DunkelBierJay

Seeing reactions from passengers on current cruises how they can’t afford to book the same cruise the following year I believe we’ll see a surge in land travel and/or $$$ being put into backyard paradises or home improvements. 

The industry is incredibly cyclical. Bargains will be different as we progress through the cycle. Whenever the next correction comes, something will normalize and we'll see where we land. 
 
However, I've said this in another thread before, I do think the insane pricing going on at the Orlando theme parks has a part to play in this. If someone is flying into the market, they can easily take a three-day cruise out of Port Canaveral for a lower price than what they might pay for park tickets. I think it's becoming more a viable option for people and RCL knows this - hence their investment in the short cruise itineraries. 

During some idle time this morning, I was thinking about how pricing is through the roof, and wondered if a correction may be coming. I have no idea, because Royal Caribbean's marketing seems superior to the other cruise lines and demand seems disproportionate to Royal vs other lines. I looked for late May sailings from Miami, Port Everglades, Port Canaveral and Tampa. I compared the May 25 sailing on Icon, Symphony, Wonder and Enchantment for similar category cabins to compare with Carnival Celebration. I realize it's not completely apples to apples, but this was eye opening.
Results (guarantees when the option was available):
Carnival Celebration -- 7 night sailing on May 26 from Miami -- total cost for two is $2,543.30 -- cost per night $363.32 Icon -- 7 night sailing on May 25 from Miami -- total cost for two is $9,767.38 -- cost per night $1,395.34 Symphony -- 6 night sailing on May 4 from Port Everglades -- total cost for two is $2,994.48 (the sailings from PE were limited to Symphony 6 night and 3 night -- not a good comparison) -- cost per night $499 Wonder -- 7 night sailing on May 26 from Port Canaveral -- total cost for two is $4,707.94 -- cost per night $672.56 Enchantment -- 7 night sailing on May 11 from Tampa -- total cost for two is $3,798.76 -- cost per night $542.68 per night I have to conclude that unless there is a correction soon, I may be trying other lines. I just don't see that the value that Royal has been known for exists right now considering a ship like Enchantment gets more for 7 nights than Carnival's second newest ship that has been getting good reviews. I am loyal to Royal, but there is a limit, and sadly, I am close to it. I'm curious to know what others are thinking.

There’s no reason to worry. 
 
We would sail on Adventure anytime.  

My cabin. Had no problems.
Enchantment of the Seas
14 May 2022

One of my favorite ships in the fleet!  Only one with a pool bar facing the ocean!   So classic.  

Sailed enchantment in February, found the ship charming and have no complaints. Sure she’s older and starting to show her age but the staff were awesome and had a chance to remember you with the smaller crowd

I would be stressed. As was mentioned above, the port will not be staffed to handle those embarking after the cut off time. Royal has ZERO control over this. You might get a phone agent tell you it’s OK, but phone agents don’t have all the info and have been known to wing it! The ship being docked for 28 hours has to do with logistics, not an extended period to take on late passengers. There is a reason for the 3:30 cut off on the 27th and I would take that very seriously. You wouldn’t be the first one to show up after the final boarding call and left ashore. I’d seriously look into changing that flight to the 26th. Any increase in airfare cost has to be cheaper than the cost of missing the final boarding call. 

They can't keep all the terminal staff available for multiple shifts around the clock.  Terminal staff are local contractors, not cruise line employees, in addition to customs and immigration who are government workers, all who have limits to their work day.   They can't tell any of those people to work 18 hour days.  To cover an extended check in window that would mean multiple shifts of each set of people doubling or tripling the cost.  From forklift drivers, xray technicians, luggage handlers on land and on the ship, security, police, customs, immigration, check in counter workers and more.  There are a lot of people in the terminal involved in boarding new guests onto a ship.  
 At a certain point the local terminal people who process new guests will go home leaving a small security staff to screen existing passengers coming and going to the ship.   That's relatively easy and immigration knows those guests have already been processed.  
The best thing to do would be to fly in day before and spend a night in the hotel.  That also protects you better from delayed or canceled flights.  Flying in the day of the cruise is a rookie mistake that often causes people to miss cruises.  I have missed a cruise thinking I could fly in the day of the cruise and my flight was supposed to land at 9am.   Never again.   
1:55pm international arrival?  Wow!

When people talk of "small" ships Freedom is usually not a topic of discussion.

I thought my favorite perk was going to be Diamond drinks...and they ended up going under utilized. I just don't drink all that much any more. If I had two drinks a day, that was a lot.
My favorite perk ended up being the coffee machine in the Crown Lounge and the overall quiet of the space along with the food they had out at most times of the day. Occasionally, I would bring work or a book there and enjoyed it very much.

I thought my favorite perk was going to be Diamond drinks...and they ended up going under utilized. I just don't drink all that much any more. If I had two drinks a day, that was a lot.
My favorite perk ended up being the coffee machine in the Crown Lounge and the overall quiet of the space along with the food they had out at most times of the day. Occasionally, I would bring work or a book there and enjoyed it very much.

If the sushi making class is enjoyable, I would recommend the sushi and sake pairing. I did it on Serenade and on Mariner and had a blast on both. They were a little different on each ship...and I developed a taste for good sake, and not that heated up stuff.

