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So the update is that we woke this morning from an email from Royal to find out we have been upgraded to a Crown Loft Suite. ??

Day 7 - Sea Day Our final day at sea was a very beautiful one. If only we had started with weather this nice. The wind is almost nonexistent, the seas are glass, the sun is out. What an awesome ending to our cruise. Windjammer breakfast was followed by browsing on the promenade, followed by a second lunch at Chops Grill. Another great way to spend the last afternoon. Of course packing brought home the reality that all good things must come to an end. The Farewell show was our final appointment for the night. Overall the three biggest highs of the cruise in my opinion were: *The Cruise Director Chris Brown and his staff *Chops and Izumi *Our Wait staff in the Main Dining Room The lows: * Water pressure in the stateroom (sink took forever to get hot water when I shaved and rinsing the razor was next to impossible) * Dated shows. I really miss the Oasis shows * The weather for the first half of the cruise. The gamble we take when booking so far in advance. I would for sure go on the Adventure again, although I still have so many more ships to explore. Current plans are the Anthem in November, Navigator in December, Serenade next June.

They put a new access point outside my room and I now have coverage in the room.

Blackjack winnings $13,400.00 up from a 7-day Caribbean cruise on Allure of the Seas, plus a free cruise for two! After 27 cruises I must say, THIS IS THE MOST I have won...ever. After we got back we won $400 more at the Hard Rock Seminole casino. Brought my Garrett metal detector and found a beautiful antique ring with gemstone in our 1st hour. Best vacation ever and we were both totally amazed at the amount of amenities, quality of the food and the great service. All good, we are now planning our next RC cruise to the Med.

Apparently the keel is as thick as her Captain's head.

I think you will have a great time. Sailing into Venice is a fantastic experience and the ship docks quite close to the main attractions. We took an excursion that started at the ship, and visited San Georgio, a Murano glass factory and a gondola ride. A bit cheesy, perhaps, but it had to be done and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The other, unexpected highlight was sailing into Kotor. I didn't know anything about Montenegro, but sailing into a fjord with mountains on either side made for dramatic and memorable scenery. Sorry, you didn't ask about that; I just got a little carried away. On this trip, we only went to Pisa from Livorno. It was a shorter trip that suited us better this time around. It was a very pleasant trip. The architecture of all buildings is impressive, but the famous leaning tower steals the show. There are lots of visitors, though, so be prepared for it to be busy. It doesn't detract too much from the experience. Again, on this trip, we didn't go into Rome. Previously, we visited the Colosseum, the Vatican, etc. all of great interest and well worth seeing. But crowds are to be expected. An organised excursion assists greatly in avoiding the queues for entrance tickets. Other excursions we took this time included Herculaneum (from Salerno) as an alternative to Pompeii. I had been to Pompeii before and recommend it. Herculaneum is smaller and a little less impressive but certain features have been better preserved. This includes painted columns and walls with some mosaics and even a shop advert for a wine seller. At Ravenna (although some sailings are calling at Split rather than Ravenna) we had a relaxing excursion on a river boat, sailing into a lagoon and watching water fowl and flocks of flamingos. Not to everyone's taste, but it worked for us. At Villefranche and Kotor, we just got off the ship (tendered at both) and walked around. Both places were fascinating in quite different ways. The walled city at Kotor was particularly interesting; we had not seen anything quite like that before. I hope this is of some use to you and you have a fantastic time.

I saw people parked in the garage line at 5:30am waiting for the parking attendants to arrive.

The Grandeur Poo-Bah Approves of the Improvement

We rode the elevator with a very excited young man whose $2 bet won him $8600! He gave the guy next to him $20, and that guy won $2400! His floor came up before we could ask what he was playing.

Just updated my profile pic to reflect my new board rank. ?

Have you considered playing the lotto today too?

These are the outlets on Vision from Feb 2017. The first one is below the dressing table. The last one was under the bed. Both US and 220v European are provided.

