mac66

That's interesting. We just got off a cruise on Dec 4. We have another cruise booked on Feb 4. Just looked at the menu for the Feb 4 cruise and it's exactly the same as our last cruise.

One thing we noticed is that typically it takes longer to eat on dress up nights than on port nights. They tend to serve the good stuff (prime rib and lobster) on dress up nights and a lot of people dress up and go to the MDR on those night. Port nights people are tired or just back from excursion and often go to the buffet.

And just an FYI concerning lobster night. They allowed you to order two lobsters up front but if you wanted a third you had to eat the first two and then order another. No charge for additional lobsters or additional entrees.

Conceivably it's possible. We walked off the ship at 7:30am on our last cruise. but you'd have to have a car waiting to whisk you to the airport and then not have any delays getting there. So possible, not advisable.  Of course if you miss your flight you'd be on standby for the next flights out but you may have to wait around all day for a spot. 

By all means you can take your luggage on board yourselves.  We did a 1:30 and walked on our recent cruise. No lines, no hassle, easy peasy. We typically only have a carry on and a back pack each for a week long cruise so it's pretty easy.  And yes our cabin was ready.

Just be aware that larger suitcases may not fit through the carry on  x ray machines. So you probably would have to check those anyway.

All cruises are different depending on the ship, crew, port, itinerary,  time of year. 

Food and service tend to be better on the smaller ships than on the mega ships but that's not always the case.

We were on the Summit twice this year, the first time was a charter in February. The second time was a makeup of a covid cruise in August. Food and service both times was mediocre to poor.

Just got off the Explorer on Sunday. No charge for any extras on anything.  The only restriction was that if you wanted more than 2 lobsters you had to eat them first then order another.

I ordered two, my wife ordered the beef and a lobster then gave me hers so I got 3 at the same time.

14 hours ago, twangster said:

Small ships sail every week because they have small ships from the days that small ships were large ships.

If Royal was just starting out today as a new cruise line with no ships they would not build small ships just because some people like small ships.  Every ship would be a big ship.  Small ships cost more to operate on a per passenger basis.  

Besides in the not so distant future Voyager class will be considered small ships so in that respect they will have small ships in the future.

The strategy by the CLs is that their ships become a destination unto themselves rather than a means to get from one place to another. Basically floating resorts. Certainly true with the Oasis class ships and mega carnival/NCL etc ships.

From that standpoint I think they will eventually phase out smaller ships but I think there is still a market for less than Oasis class ships. 

6 so far

Empress

Majesty 

Explorer x3

Freedom x2

Oasis x2

Allure x2

Serenade in 2023

On 11/30/2022 at 2:06 PM, Boba Milk Tea said:

I’m currently on Symphony of the Seas.  The food sucks. 
1. The nachos cheese is fake. 
2. crab cake doesn’t have real crab

3. same food at wind jammer every day

4. dining room food was also bad most days 

 

quality has gone done. 
 

I’m done with RC. 

Just got off the Explorer on Sunday.  The food (and service) was actually very good (including the crab cakes and lobster) and better than any of the 3 Celebrity cruises i was on this year. 

I'm back to RC for the foreseeable future.

Sometimes its fun and classy to dress up and eat in a formal setting using good manners. 

My 30 something year old kids still dress up on cruises, something instilled on them back when you had to dress for dinner every night. It made an impression they still talk about.

We don't buy the dp anymore. We've discovered other ways to imbibe. 

As long as you get there before the ship leaves you'll be good. In fact mid afternoon is actually better than the morning when everyone is trying to get on.

Just an fyi...just got off an 8 nt ABC island cruise on Explorer. The MDR food and service was better than any of  the three celebrity (X) cruises we did this year.

Up to this year we liked X better but RCL has jumped ahead. We have another RCL cruise in February so we'll see.

22 hours ago, Rackham said:

I don't remember the exact numbers, but Royal has said previously an Oasis-class ship requires about 40% occupancy to turn a profit while a Vision-class requires around 70% occupancy. Newer ship designs could reduce the occupancy required to cover costs, but there's still the issue of larger ships can generate more revenue due to passenger volume. So while the expenses of a smaller ship are less, the potential profit is too. 

To me, there's a lot we don't know about backend discussions and analysis at Royal. How do smaller ships fare during the off-season? How beneficial are smaller ships with retaining frequent cruisers and guest spending (due to the loyalty program and on-board accounts they know all)? How are they viewing smaller ships with various environmental regulations being put into place in parts of Europe? 

Still...there are quite a few smaller ships in service that sail quite often i.e. every week.  Seems to me RCL needs them to keep up with demand...the right ship for the right itinerary out of the right port. 

It also seems to me the CLs would be cutting their own throats by moving everything to the mega ships. 

