NoobCruise

Thank you all for the advice.  Very helpful in making my decision. It sounds like the worst-case scenario would be a connecting junior suite on a floor above or below a noisy part of the ship. Maybe an obstructed view. Not great but being that it is about 1 grand cheaper than an ocean-view balcony I decided to take the gamble and lock in the savings. So we most likely won't end up with any suite privileges, but will we get double cruise points for crown and anchor?

Hello All

I am looking to book an europe cruise next summer (2024) and a July 1st 7day  guarendted Suite room has caught our eye for around $4K.

What are the downside of booking a guraented suite? Intially I thought there are no downsides. It has to be an ocean view balcony right? but are there non-balconly suites?  that would be awful. who would want that?  Do all guaranteed suite rooms come with suites benefits? Does Voyager even have suite benefits?

After watching the show in March I will say my concerns were unfounded. I will say I was about 30 rows back so it was kind of hard to see exactly what he was doing.  The gymnast guy who insisted on flexing with his shirt off was far more offensive.  A fun show all around.

On 3/20/2023 at 7:54 PM, BB1 said:

That's fantastic.  I was looking at booking some cruises that return on Monday. I wonder how different that would be. 

I am no expert on MCO as I have only been there once recently on a Sunday morning after getting off of Wonder but I was dumbfounded at how empty it was at around 9am.  I had booked the free TSA reservation mentioned above for 9:30am. We didn't use it since the default TSA screening was next to empty with a 3min wait at 9am. We walked right through. The airport felt like it wasn't awake yet. It didn't come alive with lots of people for about another 90 minutes or so. If I had to guess the airport at 9am on a Monday morning would be vastly different.

Our stats on March 5th were:

After a short trip to the windjammer we self disembarked at around 7:50am.

Caught uber at 8:02am. Arrived at terminal C MCO at 8:48am. Cost $78 pre-tip.

I wonder.... no hope, that there is a craps table on Wonder that is active.

I was sad to see the craps table empty on oasis last may. It might have come alive at midnight or past my bedtime but it was not functional during my waking hours. so sad.

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

I don't recall ever getting an email like this.

Your spam filters must be working!

Yeah yeah I know we have all gotten them before but damn it sure is a pleasant surprise in the in box. Thanks Royal marketing team.

NCL recently and unceremoniously kicked the broadway show Kinky Boots off its ship so they clearly didn't have a 10-year contract in place.

16 minutes ago, ZBrady said:

Aren't the Broadway shows on like a 10-year contract? 

Not sure about the contract length. Cat's is in its 14th year on Osasis of having people leave mid-show due to sheer boredom. 

2 hours ago, FloatyBoaty said:

You can cover your son's eyes - I've seen the show at least 4 times. He is an excellent entertainer throughout the show and goes into his contortion routine a couple of times. I could not watch, myself, but there are many people, including children, that are absolutely enthralled (I watched the audience instead of the stage). There are a lot of great reasons to see the show even if you don't like contortionists.

Good to know Floaty. Thank you. It should be noted there are plenty of people, my son included, who would love to watch Faces of Death 13 that doesn't mean they should.

Oh no. I had hoped to cover my son's eyes for 90 seconds. If this is not the case I think we will just skip the whole show.

That's horrible. I guess they don't request enough feedback about the entertainment. If they did clearly Cat's would have been off of Oasis a long time time ago. This appears to be a blind spot for Royal.

1 hour ago, Traveling Mike said:

Supply and demand... I can fly to Florida from California cheaper than I can fly to Houston.  Then I have to pay much more for shuttle or Uber to get to the ship.  After I get to the ship, they only have 3 ports to choose from and only one is something I like.  With that said... I am taking my son on the Allure in April just because overall it is cheaper.

While supply and demand is far too broad of a response you are exactly correct.  Recently we were searching for our winter 2024 cruise. The first place I looked was Icon of the seas and it was understandably not cheap.  I started searching Oasis class ships that were cheaper and while I found more affordable itineraries I didn't find something that was interesting to me (I have been to Nassau enough). So we paid the price and booked Icon. There was an ample supply of itineraries I didn't demand.

