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I Put A Royal Caribbean's First Class Owner Suite To The Test!
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Jan 28, 2025
When I think of Royal Caribbean, I think of feature-packed mega resort ships, with good value cabins. However, I have seen Royal Caribbean now has some of the biggest and most expensive suites money can buy at sea. So, instead of using some savings to book a smaller luxury cruise line that I usually would, I decided to splash that cash on a Royal Caribbean suite to see if I would get all the service, glitz, and glamour they promise in their “Royal Class Suites”. For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
View Video Transcript
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when I think of Royal Caribbean I think
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of feature-packed Mega Resort ships with
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great value cabins however I've seen
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that Royal Caribbean now has some of the
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biggest and the most expensive Suites
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that money can buy at se so instead of
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using some savings that I was planning
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to use to book a smaller luxury cruise
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line that I usually would I decided to
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Splash all that cash on a Royal
0:25
Caribbean Suite to see if I would get
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all the service The Glitz and the
0:30
glamour that they promise in their royal
0:33
class suets here's what I found out if
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you're new here by the way welcome
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aboard I'm Gary benridge making it fun
0:39
and easy for you to discover plan and
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enjoy incredible Cruise vacations with
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$110,000 that's about £ 8,200 of savings
0:48
I booked a one-bedroom owner Suite on
0:50
Symphony Of The Seas on a seven night
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Western Mediterranean cruise at the same
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time and for a similar route I could
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have booked a small ship luxury Cruise
0:59
in a very Miranda cabin on Viking
1:01
Oceania or even Seaborn ultr luxury
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lines so my expectations were high when
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I thought about those Alternatives and
1:09
what Royal Caribbean needed to do I did
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find out while booking that even within
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their Suites there is a class system
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with big differences in perks on board
1:19
rural Caribbean so they split the Suites
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into sea sky and star C is the lowest
1:26
level and they're the Junior Suites they
1:28
cost about $6,000 £5,000 for a week sky
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is a next level up which is almost
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double that including Suites like mine
1:35
that owner Suite then there's star
1:37
Suites which are at least double what I
1:40
paid and goes right up to some like the
1:43
ultimate family Suite which can cost
1:48
$60,000 a week so anyway what did I get
1:51
at that Sky Sweet level that kind of
1:52
middle level well first of all a massive
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cabin two to three times bigger than if
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IID spent the same amount of money on
1:59
those other smaller luxury lines that I
2:01
mentioned earlier I got access to the
2:03
Sweet only Coastal Kitchen for breakfast
2:05
lunch and dinner I had access to the
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Sweet lounge with two concierge then
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also a site Deck with bar overlooking
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the pool deck priority embarcation and
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dis embarcation to as well as reserved
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seating in certain areas in the shows
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now I'm going to talk about the upsides
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and downsides of all of these perks and
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how they worked out in practice now they
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also by the way through in a couple of
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plush bathrobes and some fancy mattress
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toppers some pressing of my clothes on
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formal light coffee machine and zoom
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streaming Wi-Fi per person now it really
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annoyed me by the way because even
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though I had to pay for two people as a
2:43
solar traveler they still only despite
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all that money only gave me one device
2:48
Connection gruis by the way were not
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included in that level that I'd booked
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although actually promotional deal at
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the time I booked did include it so
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that's important to note so I got more
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than the sea level those Junior sweets
3:00
because they just got dinner in the
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Coastal Kitchen the coffee machine and I
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think a couple of luxury bath robes so
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not that much the Star level the top
3:09
level got way more like a butler or what
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they call a royal Genie I just had cabin
3:15
student again I'm going to talk more
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about the pros and cons of that later
3:18
too because there's some really
3:19
important stuff in there they also got
3:21
to dine in the Coastal Kitchen but also
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any speciality restaurant they got a
3:25
deluxe beverage package they got a stock
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soft drinks mini bar gruties wearing
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included the best seats in the theater
3:31
which I'll come back to and all their
3:33
laundry impressing as much as they
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wanted now one thing I would like to
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talk about before diving into those pros
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and cons of those sweet perks and
3:40
experience is unlike their direct Resort
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ship competitors MC Cruisers Yacht Club
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and Norwegian Haven rawal Caribbean have
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not created a ship within a ship with
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all the Suites and all those dedicated
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facilities in one you know just one
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special place instead the sweet areas
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are kind of dotted around the ship which
4:02
which kind of made it all feel a little
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bit less exclusive a little bit less
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cohesive my cabin for example was on
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Deck 11 amongst just a range of kind of
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balcony cabins Coastal Kitchen and the
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lounge was then right up on Deck 17 so
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it meant fighting the busy lifts or
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taking all the stairs all the way up the
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sweet deck was then down a deck across
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the pool deck and up some stairs so did
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make it feel a little bit less special
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and kind of all bit kind of tagged on so
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what else was good so so and not so good
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in this experience well s demarcation
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disar turned out to be a fantastic perk
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to get around having over 6,000
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passengers getting on and getting off
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however unlike MC Yacht Club have there
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was no separate kind of drop off for
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sweet guests to hand of your luggage
4:49
there was no special entrance through
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security so I had to queue up with
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everybody boarding the ship to get into
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the terminal but once I'd got through
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all the security there then was a sweet
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line which did of course check you in
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way quicker but the disembarkation perk
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was fantastic I could decide what time I
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wanted to get off as soon as the ship
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was cleared getting off first no longer
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and didn't require me to do self- disar
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carrying all my own bags because the
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sweet bags were taken off ready for when
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the ship was cleared so I just went to
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the Sweet lounge and then a concierge
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escorted me down an elevator allocated
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that day only for sweet guests then they
