dr martini

booked for spring break just shy of a year from now and i would not bet any amount of money on it sailing at full capacity, which means some people are getting the boot and not going on the cruise they think they are going on. the CDC guidance on masks outside from yesterday was good news for the quality of the cruise for vaccinated people. the world we live in now. no idea when things will start and how limited capacity guidance/cancellations/bumps will work do we? the one thing we can bank on is that there's going to continue to be a lot of future cruise credit out there for a lot of folks for a long time to come!

Agree! We pushed a cruise from last year and just finished moving things from this year to spring 2022, but would really like to see things get rolling this summer/fall to get the kinks all worked out and this EU news is another welcome step. That way, hoping one year from now there still might be some (light?) protocols, vaccine requirement etc, but things are running closer to normal....just wanted, needed something locked in to look forward to. things can't stay closed forever.

finally, a small win for common sense. great news

I think with protocols it can be done, but how enjoyable will it be? Vegas requiring masks around pools but not in, I walked away from a gambling table locally after being asked to adjust my mask the third time, I just get to thinking about the entire experience of dining, shows, casino, dancing, escape room, pools and beaches..... Obviously it's been talked to death for over a year now, but I have serious concerns about what cruising will look like when it resumes, how much fun will it really be vs the costs and hassles associated with it and that's not even talking vaccination and testing, which I think are a given. I mean Spring break 2022, Jan 2023? I could still see mask mandates a year from now. Worries me that things won't ever go back to being as free and fun as they used to be. I get that change is constant for any part of life, but I'm already missing the good old days.

Matt is correct - online reviews are usually pretty worthless. People either seem to have an axe to grind and vent on their keyboards instead of calmly discussing any issues with fellow humans in a reasonable way, or....the other stuff we see online is clearly a paid promo piece of glowing PR. i stayed on navigator in Feb of 2020 in a balcony with new carpet a few new other pieces (artwork, bed cover, couch, TV, etc) and yes, the cabins were not as brand flashy new as the cabins on Symphony which I cruised a year earlier, but were still fine and we had a great cruise. I was really impressed with Navigator after being on several other Voyager class ships that had not been Amped. Feels like ship cabins are something that gets talked about too much....99% of cabins are designed to be small, efficient little places where most people are not going to spend most of their time. It's a place to hang up your clothes, shower and sleep right? Can't compare them to an upscale hotel or condo where space is not at a premium in nearly the same way as a ship and it's much easier to put on a new coat of paint every year.

If you don’t have kids with, I would honestly go mariner and the better ports. Much of the oasis class is kid stuff (are you really gonna do water splash parks, slides, zip line, carousel etc?) and this also means A LOT more kids on board as well, depends on time of year with school calendar of course, but still going to be many families. Oasis amenities are great and impressive but it can feel a bit mall-like and you don’t see or feel the ocean nearly as much (if that’s important to you) and the up charge factor is seemingly in play everywhere for everything. Many more suite only and booked ahead of time for fee dinging venues and experiences. Just boils down to what you want - it was fun to watch my niece and nephew play on some of the bells and whistles, but if it was just my wife and I we would be looking at so called smaller/older ships with better pricing (hello balcony room) and a more intriguing set of stops vs oasis class to the same old places.

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 good things for the bottom line and their shareholders. RC has these upgraded ships and the pricing/occupancy percentages from the past few years out of FL shows that demand is very high among southeastern US residents (people who have low travel to costs, people who like the sea and the beach vibe, people who have second homes down south or family friends nearby etc etc). We can tell by their moves that they would rather run these full ships with days at sea, to their island and to the bahamas with who they have a close (and getting closer) relationship instead of putting more assets into week long/other runs out of San Juan or Galveston or wherever else, who knows how long virus restrictions and breakouts will continue to be a very real concern for any island nation. FL easier to resupply/maintain the ships, easier to train and exchange crew, easier to come back home if there is an issue relating to basically anything, COVID or not. And thus, the older, not amped voyager class ships will be last to be put back into full service while brilliance has tampa and the barbados gamble is, well, a gamble. They learn from it and we'll all pay close attention to how that goes and how they progress there. In a way it's almost a reboot of the cruise industry, where several of the older smaller ships that were just divested/sold/scrapped were initially for the short cruise 'try it out' and 'treat yourself' market. That's pretty clearly the RC bet on the near term future of what their return to business model looks like.

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? one of you lovely people should make a playlist or youtube channel of it if you haven't already

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 as lines, we booked everything in advance well before the last couple cruises for shows/times/specialty dining etc and everything worked very smooth in the app and with venue staff. Hit the waterslides on a port day and waited less than a minute on one and no wait on the other. Got all the other info we could need here from this site and in brief chats with bartenders, our stateroom attendant, etc. Good luck!

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 because there are very large outfits that contract pricing out a great ways and there are many more smaller distributors who buy up the more close dated items and pound the pavement selling hot priced deals to move that product. very unfortunate that one business is going out and i'm sure it's pandemic related but by no means does that affect cruise lines' ability to procure food. another great thing about the free market is another entity will get a great deal on that food and use it before it spoils, someone else will get a deal on buying or leasing that space and someone could easily get back into the food distribution business there or anywhere else as soon as lines start back up.

