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Day 8 PDCC for the 3rd time. Celebrity reflection was here at PDCC. It really threw me for a loop because I was discombobulated and was like I thought Nassau was Wed. My brother got off and watched the birds be aggressive and the newbies brand new. He said so many people just left their plates and the birds tried their hardest to snatch them, creating a mess for the crew. He went to the library and worked while I napped. Then we showered and hung out in the Crown Lounge until 6:30. They have served the same food, every day of the 3 cruises. Maybe one item changes but most don't. We then went to get a couple of prime drinks. The casino was dead. I counted maybe 15 people actively playing. I chatted with a couple of people and they complained the machines were tight. My anecdotal evidence says the 3n cruises have the loosest slots. There's less time to play and they want to entice folks. Then we headed to Giovanni's which was fairly empty at 7:30. I think over half the tables in the front as empty. The dinner did not disappoint, it was the reprieve we needed. My brother is a former vegetarian who doesn't eat red meat or pork. So I had a meatball Gigante as my app. Way too much meat. I had Alfredo for dinner and the Panna cotta. They gave us a plank as well, it mostly went to waste as I neither of us ate the meats. But my brother ate......like ate . We got a pizza to go. They brought me a birthday cake slice, but I told them not to sing. Now we are just chilling in the room.

Just look at final price and see if it is reasonable. How it is calculated isn't important.

I checked prices this morning and many of the PDCC activities - including the Beach Club and Hideaway are on sale. Cabanas are still laughable. The Beach Club is $92.99 and Hideaway is $29.99 again. This is for Indy 6-6-24. I am slightly tempted for the Beach Club although this is still too much....no interest in Hideaway as that was a one and done for us. Hopefully others will find similar sales for their cruises.

Whatever day, Nassau for the 3rd time....... I need to work for about an hour. Might get OJ and come back to room.....there is still pizza left. It's humid, so I was going to get off, just to stretch my legs. But not worth it, will go on deck and read something. There is an ice show at 10:30, so I will probably head there. I haven't sat through one show this cruise. There has been a headliner and they were not my cup of tea. Despite that full meal, my brother is hungry in the morning and is headed to the WJ for breakfast. Then to work in the library.

Day 7: PDCC, Bahamas Wow, the last day has arrived… I woke up early again to take pics of the pool decks and PDCC. Here comes another photo dump! I started on Deck 17 and worked my way down to Deck 15. We're not huge fans of the layout of some of the pool decks on Icon. There are so many dead ends and areas that can only be accessed by certain doors or from certain elevator towers. It took us some time to get used to it! Access to Cloud 17 is to the left… Sports court to the right... When you exit to Cloud 17 and the pool deck here, you walk through the smoking section. Super Mario’s “office” is roped off and to the right of the folks smoking outside (just a table and a couple of chairs). His table moved around throughout our sailing within the smoking section. The Cloud 17 pool which was originally the 18+ pool until they made the Hideaway adults only. I can’t imagine this small pool and small section of Deck 17 as the adult area. Next I went down one level to Deck 16… A bunch of pics of Thrill Island… I caught up with Christine and we stopped for Starbuck’s in the Pearl Cafe and had breakfast again in the Surfside Eatery before disembarking for PDCC! Bedtime once again… I’ll try to wrap up Day 7 tomorrow!

I have Giovanni in August. We are getting everything your brother has. Royal should use him in their specialty ads.

Headed out today on a 10 night Italy & Croatia Adventure! My husband and I are in our early 30s and love sailing RCCL but have recently come to love Celebrity Cruise line! We love the loyalty transfer perks too as we are Diamond + for RCCL and that transferred to Elite on Celebrity! Excited to share more of the perks throughout our trip. This will be our 5th sailing on Celebrity and one of the smaller ships we have sailed on. We originally booked an ocean view cabin because the price simply couldn’t be beat, it was a group price through our travel agent which included the always included package for wifi and drinks. To give you perspective our coach round trip flights cost more than this 10 night cruise for 2 adults! We normally prefer to sail in aqua or a suite but the price couldn’t be beat. A week ago i noticed i kept getting emails with a new deal on Celebrity Moveup and decided to put in a last minute bid for aqua class at the minimum and we got it! On this 10 night sailing we will be visiting RAVENNA, ITALY TRIESTE, ITALY DUBROVNIK, CROATIA (Overnight) SPLIT, CROATIA ZADAR, CROATIA KOTOR, MONTENEGRO AMALFI COAST (SALERNO),ITALY ROME (CIVITAVECCHIA), ITALY I selected this sailing because of the variety in ports of call and the overnight in Dubrovnik. We have never visited Croatia and i hear it is absolutely stunning. Excited to share this adventure with all of you! We head out tonight from Newark to Venice to spend 1 day there before embarking for the cruise! Ciao for now!

