Jerel

Interesting, in my city I just watched some of a 'Pole fitness class'...what a time to be alive.

I just joined and am following, looks like i have to figure this one out.

I did a little digging and read a couple reviews saying they cap the crowd at 200 people, not sure if it's true but could be. I also read you can order a meal or eat at the buffet, buffet is easier but they have better food off the menu. One person said they were shown to a table and told that it was their table for the day, not bad.
I'll definitely report in after I get back, I just bought a good little video camera so I can make my own youtube vids on this trip, my SLR is to cumbersome for good video taking on the go.
I'll be there on the 10th, WOO-HOO! I'll be nice and hung over for Remembrance day, may need more than one minute of silence :).

I would encourage everyone to save a copy of the compasses from their cruises.  When you return you can scan them and send them to Matt to get posted on this site.  It's a great way to pay it forward and may benefit you in the future.
 
Matt's going to get a nice preview of his Brilliance cruise since I'm going on the same sailing two weeks earlier and will sending him the ones from our cruise.

WHAT! When I hear Freedom that's the first thing to pop in my mind, I think it looks super cool. That's the coolest piece of art that iv seen on a royal ship, I haven't been on Freedom yet but I really want to just for her.
Oh well, now you know. I'm sure there's some piece of art iv never noticed that your a fan of. Although I must say, she looks pretty hard to miss :)

I like the idea of keeping ads away. I'll definitely give it some thought and run it by the lord of the manor.

I wanted to post this first on the message boards because so many of you have been so helpful, supportive and good friends since the launch of the message boards and I felt you all deserved to hear it first.
 
For a long time, Royal Caribbean Blog readers and podcast listeners have asked me one question, "How can I help the site?"
 
Certainly contributing content, spreading the word about the blog and checking the blog and podcast out daily is a great way to help and I value all of that assistance.  In fact, I cannot express how much that helps in the long run.
 
I've also been thinking about how to improve the site for everyone and it comes back to a dream I have for the blog.  My dream is simple: Produce interesting and helpful Royal Caribbean content consistently that people want to read and share.  And I would love to do it much more than I currently am able to do it.
 
To that end, I have lots of ideas for new exciting and informative information for this site but I need your help.
 
For better or worse, my ideas require financial backing to become a reality and there is only so much I can do with the way the site is now.  I also want to avoid, if at all possible, plastering the site with ads.
 
Therefore, I have created the Royal Caribbean Blog Insiders, a brand new exclusive group that can make Royal Caribbean Blog possible.
 
Through your financial support, we can grow this blog even more and continue to offer the kind of fun and helpful content I think so many of you have come to expect.
 
This is a purely voluntary action to take and I know how tough things are for everyone these days.  If it's not in the cards right now to help out financially, keep doing what you're doing here on the message boards and on blog's comments and in social media.
 
But if you can, there are a number of contribution levels you can join at and along with your assistance, there are some fun rewards for being a member of the Royal Caribbean Blog Insiders.
 
Becoming a member of the Royal Caribbean Blog Insiders is completely up to you and you can cancel at any time. No questions asked!
 
Take a look and consider if becoming an Insider is right for you: https://www.patreon.com/RoyalCaribbeanBlog
 
No matter what, I want to emphasize that I consider all of you my friends and I thank you for everything you have done and for being active here on the site.
 
Matt

Nice!
Looks like you folk had a great time, judging by the smiling faces that is.
I see you got along well with the wait staff. I always see people pose for pics with them, I'm going to have to try that.
 
Thanks for sharing.
Have your next cruise booked yet?

Great review, very well put. I haven't experienced most of the things you touched on yet (dinner theater,R-Bar, or sabor) but look forward to trying them. Except the dinner theater, iv seen youtube videos that were embarrassing to watch.

Well, I'm back from a wonderful cruise and now can comment on these points.
depart from Cape Liberty Cape Liberty isn't a wonderful port. It's a bit tricky to get to, and you're driving around an industrial area, but it does bring about a bit of a surprise when you head down Port Terminal Blvd. and finally see a cruise ship peeking out above the structures.
depart from a chillier port (compared to Florida and southern California) I stayed out on deck for sail away just long enough to record a video of us passing under the Verrazano bridge and then went inside to warm up my hands. I had a light jacket, but holding the phone (as camera) for the few minutes was a bit unpleasant in the slightly brisk and windy weather.
 
