JasonL

Since the never ending question of whether or not the Key is worth it, I thought I'd add to the discussion with my review of the program.
This was a weekday 4 night sailing that my beautiful wife and I did without kids. So just 2 of us and we got a good price of $19.99 per person/per night(total of $159.92).
We were going to get a 2 device internet package already so this played a major role in trying out the program. If we weren't getting the Key we would have paid $23.99/night (total of $95.96) for the 2 device package, so that would have put us at the Key being an additional $63.96
Embarkation day - we got to the port at 10am so we got a private seating area to wait for the ship to be ready. We were 2nd group to board the ship after the Pinnacle and Suite section. Pretty nice to beat the big groups of everyone else. This ended up being a really relaxing start to vacation which is nice because embarkation day can tend to be kinda hectic.
Once on the ship we stopped at the dining room for a Key luggage drop off, also super nice to counter the busy first day. After dropping off our extra luggage we sat down for a "Chops lunch by the MDR". This was a big disappointment as they set expectations too high calling it a Chops lunch. While the steak was good, it was not the same as a Chops steak. The biggest disappointment was from the much different atmosphere and lacking service. I don't blame the staff for the lacking service though, it's gotta be so tough to try and turn over the ship all in a few hours and also try to provide yet another service. Lunch was very slow and I feel like I wasted the early arrival waiting around for a lackluster lunch that went on for almost 2 hours. While this was much less hectic than the windjammer, it's advertised as something that it's not. I wish I'd of just grabbed windjammer food and jumped on the flowrider and took advantage of the small crowds. Key "Chops" lunch was a major dud.
No tenders on this sailing, but if there was I bet this is where I would be raving about my favorite part of the Key.
Special Key only activities:
Rock climbing wall - Not necessary since the lines are never very much
Ice skating - We didn't feel like iceskating so we didn't utilize this, but if you like ice skating this is a very nice perk. We have done the Open skate before and it's crazy! It's overcrowded and super hectic. Having this private skate time is the way to go!
Water-slides - Love the waterslides and during our 1 hour key time we went over and and over and over until I couldn't handle the stairs anymore. A nice perk to avoid lines for sure.
Skypad - I was very excited for this as I thought it looked very cool. Turns out you can always go with no lines because the Skypad is a complete fail by Royal. I only did it once and once again I wish I'd of just done another ride on the Flowrider. Sad to say the Skypad is a huge dud, it's not every worth doing once. You aren't missing anything
Flowrider - Yes please, love love love the Flowrider! Only problem here is you only get 1 hour of Key only and it seems every Key member took this opportunity to try it out. The line ended up being just as long as the open ride times. Still, anytime I can go on more of this, sign me up.
Special Seating at shows - This is especially awesome for the Ice Show. The Ice show is so A MAZ ING. We waited in line early for the first showing because even though we got private seating my wife wanted her first pick of front row seats. We loved the Ice show so much though that we went last minute to the second showing and sat in the Key/suite section. Nice seats, totally a great perk of the Key, but the show is so fun and interactive that I do recommend trying to go early and get front row seats at least once. If you don't know, the Ice show is super popular for good reason and you need to make it a priority on your cruise! We also used the Key/Suite seating for a couple of the headliner shows, center stage on balcony level. My wife prefers front row seating, but I was perfectly content with these seats as I won't get scowled at if I fall asleep. Still if you don't want to show up early for prime seating it's very nice to have the option. Only problem is other people used this seating as it isn't labeled very well and no one regulates it.
Disembarkation day we got a private breakfast in the MDR. The wife and I both got NY steak and eggs. This steak was better than the lunch steak, as was the whole experience. This was by far the best breakfast we had all cruise. They also hold your luggage while you are eating, if you kept your luggage for a self assist disembarkation as we did. The Key does offer a special luggage checkout system, but we like to self assist if we don't have the kids. After breakfast we met up with a Key disembarkation staff that lead us to the front of the line to exit the ship. Pretty cool, but we definitely got some dirty looks from the other guests.
Overall the Key was very much worth it for just the 2 of us. $63.96 was a steal for all the extra perks we got. $19.99/person is a steal of a deal though as we've seen it as high as $35/person. What's the highest I would go for the wife and I??  Well that depends on the ports and ship. Tender port on an Oasis I might go as high as $29.99, but a simpler ship I wouldn't go over $19.99. I'm not sure if we'll try it on our upcoming sailing with the 3 kids as this is a lot of extra money. I would probably have to find another $19.99 deal to keep the total cost down. I hope this review finds you well and my rambling didn't get too confusing. Nevertheless I am ready for another cruise, February can't come soon enough!
 
