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Well we finally turned Diamond. Just awarded the points from our Oasis cruise from last week. Booked at the right time and received double points for our short Adventure 4 day cruise, 8 points and double for Oasis 7 day cruise, 22 points in those cruises because they were running a promotion. Anyway we really wanted to hit Diamond because that's really where some of the good perks hit. The 4 drinks a day for both of us will be very nice. Diamond club is a pretty cool perk. Really looking forward to our Oasis cruise in May now, our first as Diamond. What are some other cool perks for Diamond? What are some sneaky cool ones that you can think of? Maybe some under the radar?

I’m still not quite sure about how good I’ll be at this, but I figure I’ll give it a shot. I’m neither a writer nor especially witty, but I thought our experiences may be of help to someone who is coming to Galveston for a cruise for the first time (like us). On that note, thank you @Galveston Stevefor your thread about Galveston. Please forgive any spelling, grammar, tenses, or other mistakes. I may ramble, too. I’m more of an in-person communicator, so I have no problems with constructive criticism. My cameras are an iPhone 12 and an iPad Mini. I’m not a photographer, so my apologies in advance. Background: My wife and I originally booked this cruise in January 2020 while at Next Cruise on Adventure. We booked it as wedding present for my stepson and his fiancé who were getting married in July 2021 on the 10th anniversary of their first date. Because of Covid, everything got pushed to 2022. A huge thank you to @michelle for rescheduling everything for us. (Edited to add..another thank you to Michelle for helping us upgrade from Interior cabins to Balconies). On the surface, it may seem weird that parents are going on a honeymoon cruise with their son and new wife. However, they are both on the autism spectrum. High functioning to be sure, but a trip from Maine to Galveston, then boarding a cruise ship is more than they feel comfortable navigating on their own. Our original plan was to fly into Houston’s Hobby Airport the day before and spend one night in Galveston. After some cancellations and changes of our flights by American, as well as all the uncertainties with flying nowadays, we decided to fly in two days early. After a few calls to American, we decided to fly into George Bush International rather than Hobby in order to have one layover and arrive in Houston early in the afternoon. We are still departing for home from Hobby on September 4th. Day 1 (Friday 8/26): We departed Portland, ME on time at 6 am and arrived in Philadelphia at 730. Our connecting flight was delayed by 30 minutes, so we had plenty of time to walk from terminal B to terminal C. On a side note, this was the first time we’ve connected in Philadelphia and not had to run from terminal F to terminal A or B. It was nice. Our flight from Philadelphia to IAH left promptly at its rescheduled time. Interestingly enough, we touched down in Houston one minute earlier than the original arrival time (1218 pm). We booked a shuttle to our hotel in Galveston through Galveston Express. The meeting place is right outside Terminal A at IAH….literally a stone’s throw from the baggage claim we were assigned. The Galveston Express driver (Ernest) texted us to let us know he arrived. He was driving a Mercedes Sprinter van that was very clean, and the a/c worked fine. We made a stop at Hobby to pick up another couple then we were dropped off at our hotel. Obviously we only have this one experience with Galveston Express, but based on it, we’d use them again. I’ll follow up with our experience on the trip from Galveston to Hobby. The cost for four adults from IAH to Galveston was $140 and the cost from Galveston to Hobby is $120. Travel time from IAH to our hotel was about an hour and a half. There was some construction outside of Hobby that snarled up traffic for a bit. I’m not a good passenger, but I had no issues with Ernest’s driving. We felt safe at all times. We are staying at Springhill Suites on Galveston Island. We booked here because we could pay partially with Marriott points. It’s located on the right shortly after you come on the island. The hotel is clean, modern, and the staff is very pleasant. Our room has the typical sleeping area and sitting area we’ve seen in hotels in the $200-$300 range. We have a small balcony with a couple chairs, but so far it’s been too hot and humid for our northern New England blood to sit out there. It was very quiet last night, which is a change from staying in hotels near the Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports. After a dinner of delivery pizza, we fell asleep early. Day 2 (Saturday 8/27): Breakfast is included and is what we’ve come to expect from complementary breakfasts. There are typical offerings…scrambled eggs, sausage, waffles, cereal, fruit, yogurt, muffins, bagels, etc. Our plans for today are to run to Target (across the highway from the hotel) then explore Galveston a bit. This is the view from our hotel balcony. We look out to the southwest, so if we wouldn’t have fallen asleep so early, the sunset would have been nice.

