WAAAYTOOO

I'm actually lucky that I DID get hooked (did I really just say that ???).  The first 2 cruises I took (Carnival and NCL) were really not much fun at all.  I was sort of "forced" onto my first Carnival cruise with a bunch of women that I didn't know.  Long story...but I had an ok time.  VERY short Bahama weekend cruise on the Elation.  Even THEN it was an OLD ship.  I think the whole trip cost me around $500, including airfare.  I shared an inside cabin with a woman I had never met.  She turned out to be a very nice lady.  I think we were the only 2 people on the entire ship that did not get seasick.  Lucky pairing.
 
The NCL Sky was a few years later.  It was just ok.  I traveled with DD, SIL and some friends.  No significant other at that point.
 
I dragged Dan (finally found a MAN !!) onto a short trip on Grandeur, then sailing out of Tampa.  He did NOT want to go.  His mother (a world class, world traveler) is not fond of cruising and she assured him that he would not be, either.
 
She was wrong.
 
TOGETHER, we found our destiny.
 
I think the reason that we enjoy cruising SO much is a combination of what the PP's have said.  Freedom to do what you want, when you want.  Everything you want and need right at your fingertips )or footsteps, actually).  The kind of service that you will never find on land.  ...and you don't have to cook !  ...or clean up the kitchen !
 
We have evolved over time.  Originally, we went for the ports.  We chose our cruises based on the itinerary...visiting ports we had not visited in the past.  Over time, we began to realize that we really didn't care WHERE we were going, but that the journey was the most important thing and that we just really liked being on the ship(s).
 
So...why do we cruise ?  Because we can !

I think everyone becomes jaded over time.  Familiarity allows for you to notice the flaws in anyplace.  
 
I don't spook very easily, but there are a few places that i simply do not like to be.  Falmouth would be one.  YMMV, but to me the area outside the gate is dangerous.  However, I am completely comfortable walking along in Roatan (Coxen Hole) with no concerns.
 
Belize would be another spot.  The area outside the "tourism village" is more of a turnoff to me.  I actually sat one afternoon and watched a "street pharmacist" and a police officer working together to shake down tourists.  After every sale and bust, where the officer would kindly let the tourist pay a fine and avoid arrest, they would meet up and split the proceeds from both the sale and bust.
 
Only been to St Kitts once, so we took a ship tour to get an overview.  It was great and it showed us a beautiful island.  On the way back to the port however, the driver let everyone know that he had no choice but to drop us off where we had to walk thru a market area outside the port walls.  He told us he did not consider it a safe place, and urged us to walk straight thru and get inside the port quickly.  Of course he also asked us not to mention it to the ship, as he didn't want to lose his job but his conciense wouldn't let him say nothing.
 
On the other end of the spectrum, I've walked all over Cozumel and Costa Maya/Majahual many many times and never felt unsafe or worried.  I jokingly say that here in Texas we usually consider ourselves Texans first and Americans second, so I fit in with people of the same mindset, as they mostly consider themselves Mayan first and Mexican second!!!
 
Of all the other spots I've been fortunate to visit in the Caribbean, to me its usually just common sense safety just like here in the states.  
 
Except Nassau.  Nothing good can be said about Nassau.   ;)

I will never pay retail price for anything I buy. All merchandise has to be at least 50% off. I shop at the Outlet Malls, unfortunately a lot of them have their inventory made just for the outlet store. It is lesser quality merchandise. I usually buy my MK handbags online at his store in the clearance section. I have gotten 2 of my 4 handbags for over 70% off. 
 
If I spend my money on Michael Kors handbags than I might not be able to take a cruise. Let's see, a cruise in one hand and a MK handbag in the other. I will pick the cruise every time.
 
Unfortunately Matt I spend my OBC in the casino. I just realized I have a handbag and shoe obsession and a gambling problem. Glad I am enjoying them.
 
Candie

John, you have a very perceptive way of evaluating your ports of call, I will grant you that !  I can't disagree with you about any of your conclusions.
 
