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Getting off the ship this morning was pretty painless. Luggage was ready at pick up, got a porter right away, he loaded us up and the in laws and wife and I grabbed a cab to FLL. Started to walk off the ship around 8am and at 9:15 was sitting at the gate. Flight is 10:55 so plenty of time. While I didn’t ever get my blue wristband, I did have a good final night in the casino and walked off the ship up money while also getting a free cruise!! Guess it’s time to book and plan another trip.

One Day Makes a Difference: I finished my first cruise that was a 9-day cruise to the ABC Islands. We unloaded the passengers and reloaded the passengers for the 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise. Moving around the ship I have not seen so many walkers, wheelchairs and scoters on a ship. I also looked around for the hundreds of Single Travelers that I knew were coming on the ship. The previous cruise had a good mixture of people in their 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70. There was enough kids on the ship where you knew they were there. This cruise was making me feel young and I am 63 years old. I also found out as the day went on that all the singles, I was expecting were singles in their 70s and 80s. Now you understand the difference between the two cruises the question is, why? With the help of a nice 25-year-old girl I meet that was a seasoned cruiser she pointed out my last cruise was Thanksgiving break, and this cruise was older people coming to stay away from the young people. Now that I understand the same ship, the same kind of destination and have completely different environments. I realize I need to think about that while I am booking going forward. One is not better than the other, but they are different.

My Back-to-Back process: On the morning of my last full day, they had a meeting with all the B2B people. On my cruise there were between 40 and 50 people. They let us know the process and answered any questions. The meeting was nice and short and to the point. Because I was staying in my same cabin there was nothing for me to do except to make sure my cabin steward knew I was staying. The people that were changing cabins just needed to pack their personal belongings and the cabin steward would take care of everything else and making sure it got moved. Most of the people I talked to were packing up their bathroom and drawers and leaving their hanging cloths. On the morning of disembarkation, we meet in one of the bars at 9:00 am. About 9:30 am they walked us all off the ship and just before we left the ship, they scanned our old room key and gave us a new one. We then walked off the gangway and into the terminal. We walked up to a Customs scanning camera, got cleared and made a U-turn back onto the ship. We scanned our new cards and were back on the ship. We really did not slow down much from the time we left the Club until I was back at the Martini Bar getting me a drink. Here are a couple of questions people have asked me: Q: Did they give you a special breakfast or lunch? A: No, we were on our own with the same as everyone else. Q: Did you get a discount or anything special on the second cruise? A: No, the price was a price, and they did not give us anything special. Q: Does the staff treat you differently because you are a B2B? A: Yes, just because they remember you from the previous cruise. It is not because you are special just because they know you.

Finger crossed for that RU!!!

It’s a whole different experience in a good way. The Oasis class ships are noticeably smoother and the Caribbean waters are also less turbulent than the Pacific waters. You will really enjoy Symphony.

I stand by my statement. I am big on taking ownership. Ownership is not blame. People like to interpose words all the time, especially blame and scam. I'm just saying if my setsail pass still showed absolutely nothing, I would have done something before I spent on hotel and flights. People who spend any money on anything should be of the same mind. Do I think royal was wrong. Absolutely. My whole point was some stress could have been avoided. I think, imho, people seem to forget these are businesses. The fact that gty have anything to do with the current CEO and changes amaze me. You don't like gty, fine. But imho this example is not a reason to avoid it. This was an extremely rare instance.I believe Quantum not only has a broken Northstar but other issues. They could have had to have maintenance crew come on. A myriad of reason. Again the whole thing sucks and the original offer was laughable. But to take this as the end-all be-all reason against gty is too much to me. Just my opinion.

I am on the Celebrity Beyond running the premium package. I have been doing most of my work in the Buffet area because they have nice, padded bench setting and there are people to bring me drinks all day. When I run a speed test it looks slow, but I have not seen any delay and I can stream movies without any lag time. Below are the results of my speed tests.

It was one ship that clearly had other last minute issues going on that caused the cancellations at the pier.

We are definitely those other people- we decided that the ship is secondary to where we actually go. After two times at PDCC this year, we have no interest in making that a destination in the near future. The selection of ports are why the ease of NJ kind of gets passed and we still look at FL for cruises... I don't think I can do PC\Nassau\PDCC over and over again, no matter what ship it's on- we realllly want to try the MSC Meraviglia from NJ...but its the same cruise we just took on Oasis with a different private island...so we are pushing that option back to at least 2025. Luckily we can do a Bermuda from NJ, which will be a new port to us- we'd rather downsize the ship (although Liberty isn't exactly tiny) rather than keep going on the Oasis class ships that we love just to keep going back to Nassau\PDCC. Not saying we WON'T do that route again, we're all booked up for 2024, we most likely will in a year or so once we see what ships are coming back up to NJ in '25. I WOULD love to check out Symphony or Wonder eventually.

this is a real disembarkation success story!! i do remember walking off odyssey being pretty painless. i’m glad you guys had such a fast exit process

People are taking this way out of proportion and it is EXTREMELY rare. If you are THAT worried about it, then go ahead and pick your room. But I have my first GTY room booked for July and I have 0 worries about it.

