RobInMN

We just finished the Panama Canal cruise here last month. We booked it the day it was released. Largely thanks to a previous "Booking season begins" thread here.🙂

I've never been on Gate 1, But I did 1 Vantage back in 2005 with my Parents and did GC recently with them again. Vantage and GC were basically the same (including the ships). I believe that Vantage (at least back in the early 2000's) was owned by a brother of the GC owner. But yep, they are no more, so that's a moot point. Anyway, my wife and I a not fans of GC in the slightest. We are fans of AmaWaterways. Our biggest complaint about GC is the cabins. The dual fold-down single bunks is unacceptable to us. We want the actual bed that you get in an Ama cabin. Bathrooms are much nicer also. Ama uses a single cruise director. The biggest difference I would point our with this is that on Vantage and GC, we had 4 CDs such that the entire cruise ship was divided between them. This is your CD for the entire cruise, and they lead all the tours. They are expected to know everything about the places you are visiting, and you will be with the same large group of passengers the entire time. There are no options. Not in only in what you are doing, but the pace also. You either do the designated excursion or you don't. and if you do, the entire group stays together at the pace of the slowest person. I can't speak to other companies other than Ama, but Ama's single CD is more of a coordinator. They do not lead any excursions, instead they are the are the go between with the local expert guides. They are the one that arranges for the appropriate number of guides for the different excursion options (yes! you have options!!), and your groups are almost always kept to small group size (with the exception of some evening all ship events). Not only that, but most walking tours are divided into easy, normal and active, each with their own guide.

All correct statements. I also thought the "big" announcement would be Project Discovery since Michael Bayley has said they hope to announce it this year. It does seem like it's being mentioned more frequently at the Captain Q&A's (and maybe just because more people are asking), so I'm hoping that is a good sign. But correct. No official announcements have been made up to this point.

+2

That seems to be the prevailing indication from Captain Q&As

Ours also. It was a weekend neighborhood thing. While I thought all 3 Sovereign class ships had been scrapped, only her 2 sisters have been. Apparently Majesty is currently owned by Seajets, and "laid up" (whatever that means other than out of service) in Piraeus, Greece. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majesty_of_the_Seas Not sure what a ferry company is going to do with a former cruise ship, but their wikipedia page says that they've purchased 4 and plans for them are yet unknown.

Correct, nothing official, and certainly no actual details has been published, but Michael Bayley has commented at least twice, and numerous captains have commented about a new smaller class ship in the design phase. Bayley has said they hope to make an official announcement sometime this year. Your comment was that RCI will only do big ships, and leave the smaller ships to Celebrity. This seems to run counter to what insiders are saying.

Yes. Sorry to freak you out. "Dropping" as in not scheduling new, not cancelling already announced ones. And I was probably a bit overreactive. They are not necessarily dropping all of Norway, but they are severely limiting where they are going. You'll note that starting in 2025, there's no Radiance class from Amsterdam. So no Flam, or Geringer, and no Arctic Circle up to Honningsvag like in previous years up to this summer. They are only scheduling the southern "big" city ports. We'll have to see if they continue with your itinerary in 2026 & beyond.

So... everyone's been lying?

This isn't so much a "yes, but", as much as it's additional info. There's no argument or disagreement here. You are saying the same thing as far as "earning" goes. Nothing was said previously about what is displayed in the app. That may be what you were intending to say, but not what you actually wrote.

in 2005 we went with my parents on Vantage (went bankrupt a year or 2 ago and liquidated). Was not a fan anyway. We did another one recently with my parents on Grand Circle (Christmas Markets). Again, not a fan. The crew was nice enough, ship & food ok, but the cabins are a non-starter with us. Twin fold down single bunks over a dual bench table. We are spooners. Doesn't work. Reminds me of a camper. Tiny bathroom. Hated the format of having no excursion options and being spit amongst 4 CMs that led all tours themselves. We've done 3 cruises (1 plus a b2b) with AmaWaterways and have another (4th) booked for Spring. We love them. The b2b was on AmaMagna, and that ship is amazing for a river ship. (find my review in the River Cruises forum). Love the multiple, small group, excursion options and the fact that they use local experts for tour guides.

I don't necessarily love the smaller ships, in and of themselves. When it comes to the ship, I love the Oasis class and the amenities the newer ships have to offer. However, I love where the smaller ships can go. We loved our Artic Circle, and Iceland & Ireland cruises. We loved doing the Panama Canal. Very excited that this new class will give us the best of both. Not to mention the fact that RCI is dropping the Norwegian fjords due to the new environmental restrictions that I believe they will solve with this new class (LNG?)