Lol...full disclosure...my opinion is 100% biased and I'm a huge Oasis class fan. I will shamelessly promote that class of ships to all who will listen ? Glad we were able to help you decide. Feel free to ask anything else. You have found a great resource here in these boards. Many awesome and knowledgeable people here. We just sailed Harmony last August and going on her again this coming March. I can't wait! One more thing...this is a wow band https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/questions/what-wow-band

Pool in Solarium...it will be August...super hot...is it important to you to have a place to cool off in the Solarium and how much time will you spend there?? Jamie's vs. Giovanni's - maybe look at menus (on the menu section of these boards) and see what appeals to you more? Harmony is newer...decor, furniture etc. Royal keeps their ships up to date but I've been reading reports here and there of Oasis starting to show it's age. Is that important? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the person. Also, I know you said point of embarkation is not really an issue but it is a longer distance and more hassle to travel from airport to PC vs. airport to PE. If it were me, I would spend $800 more for Harmony. And I don't ride the slides either. lol We have sailed Oasis, Allure, and Harmony now, and (personal opinion here), Harmony is the best one. I preferred all the shows on Harmony vs. Oasis. I love sailing out of PE and I would rather sail the newer ship. But again, it's totally a personal preference. Both of those ships are great ships. You can't really go wrong with either one.

Yes for sure. I am now back to my happy place playing the “Heidi the beer lady” slot machine in CR. I swear if I get side swiped by the disgruntled couple on their zoot scoots in CR I will be crafting another post! Lol

We love Baltimore. Our son was stationed at Fort Meade for 2 years and his ship was christened there a swell. The harbor is a fun time. Comic Conn was going on and that is a an unbelievable experience. And the food is great.

I've seen plenty of annoying non-Pinnacle suite guests in the lounge. I swear if I ever make it to Pinnacle I'm not going to wear the badge but do things to annoy the entitled Pinnacles. When they complain I'll whip out my SeaPass card like a trump card ?

I agree with @twangster, that's beyond over the top. I would have refused to move and told them to go pound sand.

This occurs daily. New transmission? That's a 7 night cruise to the Caribbean! That sweet lens Art Sigma just released, that's an Alaska cruise! New hardwood floors? That's a Hawaiian cruise!

Day 6 was the day we were most looking forward to and one of the reasons we went on the Western Caribbean cruise, our day in Cozumel. About 3 days prior we knew it was going to be a rainy day so we cancelled our reservations for Mr Sanchos and decided to spent the day in port shopping and eating. Was initially disappointed but it turned into a good day regardless. Our hual included some jewelry, chocolate, tequila, cologne and trinkets for the kids. Once back on board we spent some time in the hot tubs and then dinner at Windjammer again. After that we played mini golf again and ping pong, by that time it was 10pm and I was spent. Off to bed for day 7

Thank you everyone. Will go back and reply to everyone tomorrow once I get home. I've fallen behind and wanted to catch up. Day 4 Jamaica We initially had the dolphin encounter palnned for this day but with the weather forecast showing some potentially bad weather we cancelled that excursion and decided to spend the day in port shopping and having lunch. We spent most of our time at Margaritaville which worked out great for us. The food was great and the drinks even better. I got the clock cup with the electric lemonade and it was outstanding and super strong. Everyone enjoyed thier food and drinks minus the ketchup, lol, my kids were just not having it. After we ate we spent some time at the pool there, was a fun party atmosphere and a swim up pool bar, score! My only complaint was the hot tub wasn't so hot. Other than that we all came away happy. After lunch we did some shopping, nothing too crazy, mostly just small Jamaica trinkets and dresses. After some shopping we headed back to the ship, might have been around 2-3pm at this point. Kids wanted to play in the pools and hot tub so off we went. After swimming I believe this was a late night dinner in the main dinning room for us. I had lasagna this time and was outstanding. Way better than the meal I had on formal night. This was pretty much the end of the day and off to bed we went. Day 5 up next

Need to decide ASAP on either Oasis of the Seas or Harmony of the Seas for late August cruise. Same itinerary. Harmony is considerably more expensive, which is not a problem if the difference in the two ships is worth it. Also, is the solarium better on Oasis? What about the shows? We are active seniors going to celebrate 50th anniversary.

