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20 hours ago, TXcruzer said:

Takes the time to create an account, just to complain………….

Posts like the one above or posts that ask really elementary questions are made by one person inside Royal to make sure this Blog is providing the information Royal wants its' guests to hear. 

53 minutes ago, Colombia20102018 said:

You are not asking this but just in case you have not thought about it, do you need a letter or some other document to travel internationally with your granddaughter without her parents? 

“The requirements and expectations to take a minor on a cruise that I am not a parent or legal guardian of”would be an excellent future Blog post.

I think your bigger hurdle might be the parental consent forms and the  passport for your granddaughter.  

4 hours ago, twangster said:

 

10 out 10 times I wear my pin when I visit guest services.   Guest services makes up a lot of BS as excuses or policy that isn't real.  When I don't wear the pin 50% of what you hear is made up BS.  When I wear the pin that drops to around 25%.  

 

Abso-frick'in-lutly!!!

100% agree

Unfortunately the the e-muster system has devalued the call to muster to complete insignificance. :0(

Pinnacle Pins: I completely understand they take years and years to get. I understand in terms of total dollars spent with Royal Caribbean,  each one of those pins costs a minimum of $160,000 and likely much, much more. $200,00+ likely a better average cost.

But the pins are the definition of pretentious. After all that time on board you shouldn't need a badge to clue in the crew to kiss your butt. 

I'll become Pinnacle in January; when that badge arrives at my doorstep I plan on leaving that pin in the same box it arrives in. It will be a surprise for an unsuspecting future estate sale bidder.

Has Royal begun to implement LED lighting?

Ya' know your time in Vancouver could quite possibly be the best part of your vacation?

 Why not let Vancouver (and Canada) show you what a wonderful place that it is?

UPDATE: The Norwegian Escape is still docked in Port Canaveral and her upcoming April 9th sailing has been cancelled. This is the 5th cruise to cancel since the incident in March.

Note to self: when a cruise ship encounters a problem and the captain tells the passengers all is well and to just carry on but your gut feeling tells you otherwise-- DO NOT believe the captain. 

I would take my bags off at the next port and check into a hotel for the remaining 4 days.

The sofa is really a catch all for clothing, backpacks,  and the bags of goodies you bought in port.

A lot like the treadmill in your basement.

Funny, the more I started taking the stairs the less there were instances of literally getting run over by thoughtless scooter operators.

Humph!

On 3/25/2022 at 9:03 AM, jay1021 said:

I was not aware of any restrictions, by Royal, to limit when you can pay in full.  I usually try to make my final payment at the last possible moment but I have payed it off early.  BTW, only having to pay a down payment at booking allows MORE people to pick a cruise they want, early "cheaper" or doesn't matter because it will be reduced at one point or the other and pay over time. It's like an interest free loan.

Do you mean that Royal SHOULD REQUIRE full payment at booking?  "Not a good idea for a "Family Friendly" cruise line, though. 

FYI, Cunard ships have their own Adventure Ocean and dedicated Splash Water Zones. Some even have dog kennels. You can't say Cunard is not family friendly.

But the issue that would really help Royal at this point in time is increasing cash on hand. Yes, I think Royal should require any future cruise to be paid in full at the time of booking. 

The room service breakfast you order? That's just the pre-game meal for the big breakfast throw down in the MDR an hour or two later.  Just make sure you tip the poor assistant waiter a few dollars for getting the short straw and having the awkward problem of bringing the tray of goodies into your cabin. They deserve it.

One thing Royal Caribbean can not do is make a consistent cup of coffee. Sometimes it can be light as air, but mostly it can taste very strong. I call it ashtray coffee.

My advice is do not get hung up on the room service food quality, quantities, or especially the taste of the coffee. Just make damn sure you are grateful for the service. If you keep your critical culinary thoughts to inside the restaurants; you'll have a better vacation. 

38 minutes ago, jay1021 said:

I'm afraid that's it.  As far as I can tell, there aren't any cruise lines that leave from the U.S. and go to Port(s) of Call in Europe and then return.  Even if they did, I don't think you'd avoid the cost as mentioned above.  However, you could fly, one way to or from Europe, spend some time there and return on a cruise repositioning to the U.S or fly back.  

