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I'm not taking anyone's side on this, I've been on both sides looking in, I'm Diamond so I get the free drinks every night at any of the participating bars, which is more than enough for my wife and I, so I really don't need to go to the Diamond lounge our the suite lounge, I have been looked down noses at, and regretfully have found myself looking down my nose at others, have been rep-remanded for not wearing long pants on Formal night (My wife wanted a glass of wine, what can I say) and I have said I should rep-remand people for their dress or actions. I don't like the way that "some" Diamond, D+ and Pinnacles take over the lounges like it is their own (Little Cliques) but yet my wife and I have been invited to join these groups because we frequently cruise on our own. But with a limitation of space on a ship I think we are going to have to live with it, I don't think they are going to open a separate lounge just for Pinnacle and heaven forbid they are going to come mingle with us lowly Diamond people. Like I said in a previous post, it will take me 38 more Suite cruises (In 2018 dollars, that is approximately $228,000) once I reach Diamond+ (In 2019) to make Pinnacle, but I'm booked in a suite the next 5 cruises so I will get to enjoy the diamond lounge and/or the suite lounge as I please, one of these will be a Star Class experience so maybe after that, I will look down my nose a little more, LMAO...

I'm not saying you haven't drop some coin, but so have Pinnacles over their years of loyalty. It is the same which is why RCI has the policy that they do - both of you are allowed in the Suite Lounge. Diamond Plus are not as they haven't earned it. If its that important to you maybe it's time to try MSC since they have a wall separating suite guests from non-suite guests.

I saw this posted in a FB group. Good FAQ section: http://www.royalcaribbeanincentives.com/general-cruise-faqs/ The site appears to be geared around event planning, such as hosting an event on a ship or even chartering the entire ship. Decent fleet guide with downloadable PDFs. : http://www.royalcaribbeanincentives.com/ships/ Have you ever wonder how much it costs to charter an entire ship? I have. Interesting. Anyone have $11M surplus cash to charter Oasis for a week? If so you and 6,000 of your closest friends can sail in style.

Here's a couple more awesome Grandeur Pictures..... The first of it coming into Nassau last year, the second was in the fog arriving back in Baltimore

I'd love to see RCI adopt Celebrity's pick 2 or pick 4 marketing campaigns. Hopefully with merging the two websites towards a common feel they don't Royalize the packages on Celebrity.

As far as cancel and repurchase I do that all the time. In the cruise planner at the top is "Order History". From you can cancel anything you previously purchased. April is a good bit off. I have a number of cruises booked and over Black Friday few of them dropped in price (drink package that is). Follow @Matt on twitter or facebook as he usually posts when ever sales are happening.

You nailed it. I get this sort of question a lot and I feel bad for saying "it depends", but it depends.

Yep and possible tornado's the last 2 nights, and it will be 95 when I get off today and supposed to hit 100 by the end of next week at about 80% humidity. I'm the only person I know that goes on a cruise for cooler temperatures...lol

Check out @tiny260 ! Nice round numbers 500/1000. Congrats on 1,000 posts

Just saw this video looking at the new features on RC's Facebook page

Quantum when in China has made the Solarium suite only. Spectrum will supposedly take that up a notch with separate elevators for suites and more space dedicated to suites much like MSC has done on SeaSide.

New to this blog EXTREMELY helpful ty

Grandeur, here I come.

Oh but they do, right out in front where everyone can see them. My diamond is about the size of a dime, as was all previous pins, I have not gotten my D+ so I'm not sure if they are the same or not, but the Pinnacle is about the size of a quarter and has Ruby's mounted on it, I don't know if these change with different levels or not. The stone on my Diamond pin you have to have a magnifying glass to see it. And I agree with Matt, the attitude from the staff and the ships officers is completely different for Pinnacle verses other levels at the top tier events. On some sailings the officers and the Pinnacle are on a first name bases...

You can't always, but there are certain signs such as asking the concierge some very dumb question and taking 30 minutes of their time doing so that illustrates a complete lack of cruise history or applying some profiling techniques such as people in their 30s that are possibly pinnacle but unlikely. Like the guy in his early 20s looking like something that just spent 6 nights on the streets of NY on a formal night in the Suite Lounge. There is after all a dress code suggestion. I'm guessing it wasn't a pinnacle doing their best impression of a barefoot homeless person while everyone else was at least wearing long pants (and shoes).

Yikes, Mark. I hope everyone is ok. I have a colleague who lives in Ellicott City but they are "on high ground" so they are all well.

http://www.portbermudawebcam.com/ Cruise Time Table says she is supposed to be in there on June 2nd, you can watch and see how she pulls in. If you look at the ships right now, an NCL ship and the Celebrity Summit, one is port and one is Starboard.

Royal need to figure out a way to cool the Suite deck down, at least on the O class, the air does not move through there well because of the roof sheets on the Solarium. It can turn in to a sweat box up there, especially in some of the cabanas... "Shaking the tree boss" (See how many of the younger folks get that)...

