YOLO

@Wendy Burns  Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog Forum!
No, but I can give you a big CONGRATULATIONS!

@Wendy Burns  Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog Forum!
No, but I can give you a big CONGRATULATIONS!

Absolutely yes. Love that place.
Best service of any all-inclusive I've been to.

Thank you everyone!! We will pay the prepaid and then bring extra cash for exceptional service 🙂 Cannot wait to start our vaca!!

@GregDwe are on our way!
 
The disadvantage of maximizing your time in Central London and staying there until Cruise morning 😕
 

We are on board!!! Our van picked us up promptly at 10:15, and we were at the port by 10:20. We were dropped off in the general cab area, and the porters were ready to grab our bags. The Boss channeled her inner @WAAAYTOOO and had a vice like grip on her bags and exclaimed “WE ARE STAR CLASS” at which point the kids said wait what??!!
A few of the porters looked at us confused, but one knew what we meant and pointed us in the right direction. 
The star class check in area is in the middle of the building. At that point we were on a mission, so I didn’t get a chance to snap a picture. The regular and star class people did have a list of the star class rooms, so they do verify. 
 
Once at the correct area, we turned our bags into the right people and at that point we were assigned to port personnel who guided us through the rest of the check in.
He first verified our test results, then brought us to security.
Security was a quick walk through the metal detectors where Leroy was waiting for us. 
We met the next crew member who completed the check in process. He verified our passports, vaccine stuff, health questions. 
 
Shortly after Leroy escorted us onto the ship. Meanwhile, I was sending messages to @Lovetocruise2002 about what to expect, and she “yelled” at me that I was teasing her.
From arrival to on the ship was about 10 minutes.

 
 

Another 53 went up this morning.  Several more batches potentially from CA and FL all month.  Could be several hundred going up this summer alone.

Carnival is floundering.  NCL is on even thinner ice.  Royal could strike a dagger in their hearts by making internet free... and super fast.  Just sayin... 

A hint at to the pricing:
 
High-speed, low-latency internet with up to 350 Mbps download while at sea. $5,000/mo with a one-time hardware cost of $10,000 for two high performance terminals.

In a nutshell because it costs money.
Before the shutdown ships were full and there wasn't the contention for bandwidth we see today.  There is one simple answer - Royal is not subscribing to enough throughput with the current provider.  If too many users are the culprit it means there isn't enough bandwidth right now yet there was in 2019 so what's changed?  
A secondary reason is that Royal is conditioning us to hate the current experience at the current price points.  Then they can come along and save us by introducing a new service at a higher price point.  "Introducing Vroom!  The enhanced ultra speed internet powered by Starlink.  For just $39.95 per day..."   

Best deal I ever got was booking onboard via nextcruise. I need to book a Feb 2024 cruise for a family members birthday and am waiting until I'm onboard next month in hopes that it is a better deal, 'I've found it is the same price but you get more OBC, hundreds more. But like has been mentioned, know the website price before boarding.

@megndanielle820 & @JP350  Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog Forum!
@twangster Just checking out the island the first time you visit is a great idea.
For us, we book the Coco Beach Club everytime we can (depending on who we cruise with) - we love it!

Do not take financial advice if you are allergic to financial advice. Side effects of this advice may cause nausea, upset stomach, vomiting, fever, weight loss, weight gain, jaundice, headaches, or alien babies.

@PatsFanBrian  Coco Beach Club:  My wife says the steak they serve for lunch w/ aioli sauce is the best steak she has ever had.  And I usually enjoy the lobster as I never usually get to eat that for lunch.  Yum...

Could of been worse, the recent fight on a Carnival ship involved 60 guests 😲
https://www.crew-center.com/brawl-breaks-out-carnival-magic-dance-floor-involving-60-guests
 

Welcome to the Boards!

I would be back on the ship at least 1 hour before the posted time the ship leaves the port. 

I had a cruise planned for the end of may and in April I uploaded my March statement reflecting the shares.  The OBC was applied to my sailing (verified on the website) within 2 weeks.  Unfortunately I was unable to go on that cruise as I tested positive the day I was leaving the house for that cruise.  I cancelled that cruise that day as a result and booked a new cruise (same ship) the next day for three weeks later.  I then obtained my April statement (end of May timeframe) and uploaded to the site.  Again, they credited my account with the OBC within 2 weeks and I was a very happy sailor 🙂
   

So far no luck.  I haven't see my OBC credit in my account.  Maybe is too late, since I will be sailing tomorrow.  Or am I missing any other paper work?  I email the PDF form and one TD Ameritrade with my name and address and the other one with the Purchased approved of the RCL stock.  hmmm

Well to update all, the original submittal I made via the online "survey" site, went through on ALL four of my upcoming trips!! i received a confirmation email with an updated vacation receipt adding in the shareholder credits for each. 

Or like Tom Brady says "My favorite championship (think cruise) is my next one"...

Somewhere on the RC internal executive message board...
 
Michael Bayley has entered the chat.
Michael Bayley: I met Chris Wong!

We go to Chill Island (free) for snorkeling, swimming, and relaxing in the sun.  We haven't spent extra money at Coco Cay, and the shopping isn't as good as Labadee.  My advice is to get to the beach early for best selection of chairs, umbrellas, or hammocks.  We usually return to the ship after lunch and enjoy its amenities without large crowds.  Have a great trip!

We bought the all day Thrill park for the kids (teenagers).  My wife and I set up camp at the Oasis Lagoon (no fee) and had a blast!
 
Enjoy!  

That is assuming that Carnival can recover before it goes out of business!!! 😉
I bought my 100 shares of CCL and RCL last year during at good prices and now I'm negative with CCL.  Ben reading a lot about how much trouble Carnival is in now.  Truth is I have not cruised on Carnival since 2012 when we are on their first cruise out of Boston on the Glory.  That cruise was a mess.  We couldn't board until about 2AM due to a bunch of issues.  We vowed to never cruise on Carnival again.  So I am not sure why I bought the stock.  Trying to strike it rich I guess...