JasonOasis

I seriously doubt they move Utopia off short cruises any time soon. Starting in December of this year through March of 2025 Norwegian will place Norwegian Pearl in this very competitive market then for the month of April of 2025 Norwegian Aqua will replace Pearl in market after April of 2025 Norwegian will rotate several Breakaway Plus class ships along with Norwegian Epic in and out of the 3 and 4 night Bahamas cruise market. MSC is also jumping into this market with new ships like Seascape, Seashore and Virtuosa (although Virtuosa will do 4 night sailing out of Barbados not the US). It just goes to show you nearly every mass market cruise line here in the U.S. except for Carnival is jumping into this 3 and 4 night cruise market with a few new ships. All of them will still have some older ships offering 3 and 4 night cruises to the Bahamas and other destinations. However, to attract new customers to these types of vacation these cruise lines are placing some of their best ships in these highly competitive markets and customers are responding. I'm assuming its only a matter of time before we see a Carnival Excel Class ship in this market as well but I don't see Royal pulling Utopia or Wonder (which will relocate to Miami in 2025 when Star arrives) out the 3 and 4 night cruise market in the near future.

According to the National Hurricane Center Hurricane Beryl is expected to march across the Caribbean Sea, looking at their spaghetti model if the storm stays on their modeled tracks it will impact some part of the Yucatan Peninsula and parts of Honduras may also feel the effects of Beryl as it passes by. As disappointing as it may be for customers it's better to have those ships out of the way of the storm safely in Nassau instead of trying to outrun what is now a category 4 hurricane.

Go to the State Departments Website it tells you they will accept passports that are expired. The reason they include 2009 is because that is the cut off point for an acceptable expired passport. If your passport was issued in 2008 or 16 years ago they will not accept it but they will accept passports up to 15 year old and of course a 15 year old passport is of course expired making 2009 the cut off point. The wording is bad but the State Departments website does try to clarify it as much as possible but they are accepting expired passports that we issued in 2009 or 15 years ago.

Wow that is a fantastic video, very informative, I had no idea the job entails all of those things and with 67 ships in the Royal Caribbean Groups fleet I'm glad he was able to hire someone to help him. It is still shocking to know that Carnival Corporation which has more ships than Royal Caribbean Group still does not have its own meteorologist on staff and now Royal have 2 full time meteorologist on staff.

Judging from your post it appears as though status match is working as designed. What customers in our position (diamond plus) have to ask ourselves is what do we value more? Do we value those drink vouchers more than ports of call. For me it depends on the cruise. As you stated your decision to book Apex was based more so on the ports of call wanting to go to the deep fjords and that is what Royal is banking on. They don't want Royal customers to necessarily abandon Royal for Celebrity. But for those bucket list type cruises non-pinnacle members do have to decide do we stick with Royal or do we go with Celebrity. I agree with you for bucket list type cruises I most certainly will go with Celebrity. I did my first Celebrity cruise this past March and without a doubt I would book with them again when I'm looking for a more upscale experience and for those bucket list cruises. But if it's a weekend cruise or I just need a 7 night vacation/party cruise I'm sticking with Royal.

As much as people at the D+ or D level are not happy (fully disclosure I'm D+) I think Royal set up this status match like they did to reward pinnacle members who really were getting shafted if they took a cruise on Celebrity. I took my first Celebrity cruise this past March and we did get status matched to Elite Plus on Celebrity (we of course didn't get any points credited to ur Royal account) but that has never been on the table. However when doing research on the status match prior to our March cruise I thought it was interesting that Pinnacle members on Royal would only be Elite Plus on Celebrity putting them at the same status as myself a simple D+ member. I think Royal took a measured approach with this updated status match some Crown and Anchor members are gaining a lot with the Captains club while others like myself in the D+ range there is basically no change at all. I think that is on purpose, I think Royal still wants to keep Celebrity Cruises, Celebrity Cruises they don't want Celebrity to turn into Royal 2.0. What I noticed on my first Celebrity cruise is just how different the entire cruise is and feels compared to a Royal Caribbean cruise. Royal isn't trying to loose the Celebrity brand or the Celebrity experience which is totally different from a Royal Caribbean cruise. When my husband and I took our Celebrity cruise we book the all-inclusive package (which includes the classic drink package) when we booked the cruise which for a drinks and wifi package was cheap when compared to Royal's deluxe beverage package. Although my usual favorite vodka was not included in the classic beverage package they did have a suitable alternative vodka and I didn't have to settle for Absolute. For people at the D or D+ level who are not happy with the small if any changes or those saying I want my free drinks not some happy hour I would say take a look a Celebrity and good long hard look at Celebrity and you will find Celebrity being a premium cruise line offers a lot of value at a fraction of the price point as a Royal Caribbean cruise especially to those unhappy about the lack of free drinks. The drink packages on Celebrity the fact they still have classic and premium gives us the consumer choices that we don't have on Royal Caribbean where we are forced to buy the DBP. As a D+ member I'm not upset at all with the status match program.

