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Gotta say, Royal is doing it right -- ship was about 30% capacity -- (I heard everything from 1200 to 1400 passengers). The crew was incredibly attentive and happy to be sailing. Chops Grille (my first time there) was delicious. Check in was simple and staterooms were ready when we got on board. We had a bit of a scare. on night 3 (Nassau) We were scheduled to leave the port at 9pm and didn't leave until around midnight due to a passenger that needed medical attention. I heard that the passenger had a fever and needed to find a hospital bed, but I also heard that the passenger was injured and needed medical attention. Gotta admit it was a little worrisome, but AGAIN, Royal handled it as best they could. Now counting down to my next one in 7 weeks!!!

Day 7 Today , CocoCay , I do love this place but prefer to have a sea day as the last day of the cruise , ohh well "You can't always have what you want , but if you will try sometime you'll see you get what you need". We started with late breakfast at the balcony at 9 am and got ready for the island. I grabbed few month ago tickets to the beach club for 65$ pp which comparing to the price I see now it's a pretty good and. We wanted to get there early , Sunil with the other genies organized all the star class to meet and escorted to the Island so it went really fast. We were one of the firsts to arrive the club so we could have chosen were we wanted to seat. We took one of the large beds near the pool and the bar. I went to sweem in the infinity pool and it was very refreshing , I will spare from you pictures of me in the pool. Later we started to enjoy the club drinks When you enter the club they ask you to go to the host and reserve time for lunch , we asked for 12:30. When the time arrived we went to the resturants were the host escorting you to the washi washi station and stay until you wash your hands properly. It brought me back to the pre school time , but I was happy to see they followinge the procedures. For lunch you get the appetizer box which includes several salads and ceviche. For main course my spouse went with the filet mignon and I also wanted to try it per @Matt recommendion but had also request from @Tiffevento test the lobster and compare it the ship so I took one for the team and order a surf and turf. I thought they will bring me a smaller portions but it was full one. The lobster was very good. THe food was good and since they get the meat from the ship I guess it may be better since they have a good grill chef. That's also was the only place until now they ask us to cut the stake and check if it is cooked the way we wanted. For dessert we took the rum cake as it was different from the regular dessert we got until now. We stayed another hour in the club and since it started to get hot we went back to air conditioning at the ship.

Yay!!! All is well in the universe!!! ATTN: @Mark_A & @Chadster

UPDATE! Are we surprised? Royal was wrong. My TA called back this morning when it was less hectic. Spoke to someone else who was more knowledgeable and Air2Sea follows the final payment date.

Just for the record, I no longer wear Bathrobes outside my stateroom, unless it's in the pub. haha

I don’t know. I’ll have to test it and see! Our retirement plan includes big chunks of time onboard, just enjoying life. 8 years to go and I’ll get back to you

We are currently on our last day on Independence. We have had a wonderful time. The number of guests is 1398, so around 35% occupancy. The ship never felt empty but it definitely was not crowded. The staff has been wonderful and the shows have all been very enjoyable. I'm so glad we came.

Nope Driving to Miami from Canaveral the same day for a cruise is theoretically possible. You'd be off Allure no later than 9am, get a rental car and then make the ~4 hour drive to Miami. Get there a little after lunch. Return car and onboard by 2 or 3pm at latest. That being said, that kind of a plan sounds fine when you're sitting at home day dreaming, but I wouldn't do it. Too many moving pieces and too much stress for my taste, especially after getting off Allure. I'm usually tired the day we get off a ship, so I would not want to do that kind of a drive.

A good way to start the day

With the media circus blaming the worst COVID-19 infections on cruise ships a lot of people have cancelled or will not book cruises at the moment. That is why you see 1,000 or less on ships that can carry 6 times that number. Only the faithful and knowledgeable cruisers have been willing to put their trust in the cruise line and sail. I can say that I have stayed on cruise ships and in large hotels/resorts and would rather spend my time on a ship for the cleanliness and care put on the ship. Crews are vaccinated, tested regularly and live in a controlled environment and I cannot honestly say that about the hotels I have stayed in recently.

This is how internet rumors get started. There are zero indications that Royal (or any of the other players) would be cancelling cruises. From a health and safety standpoint, the restart has been, for the most part, a resounding success.

The last 18 months have changed my perspective on these kind of things. It's now limited to: Shoes on? Hands clean? Vaccinated? Mask properly worn when appropriate? Other than that, not caring much. Also, the robe is better attire than what a lot of people wear anyway.