Same...I would love to go on a RCBlog GC too.....the only one I can make is the Anthem one but I booked Symphony already for July 2019 ?

I have been tracking the group cruises hoping to get one I could make but no luck so far. Someday... My daughter made cruise T-shirts for me, mostly food related. She knows me too well.

Yep! That was me. Cell service in Nassau was terrible. CocoCay was so much better. My husband got an international plan for the two days we were in the Bahamas. Periscope wouldn't connect, then Facebook live cut in and out so I gave up.

Did I just get dropped into the vacationer's version of Monty Python's "Four Yorkshiremen" skit? ?

I honestly thought the hot water to my sink was shut off until I had almost finished shaving and the water started to get hot. I think the water lines to the sink must be very long and with the water conserving screens on there just isn’t enough water getting to the sink to change the temperature on normal use. My son is pretty anti-social. It’s hard to tell when he is willing to make an effort to be social although he is better since starting college. I would have loved to have met you and your family. I always wonder if I will run into someone who follows RoyalCaribbeanBlog. Matt got me hooked with his podcasts. ?

OK, then! Guess that means we're going to the port at 7:15, as soon as we've dropped off the younger one at high school! ?

I've arrived just after 10am by Lyft and they were accepting new guests so 10:15 after parking, etc. shouldn't be an issue.

The cost of Diamond happy hour has got to be on someone's radar. I've sat there and watched the drinks flow, people stuffing 6 soda's or beers in their purse or watched a drunk D/D+/P fall down drunk and crash into a table spilling everyone's drinks only to be hauled away in a wheelchair because of how much they consumed. On Anthem in December a DL server told me "changes are coming". In January they no longer consumed the entire upper level of the Music Hall as overflow each evening. This year on Liberty, Serenade and Adventure they never consumed the VCL as overflow despite the DL busting at it's seams when happy hour began. So far the changes seem to include making the DL an uncomfortable place to be by not overflowing outside of the club. They never seem to enforce the "drinks can't leave the DL" policy. To some degree it has worked as I tend to visit bars using my drink coupons before dinner now because the DL is chaos and you can never find a seat until past 6:30pm when dinner has finally persuaded most to get out of their chair. Putting on my "I own the company for a day" hat, I'd certainly be asking my team how to contain the Diamond happy hour extravaganza. With the growing number of Diamonds they are going to need make additional changes or adjust the thresholds to achieve levels. That is dangerous talk right there because of folks who have been working for years at achieving Diamond and alienating them or pushing them to the competition if they "move the goal posts during the game". The elimination of the CL and converting them to SL is part of this effort leaving the DL alone... for now at least. I suspect they are waiting to see how that plays out before making more changes. No other line offers the type of happy hour elite benefit that RCI does. Carnival's platinum level is achieved at roughly the Diamond level and the biggest benefit is priority boarding. Once on board Carnival's platinum doesn't do much for you and there is no equivalent lounge or daily free happy hour at any Carnival level. I've certainly felt like more changes are coming as RCI aligns itself with the industry more and more which is why I made a push for D+ hoping to be grandfathered in in case they make drastic changes.

Thank you for your flicker link. Amazing photos! Everyone on here should check them out. The theme park pictures should be purchases by the parks to use on there websites and brochures.

While I enjoyed traveling light I missed the quality that comes with a better camera. I felt very limited and "threw away" a lot of pictures I wouldn't post on the blog. Even some that I did post were marginally acceptable and as i look at them I find myself saying "that would be such a better photo with my real camera". I'm keeping the Moment lenses and I'll take them on excursions or to places I can't or won't bring my Nikon but I won't cruise again without it.

Did the non Royal sponsored train run in 2014 going from Anchorage to Seward. If I'm recalling correctly there was grocery store right near where the train drops offs if you do the non Royal run. I personally think it worked great getting in around 11am. Gave some time to check-in grab a quick bite and explore a nearly empty ship. Once rooms opened, drop off the carry-on bags and then explored Seward. Once nice thing in Seward is they have a free bus that goes around the city, wound up taking that bus to the The Alaska SeaLife Center. Spent some time there then walked around the town a bit. Eventually found a bus stop and took the bus back to the ship.

