twangster

Empress is all yours.

My notes from Anthem: (early 2018) Wines included: Chandon, Brut "Classic", California, USA Empress Sissi, Gruner Veltliner, Austria Château D'Aussièrers, Chardonnay, France Adega Dom Antonio, Reserva Blend, Portugal Oberon, Cabernet Sauvignon, California, USA Several types of cheese were offered. They were used to sample each wine both before cheese and with cheese to illustrate how food dramatically impacts flavors perceived.

Having cruised the West cost to Mexico the problem for me as a consumer are the lack luster ports of call. Options are South to Mexico or North to Canada. That's it. Same ports week after week. Cruise routes say with a straight line up or down. Hawaii from California is a niche market given the longer itineraries and numerous sea days which limits the target market for this type of cruising. I can't think of any West coast MX ports I'd want to do more than once every few years. I've done the 3/4 night and 7 night routes on Carnival out of Long Beach. If Royal offered the same ports I'd have a hard time buying a plane ticket from Colorado to sail it. Cozumel or Puerto Maya on the other hand on Mexico's East coast never seem to get old. The West MX ports of call are very different. Looking North to Canada I visit some of these ports when I cruise Alaska so a West coast cruise North to many of the same ports is not enticing. There is very little diversity beyond those two choices and that is the the biggest impediment to West coast cruising. Carnival has been left to "own" much of these routes but in many cases the ships are old and small, regardless of HAL, Princess or Carnival. If you can catch a newer Princess ship in transition coming off Panama or on the way to Hawaii or Alaska there is newer metal on the West coast but most options are old and small. Carnival has a captive market offering cheap low frills cruises but how do you make East coast cruising kind of money taking on a low cost competitor? Royal could disrupt Carnival for a season by doing what they have done to the short Florida market (3/4 night cruises). They could bring in a newer ship or a newly AMPED ship for a season and Carnival sales would plummet. There isn't enough itinerary diversity to hold a larger ship there very long so a long term presence for a larger ship is unlikely but the contrast of old low cost versus new whizbang would likely be enough to get people to pay more to sail Royal at least once or twice. The other opportunity for Royal would be to compete more with Princess doing Hawaii round trip runs but that's not your typical family cruise vacation demographic taking Hawaii cruises and that is what Royal is all about. I almost sailed Princess recently on the West coast as they had some crazy low rates repositioning ships as they came or went from Hawaii but even stupidly low fares weren't enough to draw me there. If Royal offered a $112 rate for a 3 night cruise I might do it for points but they aren't going to make money competing at those price points.

I would have a discussion with the deck supervisor. Going straight to the Hotel Director is the nuclear option but skips several layers of management.

If money is no object then a balcony is nice. The counter argument is who spends a lot of time in their cabin? Some do, some don't. As I have climbed up the C&A loyalty ladder my balcony discounts have gotten better so I sometimes will get a balcony depending on price. I'm cruising a fair bit at the moment so a balcony isn't that important. If I was only doing a cruise once every so many years I might be tempted to splurge for a balcony. When cruising often it's much less of a "must have" feature and saving money on the cabin translates into money available for excursions or drink packages. My best cruise memories almost always occur away from my cabin, out experiencing the ship or ports of call. It all depends on the cost to upgrade.

Typical summer peak rates. $3,100 pp for OV? Not so much.

RCI doesn't have a parking lot. The local port does though. Like an airport where the airline doesn't own the parking facilities, Royal doesn't own the port or port parking facility. Port parking just about anywhere is still cheaper compared to my local airport. It's nearly $30 per day to park at my airport. I can use Lyft for that amount.

Could be about to charter. How do the dates on either side of this one look?

Correct. Just make sure your phone and plan support wi-fi calling and you set it up and test it at home well before sailing. If you are unsure about wifi calling stop by an AT&T cell store and work with them to get it working. With wifi calling working before sailing, once onboard turn on airplane mode, connect to Voom and with a paid Voom plan you can make wifi phone calls just like at home. Voom uses satellite for internet so it's not perfect but most of the time it works well enough for wifi calls, except in Alaska.

Yes. I've used it on Anthem and Ovation recently. You can iMessage to other Apple users (blue), even those back home on land. Text messages (green) to non-Apple devices won't work. You'll also get notifications such as news or weather alerts if you have apps that provide those but if you tap a notification the app can't load the content without a paid Voom plan.

