AandD

Our cruising friends always bring ducks…no tags.  Whenever they leave their room they take a few with them and if they see a small child…sometimes crying, sometimes not…they get permission from the parent to make sure it’s ok to give the child/ren the duck/s.  So awesome to see the faces light up!

Think of it as a permanent Stanely cup winner. Good press for royal, taking pictures of people posing with and drinking out of a $100K cup.

I think retirement helps. Been trying to speed it up but Powerball doesn't want to cooperate.

We agree and think they try too hard to be dirty without really being dirty and then the couples try to push the limits further to win.  We totally get that it’s an “adult show”, but you can still, have adult themes without being dirty.  Most times it’s just not funny or enjoyable to us.
 
we also get annoyed that the comedians in the comedy club are adult only and cuss like a sailor,, but then do a family show in the main theater.  Why can’t they just always be family friendly.  We’re big comedy fans and you can be funny without all that.
 

Well depending on if you get a maniac for a room attendant you may be on camera in your stateroom too. 🤣

Yes. I have no idea what the room attendants make but they work hard and take care of us. Same with the waiters. We get some free drinks so $1 for the bar tender.

5- We tip the bartenders $1 for a drink. Also, we have been giving the room attendant $5 or $10 a day depending on the type of room. we are not high maintenance or demanding but I usually give the attendant a $ 20 when I first meet them and then add more later in the week if their service is good. We usually give our MDR waiter some money. 

We just completed an 8-day cruise on the Odyssey and we had 4 sea days.  As you can imagine, the chair hogs were out in full force but Odyssey’s staff were ready.  Each pool area had at least two attendants that worked all day long…They were tagging all unoccupied chairs and removing the items if the person didn’t return in time.  They were using little yellow stickies to mark the time they placed the tag, the number of chairs and they placed the tag on the chair in a location the person would not notice.  The staff got lots of thanks and I only witness one upset lady…She came back three hours later and was upset her stuff was removed.  Way to go Royal!!!

I try my hardest to at least wear a collared shirt to dinner, and some nicer shorts or pants (except at the buffet).  Just my two cents.

We were on the Hurricane Maria cruise out of SanJuan in 2017. It was our second cruise. Ended up in Florida 8 days later. Royal took care of us. We will be on our 19th cruise with Royal in July. Like Riley says, "roll with both the waves and any changes and enjoy the experience!"

We were on the Hurricane Maria cruise out of SanJuan in 2017. It was our second cruise. Ended up in Florida 8 days later. Royal took care of us. We will be on our 19th cruise with Royal in July. Like Riley says, "roll with both the waves and any changes and enjoy the experience!"

Well we are just off Anthem today on a 7 night cruise to Coco Cay and we just absolutely love Anthem. The crew is amazing off the bat. Drink service can be a bit slow here and there but crew was amazing overall. 
Cape Liberty is a mix of good and bad. Royals side excellent, 10 minutes and on but the security screening is not good. The lines they say up are odd and take longer than they should. I'm not sure I understand why it's set up that way. 
Anthem itself is in excellent shape, looks just as good as we sailed on her a few years ago. The elevator situation which thankfully I take the stairs is terrible. It's a combo of too much use and rude people. My wife with the baby take the elevator everywhere. It was just not great. 
The food I'd say is hit and miss. I'm not gonna be a cheerleader and I LOVE Royal Caribbean but I'm not gonna be a cheerleader. The food is just hit and miss. MDR, some things were good and some ok, and some not so good. I got lasagna one night against my better judgement and honesty I wanted to see what they consider lasagna as I am Italian. It was um not great. It was to be kind, not good and not what I consider lasagna. 
Windjammer is the same, hit and miss. Breakfast actually really good. Lunch which we did once was ok to be nice. The burger was almost awful which I don't get because on Coco Cay the burger was much, much better. The Mac and cheese was extremely bland. The fries were excellent though. 
Cafe 270 was excellent, everything was excellent. Oh the doughnuts and pastries at all places we ate were excellent. The chocolate doughnuts were extra good, small but plentiful and so good. 
Sorrento's pizza serves it's purpose and it's ok. It could be better but still not bad. It's a good quick bite. 
Desserts pretty much everywhere were excellent we thought. Some better than others of course. 
Jaime's we loved but the chicken Parmesan is not what I consider good but that's from an Italian that has eaten that so many times I could not count. It was on, edible but not great. Apps amazing though.
Wonderland is so much fun. It may be going extinct and odd but I love it. We love it. It's an experience and I like the food. It's just interesting and fun. 
Chops too upscale for me but food was excellent, like definitely a step up in quality. I don't like steak so I can't speak on that. Branzino was awesome. 
Now Coco Cay, that island is pure magic. Period, pure magic. The water was cold, not going again in winter but still a freaking ton of fun. We only do the free stuff and it's just a blast. With 2 boys, 10 and 2 it's amazing. Plan to go back again and again just not ever in winter. What is the earliest for Coco were the water is warm? May? 
That's my take and will add more when I think of more stuff. 

