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Hey @Dawn G., welcome to the forum! The above post should answer most of your questions. You CAN just show up for the shows, there's always a standby line, but it's easier/better to have reservations. If you have any other questions, fire away.

I would not assume the ship would make an announcement waking everyone up. I’m sure the bridge team get to experience many fantastic events never waking everyone up i could imagine the outrage if they did. Why was I woken for “some event”? If they do, that’s great. Just don’t set that as an expectation

I’m from Canada and just made final payment on a cruise today (yay) and it did not happen to me. I use a travel agent so I’m not sure if that impacts it.

On Wonder you will need to make reservations for the AquaTheatre show, the main production in the theatre, and possibly the comedy shows. You can do this on the Cruise Planner or app. As for dining, you will have either two choices of traditional dining (early or late, possibly a 3rd if they have implemented that yet - you will have the same time/table/wait staff every day) or MyTime dining, where you can choose different times every night if you wish. You should still make reservations for those as the stand by line can be long.

It’s about as authentic as the Chinese food, Mexican food or Italian food you find on board….which is anything but! Your best bet for authentic anything on a cruise is the Indian food believe it or not.

Okay a little more about day 1. Our room steward has the exact same name as the first one. This is the third time it has happened that way. He said he would try to come between 8am and 1pm, he never asked about morning or evening service. The type of cruisers on this shorty versus the previous one are night and day. The first person on made a beeline to the bar, while taking his shirt off. By dinner all sorts of tooters and cooters were on display. A lady threw a glass at her travel companion, who ceased being her boyfriend when he got cut. Another lady went off on guest services because she wouldn't listen and was confused. She wanted a refund because things were being charged to both her room and card on file......she couldn't comprehend how an onboard account worked. Rumor was she was put off today because not only was she cursing up a storm but throwing things. That was just on the promenade. The casino was a different beast. Way less crowded than the previous cruise but way more full of trifling folks. I want to say that more than 90% of this cruise a first timers. So the casino and cruise line are making bank off them without giving much in return. I was in the casino from 9:30ish to 1am and only maybe 3 people had their seapass in to earn points. Several people charged their card and removed it. Some were so drunk, other people were stealing their money. There was a gaggle of drunk Italian vintages who wouldn't shut up. They were as bad as my mother because they would yell across to each other after each spin. Thankfully they were playing $3.52/spin, so they left after 10min. Also a large group of babies with babies, playing their first slots. I have no ideas why you would strap 10-12mo to you and play craps.......but oh well. By midnight it was only the thirsty swinger's left. While I was with my mother I never got hit on. But as soon as she left, I couldn't play in peace. The promenade and "nightclub" was popping. The type of people on this cruise was looking to party. Schooners was empty when I went to get the remainder of my drinks. Bit I peaked at the promenade and it was a mess. Day 5/2 PDCC. I had planned to play low and slow to get my brother his 1500pts. I did 655 the evening before and was hoping to get the rest today. l had pasta and ELF yesterday forunch plus half a prime rib for dinner. So no breakfast, the plan was Playmakers once I finish my quest. I got to the casino at 9am and there was people drinking at the bar. I settled in and did great. I earned my brother the 1500pts at a cost of only $800. That's about 54 cent a point, less than half of what it cost me for my mother. He was super happy. He brought my burger at Playmakers . He gets his money worth drinking at the casino bar.

If you or she doesn't show up you aren't charged or penalized, all the shows are free, so book as much as you like.

Day 4: Cozumel, Mexico (CONT.) Tonight we saw the rescheduled performance of Aqua Action. We both felt this was the best AquaTheater show to date! So many different performances… amazing visuals… amazing technology! Since the theater is much smaller and enclosed, it felt more intimate. The show started with the “Wheel of WOW!”… … after the apparatus was cleared off stage, the show continued… The robot arms are on Icon as well! The performer from the Top Tier Event performed… Skateboarders! OK, going to eat before we have to board our flight… hopefully!

My husband and I are also on this sailing along with our daughter and her boyfriend. So excited to see their reaction to the Symphony! We have sailed it once before and it's probably our favorite. It's beautiful and the guests have so many areas to explore that it never really felt crazy crowded.

Well, it’s our last evening on board and I’m feeling blue. It’s been a fantastic week, although I’ve had an experience tonight and I’m still trying to decide how to proceed. Our waiter at 150 Central Park made some comments that I feel weren’t appropriate, although it was only after when Jamie mentioned it, that I realised what was meant (I’m bad at social stuff - currently being assessed for autism and ADHD). Trying to work out if this is something that I mention in a post cruise survey or if an email to someone may be more appropriate. However, not letting that spoil my day - we’ve put a deposit down for the next cruise! All being well we will be going from Rome to Athens on Voyager next May/June! We’ve done a book later deposit as Jamie needs to check he can get a public holiday off that falls during the sailing.

I only play slots. I've heard some bad stories in regards to points when it comes to table games. Little shop of horror is great but so far only Allure and Wonder had it. Another great game is Crazy Money, I don't know if it will be on adventure or not. It was like 10/20 cents. It was on Freedom but it's been replaced. I also agree to start using it night 1 or 2. I usually end up with between $8 and $16.