So we had past our original final payment date so I expected OBC. But since they changed the final payment date recently we ended up with 300$ refund! #winning

me too! 5 solo cruises between now and the end of 2022!

Thank you all so much for your answers! I called this morning and not only changed from a GTY ocean view to an assigned balcony stateroom, and I actually saved $40! Y'all rock!

YOU forgot!?! YOU!?!? Sheeesh….now I gotta obsess over everything hoping I don’t forget something tomorrow…especially something as important as the ‘Golden Ticket’!

I called them. The agent said the system is having issues with solo cruisers and their "double-double" points. Looking back, I think the issue is not with the Double Points Promo itself. It has more to do with the double points that solo cruisers in double occupancy rooms get. I have had to call them about my double points several times in the past.

I went with 12648 on Oasis because the jacuzzi was more to the side. This was based on a few pictures. I will see it live Thanksgiving week and would be happy to report back.

Update from my TA. Apparently air has not been pushed back. Just cruise fare. That is as of today. By tomorrow it might change lol

From my understanding....the PCR test is for anyone who needs it to return home (need to request it)

I hear "Golden Room" and all I can think is... Though I guess if you do well enough in the casino...

Just repriced our room for $705 less! Woohoo!!! And didn't lose the shipboard credit.

Day 3: This was another sea day with the regular breakfast in the balcony this time I swap my espresso with latte as the espresso comes too cold. The juice of the day was carrot with ginger. At the morning I had to work , I had to do some candidates interviews using video call which mean I had to shave in my vacation morning. The video call went well the Voom supporting it nicely. Post the call I had to connect to some customer site but there was some issues with my two way authentication so had to spend another hour with the support. Thought maybe to ask Sunil to take care of it (he is a genie after all) but just the thought of heaving RCL IT near my laptop gave me the chills. During the time I had to work , my spouse went to catch some sun and bring up the steps count (our excuse for eating so much and feel it's OK) finally the issue got resolved and I could continue enjoying the vacation for now. We went to watch the flow rider and visit the solarium as it was started to be cloudy. Although not so hungry (comma food alert) we went to playmaker , our waiter suggested for us to seat outside which we kindly declined as we saw the clouds. Yap we had the same waiter @Tiffeven got , I asked for draft beer got a can , we asked for some silverware we got them 15 minutes later. Anyway we ordered the nachos which were very good , some chicken tenders and the onion rings as it looks good in the pictures . It started to rain outside very hard and after few minutes it's statrted to rain on our table ,let's just say I hope the people that built the playmaker roof did not design the ship haull I did not ask to fill my cup, thank you. We moved to another table while waiting for the campfire cookie which took 20 minutes to come , we should have asked for it at the beginning of the meal , the cookie was awesome. It continue to rain for a while so we went to contribute for you RCL revenue and catch some rest later. We later went to Harry Potter trivia , wow I did not know so many Harry Potter fans are on the ship most of them are far from being childrens , the place was packed. Apparently it's not enough to visit Universal and ride the different attractions in Harry Potter world to be able and answer most of the questions. We did not want to go to any restaurant so we asked Sunil to bring us few salads and we got the sea weed salad from Izumi and some goat cheese salad. After the light dinner we went to see the ice show, it was great to be able and come at the last minute and enjoy the show from the best seats , the show as always was excellent, I just always worries the drones will decide one day that they had enough and will go into the crowd (mmm , she'll I add any RCL IT joke here , naaa I think we had enough for one post). Post the ice show we went to check if we are missing anything around the ship to pass some time before going to the silent party Hush !. It was packed but anyone who wanted could get inn and grab the headphones. It was funny to see how everyone sync to the same channel after a minute or so. It was also fun to take off the headphones from time to time just to hear how it's sounds without them. So we took some drinks ( must for me before dancing) and dance although most of the time I was busy to make sure my spouse is not taken a video of me so I will be another family dinner main joke and yes she tried.

Brb - removing all the swim cover ups from my Amazon cart and will be wearing my robe instead.

