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For me….no. It does not. I love cruising, and everything about it. From researching, booking, following price changes, cruise planner purchases…all the way to packing, traveling and boarding. I love it all! And that’s even before I’m aboard. The cruise itself is always a relaxing, enjoyable and entertaining vacation. I refuse to let it be anything else. I’m easygoing and usually like to be on my own. So I travel solo most of the time. No need to make plans or arrange schedules with others so everyone gets what they want. I absolutely HATE drama and the kings and queens who feed on it. I can’t stand loud complainers, even if they’ve got a point. Take it elsewhere! I have learned to really appreciate and respect the crew. With me being solo, it seems many of them love to spend time talking about their experiences if someone is really interested in listening. I’m a good listener. I think repeat cruisers learn more about service differences based upon comparisons from cruise to cruise. I know I do…but I really like to focus on the positive. I’m on a cruise! Again! As soon as I step off the ship on disembarkation day, I can’t wait to get back on! I don’t think I will ever tire of this…I’m on the Wonder now, on cruise number eighty-nine since 2015. It’s still as special as cruise number one.

There are definitely more D+ complainers but that's just because there are more D+ members. On a cruise with 20 - 30 pinnacle there may be 400 - 500 D+. There are complainers at every level but mathematically the odds are better you'll run into a non-pinnacle complainer. Actually crew reaction to the pin tends to be a friendly welcome. It's more like they treat you like you a crew member, one of them, as opposed to some sort of "must kiss butt" reaction. 10 out 10 times I wear my pin when I visit guest services. Guest services makes up a lot of BS as excuses or policy that isn't real. When I don't wear the pin 50% of what you hear is made up BS. When I wear the pin that drops to around 25%. You don't have to do the presentation. Before the shutdown there were no top tier events on short cruises and if someone made pinnacle on a short cruise there was nothing. Many people choose to arrange their pinnacle cruise to be on a 7 night sailing on a favorite ship just so there would be something. In your situation if you ever get there when you board your pinnacle cruise talk to the loyalty ambassador and tell them no mention at top tier. Mine is somewhere else and despite @Matt's best attempt the shot count has never gotten high enough for it to be seen.

Many pinnacles wear their gold name tags. I saw quite a few. Frankly I think they’re pretty silly. Put my pin on every morning?? Heck I’m happy I remember my underwear!!!! Hubby wants one though

We will be Pinnacle this Fall and I have zero intention of wearing a pin. One of our "cruise friends" (older lady we met on an Alaskan cruise last year we have kept in touch with and will be coordinating for September cruises) is longtime Pinnacle and said she stopped wearing hers when she saw a lady get out of the hot tub and transfer her pinnacle pin from her bathing suit to her wrap. Some folks like the attention. I personally do not, though I am looking forward to the other perks!

Had someone on the wife's FB group notice that the Jr Suite on Grandeur in July is less expensive than a Balcony by just under $130pp. Had a Casino certificate from an earlier cruise that gave us a "Bonus Balcony" for that month so we called in to try it out. Sure enough the Royal Agent gave us the "downgraded" Jr Suite because the customer insisted on a cabin in a lower price range. She had to check with her supervisor as she could not believe it. Wonder what intern missed that one but works for me.

I think it's the sense of entitlement that bothers me most about the way some people conduct themselves in these types of situations. If you have reached a certain status, you should reap the benefits of that, but it doesn't give you the right to treat staff poorly, or to expect to be favored/prioritized over other guests (meaning above and beyond the documented benefits).

My wife and I have been cruising since we were married in 1983 and we scraped up enough money to take an Anniversary Cruise on Song of Norway. We had a cabin on Deck B and was awestruck by literally everything about cruising. As the years went by we were fortunate enough to be able to afford many more cruises (we could never afford the new loft suites with a Genie) and enjoyed every one. Cruising, like people, change over time and we found ourselves adapting to these changes. We still enjoy cruising and interacting with other cruisers and crew members. I now find it a bit harder to cruise as we have in the past but that is because of my health and nothing to do with experiences onboard any ship. Luck holding out, I plan to take a few more cruises in my lifetime. Here's to many more and may we continue to enjoy!