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 symphony was the front of ship wide view solarium with pool, but unfortunately the bar and cafe up there was always slammed and way understaffed, also the adults only wasn't enforced at all. Maybe I loved that solarium so much because on the rest of the ship I just lost touch with the fact that we were actually out at sea on the symphony, it was amazing but too much going on, feeling very crowded along with the sheer number of venues led to very FOMO feeling, a week was not enough time to get around and really ever be comfortable. schooner bar is a favorite but locked into an odd spot on oasis class, the board walk and music hall space facing the back of ship felt very underutilized and yet playmakers was always too packed, as was el loco fresh and WJ.....central park was a welcome quiet place but couldn't see the water.....need to try freedom/indy for the amplified experience on a stretched out Voyager class. there's just nothing like knowing the layout and being comfortable with your surroundings.

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 most of them provide a local beer like Carib or good old cheap and easy rum punch Then either back to the room and nap or in a good shady deck chair spot, then get ready for dinner. 5-6pm - After cleaning up for dinner grab a bourbon old fashioned or some other classy cocktail at Schooner or somewhere else on the lower decks/around promenade type area Red wine with dinner, Regular coffee with dessert, after dinner Jameson/ginger or another mojito somewhere with live music. Later in the cruise....it's just the beers around the pool in the afternoon and maybe the wine with dinner or the cleaned up cocktail. The speed and quantity of consumption definitely taper off as the week goes on. Man I miss cruising.

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 for maximum control. This whole volunteer sign up program does achieve a couple other key objectives adds layers and layers of liability shielding for RCL, letting them make any prospective passengers aware of the risk and agree to it many times over on top of the standard guest contract gives RCL, indeed cruising in general, a ton of free, good vibe publicity locks in thousands and thousands of new prospective customers as well as targeted data points on many of their existing customers (as I see you can enter your C&A society number with your application). it's a dream come true for the marketing and sales team and they didn't have to do very much work to get TONS of hot leads on countless prospective customers. If my wife wasn't currently pregnant I would have signed both of us up in a heart beat.

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 will again. It's a fun two or three hour trip and you can go down and back in a day or across multiple days. The Catamaran itself is newer, clean and has a great three deck setup with food court, bar, different seating layouts....it's a great option if you're like me and the many other midwesterners who are in Fort Myers/Sarasota/Naples FL often. If you look at a map, the way the keys curl back to the southwest, it's actually a pretty straight shot as the bird flies. https://www.keywestexpress.net/

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 patience paid off in getting a casita on the upper deck hanging there most of the afternoon and then won big in the casino that night. Just perfect. Reaffirmed my love for the voyager class, for me and what I like to do it's just the right size of ship, hope to try Freedom or Indy someday soon as well.....

#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 (burning little fuel) generating even more revenue through an RC private island, RC excursions etc all clearly benefitting from RC's solid relationship with the Bahamas. and it's not just first timers, those long weekends are great for the working folks/ young families and even young single crowd in the southeast (ATL, DC, FL, all up the eastern seaboard and lot of the midwest, heck anywhere with a direct flight to MIA/FLL) and they're great for people who love cruising but can't afford the cost or find the time to take a 10-12 day vacation every winter (me!). I loved being able to take a shorter cruise which I could probably do at least every other year to help scratch the itch between the larger trips every 4 or 5 years or until kids grow up and other debts are paid up. Ahhh adulthood.

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, southern Carib (ABC islands) a lot of great options there for really incredible prices. I started cruising on the Voyager class, I still prefer that as a more classic cruise feel (for us married in our mid-upper 30's) compared to the Oasis which I truly enjoyed but was overwhelmed by kiddos and pricing and some other things but I'm getting away from the topic at hand. While voyager itself is on the other side of the globe, eventually Adventure and Explorer and Liberty will get their upgrades as well. The world health situation and economy will improve and in a few years there are even more Amped ships offering even more options. Think positive!

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!

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I must say that it's funny to me, the number of people worried about the number of people on this particular island versus the dozens or even hundreds of other caribbean islands that have four to six cruise ships tied up on any given day, to say nothing of the hotels, resorts, rental homes and other visitors that could potentially add up to 25,000 souls or more. For example, I love some of the as yet not hugely developed islands like St. Kitts where there will regularly be an oasis class, another middle sized from another line and a luxury style anchored offshore. There's not exactly a lot of infrastructure or a whole lot of thrills to seek on that island and yet the only place that feels crowded is right next to the ship. I think almost everyone here who's been can tell you how busy St. Thomas feels most of the year. Royal caribbean has made a huge investment, they are continually expanding what there is to do and see on their ships and on Cococay, I don't have a problem with it at all and have never seen anyone comment that it looks busy, in fact I've only seen people comment with surprise at how sparse and laid back it still feels.

