BunnyHutt

7 hours ago, kuruczpa said:

I don't think The Key is worth it at $38/day - is this USD or CAD by the way? We are Canadian and still waiting for The Key to hit our cruise planner... I was hoping for the cheap $19.99 USD price but from the sounds of things I don't think we are going to get it at that price like a lot of other people have.

This is USD (!!!) No, thank you. For that price I might as well hold out for a RoyalUp offer and try to spend the same money on a suite, esp since that only charges the first 2 passengers.

On the plus side, I did book far enough out to get the $18 drink pkg, as well as the $8.99 soda + VOOM for the kids. I’ll be cruising without my husband with our tween/teenage boys so that last deal was a must, lol. 

Anthem holiday 2020 cruise is $59/day. And I can buy the Key for $38/day (or over $900 for my family). Think I’ll be passing on that one. 

I’ve flown with my 2 kids and have been able to get 3 seats together towards the end of B group (SWA is one of my favorite airlines, but I refuse to pay for Early Bird). Granted, they were in the last row... but they were still together.  My concern, now that our kids are a bit older - 11 and 13 - is making sure we get overhead space. We’re cool with not sitting together, if need be. 

Didn’t see White Claw, but we had Truly (only one flavor) onboard Majesty. 

When I was in 7th grade (back in ‘90), my parents and I almost missed the boat in Barbados. We had hired our own cab driver to take us around the island and then ran into an issue with 2 flat tires making our way back to the boat. We were running up the pier in our bathing suits and flip flops as they were pulling up the gangplank. We didn’t even have passports back then but we joked that we could have learned if my dad’s AmEx would have lived up to its “don’t leave home without it” slogan.

I’ve been on 5 cruises as an adult and, because of that experience, won’t go on any cruise-sponsored excursion... even if it means paying more.

11 hours ago, mrp4352 said:

We love 9510 - it's a spacious oceanview (no balcony), but it's a forward corner stateroom, so the room is well over 300 square feet.  It also has a table under the mirror that can be moved under the porthole if you want to play games in the stateroom - or enjoy dinner with a view!

Was the pole an issue? We’ve booked 10-510 for our 2020 Anthem cruise. 

On 7/26/2019 at 1:22 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Yeah, particularly when you have a sleazy lawyer whispering in your ear 5 seconds after it happened, "....this is not your fault.  I can get Royal Caribbean pay you a LOT of money.  This is THEIR fault..."

I have a feeling the lawyer was trolling their social media accounts and found the picture of the girl at the hockey game. He then concocted the “banging on the glass” story before even meeting with them and the family immediately latched on to it. Not because they’re money-hungry but rather it’s the only thing that makes sense in their grief and can help them hang on. 

If everyone was so hysterical that they needed to be sedated after the incident - which is completely understandable - I highly doubt they knew exactly what the train of thought was in the moments leading up to the accident. So, yeah, I’m calling BS and blaming the lawyer for that one. 

My experience has been that airfare rarely goes down. And prices have been higher than normal recently... not sure if it’s trickle down from the MAX8 issues or what (seeing it across the board, not just SWA). 

My trick when I know I’ve got a large air expenditure coming up is to use CC rewards - either save up cash back, open an airline CC for the signup bonus FF points, or a combination of the two. We always pay our cards in full every month so might as well get the perks for money we’d be spending anyway.

7 hours ago, Matt said:

There's two sets of teen events. Some listed in the regular Cruise Compass, and most listed in the Teens compass.

Here's an example of one: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compasses/liberty-of-the-seas/sun-2019-06-23-0000-0

Thanks for sharing this! When we go on Anthem (in 18 months,sigh) our boys will 12/14... so fun to see something like this exists! They wanted nothing to do with the kids club a couple of years ago and that was a bit of a bummer for me and my husband, lol. 

My husband flies year-round down to the Caribbean on a fairly regular basis. He’s stated it’s been an issue for a couple of years now, with no mention of any months being any better/worse than others. 

I just did a western Caribbean a few weeks ago and it was *bearable* in Costa Maya... Maya Chan is doing their best to clean up and the off-beach pool is a wonderful addition. Cozumel was wonderfully clear/clean so it truly does make a difference when the beaches are east-facing. 

3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I have noticed that the first 2 casualties of the MDR are lobster and lamb shank. Those must be the 2 most expensive entrees.  They seem to be the first to disappear if anything is going to be sacrificed.

Maybe RCCL was feeling bad for canceling Cuba, but we bad both lobster and the lamb shank on our 5-night. The lamb was soooo good, definitely *the* best meal we had.... and our table of 6 women, all of us only knowing our travel partners when we started the cruise, ate very very well that week. LOL

1 hour ago, deep1 said:

Havn't seen it offered on 5 or 7 night cruises in a couple years now...

 

Lobster was on the MDR menu on the last night of my 5-night Majesty cruise earlier this month. Like a PP stated, I combined with the (no-upcharge) steak for my own “free” surf and turf.

We were on an impacted Cuba cruise and were very happy with the way it was handled. Between that and the $18 beverage snafu (on a 2020 Perfect Day holiday cruise with my kids that had already been booked), Royal has created a customer who will turn to them first for cruising.

Oh, and I spent a whopping $10 on board my Majesty cruise and was incredibly impressed that my refund was posted to my CC within 36 hours of debarkation. 

