Leaderboard

IIf it was just one drink out of many I wouldn't even take note of it. But that's just me.

Good morning to all. For anyone interested we have 3800 passengers on board. I was on this ship 3 weeks ago with about 2700 on board. Now that we are sailing with more than 50% capacity the Windjammer is now open for dinner...Happy sailing to all.

We love sailing during the holidays. There is definitely a festive feeling in the air and they decorate the ships very nicely. It is pricey - so be prepared - but it's really fun. We are doing a B2B on Allure this year for both Christmas and NY.

Here's why it doesnt matter: 1. Cruise ships can sail again, and this extension won't change that. In fact, a few regulations have been rolled back. 2. It will expire in January

I wouldn't call it a scam. I bought an Invicta watch onboard a few years ago which was originally priced at about $400 and was on sale for about $150. When you look online you are seeing "End of line" deals. These appear to be the ones that Royal sells onboard also. So the price posted "was" the original price when the watch was first launched, but because it is now not being produced any longer it is reduced. You will find the same watch on the likes of Amazon at similar prices but if you look at the Invicta site you will see that they were originally at the higher price. The lesson here is that you should shop around and go online and see where else you can get it but I think the word scam is a bit stong!

Since borders are opening up and vaccines requirements easing I thought I'd share my experience on Allure of the Seas getting tested for travel to Canada after the cruise. In my case my booking appears to be a standard one cruise (no B2B) US booking. This means that testing for me normally wouldn't be required. I had communicated with the guest services team before boarding given my unique scenario of not appearing to need a test yet actually requiring a PCR test for travel to Canada. I knew that guests that are known to require a test would receive a QR code and instructions sent to their cabins. Since that didn't apply to me I waited until day 3 and visited guest services where they produced a QR code for me to use. I've obfuscated the QR code in the photo below since I don't know that it is the same for each ship and sail date so don't try to scan this code with your device. When using an iPhone the camera recognizes the QR code and pops up a link to follow based on the QR code. You have to be connected to the ship's wifi but you do not need to purchase a Voom internet plan to use the QR code. The link from the QR code opened in my phone's browser. Scrolling to the bottom there is a button you can tap to proceed. This opens a new page where you enter your details. For the purpose of this demonstration I chose a fictitious address in Manitoba. The next step looks for the closest location. Since this was on a sea day I was very curious what it would offer for locations near me. Picking another random address in Canada very far from the Caribbean where I was at the time it found the Deck 3 Conference Center some 3,337 miles from Whitehorse. For the purpose of setting the location of the ship they had given the Deck 3 Conference Center the address of the terminal in Port Canaveral where I boarded the ship. After selecting the only option presented, the Deck 3 Conference Center, I was able to select a time for my appointment. In my case I had been told that normally PCR testing for international travel is done at 6:30am and the antigen testing for other guests required for other purposes such as consecutive cruisers would occur later after the PCR testing. Surprised to see the 8am time being the earliest time offered guest services assured me they would look into it and let me know. They did follow up with me and the next day I received a call on my cabin phone to let me know they have adapted the process so that all testing starts at 8am, at least on this voyage. I do have a Voom internet plan on this sailing so I was able to receive the email confirmation for the test once I had completed the scheduling steps above. This isn't a requirement. I was never asked for the confirmation code. It is not required to have a Voom plan but it was comforting to see the process work very similar to how pre-cruise testing appointments have worked for me in the past on land. I am an early riser by nature so on the morning of day 7 I dropped by the deck 3 conference center at 6:30am just to make sure I was good with my 8am appointment. At 6:30am there was no one around so I breathed a sigh of relief that the process was working as guest services said it would. At 8am there were crew on hand at a kiosk with paperwork ready for the guests that needed to be tested. They asked for my cabin number and handed me a paper with stickers attached. The stickers had a barcode, my name and birth date. On this occasion consecutive cruisers or anyone needing an antigen test were directed into the conference to the right while guests requiring PCR testing for international travel where directed into the conference center to the left. I didn't take any pictures because there were other guests present including children. There are several testing stations and I was directed to take a seat in the section for Accula testing. Accula is an approved FDA test with an emergency use authorization. I handed over my paperwork and watched as they applied one of the stickers to a vial that would later contain my sample. When instructed I removed my mask and tilted my head back. The lab worker ran a swab around the ring of each nostril without going deep. If anything it tickled slightly but was in no way painful or difficult to sit through. With that I was done and directed to exit. After testing I went to breakfast and carried on with my day. It was a very easy and straightforward process. As I await my results my only advice for anyone from any country that requires a PCR test onboard is to keep an eye out for the testing letter with QR code and instructions. If you don't receive it by day 3 call guest services or drop by and ask them.

