PRebecca

Final Thoughts
You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned the cruise director.  That's because we barely saw him and he's not really that memorable.  Had we come 2 weeks earlier, we would have seen Hugo, who we loved on Mariner.  He was hilarious.  I actually had high hopes for this guy, Cory Rogers as he introduced himself on the facebook page and he seemed enthusiastic.  It's not that he was bad...but again, all he did was introduce the shows (or come out at the end such as the ice show).  Never saw him around the ship, didn't run the belly flop contest, etc.  I'm guessing he did Quest but DH and I didn't make it to Quest this time.  So again, he was fine, but definitely not memorable.
But...I will say that we really loved Navigator.  I think DH said that his favorite is still Mariner.  DS and I love Symphony for the ship size, shows, etc, but DD said her favorites are Mariner for Skypad and Navigator for the slides.  I also really love what they've done with the pool decks and the different seating available to everyone, which is what puts it ahead of Mariner for me.  Service was great.  Every meal in MDR was pretty good, and lots of activities going on. The promenade too is beautiful with the lighting that they do (probably all ships have that, but I don't remember), and the "sculpture" or whatever you call it going up the centrum near guest services.
So overall, my ship order is:
Symphony Allure Independence Navigator Mariner Voyager Grandeur Am curious too where Anthem will fall in the ratings.  We don't necessarily need hot weather so I don't think that'll be a problem, and it seems different. 
It's a shame about the Tropical Depression that turned into Hurricane category 5 (DS has a story to tell), and very scary with the damage it did, especially to the Bahamas, to the homes and even some lives.  This cruise turned into a cruise to nowhere as it was all sea days for us.  Next summer we have Mariner booked (if no weather issues) and that one is the opposite with no sea days (it's one that got 2 stops at CoCo Cay).  Funny how things turn out (not funny ha ha...but you know what I mean).  
I'll leave you with one last picture....one of my favorites (not including ones with my family of course)

Yeah the pricing after 4 people drops significantly for each additional person you add.  The villa was 600 more for the entire trip than 2 GS and multiple rooms in some cases were close if not more than the suite.  I think the villa is a no brainer myself as we would want the Key added if not booking a suite.  I went ahead and booked the Villa for April of 2021.

Hello all!  New to the forum but a huge fan of the blog and podcast. My first cruise with Royal is not until a year away. I’ve been listening to the pod to get ready and plan. I enjoy planning for the cruise even if it’s over a year away. Looking forward to learning more from everyone!

I would like to see Rocky Horror or Sgt Peppers.
Or Saturday Night Fever, or a stage production of the Album Bat out of Hell.

I've also been looking at that Fjord cruise or maybe the Artic Circle one. We are not warm weather people so those are more our speed. We are looking forward to our first trip to Europe next Oct when we sail to Greece from Venice.

We have just come off Symphony 24th August Caribbean/ Bahamas sailing. And we absolutely loved it. So much that we have booked 2 more cruises. The 2 new cruises are on much smaller ships. We are sailing Enchantment for a New Year sailing ,  we needed to sail out of Galveston this time and this seemed the best one for us. I was a little worried that it may be too small a ship after Symphony but we went for it anyway. A few days later we realise  we have cruise credit to use and flight credit too so we started looking again. This time the best port option for us was New York and we’ve always wanted to try New England so we are now booked on Empress the smallest ship of the lot. 
We are coming from the Uk so Port locations were probably the most important factor . I’m just hoping that we love these two ships as much as we loved Symphony.  There were many things on Symphony we did not take advantage of so I’m hoping we won’t feel like there is too much missing. We didn’t use any speciality dining , we didn’t use any slides, casino. We only sat on pool deck once and found quieter places lower down like deck 5. We didn’t go on the boardwalk much but loved Central Park and did use flow rider and the climbing wall . 
I’m hoping that as long as both ships have some nice quiet out door space, good MDR and some nice cafes we should be ok. Does anyone have experience of going from the largest to the smallest ? Any thoughts ? 
Im still excited that we ve never cruised before and we ll have  done 3 in a year ??

We are too! It’s our first ever cruise as well. I’ve been watching hours of YouTube and listening to everything royalcaribbeanblog related. There is a Facebook group for our sailing, but there aren’t many joined, and it isn’t a very active page. 

