Jill

Matt posted a pic from this weekend. Nothing started

I really wish they’d sail out of port Canaveral again.

Only icon and utopia sky JS get the full benefits. All the other ships offering it doesn’t include internet which is really weird imo. For us that’s not a huge deal as we get 4 free days so paying for 3 is fine. However, it should be the same across all ships. Good grief just add another couple hundred dollars and just include it.

I got the email also. Here’s my advice if I could bend an ear to the powers that be: There’s a subgroup of RC cruisers who are “seasoned” and comprise the upper tiers. This group is somewhat over the whole “big ship” thing along with St Thomas, St Maarten, Cozumel and Costa Maya (and the other islands that the big girls go to) This group is BEGGING for a new smaller class that visits somewhere other than above. Well…..give us our RC benefits on a Celebrity ship and you won’t have to build a new class. Just transfer us to Celebrity. I’d be happy with that. We have our first celebrity booked to Norwegian fjords in 2025 because the itinerary was way better than Indy but it was hard giving up our 5 free drinks anytime, anywhere. Deep fjords beat alcohol but I shouldn’t have to choose!

Got an email this morning showing Izumi in the park on Utopia. I think oasis 7 is going to blend some icon features like the open promenade (get rid of promenade cabins) and have deck 6 go all the way around Also think Wonder will head to Asia. After all all her Chinese signs are down in the basement

Thanks! Just bought the cup holder thingy This is our favorite Amazon cruise purchase. The big one stays on the dresser and we throw our sea pass, sunglasses etc in that. The small one goes in the safe and holds earrings, watches, rings etc. No more having an earring find its way under the lip or the little piece of carpet.

The icon facebook groups I’m in are FULL of first time cruisers. My April sailing has a ton of them also. I’m hoping that means they don’t know to get an early check in time or book specialty restaurants as soon as you board

I read in an icon facebook group that AO is working with parents who booked ESC. I’d go to AO when you board and let them know you have it booked

We’re in October too and I’m not seeing the immersive experience either but plan to book it. I’m thinking possibly something similar in experience to empire but hopefully not as expensive. We’ve got a sky class suite so was planning to have suite concierge book it the week before. Hopefully that’s a solid plan. I would imagine they hold back spots for suite guests. If not, I’ll be derailed lol

I bit the bullet and booked it for our April cruise. We have the UDP but I don’t want to wait until we board to book for fear of it selling out. My birthday is in April, hubby turns 60 in may and our 35th anniversary is in August so that’s how I justified the price

I read in an icon group that many public bathrooms were out of soap!

Celebrity is owned by Royal and considered their “premium” line. It’s a more “ sophisticated” experience. No waterslides, flow riders etc. Ships are smaller. We booked the fjords for 2025 and I had Indy on hold, for a great price, but opted to go with celebrity apex because the itinerary included Geiranger and Flam, 2 deep fjords. I wouldn’t hesitate to book celebrity in the med simply because the itineraries are better and many celebrity sailings are actually lower in cost than Royal. I’ll miss my 5 free drinks a day (they only offer a couple of hours of happy hours in the evening), but being port intensive, I don’t think I’ll miss it too much

If you want Norway you better go in 2025 because they are putting big restrictions on cruise ships starting in 2026

My check in for Icon is March 6. Alarm will be set for 11:55pm. Passports will be on the kitchen counter. Refresh my memory because I never do the picture. Does it have to be a selfie or can you upload a pic from your library? I think I remember seeing an upload option. If so, we will take pics beforehand in front of blank wall (like you do for passport photos) and I’ll upload those. A selfie at midnight will not be attractive lol

I seriously doubt there will be a bionic bar. (Yay!) Likely Pesky Parrot like Utopia. Playmakers on boardwalk for sure. I would imagine vintages will go away and be replaced with Giovanni’s Wine Bar. I could do without adding Mason Jar however I love that bar! She has El Loco fresh but it’s where wipeout cafe was so really tiny. Hopefully she’ll get the real El Loco Fresh Hopefully no Abyss slides but I’m sure she’ll get them. I wonder what they’ll do with the crown lounge? Maybe make that Giovanni’s like Utopia and move Izumi to Central Park? That’s an option too. Then they can take old Izumi and do the train restaurant I’m sure I’m over a billion dollars by now

2 people

Just cancelled and re-booked for $59. Had it before for $96. Heck that’s 2 drinks! lol likely a one and done for us. I’m hightailing it first thing to get all the way over by the in the water swings. As far from the party vibe I can get

Yep. What @TheMaxRebo said. Hopefully by April it’ll be the normal-ish 30 days out.

I’d do it and then use the savings to Royal up to a Grand. Of course it depends on the ship. Oasis class yes, below that no.

Re:emissions. This is why I booked Norwegian fjords for 2025 (with celebrity because better ship than Indy and better itinerary). Come 2026 Norway is cracking down on emissions

Retractable smokestacks yes. I would assume these new ships will definitely be LNG (which is smokeless) so what would you call the smokestacks with no smoke? Lol

Well one thing that’s a given, in my opinion, it’s got to be small enough to do Alaska inside passage. According to today’s 2023 Q4 call, Alaska is doing very well with bookings. So what’s the largest gross tonnage that can do inside passage? And it has to go through Panama Canal.

In our Facebook group for our April sailing, there’s a couple who were asking if anyone in our group wanted to do celebration table. To me this defeats the purpose of the experience and possibly takes the opportunity away from a group truly celebrating something, not just a bunch of strangers solicited through a Facebook group

Yes! That’s the key to good coverage. Insure based on the most expensive trip. If you book suites, have airline tickets, hotel or especially going overseas, make sure you have enough cancellation coverage and are good with covered cancellation reasons. To get “cancel for any reason” coverage, you have to secure insurance within a designated time frame, usually 14 days.

Pre Covid there were no boarding times and Royal still was able to adhere to the “car to bar” in 15-20 minutes. Most of the rush is over within the first hour.