twangster

While I don't disagree with you and I drink the ship water it is kind of ironic using the "save the environment" excuse as a cruise ship guest. 😇🤣

You can book them direct or through a TA. At times Royal does place minimums on certain cabins but during the restart I was able to book these suites as a solo so it all depends. YMMV. There are only two so they often go fast.

Never say never, but unlikely.

Royal aimed to do away with the need for check in queues when they first doing app based check in back in 2019. The goal was curb to ship in 15 minutes. Anyone who used the app to check in back when they first started trialing it in places like Miami would get an "Expedited Check in". Walk into terminal, go through security, see check in person with a tablet and spend just a few minutes at check in. It started working quite well and was expanding to more locations. The need for CAS queues was eliminated by the app check in and it was faster. Once the pandemic hit and cruises restarted the need to validate test results and vax docs threw a wrench in the machine. They eventually incorporated proof of vax in the app and eventually stopped asking for the proof of vax every 5 feet. The initial restart had a painful check in process because of the needed to ask to see everything six times. That wasn't how it was supposed to go. They didn't want anyone queueing for "social distancing" so they couldn't bring back CAS queues. Instead they tried to use appointment time to spread out traffic. They didn't count on the human factor and masses just showing up whenever. People are entitled to show up when they want, right? When CAS queues did exist they existed after security at the actual check in part. With willy nilly masses showing up whenever the security queues were overwhelmed. But remember there was never CAS queueing before security. People not being ready to show test results and vax cards is still screwing up security queues. Usually half of people boarding a cruise have never sailed Royal and nearly 100% of them lost their ability to think they would need to show test results and vaccine cards. To this day this still screws up the security queues as people dig through handbags and fumble with phones trying to find the required docs. It slows everyone down. Delayed boarding start times to clean more is still causing some delays for the commencement of boarding and with masses of people ignoring their arrival times it will lead to traffic flow issues. Not a lot can be done about that. CAS queues won't solve that. Once ships can start boarding early like before and once they don't need to validate test results and vax cards things will drastically improve. Until then? Nope.

Voom is a profit center for Royal. Why would they give up a revenue stream? They could have made chat free. MB actually said chat in the app would be free. Yet it isn't, because people are willing to put money out for it. Also we are waiting to see what Delta does. The free offering may not support anything more that basic chat which is free now. The premium options may be required for anything more robust. They never said high speed streaming internet will be free.

I used to feel that way when I lived out west. If you can't beat them, join them. So I moved and love getting the local rates now.

Many of those people discovered one in a suite plus a throw away interior is very close in price and sometime cheaper than two in a suite once they are over 340. They didn't spend gobs of extra money to game the system, the system left itself open to be played so that more points could be earned for the same or marginally more money. If you are sailing anyways you might as well play the game and earn more points. Sometimes for $35 more I can move from a studio cabin to a double occupancy cabin. I don't "need" the points but at the same time more points for a relatively low amount of money does move me a wee bit closer to my next free cruise threshold. An extra 7 points for $35 is a good use of $35 for me but maybe not for the next cruiser. So be it, to each their own. But to say I am only cruising to get points is not accurate. I cruise because I love to cruise. Playing the points game is just entertainment while on the ride. Sure, on the way to 700 many people play the system. It's not accurate to paint them as only cruising to get points. Anytime I saw a fare deal that's under $100 per night all in I jumped on that. Not to gobble up points but because I love to cruise and I couldn't pass up a bargain to get back on board and do something I love. Did it help to earn double points as a solo? Absolutely but the points were not why I did it. Even now when I see a cheap cruise deal I have a hard time saying no. Some people will buy a cheap short cruise to cross a threshold so they have Diamond for the next longer cruise. That's very common at the Diamond level. Some of those people have points primarily in mind. Those kinds of people who book one cruise to jump over a threshold happen at each level but mostly at the Diamond level. Once you've made Pinnacle that's it. Double or triple Pinnacle does nothing for you yet people still book cruises like they did on the way to Pinnacle. It's not the points. They just love to cruise. For the same money while you are on board anyways why not earn more points? Sure beats staying home and cutting the grass for the 3rd time this week.

