The Fun Researcher

56 minutes ago, gerif said:

I agree. Will be sailing X for the first time in many years soon and I was very disappointed in the Elite perks. We are doing early dining so would need to go find a bar to grab a drink and carry it to the dining room. Never used the laundry service on any cruise, never even used the laundry room on lines that have them. 
 

We had  cruised a couple of times on X but as soon as we turned Diamond received an email welcoming us as Elite, so they knew. 

The good thing is, Celebrity is a great product overall. 

I would be interested in trying their newer ships.  We did the Equinox (Solstice class) again in December and while food and drink was good (on par with Royal) it was just sleepy compared to what we're used to with Royal.  It was the week before Christmas and I think they were maybe putting in a lot of effort planning for that next week and kind of forgot about us. 😄 (Just a guess.)

We were Platinum or Emerald (can't remember which) when we sailed Celebrity in 2017.  We were Select back then.  Since 2017 we became Diamond on Royal.  We were automatically upgraded to Elite on Celebrity.

Having said that, Celebrity has pretty poor perks for Elite compared to Diamond (and above) for Royal.  The happy hour is right overtop of dinner (unless you eat late).  You can't order elite drinks from the MDR, so if you want one you need to leave your table, exit the dining room, and find a bar.  The laundry can be nice but we've never used it on Royal or Celebrity.

Maybe some of the perks will be of some meaningful benefit to you, but it's almost useless to us.

The 4 drink vouchers and the 24 hours of wifi are far above any of the Elite benefits on Celebrity

Hopefully the late 8 can eventually look back at this and find some humor and adventure in it all.

The sting of getting burned from their somewhat risky decision is probably too fresh. 

46 minutes ago, TexanSailor said:

There is no requirement for the underaged passenger to purchase any package at all

Thank you!

If there is one adult 21 or older in the room with one other guest under 21 can you opt out of a reduced drink package completely for the underage person?  ...or do they still make you get the refreshment package?

I remember when Royal didn't have this rule and all passengers could purchase drink packages separately.  To combat sharing (and increase profits) they now require both passengers over 21 to purchase (or refreshment for 2nd)  However if one of the two guests is a minor then they aren't able to share alcohol due to underage.  Does Royal still force a drink package on the underage guest?

If you use conditioner you will definitely want to bring you own.  No guarantee they can get some for you as it's not a standard item offered.

The blow driers are the cheap hotel variety and will get the job done but will take a while.  We bring our own but it did trip the breaker on the Quantum class ships once.  Our fault...  If you do bring one, I suggest the low heat setting and full fan setting as the heat is what uses the most energy in a hairdryer, not the fan.

17 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I'm all for independent tours, but I'm not sure I'd do one in a place that isn't an everyday cruise port

Agreed.  We almost exclusively use 3rd party options (both for cost and variety), but we also fully know the risk, sail primarily well visited Caribbean ports, and are willing to deal with the consequences if we were not able to make it back to the ship.

6 hours ago, twangster said:

Tendering operations with any other private boat or in this case the local coast guard boat could simply be a violation of company policies. Attempting to transfer guests with unknown and unproven private boats is very risky.  It may require rope ladders or other apparatus to account for differences in vessel height.  The local coast guard vessels are probably not designed to be dual purpose coast guard / tender boats.    Attempting to transfer guests between any vessel other than approved and known tender boats has tremendous risk associated with it.  The local coast guard personnel may be excellent mariners but that doesn't mean they have a lot of experience attempting to transfer guests between their craft and a passenger vessel. 

Exactly, port pilots have died in that process of boarding/disembarking cruise ships.

Regarding this couple, the thing that struck me were the comments that they weren't sure they wanted to board the ship now. After all that trouble by them, and NCL to meet back up.  That's straight up pouting, and not taking ownership.  Suck it up.  You made a mistake.

We're also sailing Liberty in June (5 night bermuda)

We always plan around 1pm.