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escorted me right to to the gang way by
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the way they would actually also do that
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kind of uh thing with a lift if you were
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self touring in ports for about an hour
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each morning they would run that too I
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really like the venue and the food
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quality and Coastal Kitchen overall the
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menus were sizable they were though
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smaller than if I'd gone on those luxury
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lines that I mentioned and while the
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food was good it was probably not as
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exotic or as fancy as those lines
5:52
breakfast was I thought a pretty
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generous menu it was packed with all the
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kind of expected items you'd think of
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lunch menu menues were also too pretty
6:01
hefty there were six starters six main
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courses and four Desserts Plus ice
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creams dinner had a pretty decent range
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of four starters and five Mains that
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would change every day plus then on top
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of that there was four starters and
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three Mains that would stay the same
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salmon chicken breast and seron steak
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but then they had another menu with 10
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desserts so a pretty big menu I found
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the Matra D and the waiters good and
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they definitely tried to get to know me
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it was a lighthearted jokey kind of
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service and they remembered quirks like
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me having diet Sprites because they know
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C free diet coke sparkling water and
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decaf coffee at meals so they kind of
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just knew that and would bring that now
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I ate most of my meals in Coastal
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Kitchen because it wasn't generally
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packed out I didn't Splash out off all
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that Hefty fair that I'd spent by the
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way on specially dining on top of it
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because I thought the food in here was
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pretty fine I occasionally used wind Jam
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at the buffet for lunch and portes when
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that was less busy but was really
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pleased that I had the nice quiet venue
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Coastal Kitchen for breakfast especially
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the two downsides for me were the venue
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were surprisingly noisy at dinner it
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just had a lot of hubub and then having
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to book a time for dinner where on those
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luxury lines it's open seating there's
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no need to book both of those issues
7:13
were a function of just the pure number
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of sweet guests on this huge ship there
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are many many of them of course there
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was also the big upside of not having to
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navigate the main dining room or the
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Wind Jammer as I've mentioned now I
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actually had friends on the same sailing
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and they found the whole main dining in
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quite a stressful situation cuz they had
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gone with anytime dining and just
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getting a slot was a challenge the sweet
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Lounge also had some ups and downs now I
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mentioned earlier that the lounge had
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two concierge one great thing that I
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haven't had on luxury lines that I've
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been on Sydney to date is I actually got
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an email from the concierge about 10
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days before my cruise introducing
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themselves and asking if I needed any
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help kind of making bookings or I had
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any questions that I and sorting before
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the cruise and actually it was really
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helpful cuz I could clarify a few things
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around show bookings and they set up all
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of my Coastal Kitchen dinner bookings
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which is great because you couldn't
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actually do that on the app so that was
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a real plus I really really liked that
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they did that they were friendly but
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possibly again due to the numbers
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traveling the Suites they would call me
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different names many of the days and
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even on one day they asked me how the
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kids were doing on the cruise so again I
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think that's kind of just because
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there's so many people and it's hard for
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them to remember everybody it was though
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great to have them on hand to handle
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queries it me I could avoid lions at
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Guest Services and also what was great
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is they would send a daily email out
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with activities tips how they could help
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and I thought that was a really great
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touch the lounge itself was was a good
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size it was comfortable the best thing
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about the lounge that was actually uh
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between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. they had
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a very large canop spread and they had
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free drinks at that time they also had a
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continental breakfast in there but I
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only actually ever used it on the last
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day on dis embarcation day the lounge
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though was not a quite of treats and it
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could get pretty loud again due to the
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numbers and of course families are a key
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part of all Caribbean so kids would of
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course be kids in there and also
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actually by the way in the Coastal
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Kitchen at the meals you've got to
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expect that on Royal Caribbean the sweet
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deck for me though was disappointing I
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could always get a lounger and didn't
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have to stress about getting kind of one
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if I was on that really busy main pool
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deck though I will say this was a very
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Port intensive Cruise so I didn't get to
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test that out because we didn't have a
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sunny SE day where I could really test
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out how hard it was to it somewhere up
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there but again it was quite noisy
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because it was slap bang above all the
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busy pools and next to the water slides
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so it was kind of noisy uh by the way it
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also had a bar but unlike say MC yach
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Club at Norwegian Haven it didn't have a
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pool or a kind of a casual dining spot
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as well there was a couple of hot tubs
