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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

As someone who grew up outside of Philly I can tell you that good/authentic ones are hard to find in other parts of the country. On the ship? Stay away. While nothing is likely to be a super high quality or perfectly authentic version, other things (like key lime pie or hot dogs) are good enough to try, IMO.

And a lot of people likey absolutely hated it but enough maturity to just not say anything.

The auroras (Borealis and Australis) occur all year round, but they are not usually visible in late spring or summer because of the glare of the sun during the long days and short nights. They tend to be visible from late August to mid-May, although they're as changeable as the weather, because the atmospheric phenomenon that causes them is also as changeable as the weather. We're on the Jewel of the Seas Greenland cruise this September and I suspect that the chances of seeing the Northern Lights will be slim, although I haven't lost hope. You can actually hear them too, if it's quiet enough, which it won't be on a cruise ship. They're said to sound like fluorescent lights.

As an American, I can aver that none of the "traditional American" foods as served onboard cruise ships is anywhere close to authentic.

Oh, I'm sure it was an issue for the non-smokers on either side...they just couldn't do anything about it. Best thing they ever did was eliminate smoking on balconies.

We were there in October and it was similar... almost too quiet... but very peaceful. You assume correctly... unlike one YouTube video I watched before our first trip there in which the woman commented on how expensive everything was, lol.

GL @Neesa! We generally just blow through our free play on whatever machine speaks to my wife... then she actually hit some small jackpot and cashed out $90 on Wonder last June and then $80 on Allure in October. Back to nothing in March but that's what we expect. I know it was Press Your Luck on Allure, not sure what she played on Wonder... possibly Little Shop of Horrors? She'll usually pick out something related to pop culture or something with an animal theme. NOTE: This isn't advice, just sharing anecdotes. I spent plenty of time playing blackjack in my younger years but haven't gambled on a cruise in forever. I used to go play for an hour to kill time if my wife was taking a nap... nowadays I'm more likely to just go get some more El Loco Fresh and a margarita.

I don’t believe so… I agree… just part of the decor.

Day 4: Cozumel, Mexico We grabbed breakfast at the Pearl Cafe and disembarked the ship. The taxi situation in Cozumel at the port is very organized. Unfortunately, you run the gauntlet making your way through the port shops to get to the taxi stand/line. The price was fixed at $22 for the trip one way to Nachi Cocum. We figured we’d give Nachi a try since Matt had excellent reviews in past years. He did state his more recent visit(s) were a little less memorable, but we wanted to go because we wanted a chill atmosphere without a kid water park, etc. Photo dump! Had to get my next Starbucks ship mug! The view from the ship on our balcony… The pool was perfect! Dining area… Swim up bar from the dining area side… Swim up bar… It was a very quiet day at Nachi! Literally, no more than 30-40 people! Mariner making her way into port! Very nice hot tub next to bar… Included menu… ignore the prices (in pesos I’m assuming)! You get to choose one appetizer, one soup or salad, one entree, and one dessert… Some drinks at our table with a nice view! I tried the Buffalo Chicken Wings… only wings an a little overcooked… I still ate them! Christine had the Cheese Sticks which she enjoyed! I tried the Mexican Tortilla Soup… not bad. Christine had the Assorted Fruit Salad with lemon Sherbet which she enjoyed. We both ordered the Chicken Fried Mexican Tacos… think taquitos! For dessert, I ordered the Caramel Custard and Christine ordered the Chocolate Ice Cream (what a surprise!)… … a couple more shots from the pier near Nachi… Our dedicated server (handles everything by beach/pool and in the dining area), called us a taxi and we headed back to the ship. Mariner was docked next to us and there were two Carnival ships (closest was Valor). Back onboard and hanging out on our balcony… Final thoughts on Nachi Cocum: Very nice, low key experience. Beautiful with a nice pool. Don’t primarily go there for the food and drinks. The drinks were often on the weak side. If you want them stronger, I noticed they would load them up if asked! We would still consider going back for the chill atmosphere. We rested a bit before heading to the MDR for dinner.

It was a duplicate post.

Sorry about the delay. I was really trying to deal with my mother.....more about that later. The new rooms are nice but they smell like heavy chemicals. The hallway is very tight, so you can't get around if the steward has the cart there. The rooms have USB hubs. Since this is such a short cruise I am earning my brother half his new prime status and a cruise. So we had ELF around 4 and then I unpacked and went to the casino until dinner. I love MTD, we got sat earlier than our scheduled 8:30 and was done by 9:20 so I went back to the casino. It is a totally different crowd and they are stupid and loose. I will go into detail later.

Yes, I'm just pointing out that there should be every expectation of a first night show