I would think that as long as CLs can continue to fill the smaller ships that will keep them in service.

  I don't know what the cost ratio is but a full 2500 passenger ship seems like it would cost less to operate and be more profitable than a 5000 passenger ship that is less than full.

We booked a 7 n western Caribbean cruise for February on the Serenade because it was significantly cheaper than the same itinerary on an Oasis class ship. No sense paying for stuff we don't use (flow rider, climbing wall etc).  We really prefer the Radiance and less than Oasis class ships to the bigger ones.

If/when they phase them out we will find another cruise line.

Just got off an Explorer ABC cruise yesterday.  It's still in pretty good shape. My understanding is that carpet and decor will be changed as well as some maintenance.  They are also putting in a Playmakers bar on the promenade in place of some of the stores. 

It was a good cruise, we enjoyed the ship as it was but having a big sports bar would have been nice what with some big college football games and the world cup soccer thing going on.

I've seen people vaping on their balconies discretely.  Just saying.

And no, I don't vape or smoke.

18 hours ago, PL8SWPR said:

Revenue isn't profit.

Yeah I know... their profit was only $33 million for THAT quarter.

People have been known to go through the check in security line a person or two in between and get away with it. But....doing so will apparently cause the cruise lines to go bankrupt if they can't get their 500% markup on sodas.  RULES are RULES dammit,  no cheating allowed.  RCL only had revenue of $3 billion in the 3rd quarter.

Is the OP on the Explorer on Nov 26 to the ABCs?    And what did they end up booking? Just curious.

Never mind, I misread their original posting. There is a difference between an "ocean view" and a "balcony" cabin. "Ocean view" cabins don't have balconies but balcony cabins have an ocean view.

I've done three Celebrity cruise this year all make ups from Covid.  The food in both the MDR and buffet was mediocre at best, just plain bad at worse.  Not much variety. Food was often cold and tasteless or cooked wrong. We are on the Explorer the end of this month. If its' not much better we may have to rethink our cruising strategy.

Cru Con is who we use. They generally have real good prices, sometimes kick in OBC and other perks, plus they have a $50 loyalty discount.  They handled everything for multiple bookings. We have a cruise in Feb with my two brothers and their wives. They coordinated all the bookings.

I bought RCL stock this summer.  I copied the  Sept statement, blacked out everything but my name and the line showing I owned RCL stock and the date of the statement and submitted it for my late November and Feb cruises. Got notification in 4 days that it was accepted.

Now only 36 more cruises to do before I break even.

My wife has booked family cruises for us and our adult children a couple of times.  Everything came to her. None of them were surprises but they could have been.

Ever hear the old saying caveat emptor  "buyer be aware"?

I always enjoy looking at the Invicta watches when on board. Some are really cool looking but I would never buy one as I know the prices are highly inflated.  Besides, my wife bought me a Pulsar Solar watch as an anniversary gift 35+ years ago. It's never needed to be wound and still runs fine. I wear it all the time even while diving. It's scratched, worn and pretty beat up now.  It's my forever watch.

As for buying booze on board. I've found that you can buy 1 liter bottles of bourbon/scotch on board for what .75 Liter go for at home. I would guess that is because of the taxes at home.   Sometimes the liter bottles go for 2/$50 or 2/$60 and is a good deal when the small bottles typically run $27-37 ea at home. You do have to know what your looking at however.

I've pretty much gone minimalist for cruises. A carry on and a small backpack. The key is to get things that do double duty, are lightweight, fast drying and sink/shower washable.  I usually pack 3 pair of nylon underwear which are washable. One pair of light weight, nylon zip off pants which are convertible from long pants to shorts and are washable. One pair of socks (just in case). I wear a pair of low hiking shoes and pack a pair of toed sandals (Keens) which I pretty much wear all the time on the ship including to dinner.  A pair of nylon, fast drying lightweight shorts (called river shorts) that double as a bathing suit or work out clothes.  Long and short sleeve sun shirts, are fast drying and washable. The short sleeve one doubles as a work out shirt and/or undershirt.  A long and short sleeve button down, light weight nylon, fast drying, washable shirts (think fishing shirts) for everyday wear. 

Most everything I wear during the day gets sink/shower washed and hung up to dry. That works better if you have a balcony cabin but you can usually find upper deck chairs to lay stuff out discretely.

I also bring a pair of dockers, button down shirt and sports coat for dress up night.  If flying I will sometimes wear the dockers and sport coat on the plane so I don't have to pack it.  Pretty much wear the dockers and sport coat once but have been on longer cruises where I wore it twice. Probably don't need the sport coat but the dining room is sometimes chilly in the evening and we like to dress up once in a while.

Not to mention, shaving kit and personal stuff which go in my backpack and carried on board.