Marc

I'd say that this is not going to happen. They haven't added Starbucks to any of the other ships during their drydocks, save for Oasis of the Seas to match what Allure of the Seas had.

A friend of mine got back from a cruise on Liberty of the Seas a couple of weeks ago and the only things she heard from the crew were that Portofino was going to become Giovanni's Table (no surprise there), and they were going to be taking out the gothic-themed nightclub. I suspect they'll replace it with cabins on deck 3 and a restaurant on deck 4. I'm hoping it's Sabor, but I think I read that some other ship had an Izumi put down there. I sailed on her during her inaugural season in 2007. I get to sail on her pre-refurbishment in a couple of months and then again post-refurbishment next October, so it'll be nice to see what's changed from the first refurbishment and again from the second. (I'm really glad I'm getting a chance to enjoy Portofino one last time. I'm contemplating purchasing the dining package and just eating at Portofino and Chops every night.)

FYI, Royal Caribbean has tinkered with the prices for the drink packages for many (but not all) sailings. The pricing now is inclusive of gratuity and may have gone slightly up or down. The soda package used to be $6.50 + 18% per day and is now $8.00 per day. The Premium package was $49.00 + 18% per day and is now $57 per day. Other packages changed similarly.

2.5 hours?! Well, that's certainly disappointing. I thought it was much less. We recently decided on a cruise on Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston for October 2016. The fact that it was a bit away from the airports was a negative factor, but we didn't think it was that bad. We'd previously sailed on Freedom of the Seas out of Port Canaveral which is 45 minutes away from Orlando, and I was thinking that Galveston was comparably distanced from Houston. I know that there are differences between Houston Hobby and George W. Bush Intercontinental airports, with Hobby being the closer of the two. Fortunately for me, I'd probably fly Southwest into Hobby, but I need to consider other people in our group who may prefer to fly into IAH.

It depends on which ship. The four newest ships, Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Quantum of the Seas, and Anthem of the Seas, all have "thermal suites" which have heated loungers, steam rooms, saunas, and more available for a daily or weekly fee. They are co-ed on these ships. The older ships (such as in the Voyager and Freedom classes) do have steam rooms and saunas, but they are in the men's and women's locker rooms as part of the gym. They are complimentary on these ships.

I've got a cruise booked on Liberty of the Seas for October 17, 2015.

Are you sure about that? I see that promotion in my Cruise Planner for my October 17 sailing, but the fine print says that it's "valid for sailings June 15 through August 31, 2015."

I may have missed something. The Premium package does include sodas.

I did get the shareholder's benefit once. We had booked a 3-night cruise during a WOW sale and got $25 in onboard credit. We had that onboard credit removed and replaced with the shareholder's benefit which was $50 in onboard credit.

I like 7-night cruises, and I really like 8-night cruises as it's like getting a bonus night for free. I've done 3- and 4-night cruises, and they're okay when combined with another cruise. I'm trying a 5-night cruise in October on Liberty of the Seas. I'm looking forward to seeing what I think about that length.

I think the answer is yes, and judging by the number of Youtube videos of first-person experiences on the zip line, it would certainly seem so.

The only upgrades I've gotten have been from monitoring the price close to sailing and finding times when an upgraded category ends up costing less than what I paid for mine, so they give me a free upgrade upon request.

I wonder whether that's true. The last cruise I booked a few weeks ago, I had to pay gratuities, but I don't think it was due to My Time Dining. According to this page: Of course, we know that RCI IT excels in keeping their information current. :)

I'm under the impression that if you prepay your gratuities because you have My Time Dining, those are not removable. Did you have My Time Dining?

I've stayed at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami-Downtown a couple of times. It's a decent hotel, and I love that it's across from Bayside Marketplace so there are things to do and places to eat nearby. Next spring, since it's spring break, we're going to try Homewood Suites by Hilton-Miami Airport/Blue Lagoon. It's close to the airport, but a bit away from the port. I chose there because it's way cheaper than being closer to the port and beaches. Spring break pricing is crazy in Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

I watched your first two parts last night. I really enjoyed them and am looking forward to the upcoming episodes from this cruise. Excellent job!

Royal Caribbean says that the gratuities (either prepaid or charged daily) are for the stateroom attendant (and those who assist) and dining room staff (waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter). The bartenders' gratuities have always come from the gratuity charged on top of beverage packages or on the individual beverage purchases. Those purchases have an 18% gratuity applied that covers them. When you get a drink a la carte, you'll see an 18% gratuity is automatically added to the bill. You may tip extra if you wish, but that's at your discretion.

There is another caveat. When the children turn 18, they do retain their Crown & Anchor level, but their cruise points drop to what they've actually cruised themselves. Imagine that parents are Diamond Plus and they take their 17 year old child with them on a week-long cruise. The child will then be considered Diamond Plus, but only have 7 points. When the child turns 18, they'll still be Diamond Plus, but with their point total being based on their own cruises only, in order to reach Pinnacle, they'll have to earn 693 more cruise points.

As was mentioned, that $10,500 is playthrough money, when you're rebetting your winnings. Assuming an average machine payback of just 85%, that means that your expected loss for that amount of play would be about $1,575.

I've grown disappointed with Club Royale since sailing on NCL. Given comparable gambling on two successive cruises, one on each line, that I took last fall, I got: Royal Caribbean: $120 cash back at the end of the cruise $875 rebate for the next cruise 25% discounts on cruise fares, but only on certain, eligible cruises A free cruise that had to be booked within 14 days of this cruise's sailing and was only valid on select sailings over the next three months NCL: About $100-150 in free play during the cruise Approximately $200 in onboard expenses credited at the end of the cruise Four free bottles of wine Two "comped" (significantly discounted) cruises of my choice (within 18 months of this sailing) in a balcony cabin (pay approximately $300/person for non-commissionable fare and taxes) In addition, NCL is offering better non-casino promotions that we can take advantage of as well. We booked their upcoming ship, Norwegian Escape, for next spring. We got a nice aft cabin with a large balcony for about $800 total, and as part of the promotion that was available at the time, we're also getting their Ultimate Beverage Package for free. In my opinion, Club Royale needs a significant makeover if they want to compete with the active casino marketing that their competition is doing.

Just to clarify based on my understanding... Barefoot Beach is the suite (gold card) area that has cabanas available for suite guests that are arranged by the Concierge. Nellie's Beach is a public area and has cabanas that are currently only available by going to the shore excursions (Explorations!) desk onboard. They used to be available for booking online in advance, but that stopped a year ago. Note: It is actually possible for a non-suite guest to get a Barefoot Beach cabana if one asks nicely and is lucky enough to have availability. You can ask the Concierge to be added to a waiting list. Technically, available cabanas at Barefoot Beach are offered in order of Crown & Anchor status, but I don't know whether that is actually followed in practice.

Someone had long ago posted this picture which I gathered from the Internet Archive. It purports to show the cabins on deck 8 on the Sovereign class ships (presumably including Majesty of the Seas) that don't have obstructions.

It's up by Sorrento's, above the Windjammer.

Alas, we had to cancel our August 1 plans for Adventure of the Seas. I'll probably still go on a cruise early this fall, but I don't know what or when yet.

Don't forget to add 18% gratuity to those prices for the net price. I don't know of any ships that have self-serve machines other than those with the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines. I know that Majesty of the Seas used to have a regular self-serve fountain machine that was also activated by the soda package tumblers, but it was removed when a Freestyle machine was added onboard.