Cruising89143

We loved the Oasis and Allure right after they entered service. Cruised on the Symphony last year and it felt so much more crowded. We have decided that the O class ships are too large for us. We love the size of the Voyager class of RCI and Celebrity’s Solstice class. The Icon looks amazing for someone wanting that type experience. I don’t see us cruising on it. We’re currently booked on a TA and our first river cruise doing the Christmas markets. Being fully retired we now book most of our cruises closer in. 

1 hour ago, prmssk said:

I realize many will be upset by this but after considering a Viking River Cruise this month, this doesn't look bad.  The itinerary we were (maybe still are) considering required final payment just shy of 2 years before sail date.  So from my perspective a change from 90 to 120 days or 120 to 150 days doesn't seem all that significant.

We have looked at Viking for river cruises but I don’t like their final payment policy. We booked a Christmas market river cruise and chose Avalon after looking at all of the choices. They have a much better final payment system as well.

On 1/24/2024 at 9:26 AM, hcat said:

7600 pax?

 Has been desribed as " gargantuan"

The Icon is not much larger than the Wonder. More staterooms that hold three and four guests versus the Oasis class. Personally, I no longer have an interest in the larger ships but we found the best entertainment hands down on the Oasis class and it looks as though Icon is turning up the volume in this area as well. 
 

We enjoy the Voyager class on RCI and the Solstice class on X. RCI is rumored to be working on Project Discovery which will be around the 130-140,000 ton size to replace the older ships in the fleet such as the Vision and Radiance class. RCI will never build the smaller ships in those classes again and we can expect the same from most of the Carnival brands. Princess is going larger with their new Sun Princess. Recent rumor has Carnival Corp. new buildings exceeding the 200,000 ton range. Of course their new Excel class is already packing them in like sardines. Even NCL found out that the new Leonardo class was too small and continues to upsize. I won’t be surprised to see X go a little larger with their next class. 

7 hours ago, JemzRoo said:

 

In the times I've been Sky on Oasis class ships, the lounge area/suite bar has always been absolutely packed. I've not yet done Wonder so I can't say about the suite area, but on Allure/Harmony the 'suite deck' was barely used because it was lacking any reason to - there's just nothing there except probably a bored bartender. It's less about 'wow, I wish there were more suite areas' and more so a 'wow, I wish they'd actually do something of substance with their suite areas'. New footage from Icon is looking nice, but it's still no where near The Retreat or The Haven. 

 

I just got back from a room in the Haven courtyard on the Joy and it absolutely blew my mind over any of my suite experiences on RCCL, and I paid less for that room than they're charging for Icon balcony rooms. 

I think that the Haven experience is much better than that of what Royal offers but once outside of the Haven, it was a complete zoo. We cruised on the Bliss and enjoyed everything the Haven had to offer but again once we left that area the rest of the ship felt tight and busy.
 

The Icon doesn’t interest us at all. We enjoyed the Oasis class when the Oasis and Allure first entered service. Last year on the SYM cured that. Our tastes have changed over the years. We now prefer the size of the Voyager and Solstice class. I think the Icon will be great for cruisers who are looking for a more active cruise but that’s no longer us. 🙂

I have been cruising with RCI for over twenty years and I have never witnessed a ship in as bad shape as the photos are showing and I cruise on ships older than three or four years old. At one RCI cared about ongoing ship maintenance. Right now it’s paying back those loans. 
 

We cruised on the NV just after the Covid restart. The large pool side screen was distorted with a green hue. I spoke with one of the officers and he said that corporate would not approve the funds to replace. It took a year to get the screen replaced. 

When I was planning our cruise the option to prepay was there. On the day that we booked it wasn’t. It’s now back. 

The photos show me that this is a ship that either needs to be refurbished or retired from the fleet.  I recall a number of years ago Richard Fain stating on an earnings call the Vision class of ships days in the fleet was numbered. Of course Pullmantur’s demise and Covid happened and RCI needs to pay off loans so they stay in the fleet. It’s a shame that this ship is in this condition. 

I just read that Virgin has once again pushed delivery of their fourth vessel out until 2025/26. This is not the first time that they have pushed this vessel back for delivery. I don’t think the demand is there. IMHO they are going to need to allow kids on some of their vessels if they want to fill them on a consistent basis. Personally, I have cruised enough over the last 37 years to know that Virgin holds little appeal to us. Especially their standard balcony staterooms. Looks like they went shopping at IKEA. 
 

