Phillo

2 minutes ago, Vanessa77 said:

 I know the bamboo room has drink prices outside of the deluxe package, but I was willing to spend extra to try them, but nope nothing there. 

I honestly can't believe they aren't adding Playmakers.

Agree!!

I wonder if its partly to do with the ship spending the other half of the year in Asia?

I have no idea what the figures are like (obviously RCCL do) what people from different cultures spend on cruises  in addition to their fare.

I am sure Australian's spend more at bars etc.... however, do the chinese, japanese etc... spend more on board?  who knows?

The information on this page is illuminating:  https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-are-culturally-enriching-cruises-from-mainland-china

I wonder if their considerations toward the chinese market has influenced what this ship is having done to it?

21 minutes ago, ltw said:

I wasn't expecting this to be to the level of Navigator.

I personally like Mariner's upgrades as opposed to Navigator, but that's just me. 

I would be happy if it was at the level of Mariner, however its not even to that level.

Either they havent announced yet changes in dining venues or bars, there are some things missing compared to the other amplified ships:

- Jamie's Italian (maybe that idea is dead now)

- Lime and Coconut bar

- Playmakers

- Bamboo Room

- Hooked Seafood

To be honest, if they dont do any of them (except for Jamies Italian) that is a disappointment as they look like great venues.

I too have been waiting for this!!  We are doing a 14 night cruise in November - about a month after it comes back online.

Looking forward to finding out the finer details!

On 6/19/2019 at 3:05 PM, FroggyFlo said:

He only drinks sodas.

If he only drinks sodas.... then he can do basically whatever he wants!

I was on a cruise recently (not a RC) and there was a "kid" on there who turned 18 ON THE SHIP..... he was at the front desk asking for a new cruise card at 12:01am!!!  (it was an Australian based cruise, so he could drink once the card came through). he was damned excited! ha!

The other thing not mentioned is that when they are at sea, I assume that their accommodation and meals are also covered. While Accomodation is a moot point (as they will have a home base to go back to) not paying for meals when at sea would amortize their earnings a little.

On 5/31/2019 at 11:12 PM, twangster said:

It's all tracked against the budget so they are constantly fine tuning the menu to stay within the budget as seasonal and regional or cultural differences trends change over time. 

Consequently they don't publish the menu in advance and the menu in the app doesn't always match what is actually offered on any given night of the cruise.

Great insight!!!

On top of this... they also track how much stock is left in their store rooms per cruise.   Depending on the length of the sailing and the ports they visit will determine their ability to restock.

On a cruise I did in the past (not with RCI) the kitchen chef said that on certain pacific island cruises, they ports they visit are NOT suitable for restocking mid cruise.  So they have to plan around a 12 - 14 day itinerary and have ALL stock available on board. If they want to use fresh ingredients, these are usually served at the beginning of the cruise.  Items that they have frozen will be back loaded.  The logistics of stocking cruise kitchens are just phenomenal.

On 5/23/2019 at 5:20 AM, JLMoran said:

Royal futzes around with the pricing based in no small part on how well the pre-cruise purchases are tallying up. If they're below a desired quota, they'll put out a better sale to try and goose the sales some. If that doesn't work, they'll try again or go to the next sale level (e.g., BOGO50 to 30% off), or maybe drop the on-board rate so the current sale on offer ends up dropping a couple of bucks. But if they hit their quota or they're on track with projections, they'll bump the prices back up and never bring them down, because why do they need to? Anyone buying at the "rack rate" at that point is gravy for them. 

I would agree with that.

Since we booked our cruise for this November (booked in January) i have been checking the cruise planner a couple of times a week.

To my great surprise, the drinks package became available for $57 (Australian Dollars) including the service charge.  (for those playing at home - it works out to around $39.5 USD)

Needless to say I jumped on it! 

I would suggest in my case passengers were a bit gun shy at purchasing.  Our cruise is a 14 night cruise and the drinks package becomes quite expensive - so some people are possibly just holding out till closer to the cruise.

Royal Caribbean win because they get the $$ now and can use it as they wish prior to the cruise.

I would love to be a fly on the wall in their analytics department though to see how they make these decisions.

I always find it interesting with the different rules for different countries.

Living in Australia and being very isolated compared to just about every other country (except for New Zealand), having a passport to leave the country is just required.

Without starting a political discussion, it seems that we are moving to a world where you will just need to get a passport (or equivalent) for just about any kind of travel.  It seems that a drivers license will just not cut it anymore.

7 hours ago, spursfreak21 said:

I'm a bit confused...what's the consensus/best guidance - Should you carry your passport with you at ports? Or is it just needed for disembarking at the end of the cruise? 

From the experiences here, it seems that it will depend on the port. 

In my very limited cruise experience, the only time I have needed my passport was for checking into the cruise on Day 1.   Any other port it wasnt required.

That said, this was through Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, so the USA experience is likely to be very very different.

Unless we are going to/from an airport, I never carry my passport when in a destination.

In our room I lock our passports, any currency we dont need immediately and we leave my wife's credit cards and my "spare" debit card as well.  Therefore if we lose our stuff out and about, we have immediate access to funds and ID at the hotel/ship.

I also keep a copy of all documents and itinerary on dropbox AND cloud email.

The only time I would take a passport with me is if I have specifically been told to do so and thats never happened.

I should add, I have a travel wallet specifically for passports that also has my Frequent Flyer cards, sim cards (if travelling overseas) and hidden pockets for cash.

Sorry for resurrecting the topic.

On top of the obvious concerns mentioned above (fauna and size of the ship in ports), I would have also thought one of the concerns would be the size of the ships in relation to its itineries out of Australia.

Other than a few cruises that often do 3 or 4 day sailings to no where, most of the destination cruises are at least 3 days sailing away from major ports. As a result, most cruises to a destination would need to be a minimum of 7 days.   Thats a lot of beds to fill.

Royal Caribbean would probably better off having additional smaller ships operating out of Australia and then bring greater diversity to the itineraries and home ports. I would love to see a Royal Ship home ported in Melbourne for the summer season and do itineries OTHER than New Zealand. (btw... i love new zealand, but i want other experiences too).