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Welcome to the forum. Just want to clarify that there is an important difference between "debarkation" and "deportation". If you are being deported after a cruise then you did something very wrong

What?! They put a Costco on Allure?

Run your foot over with their scooter rude, elevator already has 20 people in it, but still room for me and my walker/scooter rude. Want me to give up my seat in the theater (That I was 15 minutes early for so I could make sure I got a good seat) so they didn't have to walk any further rude, cut in any line because I'm a senior citizen rude. Like you said about kids, I love senior citizens, I'm one of them (Yes I have my AARP card), but there comes the point in life that you should just be nice and go with the flow, I told my wife that if I acted like some of these people to make sure and slap me, please... My point was and still is, get your expectations straight/right and you will have fun/good time on any cruise.

DAY 2 St Thomas: We intended to attend a local church service (something we’ve always thought would be interesting to do in port), ride up to Paradise Point and visit Magen’s Bay today, BUT we overslept so late we even missed breakfast! So for plan B we grabbed a slice of pizza and found a taxi to take us to Magen’s Bay for a few hours. The taxi cost $10 each way per person. Magen’s Bay charged $5/person.Twelve and under are free. The ride itself was quite scenic and high so that somewhat made up for missing Paradise Point. It turns out Paradise Point tram was closed today even though they emailed me they would be open. I was excited to see Magen’s Bay was hardly crowded since there was only one ship in port today. The water was so beautiful and turquoise blue. There was a lot of broken , chunky coral in the sand and water , so I would advise bringing water shoes or playing in the area near bath house 4. That beach area is more soft and smooth. We decided Magen’s Bay is great place for families since the water is so calm and shallow. We ate at Giovanni’s tonight. I tried something new and stopped in this afternoon to inform them about eating gluten free. They said it’s helpful, and I noticed our food and bread tonight came more quickly than last night so maybe it sped the process up for us. The food was delicious and our server surprised up with a yummy risotto dish he had the chef make especially just for us. It hit the spot. It was so creamy and flavorful. Nothing jumped out at us for entertainment tonight, so we retired to the room for more March Madness and to get ready for our early excursion tomorrow.

Day 3: St Kitts Today our RCL Kayaking/Snorkel Adventure left at 8:30 am. We met just outside the ship and loaded in a van for a short drive through town, the airport, Timothy Hill and to Friar's Bay. We received a short tutorial on kayaking and kayaked towards a floating dock. There we switched into snorkel gear and spent probably an 45 minutes or so snorkeling around. The water was a little murky from the last storm, but there was still much sea life to be seen. Our guides were lively yet professional and I thought they did a great job with our group. They even offered to take a girl in the water who didn't know how to swim. She did great! After snorkeling, we got back in the kayaks and headed towards Frigate Beach where we exited the water and returned the kayaks. We could either return back to ship with the tour buses or stay at the beach and take a taxi back later. We opted to stay and enjoyed ourselves at the beach. The weather was hot and the water just right. They had fun music playing and bars and food available for purchase . Two chairs and an umbrella cost us $15. The taxi back was $3/person if you have a group. The rest of the afternoon we spent shopping , eating at the Windjammer and relaxing to the live Caribbean music by the pool. I love that live music in the afternoon! Dinner tonight was our first in the main dining room for this trip. We always enjoy the main dining room and look forward to it. Tonight, I noticed they offered the new menu that people have been buzzing about. I was really disappointed to find only 1 GF appetizer and 1 GF entree--shrimp cocktail & chicken breast and a baked potato. I know I can't be picky, but on the old menu I was always able to find two or three options of each. The food was definitely served more quickly and we didn't spend much time waiting. Our gluten eating members seemed happy with their meals and options. Tomorrow's menu offered the same chicken breast for dinner, but the head waiter offered to see if they could make something else off of the menu for us, so we'll see that goes. Entertainment in the main theater was a Spanish gentleman who did a combo act of guitar, comedy and swirling these ball type things ?I have no idea what they were called. He was pretty funny and his skills were impressive. He also incorporated the orchestra into his act. Adult comedy and a game show were also on the schedule for later, but we called it a night after being in the sun. I'm saving the Cruise Compasses to send to Matt. I'm writing from an iPad while kids are asleep, so I apologize for not being able to interact more or be more detailed. Here are some pictures from today. I'm looking forward to a Sea Day tomorrow!