Final thoughts: This trip has been absolutely amazing. It was off to a rough start, but wow, it ended as one of our favorite cruises. We worried about how cruising would be with all of the new Covid restrictions and if we would walk around with a scarlet letter on our heads bringing kids too young to be vaccinated on a cruise. We were totally wrong. Everybody on the ship was very nice and some even smiled, laughed, and played with the kids, especially the youngest two. We didn't get a single rude comment or look from other passengers about cruising with kids. The staff seemed so happy to be back at sea and were very accommodating. There were obviously things we missed like the Quest, Love and Marriage, World's Sexiest Man Competition, and the Belly Flop Competition. We also wish we could have done laser tag and the escape room, but there is so much to do even without those that it was still an amazing trip. One thing I missed was the interaction that we usually get with our room attendant. I don't think this was his fault though, as there are so many new rules they must abide by such as not going into the room when the guests are there. It made the experience less personal with him even though he seemed like a nice guy. The vaccinated only and everybody shows were also an annoyance at times when the everybody show ended up playing too late for kids. Hairspray was phenomenal, but Steven commented that the minimal seating detracted from the ambience (there was less people to laugh and clap at key moments in the performance). We also did not like having the Windjammer closed for dinner, but we were always so full anyway. We only made one stop at the Windjammer this cruise, and we actually perferred how it is now with them serving you food. It's nice not to have to worry about people touching all the food with their hands plus the food seemed fresher perhaps due to smaller portions being brought out at a time. Sunil picked out all of our servers at the specialty restaurants and he did a fantastic job because all of the servers we had were wonderful (with the exception of the guy at Playmakers, but Sunil did not choose him). We continually saw the Covid restrictions being modified. Room service went from not being allowed in your room to allowed in if you go into a different room and then finally to closer to what it used to be like all within a one week period. We watched a limit of five in a pool be modified to no limit. The genies went from not being able to pick up your kids from Adventure Ocean to being able to. Initially, we were told they were not doing the 2 for $20 t-shirts sale on this cruise because it puts people in too close of proximity to each other, but on day 6, the t-shirt sale happened. Cruising is slowly returning to normal, and we watched this transition happen every day. I would be remiss to end this without taking about Sunil. If you are lucky enough to get him as your genie, you are in for a treat. He truly made this trip unique. He went above and beyond and became like family to us. The kids are already talking about requesting him as our genie when we go on Symphony in April, which we are definitely going to do. For anyone wondering, he goes home on November 27th, and then he is going back to Symphony in January. Lastly, thank you to everyone who followed along. I hope this helped show what the current state of cruising is. Happy cruising and best of luck to everyone!

Agreed. I have unmasked, complete strangers closer to me at work than I did at any point on the ship (or during check in it/disembarkation). Everybody on a ship WANTS to be there and has made the personal decision to follow all protocols required.

Sorry for all the noise. We had plates flying everywhere, but I saved my Starbucks, so it's ok.

Day 7 continued: After walking down the pier, you go left to go to Coco Beach Club or straight for Thrill Waterpark. As we were walking down the pier, we realized we had forgot our cabana tickets, but figured we'd keep going anyway. We walked up to the entrance, they scanned our seapasses, and voila we were inside no tickets required. We walked up to the cabana concierge, gave them our room number, and then they escorted us to our cabana and gave us a bracelet. Sunil had reserved cabana 45, and told us this is the one they recommended when he asked for the best one. It was in a perfect location in the waterpark. It was right at the bottom of daredevil peak (the tallest slide) and convenient to everything in the waterpark. It had two loungers outside, a couch and chair inside, a cooler area for water, six water bottles, a place to charge your phone, a Bluetooth speaker, a safe, and six towels. You also have a cabana attendant who brings you drinks and food from Snack Shack. Snack Shack is complimentary. If you have a drink package, it is covered here. If not, you pay for any alcohol like you would on the ship. We decided we'd order mozzarella sticks, a cabana burger, a cabana chicken sandwich, a funnel cake, a coco loco, a tropical mango water, and a diet coke. There were birds and a family of chickens that kept walking through the cabana and landing on the table, and the cabana attendant told us to let her know when we were done with the food, so she could take it without the wildlife getting to it. There was a button on the table that we would press anytime we needed the cabana attendant. Headed to Thrill Waterpark: The Cabana: Cabana menu from Snack Shack and our food:

We have done Lyft to Port Everglades many times. You just have to be ready to show your cruise docs and ID at the port entrance. No problems at all.