Just keep sitting there, reach around, push the button, and enjoy the whoosh!!!!!

Amen to that !

We are currently sitting in the Orlando Airport waiting for our flight home. This was our second time on Allure, and she did not disappoint! We choose an Ocean View Balcony guarantee and were assigned room 10726. It was the next to the last balcony cabin at the aft. We were pleased with the cabin, and especially pleased with Sam, our wonderful stateroom attendant! The crew were friendlier than ever and we found the ship to be very clean. The Windjammer food was excellent and I did not mind being served the food at all (especially after seeing a man walk out of the bathroom stall and out of the bathroom without washing his hands). Wearing the mask inside was not an issue and most guests, and all crew, were wearing them properly. We did two specialty restaurants on this cruise, Chops Grill and Giovanni's. Both were excellent, my wife preferred Chops, and I preferred Giovanni's. This trip included our first visit to Coco Cay, but it certainly won't be the last! What a fun time! I envied those staying on board for a back to back. I'm hoping that we will be able to do that in the future!

You can do whatever you want with them, so you can use one to purchase a drink for someone else.

Masking has already become a class issue (see the MOMA spectacle for a recent example here) and part of the reason I sincerely oppose mask mandates for anyone, crew included. @Canadian-Cruiser is committing the same type of logical fallacy. Because an injustice is being committed on the basis of flimsy (at best) science and is forcing the crew to mask at the behest of a corporation catering to the whims of scared passengers, then we should all do it too. The problem is with the requirement in the first place.

Look what was waiting for me after dinner and a couple of hours taking night photos around the ship: I’m positive that I’m negative and I have the paper to prove it.

Mission accomplished!

October 24…For the first time since the re-start, the Windjammer Buffet has opened for dinner on the Oasis of the Seas. The passenger count for this week’s cruise is finalized at 3,630. That’s almost 500 more guests than last week. Almost 1,600 more than just four weeks ago. For a ship that holds approximately 5,600 double occupancy…the numbers are rising steadily. Hopefully we keep moving forward…back to normal cruising once again!

Last month after four years building a brand from scratch, the parent company who owned the brand decided to stop investing and exit the brand. While it sucks because I had poured so much creative energy getting the brand off the ground, it was stale without more investment. The good thing is they paid me to go away and left me with some much needed free time. Unfortunately there’s only so many outlets in the house to turn into smart outlets so I need something else to do. Luckily, my TA had set me up in her agency as I was going through the RC education program and I was able to take advantage of a great offer that RC was partnering with ASTA for. As I wasn’t sure when I’d have to go back to full time working again, I wanted to get the ASTA cruise out of the way. I figured it was a great opportunity to not only try out a brand new ship, but also try out some of the new equipment I got for ship tour videos than to book Odyssey. As there’s what seems like a massive amount of Odyssey live blogs I’ll keep this one brief with mostly pictures and videos. The basics Odyssey of the Seas 10/31/21-11/6/21 Port Everglades 6 Nights Cococay, Cozumel, and Costa Maya Balcony, Deck 11 Starboard side Just me on this sailing. Only my second solo cruise and the first was a four nighter earlier this month. The wife and daughter have school and work so unfortunately couldn’t join me.