Aaaaaaannnnd the conversation came back to Sorrento's. BOOM goes the dynamite!

Haven't you heard? I was made obsolete by a better, human blogger.

As a huge Oasis class fan, and also having sailed smaller ships, I have to respectfully disagree. On all our Oasis class sailings we've always have stateroom attendants that we available. Some were better than others but they have all been friendly in passing and attentive if we needed anything. Keep in mind that they have their break times too and would likely not be available during those hours. I have never once felt crowded on an Oasis class ship, other than after a show lets out and on first/last day. I find that crowds move through those ships extremely well. I just got off Anthem which has less capacity and everywhere you went it was crowded. MTD dining is tricky everywhere. People who don't make reservations and just show up will have to wait like a regular land restaurant. In all my experiences with MTD, with reservations, we've had to wait a max of 5 min. I find the Oasis class ships have even more variety in food than other smaller ships. Last but not least, I have found Royal's service to be pretty consistent across the fleet. There are some outstanding ones and some not so pleasant ones. But that is daily life too. Here's the thing....like anything in life, you have to experience it yourself. Sorry to hear that your family did not have a good time, but that could be a one off time or it could be that bigger ships really aren't to their liking. The thing is that you will never know until you try it out for yourself. I will say this though. Sailing Oasis does require some prior research and planning. It will make the whole experience so much better. And those ships have venues and entertainment like none other. Wouldn't you want to see for yourself? I am a firm believer that any RC fan should give it a try at least once if possible. ?

Not to worry, I convinced him he needs the deluxe drink package. He's going to be fun whether he likes it or not!

All of this, and then also the "stop dead in a crowded area to sit and have a casual conversation so nobody else can pass you" kind of rude. The line cutting made me nuts, as well as people trying to walk on the elevator before anyone else had the opportunity to walk off. It was crazy! It's like half of the passengers checked their manners at the embarkation pier.

Hubby and I have deal when it came to booking the next cruise. Because I want SC so badly, I have to curb the shopping habit. So what better way to kick one habit with another!

Debit cards are typically handled differently than credit cards. Because the system you are ultimately touching is your checking account rather than a credit account travel providers such as hotels and I assume cruise lines place a hold on the funds as you charge them. They then release the hold a couple of days later if you don't actually incur a charge. This can lead to problems because as holds stack up on a debit card it can reach an internal maximum the bank may have on your account. The bank sets this maximum because all debit transactions are not always instant post, especially when traveling so they typically set a limit on how much you can run against your debit card per day even if your actual balance is larger. Another issue is the provider is allowed to place hold for an amount they assume you might spend. So a hotel might hold $500 when your room charge is only 150 under the idea you might have dinner and drinks that night and it will take a day to know for sure. It is really better to use a credit card to avoid this issue. As others have mentioned you can always go down to the service desk before you leave and pay cash to reduce the amount that they will charge to your credit card. One last tip is diffinitely notify the company that issues your card, the number is on the back of the card, where and when you are traveling. Card companies have a pretty good idea of what your normal spending habits look like. If you live in the Northwest and suddenly start spending money in Florida they might place a hold on your account until you call them. Hard to do when your sipping drinks on a cruise. Hope this helps. Have a great trip.

HEY!!! Don’t look at me - if it was my call it’d be open bar all the time!!

And from your posts, it sounds like Mom raised you right! I think that the rudeness being talked about is more about arrogance, which is a horrible trait at any age.

Hey, wait a minute. Kayla?!? @KLAconQueso, you got some 'splainin to do!

They figure if you can afford a Star Class suite, what is a measly 400-500 for a cabana, lol...

I wish they were building new fuel efficient ships in the Vision to Sovereign size range. Comparing the Allure and the Majesty, I like aspects of both and the ability to chose between them. They each bring things to the table I like. The Allure had the gee whiz factor, nonstop entertainment and hustle and bustle, the Majesty had a friendlier more casual feel. Sometimes we want an action packed vacation, sometimes we want something more relaxing and personalized. It's nice to have both options.

