Jill

There’s a couple posts on Cruise Critic about it. I really hope this doesn’t become the norm on Royal. I hope they nip this kind of behavior in the bud. Fast. This ain’t carnival

According to Marc (CD) they expect 8 days. She’s supposed to arrive at PC 7:00am on April 5.

We’re on the sailing after you. Please report back.

I’m in several Facebook groups (individual ships, cruise dates, dining etc) Opinions are all over the place. Even people on the same sailing can have 2 totally different opinions of how their sailing was. We did 4 last year. 2 at reduced capacity because of Covid and 2 at more normal capacity. The 2 reduced capacity sailings (Wonder and Symphony) had excellent food and well stocked bars. My guess is they were working through stock they had during the shutdown. The issues started last May on Harmony. Same issues we saw landside. Supply chain. Bars out of staple liquors and wine. Food quality was different (lower) but we still had some decent meals. Entertainment wise, Harmony was great! Really good shows. Our 12 night on Odyssey in the Mediterranean last October was OUTSTANDING! Different supply chain. Food was very good. We’ve got Wonder coming up in May. We’ve experienced good and not so good but we’ve always had a great cruise. I wouldn’t worry too much about other’s opinions. Yes cruising has changed but not so much to keep us away. We’ve got 3 booked and figuring out what our next bucket list cruise will be. It’s still a great way to travel and see the world. You’re going to have a blast. Come back and tell us!

Her last dry dock was 2019 when she got Amp’d. 2024 is when she’s due again for maintenance.

From a Utopia of the Seas Facebook group: “ Captain Rob on Wonder said Utopia was "destined for other things" when asked at Captains corner if he would be captain.” So what could this mean? Homeport in another country?

We stayed in 7234 and our sister/brother in law were in 7236 on Odyssey this past October. We loved those cabins. Great location!

I wouldn’t book GTY balcony on Quantum class ship. You’ll likely end up on Deck 6 with a lifeboat right off your balcony

I asked this over in the Dining forum. I was told to book at full price then just go to guest services for the refund.

My guess is it’ll be based off what’s available in the public domain. I was googling wizard of oz copyrights and spent some time down that rabbit hole. The cruise line is still in considerable debt. I can’t see forking out millions for a show. Weir is very talented so I’m pretty sure it’ll be a wow show

Going back to the original post, I’d say cancel it and book with a reputable company onshore. Royal excursions are ridiculously overpriced. Our 3 day private/small group Israel tour was $337 per person. Royal’s equivalent was over $900 per person and from those that did the ship tour, there were many complaints

Did you consider Odyssey of the Seas out of Rome? We just did the 12 night Holy Land/Greece/Turkey/Cyprus and absolutely LOVED Odyssey. We flew in the day before and headed straight to Civitavecchia and had an Airbnb right at the port. It was an hour from the airport. Had a wonderful 4 course Tapas dinner with wine pairing that night sitting outside under the lights. Afterwards we spent 3 days in Rome with a day trip by train to Naples. It was an unbelievable experience and the ship was nice size. 3 sea days made it even better! Explorer is older and miss her amplification because of Covid, but if the ports are bucket list, you can look past that. Personally I think an oasis class doing western med is a waste of an oasis class with only one sea day. We will eventually do it but we’ve sailed that class 7 times so we won’t feel we’re missing out.

Have done it 3 times and our favorite too. We had Barbados though on all 3 of them. 2 were on Monarch waaaay back in the early 90’s. Then we did Freedom in 2019. It’s almost time to go back!

I think it’s a great choice and considering what Nick Weir has put out lately, I’m sure it’ll be high tech.

All new ice skating cast is all I’ve heard. Go follow Marc Walker Cruise Director on Facebook. He’s been posting daily from Cadiz with pics of the dry dock work