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Just received an email from Royal that the cruise leaving Saturday will change itenary from a day at sea Monday to take supplies to,Grand Bahamas. Royal is really doing as much as they can to help,out. I don't mind missing a sea day in an effort to help so many people that need support at this time.

I have never done any specialty dining. I love the classic MDR experience (knowing my waiter, trying different foods, etc....) and I cant see paying for food when great food has already been paid for? I will admit ive been accused of not having a discernible palate. Im not a foody, and food is fuel to me. Just my two cents....

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.

Hi all! Today, we're one week out from our cruise, so I figured I'd get this thing kicked off! This will be the first Alaskan cruise for everyone in our group, so we're all really looking forward to it! It's the last official Alaskan trip for the Ovation this season before she moves on to visit Hawaii and then on to Australia. (I'm waaaay jealous of those folks doing a b2b2b - what an incredible experience that has to be!) Itinerary: Who's going: We're a group of 6 this time - Myself (Phill), my Wife Kelly, SIL Cyndi, BIL George, and our friends Polly and Sheri.

Hello all! New to the forum but a huge fan of the blog and podcast. My first cruise with Royal is not until a year away. I’ve been listening to the pod to get ready and plan. I enjoy planning for the cruise even if it’s over a year away. Looking forward to learning more from everyone!

Cruise Day 2 A Day at Sea Let me back up a little. In reference to check in…My wife is 23 weeks pregnant. RCCL limits pregnancy to 24 weeks on Disembarkation Day, but no one ever asked if she was pregnant, (it would be rude if they did) and most likely no one would if she was 30 weeks either. I guess this is a rule that is only a concern if you go into labor but then again that is too late. Anyone have any experience with this?? Another early day with the baby Zander. We always do breakfast at the Windjammier. I noticed RC is now cooking their bacon to my and most fo

I'll stick with the MDR too. I used to sail with Disney and everybody was saying "Oh, you must go to Palo's!.....Palo's is well worth the price, trust me!.....Palo's must be experienced!", etc, etc. (Mainly from the Disney Suite Snobs who lowered themselves to speak with me). You would think it was going to be one of the finest meals you'd ever have. So I tried it. Mistake. It was Olive Garden with nicer napkins. Cost me $120.00 with a couple drinks for 2 of us. And that was years ago. Plus I was required to wear a tie. Not gonna fall for that kind of hype again.

Victoria is beautiful and not to be missed - I don't recommend staying on the ship. I've never had a stay there that's lasted as long as on Ovation (we were on Ovation in June), and while we've been to Victoria before, this was the first time we had so much time to explore. We just walked off of the ship and went downtown, explored the shops, restaurants and bars - we even went to the Miniature Museum this time! If you have lovely weather (as we did, actually hot everywhere during our sailing) don't miss out on at least strolling through town!

Highly variable by ship. If interested ask the Suite Concierge when staying in GS or above.

I will not pay extra for dinning. I have had it as a bonus for booking the cruise and we went to Chops, but pay extra? No way! We have done all the other dining for breakfast and lunch, but stay with the MDR for dinner. I like the MDR.

Personally i think cabana's are a waste of money. So you get a shade coverage, free water and food delivery service, for $500 and up. No alcohol unless you purchased the beverage pkg. I hate to sound negative but glad others like the idea. Here's why i see it that way..what you pay for a cabana, i can fly to our resort in Mexico and get just about the same thing.

Agree, more intimate like sitting at a candle lit table in a fancy restaurant with dimmed lights. The atmosphere is pretty nice. Less hectic than MDR since theres less staff and guests.

I wonder if they will be doing more of their own productions like Saturday Night Fever. While I am not huge fan of SNF I think they did a very good job of creating and producing their own show for that one I like it WAAAY more than Chicago, Cats or Hairspray.

That's exactly my thought. Plus laying out money in Cruise Planner to be reimbursed later by the Genie seems unnecessary.

