twangster

I'm beginning to think Royal doesn't care that there are some that abuse the program with the "significant other like a spouse" verbiage. When someone at any level in the program isn't cruising there is no cost to having a CAS label applied to them. If someone is cruising then the CAS program may have been a factor in the decision to book a Royal cruise. If it was then the program accomplished the primary goal of a loyalty program. I'm not condoning those that abuse the spouse verbiage but if Royal wanted to crack down or reduce program abuse it wouldn't be that hard for them to do so. They appear to be pretty relaxed about approving status matches.

I've seen enough reports like yours to know it's not always the way that people claim as "policy" (which it isn't). In many cases it's been reported when appealed to HQ it is turned down. It seems once a call on the field is made, it's very unlikely to be overturned under review.

The exception being junior suites that can be made refundable.

You've done better than me. I've had two drawbridge events since the restart. I was wondering if the lumber yard will move. I suspect a parking lot full of cars may yield more than lumber parked there. Lumber doesn't need to be stored at the water's edge. Google Earth still has an old image from before CT1. 🙂 If they squeezed a CT2 in there they could still have cargo operations on non-cruise ship days. Not exactly like this but along these lines. Then add a parking garage with more levels that could also service CT1.

Good catch Folks who haven't sailed Royal before is always the single largest group on board.

Port Canaveral has some work to do if they want to hold onto the title of busiest cruise port. Don't get me wrong, I love Port Canaveral in general terms but having a drawbridge that isolates half of the port, the lack of anything on the North side and parking have not held up to the growth of the port. The North side of Port Canaveral is basically no different than Miami. Nothing but cruise terminals with no bars, restaurants or attractions. The drawbridge is by far worse than the tunnel in Miami. Terminal one on the South side provides easy access to bars, restaurants and attractions but the same can't be said for terminal three on the South side. As the port looks to add new cruise terminals that expansion will see the new terminals away from the bars, restaurants and attractions. Parking is disaster at the moment. Sure they plan to add more surface parking away from the cruise terminals but that means a shuttle bus will likely be needed. Shuttle bus transportation doesn't work well with a sudden influx of thousands debarking at the same time. In general terms Port Canaveral isn't scaling well and the lack of planning or forward thinking is hurting them now.

I would think the cruise line should be responsible to move outgoing and incoming guests between the ports involved, as best as they can. That begs the question was is the best alternative? Years ago when I was a Carnival cruiser Long Beach became unavailable for our return due to weather. Instead they used San Diego which at the time was not a home port for any Carnival ship. Carnival supplied buses to move disembarking guests from San Diego to Long Beach and those same buses were then used to move embarking guests from Long Beach to San Diego. As it turns out I was B2B and I was the only consecutive cruiser on that occasion. With the extended bus ride for incoming guests I had the ship to myself for much of the day. That was bizarre and something I'm unlikely to ever encounter again. While the unplanned bus ride for both debarking and embarking guests was not great, it was the best solution given the unexpected change in ports. In the current situation where parts of Ravenna are impacted by flooding the logistics are more difficult since the port in Ravenna is unavailable to be used as Carnival was able to still use the Long Beach terminal in my example. It seems to me that the cruise line should be responsible to make the best solution available and I don't perceive the Trieste train station to be the best that could have been done for the Explorer diversion occuring right now. It will be interesting to see if the situation going on right will cause any guests to miss embarking today. Royal has offered some compensation to debarking guests but it may take a day or two to understand if that was adequate to cover debarking guests and missed flights that may occur from this change. When a port is closed it is closed. That is beyond a cruise lines control. Yet they can't simply say we have changed embarkation port and it's on the guests to get to the new port with no compensation or refund offered for guests that are unable to make it. Time will tell how this works.

As I read through the comments it seems there is a wide variety of preferences expressed. That leaves me curious. How did Indy's open air and uncovered solarium work out in Southampton? Do enclosed solariums work better such as Radiance and Quantum class? I see opinions panning Odyssey for it's uncovered pool yet Indy has uncovered pools and so many loved Indy in Southampton. I've never thought much of the MDR on the original Quantum class but the Quantum Ultra ships, Spectrum and Odyssey that have an open and beautiful MDR that is a major upgrade. Is this something that might appeal to Southampton cruisers when Odyssey arrives? Indy still has Grease for it's main theater show. Is that a preferred musical? Did cruisers not get tired of that show like they are of WWRY on Anthem? The Effectors on Odyssey is a high tech show but I am unsure how it will be received by UK guests. Thoughts? How do the numbers look on a typical Southampton cruise in reference to guest source countries? In the Med there is typically a strong contingent made up from North American fly in guests. Do Southampton cruises share this characteristic? As a fly in guest I'd love to have more Southampton options but the transfer to and from the port have always seemed to be a more difficult task. What am I missing? Is there an easy or preferred way to get there from LHR? TIA.

