The Big Booper

The pax count quoted a few posts above only count double occupancy and don't consider 3rds and 4ths.

Total pax on Nav would be around 3,700 max and on the Dream over 4,300 pax, making the difference even larger.

Displacement has nothing to do with GT (or GRT) which is a volume measurement of the enclosed areas of the ship, and does not count open areas. If you look at the length of a ship that is a good guide to non enclosed areas of the ship. That is why Oasis class always seems somewhat empty considering it has almost 6,000 pax every week. If you factor in the vast open decks and Boardwalk and Central Park, the usable space is over 300,000 GRT equivalent rather then the official 225,000. JMHO.

They pack em in like Sardines on most Carnival ships.

Heck, we never had Richard on any of our many RCI cruises. First G'day Dave and now Rich. At least he is staying with the company.

We have been to Harry Potter land twice at Universal, the first time a week after it opened, just a coincidence that we were in Florida that time frame. A truly wonderful experience.

JKR refused to sell the rights to Disney, eventually dealing with Universal. No Harry Potter figures walking around the park with mouse ears attached. At Hollywood Studios we sar R2D2 rolling around wearing the ears. Boo :eek:.

As always, great pictures.

The way I look at it, the construction will be finished on the new restaurants right at the end of drydock at which point the ship goes right back into service. They need time to set up the venues and train the staff which takes time. They have to figure out traffic patterns and all kinds of things going on in the background which we don't see.

This is a proper move by a prudent management.

Also Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

I remember an article from the late 90's where a top Disney exec did say that the Lion King was the most successful cartoon for the company because girls would go to a movie starring a lead male character but boys would hesitate to go to a cartoon with a female lead.

Obviously Disney figured out a way around that issue.

The animation in Frozen is incredible and ties into to the music.

Norwegian has the Jewel. I think that OP is looking at Reflection vs. RCI Jewel of the Seas.

Partial answer, do you like elephants?:D

Now' date=' Dave......you know you will have to take a break some time!![/size']

True. And I have a brand spanking new Galaxy Note tablet (2014 edition) so when DS shows up to visit at the end of January he will set the thing up properly so I can browse efficiently. He is a techie at CNBC and can make gadgets jump thru hoops.:)

Oh .....have no fear! I always do a diary type review with lots of pictures after every cruise. Look for it at the end of February!!

And of course you will be doing your photo diary right in the heart of tax season.:(

This is the first time I have heard that you cannot put your legs up while sitting and facing the sea on a Celebrity or RCI balcony. Please let me know which ones so I can avoid them.

All =X= or RCI balconies on ships built in the last 20 years have large squarish balconies 55 sq ft or larger. You can easily re-arrange the chairs and large round table in many manners so as to sit side by side in any orientation. I am a "wide" guy weighing in over 250 and I easily fit into any balcony chair on =X= or RCI with plenty of room on either side of me; and these chairs are comfortable, unlike the RP chairs which Pam says kill her back and she is a lot thinner then me.

Loving your review. We're thinking of booking Royal for nx. Nov. for our anniversary, so your pictures are helping us decide! :D The pictures of the decorations for Christmas were so pretty, much better than on Oasis. Thanks again for posting. :)

Agree on that, the RP Christmas decorations were better then on Allure, which did have backlit snowflakes all over the Royal Promenade and one large decorated tree. Allure did not have smaller subsidiary trees or Christmas dioramas. This is one of the few areas where the RP is superior to the big girls, IMHO.

The "underperforming" ships noted in the first few posts to this thread are the "newest": Royal Princess, NCL Breakaway, and the Carnival Sunshine (not new, but massive redo). Apparently the latest fanfare and marketing oversold these ships as amazing, novel, wonderful advances, but many people didn't find the innovations that exciting and also missed the "older" features that were removed.

 

I haven't read many reviews of Breakaway to learn what the complaints are. I've never sailed on NCL but the promos for the Breakaway definitely got me excited to consider trying it!

 

Disclaimer: I fall in the camp of nothing about the Royal Princess exciting me given the reviews because I generally spend my time on-board on my spacious balcony, the aft pool, and the indoor pool. I also enjoy walking along the promenade to and from the theater shows from my aft room. I'm disappointed to not be excited about the new Princess ships. One day I'll probably sail on one, but they are not a priority at all.

The acid test will be the Quantum OTS. RCI wrote the book on designing and operating large (4000+ pax) ships.

The Lumix is a great camera, and I know a lot of people who enjoy it. For me, I'd rather carry around the extra baggage. I didn't go to DHS to photograph Beauty and the Beast, so I intentionally left behind the lens I would have wanted. I've had many opportunities to photograph this show and will have a few more in the future. Sometimes it's good to just put the camera down and enjoy the show! :D

I remember that show, very well done. It should be interesting what they do with Tangled.

