Al Miller

They are pushing price because they can. Once demand bottoms out (if it ever does) and many long time loyals have been driven away, RC is banking that we will all just come back and all will be forgiven. Seems a little risky to me. But I'm no business guy and they are definitely raking it in for the time being.

10:30am, but I don't really care if I get on super early. As long as I get on before she departs I am fine. I've just never done the drive on a weekday before. I am probably just going to go on my usual schedule and if I get delayed an hour or two in traffic, so be it.

I stumbled into Indian night in the WJ once and OMG, so good. I never miss it now. I still get surprised by how bad an item may be from time to time, but for the most part I've been enough times to know what I like and you learn what to look for. Like I try and sit where I can see them loading fresh stuff on the line. And then I'll go check out what they brought. I am always amazed that someone will get say a pork chop that looks like its been sitting for 4 hours and then complain about it. Yes, it'd be nice if they'd refresh it more diligently, but you have eyes in your head. If it looks like it is dry and not fresh, just move on. I also have taken to befriending the staff in the WJ and if you ask nicely they can go get you a fresher serving of something. I don't know if they are supposed to do that, but I've not had them tell me they cant. And I will most definitely tip that worker with cash directly in their hand for service like that. And if you do that on night one or two and sit in relatively the same area every time, they will seek you out the rest of the cruise and make sure you are taken care of. And I am sure to mention them by name in the survey.

tripinsurance.com is pretty easy to use as well.

How thick will traffic be on a Friday morning coming in from the south? I've only ever done Saturday and Sunday embarkations at Bayonne before. Even though it is only a 3 hour drive for me, I am considering coming up Thursday night to a hotel in order to avoid the stress of dealing with rush hour as much.

My TA can get me "Tin Leg" policies and they seem pretty good. The last few cruises I have started getting the policies myself using the "Squaremouth" website for comparison. It's easier than I thought it would be to buy the policy myself and generally a lot cheaper and better than RC's offering. And it lets me pick and choose very specifically. I always try to get the highest MedEvac and Medical coverage I can. The trip interruption and whatnot I don't care so much about. Missing my cruise would suck, but it would not ruin me financially. Breaking my leg in Aruba, spending the night in the hospital in Mexico or being helicoptered off the ship very well could. So I usually err on the side of too much medical coverage.

On 1/13/2024 at 9:50 AM, GF Greg said:

Big difference in Food Quality between pre and post pandemic.

We found that immediately post Pandemic the food to be as good as ever. But about the time the menus were changed was the BIG dropoff. Cruised in November 2022 and then the same ship again in Feb 2023 and the difference was shocking. I've railed against new leadership ad nauseam but you can almost pinpoint the change of leadership to the drop in quality. Although to be fair, I've never had a great meal in Chops. Only just decent and not worth the extra fee. So maybe I was just lucky before and it's always been generally subpar.

If you didn't put down $1000, then you didn't book for four people. Sorry to be the broken record, but a good travel agent would have solved all of this before it got this far.

The removal of the Burger is mystifying. The last few video reviews I've seen seem to show they've screwed with the "Epic Brownie" too. They really cant stop crapifying everything they touch lately can they?

2 hours ago, Doug_Texas said:

The "experience" is only 90 seconds.  That's $1 / sec.

...aaaand, no one is surprised.

Well it was actually one of the only good deals Royal had left. So naturally it had to go. It sets a bad precedent. Cant have any sort of value for money. It's against the new company policy.

1 hour ago, Ryan79 said:

Was getting a second pork chop at a BUFFET out of the realm of possibility?? Heaven forbid they should cut them smaller to try and reduce waste…at a BUFFET!

If you like meat so thin that it can't sit on the warming trays for more than 2 minutes before being as dry as shoe leather, then sure get all you want. If you want to guarantee that no one finishes more than one bite of a dish and then chucks the rest, then this is the right move. If you're idea is that people will eat less if you make the food terrible, then this is definitely the way to go.

If you're okay with paying more and getting less again and again and again, then by all means keep defending them. They'll get to something you do care about eventually. And at the rate they are going, it won't take long.

