Rackham

I've seen this offered on a sailing I'm on as well. As far as I can tell, transportation is included to The Village from the ship based on the language versus excursions were transportation isn't provided. The Village in this case being Junkanoo Village next to the Fish Fry, or possibly the large grassy area on the southern edge of the Fish Fry, (https://maps.app.goo.gl/h2t1J47664xE2QUx9) or The Village area on Paradise Island (https://maps.app.goo.gl/sXqCNuj8sPWTatt5A) either way I'm not convinced it's worth ~$60 per person for what's on offer. Nassau's greatest hits (excluding Paradise Island) are mostly walkable from the pier and the areas are safe. Yes, you'll probably get a few solicitations for excursions or drugs, but nothing a "No, thanks," and keep walking won't handle. 

4 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said:

That's because the price you see already includes that "discount"!  Wait a few days and they will call it a different sale with different terms but it will still magically calculate out to the same thing.  Ignore all the text and just focus on the number shown.  Track that number up and down and buy when it looks good.  You can always cancel and repurchase if it goes down further.

Before TexasNative asks, yes, Black Friday can have some really good sales. Typically on other people's sailings. Rarely your own. 

Drink prices can be seen on the bar menus in the app.

2 hours ago, Cakemeister said:

I saw a random article that says the average land-based vacation costs $1919 per person per week, or $3838 for two.

Average vacation cost: Breakdown of travel expenses in 2023 | Pacaso

I cruised on Allure a couple of weeks ago and I paid maybe $2300-$2500 for everything. The final bill hasn't come in yet. My transportation cost was only the cost of parking as I drove, so adding a flight could raise the cost to $3K pretty easily. I also was in an interior cabin. 

I think the 40% number is bogus. Cruising on the cheap like a lot of us do is a good value, but it costs a lot more than 40% of the equivalent land vacation.

From what I recall with their verbiage, Royal isn't saying they're 40% of the cost of a land based vacation. Rather, they're 40% cheaper than the equivalent land based vacation which would mean that they're 60% of the cost of a comparable trip. So if we're using $3,838 for land, Royal's average is $2,302. This is, of course, across the entire fleet for the entire year. So $70,000 fares on Icon are being modulated by $500 fares on Enchantment for a week aboard.  Then there's all the fares in between and those above and below these amounts. I might be misremembering the percentage, but Royal is wanting to get that percentage up to 10%-20% off the average land based vacation (80%-90% of the cost of the average shoreside vacation). With the number from the random article, that would mean their average fare for two target is $3,070 to $3,454 across the entire fleet. So older ships would still be cheaper than  newer ships. Per night costs on longer sailings, or less desirable itineraries, will still be cheaper than shorter cruises. But overall, fares will be going up especially on popular ships, during popular times, doing popular itineraries.

33 minutes ago, Jim S said:

Just boarded Explorer and discovered that the free $34.99 bag of laundry for D, D+ and Pinnacle has been removed and replaced with $10 discount. So the “free” bag now costs $24.99.

To my knowledge, Diamond has never been entitled to free laundry. That perk started at Diamond Plus and the cruise needed to be at least 5 nights in length.

The current C&A benefits do list the wash and fold bag benefit for D+ and up. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/crown-and-anchor-society-benefit-grid.pdf There are limitations to when this is being offered too. "On 5+ night sailings only, Diamond Plus and Pinnacle Club members receive one free $34.99 bag of laundry on Wash & Fold Day. Only valid on the day of the ship’s Wash & Fold laundry promotion. Not valid for any pressing or dry-cleaning services"

11 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

All I picture is the DJ playing a rotation of Pitbull, Gloria Estefan and Shakira over and over again.

Can't wait for "Perfect Day at CoCoCay" (trap remix) to be spun.

I've been thinking about my position on Hideaway being another upcharge and different from what was expected after the original announcement. Having Hideaway be an upcharge doesn't change what's offered on the rest of the island. Hideaway being da club on da beach doesn't change the spots I'd typically hang while on CoCoCay. So while it's disappointing that there isn't going to be a shoreside Solarium, what Hideaway turned out to be doesn't change what's already on offer. Altogether, it's easy enough to ignore if I'm not wanting to visit. I might check it out once, depending on pricing for a visit in 2025, but I don't feel a need to spend extra just because it's there.

