Dan Curtis

We have never tried another cruise line, 21 cruises all on Royal, I'm one of those that believe, if its not broke, don't fix it. I guess I like the routine and know what to expect, even though service and other things have changed, I still think its the best bang for the buck. So I guess we are considered loyal in the fact we never shop other cruise lines.

We are because they sail out of Galveston and I can drive to the port.  Plain as that.  Not saying we won't fly to a cruise, but it makes it very convenient when you live close to port!

If I'm honest, I think the main reason we are loyal to royal is because we know what to expect and the perks of C&A.
We, so far, only take one vacation a year and with that we don't want to risk being disappointed by trying something new. We know Royal because we've only done Royal. We know what level of food, service, fun, people etc to expect and that gives us great relief. I truly think if we could cruise more often we'd do more...but we can't.
It does also help that Diamond is such an enticing level to get to. We stayed loyal to royal because we wanted all our monies to go toward getting us to Diamond. And now we're here and no way we wanna give up those perks easily.

I still tend to think cruising is a good deal, you can make it expensive or go cheaper, inside cabin, etc. I know while cruising was down for covid, we did the land vacation to Key Largo and Key West, for a nice meal for two was around 40 to 60 before tip, add car rental if you fly ( which we do from Cincinnati) fuel, it adds up quick, p!us condo or motel coast, I personally think cruising is the best bang for your buck, but once again, its individual chosing.

We have boarded this beauty!!! I have been saying “it’s smaller than any ship we’ve been on so far” but it feels faaaar from small. All the walking spaces are huge and bright, so much natural light filtering in from outside. 
Back to this morning. We Ubered from the airport over to the Channelside district where the cruise terminal is and walked around waiting and waiiiiting for the sun to rise. Luckily it did not disappoint once it finally made its appearance. 😯 



We ate some breakfast at the Waterside Grill  and idled around with some breakfast cocktails (or 5am after an all-nighter cocktails depending on how you look at it) waiting for 9:30 when we could finally go to the Florida Aquarium! 




For around $30 this attraction was pretty entertaining and a good use of our Tampa loitering time. Most of the exhibits focus on water fowl, fish and critters from around Florida. The African Penguins section is pretty lame though, waaaay too small for the amount of penguins they have. The otters were a crowd favorite and I could’ve stood there watching them for a lot longer! 

We made it through the whole thing in about 1.5 hours and started our way back to the ship for boarding. Got to the port at 11:10 for our 11:30 boarding and were let right inside, on board by 11:18! 
We caught them loading the vodka just for us 😂

It is so personal, right? I mean when I woke up early morning of the Icon release credit card in hand I felt like I was punched in the face. The ship's enormous offerings of bells and whistles didn't speak to me. I honestly don't know what I was expecting but I knew even at day one pricing my enjoyment would not equal the price I would be paying. That said my style of cruising at this stage in my life isn't Icon. Clearly though it speaks to many many others and for that I am happy. The company will charge what we are willing to pay for the experience. I personally believe that if you are careful and choose what you know you and your family gravitates to then it is an amazing value vacation.
Same with Coco Cay Cabanas pricing. Previously I indulged in a few cabanas, Bare foot Beach, Oasis Pool, Water Park X 2. I loved the experience, I loved the home base as well as the comfort. Moving forward the prices being what they are I will enjoy a beach bed or lounger. Maybe a Coco Beach club pass, maybe. It's about my personal feeling of cost=enjoyment. I'm weird like that, if I feel it's fair I enjoy it more. 
While I enjoyed my one Star class sailing Sky is my happy place, but again full circle there is something for everyone with Royal and I still feel it's a great value vacation if you know how to make the most of your own choices. Prices going up everywhere, while I am not a Jason Liberty fan at all I get it. I am blessed to be able to vacation once in a while & I choose cruising every time. 

Nope, no one checks or stops you. The times really are only for when they expect luggage to be available in the terminal. If you have no luggage to pick up then you aren't waiting on anything. They also have multiple times for self-disembark to encourage staggered elevator use, but again they don't look at numbers for anything other than luggage pickup.

Just two weeks ago we got off the ship at 740, had Skippy transportation pick us up at 750, it was a Saturday, light traffic, dropped us off at delta less than a hour for a 1045 departure.  Delta check in took maybe 10 minutes, the TSA line was very crowded, took around 35 minutes, but still had more than enough time to get to our gate, I knew things would have to go well, it did. Other flights to Cincinnati we thru Atlanta or 4 in the afternoon, we made it fine.

I remember the Bon Voyage streamers, Midnight Buffet and the Deck 2 portal cabin with the convertable couch to twin bed.

Yes the cabins were smaller.  However Linda and I were two young kids from Kentucky just starting out and to us the rooms looked like the Astoria.  BTW, Linda won the cruise in a contest.
Bill

We are off!!

Just did this last week, highly can recommend Skippy transportation, they text with an eta, was a little early on way to and from port, there was 5 of us, they sent a newer black van, very clean, driver Juliet was amazing, will use again.

Oh gosh, poor Nassau.  I have actually been there so many times I have lost count, and I have never stayed on the ship.  I do have to say I have not been there since Covid, so I am not sure how bad it has become.
What have I done?  Island bus tours, Atlantis visits a few time, catamaran snorkeling a few times, husband has gone scuba diving, resort for the day beach hotel, and so forth, BUT Nassau was always known as one of the best shopping ports.  They used to give you a coupon book and you would have to go to store to store and show the coupon, and they would give you a free little trinket gift.  I always felt extremely safe and comfortable walking all around by myself.  Yes, I went to the straw market, but that was not really my thing, although I have bought a few small items.  We also used to enjoy eating lunch in local restaurants there.
I always liked Nassau-- I found it busy and vibrant, and much superior to Freeport.  I think the port has a lot of potential to improve, but so do many other places in the Caribbean.  I never feel that going to a ship's private island is really a true representation of seeing the culture or the people of the Caribbean--it is just a hidden away beach experience.  I hope Nassau can survive its perhaps undeserved  current negative reputation as a port of call, and return to the glory days when people were quite eager to visit!

