JasonOasis

This cruise is normally on Anthem which Odyssey is in the same class of ship (Quantum Class).  I've don't both the 11 night and the 12 night cruise on Anthem in January and February several times my most recent 12 night cruise in January on Anthem was January of 2022.  
The truth for the first day at sea the solarium is going to be crowded however the temperature once the sun comes up on that first day at sea will be in low to mid 60s.  For people like myself coming from Chicago where it could easily be  with windchill -25, mid 60's is a heatwave and I'm in shorts teeshirt and flip flops.  However by the time the sun comes up on your second full day at sea temperatures will be in the mid 70s and the solarium won't be as crowded.
Of the flip side when you're sailing back to Cape Liberty on that last full day before arrival when the temp during the day is back down into the 60's in my opinion it never seemed like the Solarium was overly packed.  I think that is because the cruise blues has started to set in as people realize that on the next day it's back to reality. 

It most certainly did not  backfire.  With all the negative press cruise lines endured both in both on social media and news media they had to do something because some in the media were basically blaming cruise lines for the spread of covid.  
Without double points promotion I don't know how many loyal cruisers would have put up with all the things we had to put up with just to get on a cruise ship.  You had to get vaccinated, boosted, then tested within days of departure (and when cruising first resumed they wouldn't take the rapid antigen test), you had to answer health questionnaires, when cruising first resumed you had to wear a mask inside certain venues on the ship, social distancing and more.  There were a lot of hurdles the cruise industry had to jump over then passengers had to jump over just so the CDC would let cruising resume.  We were already diamond when cruising resumed and would have needed 2 cruises to make diamond plus instead we made diamond plus in one cruise and we also took 3 other cruises during the double points promotion. Without that double points promotion it is doubtful either myself or my husband would have put up with everything passengers had to put up with to get on a cruise ship when we could go and had gone multiple times to Mexico and really didn't have to deal with any major restrictions to get into Mexico.  Think about it Florida was fully open, Las Vegas had opened back up and those hotels were packed in Las Vegas we took a trip to Vegas as well during the cruise industry shut down and Mexico were booming and the cruise industry or Royal had to come up with something to get customers back on their ships not just one time but multiple times.  For people loyal to Royal that double points promotion along with insanely cheap cruise fares is why we jumped though all those covid protocol hoops just to go on vacation.

It most certainly did not  backfire.  With all the negative press cruise lines endured both in both on social media and news media they had to do something because some in the media were basically blaming cruise lines for the spread of covid.  
Without double points promotion I don't know how many loyal cruisers would have put up with all the things we had to put up with just to get on a cruise ship.  You had to get vaccinated, boosted, then tested within days of departure (and when cruising first resumed they wouldn't take the rapid antigen test), you had to answer health questionnaires, when cruising first resumed you had to wear a mask inside certain venues on the ship, social distancing and more.  There were a lot of hurdles the cruise industry had to jump over then passengers had to jump over just so the CDC would let cruising resume.  We were already diamond when cruising resumed and would have needed 2 cruises to make diamond plus instead we made diamond plus in one cruise and we also took 3 other cruises during the double points promotion. Without that double points promotion it is doubtful either myself or my husband would have put up with everything passengers had to put up with to get on a cruise ship when we could go and had gone multiple times to Mexico and really didn't have to deal with any major restrictions to get into Mexico.  Think about it Florida was fully open, Las Vegas had opened back up and those hotels were packed in Las Vegas we took a trip to Vegas as well during the cruise industry shut down and Mexico were booming and the cruise industry or Royal had to come up with something to get customers back on their ships not just one time but multiple times.  For people loyal to Royal that double points promotion along with insanely cheap cruise fares is why we jumped though all those covid protocol hoops just to go on vacation.

