Mike.s

Disappointing not to see any other Royal ships on the list, still hoping that one day we may get an additional ship out of Southampton.

FWIW, there are rumors that RC will be building a new class roughly the size of Voyager class. These would be the future “small” ships.
Just something I’ve read. I’m no expert on this sort of thing.

Actually, this is exactly the format where fans discuss what Royal does well and can improve on. Knowing that the line yanking your cruise at any moment is a possibility is a great topic to discuss if for nothing else letting all know that while very unlikely, it is a possibility. From those that responded it seems that it's not too uncommon and does happen from time to time. I'm glad to listen to somebody who was disappointed by an action that would no doubt disappoint the majority of cruisers here. Especially those that are new to cruising or don't get to cruise as frequently as others. 
Also, as somebody mentioned, the "they all do it" excuse is such a cop out. While true, it doesn't mean it's right. We book and put money down with in good faith that the company holds up their end of the bargain. For them to go chase a more lucrative deal and abandon their promise after we've spent time working and planning towards that vacation is simply not kind. So who cares if "they all do it", because, "they all shouldn't".

Since I was on Anthem last week, I spoke to the LA about our block and mentioned that I was dubious about it being sent to us in Portugal. 🇵🇹
She looked us up and confirmed that there was an order in for it with FedEx but that it had been delayed due to restocking issues.
Well, wouldn't you know, during the cruise I received an email from FedEx about our order (which I would have been suspicious about if I hadn't spoken to the LA) so I looked up the tracking number and it appears to be legit; it's coming from Sunrise, FL, which I seem to remember seeing mentioned somewhere in a block-related thread.
It's supposed to arrive by this coming Thursday. 🤞

We feel the same in the UK re Anthem, same shows, same itineries. Even a different Quantum class ship would be welcome, or change the shows on Anthem.

We feel the same in the UK re Anthem, same shows, same itineries. Even a different Quantum class ship would be welcome, or change the shows on Anthem.

They weren't impressed.
The weren't impressed

They weren't impressed.
The weren't impressed

"There's alway someone trying to point out the negatives"
Not these guys. That's not how they operate. They were genuinely upset to have to say such extreme negative things. They do nothing but cruise and post videos for a living. (Nice work if ya can get it. LOL) They have hundreds of thousands of people watching per year. Tons of videos. It's kinda the proof they don't roll like that on a daily basis. That's IMHO is what made the video so powerful. 

They weren't impressed.
The weren't impressed

Dear Matt,
My wife and I decided to celebrate our 50th anniversary as a Star Class passengers on Oasis of the Seas based upon what we learned from you and your Royal Caribbean blog on YouTube. We thank you and your blog for a wonderful cruise.
Based upon your advice:
We scoured recent Cruise Compasses for Oasis of the Seas. When our  Royal Genie, Derrick Martis (who made our cruise magical), contacted us prior to the cruise, we texted him a list of what we wanted to do. Upon boarding, Derrick presented us with a full schedule (date, time and location) of everything we asked for. Unfortunately the Aqua Show was cancelled because of a hydraulic leak. 
We checked in (including the health questionnaire) online and got to the ship at our scheduled boarding time so boarding was a snap. We went directly to our muster station. This entire process, curb to cabin, took less than 30 minutes. Also, we bought yellow highlighter, the plastic luggage tags and metal hooks. The luggage tags and highlighter were really helpful, however you should know that suite 1701 on Oasis of the Seas has wallpaper on drywall so the metal hooks don’t stick. It was pretty funny going from surface to surface trying to find non existent metal for the hooks and repeatedly watching them fall to the floor. 

