Ala_Paul

I was on Allure of the Seas 2 years ago during Hurricane Irma. Our cruise was extended 3 days. Many people who had to get home got off at Jamaica, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. The next cruise after us was cut down to 4 days and was doing an overnight at Nassau. They were offering us the option to extend the 4 days for only a few hundred dollars since I assume people cancelled and they wanted to fill the cabins. We would have extended, but we had to return to work.
I vlogged our entire cruise experience and provided updates along the way. You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv_r2fFN5ypo4mccFqkBKKhAjDi_BQFw4
 

That is crazy prices for drinks.
Drinks here are $1 for draft beer $2 for the bottle.
Mixed drinks are $2.50 -$5.00 depending on what they are, well vs called. 
Shots of top shelf Scotch $6.00.

Umbrellas are free now.  They are all over the place.
Royal is very motivated. 
When Royal has a bunch of money that has been put down for day after day, ship after ship visit, they are highly motivated not to lose that revenue.   
If a hurricane or tropical storm hits that may slow them down and they might have to refund some purchases.  That's out of their control.  Barring that, they opened Perfect Day on time in May and I doubt they'll slip on Coco Beach Club or South Beach.

These prices are just for the cabanas. There are a ton of free things to do on CocoCay still Matt has a good article here with pricing: 
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/04/12/perfect-day-cococay-prices-and-costs
 

This is an ongoing debate as to who is more entitled: Suite guests or Pinnacle. I think the answer is both are entitled to their own set of privileges. I don't particularly have a vested interest as I have taken around 30 cruises with RCCL, mostly in Grand Suite or above, and am currently just 50 points away from Pinnacle. I have been happy to receive Suite level perks but will also expect some meaningful perks when I reach Pinnacle. It is quite an achievement. After all, the revenue that Royal has had from me (or from anyone in non-suite rooms taking 60 plus cruises) is just as real as the amount generated from a person taking one cruise in a Suite.
Privileges are always paid for one way or another.
I agree that the number of people in the upper levels of the loyalty programme is a problem and some privileges have been removed over time, accordingly. Nevertheless, one of the differentiators between Royal and other cruise lines is the quality of that loyalty programme. To reduce that too far may well be counterproductive. So I hope they can find a balance that retains the equivalent value of loyalty privileges whilst addressing the overcrowding issues. 

We’re on Navigator June 1-5, 2020 which has 2 stops at CocoCay.  I just got a 2 day ticket deal in cruise planner for $79.99 TOTAL per person, which is what they’re also charging for 1 day on the same cruise.  I’m guessing this is available for all the cruises with 2 stops at CocoCay .....
 
 
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Just got the email that Coco Cay is closed until Wed.. I am on Navigator and it said not to worry they are finding another port.. Now I think they will probably just have to make it a sea day but they said by tomorrow at 3 they will send out another email... 

Ok...my name is Jane and my cruise can’t come soon enough!  Yes...they are all my posts!  Jane

Meet & Mingle is run through Royal Caribbean.  You register through them.  Here's the link:
https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/ccEntry.do

I can't decide if you put wine in quotes because you don't consider $10 a bottle to be real wine, or because you're playing some shenanigans with those two bottles. ?
I drink stuff at home regularly that's $8 or $9 a bottle and that I consider more than decent, so I'm kind of hoping it's the latter reason. ?

That's correct - we had three rooms booked and we were able to bring 6 bottles of wine in our carry-on luggage and we had no problem.  Definitely worth doing if you can.