It most certainly did not  backfire.  With all the negative press cruise lines endured both in both on social media and news media they had to do something because some in the media were basically blaming cruise lines for the spread of covid.  
Without double points promotion I don't know how many loyal cruisers would have put up with all the things we had to put up with just to get on a cruise ship.  You had to get vaccinated, boosted, then tested within days of departure (and when cruising first resumed they wouldn't take the rapid antigen test), you had to answer health questionnaires, when cruising first resumed you had to wear a mask inside certain venues on the ship, social distancing and more.  There were a lot of hurdles the cruise industry had to jump over then passengers had to jump over just so the CDC would let cruising resume.  We were already diamond when cruising resumed and would have needed 2 cruises to make diamond plus instead we made diamond plus in one cruise and we also took 3 other cruises during the double points promotion. Without that double points promotion it is doubtful either myself or my husband would have put up with everything passengers had to put up with to get on a cruise ship when we could go and had gone multiple times to Mexico and really didn't have to deal with any major restrictions to get into Mexico.  Think about it Florida was fully open, Las Vegas had opened back up and those hotels were packed in Las Vegas we took a trip to Vegas as well during the cruise industry shut down and Mexico were booming and the cruise industry or Royal had to come up with something to get customers back on their ships not just one time but multiple times.  For people loyal to Royal that double points promotion along with insanely cheap cruise fares is why we jumped though all those covid protocol hoops just to go on vacation.

How many people are in your room can also determine how many free bags of laundry you get.  
My husband and I get 2 free bags of laundry on cruises because it is a bag per person.  Those laundry bags can hold quite a bit of clothes if you fold them and compress them in there. As long as it's in the bag it qualifies for the free wash. We use that service when we do our B2B cruises we each do a bag of laundry the first week and then again the second week.  At first we thought it was one free bag per room but it is one free bag per person at D+ or higher.
As far as should there be another level I don't know whether it would help or not.  We both just passed 360 points on our last cruise this past January the benefits are nice but when I look at the benefits for pinnacle they are great and better than NCL, Carnival, and MSC but it isn't enough to keep me loyal to Royal which is why my next cruise is on Celebrity and next year I've already booked a cruise on Virgin.   Diamond plus is good but with pinnacle being so far away I kind of feel free now to go explore other cruise lines that are not NCL, Carnival or MSC (I've already cruised on those several times) because to reach pinnacle is going to take years.  

My experience for Icon at Terminal A was arrival at 12:30 by uber, no backup at the U-turn.  Had some people directing traffic and let us out at post 4. Gave our bags to a porter and went to entry for the Terminal. We had Express and even with getting a photo before the escalator, we were on deck 5 in 14 minutes.

Just went through the check-in process today. We took a Lyft from the hotel - traffic was heavy, but was continuously moving. It took MAYBE 10 minutes to get around the corner at Terminal A. We were dropped off right at a porter who helped us with our luggage. We were dropped off around noon and eating in the Windjammer by 12:30. 

No it doesn't help with traffic, and that traffic is caused by the bottleneck U-turn and reduction in lanes all vehicles have to make to enter Terminal A. 
The OP stated they had to wait 30 minutes to even get a porter, that is extremely unfortunate and for sure not the norm at Terminal A even with an Oasis Class ship in port. There have been several cruises where my husband and I showed up at 10:30 if not a few minutes before and not all the porters were out front.  But what people have to remember is those same porters are also helping passengers who are getting off the ship.  Showing up early does allow people the opportunity to board early but you still need to pack patience because although the ship might be empty people are still leaving the port and not all the porters are in position to assist the now arriving passengers. 

No it doesn't help with traffic, and that traffic is caused by the bottleneck U-turn and reduction in lanes all vehicles have to make to enter Terminal A. 
The OP stated they had to wait 30 minutes to even get a porter, that is extremely unfortunate and for sure not the norm at Terminal A even with an Oasis Class ship in port. There have been several cruises where my husband and I showed up at 10:30 if not a few minutes before and not all the porters were out front.  But what people have to remember is those same porters are also helping passengers who are getting off the ship.  Showing up early does allow people the opportunity to board early but you still need to pack patience because although the ship might be empty people are still leaving the port and not all the porters are in position to assist the now arriving passengers. 