I think that there are people who are critical of most things in life, and there are others that are Pollyannas. Some of us see the glass as half full, others as half empty. Some have gratitude in their hearts for the little things, some can't find anything to be grateful about. Add cruising to the mix for each type, and you have some that complain about everything, while some see the entire experience as great. We love traveling. We have never had a bad trip, even though we have had some difficult circumstances happen during those trips. Most of the time, we have an optimistic attitude, and once we have recovered from the shock of something bad happening, we make the best of it. Even when our transmission went out in our car while on vacation (when we were young and money was tight), we were thankful the resort we stayed at had loaner bikes. Instead of whining and complaining about our circumstance, we have a great time riding those darned bikes everywhere! lol Not to say there wasn't stress, because there was, but we didn't want to let the stress ruin our vacation. I have friends that would have come back home from the same situation, and complained bitterly about it, seeing none of the good that happened that week. I don't know why some people cruise, because I've heard the complaints too. I think we all have. And we avoid those people when we run into them, because we don't want our joy over the blessing of being able to cruise to be diminished.

Some people are only happy when they have something to complain about. I think it’s easier than thinking of interesting or valuable to talk about. I was a waiter 30 years ago and had regulars that complained or were at least unimpressed with everything but they came in all the time. I asked one older couple why they come back, when they don’t seem thrilled with the food, or even the service. They were shocked, said coming in for dinner was the highlight of their week. I think the complaining gave them something talk about. Some people are just miserable and want others to be miserable too. Some people like to act like they’re above everything. It seems like sad way to go through life if you ask me.

We cruise an average of once per year, although 2022 will be a make-up year for 20 and 21. We find that we notice things that are different as we sail different ships, e.g., the furniture on an older ship was a little scratched, and we hated the shower curtain. However, we were bothered most by the attitude of rude guests, some of whom sat at our dinner table. We note differences in customer service, but they are due to the differences in people. On the whole, we find the more we cruise, the more tolerant we are, the more realistic our expectations become, and the more coping strategies we employ. I can't think of any cruise we didn't rate a "10", even though some were better than others. Any cruise, for us, is fantastic. Do we notice it when something we like is missing? Yes, but inevitably we find something else to enjoy just as much. If one dessert dish is no longer served, there are many others to choose from!

As someone who's been on an airplane when the masks come down from the ceiling during flight, I can tell you from experience passengers forget quickly what to do. It's really the crew that direct the show.

I personally find it to be a matter of expectations (and managing them!). If people are chasing D, D+, Pin, etc. because they *expect* better ____ (service, food, experiences, etc.) then they will be disappointed. The benefits should be like add-ons. My wife and I enjoy the cruise experience. The idea that we don't have to cook, clean, etc. just by itself is wonderful, especially for a vacation. Our other vacation go-to is a timeshare where we do have to do those things. Never quite feels like a vacation to me. But I get a lot of relaxation in, anyway. That said, having a waiter remember my name, drink order, etc., makes the cruise exceptional and I can ignore even mediocre food with great service. I don't go hungry on a cruise, even if the MDR quality is subpar. We enjoy the suite lounge when the regular crowds get to be too much, or the extras the genies provide, or the early boarding, etc. But we are not cruising for the perks. We find that if we set our expectations at "we will enjoy this come what may" then the extras just ratchet it up to "we really enjoyed this immensely."

I normally wouldn't start posting before I'm actually on my trip, but with all the Covid fun and testing and whatnot, I'm going to start a few days early this time because it may be useful to others. Basics: Ultimate Panoramic Suite, Deck 14 Forward. Stupidly rare cabin (there are only two in Royal's fleet and I just lucked out when they were released for booking late November 2019). It's Star Class, so this should be fun. Itinerary: Miami Cococay At Sea Cozumel Roatan Costa Maya At Sea Miami Like most of you, I need a negative Covid test before boarding. Save yourself some heartache and just order a proctored rapid antigen test instead of trying to book a slot at a pharmacy. I'll do mine on a video call at my hotel using my laptop. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center/pre-cruise-testing. My test kits arrived 3 days after I ordered them, and both had December expiration dates.

