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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. Pre-Cruise: Each couple are on different flights into Seattle the day before - We're flying in from Philly, and the rest are flying in from Newark. Our flight leaves at 6 AM, and we'll arrive around 10 AM Seattle time. I'm not one to sleep on an airplane, but hopefully I can catch a few winks. My wife and I along with the In-laws are booked at the Moore hotel in downtown Seattle. This hotel offers a room with two bedrooms with a bathroom in between - those logistics should be fun, but the price was right and it's only one night, so we booked it! The Moore is just a short walk away from Pike Place Market, so we plan on touring around that area. I donate plenty of money to Starbucks, so I'll be excited to visit the original. Polly and Sheri have booked the Edgewater hotel which isn't too far away either, and right on the water...the pictures of that hotel look amazing! Cabin: Each couple has booked a balcony cabin close together on Deck 13 forward. Pre-cruise purchases: Everyone booked The Key as well as the 3 night dining package. I'm team DX for life since I easily break even and way beyond (even on port days :P) - myself, George, Polly and Sheri have the DX, My wife and Cyndi have the Refreshment package since they will not drink enough to make the DX package make financial sense. Any alcohol on their part will be a-la-carte. Excursions: In Juneau, we are doing the Mendenhall Glacier tour and Salmon Bake (Purchased through the cruise planner) Skagway, we've booked the White Pass Scenic Railway (also through cruise planner) No real plans for the rest of the ports, we'll either stay on the ship or stroll around the port area. Post Cruise: Cyndi and George have a wedding to attend, so they'll be headed to the airport after debarkation. Since this cruise ends in Vancouver, and we've never been, my wife and I along with Polly and Sheri have decided to extend our stay by one night. We've booked the River Rock Casino in Richmond, BC which is a little south of the cruise port. We'll fly back out to Philly early the next morning. I look forward to documenting our adventure - let me know if anyone has any questions or if there's anything in particular you'd like to see, and thanks for reading!

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 folks and likely everyone’s liking…crispy! Another observation. They do not serve bananas in the Windjammier in the morning….odd. Beautiful partly cloudy day. We are not ‘lay out by the pool’ kinda folks. We attended the Art auction as we occasionally do. Free Champagne is always a plus. Wifey likes the art and I ended up surprising her with a Thomas Kinkade portrait of the American Flag and Statue of Liberty. She completed 30 years in the Navy Reserve last year and I found the portrait to be fitting for her. Lunch at Windjammier then a quick donation to the casino while mommy and baby napped. Many folk complain about the age of this ship. The only things that, to me, make it appear dated in the exterior has a lot of rust and that cigarette smoke has just permeated everything around it. You can smell smoke all the way to the Centum on deck 5 and the forward elevator atrium on 4 5 and 6. Everything else about Enchantment is fantastic. I find it odd that the run movies in the room that are 3 hours long. Today was Aquaman. I never got to see the full movie for it always ran into other activities ☹ Day 2 is formal night and we didn’t overdo dressing for it. Khakis and a dress shirt for me, fancy slacks and blouse for the misses and a Tuxedo onesie for our son. I am an extremely picky eater, but I am consciously trying to “try” new things. This trip it’s escargot eh the garlic Me: Escargot Classic Caesar Salad Filet Royal Chocolate Cake Wife: Classic Caesar Salad Filet Sugar Free Dessert Zander Fruit cup His own Filet Cookie & ice cream After dinner we headed for the pool deck to walk of some calories and enjoy the peacefulness of the outdoors. It early to bed for mommy and baby, and I headed to the casino for some Roulette and had to shower to get the smoke off me upon returning to the cabin. Wifey is highly sensitive to it. PICTURES TO FOLLOW

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. Once (would be great for small ships) 5. Kinky Boots 6. The Drowsy Chaperone (it would kill but no one would go to it because they have never heard of it.) 7. Next to Normal and Spring Awaking are fabulous but probably too dark for a cruise ship. In other words, anything but Cats...

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!

I would say Royal is slightly less fancy and a little more fun. I just find Royal attracts a more active crowed and as a new Diamond Member you will have the Diamond Lounge that in itself is a very nice perk.

Welcome, @J-Ro!

Welcome aboard, J-Ro !

Adding our next one -Adventure Dec 2019

@monorailmedic posted a letter from his current sailing on Celebrity Equinox that they are doing the same, canceling their Nassau stop to make deliveries to Freeport. They are compensating their guests for the lost port day. I don't know what other lines are doing (and I'm fairly sure they are helping), but Royal Caribbean lines are certainly stepping up. I was proud to donate under their relief fund.

