The Fun Researcher

I'll make sure to say hi if I see ya!

Yep! All 11 of us.

Yes, it's been quiet. The singing is typically one night, two max. We don't see as many photographers as we used to, maybe once this past 7 night cruise, and as soon as they arrive to the table we just say "No Thank You" and they disappear. We also request a table away from the main walkways or main entrance so that helps.

I agree with that. However, what Royal offers now is limited and sup par. Dry bread slices and paltry roll offerings vs what we had in the past. Something I'll have to remember on my survey. I really miss the onion rolls. I think they still have the rolls with the pine nuts on top. Those definitely go first at our table.

Fun confessions. 🙂 Re the windjammer, do you think you would feel the same if MDR menus were back to pre-covid variety and quality? I guess what I'm asking is if you're converted to a WJ person more so now regardless of what the MDR is offering? What really interests me about the WJ is the spontaneity and variety. Would love to go whenever we feel like we're done with our afternoon activities. The way Royal has completely screwed up MTD has also forced our early seating to be way too early... What I'm leery of with WJ dinners is missing our quiet family time together. Maybe we'll just have to bit the bullet and try it sometime

I'm with you. Quantum class WJ ranks just above the Oasis class (worst WJ). Much prefer Voyager and Freedom class WJ. We can make any of them work, but our last two cruises have been on the Anthem and Quantum and the WJ is chaos compared to the two aforementioned classes.

Thank you both for the replies. Excellent feedback. Much appreciated.

OP, yeah we are sushi lovers as well and really miss the offerings they had at the entrance of the Windjammer on those ships!

There are only a couple of Elite benefits we're looking forward to next week, our first time Elite on X. The Elite breakfast (if we're up for breakfast) and the laundry service. I wish X did the 4 vouchers daily like Royal. Happy hour from 5-7 doesn't work for us. It's when we're typically getting ready for, and at dinner. Fortunately we got the "all-in" for a reasonable price this time. Can't wait to sail X again, only 8 days!

see you on board! OP or others, how is the condition of the ship. Been a while since drydock. In good shape or is there more wear and tear than normal

Thank you for the review! We’ll be sailing her in 9 days. Is there still twice a day room turndown?

I might be missing the point. For those that liked twice a day service, and now have no option other than once a day (and don’t like that). …What’s stupid?

Thanks. This upcoming sailing will be the first time our grown kids (now 16-22 yrs) will sail X. If they really like it we'll definitely be looking at X more for future bookings. The elite benefits aren't as good as Diamond on Royal, but if the "all in" price is still good then it doesn't really matter. My main concern is the lack of activities and entertainment vs Royal. Of course, X has some nicer amenities vs Royal, so we'll see what they think.

Not arguing, but reduced bookings? Haven't heard that. We have a sailing with them in 9 days, so I've been over in that part of these boards and hadn't seen that. We love Celebrity too so happy to sail with them to mix things up. We had a gap sailing Celebrity from 2017-2023 so I don't know the booking changes they made during that time. Did Celebrity ever have it where you HAD to choose the all-in and couldn't just choose the base fare? For our cruise Dec 19th we have 4 bookings and only 2 of the 4 are "all-in" The others are base fares.

For one, adding back the "classics" and other popular items back to the MDR menu

I typically use both. App to quickly lock in our arrival time for our multiple bookings, and then later I use my laptop to fill in the rest. I really should take a look at trying the app for all of it.

With so many cameras around the ship you would have to be pretty stupid to try stealing on the ship, especially since the victim would certainly know and report it. Of course, stupidity runs in those that steal... so there is that. 🤣

One of these days we'll try one of those out. We're happy sailing interior or Balcony. Balcony really isn't that big of an upgrade to us. I know, I know but we like the outdoor spaces around the ship rather than sitting alone on our balcony. I do like being able to quickly and easily look out at port in the morning.

Well that's true as well. 😂😂 Aren't they removing that as well, if they haven't already?

Yeah the whole thing didn’t really deserve to be discussed here on Cruise Critic and was just ripe for arguments. Was a disaster waiting to happen

Before this thread gets deleted... from what I recall it wasn't really about the speedos, according to the OP in that other thread, it was about the over the top butt grabbing and tongue kissing in Eden. I will say, I don't really want to see that in public either, no matter who you are. I'll leave it at that.

Agree with most of what you said but this particular part is flawed. Most ships now sail with a high percentage of guests in the Diamond and above categories. If it wasn't for these loyal cruisers the story would look very different as far as such high demand. Royal very much appreciates and needs the loyal cruisers. Agree. Maybe some mixed memories. Pretty sure it happens(ed) on other cruise lines (Princess and Holland for instance), not Royal. I could be wrong.

Well that's sad. However, I never saw it well utilized when it was an ice cream shop.

I can see having the ship wait or transferring you to the next port is a really big deal for some cruisers. Kind of like paying that extra premium to have the insurance built into the excursion. The more we cruise the more we’re willing to take that risk but I really can’t imagine the stress and hassle of left at port and having to figure it out on our own. It’s why we’re so careful when we head out on our own

Do you know differently?