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Good discussion but the underlying issue is that some cruisers are more considerate of others. Other guests are more self-indulgent because they are on vacation. As in life on land, balance allows all of us to enjoy a vacation experience. Whatever you choose, be considerate when you can.

What an awful article. Written by someone who clearly has no experience with the cruise industry. WSJ explained that these overbookings happen when customers put more than two passengers (the expected number of passengers) per room Uh what? That's not at all true.

I’m currently on Liberty and the food is definitely better than done if the other sailings I’ve done on other ships. Even the windjammer seemed to have fresh food at night though I feel the selections are “eh”.

Why can’t we take posts at face value and not do a personal “Columbo” forensic check on their posting history? Not sure it’s relevant myself.

Celebrity enforced the dress code on my European sailing in July. Hubby was pulled to the side and asked to change to pants. While he was gone I asked what else is not accepted and was told footwear with a “between the toes”. I imagine they meant flip flops beach footwear. I’ve not see Royal turn anyone away except one gal in a bikini top.

Every degenerate RC cruiser on these boards needs to have the easy, care-free experience of flying to a Gold Star port; not renting a car, having lots to see and explore within walking distance, bountiful bar and restaurants all close by, some type of shopping for last minute items, a reasonable breakfast place so you don't have to eat the free DIY waffles, classier hotel accommodations the you normally get yourself (for the same reason you upgraded your stateroom), just one cab/Uber/Lift\, and <drumroll> walking yourself and your luggage to the port terminal in the morning! <cymbal crash> Vancouver, Tampa Bay, Honolulu, Venice, and the ultimate fly to port, the amazing Double Gold Star port of **New Orleans**

See my post above. That is only referring to the drinking age. They say the same for all bars, including playmakers. Yet at the same time, they have kids pictured with their families in the same section on RC site. I promise you that behaved kids are allowed on the Rising Tide. Look at the picture below and tell me that young person in playmakers is over 21, which would have been required by the "Age Restriction" listed on the text to the right if it was more than just the drinking age.

To me it's one of the absolute easiest ones. Rent a car, drop it off at Enterprise near the port in the morning, take a shuttle from there to the port. Piece of cake.

When evaluating a place to stay before a cruise, price is about the 4th thing I look at. I can easily substantiate a somewhat higher price if it makes other higher ranking criteria better, easier, or perhaps free. Take it from a person who has flown to every cruise he has been on, Orlando/Port Canaveral is not an easy one. On the surface it sounds like a good idea but in reality I have found it far from ideal. It's not a Gold Star port.

As mentioned above, no refilling stations but you can fill them with cups of water from the buffet or wherever if you like having a water bottle with you. My wife has one of those metal bottles that keeps water cold & always brings it. When available, she usually fills it with flavored water some ships have. Water is just about all she drinks.

We've just seen excursion discounts of 35%, just rebooked a couple of trips in Iceland and saved over £150

I read on RC site that the Rising Tide Bar is for 21+ years. So, that means kids are not really allowed to ride on it.

Read the thread and it motivated my to replenish my humidor. We're in St. Maarten this summer and will have to pick up some DAS

FWIW, just so you don't lose total hope in humanity, I did not grow up poor and I appreciate cruising today as much as I ever have. My last cruise was in October and I can't wait to board Wonder next Sunday. It feels like it's been forever. I'm as baffled by those posts as you are.

I gotta say, after reading so many posts by so many people basically hating every cruise experience.. . Why do you cruise if you know it's gonna be so awful? I know every person has their own expectations and experiences. But it seems a lot of folks cruise to be disappointed. Makes me glad I grew up poor, so I can appreciate this floating heaven on earth experience. I too sometimes have less than a perfect experience, and like others, I do come here to vent. After I re-read my posts a few times, and realize I'm sounding like the other people, I try to tone it down, and re-count my blessings.

Orlando also has the GoPort option. This will allow you to book a hotel with shuttles. That means one from airport to hotel, from hotel to port and then from the port back to airport.

Anything goes as long as its not actual swim wear or offensive. I wore khaki or cargo shorts and a solid colored tshirt or Hawaiian shirt to every meal

They recently cleaned the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and this was found under the dirt and grime. Who's a good boy!?

Port Canaveral is our favorite. And I've found the whole area is geared to cruisers. I've stayed at multiple places, and one way or the other, transportation to the airport was super easy. Not super fancy but our favorite stay is La Quinta in Coco Beach. Pool with bar, an easy walk for dinner, and a wonderful included continental breakfast. And a bus to the pier waiting outside the door after breakfast.

GoPort will pick up at hotels, though if you want an early arrival time, it may not work.

Cortrans is excellent for larger groups. For your immediate family, I would think that Uber/Lyft is less hassle.

Pricier yes, but definitely worth it for the convenience of that place. When booking Hyatt properties, I usually book a refundable rate and then price watch and adjust as time goes on. But even if it's not the Hyatt, I would still stay near the airport and make my way to PC the next morning. We have done that several times in the past when doing DCL with the kids.

