CntPAcruiser

I had meant Royal Caribbean's new ships. Sorry for the ambiguity.

None of the newer ships have complimentary facilities anymore. They barely have locker rooms, more of a locker wall and a restroom. And now Royal is taking out the nice complimentary facilities on older ships as well as part of their so-called amplification. Freedom and Navigator have been ruined so far, and maybe Voyager? Adventure and Explorer were supposed to have this done, but their major refits were halted because of the pandemic. It's only a matter of time, though, before those ships are ruined as well.

There is not. Oasis class ships only have a thermal suite in the spa that requires payment to use.

Wonderful--that's what we thought. We're boarding later this week. Thanks for the report.

Any interest in historical things? St. Kitts has an amazing world heritage site, Brimstone Fortress. Beautiful views, a small museum and gift shop, and you can walk around on top of the fort and explore the outbuildings. There's a tourist shopping area right outside the piers, not sure if there's a lot of shopping otherwise in the town center just outside the port area. There are outfits that offer rainforest hikes, but I've not done one and don't know how strenuous these are.

Sadly, Freedom of the Seas was "amped" and lost the complimentary steam/sauna facilities. Not sure if there is a thermal suite (for a fee), though.

Your all aboard time will be announced on the day of, and it's usually 30 minutes to an hour prior to the scheduled time in port, I think. So if the itinerary says the ship will be in port from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., they would probably want everyone back on board by 4 or 4:30 p.m.

St. Kitts and St. Lucia are great islands to do an island tour. In particular, St. Kitts has the world heritage site Brimstone Fortress. We've used Royston for St. Kitts island tours in the past, but that was pre-pandemic. On St. Lucia we used Serenity tours, which took us all around the island and included a lunch stop, the sulfur baths, and the waterfall.

Thank for the info. Good to know! We'll be on Adventure this fall. It will be interesting to see how they are doing it.

This will probably get moved to the Caribbean Ask a Question board, but in the meantime, our go-to on Bonaire has been Woodwind for snorkeling. On Aruba we used Sonny Binns for an island tour.

Are they doing printed menus that have the vegan options on them, or do you have to check the app? I've been looking at menus on the app, and some of the vegan options sound fresh and interesting.

Thanks so much. It's unlike them not to make everything a profit center. When we've been on Oasis-class ships, it seemed that the spa locker room was only for spa guests and those who had paid for to use the thermal suite. So it seems odd that they would let you people use the spa locker areas on Navigator, which are probably even smaller.

This is on Navigator? I'd be very surprised to learn that it is available without charge and without otherwise paying for a spa service, such as a massage.

While I agree that we can try to let cruise lines know our opinion, in the end it comes down to revenue, and they know that the 10 percent of people who may use these facilities aren't making them as much money as the other 90 percent. The cabins they can put in place of the fitness centers (on Royal Caribbean ships) will generate far more money than they will lose from the few of us who will stop cruising with them eventually. They won't really care.

Agreed, this is an awful trend. The thermal suites aren't great, but they're better than nothing even if they do come with a fee, but on some of the "amplified" ships they haven't put in a thermal suite after removing the nice fitness center and locker rooms that had complimentary facilities. We won't sail on a ship that doesn't have at least a sauna, free or otherwise.

The only amplification going on is crowding the ship with more cabins/passengers and adding to the money being taken in. It's a shame that they are ruining these older ships by taking out the very nice fitness centers. We won't sail on the so-called amped ships if we can help it.

So true! Most don't, though, because it's inconvenient and gets in the way. But if you're not well practiced with a mandoline, it's best to use the safety guard.

The last couple of cruises we've been on it didn't seem like there was much of a mattress. I thought I could feel the metal bed platform. We request "extra padding" on boarding day and typically our room attendant will add a couple of comforters on top of the mattress under the bottom sheet. I haven't seen or heard of proper (foam) mattress toppers being offered. If you're able to bring your own topper, you can get an inexpensive one and just leave it behind if you don't want it after the cruise. I've also seen rather expensive but very comfy looking inflatable one-person cushions intended, I think, for camping. But those would be easier to transport and would be reusable.

Have to agree on the mandoline--it's not commonly found outside of restaurant kitchens in the US, but if used properly and carefully, it is a wonderful time saver. But beware its sting! A cook friend of mine sliced into the pad of his thumb once whilst julienning carrots and once they'd stitched him up at the emergency room, it looked like they'd played a game of tic-tac-toe on his thumb.

Have to agree about the Striezel. It is my breakfast favorite, but then, I like the breads on board in general. As for the "stolen" bread, that was a long-running joke in my family years ago when I worked for a German bakery in Milwaukee. At Christmas, they gave each of us a loaf of Stollen, a rich, fruit-laden bread, and when I brought it home, my brother asked what it was. I said, "Stollen," and forever after that he called it my "stolen bread." Back to the WJ, my boarding-day favorites have always been the paella and the salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and feta. My DH usually heads right for the minute steaks, when available, and a large mixed salad. We both usually finish up with fresh fruit.

Sorry, since we didn't go to Christiansted, I don't have any info on how to get the shuttle. The beach was not far from the pier, past the fort, as I recall. The rum tasting was right on the pier--they don't waste any time getting to the tourist. But as I recall, there were other rum tastings offered in town as well.

We try not to order more than we can eat, but sometimes if menu items are unfamiliar, or if they can be "iffy," we will over-order in the hopes of getting at least something good to eat. And the servers would rather bring out more to start than have to run back for re-orders. I dislike wasting food, but so much of what is prepared for dinner service will go to waste whether it reaches the table or not.

The only amplification was the number of cabins, passengers, and Royal's potential profits. Hopefully they hold off a long time before doing any more of these chop jobs to the ships that haven't yet been ruined this way.

I would be happy with never--the so-called amplification just adds more cabins and takes away complimentary amenities, like the nice fitness center. The only amplification happening is adding to the crowding and adding to Royal's profits.

As far as I can tell, Voyager has been "amplified," whereas Adventure has not yet, so Voyager may have what some people view as enhancements. The really nice fitness center that the Voyager-class ships were built with is now gone on Voyager, so there is no complimentary sauna or steam room anymore, and the fitness center is much smaller and not as well located.