I’m booked. For me it allows me to see so much of the world without the hassle of flying and changing hotels. We’ve done 2 land tours (Alaska and Ireland) and moving your personal stuff can be exhausting. Plus waiting for everyone to get on the bus. This cruise also took away the struggle of selecting an itinerary. I want to do Med and Baltic, but there are variations in itineraries. I picked the “I want it all” cruise

Guessing -> 2. It will may expire in January

What a load of crap. There have been less cases per person on ships than in some (most) states.

Just got back from our cruise aboard the Symphony on Saturday. We had an amazing time! The staff was so fantastic! The service we received at the specialty restaurants was beyond amazing! This was our first time with a dining package and will most certainly do it again! I can't wait for our May 2022 Alaska cruise now! With that being said, we are anxious to book our next cruise again, but can't cruise until Fall of 2023. Does anyone have an idea as to when that schedule may be released? Thanks all! Carlos

I've really only heard of this happening at the Bionic Bar where the programming controls the pour. (The robots know they're not gonna get a tip so they don't care! ) I've seen every drink that I've been served at an RC bar prepared right in front of my eyes. The bartenders typically pour the jigger full and continue to pour liquor into the glass as they dump the filled jigger into the glass. (Possibly the bartender did not do that?) The only similar experience I've had is being given the wrong drink in the MDR. I could distinctly tell that the drink served to me had spiced rum instead of the whiskey I ordered.

We have Thanksgiving and the week of Christmas booked this year and as in years past the ships are decorated up and the menus enhanced. The last Christmas time sail we had in 2019 the Windjammer had a gingerbread village that appeared overnight. Cannot wait to get on and enjoy the festivities.

My wife and I tried it on Oasis earlier this month. We liked the BBQ and would definitely go back again. The sides were typical for a BBQ restaurant, nothing special. I agree the portions are huge! No cover, just the a la carte pricing. I made the mistake of ordering the "3 Cuts" and spoiled my appetite for Chops Grille that evening! My wife ordered the "2 Cuts".. I ordered the "3-Cuts"...

Definitely not a scam. They weren't selling you fake watches. Just you have a preconceived notion that you'd be getting a great deal just because it's on a cruise ship. Always do your homework. Just like the liquor stores. I've rarely ever seen any good deals there. The only things that catch my eye are bottles that are hard to find in my neck of the woods.

We are home safely. 16 hours from ship to the house. After some coffee and chores I’ll attempt to finish with day 7 and misc thoughts.

I found the BBQ itself to be fine. Not great but ok. The sides (most specifically, the macaroni & cheese) to be awful. It was fine for a snack but I would never plan on having it for a full meal. Only tried once so maybe it was just a one-off. BTW, I am a BBQ lover...

Caveat Emptor (a reason to maintain some internet connectivity - double check prices both on/off board)

I will have to pack a plastic straw too

I'm willing to comply with whatever guidelines the ships implement to comply with CDC. I've already been on two cruises these past two months. I have not had any problems at all. I've always said "I'll even wear a Hazmat suit just to be able to cruise."

If you clicked to add to your card, it should have moved the offer to your Added to Card tab. When these offers appear you have to actually click the Add to Card to save it to your account. American Express limits the total numbers of offers than be saved to cards, so you have to claim them when you see them. It shouldn't disappear after being added and you'll have until the expiration to use it.

Hubby drinks Long Island iced tea. He spends the first day or two finding the “right” bartender and then goes to that bar every time!

Unfortunately this isn't a question I would trust to a random message board. The odds of someone knowing the 100% correct answer is small compared to the risk of getting it wrong. Going straight to the source (first Royal Caribbean, and then any diplomatic missions if needed) is my recommendation. And get the response(s) in writing.

It's actually quite refreshing.

Soooo much food for the price point! It's pretty decent for cruise ship BBQ! Also the only place to be able to use the drink package and get real sweet tea on Oasis!