There is not a direct train from Venice to Ravenna. You have to make 1 transfer.

Getting in at that time, I would 100% stay at the Hyatt Regency right at the airport, eat at McCoy's (inside the Hyatt), go to bed and get up early the next day and head to Port Canaveral.

Just finished our first week on Harmony MDR was great. We had the early seating. Service was great, we were usually done in less than an hour, just two of us. All the food was warm or hot, I actually don’t like really hot food. Only had one meal I didn’t like, but I was trying something new. There are several nights that I’m not happy with the selections. The Caribbean and Mexican nights don’t appeal to us. So we did Johnny Rockets. I booked Wonderland for the second week to avoid one night.

We are Pinnacle and were loyal to royal until a year ago. The service, food and overall experience for the money has reached bottom for us. They've driven any value out with their pricing and reduction of services. We, like many pinnacle members have jumped ship to other brands and have found better experiences for less money. Everyone should keep track of all the money spent on things like WiFi, specialty dinning, drinks packages, spa visits etc. once tallied up many would be surprised at just how expensive RCL has become. Princess' Crown Grill price for one visit is $39.99 - RCL's Chops is $89.99 Princess' Absolut & Soda is $7.50 - RCL's is $13.99 These are just a few examples of where RCL is gouging their customers to pay for their new ships - which BTW no longer cater to people without children. They've gone head on with Disney which left us looking elsewhere. We are glad as we've found wonderful cruises on MSC Yacht Club, Princess' Suites. Stop being loyal - you're being gouged. Who cares if you get 4-6 free drinks a day when you've overpaid by $100's if not $1000's of dollars. We wished we had never drank the KoolAid that is Crown & Anchor. On average it takes $150,000 USD to reach Pinnacle - I cringe at having spent that on a 3 star cruise line.

They do not have water refilling stations other than the water they have in the buffet. I would carry on bottled water based on the policy above. When you get meals or in the buffet they have free drinks. It is easy enough to go without a drinking package.

This thread had gone side way to customer wishlist thread with so many ideas that will bankrupt the company if implemented. If you gonna be RCL boss, no 1 priority is company profit.

I think I'd be able to do Vision if it originated int he island and had a port stop every day, also if it was just me and wife. Been to most of the ports, but it was a while ago. One of them is where they did some filming for Pirates of the Caribbean, we did an island tour and they took us by the location (don't remember which one it was, maybe St Lucia). St Croix was interesting, we docked at Frederiksted, you get off the ship and your right in town, I don't even recall there being any secured area at the port. You don't get swarmed by vendor trying to sell you stuff

My oldest son got invited to do that by the head waiter on one of our cruises (either Freedom or Oasis), there was no charge. I swear they also gave him cookbook as well, just can’t find it

OK, so head waiter "invited us as his guests" to the galley tour tomorrow. Gave us a slip of paper in an envelope out of his jacket and told us to meet him at the front door to the MDR. Now I know people pay money for this. Was there a miss communication when he said "I would like to invite you as my guest" or will they be charging us???

We booked this cruise in September of 2022 as the fact of inflation from the wonderful policies of the current administration made doing the XMas cruise last Dec 22 on Anthem un doable. So as a graduation present for our son and a family vacay we booked this, my wife and I honeymooned in NS in Oct 96 on Cape Breton. Will be nice to go back and see any changes. We are going to do the Hop o. Hop Off.

Quantum has been going an hour back end of day 2 (after first sea day) and going an hour forward at the end of day 5 after leaving Juneau (before the day 6 sea day - although one week it was noted at the end of day 6 for some reason, but definitely before they get to Victoria). I believe Ovation is on pretty much the same schedule, just in Seattle different day than Quantum.

That's the automated bot I created.

All the complimentary food venues may supersede my lack of interest in some of the other new aspects.

NO dress code for MDR! Why do people want this? I wear a suit to work all the time, I don't want to bring a suit on a cruise!!

I tried "Show me cruises where I don't need a second mortgage to book one" and no results came up

New menus went into effect around the first of the year. Stock price is up 58.61% since then.

You get the 2nd cruise parking free. This is a serious answer. It's an inadvertent perk of doing a B2B there. Spend the savings on a specialty dinner!

1. More food options outside the Facejammer opening times. There are times we were at a show/otherwise occupied or just eating later and it was disappointing to find the 'Jammer shuttered. I totally understand that a full buffet maintained 24 hours isn't feasible but it would be nice to have a mini self-serve food option with ample seating open later for those off times (say a simple salad bar, a few grill options, a few basic desserts, tea/coffee station). I know we could hit up Sorrento's or the Promenade Cafe during the later hours but one can only eat so much 'za and the food options at the Cafe were pretty meh (and the line could be really long with nowhere to sit to eat). 2. More transparent pricing in advertising. It's always frustrating to see "balcony from $899" only to find its always more like $1499. Just advertise the actual price without having to have a PhD in Royal Math. 3. Just include gratuities already. Stop giving people the option to remove gratuities from their mess tornado 2 year olds because they are not "using the facilities as much". 4. Less tacky weird fitting t-shirts in the shop. I mean, c'mon. Anyone else ever seen that sequin monstrosity? Is Elton John on board? And what in the actual hell is up with those "spirit jerseys". 80s linebackers, your shirts are back! Oy. Oh, and we need more logo pens. I freaking love pens.

