The Fun Researcher

Loving your review for the photos and your excellent commentary, especially when you are so well versed in the other three cruise lines! -Dan

Just did a quick search for Jan and Feb and yeah, I'd say prices are up on average roughly about $200-$300pp. Dan

Sorry but didn't read all 7 pages... Is this impact only to the "dinner" buffet? They aren't cutting back the lunch offerings are they? Dan

Ok thank you. Fortunately I've only had one single dinner in a buffet on any of our previous cruises. We exclusively eat in the MDR with a very rare specialty dinner thrown in.

Can you elaborate? What do you mean by "just a few items per night" on the buffet? We're booked on the Equinox and December and would be surprised if there where only a few items on the buffet. LOL Dan

We have never sailed Disney, but have multiple sets of friends that have, and that would sail Royal or even NCL instead of Disney given the same price.

Depends on the time of year you are cruising. Good deals can still be found. I agree that prices have gone up quite a bit for popular times of the year. Takes a lot of work to find those good deals. Dan

True, that makes perfect sense. No sense in wasting. Bleu cheese = 🥰 for me. 🤣 I guess all this (bringing food back for later) boils down to Royal's lack of late night options. That's just my opinion though. Having experienced better late night options on other cruise lines it makes it sting a little more with Royal, which is our overall preferred line. Playmakers definitely helps a lot though, but quite a few ships don't have that venue

Regardless of price I'm surprised that they want to deal with cleaning up the mess in the theater each evening.

The dessert cheese tray in the MDR is great for this too. We've brought that back to the room quite a few times. They will provide a cover for the plate so you can carry it back and keep it fresh.

I'll have to take your word for it. Not sure when we'll sail in a suite. We've been happy with Balcony and interiors but maybe someday we'll splurge.

I can see the frustration for D+ not being able to use the concierge lounges, but I personally don't see the issue with the loss of "happy hour". Now you get 5 free drinks a day (4 for Diamond) and can use them wherever and whenever you want, not in a crowded lounge. I like the new changes for the drinks. Dan

Yes free drinks are only for Diamond and above. Us lower schmucks don't get any. Thank goodness we'll be Diamond after our March cruise. The 4 free daily drinks is a very nice perk that will definitely help keep us loyal to Royal and make it more difficult to look elsewhere. We have a cruise on Celebrity in December, and even though they will match us to their "Elite" level, they are still on the archaic system of only drinks from 5-7pm. Fortunately the upcharge for their "All In" package with unlimited drinks, Wi-Fi and gratuities wasn't much more so we did that even though we had free drinks from 5-7pm. 5-7 just is a bad time for us anyway as we're normally at dinner for most of that. Dan

OP, agree about the mid afternoon peeve. The bigger one for me are the later night food options. Some ships have Playmakers, which helps, but even so Royal should do better. Late night pizza and finger sandwiches get old after a few days.

I wouldn't personally base the decision on Freestyle machines or not. Soda's are quick and easy to get at bars and lounges and in the MDR. The big question is your limitation of choices. Can you have caffeine free diet sodas? If so, I'm not sure what Royal offers. Maybe others can answer that. We drink diet, but it's always been caffeinated on our cruises, (freestyle machines or not)

Fair enough.

I’ve eaten at Applebee’s and I’ve eaten in the MDR on Royal. Comparing the MDR on Royal to Applebee’s is absurd IMO. Sure you can find examples like “they both serve steak and fish”, however how many times do you see escargot on Applebee’s menu, or beef carpaccio, or scallops, or beef Wellington or lobster or white tablecloths with full serving ware. And not just a server, but a head waiter and a assistant waiter… of course, none of that really has anything to do with formal night or “dress codes” Dan

I sure hope Celebrity goes the same way as Royal with the vouchers. 5 to 7 PM is such a limited time and not really ideal either since it is around dinner time and not necessarily the time and we would want to be having drinks anyway

Yeah we have done a five night on NCL as well for a very good price with the drink package included. That was a couple of years ago over Christmas on the Getaway. However I am struggling more and more lately to find prices better on NCL than Royal (for a decent class of NCL ship). We enjoyed our NCL cruise but still prefer royal more. The killer for me is NCL‘s horrible pool deck. Dan

I also LOVE when our entire family dresses to the nines but I’m getting tired of hauling around the extra attire in our luggage. My tux just isn’t convenient. Our last cruise on the allure was simply dress shirt and tie. Can’t believe it but it’s true.

Wait, it’s not April 1st yet. 😉

and that's before the 18% automatic gratuity correct?

Wow, loved your analysis! Agree with much of it, but you have sailed way more individual ships than we have so I kind of have to take your word for it. 🙂

You'll be happy then. Be prepared for Voyager class to feel VERY much like the Freedom class. Voyager is just as wide. (the cantilevered hot tubs on Freedom class are what make them look larger on paper but actual width is actually virtually identical.). Layout it the same. Voyager just has slightly shorter Promenade with Café Promenade and Sorrento's combined. On the pool deck the only difference is the kids splash area missing. Personally I'll take whatever Freedom or Voyager class has been AMPED. Royal did an amazing job AMPING those two classes of ships. Dan

1. Love it!! 🙂 🙂 I do like them in some instances For instance love Amazing Grace on the bagpipes. Can't imagine it on the pool deck of a cruise ship though. That would be the ultimate juxtaposition. 2. Good stuff 3. I actually really like that song, but if you put it on repeat it would be pure torture. 😄