leesam82

I do like the sandwich. But have had mixed experiences depending on the ship. On my allure OTS sailing i thought it was amazing (but this could be just first time bias). Then on the my Anthem OTS sailing at cafe 270 i thought this was average. But my family on their first sailing was amazed by it (again first time bias possible). On my most recent sailing on the Oasis OTS, i had it again and thought it was ok while my family didn't care for it compared to their previous sailing.

I think there could be some first time amazement when you try it and depending on the ship some hit or misses. But like with everything in life don't knock it till you try it. 

Hello Everyone 

Has anyone seen this about the Margaritaville at sea being given a no sail order? 

https://youtu.be/XlTc3MNlmdE

I wonder what happened.

If its limited to cruising I would say Galapagos or Antarctica. I would love to do a small expeditionary cruise as a bucket list cruise. If just a bucket list travel, I will say the Maldives. I really want to stay in one of those over the water bungalows.  

Personally I don't see dividends returning this year. As another poster pointed out, the COVID pandemic put a lot of strain on RCL as a company. They still have a lot of debt on their books. Although cruising has returned, RCL has some major capital commitments such their new ships ICON OTS and Utopia OTS as well as infrastructure build outs at Coco Cay and perfect day at Lelepa building out. Plus with a lot of macro economic factors impacting RCL negatively, I just can't see them returning any dividends this year. I personally think that possibly dividends may return when the company starts announcing a restart of its Amplification projects (not just maintenance drydocks) as this would point to more cash flow. If I were to put money on when dividends would return, I would say possibly end of summer 2023/early fall 2023. I hope by that time the negative macro economic factors would work itself out or at least subside. As long as a recession doesn't hit I will say that the demand for cruising will only increase putting more money back into the company. 

I do plan for emergencies when I travel. My go to loadout is the following 

1) CCs Royal Caribbean Branded Card (IF going on an RCL cruise),Chase Sapphire Preferred (my catch all card if I am not going on a RCL cruise) my American Express Platinum (I use this when I am checking in bags. They have good insurance for lost bags and their concierge service is very helpful ). My HSA card for any medical expenses & my bank debit card. Both the CSP and the AE Platinum have no foreign transaction fees. CSP is nice to have because it is not an AE and is accepted pretty much anywhere. 

2) My wallet will have the usual obvious stuff ie drivers license & insurance card but also cash in different increments $1,$5, & $10s. Maybe a $20 or so. Usually reserve for tips and emergencies. I will also carry an old obsolete shopping card to put into the master switch so I don't have to put my sea pass card in there. 

3) In my carry on i'll have my EDC things which will include travel sized OTC meds (Ibuprofen and Benadryl). A small battery pack with USB cord. At least two extra pair of contact lenses,  My glasses. I will also have a little pen light as well with some rubber bands (in a snack bag ziplock). A dollar store first aid kit. Also the obvious things eg print outs of boarding passes etc.  If i'm cruising I will always have a pair of quick dry hybrid shorts,   quick dry short sleeve shirt, extra pair of underwear, slippers (this is nice especially if I'm hitting the pool early). If i'm not cruising I will have some form of back up clothes just in case. If i'm traveling for work I will also have my extra laptop power cord. 

4) This is a maybe but some type of bar eg granola bar or maybe a snack. 

For those of you have gotten the tumblers old and new, what do you guys do with them afterwards? As mainly a deluxe beverage package consumer who doesn't really use the freestyle nor the tumblers I'm trying to think what to do with them as I have about 2-3 in their original shrink wrap. 

Secondly I would love for there to be some benefit for those cruisers who bring back their tumblers. 

@JC123 I believe you can select digital and prints.  I recently purchased the 100 digital/print package on my most recent cruise. I didn't do both digital and prints so I cannot confirm this 100%. However,  One warning that I don't think is given enough to those who purchase the package is that once you decide a photo is going to be sent digitally you cannot remove it. For example I had some pictures earlier in the cruise that i thought I would get digitally. However later on I saw better pictures and wanted to replace those pictures with that. I was told at the photo center on board that once I select a digital photo I cannot remove it. They said for the staff to remove it I would need to essentially get rid of the pre bought package and then buy another package. So the lesson is select your digital photos towards the end of the cruise and make sure you know 100% that you want it. 

For me it really depends on when I book the cruise and how much time I have till then. I will usually break up the cost of the cruise as much as possible. Also just like many others I will pay the final payment a little earlier maybe about 1-2 weeks in advanced just incase something happens. 

