jimbo5544

Having more than the Panorama and Firenze is a lot to ask for (IMHO). According to John H, the new ship is going to Cleveland anyway….

Me either, if I were a betting man, I would bet on the 170,000 tons vs the 200,000. Most that define small would not agree with that as smaller. I agree the smaller ships are mostly over (one exception seems to be HAL). I too found the discussion of Princess a little weird.

Bingo

Late to the party but great review. Have to find a way to get down and sail on the Jubilee. Enjoying it all.

Micky has a couple more…..

Wait…..you root for the Saints???😲

Define smaller from a RCCL perspective. This company has been about one purp[ose and one purpose only BIGGER. Show me anything at all where they go after exp[erienced cruisers who want smaller ships.

On the other hand, we tried and failed to get there. Two hurricanes got in the way, many unhappy cruisers, especially with some who booked outside excursions. Saw a lot of Canada at really high cost. .

My view is be smart. If we live in fear, and not travel to any place that has a security concern, we go no where no Mexico, no Bahamas, no DR, no Jamaica, no Europe, no far east, no South America, no Canada, no Alaska, no east cast of US, no west coast, no Australia, and it goes on and on, . If we travel with eyes open we travel and act intelligently, things will be fine.

Not at all.

The Ocean View Cafe was extremely small, amazingly hard tog et a seat. The variety pretty varied, some was OK, and some was…well…not very good. The rest of dining (especially service) was outstanding, which made this stand out even more in our minds.

I have seen variations, but not quite what you describe. Someone on the cruise must coordinate, I assume they are getting compensated in some form or fashion for doing so. There are all sorts of versions of this, usually tied to some travel group and on specialty cruises (Journey’s and an example), get into all sorts of things, most for pay. Some probably cross the line (whatever that might be from the cruise line perspective), but not sure what sure what CCL can do. The best way from my perspective is for them to tell their tale (either here on the site where they had the issue. I do know there are rules regarding selling thing ON the ships, but not quite what you describe.

Our feelings are much the same. One variable that sticks out in my memory as potentially different is the seasoning on the fries (might be as little a difference as to how much applied), but probably splitting hairs.

Interesting, we recently completed a 14 day Antartica cruise on Celebrity. I thought their lido food was much worse than Carnivals.

Nice organozed review, thanks for doing it. I do have a question, do you do a write up for your TA for every vacation?

The number of room increases were small. (In comparison to say what they added to Elation) on the Pride. The issue for those four ships (IMHO, and we love them and have sailed them a lot) is the phisical limitation of size in many areas, and the facts tied to mecahnicals age.

I do ho think it was meant as a comparison, but more of a statement of fact. Somebody has to pay the bills for all of the new builds. When the discussion is about differences of hundreds of millions and billions, it takes on a whole new persepctive. Add marjet saturation (at the very least in the Caribbean, and one can safely add the Med as well, and there will be one variable on how they can sustain the craziness. It is an unsustainable model.

Maybe on the Costa ships. The ones I have seen lack enough pools (from what I have seen, not been on a one yet). Was supposed to be on Venzia but had a conflict. At some point some of those homeports that cannot take a Conquest class or larger due to beodge height issues. When the remaining two Fantasy class ships and Spirit class go, something has to go (might be those homeports).

Cruising is always evolving. Some we will like and some not so much. The mega liner build logic is part of it, the multi line approach Carnival Corp has to fill all customers (CCL, Princess, HAL, Cunnard, Seaborne etc) are all part of their plan. Whether we are happy with the available options is something else again. We have sailed the Spirit class more than any other CCL class, great class of ships, we have seen Captains proclaim their love also. That said, there is virtually no chance of CCL bulidig those again. HAL is the answer for that, their new builds are as close as a Carnival Corp line will get.

Still pretty darn good burger

Carnival does have three at this size (and another on the books), which by my math….is at 4 at 180K. I get lazy adding all the RCCL has WELL over that size, maybe you can help. The point is whether making these monstrosities makes sense. 2 BILLION dollars, do the math on the breakeven. Add to that, Icon is butt ugly, when I first saw the renderings, I thought it was a joke. Seeing it reality adds that view.

Not an economics major WAY back i college, but at 1.65 to 2 BILLION per ship, I might question the “not hurting for money” comment, but maybe I get confused at all those zeros. Not to even mention those other ugly details like lack of ports they can dock on, no tender ports, market saturation. So any comment on anything (other than “wow”) on royal is bias?

They do NOT play past midnight. We have stayed in these on Vista class ships (Vista, Horizon and Panorama) 7 times (multiple locations, can give you cabin numbers if you would like). There is some noise, but not bothersome in my opinion. Best rooms on the ship.

Absolute home runs.

I was not debating whether they are popular on FB, but rather their popularity (or not) here.