Our best cruise was Halloween on Grandeur last year .....
 
 

We were scheduled for a September 2nd cruise on Navigator that was shortened by hurricane dorian.  RCI went above what would be expected in this situation, and made switching cruises fairly simple.  We are now heading out of Port Canaveral on the 9th. 
I can't imagine the stress the customer service reps have been under and everyone was very kind, patient, and helpful.  The only issue was the amount of time spent on hold, but that was to be expected under the circumstances.  I will absolutely be sailing and recommending RCI in the future.

This is one of those areas where you have to be very careful not to take advantage of being Star Class.  Technically, if the rest of your family doesn’t, either have the UDP or aren’t Star Class themselves, they would be subject to paying for their own food and drinks.  I’ll be honest and admit that there have been times when, as SC guests, we have dined with others who should have paid for their meals or drinks and did not...
But it was never b/c we tried to take advantage. Quite frankly, sometimes it’s just easier for the server to “charge” it all to the SC room (actually, no charge, but you know what I mean) than it is to try and figure out who owes what and fumble around with individual bills.  All I can tell you is, if ever in a situation like this myself (if I was with someone in SC but wasn’t SC myself),  I would make sure the server knew that I would be paying my own bill and offer up my Sea Pass card before I ever ordered anything. If the server then chooses not to charge me then so be it but I would never assume that the SC pax would be picking up the bill.  
In the situation that you described above I would probably simply tell the server, before anything was ordered, that not everyone in your party is SC and let them handle it however they choose to handle it.

Honestly, I have never been on one of the "special" cruises - anniversaries or President's cruise or anything like that so I cannot say for sure.  I will speculate, however, that you will still be given the same priority as you would, otherwise.  I guess it's possible that there may be some special meals that the politicos would have that might cause reservations to be harder to get than normal but I wouldn't worry too much about it.  I think the Lounge is going to be the place where you might have the most problem so if you are planning on frequenting the Lounge during the "busy" times then it could be a problem but as I said, we frequent the lounge much LESS when we are SC than any other time simply b/c we have so many other options.
 
I think it's fair to say that Star Class has spoiled me.  That's a fair statement.  I do not miss Star Class on the non-O/Q ships simply b/c I know there is no SC on those ships BUT I will say that we now manufacture the Star Class environment (on any ship class) as closely as possible.  Until VERY recently, we always purchased both the Ultimate Beverage Package and the Unlimited Dining Package which basically simulates the all-inclusiveness of the SC food/beverage service.  Of course, there are still some aspects that are not equivalent to SC - you cannot get the upcharge menu items (well, you can, but you have to pay more for them) and you cannot get any specialty restaurant food delivered to your suite but it's as close to SC level as you can get.  I find the absence of the Genie to be the easiest aspect of SC to forego.  The Suites Concierge can do NEARLY everything that a Genie can do with the exception of the reserved seating.  So it's pretty easy to simulate SC on the non-suite class ships as long as you are in a GS or higher.
I will also add one more thing.  I am the SC lover in my family.  Dan couldn't care less about it.  There was a period of time where he actually discouraged me from booking SC b/c he hates all the "fuss" - particularly when we are in our suite and trying to relax.  He has quit mentioning it b/c #1 I pay for all of the cruises and #2 he knows how much I love them so he basically just keeps his preference to himself.  There are parts of SC that he really DOES enjoy like the specialty dining and having reserved seats when we want to go somewhere but he really doesn't care much for the Genie's "involvement" in everything we do. So SC isn't really for everyone.  He is quite happy to be in an inside room (although it has been many years since he's been in one !) with no frills whatsoever.  I guess I'm the Diva....and I'm not afraid to admit it. I love the pampering ! 

I initially booked a spacious balcony that departs in August. I received my Royal up bid request  for a Grand Suite on June 18th.  I submitted it the same day and received an acceptance of my bid the following day ?.  It's a surprise for my son's 16th birthday and my nephew is coming along too, so the extra room will be welcome.   

