AussieCoasterKing

Sailed on Brilliance out of Sydney 4 weeks ago. Times not being checked. All being well just drop your bag off anytime from 8, explore Circular Quay/The Rocks and show up any time after 11 and you shouldn't have any issues.

Not sure of the protocol out of Sydney, but on all our sailing out of the US the Suites and Pinnacles go first with the D+ next and so forth and so on. We rarely get suites and the D+ embarkation is about 5~10 minutes after the loftier folks get on. This year all our 11:00am boarding times have been more like 10:15~10:30.

Inshan Mohammed, absolutely. The mannerisms, the conversation, he was a fantastic as the Mad Hatter.
I even tried pouting on the steps of Wonderland in an attempt to get him to stay.
 

We just got off 4 weeks on Symphony, weeks 2~5 of Symphony's restart (More on that later).
First, I wanted to talk about passenger count and the odds of a Royal Up bid.
Our cruise passenger count would drop daily as better counts were out.
Aug 21st the first count was around 1,500 and eventually whittled down to 1,127. Rumor was 125 were turned away for insufficient or improper documentation as adjustments were made.
Aug 29th we heard about 1,700 and eventually Coco Cay was told to prepare for only 1,414.
Sept 4th, the holiday week, they still had 2,100 reservations on the books. Ended up with a number around 1,725 +/-50
Sept 11th we had the largest number of B2B at 93. It was moved from Boleros to the Schooner Bar. Last number I heard, but seemed high compared to Sept 4th, was 1,750 +/- 100.
Things are very fluid right now. It is hard to plan for an exact number, as some people are waiting till the last minute to cancel, likely in hopes of better protocols. 
But to cruise with those numbers is perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Royal Up was crazy. People would Royal Up from Interior to Balcony, Balcony to Grand Suite, Grand Suite to Royal Loft (Aug 29th).
People we interacted with won Royal Up to the Ultimate Family Suite (About 8 passengers with only paying the Bid for the first 2 passengers), Deck 8 Aqua 2-Bd with the largest balcony (1 occupant), Crown Lofts were going like penny candy in a candy store, Owner's Suite were available, and naturally those Royal Ups created a backfill for Grand Suite, Junior Suite, Balcony and Ocean View. Right now, if you are cruising on the Symphony, have an interior stateroom, and give a reasonable Royal Up bid there is a lot of backfill above you sitting empty.
We received Royal Up all 3 weeks we bid up from Grand Suite (Aug 29th we did not bid, rather stayed with Star Class Aqua 2-Bd).
Below is meant as nothing more than reading the past x numbers on the roulette wheel sign to increase your odds of winning.
Therefore, I am not giving the exact $$ number, which likely would not work right now anyway, but my Aug 21st and Sept 4th bids were notably less than $500. (Remember, the bid $$ is per person for up to the first 2 passengers).
Aug 21 Grand Suite to Crown Loft.
Aug 29th - We did not bid up from Star Class Aqua 2-Bd, but I know the winning Grand Suite to Royal Loft Royal Up bid was notably less than $3,000 per/person.
Sep 4th Grand Suite to Owner's Suite Deck 12 240 (Which has a mildly annoying post in the several yards into the middle of the entrance to the room).
Sep 11th Grand Suite to Star Class Aqua 2-Bd Deck 10 734 for notably less than $1,700 per/person.

Again, the passenger counts were very low, and those numbers may not be more than a guideline right now, especially since they are now more public.
You may get it for a lesser bid, or you may bid a little more and still not get it.
The objective is to encourage you to sign up for Royal Up if you have not done so, and to BID FOLKS!

