Neesa

Has anyone heard from @ZBrady? I'm just sending uplifting positive thoughts. Hoping it was so amazing there was no time to blog. Is he doing a b2b? It's crazy; we are strangers yet not. I've been thinking about he and his family this week. What a beautiful community we have. Hoping all is well.

@RCL_Cruiser Oh no! As a seasoned cruiser my last sailing had me thinking, thank goodness this wasn't my first sailing I would never sail again. Not knowing the specifics of your sailing.... my sailing was super weird, it's important to differentiate the irritants, was it the cruise line OR the passengers that had no clue how to behave on a ship? My sailing was sold out with over 4500 first time cruisers. I'm not saying not to contact corporate I'm saying maybe you could give sailing another try taking into consideration what you learned and your specific cruising style. Being it was your first time I realize maybe you didn't think things could be mitigated, but if the crew can help they will. By all means I have no idea what you endured but I understand with many cruises under my belt that if you pay for a product, you deserve the product. Our sailing was weird for lack of a better term and honestly it was a combination of our fellow passengers as well as the ships inability to mitigate some things. I promise you the time of year and size of ship I'm sure directly impacted your experience. I do not make excuses for Royal, sometimes they get it wrong (to many passengers, not enough ships offerings) but please reconsider a sailing opposite what you just experienced, maybe then you will fall in love with the seas like many of us have. I wish you a positive experience moving forward! Best of luck with the follow up!

+1 we loved her as well.

Visited laundry on our all access tour. Mad respect, this crew works so hard. Just wow! They seemed to be very respectful of the passengers items.

So true, when we were checking in for the Wonder June 25, 2023 the young lady was visibly as well as verbally so thankful we had passports. She told us most had birth certificates this sailing & when she asked why she was told it was to expensive to get them. Same when we disembarked, while we were nearly first off the ship that morning they asked if we had passports and guided us to the left side (facial recognition) The right side had been set up with several stands for those with birth certificates. I'm guessing they were prepared after the embarkation we had. I'm thinking the fact that there were nearly 4,500 first time cruisers had much to do with it.

Thank you so much! I just checked my cabin as well. It shows 531 sq ft but on the Wonder the same cabin is 370sq ft. Yikes!!! Royal IT at it again!

@OCSC Mike oh my word that TV. Ours on the Wonder was possessed. Even the stateroom hosts were confused, it would go down but not up, up then not down. It was the bain of my existence. It made us chuckle for sure, I hate it down cabash likes it down. It was to close to the bed for me, I could and did hit my noggin once while trying to navigate it. I won and it went up and stayed there. You made me laugh this morning with a memory in the back of my mind....thank you!

Yay! I did not know...great minds think alike!! I figure I might observe a lot less shenanigans from there as well. It was gone on release day but when I saw it open up I thought now that one is special. I'm so glad to know this. Thanks so much! I think the balcony will be neat and I like how the cabin entry door is set back from the hallway a bit. I saw a video of that cabin on the Wonder on You Tube as well.

I like a special embarkation lunch, so I booked Chops for our Adventure sailing. I purchased this on the cruise planner. Once onboard can I ask to apply the BOGO for towards the lunch and get one of our meals refunded as OBC?

So true, I have no idea! But we sure won't be able to miss him if he is there. But you're correct, I forgot about those pre cruises!

@AshleyDillo Nope! Going with an enjoy the heck out of my balcony mindset. I'm sure it ( the suite sun deck) will be inundated by bloggers and travel professionals. While I do plan to photo bomb it won't be in my bathing suit, yikes Maybe I'll see Danny and ask him how tall he is, lol!!

@Jax I appreciate your post. I believe in my heart it was a bad week. I still keep reiterating to myself the cruiseline can't be blamed for other passengers weird behavior. The sailing left a bad taste as I'm probably one and done on the Wonder and I was questioning my booking the Utopia. I'm sure the Utopia will have more seasoned cruisers and of course the travel professionals so I have faith it will be better. I agree @Lovetocruise2002 will have an amazing time, that was a one off sailing. I'm really ecstatic I didn't book Icon as now I know peronally I prefer a bit less people. Thanks so much for those kind words

My plan this sailing, lounge and balcony. I thought only 4 nights, I'm going to give this location a try. While we loved the beach club at Coco Cay this price is a hard no. We are going to just wing it this trip on Coco cay, the prices are super high trying to take advantage of the euphoria of the first sailing. We paid enough for the cabin so I feel good just "roughing it"

Never did an inaugural before so looking forward to this special sailing. Only 4 nights so nothing extra. We will enjoy the newness of the ship. No excursions and no UDP. First time ever in a grand suite!

@SMOKEY0202 witch with evil eyes, lol. I know her, my kiddo told me there is nothing scarier! Apparently she even told some friends about THE LOOK! Really? I am so sorry this is your experience. It's the bad luck of the draw. @ZBrady is having the time of their lives, so happy for them if not a tiny bit jealous. We were the first off the ship debark morning, I couldn't get off fast enough. I've put that one away in the dark recess of my scary mind and will be more particular in choosing my date in the future. I'm so sorry for your experience. I support the etiquette 101 class. Funny you mention the casino, there was a couple with their little one at the Vue bar propped on the stool. My kiddo said " mom that's not cool" I am sending you positive vibes, deep breaths.... Note: I mentioned earlier I heard from someone on Adventure of the seas, the passengers behavior was abysmal as well.