I just took my first cruise as Diamond, on Wonder of the Seas. We sailed out of "Rome" (Civitavecchia), which turned out to be the "alternate" embarkation port. The "main" embarkation port was Barcelona. This caused a few issues: 1) The app did not work for people boarding in Rome, so you couldn't book entertainment yourself 2) Entertainment could only be booked for the first half of the cruise; the 2nd half couldn't be booked until Barcelona boarding day On our boarding day we were able to get booked for some shows in the first half of the week, and they wrote down our selections for the 2nd half of the week on a piece of paper. The staff told us they would put in our other requests on Barcelona boarding day. Turns out, they didn't. Luckily, we had been talking with the Diamond Lounge concierge earlier, and he recommended we check back with him to make sure we were booked into the adult comedy club slot we wanted. He was able to fix it for us, but it was a close call. I also had some issues with Diamond drinks not posting to my account correctly, and he was able to quickly resolve those too. So I would say that the perk I didn't think I would have any need for but turned out to be a huge help was the Diamond Lounge concierge. At least for this cruise where I wasn't able to use the app.

If you're looking for your TA based on OBC or an extra night of speciality dining, you're doing it wrong. You should be looking for a TA that is going to have your best interests at heart, one who is proactive and responsive and that you feel that you "gel" with. If in your search you come across an agent who isn't willing to have these types of conversations with you, you've got your answer about them.