Closing thoughts:
Professional Photographer, Ajuraj (pronounced Achoo, like a sneeze is acceptable) and Aakash are fantastic! Though his studio shots are excellent, Ajuraj is willing to break away from the normal studio style photos. I saw him shoot one couple at CBC getting low for a continuation of the pool into the ocean at the infinity pool. It is worth a sitting. Some examples below.
Sunil is a great Royal Genie. At various times we had interaction with the entire Royal Genie staff. Even the newest Genie was great and willing to serve from my interaction with him and one passenger where that is who was his Royal Genie.
Hairspray, Mark Preston, and Jeff Tracta were great entertainment. When comedian Landry said he would bring on the headliner for the Family Comedy Show, the lady behind us appropriately said, "Headliner, I thought he was the headliner," because he was that good.
The entire staff is so eager to serve. We made many friends over 4 weeks. Priya in Guest Services, Flavia in Next Cruise, if we could have packed waitress May at Hooked Restaurant in our luggage we would have, Victor, Praveen and many of the photo staff for special night and port pictures produced great shots in our photo package, Made and Alina on the Rising Tide Bar, Sachin and Mark in Chops, Radu and Boodhoo in Jamie's, Justin and Decan have the Coastal Kitchen and seating running like a well oiled machine, same with the Johnny Rockets crew who occasionally come out and put on a performance on Boardwalk, Rebeka at Sugar Beach is sweeter than the sugar behind the door, even Maria in housekeeping whose task was to keep the fwd Promenade stairs by the big lollipop cleaned down to the entertainment on Deck 4 was super friendly and excited to see passengers she recognized.
If possible, I would list so many great crew members, but let me list those who were not great--ready--NOBODY!

On a sad note, the Mad Hatter of so many years retired (24 years) at the end of the Aug 21st cruise. There is a replacement, but it will take some time to get the character down, according to those that went starting Aug 29th.

Safety precautions were great. In San Juan, Channel 13 interviewed myself and several passengers about safety concerns.
Safety Concerns? I told them I was more concerned during my air transportation than on the ship, and my daughter is a flight attendant.
Here are some examples:
The day before the cruise, even though I answered several emails, I received a call from Royal to verify I was vax'ed and would be providing proof.
Don't have the negative test paperwork, you don't get on. Ever see that at a hotel? At the airport?
Vax'ed have a colored wristband, Unvax'ed do not, so anyone can instantly tell if the person next to you has been vax'ed or not. Ever see that at the grocery store? Shopping Mall? (Let's hope that never comes to land. No Scarlet Letters or wristbands, but because of the media, I can understand it on the ship).
Even though Vax'ed and UnVax'ed are separated by Decks in the MDR, there is still table spacing distancing. Maybe some land restaurants have that, but do they include the proper docs to verify?
At the Casino, when anyone gets up, they wipe the area down fast.
The crew is tested once or twice a week, perhaps depending on the amount of interaction with passengers. We had Zero Positives during our cruises.
6 or your group in an elevator.
Okay, a comment here about elevator limits, folks. Use common sense. If 6 unvax'ed strangers can get in the larger capacity elevators, is it really unsafe if a group of 6 and 2 vax'ed get in the elevator? Many times, as long as no one objected, 6 or more of us invited vax'ed (we would see their wristbands) in the elevator if they wished.
In 4 weeks, I only had one group of six friends, panicky adamant about the sign saying only 6. I mean over the top panicky. If a 7th got on, especially not one of their 6 group, they would all surely die before the end of the cruise. That was okay. I understand how the media has overplayed the safety concerns aboard ships. In that scenario I wasn't concerned about CoVid-19 variants. I was concerned about forgetting all my years successfully writing procedures and protocols to meet general Federal Aviation Build Guidelines.
Anyway, on and on the precautions are in play.
In 4 weeks B2B you see so much that many shorter time passenger miss. In this case, I was impressed.


 

I'd settle for a mattress that stops me feeling the supporting "frame" underneath it!

I'd settle for a mattress that stops me feeling the supporting "frame" underneath it!

Hi All
 
I find myself in turmoil and hope you can all help me out. We recently cruised on the Radiance and almost left the ship after the first night because the bed was SO bad! Firm would not begin to describe it. On top of this my wife has a bad back.
 
