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These types of incidents are exactly what set a trained service animal apart from a supposed 'support' animal. It's why many airlines are tightening rules for 'support' animals but it also makes it hard on people who truly rely on service animals as they get painted with the same brush.

Day 8 - at sea Today was our first of two sea days headed back to Miami, and it was wonderful! I got up early and took my laptop down to the promenade about 7:30 to get some stuff done, it was wonderfully quiet down there, and I grabbed some fruit from the Cafe. A little later in the morning, they had a Bloody Mary bar set up on the promenade There was a “flash sale” on accessories, and it got pretty busy I stopped in one of the shops, and noticed that the ship models have already bred updated with the new slides and such, but a lot of the picture related items have not While wandering around, we came across the Stowaway Piano Player. This guy is awesome We went to a Q&A with the singer/dancer/ice skaters that was quite interesting. Did you know that the singers and dancers will help out backstage with costume changes etc. at the ice show, and the other way around? They also run spot lights for each other’s shows Tonight was formal night, we went to the main dining room With celebrations of the the 50th anniversary for Royal, the had birthday cakes Tonight’s headliner show was a Whitney Houston tribute, she was great! She was backed with all live music from the house band, they are incredible. After catching the late show, we wandered around the ship more, made a stop at the R Bar and got a red velvet, wow! After playing some late night (early morning) mini golf, we decided to call it a day. Last full day tomorrow!

The challenge is that any company is limited in what questions or support documentation it can ask with respect to disabilities, by law. People who seek to scam and cheat know this. A perfectly healthy person can ask an airline for a wheelchair assist just to board early. The airline has limited means to seek proof of need. Some people truly need a wheel chair. Some cheaters lie and cheat just to bypass the lines. One can only trust that on their day of judgement it will be dealt with, and that karma can be a b*tch and they will get theirs in due time.

I have seen small "potty" greens for dogs on cruise ships, most likely for service dogs. The problem is that people often claim they have a service dog when it's not really a service dog. A trained service dog would NEVER do that. It's people like this who make it very difficult for those who depend on their well-trained, well-behaved service dogs to take them into public. Emotional Support dogs are NOT service dogs.

So I was just coming up to the Solarium on Anthem of the Seas, and on the ride up I came across an older man and canine. While a family left the elevator , this dog peed on the lil girl as the man stepped into the elevator, I told the man this, to no reply. Gentleman got off a floor or two later, and I went back down to check. Upon arrival the father was talking to a crew member and explained his anger at the incident and how it was even possible to get a dog aboard. All in all, I recorded the convo and it got pretty heated, the father was very angry as this is the last night of the cruise. Pretty upset with this gentleman who didn’t respond, I hope he’s banned from the line as I personally told him about it and tried to stop him, shame on people.

Oasis in November, lady very over weight in a powerchair which was extremely big, she a had a very small dog on her lap, while in the schooner bar she lowered the dog by its lead to the floor where the dog did it’s business she then pulled the dog back by the lead chocking the dog and drove away not even informing crew, people were discussed and some actually confronted her, she started to rant and rave how she had a disability and the crew are there to tend to her every need and should clean it up. ? we live in a world where people pretend to be something to get extras and real people miss out..

A few years old but the trend remains close to this. All peaks in this graph correspond to school and/or college breaks. Source: https://www.cruisemarketwatch.com/articles/category/cruise-lines-market-share-marketing-research/page/2/ Want a cheap cruise? Dec 8 or 15 on Oasis. Freshly refurbished. Cheap rates. The early December time frame and mid-January remain some of the cheapest times to cruise and are mostly K-12 free. Right after Labor day is not bad either.

