Rogueperson

Ack, you're beating me to doing a Canada live thread by 11 days!! I planned to do my live thread on the September 29th Adventure sailing. Its actually a b2b live as I'm going to Bermuda first on the 24th. My first b2b. Still, I can follow your thread right up until i board.

I'm actually not a fan of the Oasis class mostly because I think its too big. However, I would recommend Oasis as there is no comparison for any class of Celebrity ship. Any of the other classes would have some similarity with Celebrity and if you're jumping onto Royal, you want to try something different, Oasis Class is as different as you can get.

You can go to the site that Cruise critic hates. He's got a page there with a messaging option. Not sure how often messages get to him though.

This is fairly new. In September and December of last year I got chef's table and did not pay a gratuity when i booked it online. In March, I noticed the price actually dropped (from 89.99 to 74.99 per person). But when i booked, it added gratuity to be about the same as the 89.99/person previously ($88.49). can't speak for the specialties. If you want to take a gamble, note the prices they are charging and see what kind of deals you can find when you board. Sometimes, you might get lucky and they discount it onboard or with a package they have onboard. I heard that some people got Chef's Table for 50% off onboard, but my experience was they jacked the price up, at least that's what i heard on Mariner in September when i was onboard. Someone told me they were trying to charge 129/person.

CD skill is actually showcased here. I've been to Quest where the CD just followed a script and it shows. I've been to other quests where activities may have been similar, but how the CD deals with it can make or break it. Sure, alcohol consumption helps, but how the CD deals with the drunken unpredictability, THATs the skill there. A good CD keeps it in control, but makes feel like its out of control. A bad CD lets it really get out of control and just lets it languish. Its noticeable and can turn Quest into a repetitive show, or something truly fun.

I was the one who said Marvin Wilson on Adventure, but, I got that info from someone who got it from Tanya. Things could have changed from that time, so that's on me. Maybe Lauren is just a stop gap before Marvin, or maybe she'll be there when I board on the 24th (and you on the 29th). I'll update when i board.

I have a very unique perspective on this. My very first Royal Caribbean cruise was on Jewel of the Sea. It was on this cruise, I had decided to propose to my girlfriend at the time (this was in 2008). I did it on the balcony of our stateroom under a full moon. It was great. We broke up 4 months later. Fast forward to 2013, I'm ready to propose to my girlfriend at this time. We were preparing to go on a cruise on Independence of the Seas. My thoughts still remain on what I had done before and my friend @death_star mentioned this to me. "Do you want to do this on a ship again? I mean, think about it. At SOME point in your marriage, you're going to want to return to the place you got engaged. Despite the fact that cruise ships have a fairly long shelf life, at some point, the ship will be decommissioned and that spot will be gone forever" I thought about this and realized that as awesome as it would be get engaged on a cruise ship, the location would not be as permanent as a site at a port of call. So instead of doing on the ship, I chose a great location in St. Maartin. Actually it was on the pier in Marigot. Unbeknownst to me at the time, on the pier, this was written. This is written everywhere down there. It actually means "Hey there, I love you" (or so i am to believe). So I literally proposed in front of this sign on the pier (not this photo). I do not speak or understand French, but my wife does, and she thinks I planned that. I absolutely did not. So my opinion from both sides. Getting engaged on a cruise ship has its perks and novelty. But in 20, or 30 years, you may not be able to come back to the place you got engaged. But for me, I can say we got engaged while cruising on the Independence of the Seas, however, I can also return to the pier to the exact spot where i proposed to my wife. Marigot will always hold a special place in our heart and St. Maarten is still our favorite island in the Caribbean.

More or less these days. I've been going to Chef's table since i found out about it in 2012. I've only been documenting them since 2015, but starting 2017, Chef's Table has had a mostly identical menu across different ships. The only real change is the dessert. It used to be this chocolate bar, but they replaced it with the World from Wonderland. The wine pairings varied a little, but has more or less stayed the same as well. When i say more or less. The menu item is the same, but they may add their own flair to it. For example, I noticed that the Bronzino had olives on the Mariner but it never had it before. If you're interested, this is my live thread. HOpefully it goes directly to page 13, but if not, go to page 13, I have my pictures of Chef's Table. I also linked my other live threads on page 1, and they all have chef's table pictures in there somewhere.

Nice, he got a promotion!

I am unaware of when he is starting, but according to someone on Adventure, they said Marvin Wilson will be the cruise director for the 9/29/2022 sailing on Adventure per Tanya. I've never heard of him and he's not a current CD anywhere. I will be on both this sailing and the one previous, so i will confirm when i board.

Yes. Massively improved. Since i don't cruise that often then, i would forget how bad the free sushi was, try it and go "now i remember why i said never eat sushi on a cruise ship". Now, in my opinion, its on par with a mainstream sushi restaurant. However, since the price you pay onboard is similar to the price on land, on top of the price you paid for the cruise, I find Izumi's is not really worth the upcharge in general. But if you have a craving for sushi, it definitely fills the void sufficiently.

YMMV. On Enchantment in March, I had already booked Chef's table before i boarded. While at lunch in the MDR on the first day, they had an offer of Chef's Table and Chops for 110/person. With Chef's Table sitting at 89.99/person and Chops was I think 44.99/person, that was a savings of $25.00 over both of them. (not including gratuities, add 18% on top of that). However, when i went was on Brilliance in December, I heard they were trying to charge 130/person for Chef's Table by itself. I did not see it personally, but someone came up to me and asked me how I liked it, as i went to it the evening before, and she told me they wanted 130.