 
 
 

Since the never ending question of whether or not the Key is worth it, I thought I'd add to the discussion with my review of the program.
This was a weekday 4 night sailing that my beautiful wife and I did without kids. So just 2 of us and we got a good price of $19.99 per person/per night(total of $159.92).
We were going to get a 2 device internet package already so this played a major role in trying out the program. If we weren't getting the Key we would have paid $23.99/night (total of $95.96) for the 2 device package, so that would have put us at the Key being an additional $63.96
Embarkation day - we got to the port at 10am so we got a private seating area to wait for the ship to be ready. We were 2nd group to board the ship after the Pinnacle and Suite section. Pretty nice to beat the big groups of everyone else. This ended up being a really relaxing start to vacation which is nice because embarkation day can tend to be kinda hectic.
Once on the ship we stopped at the dining room for a Key luggage drop off, also super nice to counter the busy first day. After dropping off our extra luggage we sat down for a "Chops lunch by the MDR". This was a big disappointment as they set expectations too high calling it a Chops lunch. While the steak was good, it was not the same as a Chops steak. The biggest disappointment was from the much different atmosphere and lacking service. I don't blame the staff for the lacking service though, it's gotta be so tough to try and turn over the ship all in a few hours and also try to provide yet another service. Lunch was very slow and I feel like I wasted the early arrival waiting around for a lackluster lunch that went on for almost 2 hours. While this was much less hectic than the windjammer, it's advertised as something that it's not. I wish I'd of just grabbed windjammer food and jumped on the flowrider and took advantage of the small crowds. Key "Chops" lunch was a major dud.
No tenders on this sailing, but if there was I bet this is where I would be raving about my favorite part of the Key.
Special Key only activities:
Rock climbing wall - Not necessary since the lines are never very much
Ice skating - We didn't feel like iceskating so we didn't utilize this, but if you like ice skating this is a very nice perk. We have done the Open skate before and it's crazy! It's overcrowded and super hectic. Having this private skate time is the way to go!
Water-slides - Love the waterslides and during our 1 hour key time we went over and and over and over until I couldn't handle the stairs anymore. A nice perk to avoid lines for sure.
Skypad - I was very excited for this as I thought it looked very cool. Turns out you can always go with no lines because the Skypad is a complete fail by Royal. I only did it once and once again I wish I'd of just done another ride on the Flowrider. Sad to say the Skypad is a huge dud, it's not every worth doing once. You aren't missing anything
Flowrider - Yes please, love love love the Flowrider! Only problem here is you only get 1 hour of Key only and it seems every Key member took this opportunity to try it out. The line ended up being just as long as the open ride times. Still, anytime I can go on more of this, sign me up.
Special Seating at shows - This is especially awesome for the Ice Show. The Ice show is so A MAZ ING. We waited in line early for the first showing because even though we got private seating my wife wanted her first pick of front row seats. We loved the Ice show so much though that we went last minute to the second showing and sat in the Key/suite section. Nice seats, totally a great perk of the Key, but the show is so fun and interactive that I do recommend trying to go early and get front row seats at least once. If you don't know, the Ice show is super popular for good reason and you need to make it a priority on your cruise! We also used the Key/Suite seating for a couple of the headliner shows, center stage on balcony level. My wife prefers front row seating, but I was perfectly content with these seats as I won't get scowled at if I fall asleep. Still if you don't want to show up early for prime seating it's very nice to have the option. Only problem is other people used this seating as it isn't labeled very well and no one regulates it.
Disembarkation day we got a private breakfast in the MDR. The wife and I both got NY steak and eggs. This steak was better than the lunch steak, as was the whole experience. This was by far the best breakfast we had all cruise. They also hold your luggage while you are eating, if you kept your luggage for a self assist disembarkation as we did. The Key does offer a special luggage checkout system, but we like to self assist if we don't have the kids. After breakfast we met up with a Key disembarkation staff that lead us to the front of the line to exit the ship. Pretty cool, but we definitely got some dirty looks from the other guests.
Overall the Key was very much worth it for just the 2 of us. $63.96 was a steal for all the extra perks we got. $19.99/person is a steal of a deal though as we've seen it as high as $35/person. What's the highest I would go for the wife and I??  Well that depends on the ports and ship. Tender port on an Oasis I might go as high as $29.99, but a simpler ship I wouldn't go over $19.99. I'm not sure if we'll try it on our upcoming sailing with the 3 kids as this is a lot of extra money. I would probably have to find another $19.99 deal to keep the total cost down. I hope this review finds you well and my rambling didn't get too confusing. Nevertheless I am ready for another cruise, February can't come soon enough!
 
