PhillyFan33579

My kids are in their 30s but I love the waterpark at Coco Cay. We usually spend most of our time at South Beach and the floating bar, but we have done the water park I think 8 times in the 30 plus times I have been to the updated Coco Cay.

Several RCI ships, based on first hand experience, have heated lounge chairs in their thermal suite.

What ship were you on? The last two ships I have cruised on, Allure and Explorer, did not have free Diamond Plus drinks available on the morning of debarkation. From my experience and what I have heard from others, this apparently varies widely from ship to ship and sometimes from cruise to cruise.

No.

Independence.

I was scheduled to go to Labadee on a cruise in June and again in August. I received e-mails on Tuesday stating both cruises were now going to Coco Cay instead. I was hoping at least one of these cruises would be changed to Grand Turk, if a change was required. Hopefully RCI ships will be able to go to Labadee again in the not too distant future.

Looks like RCI is stealing a page out of Carnival’s playbook and reusing a previous ship’s name for their third Icon class ship.

I have never heard anything remotely close to RCi’s future fleet consisting of only Oasis and Icon class ships.

If you think the food in the MDR was inedible, not sure if you would be satisfied with food in the speciality restaurants. In my opinion the food in speciality restaurants is a step above food in the MDR, but it’s not a huge step. I understand food is very subjective, but if your starting point is food in the MDR is inedible, I have a feeling you are not going to be that impressed with food in speciality restaurants.

Personally I hope RCI builds a new smaller class ship, even if smaller turns out to be similar in size to Voyager class ships. But it wouldn’t surprise me if they continue to focus on bigger ships and building more private locations. Earlier this year when RCI was going to make a big announcement the next day, I thought it was going to be about the long rumored Project Discovery. I was very surprised when the announcement was they were going to build another Oasis class ship. I heard more than once at luncheons with officers that Utopia was going to be the last Oasis class ship.

If I was to pick one restaurant on Symphony it would be Hooked. Second would be 150 Central Park. I would pick Chops from the three you mentioned. As others have stated, food is very subjective and ultimately you know what kind of food you like best.

I would never disagree with someone’s thoughts on food, because food is very subjective. However, in my opinion the food on RCI ranges from average to very good, which is what I expect from a cruise line like RCI. In the past several months I have cruised on Icon, Symphony, Allure, Explorer, Freedom, Liberty, Independence and Adventure. On every one of these cruises I thought the food was good in the MDR and very good in the various specialty restaurants we visited. I rarely eat in the Windjammer so I can’t comment on the recent food quality there.

When has RCI officially stated they are building a new smaller class ship? If you have knowledge of a statement or video from Michael Bayley, or anyone else at RCI, specifically stating RCI is building a new smaller class ship, please post a link to it here.

I would highly recommend booking any excursions thru RCI. You can find lots of videos online of people being left at the port as the ship is sailing. Trying to save money by booking third party excursions is not worth the risk in my book.

I mentioned Voyager class ships because they are significantly bigger than Radiance class ships (~1.5 times bigger). I think a very limited range of ports is a bit of an exaggeration. Even now the vast majority of RCI ships sailing in Europe and the Mediterranean are Voyager class ships are larger. Ultimately I think RCI’s focus will be on how to generate the most revenue possible in the future, even if that means eliminating going to ports they currently go to.