JasonOasis

I think the pricing is spot on. If those are the prices for a holiday cruise that isn't bad considering holiday cruises always cost more. We don't have a cruise in December and our January 2026 cruise is to the Southern Caribbean and won't be stopping at Nassau, I can't wait to visit Royal's Beach Club. I don't need cabana's and all that other fluff all I need is a beach chair, an umbrella, the sand between my toes and a drink in my hand and I'm good. The fact that it comes with dinning, transportation, and wifi is just awesome. If the holiday cruise is $169.00 per person for the day pass w/drinks and food I'd imagine non-holiday cruises prices would probably range depending on the season and time of year between $139.00 - $159.00 which is right in line with what you'd pay at other beach clubs. Since pricing is dynamic you might pay more during spring break if demand is through the roof so I could see pricing hitting $200 per person if demand warrants. But the key here is like everything else in the cruise industry book early before dynamic pricing kicks in. These beach clubs obviously can't accommodate everyone on an Oasis/Icon Class ship so as space or slots runs out prices go up.

Check you email and your clubroyaloffers.com just received several new offer codes for free balconies for 2 guest only pay taxes and port fees from newer ships like Wonder and Utopia to fun ships like Navigator, Freedom and Liberty, to seasoned ships like Serenade, Jewel and others. They just sent this code to my email not to my clubroyaloffers.com account yesterday but here's the kicker the code expires July 4th. They aren't giving you a whole lot to time to book a free ocean view balcony.

It would appear as though Carnival is looking to borrow a page from the airlines playbook. During and after covid airlines extended status their frequent fliers earned in 2019 through the end of 2022 because people weren't traveling as much in 20, 21, or 22. However in 2023 Delta first announced major changes to their SkyMiles program making it more difficult for people to achieve and retain status these changes were implemented in 2024. United then followed suit in 2024 making it harder for people to achieve/retain status changes went into effect in 2025, American Airlines followed suit as well. What this has done in the airline industry is it has allowed customers to become free agents. All 3 of the major carriers have since backed off some of the most draconian changes but they are still pushing ahead with the changes where you gain more status quicker the more money you spend either flying or on cobranded credit cards. The changes haven't stemmed the tide of free agency in the airline industry because customers feel like airlines think loyalty is now a one way street instead of a two way street. Carnival with the changes they've announced will turn loyalty into a one way street where they expect the customer to remain loyal they expect the customer to spend more while giving them less for their loyalty. It certainly will bite Carnival as many of their customers most likely will turn to MSC as they are more affordable than Royal Caribbean. If Royal Caribbean were to follow Carnival's lead on this it certainly would make it easier for me and probably a lot more customers to leave and most likely to go Virgin Voyages, or even NCL. I get it these companies have a lot more customers at the higher end of their loyalty programs and some of those at the absolute top end now feel like they are just one in the crowd. But I've been loyal to Royal since my first cruise in 2009 and I'm diamond plus and have a long way to go still to reach pinnacle. If Royal changes thing and follows Carnival I have no reason to remain loyal. My husband and I do 3, 7 night cruises each year and 2 or 3, 3-4 night cruises each year. If I have to worry about my status reseting every two years I'm done being loyal and will happily enter free agency.

Some ships have done away with the disco 70s inferno party. But I was on Harmony out of Galveston this past January and they still were doing the 70s disco party. I for one am glad to see Royal shaking things up a bit offering different parties on different ships. Utopia as an example has an awesome party on the promenade that in my opinion is better than the 70s discord inferno party. Don't get me wrong I still love the disco party. Hell when I'm on vacation I'll use any excuse to dance because most likely I'll never see these people again so why not dance the night away my husband sometimes says I make a fool of myself, I don't care. I don't want to see the 70s disco party go away but it nice to see a variety coming to different ships.

Excellent read. The amount of growth the industry has seen especially here in the US from 2019 through 2024 is impressive. In reality the growth wasn't over that entire time period it really been since 2022. To go from 15.4 million to 20.5 million passenger annually really over a span of 3 years (not counting 2020 or 2021) is again impressive. Another thing I found interesting is the fact that that over 70% of cruises are on small and midsize ships. In recent years large and mega size ships have been in the spotlight but they make up less than 30% of the global cruise industry fleet. There truly is something out there for everyone and every price point from the most budget conscious cruiser to ultra exclusive luxury cruises to those looking for expedition cruises the market is growing across all spectrums. Even river cruises which were referenced in the report are seeing growth which helps explain why Royal Caribbean Group is looking at expanding Celebrity Cruises into the river cruise market in the coming years.

Can't wait to see what Discovery Class looks like. It probably won't be as small as Radiance or Vision Class vessels but I think if its somewhere between Voyager and Freedom Class size ships it will be a home run while allowing Royal to continue to serve ports Oasis and Icon Class ships simply can't get into. Royal has enough mega class ships it is good to get partial confirmation project Discovery is still alive and the work to bring it to fruition is still ongoing.

I think there are enough Oasis and Icon Class ships slated for the Caribbean Market. What I'm hoping for is with the LA market going from basically 1 ship Navigator, too at times 2 Quantum Class ships I'm hoping Royal is taking a hard look at if an Oasis Class ship can set sail out of San Pedro World Cruise Terminal and what improvements can be made to destinations on the Baja (Western) side of Mexico to get a Oasis Class ship sailing out of Los Angeles. If none of the ports from LA through the Baja peninsula aren't capable of handling an Oasis Class ship I would hope together with local and government officials projects would be in the works to rectify it. Imagine an Oasis Class ship setting sail from LA, I'm still holding out hope that one day Oasis Class will make her West Coast debut.

