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We were scheduled for a September 2nd cruise on Navigator that was shortened by hurricane dorian. RCI went above what would be expected in this situation, and made switching cruises fairly simple. We are now heading out of Port Canaveral on the 9th. I can't imagine the stress the customer service reps have been under and everyone was very kind, patient, and helpful. The only issue was the amount of time spent on hold, but that was to be expected under the circumstances. I will absolutely be sailing and recommending RCI in the future.

Someone on one of my Facebook groups is on Empress and posted this letter about a Bahamas aid drop..thought it was prettt cool to get the passengers to write notes for the hurricane victims.

James Van Fleet Tweet this morning:

Yes- my kids wanted to name him! ? We got the internet today so I'll give a quick update. We explored the ship a little and registered for Adventure Ocean after we ate. We changed for dinner And my bag still had not arrived by then. Turns out my curling iron has an exceptionally long cord and looks like an extension cord. When they ran it through the scanner in front of me the guy at the monitor was pretty sure it was just the curling iron, so I guess there's lot of room for interpretation. ? Here are some photos of our room. The kids' room has the standard shower

Now this needs some explanation... I originally ordered Chocolate Cake with Ice Cream but I changed it to Baked Alaskan. My waiter brought me both. Then he also brought me a serving of “Leche Flan” (Filipino Custard). Plus they were celebrating Royal’s 50th so they also gave us the 50th cake... that is why I got a dessert spread.

Final Thoughts You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned the cruise director. That's because we barely saw him and he's not really that memorable. Had we come 2 weeks earlier, we would have seen Hugo, who we loved on Mariner. He was hilarious. I actually had high hopes for this guy, Cory Rogers as he introduced himself on the facebook page and he seemed enthusiastic. It's not that he was bad...but again, all he did was introduce the shows (or come out at the end such as the ice show). Never saw him around the ship, didn't run the belly flop contest, etc. I'm guessing he did Quest but DH and I didn't make it to Quest this time. So again, he was fine, but definitely not memorable. But...I will say that we really loved Navigator. I think DH said that his favorite is still Mariner. DS and I love Symphony for the ship size, shows, etc, but DD said her favorites are Mariner for Skypad and Navigator for the slides. I also really love what they've done with the pool decks and the different seating available to everyone, which is what puts it ahead of Mariner for me. Service was great. Every meal in MDR was pretty good, and lots of activities going on. The promenade too is beautiful with the lighting that they do (probably all ships have that, but I don't remember), and the "sculpture" or whatever you call it going up the centrum near guest services. So overall, my ship order is: Symphony Allure Independence Navigator Mariner Voyager Grandeur Am curious too where Anthem will fall in the ratings. We don't necessarily need hot weather so I don't think that'll be a problem, and it seems different. It's a shame about the Tropical Depression that turned into Hurricane category 5 (DS has a story to tell), and very scary with the damage it did, especially to the Bahamas, to the homes and even some lives. This cruise turned into a cruise to nowhere as it was all sea days for us. Next summer we have Mariner booked (if no weather issues) and that one is the opposite with no sea days (it's one that got 2 stops at CoCo Cay). Funny how things turn out (not funny ha ha...but you know what I mean). I'll leave you with one last picture....one of my favorites (not including ones with my family of course)

RCL has always been generous with their humanitarian efforts. When Irma tore through the Caribbean in 2017, my former manager was vacationing with his family in St Maarten and got trapped. Adventure of the Seas arrived there to rescue stranded vacationers including his family. It was quite the ordeal for them, from surviving the actual storm to being in fear for their lives as looters and gangs roamed the resorts (they heard many gunshots). After nearly a week, they were finally picked up by a police caravan who escorted all the guests to the port. They were told not to stray and above all, have their passports because they would not be getting on the ship without them. Needless to say, he was overcome with gratitude to the crew and RCL for their efforts.

