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Please keep this conversation solely about the news and refrain from personal attacks. Thank you.

Because I want to support jobs in my own country and I think its terrible a company would use their own employees to train other employees to take their jobs away is racist.....nope, not even close. Or because I have a hard time hearing/understanding people who's mother tongue is not English I am racist? Nope, wrong again! But its people like you that say these things and push these ideas and agenda's that has turned the US and the world into what it is today... I am 100% ok knowing that someone from China would NOT want me to be working their call center trying to speak their language when they are calling for advice or help or upset... Come on people..don't be so sensitive!!!!

Perfect ...... Thank You

Racist? How? Being Guatamalin or Jamaican IS NOT A RACE!!! It's a Nationality and, perhaps, a Culture, but it is NOT a race...... That term is thrown around Waaay too often these days.

Here ya go!! Don't go blaming me if you start dancing with a lampshade on your head!

@princevaliantus How rude!!! Where's our Mimosa's...?.@Jess If you haven't noticed, there are a few of us that have been known to be jokesters... i won't mention any names but their initials are Twanster, rjac, JLMoran and off in the distance is that scottish & aussi blokes. If you can't tell i'm more of the serious type.

The Chef table is Amazing

Me? Racist? Antes de llamar a alguien racista, primero debe averiguar de dónde son. Todo esto es en broma. Además, para que sepas, soy español y puertorriqueño. (For my RC Blog friends - English translation: Before calling anyone racist, you should first find out where they are from. All of this is all in jest. In addition, so that you know, I'm Spaniard and Puerto Rican.) Just had to clear the air. Such a smell of pure "wrong". Mimosa's anyone? ???????

By my logic, insulting, assuming..... but not racist...... My statement is not about implying a person's ability to do a job, it's about the correct definition of a word YOU are throwing out there....... If you're going to call a person racist, you better be able to back it up by the words own definition.

What makes this racist?? Am I missing something?? I have to start handing out more Mimosa's ??????? as they're too many people with their girdle bunched up!!

Day 5 – Mykonos 7:30 am was the time we arrived to Mykonos, its not that I woke up to see its I just learn about it later. We took our time as we did not have any tour planned (Lesson learned) so we slept awhile, eat breakfast at the WJ and went down to the small city. This was the second tendering port during the cruise but since we left after 10 AM it was with zero lines , very nicely handled by RC team comparing to the previous tendering in Kotor which was more crowded. No tickets were required for the tendering boats. The boat leaves us around 50 M (150 F for the US readers who refuse to follow the rest of the world and adapt the very logic metric system) from the city so it was very convenient to just walk around. We did not have special plans for Mykonos so we just started to walk between the narrow passages, the small city is beautiful all the building are paint white with some blue and red on top of the churches, the street are very clean and we were lucky with the weather that was very good. We went all the way up to take some pictures of the bay and to try and balance all the calories we are eating on board the ship. The view from the heal is amazing, although the electric wires are in the way of some of the pictures, how so not thoughtful of Mykonos electric company. We did our way down and seat in one of the coffee shops near the port, we drank the local Greek coffee (again, its exactly like Turkish coffee, but do not dare to say it in Greece) added to it some cold coffee which we saw everyone else are drinking. Word of advice, Mykonos is very expensive , almost twice than Athens. We decide to go back to the ship and eat lunch. My spouse went to the SPA and booked some of the massage offers they had yesterday I stayed at the room to answer some of the working related email as I needed to escalate some of the issues (work never ends), I think its better to do it like that and not to return home and have thousands of emails waiting for me to handle but this is only my opinion. After some rest we went to the MDR for our 6 PM dinner ,the table was full again and we were happy to see everyone , interesting discussions and sharing experiences from the day. It was Lasagna night, we enjoyed it ,four of the people at the table ordered the fish , all of them gave it back and ask to replace to the lasagna as they said the fish was very dry and salty. For dessert almost, everyone ordered the Tiramisu beside me that ordered the Tiramisu and the cheese plate ? The tiramisu was excellent. after dinner we went to the high tier event , around 60 people attend the event and almost all the officers were there. No pinnacles on this cruise, in total only 600 C&A are sailing this week. Post the event we went to see the headliner show , it was some magic show but it all seem the same as other magic shows we saw on board of other ships so we went out at the middle (good we seated near the exit), next we went to the 70 show (I periscope part of it), visit the Casino (no jackpot this time ☹) and conclude the day at the park café eating pizza.

