tonyfsu21

But what if this family member took their new found wealth and decided to just mortgage a whole new house instead of renovating that kitchen? Do you think the investors will be upset when the shipyards start laying ICON2 keel or any other new ship building? One thing is for sure, debt or no debt the money is rolling in.

The $25-$28/day is a bargain when you consider the convenience factor. The bar has been set pretty low for the shuttle companies and it’s anything but convenient when you deal with lines (especially when you disembark) and a shuttle bus schedule. There will be plenty of people who will tell you how great the park & rides or shuttle services are but they do not compare to the simplicity of the parking garage at Port of Miami.

This is too high level a thought for myself being a low level type guy. Just looking at the positives and hoping they Amp Allure.

Well tack on another $180m to the tab for a good cause. Accounting can be creative, and sometimes the numbers lie.

The company certainly has some left over pandemic debt but despite that, they are flush with cash. I don’t recall ever seeing this type of demand for cruising. With that being said, I think it would be beneficial to perform Allure AMP during the extended dry dock and I have a feeling we will be hearing about it 4Q23. Like others have mentioned, dry dock scheduling is tight considering cruising is only a piece of the maritime pie requiring dry dock maintenance and they often take what they can get. I bet there is a team tucked away in the Miami offices right now making phone calls and harassing suppliers for Giovanni’s Kitchen & wine bar signs amongst other things for 2Q24 delivery to the dry dock facility for a real AMP!!!! It’s about time.

Carry on. Wifey has this one too & it’s a problem in checked luggage.

We are big Dyson fans in this house!

My wife takes her Dyson on every cruise. There is absolutely no issue at all provided you carry it on and run it through security. We only made the mistake once of packing the Dyson in a suitcase and it was flagged by security. We had to go down to the security office on the ship and open the suitcase for them to check it.

I don’t recall them being any smaller than the other Oasis class ships.

If you reply back with more specifics, I am local and can assist. Time of year plays huge factor as well as brand loyalty and general price range or desired hotel amenities.

Nope, it’s still a thing. I doubt the company has the security resources to deal with this issue. The cutbacks to the overall service staff certainly slow things down a bit though.

Roll the dice because they are both amazing ships and you can’t go wrong with either choice! Odyssey does a Southern Caribbean route which would tip the scales for me personally as Aruba and Curaçao are great ports.

I would stick to booze and royal Caribbean logo garb purchases on a cruise ship. For the most part all the jewelry is junk. If you are a buyer of higher end items from shoppes like Cartier or Rolex then there is zero issue making these purchases on the island provided you are going to the boutique directly and an authorized Rolex dealer (verified by checking website). I have made several of these purchases and enjoy the duty free aspect. Also important to note, please don’t buy a pre owned Rolex on the ship as its older reference models that are VERY overpriced.

The itinerary could shift and I would expect that to be worse case scenario. Enjoy your cruise on Harmony and relax, the captain will do the leg work to steer the ship into the more favorable weather. Photo taken last night on Harmony and my family mentioned the weather has been great!

I do this trip often. It’s cheap and relaxing but Uber is certainly a better option.

Deep breaths. I am a 46 year local and my best advice is to not fall victim to the media hype machine and never ever trust the spaghetti hurricane models! Port and airport impacts would be your biggest issue as the ships reroute for big storms and for the most part do a great job of keeping you in the sun & fun. I wouldn’t (and don’t) hesitate to book cruises in hurricane season. All the stars would have to align to ruin your vacation and I would consider that low probability.

Maybe they got a later boarding time? If you have a 10:30 boarding time, chances are good that you will be on the ship before they are. Be ready to roll at 9:30am and you will have a good shot. The early bird always gets the worm.

My brother and his family boarded Harmony at 10:38am yesterday. I don’t think I’ve been able to get on earlier than that no matter how early we arrive.

Yep, it’s been a very long time since cruising was “all inclusive”. This would be before speciality dining was even a thing.

The Pina Colada with Kraken Rum.

Out of curiosity, do you think another cruise line would be any different? I would imagine on the very high end lines there has been little to no noticeable change in food quality. The cost cutting methods are pretty much standard for big box cruise though and I really don’t see any potential upside to leaving (especially as a diamond member). The C&A benefits at Royal Caribbean are arguably better than any other comparable cruise company and the food quality/service is directly associated with recouping money from a rough couple of years during the pandemic. Multi billion dollar losses require cost cutting strategies and unfortunately the consumer ultimately pays the price. I hope this MDR issue does not become standard and food quality eventually gets better but only time will tell.

I noticed on my last cruise on Freedom the WJ had a burger of the day section and I saw some interesting takes (Greek, Italian exc). Is anyone a fan and of which one? I am assuming this concept is fleet wide so a 7 day cruise might generate some interesting burgers.

There is absolutely no part of Royal Caribbean that is “5 star” from the interior cabins to the star class suites. If you are looking for a true 5 star experience then you need to book Regent or Ritz. Global supply chain issues (still) force large companies to source supplies from avenues they normally don’t go down. If an ihop logo on a sugar packet is a deal breaker then you need to cough up some more dough (like 10x) and sail premium lines because the mid tier is going to continue to disappoint you.

I agree re: MDR. The portions are way too small and the food quality has taken a turn for the worse. I no longer find it worthy of 1.5 hours of our time. The windjammer or speciality dining seems to be a better fit for my family. Interestingly enough, we stay in sky class and never really considered dealing with the coastal kitchen which might be decent.

Obviously cruise ship food is not at a level playing field with land based restaurants. You can’t expect much. I find the speciality dining at least provides a decent portion size and the experience is worth the price. I didn’t think Giovanni’s was bad at all. Maybe it was just an off night?