Censored

Im excited on this new port. Booked 4 weeks B2B starting March 20 

With current protocols,  I am wondering if I can disembark the ship in between cruises and enjoy the Island come back without worrying about testing etc.?

As far as I know , Royal will give complimentary testing on board., but is that good enough for the Barbados government?   

On 2/6/2022 at 5:44 PM, Bobbie said:

Just found out that free laundry for Diamond Plus members is no longer a perk.  Now only $10.00 off the current price for a bag of laundry.  With btbtb cruises planned, this is one perk I will really miss.

Do suites get free laundry? not sure  I always do 2 weeks too.

5 minutes ago, sandc4e said:

Here are all your answers. https://www.rclinvestor.com/contact-us/faqs/shareholder-benefit/

thx!

44 minutes ago, twangster said:

What are they taking away?   CocoCay briefly had a suites grouping of loungers within the cabana compound prior to the pier being added.  It proved to be lightly used.  

$20 CAD?  That's not even a nice glass of wine  

44 minutes ago, twangster said:

What are they taking away?   CocoCay briefly had a suites grouping of loungers within the cabana compound prior to the pier being added.  It proved to be lightly used.  

$20 CAD?  That's not even a nice glass of wine  

take away Labadee even though its "meh" for you.    My favourite wine is Silver Oaks Napa Valley.  $50 bucks glass ok

19 minutes ago, mamie said:

I'm going on my third cruise in March with Royal but I must admit Carnival has my eye wandering. However, I hear it's more of a party cruise which is not my style. I'm tempted to go on carnival just for their rollercoaster and to try Shaq and Guy's food. For those who have gone is it worth it?

Ive never done a Carnival cruise. But from people who have, most of them favour Royal.  

15 minutes ago, twangster said:

I have yet to hear anyone say "I won't book a suite because CocoCay doesn't have a suite area".   No one says that.  

As an investor who wants to see the dividends return I don't see it and hope they don't.  

15 minutes ago, twangster said:

I have yet to hear anyone say "I won't book a suite because CocoCay doesn't have a suite area".   No one says that.  

As an investor who wants to see the dividends return I don't see it and hope they don't.  

Possibly. Take something away however and watch people scream.  20 bucks stands

Is there a thread with frequently asked questions  with Q&A ?   Im very new here and have asked some questions  and have annoyed at least one person in doing so.  Someone once told me there is no such thing as a bad question?   But after having watched Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube live a few times, it appears to me the same questions are asked over and over again.  Its great for newcomers, but even after a few weeks , it becomes mundane IMO.  If a page was created for this, it would eliminate the repeated questions and Matt could just refer the questioner to that page or video.  Things change with Royal, I know, especially currently.,and its good to ask questions that is indeed news. Just saying....

12 minutes ago, twangster said:

Perfect Day has surpassed even their modest projections for revenue.  Naturally there will be more revenue areas added.   That's an easy investment to sell to the board.  Adding a suite area generates zero new revenue and costs money.  

Limiting Barefoot Beach cabanas to only suite guests has cost them revenue.  Sometimes they don't all sell.  If they open them up to all guests they will sell.  I'd also expect Labadee Cabanas to see price hikes going forward.  Currently they are a bargain compared to CocoCay.  

They are leaving money on the table at Labadee.  That will change.  Especially now that Jason Liberty has taken the reins.  They will take lessons learned from Perfect Day and apply them at Labadee.  

Added value is needed for suite guests who have dropped $10,000 plus. Im going to disagree on this one. 20 bucks.  

7 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

I'd say we're Royal to loyal. DCL is the only other line we've sailed to date (our first cruise), but they are a little expensive. We would try other lines like Celebrity, NCL, and DCL again, but not until we at least hit Diamond, LOL!  

We really like Royal for many reasons. They have a large, well maintained fleet. Offer varied itineraries including their own properties like CocoCay and Labadee! Generally, they offer the newest, biggest, and most innovative ships (we're currently in that bigger/better phase... Oasis class is our favorite!). We find excellent, consistent, and friendly service onboard... we've never been disappointed. Excellent Broadway quality entertainment and many activity options. Also, for us, they offer the best bang for the buck!

I agree with you on all of that. Oasis class is the best!  Royals innovations always impress me.   Im more into the ship itself than Itineraries,...

9 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

$250 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 14 or more nights
$100 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 6 to 13 nights
$50 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 5 nights or less
Applicable on any eligible Royal Caribbean International or Celebrity Cruises voyage.

Ref: https://www.rclinvestor.com/contact-us/faqs/shareholder-benefit/

wow, thanks for that. Im assuming its any cruise all year long or a one time thing?