My brother decided against breakfast and got his work done. I thought I was well rested but took a slight nap after finishing my work. We then went to ELF, the picture is of one of the 3 of my brother's plates. We sat on deck and ate, it's hot and popping. So many wardrobe malfunctions. Personally if I have to constantly adjust or be afraid of the elements, I wouldn't wear it . The app updated and now it won't display anything. My brother said if there are escargot on the MDR menu, he wants. So we will see. Sailaway is soon. People continue to vape wherever. The promenade, restaurants, on the deck by ELF. Its crazy.

Dan loves to snorkel and it's really the only reason he gets off at PDCC. There is no real snorkeling at Hideaway unless you just want to swim around in a sandy beach environment. IMO there is nothing at Hideaway that you cannot get for free over on the "free" side....with the exception of some nice overstuffed chairs/couches in a couple of locations. If you want beach or poolside loungers, you can get the same thing on the free side for - FREE. Since I cannot lay for long in a lounger (it kills my back) AND I have to stay out of the sun, those comfy couches were pretty nice. You have to get there early though...they are gone fast. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with Hideaway...it's just not worth any extra money to us.

It is one of my favorite desserts. I always get it when I go to a Giovanni's kitchen.

So I caught that price drop on July 2025 and August 2025 sailings thanks to @Shari Sunday afternoon, and then yesterday, my TA caught another small drop (a few hundred again) on the same two sailings. Small wins

Hello Everyone! Leaving soon for Liberty, NJ to board Liberty! Lets honor America's military men and women who lost their lives in service to their country.. This is my retirement cruise..35 years of Military and Law Enforcement, so I'm starting my next career as a Cruise Ship Captain..haha. I wish..see ya onboard.

Super-late price drop for Hideaway Beach to $19.99 on the last day of the Cruise Planner for Icon on Saturday. Perhaps not selling well?

Oooh, I like this thought. Heading out on a 3N from LA next Friday and hoping you’re right! Loosen up that I Free Games machine!

I'm on this cruise. This will be my first time on Quantum and my first Alaskan cruise.

Just woke up from my nap. Dinner is at 7:30. Oddly enough I switched to MTD and haven't been able to make reservations in the app. Not that it matters, since I have no plans to eat there. When I went to the casino there was almost nobody there and those that were there, were doing the most. A lady was either drunk or delirious because she kept asking if I seen her phone and why were there no crew. Her machine was loud as hell. Eventually I went over and told her the phone was right there on the machine. She laughed and lost it an hour later. Another guy sat at one machine drinking coffee and chain smoking, talking to himself......he could have had an ear piece because I was at a machine on the opposite side. As I have stated, the wifi is bad in our room. My brother ended up going to the library to work while I slept. Also none of the amenities were sat up in this cabin. The water that comes out of the basin smells like sewer. I normally wash my face before I get in the shower, but the water makes me leery. Yesterday the thermostat didn't work. So my brother turned it halfway on warm, now it's too hot in the room. I used no vouchers yesterday but I will use them up in Giovanni's today. My cooler isn't super cold but it's currently filled with water, sodas, sparkling water and 2 Stellas. I need to drink them. The drinks really pile up when you are on foe 11 days.

