whenismynextcruise

...and we were on NAV a couple of months ago (Owners Suite) and that bed was as hard as a rock.  I think it’s just hit or miss.

We don't have children cruising with us so losing the DreamWorks characters is actually a plus.

I always feel sweaty from the extreme humidity while being on the ocean and welcome any AC that is working properly.

Fourteen cruises marks the most I've cruised in any single year so I thought I take a second to put it down in a post.
I started 2018 as a relatively new Diamond member in the Crown and Anchor Society and finished just over the halfway mark to Pinnacle.
Anthem -> Liberty -> Serenade -> Adventure -> Explorer -> Empress -> Radiance -> Mariner -> Enchantment -> Adventure -> Symphony -> Serenade -> Oasis -> Navigator
The scary part is I missed a cruise when my daughter graduated from the Air Force or it would have been fifteen.  Oh well, well worth it.
Of all these cruises I think Navigator to the ABC islands was my best cruise, in no small part due to the ABC islands and my cruise mate (step daughter and scuba diving buddy).
Other notable 2018 cruise events for me
First Transatlantic (Symphony) First Canada/New England (Adventure) First ABC island cruise First visit/cruise to Cuba First Diamond Plus cruise (Adventure repositioning San Juan to Bayonne) First Radiance class experience First Voyager class experience Completed the Oasis class challenge (sailing all Oasis Class) Completed the Freedom class challenge (sailing all Freedom class) Completed the Empress class challenge (easy one here) My longest single cruise (Adventure 13 night Snowbird Migration) Paid for a cruise in full and didn't show up (cruise #15 above) Sailed six different classes of ship in a single year (would have been seven classes if not for the missed cruise) First time on a FlowRider Five Crystal Blocks First year not sailing in a full suite Sailed on a ship every month of the year First RoyalCaribbeanBlog Group Cruise!!!!
What was your most notable cruise moment of 2018?

Looks amazing....

Besides the ease of booking while on board and the reduced deposit, is anyone finding any real benefit to using nextcruise now? While on a Thanksgiving trip I booked a Bermuda trip and a repeat of the Thanksgiving trip for 2019. Price was pretty much the same and I got $50 OBC for each. Other than the fact that the trips are "on the books" I really saw no significant upside to it.  Seems like it might be time to follow the leads of @Matt and @KJ1231 and many others here to switch (finally!) over to using MEI for booking. At least someone other than the cruise line will get the benfit of the sale.

Here’s a few photos from this afternoon on the water. I went through the port & saw Indy as well as Holland America Oosterdam. Enjoy. This represents basically every normal weekend here in East Fort Lauderdale...
#endlesssummer
#FLL

The Port of Nassau is tired, run down filthy and not very appealing at all unless you are going on a sanctioned excursion to places like Atlantis or Pearl lsand. I agree that any tourist in any city should be wise in how they explore a new city but when the cruise line is adding an additional warning to its passengers attention should be paid.
Nassau is very convenient for cruise ships clearly. I am sure many ships register in the Bahamas as well but I would much rather have an extra day playing at Coco Cay or at sea or even throw in a day trip to Key West than waste a full day stopping at a port that I won't bother leaving the ship for.
As long as there is a continuing stream of new passengers with new adventures on their mind I doubt that Royal would consider an itinerary change though.  
The cinic in me wonders if a letter like this is an intentional statement of the obvious but will push some passengers toward paid for excursions.

How dare RCL treat those of us in steerage as equals! ?
steer·age /ˈstirij/ noun   1. HISTORICAL the part of a ship providing accommodations for passengers with the cheapest tickets.  

I also agree that it really ain’t a scam at all just another program that they are offering and some might find it worth the money while others won’t depending on what they value and what they like to do. Yes I think that it really depends on what you would do on the ship. Personally we don’t use any of the flowrider, rock climbing etc activities so those features aren’t of any value to us but would be very valuable to families that would use those features. Also, the price that we are paying for the internet for two devices is a total of 133 for two devices for our cabin since we don’t need any more than that. Also, we check our bags and just carry a purse on board so that feature wouldn’t be used by us either, but certainly might for other groups that might want to carry on luggage. The breakfast also isn’t anything that I would place value on solely for us because we are fine with getting room service or eating in the buffet, but again that’s only us. So for us I can only look at the value of boarding priority and reserved seating at shows as those are the only other features that we would be receiving in addition to the internet. Therefore just for us we would have a difference of around 147 for the added benefits beyond the internet. I personally don’t feel that monetarily speaking that priority boarding and reserved seats at shows is worth an additional 147. 
 
But it that’s just me. I would rather spend that kind of money on excursions and activities. 
 
But families might find this advantageous depending on what they like to do. 
To each their own though ?

How dare RCL treat those of us in steerage as equals! ?
steer·age /ˈstirij/ noun   1. HISTORICAL the part of a ship providing accommodations for passengers with the cheapest tickets.  

Do you want to start a fight on the RC Blog forums? Because this is how you start a fight on the RC Blog forums. 

