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I'm glad that the food isn't good. I gained too much weight on my cruise last month because the food was really good. Now that they have made the change to bad food, I will be good on my June cruise.

Takes the time to create an account, just to complain………….

There are coolers in each room, but they are not cool enough for insulin. You'll want to fill out the special needs form so they can provide you with an actual refrigerator. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/resources/guest-special-needs

hello booked my test with Ihealth. will be using this proctored test on May 3rd at 5AM my cruise is May 5th. I did not want to spend the money on Abbott when I have 4 free ones. Now if Royal wants to bar my boarding for this so be it..... I will post my success here

On the road! Flight out from SFO yesterday started out great. Quick stop into the Centurion lounge for the mandatory, "I'm officially on vacation" bloody mary. Wheels up on time just before 0900 and we had a really spectacular tail wind which shaved 40 minutes off of the trip. Landed in Miami and that's where the fun began. No gates available. OK, that happens. Continue reading book. 30 minutes... 1 hour... 90 minutes... 2 hours. I think the flight crew was at least if not more miffed than the pax. Door opened to applause at the 2:15 delay mark. Miami airport was having some kind of meltdown. People sleeping on the floors; lady with a kid said they'd been waiting almost 3 hours for their luggage to get to the carousel. Anyway, our flight's luggage came out in about 45 minutes and the ~15 minute taxi ride to the hotel was uneventful. The hotel is nice. It's a little away from the "dynamic" Miami stuff but still in a good location with an estuary and decent view of a slice of Biscayne Bay. AMEX FH&R scored again. Went from a floor 16 "city view" to a floor 30 water view. I'd take some room photos, but meh? It's a hotel. Nice big tub, which I will poor-man's Jacuzzi. It's a bit windy for the pool on 16. You can see the ships in port from the balcony. Plan for today is to just pedestriate myself around and check out the area. 1130 show time for Boaty McBoatface tomorrow.

Disembarkation day. Oh gawd the dreaded disembarkation day. I woke up and tried to cram stuff in my back pack. I ran out of room and resorted to throwing away hair products to make room. Don’t worry I have like 20 bottles of hair gel at home. Enough to last me a week There was champagne left over from last night. I did the honors. I also made sure there was no alcohol abuse. I drank the left over shots as well. I was really wanting to get breakfast in coastal kitchen but I was told that Jordan wanted to buy us breakfast to return the favor so no coastal kitchen While we waited for the rest of the family to show up I went outside to get a last peaceful moment on our balcony. I snapped some photos outside to get a shot of our wonderful view we had had. I came inside and within seconds the door bell rang and the entire family gathered in. Nityam would be here in a couple minutes. (genies have impeccable time.They are there on the dot at the stroke. It’s pure magic! ) I think hector the magician is behind this some how ! Just then at the perfect time the door bell rings. I masked up for our walk to the port. Secretly hand nityam the other half of his tip. Not sure if he realized it. I tipped him full for my immediate family and tipped him more for working with my extended family for some things. I told him on day one that I wanted to give him a tip up front and said I would tip the rest after the trip. I basically tipped him $400 up front and then tipped him $400 again at end of the trip. I don’t think he realized I was going to tip him wayy more. That is one thing I do not skimp on. I tip hospitality workers well no matter what. I noticed My brother in law give nityam a hug and hand him a tip as well. I’m glad he did that. I’m telling you disembarkation is amazing. You truly do get ushered. One thing that was kind of off putting was He was already on his phone with his new clients. ( i get it it’s a busy day) He was ushering us through the halls and even in the elevator he was on his phone. I was kind of bummed about that part. It made me feel a little insignificant like “ok thanks bye and next” kind of feeling. Nityam was nice to us don’t get me wrong, but I felt the trip was too short. 4 days is not enough as you don’t really feel a connection with them. By the time that you get on they are already planning with the next family . I noticed his collar had a genie lamp. Soo cool. Nityam swiped his magic card and the elevator opened instantly and it was empty. Someone else tried to board but they were stopped. Genies are gentle but firm when needed. We went straight to our floor! He walked us to our last spot. Before he could leave I asked the porter at the elevator to take our pic, Here you have it. The GOAT vacation. We missed uncle Tony but still had a good time. My backpack was heavy in this pic. I felt like i was lugging an aligator and couldn’t wait to drop this off with a porter. We said our goodbye and gave hugs and left. The scene at the terminal was chaos. Our genie powers were gone. Terminal people treated us as normal people David went and grabbed the jag while we waited. We all got settled in the jag and headed to breakfast. We went toNew York bagel. I had eggs bacon and sausage and cheese asiago bagel. The bagel and coffee were good. I was bummed for missing coastal kitchen but was not going to complain. This was an attempt to thank us. We ate and hugged and said good bye. They were headed north and we were headed west. We raced back home as another big storm line was coming. We made it home safe but many people who had miraculously made their flights for this cruise now had their return flights canceled. Yikes! We made it home and within seconds it poured rain. Perfect nap weather. I unpacked and napped and dreamed about our next cruise. Till next post. Final thoughts coming on next update