I found, as I cruised more (in the Caribbean) that soon one Caribbean island became pretty much is the same as the next.  Obviously, some have a certain charm that you may really enjoy but truly...they quickly become synonymous with one another and to be honest, I cannot really distinguish one from another except in some extreme cases (for the life of me I can never remember the difference between Antigua and St. Lucia.  I always get those 2 mixed up !).  A beach is a beach.  Shopping is shopping and a conch fritter tastes pretty much the same no matter where you get it.
 
My least 2 favorite ports are also Falmouth and St. Kitts.  Of the western Caribbean ports, I am not particularly fond of Roatan or Belize although my problem with Belize is Belize City. I absolutely LOVE the REST of Belize (at least, what I have seen of it...which isn't all that much, to be fair).
 
The southern Caribbean island do appeal to me more than the more popular eastern and western Caribbean itineraries.  I love Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao - particularly Curacao.  I find all 3 of those islands to be very quaint and charming.  I think you will enjoy these stops.

John, you have a very perceptive way of evaluating your ports of call, I will grant you that !  I can't disagree with you about any of your conclusions.
 
I found, as I cruised more (in the Caribbean) that soon one Caribbean island became pretty much is the same as the next.  Obviously, some have a certain charm that you may really enjoy but truly...they quickly become synonymous with one another and to be honest, I cannot really distinguish one from another except in some extreme cases (for the life of me I can never remember the difference between Antigua and St. Lucia.  I always get those 2 mixed up !).  A beach is a beach.  Shopping is shopping and a conch fritter tastes pretty much the same no matter where you get it.
 
My least 2 favorite ports are also Falmouth and St. Kitts.  Of the western Caribbean ports, I am not particularly fond of Roatan or Belize although my problem with Belize is Belize City. I absolutely LOVE the REST of Belize (at least, what I have seen of it...which isn't all that much, to be fair).
 
The southern Caribbean island do appeal to me more than the more popular eastern and western Caribbean itineraries.  I love Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao - particularly Curacao.  I find all 3 of those islands to be very quaint and charming.  I think you will enjoy these stops.

MNorris - I truly believe you will really like the Oasis as well - good choice
I've been on all the Disney Ships and love them - but those prices Whoa!
 
like you said time for a change and Oasis has so much to offer a family

I actually had good luck with the Michael Kors on Indy! I had my eye on a bag that I knew I wanted, and it was the same price on board as on land... plus, duty free! Fun souvenir. :) 
 
I've had good luck with some of the perfume and cosmetics on board as well - better prices. 
 
I'm sure jewelry and watches are something different entirely. 

The last time we cruised out of Port Canaveral and went down a day early, we rented a car for the day and drove one way - then took the Royal Caribbean shuttle back to the airport at the end of the cruise. It was not prohibitively expensive to do a one-way car rental.
 
We picked up the car from Hertz at the Orlando airport. Because we wanted to visit the Cape for the day, we stayed in Cocoa Beach. If you book at the Residence Inn, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach (321-323-1100) the car rental office and the hotel are connected by a parking lot, so dropping off the car when you are done is VERY easy. It's no more than 100 steps from the Hertz office to the hotel. VERY convenient and you can keep the car as long as you want on Saturday. The car rental place closes (4:00, I think) but they have a drop box where you just leave the keys. They have no idea what time you drop it off. We arrived in Orlando (9:16 AM), rented the car, toured the Cape, ate dinner and dropped the car at the Hertz lot around 8:00 PM, then walked over to the hotel and had a very restful night's sleep before getting up the next morning and going to the ship.
 
The Residence Inn is very convenient to the port and they shuttled us over to the ship on Sunday morning. The new pier at Port Canaveral is very nice - lots of nice restaurants right there. It was all very, very convenient.
 
Unfortunately I don't have the receipts for the car rental but I recall that it was very reasonable to pick up the car at the airport and drop it off at the Cape. The Residence Inn cost $217.43 including taxes and everything, which isn't bad for a single night at the Cape on a Saturday night (that's the most expensive single night to stay in a hotel, in nearly all cases).
 
So it really depends on what you want to do in central Florida. If you aren't going to one of the amusement parks, I recommend going on to the coast the day before and spending the night nearer the port. Obviously if you are going to do something closer to Orlando you would probably want to stay in Orlando for the night and go to the port the next day...but I am such a worry wart...I always want to get to where I am going as quickly as possible to avoid last minute commuting delays...but that's just me.
 
