scooby1

Royal would do well adding another ship out of Southampton that does some more interesting itineraries to give more options. The P&O comparison is fair though, yes the ships generally aren't as good, Azura is shockingly bad in some many ways, design and the vibrations if you get a rear cabin and horrendous. But in saying all of that the food and service we thought were fine and we went with kids in a school holiday. Also good to hear the comments from people that said they didn't know it was a school holiday - when it literally says it EVERYWHERE when you search and book, that makes me laugh a lot. RCI can still make good money out of the UK / Northern Europe routes but they need to offer something a little different. Have Anthem go south in the summer and Navigator go north / Scandinavia etc. would be great for those that don't just want the sun as an alternative. Come on Royal, throw us another ship or at least two..!

I think Southampton or another port in the UK deserves a second ship from RC. Anthem and a Voyger class ship to a few more destinations would be great. RC could do with mixing up some of the current itinerary year on year. You look and thing ooh what have they got for next year and things are almost identical. If they tweaked things a bit more it would be better for those that keep coming back. Add a second ship for a few more options would be great.

In the UK tips are considered very differently and certainly not a default. If you get good food and service then yes you might tip. But if the service / food isn't then you pay the bill and that is that. Which is why we have always removed gratuities and we DO pay for good service and ask for envelopes to put it in. For me what is the incentive to make this a special holiday / meal / banter etc. if you think you are going to get a tip regardless of effort, doesn't seem right. Some cruise lines don't ask for tips they are included, P&O based out of the UK don't, this is straight off the website at the bottom. Great service comes as standard Tipping isn't needed on our ships so you can relax knowing good service and good times are all part and parcel of your P&O Cruises holiday.

This is all due to no regrets booking. Post pandemic fewer people are putting things off and its more of a you only live once mentality. This is driving large demand to people to go longer haul, try that cruise they always thought about etc. etc. There are deals out there but overall bookings are up across the industry from many nearly collapsing, can't blame them for putting prices up its a supply and demand industry after all.

Someone has messed up big time, now everyone can't log in either. A team in IT are currently in a mild panic and someone on the Helpdesk is wondering why calls are going through the roof. Bless em.

Have had quotes much higher over the phone than the online prices. However if it’s a standard room and no special offers then a travel agent got us the best price. The last booking RCL had an offer the TA couldn’t find so we booked online and saved a fair bit.

Wonder is a nice step up in design over the other Oasis class ships. Wind Jammer entrance and size is much better and it has the newest and latest features across the ship, even the lifts with the touch display was a nice touch and the rooms having a nice update including some of the venues. We did Oasis pre amplified and then Wonder in the med and if it was just the ship it’s got a good few touches that set it apart.

Oh it appears a moderator or a glitch in the matrix has occurred as my previous post seems to have been removed. For those that didn't see the photo its here on the 3d image embedded within the Icon launch page. If I"m not meant to be posting in then someone should have the curtesy to say so.

NO infinity pool so its not lots on kids or adults...! Its more a paddling pool nothing more.

Doh scratch all of that - when you look in the 3D image you can see some of the waterzone kids stuff so they have indeed put it down there. Anyone with any young and old kids get prepared to do a fair bit of walking and trips up and down the lifts...!!

I think some have got this wrong saying its a kids space I think its adult. If you have kids and you are on the top deck with some slides, waterzone all together that works, also I doubt they would put this zone right next to some top suites that just won't work. Also having to go up to flowrider etc. for those early teen kids whilst you are down there doesn't work either. So I suspect there will be a flowrider on the top, kids zone, slides all in the same vicinity and this will actually be more adult related zone. We shall see.

It won’t be on either of those days. It’s the Queens funeral on the 19th which would be inappropriate, RCL has black logos on social media in respect. Also it would be lost in the news on that day as a very very minor footnote. It will be later in the month at the earliest.

I get that but every little helps doing nothing isn't the answer. Newer solar panels can easily get 400watts these days that's old info but I get the point. Anyway back to the exciting Icon news likely to come soon.

I think the first one is a lame reason, they can wash the windows 3 times a week giving some solar panels a wash is hardly hard work. Also newer solar panels can last longer and provide much more power per m2. I get the power generation for something that consumes as much as a small town is minimal but everything helps and the cruise industry is likely to get increase pressure on its environmental stance in more markets with the climate issues that are becoming an ever increasing issue. Says the person going on another cruise soon... ahem. 🙂

Indeed I think they are and I think this is why I'm surprised it wasn't done more and included in the rest of the fleet and especially brand new ships. Any flat surface on the top or side of the ship away from the water could and really should be used. Its not as if solar is expensive for a $Bn build but can add 'some' free energy and reduce the environmental footprint if only a little.

One thing that always strikes me is that cruise ships need a huge amount of energy to run them and are mostly in hotter sunnier climates. But no solar panels, when the cruise industry wants to be more eco going forwards and reduce costs surely, they can add more to at least offset 'some' power requirements as there is quite a lot of space to put them on a ship the size of wonder. Not enough to power it, absolutely not but it seems a strange miss. I know its been put on some but surely this can and should be designed in as a key part of mitigation and customer vanity at least that the industry is doing more to be sustainable.