Rackham

And it's one 750mL bottle of wine per adult, aged 21 or older, unlike the soft drinks which is per stateroom.

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

This is so cheezy and cheap.  I hope they change this policy.  Very low rent.

It's probably has to do with the carry out window concept and menu pricing. Royal doesn't want people sharing so they've set the credit value at the cost of one bento box.

The menu for reference: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/sites/default/files/styles/desktop_1x/public/2024-01/Izumi-in-the-park-menu.jpg.webp?itok=1uST2-Nx

To me, it would've made more sense to have IZUMI in the Park included under the $20 credit value restaurants and increase the cost of a sushi tray to $12. Therefore people with the UDP could get a combination of sushi plus a hot choice or desert. It seems less cheap, but none of these items look expensive to make, and the slight increase in sushi pricing isn't bad when comparing to prices at the full service restaurant.

3 hours ago, DZ_Da_Dude said:

So I am getting conflicting information regarding the UDP and Izumi restaurant. How does the package work here? Do you order off the teppanyaki menu section or do you use the a la carte option and order sushi rolls?

There's two different IZUMI restaurants found on Royal Caribbean, IZUMI Sushi and IZUMI Hibachi. The UDP at sushi will either cover the prix fixe menu or provide $39.99 worth of a la carte credit. At IZUMI Hibachi you get to choose 1 of their menu selections, premium selections are included, but there's an additional $15 cover charged to your ship account for the visit to Hibachi. Sushi at hibachi would be an additional charge.

Edit: And on the rare ship (only Icon at the moment, Utopia this summer) with IZUMI in the Park, there's a once a day $10 credit with the UDP to use at the carryout window.

58 minutes ago, Baked Alaska said:

Yes, but (you knew that was coming, right?) what about the other ship in port that day?

It's the Celebrity Reflection. From their cruise planner. $3,499 for the OTW cabanas and $198.99 for Beach Club on its own.

I was looking at the menu for Hooked on Navigator tonight and noticed the dinner menu has been updated. Several options were removed (ex. whole lobster) while others have been made less interesting (ex. Royal Seafood Platter). Personally it feels cheaper, but the addition of coconut shrimp will probably be a hit. A pdf of the previous menu and a screenshot from the app of the current menu are attached. Lunch appears to be untouched for now.

HOOKDINNER.pdf

The only one of those trademarks which sounds like a loyalty program with cross branding and marketing potential is "Royal One". One loyalty program for the Royal Caribbean Group merging together all others. Royal One, because when you're sailing with the Royal Caribbean Group, you're a Royal One.

On the others, Anchored sounds like you've crossing the mob if you're choosing to sail other lines. Boundless and Aspire sound like Marriott Bonvoy or Hilton Honors respectively. Royal Rewards sounds like a casino or other program which either resets annually or uses earnable, then spendable, points. Flagship just doesn't have the cachet that Royal One has. It's there, but doesn't really do much emotionally.

For everyone who plans [far, far] in advance, CocoCay is in the direct path of the August 12, 2045 total solar eclipse. Nearly 6 minutes of totality!

Two videos which future gamblers doing it for the comps might find helpful for understanding slots.

How Slot Machines ACTUALLY Work From a Slot Tech and Engineer - Gamble Smart - https://youtu.be/bjXhjbf1M4o

Truth of Cruise Ship Slots Leave your cruise a WINNER! Don't make this mistake!  - Cowboy Slots - https://youtu.be/b_dwe5Ha2UA

As an aside, based on the point accumulation rules and Royal's typical video poker tables I've seen, whether playing slots or perfect video poker, gamblers will lose approximately the same amount of money either way. If you're in the casino just for the comps, might as well skip the video poker (and learning perfect play) for slots.

2 hours ago, tonyfsu21 said:

 I’m glad someone made the purchase and I can’t wait to see what RC replaces it with in the bling store by our Thanksgiving cruise. 

Since this one was so extra, maybe they'll decide on a design hankering to the cup of a carpenter. 

I'm imaging the prices going up on the packages has to do with the potential for pre-bookings starting sometime this year. There's less need to give a substantial discount over booking individual reservations if Royal's switching the dining packages from something akin to a GTY for restaurants to a "You pick" setup. Though with how many new cruisers Royal attracts, I bet they were fielding multiple complaints each sailing from people not realizing the packages were to ensure restaurant traffic by selling tables which would otherwise go unoccupied.

Does anyone know how it worked on Wonder when it was being tested? I'm curious to know if after purchasing a package if restaurant reservations in the app/website didn't happen with the normal steps, but there was no charge for the reservation at checkout?

31 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Now they should just merge the Celebrity and Royal programs. Earn points on either for one program with the same benefits. That's just my opinion though. 

It does seem they're moving that way. I suspect long term RCG wants to position RCCL in the same space as DCL in mass market plus space and have Celebrity act as their line for people looking for a classicish cruising experience. Keeping the programs together would further help with cross brand retention. 

Quote

That would be great if the merger included the BEST benefits of both programs but what if they opted for the lesser of similar benefits? Be careful what you wish for.

I could see a reduction in drink vouchers with the merger and the cost of the drink covered increased by a few dollars. I could also see their not being any changes as hotel programs can have different benifits depending on the hotel brand.

I've seen it be all over the map as to when it starts to populate. When I started cruising with Royal in 2022, the word online then was 6 to 9 months before the sail date. From personal experience, things trickle in as they do earlier than that, but sale pricing can be highly variable as to when it applies. Not just the amount of the discount, but whether or not there's one at all.

13 hours ago, Jamesszy94 said:

So in terms of size what are we thinking? Smaller than Freedom-class but larger than Voyager-class? Or same as Voyager class? 

The Edge and the Apex are ~130,000 GT but the Beyond is ~140,000 GT

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

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?

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.

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.

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 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Here's the thing though....let's say it does stop people from "wasting" food.  What happens to that same food that is prepared, waiting to be eaten, but never ordered/served ?  It goes to the fishes just like the plate of food would do if you ordered it and then wasted some of it.  The whole thing is just stupid.

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. 

Good thing it's on YouTube.

5 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I would disagree with this. The promotion did exactly what they wanted. Ensured that people would sail during a time when most people wouldn't and rewarded those who were loyal. I don't think it made too many diamonds. Every time someone post the numbers after a top tier event, I am shocked at how low the numbers are. Shocked because people keep saying how that promotion made so many diamond or higher members. On any given cruise the combination of diamond and higher combined, are less than gold or new cruisers. I think it put people where they would be, had they not lost out on 15mths of cruises.

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.

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.

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.

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.

4 hours ago, Plumlee2028 said:

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2024/02/royal-caribbean-group-signs-agreement-with-chantiers-next-oasis-class-ship/

 

Royal Caribbean ordered a 7th Oasis Class for Delivery in 2028 from Chantiers (financing needs completed).  I was a little surprised to read that this morning, I assumed another large one would be Icon class at this point.  

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. 

On 2/1/2024 at 12:59 PM, Southern Dan said:

If the rumors are true and the new Discovery Class ships are going to be a similar size to the Radiance Class then I think you will see a few things that don't take up a massive footprint (Rock Climbing Wall obviously, Mini Golf, Flowrider and perhaps a couple water slides) but you can't put too much on that size of ship.  I'm curious if they will try to do a promenade like Voyager Class and above or will they do the traditional Atrium Style like the older ships.  Also curious if they bring back the Viking Crown Lounge.  Either way I'm looking forward to seeing what's next...

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.