While it isn't common in the Caribbean for security to ask to see photo ID there are some ports out there where they will ask to see your photo ID in addition to your sea pass card. whenever I get off the ship I always carry my passport with me. If you have your passport with you you'll be fine as your passport trumps the drivers license all the time. I don't think it is a big deal as I've never been asked to show my drivers license to check-in or board a cruise but if you are concerned and just want that peace of mind I would suggest as someone else already did that you just bring a copy of your marriage license.

I'm sorry for both you and your wife and I hope you both are feeling better on the road to recovery. In situations like these we always love to blame the food but in most cases it isn't the food that is to blame. In most cases a stomach bug outbreak on a cruise ship is cause by an irresponsible passenger lying about their health pre-cruise and on boarding day simply because they want to take the cruise and not loose out on what could be their one and only vacation of the year. I read the article that blamed the tacos but it also stated it was speculation and added that someone could have brought this virus onboard the ship as well. Boarding a cruise ship while experiencing any type of diarrhea, vomiting is highly irresponsible. Unfortunately cruise lines have to take passengers at their word when they ask have you experienced any of these symptoms in the past few days. We all saw the hoops cruise lines and passengers had to jump through when cruising resumed during COVID. If passengers say no they haven't experience any of those symptoms they are allowed to board and that is the end of it. And as much as people love to blame the cruise lines the truth is the cruise line has no idea by allowing this person to board they just allowed a highly contagious virus onboard their ship. It takes time for these things to spread but one irresponsible selfish person can easily take out or infect 400-800 passengers. By the time the ship leaves port on embarkation day that one individual has probably already infected 10 to 30 healthy individuals, and after that the ship is really behind the preverbal 8 ball even with the rigorous cleaning they do onboard. This is why it is absolutely important to first and foremost be cautious in the weeks leading up to your cruise. Individuals need to take their health seriously in the weeks leading up to their cruise. Purchase trip insurance so that if you are sick you can tell the truth and have recourse to at least recoup some if not all of your money depending on insurance. Lastly once onboard always wash your hands before you eat, drink, touch your face and if you can't wash your hand always carry hand sanitizer with you either in your pocket or in your bag. I don't work for Royal I do cruise with Royal a lot and been cruising with them since 2009 I've been onboard when one or two outbreaks. But I still believe Royal is one of the best cruise lines out there and I'm sorry you had this horrible experience on the Allure OTS but most likely it wasn't the tacos instead it was an extremely selfish individual who only thought of themselves on embarkation day and decided to not be 100% truthful when answering those health questions.

I agree why not included gratuities in the price as well, guest can always go to Guest Services to have them removed if they feel a certain way but why not include gratuities in the up front FULL price as well.

Last November I was on Wonder and one elevator was express going down, it was not express going up as anyone could enter the elevator going up and get it to stop at their floor. However on Symphony this past February the elevators operated normally there was no express elevator at all. I don' know if things have changed on Symphony since our February cruise. I think they use the express feature on Wonder because there are only 3 elevators on each side on the decks dedicated to suite guest decks 17 and 18. So instead of suite guest having access to 12 elevators (6 per bank) suite guest only have access to 6 elevators (3 per bank). On Wonder I found it easier and quicker to simply take the stairs down to deck 16 if the express elevator was not already waiting, this way I had access to at least 6 elevators on one side of the ship.