I guess just another reason to find a good TA to use from here on out.....as Royal's website is terrible and now their call center service will be terrible.. 700 jobs being set to Jamaica and Guatemala...and the irony of it all is that many Royal employees from the US went to these countries to train some of the Royal employees..only to later learn that these people are essentially taking their jobs and leaving them unemployed. And Royal had originally stated they would be adding more jobs to this center..... Royal is to make an announcement about this today...I hate when companies do that and try to not support companies that have done that here in Canada.

Absolutely!

I didn't feel out of place at all on Celebrity...while there were defn less kids and there seemed to be less night activities I wouldn't say the overall age demographic was much older than Royal. We met some great people both older and younger than us that we hung out with...I would do Celebrity again..its just a little quieter...but not enough to deter me from going again....defn not cause the crowd seemed too "old"

Tonight , Cheff table

@JLMoran @Lovetocruise2002 Don't worry about it!! I will get with Annette and set things up ? Trust me...it will all work out ?

History tends to have a way of repeating. Remember when most people would only buy American cars? The big three automakers thought they could make junk and the American people would keep buying them, well now most people swear by Japanese or German automobiles. Remember when, if you wanted electronics, you would only buy Sony if you wanted the best then they started making sub par items allowing Samsung to dethrone them. Don't get me wrong, I love Royal Caribbean, I've been sailing with them since the early 80's and have been on most ships at least once, their ships continue to be amazingly innovative (exclusive of the Quantum class) but their continuous downgrading of customer service, lack of appreciation for long-time repeat passenger and the constant nickel and diming grows old after a while. We sailed on the Adventure this past May (2018) and the Diamond concierge never had us listed as Diamond Plus, we never received any of the benefits and were never invited to any of the events, when we tried to bring it to his attention he said he'd look into it but did nothing. Like I said we love Royal, and I do understand it's a business and the economics behind it (we actually sail basically for free on a few cruises each year using the dividends from our Royal stock) but little things like good customer service and recognition of loyal repeat customers goes a long way (many people would actually pay a premium for these things!). So to answer your question HeWhoWaits, we've decided to try MSC, we booked on the new ship out of Miami, the Seaside. MSC has a loyalty status match program where they'll actually match and reward us for our Crown and Anchor Diamond Plus status. Will we be back to Royal? Yes, but if they don't realize they aren't the only option for repeat guests (cruise lines bread and butter) they might just learn what many other companies have when they took their customer base for granted.

Just to throw a wrench in all your evil plans...go ahead and all agree on a week in the summer that works for everyone

We never had an issue because we went pretty late, and there was only one night when we waited about five minutes. I've heard stories of people waiting around 20 minutes in the early seatings. The Aqua Shows are great, but watch for Blue Planet in the Amber Theater. That show blew me away. Incredible visual effects on the stage. If you go with a reservation, try to get there early and sit high in the middle on the main level or close to the middle in the mezzanine (I think the middle is reserved for suite guests). You are greeted with this view of a rotating earth as you enter, and that's before the show starts....it's kind of like Cirque du Soleil and just as good.

You don’t need a dining package at all to get decent food. If you are the type that doesn’t want to pay extra then don’t and you will still have a good meal. But I think @Matt idea is smart. If you don’t mind paying a little extra, try a specialty dining once and see how you like it. It can be a great experience if you enjoy really good food like me. Of course my wife always disagrees with me. If it was up to me I would do the Dining Plan because I love really good food and want to have a special vacation. She doesn’t think the food is worth the extra money. I do. So we compromise by eating a couple of times per cruise.

Y'all are in trouble....I've just noticed that she's in Fayetteville, NC......right where I live....I can do some serious bribery without y'all knowing ?????

If you plan to return to the ship 3 or more hours before the all aboard time, that pretty much protects you against any kind of travel delay.

On our July 2 cruise on Mariner of the Seas, the executive chef came around and asked everyone how the food was. My son Brandon who is 13 said his steak was great but wanted to know when he could have a quesadilla. The chef told him it wasn’t going to be on the cruise menu and I thought saw son get very sad. Then the chef said just tell your waiter tomorrow “Chef McDonald” said I could have a quesadilla and we will make you one. It was awesome.