Phew. We are home! I never like a red-eye, and this was no exception. Tack on a 3.5 hour drive home and then dashing to our son's first post-season baseball playoff game and we were TOAST by 9 p.m. ET. I managed to make a small dinner, do 2 loads of laundry, and clean up all the dog hair that accumulated over the week before passing out. I usually struggle with jet lag on day 2 after coming home but today hasn't been that bad. My sister is feeling a lot of land sickness, though. Mr. Regular is usually a little woozy for a week after disembarking, too. Anyhow, here are some wrap up observations and final thoughts on our Brilliance of the Seas Alaska cruise. Like with most opinions, these are mine. They may not be yours. They may align with your previous experience and worldview, they may not. And that's all ok. Please avoid slamming mine for slamming's sake, though here on RCB there's so much less of that than of FB or other sites. The Itinerary We picked this itinerary because it went to Alaska, lol. It also aligned well with the timing of my super short break from school and earlier in a shoulder season made the price point such that we could afford the aft balcony room we had. If I could change anything it would have been trading the stop in Sitka for Ketchikan but only because the photos I've seen of Ketchikan are so cool. We would also re-think sailing out of Vancouver. While we really enjoyed the city, traveling in and out of Canada so much and having to clear customs multiple times was draining on my aging parents. Next time we will probably aim for Seattle for ease of travel. The Ship This ship is showing her age. She needs some major updates, new furniture, replacement mattresses, new fixtures, and pluming. Our bathroom smelled like our septic tank most of the time and no air freshener would make enough of an impact. Sometimes I could smell it in the aft hallways. Common areas of the ship are a bit run down, furniture is really showing wear and tear. However, it is SPOTLESS. Crew are cleaning all the time and take a lot of pride in making the best out of what they have to work with. I don't mind a small ship, but I did find myself missing some of the amenities of the larger ships in the fleet this cruise. We did spend a lot of time on our balcony as a result, so I guess that's a positive! The Crew The crew on the Brilliance are absolutely outstanding. One of the other benefits of a small ship is you get to know the crew on a human level because they aren't stretched as thin as on larger ships. We have sailed the Rhapsody, Mariner, and Anthem and this crew was the best since our Rhapsody cruise. We feel strongly crew are not there to cater to our every whim or be at our beck and call. Crew are humans with interests, families, and inner lives and deserve to be treated as such, so we like to get to know them and have conversations and build rapport. The only other ship we've had an opportunity to do that on was Rhapsody. I understand that not every crew member appreciates that so your mileage may vary. Anyway, our room steward and dining team were absolutely fantastic. We had some dietary needs and allergies in our party and the wait staff made sure everyone was accommodated and could enjoy meals in an equitable way every night. The entertainment crew are a small but mighty team of only three people to run all the events onboard. The cruise director is a friendly guy but I usually don't connect well the the CDs, I usually like to interact with the activities staff much more. We were so pleased with all the service we received this sailing! Other Guests and use of space There were under 200 children onboard, and they were mostly littles and elementary aged kids. We noticed maybe 4 teenagers the whole sailing. A mix of nationalities like most other cruises I've been on, but a very noticeably high concentration of Aussies onboard. We met many who were on a land tour in the USA and Canada before boarding the ship. Since this isn't a fun-in-the-sun style cruise, there were no chair hog issues on the pool deck and most people in the Solarium were great about not saving a chair and disappearing for hours. The ship was pretty full but it was fairly easy to get a seat at a show 15 minutes before curtain, but closer to the start time some shows got quite full. The Windjammie at breakfast was the only space that was very difficult to navigate. In cold weather, there simply is not enough indoor seating for everyone that wants to eat between 8 and 10 a.m. Several mornings we made plates to go and ate on another deck inside or in our staterooms. If the weather is nice enough later in the summer there is outdoor seating to the back of the Jammie which will help. But if it's raining or under 60 degrees f, you will struggle at peak times for seating. The entertainment & activities A tradeoff to a small ship is an equally smaller number of things to do on a sea day or evening after being in port. Alaska is a port heavy itinerary and we were struggling with the jet lag so we only caught 3 of the evening headliner shows. We walked out of the "comedian" on night 5. He was not very engaging to us. The ship orchestra, singers, and dancers are all very talented people but the material they have to work with is not good. The Broadway review show had some good numbers in it but they did 3 songs from The Full