Curt From Canada

Most of this thread is about perspective and where you have been and where you want to go. My wife and I came over from Carnival and have a whopping 5 points on RC. For the value RC has a better business model than Carnival but they do have drawbacks too. They are a for-profit-organization and that drives their many faceted decisions. They balance that with their business model to make shareholders happy as well as consumers; not an easy task.
I have noticed that if you have been around for many points you have seen things come and go and your perspective can be very different than a newbie like me. Cruising is still a very good way to spend vacation dollars as it has about everything you would want and don't have to do a lot of planning once you board the ship.  Some of my friends say they will never step foot on a cruise ship but they are also the ones that always ask me how it went when I come back.
You guys and gals spend a lot of money on annual cruises and at some point you want to have some perks for all your efforts - I get it as well as does RC, but in the end, their decisions will always be based on profit margins and that is something that can make some people upset and threaten to go cruise somewhere else.
As a newbie I will keep cruising for awhile until I get bored with it, if ever, and I will stick with RC until it doesn't make sense.  I'm 57 so all these perks won't matter too me much since I started so late and only take 1 cruise a year ☹️.
I have learned a lot from the members on RCBLOG and have saved myself countless time and research just based off of the groups discussions. For example - I just did a 5 day cruise on Indy out of Fort Lauderdale and the place I stayed the night before and where I went to eat (La Bamba), beaches at Costa Maya and Cozumel (Nachi Cocom) all came from conversations I have read on this Blog. Good stuff on this board!

I've sailed a number of times now since The Key program has been available.  Only once have I purchased it when I did the review on the initial Key cruise on Oasis in November.  
I've cruised six times without buying The Key as a D+ with the Key available for purchase.
I've experienced zero impact to my D+ benefits.
As far as I am concerned I am glad Royal has a developed a new source of revenue that doesn't require me to buy into it or have any impact to me.  This means they can keep the cost of cruising low for the rest of us without cutting service levels.  I have no problem with that.
The most impact was one sailing when Key guest were called to board after suites but before D+.  This "delayed" the D+ call by 47 seconds.  Yep, I boarded 47 seconds later that I would have otherwise.  No big deal.  No impact.  

I've seen a lot of folks have issues on the last night of the cruise too..... due to people placing their luggage out early in the evening (too early in my opinion)

Lectures.  Now before anybody accuses me of trying to ruin all the parties, I am suggesting a more mainstream and relevant approach.  One of the best cruises we have been on was our cruise to Alaska.  RCL had arranged for two down to earth professors to conduct "lectures" on what we were going to see.  They were simple and very informative.  They enhanced many of the things we saw on our cruise.  Given all the places we can potentially cruise to, I have to believe that a few hours over a few mornings per cruise is worth it to make the shore excursions even better.  Tour guides are great, but the day goes so fast that being better prepared would help us enjoy the day tour even more.
To lessen the reaction, I will also say that we would like bigger and better dance floors.  The live music on RCL is excellent, their dance floors need some work.

I agree 100% ... sales pitches are not "lectures".  The university profs on Radiance in Alaska were fantastic.  Similarly, the best Dance instructors we ever had on a ship (Grandeur - OCT 2018) were not RCL talent.  They were hired by RCL to just teach dance classes, no sales pitch, no other duties.  

Lectures.  Now before anybody accuses me of trying to ruin all the parties, I am suggesting a more mainstream and relevant approach.  One of the best cruises we have been on was our cruise to Alaska.  RCL had arranged for two down to earth professors to conduct "lectures" on what we were going to see.  They were simple and very informative.  They enhanced many of the things we saw on our cruise.  Given all the places we can potentially cruise to, I have to believe that a few hours over a few mornings per cruise is worth it to make the shore excursions even better.  Tour guides are great, but the day goes so fast that being better prepared would help us enjoy the day tour even more.
To lessen the reaction, I will also say that we would like bigger and better dance floors.  The live music on RCL is excellent, their dance floors need some work.

Lectures.  Now before anybody accuses me of trying to ruin all the parties, I am suggesting a more mainstream and relevant approach.  One of the best cruises we have been on was our cruise to Alaska.  RCL had arranged for two down to earth professors to conduct "lectures" on what we were going to see.  They were simple and very informative.  They enhanced many of the things we saw on our cruise.  Given all the places we can potentially cruise to, I have to believe that a few hours over a few mornings per cruise is worth it to make the shore excursions even better.  Tour guides are great, but the day goes so fast that being better prepared would help us enjoy the day tour even more.
To lessen the reaction, I will also say that we would like bigger and better dance floors.  The live music on RCL is excellent, their dance floors need some work.

PIMA ... now this gets funnier.  The first time I saw it, I did have too much to drink.  Therefore, I gave it a second chance the next time we were on Anthem.  Totally sober, should have been drunk.
I saw Columbus on Anthem 2 months ago ... that should be the Show quality they are aiming for on their in-house productions.
Curt from Canada
 

PIMA ... it could have been "The Gift" and is was terrible.  I saw it twice (just in case I was wrong the first time).  I was not.
 

1.  Any Ship that has an easy to find, great dance floor (even if just for two) ... Thank you Grandeur, Anthem, Harmony and Radiance.
2.  Any Ship that still has an Upper Deck Lounge that anyone can go to ... Thank you Grandeur, Freedom, Radiance, Adventure and Explorer.
3.  Any Ship that has a Central Park ... Thank you Oasis, Allure and Harmony.
4.  Any Ship that has a Diamond Lounge with Ocean views ... Thank you, Grandeur, Anthem, Radiance, Freedom, Adventure, and Explorer.
5.  Never on any Ship that sails over a major holiday.

Thank you for an excellent comparison.  We appreciate the detail and especially the time you put into it.  A few questions:
1) One of the things that we appreciate on cruises is the quality and quantity of the entertainment.  Every all-inclusive we have been to had marginal entertainment (at best).  I think it is obvious they have nothing close to the Broadway shows and the entertainment on the large ships.  However, how did it compare to the smaller ships?
2) The other thing we love is the Orchestras and live bands on every ship.  We will follow them all over the ship to listen and dance to their music if we can.  Did this all-inclusive have anything like?  Was it as good?
3) Ice shows, Diving shows, Two70 ... anything close to this?
Thanks ... Curt from Canada

Thank you for an excellent comparison.  We appreciate the detail and especially the time you put into it.  A few questions:
1) One of the things that we appreciate on cruises is the quality and quantity of the entertainment.  Every all-inclusive we have been to had marginal entertainment (at best).  I think it is obvious they have nothing close to the Broadway shows and the entertainment on the large ships.  However, how did it compare to the smaller ships?
2) The other thing we love is the Orchestras and live bands on every ship.  We will follow them all over the ship to listen and dance to their music if we can.  Did this all-inclusive have anything like?  Was it as good?
3) Ice shows, Diving shows, Two70 ... anything close to this?
Thanks ... Curt from Canada