I was on symphony last year during spring break the middle of March for a family cruise with a group of a dozen of us including my wife, some other in-laws and outlaws from toddler aged niece and nephews to my folks in their mid 50's and chose spring break because a couple members work in education and could only go that week. We have all cruised the voyager class together several times, two of those cruises were also on previous spring breaks and at the end of the day, Royal Caribbean bills itself as a family cruise for all, so spring break with kids is kind of right in their wheel house. To try and help answer your questions- yes, it was nuts in certain areas at certain times, but it sounds like you already know that based what you're asking. Keep doing what you're doing to research now and you'll be fine. After day 1 it settles in a LOT, everybody gets settled into their routines and nooks and crannies, there are a lot of great little spots, obviously it's a huge ship and that helps disperse the crowds and certain places like central park and the solarium remain quiet (during the day, at least-it would be great if they actually enforced adults only in the solarium or kids playing with elevator buttons, but now I sound twice my age haha, expect a lot of that, take the stairs, expect teens and tweens everywhere at night, kids in all the hot tubs all the time, it just is what it is). Also use the the tricks Matt and others here mention a lot, consider staying on board during part or all of a port day if you want more of the ship to yourselves. Most of us only ducked into Nassau for lunch, and then came back onboard around 1pm and had a blast with low lines on flowrider and slides etc the rest of the day. Great time. The pool deck is huge and we could always find a spot to set up some kind of home base that everyone could rotate around and off of. Solarium was the best of any ship I've ever been on but the bar was always slammed, make friends with a bartender or roaming waiter/waitress, we always kept a little cash with us to tip. But just prepare yourself for day 1-Embarkation was a madhouse, the promenade and both sets of elevators were busy with long waits basically all afternoon and evening through the end of first night dinner service, shows were full, specialty dining was booked, all of that was annoying, yes moreso than voyager class, but it's more people, still manageable. Fortunately we had booked the main things we wanted ahead of time for dining, shows, connecting rooms, bev pkg, etc and had zero issues. Main dining room experience honestly was fine, it was not as high end as voyager class 10 years ago before the upscale dining craze, but it was still fine. Staff was awesome all around, room was ready when we got onboard before noon, cabin steward was great, many bartenders remembered us....they must send the best and brightest staff to the newest biggest ships. We had a great time, but....there was always a long line of a dozen or more at guest services and it didn't look fun....barring bad luck or misfortune I would try not to be those people. And your usual crop of people who are simply mad that the sun came up again, as you'll have anywhere, anytime not just on a cruise. Oh well. Sucks to be them. We found the pub was a good little hideout in the afternoon for trivia or with guitar player at night as was schooner bar and their piano player (it's really an odd placement above and at the end of the promenade, seems like an afterthought on Oasis class considering how much we love its more featured placement on Voyager class) hooks for lunch was a great spot with incredible view and great food, central park cafe was the best breakfast and lunch spot (easily the lowest line among 'free' food spots), next easiest was probably el loco fresh, avoid the buffets on day one and on sea days, windjammer and solarium cafe both were slammed (like standing room only) from 11am-2pm those days. After 1 or 2pm Bionic bar usually had a crowd and moved kind of slow, not sure I understand the draw there, our predinner cocktail meeting spot was Bolero's which was almost always completely empty before kicking up for a night full of dancing, etc. The night club was a big hit and also packed most nights, esp the headphone silent dance party. Nightclub themed party on the ice arena was a cool setup too. Hairspray and water shows a must, it's actually really easy to catch the aqua shows at the back without any seat or reservation, you can see pretty good from a lot of places along the back of the ship, grab a drink from playmakers, walk around freely along the boardwalk enjoying the night. Dazzles was a gorgeous space and the band was good when we stopped in a couple evenings, but it is small and filled up fast, just didn't feel utilized very well, I'm not sure what else was ever hosted there. 150 central park was one of the best meals of my life, the wine bar was not great mostly due to an annoying bartender who just wanted to talk Eastern European politics (the only time I have ever encountered that on RC) and poor value (we all had deluxe bev pkg but most wine across the ship is by the bottle and $$$), but we loved the stationary red bar in the middle of central park (not the moving up and down elevator bar, which seemed like a waste of space, wasn't open much, kind of gimmicky like bionic imo). Overall we were very happy with our cruise, so many great things about Symphony, honestly we all agreed 7 nights on her for our first Oasis class cruise was not enough to see and do it all, just gonna have to return. Overall I wouldn't particularly choose any class of ship or any line on spring break; if it was just me and the wife we would prefer to save the money and go when there are fewer kids around, but when it's the only option to vacation with the full family and if you like them (ha) YOLO and you'll still have a great time, there are a lot of ways to deal with avoiding the crowds and on the bright side there will be a lot of kids for your kids to meet and mingle with!

Full ship charters are a huge undertaking and would be booked and set years ahead of time, just as much work as Royal setting their own itineraries. I would say zero chance of a full ship being chartered in less than 90 days. Most charters are smaller groups (still could be hundreds of people, but not the whole ship) and they could be on any cruise, anywhere, anytime.

interesting yea this morning symphony is at Terminal A and navigator (usually out of terminal A on Mondays) is further up the row https://www.portmiamiwebcam.com/