Wow! I've had pork chops in the WJ before and they were cut like what most people would know as standard pork chops. What we had on Oasis tody was less than an eighth of an inch thick. Barely thicker than lunch meat. What a disgrace. The pork schnitzel the previous night was easily twice as thick. And that dish is supposed to be pounded out thin! The race to the bottom continues unabated unfortunately...

1 hour ago, Gilley said:

I know pricing is going to be crazy for this new ship.   I will have to wait for her to come to Jersey.  I figure if Symphony and Odyssey made, maybe Icon and Star will too.  Although I’m still waiting on Wonder to come.  Already booked on Icon with a family group of 40 people .

I am Wondering if Icon class can fit under the Verrazzano Bridge. Have there been any height above water stats released?

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

Strongly disagree.

Fresh hot chicken sandwiches, mozz sticks, funnel cake at the Snack Shacks... nothing like any of those in any WJ I've been in. My ongoing wish is that they put a Snack Shack onboard the ships (replace the Dog House).

The Grill buffets are more similar I guess, but the taco bar is similar to EL Loco Fresh, not WJ, and not all ships have ELF.

The similar items are hot dogs and hamburgers and I never eat those on CocoCay, the other stuff is much better, IMO.

Okay, Not including Snack Shacks. And you don't have to fight wind, sand and Seagulls

Not too creative, but I really don't care much about ship names. It's fine. I would have put money on Titan being the next ship in this class for the connotation of strength and size. But I have a feeling that one is still to come.

There are dead spots on the Interior of Anthem. But if you pay attention, you'll figure it out. Luckily my cabin(s) have always been fine. (Usually mid ship interior. YMMV) Sorrentos was great and the next Venue over, The Pub, was basically cut off from WiFi. Just quirks like that to learn. In my experience, the internet was good most of the time, but definitely not 100% of the time.

The last few times on Anthem, Spectra's was the only show asking for reservations.

2 hours ago, Greg R said:

I actually don't think that I have eaten on the island except maybe the first time I was there.  I usually am ready to get back on the ship by lunch time.

Last year, I stayed onboard at Coco Cay due to a little hangover. Talk about a dead ship. That's the closest thing to having a ship to myself as I'll probably ever get. Me and about 4 dozen folks. LOL. (Probably more like a couple hundred) Lunch at the WJ is basically the same as on the Island, but a few more items and a lot more deserts. And they close down at least half the serving stations. The most relaxing WJ experience I've ever had. If you been to Coco Cay a lot, I recommend skipping it occasionally for a change of pace. And the Casino is open while in Coco Cay too.

9 hours ago, bobroo said:

--Lemme guess, this announcement will start with the words "In response to an overwhelming amount of passenger requests..." 

LOL!!! I think there must be someone in the PR Dept. whose job it is to "Justify" the changes that the bean counters want to make by scouring surveys looking for at least one person whose answers will fit the change they want to make. They spend hours poring over survey answers and finally they blurt out "GOT ONE!" "This survey says they think Diamond lounges are dumb. So we can use the "Customer Demand" excuse." 

It's a very industrial area. You can see Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, but they are pretty far. Unless you have a good DLSR with Zoom, you are not getting very good photos of the Statue. The roads right down by the terminal seem to be in a constant state of construction. Take it slow. They use the Facial recognition if you have a passport. Has always worked well for us. One weird thing is that the suite check in is where they corral you to if they see you have mobility issues. (I use a cane) And that line is the furthest possible one from the escalators. Oh, you have issues walking for long distance? Here, we are going to punish you with the longest possible walk. Actually not that big a deal, it just kind of mystifies me every time. And they are quick to ask if you need assistance (IE a wheel chair). So if it really is an issue, you have a fall back.

They are getting better at getting this stuff pushed to the app sooner, but it still seems that until you get on board, a lot of the stuff on the schedule is incorrect or just missing. Had this on Anthem several times. Once I am on board it seems to reload everything and is more or less correct.

I've had it take up to a month to post. And as Short as about 10 Days.

Does not seem all that slow to me. It's been pretty rapid IMO.