2chiefs

17 hours ago, pcur said:

 

Yes, it does for my cruise.  The "double" price for Celebrity is a pro-rated daily cost, because their cruise is 11 days, while Princess' is 15 days.  So, that's a dealmaker  right there.  Both have the same perks, same cabin type was priced, etc.  If I took out the drink package since we get a free happy hour on Celebrity, they are still more expensive.  Plus, with Princess we get the free soda and drinks all day rather than just in the evening.  So, I added the drink package in with Celebrity to have an apple-to-apple comparison, and it was double the price of Princess.

In general, it's been my experience that you can find deals on all cruise lines. But in general, when I look at similar cruise from the "big box" cruise lines such as NCL, Princess, Royal, Celebrity, etc., there isn't much difference - in general.

I find huge differences from seemingly similar cruises. You really need to watch the logarithms built into the programming. Huge swings from day-to-day etc. If I'm interested in a cruise, I'll watch the pricing and log them in my spreadsheet with date and cabin number. On Celebrity for instance, their logarithm sometimes prices an Aqua class lower than a Veranda but can change an hour later due to bookings. The only way to compare cruises is to ensure everything is equal and then price on a per day cost to compare cruises of different lengths. Here's a screen shot of a cruise on Edge that I'm monitoring for December 2021:

1 minute ago, Ocean Boy said:

You mean that isn't actually a service offered by the cruise line in anticipation of our needs?

Love it!!

18 hours ago, Seville2Cabo said:

I always thought that if Royal put a Vision size ship into adults only service, they could get a premium.  I assume they would sales less full, not as many 3 and 4 to a room, but they could use the kids club space for another revenue spot.  I just think they will have no problem filling all the rooms and the revenue per passenger would go up.  

Agreed. I mentioned this once on a thread a couple years ago and I got flamed because RCI already has adult oriented ships - Celebrity. But still, Celebrity ships allow kids too. I think Royal or Celebrity ought to try it with one of their smaller ships just to see if it is viable. Imagine a cruise where all the elevator buttons aren't pushed at the same time!

T

11 hours ago, truffles2 said:

I tried the recipe from RCI in post #4 and it is NOT the recipe for ranger cookies.  So disappointed.

The cookies tasted OK but did not look or taste like the ones on the ship (which I strongly suspect are from Sysco).

Interesting. Over the years I always read that praline paste was used in the original recipe. The recipe in that post (#4) didn't have praline paste or even toffee but looked interesting in that it seemed a lot easier to do (6 eggs didn't seem right). I have made two batches using the recipe link I posted in post #6. The first was too thick because I put the cookies too close together but the second batch came out perfect and looked and tasted just like the ship's cookies.

20 hours ago, pcur said:

We love Celebrity, too.  However, they are so much higher in price that I get to my "I'd rather save that money and put it toward another cruise" level.  I have a hard time justifying Celebrity because:

 

• the cruise points don't go back to my RCCL C&A account, so I'm in the "black hole of D+ or Elite" with both programs, never moving forward to the next level if I switch between the lines
• the itineraries are usually the same
• Celebrity is usually 20% + more money

Agree with most of above but...

1. No level problem for us. We are Diamond + and will never reach Pinnacle so going back & forth not issue for us.

2. Itineraries mostly same. Agreed but Celebrity has way more longer 9-12 day cruises to choose from.

3. 20% more. I would say that this might not be as bad as this. Celebrity plays a lot of games with the "perks" and depending what you want, there are some real deals. I always calculate the per day cost with the perks of both lines included and my guess the real cost may be more around 10% higher but I manage to find deals more in line with Royal pricing.

20 hours ago, pcur said:

Don't know about brilliant, but I do know I have similar opinions to the OP's.  The Adventure is our exception.  The cruises are less expensive, and the crew is AMAAAAAAAAZING!!!

We've been on Adventure 3 times. We really liked it as well.

T

1 hour ago, little britain said:

But has all the looks and ambiance of an Ikea showroom 😄

LOL!!!  Agree

19 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

 

😃 2chiefs, you got us smiling.  We also like to cruise early December (found it to be cheaper as well)......then sailed in Australia in December.  It felt like 2000 of the 3,800 were children.  Found out December in Australia was school break for kids.

 

Wetmib...we are the same.  We became loyal to Royal after trying other cruiselines.  Royal was a nice fit.  We love Royal when we have the children and grandchildren with us.......but now prefer some "quiet time" when by ourselves.

 

Funny how "time and getting old" changes all of us.  When we were much younger, we sailed with Celebrity more than we did with Royal.  We switched to Royal because we were younger and wanted more activities.

Fast forward to now...older...more laid back............😄 we sail with Celebrity when we are by ourselves.

