bhageerah

I use the Ship Mate app on my phone that has a countdown built in, maybe that will help!  I

I'm going thru cruise withdrawals...our next cruise isn't  until Nov, but we have several land vacations prior to that.  Y'all know it's not the same ? And these blogs are killing me ?
 

Hello Jen and welcome! 
I have never cruised Disney, but I hope that you will enjoy your first cruise with RCCL, good choice with Oasis! I believe that you will have a great time on her! 
That being said formal nights on most 7 day cruises are going to be the second and fourth nights 
We have found that there are several things that we enjoy while we are onboard,  I know there will be more places that people will chime in on that I may leave out!  We absolutely love the kummelweck sandwich at the Park Cafe, please try a meal at Giovannis table everything we had there was wonderful! We also liked Chops Grill as well as Sabor, if you like Mexican then you should love Sabor!  The food there almost brought a tear of joy to my eye, especially the extremely fresh salsa and guacamole!!! 
It is hard for me to answer this question because I am not sure what your demographic is, but  usually it is the wife and I that end up on the larger and longer cruises and we are mid 40's.  We have done just about anything from movies, to the Love and Marriage game show which is absolutely hilarious!!!!  Another thing that you may want to check out is the Quest game show, it is held in the evenings and will have you laughing so hard that your sides will hurt! I am not sure what your preferences are but I can assure you that the two shows that I mentioned will have you laughing! 
If I remember correctly there is only one pool in the Solarium, with several hot tubs
 
I hope that this helps! Have a great cruise!! 

No, its not!  Wife has been in school for the past few years and we have only been able to go on one 4 day cruise over the past two years and we are both having the same issue!!  I do not know what it is but we are both spoiled and can not wait for our next one in June!  

Sorry, I couldn't Help myself
help myself!!

Found a full profile picture.
 

Yes he is, and my GOD he is full of energy! He is a good pup though, last dog was a Golden retriever and the jury is still out which breed I prefer....but they are both great dogs! 

Here's another reminder ---- A triangle hashbrown from Arby's ...
Oh, how I long for a Windjammer Breakfast

Your sea pass card should show your age (on the computer when they pull it up)  so you won't need your license on the ship.   I always use a lanyard...it works great! Oh... and avoid sunscreen on your sea pass card (it wipes out the ink! ) Jane

The Cruise Compass for the following day is provided every evening from the cabin steward.  At the top of this page, there is a link for "Cruise Compass".  If you check there, you might be able to find a recent cruise compass for the ship you are sailing.

I have been on several classes of ships, from the smallest in their fleet, to the largest and I will have to agree with everyone here that has stated that the age does not matter.  We sailed Majesty of the Seas over Christmas, and from all of the negative reviews I was expecting the worst cruise by far.  Someone was onboard and wrote a blog about their experience and that actually made me feel MUCH better about our Christmas cruise.  After getting onboard with an open mind, I did see that a few complaints were justified but that we were still going to have a great time.  The size and age of the ship do not matter, its the crew and your attitude that will make or break any cruise.  If you get onboard with the expectation that you will have a great time then you will have a great time! I will say that I prefer a larger ship for longer cruises but I was extremely happy with her, and she is currently the oldest ship in the fleet.  Give it a chance, I am willing to bet that you will still have a great time! 

There is an option in your account settings to chose "automatic" upgrade or something like that.
I have booked over a dozen cruises with Royal and never received a call yet so I wouldn't get my hopes up. I watch for price drops and try to make my own upgrade but that doesn't usually work either.
 
Good luck and stay positive for the elusive Upgrade Fairy!