Does anyone know the perks and benefits of owning (what I think) is 100 shares of RCL?   ie..OBC ? per cruise? 

It would be nice to see the RCL stock prices posted daily or live in this domain. I think its a good idea and along with a few analysts  determining whether its a buy, hold, or sell?    Just saying ....?    I mean it is cruise news after all.

On 2/7/2022 at 9:04 AM, RorySC said:

OK, time to show just how weird I can be at times when it comes to thinking.

I have pretty much remained Loyal to Royal for several reasons, but here is just a few.

 

16 cruises, 12 with Royal

Royal (Majesty of the Seas) was the first cruise I was ever on I think it was back in 1997. From that point I was deeply hooked on cruising. I have also tried, Celebrity, Holland America, Princess, and regrettably paradise Bahamas. (That's a story for another day) but have always came back to Royal.

I have always been someone looking for the so called Cruise Hacks type of thing while remaining Loyal to Royal.

I am originally from NJ, now living in SC..looking to move to FL.

 

 Interested in moving to FL for several reasons, but some of them are cruise related. I was playing on paper one day to figure out, just what we spend on travel to and from ports, luggage fees, hotels the night before, and sometimes a night the day we arrive back to home port. Alcohol package, and Internet. Sometimes, adding this all up came to 2-3 thousand. Sometimes more/less.

 

 When it comes to the Alcohol package, we tried with and without a package. Without, we found it to be stressful (Always counting, or looking at the bill every evening) we lost $ every time. Our daily routine We found that with a fresh squeezed OJ in the morning, a water or two for excursions, a coffee or two that is not pee pee water, a Gatorade, and then 2 or 3 drinks a day each was way more then the drink package. So the package pays off for us big time. You have to have at least 5 drinks or a combination of about 5 of anything on that list per day to make it work.

So then I was thinking if I became Diamond or above, I would get 4-6 free drinks a day depending on what tier you are at, and discounted Voom (about 20%).

A while back I had hoped to be able to push myself up in tier levels with purchasing points. NOPE, Royal does not offer this. So had to come up with a new plan. I started listening to Matt @ RCB, and now shop early and often to lock in rates on everything cruise related. I do 99% of my bookings downstairs in Next Cruise for the added OBC and reduced Deposits of only $100 pp, then have the reservation switched over to my TA. If we have to cancel or make a change, we only lost $100 pp or during the Cruise with confidence no loss at all. This made it even more easy. We also were purposely booking Jr. Suites because they will normally let us board around 11am, and you get double points for each night. Since we normally sail BtB or longer sailings, we have been getting 28 points per sailing. A added plus is when Royal has a special (like during the early time of Covid) they had double points. So our 28 points were 56 points for a sailing. We pompously booked cruises for cheap at times knowing that they would be canceled during Covid so we would get a 150% FCC. With the extra 50% FCC we switched up to a Jr. Suite We hunkered down and booked as much as we can just to take advantage of the double double points and extra FCC's, pushing us up to Dimond Plus real fast. Now we can relax a bit. We can drop down to a regular Balcony room, with the added discounts for Diamond, made a regular balcony even cheaper, and we get 5 drinks a day each. so no more drink package a savings of around $1,000, per sailing and we even get a discount on the Voom.

 

Also staying Loyal to Royal, keep an eye on RCCL stock. The days leading up to Covid, the stock was about $135 ish. This morning it is around $75. I have seen it up to around just under $100 in recent weeks. It is up & down but I am sure over time, it will go back up and even pass the high of $135. The day the CDC announced a shut down for Covid in 2020, the stock dropped to around $19. If you got in then...Score!!! If you own 100 shares or more, you get OBC for each sailing that range from I think $50 up to $250 per reservation depending on the length of sailing for as long as you own the stock

 

Now here is what we are really excited about.

With Celebrity Honoring our Diamond status in whatever they call their comparable status, we have a whole new list of Itinerary's and ships to try and we still stay within the family. BUT, if you ever feel the need to "Jump Ship" (no punt intended) some other lines are honoring your RC status on their lines as well. Such as MSC if you sail with them. But we are Loyal to Royal...and staying here.

P.S. When we move to Fl, we cut out flights, baggage, hotels so there is a nice savings as well.

Yep.....told ya we are weird and or to much time on our hands to think.

The stock was a good buy at $75. It will go higher until  another media reported disaster, or more Covid variants. Its still a gamble. Do you know the perks of owning 100 Stocks?  

On 2/6/2022 at 5:32 AM, Ray said:

This made me laugh so much i dropped a stitch ....  

On 2/6/2022 at 5:32 AM, Ray said:

This made me laugh so much i dropped a stitch ....  