I think that Hampton Inn is fairly new, so I looked at Google Maps. It brings it up just north of the Homewood Suites, so if this is correct, you're definitely within a 15 minute walk and you're on the right side of Astronaut Blvd to get the sidewalk to the little industrial area a couple of blocks below the port area. You would have to go around a small retention pond to avoid walking in the street to the port (all sidewalk/walking path).
You may want to scout it out by going to dinner the night before at one of the three or four restaurants right next to the terminal, just to the west or left as you're walking up. I've been to Fishlips and Grills. I haven't been to the others. I like Grills a little better...in fact the bar is a great pace for breakfast and you're right next to the ship that you will be boarding.
I highly recommend looking at the satellite view on Google Maps to get familiar with the turns. Note that the satellite view is not up to date as the terminal isn't in the pic, but it's there. I circled it in red below. The Map View shows it however and the current state is much more developed than this pic shows. If you're on an upper floor of your hotel with a north view, you will see the terminal and parking garage, and in the morning, you will see the ship on the other side after docking.
Late May will be pretty hot and humid, so that would be a consideration. You may not have to exert yourself to break a sweat. If you're ok with that, it's very doable. I hope you have wheels on your luggage. Personally, I wouldn't do it otherwise.
Walking Directions <-- link

 

I watched the whole series, but I think I recall it was his last video because he was nearing the end of his content. I may be wrong. He seemed pretty bummed about it.

Brightline has been pretty good at cutting through the red tape...how they do it, only they and the bureaucrat$ know...I bet it happens fairly quickly from land acquisition if they don't already have it to the time needed for construction. The line is already there, and that was the biggest hurdle.
Looking further in the future, I would love to see hotel/train packages like GoPort offers....it would be great to have more hotel options pop up in Port Canaveral, or even a hotel attached to the Brightline station at MCO, which is another discussion.
There are 5-6 hotels that are walkable to Terminal 1, but I'd love to see a couple more that are closer. The only drawback is how long you have to sweat. I've made the walk from the Residence Inn in 15 minutes and was soaking wet, so I dry off at the bar at Grills prior to boarding. 🤫

Now....send one down our way...

A visit to Labadee is perfectly fine. To get a picture of the travel from Port au Prince to the north, a Youtuber, Indigo Traveller attempted to make the trip to Cape Hatien with a guide and was unsuccessful because of the quality of the road and demonstrations along the way. The odds of unrest moving as far as Labadee are pretty much nil because even without people on the road, the quality of it would make the trip much longer than six hours.
Cape Hatien, is close to Labadee on the north coast and is known to be much much safer than Port au Prince which is currently in a state of virtual anarchy.
Since 2015, I can only recall one instance that Royal suspended stops there, and I believe some striking workers were demonstrating outside the gate to the peninsula.
I would have zero issues going to Labadee. The only thing to consider is that some travel insurance policies may not allow for medical claims to be made if the traveler is from a European country and they stopped at Labadee, but always check with the company first.

MSC is having a bad day....they banned the Youtube channel Cruising with Ben and David from filming video on their ships and the word is spreading. I have my popcorn out.

MSC is having a bad day....they banned the Youtube channel Cruising with Ben and David from filming video on their ships and the word is spreading. I have my popcorn out.

MSC is having a bad day....they banned the Youtube channel Cruising with Ben and David from filming video on their ships and the word is spreading. I have my popcorn out.

MSC is having a bad day....they banned the Youtube channel Cruising with Ben and David from filming video on their ships and the word is spreading. I have my popcorn out.

MSC is having a bad day....they banned the Youtube channel Cruising with Ben and David from filming video on their ships and the word is spreading. I have my popcorn out.

I may have missed something, but the videos I saw were of Serenade on its world cruise during some weather in the South Atlantic. Water from a storm penetrated through doors on the upper decks and soaked some carpets.
I am not aware of anything like that on Voyager.
You really don't have anything to worry about, however, because the deck crews on all ships are professional and efficient. If/when there is water damage, they mitigate it quickly, and that fresh clean Royal Caribbean smell is always present. Videos that make the internet are rare, but become viral easily because of the sensationalism. I have not been on Voyager yet, but I have been on two of her sister ships, and can attest that the experience will be wonderful, and yes, the ship is very safe, as are all RC ships. 
Matt has a tour of Voyager on YouTube at this link in case you want to envision being on board.
 

I may have missed something, but the videos I saw were of Serenade on its world cruise during some weather in the South Atlantic. Water from a storm penetrated through doors on the upper decks and soaked some carpets.
I am not aware of anything like that on Voyager.
You really don't have anything to worry about, however, because the deck crews on all ships are professional and efficient. If/when there is water damage, they mitigate it quickly, and that fresh clean Royal Caribbean smell is always present. Videos that make the internet are rare, but become viral easily because of the sensationalism. I have not been on Voyager yet, but I have been on two of her sister ships, and can attest that the experience will be wonderful, and yes, the ship is very safe, as are all RC ships. 
Matt has a tour of Voyager on YouTube at this link in case you want to envision being on board.