wdwkings

We have experienced suites (lounges, sundecks, etc.) on Royal, Holland, MSC YC, and DCL. Directly comparing each to Royal - - Holland really felt like sailing on non-Royal Suites ship with RCL. They have a lounge, no dedicated suites sundeck, and they do some dining options at breakfast but no suites dedicated restaurant. - Disney is a little closer to Royal since there can be dedicated decks for suites on some ships and the lounge is nearby, others it is a little walk. There is typically a suites sundeck and it varies from ship to ship with some being pretty nice. They do not do suites dining. - MSC, as others mentioned, is a nice suites products especially when considering price. The rooms might be a little less in some cases but the Yacht Club experience is pretty nice. The suites sundeck and pool area was far superior on our sailings. The lounge and suites dining wins out over CK if you factor in the whole package, if you took some specific detials of an Oasis class CK, they win out on some. Based on that a real way to tell if it is good or worth the cost is if we will consider them in the future. We have two Royal cruises still planned, likely will only do Holland if there is a good deal on an interesting itinerary (since they have a little more variety), Disney is too limited and not for their prices so not likely, and MSC is a good possibly for a future YC sailing.

The OP last commented 13 hour ago and there is some clarification that might help. In the initial post it was stated that the start point was Sydney, but mentioned stops, in Hawaii and Vancouver among the details. Assuming that the itinerary is boarding a ship in Sydney, and disembarking that same ship in Seattle, there is no issue, even with stops in Hawaii, or Alaska. Concerns do develop if there are any ship changes, "layovers" or such. If the stop in Hawaii was actually disembarking and staying for any amount of time (changing ships on the same day even), then the embarkation is now Hawaii and a disembarkation is Seattle and that is a violation. Another area of concern would be any change of ship or stay in Alaska, since Hawaii to Alaska or Alaska to Seattle would not be allowed. Conversely, a change of ship or stay in Vancouver would be allowed as the origination is outside of the US. It appears that you might be doing some kind of side to side, stay or change in Vancouver (it was mentioned "not boarding in Hawaii") so this should be fine. Since the OP was vague about the full itinerary and someone could be changing ships at some point, stating the PSVA doesn't apply might be an overreaching statement. It is true that PSVA does not matter in most cases when starting outside of a US port but individual itineraries have to be looked at in detail. While it seems on the surface that the cruise is fine with a start in Sydney and end in Seattle, the proof is in the details.

We have had the overnight three times. It may vary by port but all three times the "early" departure was allowed.

The most important factor for any upgrade situation is if the ship is sailing full or near capacity. Unless there is a lot of room inventory don't expect much movement even with Royal Up. You stated that your sailing next month and that does work in your favor some since there are less families due to the school schedule. Still the Med is a pretty popular route so it could impact overall inventory. Historically your C&A level and casino tier could help your chances at scoring an upgrade. You stated you were Prime but did not mention your C&A level. The higher you are in both programs, especially when compared to the rest of the people sailing, the better the chance for any upgrade situation. With the Royal Up program in play don't expect any upgrade. I'll say that Royal still can do whatever they want as a company and it probably will not happen unless you submit a bit but I'm not willing to say "never". There could be some weird one off circumstance that they choose to do an upgrade for someone but still not very likely, one of those 1 in a million situations. (Really wanted to post so I could make a Dumb and Dumber reference, LOL)

First I'll share that we love the two story suites so we are a bit biased. At $800 to jump to the CLS it would be a "very likely" in our minds. The big win is being on deck 17. The proximity to CK and the lounge is a huge bonus. I like being able to head down there and grab a snack, especially in the morning for coffee. If that really is not a factor for you then rate that accordingly. If you have not done a loft suite before then you might want to try it, they are pretty unique. The only thing is if you are paying and not doing Royal Up, factor in if it is a side or rear facing Suite. We would prefer a side facing but did get a CLS that was rear facing on a Royal Up once. No complaints since it was a "win" and it wasn't really bad but some folks that might be a deal breaker. Good Luck and have fun either way.

1- For breakfast and lunch, no issues with dress code. Some dinners you might feel a little underdressed, so that will be based on your comfort level. 2- The concierge will email you a week out and feel free to request your dining reservations if you want. Depending on your itinerary and if you have sometime specific in mind for certain days, it might be helpful to get that done ahead of time. I have a sheet that accounts for all possible Star/Sky suites at capacity and Symphony has one of the highest possible guest counts. I'm not saying it will be this full, it is just possible. 3- The Seafood Volute usually is pretty good.