2 hours ago, OwassoDeb said:

Thanks for the insight.  We are also booked in a JS starboard. I did go ahead and bid on the GS mostly because we have never been in one and thought this might be a one time experience.  If we do not get the bid we are certainly ok with our JS.  Question since you were just on Majesty.....are there outlets anywhere near the bed?  My DH uses a CPAP machine.

Immediately adjacent to the bed? I don’t think so. There are USB ports as part of the lamps above your shoulder, but mine didn’t work so I had to plug my charging cable into the outlet by the desk, about 2’ from the foot of the bed. That said, our beds were separated *and* I never bothered to ask our steward (we had Yogi  ) so there may have been one hidden that I was unaware of. 

I watched the interview. There is no doubt that the family is dealing with immense pain and I think their placing blame on RCCL (albeit misguided) is the only way they’re able to function. 

Song of Norway in March 1990. I was 12 and my entire family (4 of us) squeezed into a tiny interior cabin. Lesson learned and all my cruises in my adult life have had a cabin with a balcony, lol. 

My bestie and I just sailed on Majesty a couple of weeks ago - cruise to Cuba that was never meant to be. Loved the ship and its crew.

Google tells me there’s limited Duty Free at Heritage Wharf. 

https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda2_0000a5.htm

Tell him you’ll get it if you happen to see it, if not, he can book a ticket to the island of his choice.

Whether it’s a “deal” or not depends on how much consume of any particular type of beverage. I like having the sunk cost taken care of so I’m not worried about the onboard statement. 

When we sailed as a family a few years ago we all had the Refreshment Package and my husband and I purchased “adult beverages” a la carte. Could count on one hand the number of drinks we had over the course of 7 days. When I sailed with a girlfriend earlier this month we splurged and got the Deluxe pkg, using OBC to offset some of the cost. Neither of us are big drinkers, but over the course of the day - and when you factor in bottled water - we absolutely got our money’s worth. And, even if we didn’t, it was nice to order something without worrying about the cost. 

2 hours ago, OwassoDeb said:

We just received a Royal Up offer from our JS to bid on GS, OS and the Royal Suite on Majesty.  Since this is a small ship without many of the "Suite" amenities, would it be worth putting in a bid?  What would be the benefit other than we would have more space?  My concern is we would end up over the smoking area.  I can't justify the upgrade cost for the OS or RS but would consider the GS.  This is the first time we have received an offer so all insight is appreciated.

I just sailed the Majesty a couple of weeks ago in a JS. It was a lovely cabin and if you’re already booked in one, I’m not sure the additional cost for the GS would be worth it. I’m not sure if there’s a designated suite area for breakfast, unless they set aside part of the MDR and there was *never* an issue finding seating for a show. Regarding the smoking area, I *believe* all suites are on deck 10 and the smoking area is deck 11. Our JS was actually underneath that part of the pool deck (starboard side) and I never noticed any issues, and I’m pretty sensitive to cigarette smoke. 

Only benefit I can possibly think of with an upgrade is if it impacts your Cuba refund, if applicable. We upgraded from an OV to a JS with a *very* aggressive bid... in fact, we figured we probably overpaid (still less than booking JS directly), but we were grateful for the extra space and balcony so we were okay with it. Then we got our statement for the 50% credit and it was considerably higher than I was anticipating. Only thing we could think of that made that happen was it was based on cabin category versus what we paid for our original fare (?) But that’s only a theory. Between that and the fact that I had just successfully purchased the $18 drink package on my 2020 sailing, RCCL has gained a customer for life

Enjoy the Majesty...we had a wonderful time. All the staff we encountered were excellent and the piano player in Schooners was a real treat. Small ship but we never felt crowded. 

3 minutes ago, twangster said:

One of Carnival's largest ships yet smaller than Voyager class

Really? We were on Majesty so that skewed things a little for us, LOL. 

Very cool! We saw the Vista while in Costa Maya and Cozumel a couple of weeks ago - it’s a massive vessel, making that floating dry dock that much more impressive. 

Poor Empress.... first Cuba and now this. 

3 hours ago, BB1 said:

The woman who burned herself from the coffee was originally awarded almost $3million . She eventually received $ 640 thousand. Still ridiculous.

No, not really. Please educate yourself on the facts that have been provided for you upthread. The McDonald’s coffee case really should be taught in all university business law and introductory law courses. 

3 minutes ago, Brobbins246 said:

Does anyone know if the family's attorney is a defense or personal injury (ambulance chaser) or both?  When I first heard they had representation, I assumed it was to protect the grandfather during the investigation, which would make sense if he's facing possible prosecution.  But I don't know if defense attorneys are in the business of also filing lawsuits against major corporations, so that makes me wonder.  Or maybe they have more than one.

Maritime law and personal injury... 

https://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/michael-a-winkleman-1507627

12 minutes ago, Mitch said:

I'm trying to understand how he did not notice that the window was open. I've heard reports that he couldn't tell there was no glass. I have a boat, never is the boat right up against the dock. A cruise ship is no different. The story changes that she fell into the water, she fell on a lower deck, she fell on the dock. This story keeps changing in a matter of hours. Shame on the lawyer to stand and look at a camera and bluntly say  "It's all RCL fault that this happen".  I'd like to see security footage of this. Can anyone tell me if there are security cameras on the ships.

There are security cameras *everywhere.* This was a public area. They would have also been on the dock.

I’m about 98% confident that RCCL has footage of the incident but is not releasing to the public (understandably). The family is grasping at straws.