Closing Thoughts I hadn't been on a cruise in 14 years but I’ve already got another one scheduled for this December! It’s through Holland America (Oosterdam) so I can leave from my home port of SD.. just a 5 minute Uber from my apartment, but it means no live blogging! Get an RC ship back to the West Coast and I would be Riviera cruisin’ every month! We ate every night in the MDR (aside from one night of Windjammer due to laziness) and I would say it was perfectly adequate. Our Assistant Waiter Mithun was leagues more attentive and friendlier than our main server. I warmed up to her distance later in the cruise, she just does not GAF! I like that, haha. Mithun would always ask how our day was and knew our drink orders right away. The food was all just okay. I didn't have anything that was a true standout – wait! I take it back. I fell in love with the Baked Alaska. I also came to enjoy a 2-3pm afternoon cheeseburger in the WJ which could account for some slight cruise weight gain! ? I enjoyed every excursion we went on and could go back and do the same things again but of course would want to see new places next time. In St. Lucia, for example, we only saw the port and the rainforest and I would love to go to Marigot or the Pitons next time! Although I could do Magen's every time I visit St. Thomas with no qualms. The RC See Antigua by Sea excursion was great, I highly recommend it if you're headed there! I liked seeing all the varied coasts of the island (one side was all yucca trees?) and getting to experience some real ocean waves on the Atlantic side. The junior suite was well worth it to me, the huge balcony was amazing. We would lay on the loungers in the afternoons post-Solarium pool time and sit at the table with drinks to watch sail away. We were up for every docking as well, the port side seemed fruitful in seeing a lot of action. Just sitting on the balcony in the evenings and as we entered each port was so relaxing, I would never be able to go interior. We would leave the balcony door open a bit at night to hear the "waves" and to battle the ridiculous AC! Even when you turned the dial into the red zone it was still freezing in there. Pre Purchases #TeamDX all the way! It was so so easy to blow through the $44 a day. Even on all our many port days I was still enjoying upwards of 6 cocktails once back on board plus a water bottle with every drink order. I loved the guys with water/vitamin water carts in the WJ and Promenade at breakfast, it was so easy to scan and pick up a few drinks for port. The one sea day made up for any abandoned cocktails on the port days! We had drinks brought by a funny pool server who was sassing us for ordering them at 9am. He said people get the DX and don't get their money's worth and seemed pleased we would be using it to our advantage. Even with all those cocktails we must've been hydrating perfectly because I was never too drunk or hungover at all!! The Voom I would say was not quite worth it for 2 devices since it only worked in major common areas like the MDR and pool decks. We would set up instagram posts/blog posts in the room and then have to remember to open the phone and set it to upload while dining or nothing would ever go through. I would probably buy Voom again for one device next time and we could share the all important insta-posting capabilities. Amazon Purchases The Dock and Bay towels worked WONDERS. @JennyJenny I can absolutely recommend these to you now after putting them through their paces fully in the Caribbean. I liked them before but after using them 7 days straight, after battling full body dries of both sea water and pool water, they weren't crinkly or smelly! Still soft, probably could've worked another week or more before needing a wash. After washing, back to full bright white and extra soft! New favorite beach towels, hands down, not even going to be relegated to travel-only usage. The beach tent was great! We used it in Magen's Bay (St. Thomas), Cockleshell Beach (St. Kitts) and Brandon's Beach (Barbados) and it went up easily every time and was not susceptible to wind. We brought stakes but didn't need to use them anywhere, as adding items to the tent easily weighs it down. Photo included for @JLMoran although this is from this weekend in Ocean Beach as I forgot to capture its glory amongst a Caribbean backdrop. Easily fit two adults sitting or laying with legs sticking out. Last but not least, 2 Swimways Spring Floats which we used in all port beach stops, including a few times once we were back in Puerto Rico! They fold up so small for easily taking everywhere (you can see it closed and in its blue, net travel bag in the pic above) and inflating the exterior ring only takes about 5 breaths of air to blow it up fully. We even brought them on the catamaran rides in Antigua and Barbados and the other boat guests were questioning where we had gotten it during our swim breaks! Freedom never ever felt crowded, even after the ice show let out, the flow leaving Studio B and through the On Air Club moved super quickly. I will say that RC should not let you book MTD between 5:30 and 6:00 on embarkation day with the muster as it is at 5:45. Muster gets out at 6:10 and everyone with a reservation that had been at 5:30, 5:45, 6:00, or 6:15 is in line at the same time on deck 3 and the hosts are frantically trying to fill the dining room. Will know to book dinner much later than muster next time. Overall, we loved cruising. Looking out over the water every day was so relaxing, like having the best available hotel room on land! And the sexy sky pics did not disappoint! There are more on my instagram @daryldaley. I sent my Cruise Compass to Matt, so any future Freedom-riders can look for that soon. Thanks for hosting these live blogs! I enjoyed writing it. ? Cruise Compass 8/18/19 Edited to add my Caribbean magnet and Christmas ornament haul:

Our best cruise was Halloween on Grandeur last year .....

Lobsters (included in the complimentary menu) on the second formal night I had six!

@BaikG and @firebuck, here is the info I gathered on the Pub and Fish & Ships. The Unlimited Dining Package can be used at both restaurants. The answers were iffy about the other dining packages. For Fish & Ships, the UDP can be used for the items on the right.