@ShakeDownCruise we were on the March 10th sailing. We too also decided to try Seaside because of the pricing. We enjoyed our trip, but still prefer RC and Celebrity. Here are our takes on it:
Positives:
Yacht Club was great, although we hardly saw our butler (but she did escort us when disembarking past the “regular” line to our own line where we were first to get off ?). Having our own deck & buffet & lounge away from the crowds. Never had to look for a lounger. The pool was cold and the whirlpool was more like bath water LOL. We had breakfast out on deck 19 in the morning and lunch there in the afternoon. On Friday they had grilled lobster! Being escorted on and off when in port, especially in Grand Cayman (a YC perk). A butler brought us right to the gangway and we were on the first tender. On the way back, there was a HUGE line down the street. We saw a butler with a sign and just showed him our card. He brought us and others past everyone and right to the tender.  Because we were black card holders (we did the status match) we received a free dinner in one of the specialty restaurants. We went to Butcher’s Block (delicious). We also chose to go to the French restaurant which was $23 US PP and it was fantastic (they had escargots, French onion soup, steak, crème brulee). Having access to the thermal spa area was a plus. Large area, didn’t feel crowded – they also have a room with “snow” to cool off. Mom really enjoyed getting gelato almost every afternoon at Venchi. We also enjoyed their chocolate martinis and bought some of their chocolate to take home for souvenirs. The room was wonderful and the bathroom was gigantic for a cruise ship bathroom .  
Cons:
We didn’t feel like there were good choices/options in the Yacht Club dining room and a couple of nights we didn’t care for our meals. But the service was good and it was never crowded nor did we ever have to wait when we went around 6:30 pm. My cousin and her hubby had the Aurea experience and were on deck 9 with the extended balcony (9207). I don’t recommend this room. People on the decks above can look down on you and it was also above an outdoor restaurant. They did enjoy having the 2 massages with their packages and access to the thermal spa area. They said that the main dining room was a little chaotic. I know that it often took 2 hours for them to eat and they went at 6:30 pm (she said some kids were crying) -long waits in between courses. A friend  was also on the ship and they had 8:30 dining and it also took 2 hours to eat. The entertainment was no where near what we are used to on Royal. We only went to one show because it wasn’t very good☹. The muster drill was chaotic. We met in the casino. There were a few workers demonstrating how to put on a lifejacket and instructions were over the loudspeaker. People were still talking, drinking, not paying attention.  HUGE line up for self disembarkation. It took my friend an hour to get off.  

So how does the MSC Seaside stack up against Royal?
 
Some background info:
My family of 4 just returned from our weeklong spring break cruise on MSC Seaside.  This is our 15th cruise, 8 with Royal and 6 with Disney.  Our last 5 cruises in a row have all been Royal as Disney went from high priced to crazy priced.  Additionally we really enjoy many aspects of Royal equal or better than Disney at this point.  Every future booking that we currently have is on Royal so we are mostly drinking the Kool-Aid around here.  I originally switched to this MSC sailing in place of an Oasis sailing as it was cheaper, a brand new ship, a better room, and better perks.  We stayed in Room 11003 which was advertised pre-build as a 2 bedroom suite with a giant wrap around balcony.  It actually ended up being a one bedroom suite with an above average but one sided balcony.  Our travel agent was able to get us some OBC for this false advertising.  Overall my thoughts below are mostly when comparing Seaside to Oasis class although I have been on Brilliance, Enchantment, and Indy.
 