 
 
 

All the Oasis class ships with Allure being on the bottom of that list and whatever Oasis class is the Newest on the top

All the Oasis class ships with Allure being on the bottom of that list and whatever Oasis class is the Newest on the top

All the Oasis class ships with Allure being on the bottom of that list and whatever Oasis class is the Newest on the top

I just paid $4.95 for a gallon of gas and felt I was getting a good deal.  If I can get a burger and fries for under $10 I am doing good.  2 1/2 years ago gas was $3.25 and lunch as $4.  Inflation is killing everything including the cruise market.  We have been waiting to go back to Disneyland until the prices goes down and I just read Disney is raising prices.  Lucky, I have been booking 2 years out, so I am OK for the next year.  All I can do now is book my 2025 cruises when they come out and hope the prices come down.

Cruising is our families favorite vacation, but the prices are soaring. Used to always be able to find the value cruise for a family of 5 on an older Oasis or Freedom/Voyager. It seems those days are gone. Anyone else feeling the pinch on cruise prices recently? I know demand is up and with that comes higher prices, but I can't even find reasonable Freedom/Voyager sailing anymore. Sadly I think we need to look elsewhere for our family vacations for a while. 😭
Might even have to try dipping my toes in the C word and see how the pricing compares

Cruising is our families favorite vacation, but the prices are soaring. Used to always be able to find the value cruise for a family of 5 on an older Oasis or Freedom/Voyager. It seems those days are gone. Anyone else feeling the pinch on cruise prices recently? I know demand is up and with that comes higher prices, but I can't even find reasonable Freedom/Voyager sailing anymore. Sadly I think we need to look elsewhere for our family vacations for a while. 😭
Might even have to try dipping my toes in the C word and see how the pricing compares

Cruising is our families favorite vacation, but the prices are soaring. Used to always be able to find the value cruise for a family of 5 on an older Oasis or Freedom/Voyager. It seems those days are gone. Anyone else feeling the pinch on cruise prices recently? I know demand is up and with that comes higher prices, but I can't even find reasonable Freedom/Voyager sailing anymore. Sadly I think we need to look elsewhere for our family vacations for a while. 😭
Might even have to try dipping my toes in the C word and see how the pricing compares

Cruising is our families favorite vacation, but the prices are soaring. Used to always be able to find the value cruise for a family of 5 on an older Oasis or Freedom/Voyager. It seems those days are gone. Anyone else feeling the pinch on cruise prices recently? I know demand is up and with that comes higher prices, but I can't even find reasonable Freedom/Voyager sailing anymore. Sadly I think we need to look elsewhere for our family vacations for a while. 😭
Might even have to try dipping my toes in the C word and see how the pricing compares

Cruising is our families favorite vacation, but the prices are soaring. Used to always be able to find the value cruise for a family of 5 on an older Oasis or Freedom/Voyager. It seems those days are gone. Anyone else feeling the pinch on cruise prices recently? I know demand is up and with that comes higher prices, but I can't even find reasonable Freedom/Voyager sailing anymore. Sadly I think we need to look elsewhere for our family vacations for a while. 😭
Might even have to try dipping my toes in the C word and see how the pricing compares