In a straight run, they are very fast. I took a video of the dress sculptures from the glass elevator going up from Deck 5 to Deck 12 and it was about 15 seconds to go 7 decks. The trouble is during the busy times you're never going to get a straight run. You'll stop at Deck 11, Deck 10, Deck 09 . . . I did notice that full elevators don't always stop on decks with people waiting to board, so there may be some weight sensors or fancy logic at work to improve traffic management somewhat.

Yeah...about a 25% diff in exchange rate which really hurts....but I usually book in USD so easy to compare...and looking back at what I paid in 2013 and 2014 for my cruises with Royal and what the same cruise goes for now...plus increase in grats and drink packages(and having to buy 2 now) plus plus plus..its easily close to an extra 50% difference..then add the 25% exchange rate difference (not Royals fault) and it really hurts... Again, they have to recoup these huge costs for new mega ships and island make overs...someone has to pay for it.

My wife and I were on the Oasis last April and will be on it again next month. Although bigger isn't better, we loved it and have been looking forward to going out on it again! I'm sorry your family had a bad experience..... I do know mileage may vary! We had a crown loft, our attendant was top notch. We saw her a lot in the hall, and she was always friendly and greeted us by name. I'll assume the staff up there is hand picked, but my folks and sister just returned from an Oasis cruise last month and had great room stewards in their regular balcony cabins. There are definitely a ton of people on that ship, but the sheer size of that ship and amount of things going on in different places helps disperse crowds. A few times some areas can get a little crowded, but there were choke points even on the Majesty cruise I returned from last weekend. That certainly isn't a big ship, so there will always be some areas that get congested no matter what ship you are on. I've had bad experiences with "My Time Dining" on every ship I've tried it on. I feel its a bad system. I like a set Main Dining time - after the first night, you go right to your table, no waiting, and you get the same servers who get to know what you like. And of course reservation for Chops & Izumies break up the dining monotony on a long voyage. I totally agree with you - I've been noticing the quality of the food has been circling the drain for many years and it does disappoint me. Last year we only went to the Windjammer on the Oasis twice. I'll be honest, the Coast Kitchen had us spoiled!! Last weekend's lunch offerings on the Majesty WindJammer was a dumpster fire. Thank God they had a nice roast beef I was able to fill up on as not much else was edible. All of my interactions with RC staff has been great, my wife and I have been very happy with how we have been treated. With the exception of the NextCruise guy who repeatedly passed rancid gas the entire time we were helping a friend book a cruise, we have had great experiences. We treat the RC employees respectfully and its reciprocated. On the other hand, I've seen some arrogant Pinnacle's showing their rear, snapping their fingers and pounding on the bar - act like a spoiled brat, get treated like one..... Anyway, hopefully next month's Oasis cruise will be as good (or better) than last years. :-)

I'm with your husband on that, love the freedom class. Oasis class is too big for me.

Can confirm - witnessed some people who were a special kind of rude. I loved the Allure, but I'm still a smaller ship person - Radiance class being my favorite and Freedom Class being my husband's.

I have no idea if there is a real competition for these cabanas or not. The last time we got a cabana (when we got the Beachfront one) we just said that's what we wanted and we got it. With the prices going up the way they are I just keep thinking that at some point the prices will be so outrageous that nobody will get them anymore...but I guess we haven't reached that threshold yet ! I will say, though, that I think being Star Class definitely helps since they get the first choice for cabanas. I've never tried to get a cabana when I wasn't SC so I don't know how hard it is to get one - especially one that you really want - if you are not SC. This is a horrible thing to admit but nobody is listening so I will tell on myself. Honestly, all we ever do in the cabana is take a nap anyway. I'm not much of a beach person so I just stay in the cabana where it's shady. Dan will go swim for a bit but then he comes back and we both take a nap. Expensive nap for $595 if you're in an OTW cabana. Probably will just forego the cabana from now on. The first time (when we had the OTW) we were with friends, who split the cost (it was then $495) so it wasn't too bad and we did at least stay awake and chat but when it's just the 2 of us, it's snoozeville. I can stay on the boat and do that !