After having been to Nachi Cocom in Cozumel twice and Maya Chan in Costa Maya once, I wanted to list the differences and similarities based on my experiences at both. These are only my impressions from my visits and are not definitive at all Entry and Getting There Entry Fees Nachi Cocom — $55 Maya Chan — $59 Transportation Nachi Cocom — from the International Pier, the cost is $17 each way for a taxi trip. Once the shops are navigated to the taxi stand, the trip takes about 20 minutes. Let them know when you want to return to the ship, and a taxi will be waiting. Costa Maya — once you exit the controlled shops and terminal area, the meeting spot is about two blocks away. The trip cost is included in the price and organized by the staff and takes 25-30 minutes on rough dirt roads south from Mahahual paralleling the coast. Return trips to the ship came in thirty minute increments starting at 1:30 for a 4:30 all on board time. The last taxi was scheduled at 3:30 and drops you off inside the controlled port area, which I liked better than the original pick up area. Clear Edge to Maya Chan when combining entry and transportation for the right number of people. It doesn’t favor Nachi Cocom cost-wise unless you have a large number of people and a bus. Total Cost for Two Adults Nachi Cocom — $144 Maya Chan — $118 Clear Edge to Maya Chan Greeting and Orientation Nachi Cocom — upon arrival, you are greeted by a staff member who takes pictures of you with a sombrero and then directs you to the cashier who takes your payment receipt. After a brief wait, you are introduced to your waiter who takes you to your palapa Maya Chan — when arriving at the meet up point outside of the port area which is fairly easy to find on the right next to a small convenience store, you are advised of the conditions and given the opportunity to cancel if there is a lot of seaweed in the beach. They have your name and number in your party on a list, check you off and match you with other guests for the trip which is usually in a 12 passenger van. A rep, for us, it was one of the American ex-pat owners gives a brief orientation. Edge to Maya Chan What’s Included (The Basics) Nachi Cocom — all food and beverages as well as access to all facilities. Your waiter brings anything you like to your palapa, or you can use the swim up bar in the pool or the restaurant area. Food is ordered off a fairly extensive menu. Beach toys are extra. Maya Chan — an attendant will bring an introductory rum punch and any other beverages you like. Other than chips, guac and salsa, food is buffet style in the small All beach toys are included. They range from water shoes, snorkeling gear, floating chairs and stand up paddle boards. Edge to Nachi Cocom (I don’t mind paying a little extra for a kayak or floating mat) The Facilities Nachi Cocom — there are two sets of bathrooms, a large outdoor seating area in the restaurant/bar, palapas that run two deep the full width of the property, which I am guessing is about 250 feet of water frontage. Each palapa has two chairs and a small table. There is a nice second bar on the beach. There is a small dock. The pool is great, and has a swim up bar which I love. There is also a hot tub. The beach is wide and clean. It’s easy to wade in with your floating device and a cold beverage. The restaurant is very nice and under shade, so even on the hottest days, is a great place to be. There are about 20 tables in the space. Maya Chan — palapas include 1-5 chairs and a beach bed which provided one of the best naps I’ve ever had. They are larger than what is available at Nachi Cocom. There was an unattended second bar behind the line of palapas. I am guessing there is about 150 feet of water frontage. There is no pool. The day I was there was not ideal, sadly, because a storm washed an unbelievable amount of seaweed ashore. It was quite staggering, actually. Three dedicated staff members were putting in huge efforts to clear paths to the water. Even then, when wading out, the seaweed was so thick, it wrapped around your legs for 10-15 feet until you reached clearer water. The bottom was rocky, though not as rocky as Adrenalin Beach at Labadee. Water shoes are a good idea. The restaurant/bar area is somewhat small and pleasant with about 8 tables. The cooking occurs right there, so you can enjoy the skilled cooking. Edge to Nachi Cocom Staff Nachi Cocom — absolutely fantastic. I had the same waiter both times, he remembered me. The bar tenders are quick and generous with the mixed drinks and the beers are cold. Maya Chan — absolutely fantastic. They are extra attentive to your needs yet they don’t pester you. I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Dan, one of the owners. Slight Edge to Maya Chan — Nachi is wonderful however Food and Beverage Nachi Cocom — I like the option to be served at a table or at your palapa. All tropical drinks I had were very good, and the beer was cold. The menu has numerous Mexican and some American selections. Maya Chan — The tropical drinks were very tasty and the beer was cold. Food was served buffet style and limited to assembling tacos using shredded skirt steak, chicken, sea bass (dripping in garlic butter — omg), and pork. All had Mexican seasoning and were fresh, plentiful and wonderful with all the fixings including really, really good guacamole. Edge to Nachi Cocom because of the style of servïce and variety. Quality at both were good. Edges to Nachi Cocom — 3 Maya Chan — 4 Conclusion Because I am happy with a cold beer on the beach to keep me happy, and the lower overall cost, I would give an edge to Maya Chan especially on a good beach day when the seaweed is gone. If I’m in the mood for a pool day and a swim up bar, I’ll pick Nachi Cocom and conclude the total extra cost is worth it knowing that I could have stayed at the port at Costa Maya and had swim up bar action all day if I wanted. Despite how the edges came out above, I think Nachi Cocom would win over in my book because of more variety. My daughter picks Nachi Cocom because she remembers that the drink portions are larger and the large menu. So I would say that for us, the more developed facilities and the food variety are weighed more heavily than some of the other categories. I would be curious to know what others who have been to both think. Maya Chan — hammock in the back of our palapa Maya Chan — raised observation tower great place to charge your phone Maya Chan — our palapa Maya Chan — our palapa Maya Chan — view from our palapa Maya Chan — buffet area in the left foreground, and the bar in the back this was taken upon entering for the first time Maya Chan — this is an example of an area of seaweed that was cleared the most. The thicker areas were unreal I waded through it several times, and it’s not bad if your mind is focused on the goal of getting to the other side. If you dwell on it, I will tell no lie, it’s pretty gross. If you don’t intend to go in the water on days when this happens, it won’t be an issue. Maya Chan — bar/restaurant from the beach Maya Chan — beach toys — note the mounds of seaweed Nachi Cocom — very nice beach Nachi Cocom — palapas on the beach Nachi Cocom Menu Nachi Cocom Bathroom Nachi Cocom pool and hot tub Nachi Cocom massage palapa Nachi Cocom secondary bathrooms and shower Nachi Cocom — secondary beach bar Nachi Cocom — pool with restaurant bar on the other side Nachi Cocom — swim up bar on the other side fro. The restaurant side bar. Nachi Cocom resultant seating