Short update: Made call yesterday via wifi no problem. Baby boy is showing "no signs of stress and is a sweetheart". We told them he is super picky eater. Left him with 4lbs of pre package deli chicken and cheese. Told them to mix in his food, but hasn't been working. We said start hand feeding him the deli separately from the dog food. He never says no to a slice of chicken or cheese. LOL. Hand feeding works best. He's 2 and a half but still a baby in many ways. Told them if they run out to buy more and we will pay upon return. Today is St Thomas. Was planning to make our own way via taxi to Megan's Bay (about $45 less than excursion). Still waking up. Late night last night. Comedy show and then love and marriage show. Had a blast but up till 1am. So this morning is a slow start. LOL. Again, full review to come Thanks all!

glad to hear no one was injured

I'm also absolutely fine with this... and I feel the same way on land. My wife is a bartender, so when we are on the ship we follow that rule pretty well. High tops and tables are fine, actual bar we try to keep the kid away from. The only time that we let it slide on Oasis earlier this year was the wipe out bar because thats all the seating available....and we were watching a football game together up there on the tv,lol. BUT the fact that kids are welcomed and sometimes even catered to by staff at most bars, I don't see how sitting at the tables on rising tide is any different than sitting at a table at Schooner bar or the English pub.

Their ships sink more than Royal Caribbean's and they have cowardly captains. That's the only difference I know of

During a recent tour in the area they mentioned they also will stop or reduce generating hydroelectric power and switch to generated power. Hopefully the rainy season will kick in soon. To be clear this doesn't impact panamax sized vessels that use the original locks like Royal ships. The draft restrictions impact larger ships using the new locks.

An "all inclusive" fare option (like Celebrity if that is even truly all inclusive) would be nice. I'm loathe to tinker with pricing not knowing the revenue model and requirements for positive margins per sailing out of fear I'll sink the entire kingdom. Reducing executive compensation until things turn around fiscally would be supported by this "king". I still can't believe the compensation the CEO of a cruise line whose initials are NCLH is and has pulled down during the height of service suspension through the present when the balance sheet is still in tatters. Guess he owns or neutered the board of directors. There's a reason I don't have Michael Bayley or Jason Liberty's job........... PS: Those gentlemen and every other cruise line executives likely have the "UMP Plan". Unlimited Maalox Plan.

1. Release the shows schedule early tethered to if I purchase the UDP I can look at it and make my dining reservations BEFORE I board. Boarding day should be reserved for making adjustments, it would just relieve some frustration on day one. I think they would sell more UDP if reservations can be secured before hand with the UDP. 2. For goodness sake standardize the suites product, it is different across the fleet and I think if the product was the same across the ships it would generate a better feeling of value, and possibly more bookings = more revenue. At minimum a Sky class experience for the Grands & higher, Sea for the Juniors. (Star on the smaller vessels seems not needed, ie. too small) 3. Along the same lines the Suites Lounge has become wildly popular and address in some way the capacity problems. If you stay in a suite you are afforded this amenity & if not then please enjoy another venue or make the lounges bigger with an additional concierge because one can't handle it. 4. This may be off putting but reaching 700 + nights sailings and achieving Pinnacle means a huge investment was made with the company, Pinnacles should be afforded "free room service" always no matter what class of cabin they are in as well as 9 drinks per day! Depending on the amount on board say 20 have a special luncheon service just for them.** 5. Open the theaters early before the shows and just allow people to enter at their leisure. 6. I've repeatedly stated allow cabins to be booked with or without Genie service (the Star ones) Have the service as an add on at booking for certain cabin types. ** I am not Pinnacle, but want to be one in the future! Only about 33 seven night sailings to go!! @FSUFAN thanks so much, this was fun!

I know. I so much want your Wonder cruise to be great and I really think it can be. I have seen your excitement wane since you created your highly anticipatory username until today as real and rumored cuts have been announced. Try to leave it all with your dog when you drop them off and embark on your cruise for what it is and either enjoy it or hate it for what it is. The time for imagining how it's going to be is over. Step into your flip flops and let the experience be what it is. I know we're on the opposite side of a lot of discussion lately, but I really and truly want your cruise to be great.

I started tracking Quantum's 7 day menus once they arrived in Canada/Alaska last week as I have 2 weeks booked later this summer and also want to figure out where I want to make specialty reservations. Last week it was: 1-Welcome Aboard, 2-France, 3-Mexico, 4-Caribbean, 5-Italy, 6-Royal, 7-Bon Voyage This week it is 1-Welcome Aboard, 2-France, 3-Asia, 4-Italy, 5-USA, 6-Royal, 7-Bon Voyage so days 3, 4, and 5 differ from the previous week and 2 of them are completely different menus. Am going to continue tracking for curiosity's sake...