Lindsey, could it be the Spring Break thing going on? @Sabrinaklai was also away for that and in her blogs did state the ship was full (she was on Anthem). I personally am not sure I would like the larger ships, but it's just my husband and myself, we are not Foodies at all, like our wine and beer, relax and casino, shows aren't our thing either. Having said that due to @Sabrinaklai chastising me all the time, I probably will book Symphony at one point! LOL Again, I believe if your family had traveled, say mid January, things probably would have been different. I hope they still book RC though!

The problem is people keep paying it. Until sales drop off, prices will increase. Basic economics, supply and demand pricing. That's why Vision class ships are often available at better (same as old) prices. The problem occurs when a company gets used to higher revenues and can't sustain themselves through a sudden or unexpected drop in demand. Last year they worked through the $55M loss from the hurricanes and prices did drop when demand dropped but the market came back pretty quickly and so did prices. I used to try to counter people in other forums who complained about a cruise line. Now I let them rant. Maybe they'll dissuade people from booking which means lower prices for me. So yeah, avoid CocoCay. Don't book any cruises that go there. I foresee lots of combo packages. Zip line and Jet ski, zip line and balloon, Slide and wave pool, etc. Currently I'm thinking there will be lots of à la carte pricing. I'm not even sure we'll see a day pass for the whole place. Labadee has never used that price model. My SWAG - zip line introductory price of $49.95, will increase in 2020 upwards to $75.

Like has been stated here before...Royal is a business and its goal is max profits and money to shareholders. SO increase pricing on anything and everything to the point that breaks customers...thereby maxing profits right up to that point. THEN you can lower prices slightly, make it look like your giving everyone a break but really prices are much higher than before. And most here seem to be ok with that. I once again say time will tell...cruising used to be affordable. But everything has gone up in price on top of how much extra's that you have to pay for now. Just since I started in 2013 I would say pricing is now on average about 50%...I used to cruise multiple times a year...now its down to about once a year.

We were just in Costa Maya last week. I highly recommend Maya Chan Beach for a beach day ($55 for adults; $49 for ages 8-17; $39 for ages 4-7; $19 for 0-3 years). The cost includes transportation to and from the port, drinks, lunch, paddleboards, kayaks, floats, and beach toys for kids to play with. It was a great day!

Here in 'The Land of Pleasant Living', we have no problem with height restrictions!

Going in August also.

See if these beach/Cabana shots help any...

I have gotten the Voom package for my teens but not the younger kids...who don't have a cell phone anyways. My kids are not that age now but I've had them in AO at that age and will so again soon. So take this as my opinion only. If it was *my*12 year old, they have a phone and I would get VOOM. My thinking is that the 12 year old has free roaming of the ship and it is nice for them to check in. Now if it was *my* 8 year old, they don't have a phone at that age so no need for VOOM. Also, *my* 8 year old would not be able to roam the ship by themselves so I know where they are at night...which is in AO. I've never had an instance where my kids at any age needed immediate access to me. If it was a true emergency, I would think the AO staff would hunt me down but I've never asked. On Liberty there were phones to check out for the AO but they are typically reserved for the nursery and if any left for the Aquanauts. I don't know if there would be any left for your Explorer. I just tell my kids I will pick them up by 10 and to have fun...I feel like that sounds dismissive of your concerns but its not meant to be. My kids know the expectation is that in the evening they are in AO and daytime AO time is up to them...there are certain daytime activities that my kids love so we check the kids compass for them.

Launch the bot (known as Twangster 1.0) to search for our missing blogger. Please Matt, do Not upgrade bot to 2.0 version, as that version encountered several error know to be elusive and uncontrollable while in incognito mode. Random sightings of said bot were on Liberty, Allure, Independence....agh the list is too long to cover here! Not to mention the cost for an upgrade would be astronomically high...like Pinnacle high level.