At terminal 1 the terminal entrance is on ground level. At terminal 10 pedestrians are directed to outdoor escalators on ground level to reach the terminal entrance on the second level. At terminal 5 at ground level you can walk up the pedestrian ramp or take the elevator 25 feet across from the ramp entrance on ground level. Instead of walking up the ramp turn 180° and walk over to the elevator. Both the ramp and the elevator take you the same point before walking to the terminal entrance on the second level. I had early appointment at terminal 5 and I parked on the second level so I just walked from the parking deck with my carry on right to the terminal entrance.

Terminal 5? Mariner? There is an elevator very near the pedestrian ramp.

My free Pin was originally planned for the summer of 2020. It was cancelled. I rescheduled it for the summer of 2021. That was also cancelled. They let me reschedule it a 3rd time to March 2022. The first two attempts were the $2,400 option, the 3rd attempt was a balcony in the Caribbean for 7 nights so 100% minus port fees and taxes. It was a spring break week and they allowed me to book an extended or large balcony since that is still a balcony cabin. Everytime I called they were very easy to work with and had no problems allowing me to reschedule it despite the notation they can't be. It was a pleasant experience despite it rescheduling three times and actually sailing more than 2 years after I earned it. I'm very surprised they wouldn't work with you.

This was sent out on the 4th:

Do you both have the same points count now? When CAS places a couple into a relationship the person with the higher points count will determine what appears when either of you log into your account. If you have 75 points and your spouse has 65 points both will appear to have 75 points but Royal still keeps track of the individual counter behind the scenes. As you both sail the points are earned on an individual basis. You both would earn 10 points for booking your own double occupancy cabin on a 5 night cruise. In my made up scenario you would then have 85 points while your spouse would have 75 points but their account would display your points counter of 85 since it is higher. You do not share a points counter and therefore you would not see it go up by 20 points (10 for you and 10 for them). If you both have always sailed together and you both have the same number of points then it's a moot point, you both would earn 10 points and you both would still have the same number of points after this potential cruise. Each of your individual counters go up by 10. If you are looking at studio cabins then you do not get double points. Studio cabins for solo guests earn one point per night always. You only get an extra point for being solo in a cabin that normally can hold two or more guests. Harmony does have studio cabins so be careful booking guarantee cabins as you could be assigned a studio cabin as a solo and therefore you would not earn 10 points but just 5 points each.

I've never seen it offered. Some mornings have a salmon version of Eggs Benedict but not lobster.

Solo? or CAS Balcony? CAS balcony discounts go up for Pinnacle but the reduced single supplement stays the same since it applies to anyone over 340. You can inquire if the increased CAS balcony discount will lower your price but that usually involves a reprice to current pricing. In many cases cruise fares go up over time so the additional CAS balcony discount for being Pinnacle may not yield a lower price on the day you reprice.

He often has a lady friend on board with him. In fact, if you listen to the stories, that has... well never mind. Prior to the shutdown I saw him on the B2B process for a couple of cruises. He had the regular followers fawning over him so I left him alone. He made a point of coming over and introducing himself. Nice guy, I've got nothing bad to say about him even though I'm not one of those that makes a point of following him. I've just happened to be on cruises he was on. After the restart on Odyssey I saw him in the Pinnacle Lounge. He had a regular group that he was sitting around with some nights. It's not exactly a lonely existence from what I've observed as lots of frequent cruisers know him and on any given cruise these days there are lots of frequent cruisers he can meet up with when he feels like it. If anything he probably gets tired of the attention but he never shows it. He is a very sociable person.

Except for Playmaker ships that had extra contracted for extra sports programming beyond ESPN Caribbean. In the past any ship that had a Playmakers carried additional sports programming. It wasn't available in your cabin but the TV's in Playmakers would often show more games than the two ESPN Caribbean channels.

Same. There is no separate discount code, at Pinnacle you retain DP340 (340 and above as you state). The one difference is before Pinnacle you have to manually enter DP340 every time. Once Pinnacle the system automatically applies DP340 based on your CAS number and the number of guests = 1. You don't have to enter the discount code every time once Pinnacle.