An aside on Disney, notice how many of the full length cartoons in recent years have girls as lead characters. Frog Princess, Brave, Frozen, Tangled. This is a sea change for Disney which always felt that little boys would not go to cartoons featuring girls such as Mulan vs. Lion King.

Did you get to the revamped Fantasy Land?

Maybe we could have a freedom class ship? Australia has a very fast growth in cruising holidays. Don't forget it's not just Australians whom would book these cruises but people from all over the world whom see cruising Australia and NZ as a great way to sample what thus region has to offer.

Just wait. RCI has options for a total of 5 Oasis Class and 4 Quantum class, all by 2019.

My CPA brain translates 40 c into 104 f. That is hot hot hot.

9/5 x 40 + 32.

I know that the P & O ships are old hand-me-downs from Carnival. As RCI will be rolling out the 3 (or 4) Quantum class ships, they should have older smaller ships to transition to Oz and NZ.

JMHO

After the New Year's Eve (Eve) Fireworks, we went back to the Waldorf.

 

...>>>SNIP<<<...

 

Later that evening, we watched Beauty and the Beast Live On Stage. If I were to recommend one show in Hollywood Studios that you should definitely see, it would be that one. The costuming and set is Broadway-quality, and the music is one of the best Disney soundtracks. I'm sad to hear rumors that the show is speculated to be replaced with a Tangled musical.

 

12.31.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I didn't have the correct lens for great photos with me, but if you'd like to see more of Beauty and the Beast Live On Stage, check out this Flickr album.

And that, in a nutshell, is why I stick with my brace of Lumix superzoom cameras FZ150 and FZ70. These are non-DSLR cameras which are extremely high end with features many DSLRs don't have, and immense zoom ratios of 60 to 1 or 24 to 1 optical (96 to 1 optical/digital for sunny days)

The lights typically run from the first week of November to the first week of January. This year, it was November 8 to January 5.

Terrific. In November we are doing a repo from Cape Liberty to Port Canaveral on the Explorer as she makes way for the Quantum.

I showed your posts on the WDW lights to DW and she said WOW!!

Don't think any more about it! Move on to another cruise line, as Princess has moved back to the West Coast, and we are liking them, and love to cruise in either the largest or second largest suites.

 

You can have ours on Royal Caribbean!:D

 

You can't be serious about moving to another cruise line over $100.00.

 

My DW was on an "Around the Horn" cruise on the Mariner of the Seas. At one port stop, she and her mother had signed up to see Iguassu Falls, and it was a $900.00 excurision. It was supposed to be a charter flight, not a regular flight.......and Royal Caribbean lied from start to finish.......and the hilights could not be viewed, and they were given $400.00 back.....no more, because they got to fly there and back, and viewed some of the falls, but not what they went for. I fought for a better refund, and lost. So, that is water under the bridge, and we still cruise Royal Caribbean.

 

We are Elite with Princess....but not at the top of the ladder as we are with Royal Caribbean. We will continue to cruise with many lines, and have not every decided to quit one line.........over a trivial matter, as I would consider this.

 

But, then again.........this is 2014!!;)

 

Rick

For those who don't know RCI, Rick is a Pinnacle which means over 700 nights. He is one of the few original NOOTS who still stays off the big girls.

I think what sent the OP into a rage was the secondary charge by Princess after Amex reversed the original charge. She looks on that as malicious.

Incredible light show!

When does WDW put up the lights?

One of the most dedicated CC Princess fans was "forced" by her husband to go on the Allure for a week. She did not review it on CC but on her external blog. Her comments on the 70's Disco "It was like Vegas and Mardi Gras all rolled into one. She will now be spoiled by it forever considering the weak Princess version"

"Nuff said.

However, I like the idea of adding an '80s party, not that, as Medicare people, we appreciate much of the '80s music. On our Indy TA in 2008 they threw a British Invasion party in the Promenade in addition to the '70s night. But a TA has loads of sea days so logistically they have the time.

And we like the Rat Pack.

A holiday cruise will always be more crowded then a cruise the following week. How many people were on the Reflection and the Ruby.

DW makes fun of my mother's cooking skills but I grew up eating well done and somewhat dried out food and I like it. I have been known to get 3 hamburgers from the Jammie and call it lunch - no rolls or condiments just a fork and a knife to cut them.:) Straight out of the low carb diet.

Different strokes for different folks.

The best solution for pictures taken in a wet or dangerous environment is a waterproof camera. You can get decent ones for $125 and up. Panasonic Lumix, Sony, Olympus are some of the names.

Truly great photos! I am always frustrated trying to get combo shots of a person in the foreground lit by flash and a lighted object in the rear.

This appears to be from Explorer which has been running it forever. Vibeology. I recognized several of the costumes such as the white fuzzy hats the dancers wear as well as the formal gowns on a stiff framework that lets the dancers move away from the costume.

I think each ship has it's own shows.

I think that Legend/Splendour hold far less then 2,500, maybe 1,900.