It was mentioned that those plans were extended free of charge. I believe people were asked to pay additional days of the normal daily gratuities though.

Day 5 - A few Hours Before Flying Home We woke up nice and early (well, not so nice) and headed to where else; the Windjammer. I'll say that this was the only day that it was nuts. It was hard to find a table, and even the ones that didn't have anyone sitting there, were dirty. We eventually found one though, and grabbed breakfast. We let our kids have a donuts as part of their breakfast as it was the last meal (not that their Windjammer breakfast ever included anything healthy). We returned to our staterooms and hung out there until our luggage tag time and then sadly, headed to MDR spot to get off the ship. It's such a great feeling when you first walk on, but such a yucky feeling walking off. Our flight wasn't until 8:45pm that night back to Toronto, so we had rented a day hotel at The Regency. I had looked for a place near the airport, with a pool and with restaurants and stuff in walking distance. The pool was actually pretty large, which our kids were happy about so they swam there for the rest of the morning. The hotel had wifi so we connected for the first time since Sunday. I had 847 emails....I think 842 of them were from this site, or the other cruse site...lol. In the afternoon we found lunch in the area and stopped at KMart and Walgreens for some items to bring home. Got home with no issues and 3 loads of laundry later, shopping, cleaning, prep for school, etc etc...back to reality. ?

Day 4 - Last Evening Filled with Lots of Fun Stuff It was our last evening, but at least there was still lots to do. DS and DH left dinner to catch the Star Wars trivia. After that, I think they caught the Millionaire Game Show. DD and I went to see Royal's other production show "Showgirl: Past, Present Future". Guess where we sat? Yep...front row again. So much easier to get great seats on Navigator compared with Symphony. Again, the show was ok...at least they had some modern music such as from Greatest Showman. I do miss the Broadway type shows that they have on the larger ships. After that, DD and I went to the Hush party. It was hilarious. Everyone gets headphones that are not necessarily playing the same music as the person standing next to you (you can change the color...which changes the music). My daughter was really getting into it and was quite cute with her dancing. She loved it! We stayed for a bit and then met DH and DS at the Schooner Bar for our favorite improv music guy. Tonight he was playing early enough that we could bring our kids. Our son really enjoyed it (I love it when he laughs outloud). There seemed to be less people walking by tonight, which is where his improv mostly comes in, so the show wasn't quite as good as the other nights, but they still got to see him and get the idea. He played until 10pm and our kids went back to the room for bed. DH and I went out to The Promenade for a bit to see the 80s show, and then there was another comedy show by the same guy as the first night, but the adult version. Well....a pretty good full evening....but all fun must come to an end. We returned to our stateroom setting DH's alarm to early the next morning. (Forgot to mention but sometime before dinner we did the dreaded packing - which is always sad....and a challenge figuring out what to keep out for the next morning).

Day 4 - Our Last Dinner Boo...it was our last dinner of the cruise. What was annoying is that tonight's show was early at 7:30pm so we had to rush it a bit. We let our waiters know about the show time and they were really good about not having us wait too long. Last food porn of this report... Some meat dish for DD (forget what she ordered), grilled cheese for DS, some battered fish for DH and cheese tortellini for me (not as good as it was on Symphony) And of course, the best part of the meal, dessert. We all had the profiteroles. DS raved about it last time on Symphony so we all had to try it. I'll give it a thumb's up.

Less than 48 hours for me, Junior Suite to a Crown Loft on Allure. I'm guessing someone cancelled.

I would like to see Rocky Horror or Sgt Peppers. Or Saturday Night Fever, or a stage production of the Album Bat out of Hell.

Per the website: Names may be changed up to 24 hours prior to sailing provided one of the original names remains on the reservations. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/electronic-cruise-documents

Yes, the people booked do not have to show up for the cruise, and if one doesn't show up, it has no impact on others on reservation. You can swap names on a reservation up to 72-48 hours before sail date (I've seen both times quoted) as long as at least one name on the original booking stays on the reservation. Swapping names? No. Adding or removing people? Potentially, yes.

Last year Majesty also had a haunted house in addition to the costume party.