Sorry I missed posting this last night. Day 5: St. Kitts, the dolphin experience We started with breakfast in the main dining room, we set an alarm and everything. I loved the classic Benedict, I’m a sucker for hollandaise sauce, a hash brown, and the corned beef hash. The hash brown was small, and I could’ve eaten 13 dishes of the corned beef hash, it was that good. Next was St. Kitts. My wife brought cash and her iPhone. I figured since we didn’t have service in St. Kitts, there was no use in bringing my phone. Remember the last part because it is on the test later. We split from our group and went on our dolphin excursion. As we were waiting, we went shopping at the shops. The workers in the shops were a little pushy, but not overly aggressive. We got souvenirs for the grandkids and some of our kids, but only the ones we like. I’m just kidding, we love all three of our children, but one son wants something from the Kennedy Space Center, so we are holding off on getting his gift until Sunday. My other son, wants an island girl. After shopping we got into line for our excursion. We were early, we just didn’t know how early we were. While in line we figured we were in the 10:30 am excursion line and ours was at 11:15. The excursion person said he could get us on the earlier excursion and put a green wrist band on both my wife and myself. This too is important to remember for later. On the bus I noticed some people were wearing different colored wristbands, but being the introvert, I didn’t ask, which I should’ve. When we arrived, we put our stuff in a complimentary locker, which was an ease on my mind and it was then time to get fitted for life jackets. The man brought me a large one, how cute is that. He soon realized I needed an extra large one. After instructions, we were in the water with the dolphins. One of the most exciting things in my life. We did commands, petted, gave belly rubs, shook fins, and touched the dolphins, and it was fantastic, my wife loved it too, but was a little disappointed because we were supposed to be pushed and pulled by the dolphins. I grappled with removing my life jacket, and for a split second, I thought I might win, but winning was not in the cards for me, but luckily, one of the workers tapped in like a WWE tag team partner and we were victorious. My wife was already off to inquire about the pushing and pulling. When I caught up with my wife the employee said the person at the dock put the wrong wristbands on us, if only someone spoke up on the bus, stupid introverted me. They accommodated us by allowing me to struggle back into a life jacket and took us back into the water just my wife and I. They kind of separated my wife and myself, which is a little problem because I have severe hearing loss and couldn’t take my hearing aids in the water with me and I rely on her a lot to communicate with me. If you are following along with my live blog you have found out I’m super sized, have hearing loss, and sleep with a CPap machine, you are probably wondering how my wife snagged such a catch, she probably wonders too. We had a quick push and pull by the dolphins and then it was shower off, get dressed, and off to the gift shop to buy photos. We realized we forgot our debit card, we didn’t have enough cash for photos at $40 a piece, but they did take PayPal. I have PayPal but my wife doesn’t. My wife had her phone, I didn’t. They were pushy when it came to selling the photosand I asked if it were possible to get a link and buy them when we get back to the ship. Their response was now or never. I tried for about forty minutes to log into my email on my wife’s phone to buy the photo package which was 2 for $80 or all forty-five photos for 100. Because my iPhone uses Face ID to log in and I’m not very smart ( my wife is so lucky to have me), I finally gave up and lo and behold, they suddenly came up with a link to buy the photos when we got back to the ship, but they were quite rude to us about it. I know I seem to complain from time to time, but really we are having the time of our lives and will never forget what a great time we are having. Back on the ship I ordered our photos and after several emails back and forth, we got the link to the photos a few hours later. The photos are great, but we are only able to get 42% of the photos to download on our phones before we get an error message. The link is only good for a month so we will need to figure it out. Back on the ship was dinner at the main dinning room. Our waiters are the best on the ship. Unlike me, my brother is a big personality and both our waiters are drawn to him for most of our meals. I ordered the ahi tuna, but since I don’t like my fish seared, our waiter had it made well done. I know the chef probably cried himself to sleep last night because he had to cook it well done, but it tasted wonderful. After dinner was the headliner show, a singer, comedian, and impressionist. His voices of other people were spot on, but the show was mostly geared toward gen X and baby boomers. My nephew and niece knew almost none of the people he was impersonating. Then it was off to sabor for margaritas and off to bed. Stray observation: Our room steward is amazing. I have a bartender who not only remembers my drink order, but also my name which is cool because I’m pretty forgettable. In the public men’s rooms, I like the comic strip panels over the urinals even though they are lacking in plot, character development, and a character arc. Next up is sea day two. We have three sea days this week.

Below the radar, we enjoyed priority boarding on our last cruise (June). Rather than starting with "check in times", Port Canaveral gave priority to Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, and then Diamond (suites and Key had priority, too). After we boarded, they went by check in time. This could vary by port.

Some random thoughts about my recent cruise on Wonder of the Seas (7 night Western Med) Most comfortable bed i’ve had on an royal carribean ship in a long time. Almost too soft for me, but way better then the rocks they have on Anthem This was my 4th cruise post “restart” — things are finally feeling “normal”, and I didn’t notice any staffing issues. Perhaps it’s because it’s a new ship and they are staffed with their best employees? It was night and day compared to my cruise on Anthem during Christmas. Staff was overwhelmed on that cruise Was fun to be an American on a ship that was so focused on passengers from Spain and the UK. MDR menu even had a rotating pie and a curry on the menu every night.

Congratulations! I'm literally sitting on the balcony of our cruise that will push us over into the shiny Diamond land. Can't wait to join you and take serious advantage of the perks! I'm not a big drinker so the 4 per day bigger is more than perfect. I probably wouldn't do more than 2 even with the juice option! (Don't drink coffee)

Hooray we received our Green Travel Authorization from Bermuda today! Which surprised me, since it was sent on a Saturday.

Congratulations Diamond onboard offers can be found in this thread: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/25934-crown-anchor-on-board-offers-20212022-edition/ They are pretty consistent across the fleet.