Let’s get to a bullet form of positives and negatives
 
Here is a list of positives for Seaside as it compares to Royal:
With our Aurea Package drinks and spa access is included on top of a cheaper room we easily saved $500 per person of additional cost from Royal. Doubles (and sometimes triples) drinks were no problem and sometimes encouraged by the bar staff. Mixed drinks were all from canned soda which is a better quality soda.  Often they would give you the can with your drink.  The cost of after hours kids club can be billed per night per kid and is less expensive than Royal.  Their after hours pricing was $6 per hour, $10 for the night, and $50 for the week. The vibe of the adults only aft pool area was very cool. Overall I would rate the Seaside MDR slightly better than any of Royal’s that I’ve been in.  Close but overall food quality I would score a bit better. PIZZA-No single item clearly dominates over Royal more than the nonstop fresh and quality New York style pizza.  50% of my weight gain on this cruise was directly from pizza I am sure of it. The kid’s water park was slightly better than any of the Royal splash pads.  It was an enclosed and shaded area with 4 slides and a large splash pool and an additional toddler slide area.  Room service was included with our Aurea package all day except from 11PM-5AM. A bowling alley, we bowled twice and really enjoyed this. Gelato and gelato ice cream bars are included with the Aurea package.  The chocolate ice cream bar in particular was awesome. The main stairways are gorgeous in the atrium area.  It is a beautiful ship for sure. Ocean views are everywhere.  I told someone it reminded me of a Brilliance ship on crack.  If Oasis class is called too inward facing this is certainly its foil. The value of our room size for what we paid was great; MSC is trying to buy some business of course since they are the new ship in town. The supporting team below the cruise director was very good. Tons of places to eat outside.  All around the main buffet you could eat outside. The Jungle pool area was a hit for our family.  It has a retractable roof that they usually had half closed.  It created some warmth on the cooler days.  It was similar to the Solarium but having it family friendly was a plus for us.  Lots of shade too. The tipping was completely unexpected by the employees.  I like to tip throughout my cruise on Royal but maybe because of the European origins of MSC, you couldn’t even add a tip to a bar item if you wanted to.  From a cost perspective this is a positive but I actually like to tip so a mixed bag.  Push buttons by your room entrance door that would put a color above your door so your cabin steward knew if you wanted privacy or wanted your room serviced.  Plus they knew if you were in the room even if you didn’t ask for privacy since your room card had to be in the holder by the door. Way more roaming drink servers all around the ship than Royal.  They did a better job with seating the theatre each night.  Attendants would check every row and fill every seat and escort the last 50-100 people to the last seats available.  Splitting parties as necessary. Very nice sports bar. The selection of the buffets was less than Royal but I thought the flow and food quality was slightly higher. The talk about tons of opera is completely unfounded.  Across the 7 shows I doubt there was more than 10 minutes.  There is some music from Phantom of the Opera and other musicals but Royal does entire productions so I think that’s a non-issue. The ocean views from many of the bars in the atrium were beautiful.  
Here is a list of negatives as it relates mostly to Royal:
No kids club on day one, major bummer, it was only open for family time. As many have mentioned, it did have a faint sewage smell when we first entered.  I don’t know if we just got used to it or if it improved throughout the week.  The only place I continued to smell it all week was in the shower before I turned on the water. No Michelob Ultra on the ship, my wife’s drink of choice! My drink of choice Jack Daniels was not on the Aurea package.  For $80 a person for the adults we both upgraded to the deluxe package so that I could have my drink of choice.  Royal has Gentleman Jack as well which they don’t have.  One plus to this was that the upgrade to deluxe gave us unlimited access to our room’s mini bar.  It was stocked with 4 different beers, all of your major sodas, a few weird European juices, water, Pringles, a few hard liquors, and some other snacks.  You would leave a form daily and your room attendant would reload it with no additional charge. We tried morning room service twice and it was late and very limited in selection.  There was a special breakfast sandwich that you could pay $2 for but both times we ordered it they didn’t have it.  One time our delivery guy went back and got us a few eggs Benedict instead which was nice of him.  Overall though not much to get for breakfast by room service. The entertainment was good but not as good as Royal’s on Oasis class.  They had a different 30 minute show every night.  We went to all 7 shows so it was good but still what the Oasis ships offer can’t be matched at sea. The ceilings felt lower than some of the newer Royal ships in some areas.  I have no data to back this up but being a tall guy I felt closer to the ceiling at times than on newer Royal ships. No hand washing was required for people that walked into the buffet.  This was shocking after seeing Disney and Royal really push this.  They had nice soap and water hand washing stations and sanitizer always available but many people just walked on by and there were no employees there to compel them to do the right thing. The service was good but as a whole I think I would rate it slightly lower than Royal’s. Not a single bar of soap anywhere, just pump stations in the showers and at the sink. Their towel policy was bizarre in that you could only trade them out at one spot on the whole ship.  The main expectation was that they are kept and replenished in your room by your attendant.  If you lose one supposedly it’s a $20 charge. Less vegan options at the buffets than with Royal. Essentially no arcade whatsoever.  There were only 2 racing games and 1 air hockey table in the entire ship.  Our kids love the arcade on Royal. Internet speed was good and 6 gigs to share for 4 people for $130 wasn’t a bad price but the no-worry nature of Voom can’t be beat. There are significantly less activities than on most Royal ships, especially on seas days. Our balcony wall was white so you couldn’t see anything from the chairs but white. The splash pad hours were poor.  Closed the first day (and we had our suits) and on other days it closed pretty early. Water was everywhere in the kids pool area.  No employees were using squeegees to keep it relatively dry.  It made a shocking difference on a busy day and I think a few lawsuits and they will change this. Not enough covered hot tubs.  Also the main pool area was totally devoid of shade for the most part. Embarkation was good but the first hour on the ship was very crowded and disorganized.  We waited in places we didn’t need to wait because staff wasn’t directing well. No bar service in the theatre. Not enough room to eat breakfast outside on the balcony for the level room we had. Vegans don’t get offered dessert at dinner. No alcohol allowed near the pools or hot tubs.  You can’t leave your drink behind the hot tub and sip it; you had to leave it by your chair. You could not get the same servers every day or the same table.  In our dining room it was first come first serve.  If we weren’t early we couldn’t get the server and table we wanted. Reservations are needed for the late night kids club (we never tested this room so not sure if it held up). Overall the kids clubs were nice but things appeared much more chaotic and we didn’t feel comfortable with our kids there to the same degree that we do on Royal and Disney.  AdventureOcean staff really is great. The bowling is timed with no warning so we got shut out of our tenth frame. Kids weren’t allowed in the spa to tour even on the first day.  Kids Club is closed and the Spa doesn’t allow kids, someone at MSC hasn’t connected the dots there.  Let the families check it out the first day like they do on Royal.  Essentially you can not use the spa on the first day if you have kids. While the pizza is amazing, they stop making it at midnight even though the buffet is open until 2am.  Room service is the only way to get food for the really late hours when you shouldn’t be up anyway.  
 