Whats the difference between a Scotsman and a canoe?   A canoe tips!  Need I say more?  I feel sorry for your room steward.

On 2/5/2022 at 4:33 PM, WannaCruise said:

Wondering how you found out the price at Bayonne? The current Anthem cruise would be the first one where they are charging and it hasn't returned yet.  We're driving home too, and will split the drive up over two days (as I have a bad back and can't sit too long) so if we can't get it at the port, we can find other options.  I believe the website used to say "starting at $2xx" (I forget the exact amount) but now it mentions $130...but that's just the the min amount they would charge.  

you need a PCR test. The most expensive kind because of our beloved PM Its on Royal's website

34 minutes ago, KevinJ said:

We've done 3 cruises out of Bayonne starting in October. I sort of agree with @JasonOasis they have everyone lined up outside and you have to just ignore the line and get to the front for your boarding time. It's all quite chaotic. Our last cruise in January we had an 11am time, we got an email the night before that they had pushed back boarding 1 hour. We got to the port at 11:30 the line was already around the building all the way to the end of the parking garage. They did come down the line and call out suite guests to go to the front. My wife is handicapped and in a scooter, they finally allowed her to go to the front and there they were looking at boarding times to allow people into the terminal. The whole process took about 45 minutes. Miserably cold weather also. We just got 11am for our Wonder cruise hoping the FT Lauderdale cruise port is better.

So they are honouring check in priority status? This I did not know.  Suites/Diamond...supersede your booked in check in and boarding?

On 2/6/2022 at 4:58 PM, Meplus2 said:

How early before the cruise date does the online check in normally appear? 30/60/90 days?  Cruising in may. 

I think its about 45 days

10 minutes ago, RorySC said:

OK, time to show just how weird I can be at times when it comes to thinking.

I have pretty much remained Loyal to Royal for several reasons, but here is just a few.

 

16 cruises, 12 with Royal

Royal (Majesty of the Seas) was the first cruise I was ever on I think it was back in 1997. From that point I was deeply hooked on cruising. I have also tried, Celebrity, Holland America, Princess, and regrettably paradise Bahamas. (That's a story for another day) but have always came back to Royal.

I have always been someone looking for the so called Cruise Hacks type of thing while remaining Loyal to Royal.

I am originally from NJ, now living in SC..looking to move to FL.

 

 Interested in moving to FL for several reasons, but some of them are cruise related. I was playing on paper one day to figure out, just what we spend on travel to and from ports, luggage fees, hotels the night before, and sometimes a night the day we arrive back to home port. Alcohol package, and Internet. Sometimes, adding this all up came to 2-3 thousand. Sometimes more/less.

 

 When it comes to the Alcohol package, we tried with and without a package. Without, we found it to be stressful (Always counting, or looking at the bill every evening) we lost $ every time. Our daily routine, we found that with a fresh squeezed OJ in the morning, a water or two for excursions, a coffee or two that is not pee pee water, a Gatorade, and then 2 or 3 cocktails a day each was way more then the drink package. So the package pays off for us big time. You have to have at least 5 drinks or a combination of about 5 of anything on that list per day to make it work.

So then I was thinking if I became Diamond or above, I would get 4-6 free drinks a day depending on what tier you are at, and discounted Voom (about 20%).

A while back I had hoped to be able to push myself up in tier levels with purchasing points. NOPE, Royal does not offer this. So had to come up with a new plan. I started listening to Matt @ RCB, and now shop early and often to lock in rates on everything cruise related. I do 99% of my bookings downstairs in Next Cruise for the added OBC and reduced Deposits of only $100 pp, then have the reservation switched over to my TA. If we have to cancel or make a change, we only lost $100 pp or during the Cruise with confidence no loss at all. This made it even more easy. We also were purposely booking Jr. Suites because they will normally let us board around 11am, and you get double points for each night. Since we normally sail BtB or longer sailings, we have been getting 28 points per sailing. A added plus is when Royal has a special (like during the early time of Covid) they had double points. So our 28 points were 56 points for a sailing. We pompously booked cruises during covid knowing that they would be canceled so we would get a 150% FCC. With the extra 50% FCC we switched up to a Jr. Suite We hunkered down and booked as much as we can just to take advantage of the double double points and extra FCC's, pushing us up to Dimond Plus real fast. Now we can relax a bit. We can drop down to a regular Balcony room, with the added discounts for Diamond, made a regular balcony even cheaper, and we get 5 drinks a day each. so no more drink package a savings of around $1,000, per sailing and we even get a discount on the Voom.

