RestingBird

while it sucks to see US call center jobs move to other countries, as someone who used to run a 3rd party Call Center for another industry, it's becoming more and more commonplace simply due to labor costs.  Royal isn't the first and they won't be the last.     On a funny note, it can be rather comedic at times.   At one point in time,  my old facility handled level 1 tech support for a major brand PC company HQ'd out of Austin  ?      All overseas agents had to attend  language desensitization classes to sound "more American" .   Since my facility was based in Texas those agents would use our texas "twang" as their ideal speaking voice.    So you would get someone obviously from Mumbai on the phone , trying to sound like John Wayne with the name of "George" trying to help US customers.    It was hilariously embarrassing.          

with the number of points they need a new level ? 

Congrats on reaching Pinnacle @Traveler!! ?

Here is the latest update: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/09/05/royal-caribbean-cruise-terminal-portmiami-photo-report-labor-day-2018

I wish they would build a new small/mid size shop , I am sure it will be much better and might get some of things which the 20-25 year old ships do not have and you can not ass them just by renovation

still a market and a need for these smaller ships...I sailed Majesty and Monarch and enjoyed them both...would like to try Empress as well....I am all for small ships as well as bigger..options are good.

True they need Sovereign of the Seas Great Again 

I was wondering when these message boards would be reach the point someone would be speaking Klingon...

Since you are not in North America they must be using the European metric-english system.  Some metric, some standard in a complex formula based on your latitude and longitude.  
Or it's just wonky IT... again.
Or you hacked Super Mario's account.

Nuqjatlh are these Royal Cruises tlhih jatlh of? Are tlhih a king? 
 
My Klingon is rusty. (TWSS).

With RC website its more : 

In reality, when we decide to go on a cruise, our first thought is about our finances. We live near Houston, so, if we sail out of Galveston, we save a whole lot of money. Then, I look for sale prices. We do like being in a Junior Suite. Frankly, all the ships are nice, so we are really driven by price and location more so than which type or class of ship. The itinerary is almost unimportant. There is always something to do at whatever port we go to.

I don't mean for this to sound rude so please don't take it this way I really am curious. What did you like about Empress? I went on there for FREE in a junior suite that I got from the casino. I absolutely hated it. First I find that the air conditioning in the boat is awful. I am from Ft Lauderdale so I am used to heat but I don't want to be hot inside the ship. 2nd I found the food to be the absolute WORST out of all my Royal Caribbean cruises and I have been on 52 Royal Caribbean cruises. My friend and I joked that that we literally only ate enough on that ship just to get by because we found it so bad. Not just in MDR found the Windjammer quality to just be terrible. Also I spend a lot of time in the casino and maybe you don't but the actual A/C in the Casino is so bad they have to have huge fans blowing and the poor dealers are sweating so bad because they can't cool off. Now to be fair I took this cruise right after its dry dock before it went to Cuba. it was doing 4/5 Western Caribbean sailings and thats where I went.. Maybe it has improved since then but even if the Casino gave me the biggest suite they have I wouldn't go on it again. So Again I am not trying to be rude or put you down I truly am looking for someone's perspective on what they like about this ship.. 

This was by far, a super funny thread! Reminds me of how much I love this RCBlog community ❤️

lol, I'm laughing so hard right now!

We are docked in Falmouth, Jamaica today. While I love Jamaica (my hubby and I were married in Negril), we have been here several times and don't need any souvenirs. That's why we decided to stay on the ship. 
We went to CK for breakfast around 8:30 and it started to get quite busy after that. I've been watching the morning show and this morning went to the ballot box by Starbucks to submit an answer to the trivia question. 
On our way back, we stopped by the Next Cruise desk and ended up booking on Harmony for next March! ? We will be on the same sailing as @Lovetocruise2002 ?.
We decided to go check out the suite sun deck on 17 forward. You access it from deck 16 (near the solarium) and you need to use your room card to open the little gate to go up the stairs. Well we had the whole area to ourselves! We went into one of the cabana areas that overlook the solarium. Nice and quiet! They also have 2 showers to use to cool off.
We just got back from the gym,  which was also pretty much empty.  It was nice not to have to wait for machines. 
 

