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Update - Since the listing on our VA house went “live” yesterday (Thursday), we decided it would be best just to skeedaddle and run away to western MD to visit my daughter and see her new house. For @coneyraven, they live in Garrett County in Oakland. I don’t know much more about the area except that it is beautiful out here in the sticks (meant lovingly). We watched a big (probably 8 point) buck with his deer-ladies grazing in their yard (5 acres). Simply beautiful. Of course, all Dan could talk about was shootIng them with a bow, but I avoided a philosophical confrontation on the subject. Back to the house. I am overwhelmed by the attraction the house has generated ! We have over 30 confirmed viewing appointments between Thursday and Saturday plus an open house on Sunday. Getting out of town was the RIGHT move. We did have 1 negative review (objection to the yard slope, which is legitimate) but everything else has been ragingly positive. I think we’re going to be very happy with the decision to sell now. Our Agent is very pleased. We told him to hold all offers until we get back. Don’t want to deal with that right now. I change my mind daily (even more often some days) about whether to accept the job offer I have and remain in VA until the FL house is ready or move straight away to FL. He keeps sweetening the job offer so it’s getting harder to decline so I outsmarted him (I hope). I sent him a list of all my cruise dates for the next year ! That should discourage him ! Lol Off to breakfast with the fam.

Maybe the fact it's phasing out is a signal we may see things spin up later in the year. Just a guess.

Dinner in CK on Allure last December... our last cruise before multiple cancellations... Here's hoping for more CK memories in 2021!!!

These recommendations are totally incomplete. No mention at all was made whether hiding rubber ducks would be allowed.

Standing orders are fine. It is easier to note this in an email to the Genie. I cannot stress how much each Genie is different. Be very careful while reading about the experience of others. Make sure that you give your Genie space to act creatively as well. Most Genies to send random snacks throughout the sailing but they can also be requested or denied (meaning just ask your Genie not to send them anymore) if you are not using them. I have said it before, and I say it again. SC is food overload. The idea of snacks delivered each day seems awesome at first, by the middle of the cruise, you might be turning them away lol. DO NOT CALL ROOM SERVICE IF YOU ARE SAILING SC! You could, but it is way faster calling or messaging your Genie. And the Genies will tell you that as well. They will arrange for food to be delivered from restaurants as well. Here's my #1 tip for blogging while sailing SC. You might have good intentions, but sailing SC is busy lol. I would try to blog, but take time to soak in all the experiences and moments that only the SC experience offers. Don't miss it all because you are trying to blog/vlog. It is truly a very unique sailing. Take the time to enjoy it as well.

*****UPDATE***** I purchased the duplicate birth certificate due to the information received from this strand within 5 days I had it! Now this morning, I just received an email from the Department of State (passport agency) that my daughters passport was complete and they were mailing it out. Targeted date to be here in Florida is 30 September 2020, I have to sign for it. I went to my local Post Office with her old passport book and completed her application on 27 August 2020, so lightening fast! Just wanted to update here on the time it took I think doing it before sailing resumed may have been the smart move. Thanks again for all the help with this one! FYI we were told at the Post office we would be lucky if we had it by the end of the year.

I really had no intention of using it but with pandemic and kids virtual schooling the school board took away vacation dates that would have been for one of our bookings. I researched other sailings that might work and gave them a call. I had a "favorite" in the list of potentials but figured "not in a million years". The agent read off the three most likely that would match up and then "Oh one more. Yes it qualifies" ! It was my dream trip. We locked it down. It cost me about $80 in extra taxes. But saved me over half of what I would have had to pay if I had tried to book without the L+S... If you are considering L+S don't let it get away without at least calling and seeing what you can come up with...

I dont think anyone can really answer that since it is all likely to be different when cruising resumes. Personally i wouldnt bother with it just for the boarding benefit, if the other perks are of value you to you then maybe thats the icing on the cake.