At home, we have a Cuisinart coffee maker that grinds the beans just before brewing. There is no warming element, only a water heater. This helps with keeping the coffee from going bitter. We also use espresso beans. If we have left over coffee, I put it in the refrigerator for later and have an iced coffee or two. My frugality and coffee addiction both satisfied!

I've also been looking at that Fjord cruise or maybe the Artic Circle one. We are not warm weather people so those are more our speed. We are looking forward to our first trip to Europe next Oct when we sail to Greece from Venice.

Many thanks for all your quick replies. Much appreciated For the moment it's the only cruise I've booked but I've set my eyes on several other RC cruises (e.g. the Norwegian Fjord Cruise or the one that goes to Japan). Maybe I'll book one of these when being on the ship. Since I'm from Germany, cruises starting from the US probably won't happen that often but luckily, some RC ships also start from some ports in Europe. Since I heard cruising can be addictve, I already set my mind on doing a few cruises in the future.

WOW! What a first cruise! How do you follow that one up? Happy Cruising!

The cruise planner cannot tell if you are Star Class or not. All options including beverage packages, entertainment booking, shore excursions, etc. are open to those with star class bookings. If you purchase something and end up not needing it, your Genie can reverse the charges once you get on board.

Chicago you could most likely get but not very family friendly. Wicked is still too popular (pun intended) as is Hamilton. Selling rights for cruise ship productions is only done after you milked all the money you can elsewhere. Shows that have left broadway in the last few years and no longer have 1st tier touring companies are your best bet. A few shows off the top of my head that meet those criteria and would fit a cruise ship: 1. Legally Blonde 2. Waitress (leaves broadway in January) 3. In the Heights (though there is a movie coming out next year so...) 4.

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

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.

If I'm not mistaken Royal is calling it a "multi-million dollar refreshment" or something close to that. While definitely not an amplification I am anticipating new carpet, possibly some new decor, they might rebrand the concierge club as a suite lounge, maybe a restaurant will change. Minor changes along these lines. The types of changes that are not major projects but can be accomplished while the ship is receiving it's routine technical dry dock.

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.

Forgot to mention that if you buy the Deluxe Drink Package at $49 then your break even point is about 4 cocktails (@ $13 ea) per day. 5 cocktails if you are including gratuity. Anything over that is gravy!

Hello, Passing this on. I found $499 price this morning when checking my Cruise Planner. My sailing is on the Oasis 12/13/2020

If you’ve been following the events of the past few days, you’ve probably seen the huge relief efforts being made by Royal Caribbean to provide aide in The Bahamas. Something that may have gone unnoticed, however, is the interesting signage attached to the crates of supplies leaving Florida ports. The signs say “Relief Supplies” accompanied by the six logos of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. cruise lines. Except not quite. The fifth logo seen on this signage is that of “SkySea Cruise Line”, which was 35% owned by RCCL between the years of 2016 and 2018. In March 2018, they announced that the fina

Umm...as a Canadian and a poutine fan...that just sounds gross! lol

Have a great trip @firebuck! Going to find some poutine this time? lol

Typically they are emailed within a week or two. They can be applied towards the cruise fare on another future cruise. They can't be spent in the cruise planner for other purchases. They typically expire in one year, meaning the future cruise must be depart within a year of issue. Every guest will get an FCC and they are named to each guest and not transferable. They can't be used to pay ports fees or taxes. Let's say you are looking at or have booked a cruise where the base fare is $750 each plus $125 taxes and port fees each. The cruise therefore costs $750 + $125

But more importantly, it comes with 8 towels and water bottles (so 2 extra as this cabana hold 6)...lol. You're right....very sneaky...it's not clear at all if you get 1 waterpark tickets or more. Think you're probably right.

If you like fried fish, this is highly recommended. The lines can be long...totally worth it. Portions are huge, so don't over order! https://www.redfish-bluefish.com/

Just keep calling, eventually someone at Royal will find a policy that tells them its ok to do it.

We like the specialty restaurants just for a change of scenery. I don't know that the food is any better than the MDR sometimes, but it is more intimate, which is a nice change from the MDR.

