RCVoyager

The best thing I've seen on a ship is my favorite band. Great music on the High Seas.

Same latitude as Charleston. It's warmer than Charleston in the Winter, but it's not as hot in the Summer on average.

Not just Bermuda, but all of the Bahamas and Turks and Caisos islands are in the Atlantic. It seems to be a common mistake that Geography nerds like me see all the time. Interestingly enough, some web sites and maps site Barbados as being in the Caribbean and some show it in the Atlantic. You'd think it would definately be in the Caribbean, but it sticks out to the east of the other islands.

I for one appreciate your review, and I bet many others here do too. In a weird way, this board is not unlike a family with RCCL being the parents. We have our squabbles. We get mad at our parents. But... when an outsider talks bad about one of us, we circle the wagons. RCCL isn't perfect, but it does a lot of things very well. I hope you enjoy your trip.

If the OP of this thread wanted to get the board veterans riled up, he/she did it. It's funny, we all have "beefs" with RCCL, but when a Newbie comes on and trashes the cruise line without all the facts, we get defensive. As it should be, I guess.

The Adventure will be in Ft. Lauderdale in the fall of 2018. I'm guessing it's not headed back to San Juan any time soon (as a home port).

Hey Doc. I don't disagree with you regarding crime, but perception is reality. Many Americans see the drug cartels on Mexican Pacific Coast as a problem. It doesn't detour anyone on the gulf side, but it does on the Pacific side. The mainstream news chooses which stories to cover, and the cartel shootings in Western Mexico are the story of choice by the American Media. I can site a million more examples, but I won't as it will turn political very quickly, and nobody wants that here.

My brother just did a Mexican Riviera Cruise on the Carnival Miracle. Acapulco was replaced with a second day in Cabo due to crime. Puerto Vallarta is getting bad too. I'm surprised the lines are adding itineraries there. The ships mentioned in the article are no bigger than the Voyager class. It would be difficult to move anything bigger into the Pacific, although the Voyager, Mariner, and Explorer are already there as well as the Radiance of the Seas.

To us, the Voyager Class (Adventure) is the sweet spot of cruising. Perfect size and layout of ship with lots to do.

Yes there are upgrade charges for the things you mentioned. Still RCCL is cheaper than Disney. There is no comparison between the ships or itineraries of the two cruise lines. I know a lot of people really like all the Disney characters walking about. It's a huge turn off for me. For the life of me, I don't understand why anyone would want to vacation with 1000 or more of someone else's kids. My own kids (19, 16, 10) would choose RCCL over Disney for these reasons, although I think my 10 year old would enjoy lobbing spitballs at Mickey and company. It's not to say RCCL is perfect, because it is not. But, they have great ships with amazing layouts, lots of choice in itinerary and ship style, really good menus in the MDR, and generally good service all over the ship. Everyone has an opinion, and if you go back to Disney, it will mean more opportunity on RCCL for us. One more thing regarding communicating with family. There are less expensive ways to do it. Through my carrier, texting is not expensive to or from the ship or ports. Phone cards can be purchased in most ports (not expensive). The price for the internet on board isn't cheap, but it's not a budget killer. The problem is the quality of the service.

My view is that the food in the MDR should be pretty good. If you upgrade, and pay extra, it should be an excellent experience all the way around. If I don't get that excellent experience, I would be disappointed. I've been critical of Norwegian Cruise Line because they have taken advantage of the upcharge restaurants by cutting the quality of the food in the MDR. The times I upgraded, I thought the food and service was really good. RCCL to my view, has not cut the quality in the MDR. I hope they don't. That would cause me to reevaluate the high regard in which I view RCCL as I have with NCL.

We did this a few years ago (out of Ensenada, Mexico to Hawaii). The sea days were great.

For a little perspective, I had the opportunity to meet Andy of 6th Man about 10 years ago. On a 2180 passenger Carnival Ship, in 2007, the price was $250,000 per day. Don't know if that included staff and crew.

In my opinion, the MDR menus on NCL are poor. It's like they purposely cheapened the MDR offerings to force passengers into the upcharge restaurants. I have only sailed NCL once. Other family members have a few other times for various reasons, and they all share the same opinion.

I've cruised from Galveston twice. It is a decidedly different crowd than Florida, East Coast, or San Juan. It appears to me that many of these passengers are truly getting the best bang for the buck. I'm not saying this with any sort of agenda or overall lifestyle judgement. I'm not sure a 10 day cruise would sell well there.

Given the current issues with crime and drug lords on the west coast of Mexico, I look for Riviera cruises to be more difficult to come by than they've been in the past. My brother and his wife are on the Carnival Miracle now. The Acapulco stop was cancelled months ago. So they ended up with two days in Cabo. Puerto Villarta is having crime trouble now too. It's probably a matter of time until the issues creep in to the gulf side as well.

We would love to do an Oasis Class ship, but as mentioned the itineraries aren't that exciting. Being in the Midwest, we pretty much have to fly to a cruise. If we're going to fly, we might as well head to San Juan. We love Old San Juan and there is more variety of islands in the South. We are looking at the Symphony in Europe next year.

Grand Cayman's very own Barefoot Man would also apply here. He once said that he is the Jimmy Buffett of Cayman without the headaches or the money.

In some ways I get it when it comes to spending tax payer money to accommodate private interests. Here in the US, professional sports franchises hold cities hostage exactly the same way all the time. It's not pretty, but it's how business gets done. I don't know if Auckland should build the facility the RCCL is requesting or not, but I get the feeling this particular writer has an agenda that is beyond a yes or no answer to the question. When I see an article that is so one sided that contains rhetoric such as "Armstrong's pride and joy the Ovation of the Seas", I smell a rat. Why was there no mention of the economic advantages such an investment would bring? Why was there no mention of civic pride? There was nothing about opportunities for Australians to travel around the world from Auckland. There wasn't even really a complaint about how much it would cost. It was a one-sided hit piece from beginning to end. Again, I don't know if the local Government should build this thing or not, but reading an article like this, with its agenda, tells me it's a pretty good idea.

I shot the Sheriff.

I will help you bump this, because I'm interested too, and I have no idea.

Thanks for your more detailed explanation. It sheds new light on the situation. And I agree RC should not have cancelled a month of cruises to finish the refurb when the ship is barely scheduled out for 18 months. Poor planning there for sure.

I agree with this. If there is another view that could be worked through, I'd like to hear it.

In NJ in June of 2019 and Ft. Lauderdale in December of 2019. It may be a seasonal thing.

Not really fair to say they screwed up the refurb. It was done in Freeport. Much of the refurb supply was affected by a hurricane. Not much could be done about that. Also worth noting that the Adventure is moving out of San Juan to eventually land in Ft. Lauderdale. The Freedom of the Seas is headed to San Juan... and I think I will too!