Heymarco

On 6/23/2025 at 2:38 AM, shuean said:

It's possible that the 70s Disco Inferno party has been temporarily discontinued or replaced with other events on the Harmony of the Seas. I recommend checking with the cruise staff or the latest Cruise Compass closer to your sailing date for the most accurate and updated information regarding onboard activities.

Are you posting AI generated responses?

2 hours ago, HeWhoWaits said:

It may have nothing to do with the port and everything to do with prevailing sea conditions on the route that would have normally been used from Southampton to Molde.

How can you predict sea conditions three months out?

Royal dropped Molde, Norway and swapped for Rotterdam, Netherlands on our July 2025 Norwegian Fords cruise. Not sure if they will make a similar change for all sailings or just ours.

3 hours ago, Pooch said:

Because I had the name & email of one of the executive staff as she had helped with issues in the past and was working on a C&A issue that the loyalty department was not responding to.

That poor soul would probably prefer you to lose their name and start with the standard support intake for any new issues.

On 2/12/2025 at 8:16 AM, Pooch said:

Happened to me on a Chops dinner purchase.  The difference was small but I was entitled to the lower price.  Contacted mbayley@rccl.com & they agreed.  Gifted me some OBC for the error.

That's insane, why not start with customer service? 

4 minutes ago, pat8635 said:

All i know is the engineer with captain nodding said it isnt the future.  Navy ships use nuclear, why not cruise ships?

That technology has been on ships for over 60 years, it's not available for commercial use.

Hey @Matt,

you should update the favicons on your website. Some of the size versions are very pixelated.

13 minutes ago, Rackham said:

I'm curious which ships in RCCL's fleet have sailed over 30 years? Here's the retired ship data I have.

Retired Ships
Ship	Maiden	Retired	Delta
Song of Norway	1970	1997	27
Nordic Prince	1971	1995	24
Sun Viking	1972	1998	26
Song of America	1982	1999	17
Viking Serenade	1982	2002	20
Sovereign	1987	2008	21
Monarch	1991	2013	22
Splendour	1996	2016	20
Legend	1995	2017	22
Empress	1990	2020	30
Majesty	1992	2020	28

Sovereign made it 33 years under the Royal Caribbean umbrella, some of the ships were slated to go longer than 30 years even under the direct Royal Carribean brand but Covid had other plans.

You can still book a cruise on Empress today, albeit a different brand. That shows the ships can be profitable and there is no hard stop at 30 years. There are other ships on this list still in service as well.
 

I guess we'll see if they actually sell Grandeur or schedule more cruises past next year. 

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I would think 30 years is when the annual maintenance costs exceed some profitable threshold even if the ship is still more than reliable.

 

Royal Carribean has certainly sailed ships over 30 years old before. A Voyager class ship may still be profitable after 30 years while Sovereign class was and Vision class is more difficult. Believe it or not, the first Voyager class ships were the largest ships in the world at the time. There may still be room for profit after 30 years and wouldn't be surprised to see them around a little longer.

12 hours ago, NRD said:

This is more explanation for those that still don’t understand why Loyal to Royal frequent cruises are leaving Royal.  

After all the years and $$$ we spent supporting RCCL to reach Loyalty levels. Now they are “devaluing” our loyalty and taking away perks or lessening them show how little they value our support and years we sailed with them.

That's an antidote, data shows Royal has more loyal cruisers than ever before. 

9 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

With Oasis 7 coming and Icon 4 on order as well I do think this time around they are going to build a smaller class ship.  Their smaller ships are continuing to age and earlier this year Royal CEO spoke directly about the fact Royal knows not everyone who cruise is interested in the ship being the destination there is that group of customers where the destination is the priority and he stated Royal does not want to loose those customers.   I do think Discovery class most likely will be around the size of Voyager Class ships which should allow it to get into a lot of unique ports around the world where ships like Oasis Class and Icon Class could never visit. 

Oasis and icon are more limited by the fact that they are warm weather ships. I think discovery class will be built for colder climate and will be less about size.

On 12/4/2024 at 1:14 AM, ScottishRobbie said:

The same size as the Voyager class, and expected to be in service in 2027 is what was said at Captain's Corner on Ovation last week. Captain Espen added that there are renderings of the new class out there but that he personally hadn't seen them.

They originally said Icon class would be smaller than Oasis so will believe it when I see it.

Seriously, using an app and being flexible is best advice on here. Every local person here has recommended, those driving from far away don't know how often road construction or accidents change on their preferred routes.

Use Waze, even beltway can get backed up. There is currently construction on bridge going over bay and Southbound lane is often backed up. I live here and take different routes through the city all the time, every local does.

13 hours ago, NRD said:

Royal mega ship is not for everyone. A lot of people are leaving Royal for other cruise lines.  Some have started to say Carnival has better rules for children so everyone can enjoy their cruise, not just parents that want to let their kids run unsupervised all over the ship. 

This is antidotal at best. If anyone is leaving, it's people willing to pay less on cruises and being replaced by people willing to spend more. Numbers are currently at all-time highs.

10 hours ago, Gadget Hackwrench said:

Royal Caribbean even offers them to guests on certain ships for a price.

A phone and walkie-talkie are two totally different things.

This started trending today and they quickly removed it.

20 minutes ago, Matt said:

Hmm, I'm not sure Galveston Parking is indicative of anything, but it's interesting.

I also find it hard to believe the Galveston Parking is that much in the inside track of what the port will do, but who knows. 

6 minutes ago, ultimate_ed said:

This is where we need that meme from The Office of "they're the same picture"

It's not just "Galveston Parking" it's The Port of Galveston Parking.

Was coming here to see the same thing, it's not some random third-party company. It's the same government owned port authority that makes the ship schedules.

Just now, Southern Dan said:

November 2026

Does Royal have that posted?

The port of Galveston Parking has Icon of the Seas listed as a ship for cruise parking, no dates yet though. They may have  accidentally let the cat out of the bag.

@Matt Any ideas?

https://www.portofgalveston.com/9/Cruise

@Robert PlemmonsHere is Royal Caribbean's contact for Civitavecchia:

For any day of travel concerns you may have, please contact our local cruise line representative, Aloschi Bros. at +39.06.420.20.498 or us at 1.800.256 6649 or +1.305.539.4107.

5 hours ago, twangster said:

Royal is mass market.  Small ships is not in their wheelhouse any more.   

 

There are still many business use cases and ROI to made on new mid-size ship. Just like airlines don't fly A380's or 777 everywhere.

5 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

All airlines, in my experience, have insane prices on the first few days/weeks of a schedule window release.

 

Southwest used to have cheap fares when they opened future schedules, but not anymore.

We are saying the same thing .

 My only other point was to look beyond Southwest, you could probably get away from the budget airline experience for about the same price. 

On 6/18/2024 at 9:31 AM, Sweety said:

 I will be booking my airfare August 15th.

I would look at all those options flying out of Chicago rather than just Southwest. Also you'll probably pay an earlybird premium for booking that early. * unless you are booking award milage seating, then totally book that early.