About a year ago when I was eagerly watching WOS launch youtube videos I think I saw a Ben and David video describing Tap factory.  They seemed to enjoy the show except for one part. In the video they showed and described one performer who came on stage and proceeded to go some shoulder-dislocating "bone breaker" dance. To not mince words I found the video I watched disturbing. From what I saw in their video it was nothing that I want to watch and definitely nothing I want my 5-year-old son to see.  I was watching these Wonder inaugural videos knowing that one day I would be on that ship going to this entertainment. When I saw the "bone breaker" guy I thought to myself, "well I don't need to worry about that since clearly, royal caribbean will  have received  so much negative feedback that this part of the show certainly won't be part of it when I am on the ship in a year's time." Fast forward to today a year later. We will be on Wonder in two weeks. Does Tap Factory still have the dislocation dancer?

That leads me to my next question. Like airlines that play tricks with their available seats all the time, does Royal Caribbean hold back rooms to create scarcity and then release more rooms? 

25 minutes ago, need2cruz said:

We just got off Wonder on Sunday and had a 12:08pm flight.  Our self disembark time was 6:45AM, but we went to Windjammer and had breakfast and left the ship at 7:30AM.  Walking off the ship was no wait at all... ... But I would have much rather had an 11am flight and less waiting at the airport.

This is comforting. Thanks for this info. While there is zero chance my wife and kid will be able to walk off at 6:30am unless we set an alarm for 4 or 5am ,knowing that leaving at 7:30am got you to the airport before 9am is great. Our flight is at 11:35am and will probably do exactly what you did. Head to windjammer early and walk off around 7a-7:30a.

wow. I never would have guessed anyones favorite deck is 6 and 8 in a million years. learn something new everyday.

Has anyone every experianced any royal promanade (deck 5 and 6 ) noise bleed into their ocean balcony room on the 7th floor on an oasis class ship?

4 hours ago, JohnK6404 said:

You may have already checked these deck plans out... but just in case here's the link and a PDF version...

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/icon-of-the-seas/deck-plans/2250/02

Icon_Deck Plans.pdf 1.16 MB · 1 download

Thank you. I haven't seen this. it is very helpful. 

1 hour ago, Rackham said:

Without knowing their exact location, could it be because they're above Playmakers or the Schooner Bar? There's also a live entertainment venue and the fitness center over there too.

Good point. While it is not the oasis, the promanade was the 5th floor and the scooner was the 6th so that makes sense.

I think I am about to pull the trigger on an Icon cruise next February (24th). The midship traditional ocean balcony rooms are almost sold out. Floor 7 is the only floor available and all the rooms available (about 6 or 10) are clustered near each other on the starboard side. Is there known reason that I am missing why these are the only rooms left? I feel like I am about to book a spot at a campsite and these spots are next to the highway or sewage pump and that is why these are the last rooms to be booked.  Any idea why these are the last to go?

If you can drive to NJ it is way better than flying to Orlando. We left out of NJ in June and the weather for the first day at sea was perfect. August weather in the northeast is generally very good sans the odd thunderstorm. I would definitely not fly to Orlando due to weather unless you really wanted a different ship. Our first cruise out of NJ was on Oasis of the seas and our next cruise is out of Orlando because I wanted to try Wonder of the seas.

41 minutes ago, barjpoe said:

I don't you can legally take FRUIT off the ship.

You can take it off if it is in your belly! 

20 hours ago, lkg276 said:

As a local Uber/Lyft driver, if you off the ship no later than 0800 your wait will be minimal, the Ride-share lot has 60+ drivers waiting at that time

Thanks, that's informative and comforting. 

22 hours ago, Galveston Steve said:

 With a 5 year old I suggest sitting as close to the front as possible to be immersed in the show so it will hold their attention better. 

Thanks for your response. That seems like a good sugestion to sit closer for our boy to be more engaged.