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ONE MORE DAY! Today was a WHIRLWIND! A very exciting one but a whirlwind! We drove from Tampa to Miami and it was a breeze. Took us about four hours. Sadly Jarell did not get to see an alligator along Alligator Alley….there was only one and he missed it but of course I saw it LOL Oh well…looks like we gottta hit up a zoo to make up for the betrayal soon! LOL We got to our hotel (Holiday Inn Port Of Miami) around 2:30. Since check in wasn’t until 3 ( or so we thought ) we decided to grab some food at Bayside Marketplace. I’m not sure if they were giving our free $100 bills or handing out a shot for every child you bring but it was PACKED! We literally had to play a game of frogger across traffic so much traffic that is felt like a taking a Zumba class from someone with an extreme caffeine addiction. Eventually we made our way over and settled on Chilis since it had no wait and we were in DIRE need of a cocktail. A few bites and a margaritas later and it was 3:30pm and we were read to check in! So we made our way to the lobby and they informed us that the hotel was at 100% capcity and everything was behind. So sadly our room wasn’t ready yet. No big dealsince we had to drop off our rental car anyway. Eventually they called us at around 4:15 and said our room was ready. Perfect timing since we had just dropped the car and we’re READY to take on Miami! We arrived at the hotel and checked into our bay view suite #711! Much like the other 7/11 I would say this hotel had a lot of amazing attributes and is SUPER convenient however….it could use a fresh coat of paint and maybe a light wash of holy water. None the less the views were FABULOUS and it was so spacious that we forgot all about the chipped paint and late check in. As soon as we got settled it was time for dinner at The Versace Mansion! I cannot recommend this enough. The house is iconic and STUNNING and the food and service was absolutely incredible! Now it is almost midnight and I am WIDE AWAY with excitement wondering how I am going to go to sleep…. Tomorrow is the day!!!!

Here’s mine. We’ve arrived at a port. People are getting off. This isn’t out first port on call. People have no idea they need to have their SeaPass card out ready to be scanned. Then they fumble through a backpack/purse/pockets/look at spouse who has all the cards…somewhere. Meanwhile crew have been loudly announcing to have your SeaPass cards out and ready.

Here you go, courtesy of my front yard! Congratulations and have a LOVE filled week!

Guess what day it is?!?!

Yes, I know this isn’t unique to cruising. I see it at work, too. It just seems extremely prevalent this week. Please don’t stop in the middle of a busy walkway, narrow hall, or stairs to discuss plans with your group. Step to the side.

We were just on the Symphony last week. I thought I would put this out here for anyone on the fence about cruising right now. First off some background, my wife and I are often asked, "do you cruise a lot?" Well this depends on the person that is asking. We are 57 yrs. old and on the Indy of the seas tomm.. This cruise will be our 45th and 32nd on Royal. To some that is a lot... to others who are on cruise #169th, which we saw on Symphony that may not be a lot. For us we had a blast last week in fact many times it was totally like it was pre pandemic. Poolside no mask required. The Schooner, the pub, Boleros and casino no mask also. Flexibility has to be used also as the entertainment is less. Gone, for now are the street festival type parades in the promenade. If I recall correctly Hairspray was only shown on nights 1 & 2. They did not do the 70's on the promenade. Halloween costume contest was in Studio B as they are not allowed to have big public gatherings on the promenade per cruise director Brian. It was fun and a lot of people were dressed up. The servers in the MDR did not sing on the final night either. They also are not allowed to crack a lobster for guest. They can't cut a child's steak. Coco Cay was awesome as usual! That is about all I can think of right now but like I said for us it was a blast to be cruising again. Oh yes 1 more thing we met a very nice couple in the MDR at lunch also from Florida. Well we continued to see them and talked often. On night 7 they were in the Next Cruise off the promenade. A few hours later they came up to talk to us. My wife asked hey which cruise they booked. They booked the 274 night world cruise. We about fainted! We spoke for several hours and thought thank goodness we ran into these 2 at lunch on day 2. They also told us 2 other couples had also booked the world cruise and a 4th had it almost booked as they had not yet paid the $8,000.00 deposit. Happy Cruising!!

