OfTheSeasCruiser

What’s your theory?

There is a chance that they may open along with some of the Winter Caribbean sailings if the ships are coming from Europe, so keep an eye out

We might see a test sailing on the website tomorrow which will give us a heads up.

The flyer has been updated https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2024_2025/2024_2025_Deployment_Opening_Schedule.pdf

I’m curious about cruises from San Juan, or if they’ll even be any. I notice Rhapsody is scheduled in St Maarten every Wednesday during winter 2025, which matches Voyager’s calls on the cruises she is currently doing from San Juan

I wonder what ship will replace Odyssey in Rome

We were loyal Royal Caribbean cruises up until ~2019 before moving over to Celebrity, so we've visited Labadee several times, with the most recent time being in December 2019 and the first time being in 2003. If you're looking for a relaxing beach day, it is great. There are several secluded coves to find a lounger, a well as wide open beaches for sunbathing. We loved the zipline. Labadee definitely doesn't feel like an amusement park, like CocoCay. If you have a drink package, your drinks on the island will be included. There are some negatives for me... the food is blah and the experience can feel a bit manufactured, rather than authentic. We like eating at local-owned restaurants, for example. You won't get anything like that at Labadee.

November 2023

We just sailed on our first Celebrity cruise after 13 Royal cruises, and a few on other lines (including Carnival). I can only really provide a comparison between X and RCI, as the one Carnival experience was 10+ years ago. We loved our first cruise on Celebrity and have booked our next sailing with them. For us, Royal Caribbean became too family oriented. We are in our 20s, but not interested in waterslides, etc. Celebrity definitely feels like a step up in terms of service, food, and atmosphere, but the one thing I do find lacking is the activities. I did miss Royal's Quest, for example, while on Celebrity. But the positives outweigh the negatives for us and Celebrity is probably our first choice now. We will still consider Royal though. And I've added Virgin to my list as well.

What would the per day price be to upgrade from an included Classic Package to Premium with the Elite discount?

Do your best not to get too siked out about the complaints and cutbacks you read about. After all, you'll be on vacation, sailing the world on a beautiful ship, and like you said, with a good price and itinerary. I have a Celebrity Cruise booked for next April after going on my first X cruise this September. Might I notice some cutbacks, maybe... But I'll be enjoying my cruise nonetheless.

Hi all, Looking for some help in planning an overnight stop in La Spezia for the first week of May 2024. We want to see Florence and Pisa, and I think Cinque Terre as well. For context, we are also visiting Santa Margherita (will visit Portofino while we are there), Civitavecchia (going to Rome), and Naples (undecided, but probably want to see Capri, Sorrento, or Positano). This is our first time to any of these ports. But for La Spezia, from my research, I came up with two options. Option 1: Day 1: Early train to Florence, spend as much time as we can, and take a later train back. Day 2: Excursion to Pisa and Lucca, some seem to include a wine tasting which we would like Option 2: Day 1: Florence and Pisa "on your own" excursion, which seems to include about 3.5 hours in Florence and 1-1.5 hours in Pisa Day 2: Cinque Terre on our own via trains or ferries So I guess my question is, what would you do? Keeping in mind what we'll be doing in the other ports. I want to see Cinque Terre, but is it worth rushing the day in Florence? Or is Pisa/Lucca worth missing a day in Cinque Terre? In Pisa, it's more about snapping a photo of the tower for us, so the hour+ there seems a waste, but I think the only way to avoid that is a private tour, right? But that = $. I was thinking of a private transfer to Florence from La Spezia via Pisa for a quick photo in the morning, and then train straight back to La Spezia when we're ready at night, but I'm having a hard time finding a company that offers one way private transportation. Any recommendations? And as a side note, how does it work if we were to take a later train back from Florence on our first day in port? From what I've read, you can't walk right to the ship, but need to take a bus into the actual port. Do the buses run late into the night? We will be on Celebrity if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance!

And all I wanted to know was how Blu compared to Discoveries 🙃

Nope. The ice skating rinks still exist, and continue to be added to new ships. The Voyager Class had roller skating tracks.

A few of Royal Caribbean’s Voyager class ships had roller skating tracks when they first debuted, but were since removed. I think it would work better for Virgin though.

Well that's boring.

Do the calls suggest a pattern/length of itineraries? I found the Zeebrugge calls which seem infrequent, but I couldn’t find the Reykjavik calls online.

Hmm. This might be a stretch, but Karma Chameleon was written by Culture Club, which was formed in London. Maybe Brilliant is headed to London. Either way, I hope they reveal itineraries soon because I'm planning to book a summer 2024 Europe sailing soon.

I agree, yes. But will the ship be ready before then?

I didn’t realize Brilliant was unaccounted for between Aug-Dec 2023. Is there reason to believe she’s going to debut before her first scheduled sailing in December? Also, Brilliant is the only ship without summer 2024 itineraries right now. But she has a TA putting her in Lisbon on May 1, 2024, which doesn’t really fit with the ukulele. Or maybe this has nothing to do with ship deployments at all!

Thanks for the feedback. If Discoveries’ food and service are like Blu, I’ll be happy. Overall, how did you like Azamara compared to Celebrity?

Thank you very much for the response. This is helpful. Happy to hear Discoveries is like Blu. It was a highlight of our Millennium cruise.

Hello all! We are new to Azamara and are considering a Mediterranean sailing on the Pursuit in 2024. I've been perusing the Tips for Newbies thread and have narrowed down to a few questions. We cruised with Royal Caribbean for many years, but have moved on from them. We tried Celebrity this past year and loved it. We were hoping to sail with them in the Med, but am having a hard time finding an itinerary that fits in our budget and in our timing. Azamara caught our attention because they seem to have great service and we love the port intensive itinerary. A few questions: 1. We were in AquaClass on X and loved the experience in Blu. We had a lovely server and a great bar server/sommelier with great recommendations for wines as well as cocktails. For anyone familiar with X/Blu, can we generally expect a similar experience in the Discoveries Restaurant? I understand no one can predict service levels, but just trying to get an idea of the Azamara experience. 2. The sailing we are looking at includes a Premium Beverage Package as part of the promo. I found the liquors and beers that would be included. Can you confirm what wines are included? 3. If we like to try different wines every night, should we consider upgrading to the Ultimate Beverage Package? Am I correct that it would cost us $7/person/day and that not everyone in the cabin has to upgrade? How/when would we process the upgrade? Thanks in advance!

Thanks for your response. The Nordics would line up with the TA to Lisbon, as opposed to the PC/West Coast scenario.