I Love RCI

It's hard to answer your question as taste is so subjective. It also depends on where you're coming from - ie, do you dine at 3 star Michelin restaurants on a regular basis or is Outback what you're comparing against? I'd equate the overall experience as interesting - the singer (pictured in a previous post and I don't remember her name) is good along with the stringed instrument and a piano. Food is maybe on par with a 2 star restaurant. Service is very good and attentive given the limited dining venue. And specifically on the steak, it was "fine". It wasn't the best steak I've ever had nor was it the worst. Since they paired the courses with cocktails, and not wine, and given how many drinks are available prior to this course, the steak will taste differently than if paired with a wine and/or being completely sober.

We booked the inaugural the day bookings opened in Oct 2022. We subsequently booked for Spring Break 2024 when there were still good prices (relatively speaking) sometime in summer 2023. So we had both booked before getting on. We loved the ship...have Star of the Seas on the calendar for Nov 2025 😃

The concierges should reach out to you prior to the sailing. I don't recall exactly when we got our email (we've been on Icon twice now), but it was within a week of the sail date. Respond back requesting the nights and times you want to dine in Coastal Kitchen. It is not usually a problem to get reservations if you are in a full suite.

Maybe instead of the Pinnacle name badge, they give all pins the golden royal caribbean chalice instead! 🤣

Yes. The entire ship is "open" meaning you can get a drink at any location and take it wherever you plan to go.

It is too variable. For the most part, around half the machines/games will not be working. Even on the Icon inaugural, there were around 3 machines/games that were already out. It is really rolling the dice whether you will find an arcade with a game that you will want to play and that is working. Reviews will be almost meaningless since the game may work on one cruise, and be out for the next one. We did a year apart repeat sailing on the same ship and the games that were not functioning during the first cruise were still not working a year later (and included more games/machines that were down). The only other thing to consider is that on ships that have Playmakers, they often have their own games/machines so you should check those out too. Some of them include old school games (think Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong, etc) and they are often free to play.

I had to think about this a bit before generating an opinion. I can see where this applies to us, for example, a sailing with parents/friends who can now join us in the lounge versus previously we would only meet them someplace else. On the other, depending on sailing, lounge access can be tight. On top of that, drinks are not included for non-pins/non-suite and we've had enough problems with wait staff using our vouchers even though we are in a suite. This just muddles everything further even if meant to be a benefit.

On the ships, yes it does matter. And yes, we were once charged a corking fee for bringing our own wine and having them (the waiter) open it (although, it was several years back - RCCL could have had a different approach to the policy then vs now; or, it could have been related to that waiter/maître de as it was in a specialty restaurant). To remove any doubt, we either do as mentioned above, or just fill up a glass with a big pour and bring it to dinner.

If you ask the waiter to open the bottle in the restaurant, then they *may* sometimes charge the corkage fee. You can do what little britain said. We try to avoid the issue by opening the bottle ourselves in the room and then taking the bottle to dinner with us. We have not had a problem doing it that way, but YMMV.

This!!! Its not really worth it to pre-purchase other than the discount. The harder problem is having enough games that you want to play (and number of times) due to the number of non-operable machines/games.

Interesting that you don't like communicating with the genie through the app, my experience has been the opposite. I have found the app to be the most convenient and easiest way to get in touch with genie (and yes, we have cruised in SC prior to the now widespread usage of whatsapp). I think it may have been a bad genie. It does happen. We had a bad one once, but that one was the exception and not the norm. Overall, our genie experience has been fantastic and it has changed our cruise experiences. Besides the app, the genie will usually meet you if you have any planned activities they have arranged for you, as well as checking in on you at meals and show reservations. The main thing to remember is that they usually have 3-4 other cabins, and with many of the meals and shows at the same time, they have to balance running around to the different venues and groups.

I have tried everything on cruises related to motion sickness. If your husband doesn't like the drowsy feeling of Meclizine, try Diphenhydramine (Benadryl). It doesn't make me as tired, and the effect doesn't last as long. I usually only take it when I start to notice I'm starting to feel off.

It varies by several factors. Ship location, weather, time of day, how many people using it, your location on the ship and in relation to nearest hotspot, etc. We were on in August and again now... some moments it's ok and no problems, other times it shows you are connected to wifi but without internet connection. YMMV

On Anthem currently. They ask that you do reservations for shows in 270 due to smaller seating space. No reservations required for shows in theater.

It's when not in the water that you will likely get cold. You can try wearing a wetsuit but a wetsuit is designed to keep you warm while in water, not out of it. It works by trapping a thin layer of water between your body and the suit. This layer of water is warmed by your body which prevents you from losing too much heat while in the water. I would probably bring some sort of wrap/blanket/extra towels to put around you to keep you warm.