I would highly recommend the Hertz-Residence Inn connection though. It worked out very well and the hotel got us to the ship so there was nothing to worry about once you dropped the car off.

Welcome to the boards, Hooked on Royal.  Glad to have you with us !

Here is what I recommend. Book all of the cruises that it will take to push you into D+. That way, if they DO change the rules on you (and I have heard these same rumors) then you can make the case that you had already booked all of the cruises you needed to make D+. I did this when I was about to make Diamond the last time they changed the rules, and they grandfathered me in as Diamond with no problem at all once I passed the original threshold. They were actually very gracious about it. I was surprised.

Honestly I don't think Royal is too worried about their customer base, seems they have hung their hat on high gloss, high energy "Wow" to attract new cruisers like crazy and fill the boats.
 
Its been observed many times that seasoned cruisers don't spend as much onboard and it appears to me Royal has recognized and that and is not too worried about keeping customers as long as they have a pipeline of new customers that they can milk instead.

But in no way a better crew..... Thank you for your service.

Royal has done a great job in adding ships and new ports, I would give them a A. But when it comes to the management systems that they have in place they get a failing grade F. The talking heads have standard answers that they read and many times changes have been made and still the talking heads don't have the changes. 
 
It seems that many times if you call customer service the answer you get is wrong or outdated. I really wish Royal would spend some time and effort improving customer service. Cancel or delay a new ship, but improve your customer service. Also most of the information Royal uses is US based and now 50% of the market is Worldwide so they really need to more to some standards, so the answer is the same fleet wide. You can have the best and largest cruise ships in the World and fail if you do not take care of your number one asset...... CUSTOMERS....

...just more of the same.  Apparently RCI needs a good process management Executive and a new Communications Executive.  There is absolutely NO excuse for this kind of misinformation and it just keeps happening and happening....and happening and happening and happening.
 
As you said, Sue, if any other corporation put out as much misinformation and dated or just plain WRONG information as RCI has lately, someone at the highest level would be out of a job PRONTO !
 
...and who knows if Matt even has it right (no offense to Matt's source).  NOBODY seems to know what is going on EVER.
 
It's so minor league. It's becoming truly embarrassing to be an RCI loyalist.  The management is so inept.
 
It's a damn good thing that they have a good product...despite the P/P management.

My first cruise was on "Sovereign" back in '07.  It was a gift from my mother to myself, my sisters and all of our kids.... The next one was in '09 on Navigator.  I guess what sealed the deal was the feeling I got crossing the gangway onto the ship ..... Knowing that the stresses of life are on one end and I was going towards the other...... Knowing, that if only for a few days, it's all about me, no schedule, no transportation (unless you call an elevator a form of transportation) and the ability for every member of my family to create their own vacation completely different from yours.  Also, I've never slept better than when I was on a cruise (I guess the gentle rocking acts like a cradle)....
 
As the years progressed, and financial / relationship stresses took their toll, I'm ecstatic to now know there's another cruise on the horizon with my bride of 3 years.  We've never had a honeymoon plus this is a marquee birthday year for her, so, after some prodding and explaining to her how a cruise makes sense from a financial point vs, going to a regular beach like Myrtle Beach, she has decided to "go for it" --- Knowing that Bermuda has been on her "bucket list" and that we live in Maryland (the far western end that's closer to Pittsburgh vs Baltimore ... GO RAVENS!!!) --- Being able to take advantage of Grandeur out of Baltimore was the logical choice, we can leave the house at 7:00 and be at the port by 10:00.  I know it's early, but I believe in allowing extra time because you never know what's going to happen on I-70,  plus, going in September after the kids are back in school is a positive for her too.  We don't have kids plus mine are grown up.  I just pray the weather cooperates, that's the only thing out of my control.
 
As we board, I'm going to let her set the pace, the newness of the experience, I want her to fall in love with it the way I have and I have enough faith in the crew of Grandeur and Royal Caribbean in general, that she'll be hooked.  This will make booking the next one a heck of a lot easier.  I'll even promote the benefits of booking it while on board and scheduling it out enough to make paying for it very easy.
 