We had the same amazing experience on Oasis early this month! It does make it much easier getting off the ship when you know you already have another one scheduled for sure! We now try to do one cruise every year (my wife has limited vacation time) to ease the cruise withdrawal! Thankfully, we have Odyssey scheduled for FEB 2022, but we could not ignore the pull from NextCruise this month and booked Harmony for JAN 2023! My wife is starting to hint at Alaska for 2024 for our 20th wedding anniversary... I'll have to start researching that one. Please keep us updated on your 2022 Alaska cruise!

Am I the only one that goes through a post-cruise depression? After I get home (even before covid), I get this feeling of 'man cruising is a burden." I basically stay away from these cruise forums, quit checking for price changes on future cruises, and just enjoy being home. Don't get me wrong, after a week or two, the post partem wears off, but it's like a post-cruise hangover.

Exactly

OPTICS! It is Royal's way of saying, "Here CDC, we care about vaccines"

You can use the app onboard for free. Download it before your cruise and check out what you can do. The best part is the EMuster drill!

Of course it was perfect. He's a bot.

What's left of our free market capitalism at work ! Glad to see it.

Yes, which is why I stick to the $10 watches on my cruises. They last a year or two and then I replace them. I have my shopping fun without a lot of risk!

Yeah, for most of the country it is. Which is why we're electing to cancel. We can have a completely normal vacation in Florida (or pretty much anywhere now) and not have to worry about our kids being treated like disease vectors. We'll try again in April, but honestly not optimistic at this point.

Point taken However, you still haven't addressed the question of the dining room attendants and crew that work in unvaccinated indoor areas of the ship where passengers are not masked currently and how that would differ moving forward. I wont get in trouble again but then there is the whole question of the efficacy of cloth masks and if they would truly protect the crew. One would think that masks will not be a requirement forever on cruise ships as the pandemic wanes. I will not mention theater in front of the crew but I do recognize that some protocols in place do not stop the spread of covid (EX: Crew filling your soda cup at Freestyle machine). However, I am choosing to sail during a pandemic and agree to the protocols. Just as crew have chosen to work on a cruise ship and assume the inherent risks of doing so I think the best protection for the crew is to get vaccinated and as other people have mentioned, the crew skews younger where their risks from serious outcome should be minimized especially being vaccinated. There is no way to keep Covid cases from happening on cruise ships. All they can do is effective protocols that have proven to slow the spread. As cruise ship customers, we do have a choice to spend our money on sailings during the pandemic with the listed protocols. It is a reasonable expectation that Royal will provide protection for their crews as Royal does not want to lose revenue. Also, it is up to the personal responsibility of the crew to protect themselves as well by being vaccinated and not work a cruise ship if they have medical conditions that would make them more susceptible to Covid. My cruise dollars during this pandemic help support the crew as well as me choosing to sail during a pandemic. I sail in November and I will follow all safety protocols that Royal has set.

@twangsterExcellent explanation. Clear, concise and to the point. By the way….you should consider working for Royal handling calls. You’d be great!

When I checked in at Port Liberty last week, the agent put it on my wrist and tightened it just enough so that it couldn’t come off. He warned me that it was like a zip tie and can tighten but not loosen. He wouldn’t hand them to anyone, he claimed he had to put them on himself. I agree with the question above: If every adult is vaccinated, why are we wearing them? Don’t children wear wrist bands anyway to identify their muster stations or something? Maybe I’m missing something but it seems useless.

I was on the Adventure in August and we got off in Cozumel; took a taxi downtown did some shopping and had a drink and caught a taxi back to the ship. We are vaccinated and no different from pro-Covid with the exception of mask requirements. Unvaccinated could only get off with a RCL excursion.

I will be on for Thanksgiving week - It will be interesting to see how high it goes on a holiday week.