Monty, which hasn't aged well at all as a show. It was popular when Brilliance launched and it hasn't been updated since. The Center Stage show, which is a similar variety hour style review, was much better. But my favorite thing to see on a ship is the crew flag parade. I LOVE this event! They do it in the Centrum and the crew come out to represent their countries, culture, and people. I always get very moved while watching it. We also participated in some trivia and name that tune games, and listened to some of the bands in Schooner Bar and the Centrum. We enjoyed the piano and violin duo and Blackjack Band very much. When we weren't at an activity you could usually find us on our balconies, because even though the ship may be light on activities, an Alaska cruise IS part of the entertainment just watching the inside passage go by or spotting whales and other marine life swimming near the ship. The ports & excursions We decided to book our excursions through Royal via the cruise planner for convenience sake. Since I had booked our rooms so early, there was nothing to book excursion wise until about 8 or so months before the cruise. I was able to take advantage of the lowest prices before they got outrageous. If I hadn't, I think we would have done more on our own or with a 3rd party. In Sitka we did the Bike and Hike, which was so fun despite the rain. In Juneau we went to the sled dog run. And we had ample time to explore Sitka and Juneau after the excursions, which was nice. We didn't have time to explore Skagway at all, which we were unhappy with. That excursion was from Haines. We docked, then took a ferry to Skagway, boarded the train at the port, took the train up the pass and then returned to downtown where we only had 30 minutes before we were required to get on the shuttle to the port to get the ferry back to Haines. The excursion was billed as 7 hours with more free time in Skagway than we got, which was disappointing because we had picked out places to visit and eat in town. We asked if we could get a later ferry and were emphatically told no, mostly due to capacity on the ferry that runs between Skagway and Haines. I appreciate not displacing full time residents and locals, but I wish the amount of time in Skagway had been better communicated beforehand. There were many from our ship on this excursion that were also expressing displeasure to the guide. It wasn't the guide's fault, but they bore the brunt of everyone's disappointment. We had some unexpected free time in Haines, where there wasn't that much to do other than eating a very late lunch. It was a nice meal but we would have much rather been in Skagway. Our glacier viewing day was spectacular! While not a port or excursion it was a truly remarkable way to spend a morning. The Food and Drink Food on this cruise was ok. It wasn't bad, but not much to write home about. I've felt ambivalent to "meh" about the updated menus. There were benefits and tradeoffs to the change last year, one benefit being a more streamlined experience and tradeoff being loss of variety and lower quality in the dining room. We tried the Windjammer for all three meals over the course of the week and I was pleasantly surprised at how good dinner was. Even though Windjammie dinner menus aren't much different from selections in the MDR, it's nice to have the additional options of the pizza, salad bar, other desserts, and soft serv if we wanted it. I missed getting to the MDR in time to get the Italy menu so I went up to the buffet and sampled almost everything anyway and had extra desserts! I ordered room service breakfast twice. The first was the free continental items like croissants, coffee, and fruits. The other time was hot breakfast of an omlette, bacon, hashbrowns, coffee, and toast. Both times were fine but I wish the hot breakfast was included like it used to be when the restart was happening. It wasn't worth the delivery fee. Bar service was fine, some bartenders were better than others but overall met our needs. We had refreshment packages and carried on 4 bottles of wine plus ordered wine and cheese delivery to our rooms through Royal. We ordered cocktails a la carte and spent waaaaay less than a deluxe beverage package would have but Alaska vibes are very different from Caribbean vibes. Final thoughts Would we go to Alaska again? YES! Would we do some things differently next time? Also yes. What would we do differently? If we could have traveled to Vancouver earlier than the day before the cruise, we should have done that to help us adjust to the jet lag. We would have also thought about mobility and accessibility needs more after MIL's stroke. We were caught unaware about how much disembarkation would be hard for her and there were only 5 wheelchairs available that could only be operated by staff so the wait to disembark was excruciatingly long. Would we sail on the Brilliance of the Seas again? Unlikely. This is no shade or a knock on the crew or the ship itself. There was nothing terrible about our experience. But, I think if we were to do Alaska again I would advocate for either sailing from Seattle on a more modern ship or even think about a different cruise line from Vancouver that may be visiting other ports. Please post questions if I can help with your future Alaska cruise or sailing on the Brilliance from other ports of call!

