Rackham

When the drink vouchers were first introduced, every tier receiving them had one less per day to use (i.e. Diamond received 3 instead of 4). Royal upped the daily count to its current amounts during the first year in place. Along with posters on multiple boards saying they either don't use all of their vouchers per day or using them on things like canned soda and bottled water, the drink vouchers don't really cost Royal that much*. Even ordering premium cocktails which are covered (up to $14) the cost to Royal is measured in dollars; maybe $3 or so at the most in ingredients. Yet when people are discussing the benefits, it's always $56 in drink savings every day of the cruise for Diamonds, rarely is it how much savings are actually applicable for most. And many Diamond and up still buy a drink package of some sort based on form postings. Thus, I don't think Royal will be eliminating this benefit simply because people seriously overestimate how much the vouchers are worth, but it generates serious excitement towards climbing the C&A ranks. There used to be frequent posts asking how can someone climb the ranks faster and cheaper because DRINK VOUCHERS! * A post I made back in October about Royal's voucher costs.

Gut feeling is it allows Royal to capture some pre-cruise spending from seasoned cruisers who know how the card works and drives sales of the refreshment package from those who don't. Here's a screenshot from one of my upcoming cruises. While the water package lists bottles, the coffee card doesn't list coffees the card entitles the purchaser to. It appears from this screen (at first glance) that it's like the refreshment package, but only for coffee. Most people will start at the top with the refreshment, see that coffee is included, wonder why anyone would get the coffee card for the same or more money, and purchase the refreshment instead of the card. And before someone chimes in that people wouldn't think like this, consider the amount of questions which are asked here and elsewhere where the person would have had an answer by reading what Royal provides on their website or could be found by dropping their question into an online search engine and clicking the first link. Or the number of people who are angry because something didn't work the way they assumed it would because they didn't bother reading the materials Royal provides.

To be fair, the song states "When I get to you..." from the singer's point of view. There's nothing there about when YOU get to CocoCay.

At maximum capacity, and I'm assuming 7-night sailings to make this slightly easier (though it's not correct), the number you're looking for is 81,941 passengers to fully sell out Icon, Oasis, Quantum Ultra, and Quantum classes. However, it's been mentioned somewhere from Royal that they only need around 30%-40% of max. capacity to break even on ship expenses for their large, modern ships. So at 30%-40%, Royal needs 24,582 to 32,776 passengers across all ship classes mentioned, or an average of 1,891 to 2,521 passengers per ship. Not really that many people when they can draw on international visitors as well.

The 95% RTP on video poker is with perfect play. It's possible to learn how to play perfectly at home before your cruise. The casino aboard may or may not allow a how to play cheat sheet while sitting at the machine (I haven't tried). I haven't bothered paying attention (since I play low values), but since the video poker machines allow you to pick your credit denomination, you might be able to wager $50-$100+ a hand. Each hand can be done in seconds once you're in the groove.

Economies of scale and modern engineering. From what I recall, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, a modern Oasis-class ship only uses 30% more fuel than a Radiance-class ship yet caries around 3x the passengers. Then for services aboard the ship, the it's not a linear scale between sizing either. There's an increase moving to a larger ship with the higher educated and paid positions, as you'd expect, but it's not 3x the positions either. Then there's all the additional features which can be included in a larger ship thanks to the captive audience and available space. i.e. additional revenue generating opportunities, stuff which looks cool in ads and home videos, and things which impress general audiences to draw them back again versus trying the competition.

One thing Disney World has going for it, which Royal doesn't, is the ability to reduce major expenditures such as staffing through reduced hours of operation and reduction in scheduling, hotel rooms available, and ride vehicles in use during predicted slower times. On the other hand, Royal is aiming to fill 100% of the cabins, 100% of the time as major related expenditures don't change much with less occupancy aboard a cruise ship. Not to mention the reduction in ship occupancy means a reduction in post booking spending by the total passengers booked for a sailing. Which leads me to this. I don't think we'll see the bargain basement pricing again (baring a major event which reduces leisure travel), but I also don't believe we'll continue to see these massive year-over-year increases either. Royal needs the bookings, and while Royal's ships are unique in the industry, they're not as unique as a whole compared to other lines as Disney theme parks are to the majority of theme parks in the USA. Basically, Royal has actual competition in the mass market cruise line space which can't be completely ignored long term.

It's one to two pieces per sushi item. The sashimi and hibachi steak was full sized though. The sushi was more of a drinking snack than a full / half roll.

20 days to go! If you're trying to decide when to take advantage of a complementary NorthStar reservation (once aboard the ship), here's the golden and blue hours for when we'll be in port. In general, the view should be splendid (weather permitting) for reservations starting between 5:00 pm to 5:30 pm. Cape Canaveral, FL (December 26) Sunset: 17:34 Golden Hour: 16:58:54 — 17:50:12 Blue Hour: 17:50:12 — 18:00:09 Nassau, Bahamas (December 27) Sunset: 17:28 Golden Hour: 16:55:00 — 17:44:23 Blue Hour: 17:44:23 — 17:54:01 Perfect Day at CocoCay (December 28) Sunset, golden hour and blue hour should be roughly the same as Nassau on the 27th.