Interesting story.  When I was working we decided  to take a Christmas cruise that would fit my schedule without using up a lot of valuable vacation time. It was great and didn't seem to have an excessive amount of kids. Based on that experience, we took another Christmas cruise. OMG! What a difference! The ship was crawling with kids. No offense to you families with kids but it was way too many for us. No more Christmas cruises for us!

T

46 minutes ago, CK57 said:

Can you bring 4 bottles of wine when you board BTB?  Assume they hold 2 bottles back and deliver to your room when the second cruise begins?

Yes. One time they took two bottles and held them for the second leg. Another time they simply let us take them to the cabin. As usual, there doesn't seem to be a norm.

18 minutes ago, pcur said:

I'm going to recommend you look at cruises on the Jewel, Radiance, Rhapsody, Vision, and Serenade.  We find these smaller ships to be a much better fit for us.  We spent 40+ days on the Jewel last year and LOVED that ship.

 

These ships attract families, but not in the huge numbers that the very large ships to, but they still have the amenities you speak of above.  

 

We have 2 Vision cruises booked for late next year, and the Rhapsody in 2022.  

 

What I like about the Vision is she has 10 and 11 day cruises from Fort Lauderdale, so you get a good deep Caribbean itinerary.

LOL

You posted this while I was typing a similar recommendation.

Brilliant minds think alike I guess.

T

23 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

We are in our late 50s and have been on 20 cruises and on multiple lines, including Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Norwegian and some no longer in existence. Our favorite has been Royal Caribbean, but all were enjoyable. The time of the year seems to have a lot to do with how many children are on board. We generally cruise in the off-season and haven’t been overwhelmed with children on board. Princess and Holland America had the least amount of children, but also had the least enjoyable entertainment as well. If you go for the itinerary and not the entertainment, either of those may work for you.

 

Good points. We use the same strategy. We like to cruise early December. Fares and volume of kids are lower.

OP: As others have said, the Radiance Class has less kids than the mega ships. If you want to stick with Royal, try a 10 day cruise on a Radiance class and there are even fewer kids on these longer cruises (many families can't take long vacations).

T

If Celebrity is an option, we recommend it. We have been sailing Royal for many years and have recently been going on some Celebrity cruises. We enjoy it a lot but we also still cruise Royal (during low-kid seasons). We enjoy the Elite status on Celebrity (we are Diamond+ on Royal) and the events in the evening. As Diamond, you will also be Elite on Celebrity. Don't worry about achieving Diamond+ first because it doesn't get you any higher than Elite on Celebrity.

I like drrich2's suggestion about staying at a resort for a couple days for your anniversary. Sounds like fun.

Whatever you decide, have fun!

T

1 hour ago, Wetmib said:

We've been loyal to royal for many years now - tried some of the others, and Royal has been a good fit for us. Our most recent trips, not so much. I'm not sure if we've changed or the product has changed. We're getting older, thank goodness, and the product seems to be gearing more and more for lots of kids. Love mine but on vacation, not lots and lots of others. With the changes to the older ships being modified to add slides etc, it seems the line is going that way. Or is it from our mega ship experience only?

 

So where should we look next? Basics: travel from east coast us late Jan -> Feb - after that we find spring break trippers too much to deal with. 7 days or maybe a couple more, east caribbean to south preferred, we like the solarium  of royal, old school dining, caribbean music, other music

 

It saddens me that I'm thinking of trying something else - 

 

Be gentle and kind with me

 

Thanks

 

I

We are the same. We have been loyal for years but have recently been taking some Celebrity cruises. Less kids. A little more laid back. You mentioned getting older and Royal gearing more toward kids. You hit the nail on the head in my opinion. We still like to sail Royal but now we mix it up with Celebrity. Celebrity is generally priced about the same, perhaps a little higher, but not much. Also, they have a lot of 9-12 day Caribbean cruises which we like a little better than 7-day cruises. This also, causes the cruise to have less kids.

Was that gentle enough?

Cheers

T

17 minutes ago, orville99 said:

it may be that late has all been pre-booked already. Try calling and see if you can at least waitlist.

Agree. We always do late dining. I can't imagine they would do away with it. We've had to do waitlist many times so it actually may be more popular than early seating.

T

22 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Depending on how many b2b cruisers there are on your trip they usually do a special lunch either in one of the speciality restaurants or the Mdr.  Sometimes they even give you a free glass of wine with the special lunch. 

Sometimes even free-flowing wine.

We have not seen this lately however 🙁

T

We enjoy socializing and meeting new friends and hooking up with friends we've met on previous cruises.

Food. Shows. Socializing. Relaxing.

22 hours ago, miched said:

Honestly at the moment nothing.