Costa Maya For Costa Maya, we had pre-booked the Aqua Adventure Park "excursion" from Royal. Excursion is in quotes since it's really just a bus that drops you off and the rest is just your ticket. What's nice though is that they have shuttles that run often to take you back to the ship when you are ready. They offer different types of tickets; just the waterpark, just the zipline, waterpark + zipline, and waterpark + beach (don't remember if that includes zipline as well). We figured that the waterpark would be enough so that's the ticket we purchased (great deal on Black Friday). When you arrive, you check in and get a locker to store your belongings. Then you're off. DS and DH went to the grown up slides, which are quite crazy. Apparently the green one on the right does a free fall; which my son didn't realize until he was on it. Don't think he rode that one a second time. DS enjoyed but DH said they were rough and he banged up his arm a bit. Not his thing. DD and I went on the lazy river, which is quite peaceful and nice ... well, calm until you are forced to go under the waterfalls that they have at various spots...lol. But it's fun. I like too how they have animal sounds around like you are in the rainforest or jungle. There is a more "normal" set of slides as well that both of our kids enjoyed. The first time, my daughter didn't notice the huge bucket that fills up and drops water on you as you go up the stairs and oops...she got soaked. The place also has really nice pools (although they do have a bit of sand in them) As mentioned, we didn't sign up for the ziplines but they looked like fun. You could see/hear some of them around the pool, lazy river and slides. They have some that end up in water, and some that are normal and end on land. It's nice that the park has all these different options. There is no beach at the park, but they have shuttles that take you to one (not sure which one or where it is as we didn't purchase this). We were warned that the food was pricey and not very good, so that morning at breakfast we took a few extra boxes of cereal and a couple bagels with us. Thus, that was sufficient as "lunch" until we were done and returned to the ship. The park was a fun few hours.

Here ya go.

Even more interesting. What ships generate the most revenue for Royal? https://cruisemarketwatch.com/ship-revenue/ In numbers: Harmony $485,570,000 - 295,000 passengers Ovation $443,940,000 - 293,000 passengers Allure $422,500,000 - 313,000 passengers Oasis $403,340,000 - 307,000 passengers Symphony $396,500,000 - 171,000 passengers Anthem $371,150,000 - 232,000 passengers Quantum $366,160,000 - 442,000 passengers Explorer $318,350,000 - 122,000 passengers Freedom $283,200,000 - 198,000 passengers Radiance $256,910,000 - 72,000 passengers Independence $ 256,190,000 - 210,000 passengers Liberty $245,160,000 - 210,000 passengers Voyager $234,480,000 - 168,000 passengers Mariner $224,230,000 - 295,000 passengers Adventure $219,370,000 - 175,000 passengers Navigator $212,870,000 - 146,000 passengers Serenade $174,410,000 - 90,000 passengers Jewel $168,660,000 - 112,000 passengers Brilliance $152,600,000 - 113,000 passengers Enchantment $151,980,000 - 257,000 passengers Rhapsody $139,520,000 - 117,000 passengers Majesty $137,110,000 - 269,000 passengers Vision $ 133,020,000 - 95,000 passengers Grandeur $ 128,570,000 - 89,000 passengers Empress $ 113,720,000 - 139,000 passengers

This is Eva of Ripcord......my kid is now saying when he grows up, he wants to do Eva's job on this ship...... sigh. The other day he was going to be an astronaut.....

Luciano got us in for another skydive today, roller skating is reserved for 4:30, we met two other families in star class and are having them for cocktails at 3:30. I was sorta surprised when I asked Luciano if we could have a bottle of champagne for this and he said yes, but he would have to charge me for it.n bummed that this is an inconsistency across the genie fleet. On days at sea, there is a bar cart service from 3:30-5:30 so we can also order from that. Yesterday we were invited for a cocktail in the royal loft suite.....holy cow that suite is just massive. I feel like we live in a little hovel here on "dick 10" (this accent on the word "deck" I am told, is not Aussie but rather a kiwi accent.....but I use that word allllll the time now when we are out and about doing those stairs and hallways, and I laugh out loud every single time.....). Anyways back to that royal loft....it's really special. But this grand loft we r in is super awesome as well, so no complaining! if you are doing the skydiving simulator, try to get booked in with Eva........she was soooo much fun with each rider, doing little tricks with them like flips or taking them up high. Then at the end, she went in herself and wowd the pants off all of us! She did this impromptu acrobatic show that had my son saying to me afterwards "mom......now I know why they say boys drool and girls rule!!" If I could have tipped her I would have. And FYI, we had one little girl in our group who was about 5 and she rocked it for her first ride! dinner tonight at Jamie's. Chefs table tomorrow night. tomorrow is another day at sea. a video from the balcony as I type...... capturedvideo.MOV