Yesterday was our first stop - Labadee. Before disembarking, we opted to go to the Suite Lounge for a coffee and a bagel. They also have a toaster set up to toast your bread, bagel.
Once off the ship, we had a short walk to where the suite guests can meet to get a ride to Barefoot Beach. The ride took only a few minutes. We checked in and were then brought to our cabana S6 (we booked a regular cabana with the concierge a week before). It was great for mom as it provided lots of shade.  They provided 6 large bottles of water as well as towels.
Our attendant Guy checked in with us regularly to see if we needed anything. We each had a Labadoozee. ?
At 11:30, the lunch buffet was ready. There was a variety of salads,  mac and cheese, ribs, steak, chicken, shrimp skewers, hamburgers and hot dogs. All was quite good.
Mom stayed in the cabana while I went back and forth between the water and the cabana. The water was clear and warm, and it was relaxing to float around on the mat. 
We stayed until around 2:00 PM before getting a ride back to the suite area by the pier. 
We really enjoyed Barefoot Beach as it was quiter and less crowded. 

Our dinner reservation in CK was for 6:30 (and will be every night). I chose escargot for my appetizer while mom had the Maine lobster salad. We both had the crab and shrimp crusted pollock which was delicious. For dessert, I opted for the mascarpone cheesecake and mom chose the valrhona chocolate bar (it was a very generous portion which we could have shared). 
We had reservations for the comedy show at 9, but mom didn't feel like going so we watched Oasis of Dreams from our CLS balcony instead. 

After the safety drill, we returned back to the room and balcony to relax and people watch.
Our reservation for CK was for 7 PM. It was quite busy when we got there,  after a short wait we were seated.  
For my appetizer I chose the burrata (sorry but I was hungry and forgot to take a picture until I had eaten a bit) and mom had the shrimp cocktail. We both chose the filet mignon (delicious) for our main course.  For dessert, I had the chocolate tart and she had one of the other features for the night (sorry I can't remember the name). 
We decided we needed to go for a walk after dinner.  We didn't have any shows planned, although we could watch Ready Player One from our balcony playing on the Aqua Theatre screen.
It is an early night for us after a long day of travelling. I'm enjoying the comfy bed and we can pick our perfect pillow!

I will give a little background about this cruise. My mom (76 years young) and I have traveled together since I was a kid. As an adult we've done all inclusives, Disney/Universal, and cruises. We like cruising best, and me being a teacher we usually go during March Break. We didn't have this trip planned, but in June she said she wanted to get away (hubby and I were just on the Allure July 8 - 15). So with the help of Michelle at MEI, here we are! We originally were interested in a grande suite so we could try out the Sky Class amenities but there weren't any available. It was between a junior suite (which we usually do) or a CLS. Well I decided to go for the CLS!
We left Detroit this morning (yes I know! we usually go the day before) and after a slight delay we landed in Orlando just before noon. When we got to the luggage area, there was a rep from RC waiting for us. She welcomed us and waited while we retrieved our luggage. She then escorted us to the RC desk where they gave us a # and told us to wait until it was called. We didn't wait very long until we were on our way to the ship.
I have to admit that I was a little nervous, since we've never cruised out of Port Canaveral. The last few have been out of Fort Lauderdale and Miami which we are familiar and comfortable with. Not to mention that I had a strange dream Saturday night that the boat started to leave without me and I was hanging on the back of it! 
Needless to say all went well! Everything was so organized. By the time we got to the ship our apartment - I mean cabin was ready! 
We were hungry and missed the CK lunch but the suite lounge had a small buffet of food.  So we had a glass of wine and a bite to eat.  
After lunch we made our reservations for CK for the week. 
***My first attempt at periscoping was today ?. I promise it will get better as I go along! Thanks to @Lovetocruise2002 for the tips! 
https://www.pscp.tv/w/bi5okDFheVFWSlZ6WlBwUXB8MXluSk9ZZGVCbXpLUv8rYMYZbP5hWssYxYe7VvV8iABhW4G-wHbsb2gKwtwm?t=1s

Sorry, this is the first thing that came to mind when I saw @DocLC's post...couldn't resist...

Everything is going just as I planned

I went and picked up my new car today, and look what popped up on my instrument panel!

That explains all of the moves. ?
You'd make a horrible fugitive. ?

@Lovetocruise2002
BWAHAHAHA