On 9/14/2023 at 4:48 PM, CruiserGirl said:

Greetings all... 

Hope you're doing well. I'm cruising on a Vision class ship this week ( ports are Labadee, Falmouth, Grand Cayman). 
During the Top Tier event on day 2, a Senior Officer ( not the captain) talked up the benefits of the Vision class ships-- compared to the Radiance class ships. He then made the statement " we are going to sell those Radiance class ships-- do you know any buyers?" 
 

While every cruise ship has its life span, the Radiance class ships are newer than the Vision Class. 
 

Can't wait for your comments! 

Sounds like a jab in jest directed at another department at work. It's supposed to be funny, not taken literally.

Considering putting in an offer?

Right now, it's anybody's guess. Royal's not going to sell them off to potential competitors, and the number of lines have dwindled since the COVID shutdown. I suspect Royal will end up running them until either they're more of a drain on resources or brand image than the money they're generating, then send 'em to be scraped. If you're wanting a date, my predication is before the end of 2038 Royal will have retired the Vision-class from their fleet.

3 hours ago, TheMaxRebo said:

 

Thanks for sharing ing the link. Does sound like a full experience and while not cheap, that would cost a lot more on land

 

Wonder if you have the drink package if any discount skid this included the cocktails

 

Hoping to book this for my birthday when we are in the Feb 17ths sailing next year

There's no discount on the Chef's Table, a Taste of Royal, or the sake and sushi paring with the DBP. I wouldn't expect one on the Empire Supper Club.

On 9/4/2023 at 3:46 PM, jupiter03 said:

Yes, this is what I do every year for spring break. After incorrectly guessing when spring break will be 2 years in a row (it's either the 2nd or 3rd week of March in TX), I now book both weeks as a refundable fare and when school calendars come out a year or so later, I cancel the unneeded week. My school district has no consistent pattern as far as I can tell and I've tracked back 10+ years of calendars.

The school I work for appears to have the same roaming style break schedule. However, it turns out the breaks are based on calendar weeks and not week of the month. For example, spring break is always week 17 in the calendar. So if you haven't checked this angle out yet, it's possible they're doing the same thing at your schools.

45 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

How long would you say the meal took?

From what I recall, about 90 minutes from seating to leaving.

3 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

This is sad news, I am planning to do it on Allure next month and there are a lot of meats I might not want. 

At Samba on Allure last month the filet was the third meat brought out. I couldn't really figure out what was determining the order presented. Lamb was towards the end, but so was the pork. Staff was excellent and I probably could've asked for only certain meats without issue. In fact, they brought back by several of the more expensive beef cuts trying to get me to take more. My only issue during the meal was the dessert buffet wasn't being replensished quickly. Though having a slight delay in dessert after all that meat wasn't a bad thing. 

While I don't think a Boardwalk or Central Park could work aboard Discovery due to size and environmental requirements, a take on the SeaPlex with Playmakers could be included. This would provide an indoor, multipurpose active activity space for chillier sailings and inclement weather days on those itineraries Discovery-class would supposedly be doing. 

9 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Oh wow, thanks! Excellent information! Yeah I think the bus ride alone starts at 12:30 so assuming it's actually 30 minutes we get there at 1 so we have probably less than 4 hours. I didn't think of that side of this. That's not a ton of time like you said. Hmmm now I'm really thinking. I mean we have to do something in Port Canaveral and this is the only appealing thing to us. 4 hours though it's kinda tough. Thanks again for the info and suggestions. 

Another tip is there are preshows to the exhibits when entering most of the buildings. They're really well done, but if you're looking to save some time, you're able to enter through the building's exit (might be disguised as a gift shop). YouTube should have recordings of all of them if you're wanting to watch before arrival to see what you'd like to skip or wait for.

6 hours ago, Montemy2419 said:

Wow, did Celebrity not pay attention to what their sister cruise line just dealt with regarding pizza ?  Just quit with bothering us with new fees and increase all future cruises by  $100.  RC and Celebrity have very loyal cruisers, as other cruise lines do as well, but everybody has their limit. 

I really wonder who is in these meetings thinking it's a good idea to keep adding on these fees if we want to have something that we've always received for years.  So will the next exciting announcement be  they are bringing back the midnight buffet, including chocolate fountain, for only $49 a person...plus gratuity.