When I was talking to management. Somebody in charge of Laundry. He explained that I should expect a harder (older) bed on a ship of this age. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. After a lot of arguments they were able to improve the situation but it was still the worse bed I've ever slept on and I've done a lot of camping.
 
My question is. What experience do other people have on RCCL ships? Our first cruise was on Allure and that was one of the best beds I've slept on. We even looked at trying to buy one of those mattresses! They don't ship to Australia. http://www.royalcaribbeanbeddingcollection.com
 
I was planning a Christmas cruise on Voyager but thats older ship then the Radiance. Can anyone tell me what the beds are like on the Voyager??
 
Any help would be appreciated. I'm trying to follow Master Matt's advice about booking my next cruise but unfortunately in Australia we only have older RCCL ships.
 
Thanks

Hi All
 
I find myself in turmoil and hope you can all help me out. We recently cruised on the Radiance and almost left the ship after the first night because the bed was SO bad! Firm would not begin to describe it. On top of this my wife has a bad back.
 
When I was talking to management. Somebody in charge of Laundry. He explained that I should expect a harder (older) bed on a ship of this age. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. After a lot of arguments they were able to improve the situation but it was still the worse bed I've ever slept on and I've done a lot of camping.
 
My question is. What experience do other people have on RCCL ships? Our first cruise was on Allure and that was one of the best beds I've slept on. We even looked at trying to buy one of those mattresses! They don't ship to Australia. http://www.royalcaribbeanbeddingcollection.com
 
I was planning a Christmas cruise on Voyager but thats older ship then the Radiance. Can anyone tell me what the beds are like on the Voyager??
 
Any help would be appreciated. I'm trying to follow Master Matt's advice about booking my next cruise but unfortunately in Australia we only have older RCCL ships.
 
Thanks

Hi All
 
I find myself in turmoil and hope you can all help me out. We recently cruised on the Radiance and almost left the ship after the first night because the bed was SO bad! Firm would not begin to describe it. On top of this my wife has a bad back.
 
When I was talking to management. Somebody in charge of Laundry. He explained that I should expect a harder (older) bed on a ship of this age. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. After a lot of arguments they were able to improve the situation but it was still the worse bed I've ever slept on and I've done a lot of camping.
 
My question is. What experience do other people have on RCCL ships? Our first cruise was on Allure and that was one of the best beds I've slept on. We even looked at trying to buy one of those mattresses! They don't ship to Australia. http://www.royalcaribbeanbeddingcollection.com
 
I was planning a Christmas cruise on Voyager but thats older ship then the Radiance. Can anyone tell me what the beds are like on the Voyager??
 
Any help would be appreciated. I'm trying to follow Master Matt's advice about booking my next cruise but unfortunately in Australia we only have older RCCL ships.
 
Thanks

On my Anthem cruise in October, our mattresses were so hard, it was almost unbearable. Our Navigator cruise in February had a pretty hard mattress as well, but we were in one of the new rooms on deck 12. I never had these problems on our first few cruises. 

Hi. Everyone. I realize this blog is old, but I am responding for anyone who would like to travel on one of these ships soon.  I have been on the below ships within the past 7 months.
 
Freedom of the Seas (twice) - comfy bed in both our interior and balcony rooms
Brilliance of the Seas - hard bed
Enchantment of the Seas - hard bed
Vision of the Seas - REALLY hard bed
 
Freedom offers the most comfortable bedding of them all.  The other ships had beds that were hard as rocks!  My husband likes firm mattresses, but even he said they are too hard. Vision was so bad that we had over half a dozen extra pillows brought to our room, and we lined them up under the mattress pad.  I suggest that if you do go on one of these cruises, buy a portable foam mattress pad.  I got the Simmons Siesta Memory Foam Roll-up Bed recently, and I am going to bring it on my next cruise on the Oasis. I pray Oasis is better, but I am not taking any chances from now on.

