CrimsonCruiser

well..i was just going to copy paste the comment I made on the Facebook post of Matt's article...but for some reason or another it no longer seems to be there... Basically my initial thoughts are: this most likely means an 8th Oasis class will be coming as well since the oasis fleet has "sisters" within the fleet. Oasis & allure, harmony & symphony, wonder & utopia. This new ship will have something new about it that the other versions don't have and an 8th will probably come to complete the set. My issue with that is that Oasis class ships can't exactly go to many varied ports due to its size so you have up to 8 ships running the same general itineraries which could result in only oasis class ships doing those stops so the smaller ships are more freed up to venture to more locations and the price to visit staples in the Caribbean and Bahamas getting too high for old and new cruisers alike. Also....by doing a 7th (and 8th) ship I can only imagine this means the Project Discovery isn't planning to see the light of day until maybe mid 2030s at best....

I think the items that I love the most that I've gotten are: Luggage Tag holders they look so neat and safe and are much easier to put on at the hotel (versus stapling them on at home before the flight and praying ground crew don't rip them off out of confusion or rough handling) Cup holders: Got these neoprene soft cup carriers to make hauling around out freestyle cups less of an annoyance or hassle and everyone who sees them (staff and guests alike) love them. Plus, I no longer struggle to balance two full cups and stacked plates of late night pizza back to the room, because I can just sling the cups onto my wrist and have two free hands for holding. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0781K452Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 portable battery operated clock. Staterooms (especially older rooms) seem to forget we still need to know time even on vacation and don't keep clocks in the room. A little battery operated folding alarm clock has been a life saver for seeing the time when getting ready for a show or for setting an alarm on when to wake up and get moving. and if I happen to be on a ship that includes a clock in the room, I just leave mine packed because it's smaller than my hand.

Yeah I think they changed it to this design early last year. I know there's an article by Matt floating around. I've gotten used to the new look but still think the simple etching of the old one was more classy.

Oh yeah! I forgot about that! Good to know because I love to reprice!

For rock climbing they will provide you with shoes specific for the task with more flexible soles but firm toes. So, yeah, you only need socks. But if your ship has a zipline, those open back shoes will not be acceptable as there's a chance they can fall into the boardwalk below.

For those who frequent the site more than me - how often does Royal offer OBC sales online? I notice they have one going on right now that ends tonight (2/9/24) but I am very much not financially ready to book anything. Normally, we book with Next cruise for the OBC but I"m curious if there's a chance another online sale may offer OBC before we're next on a ship.

Next year we're planning a cruise with some first timers who (obviously) don't have a C&A status. When I do the mock bookings to see what prices out best for us all, I've noticed an up to $300 difference between the rooms because of our status discount. BUT...I've also noticed, in my laziness, that Royal let's me put my info on both rooms (C&A number included). Is this glitch happening or can I put my name on two rooms, get the C&A discount, then switch the name to the correct passenger after booking? And before anyone tries to attack me - I'm not trying to skirt or break or bend any rules. I'm asking if this is a thing I can do because the royal booking site hasn't balked at me essentially living in 2 rooms and I've never booked more than one room before. I don't know if this is a hidden perk of my status.

I also think they've changed the pin design but my source is facebook...so....take that with a grain of salt

And now as of Jan 2024 they've dropped Emerald from the list and Diamond is the first one to get a pin.

I wonder if the delayed emails are a Royal IT issue where the Concierges didn't have email set up and now have to play catch up

I don't think the rooms have the kind of kitchenette you're thinking of (with cooking spaces and sinks) so my guess would be no. Also, the only dishes one would really expect to do would be personal water bottles, the freestyle cup for the soda machine and maybe baby bottles

and this is where I embarrass myself and say I've never been to a major outdoor stadium....

I would LOVE this. I think the doghouse was a good idea but it's kinda meh on flavor and options and I will forever be bitter about the fact that there's nothing like a Chicago Dog offered lol ooooohhhhhh that hurts! I think more people are realizing how great of a grab they are and demand skyrockets the price. Truly, they aren't worth more than $90 per person in my opinion (but I'm also rather cheap hahaha) so even for 4 people I'd max out at $360