I second @Cruisin and Boozincall about cozumel. During our allure OTS sailing we were swarmed by people trying to get us to give us a ride to "their special beach with great beer and food" . I also found some of the vendors at Roatan a bit annoying. But Cozumel was definitely the worst. 

@megndanielle820 I have been to CocoCay twice. Both times I spent extra money on going to thrill water park. Both days I felt it was money well spent. If we do go back for a third time we may take it easy and not go to thrill water park. But me and my family really love water parks. I would also say if you are the only ship there, it makes it even better as there should be minimal lines. 

@Justin Lee Just as Matt stated, you really have to do the calculations yourself. Prices on the cruise planner can range. Another piece of advice is to look at the price just before you are about to pay for it. One thing I really hate about the RCL cruise planner is that they do not add gratuity to the their calculation of $X/Day till you are about to pay for it. For example I saw before my june sailing that the drink package was going to be $65 a day after discount and I realized that this ddin't include the gratuity which is added right before you check out. Secondly don't be afraid of the 2 for one discount on the cruise planner. I though since I would be the only person in my stateroom getting the drink package as the other guest is not of drinking age I thought this discount would not be worth it. However you do get charged the discounted rate even if there is only a single guest getting the package. Finally as many posters and the royalcarribeanblog.com videos would point out, it is totally fine to purchase and if you see a better deal to cancel and repurchase that. 

Overall what I do to see if the amount I am paying is finacialy worth it, I essentially divide the daily price by about $15 (as many of RCL drinks are $13 + gratuity). If its not a whole number I usually will round it down as I do get bottles of water & specialty coffees. Then I ask myself am I able to drink that amount. If I can't then I say its not worth it. Another way I look at it is that when I am on a cruise I don't want to calculate how many drinks I've had and how much I am going to have to pay at the end of the cruise. I also add that convenience  factor into it as well. 

1 hour ago, YOLO said:

@Michael Bayley - My Proposal:

Platinum -> 1 Free Drink

Emerald -> 2 Free Drinks

Diamond -> 4 Free Drinks

Diamond Plus -> 6 Free Drinks

Pinnacle -> 10 Free Drinks (ideally unlimited, but understand capping it)

I love this proposal. 

Here is my personal opinion on what is going on with RCL stock and also other cruise stocks. Disclaimer: I am not a professional investor this is just my opinion. 

1) Cruise line stocks have had a huge dip most likely due to the macroeconomic pressures: - Inflation of goods/resources/employees - Tightening of the borrowing market (eg its harder to borrow money as many central banks have increased their rates) - Supply chain issues (delays in obtaining goods/resources) - Recession fears if we do go into a full blown recession discretionary spending will take a hit. This means if people take a pay cut or lose their jobs they won't be traveling as much. 

2) Covid/ Public health: Covid will always be part of cruising just like other viral outbreaks. However cruising overall has a high public image of being more unsafe than other travel/vacations. The Asian markets have not fully returned to full cruising as well due to covid. 

3) Worldwide tensions: There are ongoing tensions going around the world not only the issues in Ukraine, but other areas of the world. This has impacted cruising and could impact cruising in the future

4) Environmental Impact of cruising: There is growing public knowledge of the environmental impact of cruising. Cruise lines understand this are taking steps to decrease their impact eg. utopia OTS LNG fuel, environmental stewardship programs onboard and at the company level. But this all costs money and capital investment is needed by the cruise lines

With all this stated I do believe that cruise lines are undervalued at this point in time. However the volatility of cruise stocks will continue in the short term. I do think that cruise stocks will recover in the next few years. As a long term buy and hold I think it will be fine. 

I personally have bought additional stock and plan on buying more to get to the 100 shares for the share holder credit on future cruises. 

On 7/4/2022 at 6:20 PM, Moby Dick said:

One thing that I have found over the last couple decades of cruising is that you can not really judge one cruise against another, even same ship, same itinerary.  If my sailing this week was great and fantastic, next weeks may really suck for various reasons.  Crews change, suppliers change, weather changes, people get sick, mechanical items break, ..........  A ship is kinda like a living breathing thing.  Total consistency is a goal but a goal that will never be met.  It's the nature of the beast.  One more thing that is the "Nature of the Beach", people will bitch.  Me being one of them. 

