In late July we were honored to be a part of the Royal Caribbean President’s Cruise 2023. So… what in the world is a President’s Cruise? Tune in to learn more about it and see if it’s something that you should be putting on your bucket list!
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Transcript
Rod: Welcome to the Jetsetting Family Travel Podcast. I’m Rod, and this is the moment where Jess would typically be introducing herself, but unfortunately, she is sitting out the podcast this week. The reason why is we just got back from a seven-night cruise It’s called the president’s cruise, which is really what we’re going to be talking about today, but it was so filled with crazy fun activities that Jess is simply wiped out.
So I’m going to be stepping in today. Hopefully, you know, entertaining you with some fun stories of our president’s cruise, but before we dive deeper, let’s cover real quick, what is a President’s Cruise? President’s cruises have been hosted by Royal Caribbean for the past nine years now, and they happen once a year.
And it’s typically bringing the Crown and Anchor Society loyalty program members together for a huge celebration. A lot of the Royal Caribbean executive team, including CEO, Michael Bailey, come on board. Then there are special excursions. There’s a lot of gifts and swag and special performances. So it really is a super fun jam packed event that typically the most loyal, I would say Royal Caribbean cruisers really mark on their calendar and try to attend every year.
So this was the first time that we’ve attended a President’s Cruise. And after sailing, I think this was our 9th cruise in the past 5 years. There was so much that was new and exciting that it made it super refreshing. So for this year, we sailed out of Galveston, Texas. That was the first time that we’ve sailed out of Galveston and it was a new port terminal that was built by Royal Caribbean in 2022, I think.
So we went, spent the first two days at sea. Then we had port stops in Roatan, Honduras. Then we swung back up to Costa Maya, Mexico, and finished up in Cozumel before having one more day at sea and getting back to Galveston. So let’s talk about a couple of these things that kind of make a President’s Cruise different from a typical Royal Caribbean cruise.
This happened on Allure of the Seas, which is one of the Oasis class ships that Royal Caribbean has. So it was really exciting. We’ve never been on board Allure and we’ve had familiarity with some of the other classes of ships from that size, which is a Symphony of the Seas and the newest one, Wonder of the Seas.
So it was really exciting for us to be able to see what’s different on Allure as compared to Symphony and Wonder. And, really all the activities that were awesome. So some of the activities and events that they had were the 1st thing that happened was on the 1st day at the boardwalk. Tito’s Vodka, since it’s a vodka company that was founded out of Texas, they hosted a bunch of events throughout the ship that week.
The first of which was what they call the Tito’s and tacos. So they set up the boardwalk area with a bunch of like taco samplers. They have opened up the bar for people to try Tito’s drinks. And it was a good introduction. We were still at the port or getting ready to sail off and have this party that really kicked off a week of activities and events throughout that week.
There are also things like what they call the Boardwalk Bonanza. That was where they also set up the boardwalk, which is in the aft of the ship. It’s this really cool area with a carousel and that’s also where they have the Aqua theater. But here they had a kind of a carnival theme going on. They had a bunch of games.
There was one where you had to stack some big cups and you had to dance before you got to stack your cups in a competition, kind of one on one. There were a little ski ball games. There were performers that were up on stilts, a lot of jugglers. There was cotton candy being handed out. There was a wheel that was sponsored by Coca Cola, where you can spin and get free Coke products.
So one of the big themes here was there was a lot of promotional effort from other companies to come and sample their stuff. But in general, it’s setting up music. Putting our bringing everybody together and allowing all of us to have a good time. Another one of these was called the Garden Spritz Party.
So this one took place in the Central Park area. It’s on deck eight in the middle of the ship, and it’s kind of modeled after a Central Park garden, lots of trees and leaves and plants and flowers. And this spritz party was hosted by Chandon, the champagne. So they had a new type of flavor that was kind of citrusy.
It was really good. This one was mostly reserved for the diamond plus and the pinnacle members of the loyalty program. So it wasn’t open to everyone that was going in the cruise. And this is something we’ll talk about a little bit later, but some of the events were, limited in attendance or invitation.
To those on the higher tiers of the loyalty program but there were a lot of things that did happen, that were open to everyone. One of these was called the Royal Roundup Western Party. So in the area called Studio B, that’s where they have a lot of the ice skating shows. The nightclub gets set up there.
They have couple of other special activities in there, but it’s really an open big space, smaller than the theater where this time for the party was really just a big line dancing event. It was a lot of fun. They brought in some performers and everyone just got together and started line dancing to country music.
It was a lot of fun also in that space, they had something called the Royal Chef Showdown, which was kind of like one of those programs that you’ll see on the Food Network where teams of chefs get together this time. It was a chef named John Rivers who started a bunch of barbecue restaurants across Florida.
And he also helped design one of the restaurants aboard one of the other ships called the Portside Barbecue. But he was on board doing a lot of different masterclasses. And he actually took over one of the restaurants called the Bistro in the Solarium, where he had a limited menu of really delicious barbecue food.