You have to consider the port, itinerary and season. Some ports lend themselves to using a 3rd party, for some ports it's easier to book through Royal. Tender ports are generally better to use Royal excursions. As a solo traveler it's often easier to book through Royal. If you book through Royal you must check prices frequently. Prices are not fixed. They vary from time to time, sometimes daily, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly. I've saved hundreds over the years by watching prices and rebooking when prices drop. If you catch price drops they can be cheaper than 3rd parties. A huge benefit for me when booking through Royal are itinerary changes. Cruising in hurricane season in the tropics there is an increased opportunity for itinerary changes. When booked through Royal and there are last minute changes it's very relaxing being able to grab a cocktail and not worry about it. If you book a 3rd party it can be hectic and stressful dealing with it from the ship when there are last minute changes especially if you don't have Voom internet.

Let me know if you have any more questions. Enjoy your cruise and may the Force be with you!

With all of the hatin' out there for Cats I can't imagine them making that mistake again. From what I understand, the only reason it is still on Oasis is b/c of a contract issue or they would have ditched it during the amplification. WWRY would be great ! PLEASE no more Hairspray either.

All ships have an ESCAPE ROOM. It`s your cabin. You are escaping from the daily grind. Enjoy your cruise and escape to relaxation and rest.

1. Welcome to the boards! 2. Enjoy your new cruise! 3. Thank you for joining to give a positive experience of customer service. Glad everything is working out for you. A lot of new members seem to join just to vent frustration with customer service or Royal Caribbean in general (often when they themselves are at some fault and want to blame RCCL) and then are never heard from on this forum again. I hope you've also found some other helpful info around here.

I know that it will be getting a refurb, but I'd doubt being Amped, Radiance specifically, anyway. Guess I like her just the way she is. Note: I've been wrong before.

Day 4 - Original Sea Day Thursday was the planned sea day. I love the cruise compass on these days as there is always lots going on. DS and DH has the Escape room booked for 10:30am on that day. DS was really excited that he was finally old enough to participate. He decided that he didn't want to do any water activities before so after our Windjammer breakfast, they hung out and DD and I went to the pool and slides. We started with the slides. She wouldn't go on The Blaster without her brother, so DD stuck to The Riptide. The lines were really good and she got on quite a few times. When she was done we decided to go swimming. Thankfully the main pools were back in order today so we went there. They were playing Missing Link on the big screen (with subtitles) so we could watch that while swimming. We were meeting DS and DH at the MDR for lunch and we still had some time, so we sat on the hammocks for a bit to dry off, and wandered a bit to the mini golf, watched a bit of the flowrider, and then changed out of our swimming suits for lunch. We met DS and DH for lunch. They did great at the Escape room. They solved it and apparently did it in great time. In the MDR, we did a mix of the buffet, including the tutti fruitti salad bar, and menu. DH ordered the risotto and I had the lobster roll which was not great, but ok. There was a Name That Tune for Musicals going on so DD and I grabbed our dessert to go and headed there. Then, we decided to watch the ice show again as we quite liked it the first time. DS had no interest and there was a Harry Potter trivia going on so they went there while we were at the show. I think in there as well, we played more foozball, etc. We were planning on doing the afternoon scavenger hunt by the pool but DS and I were the only ones that showed up (boo). So that was a no go. Day went quick and it was time for dinner again.

We have just come off Symphony 24th August Caribbean/ Bahamas sailing. And we absolutely loved it. So much that we have booked 2 more cruises. The 2 new cruises are on much smaller ships. We are sailing Enchantment for a New Year sailing , we needed to sail out of Galveston this time and this seemed the best one for us. I was a little worried that it may be too small a ship after Symphony but we went for it anyway. A few days later we realise we have cruise credit to use and flight credit too so we started looking again. This time the best port option for us was New York and we’ve always wanted to try New England so we are now booked on Empress the smallest ship of the lot. We are coming from the Uk so Port locations were probably the most important factor . I’m just hoping that we love these two ships as much as we loved Symphony. There were many things on Symphony we did not take advantage of so I’m hoping we won’t feel like there is too much missing. We didn’t use any speciality dining , we didn’t use any slides, casino. We only sat on pool deck once and found quieter places lower down like deck 5. We didn’t go on the boardwalk much but loved Central Park and did use flow rider and the climbing wall . I’m hoping that as long as both ships have some nice quiet out door space, good MDR and some nice cafes we should be ok. Does anyone have experience of going from the largest to the smallest ? Any thoughts ? Im still excited that we ve never cruised before and we ll have done 3 in a year ??

I would imagine so. They upgraded the control software for Voom on Empress so it acts and works just like Navigator now. You create a username and 4 digit PIN, can switch devices the same, same login pages and it uses the "WiFi-Guest-Empress" SSID so that it can visit CocoCay with another ship present. Once on CocoCay which is covered by WiFi you see both ships SSIDs so you can pick your ship and use your Voom account from on-board. When at CocoCay, Empress was connected to the island wirelessly so that you could swipe your card at a bar and it goes on your Empress account. Last year when Empress visited CocoCay every drink order was a hand written paper receipt. The point is they are upgrading tech on all ships including Empress so I fully expect Empress to be in the app.