DH and I just returned from a fantastic cruise on Wonder - We were on a casino comp in a Junior Suite with the Unlimited Dining and Beverage Packages (just using this for reference). This was also our first Oasis Class and longest cruise (previously longest was 6 days on Odyssey). We're only Diamond level C&A). We've been fortunate to have travelled now on each class of ship and while some had more "WOW Factor" we've loved them all in their own way. On this particular cruise I ran into several Pinnacle level folks and they were the ones I heard complaining the most. One lady in particular: "Food is horrible" "Service is horrible" "My room attendant took 3 hours to get me a lounger on my balcony" "I told the restaurant manager they needed to retrain their staff" were just some of the things I heard. I just wonder if everything was REALLY that bad or were they just burned out on cruises? Does it become less enjoyable as time goes on (seriously, I can't even imagine and we cruise 4-5 times a year)? I don't ever want to get that jaded about a vacation. I'm still excited about upcoming cruises and hope to stay that way for many years to come. Our experience on this ship/cruise was completely the opposite. We thought the service, food, and amenities were fantastic. We had some meals that were better than others, but there was nothing inedible or anything I would complain about. it really was just a matter of personal taste we felt. It was noticable towards the end of the cruise that there were quite a few folks out due to COVID. It's just the world we live in today and I feel like I have to come expecting some deviations and even perhaps a degradation of service at times due to shortages (whether it be supply chain or service). The staff on these ships work their behinds off for months on end while we're treated like kings and queens - I can't even imagine being that tired and still smiling. For you more experienced folks (and new ones also), what are your thoughts?

So you can't purchase a package if it's already purchased. So you would have no choice but to cancel first. The last couple times I did it, I called Royal. They were able to check how many slots were still available BEFORE cancelling to see if the chance of it getting snatched out from under us was a possibility. I enjoyed that bit of security. I know many of us here would prefer to do things ourselves but Royal can help. They were also able to immediately unlock the OBC I had used on the initial purchase so I could turn right around and use it on the repurchase, rather than potentially waiting for it to clear the queue 24 -48 hours later.

I have read of more than one account of someone cancelling a cabana with the intention of rebooking at a lower price and when they tried to rebook, it showed as “sold out”. In that particular situation I would definitely recommend that you call to make the change.

Don't talk about Alexa too much or RC may try to charge you for an extra guest.

When they pull up your cabin number on the computer…your photo comes up also. So, unless your an Evil Twin, it should be okay.

The last 2 cruises I took this year I rarely needed my SeaPass card. They just asked for my cabin number. Only needed it mostly to enter cabin. But I always carry it. I carry a small purse most of the time. Or I put it in pocket. (or more often in my bra!)

We'll never get back to normal while we still deem it necessary to quarantine people with covid.

You’ll have a great time. Kids don’t typically go to trivia, game shows, etc. most kids are so well behaved you don’t know they are there. I do early seating and if a kid acts up all I think is “so glad I’m past that stage” and I feel for the parent. Then I mind my business and enjoy my meal.

We just went through the process a couple weeks ago. I can confirm that you need accounts for the adults and under one of the adults you can add multiple profiles in the Navica app for each minor. We did all the tests from the same computer, just needed to log out of my account before my wife logged in to do her test. We didn't need the kid's passports. The proctor just asks for the name of the person being tested then asks for the adult to show their ID.

Same!

Pinnacle Pins: I completely understand they take years and years to get. I understand in terms of total dollars spent with Royal Caribbean, each one of those pins costs a minimum of $160,000 and likely much, much more. $200,00+ likely a better average cost. But the pins are the definition of pretentious. After all that time on board you shouldn't need a badge to clue in the crew to kiss your butt. I'll become Pinnacle in January; when that badge arrives at my doorstep I plan on leaving that pin in the same box it arrives in. It will be a surprise for an unsuspecting future estate sale bidder.