99.9% of our Harmony cruise out of Miami was amazing and magical... but...
We made a series of mistakes on disembarkation day
We got off the ship at 9, complete chaos at this time. Should have walked off with our luggage first thing.
Trying to rent a car... apparently a huge mistake in Miami by the cruise port. They "reserved" us(and 30 other people) a vehicle they didn't have, people were sitting around for hours waiting for cars. There was also 100 people waiting for the rental car bus which seated about 12, there was almost fist fights from desperate people trying to get on the bus that showed up every 45 minutes. We actually ended up jumping in a limousine that dropped some other folks off, but it cost an arm and a leg. 
We ended up trying to fight for a bus to the rental car place for 45 minutes until we got the limo ride to the rental car facility which didn't actually have a car for us. So we flagged down an Uber and just said the heck with it, lets go to the airport.
Only flight back to Seattle was at 5:30 and they didn't check bags until 3:30 so we wandered the airport with our 3 kids for 3 hours before being able to go through security.
 
Next time we will do the RC excursion that ends at the airport. Way easier exit from the terminal with less stress and a fun end to a cruise instead of a hair pulling pit of anger.
My question is how does Royal build a beautiful new terminal that is a breeze to get through, but they allow the last thing you remember about the trip to be a nightmare. Who were the engineers that designed that disaster? Some really bad civil planning there on the traffic flow to that terminal! May God have mercy on their souls

Cruising is our families favorite vacation, but the prices are soaring. Used to always be able to find the value cruise for a family of 5 on an older Oasis or Freedom/Voyager. It seems those days are gone. Anyone else feeling the pinch on cruise prices recently? I know demand is up and with that comes higher prices, but I can't even find reasonable Freedom/Voyager sailing anymore. Sadly I think we need to look elsewhere for our family vacations for a while. 😭
Might even have to try dipping my toes in the C word and see how the pricing compares

I wonder if Mr. Bailey is self aware enough to realize that the outrage was not purely driven by this survey question, but was a symptom of the growing negative perception of his brand in the last 9 or 10 months by its most ardent supporters. It was simply the straw that threatened to break the camels back. There was a time not that long ago when this survey question would not be given much credence by the faithful on the boards here. "Ehh... It's just a survey question. Don't freak out" is what I'm sure most would have said. But at this point in time, we have been conditioned to absolutely not give them any benefit of the doubt when it comes to price hikes and service reductions. That trust seems mostly gone. They've squandered it. And once their balance sheets look a little better in a few years, they may have trouble getting that trust back.

I'm not surprised there was uproar or that it was decided not to charge for pizza. I'm more annoyed about the question being asked at all. I feel like cruising will eventually keep charging more and more until I decide to vacation elsewhere. But for now, I still love it! Please keep the standards free and make your money on the extras!

I like the 5/5:30 time personally. It gives me an opportunity to get my 4th meal in later that night. 

Not if you're smart enough to marry into a loyalty level. 😁
I was going to hold out for Diamond but I kinda liked my wife at the time.

I prefer to book the rooms split up anyways. Allows me to get a drink package without the wife having to get one.  Just ask your options when you are being assigned your cards, shouldn't be a problem.

I prefer to book the rooms split up anyways. Allows me to get a drink package without the wife having to get one.  Just ask your options when you are being assigned your cards, shouldn't be a problem.

I prefer to book the rooms split up anyways. Allows me to get a drink package without the wife having to get one.  Just ask your options when you are being assigned your cards, shouldn't be a problem.

This could have happened with any cruise line. This is rare to happen, but it happens. A good TA would have made this experience a lot less pleasant. 

Booked this as my first solo cruise. Fresh off Radiance and decided solo is the way to go on this one. 😀

My Wife and I will be on this one with our 3 kids- 15 & 12 year old Daughters, 7 year old Son at time of sailing
Super excited to get the kids cruising again!

Contact the casino to see if they will allow you to use the next cruise certificate with a comp 
you never get C&A points for being a no show. 

Just an FYI for anyone looking for tests
emed currently has a 6pack for $150 + $20 next day shipping(approximately)
optum has a 2 pack for $70 + free shipping or a 3 pack for $99 + free shipping