Oasis class distances (taken on Symphony). Soooo much better than on the teeny tiny ships. 😂

 

Thats interesting Mike. I knew they did that to a few ships. If we ever get on the Enchantment, I will get bored and check it out. 

I wish everyone was like you. As a serious runner, I only ever use the track on Oasis class ships (on other ships I use the treadmills in the gym) and it's clearly marked that walkers should keep left and runners keep right. I've lost count of the number of times this is ignored by groups of several people who spread themselves across the whole track and don't listen out for runners. Sometimes they don't move even when I yell at them that I'm coming through and I end up having to try and dodge around them. On a couple of occasions it hasn't been possible to avoid them and I've bumped into them. 😤

For me, I only use the running track in the early morning on the Oasis class ships. I dont like the smaller cramped feel of the tracks on the upper decks. But if its early morning you shouldnt see so many people. You will just have the weather to deal with. 
 

For me, I only use the running track in the early morning on the Oasis class ships. I dont like the smaller cramped feel of the tracks on the upper decks. But if its early morning you shouldnt see so many people. You will just have the weather to deal with. 
 

I got the email also. 
Here’s my advice if I could bend an ear to the powers that be: 
There’s a subgroup of RC cruisers who are “seasoned” and comprise the upper tiers. This group is somewhat over the whole “big ship” thing along with St Thomas, St Maarten, Cozumel and Costa Maya (and the other islands that the big girls go to)
This group is BEGGING for a new smaller class that visits somewhere other than above. 
Well…..give us our RC benefits on a Celebrity ship and you won’t have to build a new class. Just transfer us to Celebrity. I’d be happy with that. 
We have our first celebrity booked to Norwegian fjords in 2025 because the itinerary was way better than Indy but it was hard giving up our 5 free drinks anytime, anywhere. 
Deep fjords beat alcohol but I shouldn’t have to choose!  

Because the Commodore 64 that hosts RC’s website can only do so much?
 
 Honestly, I think that part of their system doesn’t refresh frequently enough for modern standards. However, spending money on IT improvements to quicken customers ability to see something  that isn’t time constrained sooner possibly isn’t the best use of funds. I’d argue being able to book more than four on an invoice would be preferable or at least I could argue the potential cost savings. Or in my case, simply being able to show the correct amount due on the invoice. 

I don't know how many people have been to Maya Chan Beach, but we went our 4th time last fall. We did notice the beach wasnt as big as it used to be. But the food and service were still great. Here is a post from the owners. 
Start Again – Maya Chan Life (temp.domains)
 

I don't know how many people have been to Maya Chan Beach, but we went our 4th time last fall. We did notice the beach wasnt as big as it used to be. But the food and service were still great. Here is a post from the owners. 
Start Again – Maya Chan Life (temp.domains)
 

One point to consider is that Royal doesn't charge a lot for comp food and beverages when you take the imputed tips and work backward--about $35 to 40 per person. We certainly receive more than that as we count meals, snacks and drinks consumed throughout the day. Places that serve hot dogs or tacos are fast food, so that is my frame of reference when I judge my experience. I think quality meals require a fancier restaurant. When specialty restaurants serve mediocre food, it must be improved as you are paying a pretty penny. Honest evaluations on cruise surveys are still needed to give feedback. And we vote with our feet. Our next cruise isn't Royal. The bottom line is that Royal isn't a luxury line but it should offer a decent experience for a fair price. We've gotten that up to now.

I don't know how many people have been to Maya Chan Beach, but we went our 4th time last fall. We did notice the beach wasnt as big as it used to be. But the food and service were still great. Here is a post from the owners. 
Start Again – Maya Chan Life (temp.domains)
 

I see you are from KC. We are out of St. Joe. Seems like there are a lot of people on the facebook group from the area. Maybe we will run into you.

If it was me, I would pay. You are on vacation. We carry very little on the plane as we don't want to deal with the overhead storage. With that said, we usually fly southwest. But the next 2 cruises we will be using Delta and American. So, we are just going to pay and not worry about it. As to the porters at the port. We usually give $5 for 3 bags.