I do agree with this. Is that there are so many factors that can play into how enjoyable a sailing is. I know for myself, passenger make up can be a huge factor. I know I sound like a grumpy old man but when there is a high percentage of annoying passengers onboard, it takes away from the experience. So I go into every cruise with an open mind as much as I can and try to enjoy myself as much as I can. I will say the deluxe drink package helps . I don't remember who said this quote, but don't let perfection be the enemy of good. Plus overall I would say to each their own. This is why I think is so important for cruisers to do as much research as possible before going. Make sure that one is ok with an imperfect experience.  

I did watch cats on my recent Oasis OTS sailing. I have never watched cats when it was on Broadway. My only exposure to it was watching the live action movie that came out. As a person who went into the show really not knowing too much about cats the musical, I didn't mind it. It did entertain the family for the most part. I would love see more modern musicals brought to ships eg. musicals from the late 1990s/into the 2000s. I would love to see wicked as I loved it on Broadway. Or even shows like school of rock which I thought the Broadway version was better than the movie. 

For me because I have younger kids and older grandparents, we like to do the earlier shows eg. the 8pm headliner etc. Thats why we always choose the earlier dining time on all of our cruises. But generally you shows usually follow the same times as past sailings. If you can find a cruise compass for a previous cruise within the same year its more likely to follow the same schedule baring some unexpected issues. 

16 hours ago, Jersey Judie said:

So...you have to ask the casino host on the last night?...or do they automatically go onto your account folio as OBC? 

Hello 

On our most recent sailing. On the last night at the casino talk to the casino host and they will be able to credit your account. We did this and were able to use our club royale points that we accrued over the course of the cruise to portfolio. 

I was on the Anthem OTS last November. The roof was closed. It was nice that it was closed especially since the weather in the north east is chilly. I never saw it open when we were in the Caribbean. 

My family had 9284 on Oasis OTS. Which i think is the same category. I can confirm that it was a double sofa bed and not a Pullman. 

I do not go all out for formal nights. I usually will go business casual. Nice pair of pants and shirt with no tie. Overall my family is not too big on formal nights. But I do know others who love formal nights as it gives them a chance to get all dressed up. 

Overall I agree with you. I think that all reviews are good to read and just as @Pattycruise brought up its critical because it allows new cruisers and seasoned cruisers to temper some expectations. I wil agree with @smokeybandit that many new / non-frequent cruisers have very critical expectations. 

I will not say that I am the most seasoned cruiser, but I have had family members and others ask me about cruising. I always tell them to prepare for the unexpected and try not to go cruising with a specific expectation or expecting perfection. I think that many times cruisers going in expecting perfection and being disappointed with getting 90%. I always encourage people to learn as much as possible about the experience and leave it up to them to decide if its worth it or not. 

On my most recent sailing, I had a family member who swore off Royal because of a bad initial experience, that had a great time this past June and will go cruising again on the ship that matches what they are looking for. 

@Sifsig It sucks that you had a sub par experience onboard with regards to the entertainment. A lot of different factors can come into play with regards to your experience on board. 

My family trip on the the Oasis OTS in June the entertainment was great. But I will say that there were some staffing issues as 1) There were nearly 6000 passangers on board and I was able to see that the MDR staff seemed a bit overwhelmed especially on day one. It did get better later on as less people were dining at the MDR as passengers went to other restaurants. 2) We got very lucky in that the weather was agreeable for us. We had smooth sailing majority of the cruise. 

One suggestion is for you not to write off royal due to one experience. If port liberty is going to be your main port to sail out of I would also suggest trying the Fall/Winter cruise on the Anthem OTS. Though the ports are the same its a different ship and you will have a different experience. 

17 hours ago, Moby Dick said:

Have you heard if there are any plans in the future for Suite only access in, maybe, the area under construction or repurpose some other area(s)?

I remember a while back hear a rumor about some development plans at coco cay. NCL's private island has beach houses for that cruisers could purchase for their time on the island. I remember hearing from some where that there were plans for royal to do the same at coco cay. I personally could see how a royal genie could be indispensable here as a service to ensure the beach house is stocked with food and drinks and also to set up anything guests in star class would want. 

I would love if this lazy river was long enough to take you throughout CocoCay. Can you imagine getting one near the entrance of thrill water park and having it through out the island so you could get off at south beach or the beach club. I think that would be cool. I know the logistics of that would take too long but it would be interesting. 

Hello Everyone, 

WIth the advent of the Carnivel Corp & BetMgM deal, I was wondering if there had been any rumors for Royal Caribbean? I personally thought that this deal would of happend with RCL due to the fact that they have a relationship with BetMGM through their casino loyalty program. But since that is probably off the table has anyone heard any other possibilities?