No, but we were also in the first sailing of the season and I suspect a lot of kids were still in school or taking finals.

The fitness center is located in building 1. Originally they knew they’d build two buildings and had plans for building 3, but weren’t certain it would ever be built. When they decided sales were strong enough to build the third phase, that’s when they blocked some of building 1’s views, including the fitness center. Realistically you’re working out at 10,000 ft. I suspect there’s a lot of people dealing with the altitude and not feeling well enough to continue their normal workout routine.

Yep, that’s why I posted it. We sometimes travel with friends or family and typically split checks, especially since we don’t drink as much as many of my friends/family.

We actually enjoyed the cruise. What disappointed us was RCI itself. Because of health considerations, it had been over a decade since we cruised. The drop off in service and quality was disappointing to us. I remember when the food and service was worthy of a foodie. This cruise felt more like dining out at McDonalds than Delmonico’s. I don’t know if they’ve increased capacity so much that quality suffers or if they’re prioritizing ships amenities over food and service quality. Whatever it is, we have one more cruise booked with RCI on a smaller ship (Brilliance). If it’s not any better we’ll likely become part of the former-cruiser crowd and stick with land based vacations. Food and service are major parts of our vacation and this cruise didn’t really provide either.

There are actually three different room layouts that we’ve stayed in. We have another video on our page from 2 years ago that shows one of the mid-building, long layouts common to the units in the three story buildings along the small lake/pond by the property.

Food is a rather subjective thing to discuss and a lot depends on experience. We are Diamond members and received our Crystal block on this cruise, so it isn’t as if we haven’t had experience with Royal in the past. This cruise was just below what we’ve come to expect out of Royal Caribbean. I’m glad your experience was better than ours. Thanks for watching!

@@dougstimesharetravels9378 Food is always subjective. Sorry your experience was sup-par. We are diamond plus. On our cruise, the steaks, specialty or otherwise, were some of the best I've had. Fish and Ships was our go to for lunch.

38 days holy crap, where did you go too, how much did it cost?

@Bipolarvideos there were several people onboard who began in Australia, crossed to Hawaii and then finished in Alaska.

@@dougstimesharetravels9378 awesome. I think I'd be keen to do something like that one day

It has become our favorite resort to stay at when in Vegas

This was one of our favorite resorts. I especially enjoyed it because I like plane spotting and we had a unit location with the perfect view.

We have always sailed RCI exclusively and enjoyed each sailing. This trip we both felt the food and service were below RCI standards. We have another sailing booked next year and are hopeful this was a one off experience with a relatively new crew.

Thanks for watching. As “Loyal to Royal” diamond level members we were extremely disappointed in the quality of food. We have another cruise booked with RCI next year and are hoping this was a one off experience. If not it will be a very long time before we cruise again. As for the ship,itself we had a great time. The activities and amenities were really nice.

Apparently, when I drop a couple thousand dollars, my standards are slightly higher than yours. Service was far better on RCI several years ago and that’s what sold us on them. We travel more than the average person and eat at restaurants slightly nicer than the local iHop. Although the waitress at iHop kept our glasses full the last time we did eat there. One mark of service is attentiveness and an empty glass, especially over the course of 90 minutes, is a mark of an inattentive wait staff, Especially when they work with an assistant. I expect better from a cruise line and you should too. I could also say the food was fabulous, but it wasn’t. Why be less than truthful about our experience and opinion just to make a few fanatics who’s idea of dining out is the drive thru at McDonalds or a pizza from Little Ceasers? Thanks for watching.

We really enjoyed that stateroom and the location. The cabin steward we had was one of the best we’ve had on RCI. Hopefully he’ll be yours as well. Thanks for watching.

Everything didn’t suck. However, the food in general on our sailing was substandard for what we expected from RCI. To not be able to get a drink refilled during a meal service that lasted greater than 90 minutes is unforgivable at ANY restaurant, cruise ship or land based. Thanks for watching

The train took approx 37 minutes from the airport to Union Station downtown. Thanks for watching

Once onboard you can sign up on the Royal Caribbean app. Guests on our cruise were limited to one ride in order to give all guests an opportunity to ride Thanks for watching

Port days they will often give a free ride but it's very short, you'll be lucky if it's 10 minutes long. Paid ride is much longer.

Perhaps the tower rooms are nicer. The three story wings looked like a very old Homewood Suites that hadn’t been maintained. It was very disappointing for a Hilton brand hotel. Thanks for watching

@@dougstimesharetravels9378 The hotel was a Red Lion before he became the DoubleTree.