No it doesn't help with traffic, and that traffic is caused by the bottleneck U-turn and reduction in lanes all vehicles have to make to enter Terminal A. 
The OP stated they had to wait 30 minutes to even get a porter, that is extremely unfortunate and for sure not the norm at Terminal A even with an Oasis Class ship in port. There have been several cruises where my husband and I showed up at 10:30 if not a few minutes before and not all the porters were out front.  But what people have to remember is those same porters are also helping passengers who are getting off the ship.  Showing up early does allow people the opportunity to board early but you still need to pack patience because although the ship might be empty people are still leaving the port and not all the porters are in position to assist the now arriving passengers. 

Carnival also announced they placed an order for another Excel Class ship so Royal isn't alone in ordering more large cruise ships. And cruises on any Carnival Excel Class ship is nearly the same price as a cruise on any Royal Oasis Class ship. 
Project Discovery will happen and to be honest I'm not surprised to see this order for an Oasis 7.  If I'm not mistaken last year Matt hinted at such an order on this very site on the main page when he wrote an article about Royal have the option to order another Oasis Class ship but was being mum on whether or not they would exercise that option.  Also the reason I'm not surprised is because I don't think Royal has changed their plans for placing an Oasis Class ship in the Chinese market.  Having said that I don't think anyone could have guessed that the US market would be able to absorb 6 Oasis Class ships plus several Icon class ships.  Now that Royal see's the US market can handle that kind of capacity I don't think they have any plans on sending Wonder to China which was where Wonder was supposed to originally go. Could Oasis 7 end up in China I don't know and I don't think any of us will know for sure until Royal announces where the ship is going.  However I don't think ordering Oasis 7 signals Royal isn't moving forward and continuing the process with Project Discovery.   Should Project Discovery be officially launched (and order placed) if it's a "white ship" or a clean sheet design, a ship like that wouldn't even be delivered until at least 2030 or later. 

Bingo!!!
Don't forget Disney Cruise Lines purchased the Global Dream an unfinished 6,000 plus passenger mega cruise ship which will be exclusively based in Asia when it launches sometime in 2025.  As good as Spectrum of the Seas is it's no Oasis Class ship.  With Disney throwing down the gauntlet so to speak in Asia with their still unnamed mega ship I think Royal is dusting off their Asia market plans which they shelved during the pandemic. And what better ship to go head to head with a Disney mega ship than an Oasis Class ship.  
Royal may not be able to respond to Disney's move in 2025 when Disney launches their new ship in Asia, but that doesn't mean Royal  has to sit on the sideline.  I think Oasis 7 is Royal's response and most likely will go to Asia, China in particular to take on Disney.

Ramping up for the Asia market again?

This cruise is normally on Anthem which Odyssey is in the same class of ship (Quantum Class).  I've don't both the 11 night and the 12 night cruise on Anthem in January and February several times my most recent 12 night cruise in January on Anthem was January of 2022.  
The truth for the first day at sea the solarium is going to be crowded however the temperature once the sun comes up on that first day at sea will be in low to mid 60s.  For people like myself coming from Chicago where it could easily be  with windchill -25, mid 60's is a heatwave and I'm in shorts teeshirt and flip flops.  However by the time the sun comes up on your second full day at sea temperatures will be in the mid 70s and the solarium won't be as crowded.
Of the flip side when you're sailing back to Cape Liberty on that last full day before arrival when the temp during the day is back down into the 60's in my opinion it never seemed like the Solarium was overly packed.  I think that is because the cruise blues has started to set in as people realize that on the next day it's back to reality. 

We just go off an 8 night cruise this past Sunday on Symphony and my husband got one instant offer onboard and he also got monthly certificate in the mail and they both were for either a balcony or JS for multiple cruises including Utopia in September of this year. He gambles but not that much and usually his offers are for either an ocean view or balcony which we will usually take the cash offer and apply it to an existing cruise we all booked.  He's never gotten an offer instant or monthly for a free junior suite and at first we thought it was a mistake.  Long story short the offer was real and we booked a B2B in a junior suite on Utopia this September using his Casino Royal offers. 
Now we have to find a different cruise to take in January of 2025 as we were booked (not for free) on Utopia on a B2B.  However, there was no way we were passing up a free JS and his certificates were only valid for 1 month so they don't give you a whole lot of time to find a cruise.  But his offers had nearly every US based ship except for Icon, from the 3/4 night Caribbean cruises to 7 night Alaskan cruises although the Alaskan cruises were for balconies only. 
Also we were told by a Casino Royal agent on the phone when we called if you get an certificate for a free JS redeem it immediately, because revenue management only give Casino Royal so many JS's and once that allotment is gone that is it even if there are JS open for sale to the public they can't give you the JS once they given away their allotment.  This is why the offer is for either a balcony or a JS, once they give away the fee allotment they can upgrade you into a JS from a balcony but you have to pay for the upgrade which defeats the purpose of a free cruise. 