Lots of good opinions here and I'll share we have done a few with long stretches or multiple sea days. Our last cruise had 6 straight, we have done a TA and one 14 day cruise with only 4 port days so we have adapted and like those relaxing days. If you haven't done it but feel ok with cruising, you should be fine as there are still quite a few things to do on most sailings. You may find it is not for you. Since you have some experience, it could be beneficial to have a plan (brining a book or something that might interest you) for your down time.

As mentioned above the odds are pretty good that you can find some availability for dinner, if you have some flexibility it will be more likely. There are a couple of things that might influence how easy it is to get a reservation. First if your not sailing on the Oasis or Quantum class your Jr. Suite will not have access to CK, LOL🙃 Just kidding there, but really the itinerary could impact the number of spots that are open for dining. The worst case scenario would be a itinerary that has a high number of pinnacles and have the suites at or near capacity (families traveling and less couples). The good news is those two things shouldn't align often. Families will usually be together on summertime, more routine Caribbean cruises. And although they can be on any cruise, Pins will have higher ratios on the more unique sailings. So many factors that are not really known, like how many specialty dining packages are in use in the suites and other things but expect it should be possible. Just a few things to consider, happy sailing!

HI Faye!!!!!

Part of the reason of my post was to share about the three verandas, some feel that those specific suites are lacking because of the inside square footage being smaller. We liked it with the extra deck, as it seems you did, for the extra views in Alaska. We have the same room booked for a future saling but it is over a year away so not 100% certain that it will happen. The other reason is the shear amount of bad information that is out in the internet, including the possible confusion related to the original posters question bout the youtube video. You can call it what you want but trying to help anyone that reads through the thread. There is a Star Loft suite on the Oasis class and it is a Star class but the three lofts I mentioned are the only ones that are Star class on the Quantum ships. Happy sailing!

We have been in the side facing Grand Loft Suite on the Ovation and although a little smaller than the middle Grand Loft Suites, they are still in Star Class. The three category of Star Class lofts on the Quantum class are the Royal Loft, Owners Loft and the Grand Loft Suites. Any other suite on those ships are Sky class (or Sea Class). We did the three balconies for the Alaska sailing and having side and rear facing balconies, including the upstairs, was great. We could get out quickly and see lots of scenery and wildlife from multiple spots. We did have some soot, but it wasn't too bad. We also used a towel to wipe the rails on occasion, so it is more common.

The room in the video (10322) on Quantum is a Sky class room. This is likely a one off situation, that the gentleman that posted the video did not mention. It looks like he is giving a tour of the room and not really discussing Star class. Likely this was a "perk" that was extended to the guest in compensation for some changes. There are reports, that a travel agent I know verified, of Star class room bookings that got messed up and those guest were booked into Sky class rooms but still got the genie service. Likely they received all of the perks of star class and maybe some other compensation. We had a similar situation on a Star class booking out of Sydney that got switched to Queensland (but ended up being cancelled due to COVID), so although rare, it has happened in the past. Moral of the story (this post) don't expect a genie in that room.

it is easy, demand for the product. The more ships in port and the larger that those ships are, the more demand for the excursion. Very simple logic of supply and demand. Only so many helicopters, a specific number of seats on each aircraft and only so many pilots to do the excursions, so once they are booked, they are gone. Each cruise line will book a number of spots because they know that if they have 4,000 guests on that sailing, then they can expect a certain number of guests based on historical data from prior sailings. They will lock those excursions in place, even if no one has purchased that excursion, yet. It is basically locking the reservation in place for the cruise and locking out the general public, or a direct booking. I'm always a fan of booking directly and we have done that on a number of occasions. Coming into Juneau at 1 pm, especially if there are lots of ship/people there for the day, decreases a single persons ability to negotiate a spot and price.