We were there Monday on Harmony and thymey had a stand outside on the pier for us to check in and out towels

I'm just amazed at your photography, man. The shot above of the Abyss - is that the moon just above it?

Thank you all for your responses. Special thanks to Lovetocruise2002. You said the right words. Harmony it will be.

Hi Elaine, We returned from Vision last week and we had a great time. The ship is looking in need of some external cosmetic treatment, particularly at the water line, but it is in very good shape internally. More importantly, it felt to us that it is a really happy ship. All of the staff we met were great, which meant the atmosphere on board was very positive. The entertainment on board varied between excellent and ordinary, but everybody's taste is different in this regard. Food was very good overall. The menus seem a little more limited than they used to be but the choice is still sufficient. Dining room staff were brilliant. Giovanni's and Izumi were excellent in my view (we didn't use Chop's Grill). Windjammer is rather small so it can get a little crowded and the range of offerings is not as wide as it is on the larger ships. But we had no complaints. We think that Barcelona is a very easy embarkation and disembarkation port. It is reasonably close to the airport and a pleasant place to stay either before or after the cruise. It is also nice to have fixed taxi tariffs that apply from the cruise terminal to the airport. Embarkation was brilliant - we arrived at the cruise port just before 11:00a.m. and we boarded within 15 minutes! Disembarkation was similarly speedy and, although there was what appeared to be an extensive queue for taxis, it was extremely well managed and moved amazingly quickly. I know your itinerary is different to ours, but ours was excellent. Livorno is a good base from which to explore Pisa and Florence. These places are busy but well worth a visit, particularly if you haven't been there before. Similarly, Civitaveccia (for Rome) is a good opportunity to see the sights of that city. It can take an hour and a half, though, to get to Rome and sometimes longer to return. I would recommend using a Royal Caribbean excursion to see Rome as traffic can be bad and it would be easy to be late in returning to the ship. (This happened to me on a previous cruise - we were 3 hours late getting back and, if we had not been on an "official" excursion, the ship would have been long gone by the time we reached the cruise terminal.) As an aside, I think the excursions are a bit expensive, but that is also in part due to the weakness of sterling at the moment. Although we did not visit Athens and Santorini on this cruise, we have been to those places previously. In the case of Athens, it was worth visiting but a little disappointing. Piraeus is not the nicest location and there was conservation work taking place at the Parthenon. Inevitable, but it spoiled the experience to some extent. We love Santorini. It is beautiful and charming. The town at the top of the cliff is picturesque despite being thronged with shops and bars etc. The only thing to be aware of is that the cable car, particularly when returning to the ship, can be very busy with long queues forming. You can walk up or down the cliff path but you need to be fairly fit, not mind encountering (so many) donkeys, and be careful where you put your feet (donkey excrement etc.). We have seen people walking in flip flops here - not a good idea! I hope this is of some assistance to you. Please let me know if there are any particular questions you would like me to address. I hope your cruise is just as enjoyable as ours was and I would love to hear your experiences when you return. John.

I can't keep up this pace. I really want 340 to get reduced single supplement. With that achieved I can afford to cruise with Matt in peak season, plus take some more exotic cruises like Hawaii, Norway, Transpacific, etc. Right now those are too pricey when paying 200%.

OMG, Matt. Please do NOT forget: Shows: Do you want to sleep through Cats or dance in the aisles to Grease ? LOL. Just kidding !

I have never been in a Suite Lounge as I haven't yet sailed on a ship that has one. I have used the Concierge Lounge many times, either due to being in a suite or because I am D+, or both. Mostly, suite guests and Pinnacle (and D+) mix very well and accept that each deserves the perk. After all, whether one spends the asking price of a suite for one sailing or has spent an inordinate amount of money over many years to attain the loyalty status, the cost of entry has been paid. However, at times it has been amusing to see the tension between just a few members of each category on some occasions, where each feels they are more entitled than the other. This is sometimes exhibited in grabbing territory (for example, Pinnacles congregating in their favourite seats in the CL and showing an element of displeasure if suite guests beat them to those seats) or suite guests, on occasion, monopolising the Concierge's time. To be honest, I think Pinnacle members get very little above D+ in real benefits, particularly considering the number of points (and the money that represents) required. So my vote is to rename the Suite Lounge and let everyone who has earned it, in whatever way, enjoy the privilege.

