MichiganMan4

You can get a "Day Use Room" at the MCO Hyatt Regency.  It's a hotel room / pool access from 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.  The price is about $200 and allows for use by up to 4 people.

We did it in January.  It’s definitely not a luxury experience but a ton of fun and an enjoyable way to see the harbor/island…. especially at sunset.   We’d definitely recommend to others.

Just received the following from Celebrity… does this mean their ships are coming to CocoCay soon and sharing with Royal?

(yes I know it’s the same parent company)

4 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

Who knows if there’ll even be sales this year with sailings so full.  

This is exactly my perspective… if recent pricing is any indication, the days of Cruise Planner  “super deals” for Black Friday are dead and buried.  
 

To the original poster… if an activity is of interest to you and your budget allows, book it now.
- If it goes down in price - cancel/rebook get $$ back -  you win.  

- If it stays the same - you didn’t lose.

- If it goes up - you win.  

- If you change your mind, cancel and get $$ back - you win.  

For Spring Break ‘22 on Symphony we were worried about the same.  Had 11am boarding time and made a bee line to Izumi with a printout of wanted restaurant / dates / times.  Had to rejiggle a couple but got it all done as we wanted.  

Been doing my own reconnaissance about the number and location of casitas on Wonder of the Seas.  From my research, I see that there are 10 scattered in 5 zones - all on Deck 16.  
 

Am I missing any? Can someone that has been on Wonder confirm my recon?

What time is Early Dining on Wonder (trip is next month)?  Our reservation confirmation says 5:00pm, the Royal app says both 5:00pm and 6:00pm, but other non-Royal websites I've read say 5:30pm?  

On 4/25/2022 at 9:42 AM, tropical83 said:

Is the Solarium Bistro open at all for breakfast/lunch?

Was not open at all last week.

Suites on Wonder of the Seas are “on hold” due to the rebooking of displaced Harmony of the Seas passengers (moving from Canaveral to Miami).  They are the reaccommodating them on Wonder and have until Jan 17th to finalize the changes. 

29 minutes ago, Ashland said:

Why take the chance...You've booked what will be the best option for you. Stick to your original plan and stay together.

This advice is spot on.  We usually travel as a party of 4 in 2 rooms. We’ve contemplated pursuing a RoyalUp a few times but fall back on keeping what originally purchased as we want to be side by side.

Ship - Mariner of the Seas

Deck - 6

Stateroom # - 6272

Stateroom Category – Standard Balcony (2D)

Starboard or Port Side - Starboard

Quiet Stateroom?  Yes, but heard more noise (voices) than normal from guests in cabin next door but not overbearing. 

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No

Balcony View - Midship and Unobstructed

Balcony Size? - Normal

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? - n/a

Any specific problems with this cabin? - Only two US style power outlets in entire cabin - both on vanity by mirror, so plan accordingly.  Also, we're used to being to be able to open the balcony divider (like on Oasis Class) as our friends had the adjoining cabin, but the balcony dividers (and I believe many on Mariner) cannot be opened as they don't latch.

Any other comments? - 6th floor on Mariner is very convenient to accessing the promenade.

We are headed back to St Maarten this spring and have been really looking forward to going back to Maho Beach again.  Last time we booked through a Royal Caribbean excursion and the transportation was nice but you’re beholden to their departure and return timing.  This time we’re planning just to taxi it as others have indicated.  
 

As an aside, I’m curious as to how Maho Beach looks these days.  Recent webcam footage appears to show a significant reduction in the beach space.  Curious to hear the experience from others have since the resumption of cruising.  

3 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Found the picture somewhere, think it was priceline. Just have never seen a waterslide on a Royal Caribbean ship.

 

Don't like it, rather just see that on a Water Park  or at Coco Cay.

 

Just doesn't belong on a cruise ship IMHO.

 

Anyone agree with me?

Respectfully... no, I do not agree with you.

The waterslides are the highlight of our kid's cruise experience.  And in my advanced age, I've been known to enjoy a slide or seven.

With all the supply chain interruptions going on across the country/world, I had a random evening thought:

I have three cruises booked over the next 6 months and all of them had and no longer have the Unlimited Dining Plan or Multi-Night Dining packages offered.  After hearing/seeing all of the land based disruptions in the food industry (heck sometimes our local Taco Bell is out of taco shells), the following thought came to mind....

From a business perspective, has RCCL stopped consistently offering the UDP/Dining Packages because they're unable to guarantee the quantity and quality of the food need to provide the full benefit of the packages?  Going a bit further... if they're only offering Specialty Dining at "rack rates" (e.g $40-60) per night they could still guarantee the service (albeit on lower volumes) because they have the ability to pay higher prices on supply/food (with higher revenue).  One could also extend this concept to labor... not enough labor to guarantee service at discounted rates on Specialty Dining.

Not being critical of RCCL in this instance, just a hypothesis derived via third party observation... interested on what others think and are experiencing.

Harmony departure on Dec 26th just nixed Nassau, Labadee & Jamaica today.   Went fully Western Caribbean (Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Roatan).  Not a surprise.  

It’s more than a ship comparison question…

Is an extra 2 days of vacation worth $2000? (That should be answered first)

Also keep in mind comparison of destinations.    Is St  Thomas and St Johns worth $2000 to visit (instead of Cozumel)?

I agree with the assessment that the ships are different but with that said even with the same itineraries and duration I wouldn’t pay $2k more just for the privilege of being on a Harmony vs Mariner.  

So if we have a mid November cruise, what’s the thought / general suggestion on when we should purchase the tests from eMed?

Great live blog.  Thanks for letting us "ride along" this week.  Appreciate you answering questions, your photos and commentary.

Thanks for letting us virtually join you for this cruise.  I'm on Mariner on November and appreciate the real experiences on the ship since it's restart.  

Congrats on a good night at Casino Royale!  They can be few and far between for most of us.

Curious as to your thoughts on the pool deck (during the day) as I will be traveling with a group of four.  Are we able to bring four chairs together?

Keep the food porn coming!  🙂

Ahh… Cozumel cancellation.  That’s it.

I was thinking today was Friday - been a long week (err… 18 months).  
 

Thank you.  Nothing further to see here. 

See that Symphony just arrived in Nassau around noon.  Thought they were supposed to be at Coco Cay today.  
 

Given the Covid world we live in, I’m curious as to the diversion… is my info incorrect?  Is anyone onboard with insight?

On 8/14/2021 at 2:18 PM, PhillyFan33579 said:

I am happy just to be cruising again.

Amen to that... will just continue to monitor the app weekly and hope that earlier departure times open up.

54 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Curious what November sailing are you on that opened up for check in?

Mariner

Pre-covid we'd like to be one of the first ones on a ship and would still like to be for our November cruise.  Our checkin (via the app) opened today and the only boarding time listed was 3pm.  Not going to lie... Not a fan of a 3pm boarding time - Day 1 is practically done by the time you get settled.

What are the recent experiences for actual boarding times for those that have cruised since resumption.  Did the boarding times listed in the app change as you got closer to the cruise?  Did it matter when you actually checked in at the pier versus what you selected?

We should have been conditioned for this.  From RCCL “real” news is like a “real” RCCL sale.  Doesn’t happen that often.  In reality it’s always more of the same, just with a different cover to it.  
 

In sad/humorous news (depending on your perspective).  Happy 1st Anniversary to the last GGG sale.  
 

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Multi_Dest/Special_Offers/rci_sales_event.pdf