Occupancies going up, yet no covid issues. And all but 2 currently sailing ships are in CDC green status. Right in time for the CDC to screw it all up next week

Apex arrived in Fort Lauderdale this morning and I'm back home. Couple of post cruise observations: Celebrity introduced a new cast and a new show called Crystalize on our last day before Fort Lauderdale. I had mentioned that I didn't like the "in the round " stage in the main theater. Well, that was stupidly wrong. Saw two current (Tree of Life and Rockumentary) and one brand new (Crystalize) shows that optimize the stage and take full advantage of the lighting and backgrounds that are very high tech. The visual presentation is very high quality and engaging. Also regarding Apex entertainment, it took a step up from the unpopular Edge entertainment in Eden (production cast members dressed up and floating around you while you ate in the Eden restaurant or sat at the adjoining bar. They are now doing a series of 30 minute short shows with specific dancers and vocalists that do these productions in Eden and The Club. The theme of the show in Eden was an Alice in Wonderland short called Night of Dreams. If you sit at the edge of the performance area you are right on top of the show and have a close-up clear view of the dancers, acrobats and aerialists that are performing it. Stunning costumes, dance, aerial routines and vocals. The short in The Club is called Caravan and features more acrobatics and aerialists. Very cool. Debarking somewhere in the neighborhood of 1300 guests should be easy. It was. The crew also had to pass through immigration. This was done starting at 5am and finished up by 7am with everyone returning to the ship. Guests could debark at 7:30 if they carried their own luggage off. After that, it was by luggage tag number. We were off the ship by 8:20 and at home by 9:05. We live in Coconut Creek just a shade north of Fort Lauderdale and Port Everglades. It's a 20 minute Uber ride. The terminal at the port uses facial recognition technology to clear you through immigration. You show your passport, get a photo and you're done. Remember long lines to clear C&I? Gone. Of course there was one ship - us - with few guests. I suspect it may be a little harder as cruising ramps back up. Cruising now is the best! Overall, the crossing on Apex was most excellent. We like the shows and food so our cruising days are filled with these. We don't gamble so no casinos for us although they are busy in the evenings. We eat breakfast and lunch in the Ocean View Cafe (buffet style). The food choices there are astonishingly varied and too numerous to go through them but you will find something new that you like, every day. Presentation is very appealing and the chefs take a lot of pride in that. No specialty dining this cruise. We think the main dining room and Ocean View food is so good and it's good enough for us. We dined in the evenings after cocktails at the Eden bar in the Cosmopolitan. We sought out our waiter from a previous Apex cruise and found him (Joel from Peru). He's an eight year veteran and knows his way around a formal dining table. New menu each night of signature dishes specific to each of the four main dining rooms. The rest are called classics and these are the same in each restaurant. We ate in Normandy, one of the complimentary main restaurants, once. The waiter offered us a dish that was not on the menu - a bone in filet of beef. I have no doubt the kitchen had extra cuts of this high quality beef that would normally be offered and served at Fine Cuts on Five - a specialty steakhouse restaurant. Fabulous. The ship grew on me as time passed. Not an Edge fan after our intial sailing on that new ship a year or so ago. I carried that attitude to Apex. It was undeserved. I grumbled in a post above on day 6 of this 14n sailing. Over the following 8d, there were just too many things that we fell into a routine with - exercise in the morning, alternating a light breakfast and heavier late lunch with a full breakfast and a light lunch, cocktails at Eden, a show, then dinner. Never worrying about keeping your house clean, making beds, doing laundry, preparing meals. I napped when I felt like it. Watched a lot of good movies in our cabin. It's a great life! I could have easily kept going on Apex with this routine.

The overly strict and obsolete AO rules (which is a CDC thing, not RC's choice) really need to go away with the next CSO. Kids aren't social distancing in schools or basically anywhere, why should they do the same on a ship where they've been tested twice in the last week? Then the "can't use any shared toys" is ridiculous too since it's been well over a year since surface spread was deemed highly unlikely. I feel bad for RC having to abide by such archaic rules.