AHAHAHA... NO.

Engine issue has been fixed. We should be good for all ports on the itinerary. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2976238-speaking-of-anthem/

I'm expecting either The Key having private hours or a priority line pass instead of straight up charging for waterpark access. This provides a unique draw on the front end (book Icon class and your kids have an accessible waterpark aboard every day!) and an up sale opportunity (You want to play more than wait more, right? For only $15 per person, per night of your cruise, you can skip the regular lines at Category 6 during operating hours.)

I won't speculate on the benefits, but I'm willing to bet Celebrity's point system will triumph since it rewards booking more expensive cabins. In this scenario, existing C&A points would be converted so that no one would lose status; similar to the last time Royal changed how points are earned.

I'm going to assume Crown's Edge won't be in operation while in port for two reasons. First, Royal can't really control the airspace around their ship. For example, if somebody flies a drone in then suddenly there's a potential safety hazard outside the company's control. Two, if there's any accidents on the line then there's less witnesses (and recordings) in the middle of the ocean. An accident in port means there's a chance somebody just made an excellent recording from a good vantage point (and uploaded to the Internet a short while later).

Pina Coladas Peach Coladas Strawberry Daiquiris Mango Daiquiris Lime margaritas (also ask for it frozen) Mojitos (also ask for it frozen) Papaya Passion Mango Tango (1/2 Pina Colada, 1/2 mango daq) Love Connection (1/3 Pina, 1/3 Mango daq, 1/3 straw daq) Lava Flow / Miami Vice (1/2 pina colada-1/2 strawberry daq) Pineapple Blast (pineapple soda with red bull) Mudslide Flavored Lemonades (also ask for it frozen) Rosewater Lemonade Arnold Palmer (1/2 iced tea, 1/2 lemonade)-may be avail frozen... Bloody Mary Mexican Limeade in TWO70 Roy Rodgers (Coke + Grenadine) Bitter Tonic (Bitters + Tonic water) Atomic cat (Orange Juice + Tonic water) Singapore sling (squeeze of lime, add mango, pineapple and pomegranate juice in a 1:1:2 ratio(fill 50%), add equal tonic water or fizzy water, garnish with lime and mint) Arizona Sunset (grenadine, 50/50 sprite + OJ) Millionaire sour (Sour + Ginger Ale + Grenadine) Dirty Dr P Burabura Brew (Pineapple juice, Ginger Ale, Grenadine) Cranberry Freeze (Sweet and sour, Cranberry juice, Soda water) Sunrise (Orange juice, Pineapple juice, Sweet and sour, Grenadine) Fresh Lemon Freeze (Sweet and sour, Soda water)

Doh! You're right and I'm completely forgetting the release calendar. Edit: Week of February 12, 2024 Short Caribbean, Los Angeles & Northeast Edit Edit: Though I guess the referenced post is still technically correct.

As of now, there's no sailings on sale for Baltimore, Cape Liberty, New Orleans, or LA for summer 2025. Attached is also a ship list for the fleet. Bolded ships are currently on sale.

I've scheduled my flight back to the US for that afternoon on the off chance anything delays the ship docking or allowing us ashore. Then there's potential issues between the cruise terminal and airport. With how full flights are, which means limited rebooking options if a flight is missed, I'm not taking the chance with a morning flight.

Yes. It'll be Royal's holiday menu most likely. This is from 2019, but apparently it's still the same menu: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/12/25/look-the-christmas-dinner-menu-royal-caribbean Also, here's the Cruise Compass from 2021 which happens to have the exact same days as holidays as ours: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compasses/anthem-of-the-seas/fri-12242021-0000

Rebooked the refreshment package for Xmas aboard Anthem and saved ~$42. Reserved multiple non-Italian lunches at 40% off on Anthem and Jewel. IZUMI sushi might be worth it at that price depending on the ship and your tastes. On my sailings, the Italian resturants were only $1 cheaper than on International Pasta Day thus didn't bother rebooking.

Might be indicative of how cheap it costs to provide Internet via Starlink. Royal might be able to turn a tidy profit at $10/day. But why charge $10/day when people are willingly paying $20-$30/day for access?

Since Brilliance is now in the Mediterranean (totally wrong call on my part early in this thread), it's possibly Jewel again out of Amsterdam. We're still midweek so there might be another round of itineraries released for Northern Europe? Edit: The current sale ends tonight so Royal might be holding off this release until the next one begins tomorrow. Wouldn't be surprised if the next sale is less off versus the current.

Goodwill.

Until the sailings are actually released, I wouldn't put too much stock in rumors. Once cruises are available for booking, then there's something actually to chew on (or not).

It crashed thanks to too many people trying to give Royal their money. From what I recall, many prices trended upward during the crash and Royal, of course, didn't honor the prices which were available before the crash occurred.