It's discussed more often there days, but you get 4 more drinks on the morning of disembarkation day. You can use these for mimosas or whatever if the WJ bar is serving alcohol (mixed results). You can also use them for fresh squeezed OJ, coffee drinks at Cafe Promenade (you have the DL coffee machine of course but there are some items like a fancy iced coffee you can get at Cafe Promenade), bottled water, etc. Some people who stay up late have also reported using them after they reset at midnight the night before for extra late night drinks at whatever bars are open that late. I'm asleep by then, lol. Congrats on Diamond!

Congrats!! We’ll be there after our October cruise if the double points come through for the one we’re about to go on tomorrow.

Mariner of the seas interrupted by Artemis of the stars

Dining without pants is a special charter a couple times per year

I’d like to think this is the last time we have to jump through this particular hoop to board a ship, but we’re cruising to Canada in October. ….but for now….We’re all negative for our Sunday cruise!! (I figure people here will get it. No one at my work seems to understand why I’m so happy)

Request an ice chest for in suite beer if this is your thing. Truly relaxing to lay on the Aqua theater balcony watching the sun set (or rise) with at least six ice cold friends within arms reach.

Exactly, I'm not a big drinker at all so the full alcohol package would be a total waste but to spread 3-4 drinks a day out free is an amazing perk. Wife is the same way. We bought 3-4 a day and shared them basically this last cruise. Now we can get our own, and spread them out throughout the day and that is perfect. Gld you are joining us! This is the tier we wanted to get to for a long, long time. Diamond + maybe but not chasing, pinnacle is completely out of the question. Diamond suits us just fine.

I've never been so happy to have a noon check-in time. I hope I'll be heading over to the coast well after the launch and worst of the traffic hits.

You get 24h of surf (no stream) free. You can upgrade to 24h of surf & stream for like $7 or so. Or there is a discount if you buy the internet package onboard for the whole cruise.

Congrats! We also turned Diamond after our most recent cruise. We’re looking forward to the next one when we can take advantage of the perks.

In Copenhagen I had to put my bags on a conveyer belt thing myself, while the staff watched me, so there was nobody to tip even if I wanted to.

The TA you booked with actually does charge a processing fee and a cancellation fee separate than the cruise line. The fine print: An automatic cancellation charge of $100 per reservation will be applied to the last credit or debit card used on the account. Our (previously collected) $24.99 processing fee is non-refundable. If you choose to book different cruise while you are on the phone we will waive the $100 cancellation fee.

Any TA can book a cruise. They can also offer such incentives as a small discount or even OBC in order to attract new clients…or even for future cruises. But, the good TA…the indispensable TA…is one who will be there for you when things don’t go as planned. Or when you find it necessary to make changes. Or even when prices drop. Someone who will be easy to contact and who learns your preferences. A good TA is someone who gets to know you. Those are the ones who earn their client’s trust and their loyalty. And it’s simply good business…generating repeat clients who are satisfied and who tell others, generating more repeat clients. The big box agents deal in volume…not necessarily service. Getting a discount and OBC can be very attractive…but not at the risk of dismal service. Remember, when you use a TA…they are responsible for servicing the booking. Choose wisely!

Woohoo, free drinks

Didn't want to start a new thread so I'm resurrecting this one to share the Emerald discounts on Allure. The spa one was nice. We probably would have used the laundry bag one but the bags never came around. Also forgot to use the $6 free play and 10% of logo items.

This topic is discussed a lot on this site. The bottom line is that more credits and/or cheaper price = less service. I used to book all of my own cruises either through Royal directly, or through one of the large online travel companies. Then I had several cruises cancelled due to Covid and had to get them rebooked, etc. I ended up spending a huge amount of my time and aggravation in handling the different issues that arose - in some cases they actually messed up my booking. I also never had enough time to look for price changes, so I always paid the price I had booked the cruise for in the first place. I now use MEI (sponsor of this website) and have a TA to handle any issues that come up. I have also had quite a few emails letting me know that my TA has found a cheaper fare and repriced my cruise - all without any prompting from me. I can see how some would want to cheaper prices I sometimes see on sites like the one you mentioned. Just understand that if anything goes wrong, it may be difficult to get a person on the phone who knows what they are talking about.