Other than that, I spent the rest of the time inside, so the chilliness didn't bother me. :)
enjoy a 5-night cruise I still prefer week-long cruises, but 5-nights was a good length for a shorter cruise. It wasn't like a 3-night cruise where you just start getting into a routine onboard and are suddenly thrust back into reality on disembarkation day.
stay in a full suite I will say that the Grand Suite was very nice! There was tons of room and I felt very comfortable in there, something I really can't say about a typical cruise ship cabin.
get an alcoholic drink package I can say two things about the Premium Package:
I got my money's worth. I definitely drank more than I would have without the package. I can also say that I'm not sure whether I'd get it again, especially on a longer cruise where the package would be even pricier.
go to Bermuda The trip to Bermuda was disappointing. It was very windy on the first day, so that made it unpleasantly chilly. We also had our sunset catamaran tour excursion canceled due to the weather.
 
I did enjoy the Royal Naval Dockyard. I think that may be the best port I've experienced in terms of actually experiencing local culture (instead of manufactured ports like Falmouth).
be docked in port overnight It was nice to be able to say "Gee, we didn't get to do this today, so let's do it tomorrow!"
participate in a $10K slot tournament I enjoyed being included, but alas, I didn't win. I didn't even get a "Participant" ribbon! :(
 
Sadly, this cruise is probably the last time that I will:
enjoy dining at Portofino I'm glad that I got to eat at Portofino again, but when it came time to choose a repeat specialty dinner for the last night, we chose to do Chops Grille again over Portofino.
 
Farewell, Portofino! It was nice spending time with you.

I'd like to gauge interest first before deciding

This was the final thing that helped me to take my very first cruise after years of thinking about trying cruising, was once the drink packages came along. Prior to that, I only did AI's down south and liked the idea of all I can drink, not worrying about a huge bill at the end and also getting to try new drinks.
 
Now of course since I have started cruising, there are many many other things I enjoy about it obviously!
 
But having the option for a drink package is very important to me(within a reasonable cost of course)
 
 
I have never ever felt that I "had" to drink my money's worth....if anything, I am grateful for the package each day as exceeding $50/day in drinks isn't hard when most of the drinks I enjoy are around $10 on average!
 
The 4 day cruise only has one stop prob in Cozumel..so with "3 sea days" you may find you drink more than you planned. I know I did on my last 4 day cruise on Brilliance!

Hey Matt! You do know that like half the people have Android phones, right? And we love you and your podcast too! Where else can we post a review that helps you aside from the devil's world (aka all things Apple)? If you make me go there, I swear I won't drink any Labadoozles again! (not true)
 
Thanks for the great blog site and podcast. You've been an amazing resource leading up to our cruise, which is now two days away! Woo hoo! Keep up the great work!
 
P.S. I haven't forgotten that I owe you two answers when we get back - the mystery dinner theater and the Sabor lunch on embarkation day thing.

Ha!
 
First of all, thank you for listening to the podcast and reading the blog.  All of this is for you, so I am glad you enjoying it!
 
Google doesn't really have much of a podcast directory that is as important as iTunes, so that's primarily why I have only ever mentioned iTunes.  
 
If you want to support the blog and podcast, post here regularly and be a friendly face to help others when they have questions.  Newbies really respond when they see that there are nice people who also love to take a Royal Caribbean cruise!
 
Just two days, eh? You must be losing your mind in anticipation!  Have a wonderful time and I look forward to hearing back about your experience!!

I don't know where to begin.
I know the schedule of the ships that come to my city and make a point to go watch sail aways if it's a big one.
I work across the harbour from the pier and watch the ships come in, all ways telling co-workers what ship it is and what features it has (today was the Liberty and a Holland America).
I like to correct people and say 'actually that's a small ship'.
It drives me nuts when people say the Queen Mary 2 is the biggest cruise ship, it happens often.
Also me and my wife lay in bed watching cruise videos, we used to stick to ships we are going on but now we will watch any Royal ship videos.
But my biggest nerd trait has to be coming on this forum and discussing trivial things as if they were important :).

In my Family and social circle I am known as the person to go to if wanting to go on a cruise. I love to help book cruises for people even if I am not going. Like Marc and Matt if anyone even mentions the word cruise I start asking where you going what ship etc... I hate when they say oh I don't know i'm like how can you NOT KNOW... To me that's crazy... I study deck plans, menus, excursions, restaurants and entertainment possibilities... So yea basically I am a HUGE cruise Nerd and Proud of it!  