Perhaps some of the people in suites think enjoyment of the cruise is a zero sum game....and they can't have full enjoyment if the staff is sharing extras with people  ;).  I'm not like that.....then again....the concierge is always like "How come you don't come up to the lounge" when I am on board ship ? and I'm always like "ohh too busy" but the real reason is that it is often filled with people who complain about free bread on a cruise ?

I tell you what, I will gladly take their place, and promise that I will not complain one bit. I guess sometimes we all forget that sometimes it is not about "us" all the time and that it is the season for kindness, and giving to others.  I would have smiled and enjoyed it one bite at a time!  Wish I was on a cruise right now to be able to enjoy a slice myself!!!?

To be honest, if I was in a suite for this sailing, my reaction would be "Fine!  Let them eat cake."  But only after I confirmed with the Captain that there was no guillotine on board...  ?

Or your panties!?

I consider it to be  a lovely gesture, nothing more ..... and for those that got their panties all in a bunch, GET OVER IT!!!  The world does NOT revolve around YOU!!

What makes me laugh is that the exact same people who are likely to make that complaint are the exact same ones who will complain about "entitled millennials" in the same breath. 

Wait, what?...people are seriously complaining that there was something given to non-suite guests for "free?" 
a) What has this world come to?
b) How would they know...much less care? I assume they had something of greater or equal value served to them up in Shangri-La
c) Seriously.....what?
 

Those who raised a stink about this simple gesture should have their C&A accounts flagged as individuals to be up-charged on every future booking.
Does that suggestion sound petty enough to match the complainers?

How dare RCL treat those of us in steerage as equals! ?
steer·age /ˈstirij/ noun   1. HISTORICAL the part of a ship providing accommodations for passengers with the cheapest tickets.  

How dare RCL treat those of us in steerage as equals! ?
steer·age /ˈstirij/ noun   1. HISTORICAL the part of a ship providing accommodations for passengers with the cheapest tickets.  

I agree.  I would add the cynic in me sees it differently though.  I think this more about showing who owns the cards when it comes to the Bahamas and cruise lines.  If memory serves me correctly only a few months ago the Bahama's govt came out and upped the cost of the ports, basically insinuating that the cruises are taking advantage of the low cost and they are not reaping enough in revenue for the amount of people that come on land when at port.  By leaving this letter in every cabin,  many that did not have an excursion will stay on the ship instead of just walking around Nassau and maybe buying some trinkets.  In essence, it is a win win for RCCL.  If they stay on the ship, many may spend money at the spa, at bingo or buy a drink or two  to lounge at the pool, ($$$ if they don't have the DBP), maybe even have lunch at a specialty restaurant,  more money in the RCCL pocket.  WIN #1.  
WIN #2 is the fewer that get off due to fear from this letter, the Bahamain govt gets to see even less revenue, and that by rising the costs to port in Nassau they lost money bc now we played the fear card with our passengers that had no excursions, but intended to just walk around just by placing this letter in every stateroom.  They never said don't get off, just insinuated you may want to be weary of getting off.  
~ I have seen this in my life.  My DH served in the AF during the 90's when they were closing military bases left and right.  The mayor of the town where the base was located went to the Base Commander and told him they were going to tell the Congressman and Senators they would like the base to close because in their eyes, they only brought noise to the town (airplanes), and nothing else.  Every base has a bank on the base.  The Commander ordered that bank to only give every airmen $2 bills if they were getting cash that payday weekend.  On Monday the mayor called the Commander and said I give.  The town had been flooded with $2 bills everywhere.  He saw and heard from business, including the banks in town why on earth are we getting all of these $2 bills?  He saw that the AF base with the noise of airplanes taking off equated to pumping in a lot of money into that town.   Hence, why I see RCCL doing that letter.  It is to illustrate to the govt that you don't realize how much money our passengers spend on shore.
I also bet that RCCL is not the only cruise line placing these letters in the staterooms.  On the day we arrived in Nassau, Carnival,, NCL and Disney all arrived in port that day.  I bet those cruise lines too placed a letter like in RCCL.  Old adage the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  Hence, all cruise lines will band together to prove a point to the govt in Bahamas.

did anyone else catch the tweet in the OP that stated 2 days before departure that Royal is moving departure from Tampa to Port Canaveral?? What a logistical nightmare that must be for travelors! 2 days before your departure:
Airline tickets - Check!
Online Check in done - Check!
Airport transfers and/or hotel reservation in place - Check!
Dog sitter - Check!
Change of port of departure by 128 miles - OMG!
 

The Port of Nassau is tired, run down filthy and not very appealing at all unless you are going on a sanctioned excursion to places like Atlantis or Pearl lsand. I agree that any tourist in any city should be wise in how they explore a new city but when the cruise line is adding an additional warning to its passengers attention should be paid.
Nassau is very convenient for cruise ships clearly. I am sure many ships register in the Bahamas as well but I would much rather have an extra day playing at Coco Cay or at sea or even throw in a day trip to Key West than waste a full day stopping at a port that I won't bother leaving the ship for.
As long as there is a continuing stream of new passengers with new adventures on their mind I doubt that Royal would consider an itinerary change though.  
The cinic in me wonders if a letter like this is an intentional statement of the obvious but will push some passengers toward paid for excursions.