I am sorry that your particular ship and sail date were not included in the promotion. But it seems like there were a lot of folks myself included who were able to score some deals on several cruises.

On my B2B Utopia cruises this coming September I was able to get both cruises DBP at $70 dollars a day. I haven't been able to book a DBP at $70 per day for years, even on Black Friday and I sail on Royal multiple times a year. I was excited to so see $70 dollars a day after paying $87 to even $90 dollars per day pre-cruise prices for most of my cruises since the Royal Come Back. I get it varies from ship to ship but depending on your ship and sail date the savings are real.

Today!!!! I'm serious today (May 6th) right now is the best day to buy the drink package because they are having a 24 hour sale on DBP's up to 45% off.

Their website is probably being overwhelmed right now with people taking full advantage of that $70 dollar per day DBP. I'm on a B2B on Utopia in September and I was able to book the first 3 night cruise DBP through the cruise planner but I couldn't book the second one it kept signing me out. I instead called Royal used the automated call back feature which works surprisingly well and was able to book the 4 night cruise DBP over the phone. If you can't book it on the computer, try the app, you can't do it via the app then pick up the phone and call them if there is a hold time use the automated call back feature but don't miss out on this deal simply because their website is overwhelmed with traffic right now.

Since this thread is already about project Discovery I have some questions. Virgin Voyages which has been carving out its own path in the cruise industry just announced that its 4th ship Brilliant Lady will be delivered in September 2025. They also revealed they made purposeful and intentional changes to Brilliant Lady's design so the ship will be able to sail through the Panama Canal and also the ship will enter the already crowed Alaska market. I know Virgin only has 4 ships but what kind of pressure if any pressure at all does Virgins entrance into the Panama Canal market put on Royal to get Project Discovery right so that class of ship can fit through the Panama Canal? Or is the Panama Canal market not that important of a market to Royal? Also for a few weeks in 2026 Virgin will offer sailing out of Los Angeles but I think Royal is already ready or anticipated this move as Quantum OTS arrives in Los Angeles in late 2025. https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/virgin-voyages-news

My husband and I will be on that same cruise it will be our first Transatlantic cruise as well. We always do a B2B 7 nighters in the fall so this year we decided instead of a B2B Caribbean cruise why not do a 14 night Transatlantic cruise.

I don't think Carnival's Jubilee would have any barring on if Galveston does or does not get an Icon Class ship in the future. I think the decision would be based on the success of the Oasis Class ship Royal already has sailing from Galveston and Royal's own other internal metrics. It isn't about keeping up with the Jones's for Royal it's more so about having the right ship in the right market to generate the most revenue. It's also about can the Galveston market sustain Icon's Iconic prices which are much much higher than prices on any Oasis Class ship. Even now cruising out of Galveston on an Oasis Class 7 night cruise is cheaper than the same 7 night cruise on a Oasis Class sailing out of Florida. If Galveston can't support Icons out of this world pricing does Royal want to dilute yield just so they can say we put one of our newest ships in Galveston when they know the Florida market (which also pulls in a lot more international visitors) can support those Iconic prices. Only Royal can answer those questions and only time will tell if an Icon Class ship ends up in Galveston.

Not a popular opinion? I love Quantum Class ships, don't get me wrong Oasis Class is by far my favorite class of ship but Quantum Class is a close second. I"m sad to see Anthem go which will only leave us with Odyssey here on the East Coast.

I think it also depends on the cruise director. Prior to covid Royal had excellent cruise directors who really love the job. Post covid there have been cruises where I've had to ask myself how did this person become the cruise director they are horrible at this job. Cruise director in my opinion is one of the most important jobs on the ship and I get the job can become monotonous week in and week out but excellent cruise directors first and foremost really love their job and know how to keep it fresh every cruise. While cruise directors who are just biding time waiting for the next opportunity to move up the corporate ladder can at time allow things to run stale and it comes across in activities, their morning show even just seeing the cruise director around the ship you can tell the ones who absolutely love their job vs the ones who are just there waiting for their next opportunity. In my opinion its not just the love and marriage game show its also shows like The Quest which is now the Crazy Quest. I know early on in the cruise whether or not I'm going to The Quest and it all depends on the vibe I get from the cruise director on day 1, day 2 of the cruise.

