PRC

Amiga is a blast.  Its not owned by Royal, so drink package does not work...cash bar only.  

Finished a nine night on Navigator last week.   As always she doesn't disappoint.  Never touched the MDR or Izumi, but everything else was great.  Any specific questions I will try to answer!

On 12/28/2017 at 11:55 AM, bcarney said:

I need to persuade you to take the Nov 19, 2018 Serenade cruise that I'll be on!

Did serenade the last 2 Novembers and it was great fun!  Haven't planned past May but we'll see!

On radiance Class, the C&A lounge / Loyalty Ambassador's desk was so nice up there before they put all the rigging in.  

Great news!

I loved staying there, waterfront location right at the harbor, and all of OSJ is easily walkable from there!

Yes, all equipment removed.  (was on Serenade last month).  hopefully they will return the space on deck 12 to being the beautiful Crown and Anchor lounge it was before!

My current holdings:

Navigator January '18 - Classic Soda and Voom one device - $16.83/day

Independence February '18 - Classic Soda and Voom one device - $16.83/day

Oasis March '18 -  Classic Soda and Voom one device - $22.61/day

Freedom April '18 - Classic Soda and Voom one device - $18.47/day

The first 3 were purchased on the same day back in October...obviously there is/was a premium attached to Oasis-Class ships.

Freedom was purchased this past week during the latest "sale"... "sale" obviously being a relative term.  ;)

Twice (for different ships) I have called asking for a clarification on the description...Voom packages all being listed as "Voom Surf & Stream" and the combo beverage/internet being listed simply as "Voom".  Both times I have been told that there is no longer any different levels, its all one speed, the website labels are just holdovers.

Interesting... their online system is still accepting reservations for the night of the 6th...

(great place to stay btw)

Right after Thanksgiving (Dec 4), taxi's were flat-rating from Terminal 18 to any 17th street hotel for $10.  I took one back to the Renaissance instead of waiting on Uber at that price.

I've stayed at all the places on 17th and all are fine.  Pier 66 is a bit of a hike over the bridge and reportedly gone downhill since its no longer associated with Hyatt, but the others are all walking to shops and eats, very safe and convenient.

Hilton Marina - beautiful marina and grounds, great for leaving the car while cruising.  Save some $ and ask for the older low rise wing.

Renaissance - Upscale and a bit pricey, but first rate.  Also good for leaving the car.

Holiday Inn Express - Basic, clean and well maintained.  New garage I've never tried.  Good place.

Extended stay - Also basic, clean and well maintained.  Good place.

Embassy Suites - Typical Embassy Suites great quality.  

Wide variety of eateries, Walgreens, liquor store all within 5 minute walk from all these places.  All about 5 minute ride to the pier including security stop.

I considered this once, but never did it...

https://www.mrsimcard.com/caribbean/s-digicelpap.html

If connectivity is a must-have, 3G cellular coverage is good, so a Digicel SIM card may fill your needs.

IMO, ship fatigue is not possible ;)

There is a big push at Royal to embrace and add technology to their onboard product, and I can see definite advantages to doing so.  I may be older, but after 35 years in IT I will be their biggest supporter. 

That said, I have always felt that their online systems have been "Quirky" and "Fragile" for years, and really wish there was a bigger effort to eliminate those issues.  

15 minutes ago, Boston Babe said:

HOw do you sett your computer to incognito mode? I use my work computer usually to check RC and it keeps saying "whoops, the website must be down call RC", then I go on my Mac and it's fine. Frustrating!

Royal's site seems to be much more picky than most.  Being a Chrome user, I just use incognito mode to go there and thus no issues.

Most of the fleet list separate links to deck plans for each year that was released for sale (usually in the April-May timeframe), but most times there are no changes at all, other than such things like the cabin category re-org as already mentioned.  

3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I’ve received further clarification on this new amenity.

This new spa amenity is an “add-on” treatment.  Buy one spa treatment and get a free add-on treatment.  So it’s not quite the perk that it first sounded like it was but it’s still something new.

Well that's not how I understood it either... :(

Oh well, like I said, I'm not the spa type...

They mentioned that this was coming while I was on Serenade last week.  Said that technically it would apply to sailings starting in Dec, they would honor it for our last 3 days (Dec 1,2,3).

I'm not a spa kind of guy though...  ;)

Personally I feel this is nothing more than another act of the TSA's "Security Theater".  Think about it:

This law wasn't created until 2005...4 years after 9/11.  If it was that important, why did it take that long to pass?

Once passed, they have spent the last 12 years granting extension after extension.  Again, if you can make 12 years of delays, how important can it really be?

Have a great time! Liberty never disappoints!

My very unimportant take on this:

Cuba has proven to be very popular.  Work has been ongoing with Havana to fit a larger ship into the harbor, and majesty should fit nicely.  The Cuba sailings will stay mostly from Tampa, as the whole situation is a bit delicate in Miami.  This means that Majesty will go to Tampa.

This leaves Canaveral without a 3/4 ship.  Enchantment sailed from Canaveral before and they can easily slide her up the coast.

This leaves Miami without a 3/4 ship.  Empress can come over to the east side and do these nicely.  

Enchantment going to Canaveral means she won't head to Galveston, and as it is a larger draw than NOLA, Vision will simply stay in galveston.  NOLA looses out from this.

Now, when the big gals (Mariner and Navigator) arrive...

Mariner will show up first, and head to Miami to relieve Empress.  Where will Empress go?  Maybe NOLA, but I'm going to go out on a limb and think they may get into the Charleston, SC market that Carnival has had to themselves and do Bahamas sailings.  

When navigator shows up, she will take over Miami and Mariner will head up the coast to Canaveral.  Where will Enchantment go?  My guess will be that NOLA will get her and do 7 night sailings.

Also seeing reports of:

People getting email saying their Empress sailings will be sailed by Majesty out of Tampa

My first guess would be Pullmantur (where Sovereign and monarch went), but nothing is showing on their website as of yet...