Please keep the topic cruise related.

If I know someone is going to no-show, I never say anything in advance. There's nothing their system can do to change/alert anything. Just no-show and their system will give you the double points, refund for fees, etc.

Just curious as to why you think everyone at the airport would have a negative test and be vaccinated? I’ve been flying every couple months since late last year and have never been asked for test results or my vaccination card. Flying requires wearing a mask and is not restricted in any other way that I’ve seen.

One more sleep!!!! Also thank you so much for thinking of us today! That means so much!

Ok - so I’m currently on Freedom of the Seas - watching the fox broadcast of Indiana and Michigan - it’s on a channel called Prime One (channel 16) I’ll presume that’s where all the main Fox sports events are aired.

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!

My very first thought when I read the first post of this thread lol

My favorite are the people who stop immediately upon entering a busy Costco.

I would fly to the grocery store if I could, I don’t like driving for vacation, I have what I call the 5 hr rule, if it’s over 5 hours I’m on an airplane, the day before cruise is over, you start thinking, ghz I have a long drive home, no thanks, I work at the Cincinnati airport ( which is actually in Northern Ky), I worked every day of the pandemic, flying is totally safe, as soon as the plane unloads, a crew is cleaning and spraying, plus still a mask mandate.

https://www.canada.ca/en/transport-canada/news/2021/10/mandatory-covid-19-vaccination-requirements-for-federally-regulated-transportation-employees-and-travellers.html Any planes, trains, ships leaving from Canada need to be fully vaxxed.

They would be flying from Canada and would require a negative test to enter the US.

Not just cruise day! It’s FILET DAY!! LOL thank you so much love!

It’s cruise day! Happy sailing!

The 3rd party, Cellular@Sea scans for any land cell towers before it activates. Once away from land it turns on. That’s typically beteeen 6 to 9 pm from Bayonne. You would be wise to have phones in airplane mode before then or you’ll likely have very high roaming charges. If the point with the kids is to disconnect you may want to set a milestone like when the ship pulls away from the pier phones go into airplane mode. If one of them discovers they have a cell signal with Cellular@Sea you’ll likely pay more in roaming charges compared to the cost of the cruise. That isn’t Royal but courtesy of your cell company. The Royal app does not require a purchased Voom internet plan for most features. The built in chat function costs $2 per day per device and only works on the ship with other guests on the ship that also purchase the chat function.

One last sleep!!! SO excited for you guys. Have a great trip!!

Okay - I had a little more shopping in me. One of our gifts for Yen arrived and it was a little smaller than I had expected. I was out this afternoon dropping off my multitude of returns, so I swung by the Coach store and got the same thing, just a little bigger. Which means I just added a cute little wristlet to my collection. Oops - I hope she's not reading this. Shhh, don't tell.

If you're willing to chance waiting on board, and are flexible, I know that in the past, when they haven't had enough reservations, some of the specialty restaurants will have people roaming to see if passengers want to book, usually at a reduced price, although I don't know if it is just reduced from on-board pricing (which I believe is more than cruise planner) or even lower than that. We get at least one specialty lunch & dinner from our TA, so we book onboard after deciding when & where to go.

Nope. A reprice keeps the same reservation number so it maintains all your Cruise Planner purchases.

@NancyL2648 Check to make sure…but I believe final payment dates have been changed to 30 days prior to your cruise. So your final payment date should be the end of Dec… Even if you paid in full already, you should still get a refund to your credit card.

