Tom-n-Cheryl

The jig is up...

I will say, I thought (at initial glance) that the Epic was ugly. Nonetheless, I bit the bullet and gave her a try. It was a fantastic cruise, one of our most memorable! Once inside the ship, I quickly forgot about her outward "challenges" 🙂 BTW (and, IMO), I think 15 drinks/day is a lot. I've likely never even made it to double digits - and that was probably over a very long period of time. Tom

Yep - I was thinking that about MSC too. Well, I guess CCL wants to get as much (additional) $ out of their guests as possible. And, looking at their stock, I'm all for that !!! Tom

Or, work overtime!

Truth (especially the free room part, lol)

I think, without fear, there probably wouldn't be much of a stock market.

To a certain degree, some of my holdings are things we like/buy/do. I limit exposure accordingly - but a couple of them have done quite well (CCL is not one of those). After seeing how much we were spending at CHEWY, I picked up some shares in early May... wowza ! As to the market as a whole, I'll try and just look away (today) ... !! Tom

When EF Hutton talks, people listen. When JH talks, he sows seeds of conjecture/thought (and, most of all, likes and replies). Oftentimes it will fizzle out until he throws out more birdseed... Tom

You can see here, on a 5-yr history, how well Royal recovered after the pandemic compared to - still struggling - CCL. Tom

Yet, if their pockets are deep enough, they might end up ahead. I'm not sure what their long game is...

Correct, it's a tasting menu - which we found, on two cruises, to be sufficient. Having said that, I did add/substitute (can't recall) one of the courses for a nominal fee. I agree - it makes sense to require some type of periodic activity on your cruise dance card in order to maintain status (from a corporate perspective). Tom

I was surprised by their matching program. Initially I submitted my Carnival Diamond creds, and was awarded a Gold card with them. I was seeing others manage to get their next higher (top) Black/Diamond card, so I dug a little deeper. Even though technically you can't have a do-over in the matching program, I was creative. I ended up using my Celebrity status to gain Azamara status (when they were still connected, even though I never sailed with them), and ended up with MSC Diamond. So - on our very first MSC cruise, we were able to take advantage of a free specialty dinner. And they offer that each cruise. That made me chuckle when I invariably thought back to the ONCE IN A LIFETIME Steakhouse meal after hitting Diamond with Carnival. 🙂 Tom

I wonder just how deep they're willing to go - to capture a chunk of market share from the other lines. Other lines can only compete down to a certain threshold in order to stay viable. Perhaps MSC is gunning to spend some others into bankruptcy - one never knows. I recall a restaurant manager on Celebrity telling me he didn't care for MSC, saying, "they're the mafia you know". lol Tom

MSC is taking aim (a shot) as a "value" cruise line, I'm sure all others in that category are taking notice. Our last office cruise was on the Seashore earlier this year. My staff really liked having the beverage package/WiFi as part of the booking, at a very reasonable price. Tom

It is what it is... or will be. And, in "x" years, it won't matter 😉 Tom

I was thrilled to see that the Star OTS (Icon class) would be homeporting in Port Canaveral. Several months ago I went ahead and grabbed a GS (base suite) for the two of us at about $15k for the week... yep, it was a "grab it and eval later/refundable" kind of thing. A few weeks later I started looking at that week for our annual office cruise in 2026 - usually about 10 staff will come along. I'll cover them for an inside, double occupancy - they can go up from there, on their own. However, I saw that the inside cabins were going for $2k per person. HELLO... NOPE !! I'll be canceling our cabin and considering other options! For reference, our 2025 office cruise on the Mardi Gras has them in insides at ~$1k pp (most have paid to upgrade to balconies), and our Presidential suite is something like $7k total -- basically half what the lowest level full suite is going for on the Star OTS. Sure, the suite experience on Royal is much nicer than on Carnival - but, at an increasing premium.. to the moon !! Tom

As Jimbo said - Yep... they are just first in line to reserve them. I'm not sure how many days prior to sailing they open up for everyone else though. Tom

Only Excel level suites have access to Loft 19 - so a grand suite would not have done the trick. With the cabana, you do have cabana attendants who will bring you lunch (off their menu), or a Guys burger. They won't go to Big Chicken for you (I trekked there on my own a couple of times). Also, they'll bring you champagne (well, sparking wine) along with frozen fruit balls (cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew). I don't see us splurging for one again (I think we've done it 3 times). Tom

Yep - they're all digging deep. I guess you have to go big, or go home...

What, is Royal doing the financing? 😄

I have not read all 8 pages - but I have to wonder if this new ship class, with all its additional space, will have any of the following: > Suite "area" (lounge and/or dining) > Diamond lounge > Or, at least, COFFEE MAKERS in the suites... lol It's going to be interesting as the details start to emerge. 🙂 Tom

Perhaps they could have named it Little Havana...

Yep, because if everybody wanted the cabana, there wouldn't be enough to go around!

Hopeful that a new actual post (yours, thank you!) will set things straight 😁

In the last hour I've received perhaps five notifications of new posts to this thread, but there's nothing new. Anyone else experiencing the same issue?