We just go off an 8 night cruise this past Sunday on Symphony and my husband got one instant offer onboard and he also got monthly certificate in the mail and they both were for either a balcony or JS for multiple cruises including Utopia in September of this year. He gambles but not that much and usually his offers are for either an ocean view or balcony which we will usually take the cash offer and apply it to an existing cruise we all booked.  He's never gotten an offer instant or monthly for a free junior suite and at first we thought it was a mistake.  Long story short the offer was real and we booked a B2B in a junior suite on Utopia this September using his Casino Royal offers. 
Now we have to find a different cruise to take in January of 2025 as we were booked (not for free) on Utopia on a B2B.  However, there was no way we were passing up a free JS and his certificates were only valid for 1 month so they don't give you a whole lot of time to find a cruise.  But his offers had nearly every US based ship except for Icon, from the 3/4 night Caribbean cruises to 7 night Alaskan cruises although the Alaskan cruises were for balconies only. 
Also we were told by a Casino Royal agent on the phone when we called if you get an certificate for a free JS redeem it immediately, because revenue management only give Casino Royal so many JS's and once that allotment is gone that is it even if there are JS open for sale to the public they can't give you the JS once they given away their allotment.  This is why the offer is for either a balcony or a JS, once they give away the fee allotment they can upgrade you into a JS from a balcony but you have to pay for the upgrade which defeats the purpose of a free cruise. 

To make it worth it, you must drink 8-9 drinks every day of the cruise. 

I'm gong to tell you this with the hope that you take my advice.  Do NOT arrive in Rome the same day as your cruise departs.
I don't know how much money you've spent on this cruise and I don't need to know.  What I do know from 27 years working in the airline industry is this anything and everything can happen in a moments notice.  When you are talking about going on a cruise you never want to chance it by flying in the same day the cruise departs.  Your margin for error is slim as it is assuming everything is on-time.  But what happens if your flight has a mechanical delay lets say 2-3 hours leaving the U.S. what will that do to your margin of error.  What happens if customs in Rome is totally backup and it takes 2 hours to clear customs (that isn't an exaggeration its happened multiple times this year) what will that do to your margin of error.
If you want to error on the side of caution I would suggest at the very least you arrive in Rome the day before your cruise departs.  If your budget could afford the cruise fare and the airfare, then surely your budget can afford a hotel in Rome or Civitavecchi for at least one night.

I'm gong to tell you this with the hope that you take my advice.  Do NOT arrive in Rome the same day as your cruise departs.
I don't know how much money you've spent on this cruise and I don't need to know.  What I do know from 27 years working in the airline industry is this anything and everything can happen in a moments notice.  When you are talking about going on a cruise you never want to chance it by flying in the same day the cruise departs.  Your margin for error is slim as it is assuming everything is on-time.  But what happens if your flight has a mechanical delay lets say 2-3 hours leaving the U.S. what will that do to your margin of error.  What happens if customs in Rome is totally backup and it takes 2 hours to clear customs (that isn't an exaggeration its happened multiple times this year) what will that do to your margin of error.
If you want to error on the side of caution I would suggest at the very least you arrive in Rome the day before your cruise departs.  If your budget could afford the cruise fare and the airfare, then surely your budget can afford a hotel in Rome or Civitavecchi for at least one night.

What does the e-muster drill have to do with this terrible incident? 