Update- called the TA and they worked with Royal to get booking reinstated (even the same cabin!). All cruise planner purchases were lost, but most importantly she retained the CWC guarantee. When speaking to travel agent, they asked if they should charge final payment to the card they had on file…

I am curious as well if the OP is a one and done.

Yesterday from my balcony on Navigator

An even more interesting discussion (among management) will be to determine how many DBP packages they are NOT selling now. Even though I drink almost no alcohol, we have been very reliable DBP+VOOM customers for the convenience. But with prices as high as they are (and seemingly going higher, still) I have not purchased a DBP+VOOM package for any of my 2023 /2024 cruises and most likely will not. I will (presumably) be utilizing D+ and casino drinks instead. I don’t think we’re alone.

It depends how busy they are. By policy they don't have to but It never hurts to ask. if it's one or two nights that's one thing, expecting it all week is a different matter especially during prime dinner time. An early or late off peak dining time might yield better luck. If they say no understand that is the expected result. If they say yes be grateful they accommodated your request.

I could make a blooper reel with those kinds of things. Hand under the soap? Nothing happens. Pull hand away? Soap all over the table. Hand under the water? Nothing happens. Pull hand away? Water flows. Rush to sneak hands in before water stops? Nope, doesn't work like that. Let's not even get started on the paper towel machines...

Check-in will open at midnight in whatever time zone from which your cruise is departing (so EDT in Florida, PDT in LA or Seattle/Vancouver, etc). Yes, I was up at 2am my time to secure an early boarding time for my Alaskan cruise.

As an aside, our travel agent always sends us a packet with all of the documents, including luggage tags. Another reason for having a TA.

We are actually going to Aruba and curaçao

But you can get free cruises from day 1. As long as you stay on board for 2 years.

IMHO, what needs to stop is worrying about what someone else is wearing. The guy in board shorts 2 tables away has ZERO impact on my dining experience. Don’t like what another diner is wearing? Don’t look at them! Concentrate on your group and your food. BTW I am a card carrying member of Judgers Anonymous and this is part of my 12 step program

I'm not! I'm frantically looking in here for updates and/or anything that discusses our cruise. I'm constantly going into royalcaribbean.com looking for updates and/or anything that discusses our cruise. I'm calling my old Army buddy who is going with us, and discussing the cruise. I'm a 70 year old teenager again. I'm busting out of my skin.

I guess there really is no question that demand is way up for this summer...

I know I agree completely. Our issue was that there were no suites at that time that accommodated 5 people because there were no two bedrooms left. Junior suites don’t count. But…..The 2 bedroom grand suite and the aqua 2 bedroom became available today so now I have options .

You can only earn points for yourself. She needs her own account.

Best to have everyone establish their own account. Welcome aboard the best loyalty program in the industry! (and to the message boards)

Well then, go into the lady's restroom and if anybody questions why you are there, tell them your are Queen for a Day. <just kidding of course. but it is a sign of the times>

This isn't remotely unique to Royal. This is every auto dispenser/faucet that I've ever encountered in my life.