Totally excited,, booked my next cruise,, gonna be on Liberty's FIRST post-refurbishment sailing !!! Feb 7, 2016 WoooooooHooooooooo now I just have to decide,, 3 nights in Chops,, or 4 ??!! lol

One tip would be to get to the ship early, even if they ask you to show up later. They tend to send out emails and phone calls assigning you a boarding time. They are just hoping to control the crowds, you can show up when you want.
Getting onboard early will give you time to explore the ship before it gets crowded. Plus, for us the more time onboard the better.
Also keep in mind you won't get your room or luggage till later, so it's good to bring a change of clothes (swimsuit) in your carry-on.

I could be totally wrong on this but maybe popcorn makes too much of a mess.
At least that's what my wife says every time I eat it.

Glad you enjoyed your trip. It rained on and off for a week and has been nice since, just the luck of the draw I guess.
There is quite a bit of construction on the go, even outside of downtown there is many high rise condos going up. Growth is good. I work in construction so they keep me busy, it's been this way for the past 15 years or more.
Glad you liked the Citadel though, I like the forts. We got a few around. Your ship may have done a U-turn around Georges Island across from the pier, it's fortified too, has some tunnels with cannons sticking out of windows.
 
I read about you making platinum, sounds like you had a good trip.

I agree. I'm in the mood to book another cruise, but I don't have the time to travel. Perhaps I'll need to squeeze in the group cruise. ;)

Glad you enjoyed your trip. It rained on and off for a week and has been nice since, just the luck of the draw I guess.
There is quite a bit of construction on the go, even outside of downtown there is many high rise condos going up. Growth is good. I work in construction so they keep me busy, it's been this way for the past 15 years or more.
Glad you liked the Citadel though, I like the forts. We got a few around. Your ship may have done a U-turn around Georges Island across from the pier, it's fortified too, has some tunnels with cannons sticking out of windows.
 
I read about you making platinum, sounds like you had a good trip.

A couple comments on our experience on Brilliance last week.  This was our first cruise as Platinum Crown & Anchor members so I was interested to see what happened.  I am glad to report that at least at the Platinum level we were certainly recognized.  At Boston, they immediately flagged us to the shorter Platinum & Up check-in line, and made sure we were seated in the proper waiting area.  Once onboard, we had a sheet with the Platinum Seapass offers shown as soon as we got to our stateroom, along with the CAS robes.  On Day 3, our Platinum pins were presented by placing them nicely on our bed.  We were invited to both the Welcome Back event and the Top Tier event, both of which were well done on Brilliance.  The Top Tier event had plenty of great appetizers, free drinks for 90 minutes, a band, and the welcome speeches.  Overall I felt very appreciated by Royal Caribbean, even as a lowly Platinum member.
 
One other story to relate: After the Welcome Back event, we were with our friends who were in a Grand Suite (we were in a Jr. Suite).  Our friends invited us to the Concierge Club.  We were hesitant but they insisted that based on their experience there would be no questions, so we entered with them just to see what it is like.  After a few minutes, the Suite Concierge came over and checked first with our friends to see if everything was alright with their stateroom and made sure everything was going well.  She checked her list and noted that they had an issue with their bed which she immediately followed up on.  Then she turned to my wife and I and asked if everything was ok and if we wanted a refill on our wine.  We explained that we were in a Jr. Suite and had brought our wine up from the Welcome Back event, and were just there to socialize with our Suite friends.  The Concierge immediately welcomed us and said she was glad we were there.  She offered to refill our wine again and again I declined, noting that we were not in a real suite.  She was very gracious and would not take no for an answer, motioned to one of the waiters and had him bring two complimentary glasses of wine for us.  Again, I felt very appreciated by Royal Caribbean and pleased that she was so welcoming in a situation that could have been uncomfortable for us.
 
Well done, Brilliance of the Seas, for making us feel special!

I think it would be pretty cool to experience though. Maybe some formal costumes in the MDR, that would be a sight.

Specialty restaurants...been there, done that...so not as special anymore (though always fab!). What I've never done is gotten the attention of the entire MDR focused on her. ;-) Especially, as you say, "listening to the waiters try and sing happy birthday in the MDR has been hilarious, English is not their first language and they arnt the best with the words." <-- That'll be a hoot!