WAYNO

Odyssey is marvelous. But, it does not have a conventional Promenade. If that's important, be aware. I also understand, some folks place less importance on the Promenade. As wonderful as the ship was, without a Promenade, we will not purposely book that ship again as a first choice.

Interesting. I'm an engine-room kind of guy also. This discussion has morphed. First, from the demotion of Diamond members perks, and then, to the actual interest or value, or lack of, of the Diamond Lounge. I have spent precious little time in the Diamond Lounges. It's a convenient place to meet up with someone you might have met on a forum such as this, and/or it might be handy to get a C&A grievance settled. And of lately, it's not even been good for that. Usually for me, it's been a mostly empty room with water and a coffee machine that is broken. So for the folks that truly appreciate the Diamond Lounge, I get that, and I am supportive. For others, like me, if the Diamond Lounge went away for me, I'd likely not notice. Now the closure of the cigar lounge was much more news worthy...

Oh I hope you figure it out, and can explain it to me. On paper, there are some seemingly lucrative discounts for different C&A tiers. I've yet been able to figure out how to apply them. When I order the package(s) online, I find no place to apply the discount. Then when I'm on the ship and ask for the discount, they say read the fine print and then understand you cannot use the discount on products you've already purchased online. Oh, but they did offer me the option of cancelling my package, and re-buying it at a rate higher than the C&A discount would save me.

Gettin' close.

Because of our experiences, there are 3 places I vowed to never return. Puerto Rico, USVI, and Nassau. And in these 3 cases, tours that might have been okay were not, just because the tour guides hated their jobs and hated cruisers. Very recently, I returned to USVI through no choice of my own, and now, just because we had a tremendous tour guide the second time around, USVI has been elevated to one of my all time favorite destinations. Point is, a poor tour guide can go a long way in making a tour destination not so nice.

Haters gotta hate... Speaking only for us, of all the little Royal Caribbean trinkets we have, this is our favorite.

This is quite interesting to me. On one cruise a while back, the Freestyle machine(s) stunk so bad, they were gag-worthy. I've refused to use any since. I did have this discussion with Royal. They actually were interested and quite apologetic. They refunded the beverage package cost on that cruise, and gave us a complimentary beverage package on the following cruise.

Well, I like beef also, but we were talking about lobster. I understand folks having opinions, including me, and not everybodies opinions match. That's okay. I understand not everybody likes lobster. But to insist the lobster is bad, just because a person doesn't like lobster anyway, makes little sense. My point simply was, folks constantly complain about the lobster, but then complain that lobster is or might be discontinued. You'd think these same folks that hate lobster would be happy to see it go. It's kind've like, you can't have it both ways.

interesting, cruise or cruise-bashing sites such as this, folks pile it on in saying the lobsters are horrible. Then simultaneously, folks are critical of the thought of lobsters being curtailed or eliminated on menus. I am a lover of lobsters. Maybe my all time favorite food. And I thoroughly enjoy the lobsters aboard ship. Apparently I was not born with a silver spoon, so to speak.

I suspect they alter their delivery methods on a whim, to match supply and demand at the moment. When we were supposed to receive our block, aboard a cruise, we were told they ran out, and they would have to mail the item. It was many months, but we did receive the block.

The steak would have been my choice. My Wife had a steak on the first night. It was cut very thin, and very overcooked. She didn't want to try it again. I guess my point is, all these new choices may be exciting and/or acceptable to some, but for me, the menu is sorely lacking of comfort foods. Had I been there, I also would have opted for the Windjammer. And I would have remained happy. Folks on this forum ask to see menus. I shared one.

I try not to be the complaining Karen. Mostly, I eat what I'm offered and I am pleased. And mostly, I do like the MDR. I can find something pleasing, in spite of the updated menus. My Wife sent this tonights menu to me today. She is aboard Navigator, on the last evening of this cruise. She said she'll be eating in the Windjammer tonight.

VOOM service has been pretty poor for us, throughout the fleet. As we speak, my wife is on Navigator, and we are experiencing the best wi-fi service we've ever had on a ship, anywhere. I don't know if Navigator uses Starlink, or if it's on a conventional, earlier Satellite internet system. Whatever it is, it's working very well on this cruise.

