We could I guess look for it on Thanksgiving cruise, but did not do this. We survived. Same for our next one.

We became D in 2018 and D+ in 2022. People cruise much more now, especially with WiFi available and cheap so numbers grow.

Why? They may have part of family, or friends not sailing in suites. If they are D or D+ they should be able to be in DL.

I like to have drinks available in various bars on X.

I sail 5 times a year for number of years. I see a large drop of pax in DL from before. Before DLs were literally packed. Now not at all. Maybe aside from some odd sailings. Also number of D+ grows, so maybe it makes sense to leave CL lounge to people who really pay for it. And honestly we could not be there on any cruises this year. Enchantment, Allure, Adventure and Anthem anyway.

Nothing really. These are benefits line chooses to provide at their discretion.

We never had fanatical devotion, but even with this change other lines do not have anything similar.

Because there are WAY less Pinnacles than Diamond Plus(es). And it will most likely to stay this way for a long time. 700 points is a lot in comparison to 185.

With 5 drinks a day and no Happy Hour Diamond Lounge is never really crowded, so it is completely fine to be there. After this change (5 drinks) CL was never needed or benefited anyone.

I have a different perspective. We are empty nesters now… but I welcome all “amusement park” ships because we sailed several times on ships overrun with kids without amusement park. It’s MUCH better when kids are attracted to amusement parks and don’t overwhelm all others areas. That’s being said Icon won’t be our priority.

The point of 3 devices that you can use internet on 3 devices at the same time. otherwise you can use internet on 25 devices, but not at the same time.

We always eat in MDR (not in specialty restaurants or buffet). We are fine with offerings. We’ll see what new menus bring. We don’t cruise for food anymore, but still like to have nice choices.

I don’t remember midnight buffet since mid2000 and we till last year cruised with 8 lines.

We have not been asked on Enchantment in March in Baltimore On Anthem for this and last Thanksgivings, last Christmas and New Year, Oasis last September and this June, Adventure in September . All in NJ Celebrity Edge last year in Fort Lauderdale

Yes, it is sailing there now. There are other places too. We are fine with Anthem even though I am about to sail on her for #9 time. It suits needs of Northeast just fine. Hopefully if there is no other appropriate ship can be sent here Anthem stays. 🥰