I'm on Utopia right now and the new larger non-smoking casino section is open they are still doing construction now on the other side including the old space for the non-smoking casino, once completed that entire area will be part of Casino Royal but it will be 100% nonsmoking and the main casino down the hall will still have a smoking section and a nonsmoking section. I didn't go see the adult comedy show this time to see if it works as well in the main theater but turning The Attic into a nonsmoking casino does work better than the small cramp older space and the new space already comes with a bar so gamblers don't have to go into the main casino or upstairs to deck 5 to get another drink. Once the second half of the space reopens it should be a great extension of the casino a place where nonsmokers can enjoy.

I just tried to purchase the UDP for one of our upcoming cruises on Utopia the website is showing $32 dollars a day for the UDP but after entering payment information and checking the terms and agreement box the buy now button fails to illuminate. I even tried using Apple Pay and it would just spin and never process the payment. I think they realize they may have a problem and are working on it because $32 dollars a day for UDP I haven't seen prices like that in a very very very long time but they aren't accepting payments at least not in Safari or chrome from my laptop. Update: So I just tried to purchase the UDP again using Safari and now it saying promotional code not valid. I"m also now getting the same error message to pop up in Chrome. Using Apple Pay I get a message now saying payment failed from Apple and the purchase now screen displays the same error message promotional code not valid. Hopefully people were able to cash in on what seems to have been a mathematical error on Royals end but it now appears as though they've shut processing payments on the UDP until they've fix their pricing issue.

What can be said is the shuttles run but are subjected to the same turnaround day traffic as anyone else. During the late fall and winter season which is Port Everglades busiest times where you could have 6 or 7 ships in port on turnaround day you may have to wait longer for a shuttle than you would wait for instance if you were cruising out of Port Everglades in July or August. The shuttle is of course free but you could run into a situation where a shuttle is there but has run out of room now you're forced to wait for the next shuttle or that same shuttle to return. I know at Port Canaveral Avis has a shuttle that only go to Royal Caribbean's port, they have another shuttle that goes to Canaveral Port and two shuttles that go to all other ports. That sound great but the reality is with just one shuttle for Royal Caribbean port people are forced to wait once the shuttle is full. A lot of people now take a taxi to Avis at Port Canaveral. Personally when I cruise out of Port Everglades at the conclusion of my cruise I always take a taxi. There are more taxis than their are Avis shuttles and even though the line can be nuts at least the line for taxis moves fairly quickly and I've never had to wait an excessive amount of time for a taxi even during the winter season when Port Everglades and the area around the port can be a traffic nightmare. If time is more important to you then I'd go with a taxi or an uber/lyft but if saving money is more important to you then go with the shuttle.

I don't have any Icon or Star offers however my husband who gambles a lot more than I do did have an offer for Icon for an interior stateroom for 2 people in September during the same time we'd be on Utopia. I told him I'm not canceling a B2B2B owners suite on Utopia for a 7 night interior room on Icon. I told him in time there will be more offers for Icon and Star it would be a thanks but no thanks.

No you are absolutely correct. Hopefully the economy doesn't fall off a cliff I don't think anyone wants to see that happen, however the uncertainty we are seeing is causing prices to fall even in the airline industry where we are seeing a slight drop in prices.

There are some deals out there but most of my cruises I booked them so early when the cruise first went on sale they still haven't beat the original price I paid. If you aren't one to book cruises when the cruise first goes on sale you could have paid an inflated price it might be worth it to have your TA check or you check and see for yourself if the cruise is now cheaper than when you first booked it. Even though I haven't been able to get in on the lower cruise fares being offered I have saved quite a bit of money on repricing beverage packages on several of my upcoming cruises in 2025 and 2026 I've been able to get the deluxe beverage packages for anywhere between $55 - $59 dollars per day.

Although I do share your concerns about them having so many Oasis Class ships in the 3 and 4 night cruise market I don't think they are at risk of loosing customers. Having said that I 100% understand why Royal has decided to put many of their biggest, best and newest ships in the 3 and 4 night cruise market and after doing multiple 3 and 4 night cruises on Utopia and Allure when Allure was in the market I know first hand these cruises are a big hit. However for those looking for a longer cruise on an Oasis Class ships during the fall/winter season of 2026 I do believe both Symphony and Allure of the Seas will remain in the 7 night cruise market along with Icon and Star and eventually Legend will join the in in the 6-8 night Southern Caribbean cruise market. Royal will also have some older ships in the 7-14 night market but those ships don't have all the bells and whistles found on Oasis and Icon Class ships. I think Royal has done their homework on this 3-4 night cruise market, in fact looking at 2026/2027 deployment schedules for cruise lines like MSC, NCL, and Carnival what you will notice is those cruise lines are moving new ships into the 3 and 4 night cruise market. What these cruise lines have noticed is the younger generation those in their 20s and 30s love the 3 and 4 night cruises but they don't want to cruise on older outdated ships. Royal just happens to be at the forefront (right behind Virgin Voyages) of this seismic shift taking place in the 3 and 4 night cruise market but the other major mainstream cruise lines are following suit they are just several seasons behind Royal in moving new ships into the market.

Real ID is only for US government purposes only, for instance if you are trying to enter a federal building, getting through airport checkpoint security. If you have a passport you don't need real ID. But you answer your question no Royal isn't requiring real ID, however I would be remiss if I didn't say its always an excellent idea to bring your passport with you (if you have one) when you're on a cruise because if anything happens you'll save yourself a world of headaches by simply having that passport with you.