Once a person has done something quite a bit, in this case cruising, I believe they start to let their guard down and just start showing more of who they really are. If one complains a lot in real life, they will start to see more and more faults in their crusing life. If one is an "any day can be an adventure" kind of person, that will come out in their cruise life too. DH & I fall into the latter category. Although we do completely understand that people pay good money to take these vacations, we are fascinated with the quest for a perfect trip and have seen the melt downs when perfect doesn't happen. We also plan our trips as best we can, but once we get started driving to the airport or cruise port the adventure starts. We make our greatest memories in the imperfect moments - in real life and in our cruising life. They become some of the best stories we have to share. And we have definitely have great, good and sideways stories regarding crew on the ships. We are careful about how we speak to the crew if something is not working for us - treat people how you would like to be treated and all that - but the only way for the crew to get better is by speaking up in a polite way. My DH thinks it is funny that I am still so giddy as we arrive at a terminal and start checking in. I have told him that if I stop feeling that way, we have to stop cruising - he doubts it will ever happen. Just got home from the Anthem this morning and we have all kinds of stories from the trip. The best is the Great Earl Grey Tea Shortage of 2022 - none in the WJ, none in Cafe Promenade or the pastry/coffee place, none in MDR on Day 1. Our assistant waiter went searching for some for me before dinner on Day 2, but did not find any and started apologizing over and over again about being out. His eyes got really big as I pulled out 2 Earl Grey tea bags from my pocket. I swore our dining team to secrecy about the stash I was able to find until the ship took on more provisions. I swear I only took a few tea bags from the motherlode I found (ok it was 4), but I really, really didn't want to have to start a mutiny over not being able to have a cuppa in the morning or after dinner.

I’m also aboard. They have a pretty large and professional camera crew making commercial videos around the ship. In the Cruise Compass, they say if we walk into the areas while they are filming, we may be captured on film and therefore we are giving our consent for our photograph, image, voice or any reproduction thereof to be used for any promotional and publicity purposes without consideration of compensation, limitation or reservation. I keep looking for them. Found them once by the FlowRider…so far. “Mister DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup!”

I think that there will always be a certain segment that will complain about anything.I also think that as you do things more you just notice things that others don’t. However I think the complainer group also had a lot of “do you know who I am” when it comes to status and think they should have more say in things. I’m a “problem solver” as part of my career, so I do write suggestions and leave them at the front desk when things are “off”, but there really has to be some major issues for me to complain about something. I’m curious how you know they were Pinnacle? I would never think to mention my C&A status and would find it weird if someone asked me about it. We are more of a “go with the flow” type of traveler.

On Anthem last week the Emergency signal sounded, for quite some time, in the middle of a sea day. It took a bit for someone to come over the speaker and announce disregard. (Only once and it was barely audible over the sound of the alarm). In the meanwhile kids were panicking on where to go, staff had different reactions, some ran to what I assume were their stations, others stayed where they were, continuing their work. Someone in the spa reported to the clients it must be an error because “there’s nothing on the computer”. Guests were saying “it’s only a drill” (I guess they are unaware drills occur on port days). I happened to be near my muster station so stepped over to it. my takeaway: a lot of people were unaware of what they should be doing and staff failed to communicate clearly, leaving people panicked. the following day at the Captains corner it was mentioned there was a malfunction and had it been a real emergency there would have been additional announcements. I hope this helps anyone who finds themselves on a ship with a muster signal mishap. BTW, I overheard that the staff at Adventure Ocean was extremely professional, reassuring the children and prepping them to move to their muster station prior to the “false alarm” announcement. kudos to them!

A hoodie?!?!? You think a lot of thieves pay for a cruise to get drinks on your sea pass???

Thanks, everyone! This info is all very helpful. I've got the app downloaded and the minor profiles set up on my account, now just have to get my husband to set his up on his phone. Will double check our DLs and/or passports to make sure any middle initials match. Fingers crossed all goes well! (ohpleaseohplease..)

This was my experience on Odyssey - they encouraged us to come back every night and let us make reservations through the week ahead of time. I don't expect the same experience on Allure later this year, but will definitely be trying to go every night!

Hahaha! Well, we do leave generous tips

Happy cruising and Dunkel to you!

Moving to Emerald from Platinum (would be diamond now if not for you know what) in two weeks, and my plan is to put the pins I get on my rattiest RC hat, wear it on the beach, get sea water on it and let them get nasty. I've had MDR lunches with several Pinnacles on cruises and find the ones I've met to be really nice and great sources of knowledge, especially ones who you have to drag their status out of them.

Sorry…I saw ‘Pillow Talk’ in the description and was expecting something else. Never mind. Carry on!