You can sail the Queen Mary 2 from New York to South Hampton/ South Hampton to New York as a B2B. 14 glorious sea days in a row with maybe an excursion to see Stonehenge in the middle. Cunard makes this journey many times during the year.

IMHO, Royal should take a cue from Cunard regarding payments of cruises. With Cunard you pay in full when you make the booking, sometimes in full by the next business day. I think it would really help Royal instead of these modest down payments if they collected all the money upfront. This type of policy change would help Royal get out of their dire financial position.

Why on earth is Royal Caribbean still intending to port in St Petersburg, Russia in 2023???

So........the Norwegian Escape has cancelled yet another cruise or two stating "repairs have taken longer than expected." Some sources say they are underwater repairs, some sources claim a dry dock is necessary.

Even you believe an ounce of any of this, I think you'd have to believe that they are repairing the hull. And, repairing the hull because it was leaking.

The Norwegian Escape is currently docked and convalescing in Port Canaveral. 

Helpful tip: Don't chase points, chase experiences

You'll be grateful to have become a better human being way, way more than having achieved a tier of the Crown and Anchor Society.

I flat out REFUSE to recognize servers, bartenders, or stateroom attendants on the stupid, pandering post cruise survey. Let me explain….

I have been on a lot of cruises and realize how spinning the wheel to receive a prize can really mean a lot to a cruise ship employee because it singles them out from all the others. It is one of the few times in their career they are rewarded individually for their efforts. The kind words of a passenger read aloud during a staff meeting are nice too but not nearly as nice as some extra time off or best yet….cash.
 

So as a veteran cruiser, yeah the stateroom attendant, bartenders, and the MDR staff are the employees I have had the most interaction with during the week. But I am aware that that there are a hell of a lot more employees on the boat. A lot more opportunities to reward someone and make a far more substantial impact.

The people I chose to reward I truthfully likely have never met. My favorite is the pot washer in the galley of whatever floor I eat in the MDR. It is the absolute worst job on the boat and everyone except for the passengers know it. Other people I have chosen to reward might be someone who cleans the public washrooms near the theater or dining room. The guy who drew the short straw and has to peddle the fresh squeezed orange juice for $5 bucks a glass. A first contract lifeguard who has the coldest and loneliest shifts after the sun goes down and the pool area is strangely silent. Those are the types of people I want Royal Caribbean to recognize and reward.

BTW, I don’t leave out servers, bartenders, and cabin stewards; they get cash just like at every other bar or restaurant I go to.

Ahh! The light bulb going off above another new cruisers head that that his/her trip to a tropical paradise is going to be more like a slippery used car sale.
 

Welcome aboard SVoyager!

The floor of the Windjammer.

I'm hoping Hideaway Beach is really just a special arena where a 3 hour long game of Quest is played every afternoon.

Good question Dunkel! The importance is not so much from the passenger perspective "what do I get" but from an operational perspective. I think all cruise lines should be asking themselves, Are our GPS and SONAR systems calibrated and accurate? Do we need to test or upgrade them more often? What are our procedures in case this type of accident happens to us? Let's walk through those procedures, are we we covering all our bases?  Are we practicing enough? Is the crew ready? A case analysis of NCL what did in this situation, what was right? And, what was wrong? What happened this week to the Escape should be a tool that is used by all cruise lines to make themselves better.

Maritime accidents similar to this or are real easy see that something like this could happen to me on my cruise vacation are quite frequent. The incident last December near Coco Cay caused by the Utopia IV sinking that tanker immediately comes to mind. I mean, the Bahamas government confiscated and purposefully put the Utopia iV on display for all Royal Caribbean passengers in Nassau to look at. That vessel could very well still be there today.

Smokeybandit and TXcruzer’s above are both correct regarding the protocols in these type of situations.

This is really bad news. 

I would bet a lot of money it is taking on water to some extent at the time this video was filmed. Thats why you don't see the clouds of silt from the azipods trying to free it. they shut those all down in an effort to account for all the crew and to stop the hemorhaging.