Orange Crush

Site Gremlins, I'm sure. I saw zero points & pre-Gold yesterday, but now it shows me having my correct number of 19 points again this morning. Maybe we'll all be Pinnacle by the end of the week. ?

I think every live piano player is contractually obligated to play "Piano Man" once per session ?

Yeah, we had the same guy when we were on the Allure in March. He was okay, but had a bit of a snippy attitude and wouldn't play ANYTHING he didn't have on his song list, or many of the songs ON his song list because he didn't feel like it. The piano player we had on the Majesty over Christmas was much better.

Totally agree. As long as the ships continue to sail full, there's no incentive to build anything smaller. It makes a whooooole lot of sense to bring the Mariner in to the Majesty's old route out of Canaveral, and we're going to see similar shuffles with smaller ships sticking to routes that wouldn't sail full on something bigger or that the ports can't handle.

I think it just stems from a perceived lack of interest from Royal in building new ships smaller than a Quantum. It won't happen for a while, but eventually the older gals will age out of the fleet and the average gross tonnage and number of berths per ship marches ever upward.

It's a mixed bag for me. They should totally change up venues and activities to keep things fresh. I don't want to repeat sailing a ship or itinerary years later and have everything be identical again. But I also don't want half the public areas on the ship behind a velvet rope and an upcharge when they weren't before . . . which unfortunately has seemed like the direction they're going.

I am interested in checking out a Voyager or Freedom. So far, I've only sailed Sovereign class & Oasis class which is almost as extreme as you can get. After the Enchantment, I'd like to try out the Mariner once she's running 3 and 4 nighters out of Canaveral.

On that note, anyone ever tried getting a Deluxe Package + Voom combo and Deluxe Package by itself for the other person in the room? Cruise planner won't let you do it, but I've never called and asked if they can do it on their end.

Voom by itself is showing $20 in cruise planner this far out? Oof, that's really high. I usually see it just under $15. Since the Deluxe drink package wifi combo deal is just $11 more than the drinks, you're basically paying $22 for two devices. $2/day for an extra device would be worth it to me.

They could even transfer over a Celebrity ship if they really wanted, but I don't see that happening until they start seeing empty cabins on a bigger ship's run. Seems like the medium ship experience is going to cost Celebrity money for the foreseeable future. But to be fair, X doesn't always cost more than a comparable itinerary on Royal, especially when you figure in sales and perks that X seems more generous with.

If they create a Galaxy Class and don't name one Enterprise, I'm rioting.

I think I might be a small ship person too. I've really only got the Allure and the Majesty to compare in recent memory, but there was a lot that I liked better on the Majesty. I mean, I'm never going to turn my nose up at the Allure--but if the Majesty wasn't relocating, I'd be sailing with her again this coming October. The smaller ship seemed more cozy and relaxing to me. The Allure was more like Disney World. Amazing, but the crowds could be a bit much.

Yikes . . . it was $9.95 when I sailed in March, up from $6.95 on most other ships. That's a $5 increase over a very short period of time.

When did the menus change?

The package is definitely worth it to us, but I also prefer to pay for everything up front and not have to worry about budgets and money while I'm on a vacation. It also prevents a big bill at the end which would end the vacation on a sour note. Another thing I like about the package is it encourages us to try things we might not if we were paying per drink. If I wind up not liking something, it's no big deal. It's not like I'm out $10 this round, I can just order something else without worrying.

I recognize the context of what Bayley is saying, I said as much in my original post. He said: " "We're multi-generational, and contrary to what millennials think, there's other people in the world." Had he kept it to a discussion of the facts about cross-generational cruising habits, I've got no problem with what he's saying. He should've left out the joking or opining suggesting millennials think they're the only people in the world.

It should show up in an envelope in your room, or the port agent will hand you one when you check in, it varies depending on the ship. I've had both happen.

Yes. My MIL was texting with the same on our Christmas cruise. Couple tricks to remember: iPhones won't always pop up the "hey you need to log in" screen when you connect to Royal Wifi. Just go to "logon.com" to get to where you enter your PIN. If you buy in advance, you get a PIN. Don't try to log in with your name and room number, it'll just bring you to the place to buy another package which you don't want. If you're sharing a code, go to "logoff.com" to switch it off. It can take a few minutes after logging on to the wifi for the phone to make the connection to Verizon, texting and calling may not work right away. Wait a bit and it should come up.

It depends on your cell phone provider and your phone. If you have one of the big 4 US carriers (Verizon, AT&T, T-mobile or Sprint) *and* a recent iPhone or Android phone, then yes, you will be able to text over Wifi while in Airplane mode. It varies a bit from phone to phone, and not all of them work. iPhone 5S (not the plain 5) and newer will work. Most Android phones also work, but the some of the oddball el-cheapo ones might not.

Yes, to be abundantly clear, the middle aged entitled person I'm referring to is Michael Bayley. Everyone, regardless of their age or generation, deserves to be treated with respect and not insulted. Period. We are each responsible for our own behaviors and anybody, of any age, acting up only represents themselves and not their entire age bracket.

If you're nice to the bartenders and tip them and order simple drinks (rum and coke, vodka soda, etc) they might just charge you for the shot (usually $8) instead of a cocktail price ($10+). I suppose you could also just order shots and spike your own sodas, but at that point you're starting to be your own bartender which is no fun.

I did a 4-night specialty dining package on the Allure last month. They didn't pre-book any of my restaurants for me. As soon as we boarded on the promenade, there was a crew member at a podium with a sign for dinner reservations. I booked all 4 of mine then and there. You can always change them if you change your mind later (I switched out the Solarium/Samba grill for another visit to Chops later on), but you've got it all set in case things fill up.

Royal Carribbean CEO Michael Bayley just did an interview with Business Insider and dropped this gem: Contrary to what clueless CEOs think, it's a stupid idea to insult people you'd like to be your customers. There are few things that irritate me more than watching middle-aged entitled people who are typically waited on hand-and-foot through their entire daily lives whine and moan about those selfish entitled millennials. He goes on to talk about not specifically chasing millennial cruisers and once they start families, their preferences tend to align with other families regardless of generation. That's fine, I don't think Royal should chase fads and make assumptions based on opinions not backed up by the data of actual spending habits--all the more ironic, since he starts out doing that very thing by throwing a barb at millennials at the top of the article . . . My advice to Mr. Bayley is to remove his foot from his mouth and avoid insulting large swaths of your guests, check his own entitlement at the door when he comes in to work, and redirect that energy to thinking about how he can improve his cruise line for all guests. A good place to start might be on the apps and websites which are an absolute horror show right now. And if that's too millenial-focused (us and our silly obsession with technology and smartphones and all), take a look at the main dining room food quality which has been taking a nosedive for the best 15 years.

Hooooooo boy. HERE WE GO!!! I still say it was god-awful on the Majesty, but what you got on the Freedom seems about the same as what I got on the Allure. Bland, not much really going for it, on par with a generic frozen pizza.

Honestly, if a private tour operator won't wait for you or give you a refund if the ship runs late (which DOES happen and is totally outside of your control), then they don't deserve your business and you shouldn't book with them, in my opinion.