Ports We had 4 ports, 3 of which we got off and enjoyed. Roatan This was our first time visiting Roatan so we were excited. We had pre-arranged a tour with another family who had kids same ages as our kids kids. What was nice about this tour is that we could customize it for what we'd like to do. It's run by husband and wife and we had the wife as our guide for the day. She met us at the port and was lovely...so kind and warm. As we drove to our first stop, a beautiful view from above, she told us all about the culture; the schooling, the different groups, the history, etc. Pictures of the ship and view from higher land Then we got to our first main destination; the monkey and sloth sanctuary. Slots are the most calming peaceful animal I've seen and it was quite a treat to be able to hold (aka hug) them. Look how cute! There was also an area where you could go in the cage with the monkeys. They would climb around inspecting us and jumping from one person to the next (they particularly liked tall people). After they inspected us, they'd clean themselves It was quite funny. Here's one grabbing a snack. There are other areas where you can go in with the parrots and macaw birds. They'd either wrap their claws around our arms or stand on our heads as in my daugher's case. Once done, we went to the chocolate factory. They explained the process for making chocolate, gave us samples to try, and of course let us purchase their chocolate. It's definitely not your ordinary cadbury chocolate. And of course, the place smelled so lovely. Last we went to West Bay Beach and wow, so beautiful. The sand was soft, the water clear blue and there were soft but not rough waves. Perfect beach. It was nice as well as the tour guide watched our stuff and we were free to sit with her (where DH tended to stay as it was shaded) or head out to the beach with our belongings safe. Our kids played in the water, and snorkeled with face masks we brought. They also had boats that would take you out if you wanted to do more serious snorkeling. It was a full day but excellent tour.

I have a relative with a trained service dog (he's a diabetic alert dog) and one who has one who alerts for seizures. They have all kinds of problems due to those who have fake "certificates" and fake service vests (real SDs do not have these things - it's not actually a thing).

I think I would have rubbed the owners nose in it, just to be sure he didn't have doubts of said accident. Especially when he chose to ignore the whole event.

Should we start a thread on our animals. SpeedNoodles has her Collie in the picture so I shall show my Shiloh Shepherd female, Kali Mae.

I went to Bikini Beach a couple of weeks ago, it was great! The restaurant/bar is all brand new (old one was damaged from the hurricane) and really nice! All the facilities are super clean. We rented 2 chairs w/ umbrella for $30. We used Bernard's Tours to get there, once we arrived the driver asked what time we wanted to be picked up. He was there right on time and was super friendly. Of course you can just grab a cab to bring you there as well. We had a great day at a very reasonable price as I too was trying to avoid costly excursions for the 4 of us. We did a similar thing in St. Thomas by grabbing a cab (more like a bus) and going to Megan's Bay for the day. There we were also asked what time we wanted to be picked up and he was right there on time as well.

Maybe on Oasis 6 we can get them to install those steaming cabinets that you can fit between a washer and dryer at home. Always seems like such a waste of water to steam the wrinkles out on a ship where water is limited, but as I tell my wife “they forced us to do this”

It’s amazing, that’s what it is! I will swing by there today and take a better picture of the menu

Sorry. My mind is old and feeble. I have CRS.

I knew you would chime in and ask that! ?

Decor and Art Work One thing that I love about Symphony is the art work and decor. It's so fun exploring, and makes taking the stairs vs elevator that much more fun (except when you run into the stowaway piano player in the elevator). Every staircase has a different piece of art. We participated in an art scavenger hunt that was fun. ? I've already posted the candy apple that is near Studio B and the big statue in the promenade. Some stair photos our kids joining in with this one The space between the two elevators (going from ground to the top) And of course the Solarium at night There is also interactive art work that is really neat sound art on the Boardwalk (big pink wig) and outside Schooner Bar top of Windjammer has chef's drawing pictures (both within the art) entrance to MDR level 5 capture you and puts you in the art art that changes to another picture with the use of the xray vision on your phone And not art, but need to mention as well about the musical stairs going up to the WIndjammer. All very cool fun touches!

Come on retirement. I will be cruising all the time.

@twangster posted this a while ago and I remembered it. December is usually not an option for me because of teaching. When new itineraries came out back before Christmas, we grabbed the Villa suite on HM (Star Class!) for early December 2020 for just over $1K pp. No joke! I couldn’t believe it either at first! I would be on that OA sailing this coming December too if I could.

At my work office there is a service animal for a ex-Military person connected with a PTSD issue. The dog is very well behaved to the point that you really don't notice the animal at all. A very well trained dog that never interacts with her people but is around people all day long. We had lawyers come and talk to us before the dog was brought up and we were told not to interact with the dog. It was more for the comfort of the service-member who wouldn't want to talk about their service related injuries. They told us to no pay attention to the dog and just go about our normal duties. It's hard for me because I am such a dog lover and the dog is really cute. When you hear about these kinds of events you know the dog is not a service animal and is not trained; it is just a pet that someone is trying to pass off as a service animal. And, that person is already a very selfish person just by their actions so that he didn't respond to a dressing-down is of no surprise.