But anyway, in this Royal Chef Showdown, they also had teams from, Royal Caribbean staff, the chef from the ship, and, they went through different challenges. They had to cook meals for three judges. Some of the kids got brought on to help. There were two master mixologists that were creating drinks for the judges as well.
And, the audience was really just watching this happen, have secret ingredients that come out, and at the end, they get to watch the judges sample the food. And eventually, one of the two teams is getting crowned the winner of the Chef Showdown. So it was a really fun event to be able to sit in. Santi actually got to help up front. He got pulled in as he was in some of these other events, but aside from these activities, there’s also a lot of giveaways that happen. So in the Royal Promenade, where the pizza place is really the general gathering area of the ship. Every now and then they would bring people together for little parties where there’d be a live musician that’s playing.
People are dancing along the promenade, there’s performers there, and also there’s giveaways. So, really they put every guest’s name on the cruise ship in a randomizer, and they would give away anything from cups to shirts to grand prizes that included cruises. And, really, one of the big ones was… A VIP cruise, going on board the newest Royal Caribbean ship, which is Icon of the Seas and that’s coming in January of 2024.
And speaking of giveaways, one of the other things that sets a President’s Cruise apart from a typical cruise is that there are so many freebies that are being given out throughout the week, starting with when you first even got on the ship, the first thing that you get before you get even on board. Is you got a free cowboy hat that had the Royal Caribbean logo.
It said president’s cruise on it. You could choose from different colors. And that really set the tone. Since the cruise itself was sailing out of Texas, then they’re going to be a bunch of country and Western themed nights. So, it was a really cool way to kick off the week. One of the other things that you get as soon as you get to your room later that day, you would see that there was a special magnet that said President’s Cruise on it.
And every now and then when you’d come back to your room, I think it was on day three, we found crossbody bags there for the kids to wear. On the last day, they gave us some special cups that served as koozies or they could be cups as well. One of the days we also got a tote bag, so it was really fun just being able to notice or get surprised by the different freebies that were being given out. So that was a ton of fun. And one of the other things that also sets this President’s Cruise apart is that there’s a lot of sessions with the Royal Caribbean executives themselves. And some of these include something that’s called Common ground with Michael Bailey, who’s the President and CEO. He hosted a question-and-answer session to everyone.
So he was being really transparent about what the company had been through during COVID. What some of the plans for the future were. And he took a lot of good questions from the audience on potential concerns or recommendations for making improvements. And that’s something that they use for feedback to take into consideration as they make updates to the cruising experience.
Another one of these special sessions. It’s called Trip Down Memory Lane. And this one’s a fun one. It’s where a lot of the Royal Caribbean loyalty program members who have been cruising for a long time Y’all there are some people that have been cruising for thousands and thousands of days. It is absolutely insane how many cruises people have been on that went to this President’s Cruise. And there’s even one person that’s really a legend among Royal Caribbean, and his name is Super Mario.
I think, so just to give you an example, the highest tier of loyalty program in Royal Caribbean is called the Pinnacle. And the Pinnacle Club, you need… I think it’s over 700 points on that loyalty program and you get a point typically for every night that you cruise. So already right there, it’s like you need to have sailed for almost two full years on board to get to this pinnacle status.
Super Mario, this guy, has 11, 000 points. Yeah, that’s right. 11, 000. He has cruised for basically almost, what, 30 years? Haha, no way. But anyway. So, a lot of, uh… Uh, this Trip Down Memory Lane session was a lot of cruisers that have cruised for the past 30 years, 40 years with the Royal Caribbean. They bring some of the memorabilia, some of the tickets and pictures from cruises as they remember them, and the Royal Caribbean executives kind of reminisce on what things were like in the past, how that has improved in the future.
And, it really ties into another session, which is really a sneak peek and a look forward into what’s coming up with Royal Caribbean next. And, you know, next year is going to be a big year for the company that are launching two more ships. They’re putting out a new, area for adults only at their Perfect Day at Coco Cay private Island. They’re going to have a private beach club in the Bahamas. So there’s so much coming down the pipeline. It was really cool to get some inside scoop into what’s going on and what’s going to happen there. Another unique thing about President’s Cruises is every year there’s a headline performer.
So this year, Royal Caribbean invited Chaka Khan over to perform concerts on two separate nights. Chaka Khan is a legend. She’s been performing for, I think, 50 plus years as well. Grammy, so it was really fun. She brought her band, her singers, and we really got set up at the theater. We watched her perform.
Everybody went up to the front at a certain point and just started jamming to the music. That was all live. So that was really cool to see. There were a couple of other performers. One of them that we really enjoy, their name is Mosaic. They’re an acapella group of five from Las Vegas. And they’ve come on Royal Caribbean ships in the past.
We haven’t seen them perform yet, but we went, we were blown away. All of the music that they had was created with no instruments or other accompanying tracks. So it was all just vocal performances that were amazing. And not necessarily a headline performer, but a performer that we love. And we met when we sailed on Ovation of the seas, his name is Stephen Burke.