See you on the boat. 4 more days woohoo!!!!

oooooh! We can summon him like the genie from Aladdin???? The original, not that silly live-action version, of course. ?

Once you're on that slow beachin' game you know you'll be an umbrella-and-chairs-renting high roller! ? I will be back with a report! For us, on this somewhat equivalent 7-night HAL itinerary, a Signature Suite was still 1k less than Freedom so I couldn't say no! I didn't realize there was a substantial price difference between the lines because of this but it could be that sailing in December (pre-Christmas) is always cheaper and I haven't priced out enough RC cruises to know that yet. Can't wait for your October live blog (if you choose to do another)! I am pretty sure your first one on Freedom is how I stumbled onto these live blogs originally.

Welcome to the Blog. Enjoy your cruise !

Matt, Thanks a bunch for the info and your continuing support. It looks like a go this weekend!

Be sure to get them registered early and if at all possible get them in there the first night. Even little kids form groups and it’s much easier when everyone doesn’t know each other than trying to join in the next day.

I'd dress as a life boat and try to sneak a b2b!

The answer is no. Royal Amplified is limited to Voyager, Freedom and some Oasis class ships.

No issues in Jacksonville - That's just over 2 hours from Port Canaveral.

Here is a walk though of Brilliance-of-the-Seas ship.

I guess a month would allow for more than just a basic drydock....it's interesting that no news has been released about the drydock yet.... We will be on the last 2 cruises before the drydock so I am hoping to have more info before our sailing Sept 4th 2020.

Oof! I'm fine with tequila, but keep the Long Island away from me! WAAAYTOOO many bad memories with those!

Great news! Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed. Yeah....still love the OA the best but Navigator is amazing too. Indy ranked over Navigator because of the shows. It has Grease on it, plus I quite enjoyed it's production show Once Upon a Time. Navigator shows were so so. Also, I like the additional splash area on Indy. Our kids are too old for it, but it spreads the crowds out a bit at pool time. Any plans for Navigator (after your others...lol)?

Our first cruise was Oasis of the Seas, the next two were Grandeur and Majesty. We were told we were doing backwards, that we would be disappointed with the smaller ships. This was absolutely not the case. We loved the Grandeur and even the Majesty; these two ships can't be beat for relaxing and enjoying the ship. On the smaller ships you feel more connected to the seas and feel more like you are cruising. The Oasis was great and had lots to do; the smaller ships more laid back. You can't go wrong with either.

Email is done via wifi, so I don't know why you would be charged extra for any "data" from an email. You can do several things over wifi while your phone is on airplane mode that do not eat up your data, including sending emails, surfing the internet, streaming, emails, imessages, etc. To my knowledge you should be good to email as much as you want without having to worry about a data usage charge from your carrier, as long as you are connected to the ship's wifi.

I have sailed both Allure and Enchantment and as much as I adored Allure and how many things there were to do, one thing I found was that I enjoyed much less live music than I did on Enchantment. I mean, there were options a plenty to listen to it on Allure, but in my mind I wanted to see the bigger shows I couldn't see on smaller ships. I'm really looking forward to my Grandeur cruise where we can enjoy music in the centrum and Schooner bar without feeling that FOMO.

The few extra perks are nice but what we enjoyed the most was the extra space. Being able to move around the cabin without having to move out of the way or stay on the bed. Also having both a couch and chair and a little bigger balcony was nice.

The annual free cruise will not show up until next April. You basically qualified for the free annual cruise between April 2020 to March 2021

I posted this image on my instagram story with a caption about it not being a good idea to dangle children out such an obvious window and so many people wrote me back shocked that that's what it looked like / how high it was. I guess the lawyer's story about it being down at the deck level and in a play area was widespread. ? Staying on a Windows Of Freedom theme, this was our only dinner time that was before sunset! I loved being able to see the ocean roll by - note to self - early dinners next time.

I frequently book guarantees - in fact I have one booked right now for the Harmony Group Cruise! If you're not picky about the exact stateroom you get, then I see no reason not to. If you think "as long as I don't get a cabin that..." - don't finish that sentence, a guarantee isn't for you. Further, while sometimes guests get a pleasant surprise, don't book a guarantee counting on that. More often than not you're assigned a stateroom of the same type (inside/OV/verandah) which you booked.