Starting night 1 we went to the Trellis bar in Central Park to enjoy the beautiful view, the Blue Hawaiians (Trellis bar special) and a musician playing Spanish music on an acoustic guitar. Having the Ultimate Drink package allowed us to find quiet spots around the ship for a drink rather than the hubbub of most of the bars. Likewise, the Ultimate Dining package allowed us to eat all our meals in specialty restaurants. Believe it or not, we never made it into the Windjammer (first time in 8 cruises). There was no need. The Royal Genie made sure we had all our desired food, drinks and snacks in our cabin.
We saw Cats, the broadway musical, on board. The performers were excellent with wonderful voices and energy. The best show was the Ice show where the colors and pageantry were show stopping but the physicality of the performers stole the show. This one comic skater kept smashing into the fence to stop his momentum. Then he would jump into the stands and sit in a woman’s lap or kiss her hands; all unexpected and very funny. There was even a mind blowing demonstration of sand art that left the crowd in awe. 
Oasis of the Seas was our 8th Royal Caribbean cruise and our best. We were able to take advantage of everything on board the ship because we knew what to ask for. Thank you!!
Harmony in June (40 days to go). MarioSteve

For a cruise 6 months from now? This has to be an IT/booking problem.  If they are canceling enough cabins that it makes the news now, they know they've sold WAY more than the expected number of cancellations.

Sorry, not sure, we weren't the first to arrive so it's safe to say many arrived before 11.00

We arrived just before 11 for our 11:30 boarding on Anthem, it was very well organised, porters waiting to pick up your cases. Parking was directly opposite the ship. Just remember to print out your permit, we forgot the first time 🙂
 

I take both US and EU adapters with me, that way you can use all of the sockets for UK plugs. 

As an alternative Celebrity is sailing there,
https://www.celebritycruises.com/gb/itinerary-search?sailStartDate=2024-04-01&sailEndDate=2024-10-31&dateToggle=M&portsOfCall=YOK

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/02/carnival-cruise-line-brings-back-the-paper-daily-program/
Are you listening Royal, many people prefer the paper version.

Just thought I would pop in and relate our experience this morning, boarding Explorer.  Absolutely no problem entering the terminal (G) via the Suite/Pinnacle line, with our SSP that was not marked with “Suite”.  Either they didn’t look, didn’t care, or were already familiar with the issue of the missing Suite marking.  Very smooth arrival and boarding.
In other news, I received all of my Loyalty Cokes and water.  Hallefreakinlujah !  I wasn’t sure I would score the Cokes given recent announced changes. I know this only b/c I crashed through the closed hallway door (yes, I was THAT guy today) and went to my room in search of Sea Passes as we could not get into the D Lounge at first.  RATS !  I was outsmarted (not that hard to do, BTW) as the Sea Passes weren’t yet on our room door so I returned to the D Lounge empty-handed only to find that, had I possessed even an ounce of patience, someone would have let us in from inside.  Dan was already inside, waiting for me with a self righteous look on his face.  He didn’t dare say a word but I knew what he was thinking.  The sign on the closed hallway  door (cough, cough) said that the rooms would be ready at 2:00.  That’s about 50 minutes from now.
Soon I will find out if JS fall into the Suites exclusion of once-a-day room servicing.
In other, other news, Explorer D Lounge got a new, kick-ass coffee machine while in dry dock.  Woohoo !  The D Concierge and attendant are currently receiving a tutorial on its operations/maintenance from a 12 year old vendor tech.  He might be 16.  Everyone looks young when you get to be my age.

Should be a lifetime ban for any family that gets "asked" to vacate the ship mid cruise.

Maybe they were just slobs with no sense of decorum.  IMO that kind of clothing isn’t appropriate in the MDR on ANY night.

The UK prices include the 18% gratuity upfront, does the US price include them or add them when you checkout?
Might be a reason for the difference, or that Royal can get away with charging higher prices in the UK market.

Common courtesy, like common sense, hasn't been so common for about 20 years.

Only restriction is glass by the pool, they will transfer your drink to a plastic glass should you head poolside.

We booked a GTY junior suite on Anthem as we figured they're all in reasonable locations we'd be happy with. It saved us nearly £200 each.