This week from Royal

When Wonder was being built Ready for Cruise posted this drawing that showed the stacks at 72m above DWL height for Wonder. Assuming the drawing was linear I measured from the DWL to the bottom of the lifeboats and came out with around 11.7m (albeit with a margin of error). Assuming for the moment 11.7m was in the ballpark that would around 38 feet from the bottom of the lifeboats above DWL. Call it 40 feet for a round number. That's great but how does that equate to Q class or other classes? I looked at pictures of Cococay with two ships at the pier. I found that Freedom class has their lifeboats or the lowest deck 4 protrusion pretty close to the bottom of Oasis class lifeboats. Maybe just a few feet above the bottom of the Oasis class lifeboats. Margin of error would have the Freedom class deck 4 protrusions at around 40 to 44 feet from DWL. I scoured my pictures trying to find a point of comparison that included Q class. By my best estimate using pictures the deck level davit support level on Q class are around 44-46 feet from DWL. My pictures are not absolutely square and with the wine I was drinking at the time my margin or error is likely quite high, probably 10% minimum. Maybe 15%. Even so with a 15% error 46 feet becomes 52 to 54 feet from DWL being generous. Feel free to try your hand at this assuming the Ready for Cruise drawings are true. Let me know what you come up with.

I'm going to guess UK consumer protection laws play into this. Offering a last minute fare sale may have implications in the UK that don't exist in the US.

Last I checked you can't drive a rental car through the Sounds of New Zealand or through the Panama Canal. Coastal Alaska by car is also a challenge. That's also why I've cruised destinations multiple times. I get to see something different each time and when I find a spot I really like I later fly there. You argument is that I only cruise which isn't accurate. Cruising can let you find the best places on land to focus a land vacation. I've flown to Hawaii a number of times. Cruising there let's you see it from a completely different perspective and you see more of the state compared to staying at a resort on one island. Cruising is not mutually exclusive of land vacations rather cruising it is complementary to land vacations. I scuba dive which is very complimentary with Caribbean cruising. When flying it's nearly impossible to dive at multiple islands day after day since you can't fly for 24 hours after a dive. On a cruise ship I can dive 4 different islands across hundreds of miles in a week. That would cost a small fortunate to build the same dive trip using airplanes. Currently planning the Galapagos. That's another a great cruise destination and the only way to see so much diversity across many different islands. Pinnacle happened not because I was focused on attaining points. Pinnacle was a journey that happened along the way and that journey continues after 700. Pinnacle was not the destination. However it is pretty great to have and enjoy the perks as the journey continues.

Over at the RCL Blog website we can't link to here the cruise compasses from past guests for Odyssey in July shows "Select Whirlpool/Jacuzzis" are open 24 hours. It might not be the one in the solarium every day, it could be one on the open outdoor pool deck that's is open early, but the cruise compass states one is open somewhere all the time.

The new cruise director on Mariner is a rookie and brand new in this role. His name is Mario and he has been trying to coin the handle "Super Mario" for himself. He doesn't stand a chance.

Do the overhangs off the side of the ship for the davit supports preclude Quantum class from using the locks? The only NCL's Breakaway Plus class that have transited are the ships where the lifeboats are stored within the profile of the ship, nothing hangs outside the profile of the ship on Bliss, Encore and Joy. The ships in this class that have the lifeboats stored partially outside the profile of the ship have not used the Panama Canal. The little bumps outs on Quantum class that support the lifeboats render the side profile of the ship irregular and not smooth like NCL's ships that use the PC. That led me to question if it's the side profile of the ship that is preventing them from using the PC as opposed to the height of the Bridge of the Americas.

Oh, you meant the cost to see Alaska, Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Caribbean, Central America, New England, Europe, Greenland, Mexico, Hawaii, New Zealand, Panama Canal and South America? Not bad really considering the places I've seen and memories I've made. But I suppose I could have stayed home and seen all these destination from Youtube videos. If only Youtube was available when I started cruising. Think of the money I could have stayed by staying home and watching the internet. I might have earned YouTube Gold status by now.