Overall what is our final evaluation?  I would say that we had a great time on this cruise.  All in all I don’t think the Seaside or the American MSC experience is as good as the Royal experience but it’s not a landslide victory.  I think if pricing or benefits drop the total cost of a Seaside cruise a fair amount lower than a cruise on one of Royal’s newer ships that it is worth checking out.  We would sail on Seaside again but we didn’t rebook onboard and I am not looking at their website on a regular basis like Royals!  If you fear the Carnival clientele I can say that the Seaside guests were similar to what I’d see on Royal except that there were many more foreigners as you would expect.  I also saw numerous Disney Castaway Club Lanyards as previously loyal Disney cruisers look for a more reasonably priced cruise vacation.  I think in the end Seaside is a great thing because it puts pressure on the big 3 and Disney in the Florida market.  When there is competition and all of these companies keep trying to one up each other ultimately the consumer wins.  I think the new sports bar on Symphony is a response to the sports bar on MSC Seaside and other ships as Royal has been lacking in that arena.  Royal wouldn’t be dropping wheel barrels of money into Coco Cay if it didn’t feel the need to stay ahead of the competition.  So if you can live with 7 days on a beautiful ship where you don’t earn any crown and anchor points this could be a ship for you to try if the stars align.  I also think if you are a bigger ship person you might prefer this over many of the older Royal ships.  However overall if you are a loyal to Royal type I don’t think it will convert you but you’ll enjoy the experience and probably enjoy jotting down all of the different nuances between the brands as my family did.
 
Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to answer them and thanks for reading if you made it this far!