I mean at least make these chronic stoppers wear brake lights

Each ship can make judgement calls based on numbers that cruise. Royal tries to limit this type of deviation because word gets out and this type of post becomes guests sailing on a different ship and expecting it then complaints reach Miami. Indy’s Captain dropped by the Pinnacle lounge on last week’s cruise and this type of deviation was discussed. At one time certain HD’s were known to host a Pinnacle event on the old CocoCay. Word spread, some other ships jumped on board, others did not. Complaints flowed into corporate when a ship didn’t. Corporate looked into this unauthorized Pinnacle event and laid down the law - they stopped them. At it turns out there is a family on board right now that includes kids who are Pinnacle on their own merit as the family stays only in suites and they have earned it properly by the rules - by sailing a lot in suites. The kids have been in the Pinnacle breakfast but they are not going into the evening Pinnacle lounge since they are not vaccinated and the Pinnacle lounge is a mask free vaccinated area. I know of another couple who have a preschool child and they spent months at sea in suites. That infant is also a Pinnacle based on their own points earning. It happens. There are very young Pinnacle out there. The point the Captain was making is that problems arise when one LA or venue or ship deviates. They had a Diamond on board complaining loudly they didn’t get a bottle of wine. They aren’t supposed to but one Diamond Concierge at some point sent a bottle to their cabin for some reason and now they expect it. When it doesn't happen they get ugly to try to get a benefit they haven’t earned. Then emails to Michael Bayley happen. Then corporate lays down the law and tells ship not to deviate. Do deviations happen? Yes. They are not policy and Royal is really trying to stop them from happening. Some LA’s have lost their jobs for deviations.

Good advice; thank you!

It’s still not working as of today

This is the kind of stuff that needs to go bye bye on Jan 16, the first day the CSO becomes optional

Yes, although I don't recall the exact stipend amount No

Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad you had a good time!

You are correct, but you should be aware that the US does not require either to travel. Just make sure you keep good social distance once you are in the US. Covid rates are pretty low right now (could change by December) and are still primarily spread amongst non vaccinated people.

Fly for sure.

No direct experience…maybe someone who has can comment…but, I would recommend emailing RC and include a copy of the paperwork. If they respond it is acceptable, print the response and bring it with you.

We were able to sit at any bar that we went into on Allure two weeks ago (Trellis, Schooner, Pub)

A hope and a goal!

I've been able to use the military discount on a few cruises. I’ve never been asked for my DD-214 though. I do carry my retired veterans card though. Thank you, to all who have served!

No one knows timescale involved all we can do is hope its sooner rather than later, until such time as statements are released everything else is rumour and hearsay and not worth worrying about and yes there will be those who opose the pill believing that it will contain some drug that takes over your mind and makes you do crazy things such as book a Disney Cruise!

I check resident, military, senior, etc every booking and have been pleasantly surprised a few times - including this week when I checked prices on cruises we booked last month and scored $721 military discount on our September 11 Mariner cruise! He never carries his DD-214 though. He just shows his retired Navy ID card. Lori

On the 10/24 sailing of liberty of the seas, we enjoyed sitting with two other couples at a table in the MDR. 6 of us, not from the same group.

This is old news. Icon ships were delayed to 2025 & 2026 back in March: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/03/01/royal-caribbean-updates-new-cruise-ship-delivery-schedule Likewise for the sixth Oasis Class ship.

Loving this Blog. I am a special education teacher.

That's how they handle most things in their lives and create problem for themselves and others unfortunately

Yes and yes! We have our best friend officiating for our vow exchange. And we are sending a VERY long detailed itinerary and wish list for the day including photos of past star class food spreads and cakes and things we love. It’s going to be in the balcony at sunset on Day 2 after Coco Cay. We are going to bring things like a runner for an aisle & cake topper and garland for rail etc etc. and the rest we are just trusting the magic. We already have such a BEAUTIFUL backdrop and amazing friends that we know whatever the genie does will be amazing. We really just want yummy appetizers and a champagne toast and a cake that feeds 12 LOL I’ve seen people get more than that for their birthdays And yes the rest will simply be a much needed vacation with friends! The Mediterranean honeymoon cruise will come later

Twangster, you have the BEST pictures for advertising any ship (you even make smaller older ships look amazing). So thank you for sharing the ones for Odyssey. Hope to sail her someday. Beautiful and seems to offer so much! Hope you had a wonderful cruise.

Stunning photos as always Twangster especially with the night shots of the stars!

Gotta love a good sea nymph story ! Absolutely incredible long exposure night shots !! Beautiful.

I think that is quite fitting I've always known that @Booscruizegets me. Right from the start lol

Awww thank you so much! This blog will definitely be fun! So happy to have you onboard! Ya see what I did there? Lol