Not sure how often you've cruised, so this might be advice to others, but remember not to check EVERYTHING in your bags with the porter at the pier.  It's not uncommon for luggage to be delivered after dinner time on the first night so you might want to keep a set of dinner clothes/shoes and some toiletries with you in a bag or carryon.

56 minutes ago, lolaletu said:

HI:   We just got booked cabin 8415 for 4/8/24.  We did an inside guarantee and thats what they gave us.  Does anyone know if you can see anything out in cabin 8415?   Thank you

No you cannot.  It's in the upper left of the photo below.  Not a bad location though.  Easy access to Central Park on your same deck

It is a connecting cabin.  Hopefully you have no noise issues from neighbors next door. Not normally something to worry about but you never know

2 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

There are so many great options in Cozumel that I don’t see the need for this.  Now if they put one in Falmouth or Costa Maya I’d be interested. 

They definitely are filling a need in Nassau with the beach club there, but yeah there are already quite a few good options in Cozumel for all inclusive beach days.  Love that about Cozumel.

Now, don't get me started about Nassau... for being the busiest cruise port it sure is SORELY LACKING in choices for good excursions, especially all inclusive beach days. (and especially for families.  Some of the few options are adults only)

No, not on the Quantum last summer.   ...and not only that, but we had preordered the winter blanket (from the gifts section of the cruise planner)  and they were out of those too. That was a bummer because they were going to be a nice surprise gifts for quite a few of our group of 14.

Always love more options!!!  Having said that, if the price is excessive we're perfectly fine staying with Nachi Cocum, or trying Paradise beach.

Dan

10 is the biggest table we've done on Royal, a couple of times, but they can do it.  Great advice above.  Nice to see someone planning ahead.  Leads to better odds of an enjoyable cruise.👍

We were in connecting Central Park 9591 and 9593 on the Allure a few years ago and loved those rooms.  Central to everything and YES they had widows with a nice area that was like a window seat.  Room felt larger than most standard connecting interiors.  I can't imagine them boarding up the windows or something and classifying them as regular interiors 🙂

Independence of the Seas doesn’t have a Central Park. 😜😉  (Indy is the OG IOS)

12 hours ago, wreckem2013 said:

Seward cannot currently handle larger ships. However the owners of the Seward cruise port announced its expansion back in 2022 and recently gave updated plans with an expected completion of spring 2026. In the promotional materials for the project they have rendered picture of the completed port with a Quantum class ship docked. This project is in conjunction with RCCL and the plans are for the ability to handle two ship at the same time, and the ability to handle quantum class ships.

 

I am planning on booking a B2B or a cruise with post cruise tour during the quantum class’ inaugural season to Seward. Fingers crossed it’s the 2026 season.

Awesome information!  Thank you.  What a great combo for Alaska cruisers, the one way all the way to Seward (or vice-versa) and the excellent Quantum class (or Quantum Ultra) for colder weather!  Might convince me to go back to Alaska sooner rather than later!

1 hour ago, fac429 said:

I thought Ovation was a pretty good ship for Alaska, particularly with the enclosed Solarium and ability to watch the world go by during the day in 270.  I also liked the Music Hall.  But some people are excited that Quantum is coming to LA, and I don't really get that.  I would sail Navigator over Quantum to Mexico every time.  I think a Quantum class ship would be pretty boring for most itineraries, particularly if there isn't much to see outside between ports.

Agreed.  We've really like both the Anthem and the Quantum, but we sailed them both in cold weather sailings (one to Alaska, and one from Cape Liberty in March).   They are fantastic ships for cold weather.  Along that point, I think it's weird that they moved the Odyssey to Cape Liberty during cold months given that the Odyssey switched the indoor family pool area into an outdoor pool area.  However we look forward to sailing Odyssey next year in March out of Cape Liberty, we love that it has Playmakers and one large dining room

I think Quantum class is fantastic for Alaska, given the weather.  I wonder what keeps Royal from using them for one way sailings like Seattle (or Vancouver) to Seward and vice-versa.  Would be great if they went to Glacier Bay (but Princess and Holland have the lions share of those openings)

8 hours ago, Cruise5life said:

I think you are 100% alone in your opinion.   
 