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.

I've got so much time to just ponder and think of all scenarios since we have 5 months to go! I've got nothing but the cruise on my mind and wanted everything to go smoothly along with being well prepared since i'm a cruise noobie haha!

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.

James Van Fleet Tweet this morning:

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.

They extended these packages at no additional cost (assuming they were pre-purchased).

We are too! It’s our first ever cruise as well. I’ve been watching hours of YouTube and listening to everything royalcaribbeanblog related. There is a Facebook group for our sailing, but there aren’t many joined, and it isn’t a very active page.

According to one of the people who were on the ship they were told the ship was running out of food, so I assume they maybe couldn't have just stayed at sea? That's just a guess based on what he said he was told.

I believe those were all the passengers who’s cars were in Miami. They helped the people who flew into Miami but left the people who drove in to fend for themselves when they dumped them off in New Orleans. I just don’t get whey they wouldn’t keep the ship at seas like Royal did and then bring the people back to their original port? I mean seriously ........ the ship STILL has to go back to Miami for its next cruise

Depends on the ship. ? If there is a Coastal Kitchen then you can make reservations once you get onboard for DINNER only. Double C&A points. It is nice to have more square footage and a bigger balcony, bathroom and closet. Upgraded shampoo, conditioner, lotion... maybe more. It will also depend on your C & A status. I don’t necessarily keep track of which perk goes with C & A vs Suites. Check out the RC website.

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.

A lot of that could have been resolved by having a representative there to let the customers know what the current plan is and what's currently going on to remedy the situation. Poor management from top down. No leadership whatsoever!

You can also bring her sea pass card with you if you were getting a drink for yourself on your card, & wanted to pick one up for her as well - in case she wanted to save your table/lounge chair, etc

Day Nine We had a leisurely morning on this day! Room service breakfast (surprisingly best room service omelette I have had, and I have had a LOT) followed by beach time at the Caribe's private beach. There were so many fish I had to send CBF back upstairs to unpack my goggles! If you stood still the fish would gather at your feet! So cool. There is a rock break to calm the waves and it's perfect for floating. We had our own floats but the hotel rents the big tube kind I saw a lot of people using. After a couple hours in the ocean we swapped over to the pool for one last piña. The pool bar didnt open till 11 or I would've squeezed in more! haha Looking towards Condado At 12:30 we went back up for showers and final packing. Dropped the rental car off at Budget at the San Juan airport and got in line with security to see our flight was delayed by an hour and a half. This meant we would miss our connection in Miami to San Diego. American had no additional flights to SAN till 6am the next day so I booked us a room at the Embassy Suites Miami Airport and went about looking for good Cuban! Landing in Miami Atrium interior of the Embassy Suites Miami Airport. There is what looks like a great breakfast area but we had to leave at 4am the next morning and missed it! The hotel did provide "breakfast bags" for us at 4 with a banana, apple, muffin and bottle of water each which was nice! We ended up at Versaille's on recommendation of our Uber driver and President Obama himself! He once visited Miami and they shut down the entire restaurant to serve him. He was right, it was FANTASTIC Cuban! We got a cubano to enjoy for breakfast the next morning and the vaca frita y picadillo. Both dishes were amazing, and the rice, beans and plantain were a highlight as well. Would love to come back here next time I find myself in Miami!

Why would you be so concerned where someone else spends their money? I can see why you wouldn't want to do it, but why plea for someone else not to? How could it possibly affect you? I got it for last Feb's Mariner cruise. 4-day cruise, $19.99/day. If I eliminate what I would have paid for Voom, used my $25 OBC toward it, I basically paid $5-10 total for the rest of the perks (ummm....a nice embarkation day lunch?). I enjoyed having my carry on waiting in my room when I finally had access to it. Would I personally do it on every cruise? Certainly not. But it's a fine deal on short sailings if it can be snagged at the lower prices.

Just set sail a bit ago and recently returned to the cabin with a final cocktail for the night as we are running on about 1-1.5 hours sleep since 6am PST Saturday. Hopefully sleeping early tonight will reset my internal alarm for early natural rising on AST! The clouds here are unreal Aft port panorama

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 Loved Medalla! From the 1979 Panamerican Olympics Games Finally time to board! Our JS 9538 ? El Morro as seen from our port position!

Yep! (Same as the drink card that gets offered sometimes onboard)