dr martini

I've been thinking about this a lot as well. Speculation is certainly one thing, but there are some hard data points and things we can reasonably observe and I always appreciate your well informed takes on the cruise industry. The short cruise trend really jumps out to me as combination of the Nav/Mariner experience from the past few years combined with the lessons of COVID/the singapore cruises to nowhere, you have to think if RC had a leased, controlled space like CoCo near that route they would take advantage as a way to lengthen cruises and generate more revenue/brand loyalty/etc, all go

i have been on adventure and was very near the elevator on navigator (one of her twin sisters) almost exactly a year ago We were assigned there by royal in a guarantee balcony fare (which I thought might happen) but we had zero issues with noise. In fact, between having door open for ocean breeze/water sounds and the lovely, soft menu music Royal plays on the excursion and ship location/map channel i never heard a thing that one wouldn't have heard anywhere else (the occasional door slam/knocking nearby from housekeeping/etc). Side note: does anyone know where I can find that music

I would agree with Matt that the Key isn't a great deal. If you can find Wi-Fi bundled with drink package on sale that's the route I have gone the last few cruises and been very happy with the price (between 60-70 USD per day). My wife (in my stateroom) will also get the deluxe bev package but we can share the Wi-Fi access code so we both don't need to purchase wi-fi, we're not both on our phones all the time type people. Happy to leave it in the stateroom plenty of the time or make sure at least one of us is in airplane mode and just use for taking pictures while out and about. As far

it's not great news, but in south florida (like any other major metro area) there is a TON of competition among many food vendors for their huge hospitality industry as well as your normal grocery and institutional type services. i'm in the food business up north and while the past year has been crazy, there's still plenty of product and capacity (although manufacturers have limited their product runs, a lot of specialty and smaller volume flavors/editions are just not being made). the perishable side of the business for produce/meat/deli has always been a bit of the wild wild west to it bec

rum and youtube, basically. Some cruise and travel - Matt does a great job, tips for travelers with Gary is mentioned around here regularly. I really like the luxury boat tours from Aquaholic Nick too, he's great. If it's not those its been guitar repair/review or the rescue and repair guy.

having been on all of the voyager class except mariner and then on symphony, the voyager class has to be it for me with Navigator at the top. Love that mariner is doing a slightly different itinerary with the 8 night offering out there, like many I certainly wish they would open Navigator up a bit, but then it is a business and that 3/4 night continuous loop out of miami must just be printing money for them. Voyager class offers all of the things 99% of cruisers need for a warm weather cruise (how many of you are doing skypad?) honestly the only thing I truly hands down liked better on symph

Great topic for times like these! I'm a proud German/Irish catholic, I've always gotten DBP and hey, I'm not driving the ship. Day 1-3ish are a lot boozier than days after but here we go- 8-9AM -order a few orange juices with the bagels/danishes and coffee room service. Mix the champagne I brought onboard (as my two bottles of wine) with the OJ and enjoy on the balcony 10-11am- Bloody mary from pool bar or the new bar by the windjammer (great addition) Noon-3p Sea day couple beers by the pool, maybe a fun cocktail like mai tai or mojito, if on diving/snorkeling excursion

Great idea and execution from Royal Caribbean. Float the idea, let it leak and marinate a little bit, then launch it. Honestly hard to believe that they actually *need* anyone's name or contact info, they have thousands and thousands of people who had cruises booked for whichever time period, region or ship they choose to start with (although there seems to be a lot of consensus for those factors that seem valid). It will be a new or newly remodeled ship with the latest safety and tech, launching from Miami (or FLL) and maybe just going to their own island and back. That's what I would do

Really a bummer, but at the same time that island can be really packed (like Saint Thomas, Nassau, others). It's certainly a debatable, subjective opinion and everyone has different preferences.... I agree with the unfortunate sentiment that the real winners are the lawyers (as with a lot of things). I would add that there's another sea faring option and that is to take the Key west Express, a couple hundred passenger catamaran ferry that goes from southwest florida. I am not an employee or anything, I'm not getting paid haha but I can say that I have taken it several times and

Navigator four night in February earlier this year, just before everything started going haywire! Booked a GTY balcony with DX bev on a whim and stayed on the SW side of Florida with some family for a couple nights on either side of the trip, was a very easy drive over to Miami. As many others have mentioned, so impressed with the brand new upgrades on Navigator and at CocoCay - it was all just so great, especially enjoyed the escape room (set the best time on our cruise but who knows, maybe they say that to everybody) and the schooner bar, best memory probably the last sea day where patienc

#1 from last cruise- Cococay south beach experience was really just incredible. what did they put on those burgers?! 1 expected change - I'm not personally wild about it but we'll likely see a lot more enforcement on assigned times and directional traffic flow to mitigate crowds in tightly spaced confined areas; not just disembark/embark on first and last days, but probably all port days, entertainment, dining etc. hard to see personal movement going back to as free as it once was

@Joe01 well see above or just click around on Royal's site...there is a quite a lot of variety among the freedom/voyager class itineraries although Mariner and Navigator are clearly among the nicest/most beloved of the AMP's but those two ships are doing those two particular things because at the end of the day, it's business. it's well documented that doing the 3-4 nighters with Navigator and Mariner have been a cash cow for royal on ships that had already paid for themselves. it's showing first timers a great intro to cruising on warm, very calm seas with updated ships moving at low speed

I love the voyager class, was just on navigator in February as my first reamped ship and love what they did so I share many of the original poster's feelings here. When my wife and I were researching cruises we looked hard at the Freedom class as very similar ships and I can tell you that whenever things resume we will be looking at Independence and Freedom of the seas, which I think are also incredible values on upgraded ships. The Freedom class is VERY similar to Voyager and they offer a lot more variety in their itineraries. Four night, five night, seven night to canada, bermuda, so

Yes, technically you can. but it’s going to be a pain. Why chance traffic or an accident or something god forbid happen and you miss the boat. You already paid for a day of vacation, why not enjoy it? Just stop and get the items you need on the way to the ship. Wouldn’t that work instead?

This is really good (as usual from you Twang) brings a whole new way to look at things. Thank you!