Also staying Loyal to Royal, keep an eye on RCCL stock. The days leading up to Covid, the stock was about $135 ish. This morning it is around $80. I have seen it up to around just under $100 in recent months. It is up & down but I am sure over time, it will go back up and even pass the high of $135. The day the CDC announced a shut down for Covid in 2020, the stock dropped to around $19. (I scooped up a 100 shares) If you got in soon...Score!!! If you own 100 shares or more, you get OBC for each sailing that range from I think $50 up to $250 per reservation depending on the length of sailing for as long as you own the stock

Now here is what we are really excited about.

With Celebrity Honoring our Diamond status in whatever they call their comparable status, we have a whole new list of Itinerary's and ships to try and we still stay within the family Loyal. BUT, if you ever feel the need to "Jump Ship" (no punt intended) some other lines are honoring your RC status on their lines as well. Such as MSC if you sail with them. But we are Loyal to Royal...and staying here.

P.S. When we move to Fl, we cut out flights, baggage, hotels so there is a nice savings as well.

Yep.....told ya we are weird and or to much time on our hands to think

You are not weird. I think and do the same thing., with one exception. My wife and I are gamblers. High rollers you might say. So we take full advantage of the Casino Royale program and thus all of our cruises are comped. As most of our cabins were suites we were catapulted into Diamond Plus status during Covid.  My wife dont drink, so I can use 12 a day, and drinks are free in the casino anyway.(and drinks are free in Coastal Kitchen as well) Further we have never paid for internet as well. I usually bring the amount of cash to gamble what the cruise would cost . If I lose it all, I just paid for my next cruise. It took some time to figure it all out., but it works for us.  You have to be very strict and responsible. Do not chase your losses and go to the ATM!   

On 2/6/2022 at 10:33 AM, Goethite said:

I doubt Royal will water things down [much] in the future for the simple reason of benefits offered not costing the company that much money; yet the benefits encourage repeat customers. While a drink might cost us $13 (plus 18%) it doesn't cost Royal anywhere near that amount. And while it appears RCI is leaving money on the table by offering discounts to loyalty members when booking balconies and suites, they're still making a profit on the booking and know they have the cabin sold for that sailing. During less pandemic times, Royal wants every cabin on the ship sold. The loyalty program helps with that objective. I believe it was the recent earnings call where one of their executives stated the average guest spends around 50% of their fare on voyage additions after booking. For example, let's say the cost of a balcony was $1,800 before taxes and after a $250 Diamond discount. On average, then, Royal can expect an additional $900 spent aboard. Without knowing the expenses per person and service this is a shot in the dark, but I'm going to assume Royal is coming out nicely (even after discounts and freebies) at $2,700 spent. 

In some ways, their loyalty program is working similar to a theme park annual pass program. It's encouraging repeat visits, and then because of the perceived value from benefits received encourages onboard spending. Eh, they're comping my drinks this week, maybe I'll spurge one night on an expensive bottle of wine? Saved hundreds on the room so let's go for that unlimited dinning package. Maybe we'll do that customized, private excursion this time we've been wanting to do for years.

Some valid points.  I think the extras work out to 30% however.  This is where the real money is made for cruise ships. The extras.  Average  spent I think is under $2000. You can google these numbers to be exact... but I think you are high.

On 2/5/2022 at 9:32 AM, Curt From Canada said:

"And if Royal ceased to exist , what would be your second choice of cruise line?"

This is "Crazy Talk".  This is what 2 years of stress does to people.  The next question will be: "Is anyone taking up knitting???"

For my soul mate and I (2 very, very deprived cruisers) there is only Royal.  Value, choice (over "all" included), variety ... we have tons of fun with Royal.

Curt from Canada

Hypothetical question of course!  in 2020 I did 6 cruises. 2021  I did 5.  Obviously I enjoy Royal for the same reasons you do, plus more., being Diamond Plus. I'm simply one of those kind of people that like to be in the "know"  I like to know what other cruise ships offer.I like to know what I might be missing. Whats crazy about that?  For me I would search out Celebrity as it appears to be a notch up from Royal. ( I know they are same owners)  Also less kids.   Nobody crazy here.  

16 hours ago, tonyfsu21 said:

Yes the good loungers in the front fill up quick. 

You also get free transportation there and back. Its a long walk.

14 hours ago, Bob_KY said:

I've done Chill Island Cabana and over-the water Cabana.  Loved the chill island Cabana; quiet area and serve as a base for our party to meet, eat and drink. Very affordable with another couple.  The over-the-water Cabana was phenomenal especially for our anniversary celebration.  In both cases, prices dropped significantly.  [$499 (5 Jan 2020) and $699 (31 Oct 2021)]   Just keep looking at the price.  