I agree with @MLH. I have found the only reliable (and easy) way to get orders is via the Genie. It has been my experience that the room service number is useless. I am almost never able to get through. Also concur that standing orders - particularly for Starbucks In the morning - is ship-dependent. Some will, some won’t. I almost always have to tell the Genie to STOP bringing food. We can never eat everything they bring and I hate wasting. If there’s something you know you want and will eat, bring it on ! But unsolicited random food deliveries are rarely consumed by us. The arrival day snack is standard. Let the Genie know beforehand what you want and they will get it if they can. Just keep in mind that most of the specialty restaurants are closed during boarding hours so extensive specialty restaurant items will probably not be possible.

Yes to standing orders. The Drink of the Day may be not as easy. We did have Starbucks delivered every morning on Harmony but were not allowed on Oasis, There are always a sushi and canape in the cabin. Sometimes they show up, but you never know when. We had standing orders everyday and ended up wasting a lot. I would give the genie a heads up the morning or evening before versus standing based on your acitivites for the day. I would have every thing go through the genie. They know the order takers and can stress the importance rather than ordering yourself and waiting a very long time.

I have only been on two cruises, last one was mid-2018 and was a repositioning Port Everglades to San Juan with stops in Nassau, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas. Ship was (if I remember) Freedom. This one is easy. Second full day, the first of two sea days between Nassau and St. Maarten, was rainy and very choppy. I'm not one to get motion sick, so I ended up having the pool to myself as, it seemed, all 4,000ish other passengers (including my wife) were staying in their rooms. Literally, I had the entire pool complex to myself, and I sat in the pool, sloshing back and forth with the waves, rain coming down, with a few drinks (hand over the top between sips to keep the rain from watering them down) and watching ChiveTV fail videos on the big screen for about two hours and laughing my ass off. Next day the pool deck was packed in the sun, but I will never forget those hours I had the entire pool to myself on a 4,000 passenger ship.

MMMMMM the mushroom soup was fantastic. ?

We obviously can't be certain what will happen post-COVID and what that means for check-in, but we were on HOTS in Port Canaveral in January of this year, DID NOT have the Key, and we were on the ship before 11 am. We got to the terminal just after 10 am(ish). We are "lowly" ? Gold C&A members, with nothing special one way or the other, and we were held up maybe 5 minutes for a few of the higher-up classes and some Suite guests to be lead on, and then we were sent right on, right along with some Key holders. I'd say for boarding purposes alone, the Key wouldn't provide that much benefit. Some of that would have to do with the time you arrive at the terminal too, because even if you had the Key, and say, showed up at 1 pm, and here I am Gold only, but showed up at 10 am, that obviously would impact it too. Maybe that changes post-COVID to give some extra Allure (pun intended) to the Key, but pre-COVID I'd say boarding was of no extra benefit, in my opinion.

? agree with @Lovetocruise2002on this. The food coma is real! It will come down to personal preference and how much time you spend in your stateroom. We stopped all food and beverage deliveries by day 3 of our cruise. We would return to a table full of watered down drinks and felt it was wasteful. We didn’t want to handcuff our genie’s creativity so we limited snack deliveries to those on our questionnaire and agreed to message drink requests when we knew we would be in our stateroom to receive them. Balancing the food overload is real! So pick your food choices wisely. LOL Do not call room service; call or message your genie. Be sure to include absolutely everything you want with your order including condiments and quantities. Do not assume they will include the basics such as condiments because in our experience they did not. I blogged on our first cruise with Royal and it was star class so definitely still new at this but agree with @Lovetocruise2002. As first time cruisers plus star class we wanted to do a lot of the ship board experiences and as a result were on the go a lot. If you blog my advice is to find a balance that works for you that still allows you to enjoy the SC experience.

Also concur with @Lovetocruise2002 She responded before I finished pecking !

Truth be told .... I didn't take that shot.... I have no idea who did so I'm unable to give photo credit. In fact, in that shot, we have a Celebrity ship and, I believe, a Norwegion, but, I do love it either way. It gives a great overview of what's where.