Day 7 continued: Sunil told us to meet him in the suite lounge at 10:20am. The genies had all of their guests do this, and then we priority elevatored down and pretty much got off the ship immediately. There was one genie at the top elevator, one at bottom elevator, and one right outside. It was very quick and worked well since they could priority the elevator back and forth to get Star Class families without having to worry about it stopping on any other floor between. Sunil said this is the first time they've done it this way, and because it worked so well, they would probably stick with it. Coco Cay:

Day 7: In the first few days of the cruise, we received a letter that we need to register for the kid's rapid antigen test for day 7. We registered all of the kid's for the 8:30am appointment and were planning on having breakfast in our room at 9am before getting off the ship in Coco Cay. What we didn't realize was how long the line would be. We assumed 8:30am meant an 8:30am appointment, but the line was the longest one I have seen the entire trip. I'm not sure about other times, but it seemed like 8am-9am was very busy. One reason for this is we were supposed to get to Coco Cay at 10am, and kids are not allowed off the ship until they get their negative result. It was only supposed to take about an hour for results, but we didn't get our email until almost three hours later. It worked out ok for us though, because Steven and I were planning on getting off the ship in Coco Cay without the kids first so that we could ride the big waterslides, and then going back to get them and taking them to the waterpark. I feel bad for anyone who was planning on taking their kids off the ship first thing though. Keep this in mind when planning your testing. If you are going into port and want to get off the ship early on day 7, I recommend planning your testing earlier than 8am.

Day 6 continued: We picked up the kids and asked both of the older two if they wanted to go ride the waterslides, but they opted for pizza and video games instead, so Sunil had pizza, fries, and fruit delivered to the room for them. I really don't know what they are going to do when they get home and can't have pizza for every meal. Steven and I had 150 Central Park reservations for the evening. We always try to do 150 as our date night restaurant, so we brought the kids back to Adventure Ocean and Royal Babies and Tots after a few hours. They were excited to be back. We met Sunil at 150 Central Park where we had a nice conversation. Our server was very nice, but it was much different than the other restaurants. At the other restaurants, we had our main server taking care of us, plus other servers, and the restaurant managers would come by numerous times asking if everything was to our liking during the meals. We even had the Mad Hatter at Wonderland serving us food and continually bringing the kids cotton candy. At 150, our server took care of us but we really didn't have any one else stopping by the table. We did enjoy having everyone fawn all over us at the other restaurants especially since they kept the kids occupied, but it was kind of nice having a quiet meal since the kids weren't there. For our meal, I had ceasar salad, seared honey glazed scallops, roasted spiced pumpkin bisque, and lobster thermidor. Steven had ceasar salad, crispy Berkshire pork belly, and pan-seared veal medallions. We have always really enjoyed the food at 150, and this trip was no different. It was delicious, and we ate so much that we didn't have room for dessert. The presentation of the food was beautiful as well. We even pulled up a picture to compare the presentation from when we were on Allure; and while it was delicious at both, Symphony definitely wins on presentation. On the way to get the kids, I realized we hadn't had Baked Alaska on this trip, so I messaged Sunil and asked for some to be delivered after we picked up the kids. After picking up the kids, we returned to our room to find a towel animal surprise. We always keep all of the towel animals, so that we have a towel animal menagerie at the end of the trip. After the first towel animal, I put it on the desk in the master bedroom, but the next day, the room attendant took it even though it was set to the side. I was going to ask him not to take any more, but our paths didn't cross. We had one towel animal (our 2nd towel animal) and were getting off in port. I was still unable to find him, so I called Sunil and asked him if he could let him know not to take the towel animal that we like to have a zoo at the end of the trip. Sunil made sure we had our zoo, because we returned to the room to find... Sunil also called soon after we arrived to the room and asked if we were ready for our baked Alaska, which was yummy as always and a good end to the day. 150 Central Park: Baked Alaska:

Thank you and oh yes! They were pretty wired after all that icing. They did. Sunil was absolutely amazing. Despite all the restriction, he still found a way to make the trip special for all of us. Yes, they do! Royal definitely chooses the best of the best when selecting their genies. It is incredible how they make each guest feel so special and make each experience so unique.

I've had the same experience. Worked out great.

Well then…I guess I’ll be on a first name basis with them in the coming months. Unless they get their issues corrected.

I had the test done yesterday at CVS in central NJ. 9:20am it was completed, and they called me about twenty minutes later to tell me it was negative. At noon I received an email from CVS advising me to log into the MyChart app for my result. The complete report was there and I printed a copy (actually multiple copies that I will stick into every pocket, nook and cranny to make sure I have that ‘Golden Ticket’ with me at check-in!). No problems, no issues.

