Change your filming on your device from portrait to landscape orientation. It looks bad on RU-vid, especially on a tv or laptop, to see the smaller cut off view that you get when filming in portrait.
This video kind of breaks my heart. I’m booked on Utopia this December, but I’m really struggling to see anything but downgrades from first and second generation oasis classes. No Broadway show kills me. Removing one of the cantilevered hot tubs takes away one of my absolute favorite places on board. Taking away the bridge wings for the sake of packing in more suites is just emblematic of the entire industries direction towards cordoning off more and more areas to suite guests, and really leaning into the “ship within a ship” concept. Even the aquatheater is flashier, but I don’t really see the new wind screen as better. The whole charm of the theater was that it was right on the water and felt close to the ocean. Even going back to older videos, where RC talked about the new Giovanni’s, they talked about how “research consistently shows people prefer Italian when celebrating” but to me that’s how you talk to investors, not customers. It doesn’t really inspire me when they sell the product by saying “you’re gonna love this because it will make us the most money.” I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but Royal Caribbean is feeling more and more corporate every year, cutting more corners every year, and it breaks my heart a little bit,because I absolutely adored what it used to be and want the product to be as good as it can be.
I agree. I am just now 30 yrs old and getting into actually being able to afford cruises. It break my heart to see this as we certainly dont have the means to be paying for suites or even balcony cabins. Ive seen so much eliminated/cordoned off from the "peasants" of the ship vs the smaller older ships. We like HAL for the smaller feel and that most of theor fleet is "older" (by the newest mega-ship standards). Everything had become much more predatory since the shutdowns in COVID. Seemingly they want to make up for the lost revenue but also see that the influx of newer cruisers dont have the same higher expectations and standards of the Boomer and early Gen X generation of cruisers.
Been on Harmony and loved it, going on Utopia end of January 2025 and can’t wait. Love Utopia will have the new elevators like Icon, hear they work great.
GREAT JOB MATT! On you Monday live I asked if this ship had the circular coconut and lime bar like Wonder, I’ve seen that they do not. Bummer. But looking forward to a great time at all the other bars. 😊
Love your enthusiasm. Big ship, small ship, doesn't really matter to me if I'm cruising. We try to mix them up, but can't make the trip for a 3/4 day cruise, so I see a sailing on this ship years down the line when I'm retired and can do a back to back with a different, longer sailing as the second leg. By then, probably not worth the effort. Oh well.
Thank goodness they put air conditioning in the solarium! And I hope they keep doing this because I was on Symphony of the Seas and it was just too sunny and hot! We can get that out at the regular pool. So happy for the air conditioning in the solarium! Let's hope this continues with all future Royal Caribbean ships!
Tornados are like taquitos, a roller grill item found at lots of gas stations. I know those bags well! Nothing special, but it gets the job done when I'm on the road.
Really wish one of these days if we could get an Oasis class ship out here on the West Coast! (Oh, well! At least we finally got a Quantum class out here!)
I would LOVE to see if you could ever end up meeting/talking with fellow RU-vid titan Bryan James, whose band will be the house band at Mason Jar again and has been releasing just Wonderful “crew’s views of the cruise” videos lately!
