dr martini

@Montemy2419 sadly there is no rhyme or reason to the cruise planner, as you've seen and been told by now.  it was fine to try once but I don't need to go back at any price point, honestly the snack shack food is awesome as is the pool etc.  the island is huge, if you haven't been before I wouldn't worry about the pool noise at all or use that as a reason to do the beach club - you can't hear the pool party from the vast majority of the island and can find hundreds of beach chairs in quiet spots with great views.  in fact, that's the main reason we won't be back to the cocoa beach club, I really enjoy the ability to walk around and try other spots, there are a lot of other places to eat and drink, take a walk and check things out etc. 
the already included snack shack food was as good as anything in the beach club and the small spiny warm water lobster they serve there gets wayyyyy to much play.  it's not a big deal.  it's nice, it's fine, don't get me wrong, try it out if you want.  but as with the cabanas and many other spots......no way is it worth what they charge most of the year for it.  

we've taken 90% of our cruises with Royal over 20 years now and had some incredible trips and great memories.  we'll be back again, but not sure how soon.  after trying symphony twice, we're just not wild about the oasis class and while we love voyager/freedom i frankly don't love most of their itineraries, the dining and entertainment across the fleet are not anything close to what they used to be, we're not particularly interested in shelling out wild $ for Icon just yet or for the holiday and spring break pricing in general, paying up for specialty dining and higher priced drink packages every time, just kind of tired of the game of it all.
we took slightly late spring break on marco island/ naples and loved a simpler trip relaxing on the beach at our tempo so much that we just booked a week in Saint Thomas at a VRBO for this winter and we'll do our own island hopping.  maybe we're changing too, it's not just royal and that's ok.  got the airfare bought very early and satisfied with the price, really excited for the freedom and flexibility to plan our own days and looking forward to a new kind of trip - maybe it will make me miss getting back on a ship again in 2025, guess we'll see.  prices and demand for certain ship and private island experiences are just frankly out of control for what you actually get for a few hours and look, i'm a business person so i get it from a certain perspective, happy for Royal and the shareholders, but we'll wait to look at coming back if/when things stabilize a bit more (knowing it's entirely possible they won't)

When we started with Royal, guests were a bit older, more subdued, respectful. Food was better, service was better, things were a slower pace and relaxed. We liked it.
Since, Royal marketing has turned the ships into amusement parks, people are brash, many are inconsiderate not only with other people but with the crew and ship. On our last cruise kids (I think), on two occasions, kicked room service trays down the hall, strowing food and ketchup down the passage.  There were reports of door decorations stolen. People are just inconsiderate. One showed up at the Chefs Table, the high end meal on RC, looking like he just walked in off the beach. Others would show up at the MDR 30 and 45 minutes late while others were being served entrees, expecting to start their meal.
Now, we feel like we are simply obligated in ways since our loyalty perks are important and we would hate to start over with another brand. I understand the marketing but cruising is turning into a floating state fair amusement park. Civility is on the decline in favor of loud wiz bang and colors.

I agree! I was able to book 8+ months out on my last 2 PDCC trips. 6-8 weeks just isn’t correct at all.

As a general rule I would ignore any sort of time frame like this a RC phone rep gives you. Just keep checking often.
FWIW, they are not yet available for my March 2024 cruise.

We were on her last sailing before her last dry dock in 2019 so yes, she’s due for her mandatory 5 year check up in 2024. 

so many different crew and passengers across so many ships, some sailing multiple times a week so your mileage may vary etc etc
all that said, I really thought these made a big difference on our Freedom cruise a month ago.  we were able to find a chair when we wanted to.  my tenth cruise overall (seventh with Royal) and first time seeing these signs, I really thought they made a difference and was happy to see them.  it's at least a gesture in the right direction, a shrug, haha hey something is better than nothing and this is a nice easy, passive (mostly) non-confrontational acknowledgement of the problem.  they're also bright pink and fun and very straightforward, now let's make something like this for the (now all but defunct) dinner dress code 
IF YOU ARE NOT SURE AND ARE THINKING ABOUT ASKING, THEN NO, IT'S NOT IN THE DRESS CODE.
 

Yes, but...
I've seen a decline in other areas of the travel industry.  Many hotels don't offer maid service during your stay, unless it is at least so many days.  Need new towels?  Go to the front desk.  
The travel industry lost billions.  That includes other areas of the travel sector AND the cruise segment is not immune to those symptoms.  
It's definitely not what it used to be.  Losing billions has that effect.  Just because they restarted operations didn't recover the billions of lost revenue and billions of debt they accumulated to stay in business.  It's going to a take a decade or more to recover.  That's why the stock price is less than half of what it used to be.  
So yeah, no mistaking there has been unwelcome changes.  

Make your own?
 
 

Every single day. The hogs are out at 6am and they disappear until 10-11am. 

totally get where you're coming from, the fleet guide is out there publicly anyone can google and find it.  usually people know which time of year they're going and which country/which port (or handful of ports) they're going out of, things like that all filter the list down pretty dramatically and then go from there.  they did just redesign most of the search for a new cruise and you can filter based on those criteria all very easily.
https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/General_Info/2021-2022_Fleet_Guide.pdf
you'll also probably hear some say "a good travel agent will know this or help you find it" and that's true, but the other part of this equation to your earlier point, is "why is all the flashy stuff from the commercials and marketing materials not on every ship?" and that's just marketing 101.  General Motors has truck plants that all start with the same body frames and engines, some trucks and SUV's come out the end of the factory with really high end leather and premium features - some come out more budget friendly mid level and some as bare bones stripped down commercial work vehicles to say nothing of the used truck market and the prices all vary accordingly.  We don't see delivery vans and thirty year old trucks take up much space on their website or magazine advertisements, but they're still running, still out on the road, and they're still a Chevy. 
In the business of selling a vacation, doesn't matter if it's Florida or California, New York or Chicago, they'll all brag up their main attractions and conveniently leave out their less desirable neighborhoods/weather months etc.  It's on the tourist to use the guides and info at their disposal to figure it out.  Just how it is.