That is over the top. I would have refused to move out of principle.

I think Junior Suites should be given access to suite lounge. Maybe they can set up kid tables in the corner of suite lounge so that everyone can see "those are the junior suite people" sitting in smaller chairs at a low table. Seriously - all that money for JS and what do you get? A walk in closet and double points. On a handful of ships you get Coastal kitchen dinner. RCI needs to throw the JS people a bone.

+1

You know you have a cruising problem when you see numbers like that and think, "Wow, an ocean view balcony cabin just for the body! And a promenade balcony per lens!" ::raising hand:: Hi, my name is Joe...

@monctonguy, there are getting to be more and more Pinnacle's, as well as Diamond and Diamond+, I remember in one of @twangster live blog's. I believe on Anthem that he said there were over a 1000 diamonds on the cruise and that the diamond lounge could not hold them all and it spilled out over to an adjoining room, I agree, there probably shouldn't be an issue, but depending on the cruise it could get crowded. I just figured it out, I will reach Diamond+ next year on a 9 night Anthem cruise, it will then just take me 37.5 more 7 night cruises in a suite to reach Pinnacle, 2 cruises per year=18.75 years, I'm 56 now so I will reach Pinnacle when I turn 75 approximately!!! Hope I stay healthy.

To add even more fuel to this fire...I wonder (I know that no one knows the answer to this, yet) if the new "suites area" of the Spectrum will be for Suites only or if P's will be invited. I'm predicting that P's will be included but I certainly do not know. Since it appears that Royal is mimicking Norwegian for this "ship within a ship" concept, I guess a good question to ask is whether or not the NCL top level (I don't even know what they are called on NCL...the P equivalent on NCL) cruisers are invited to the Haven area. That might give us a hint about how Royal is going to manage this. Does anyone know ?

$2k for camera + $800-1k for the lens. Your pictures are great! I can't personally justify spending that much for a camera set up, but you cannot argue with the results. Maybe someday I'll upgrade to that level of stuff...in the name of research!

I think any Suite level above JS should enjoy exclusive perks that are separate from what the Pinnacle folks receive. One is based on Ststus and the other is based on spending more money to have a more exclusive experience. It’s great that you have achieved Pinnacle but if you didn’t book a suite for a particular cruise then you shouldn’t have business in the Suite Lounge. Just my opinion.

Day 6 - Sea Day Today was a mostly quiet and relaxing sea day. We had breakfast in the Windjammer then browsed the on board shops for a while. A bit of extra calories burned walking decks four and five then it was lunch time. Even with this being my fourth Royal Caribbean cruise, we had not yet tried Izumi so we decided a few rolls for lunch would be nice. It was a great break from the normal cruise fare and I will definitely be going back again at my next opportunity. Even though my wife is ver particular about her sushi, she gave it two thumbs up. More lazing around then the second formal night in the Main Dining Room. I haven’t said it yet, but My Time Dining is a really nice feature. It’s even made better when you get to keep your wait staff the whole cruise like we did. After dinner, the next on the agenda was the production show Can’t Stop the Rock. After the Oasis and Independence I really miss the Broadway style shows. The rock shows don’t have the same quality and appeal. 80s Dance Party in Studio B filled in the time before the Quest Game Show. This is definitely a lively and crazy show for the adults, not for the prudish or for the shy. I tend to be on the quiet side, but you can’t help but participate and help take your team to victory. For the first time in almost twenty years my bald head was useful. Our team won, but the participants are really the show here and it would have been fun even if we lost. Tomorrow is our final sea day.

If they create a Galaxy Class and don't name one Enterprise, I'm rioting.