I honestly could see Royal doing this once or twice per sailing and include a chocolate martini or glass of sparkling wine with the $49 charge.

10 hours ago, Heymarco said:

I saw the popcorn thing on Allure, reminded me of RyanAir wanting to charge for in flight toilets. That and with all other cutbacks, would rather just pay a few extra bucks on cruise ticket than be nicked and dimed for week. Would love to hear of any other main stream cruise lines that aren't like this, have tried NCL, HA, and MSC so far. We are Diamond with Royal but open to change.

Disney doesn't charge for popcorn at their onboard theater; or, at least, that's what I've heard. That's a lot of popcorn for the differences in fares between everyone listed and DCL though.

I think Royal charges for popcorn because they can. High profit at low cost. It's cheaper and less labor intensive versus pizza, and Sorrento's is included.

Would everyone be happier if popcorn wasn't available versus Royal charging for it?

Something I've been wondering, along the lines of data mining, is how much of the Sorrento's question was actually about the pizza and not categorizing guests? Depending on the answers to the pizza questions could group responses to the rest of the survey, at least when it comes to food. 

As several others have said, the fact that we all took this at face value and didn't give Royal any doubt, speaks volumes about the amount of goodwill they've got at this point. 

Also, the pizza Princess is now charging for is the equivalent of Giovanni's, not Sorrento's. It was kinda crazy they weren't already charging for it.

5 hours ago, CrznTxn said:

The only thing I have not seen in the list so far is an upcharge for playing in the Casino. Oh wait... they already take all my money.

Considering the rules and paytables in Casino Royale, there's already a charge for playing aboard versus a land casino. 

On 8/15/2023 at 3:45 PM, twangster said:

Entertainment:

• Aqua show, $9.95 per person, plus 18% gratuity.  
• Ice Skating shows, $12.95 per person, plus 18% gratuity.
• Broadways shows, $15.95 per person, plus 18% gratuity.
• Royal Caribbean original production shows $13.95 per person, plus 18% gratuity.
• Two70 production shows $11.95 per person, plus 18% gratuity.

Save up to 40% on shows during your cruise with an unlimited entertainment ticket. Comedy club (on select ships) will incure a $5 charge per visit. Reservations recommended. Shows cannot be reserved in advance of sailing. 

1 hour ago, Starrynight0154 said:

They’ll have a pizza package for $30 a day, and we’ll see a bunch of posts about is the “pizza package worth it” and “how many slices to eat per day to break even” 

The Top Tier Event gets replaced with the Crown and Anchor Pizza Party.  When will the madness end?!

3 hours ago, steverk said:

For each person that decides to skip paying for pizza, they'll fill up on other, more expensive,  food. Add the impact on customer satisfaction,  and you've got a bone headed decision. 

I've been thinking how charging for Sorrento's could impact food waste and the Windjammer. I could see a new, popular "hack" in certain circles where you build a cold plate for the evening at lunch and leave it in the cabin fridge. The waste part comes in when people decide they don't want what they took earlier or they took way too much to make sure they had enough. Having cheap, avaliable food is a win for Royal in the long run. 

I have nothing to add about the Sorrento's situation that hasn't already been said, but did want to touch on the dining package becoming a set dollar value versus a set number of meals. With the number of additional opportunities to spend on food in locations not covered by the current dining package aboard Royal's ships, this is probably the easiest way to bring those locations into the fold. I'm making the assumption here that the credit could be used for lobster or the Chops filet in the MDR or tapas at Vintages and so on. With the amount of food currently offered during specialty dining, I'm sure Royal's had many post-cruise surveys saying it was just too much and they'd like an à la carte option during specialty dining. And because Royal likes money, I'd expect there to be a prix fixe menu available at each restaurant like IZUMI sushi has. Which leads to this. Royal could sell reservations including the prix fixe menu in the cruise planner like they're currently doing. Royal could also have two variations of dining packages: one that acts like the current dining packages, but limits the purchaser to the prix fixe menu (like IZUMI sushi); and another that acts like arcade credits for dining, buy X value for 20% (or whatever) off for use on dining anywhere aboard the ship. Thus they'd be able to capture people who don't think they'd eat enough for specialty dining and people who don't want to concern themselves with the cost once aboard the ship.

2 hours ago, Cactus527 said:

A pizza package! Such a great idea!!!! But hopefully not one RC looks into further...