This was a one time, very freak thing- it's not the norm, and we don't even know that it had anything to do with the passengers having GTY rooms. Don't let that deter you from reserving a GTY room if that is what you are looking at. I actually have my first GTY room booked for July, and have no worries at all about being cancelled.

Symphony 12/30 sailing we have bids in on CLS, GS, OS and hoping for a long shot win for yet another holiday sailing. At some point our Royal up luck has to turn around because it’s been rough lately.

Oh this is far from settled. The NMB has set more dates for another round of negotiations between AA and APFA (the union that represents AA's flight attendants). According to a memo that was reviewed by an online site called Live and lets fly the APFA does not expect any thing new to come out of the next round of these newly scheduled NMB negotiations and intends to once again request a release to strike after those negotiations which by the way are scheduled to take place over a 3 day period December 12th through the 14th. According to the union American Airlines has not submitted any type of real proposal that comes close to addressing the APFA's concerns. If AA shows up with the same proposal that they've shown up with at other NMB negotiations the APFA will once again request a release to strike. That still doesn't mean the NMB will grant their request and even if their request was granted there still would be quite a few steps before they could legally strike assuming Congress would let them strike but this is NOT settled at all. And again although I work for a different airline I think we are all keeping an eye on AA's negotiations because how AA goes is probably how the airline I work for will go and probably what Delta would do even though Delta FA's are not union at this time. I can tell you this the two sides (AA and APFA) are still very, very, very far apart on a wide range of issues. https://liveandletsfly.com/american-airlines-flight-attendants-strike/

So on jewel , first time on radiance class , used to quantum or bigger , wasn’t sure what to expect , usually do ultimate dining , did MDR tonight. Have been overwhelmed with the service in all venues. So far it’s been excellent. also we are getting 97mps WiFi speeds in our cabin. WiFi elsewhere on ship has been excellent.

the original of that video shows the inside of the royal loft suite as well right around the 1 minute mark. https://www.facebook.com/henry.varha/videos/1278366239450329/

The assumption up to this point has been yes. Knowing it had to clear the Storebaelt bridge just like Oasis and Allure did, there shouldn't be anything precluding her going to New Jersey.

There is a video out on Youtube showing Icon going under the Sotrebaelt Bridge. In the video at the 30 second mark you can see the funnel but it appears as though they are capable of retracting like some Oasis Class ships. https://youtu.be/Vg2kh_ckZfY Now I'm wondering can Icon go under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York?

Does anyone know when Icon will depart Spain and arrive in Miami? Thanks

I have never heard of this being a possibility. It does not mention that you can be bumped. That's a bunch of BS. This isn't a airline where there are a bunch that you can just switch to. This is a cruise vacation, you can't just say ok I'll just take Carnival. And if this is a possibility then they need to stop calling it a guarantee.

Next is Icon of the Seas on April 27th of 2024, then it will be back to back on Utopia on April 14th of 2025.

Well said, we have had more than one GTY booking where a cabin was not assigned until we were at check in (we had one where room assignment changed shortly after our first drink at the Trellis Bar)

Royal docks isn Old San Juan, yes adjacent to the fort. We docked there on Wonder in February. It's very walkable. When walking to the Castillo San Cristobal, you'll want to stop at Parque de las Palomas. It's the pigeon park, the kids will absolutely love it, I've never seen so many pigeons. We hate birds, and bird poop, but you gotta stop there. It was such a cool place.

We've found common ground. I don't love him either, but he's got his decisions to make and as a cruiser I have mine. He makes it easy to try other lines, that's for sure.

I did it but over 15 years ago, so take this with a grain of salt. It's your regular "this is how rum is made" tour with a convenient stop at the gift shop at the end. They do sell bottles there that are not easy to find elsewhere. It's nothing special imo, but if you like rum or are curious about the process, it can be fun.

Let's not make the airlines customer service the bar here. If we do we have really sunk.

I believe the odds of your airline cancelling your flight/not allowing you to board are higher than the cruise ship doing so.