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operations/when-brilliant-lady-joining-virgin-voyages-it-will-be-while

Really enjoying your review. We had booked MSC YC a total of five times but Covid got in the way each time. We will try again one day. MSC has placed a team out west so I’m hoping for a west coast ship in the near future. 

On 12/8/2023 at 6:35 PM, SeaHunt said:

 

Ohhh yeah,  I remember that one, and had to go dig this picture up for those who might have missed it (it was posted on a 2019 CC thread about "Wear Your Best") - her Husband made it for her 😉

 

 

 

(I chose not to post the rear view, but it's as you can imagine LOL)

 

I remember this topic and the photo well. This was a good number of years ago. A heated thread to say the least. 

1 hour ago, happy cruzer said:

In the good old days, there was smoking allowed in the cabins and balconies.   The formal dress code was enforced as well as the informal dress code.  The cabins were smaller.  The pools and decks were simpler.  There was the buffet and the dining room with assigned seating and they had limited hours.  No drink packages.  The entertainment was the big shows twice per night, some strings or big band music, and the disco at night.

 

Don't think a cruise line can exist that has not changed in some way from the very traditional model.

Sounds just like my first cruise back in 1986 except there was no buffet. All meals were taken in the MDR. All three meals had set times and if you were more than fifteen minutes late, too bad. The doors were shut. No such thing as room service. We did have a midnight buffet but we were not ones who wanted to dine again at midnight. The majority of our entertainment was a few dancers and the cruise director singing. Glad to see that cruising has changed/progressed. 🙂

OP, glad that you received your room assignment. Enjoy your cruise.

The Quantum situation is the first time that I have heard of guests showing up and not having a stateroom assignment. There was a thread on the RCI board about this. Seems to be that guest staterooms were needed at the last minute for crew with Covid that need to be quarantined. Not sure if that was the case but I have always known the cruise lines to extend guests generous offers to move to a different sail date in order to take care of the overbooking situation. 

Not a myth at all. Have received this offer on both RCI and Celebrity. 

Tampa it is. 
 

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/12/margaritaville-at-sea-adds-second-ship-to-sail-from-tampa/

Good Morning America just had a piece on this story. They interviewed the one couple that was not allowed to board. Also, named the cruise line and ship. Not the kind of attention that any cruise line would want. 

7 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

I don't even remember getting one. My wife says we got them and I said I didn't want it so we left it on the ship. She's probably right.

 

I'll probably toss my D+ pin in a drawer and never see it again once I get it.

I think our D+ pins ended up in the same place as our previous pins. The trash. 

We booked the over the water cabana cabins just after the Oasis entered service. I think it was around $200.00 and I thought that was crazy. The lunch served was mediocre at best. No way would we pay those prices today. Simply not worth it for us. 

I have never found the reserved seating that great in the main theater. Ice skating was much better. 

14 hours ago, LobsterStalker said:

I hear ya. With retirement closing in on us , I can see the opportunity for more frequent bookings , but not sure if it will ever lead to those kinda numbers . The only way I could realistically see a major increase in days at sea would be if moving were on the taqble 

 

Cheers .... enjoy every minute of it!

We retired at ages 56 and 59. This was during the beginning of Covid. Once things settled down we cruised a total of ten times in 2022. We found out that was too much. Became boring to us. 🙂 This year we only cruised twice. Right now we only have two booked for 2024 but one cruise is a 14 night TA. We have been trying to get back to Europe for three plus years. Unfortunately Covid caused us to put things on hold. We go back and forth between Celebrity and RCI. We enjoy each for different reasons but both are great cruise lines. We don’t care about reaching a certain status or we would have stayed strictly with RCI to reach their top tier years ago. So in the end, we thought that we would end up cruising more in retirement years but this year was a normal cruise year. Will be interesting to see where we end up next year. 🙂

Happy Birthday.

IMHO on any class lower than an Oasis or Quantum a JS is the highest that we usually go. Suite perks lack compared to price. No Coastal Kitchen or WiFi. 

Finally got caught up. Loving your review and the outstanding photos. 

Just dropped today from Peter Knego.

It has been reported that the ship was sold. New owners are unknown but it’s being reported in multiple places that she is heading to a yard to be recycled. The ship is now 41 years of age. She has served well. 

Both RCI and X are getting a little crazy with their specialty dining prices but as long as people pay, they will continue to rise. What will be the breaking point?