When you split that cost, it makes more sense.  As one poster said " there is so much to do at Coco Cay"  .   I simply would not see the value in the cabana at any price, as I would be out and about, in the pool, at the bar, strolling etc.  To each his own. Glad you enjoyed it . Cheers

On 2/6/2022 at 2:32 PM, Temeculaguy said:

If they provide it for suite guests they would increase the price of the suites accordingly. Some classes of ships throw in additional things for suite guests but the suites cost more vs the class that doesn't throw those things in.

I've written before that I think they should quadruple the number of cabana's and cut the price in half, they would net nearly twice the $$. We went here during the restart and had two days on coco cay. We bought a land based beach club cabana one day and an over water cabana the other day. They were selling them at half price due to the low volume and I believed it was a value if you had 6-8 people. We had already planned on buying our way into the beach club for about 100 a day each. We had only 6 people so the difference was like $125 per couple to get the land based and $200 per couple for the floating. While there weren't 8 loungers (I think there was 4) there was also a sectional couch, a table with 4 chairs and a hammock think over the water, plus people went it pools, the ocean, there was never a problem because nobody sat in a lounger all day but that was our group, yours might be different. At full price I doubt we'd do the cabana but we would go back to the beach club, but we will miss those cabanas at that price they were very enjoyable.

Yes, I think Coco Cay is still a work in progress. Things will change as feedback comes in.  I simply dont understand couples who are willing to pay $2000.00 for a cabana. ( i get the shared part)  If I was prepared to do that , then I would have considered a different kind of vacation. or a luxury cruise line. 

On 2/7/2022 at 7:13 AM, twangster said:

CocoCay is designed to handle over 12,000 guests at once.  They couldn’t get there by designating real estate to suites which represent a small number on any given ship.  

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Labadee updated so that two ships becomes common like CocoCay where the expectation has become two ships everyday.   Barefoot Beach might have to be opened to the general population or changed for the same reason there isn’t a dedicated suite area on CocoCay.  

With more large ships coming they need ports to call on.  Private destinations become more important and the ability to accommodate two ships plays into that.  We’ve already seen some scheduling of two ships at Labadee to begin to appear   I suspect we’ll see this more frequently in time.

Enjoy Barefoot Beach as a suite guest while you can.   It may not be that way forever.

Im not so sure on this. If you look beyond the fenced areas of the Island you can see more construction going on.  The suite area if designated would be a very small piece of real estate.  I would like to place a wager on this. Lets say 20 bucks?   Ive seen the other side of Barefoot beach..and its crowded... so you have a point. But I still think Barefoot beach is permanent for suite guests. The cabanas are not free there either., so there is a more revenue produced.

On 2/6/2022 at 8:49 AM, cruisellama said:

Agree on practical affordability related to cabana's, but it must be a reliable revenue source for the company to be offered.    I have seen  some price fluctuations, "guessing" its throttled upon demand.  (If you want to see an interesting take on really nice cabanas, check out an all-inclusive vacation in the Maldives.   The cost (inc air) will surprise you as it can be less than cost of higher end suites on a cruise ship.  You just have to fly 30hrs to get there - if you're starting from North America.)

We found the beach club a very affordable alternative (as a couple)  to have nice beach front (or pool) with ample lounge chairs.  You also get a great lunch.  

Maldives is on my bucket list!  The cleanest clearest  aqua blue waters and whitest sands.  Flight is a drawback ( hate flying)  so I would have to take a sleeping pill for that!    Royal needs that revenue.. agreed.  From what I've researched  the bulk of staterooms are really  "wholesale priced"  The cruise lines make most of their money on the extras., which I think is about 30%   As far as the food goes on these short visits to a private Island or some excursions,  my stomach can wait. With the cruise ship just a short walk away, I know I can get a decent lunch/dinner on board. It never ceases to amaze me the constant consumption of food .  I might do the chicken sandwich that Matt likes... however.

On 2/6/2022 at 7:30 PM, tonyfsu21 said:

Agree, I think they should have a dedicated suite area like at Labadee instead of offering only the beach club as a premium option. As for the sharks, rays and other creatures they are harmless and add an element of nature distracting you from the artificial nature of the island. I personally think overall they did a great job on coco cay and it’s the top tier private island of the cruise industry. I disagree re: refinement after seeing the private islands offered by the competition. 

Yes you may be right with regards to nothing much to compare to. They spent a lot of money doing it.  Im ok with sea creatures, but you must be careful with the sea urchins and jelly fish. (not harmless) My rule for ocean swimming.....if I cant see my toes, Im not going in.