Serenade in May used Chops for the Suite/Pinnacle breakfast. It was a great way to start every day and I did start everyday there. To put it in perspective Radiance class is somewhere around 44% of the space of Oasis class. Understanding there is less than half the space leads to understanding there is much less real estate for many of the things you might love on Oasis class, including no space for a CK. The kids space is limited with a simple water play area compared to larger ships. In its day it was pretty freaking awesome with a small water slide but by today's mega ship standard the kid water area is very small and limited. Full suites don't include Voom on this class. No dedicated suite restaurant. The Concierge Lounge is something I like on this class. It features a bar with seating that makes social opportunities very easy if you enjoy that but it also has smaller seating areas if you don't want social interaction. I've met some great people in those CL's. Much more so than any Oasis class SL. There is no Solarium Bistro on Radiance class. There is a small deli food area in the Solarium which is where late night pizza and daytime Kümmelwecks are found among other choices. It's a scaled down Park Cafe from Oasis class, or the origins of Park Cafe found on Oasis class is another way to look at it. It worked and is popular so Park cafe found its way in a larger scale on Oasis class. I love the outdoor seating aft of the WJ. In May in the Centrum was a pair of ladies who were playing classical music on string instruments. That's not my thing but the music was so beautiful I stopped in my tracks walking through the area to go somewhere and I immediately forgot where somewhere that I was going was, so I sat down and listened until they finished. I've had Central Park moments like that on Oasis class and this was just as special. Serenade has a small movie theater. Unique to this class. Casino gets smokey, quickly. Only downside I can think of. Smaller ships are not for everyone. Being older and smaller it offers a classic cruise experience absent of zip lines and bumper cars and skating rinks. You are doing the right thing by researching so you can have the proper expectations which is the key to enjoying any older ship.

The article detailing Icon of the Seas contains the following paragraph- “Traditionally, cruise ships are powered by diesel. The advantage LNG has over diesel is it is more energy-efficient and will reduce fuel consumption and emissions.” While possibly true, some of these claims are incorrect or misleading. I will explain how this can be possible. Diesel fuel has an energy density of 38 MJ/L. LNG has an energy density of 22 MJ/L. (Ratio is similar with MJ/kg) Not all energy of fuel is converted into work. A modern Diesel engine is 50-55% efficient. A modern LNG fueled engine is 45-50% efficient. Take two ships, ceteris paribus (all else equal) one modern diesel, one modern LNG powered. Give each an equal volume or weight of fuel of their respective fuels. The LNG ship will use more fuel to travel the same distance as diesel ship. This does not comport with being more efficient or reduced fuel consumption. If fuel consumption is being measured by amount per passenger, Icon could use less fuel than a diesel ship due to higher occupancy. Or if using the price of the fuels at a given time, it may cost more per mile traveled using diesel than LNG thus making LNG financially more efficient. (Currently using free market prices, this is not the case) I don’t know what metrics Royal Caribbean uses to measure fuel efficiency so the quoted paragraph can be true, but if so, it is misleading. What is correct is that a modern LNG engine produces less emissions than a modern Diesel engine. Adding shore power or hybrid system will reduce engine usage and thus fuel consumption and emissions of both fuel type engines. A new hull design and drag reducing technology will also reduce the amount of power (fuel) required to move the vessel. For anyone who manages to read this far, I recommend always figuring out what exactly is being compared and how is the comparison being done. I once got myself in trouble when somebody asked me if my wife is pretty, “compared to who?” I responded.

I'm not sure Danette is still with MEI. @Beci may be able to help get you assigned to someone else or see who was supposed to have taken over for Danette?