It’s happened to me several times where the emergency alarm would sound due to a malfunction. Once was the general alarm (7+1) and once the evacuation alarm (1 long). It is unnerving to say the least, and the reactions of the passengers around me at the time were just as confusing. Each time, after a few moments of uncertainty, an announcement came over to disregard. During a Captain’s Corner, he explained why the crew would be hesitant to react by immediately directing passengers to their muster stations. The crew has experienced malfunctioning alarms. They know it is highly unlikely for an emergency alarm to sound without a previous code announcement…ie; Bravo or Kilo. The priority would be the crew responding to the emergency itself prior to a decision regarding the need for passengers mustering. Also, an evacuation signal (abandon ship) is the last signal to sound after passengers have been mustered at their stations. As he said, this doesn’t mean the crew should have ignored the alarm. But, it is reasonably understandable why many of them delayed their decision to begin a full scale emergency passenger mustering operation realizing it was likely another malfunction…and waiting a few moments for clarification from the Emergency Operations Center. Malfunctions happen…but maybe there should be a better way to minimize the time between the false alarm, and the time of the announcement.

Cruising is living!

On my last two cruises we just asked guest services to do the punching.

I had it in a plastic pouch attached to a lanyard

On Anthem in 2017 it wasn't an issue getting a roll away bed in the Grand Loft. Space wise, hopefully booked is one of the middle lofts. I personally feel it would be real tight to have a roll away in one of the corner lofts. Comfort wise, I didn't find any issues after a long day of exploring, eating, and drinking. Only issue had to do with sudden movements and the bed deciding to collapse. Pictures

I did Majestic Princess to Alaska in 2021 during the restart. It was their last Alaska cruise of last year's shortened Alaska season. Interesting experience. I feel like the ship was dated like I had stepped back in time to when the first in this class sailed or even before that. Contrasting Ovation and Majestic, Ovation feels like a new ship with it's decor and all. Majestic feels like I stepped back in time and boarded a ship built in 2005 even though the first in this class sailed around the time when Quantum did. Very strange.

Maybe you're remembering Sorrento's? Late night pizza!

FYI, we were talking with a Malaysian server who said she doesn't like the $2 bills because she can't take them home with her because banks there won't exchange them.

The Escape Room is not up and running. Instead the room is being used for something called a Puzzle Break. It’s where groups of 6 team up to solve a mystery. Kind of like the old board game Clue. They just rolled it out last sailing and added multiple time slots throughout the sailing due to its limited capacity and it being on a first come first serve basis.

I'm not a kid person. I don't have any, and I don't particularly enjoy being around most kids most of the time. I don't hate them, I just prefer to point out the cute ones from a distance. You'd think we'd steer ourselves toward Viking or Holland, etc. That being said, I can't think of a time where we've ever found any kids on any Royal Caribbean ship to bother us. Royal Caribbean does such a good job keeping kids entertained and happy. We tend to eat late or in specialty restaurants, so we rarely encounter them in dining venues (we aren't specifically trying to avoid them, that's just our schedule). I can't even think of many times that I've seen tantrums or meltdowns (certainly less than I usually see at other public venues). Don't let the kids scare you away!

I think you hit the nail on the head, something I just couldn't come up with/figure what it was. MARLA KNOWS HOW TO READ PEOPLE, that's it. She'd probably make a good detective. Within the first hour of the cruise she was sitting down with us, very relaxed, not looking at her watch/phone and just talking to us, asking fact finding questions. She must have done that for about 45 minutes. After that, we didn't want for anything.

We are going in August so I looked up all the requirements early and it looks like the list updates weekly to show cruises about 30 days or so out. So you're a little early. I would personally check every day to see if my ship has populated yet if I was just 50 days out, but then I'm "that person"...ha ha ha. I have set a reminder for myself to start checking daily around the 40 day mark. Enjoy your trip! This will be our 3rd time to Bermuda and I will NEVER get tired of visiting this beautiful island. ~T

I had to pay for a NZeTA to travel to New Zealand. It was ~ $40 USD. Incredible trip, good use of $40.

Spike in cases means nothing, even the uber conservative CDC now acknowledges that, hospitalizations have remaining unchanged; THAT is the number to look at.

Okay, I'm just relieved that this is direction this thread is headed in...