All of South Florida is in hurricane alley. You could argue the new terminal in Miami is a risk because one hurricane would wipe it out. Along those lines they better move HQ out of Miami, perhaps Colorado or Wyoming would be better. A cruise terminal and HQ on an island in Miami, at the bottom of the state that gets the most hurricanes ever - that's just crazy! CocoCay as it is today can't handle OA class ships. The sheer volume of people would overrun the island. From bars, restrooms, buffet areas, loungers and so on the infrastructure can't take it. They had to do something to prepare it accommodate 6,000+ guests at once. Let's face it - CocoCay is pretty, but boring right now. It appeals to a single type of traveler - beach people. If you are not a beach person, why would you want to go there today? Why even get off the ship? Not everyone is a beach person. Now it will appeal to beach people who just want to sit on the beach but it will also appeal to people who want more. Now a much larger cross section of the ship population has a reason to get off the ship. On future visits I could have a cheap beach day during one visit then on the next visit I could do the zip line, go up in the balloon or try a water slide. Like Labadee I will have choices and each visit can be a different experience. For Florida residents looking for a long weekend get away there is now a reason to go on a weekend cruise a couple times each year. Today going to Nassau several times a year? I think not. Why go on a cruise just to sit on a beach - Florida has lots of beaches. Now there is reason to take the family on 3 night cruises a couple times each year. This is a game changer for the short Florida cruise market and a big differentiator from the competition. Smaller and older ships that don't have flow riders or zip lines will now be okay as a vessel to take them to CocoCay where there will be activities to make up for the ships that lack them. This investment not only impacts the short Florida cruise market but it also gives OA class another port to call on which it needed. The 10 year old east/west OA itinerary was getting pretty boring. Given the wide variety of ships that cruise from Florida (the cruise capital of the world) this investment impacts nearly all of them. I'm totally looking forward to it.

Too many maybe and what if stuff for me. While we know that Mariner and Navigator will spend some time in the short cruise market we don't know for how long. Royal is very good at watching and understanding sales trends. If the desired effect doesn't happen they'll be moved again. It will be interesting to see if they can fill these ships cruise after cruise or if they'll just be filled by local FL top tier C&A scoring cheap fares which I doubt is the goal. The long term plans for the smallest and oldest ships has always been in question. Old ships aren't fuel efficient. They lack space to add newer activities and venues many cruisers seek. Regardless if they can continue to operate them making a profit they likely will. If they begin losing money, they'll likely go. Royal is a business not a museum for old ships. As far as Freedom class speculating about their future is fun but just that - speculation. We could all throw out wild guesses and predictions most of which will be wrong. They can go places OA class cannot. Fleet upgrades and modernization has always been and will continue to be part of cruising. A couple of years ago (2013ish) Carnival announced Fun Ship 2.0. They are still rolling that out to the fleet through upgrades and modernizations. Only time will tell what happens to Freedom class but they too will be reimagined just like voyager and radiance class. Like an airline, they need to right size the ship on each itinerary otherwise ships will sail too empty to maximize revenue. The airlines stopped using 747 on domestic routes a long time ago. An all-Oasis class fleet is highly unlikely.

I have heard from others that Deck 8 with Central Park is wonderful! And peaceful. If you want a slightly larger balcony, check out the deck plans for that deck. Some of the balconies can be on the "hump" (those are usually suites) or just near it and it might jut out a bit giving you some extra space.

This isn't going to be the same answer for everybody. There's a case to be made for every deck depending on what kind of room you like, where you want to be close to and personal preferences and sensitivities. Are you going for an ocean view? Do you care about having a window, balcony or a suite? How sensitive are you to motion/seasickness? Where are you spending most of your time on the ship? Your Room, Pool, Casino, Pub, etc.? When you pick a room, look a deck above and a deck below to see what's around you, it's best to be above and beneath other cabins. If you're prone to seasickness, you want to be down low close to the middle. If you want a window, you need to be outside mid-to-low. If you want a balcony, you need to be on 6 or above. Some of the balconies face inward to the boardwalk and central park, some of the balconies face outward to the sea. Also, the ship is HUGE so you also want to think about how far you are from the elevators and stairs too. There's a tradeoff between how much foot traffic there is in the hallway outside and how far you have to walk to get to your room. It's longer than you might think, but hoofing it also burns calories.