You are so correct! Things that make you go, hummmmm

@ZBrady I felt the same way about Voices, but I walked out saying wow, I really enjoyed that! I hope you love it! It was simple yet entertaining at the same time. For Effectors 2 take @AshleyDillo advice and sit on deck 4 not up top deck 5. We did both and it was like a different show following her direction. Another, wow!

@Ampurp85 funny you mentioned the value. I didnt find the value of Star, and now being D+ the value of Sky with the prices being Sky high is getting hard to stomach. The suite product across the fleet is more and more diluted. It kind of stung knowing what I paid vs the neighborhood that didn't exist. On top of that the sold out ship with 4000+ newbies, yikes! I hear you @Ampurp85 .

@SMOKEY0202 okay this is crazy, when we were at Nachi Cocom I met a family there who was sailing the Adventure. She stated nearly word for word as you did. But her point was they had taken over the Solarium and she said the blue tooth loud music was taking over public spaces and she would never sail this time of year again. I'm happy people have warmed to the cruise vacation, but maybe there should be a first timers class, lol. @OCSC Mike the heat is bad, yes you should see my tiny lawn mowing dress, watch out if I bend over, yikes!!!! The humidity is what does me in, so this time of year I'm the bad neighbor. 0730 is the okay time to start (noise) so i usually mow as soon as it hits 0730 or wait until the sun is going down after dinner. Cold spring water very close by. Our little gated community of I think 36 homes most everyone besides us are snow birds so they are not here anyway! My mowing dress gets me thumbs up from the trash collectors when they come by early. When we see them we usually get them some cold spring water also. On a positive note they take whatever I place in the trash, win, win, win.....

@ZBrady I agree 100% with @Xaa. You have an amazing family, I love the shirts. We are older parents I had kiddo in my 40's so not much family. I am always in awe of happy extended families living their best life together. I'm excited for you, I know you will have an amazing sailing, thank you so much for sharing! Oh and I for sure agree with @Ampurp85 and @asquared17 your daughter makes me smile, she is adorable! Enjoy, enjoy!!

@Xaa I read that post twice, wow! I am humbled by the high praise. I sometimes feel the ugly emotions for sure, but tell myself to temper them as when I'm sour it ruins it for my family. Cabash feels bad when I'm upset, I don't want him to. I like to cut the grass, I push the mower just under a quarter acre. For me it provides a meditation like no other. I review my blessings and give thanks for my breath, for my heart pumping, for waking up in the morning. Cabash gets to do the pool duties and spray for bugs (we have big ones in Florida!, lol) I announced this morning from hence forth he will be addressed as our household Genie, that gave my kiddo a chuckle. Like I said I know this is a fan site & I felt some "push back" so then I felt maybe I was the problem, I am appreciative of all the feedback I've received to the contrary. It seems simple, but comes off snotty sometimes but I paid for a certain product, I would like to receive what was promised. And yes, it is upsetting when I can't get a chair in the shade in the little pool because extended family staying elsewhere are taking my tiny amenity. I felt mentioning this was warranted, I am not a suite snob per say but, yes I cut my huge lawn, do my own hair most of the time, paint my own nails except on special occasions when I want the gel & all that savings gets squirreled away to purchase my next adventure. It's not what I earn it's what I spend, I choose to spend on a more elevated experience, it gives me joy. We usually walked down the stairs from 18 but if we were going way down we would take the lift. It was always packed with people riding up from the WJ to go down & the comments were not very kind about "the snobs stay up there" Didn't they see we just boarded? Thank you again for your very kind words and your thoughts are warm & kind, I am so appreciative. Have an amazing 4th!

On a more positive note, we visited the Solarium on Costa Maya day when the suite sun deck was being chair hogged by who knows ??? A picture of Wonderland and the Wonder model. Random, for such a large ship the Arcade was super small.

@asquared17 nope, take the elevator up to 18 and the doors on both sides are propped open 2 seperate ways to enter, the doors were open all week. A few of us would close them but even more opened them. It was the if you can find it you can use it neighborhood * just to clarify the doors are propped open to the hallways that have cabins located within, once you are in the hallway it's a few more steps to the sliding suite sun deck, no sea pass needed.

This type of thing occurred every day this past week. The Suite sun deck as well as the suite lounge. When Kenny the concierge was there he would rather stealthily make his way to the area and quietly, gently yet firmly have them leave. The teen area with the selfie wall was more secure. We couldn't get up there to take a picture until kiddo opened the gate with her key card. There were at least in my humble estimation 1/3 people in the Suites amenities area that didn't pay the upcharge to be there. Once the area had been fully discovered it was an open house type situation. It was just frustrating.