Only newer ships in my experience and it was flaky. One moment it worked, a minute later... nope.

Specialty dining has always had varied policies that are inconsistent. That "tradition" continues to this day. The D+ BOGO "enjoys" the influence of this tradition. Back when specialty dining was more affordable I used the D+ BOGO every cruise. Specialty Dining has become so popular that Royal can charge more so I don't use the D+ BOGO as much as I used to, yet in my reduced attempts to use the BOGO I find it still varies by ship. It never hurts to attempt anything just understand that one ship might squash your well thought out plans and you will have to adapt them. Their ship, their rules.

OMG - the mythical "Resident rate".

I had a dream two nights ago. In my dream I was on a segment and I sat in a seat in a bar and was told I can't sit there as it's "belongs" to a world cruiser (one who booked the whole show). Then he showed up and went ballistic I was in his seat. Much drama ensued. Don't worry, it wasn't you. 🙂 As I look at booking segments I've wondered how "segmenters" will be viewed by the "lifers". I'm guessing the social dynamic will work somewhat like it does in a prison. Fortunately I don't have any direct experience with that.

Great feedback, thanks for posting.

Like I said... A president's cruise and other non-typical cruises like a transatlantic may deviate but those are relatively few cruises compared to the bulk of cruises such as the Florida 3/4 or 7 night cruises that dominate the industry.

See post #2. Spoiler alert - all Royal ships should have Starlink now.

By October Radiance is supposed to have the WiFi infrastructure replaced or so the Voom team onboard told me. My poor internet experience on Radiance I suspect was mostly due to the poorly configured WiFi onboard and less about the satellite provider. It should be better for you if they have replaced onboard equipment by then. If you carefully manage the 4 free D+ days and if your cellular company includes cellular in Mexico you might find you don't need to buy Voom. Your itinerary looks like this: Sat 07Oct2023 San Diego, California - 4:00 PM Boarding Sun 08Oct2023 Cruising - - Cruising Mon 09Oct2023 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 11:00 AM - Tendered Tue 10Oct2023 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico - 2:00 PM Tendered Wed 11Oct2023 Cruising - - Cruising Thu 12Oct2023 Cruising - - Cruising Fri 13Oct2023 Cruising - - Cruising Sat 14Oct2023 Puntarenas, Costa Rica 11:59 AM 10:00 PM Docked Sun 15Oct2023 Cruising - - Cruising Mon 16Oct2023 Fuerte Amador, Panama 8:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked Tue 17Oct2023 Panama Canal, Panama 6:00 AM 6:00 PM Cruising Wed 18Oct2023 Cartagena, Colombia 10:30 AM 6:00 PM Docked Thu 19Oct2023 Cruising - - Cruising Fri 20Oct2023 Cruising - - Cruising Sat 21Oct2023 Cozumel, Mexico 8:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked Sun 22Oct2023 Cruising - - Cruising Mon 23Oct2023 Tampa, Florida 6:00 AM - Departure Assuming your phone works in Cabo using cellular (if your cellular provider includes Mexico) you will be connected on days 3 and 4. If you can wait until noon on day 5 to use the first free D+ 24 hour pass you will have internet for that afternoon and the morning of day 6 until noon. Then use the 2nd free D+ 24 hour pass at noon on day 7 which will keep you connected until the ship arrives in Puntarenas at noon on day 8. Use your next D+ 24 hour plan on day 10 at noon or once back on the ship after he day in Fuerte Amador which will keep connected for half the day or more while going through the Panama Canal. Use your last free D+ 24 hour pass on day 13 at noon so you'll be connected until noon on day 14. Day 15 is Mexico so if your cellular provider includes Mexico you can use cellular. All that's left is the final sea day until your are in Tampa. I would talk with your cellular provider to inquire about coverage in Mexico and also to see if they offer international day passes that could be used on days 8, 10 & 12. Those day passes combined may be a lot less than buying Voom for 16 days. However if the cost of a full voyage Voom plan is acceptable to you I suspect it will work better for you then it did for me.

