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Rackham

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Everything posted by Rackham

  1. Slightly smaller than Voyager-class if twangster is correct. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_Edge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager-class_cruise_ship
  2. Interesting. I wonder if the idea is to do away with waiting in the terminal for check-ins before the ship is ready for embarkation?
  3. This makes perfect sense within the context of Royal going after families who'd consider vacationing at a major theme park. Cozumel is a popular port with many, many ships calling on it. Providing a beach club option for travelers who are uncomfortable getting outside Royal's bubble through non-Royal resorts is going to make them a mint.
  4. I was aboard Brilliance last summer. From what I recall there isn't anything comparable to the Vitality Cafe on Oasis class. Fresh squeezed orange juice was available, but nothing like smoothies or fresh squeezed juice blends. I'm not counting Frappuccinos, which were available, as a smoothie.
  5. Interesting. I wonder if Royal won't start offering one way sailings from Seattle once it's built? More opportunities for land-sea packages with a higher passanger volume to Seward and back.
  6. Royal has software which predicts how much of each dish will be ordered based on passanger demographics. Their kitchens then make enough to cover anticipated orders plus a buffer so they don't have to tell someone they're out. While they're making extra each evening, getting passangers to order fewer dishes means less will be prepared in the future and less food for the fishes. In other words, the kitchen isn't making enough for everyone to order everything off the menu each evening, and wasn't doing so before this policy. But the policy should help reduce food waste from people who were ordering multiple dishes then barely touching either.
  7. I'm hypnotizing that the complaints are coming from guests aboard itineraries popular with those in the higher C&A levels. Percentage wise, it typical tracks from sailings I've been on and seen others posted, 7% or less are Diamond and above. On the sold out Anthem Christmas sailing last year, the amount of Platinum members aboard (296) was nearly that of Diamond and up (325). Gold had more than both combined at 880. Typically, this approximate ratio is maintained between sailings, at least when school is out from ships I've been on, with about there being ~10%-25% more Diamond and up aboard versus Platinum, and with Gold out numbering both by a significant margin.
  8. Another tier? No. Here's the loyalty program benefits charts for Carnival, MSC, NCL, and Royal. Royal's for everyone who doesn't have the chart memorized already: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/crown-and-anchor-society-benefit-grid.pdf Depending on what you value, Royal's or NCL's program is going to be the best. Interestingly enough, both of which have similar point requirements for the tiers. It's just that Royal's has a hidden tier at 340 points versus NCL giving it a name at 350.
  9. I'm anticipating if Discovery is officially announced this year, it'd be in September to coincide with the ending month of the Ultimate World Cruise for the marketing potential.
  10. To throw a tiny amount fuel on this fire, I received an email survey from Celebrity this evening inquiring about my feelings on status matching the loyalty programs between Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Silversea (the attached picture). It sounds like, at least for the moment, RCG isn't planning any major changes to how each works, but there might be more alignment with tiers between brands.
  11. I wonder if what's required to build the AquaDome doesn't restrict which shipyards can build an Icon class ship? I'm somewhat surprised, but not, on the announcement of another Oasis class. They print money for Royal and no other line has an offering quite like it. Concering smaller ships, Icon 2 & 3 together have more passanger capacity than all 4 of the Vision class ships in operation combined. I could see the company sunsetting these ships before having even ordered a single Discovery class vessel. Adding in Oasis 7 with the 2 Icon class ships yet to be delivered, passanger capacity between them is over 167% of all Vision class ships added together.
  12. I'm wondering if Royal wouldn't try a promenade with enhanced sea views leading to a Two70 or AquaDome-ish (minus the water) style venue.
  13. After cruising a multitude of times in the past two years and treating it partially like a class in Royal Caribbean cruising, I personally prefer the Windjammer over the MDR. In exchange for a couple menu items per evening (either more expensive offerings, like lobster tail, or things which don't work on a buffet) there's a wider range of options than what's presented on the MDR menu with which you're free to mix and match. Service is at your speed. Portion sizing is under your control. However, the Eggs Benedict is better in the MDR and the presentation of the French onion soup is better there too (though I find it easier to eat when having it in the 'jammer since there isn't a broiled mess of cheese on top). Depending on the ship class there's fantastic views from the Windjammer; that goes double in Alaska. My biggest issue is/was getting over the mental hurdle of "I'm passing up a table service meal for a buffet," even when I'm finding the buffet to be better.
  14. Can't imagine Royal getting rid of that one. The servicing charge on drink vouchers, based on personal estimates, isn't that much (and is easily incorporated into fare pricing without significantly impacting them), yet gets people really, really fired up to be "Loyal to Royal" for those future benefits. Even people who would be better off aiming for the lowest total cruise price with any line, doing the itinerary they want, which includes Diamond and up style benefits, or at least drinks, want to cruise with Royal for loyalty status. My guess is the biggest overall change will be you have to remain active, sailing once every so many years, with the primary RCG brands to keep your loyalty status with any of the lines. Disney quietly implemented the requirement of once every 5 years early this year and MSC has had theirs set at 3 years before that. So with the RCG, something like at least one cruise every five years with either Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, or Silversea to keep your status in the newly combined program. This would be part of the reason why they're aligning loyalty programs as keeping truly separate accounts would make deactivation (and reactivation when things go "oopise") more problematic. I'm also going to speculate that they'll be transitioning C&A points to the Captain Club's system on Celebrity where cabin category determines how many points are earned per night. While it's true that no other mass market line uses such a system, this doesn't mean they cannot. With the differences in pricing between Royal's newest ships and oldest alongside pricing differences with interiors versus suites, this could help Royal promote their whales quicker and encourage people desiring C&A benefits to book slightly more expensive cabins than they might otherwise have.
  15. In addition to. There's also roller skating offered during select hours.
  16. While I can't see Royal cannibalizing DBP sales by offering a 10 punch, any drink card in the cruise planner, I could see them offering a 10 punch card good on glasses of beer and wine up to $10-11 each for around $60 ("SAVE UP TO 45% ON BEER AND WINE BY THE GLASS!") People who want cocktails will skip it, people who were wanting a beer and wine package will consider it, and light drinkers might bite since they don't know how much they'll actually drink aboard and don't want to commit the money to the full DBP (among a multitude of groups).
  17. Same suitcase positioned 90° to the previous. 27.25 in of height including the wheels.
  18. This is a medium sized, TravelPro hardside with a height of 13" underneight a standard bed on Anthem. There might be another inch of usable height here.
  19. Currently onboard Anthem. Here's how it appears in the cruise planner. It's under "Clash for the Crystal City" and not "Laser Tag". I haven't been tracking this, but it appears to appear the night before like the complementary iFly and NorthStar reservations. Other Sea Plex activities, such as skating, also seem to be populating then too.
  20. The only penalty, at this point, is your son won't receive an extra loyalty point per night. Port taxes and fees and such should be refunded for the other person.
  21. I'm not seeing brunch offered this week aboard Anthem. It's always breakfast and lunch on the in app menus.
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