twangster

I'll be in the smoke free casino 🙂

It was fine. Not exceptional, not Michelin rated dining, but within expectations for mass market cruise dining.

The new ships have WiFi access points in each cabin but that has no part in streaming to the TVs.

No and my TV was firmly mounted to the wall with no way to hinge or swivel it out resulting in no access to the inputs.

You go through the motions of purchasing the pass. The system will see your status and apply a discount to offset the cost of a 24 hour pass for D or two 24 hour passes for D+. The clock starts when you first purchase one of the 24 hour passes at zero cost. If you start at 12:00 noon on day 2 it last until 11:59 am on day 3. This way you can spread a 24 hour pass to sort of cover two days. Each 24 hour pass is used independently.

Is now.

Ovation Oct. 9, 2025 to Oct. 20, 2025, 11 Nights, Tokyo to Singapore Tentative Details: Thu 09 Oct Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan, 5:00PM Embarkation Fri 10 Oct Seaday Sat 11 Oct Nagasaki, Japan 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Docked Sun 12 Oct Jeju (Seogwipo), South Korea 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Docked Mon 13 Oct Seaday Tue 14 Oct Seaday Wed 15 Oct Hong Kong, China 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Docked Thu 16 Oct Seaday Fri 17 Oct Nha Trang, Vietnam 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Tendered Sat 18 Oct Ho Chi Minh (Phu My), Vietnam 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Docked Sun 19 Oct Seaday Mon 20 Oct Singapore 7:00 AM Debarkation

Anyone else offered an extra point for accepting once per day cabin service on X? Seems kinda pointless (pun intended) when you are a Z with 164 points.

The bathroom in my Icon cabin had a GFCI outlet that frequently tripped. I had to reset it often. This was even when I didn't have anything plugged into it. Are you using the outlet in the bathroom or by the desk? For those that haven't sailed Icon it does have a regular outlet in the bathroom, not just a shaving outlet. Given the regular type outlet in a bathroom there is a GFCI with a red light, test and reset buttons just like at a home bathroom in the US. If you are using the outlet in the bathroom try pressing the GFCI reset button on the outlet.

Royal casinos are all USD. Guest services will exchange currency but not likely at a favorable rate. I don't bring nearly that much in Euros electing to use my credit card for things in Europe. My card doesn't charge for foreign transactions beyond the exchange rate. I bring cash for occasions I don't trust a merchant with my card or at places that don't accept credit cards much like when I travel at home in the US. Crew will gladly take either currency for tips.

Celebrity and Royal are not at all similar and that is by design. They are both owned under the umbrella of the Royal Caribbean Group. The intent is not to have two equal cruise lines offering the same thing competing with each other so by design the ships are very different with a different target demographic. The newest and largest X ships are still around 3k passengers so you really can't compare anything in the X fleet to Oasis or Icon class.

Maybe a feature of Adventure. Pester the concierge enough to fix it and I'm surprised they haven't dealt with it.

Only happens when you retain your original Pin color seapass card. When In a full suite I have the concierge print me a Sky class card and then it's never an issue. I can't fault every bar staff member understanding what cabin is a suite or not so the color of the card works fine for me.

From the East coast of Florida just south of Port Canaveral Tampa is the hardedest port to drive to for me with the longest drive (time wise) largely due to the disaster called I4. While closer in distance than Miami, Miami is a shorter (time wise) and easier drive. That's saying a lot because driving in South Florida is a PITA. I do have two Tampa cruises coming up but I also have many more Fort Lauderdale and Miami cruises booked because I hate driving to Tampa. Naturally I have many Port Canaveral cruises because those are the easiest of all for me but if they stopped cruising from Tampa it would not be a loss for me at all. The limited ports of call especially on shorter itineraries doesn't help Tampa's cause.

@BillB48 While beside Indy at the pier in CocoCay I once used the measuring tool on my phone to estimate the platform around the dining room at around 38 feet to the water line. I don't put a lot of faith into a smartphone measuring guestimator but even with a 20% margin of error that still isn't very high. Was it you that mentioned that the PC requires 55 feet of clearance? I've often thought it was Royal's tendency to stow lifeboats slightly outside the side profile of the ship that contributed to challenges fitting into the canal. Royal does this to maximize interior volume and create more internal space to put things but it has implications such as platforms and structure that sticks out beyond the side profile of the ship. NCL's Escape also does not have flush lifeboats (they stick out) while the later ships in this class stow the lifeboats within the side profile of the ship i.e. Joy, Bliss and Encore. As near as I can tell Escape is the only ship in this class that hasn't used the new canal. That got me thinking perhaps having platforms, lifeboats or other structure protruding from the sides of the ship may be a factor in the ability to use the PC.

Ovation was the first Q class to visit Vancouver (with funnels lowered). I've also seen Odyssey lower her funnels while I was riding North Star on her at CocoCay. It seems they were exercising them for routine maintenance. I haven't personally seen Anthem, Quantum or Spectrum lower their funnels but if you say Quantum does that's good enough for me. I assume the others do as well.

What loyalty perks do you feel Royal isn't providing to X-Pins?

Consider the source though. The same person promised Icon would visit the UK before coming to America.

It's interesting to me how X is handling the free Zenith drink package and wifi. With Royal CAS discounts only work once on board. For Zenith you have to pre-order the drink and wifi package ahead of time, at zero cost. For an August sailing: They haven't loaded the same Zenith discounts for a September sailing yet: IIRC for my August sailing the Zenith discounts loaded after check in. Generally speaking the Royal cruise planner has never been aware of suite or CAS membership. Either way with a premium drink package I don't need Retreat access. Real Z's can have it. I'll be at a bar.

If I recall correctly the Freeport shipyard which is a joint Carnival Corp and RCG venture had ordered a new floating dry dock.

Mexico was supposed to get a new shipyard. If I recall correctly Fincantieri was involved. https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/shipyards/fincantieri-unveils-150m-shipyard-investment-mexico Then the world event happened. I'm not sure of the status of the new shipyard since.

New concept on a new ship on the inaugural sailing. If this is the biggest issue on an inaugural voyage that's pretty good.

Genuinely curious if there are Zeniths who desire the Pin name badge. I don't wear my Pin but to each their own. More curious if Zeniths ever felt that X should have done the same all this time.

I have an upcoming Star class cruise and this will be my strategy. I'll let the Genie figure out once on board.

A guy next to me did this and it was so annoying. Especially the hardwoods. The burning smell of oak and teak were the worst. I didn't mind the cedar chair he made so much as I like the smell of cedar. When he continued to run the lathe after 10pm I called security but they told me unless they catch him in the act there is nothing they can do. Every morning I had sawdust on my chairs as I was downwind. Every morning I had to sweep up the sawdust. I tried dumping it back on his balcony but the wind just blew it back all over me. So annoying.