We booked directly, don't know which one since my wife did that, and it was great. We were the first trip of the day. The cruise line excursions used the same company but were later. The issue with your port day is that you don't arrive until 1pm. That later arrival might impact availably to book something. Before going down the rabbit hole of looking at booking directly, I would check how many ships are in port. If there are a number ships in port that day, definitely book with the cruise line,

There are lots of reasons that a cancellation might happen. Unbelievable amounts of cancellations happened a few years ago and we had at least three. even further back I heard that Costa cancelled itineraries on their Concordia ship. 😶 Just kidding about that to some degree. In reality there are three things that impact possible cancellations - ship issues, business issues, or hotel issues. Hotel - a sailing is booking a hotel essentially so there can be limitations on accommodations. At times charters impact some sailings. These should be the easiest to get notification and some kind of adjustment but likely there may not be much in compensation. Business - in the end the cruise line is in business to make money. If something doesn't make sense a company can make changes to itineraries. There are many things that might change where a ship will stop, usually they do not impact a full sailing but it is not unheard of. Sometimes changes can happen very late but that is usually to a single port, a major change usually happens further out. Again, it is likely notification and changes happen further out. It is unlikely to get major compensation in these cases but it is likely to get some and your travel agent might be able to negotiate a better deal if they are knowledgeable. Ship - these are typically the latest notifications and most problematic. Anyone who owns a boat knows that things happen, even to these big ships. While usually it is not common, things still happen. Even a working ship may have other issues, inspections can be failed, that might change a sailing. Expect minimal or late notice on ship issues. Compensation is usually going to happen but the cruise line will try to minimize what they do offer.

I'm not saying the program is the greatest (or that it is even any good) but why not take advantage of the offer to status match if you are going to do an MSC cruise.

We have done these a few times and like it. You will get a letter the day before confirming your day bed from the excursions. You will also have a notice in the app. Bring the letter to the check-in desk near the day beds and they will check you in, give you wristbands and go over some details with you. Your name will be noted on one of the chalkboards on a corner of the bed so you can find which bed you are assigned without them but still need to check in.

I'll stick with my analysis from your other post on another thread. Happy planning!

There is an option for a welcome aboard bottle of wine or bubbly for the Star class guest. Also certain C&A levels get a welcome bottle as a perk. Here is the current list from the Allure-

Assuming you are kidding. Just in case - Genie…. ….magic.

With the risks of lawsuits, it maybe tougher to circumvent height and weight restrictions. With a rather high profile death of a guest that was not within the rides limits in Florida, the likelihood is it might not be allowed. If the excursion is something through the cruise line, probably less likely to be overlooked. A local operator might be willing to look the other way more than corporate Royal Caribbean would allow. To that point, if you do try and are not allowed by Royal’s staff they are just following the rules from corporate.

We had done Star Class before and are again very soon. While some things have change a bit over the years the “rules” are pretty much the same. As for what you are requesting, just share what you like and how you like to have your day play out with the genie and they will make the magic happen. (See what I did there?). Since this sailing is pretty close, just have a chat on with them when you meet and they will work with you. There isn’t much that they can’t work out with short notice, but just remember some late or last minute request might be harder to fulfill. On Ovation in 2019 our genie had a family emergency and was removed the afternoon before our sailing. They flew another in last minute and we still did fine, just chatted each day to work out what we wanted to do, outside of what was already scheduled. There are some specifics that they cannot get around, like whole bottle requests, in room, be it wine or spirits are a purchase item. Yes, there are discounts but even then there might be a more cost effective way. Genies are notorious for snack deliveries, so a simple request for some pre-dinner snacks and maybe a glass of wine would be right up the alley. Not sure if the Quantum class still has the afternoon drink cart post COVID, but they did come around the suites in the afternoon since the lounge is so far, not like the CK/lounge on the Oasis class. (At least they did while we were on Ovation in 2019.) Happy sailing!

This is too funny with some of the responses. 🤣 We have done some staterooms under the public decks on different ships and different lines, including an Owners Suite on Freedom. For the most part all, including deck 10 on Freedom which was also very close to the elevator bank, have been pretty quiet. There might be some occasional noise but typically nothing problematic. The most noise from outside any stateroom was actually probably on DCL. One was from kids goofing around on the stairs and another was deck chairs being moved around, but both were limited occurrences.

I have done a massage on day one on two lines, Royal and Disney. Best to start things by relaxing, right? Both were fine, no noise or issues from tours. On Royal, it was on the Oasis so a similar layout, and the treatment rooms are a deck below the spa entrance on that class of ship. Most of the welcome activities are up on that entrance level so minimal traffic. With the gym above, I would be more concerned about noise bleeding from above during an exercise class with any rooms that are underneath that specific area.

If you are looking specifically for info on the Symphony, only since the tours have resumed, the pool is pretty small right now. Over the next few months you might get more feedback, since they really have only resumed in the past week. If you are familiar with Matt’s blog about RC, he did a review this week on his tour aboard Mariner. Agree with others that it is a good option for a first time cruiser, or someone has never done one. Some aspects may not be as interesting, but everyone should find parts interesting, especially the bridge.