I’ve been to alaska a number of times. And each time is better than the last time.   
Ive spent hours on my balcony watching the beauty of Alaska sail by.    
I’ve seen bears.   Eagles.   Whales, dolphins you name it.   
 

don’t know how someone can say alaska is boring.    
but I guess that’s me.    

Not boring, agreed.  Alaska is a truly amazing cruise experience…
 

Having said that, we personally don’t have plans to go back, at least for quite some time.  It’s not because we didn’t love it.  We did.  It was awesome.  We would rather see other places in the world first (Iceland, Norway, the Med, Australia and New Zealand, etc…) before I go back to Alaska.  Plus there are all the warm weather options in the Caribbean/Bahamas that are more budget friendly and it is so nice to get out of cold Michigan to warm weather.
 

10 minutes ago, irun5k said:

I assume the solarium on Quantum is adults-only as on other RCI ships? 

 

I suppose our kids are a bit of a wildcard.  They definitely appreciate natural beauty, but while I could sit around for hours watching and sipping on something I don't have that expectation for a 9 yr old.  So we'll want to balance doing onboard activities with them and perhaps taking some time for ourselves- she can do the kids club if she gets bored with us and our 16 yr old will figure something out on his own 🙂

Yeah good call.  18 and older now for the Solarium.  I forget that our own kids are all grown up.  😂. Last summer the solarium on Royal ships was still 16 and older so our kids were able to be with us when they wanted.  The solarium is right next-door to the indoor family pool area with lots of windows in there as well so that whole area in general has great places to view from.

Happy sailing

So are there any ways that are known to be o.k. with Royal Caribbean to expand the number of outlets in your cabin?

You will see shorts and T shirts in there ALL THE TIME, especially embarkation day lunch.  We've done embarkation lunch twice and between the two occurrences all 19 of us were in jeans or shorts.  

We did Quantum to Alaska last summer.  Was fantastic.

The first day and last day are the only ones in open ocean.  The others are travelling between islands or near the coast in the "inner passage"

There are great views all the time from the Solarium, and a bonus is that if you walk all the way to the front lower level of the Solarium you can open a door(s) to the outside where you have great views from the "wings" on both sides of the ship.

It's absolutely a big trade-off of more cabin space versus that balcony.  Alaska is one place where the balcony was worth it for us.  We were constantly popping open the door and getting out the binoculars, etc and on a balcony you can see fully in front of you and to both sides.  Very convenient.  All other cruises I'm perfectly fine with an inside, and only upgrade to a balcony if it's not much of an up-cost.  

If you don't mind the lack of convenience, you can still get great views around the ship but a balcony is a little more protected and easy to pop back into your room to get warm.

7 hours ago, gerif said:

I’m going on an X cruise in June which will be my first in many years. I will be Elite by virtue of my Royal status but quite honestly don’t see any benefits to this. The group I am going with includes a classic beverage and WiFi, taking early dinner so anything that takes place at 5:00 would not work. Have never used the laundry service and, frankly, wouldn’t trust having my clothes boiled. I really see no benefit in being Elite. Am I missing something?

You aren't missing anything.  Royals benefits for Diamond and above are WAY better than X's Elite.

The 5-7 happy hour with Elite is very inconvenient as it's right around dinner time and you can't order drinks with Elite benefits from the MDR.

We've never used laundry either, but that's the next best benefit in our opinion.

If you have the drink package already then the vast majority of Elite status is moot.

https://www.tomlovescruising.com/2019/01/28/independenceots/

The Indy was Amped so that's a big positive.  Love what Royal does with their AMPED ships!

5 minutes ago, LeeW said:

The ghost is in the Liberty elevators as well.  Push a button, it lights with three other buttons and goes out.  Skips floors.  Goes up instead of down.  Three or four buttons broken on each elevator...

Ooh, sounds exciting!  We should name the ghost.