We had that experience also but we didn't get on until much later. The boat came back "sick" so they had to sanitize the entire ship (which is another conversation in and of itself!). We sat in the port a LONG TIME!!! Pray you don't have this experience! But yes, generally you can start boarding by 1030-1100. Just remember your room won't be ready until 1pm.

We tried specialty once. It was nice and fancy but for the extra money we didn't feel like it was all that much better than MDR. We really like the main dining room where the waiters get to know you and what you want and expect. By day 2 or 3 they know what to have when you sit down ready (drinks, etc). They also will pay attention to things you like extra of (breads,sides, etc), We feel more pampered in the main dining with the extra attention you get from building the personal relationship with the waiter and asst waiter. The food is usually really good too! We value the personal-ness

I think you're right

@J-Ro, welcome!

Adding our next one -Adventure Dec 2019

For the Key when I was on Symphony, I just used the special times they stated on the welcome letter. For the Rock Climbing it was one day from 4-5 pm and there was no wait for me - the only issue is that you had to climb on the advance wall (the other wall was easier). The flowrider was one day between 9-10 am. Was about 10 people there from the Key for one of the two flowriders (opens up to all at 10 am). Similar timing also happened for the zipline. If you choose to use these activities (including the abyss) outside of the key hour, you can ride that activity after every 4th person. Ge

WOW....thanks so much, Matt!!!! That looks fantastic!!!! Way bigger than I imagined in my head. Having never seen AO on any other ship, this looks completely fine to me! lol Hoping my boys love it!! You really are the best, man. Thanks again.

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

That’s just insane!!!!! I don’t get why they couldn’t just let everybody stay cruising on the ship until they could bring them back to the port in Miami?????? Like Royal Caribbean has done with their ships that were supposed to be back by now.

They also told us we'll get 5 nights worth of Crown and Anchor points. Since I'm in a Junior Suite the normal bonus multipliers apply. They offered a special on board to stay on for the next sailing which was reduced from 4 nights to 2 nights. The price for a suite guarantee was $249 total plus gratuity. For a couple that would be $249 total for both people. I booked it on day 2 I think. On day 3 I looked in the app and saw the new booking. I was given a Grand Suite. Ironically the suite I was given is currently occupied by a friend who is also on this sailing. He departs to

@Vwjo When I called about two week ago to ask this same question, they informed me that there is a limited number and that she was surprised that my December sailing still had any available. Sold, I bought it. Two weeks later, it's still available so now I'm wondering the same thing.

Probably - after being here a couple days, we see it's age a little bit more. Breakfast was pretty much the same this morning, so DH wants to venture out to eat before we head the rest of the way to Galveston in the morning. I still say I would stay here again, but it wouldn't be my first choice and we'll probably get adjoining rooms at the Hilton down the road in February instead. Space Center was fun, but it got busy quick since it's Saturday. We toured mission control which has been restored for the 50th anniversary of the first moon walk. We plan to come back in February when we sail

Day One Embarkation Day! Popped straight over to the ship after arrival this morning to drop off all our bags and then we headed to Old San Juan with CBF's mom for some exploring. We walked down Fortaleza (unfortunately still no kites or umbrellas above the street), saw Castillo del Morro and stopped at a few bars along the way back by Carnival Fascination in the other port. What a beautiful city! Reminds me a loooot of Honolulu from the architecture and flora. 3 drinks in and waiting for muster! VACATION!! Looking back towards La Perla

I'm not a coffee aficionado (personally, I value the caffeine and the vanilla/hazelnut, and couldn't care less about the other high-falutin' stuff) but if I was, I would take all the above comments very seriously, and this is what I'd do: I would not get a coffee card until I was aboard. Then I'd get my favorite coffee, even though there's no discount. Then, IF I liked it, I would talk to the barista about that ship's policy for how many punches each coffee will cost me. If I still thought that the coffee card was worth it, I'd give the barista a nice tip and ask what her on-duty hours are.

Keep in mind that opinions, especially when it comes to "tastes" are extremely subjective. I found the coffee on board Liberty to be perfectly okay.