Royal pricing makes absolutely no sense. As @Atlantix2000 mentions all that really matters is the final price. I never look at whatever 'sale' or 'promo' they are offering because as OP says 'the math ain't mathing'

Thanks for heads up! We are trying Hideaway Beach, have repriced it twice now, from (prices in Canadian) $70.99 to $65.38 and today again to $51.42.

Last cruise we got to the terminal at 10:15 and there were already dozens of people waiting.

100% PC is the best! They have this process perfected. I

Do not waste valuable time in your life trying to secure an early check in time on Icon. You have better chances of an empty lounge chair at the main pool on a sea day at noon! In all seriousness, boarding times are nonsense and vacation should start at 11am on day 1! I have never once had a single issue boarding as early as 10:30am with 1:00pm official boarding time.

Yes it is. It adds it onto the check out price

I didn’t end up purchasing PDCC activities, however my drink package was lower today. The sale was the same 30% off I paid prior, but the base price changed (sneaky), so I saved $50. And a lunch spot opened for Giovanni’s on my Wonder cruise next week, and was on sale, so I’m very excited to surprise my guys with it. Thanks for the tip to head to the cruise planner!

i am ALWAYS here for a bid success story!!!!!!

Saturday can't get here fast enough.

I think that's fair. We will be there next week (!!) and are looking forward to experiencing it for the first time. I'm mostly interested in trying the new food options. The main attraction to me a PDCC is the swim up bar, which is obviously available for free as well. We'll see how much we like it - if the price stays low we may just book it when we're cruising without the kids as a change of pace.

time is just a social construct!!!!!!!!!!!

Truthfully only the casino reps know its a casino comp. Everything else is the same. The only true drawback is since you only pay taxes and fees, the odds of getting compensation for problems are almost zero.

Yep, some reasonable prices for my upcoming June & July Wonders compared to how high things had gotten at their peak at least. Hideaway is $22.99, lowest I've seen for these sailings (we passed on $19.99 in March). $89.99 for the Beach Club and even the cabanas are pretty low given that they were in the 3-4K range for a while. I'm seeing $1740 for OTW and $1485 for Beach. Seeing good prices almost makes me wish we actually bought any of this stuff... almost.

Radiance Nov 2, 2024: Coco Beach Club was $86.99 and is now $75.99!!!! Going to check my other cruises.

The numbers you see already include the promos and there's ALWAYS a promo going on. They never show the original price (which is constantly changing anyway). So ignore everything except the final price. Are you willing to pay $X for this cruise? If yes, book. If no, keep looking.

$103 for Beach Club here in a couple weeks. Nothing will ever beat that 79.99 I paid in 2021.

Hello All About 2 months away now for my wedding cruise. I have been planning this since August 2023. R.C. referred me to The Wedding Experience filled out their questionnaire form and spoke to them 1X and said they were going to keep in touch. I have not heard back, sent them a follow up email with their email replay on 5/7/24 saying they are no longer be servicing weddings for Royal Caribbean for Weddings taking place starting April 1, 2024 to contact The Royal Celebrations which now takes me to step 1 all over again. Making a phone appointment with a bridal coordinator (which the 1st appt. is 6/6/24). This is a bit of a shock for me how Royal Caribbean Wedding department is taking care of their passengers/customers. All I want is a beautiful destination wedding by the beach in St. Thomas. Any suggestions??

I was on Wonder last week - one of the FB groups admins was supposed to get married on board but something happened and they "lost" her booking and someone else was scheduled instead. Sounds like they may have switched things up and older bookings may have been lost in the change-over. Hope it works out....

10 short days everyone!!

A very colorful collection of cocktails

We’re just off Anthem and the Teen Club was 12-17 and we never seen our 12 year old from 8pm- Midnight every night. Totally ditched us every day and had a brilliant time. They got to use some of the activities exclusively too during their time, like the flow rider and the climbing wall.

