We Have a Lot to Thank Royal Caribbean for

[DocLC]

As a cruise enthusiast, in starting to realize how much Royal had done to improve the industry as a whole. While they sometimes do things I disagree with, ultimately we would not have the industry like it is today without Royal. 

Not only do they have the most innovative and most spectacularly designed ships, they are pushing the industry to design more spectacular ships. For example, when I was looking at the MSC Meraviglia on YouTube I realized how much they had been influenced by Royal Caribbean's designs. Most striking is their rendition of the Royal Promenade and two story suites (e.g., Crown Loft). They even have a comedy club reminiscent to the one the Oasis class. 

I also think that the move to greater onboard technology is directly related to Wow Bands, although I wish Royal would roll this out to more ships. And if you look at the refurbishment of the Caribbean Princess, on of the biggest additions was too additional specialty restaurants. I also credit Total in general with kicking off the refurbishment tend of the older ships. 

Just my two cents. 

 

 

[tiny260]

Agreed, They may do things that you scratch your head about, but I wouldn't want to cruise with others, Doc it may have been you that I read, book the itinerary first then the ship, I hadn't thought about that until I read it, then I was like Duhhh. The only reason I would jump from RCCL would be to take an itinerary that didn't offer, since I only take one cruise a year, I have not begun to scratch the surface, I still have the Greek island, Hawaii, South Pacific, Australia, South America, Middle East etc., etc.. When I retire I'm already planning a world cruise, so if Royal doesn't offer one by then, I may have to look at others.

[DocLC]

@tiny260 Yes, I've turned into an itinerary person.  The reason I started looking at MSC is that they're one of the few cruise lines that go to Svalbard, which a geographer friend of mine got me interested in.

[tiny260]

You stumped me on that one, I had to Google map that, I had no idea, looks beautiful. Have you been yet?

My wife is just not very adventurous, I really, really want to go to Asia (Which I forgot to mention above), I would really love to see Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, some of the Middle east, the Suez canal. But she just has no desire...

I used to make fun of these old guys that I worked with because they would take separate vacations from their wives, I was like how can you leave your wife at home, they would just smile at me. Well now I've been married 37 years and I understand what they were smiling about, I may just go by myself,,, of course I may not have any personal belongings to comeback to...

Has anyone on the forum been on a world cruise yet? I'm just wondering what 100+ days on one ship would be like? 

[DocLC]

@tiny260 I didn't know it existed either.  I just happened to be looking at Norway cruises for next year and wanted to go up into the Arctic Circle since we've done some of the Norwegian ports already.  I had decided on Holland America since Royal doesn't have this itinerary, but mentioned to my colleague (the geographer) about the MSC sailing that goes there.  That's when she told me all about the place and suggested I do research as it will be very similar to going to Antarctica, including Polar Bears.

My colleague takes separate vacations form her spouse, too.  And even though I'm half her age, she roughs it through South America, various African countries, etc.

I'm not much for roughing it except for camping; that's why I choose to cruise to these places. :)

I'm not sure if anyone has been on a world cruise here or not.  While my son (10) wants to do one, my wife said, "No way!"

[tiny260]

My wife hasn't said no to the world cruise yet, but I always get the eye roll...

[Stephanie]

This is exactly why I love cruising!  Our first cruise was on RCL, and we fell in love.  I refuse to try another company.  I love all the non-Caribbean itineraries.  Our first European cruise is next year.  We're doing the Mediterranean cruise on Symphony before she moves to Miami.  But, we've got Asia, Norway, Russia, the British Isles and Greece in our sights as well.  My husband is not adventurous when it comes to local fare, so cruising allows you to unpack once, have security in your food selection and see the world!

As to traveling separately, my aunt goes all over the world w/o my uncle.  He doesn't like to travel, and she and her friends do.  She just got home from 2 weeks in New Zealand and Australia.  She went to Iceland last year, and Greece and Croatia the year before.  She's my travel role model.  Right now, I travel vicariously through her, but my goal is to be her one day.  Lol

[tiny260]

We did Harmony last year out of Barcelona, it was Harmony's 4th or 5th full cruise after leaving South Hampton, she had her problems, but all in all she is a beautiful ship, I hope Symphony is for you as well. We were going to book Symphony TA but ended up having a conflict with the dates

That Western Mediterranean cruise was a 1st for us, we had done pretty much all of the Caribbean and a Panama Canal thrown in their before but never Europe, the only way my wife agreed to it was I had to fly her Business class, which I highly recommend by the way. I'm normally a 3x3 ratio of stops to sea days so that Med. cruise was itinerary intensive for us, by Saturday we were worn out, but like I have said before you can't pass up seeing the Vatican. I didn't use a TA (I know, I know) I planned it all myself and man was that hectic, but in the end it was worth it. Everything was amazing but I think our favorite was Naples and the Amalfi Coast. 

[firegal2539]

Doc,

Great post. I wish I could say I am loyal to Royal, but I have cruised NCL, Holland, Princess and unfortunately, Carnival (I know they own Royal). Most of my future cruises, 10 of them, are on Royal but itineraries are important, so this year I have an NCL, booked it because I fell in love with the ship and wanted to try it again and a Holland America, the itinerary was so different I couldn't pass it up.

If Royal would start adding different ports, I have always wanted to visit Charleston, SC and Royal does go there but from Baltimore and just not enough interesting ports. I did book a cruise in January 2018 from Baltimore to Fort Lauderdale and back because it visited Charleston but am thinking of cancelling it because air is $700 round trip and I can't find a straight through flight and I refuse to pay for a hotel in Baltimore.

I guess I will have to look at MSC.

Candie

[DocLC]

@firegal2539 I completely understand. While I have sailed Royal the most, I don't currently have any booked as I want to try the MSC Seaside when she comes out and an then looking to Europe and Japan. So right now, I have to MSC, three Princess, one Celebrity, and one Holland America cruises booked, although some of those will be cancelled once we decide on the precise itineraries that we want.