Most of those countries don't use the Euro. Any tour guide and bus driver used by Ama will accept Euros. The CD should let you know which countries may accept Euros and should tell you what the current conversion rate should be, but note that any change will be in the local currency. Some countries are more accepting of Euros than others. We brought a couple hundred in Euros and kept changing for smaller currency at the front desk to use for tips. We did both weeks on the Danube, and this did become problematic on this stretch of the Danube as many people were doing that and they didn't have a great way of getting more once we were no longer in Euro countries. We did not get any local currency on our cruise and just used a CC that has no foreign currency transaction fees whenever a CC was accepted, and Euros other times. We don't do a lot of shopping.

Have you done river cruises? We've done a few now and enjoy them. They have the advantage that oceans cruises do in the sense that your hotel travels with you, and obviously river cruises go places you can't get to from ocean ports. We don't like doing the same Caribbean ports over & over, and do some of the other itineraries more, but occasionally will sail for the ship just to see/experience a new one. Anyway, we've done Nuremburg to Luxemburg, Nuremburg to Vienna, Vilshofen to Budapest to Bucharest, and next Spring will be doing Basel to Amsterdam. At that point, we'll have gone all the way from Amsterdam to the Black Sea. 🙂 The River Cruises sub forum is active enough.

This plus this correction Everyone earns their own points in the cabins that they stay in. Minors "get" their parent's status. Once they are 18, they are allowed to keep that status (but again, not points), until their own earned points reach the next C&A level.

Current threads/discussion on the new class. It's been hinted at for about 2-3 years now, but more recently captians have been mentioning it at Q&A's and Bayley has even dropped mentions. No real details, just that "it's smaller". But there's lots & lots of speculation.

BTW, We did the Grand Danube, where the first week was basically what you are doing (only in reverse). I believe there is almost 100% overlap. We also did the Prague extension (pre for us) and went to Gogollo on turnaround day. Full review is here:

Vison Class isn't really a traditional ship "Class". It basically comprised 3 pairs of ships and while it's unclear if all 6 ships were all built under the "Project Vision" umbrella, the class name was apparently named after the project, rather than any specific ship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision-class_cruise_ship It would be like using "Genesis Class" instead of Oasis Class.

Yes. We've arrived late morning as we checked out of the hotel and took a short train ride and really had no where else to go, and where we boarded wasn't really near anything. I don't think we were even the first people there. We just hung out in the lounge as they were turning the ship over. Depending on where you are boarding, you may just want to drop your luggage off, check in, and then take off for a few hours. You can do that also. I am not sure if the plugs are actually E/F or C, but both of these have worked just fine for me: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YDF8GCT/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058EG0KC/ I also suggest using a multi port charging station like this, so that you minimize the number of outlets you need for charging: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BX3V6ZZX/

Just never really got in the habit of using the phone wallet app.

While I have no issues with and prefer to use the app, I do pack a printed copy in my carry on just is case.

At the port "check in" is the "Set Sail Pass". So my previous statement still stands. If she is traveling with anyone else on the same or linked reservation, you only need 1 person whose phone has the app (and working) as you can swipe from passenger to passenger on the same phone to get each person's Set Sail Pass. You have not given any indication as to whether she is (a minor?) traveling with you/family (or friends) on the same reservation or an adult (where she might be on her own unlinked reservation).

If anyone else she is traveling with on the same or linked reservation can use the app (iPhone or Android), she or they can check her in without needing to print documents. Even the boarding passes can be swiped to others in the same party.

I used Uber. But a taxi would be easy also.

Drinking age from sailings originating in Europe (including Rome) is 18 https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/international-age-policy Personally, I'd get a Wi-Fi plan that covers everyone with 1 device per person, including yourselves. Get the fewest multi-device plans you can, so if there's 7 of you, that's 1 @ 4 devices and 1 @ 3 devices. Do not get a 1 device package for each person. Once you get to 3 & 4 devices per plan, the per device cost goes way down. Install WhatsApp on everyone's phone. This is far more reliable in roaming situations than attempting to text, especially if your phone will try to auto switch between RCS and SMS. If they use texting with friends, they should switch to WhatsApp while on the cruise. You can create a group chat to keep in contact for meeting and stuff throughout your cruise. Note that when someone is in a Star Class suite, the Genies use WhatsApp to communicate. And the internet is fast enough to stream shows, and the coverage on the newer ships (like Odyssey) is excellent. As mentioned before, if you use T-Mobile, the included international coverage should be good enough while off the ship when used in conjunction with an on ship Wi-Fi package. Since this is your first cruise, I see nothing wrong with just using the ship excursions. The guarentee to not miss or rejoin the cruise can be an ease of mind on an initial cruise. That said, if you are comfortable, go for it. And as mentioned previously, join your cruises Roll Call. Many times other people will do the leg work for a private/independent excursion and post up details to join them. We are doing Odyssey in the Fall with Greece and Turkey (was originally Holy Land). We will be doing a combination of ship and independent.