Royal's policy for international sailings also indicates that they retain the right, on rare occasions, to raise the minimum age to sail when local laws require or permit such a modification. Perhaps one of the ports you are planning to visit has such local law. If you are trying to book on Royal's website and it's not allowing you then try phoning and asking the question. My main suggestion though would be to book through a travel agent who will be able to provide you with the most accurate information. Especially when booking an international trip, I'm sure you will benefit greatly from involving a TA in your planning.

Actually no they may never get the green light to strike. The last time the NMB allowed a group of airline employees from a major US airline to strike was 2005 and that was Northwest Airlines mechanics. But those were different times back then namely you had 7 major carriers in the US (American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Southwest, United, and US Air). The impact of any potential strike could be absorb by other carriers. Now days there are only 4 major carriers and there have been plenty of contract the NMB has had to get involved over the years. Even now it isn't just American flight attendants requesting a release to strike. Southwest which so happens to be the nations largest domestic airline their pilots which have been working with the NMB's help since last year September of 2022 has once again requested to be released from negotiations. Their most recent request was also denied here just recently by the NMB. This saga with Southwest and the NMB has been playing out for more than a year, and each time the NMB denies their request to strike. The point that I'm making here is although these airlines and the union representing the employees are far apart the likelihood of a strike is practically zero thanks in no small part to all these mega mergers that created the 4 largest airlines in the world. The last US carrier the that was permitted to strike was Spirit in 2010 but Spirit wasn't a major carrier in 2010 and they still aren't considered a major carrier in 2023. However the likelihood of the NMB allowing any represented workgroup at American, Delta, Southwest or United to strike now days is almost zero and if they did I'm almost certain Congress would step in like they did with the nations railroads. By the way those 4 carriers mention together control over 85% of the US market.

So now we are blaming the person who booked and paid for the cruise. Now that's a new one and actually a bit stunning. As an experienced cruiser I would be frantically trying to find out why I wasn't assigned a cabin number but everything I read is they can issue that cabin number the day of sailing. What the heck is the person supposed to do? Royal Caribbean needs to take the L on this one and we need to accept that. If it was some kind of flooding issue then Royal Caribbean needs to explicitly say what exactly happened. This is unacceptable.

Royal Caribbean states on their website that a guarantee room can be assigned in advance or on the day of sailing. In a post by @twangster in 2021, he mentions the same. As a more experienced cruiser, you or I might be concerned if no cabin had been assigned by the week of the cruise but a relatively new cruiser would probably think this is totally normal for a guarantee. I respectfully disagree that the cruiser shares any responsibility in this fiasco by not doing "due diligence".

Just booked this one! We had a blast on the last halloween cruise we were on. Looking forward to getting dressed up and seeing all the other costumes people bring.Our last halloween cruise there were some really good costumes. Here's a pic of the wife and I. .

See... I haven't done a Quantum class ship yet, so I may be willing to do the usual run to see a new class of ship that I haven't done yet. I would just plan a little better on what we did in the ports this time and change it up.

We're booked on Odyssey out of NJ in Jan 2025. But, same old-same old itinerary as you mentioned.

Do whatever makes you feel comfortable. I'm by no means trying to convince you otherwise. Just realize how many thousands and thousands of GTY cabins Royal sells over the course of a year across the fleet. Incidents like this are VERY rare.

I was able to book my Odyssey of the Seas entertainment yesterday for my January cruise.

Vision of the Seas December 2023 My first time organizing a cruise for several rooms.

Oh yeah…that…I wasn’t even sure if I was going to do one. Maybe @AshleyDillo @CGTLH @SpeedNoodles and whoever else is going will all want to do a combined live blog

Looks like it

Maybe there was a casting call for more actors in "CATS" ?

Wouldn't try that in Tampa......

Oh and we did the Northstar after breakfast as well.

Bumper cars was so much fun. Some of the group thought I was nuts for wanting to stand in line to do bumper cars. Yes we had to get there early, but we were the second group to go and everyone had a blast. You’re never to old to crash a car into somebody you know

It's actually one punch per shot of espresso (where 12oz = 1 shot, 16 oz = 2 shots, 20 oz = 3 shots). So two 12oz drinks is more liquid but less espresso. So the value depends on how much caffeine you want.

UGH so many trips ruined without the right cable or adapter!!!!

As others have pointed out earlier I'm sure there was some very unfortunate extenuating circumstances. A GTY booking is exactly that, a guaranteed room. This was the first instance of this happening, its not like its a regular occurrence.

12-22-23 Allure 12-26-23 Allure

Probably a teen just being reckless. Already some are saying "RC needs to do a better job protecting us". Its truly sad and unfortunate but we have got to stop blaming others for our own ignorance.

When reached for comment the guest registered to the room could not locate their tongue leading the biosecurity inspectors to believe it was still with the cat.

Thanks so much for this great resource. Much appreciated.