What percentage of the chairs had been grabbed by the chair hogs who never used them?

We loved everything about our sailing on Symphony last Sep 2019 from the time we embarked all the way through the disembarkation. As we walked off the ship our only regret was not booking a B2B. Luckily, we now have a B2B planned for Sep 21...we'll probably wish we booked a B2B2B when that trip ends, too.

Sail away on Symphony of the Seas from Miami, just realizing that I won't have contact with work for 7 wonderful nights and nothing to worry about, since I can't do anything about it. I refuse to access / pay for the internet service, just to decompress for a few days.

For what it's worth, I don't see them getting rid of the room service fee.

Definitely have time to get a better price..

The boarding benefit is only relevant if you are fully checked in before boarding has started and there isn't much difference between being first or last in that group. Once boarding has started, you just walk onto the ship after checking in. The whole process may be different once things restart if you end up needing to follow reserved check in times. So buy the Key because you want and will use the other benefits.

Per @Matt's article from earlier today, Royal Caribbean said this is just a reflection of the fact that so far there is no further extension of the global No Sail order.

Hopefully since the ball has started rolling we can start cruising again soon! I know that I am beyond ready for a cruise vacation!!!!

no mater how you did your L&S via phone or on line, why would you provide them with an option that your not willing to accept? I had an Xmas 2020 cruise booked and did my L&S on line. I put the same acceptable Xmas 2021 cruise in all 3 choices for option 1, 2, 3 as that was the only cruise i was willing to accept. I was surprised the online form let me into the same cruise for all 3 options and initialy thought i 'd have to call in, but it worked.

That’s yet to be determined but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.

We did the RIU in December, 2018 and we loved it. It's within walking distance of Atlantis. Keep in mind that the RIU is adults only and it's booked thru a third party. You may or may not be able to do this depending on when your next cruise is and/or what the ships rules are pertaining to outside excursions when we start cruising again.

not happening, not necessary

I had the May 8th 8 day on Brilliance, Southern Caribbean, now Southern Caribbean 8 day on Independence. Only port that's the same is CocoCay.

Eh, I am not sure I can agree with that, nor do I think you could accurately compare the experience to determine if it's "overpriced". I forget how much of your cruise fare goes towards an average dinner in the dining room or buffet, but let's say it's $15...so you're looking at, say, $65 + gratuity. For $65 you're getting as many apps as you'd like, soup/salad, a main course, and dessert, so you would need to factor that in at any other restaurant too. In essence, you're also kind of paying for a vacation destination restaurant, which are usually higher priced. A nice steakhouse in Sanibel, Florida is going to be more than the same steakhouse in Omaha, for example, and in my opinion eating the meal overlooking the moving ocean isn't quite comparable to your average steakhouse (much like having a more expensive gin & tonic on the ship is higher priced than your local strip mall bar). Everyone's opinions are their own, of course, and while I have had enjoyable experiences at Chops with better-than-expected steak (no Capital Grille, but better than Outback in my experiences), I can understand why some people don't think it's worth it. But for the reasons I laid out above, I don't personally believe it's overpriced.

I am extremely happy on my L&S. It worked out great after I schooled the TA. Last cruise with that TA. All future cruises are and will be with MEI.

Can't say I remember that...but I doubt many. The weather got bad overnight and was projected to remain bad, so I think most people assumed the pool deck was a wash for most of the day.

Same for our Greek Isle cruise next Oct.

It is certainly terrible, no one can possibly argue that. But given the incubation period, it is highly unlikely she contracted it from the ship. The timing of this is really suspect given what's going on right now...

There are so many memories from our honeymoon this past January on Mariner! This was both our second cruise (he was 13 when his family did a Carnival cruise and I was a senior in college on Majesty)! We loved watching a movie on the pool deck while enjoying some drinks, we loved our jet ski excursion at Coca Cay and our sunset cruise at Nassau! We loved hanging out at the English Pub with our favorite bartender, Anthony as well as Schooners with Charlene! The best part (as cliché as it sounds) loved being together and being cut off from the real world! We were supposed to be making more memories in 3 days on Oasis and celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary but #rona had other plans ??! We are hoping to do the same cruise on Oasis next fall!