We just returned from Nassuau, did a tour we enjoyed, the beach break, food and city tour, very informative and nice beach with lunch, its just so crowded with 4 ships in.

We also just returned from a cruise on the Jewel, awesome wait staff, but I believe the quality has dropped, first night I had one of my favorite meals, prime rib, litterly could not hardly cut it, my wife's as well, I tried eating it, just finally ask for a peace of chicken, there was seven in our group, one couple on the third night went to windjammer to get a hamburger, main dining was just a little over half full that night, I personally don't care for Mexican food, don't care for new menus at all, but won't stop us from cruising. But gave high rating to wait crew.

I take as pic of the names on the table #

We just returned from Nassuau, did a tour we enjoyed, the beach break, food and city tour, very informative and nice beach with lunch, its just so crowded with 4 ships in.

Just did this last week, highly can recommend Skippy transportation, they text with an eta, was a little early on way to and from port, there was 5 of us, they sent a newer black van, very clean, driver Juliet was amazing, will use again.

I keep reading about record number bookings, so I'm guessing "backlash" and "complaints" will mean squat. It costs what costs folks. Deal with it. LOL.

Just got off the Jewel, still have omelet and fresh cooked eggs in windjammer.

Hello again, it's been a while as I last blogged probably in 2019 as a platinum and now am on the cusp of Diamond Plus.
This is our first Radiance Class sailing and will try to touch on the how the sailing is going compared to the topics discussed often in the other sections of the boards.
First off. Embarkation was really tough. The coast guard did a thorough inspection that delayed boarding until after noon. Leaving Tampa was a first for us and parking was right in front of the terminal but the chain link fence was closed due to the inspection. Clearly the size of the terminal with limited seating meant people were kept away. Needless to say, some people were up in arms about the start but hey, glad to know the ship was in top shape!
We had the Key for the first time so we enjoyed the sit down lunch and checked bags. It was all fairly smooth.
We do like big ships but the Radiance class does well for it's size. Absolutely Love the tons of outdoor seating for the Windjammer. We do stay away from indoor crowds and this is a very big plus.  Also the lounges seem larger and more open. 
Dinner is still on the old menu and our personal experience with the food and staff is again top notch.  Unfortunately, there are the biggest lines for My time dining I have seen each of the three days. I am not sure what the issue is but it's impossible to get through the fifth floor entrance without weaving through the multiple lines back past the stair cases. It took a day to figure out that the unstaffed 6th floor entrance was the work around. Still, there is much complaining in the halls.
The bottom line is that staffing seems thin but everyone working is doing their very best. It may be that, as mentioned by the CD, over half the people sailing are top tier status, the most for this ship ever and that may be putting additional strain on staff.
Tomorrow, day 4, is a sea day heading to Colombia. I will catch up on  Grand Cayman and other details. Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer them. 
Oh- on Serenade, Starlink has put the zoom in Vroom. Speeds around the ship so far are averaging  25 to 40 meg down loads but right now it's at 87

I decide to walk the track on deck 5. I don't think I will go again. The lady who cheated on her husband in the casino was there kissing and fondling some man. It always amazes me how on such a big ship you often run into the same people. My brother met me on the track and we took the elevator to deck 16. We perused the WJ and the selection was worse today. It was also a madhouse. We walked down and got in line at Portside. It was crowded and we waited in line for around 20min. Thankfully they have a live performer who sang covers that entertained us during the wait.
Portside BBQ is surprisingly delicious. Maybe too much food but very good. I got all mine sans sauce and othan the ribs it was spectacular. On a very important side note, all the mac and cheese I have tried has been top notch. It was horrible on my first Royal cruise and worse during the restart. I had it at Chops last night and then at Portside today. Both were creamy and cheesy. The brownie/cookies dessert was really good but decadent. The spiked palmer left a little bit to be desired but not the worst specialty drink.
We sat at the picnic tables by the sports deck, sort of a mistake as games were going on and the participants were loud and animated. My brother told me a funny story about a lady getting banned from the gym.
They have special machines for the handicapable. If you are using one the staff will ask you to move if someone in a wheelchair comes in.  A lady was using it, my brother said it was crowded but still plenty enough machines for her to move. She made a big deal about moving and how long it took him to get acclimated to the machine. My brother was doing weights, not on the machines. Another person in a wheelchair came and and the boy next to her moved to accommodate him, she made a fuss and tried to get on his machine. Someone went to the staff and they told her she had to leave after getting her room number. He said she was ranting that wheelchair people aren't so different from the rest us and don't deserve special treatment.
We attempted to go sit on deck as the weather is finally beginning to cooperate but it was impossible to find anywhere to sit. So we came back and sat on our balcony. I might read or nap.
 

Looking forward to this cruise as a preview on her. Also sailing JOTS in 2024 in the Norway Jyords.

First off, I don't blame Royal or any cruise line making money, but threw the years even before covid, they started cutting little things, used to get a couple of chocolates on the bed, ball caps, etc. I still think cruising is less expensive than a normal vacation because off food, entertainment included.  We have never ate at special dining, we enjoy main dining room, we met people from other states, countries, now have friends from California, who we now visit each other, KY to California, the 4 drink a day for diamond is fine with us, we use royal credit points for on board credit and use toward excursions, we do an excursion at ever port, mostly to get off ship and see other parts of the world, it is always up to the individual as to how to spend their own money, we fill blessed to be able to cruiuse, I'm sure you will have an outstanding cruise.