Found this on FB. Many of you probably have already seen it, but I thought this was too funny not to post here. The last few cruises, this has been me, it's all about the food pics! ?

Works for me.

That's because you saw THIS early morning Bloody Maryland picture

We have done both. In Alaska, I booked through local tour companies. And, in the Caribbean, we've caught tours once we were on shore. Particularly in the Caribbean, the islanders live solely on tourism. Everyone knows all of the ship's schedules and can pretty well recite them to you by heart. Because they rely so heavily on the cruises for their livelihood, they do everything they can to get you back to the ship on time. That said, for our upcoming European sailing, I booked all of our tours through Royal. Foreign countries, foreign languages and countries who are not solely reliant on tourism for their economy ... I wasn't willing to take the risk.

Happy birthday!

LOL! well, I'd like to think we are fun! we like a cocktail or two or three, like the Casino, just not the party animals we used to be (and trust me we were!) I will give a full blown report upon return! If there are too many gray hairs I myself may have to reconsider! LOL JOKING!

Let's talk about something else... ?

You missed the part about not paying airfare. Given my budgetary limits for the foreseeable future, sailing out of Cape Liberty is a must-do so that I'm not saddled with airfare. Even with that, swinging two balcony rooms for the four of us might be outside my budget. Probably not on Anthem, given the huge price drops on balconies I saw with this Bermuda cruise close to final payment date (I'm kind of missing the ton of money I'd have gotten back by now); but on Adventure where I saw balconies on 6-night CA/NE itineraries were over $200 pp/pn, that could be a concern.