Based on several friends I have that cruise other lines, the quality has declined considerably since we had cruised last. I feel our expectations based on experiences from 14 years ago was unrealistic. That said, we were disappointed. We have one more cruise booked with Royal on a smaller ship. If the experience isn’t any better we’ll be done with cruising. Thanks for watching. I hope your experience is better than ours

I’m not paid to review cruises so I can be brutally honest. In a restaurant where I can’t get a refill over the course of a 90 minute meal, I’m not going to give a glowing review. A 4 to 6oz cut of prime rib that has brown gravy on it is a few steps lower than Applebee’s IMHO. A piece of pepperoni pizza that has one thin slice of pepperoni isn’t going to impress me either. I could gloss it all over, but that would t be honest.

As a Diamond status member and having only sailed on Royal Caribbean, I’d say we’ve been just the opposite up to this cruise. Just because we’ve been “Loyal to Royal” doesn’t mean I’ll on;y look at RCI through rose colored glasses. When it’s not good IMHO, I’m going to say it’s not good. Thanks for watching

I laughed when he said the fish and chips tasted horribly fishy. 😂

@@dianebrooks1889 it might be difficult to believe, but fish should not have that “fishy” taste. That’s often a sign the fish has turned bad or is poor quality. Thanks for watching

Fixed it! Thanks for Watching

It’s the one resort where having the bellman bring your luggage to your room is the best option. Thanks for watching

We really enjoyed the corner unit, but we were also in the very end building. Views may vary based on the building. We felt fortunate to get that specific unit. Thanks for watching.

Thanks for watching. As of right now I don’t have a part two as we aren’t traveling to Branson this year. Perhaps we’ll return and update the video in 2025

It some ways yes. The shower in the guest bath is nicer than the tub/shower in most MVC units. The subzero refrigerator is a big upgrade. The walk in closet and separate laundry room (I forgot to add to the video) are nice. The accordion door for the balcony was great. Other than that, everything else seemed to be standard fare for an MVC timeshare. The unit are due for renovation beginning in August per the front desk. It will be interesting to see if MVC maintains these units to the current standard or downgrades where it can.

The resort itself is lovely and it has a great location. So long as you use the bell hops to bring your luggage up to the room it’s not as big of an issue unless you’re mobility impaired. OTOH, Marriott’s Kaua’i Lagoons is just down the street, but it’s all 2 and 3 bedrooms rather than a mix of studio, one and two bedrooms like KBC. Thanks for watching.

That makes sense, but it’s still the smallest bathroom I’ve seen in a MVC resort, even for a lock-off. Thanks for watching

We were able to exchange for it and were given both rooms. It was really a lot of room. Beautiful room and view! We had a great time!

We were only there 2 nights, and it was basically a spot to store our luggage and use the resort as a place to relax before our red eye flights home. I didn’t see any construction going on during our time there. The entire set up as it stands is one of the absolute worst of any resort or hotel we’ve been too. We visited the resort 14 years ago and the main lobby was the same then as it is today, but I don’t remember the long walk. What I recalled was entering the beautiful main lobby and walking right out to the Koi Ponds. With MVC’s current situation and the smaller hotel conversion rooms coupled with all the resorts acquired in the ILG acquisition, it wouldn’t surprise me to see MVC remove its name from this resort in the future. IMO the only thing KBC has going for it is the location and the pools. After that it’s the last resort I’d consider when staying on Kaua’i in the MVC family of resorts.

@@dougstimesharetravels9378MVC can't exactly remove their name when there are over 12,000 deeded owners holding weeks there.

You’d like to think that but it’s happened more than once with MVC. Once with Swallow Tail on Hilton Head Island and then again in Vail with one or two of the buildings there. In Vail those building were Bluegreen, which has now become Hilton Vacation Club. I believe Swallow Tail remains an I dependently managed resort. MVC also threatened to take its name off Beachplace Towers several years ago before coming to an agreement with the HOA and is now in a battle with the Lake Tahoe Grand Residences HOA and May remove its name from that resort. It’s not unprecedented for a resort to change management companies/brands without the owners consent. Sunterra became Diamond which has now become Hilton as a for instance. Any resort which does live up to Marriotts “standards” will always be at risk of losing the Marriott brand. Thanks for watching

@@dougstimesharetravels9378 Interesting! Thanks!

I hope you enjoyed your stay at Willow Ridge Lodge. It is one of the nicer resorts in Branson, although February is definitely off season for that area. Thanks for watching