It was $87.40 with fee's, which i paid up front on their web page, but that was for both of us, plus I gave the driver a $20 tip, I put our bags in because I was getting a little frazzled, he took them out for us, at the time of getting in the car I still had no idea how long the drive would be on a Sunday morning, one he told me 45 minutes I relaxed a little...

Welcome to the blog. If you can`t find an answer on this blog it does not exist. L.O.L. Also no question is dumb so ask as many as needed. On the positive side when you are going to sleep Adventure Ocean is closed.

This is no longer the case. A few years back (maybe as many as 10 ?) Royal kicked the concessioners to the curb and now Royal owns and operates the casinos themselves.

This is exactly what we did when we cruised with our kids on RC. I don't drink soda....so the cup went to my daughter.

Thank you so much!

I've found the online prices are great if you want one specific service. They do offer specials onboard, but those tend to be combo deals, which may or may not be of interest to you.

Book on board and get to the ship early so as to book your massage and get a good time and price. And then make any other bookings you may need to make. Yes as others have stated port days and the first day have very good deals. The adage the early bird gets the worm is very true. And yes you will get a good massage. The on board specials are much better than the online special offers.

Thanks Matt! Great article! Good read, can't wait to get a cabana for the day and try a Labadoozie in Labadee. May 2019. So excitedddddddd. love your podcast as well as your articles.

Its the same. Casino rates mean you are not paying full suite rates. Besides the casino operation is a 3rd party. RCI just gets a cut. The quickest path to Pinnacleness would be 50 cruises solo with an average 7 night duration. Cruise as a couple and it's a hundred cruises. A few times a year there are cheaper inside cabins but if you only sail during those times it would take 30-40 years to gain Pinnacleness. In the real world the typical pinnacle has spent in excess of $100k each and many of them drop money in the casino too and on shore excursions and dining and beverages and so on. They don't get free drinks like casino people do. Cheating you way into a suite lounge through the casino or earning it through years of money spent directly to Royal (not the casino operator) is the same thing.

Cruising is addicted. I am trying to add one more cruise. Next year we are going on five different ships. Need one more to make it even.

Welcome to the message boards! There is a blog about drink prices here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/royal-caribbean-drink-prices Figure five or six alcoholic drinks per day to break even. How much each of us drinks varies. Sometimes there is value in a drink package and for others not as much. See also this blog post: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/01/08/answers-common-royal-caribbean-unlimited-alcohol-package-questions and https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/10/24/8-awesome-reasons-buy-royal-caribbeans-unlimited-alcohol-package

We did note it on our reservations. My "little one" is entering the double digits...not so little anymore...

Putting on my "I own the cruise line for day" hat on for the moment... I made a point of booking some of the older ships this year and even planned a glass block for Empress. Why? I am speculating that there is interest in getting them out of the fleet so I want to sail them while I can. That is purely speculation on my part, I have no hard facts or inside knowledge to back that up nor can I predict a timeline for my speculation. The dilemma RCI faces is trying to find a buyer that won't turn around and offer dirt cheap Bahamas cruises impacting their strategy to Wow! the short cruise market with Mariner, Navigator, Indy and the Perfect Day at Cococay strategy. Vision class ships are like owning an older car. It's likely paid off, you don't have a monthly car payment, insurance is cheap but its not as efficient as a new car, lacks some new features and maintenance costs can start to add up. You might want to sell it off but it runs great and does its job quite handily. There is a small market for selling older used cars and they don't fetch very good prices. Throw all those factors into a bucket and if the right opportunity comes along, they would be hard pressed to keep them - in my SWAG of an opinion. Will they still be here 10 years from now? I strongly doubt it. Will they still be here 5 years from now? I doubt it. Will they still be here 2 years from now? - I just don't know.

I'm excited too. I haven't sailed Voyager class since our very first cruise 16 years ago! It will be strange to walk on board at first. The suite snob had to take a back seat though. A JS this time and no more because that is enough to get us to Diamond finally.

I just kept checking every day or so with mine and when it went on sale I purchased it then. If it happens to go even cheaper, then you can cancel the one and repurchase it.

I agree completely. Generally speaking Pinnacles are (mostly) older people. That's not to say there aren't younger pinnacles, but generally speaking they tend to look closer to retirement age and many of them love to wear that pin (and some do try to abuse it). Most of them are the quiet older couple just enjoying each other's company in the corner. That mid 30s entitled couple with a toddler watching cartoons on an iPad at full volume so the parents can drink in the Suite Lounge? - I may be wrong but I'm guessing they weren't pinnacles.

I have said this before I go on a seafood diet all the food I sea I eat ?

Couple more photos to post from last week

That's correct. This is more an issue of semantics. On non-Oasis Class ships, Cafe Promenade may brew drinks with Starbucks beans, but it's not a Starbucks location. Thus, it is included with the drink package. On Oasis Class ships, which have a free-standing Starbucks kiosk (On the promenade or Boardwalk), drinks are NOT included with the drink package. However, lattes and espresso from Cafe Promenade are included with the drink package.