The one I'm on is five nights. If I had picked an even later offering in November, or chosen a sailing on Grandeur, I could have done 7 nights, but I felt that was too late in the year. I had seen that Celebrity offering after I'd booked this one on Anthem and was really torn. I want to build up loyalty in C&A so I can get at least Platinum transfer benefits with X before I start booking with them, but at the same time I thought that with just the wife and me, X might have been a nicer and dare I say more enjoyable option for us, especially as I'm a foodie and wine lover. But, I also booked Anthem to get an idea what she's like and see if it will be a ship the angsty, "sea days are boring" teenage kids will enjoy more than they did Freedom, so we can do some sailings from our home port and not have flight expenses to deal with. If I didn't have them to think about for future cruises, I'd have probably booked Adventure to Bermuda rather than Anthem. Expecting Oasis comment from @Lovetocruise2002 in 5... 4... 3... ?

Let's talk about something else... ?

La cucaracha, la cucaracha...Ya no puede caminar...Porque no tiene, porque le falta...Dinero para gastar.

Incredible show!

If not Nachi Cocom or Mr. Sancho's, I know a lot of people really enjoy Paradise Beach (although it is not all-inclusive). I'm not at all familiar with Allegro. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/07/25/excursion-focus-paradise-beach-cozumel

So you'll be switching to which cruise line moving forward?

Points are done by the individual not the cabin ... so each person gets their own points regardless of who booked the room.

Just joined the insiders group. Happy to support this wonderful site and Matt efforts

As long as they still make a hefty profit they don't have to put in deep sales and as far as I can tell they don't have issues selling cabins. They do the sales to let people think they are getting a bargain; no different than what malls and car dealerships do on a routine basis. As a consumer we are always looking for the deal, and as long as we feel we got a deal, we feel good and companies go on making us feel good with sales advertising. It's win-win for the consumer to big business dynamic. How many people go on a RC cruise even know about this site to get information? I did only because I am a researcher and have to always look for "the deal." There is a wealth of knowledge in these pages but only a select set of people will ever run across this blog to get a detailed understanding of the "inner RC."

When we cruise with husband's family, it is always MDR every night with special attention paid to formal night and pictures taken with family every night. Husband and I take the much more laid back approach when cruising on our own... and no pictures.

In our experience, we had no issues whatsoever. We were headed back to the ship several hours early and without incident. Even had time to shop and grab a drink while in port! Most of these tour companies are well aware that their reputation is on the line when it comes to getting cruise ship passengers back in plenty of time.

If you haven't pre-booked your shows, I recommend doing that to make sure you can get in before it's opened to those who didn't pre-book. Once you know the times of the shows, I would go in and book your preferred My Time Dining times for each night of the cruise. That way, you won't have to wait around too long for a table. If you don't want to pre-book your shows, you could set your times for MTD on boarding day in the Main Dining Room on Deck 3...we recently did MTD on Allure and it worked ok for us, although we didn't have the same servers every night. In Sint Maarten, it's fun to get a cab to the Marigot on the French side, have breakfast and then head to the beach at Orient Beach, Maho Beach or Philipsburg.

They have amazing views!!! I would stay in them again! You will not regret it!!

Sir, where did you get the impression you are “forced” into ANYTHING ?? They offer a drink package. If you’re non drinkers, don’t buy it !! There, no force involved. ?

January 6, 2019 Anthem of the Seas 12N Southern Caribbean. Looking forward to heading south in the winter.

Just so you know. Supposedly, if you remove gratuities and then tip on your own, the staff is required to turn those tips in to the "pool". While you may think you are doing certain staff a favor, you really are not. Staff may keep any additional tip on top of the daily gratuities. If you really want to help the staff that deserve it, get their name and use their name on the post cruise survey or any compliment card you find. This helps their long term career and they really appreciate it.

That's a lot of extra weight for just 4 more passengers!

Matt got a little publicity in the Fox article: http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2018/08/15/emotional-support-animals-face-restrictions-in-southwest-airlines-royal-caribbean-cruises-reports-say.html "For travel by sea, cruise ships are tightening restrictions on ESAs, with Royal Caribbean prohibiting all emotional support animals aboard its international ships effective immediately, according to Miami's WFOR-TV and the Royal Caribbean blog, an unaffiliated industry site."