Bookmark spaceweather.com and keep track of solar activity

Insurance Coverage is comparable and if the price drops I call them for a credit.

Before. No dining discount until you hit D+, then you get one BOGO dinner per person.

Hello. Is it best to book dinner at chops on board or beforehand? I thought on our last cruise we got a discount after we boarded and then booked. Thanks.

Day 6 , evening We grabbed another quick dinner in the WJ as we wanted to come early and catch good seat for the "We will rock you" . It was spanished night at the WJ and they offered taps and other good things , overall not bad. We came 30 minutes before the show started and got middle seat on the 3rd row. The show was excellent, it had good performance, good familiar songs and easy to understand plot. We really enjoybit. For sure obe of the best musicals in RC .Strange enough after the show was ended no one from the cruise director team came to thank the performances or to say what is next. More time in the casino , frustrating not be able to play any favorite slots or even fine a place in the tables, oh well save some money . Next was the quest , as always funny with many participants. I guess people did not understood the no suited for children message or they just did not had some one to watch them. By the end if the game when each team should have bring one tall person and one short they offered there 3 or 4 years old girl as the short one . I guess they did not really understood the game... Lucky for us the cruise director stopped it on time .

currently there is a lot of solar flare activity and it is this that causes the aurora. on Friday 10th May almost all of the UK could see them (if looking the right way at the right time- unfortunately we were looking too early) The BBC is reporting there will be another major flare shortly so I would recommend getting an app that shows when the aurora are likely to be active in the area that you are and hopefully you will be able to work out when it is worth getting out of bed in the middle of the night to see them

Day 4: Cozumel, Mexico (CONT.) The Brightline trip was excellent! We left at 11:50 AM from Miami and arrived early to the station in MCO at 3:08 PM (3 hrs, 18 minutes). More on the trip much, much later! Sitting in the terminal (MCO)… our flight has been delayed 2 hours! Tonight was “A Taste of Mexico”… We both ordered the Shrimp Cocktail and I also ordered the Roasted Poblano Pepper Soup. We both ordered the Pulled Pork Enchillada… … and for dessert, I ordered the Caramel Flan and Christine ordered the Tres Leches… Everything was tasty and once again, our server team was outstanding! Best MDR service we’ve experienced since Allure back in 2019! We headed back to the cabin for a moment… took a shot of Mariner and Cozumel as we departed… I’ll be back to continue the rest of the evening!

I am in the UK and for the last 5 payments we have made to RC - final payments, excursion bookings and interim payments - we have had both the amount and also a pending charge of the amount attached to the credit card. For other transactions it appears that the merchant sends a 0 transaction to check the card is valid and then sends the actual transaction amount. However for the last 5 transactions (1st one we noticed an issue with was 16th April) we have had both checking and actual transaction being for the transaction amount, and it takes a week for the check transaction to fall off, even though the payment goes through in a couple of days. It makes no difference if the payment is done by a rep over the phone or by ourselves through the website as we have tried both methods to see could we make the payments without the double pending issue This is really not helpful when putting large amounts through for final payments as it effectively doubles the amount attached to the card for a week and we get very close to the limit, even though we know that RC has received the payment. Is this happening to anyone else? It only appears to be happening for RC so I am trying to work out if this is now a new standard - it didn't happen for the deposits for any of our cruises (last transaction that went through normally was in February) and we need it fixed quickly as we are due to pay £4500 by the middle of June which will probably take the card over its limit if RC double it for a week

My feedback largely mirrors @ScottD's experience. It's a bit dated, but here's the blog post from when I visited in 2022:

Last time I sailed out of Long Beach, I stayed at the Queen Mary Hotel. I didn't find a lot around it, but the ship/hotel itself was an attraction.

Long Beach has a few nice hotels, plenty of food options and plenty to walk and see. But about 15 minutes from the port.

April 20 sailing had 6500 passengers, 2300 were kids. I do think that part of the problem is so many first time cruisers. Our Facebook group for our sailing was loaded with first timers. Maybe it was this group that thought you just turn the kids loose. Just have never experienced this many kids unsupervised on any of our 205 nights on Royal. We’ve sailed all the oasis class ships for a total of 8 times. Twice during spring break with our kids, a couple times in October but mostly late April /early May. Comparing our 2 spring break sailings to our recent Icon, Icon was just very different. I wouldn’t say chaotic but close to it and really only on the upper decks. It’s a very “busy” pool deck meaning it felt crowded because of how much “stuff” has been crammed up there. The Hideaway is ridiculously small for adults only but then again Cloud 17 (the original adults only) was also small. I just didn’t like the feel of those upper decks. Last, for everyone saying it’s a family cruise line, yes I realize that but it wasn’t always heavily marketed to families. Our first RC cruise was 1991. It was not catering to families back then. I would say it started with oasis class (2010-ish) and then the marketing went on steroids for Icon. Well it worked!

The best American-originated foods are best eaten in the area they were invented. Like the lobster roll in New England, or Jambalaya in New Orleans

July 28 Freedom