Thought I would give my thoughts on our first cruise experience.  
As we have never cruised before, the ship really didn't matter to me, but the ports did.  We choose this itinerary out of San Juan due to the ports.  We flew in a day before the cruise.  
Day 1 - Embarkation Day.  We arrived around 10:30 to meet up with family.  Our time was scheduled for 12noon.  Everything went smoothly.  We decided to use the porters for our luggage.  We quickly headed to Windjammer to grab something to eat.  It wasn't very crowded when we were there.  After lunch we toured the ship to get our bearings and to figure out where everything is.  We were able to get into our rooms around 3pm and our luggage came shortly after.  At first we didn't purchase the drink package because we thought that since we were going to be at ports everyday, we would drink more off the ship, but while on the ship, we were having a few beavies and then decided to buy the drink package.  lol. It was buy 1 at $72.00 per day and the second one half price.  In my opinion based on how much we drink, we appreciated the drink package.  This sale price was only for 1 day.  Looking back at my account, we drank a lot!  LOL and no, buying the drink package did not prompt us to drink more! . We also got 2 suvenlour cups to use as well.  As it was casual night, we ate in the Main Dining Room.  Our dinner time was set for 7:15 each night.
Muster Drill - easy peasy.  Watched the video on the app and went down to our station and had the attendant scan our phone.  That was GREAT...I hope they don't do away with it.  
We decided on a balcony room, which I'm sure glad we did.  For myself, I need to see some daylight!  We were on the 6th floor, right above the Promenade, in the middle close by the elevator and stairs.  This was an AWESOME location being so close to the stairs and elevator.  I thought noise would be a factor, but it wasn't.  The only complaint that I had was that the bed was very hard; too hard for me so sleeping was an issue.  Couple of days we slept with the balcony door open and some days I actually slept on the balcony on the chairs.  I don't sleep at the best of times, so having a balcony was great.
Day 2 - St. Thomas.  It was cloudy and raining.  I was planning on doing Skyride to Paradise Point and then do the walking trail at Magens Bay and walk down to the beach,  but best laid plans didn't work out.  The ship docked at Crown Bay so we were not walking distance to Skyride.  Because of the rain, we quickly decided to jump on a tour bus.  This bus took us around the island and then we stopped at Mountain Top and had their famous banana daiquiris and did some shopping there.    The view is awesome from Mountain Top where you can see Magens Bay.
Day 3 - St. Croix.  We took a taxi over to Rainbow Beach.  The taxi was $15.00 per person!  When we got to Rainbow Beach the cost of 1 umbrella and 2 beach chairs were $70.00 and then $15.00 each for extra chairs.  After laying on the beach and drinking, we decided to walk back to the pier and do a little more shopping.
Day 4 - St. Maarten.  Since we have been there before, we didn't do any tours.  We walked the board walk, and did some shopping.  Ate lunch at the Blue Bitch Bar, listened to some live music and just enjoyed the day.  We came back to the ship and took advantage of the empty ship and had a nice nap on the deck!
Day 4 - St. Lucia.  We decided to do a private tour with Real St. Lucia Tours.  It was called an Island Expo Tour.  Not really what I was expecting based on the itinerary.  The driver we had was good, but was really promoting his own tours....he was called in as the original driver had to have laser eye surgery.  We drove through Castries, Anes La Raye, saw the Government House, stopped in Soufriere, went to a waterfall and then did the Volcano, Sulphur Springs, and Black Water Pool....that was awesome!  On our way back we had a great lunch at a beautiful spot overlooking the Piton Mountains. 
Day 5 - Barbados.  We headed over to Carlisle Beach and stayed there for the day.  Ordered buckets of beer and rum punch and had the Flying Fish Sandwich which was awesome!
Day 6 - St. Kitts.  This was my favourite island.  We took a cab to South Friars Bay and hung out at a place called Shipwreck Beach Bar and Grill.  It was awesome!  You didn't have pay for any chairs!  A bucket of 6 beers, plus 1 extra beer and rum punch was only $20.00 and the food was amazing.  There are monkey's on the property which you can feed.  It was quite, lots of room on the reach.  This was mentioned to us by a few people on the ship, and we were glad that we went there.
Day 7 - on our last day, we decided not to do luggage assist as we grabbed a taxi and headed to our hotel in Old San Juan as we stayed for 2 more nights.  Everything went smoothly.  However, waiting for the elevator did take forever!  LOL