He is a guitarist and vocalist that performs at the pub that is in the Royal Promenade. So it was always cool to, after going to some of these activities that I mentioned, going back to the pub, having a drink and just sitting down and listening to Steven Burke perform and he is seriously amazing.
So it’s awesome to be able to see him and connect there. Now, the last thing in terms of unique activities for the president’s cruise, there’s special port excursions. So as I mentioned before, this cruise went to Roatan Honduras, to Costa Maya and to Cozumel. And in these different ports, there were special excursions that were set up.
For example, in Roatan, there was the Island Jam that was hosted by Michael Bailey, the CEO, and it was an activity or an excursion that you had to pay to get access to, but you would get shuttled to a private beach and there’d be activities there. There’d be food, open bar, live music where you can go and enjoy.
The beach was nice. The water was perfect. You can also sign up to go either horseback riding. You could go on a glass bottom canoe tour or you could also go snorkeling. So we were lucky enough to be able to get snorkeling as the activity where we went out on a little boat for 10 minutes into the water.
To a reef area. That was really nice. Lots of coral, clear water. And we also got to go horseback riding at the end of it, which was a lot of fun. It was taking it down into the jungle, learning more about some of the wildlife and the nature trail that they have there in Roatan. One of the things that sometimes happens on these President’s Cruises is also what’s called a port takeover.
So this year, when we got to Costa Maya in Mexico, it was what’s called Royal Day, and Royal Caribbean really closed down that port and made it private to just Royal Caribbean for that day. So it was our ship Allure of the Seas. And there was also a sister ship called Serenade of the Seas that were docked at that port that day.
So really that port just closed down and made itself available for us for that day. And that included having a lot of live music. There were certain restaurants that were providing free tacos and churros, and there were bars that were open and paid for by Royal Caribbean. There were some excursions that people could go out to as well that were hosted by Royal Caribbean that you’d have to pay additional for.
But that Royal Day in Costa Maya itself was this huge branded party. A lot of cool decorations celebrating the President’s Cruise. There was a Flowrider surfing simulator that had just opened there that opened there for a little bit to let people try it out. There were pools at that port also. So that was a really fun event where we could just get off the ship.
Go enjoy close by not even necessarily have to go on an excursion or pay for one since everything in there was covered. There were still shops and some restaurants that you’d have to pay for, but that was only if you wanted to. So based on, you know, these headline performances, special port excursions, the sessions with Royal Caribbean executives.
All the freebies that you get, all of the special activities that get planned throughout the week. It just happened in a whirlwind. There were activities for us to do all the time, which even when it’s not a President’s Cruise on an Oasis class ship, like the Allure, there’s. Already a ton of activities from checking out the pool to going on the flow rider from all the shows that are already commonly being shown there at the Aqua theater and the Amber theater up front.
I mean, there’s. Literally no shortage of activities for you. But you know, one of the questions that we get is, is this a cruise that I should book? And I think that answer is going to depend. If you’re a first-time cruiser who has never been on a Royal Caribbean cruise or, you know, don’t know much about cruising itself.
I’m not sure if the president’s cruise would be the best for you, mainly because one, I think you might get spoiled by how much awesome stuff there is, but also a lot of these activities do have limits to certain tiers of the loyalty program. So if you haven’t been on the. On a Royal Caribbean cruise before you don’t yet have access to enter the Crown and Anchor society loyalty program.
So I would wait until you’ve been on a couple of cruises also, because I think these presidents cruises do have a slightly higher cost as compared to a more typical cruise that you would have at any other point in the season. So really take a look at the itinerary that you get for that special cruise last year.
The, they had it on Ovation of the Seas, and that was an Alaska cruise. They announced that next year’s President’s Cruise is going to take place on Oasis of the Seas and sailing out of Barcelona in June 23rd
of 2024. So that one’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s probably going to go to a lot of Mediterranean locations. And they’ll have, I’m sure they’ll have a new headline performer that they’ll invite on board, have these concerts, all of these activities, these sessions. So we, you know, got off the ship super happy, super exhausted from all of the fun that we had, but we really, really look forward to cruising next, whether that’s on another President’s Cruise or just in any cruise in general.
Or whether it’s the Icon of the Seas that’s going to be launching in January of 24, which will be the new largest ship in the world. Cruising is our jam. We’ve loved it. We have, I think, 60 plus days at sea now that we’ve gotten throughout the past five years. So if you have any questions about either the President’s Cruise or just cruising in general, feel free to reach out to us.
You can always find us on Instagram @thejetsettingfamily. You can shoot us an email at hello(at)thejetsettingfamily.com. And if you really enjoyed this podcast episode, make sure that you subscribe so that you’re getting the notifications every time that we launch the new episode on Tuesday. So here I am going solo for the week, but I think we’ll be getting Jess back for the next one, where we’ll be talking about a lot of the other locations that we visited during our previous summer trip across the East coast.
So, until next time, Happy Jetsetting!