RCCL newbie and we booked the Key for our first trip out of Boston in October to NE/Canada. There is so many negatives said about The Key. Just getting on board early without a large line is the hook for me. Mrs Fan does not do well in large groups. I know that the cruise will be crowded, but she handles that better. It's the long lines prior to boarding that cause her issues. We have another sailing next year in June to Alaska. Waiting for The Key to drop in price and will probably grab it if it gets in the $25 range which is what I just paid for the NE/Canada trip.

Great blog. I can’t wait to hear about your vacation. Have fun.

The moz sticks were good as well as the chicken sandwich.

You are more of a writer than you think! Keep it coming.

The Diamond discount won't work before you are onboard. If you already purchased a package you can pick a day and use your free day of Surf and have an extra device for that day. You may or may not be able to do this directly in the app. If it doesn't give you the option in the app, just see the VOOM desk. For longer cruises, it's usually always better to buy the package ahead of time online. The short cruises it can come close to the same price.

As many echo above we use a TA for the service. We use one in town and have used them all our adult life. They know what we like and dislike. Any issue comes up they are quick to handle it. Even something with booking flights, ours will give us guidance/info and not just blindly book them. i.e. for connecting flights they have had info that one airport is doing construction in the terminal so it might be more beneficial to connect through a different airport. I figure for the amount I'm spending, a few extra bucks OBC or dining isn't worth it if the agent isn't there when I need them

Congratulations!!! I understand your excitement. Our double points (16) for our last cruise just posted this morning. That puts us over Emerald. In two weeks we have a 7 day, and in Nov we booked a B2B in a Jr. Suite to make Diamond.

Congrats!!! We have a couple more cruises to go to get there!

Absolute midship and the pivot point of the ship may not be exactly the same on different decks as different decks are different lengths and not every deck is exactly centered forward or aft on the hull of the ship relative to the waterline. The Central Park living wall appears to be roughly near center forward/aft. Deck plans are not aligned to each other as they are not architectural diagrams for engineering purposes rather consumer friendly diagrams for the purpose of understanding cabin types on the ship. Here is a deck 12 guestimate based on estimating the center based on lower decks closer to the water line not shown here. Note the bridge is on this deck so they have cut this forward area out of the deck 12 diagram. 12600 and 12598 are forward of center.

I've been getting that for quite some time now. It seemed to right itself for a couple of days at one point and then went back to doing it and has been like that ever since.

Robes in your cabin, welcome snack and beverage in your cabin, usually a tour of some sort, priorities on some waitlists or entry to shows. Enjoy!

And for some it’s not “x” number of hours straight. It could be 4 hour or 6 hours on, then a long break and more of the same. Shift work is not easy.

Yep, I have been trying to look at Jan-March 2024, and I'm getting the "Oops..." message also.

Yup, and for RCCL the 5th person and up are assigned a different reservation number while being in the same room. This is likely why the reservations can't be made online for 5+. Super helpful.

I mean this is as accurate of the new era of formal night as I've seen

Should be able to estimate the length from that photo.

Here as well. My husband has a medical condition and does not/should not drink much. Royal has it noted in his profile. When I go in to purchase my drink package, it does not require it for him - even if it's a "buy one/get one discounted" package it just reprices for one person when I select myself only. Nothing has popped up requiring him to purchase any other drink package, such as the Refreshment Package, but I have done so.

STOP i was wondering this WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

We recently ordered the Dasani package of 16 oz cans for 2 upcoming Independence cruises from Galveston. However today we noticed that only the Evian 1 liter cases are available and there are no Dasani options now. I also checked upcoming cruises on Liberty (Galveston), Symphony (Miami), and Grandeur (Barbados) and only the Evian package is offered. EDIT: Just received this email confirming the change back to Evian...

Most of the time, obstructions refer to the fact that you cannot look directly in one direction (usually down). It's not to say it's fully obstructed, just you don't have the full view that other rooms have.