I often buy cigars in port while on a cruise. I bring them home, share them with the boys, and we thoroughly enjoy them. What I've bought have been very nice cigars. But the real cigar experts continually tell me whatever I've bought down there are counterfeits. Feel my balloon deflate? If they are counterfeit, or even if they are just re-labeled, they must have done so with otherwise nice cigars, as these have truly been good cigars, at least to me and the boys. I continually look at the cigars for sale on the ship. I buy individual cigars only for immediate use. The cigars I used to get in the cigar lounges were very high quality and well kept cigars. The cigar lounges were well tended. A good cigar, a good whiskey, and good company... I miss the cigar lounges.

And with two days to go, my Wife has all her ducks in a row! I didn't get invited on this cruise, but I will join her next month on the same cruise.

From the Left Coast, I too would dearly love to escape. None of the downfalls presented by other posters would keep me from moving to Florida. I've spent quite a bit of time there, and I love it. The only thing keeping me from such a move, is procrastination. I've been undecided long enough it's now unlikely to happen. We have a friend and a couple cousins that have made the move, and they wont ever come back to Oregon (or Washington). Good luck in your decision. I envy you if you can truly pull the trigger, so to speak.

We of course saw the Statue of Liberty while we sailed from Port Liberty a few years back. And yes, it was from some distance, but it was still obvious and remarkable. Other than barely seeing it from the air one time, this was the first real viewing I had experienced. But when we returned to port, the Skipper gave us a real treat and circled the Statue of Liberty multiple times. Also a pay-back, as we returned to port 12-hours early in out-running Hurricane Dorian.

As we speak, I have 3 upcoming cruises on the books. They've been displayed accurately for quite some time. Two days ago, it also said we have zero cruises booked. Today it shows we have three. Royals apps and sites are complex and busy. Sometimes when they're behind the scenes tweaking stuff, (read: making it more difficult and confusing), information temporarily disappears. In the end it has always re-appeared. Let me add... I always print any and all itineraries, contracts and agreements.

On the other hand, I would think continued, incessant emails offering Royal Ups just might be signalling they have some vacant rooms. That in itself might cause some folks to bid, when they otherwise might not, knowing the odds for many have been quite low. If I'm not interested, I'll just ignore the email.

We usually have scheduled dining. During and since covid, we're mostly seated at a table for two (or 3 when our son joined us), without asking. In fact, I prefer a fuller table, so I've asked on multiple occasions to have other folks' tables slid over with ours. I like to dine with new friends. And I've found other folks like this also. My point is... Ask for a table for two, but you might've been at a table for two, already.

We are long retired. All of our cruises are casino and/or C&A comps. That still doesn't make it free. Our biggest expense is airfare and hotels at the embarkation port. Used to be, we cruised 2 or 3 times a year. Since we've discovered Los Angeles, this year will be 7 cruises. That's the live near the port part of this equation. L.A. is an easy and cheap plane ride for us, and it's easy to leave home the same morning we get on the ship, negating the need for a hotel. Of course, cruising from L.A. means the ship and scenery never changes. I am envious of the folks that live near the cruise ports in Florida. They can cruise easily and cheaply, and have many different ships and itineraries to choose from.

And as of just today, my Wife and I are also booked on this cruise! Whoop-Whoop!

I am somewhat mobility limited also. Wherever we go, I always book a low-impact sightseeing excursion, be it a bus, shuttle, taxi, surrey...whatever. The last time in St. Thomas/St. John, we booked a surrey tour in St. John, via a ferry ride from St. Thomas. This tour in St. John was one of the best excursions I've ever done. There are many tour services available on both islands, but I've found a surrey to be my favorite. And what I'm calling a surrey is a pickup truck or chassis-cab with bus seats and a surrey top. There are running boards the full length of this vehicle to allow easy boarding. And once onboard, there are lots of hand-holds. We purchased this tour from Royal, however there are many similar tours available at the port. https://www.godfreytours.com/

We've always found a RC shuttle available for purchase, from the ship to the airport. It's easy and competitive. Get off the ship, and a bus is waiting for us immediately outside the terminal.

I agree. A cousin decided to bypass the passport requirement on a recent cruise. She was assured that "other" ID would be okay. Guess what? The ship left her behind.