Personally I don't like the infinite veranda. While I haven't' yet set sail on Icon I did sail on Celebrity Apex just this past March on a 7 night cruise and we booked a infinite veranda and I personally would never book that category of room again. In my opinion the infinite veranda is more like a room with a window than a room with a balcony. I like being able to wake up in the morning and if I want to just sit outside I can do that without turning off the air conditioning in the room. My husband sometimes sleeps in but if I have the window open on the infinite veranda after like 20-30 minutes the room is hot which isn't comfortable for him while trying to sleep. It is a unique room/balcony but I will say it isn't for everyone or for every couple. We both loved our first experience on Celebrity but we both agreed that we would never book a infinite veranda ever again.

Interesting idea but since Oasis is a warm weather ship I have to ask how cool or chilly does it get in the Mediterranean from Mid-November through mid-April. Earlier this year NCL announced they were canceling their plans to leave both the Epic and Getaway in Europe for year around sailing beginning in November/December of this year do to low demand and would redeploy those ships from the US to places in the Caribbean where demand is high. One could argue both Epic and Getaway are suitable all weather ship more so than any Oasis Class ship, they are also smaller than any Oasis Class ship. If there isn't enough demand on those smaller ships from mid-November though mid-April I don't see why Royal would homeport an Oasis Class ship in Europe on a year around basis.

All the major rental car companies have locations close to the port. My last cruise out of Port Canaveral in October/November of 2023 we used Avis and they also run shuttles to all the terminals. A few years before that we used Uber to get us to the port I believe for an SUV our Uber cost around $140 dollars. Going back to our October/November B2B 2023 cruise after the cruise ended we use a taxi to get us to MCO it only cost us $120 dollars. We thought about doing the one way car rental thing again to go back to the airport but I was like I don't want to be bothered with those lines at car rental facilities in Port Canaveral we are extremely long on those days and a rental would have cost us almost the same price as a taxi around $100 dollars so we just took a taxi straight to the airport.

Don't take this the wrong way because I mean no disrespect but you should know better than to trust what the CEO of a large corporations says. At the airline I work for most of what the CEO says is aspirational at best when it comes to the future or future planning By the time network planning, revenue management, maintenance control, network operations gets involved the whole plan changes from what our CEO said to what actually happens. CEO's have these grand visions and some of them runs their mouths and announce plans before the people who actually do the work crunching the numbers and compiling the data have given them the okay to actually make the announcement. At the end of the day it all comes down to money, whether its a cruise line or an airline, once the data is compiled these companies are going to place their assets in markets where they will get the highest return on their investment and Royal can get a higher ROI from having Wonder in the 3-4 night Bahamas market than they can if they were to keep Allure in that market and send Wonder to Texas. Right now Royal is raking it in on 3-4 night Bahamas/Coco Cay cruises, and with the success they've reportedly seen since Utopia has gone on sail out of Port Canaveral it is really a surprise to see Wonder relocate to PortMiami to do the same thing? Again we have cruise lines like NCL and MSC taking similar paths with using newer larger ships on their 3-4 night Bahamas cruises and Royal has positioned themselves as the game changer in this segment of the market. The largest market for 3-4 night cruises here in the US is Florida so to be a game changer means they have to have their biggest, best and yes newest ships sailing out of the Florida market where they will reap the highest ROI.

Well I think you should book a cruise on Wonder soon. The market has changed even NCL is now shifting from older smaller ships on 3-4 night Bahamas cruising and is now using Joy and Breakaway. Although neither of those ships are brand new they are some of NCL's most popular ships with a lot activities onboard, to keep guest occupied from start to finish. It wouldn't surprised me if Carnival who just order their 4th Excel Class ship brings one of those ships to the 3-4 night Bahamas cruise market. Allure is a great ship it's still an Oasis Class ship I don't know why people now see Allure as this black sheep within the Oasis Class that is to be avoided.

Dress your best in my opinion is what people should do every night while on a cruise. Don't miss understand what I'm saying because I refuse to wear a suit and tie on a cruise I have to wear those things every time I go into the office and will not put that mess on when I'm on vacation. However I always wear either a polo or a button down shirt and either some nice slacks or dark color jeans during the evening. To me that is dressing my best on vacation.