I generally stay in an airport hotel and take the free hotel shuttle from the airport to the hotel. In the morning I use a ride share to reach the port.

Different app for Anthem. It uses the RoyalIQ app, at least for now.

Anthem uses the RoyalIQ app which is different than the Royal app. RoyalIQ has an $8 (per cruise) text feature, or if you have iPhones, a loophole allows iMessage to work for free on Anthem for iPhone-to-iPhone messaging. RoyalIQ only works on the ship, you can't use it before sailing like the new Royal app.

Congratulations on achieving Diamond!

Perfect Day at CocoCay is proving immensely popular. Higher demand equates to higher prices. Sales do occur from time to time. The safe thing to do is to buy it now but keep checking for sales. If you find one, cancel this purchase and buy it again at the lower price. You have up to ~3 days before sailing to cancel for a full refund if you change your mind.

Uber has an online fare estimator. Try it this weekend at the time you would need Uber. There are also shuttle companies like Cortans that have reasonable shared shuttle buses. They pickup at the airport or a number of hotels near the airport in Orlando and offer round trip or one way service. It isn't as fast an Uber but a whole lot less expensive. $20 one-way, $40 round trip per passenger. https://www.cortrans-shuttle.com/

I would also add a travel agent would be a great resource in helping to find the best ship and sail date for you. MEI Travel sponsors this site and has many great agents to assist with these types of questions. They charge no fee for their service.

ABC Islands on Explorer in the fall/winter of 2020. Explorer is getting AMPED early in 2020 and eventually comes to Florida in November of next year. Mariner and Navigator are awesome after their AMP and I expect no less from Explorer. Some of the 5 day Explorer itineraries include Perfect Day but most Explorer itineraries do not.

Can you post the source? That is a requirement I've never heard and I'd be surprised if that were the case. "The Key" requires everyone in a cabin to purchase it, but that is not associated with Perfect Day.

The only thing missing I believe are the over water cabanas due in the fall or early winter this year.

Galveston would be cool but the terminal hasn't even been started there. Existing waterfront use has to be moved before terminal construction can even begin. Some point in 2021 would be awesome if it happens but I'll believe it when I see it.

Unlikely they'll change existing home ports. When she returns from Europe in November 2019 she sails to Miami. All December sailings in 2019 through to May 2020 are based in Miami. In May 2020 she leaves for a summer in Bayonne (close to New York city). In October 2020 she leaves Bayonne and sails to Ft. Lauderdale where she spends the 2020/2021 winter. The truth is Ft. Lauderdale and Miami are ~ 25 miles apart. I often fly in Ft. Lauderdale when sailing from Miami for the cheaper domestic airfare. Not that I think they would ever change her home port for booked cruises, but even if they did it would not be an issue.

Welcome to the message boards! Drink package pricing vary for each sailing based on how well sales are progressing. Typically close in sales do not occur but there are always exceptions. If you purchase it now and the price drops you can cancel and re-purchase at the lower price up to ~ 3 days before sailing. The price on board will be much higher. Upgrades are not offered upon boarding, ships sail full or very close to it. If there was an upgrade available it would be sold through the RoyalUP program or offered to a member of the Crown and Anchor loyalty program for previous guests of which there will be many on your sailing.

The concept of giving your table away applies to My Time dining. With my time dining you have 15 minutes after your reservation to present yourself at the host/hostess stand. If you don't make it your table is made available for someone without a reservation who has My Time dining but didn't make reservations. With traditional dining (early or late seating) you are expected to be at the table at the time provided with a small grace period. If you don't show up on time your seat will be empty. If you are at a shared table with other cruisers their meal service will begin shortly after the posted time. They are not going to force everyone to sit and wait for you - those people have shows and other plans that require meal service to operate on schedule. They don't allow stragglers because then the wait staff are trying to manage different guests at different stages of their meal plus it's awkward for any table mates to be eating their meal when you have nothing in front of you because you were late and just ordered. If you are the type (like my step daughter) who simply can never be on time no matter how much we push her, then My Time without reservations may be more suitable but you may have to wait if you try to visit My Time dining during peak times.

More intimate experience. Smaller ships often yield a better service experience with the crew. Embarking and debarking can be easier. Easy to navigate. After sailing mega ships for a number of cruises I was on Vision and was "What am I doing taking the elevator?". It's easy and quick to make it from aft to forward. Smaller ships can visit ports that some big ships can't.