Borrowing this topic to ask a question I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to... So...after some begging, arm-twisting and flattering, my mom and I have managed to convince some family to join us on a cruise next year and while I'm pretty well versed in handling a standard 2-person reservation, I have some concerns about a linked multi-room, multi c&a status reservation. We do already have a TA service but it's one that we got because of the perks (OBC and spa & dining vouchers every time) and I've been on here enough to get the idea that a TA with a lot of perks isn't as customer focused as one that has no or less perks. BUT...is there a magical place where I can find someone who does both? We only cruise once a year and save up for it so OBC and those vouchers are really important to us as they let us stretch our dollars to enjoy the experience more and stress less. Couple that with bringing people on their first cruise and we want to make sure they don't dislike the experience because of cost limitations. So the question...anyone have any TA recommendations that can give me both great customer-focused experience AND great perks? (And just to say, I have no problem or issue with our current TA service and have even recommended it to people on here. I'm just building a net of options in the event I think it's more than our agent at that place can handle.)

I could be wrong as I've never had to buy outdoor furniture but even those are more "water resistant" not water proof right? Like if you have those for a patio is still recommended to bring them inside if it's going to rain a lot, right? Cuz there's a foam cushion inside?

If you can get a bungalow at Labadee for about $150 I highly recommend it. It gives all the feel of a cabana at a massive fraction of the cost and the access to the less used area of the beach means you can soak, float or splash with less people around. We did it on our last trip and it made the whole experience a MILLION times better.

I actually wondered about that as well, but I imagine there's a cost and health factor in having outdoor seating en masse that can get soaked at any time. Just imagine the cleaning costs!

According to the link in the above article features of the original plan for her amplification was "...Portside BBQ, Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade, El Loco Fresh, Sugar Beach, and the Bionic Bar....the Music Hall... and Spotlight Karaoke..."among other things like the water slides I'm sure. I do wonder if they'll keep those plans given the new things that have been unveiled recently as well as general response to things like the bionic bar and (my personal issue - the design of dazzles as music hall)

So Amazon is great for simple and inexpensive ones: https://www.amazon.com/Decorations-Magnetic-Graduation-Congrats-Carnival/dp/B0BV6QRWDW/ https://www.amazon.com/Decorations-Graduation-Magnetic-Preserver-Refrigerator/dp/B0BV6Y4P4W/ https://www.amazon.com/Graduation-Reflective-Magnets-Waterproof-Magnetic/dp/B09TNXZ43H/ https://www.amazon.com/Copkim-Graduation-Decorations-Magnetic-Stateroom/dp/B0CR6J2KYB/ https://www.amazon.com/Graduation-Magnetic-Decorations-Congrats-Decoration/dp/B09PZR8TKT/ https://www.amazon.com/Graduation-Decoration-Personalized-Keepsake-College/dp/B0BX1YXPSM/ I also like to get door banners of photo backgrounds and attach them to the door with removable putty so you could also get something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Graduation-Decorations-Hanging-Congrats-College/dp/B09SFLTGG5/ Finally - I highly recommend StateroomStatements.com. They have lots of base designs that you can add your family name to, but also make fully customized ones as well and are willing to alter their base designs too (I liked their "drink package diva" design but wanted it to read "diamond diva" and they were happy to change the text and even the background color to match my specifications AND to put a rush on it so I had it in time for our cruise last year).

So based on this is it safe to say all the August 2025 Caribbean 6-8 nights are released? When i look at what's up on the site now only Adventure, Oasis, Harmony, Icon, and Star are showing. And when I look at the schedules for Freedom Class (liberty, freedom, independence) the dates only goes up to April 2015. Asking cuz we're pricing some stuff out now and as we're seeing the numbers go up we don't want to sit on anything, but if there are other options upcoming on ships we love...don't want to miss those because we booked too early...

Good to know. Not sure we want Adventure on our shelves!

Looking for clarification: do you get the crystal block for the cruise on which you cross the 140 threshold or on the first cruise AFTER? We're due to cross 140 on the 2025 cruise we're planning and if we're getting the block for that cruise we want to book a ship that we want to stare at often

Not sure if it's on every ship but it was available on Harmony last year

it is 100% a better plan to get the 10 photos (or really any photo bundle) than to buy them individually. And you may not think you'll buy all 10 buuuuuut: boarding photo 2 formal night photos 2-3 Port photos random beach/pool/mdr photos it's pretty east to find up to 10 that you like

I literally have hooks in my amazon cart specifically for this exact same reason. Hooks and a dollar tree shower curtain that we can trash at the end. We didn't get water on the floor too much but it did happen often enough to be annoying. A pile of 4 towels on the floor because it just kept being wet felt SO wasteful