 

i am enjoying being at home and not having to plan what to pack

 

I have super automatic expresso machine that makes any kind of espresso based drinks you can think of by just pressing a few buttons, Jura Giga 5.   Don’t have to wait in any line to get one

 

I have all the liquor I like and make the drinks the way that I like them.  
 

Have a nice deck with a hot tub that I can sit on and do what I want, including having a drink while in it

 

have great internet if 8 want to use it 

 

Have many TV channels, videos and etc to watch instead of the few that are available on board.

 

I can go on and on 

 

Life is great and really don’t miss any cruising at the moment and even did a few lift and shifts as we don’t want or need to sail anymore this year.

 

I miss visiting our family and friends more

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

I guess you enjoy reading about cruising on this forum though? LOL

T

6 hours ago, dkjretired said:

Cabins on S class ships are the same size, some of the verandas may be bigger. I would just get a regular cabin on the hump since Concierge benefitsare way overrated.

Our first cruise was Concierge simply because it was priced lower than a Veranda (yes, it happens sometimes due to their logarithm). We've since sailed Veranda because the price difference doesn't warrant the bottle of wine and the embarkation lunch in our opinion. They also put fruit in our room everyday which we never ate.

T

Nobody has mentioned the Sticky buns at the Cafe El Bacio. Outstanding!!

6 hours ago, bikerunner said:

The classism definition makes me laugh.  But back to the subject at hand.  I have always found really good to great food onboard. I have not been to luminaire since I have no need to pay for a suite so I guess since I can’t get in there I’m part of the subject of classism to funny, Room is to sleep in n store clothes but that’s my opinion I know many enjoy the little extras.  I know food well, went to culinary institute in ny and worked and ran hotels n restaurants for 25ish years.  I like the main dining room and only once in all my cruises can I think of I didn’t enjoy it.  Was mainly because of family that was traveling with us at that time.  I enjoy the escargot and many of the other dishes on board. The only thing I truly did not like was last year on reflection on thanksgiving they made a terrible stuffing. It was just bad.  LCG is one of my favs just because it’s food done simple n well.   I always find great things in buffet n like the rotating themes there.  

Yeah, they don't always make food like grandma did! LOL

I remember my first cruise in 1996 and they had "biscuits & gravy" at the Windjammer on the Monarch of the Seas. The biscuits were flat and the gravy was brown beef gravy....

T

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

<<<SNIP>>>

no class distinction you say, just try and eat in blu if you are not aquaclass or in Luminae if you are not in a suite...you will promptly be  told to go below deck where you belong...that is classism to me..

<<<SNIP>>>

and it is not about how many times you have sailed...we have sailed over 40 on Celeb...

<<<SNIP>>>

...but alas only have one more cruise with Celeb and then only Viking or Oceania. No would never consider Carnival and not just because of the food. Again that is a whole other topic.

Classism?  Really??

So what's the difference between paying extra for a suite and paying extra for an upscale cruise line?

14 hours ago, davekathy said:

This morning (25 May) we had a memorial at our Vietnam Memorial Wall (~80% replica) to honor all that have passed, that died in wars to serve our country, protecting our freedom and privileges. Then there was the bell ceremony to honor all the wars from the beginning of our country, from the Revolutionary war to the current conflict in Afghanistan. 

 

Nice!

Where is this replica?

Thanks

T

2 hours ago, AlohaLivin said:

Heads up! 🙂 
 

Any of you who are active or retired US or Canadian military members please check your cruise fares for changes. I lucked across an extra $600 military discount off a crown loft on Oasis for November (shocked us to be honest) that had not been there before today.
 

🇺🇸  Remembering those who have kept us safe through the ultimate sacrifice.

I went and checked our two cruises for Harmony Dec 6 and Dec 13. The 6th did not show the military discount but the 13th cruise did. However the cruise for the 13th turned out to be about $100 total for the room more than our last "re-booking" at a nice low price.

We check all our booked cruises often. Every once in a while you can really find a savings! So far, we've lowered the cost for our two cruises on the Harmony this December for a total of about $600 from original booking date. We re-booked both cruises twice.

Again, Thanks

T

2 hours ago, AlohaLivin said:

Heads up! 🙂 
 

Any of you who are active or retired US or Canadian military members please check your cruise fares for changes. I lucked across an extra $600 military discount off a crown loft on Oasis for November (shocked us to be honest) that had not been there before today.
 

🇺🇸  Remembering those who have kept us safe through the ultimate sacrifice.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check our December Oasis cruises....

10 hours ago, island284 said:

Thank you so much. The official Royal recipe looks great but 6 eggs?  I think I’ll try your link first.  

If you do, be sure to space the cookies at least 2 inches apart. My first batch were too close and they all ran together for square, thick cookies (they still tasted good but more like a cake than a cookie LOL)

T