I'm waiting for 9am EDT to call them ... countdown timer is on... ha ha

The problem with my local CVS is that they ran out of rapid test kits. They only do PCR and the results take 24-48 to be sent. I don't want to leave home for the port not knowing my test results

@MamaSharkI don't think you read @WAAAYTOOOpost properly. As she is unvaxxed, RCG doesn't want to allow her to sail. She said she will end up cancelling her sailings since she can't be in the casino and enjoy the ship. These sailings in the post won't be cancelled, RCG has just moved final payment to ensure they can sell as many room as possible. Subsequent post speculate that check-in has changed because final payment has been pushed back. I think that is true, no point in putting up check-in times until people have paid and you have an idea of how many pax.

Day 6 - sea day. I love sea days , no need to plan too much , no need to rush to anything. We had breakfast (we replaced the eggs Benedict with Mexican eggs) and started our morning walking in the promenade which was quite empty considering they were doing the two T shirts in 20$ and all the other once in in a lifetime sells that happens in every cruise. We went to deck 15/16 but it was a very warm day so we got back to the aircondition. Later we went to the Casino ready to spend some more money but that time we hit one of the jackpots , it was very surprising as until now it was not going that well we left so we can enjoy the win and to put the money in the safe (well at least some of it) do you think the genie was listening to my previous request for a jackpot ? And if yes , here another example that you need to be specific with genie request and ask for mega jackpot but not complaining. Lunch was again in WJ we did not feel like going and spend an hour in one of the resturants. We went to the Symphony trivia , I must say we did quite OK although I still claim G muster station is in boardwalk and not in the aqua theater , there were people that knew much better than us. Next we went to do something we never done it riding the rising bar. We were the only one and it was fun , it also brought us to our deck just in time for our nap. Dinner was at 150 , this was our first time there and it was enjoyable, but once again , too much food. We took the beetroot salad , short rib , Cesar salad and lobster. For dessert we took the famous fried cheese cake Short rib Lobster Beetroot salad Cheese cake Coming back to the room we had a new friend waiting for us Later we went to see the ice show 2.0 which was , as always fun.

The look so cute but I bet that sugar high....whoo!

Day 5 St Thomas. We arrived around 7 to the Island, not that we planned to be up so early but still. After breakfast on the balcony (from day 4 they started to enter and prepare the table by themselves) we went to walk around the ship (always enjoyable during port day) we did not had any special plans so we just went down to the port. There we met with the king of the pier , he was walking around dominating the area , taking photos with everyone that wanted . I thought he will ask soon for a tip He had many friends around enjoying the sun Later we just jumped on one of the taxi to downtown which cost 4 dollars per person per each way. We strolled around main street until we decided to head back to the ship. Near the port I spotted a supermarket and a pharmacy so we decided to split and I went to buy some razors and some of the counter medicine I needed. The pharmacy and the supermarket are around 5 to 10 minutes walking from the port. Coming back to the ship I got a message from my spouse if I can go and grab some drinks for her. Coming back to the cabin I saw that Although a week or so delay but it was nice surprise. Sunil came to hang some decorations and did a good job , he also brought a cake. And no , it's jus a coincidence we are not copying from our upper deck neighbors . Late lunch was in WJ which was good. Post lunch I had to work again but we still had time to rest and enjoy the rain and the cake. We had some more visitors that wanted to check our balcony. We had dinner plans at wonderland , it's our fourth time in wonderland (if you counting the one in Spectrum which was totally different) so no surprises but it still fun and the drinks are very good. Sunil came to say hello and brought a friend And how can we do without the famous dessert The second cake was waiting for me back at the cabin , but with only one plate , how can I share it like that ? We than headed to the casino were we had a nice chat with the @Tiffeven Which we also saw in wonderland , I think Sunil is making his schedule easier by need to be in only one place at a time. We had plans to go to check out red the experience but at the end we both were too tired and called it for the day.

STOP!!! I’m trying to diet for my cruise & you make me want to lick my phone!!!!

The corridor on the deck has some bad smell , they took care of it for few days but it came back . I suspect it their C19 detecting system , of you are not complaining about the smell they are sending you to be tested.

To summarize day one embarkation, the port stuff for the genie

Reduced single supplements are dynamic as they are capacity controlled. They allocate X and once X are sold in a category they are gone. Sometimes X = 1, sometimes X = 2, sometimes X might equal something else. It isn't published. If you see something don't spend a lot of time thinking about it. Someone else like me might swoop in and take it from you.

A picture actually on the pool deck.

Only during a Yeti Pub Crawl.

I just told my brother about this and his plans are to Hugh Heffner it with the robe. He said he shall wear the robe everywhere that's not too hot for it.

I have a new goal.