rjweber3

We sailed Infinity in September. the Retreat allowance for alcohol was the same as the premium package. I didn't look that closely at the wine price. I suspect the the 18% is charged on the undiscounted price, then the 20% is applied. Hope this helps.

Both sites are up to just browse or look for cruises. It seems like the sign-in is broken on both the Apps and the websites.

We have sailed on both in the past years. I don't think that there is any question that Celebrity is about 15-20% more expensive on a cost/person/day basis. Having said that and qualifying my response as coming from someone who travels almost exclusively on the "Dark Side" i.e. in a Suite, the intangibles like not feeling nickeled and dimed forever and the level of personal service has directed us more and more to the X. Please note that this is personal to my wife and me. We have another Royal cruise on the books because we will be travelling with my siblings +spouses. The price for an equivalent Canada/New England cruise made the difference to them.

Or on the pool deck under the running track overhang. Almost anywhere. Unless, perhaps, you use video conferencing alot. Then a private balcony is probably best.

So true. For us it was gradual. First a balcony cabin, then a Junior Suite, now our "standard" is a Grand Suite.

Basically just wondering if the experience is enough better than Celebrity to justify the cost? Or is it a once and done proposition? I'm sure SilverSea is a great line, but the cost is eye-watering.

Thanks. That helps.

CruisingOz, No. I didn't ask. But I do know that some did the home test in a hotel in Barbados to satisfy the two day prior requirement for the ship.

I am trying to get information on RCG newest addition. I can go to their websites and talk to TAs, but I am more interested in real cruising experiences. Thanks, Ralph

Just returned from the December 5th inigural cruise out of BGI. 1. PCR three days prior to entering Barbados. They checked this in the US prior to flying. 2. Test(Antigen or PRC) two days prior to boarding. We did the eMed Home tests. 3. We found out that it was much easier to get hrough Barbadian imigration if you highlight the type test. The agents are pressed fro time and some test results are pretty dense with verbiage. 4. Everyone has to take an antigen test at the terminal. Takes 20-30 minutes. Masking mandatory to this point. 5. Aboard ship, masking in indoor public venues and places where unvaxxed might be. My Time dining is unmasked. As is the theater on deck 5. The Concierge Lounge is unmasked. 6. Grandeuer's electronics reflect its age. The app is not generally helpful. We could not schedule MyTime from it. We coild not book a tour or essentially any other reservation from it. We could not book a wakeup call except by calling Guest Relations. And then we did not get one 50% of the time. When I pointed this out at the Guest Relations desk, I was told that the electonics were "spotty". The Vooms Surf and Stream was really slow. We got maybe 8 Mb/s down and less than 2 Mb/s up. No reliable ping times in several tests. 7. The itinerary is fluid. We got several changes due to COVID rates. No stop in Trinidad, Tobago or Martinique. 8. The excursions were generally of the bus ride or beach variety. Very little "on your own" available. Hope this helps.

Has anyone been able to check-in? It still shows "We'll email you when check-in opens".

I called eMed about ours. The three month extension is solid.

Also aft-facing JS have much bigger balconies on most RC ships.

The chair noise made us book suites on any deck but the one immediately below the pool/windjammer deck forevermore. Moving chairs over nonslip surfaces is noisy in a way that transmits well through a steel overhead.

Nassau for me also.

We just sailed from St. Maarten on Millennium, the protocols were pretty reasonable. It's hard for me to imagine what these passengers could have done. If, in fact this is what happened. My impression is that the government of St. Maarten was bending over backwards to accommodate tourists.

We are primarily destination cruisers. We look for new places to see and new things to do. But, I will admit that the allure of high energy places has waned as we have exceeded 70 years on the planet. Purely for ease of movement between places aboard we prefer Radiance class ships. We love the glass and class they offer. We will never get on a flowrider again. Too likely to break something we need afterward. Plus, we feel like Oasis class are really slow. It seems like it takes forever to get anywhere. And RCL has made most of the Voyager class 3-5 night cruises. We don't do less that 7 nights and prefer 9-18 nights. If the destination is right, we will sail on any RCL class. (Full disclosure, we have not sailed on a Quantum class yet.)

My lady and I started in a balcony cabin on Explorer during its inaugural year. (Hint 2000). We moved up to a Jr. Suite because of the coffin-like shower for cruise 4. Then a Grand Suite for cruise 7. We were hooked. We can't go back. I don't even bother to suggest it to my wife anymore. We'll be celebrating our 50th anniversary in February 2022. So, it works for us.

Seeing new places. We cruise for the itineraries. I am Ok with a few sea days. My wife..is...not. Trying new foods is also one of my favorites. Until we started cruising I wouldn't even consider eating escargot. Now I get it all the time.

Looking forward to this one. Booked as soon as it came on the market. As soon as we had booked flights they went up about 2-300%! Amazing!

I will echo the comments about the Chair Hogs. And it is worse in the Solarium! The website is terrible. Frankly that's what drove me to my TA. I can tell her where I want to go and she does all the frustrating, boring work. I have tried to book a B2b on RCL's site. Almost impossible to find out to where a ship is sailing on the next sailing. Finding out how much you owe after booking seems to be impossible. I am so angry about FCCs that I have given up on them and routinely get a refund. Another good idea terribly executed. Finally, since our first cruise on RCL in 2000, it seems like the experience has deteriorated. At this point my wife prefers Celebrity because of the treatment on board. We still have some RCL cruises booked but only if the itinerary is unique enough to justify the additional ill treatment.

We are on that cruise also. We'll see you on board! We are both vaccinated. The fly in the ointment for us is the PCR requirement prior to arrival. Locally here no one will commit to a certain time for results. As present we are planning to get tested at several places in hopes that one of them comes back in time.

We got ours for 26 June 21. Retreat Royal Suite. Happy, happy, Joy Joy! Airfare to St. Marten is outrageous, though. Benefit of a great TA.

Here Here! Journalism as it was conceived in the last century is dead. Sacrificed on the altar of profit.

I think we all have to realize that the CDC is, in fact, a government agency with all the inherent hesitance to action of any government agency. (At least in the US, I can't speak for other countries.) They cannot keep up with the changing COVID landscape. As soon as they write, then staff, then rewrite, then restaff, then get administration guidance from the new administration, and then repeat, the situation has changed. There is a terrible tendency in the US to do nothing. Remember, "If we do nothing, we can do nothing wrong!" I don't see that changing before the summer.