It surprises me how difficult it is to get a straight answer to the following kind of questions:
which ships have which Broadway/Westend shows? which ships have an escape room? or a puzzle break game? which ships have El Loco Fresh or a Playmakers? which ships have an ice rink? or a flowrider? which ships will visit Cococay or Labadee this year? etc, etc, etc RC advertises all of these things on its websites and emails but they are often surprisingly vague about which ships have exactly which offerings.
This seems like a fairly simple database problem, which I'm attempting to build for my own satisfaction.  But so far, the closest resource I've found is the charts and lists at loyaltoyoualways.com. Upon closer inspection, however, I was surprised to find errors and omissions there.  And it's not updated very often, sometimes just annually, often not completely.  Finding a few errors there sends me searching the message boards and youtube videos for recent firsthand accounts to verify what is currently available on a ship or not.  I am looking for a resource of ship data that is more comprehensive and more accurate than this.  Does one already exist?
Thanks for your help on this; the Royal-obsessed among us who want to track down every Mason Jar, Wonderland, or Samba Grill appreciate your help!

I think the photograph needs no explanation!

Check, check and check... and I missed my cruise.  
I figured it was a direct flight that departed at 5:50am and there were three other flights on that airline alone that would serve me as backup options.  
Then a slow moving prolonged line of thunderstorms moved across Texas.  "Houston, we have a problem". 
One thing about Southwest - they waste zero time canceling flights.  If it's delayed for even a few minutes they'll just cancel it if they can use the plane on another route. 
I was at the airport at 4:30am.  I was on the plane at 5:25am.  My luggage loaded.  Ten minutes after our scheduled departure with the cabin door still open I knew we had a problem.  Five minutes after that the dreaded pilot announcement.  
Me and everyone else scrambled to get on the next flight, which as it turns out also cancelled.  Now two full planes worth of passengers wanted to be the 3rd flight at 11am.  Unfortunately it was already oversold.  They offered me the next day.  Other airlines were going through the same process so there was no other choice but to accept that I was going to miss my cruise.  And I did.
I took a chance since was a direct flight, first of the day, early in the morning with a number of backup flights.  I lost my gamble.  
Don't fool yourself.  Flying in the day of the cruise is risky in all scenarios.  

Always

This is how I'm envisioning my upcoming Spring Break cruise.

We recently cruised Symphony from Miami, Feb 25th-Mar 4th.  Junior Suite.  Arrived at the port early and were immediately ushered into the suite lounge at the terminal and onto the ship. 

 
 
We've done Navigator recently also, from L.A.  Also JS.  Definitely priority boarding. 

I've travelled JS a few times in the last few months... EVERY digital pass always has SUITE written on it, as does my new one for my cruise in 2 weeks time.
On arrival there is a clearly signed entrance for SUITES and The Key.. and this is a priority boarding area.
Flash the digital pass to the entry staff, they see it says SUITE and they wave you thru.
 

I am open water certified having done the class during college and finished my qualifying dives on a land based vacation - I would agree with most of what's here.  the class and the pool work etc are a big time commitment.  if you're ok with that taking up a lot of your vacation and know that going in then great, go for it. 
all things being equal i don't get on a weeklong cruise every year so to me, that time commitment would not be worth it to me but if it's something you really want to do and you're ok making a whole crusie your scuba cruise, then as they say, the world is your oyster.  

we had UDP recently for the first time after always being a late seating family, we had zero problems with reservations and in fact the restaurants were half empty or even less attended than that after 7pm or so.  one of our favorite things to do is grab coffee and desert, you are free to mix it up however you'd like!  waiters were all great, very understanding and open to whatever we wanted to do.
we walked into Giovanni's on boarding day for lunch without a reservation, no problem.  made everything else from there.

I am a PADI Open Water Scuba Diver Instructor, your best bet would be getting ceritifed before your cruise, and see if there are any diving shore excursions on trip, if not see if there are any PADI Dive centers at your ports of call

My opinion, having been with someone who did it on a trip is... DON'T DO IT.  It will monopolize your trip.  It takes valuable time away from the vacation with your family.  It is much better to do it another time... either before of after your trip.

You need to make sure the pool work happens on board during your cruise. PADI is the agency that is on RC ships, and you will need to complete your online coursework beforehand. Some dive shops may still offer in person class room training and pool work.
Here are the ships that offer it:
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-ships-offer-padi-scuba-certification
Here is a list of FAQs:
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/topics/padi-scuba-courses-and-excursions
Personally, if I was interested in it, I would get certified through a dive shop that is local to you and get to your cruise with your C-card in hand so you don't have to worry about it while on vacation. That way, you can book scuba through an excursion or through a shop directly at a port visit. I've done both and prefer to book dives through a third party if getting to their dock is easy like it is in Cozumel. It's also a good experience to do it through Royal...slightly more expensive in my experience, but they get you there and back with no issues.
 

Navigator is such a great ship. 

Yes, Junior Suites can take advantage of the suite early boarding.