Counting down the days (150) ---
 
Mark

BigKarl
 
I can understand you are upset and I absolutely  agree Royal handled this wrong.  Hong Kong has present many issues for Royal, from the two cruise terminals to the type of core customers they are getting on these cruises. The majority of travelers out of Hong Kong seem to be from South East Asia, followed by Australia New Zealand as a group.  While Americans can and do enjoy these cruises the experience is not the same as US cruises. I believe the reason they are not offering the Royal Class service is they have no need to do so. If you want to make even suite passengers from Hong Kong happy offer them more shopping and more gaming. Put 500 low cost watches on a table and offer them at 20 or 30 dollars and a near riot breaks out. 
 
Royal looked at the numbers and saw the return would not be as great as in other markets and made the choice not to offer this full program. They should have cancelled it in a better way but many of their choices have been poor choices over the last few months. 

This is my ubderstanding, tooo (pun intended), based on what I've read most recently.

Brian - you must be getting close if you have already gotten the survey !!!  WOOHOO for you !
 
No, I have not gotten one yet b/c I don't go until Feb. 17 (sigh...)
 
I have been reading about it on CC.
 
To be honest, from what I have read so far, I'm not sure how useful this information is going to be.  It seems like they are asking some pretty obscure and [useless ??] questions.  I have also seen and heard that the questionnaire is quickly evolving as some have already seen the questions changing.
 
I imagine that the point of the questionnaire is to get an idea of what kind of requests they might get from you but honestly, most of them are so "out there" that I cannot see them being of much value to the genies...really.
 
I can tell you....the group that I cruise with...will NEVER answer these questions.  They will hit the delete button and forget they ever got it...but I guess the genies will use whatever information they get and guess about those that don't answer the questionnaires.
 
Something else I have read about is the "Loop" app that they send you about 1 week prior to your cruise.  This is, apparently, the way the genies want you to contact and stay in contact with them.  It is a kind of IM, I guess.
 
From everything I have heard, so far, the genies are a big hit.  I can't wait to meet mine !

Rich, unless things have changed recently (and they may well have), Uber could only drop off at PE...they weren't permitted to pick up at the port.
 
Others who monitor these things more closely may have more current information.  That's just what I recall from previous posts.

Are you talking about his Blog Insider Sign? lol!!! That is a great Sign too though!!!!
I thought about holding a sign from sail away. I was like, who do I want to say hi to, when Port Everglades cam Zooms in? Obviously, it's the community of the wonderful fellow Cruisers, and best place to get RCI Cruise Information!!! 😎⚓ï¸ðŸ›³

I prefer to shop on land - where I can easily get back to the store to resolve any disputes in person. My cruise time is for imbibing spirits, gorging on food, and seeing the sights and relaxing occasionally :-)

I'd say you're about as excited as anyone I've ever seen to go on a cruise, Kat !
 
Good for you !
 
Sign looks great.  Sounds like you have everything lined up.
 
Enjoy yourself !

Doc answered before I finished writing mine !  LOL

My husband and I were invited to go with my parents on a cruise for our second anniversary and we've been hooked ever since. We love the idea of unpacking once and being able to visit many countries. And cruising allows us to unplug- no cellphone or internet usage for us! We enjoy family time - which is another reason cruising will always hold a special place for us.
Between our second and third cruises we tried IVF twice with no success. We were done trying so we decided to go on another cruise. Apparently that cruise was very relaxing because we came back pregnant with our daughter.
This will be our first cruise on Royal Caribbean and we can't wait!

As a relatively new cruiser, since my first cruise ever was on board Quantum of the Seas for her first NYE cruise 2014 into 2015, I can say that I simply say that I fell in love with EVERYTHING. As some folks mentioned already, the freedom to do whatever it is that you wish from eating to drinking, to participating in activities to going to shows or even just doing NOTHING while relaxing on your balcony or in your stateroom. Plus, I LOVE being able to "log off" from the real world, social networks and basically be "off the grid" for a while. 

Funny thing is I had no idea I would get hooked on cruising. With the way cruising is portrayed on TV and in movies, I always thought cruising was more for the retired group. As a now 30 year old husband and father, I am happy to know that I was wrong because I could literally cruise all year long lol.