Going on Anthem in Sept.  Two months ago the wife said we need a break.  No next cruise.  LOL  HAHA    Two days ago she is looking at cruises.  NEXT CRUISE here we come.  I can bet the farm that she will book 2 or more.   I`m not saying a word.  All because I picked up some cruise brochures 3 days ago and set them on the table.  And she didn`t comment either.    As for me I am taking it all in.  

The chocolate bar was great. Vacation has officially started! 
I'm going to turn off my phone for a few days. We may get a day of internet half way through, but I'll post the review and lots of photos when we're back.
Thanks for all the help (especially @WAAAYTOOO for trying to get our suite email straightened out)!

I was wondering what NEW package that was..... Deluxe Happiness Package.... Deluxe Hops Package....  Deluxe Hangover Package???

It's a closed FB group and you will need to ask to join (and possibly answer a few questions and read their rules. Stuff about being nice and keeping on topic.) 
The group is called Royal Caribbean Club Royale Casino Patrons Forum (long title) but the people there are usually friendly and very active with their messages, etc. 
So I think that I just searched on FB and found it; asked to join, was accepted several hours later, then invited husband to join, who is actually the prime member of their casino rewards program (Casino Royale.)
I find it addicting, because there are so many mysteries concerning onboard casino gambling, and I don't even gamble! I DO enjoy hubby receiving comped or heavily discounted cruises, ha ha!

Good for those of you who this applies to. I'm looking forward to our free $5 slot voucher on our next cruise! My wife and I like to see who can lose it the slowest on penny slots. ?

It's why we call them them the CC police. It's as if I committed a capital crime. Nasty comments. I'm sorry but I'm not buying a soda package for a 4 year old. Now he is 6 and we are on Anthem next month and I did get him a soda package which I'm still questioning. I got it for him and my wife. I am drinking free water this cruise. I have lost 73 pounds and have up all soda and only drink water. I'm gonna bring 10 bottles of water, carry them on and then drink ship water the rest of the way. 
It's gonna be nice to cruise and not be fat! Just as a side note. ?

I don't think it was mean spirited, just kinda flip. I just wish people would choose their words more carefully from time to time. Myself included. 

I got the key for $24.99 for our September 13th 2019 sailing on the Navigator. I'm cool with that ? We spend exactly how we feel like it within our budget (usually)

I got the key for $24.99 for our September 13th 2019 sailing on the Navigator. I'm cool with that ? We spend exactly how we feel like it within our budget (usually)

Why would you be so concerned where someone else spends their money?  I can see why you wouldn't want to do it, but why plea for someone else not to? How could it possibly affect you?
I got it for last Feb's Mariner cruise. 4-day cruise, $19.99/day. If I eliminate what I would have paid for Voom, used my $25 OBC toward it, I basically paid $5-10 total for the rest of the perks (ummm....a nice embarkation day lunch?).  I enjoyed having my carry on waiting in my room when I finally had access to it.  Would I personally do it on every cruise? Certainly not.  But it's a fine deal on short sailings if it can be snagged at the lower prices.

Personally, I love this setup.  I love it so much that I had a similar walk-in design put in my guest bathroom when we renovated.  I don’t actually find that we get much water on the floor at all and it is SO much easier to keep clean than a full glass pane or nasty shower curtain.  When I had mine built, the glass man was stumped. He had never seen a partial glass wall like this and tried to convince me to add a glass door.  He said “you’ll be calling me to come back and fix it”.  Nope. I love it !  ...and yes, it is a very European design.  
One thing I will say about the Royal rooms that offer this design....the sides of the tub are so high that it makes getting in and out so difficult. Mine is a walk-in (converted from an old fashioned tub/shower combo) so there is only a short threshold to step over.

My personal opinion is that the Jr. Suite tubs are a huge waste of space.  I'd rather just have a bigger shower.  As a woman, I would NEVER take a tub bath in a hotel room.  For obvious hygienic reasons. And I've traveled a lot worldwide - both for work and for leisure.  If you are a woman and disagree, I'd like to hear.  Seriously.
 

Calling is still the best answer. Give it past today, once the Mariner and Navigator folks are past decision time.
My concern with a "no-show" is it may not kick off the proper means of getting your FCC.  
I'd recommend putting phone on speaker and catching up on these message boards while the hold music plays.