Oh wow! I had no idea the podcasts were there. I will get listening! :)

Only the best podcast ever! You have to listen to every ep if you've never cruised before!
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/royal-caribbean-blog-podcast/id685427740?mt=2
 
That's the Australian link but it should work for you! Enjoy!

Only the best podcast ever! You have to listen to every ep if you've never cruised before!
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/royal-caribbean-blog-podcast/id685427740?mt=2
 
That's the Australian link but it should work for you! Enjoy!

Congratulations Extra Petite!
We had two hours of photography but he spent more time with us then that. Probably helped we were on a ship that didn't get a lot of weddings. There was only 4 of us (guess you call that a REALLY small group). We were also able to split the photos into two days which meant we all had to get dressed up twice but it allowed us to do outside shots on a beautiful day. 
 
Our photographer was pretty good at what he did. He was very nice! I wouldn't call him a professional and some shots were disappointing, but others were great! Honestly, I could imagine some would be less experienced but I suspect the bigger ships that have A LOT more weddings would also have more experienced photographers. 
 
My advice would be. Don't be afraid to speak up if you want a different location (they were very accommodating for us). Take the time of day into consideration (I even thought about the direction the ship was facing) and make sure he's taking the pictures at the highest resolution he can.
 
Matt, perhaps Extra Petite could come on the show after the wedding?
 
Good luck!

Hi, is anyone able to offer advice on photography packages? I am getting married next month on oasis and not sure whether to upgrade the photography package. We are a small party, under 15 of us. Will one hour be enough for photos? I would like group shots after the ceremony and I would like photos in the different neighbourhoods of ship. Did you like your photos? I've read that they can be hit or miss. Any insights would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks for your replies everyone! I was hoping someone might've had someone or heard of someone who was able to go into the teen club as I feel she would be more comfortable in there (she's the oldest of all her friends).. Anyway I'll certainly ask when we get on-board. As Matt says "Worse they can do is say no!"
 
Thanks again!

So it looks like its only the Radiance, Oasis and Quantum class ships that have thermal suites. I'm a little surprised and disappointed. 

I started a little self conscious but over time have come to realize that its not a big deal. I actually find I am more active on a cruise than I am at home (pool, shore excursions, stairs, walking around the ship vs. desk job) so I really don't "blimp out" on the cruise. Not saying you should order two of everything, but an extra appetizer or entrée is not a big deal.
 
As our waiter would say in response to every request on our last cruise "why not?"

FWIW, they dont have a thermal suite on Freedom class.  It is on Oasis and Quantum class, however.

Might do that Rekkie thanks! Do you have anyone specific you deal with?

Thanks for your advice Matt but thats what lead me to ask the question.. Apparently customer service for TA in Australia is non-existent.
 
I have to admit it isn't much fun trying to deal with RCCL over the phone here either. The VOIP lines they use sound like your trying to talk through two tin cans and some string!

Book Ovation via ozcruising.com.au they have $100 deposits and give a small OBC as well.. The catch is they want a full payment by May 2016, however if you pay a little more in the deposit that is extended to October 2016

Hi All
 
Sometimes the best days to book cruises are on the first few days the line
opens them for booking - think Alaska is one of these for sure.  AS with all
things they are subject to change.
 
So here is the opening days you can book cruises with RCI for future dates
Week of March 9th    - Summer/Fall Caribbean 2016 and Northeast and Canada
Week of March 15th -  Europe and Alaska 2016
Week of March 30th -  Winter Caribbean 2017 and Northeast
Week of April 13th   -   Exotics and Australia
 

We've cruised in Asia and Australia and everything is charged in US$. As far as what's a better deal, I think it depends if your credit card company charges an exchange fee. Mine doesn't, so it's always a better deal. The best way to go is to pay with US$ cash. If you have to use credit card some exchange services (in Australia) lets you buy foreign currancy on your credit card (no it's not considered a cash advance).
Luke.