Well our room service arrived and with it a bottle of champagne......I guess six glasses is a bottle, so he said it's basically a wash. ordered some veggies and dip and fresh berries.....I thought it would be a break from the heavier fare we seem to be inhaling at every turn on this ship!

You are right! It is funny that we have just been having a similar discussion on my professional listserv because we are so often getting patients wanting us to sign off on them using an emotional support animals. That category is more for housing restrictions and sometimes transportation, but has nothing to do with the criteria for assistance animals (specially trained to guide, detect medical conditions, and perform other critical functions). I love my pets and don’t like to leave them, but that is far different than it being a medical necessity that they be with me at all times. I had recently written a guide for my patients on the topic to reduce some of the useless discussions on the matter. Many organizations are now placing tighter restrictions on the animals that are allowed in/on (including RCL) since so many people have ended up with fake internet certifications. One thing many don’t consider is that as much as many of us adore our fur children, there are also quite a number of people who have fear related to animals and their presence in public places can sometimes be an “emotional” hindrance to them. @twangster I too often find myself hoping that karma will be a royal b*tch!

I'm not ANTI kid (I know there are lines for adults only and I know Royal is a family-oriented line). I just try to avoid massive numbers, lol.

Omg, all we do are stairs and corridors! The elevators are full full full and slow slow slow! Walking off all these meals...... we did the skydive simulator in the afternoon which Luciano had booked us in for. It was fun......be prepared with running shoes......they provide the rest of the equipment. Met a lovely trio of fellow star cruisers who are in the royal loft suite. They invited us up for a cocktail and we got a tour of that beautiful suite......it's huge! We have invited them to our grand loft suite this afternoon after we all do another skydive. did bumper cars in the late afternoon.......special line up spot for star class guests and we essentially jumped the queue about five times. My ten year old son did rock climbing after that. dinner was at Wonderland. It was awful. Slow service, really imaginative food, which was expected, but the kids didn't like much of it and frankly, neither did I. Service took so long we politely left before the main courses ever arrived. Will not be revisiting that place. Kids went to bed and we went to the show. Went to a comedy show at 8:15 and the guy was hilarious. Can't remember his name, sorry! Then to vintages for a drink, to the casino for a look-see, then to bed. Luciano is only and always just a phone call away. We were escorted to our seats for the show, to the skydiving simulator. Laundry is free as is pressing. Tons of water and coke and juices in the room, as well as beer. Fresh berries arrived in the afternoon.....perfect! If u want spirits, they bring them by the glass. Very impressed with the service and perks! Here are a few random shots...menu is from CK breakfast....Baja eggs were awesome! Some shots of Sydney from the North Star (also a jump the queue situation!), goat cheese salad...seafood tower at sail away on the balcony.....

It depends. Easy measure - if cruise fares and airfares are expensive it's because a lot of people are trying to book it. In the spring this indicates popular spring break weeks. If prices are low, then few 'breakers' are trying to travel and you are safer.

Nassau Nassau was our last stop (last day of the cruise). Symphony is such a great ship that we didn't even get off. (We had been there before). We enjoyed an emptier ship that day. It was great as our kids went on the slides with no line ups. We also went on the zipline, Aybss and played Laser Tag.

One thing I've learned is that each Captain does it differently. Perhaps the ice conditions play a factor, time of year, pilot on board, winds, etc. The turn is kind of slow. You definitely know you are turning but it's not a whirlwind either. I'm thinking 2 1/2 turns at Dawes. I'll have a balcony on May 13 (Ovation) but I'll likely spend time on deck 15 simply because you can take it all in. The glacier is awesome but seeing the ship in such close proximity to walls of Endicott Arm is equally impressive and not something you may appreciate from a balcony. I encourage you to split your time. Some on your balcony but pop upstairs to see it all from another perspective. Two years ago on Celebrity I left my GoPro on my balcony running a time lapse at Hubbard. You can see the turn readily in that video within this post: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5211-alaska-recap-celebrity-millennium-june-2017/&do=findComment&comment=51836 I hear you but Alaska is not the place to plop down in a bar and sit for a few hours. Get a drink to go and enjoy it outside. Pop back in to warm up and refill before repeating.

And finally.......That BODY PILLOW we ordered from the pillow menu...... the thing is hilariously massive. Pumpkin and I felt like we had a third person in bed with us....(which might have been fun a couple decades ago haha!) kidding!