Each morning at 6:30 we would head down to the Promenade and get coffee.  My favourite was the white chocolate latte.  We would grab our coffees and head up to the walking track and just walked around enjoying the sites and watching the sun rise.  
Overall, we had a GREAT time being our first cruise.
Now let's talk about the Ship.  The ship is older.  I understand that it was refurbished, but I don't recall when.  I liked the smaller, intimate feeling of the ship and it never seemed crowded.   We ate at the MDR for breakfast and dinner and only had lunch at the windjammer on our first day and then on another day.  We preferred the MDR.  Loved how at the Windjammer they make you wash your hands.  At least for the most part I saw people complying!
Royal Carribean App - was good.  However when texting, I would prefer that it buzzes or something as you always need to go into the app to see if someone texted you.  
Cruise Compass -I hear they are moving away from paper copies and you just have to scan the bar code, but we did get paper copies, which I will be scanning and submitting on the Cruise Compass Board.  
I did buy the internet package while on the ship. Not that I was on social media, I just prefer to always have contact with family back home in case of emergencies.  I never had an issue with the internet package on the ship.
Day 1 was Welcome Aboard.  Day 2 was French Night and it was the first formal night.  Day 3 was Italian Night.  Day 4 was Caribbean Night.  Day 5 was Mexican Night.  Day 6 was Royal Night and this was the second formal night and the complimentary lobster if you wanted.  Day 7 was Welcome to Bon Voyage.  
Breakfast in the MDR was good.  They always had a good selection.  My favourite was the fresh squeezed OJ and Power Wrap.  Dinner in the MDR was good too.  I always found that there was something to choose from.  Favourites were shrimp cocktail, escargot, Carne Asada, French onion soup, and of course, lobster!  Desserts - always something good!
Location of our room.  We were in 6320; balcony and it was great.  Basically steps away from the elevator and stairs.  Noise was never a factor which I was concerned with being just above the Promenade.  I'm a light sleeper so anything can wake me up.  
After dinner we always did a show; ice skating show, comedians, singing, etc.  All were good.  
After our excursions, we always hung out at the Sky Beach Bar.  Our Bartenders Ashish and Ashquan were amazing!  Try the chocolate martini!  Had one everyday!  This is why we returned; because of Ashish and Ashquan.  Best bartenders ever!
Couple of things I was happy I brought:  Chair clips for our towels on beach days.  Metal hooks for the room.  We used these a lot to hang stuff off of.  I felt that we had lots of space in our room.  I also took a sponge and soaked it in soap; let it dry and cut it up.  I used that a few times to clean clothes and such.  I know that there are lots of videos wth recommendations on what to bring and what you need....however, these were my 2 essentials and I didn't feel like I needed anything else.  No shoe racks, no clothing baskets, etc.  
Did I pack too much....of course.  Here are my thoughts.  Formal night.  Since there are 2 and they are not back to back....I would have been ok wearing the same outfit.  Bathing suit, I only needed 2.  I brought 2 pairs of jean shorts, but ended up wearing skorts.  Of course t-shirts and tank tops. 1 pair of beach sandals, 1 pair of sandals for dinner and Sketchers for walking around.   My husband could have gotten away with 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 swin trunks and just a couple of resort shirts.  He brought golf shirts for the MDR but ended up wearing resort shirts and pants.  We did use laundry service 1/2 way thorough the cruise just for underwear and t-shirts.  Service was awesome.  Kevin our stewardship made sure we had everything we needed.  
MDR - our hosts Rogelio and Krismart were great.  I wish they would enforce the dress code a little more; some came in wearing beach shorts (men), flip flops, etc.  My hubby wore a nice pair of golf pants and resort shirts each night.  The only time he wore a nice pair of shorts was on the first day and the last day.  And men, please remove your baseball cap/hat or cowboy hat when eating in the MDR.  Just be a little more formal than usual!  
The only specialty restaurant we did was Izumi and it was awesome!  I had the Poke Bowl and my hubby had Sashimi.  It was awesome and I would highly recommend it!
We did not feel the need to try out any other specialty restaurants we we were quite content in the MDR.  As for other bars, we only hung out at the Sky Pool Bar.  After dinner did a show and then went to bed!  Never experienced the night life after the shows.  We were exhausted from being in the sun all day; plus I was always up around 3am, so for me it was long days!
All in all it was a great vacation and we will definitely be cruising again!