My hop on hop off bus in St. John is greyed out too.

Am I the only one have issues with booking excursions on RC's website? Every excursion has the Reserve button greyed out and says "Currently unavailable but we're working on it". The strange thing is that its across my sailings, not just one. Other tabs like internet or dining does not have the reserve button greyed out. The excursions that are "sold out" are greyed out with the label "sold out" on it. It might be the famous Royal Caribbean IT skills rearing its ugly head.

I've gotten Mimosa in the MDR on debarkation day. Plus, I think Cafe Promenade or coffee shop other than starbucks is also open. I'm doing my first b2b in September, but I'm hard pressed to drink 4 in a day, 4 before debarkation is going to be rough. But if i get at least 1 and it resets, it will be worth it 😛

so that's why I only got 8 points for my 10 night cruise in 2008.

I'm doing Bermuda first and then Canada. My TA tells me that Royal will provide test to fulfil entry requirements. She supposedly confirmed with Royal. She hasn't steered me wrong in the 7 years i've been using her.

This is a stellar example of each cruise pretty much stands on its own. I know that the best cruise i've ever taken was Carnival, but I also know that I will never repeat that experience (I got married on the Carnival Pride in 2015). The worst cruise I've ever been on remains my 10 night Jewel of the Sea itinerary in 2008. Despite Royal Caribbean holding the distinction of worst cruise ever (and incidentally, my first cruise with Royal), Royal happens to be my go to cruise line now as I've sailed the most with them. Fortunately, I've had more good cruises with Royal (probably why i default to them now). To this day, I have no idea why that one Jewel cruise was so bad. It pales in comparison to all my other Royal cruises.

Whether or not you sail with kids is the big question, as the main lines cater to kids better than the premium lines. That being said, in 2010, I would have considered Celebrity on par with Princess. In 2015, I took a 15 night on Celebrity and was a little underwhelmed compared with my previous experience with Celebrity. In 2019 prior to the pandemic, I took a Princess cruise and was blown away with their service and quality. Comparing the two, I now believe that Princess is a little better than Celebrity, but I've heard rumors that they've stepped up their game significantly since 2015, but i haven't been on one since. Royal is still my go to line, but I'm not against trying new lines. A little tidbit. I've previously labeled best burger on a cruise ship as Guy's burger on Carnival, but Princess' Salty Dog Grill blew that away handily. So now its Princess that has the best burgers for me. I was comparing free burgers, so i didn't count Princess' pay burger (which is good) and can't compare it to Playmaker's burger (haven't had a chance to try it yet)

Your lack of planning is not Royal's fault. But at 79, as many people have said, you got 3 months to do ANY cruise. to make that hop. You don't even have to go solo like I did. In 2018, I found myself at 62 points...and a 9 night cruise from nearby Baltimore at a very good price. It was 1050 WITH the solo supplment. It was a interior gty. I did it and even though I got the stinkeye from the wife (she couldn't go), she's happy now with the Diamond benefits. And now. I'm sitting at 148. With my next b2b that accumulates x2 points due to the promotion and 14 nights...and we get 176!! Boom. almost exact, but not quite. Planning 😄

Same here. I wanted to like 150cp on Allure, but the food was just mediocre. I'll give it another shot the next time i'm on an Oasis class.

1%? CDC reports the last 7 day monitoring period at 17.5%. The cruise lines across the board have been consistently below the national and global average which is why they are commended for their protocols. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

I go for the more cruises. I usually start by booking an interior and will upgrade if the price is worth it. Sometimes, now that I'm diamond, the balcony staterooms can be less than 200 bucks more than an interior, and that's okay (was just looking at an 7 night Anthem cruise that had a $165 difference between midship interior and unobstructed balcony). In this case, I would book the balcony. But many times, the Balconies just doesn't seem worth it. I was on Enchantment earlier this year. I got the price for our midship interior down to 1600. A balcony on Enchantment was going for 4000!!! for two. I royal upped for 450, for a grand room total of 2050, so i got a deal there (12 nights), but I would not have dropped 4K for a balcony. Also, we kind of regretted the upgrade. We were at the very front of the ship on deck 7 and it turned out to a pretty rough cruise. Same thing for Suites. Jr. Suites, i've seen are triple the price of an interior. What you get for a Jr. Suite is more room really and that's about it. I've never found a Jr. Suite that i felt was worth the extra expenditure. The idea that I can cruise 2 - 3x for the same price as 1 time in a Jr. suite kind of offends me. But this is just me. Balconies are cool, but I never felt the need for one. I guess I'm just comfortable as a basement dweller.

The last time I royaled up was for my March cruise this year. It was a 12 night on Enchantment. I scored a balcony on Enchantment (which are premiumly priced) for a bid of 225/person (450 total) from an interior (2V). At the time, a balcony was going for 4K for 2 people. I ended up paying 2K total for that room. Also, when i got the bid email, they were offering "discounts" on the bids, whatever that means.

You got a year and a half to figure out 170 ports...that's... Okay, yeah, good luck. Didn't the world cruise include 7? so its actually 163 ports 😛