We were on deck 6, right near the entrance to the boardwalk and maybe a 60 second walk to the Schooner Bar. The bartenders knew us well by the end of our B2B :)

It may just be a matter of the timing as far as the price charged. I booked our OTW cabana on Nellie's Beach the week they first became available (in February 2017, over a year before our sailing date). I don't know if it was because there was a sale going on, or because the inventory was brand new and they had no reservations (or maybe both?), but our cabana only cost me $255.75. It's never been that low since, although it was hovering around $350 for a long time after initial booking, and then crossed the $450 mark when we were about 3 or 4 months away. Now I see the same ridiculous pricing you do. So maybe cabanas are priced like the cruise bookings -- lowest when they first become available, then higher and higher as the inventory dwindles.

Our funny money took a huge hit as well.

It's at home, so I will look at it again tonight to make sure! Thank you!!!!!!!!

Looking at your profile, if you liked Liberty you will like the Oasis class ships, they manage crowds and crowd flow even better than a Freedom class ship. I agree with @Boston Babe, spring break can be hectic, in the most recent years I have been going on a cruise immediately after school gets out, first to middle of June, for obvious reason the ship is full of kids, they can be trying at times, but last October I went on Allure, far less children and a lot, lot more senior citizens (Very rude people), I was not prepared for this. The moral to my story is that during the summer time I was prepared for kids, so all of my expectations were meet and i thought it was a great cruise, in October I wasn't prepared for all of the Rude Senior Citizens, so all of my expectations were not meet, don't get me wrong, I still had an awesome time, but towards the end of the week I told my wife to get me away from all the old people. In full disclosure I'm 56 years old, @KLAconQueso was on this same cruise and commented on the something. Pretty much as everyone has stated, go on an Oasis class and experience it for yourself, just make sure you set you expectations for the ship, date and expected crowd.

And they measure for anything that has height restrictions...flowrider, slides, etc. One of my kids was just slightly under and not allowed.

@Razerbkfan Thanks for your post. I've never dealt with a debit card, I'm sure that will help Vee in their planning.

Thanks for the info, that's some nice kit you have there! I actually bought a Gimbal last July through Kickstarter, product called Rigiet; basically a DJI Osmo 2 made by a small Chinese company and released before the Osmo 2 was actually out. Was unusual for a Kickstarter in that they had a real, working product (albeit in small quantities) and pre-production app that they gave out to reviewers ahead of the mass release; the consensus was that it was as good an original Osmo for a bit less than 1/2 the price, with some nice add-on features in the app like subject tracking that made it a bit better than an Osmo (at the time; the Osmo 2 came out just a few months later) so I decided I'd grab one. Will be using it with my iPhone 6s Plus and a set of Moment lenses I just purchased. This will be its inaugural run, so I'm hoping to get some good results with it.

I understand, I don't have limitations, other than I'm a big guy, I'm old and all my joints hurt, I've done a mock booking of airfare flying Business/First the whole way from Oklahoma and it will be $7k per person, which is pricey, but my Wife flat refuses to fly that far in Premium economy, she's spoiled, right now this is a one time thing for us, I want to make it special, it will be our 40th anniversary.

Not yet! It is not recognizing my crown and anchor number either. On March 9th I went through Twitter. I was messaged that they would connect me. They asked my reservation number and told me to “hold on”. I am still holding....

Looks like the fun has begun! Thanks for sharing.

I cruised on Enchantment last week and it was basically the same, although I didn't check every possible screen if I didn't want whatever it was.

THANK YOU - RC Blog forums resident "millennial" Personally - I'm not terribly excited about the changes coming. As long as they leave a quiet strip of beach (and the floating bar) alone, I'll be fine. Maybe my tune will change when/if we do the kid thing - maybe then those features will be more appealing. Until then, my main focus will be floating in the water with a beer in my hand and lounge chair to leave my stuff at.

Rather than lowering prices, I think they'd be more inclined to open up "cheaper" cabins (e.g., insides) by moving those with guarantees up and/or upselling people who are already booked to spend more for a better cabin. Princess is doing some weird stuff. Because there was a demand for balcony cabins on our cruise close to sailing (or they simply oversold them, perhaps), they were offering people a full refund if they voluntarily downgraded from a balcony to an obstructed ocean view. For a free cruise, I'd do that in a heartbeat! Given that they can't manage their My Time Dining situation, I'm inclined to believe it's bad inventory management. ;)