I could never understand the pricing or get it to work for me when mock booking. Example, booking adjoining rooms. I would book room #1 with a price of say $1200 per person. Then book the room adjoining to it, same class of room mind you and it would be $1700 pp. My advice, work with a good reputable travel agent. They will find all the deals and the best prices.

Anecdotally speaking, I have seen an 11yr old get a waiver signed by his parents that allowed him in the teens area. It didn't turn out well, the kid picked a fight with a 14yr old and then got his ass kicked. But he was able to get into the teen area

Honestly, checkin time doesn't matter. Let's say you get a 1pm check in, if you show up at 1030 you will board. They don't check.

12 more days for us. It looks huge compared to the Giovanni’s Table version but I have to get it. Also part of the plan. Not sure how else you’re supposed to try it with everything else.

Yes, it’s crazy! They usually sell for $500 and up for the day from what I remember in the CP. I agree… I would never pay that much for zero shade and to be surrounded by people in a crowded pool in the afternoon. No privacy or shade. Much rather have a casita onboard or a cabana on land.

Saved 500 on my spring break Vision cruise

I know! I think the key is to arrive early (on sea days) after breakfast before the pool opens (9:00AM). We got there between 8:00AM-8:30AM each time and wound up with spots right behind the infinity pool on the perimeter behind the expensive beds in the water. You can enjoy a more chill atmosphere... think Coco Beach Club. Caribbean music piped in, no crowds, excellent drink service, etc. Pool was nice and the temp was warm even in the morning this time of year! If you're in the party mood (think Oasis Lagoon Pool or Hideaway Beach), then the afternoon is best with the DJ! It starts to get busy around lunchtime. Thanks, but I give my wife, Christine, all of the credit. She is terrified of heights. She does not like window seat on planes (awesome for me!) and definitely no rollercoasters! She has to slowly approach any balcony rail, etc. I was also so impressed when she went up in the North Star on Odyssey!

Day 6: * Sea Day * (CONT.) Let’s wrap-up Day 6! We went back to our cabin to get ready for the second formal night. Tonight is “The Royal Night” menu. For starters, I had the French Onion Soup and Christine tried the Avocado and Melon Salad… We both had the Maine Lobster Tail. Shhhh … they do give you more than one tail at no additional charge… YMMV… I noticed the table in the next section asked for additional tails, so I asked and our waiter took care of us as well! For dessert, we both went with the Baked Alaska! Back to the cabin once again to change to something more comfortable for tonight’s show, “The Effectors: The Origin Story” in the Royal Theater. We heard the earlier performance had been cancelled due to technical issues and had hoped the issues had been resolved. After waiting for the show to start, Gemma (CD) came out to explain the show would have to be cancelled due to issues with stage lighting. Both of today’s cancelled performances would be rescheduled to 7:00PM and 9:00PM tomorrow evening (Day 7) and would be open seating since it was too late to move all of the reservations in the system. Disappointed, we headed back to the cabin and changed to hit the pools and hot tubs. After an hour or so, we called it a night knowing tomorrow (PDCC) was going to be a long day!

The Oasis of the Seas group cruise is October 5, 2025. It is a 7 night Eastern Caribbean from Ft.Lauderdale. If you have an MEI agent reach out to them for pricing. If you do not I am more than happy to help.

So as it stands I haven't slept. I'm actually eating at the WJ and will nap. My mother's flight was delayed and departed after 11pm. So she got in at 2:30, waited 45min for luggage and then needed a Lyft at 4am. I waited up for her, I was able to finished one book and start another. I had to wait until she made it home safely. So I decided to see if the casino was open........it was and I had my pick of the machines. There was maybe 5 people there besides me and the machines were loud. I earned my cert at 80 cents. Tonight is Giovanni's, I am so looking forward to something different.

We went there while staying in Seward for a couple days before our cruise... great place! My wife loves puffins so we paid a little extra to do the puffin encounter... got to spend a good amount of time feeding them fish inside the habitat. Enjoy!

I think it'd be great if RC told everyone that asked for compensation "no"...but then offered everyone who didn't ask like $25..lol. I know that would never happen,but sure would be funny.