I don't think Project Discovery is going to be another mega class ship like Icon and Oasis, but at the same time is isn't going to be the size of a Vision Class vessel either.  I think as others have pointed out it will probably fall somewhere in size between Radiance and Voyager Class but probably closer in size to Voyager Class than Radiance.  With a ship that size there are still a lot of ports around the world Royal can visit.  And I'd imagine depending on how successful/profitable Royal's upcoming around the world is they could even do another around the world cruise on their new Discovery Class ship at some point. 
When I read your post and saw "there is no loyalty benefits to crossing brands" my mind immediately went to airlines and their loyalty programs, where I can fly Lufthansa but have the miles added into my United Airlines MileagePlus account, that isn't going to happen in the cruise industry.  You can't cruise with Celebrity and have those points added to your Royal Caribbean account.  However just because Royal doesn't allow that does not mean there is no value in crossing brands or no loyalty. What Royal does allow is this Celebrity will match your Royal status on the cruise meaning you will get the benefits on Celebrity of the status that you've earned on Royal.  As far as the points go the points will go into your Celebrity account which they will open for you automatically.  
If your goal is to reach Pinnacle status with Royal I would suggest stay with Royal because as we all know the difference between Diamond Plus and Pinnacle is huge.  However if you are Diamond or even Diamond Plus with Royal and don't care about reaching Pinnacle then by all means book a few cruises with Celebrity especially if they are visiting ports of call that you are interested in exploring.   

Awesome - 🍹 Each person needs to drink 3.8 drinks per day to break even
Challenge accepted! 

https://www.schiffe-und-kreuzfahrten.de/news/royal-caribbean-arbeitet-am-project-discovery-neue-auftraege-fuer-die-meyer-werft-aus-papenburg/290350/?fbclid=IwAR2npaBBwHtZABZ529iS5OnwYZcHtxXTpcXGoqwIk7FvbsgI8Fg91lQ3l0Y_aem_AW-4BT96wP7yvPh-ZW1QbxYPyrLbkxjeW9fxZP0H6J73KQq8iYfJhXpH0Qmk1DckdYo#google_vignette
 
Translation: 
Around Royal Caribbean International, there are ongoing rumors about smaller new buildings under the project title Discovery. Royal Caribbean International has now indirectly confirmed that work is being done on new buildings. In the introduction text of staff captain Markus Alander, who has been working in the new building department of Royal Caribbean for several years, states that he is also working on Project Discovery. In recent years, he has accompanied the introduction of numerous new ships for the Royal Caribbean Group.
Project Discovery is supposed to be planning for medium-sized cruise ships. Since with the four ships from the Vision Class and the four ships from the Radiance Class, several Royal Caribbean cruise ships will soon exceed an age of 20, 25 or even 30 years, these cruise ships must be replaced. However, you cannot simply replace these cruise ships with ships of a significantly larger ship class such as the Oasis, Quantum or Icon Class, as these cruise ships are far from being able to sail all routes.
Royal Caribbean International has not yet placed any orders for Project Discovery. Since the ship class is currently in the planning phase, the delivery of the first ships from Project Discovery is not expected until the end of the 2020 years, provided that this ship class is ordered. Presumably, the ship class is medium-sized cruise ships for 3000 to 3500 cruise passengers. This would only mean that these ships would be about half the size of the Oasis or Icon Class ships from Royal Caribbean International.
Allegedly, Royal Caribbean International is also talking to Meyer Werft from Papenburg about Project Discovery. The shipyard from Emsland could well use orders for new cruise ships. Since the current order book for cruise ships from Papenburg only lasts until 2025, the shipyard could build a new ship class for Royal Caribbean International from 2026. In 2026, the oldest Royal Caribbean cruise ship Grandeur of the Seas reaches the age of 30 years, a year later the Rhapsody of the Seas and the Enchantment of the Seas also exceed this age limit. Royal Caribbean International will have to replace these cruise ships towards the end of the 2020s.
The fact that the Meyer Werft on Papenburg will be involved in Project Discovery is well possible but by no means guaranteed. In addition to the shipyard from Papenburg, the competition of Chantiers de l'Atlantique from France has also built several cruise ships for the Royal Caribbean Group in recent years.

I've solved the lack of variety issue by booking Star of the Seas for 2026. Used up the entire years cruise budget in one go! 😆