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there I really liked the reserve seating
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in the shows that the seating was not in
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my view anyway always the best seat so
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for example it was on the side for the
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ice skating shows then it was on the
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upper level for the shows in the main
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theater but knowing there would be
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plenty of seats held and not having to
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go too early to grab a seat was a real
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plus because they would be held back
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until 10 minutes before the show started
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whereas otherwise you had to get there a
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really long time before the show however
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I did notice that the very best seats in
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the House were held and reserved in a
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different place for those in that star
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Suite level the high level for example
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they were slap bang Center Stage for the
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ice and theater shows they really were
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the absolute best seats the only
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downside again comes back to the numbers
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in Suites because the people manning the
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seats didn't recognize who was and
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wasn't in the suits because there were
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so many of them so' be a little bit
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aggressive a little bit assertive and
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they kind of demand to see your cabin
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car before you enter the area so it kind
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of ruined a little bit of the
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specialness because you know you're not
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kind of being recognized which on
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smaller ships you are but I haven't
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spoken about the suite enough yet so
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let's talk about that that $10,000
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bought me a dramatically bigger cabin
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than I would have had if I'd gone on
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those smaller luxury lines that I
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mentioned with the same price this is
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where the money goes and for some I
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think this is really key to why this may
11:09
make sense versus those it had a dining
11:13
area a large Lounge area with a sofa bed
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for kids or friends then a bedroom area
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with curtains and a bathroom there was
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interestingly though no second or
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separate toilet and then if I was a Miss
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is this cabin is probably what families
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with some sort of budget would go for
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and so just kind of one bathroom with a
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toilet and felt like a mess but there
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was you know especially when there was
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so much space to actually have one in
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here anyway it had the most enormous
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balcony with a table and lounges it was
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great for a family group or friends
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sharing a cabin like this to hang out I
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did have incredible sleeps in there so
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that fancy mattress topper perk
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absolutely worked it like though luxury
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touches I felt the toiletries were not a
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luxury brand just kind of some
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nondescript one I had a tiny little bowl
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of fruit when I arrived that was never
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kind of replaced or replenished uh I got
12:06
some bottle water that's allocated
12:08
within my fair at the beginning but you
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know that wasn't repl once I drunk that
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there were no kind of flowers or uh
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welcoming bottle of something I did one
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day get some canipes which I actually
12:19
didn't take a picture of I just ate them
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because I kind of assumed I would get
12:22
them every day but no you just get them
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one day so there kind of little luxury
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touches that you get on other lines were
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missing now the other Miss versus luxury
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lines I felt was service I had a cabin
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Steward and he looked after all the
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cabins along a large stretch of my deck
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on both sides of the corridor as I had
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balcony cabins just opposite me which
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were overlooking Central Park and so
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things like I would normally expect in a
12:48
suite was missing when it came to
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service so for example these are small
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things but important on this cruise I
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decided I wasn't really going to get off
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the ship so I asked him to do the cabin
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when I was at breakfast cuz he was
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already there kind of working but that
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kind of Never Happened despite asking
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day after day after day I told him I was
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going to dinner every day at 6:30 p.m
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but he would come at kind of random
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times before them so this is small
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things I know but these kind of little
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touches what does kind of add up to a
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more kind of luxury pampered
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personalized feel so again I think it
13:19
was another reminder that while the crew
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absolutely were good I was very
13:22
impressed with the crew raw Caribbean he
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did a great job but the number of you
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know of crew of guests still makes it
13:29
really hard to provide personal named
13:32
detailed attention that a smaller Luxury
13:34
Line can do and so I felt the sweet
13:37
experience gave me a way absolutely to
13:39
tap into the upsides of this big ship
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you know the amazing shows the range of
13:44
entertainment the huge casino and what
13:46
the suite did is it gave me a way around
13:48
some of the lines of bustle dealing with
13:50
the main dining room disembarkation
13:52
Crush not him to deal with guest
13:54
services so it gave me ways to kind of
13:56
get around all of the downsides it also
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by the way meant having that way bigger
14:00
cabin than the same money would buy on a
14:02
luxury or an Ultra Luxury Line which
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actually is not a big plus for me
14:06
traveling by myself or even as a couple
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but absolutely if you're traveling with
14:10
kids or friends that big cabin would be
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a massive big plus for the money but it
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wasn't really a luxury pampered made to
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feel special through personal attention
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small details kind of experience I think
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if you want that experience if that's
14:24
more important to you then I think you
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need to spend the money on the other
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smaller lines and that's what I think I
14:30
would need to do you know but then they
14:32
come with a smaller cabin you end have
14:33
the amazing tractions shows and so on so
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it's kind of a balance so I I can't wa
14:38
not seeing the Royal caran sweet
14:39
experience as an alternative to a luxury
14:42
line but it was about having a big ship
14:45
resort vacation but with many of the
14:48
downsides reduced or negated I think
14:50
it's a very different concept and
14:52
they're not really comparable now I've
14:54
mentioned MC y Club a few times so join
14:57
me in this video where I delve into what
14:59
what that really was and a few things
15:01
that led me to a different conclusion on
15:04
that line see you over there
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