Hello!!!! Welcome to my semi-live blog! 
Background:  My hubby and I have saved up our vacation time at work since early 2018(despite unexpected and serious medical issues) to be able to take a consecutive two week + 1 day trip.  Yes...that extra day counts too!!! ?
This trip will be myself, DH and our 9yo son. This is our son’s first trip w/o any of his other siblings. He is a huge fan of cruising just like good ‘ol mom and dad.
The important stuff:  First week we are on Navigator, second week we are on Allure! We fly out of Baltimore to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow morning, then head to Miami. I feel like we’ve waited forever for this trip. Since March of 2018 to be exact. Our itinerary will be:
8/10  Miami (Intercontinental)
8/11 Miam
8/12 Board Navigator 
8/13 Coco Cay
8/14 Nassau
8/15 Sea Day
8/16 Ft. Lauderdale (Renaissance)
8/17 Ft. Lauderdale
8/18  Board Allure
8/19  Sea Day
8/20  Sea Day
8/21  St. Maarten
8/22  Puerto Rico
8/23  Labadee
8/24  Sea Day
8/25  Hollywood (Margaritaville)
8/26  Fly home ?
We have two excursions booked. We are doing a dolphin encounter at Blue Lagoon in the Bahamas and we are doing the Rain Forest Drive in Puerto Rico.  Both excursions are through the ship this go round. 
This will be semi-live because to be honest...I can’t wait to not have phone service for a while.  It’s been a rough year and we desperately need to disconnect. I’ll be live until I lose my phone service and will update on our land days and in Puerto Rico, etc.
 
 
 
 

Our next port was Puerto Rico which is one of my favorites.  We did the Rainforest Drive excursion.  We had an excellent guide and the Rainforest is breathtaking.  Guess what???? I even had time for my pina colada at Barrachinas!!! 
Hubs and lil guy continued back to the ship while I browsed for souvenirs.  Suddenly a torrential downpour came and I was soaked.  It was so heavy it was hard to see. 

Yesterday was our first port day.  We chose to take a taxi to Mullet Bay Beach.  I was going to go to the beach at Holland House, but after hearing talk of the water there failing toxicity tests I didn’t want to chance it. 
Mullet Bay Beach was absolutely gorgeous.  The color of the water there is something out of an advertisement.  
We ate at Rosie’s snack shack there.  Two chicken and rice platters, an order of fries, a beer and a soda cane to $24.
Some catamarans came and anchored for about 30-45 minutes.  We scored free rum punch from their staff because their people weren’t swimming out to where the cooler was. That was a win!!
We snorkeled and saw a few different kind of fish and some crabs.
We have only had one other ship docked with it’s there...MSC Seaside.

I also love the little hidden treasures throughout the ship. If you look down into the telescopes you find scenes such as this:
 

I love the wall of door knockers.  They instantly reminded me of that movie the Labrynth with David Bowie.  Anyone else a fan of that movie?
 

6 locations in South Florida but not Miami.  The location that is the furthest south is their Fort Lauderdale location.  We are currently debating where we should stay pre-cruise in March (Miami or Fort Lauderdale)...La Bamba is at the root of the debate lol.  That is how much we love that place!

I need to re-record this episode

While on Anthem recently I dropped by the Loyalty desk and saw they had these out so I thought it would be a good "moment in time" snapshot of the current Crown and Anchor on board offers for various levels of the society.  
Gold.PDF
Platinum.PDF
Emerald.PDF
Diamond.PDF
Diamond Plus.PDF

That's a big draw for me. We have a 7-month-old, and I'm interested in Royal allowing you to put a 5th person in the room if they're under 3. A bathtub would be nice as well. Those C&A points are a big draw for me too!

Was my experience 2 year ago on Alure, I actually couldn't get in at all or lets just say after the 5th straight day in a row I gave up trying those last 2 days.  The part that bothered me the most was that I had booked approx 2 years prior and there had been no talk of JS being "Space Available" and at the time I couldn't find that anywhere is Royal literature.  So I never was able to experience CK and really didn't like the Oasis Class ship that much, especially having to book your shows which to me defeated the purpose of a leisurely cruise vacation.

Can someone give a detailed explanation of how the two private islands compare to each other?

Great news, yes unlimited drinks in the Diamond lounge and 3 drinks nightly in any bar during Diamond happy hour. See The C & A website for a full list https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cas/benefits/diamond-members/

My cruise in 2 Days on Enchantment will have me tip the scales to Diamond also!!!

The other nice thing about a JS for families with small kids is the bathtub.  that is what got us started on the JS.  My little kids at the time really enjoyed the bath and we enjoyed the room size/double points.  It worked out well. 
D