KWofPerth

I'm starting 2 weeks leave tomorrow, to head to the Ningaloo Reef (Western Australia's answer to the Great Barrier Reef). Do I feel guilty about taking off more than a week?  AAAAAAAAAAAAAHahahahahha  NOoooooooo!
My boss is coincidentally heading up there as well and he is taking 3 weeks! ?

I'm starting 2 weeks leave tomorrow, to head to the Ningaloo Reef (Western Australia's answer to the Great Barrier Reef). Do I feel guilty about taking off more than a week?  AAAAAAAAAAAAAHahahahahha  NOoooooooo!
My boss is coincidentally heading up there as well and he is taking 3 weeks! ?

I'm starting 2 weeks leave tomorrow, to head to the Ningaloo Reef (Western Australia's answer to the Great Barrier Reef). Do I feel guilty about taking off more than a week?  AAAAAAAAAAAAAHahahahahha  NOoooooooo!
My boss is coincidentally heading up there as well and he is taking 3 weeks! ?

I'm starting 2 weeks leave tomorrow, to head to the Ningaloo Reef (Western Australia's answer to the Great Barrier Reef). Do I feel guilty about taking off more than a week?  AAAAAAAAAAAAAHahahahahha  NOoooooooo!
My boss is coincidentally heading up there as well and he is taking 3 weeks! ?

I am surprised by the number of days most people get.
I had always heard people in the U.S didn't get much time off which is why a lot of the cruises are seven days or less.
Now I wonder why they don't offer the odd 14 day itinerary on an Oasis ship as I am sure you could fit in more port visits if you only had to return to a home port once.
 

The latest RCI for the Pacific region has started today and has some good deals on at the moment

The price of the cruise we were looking at for 2021 on Serenade came down $1000 from yesterday so we have booked.
I am not sure if U.S citizens can book through the Australian website but the pricing is far cheaper than the U.S website for the same sailing, especially when you consider Australia/NZ cruises include gratuities in the cruise fare.
Example for our cruise: US website price for Junior Suite:  $4605USD + $232USD gratuities
Price for the same cabin on the Australian/NZ  website: $5304NZD converted to USD = $3557. Deposits are lower as well.
The only gotcha is you lose your deposit on a NRDB as FCC is not offered on suite bookings (unless you book in NZD but that is a whole other story)

I think this is the problem, Asia and Australia/NZ are very different markets.
Generally we want more bars, eateries, shows, entertainment and places to chill around the pool whereas ships out of China / Asia want bigger casinos, don't need bars, don't care for the shows and prefer the buffet.
I don't understand why they could reimagine the ship for the Australian market and have it year round as they already have two other ships for the Asia market.
It would be nice to be able to cruise up to the warm Pacific Islands in July.
 

I think it is fair to say there has been a mixed reaction to the changes.
From a personal point of view, I was hoping for some new dining venues but according to RCI there are no plans to add new venues. I was hoping for a Izumi hibachi or Hooked.
As they are adding more cabins I am worried things will seem much busier than previously with no new areas to disperse into. 
We don't have kids so don't really care what they do with this area.
I do use the gym everyday so I will be interested to see what that is like.
I was hoping for an Escape room but there is no mention of this.
Sometimes I feel they don't understand what people in Australia / New Zealand market and adapt to local conditions. Playmakers would a perfect venue for this area but then they would load it with U.S sports rather than the local sports we watch.
Don't get me wrong, I am happy they are investing in upgrades but I feel somewhat underwhelmed by these changes.
We are on Independence next, before we go on Voyager to I will have something to compare it to.

" What are your Bucket List cruises? "
All of them!

" What are your Bucket List cruises? "
All of them!

" What are your Bucket List cruises? "
All of them!

" What are your Bucket List cruises? "
All of them!

" What are your Bucket List cruises? "
All of them!

Hi Kelly.
You do not have to register on Day 1 but it will help. Your Cruise Compass will display the opening time for the Kids' Club, so get there when doors open would be my recommendation.
I believe they can turn kids away at busy times but am led to believe this is exceptionally rare.
Not sure how they contact parents. From memory I think there are pagers available if your child has special needs?  I dunno, someone else will need to confirm this one.
You will need to hang on to your daughter's seapass for sure.  My kids were 3 and 5 last cruise and that's what I did.

Hi Kelly.
You do not have to register on Day 1 but it will help. Your Cruise Compass will display the opening time for the Kids' Club, so get there when doors open would be my recommendation.
I believe they can turn kids away at busy times but am led to believe this is exceptionally rare.
Not sure how they contact parents. From memory I think there are pagers available if your child has special needs?  I dunno, someone else will need to confirm this one.
You will need to hang on to your daughter's seapass for sure.  My kids were 3 and 5 last cruise and that's what I did.

In the words of the crew member I spoke with... "If you stand still long enough they'll charge something for you too".  
As I understand it the business model they went with in China was created by Dr. Zinan Liu and it's based on cultural norms for China.  This is what separates Royal from other cruise lines that failed in China.  Instead of just taking a Western product and sending it to China they started from scratch and created something unique to that area based on norms for that area.
In reality what does that mean?  Unfortunately I don't know specifics about what exactly they charge for beyond North Star which was the start of my conversation with crew.

So I've discovered to my disappointment that Solarium access on Quantum for my Jan 2020 cruise out of Singapore is restricted to suite guests and diamond members only. Apparently this is a rule for Asian sailings (along with paying for North Star and Ripcord).
For anyone with experience aboard Q Class ships, is there a security point of some sort before entering the Solarium? Not that I wish to break any rules of course, but if I happened to accidentally wander into an area I'm not supposed to be....Oops, silly me.

Hmm, not a fan of that response.
Yes its a benefit for suite guests for this sailing but when you compare it to sailings out of any other ports its actually a restriction and really should be getting flagged. People are not going to know this and will assume that access to facilities on board would be the same as if they sailed out of USA/UK/Europe which they may have done previously and would not be aware that the Asian sailing are fundamentally different in ways, not just with regards to the Solarium 

Interesting. That will be quite a change then, and contrary to their published stuff. Of course, that's happened before!
Hopefully the person you talked to was crazy ? Or maybe Royal will change their minds again. Lots can happen in 6 months!

LIkely too early - I am sailing in Feb 2020 and almost nothing except shore excursions and drink packages are on there yet. I'm watching it daily, though. Stuff showed up about 7-8 months prior on my Navigator sailing (although it can really vary).

Terrific, thanks!

Hello!
You should find it in the Cruise Planner under "Internet & More"...
 

That makes perfect sense M2MB, very much appreciated.

That makes perfect sense M2MB, very much appreciated.

You have to give your credit card info, or you can use onboard credit.  If you cancel (to rebook at a cheaper price or because you decide something different) the refund goes right back on your credit card.  If you use onboard credit, it goes on that.  Most people will say book early and then cancel and immediately rebook if you see a better deal.  I have done this on time of excursions and drink pkgs.  Hope this makes sense! Jane