Probably not but you have to call in and tell them you got X cruise but now want to see if there are any options for that If you lifted though like 3 weeks ago -that could be different. But call and ask them for options.

For us, me especially, the last one we did was Harmony in late January and coming down from Maine, we appreciated the warmth and humidity! That first time stepping onto the ship, hearing the loud music, feeling the warmth on your face, knowing you don't have to shovel for 7 days, and then look for a bartender...it's a wonderful feeling! ? And on that particular sailing our daughter's birthday was our day in St. Maarten, so swimming and enjoying the ocean and beach with her, in that setting, was something I'll never forget. Too many memories to pick a best! Can't wait to make many more!

Favorite memory of the last cruise, the entire cruise! From Port Liberty to Canaveral to Nassau to CoCo Cay and back. And Can´t wait to go back! But especially our perfect day at CoCo Cay. My wife and I just chilled all day. Perfect

I'm not blaming the family at all, but what would lead them to this belief? Did they think they were sailing on Mayo Clinic of the Seas? "“We were always under the impression that the medical facilities and staff on a ship were world class and world leading."

My last Bermuda sailing on Anthem, I got to see Joyce Kuo (lead guitarist for We Will Rock You) perform acoustic guitar in the Schooner Bar on our first night out. But the really memorable part was that I got to spend about 10 or 15 minutes after her set just chatting with her about her background in music, the experience of auditioning for WWRY and learning the music, and what it was like to be a performer on board. All from the context of my daughter being a musician (singer) and looking to find a career performing. She was so down to earth and friendly, and more than happy to talk about her career and offer tips to relay to my daughter. I felt bad when I realized how long I'd been talking with her when she needed to get to another performance that night.

Resurrecting an old thread. I wanted to report on a GREAT experience with American Airlines and itinerary changes. I had to change a flight NOT once, but TWICE. For both calls, AA made the necessary changes quickly and without charging a dime in change fees. I am thrilled with this new policy. The first time I changed it, there was an increase in fare (which I absolutely expected) so I just paid the increased fare. The second time I changed it, the fare went DOWN by over $350 PP so I got credit vouchers for that fare difference. After so many bad experiences trying to change air itineraries, I was happy for some good news. I hope they NEVER change their no change fee policy !!!

We were supposed to be on Oasis this upcoming January, but we have two littles (6 and 5) and decided with the uncertainty to L&S out to January 2022, but we shifted to Harmony as it has an itinerary sailing 1/23/22 that goes to BOTH Labadee and CocoCay, and the day we're at CocoCay will be our daughter's birthday! As an aside, I would welcome any and all advice for Falmouth, Jamaica, with the two littles. Thanks!

My Navigator cruise is back to $53...from $71. Hope we get another limited quick sale for $44 like what was offered a couple weeks ago!!! A few of us missed that deal ?

I cancelled my Explorer November 20, 2020 nine night southern Caribbean cruise before final payment expecting it not to sail and not having got time off from work approved yet. I had a refundable deposit but some of the family going with did not so they made final payment with the intention of going on the cruise or getting a full refund if/when it gets cancelled. I added the Harmony group cruise November 21, 2021 as a replacement since I don't think they would normally let me have the same holiday off for two years in a row but now that's not an issue.

L&S'd Dec 2020 on Allure to Dec 19,2021 on Oasis. Changed June 2021 on Anthem to June 26, 2021 on Symphony.

Please add 20 January 2022 Ovation

Lifted and Shifted: From: Harmony of the Seas (November 1, 2020) To: Harmony of the Seas (November 14, 2021)

Calories from the DXP don't count at sea! lol

Mod... ban this creaton from the boards post haste!!