The loft suite are completely and utterly aft. The nearest staircase or elevator is about 150 steps away. Be prepared, if you have this suite, to do a LOT of walking. Conceirge Club Lounge is 300+ steps and two long corridors away. Not complaining, lord knows I need the exercise. the club is large, quiet and also completely aft, hence the beautiful view. some photos of the long corridors you'll take to get here on deck 12 (or has my husband calls it "dick 12" in his best Aussie accent), some signage at the elevators, including an interactive sign. apologies for the poor photo quality......my husbands phone takes better photos but I can't download them right now for some reason. Will sort that out and post those later......

Some photos of 10324: ill post more photos later of the room, bathroom, etc. no bath tub in this suite which really bums me out.

Interesting numbers from https://cruisemarketwatch.com/market-share/ While Royal carried fewer passengers compared to the leader Carnival, it captured much more of the total worldwide cruise net revenue in 2018. RCI by itself captured the largest amount of net revenue of any single cruise line when uncoupled from it's parent and sibling companies and carried the second largest number of passengers. Details:

I'm the slow twin!

You just now figuring that out!?? ?

I have a hard time with that too, not touching them... I often say that I will likely die trying to stop someone from being neglectful or mean to a furry thing OR touching a furry thing that didn’t want to be touched ? We all are going somehow, right?!?

What is a red velvet drink?

^^^That just about sums it all up.

Perfect, thank you - I don't even know when these things fall in Minnesota! (Well, I guess Easter is the same everywhere, lol - I still have to Google the date every year.)

The week before.. Here in Florida the Kids have off The Friday before and often times its a teacher work day on Thursday so parents take their kids away.. The reason in Florida spring break cant fall during April is because of standardized testing.. April is when they have to get the kids ready for that.. But on the rare time Easter is in March then it could happen..

If you’re just looking to dip your toes into the specialty dining world, I’d recommend the BOGO 2 night special. It’s usually 40 dollars but gets you 2 specialty dining restaurants. One of them has to be used on the first night, but gives you a chance to try them out at a reduced cost. Just be sure that once you get on board you head to make your reservations. Jamie’s is great, for our navigator cruise in May my eight year old daughter asked if our three dinners could be Jamie’s, Jamie’s, and Jamie’s.

I bid on an upgrade from Junior Suite to Grand Suite for my May Symphony cruise. It doesn't appear that there are any grand suites available so I don't really expect to "win" anything, BUT, if I did, I have purchased "The Key" for my junior suite cruise. It seems to duplicate many of the same benefits I'd get in the grand suite. Would I be able to (and should I) cancel "The Key" if I did get the grand suite? I know, it's kind of like talking about winning the Powerball.

Thanks for the info, @twangster! We're booked in a cabin on deck 13 around mid-ship for our Alaskan Ovation cruise. I"m thinking our balcony will be a great place to take in the Dawes glacier. I know it likely varies, but do you recall how many revolutions the captain did at the Dawes Glacier? *sigh* All of this scenery is going to cut into my bar time! ?

White outfit, second from the right...right? I, too, am counting the days and checking for "deals". We're on the Anthem the week after you and the RC Blog gang for a 5 day-2 night- Bermuda cruise. Hopefully, we can all be on a future cruise together. Stay warm!

@twangster shared a link to a periscope from the Ovation on another thread. As the video went past that area of the Solarium, there appeared to be some guests standing in that area. It does appear to be accessible based on that video. Hopefully he add that item, or if I can find it i I’ll copy the link here. ETA - link - https://www.pscp.tv/w/1BRJjXPMbjdKw?t=15m28s Thanks to twangster for posting the link earlier and to Cindy for sharing. The bridge wing is visible about 10:36.

Funny story! Twenty years ago, we were fairly young and on an 11 day cruise with a much older crowd. It seemed everyone was in a wheelchair, used a walker or had an attendant. I had packed gowns and shoes for every special night on the ship. One night we dressed for dinner and I was horrified that I had forgotten the shoes to go with whatever I was wearing that night. My husband said, "Don't worry, No one will be looking at your shoes. Everyone is going to be impressed you can WALK!" LOL So I think of that when I pack now, especially shoes. I take the fewest (is that a word?) number and make them work. More room in the bag!

Sabor lunch: (with a mix of Johnny Rockets) Jalapeño Bites Corn on the cob (side dish) Pulled Pork Tacos Shrimp Tacos with Yucca fries Banana Chocolate chimichanga Churros The verdict...stuffed, but La Bamba is better ?