I just got off of Majesty on the 26th of December before the dry dock, Oasis class is one of my absolute favorites.  That being said if I had the option to cruise on Majesty again I would gladly do it.  I would not want to spend a full week but for a quick 3 or 4 day cruise I would gladly sail it again!  There were a few small issues that I am hoping that they fixed in dry dock, but the crew was great, and truly tried to make us happy.  As long as you understand that it is an older ship and that it does not have all of the new and greatest things that the newer ships have but it was definitely worth my time.  If you go expecting a Quantum class or Freedom class experience you will be highly disappointed, if you go just expecting to get on a boat, be entertained and catered to and have a great time then you will be very happy.  

Run your foot over with their scooter rude, elevator already has 20 people in it, but still room for me and my walker/scooter rude. Want me to give up my seat in the theater (That I was 15 minutes early for so I could make sure I got a good seat) so they didn't have to walk any further rude, cut in any line because I'm a senior citizen rude.
Like you said about kids, I love senior citizens, I'm one of them (Yes I have my AARP card), but there comes the point in life that you should just be nice and go with the flow, I told my wife that if I acted like some of these people to make sure and slap me, please...
My point was and still is, get your expectations straight/right and you will have fun/good time on any cruise.

As a huge Oasis class fan, and also having sailed smaller ships, I have to respectfully disagree. 
On all our Oasis class sailings we've always have stateroom attendants that we available. Some were better than others but they have all been friendly in passing and attentive if we needed anything. Keep in mind that they have their break times too and would likely not be available during those hours. 
I have never once felt crowded on an Oasis class ship, other than after a show lets out and on first/last day. I find that crowds move through those ships extremely well. I just got off Anthem which has less capacity and everywhere you went it was crowded. 
MTD dining is tricky everywhere. People who don't make reservations and just show up will have to wait like a regular land restaurant. In all my experiences with MTD, with reservations, we've had to wait a max of 5 min. 
I find the Oasis class ships have even more variety in food than other smaller ships. 
Last but not least, I have found Royal's service to be pretty consistent across the fleet. There are some outstanding ones and some not so pleasant ones. But that is daily life too. 
Here's the thing....like anything in life, you have to experience it yourself.  Sorry to hear that your family did not have a good time, but that could be a one off time or it could be that bigger ships really aren't to their liking. The thing is that you will never know until you try it out for yourself. I will say this though. Sailing Oasis does require some prior research and planning. It will make the whole experience so much better. And those ships have venues and entertainment like none other.  Wouldn't you want to see for yourself? I am a firm believer that any RC fan should give it a try at least once if possible. ?

Hi @CHRIS WONG, very interesting read from the "insider's perspective"! I'd be curious to know if during your stints on the different ships you met crew members who had transferred in from other cruise lines and what their opinion was as far as how Royal treated everyone and general workload compared to their prior line. After reading so many comments here and on CC / ShipMate about MSC Cruises staff always appearing understaffed, overworked, and constantly stressed or frazzled, I can't help but wonder if folks who went through something like that decide to almost literally "jump ship" and never work on a cruise ship again, or do they switch to another line like Royal, have a much better experience, and feel like it's actually a good job after all.

Martha Poulter new Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer first big project - FAIL.  Good thing Royal Caribbean is in the cruise business and not the IT business.  It is frustrating for us who work in the IT world.

Good morning all.  Might want to check your prices on booked cruises outside of final payment.  There is a price drop of several hundred dollars on all 3 of my bookings in 2019 & 2020.

Just wanted to share some drone shots I took from my backyard a few Sat’s ago. It’s really amazing when all the ships leave the port on their way out you get some great photo ops. She really is massive, my drone huffs & puffs to cover the distance. Can’t wait to board her again soon as she’s an amazing ship! Enjoy. 

If so, it would most likely be from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale.  Wish they would go further from Orlando and Tampa. 

I wonder if they'll let me use this photo?