I'm kinda surprised Royal doesn't have a bar food/tapa/appetizer package which works at their bars which serve food or as an enhancement to the DBP.

1 hour ago, Cactus527 said:

Can I piggyback off this? My TA said he'd never go on a ship without a thermal spa, and I have been on a few that have them. However, I am absolutely clueless as to what they are, how they work, why I would use one, etc. What is a thermal spa? #clueless

Royal's are a bit limited versus what's found on other lines. With Royal, the thermal suite is a sauna, steam room, fancy shower (themed shower settings, think things like rainforest), and heated stone loungers. There isn't a thermal suite pool or such that some other lines offer. However, older Royal ships might have complementary saunas and steam rooms in the changing rooms for the gym.

Based on this chart (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_cruise_ships) NCL doesn't have anything resembling a large ship. Their largest, from this chart, ranks 23rd in the world by size. Spectrum of the Seas, Quantum-ultra, ranks as 22nd largest in the world. Looking at the fleet mix, NCL could stand to gain larger ships if that's the market they want to be in. Royal, on the other hand, has a portion of their fleet consisting of aging small ships to either overhaul, retire, or transfer in the next decade or so. NCL needs to look larger in the mass market space while Royal needs to consider smaller. Two sides of the same coin of fleet development.

Since rumors and speculation have Discovery-class at Neo Panamax sizing, here's the requirements for those ships and characteristics of Royal's current fleet starting with Quantum and ending with Radiance. All taken from Wikipedia. I'm going to speculate from sizing and ship ages that there'll also be a Discovery Ultra-class (at some point) which will be post Panamax sized. Discovery taking over the role of Vision-class and some Radiance-class ships while Discovery Ultra takes over for some Radiance and Voyager-class ships at the start. 

General characteristics New Panamax

Tonnage    120,000 DWT
Length    366 m (1,201 ft)
Beam    51.25 m (168 ft)
Height    57.91 m (190 ft)
Draft    15.2 m (50 ft)
 

Quantum characteristics

Tonnage    168,666 GT
Length    348 m (1,141 ft 9 in)
Beam    48.9–49.47 m (160 ft 5 in – 162 ft 4 in) (max)
Draught    8.5–8.8 m (27 ft 11 in – 28 ft 10 in)

Freedom characteristics

Tonnage    154,407 GT
Length    338.8 m (1,111 ft 6 in)
Beam    
38.6 m (126 ft 8 in) at waterline
56.0 m (183 ft 8 in) bridge wings
Height    63.7 m (209 ft) above water line
Draft    8.5 m (28 ft)

Voyager characteristics

Tonnage    138,000 GT
Length    311.32 m (1,021.40 ft)
Beam    48.01 m (157.50 ft)
Draft    8.8 m (29 ft)

Radiance characteristics

Tonnage    90,090 GT
Length    962 ft (293 m)
Beam    105.6 ft (32.2 m)
Draft    26.7 ft (8.1 m)

Sounds like you're cruising in from Cape Liberty? I'm also in the camp of it's not worth it unless there's a really compelling reason to go. There's too many possibilities of missing the ship and not that many options if something goes wrong for the amount of time you'd have there.

Most people are going to tell you, no, it's not worth it. For the $109, you're getting access to a steam room, an infrared sauna, a fancy shower, and (if I recall) 6 heated loungers. I think it really depends on how much use you'll get from the facilities and how much you enjoy what's included. 

A video tour from Harr Travel of the thermal suite: https://youtu.be/HaLybhMUNtE?t=1489

RCB's Video of the suite: 

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Cappuccino is my one and only coffee beverage.  I always add an extra espresso shot to mine as they are too milky otherwise.  2 shots of espresso and one shot of milk froth is perfect !

Off the top of my head, the classic ratio of espresso to milk in a cappuccino is around 1 espresso shot per 4-5 floz of milk (which sounds like what your preference is). How Starbucks and Royal's cafes make it is approximately twice the milk it should have (1 espresso shot to about 10 floz milk) as a tall or venti. Grande is slightly better with the ratio, though it's still too much milk. I haven't tried this in years, but Starbucks had an off menu size called short (8 floz cup size) for hot drinks. Short cappuccinos were made with a ratio of espresso and milk around the classic ratio.