Odyssey came to visit so crew could get vaccinated. That was before the restart officially started. Mardi Gras and Odyssey arrived from overseas on the same day. June 4, 2021. She didn't enter service with guests until PE.

Abuse is wrong. It always has been and always will be. All that's needed if they are concerned about abuse is to find a way to enforce it. Asking to see a DL at check in. "Let's make sure your address is correct in the system." Of course that slows down the check in process. If the abuse gets bad enough then they may have to deal with. I've heard of people who use a friend to earn an unjustified military discount at Lowes. That too is abuse. Some people can't help but to scam the system.

The OV I was in did not have a beverage cooler. Still has a shower curtain.

Just to keep things in perspective, from MSC Seaside using O3b/SES. From OceanCay, the MSC private island To be fair not all the ship speeds test were this good over the entire length of the cruise. However the same can be said for Starlink.

Yes! Doing 3 and 4 night cruises to CocoCay!

Every cruise that has a top tier event tell us how many are at each level. On a typical cruise I've yet to see Diamond be the largest group of cruisers on board. Pre-gold is always the largest. Folks who have sailed Royal before is always the single largest group on board. For those that have sailed before and have a CAS level on a typical cruise the numbers never have Diamond as the largest tier. When I used to track the numbers announced at top tier events I plugged them into a spreadsheet. Averaged over 30 or 40 cruises the typical distribution I saw was gold at 43%, platinum at 19%, emerald at 9%, diamond at 18%, diamond plus at 10% and pinnacle at 1%. A president's cruise and other non-typical cruises like a transatlantic may deviate but those are relatively few cruises compared to the bulk of cruises such as the Florida 3/4 or 7 night cruises that dominate the industry. The issue of CAS status match is not the problem that some perceive it to be. It certainly isn't a problem for Royal. The loyalty program is doing what it is supposed to do - create repeat bookings. At the end of the day how many people are at X level has zero impact on my cruise.

Kids are not conveyed Pinnacle status, only a spouse. I don't think problem is as extensive as some make it out to be. There is likely a bell curve type distribution of kid status. I suspect for the frequent Royal cruising family many kids have sailed multiple times and if they aren't Diamond on their own merit they are probably not that far away. There will be the families on the far ends of the bell curve that will be exceptions but most fall in the middle. When your spouse doesn't have the same status there would be little motivation to book Royal as the first choice. "Sorry honey, you can't come into the DL" isn't going to work well for newlyweds. At that point they might as well consider all cruise lines to book. The non-Diamond spouse wouldn't care less about silly CAS status. "Let's book NCL, or XYZ cruise line". A loyalty program is supposed to motivate repeat business except it doesn't when you don't offer a status match for a newlywed couple. By offering to match newlyweds it gives Royal an advantage and tilts the playing field towards Royal.

Welcome to the bizarre inconsistency of the Royal Suite class. Actually, most ships don't offer the 11am to 11pm beer and wine in the suite lounge that Oasis class ships do. Only Oasis class ships offer that. So technically it isn't "most" ships.

I can see it both ways. My adults "kids" never received CAS status from me because I switched to Royal later in life, after a divorce. Right after the divorce I didn't have money to cruise and I didn't, for a while. By the time I could my kids missed the match. Fast forward and now my adult kids are booking and paying their own way. Absent of meaningful CAS status and being early in their careers they can't afford Royal, they shop low prices. So they book elsewhere. Royal loses the revenue. If they were Diamond that would make all the difference with their limited budgets. Four free drinks would be a game changer. They would be more likely to book Royal. At their age they are not lounge dwellers so their presence, if they were D would have zero impact on other CAS members. As an investor I have to weigh the cost of four drinks versus lost revenue and seeing the competition get the business. It's their money my kids have earned themselves by working, I'm not going to tell them how to vacation. Bottom line, Royal loses. But they have no issue filling ships so, Royal wins? They didn't have to give 4 drinks away for free. 🤷‍♂️ It's a loyalty program. The match generates loyalty. Mission accomplished.