A quick recap of our cruise along with some more pictures Where do I even begin . . . rating these on a scale of 10 Cruise 10/10 Id give the cruise itself a 10 out of 10. Was everything I knew it would be, well actually better than I thought it would be. Can't wait until we can book another cruise and have already begun talking about it. More than likely will be in 2020 and the revamped Coco Cay is on our list of stops we would like to hit up. Room 9.5/10 Besides being on the smaller side, which being on a ship, I totally understand, our room was great. Loved the location overlooking the boardwalk and being able to see the water and The Fine Line was a wonderful thing. I am deducting half a point because of the rock hard beds. Other than that we were totally happy. Also being able to watch the movies on the big screens at the aqua theater from our balcony was super cool. Crew 10/10 Everyone we interacted with was wonderful. Our room attendant Sydney was the man and took care of us and anything we needed. The few times at customer service went smoothly with no issues. No complaints here from us. Food 8/10 There were a few things we came across that was so so, like super burnt and crispy toast and french toast in Windjammer but then there was some amazing food as well, like our meal in Sabor. Shows 10/10 The shows blew our minds, didn't expect them to be that good, even the ice skating shows. I preferred Iskate over 1887 and Columbus over Grease but all were spectacular. The Fine Line was an action packed spectacle and a must see. We did miss the headliner act and comedian. The character meet and greets and breakfast was a lot of fun as well as the parade in the promenade. Labadee 10/10 Was really more than we were expecting. Could have spend a few more hours here. Zipline and coaster were highlights for me and my kids loved the beach and aqua park. Falmouth 7/10 For me this port was just ok. Probably the one port I would have been ok skipping, would have like to see more of the country side though Cozumel 8/10 The rain really did put a hamper on the day but made the best of with some shopping and lunch, the shopping did make up for a lot for us. Along with Jamacia, would have loved to see more of the real country Things we would have done differently Packed less, we severely over packed. Being our first family cruise we didn't know how much to bring and really could have brought less. Sign up for my time dining. I selected the 5:30 dining time and only made it to one meal at that time. Next time will def do the my time dining. Bring/save more money to spend in Cozumel, lol. Book back to back cruises. This is a pipe dream but would have been really great Odds and End Embarking and disembarking the ship couldn't have gone smoother for us. I was pleasantly surprised how smooth and really didn't have to wait in any long lines either day. Even finding our luggage was a breeze Ship could use a few more Coke Freestyle machines IMO ? Elevators could be a pain sometimes but with that many people its understandable Ship could use a few more of those frozen yogurt stands also ? Getting to and from our home in Palm Beach Gardens to Port Everglades was pretty easy as was dropping off our bags and parking

Regarding the certificates , The highest certification you can get is Balcony cabin for two were you can use for certain cruises, if you want to use it for other cruise you are getting a 1000 $ off any cruise. As other said here , its easy to accumulate points in slots machines , there are two reason for that : 1. Its easy to track the slots machines , once you put your card in (or wave it in the new ships) the computer track your exact play and can calculate how much money you used while in table games its harder . For example if you are playing 50 $ per hand at a BJ table which has 10 $ minimum and its not being notice by the host/Pit boss the system will calculate as you played only 10 $ per hand. 2. The certificates value and other perks are calculate from the theoretic money you loose in the casino , since slot machines has much worse chances than table game you are getting more points playing them.Theoretic money lost is calculate by the money you play , the casino edge and the time you are playing

the restriction on the package specifies stand alone starbucks are not included like the one on oasis

lets keep this subject going come on casino people like me I'm trying to figure out how all this works why slots give more points then roulette etc tips I work every cruise to better myself but just realized it was necessary to introduce myself to the casino boss on my last cruise and unfortunately I noticed the pit boss staring at me and instead of realizing that was a good thing I gave him a nasty look I would be tickled if I won any certificate but I could use some tips

The problem lies with the Radiance class and below. When we were on the Serenade, we decided to take a peak into the concierge club . Boy was it packed to the hilt. You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a pinnacle member and the diamond club was the same, after several diamond members complained about it, management opened up the Viking Crown lounge as an overflow.

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No Live blog for you!

What is this "IF" nonsense? At the rate you are cruising, you will be there before I can even make D+!

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 ?

You have dual...doesn't count lol ?

Me too !

You are, indeed, a BRAVE man ! Good luck.

I'm a vegetarian (actually, I don't like the label - I just love vegetables and end up eating sushi once in a while) but have a nunber of vegan friends and am sympathetic with the mission. I can tell you on RCI they've always been eager to please, the key is communication (and this is honestly the key on any cruise line). Your friend will want to have his/her reservation annotated and get in touch with someone in the MDR on embarkation day as well. Each evening the next day's menu is available so that it can be reviewed to see if there is anything of interest, something that can be modified to be made vegan, or if nothing else, a special request can be made. I personally love Indian food, which is easily made vegan, so this is just one option - but ultimately it comes down to making requests and not trusting signage. Check out the below article to get some additional tips - and to understand why I say not to trust signage. http://www.cruisehabit.com/how-request-vegan-vegatarian-gluten-free-or-kosher-meals-your-next-cruise