I love the curries!

Someone else recently basically made the exact same complaint a few weeks ago. Another account that signed up just to complain. It's a little fishy, to be honest unless this person starts actually engaging otherwise.

You are right , happens to me many time that I struggle with the automatic water and soap dispenser while it seem to be working for others. By the way it's general issue with this devices not just in Royal

We were lowly Gold with 21 points from three 7-night cruises in a balcony cabin. With the Covid cancellations and opting for FCC’s, we took one cruise in December and have a B2B in May. All upgrading to Junior Suites (thank you FCC’s) and the extra points. This will make us Diamond. Pretty nice jump from Gold to Diamond in a short amount of time. I look at it as maximizing points…not chasing points!

In addition to being tiny, you'll be constantly dodging folks who are wandering around, often aimlessly, not to mention loungers as people move them around to catch the sunshine. Plus, the short distance around and the tight bends can be a recipe for injury, especially to knees and hips. If you only want to a little walking or jogging they're fine but if you want to do any sort of serious training, use the treadmills in the gym instead.

Wow! I had to put my glasses on to make sure I was seeing that price correctly!!

You only have access to luggage tags through the website or from the last page of your Edocs. You won't find them on the app.

I would recommend a backup plan to charge items. On Navigator yesterday they confiscated mine after I used it two other times on Symphony and Allure without issue. Same type no surge protector.

Ahah! Yes, I didn't realize the tags were under there, so yes if I click View Boarding Pass, the tags are there. Thanks!

Totally agree with you on this one, Pooch! Should some people dress a little better...yes, but will it change how good the food tastes, or how good your server is? Nope, so just go in there how you choose to dress and enjoy the experience that you have by not basing it on someone's attire. Where can I get one of those cards, Pooch??

I'd take that in a heartbeat over Labadee.

Hi Matt, You may have seen my name pop up recently on your last few weekly Q&As on youtube. May 2nd will be mine and my girlfriend's first on Freedom of the Seas, and November 12th with Harmony of the Seas when I turn half a century old. It was time for us to try a different cruise line other than Princess and Carnival. Thanks to you, Royal Caribbean has started to become a slight obsession. Your content started appearing often as I was doing research after booking Freedom and Harmony. Before I knew it, I just had to subscribe, and I'm not one to easily subscribe to anything. Your youtube content is so valuable, educational and I've learned so much about Royal Caribbean. Next thing I knew, I started visiting your blog and just had to join. And here I am! It's amazing how much information there is from you and your members. You can definitely bet on me spreading the word about your blog/channel and supporting when I can. I look forward to your Monday live chats about..."the most important thing in the Whole Wide World, how many days till YOUR next Royal Caribbean cruise?" Best, Aron

Trying for a balcony to suite upgrade on the President's Cruise. Cecile agreed & YOLO so yay!

We were on Harmony last month. Hubby & son LOVED the beef stew. Had it scooped over mashed potatoes every time they found it. For me, WJ makes the most perfectly roasted chicken I’ve ever had. Such a simple dish yet so often done badly. Hungry or not, I always had room for a couple of pieces!

You can get a 2-pack from Optum https://store.optum.com/shop/products/abbott-binaxNOW-COVID-19-ag-emed-at-home-test-kit-2-pack/

A $100 OBC showed up in my cruise planner approximately a week after booking.

My guess is that Diamond and up are drinking less with the vouchers than with the open bar

I think the official position is- Permanently subject to change.

As Europeans, the tipping culture that is commonplace for the majority of you is largely alien to us. That said, DH worked as a stateroom attendant for eight years in his younger days, and I worked as a tour guide, so we do understand the importance of tips for the crew. With that in mind, we are usually prepared to give our MDR wait staff and our stateroom attendant a small additional tip if we feel their service merits it. However, having worked in the industry ourselves, we are not forgiving of sub-par service and that extra tip has to be genuinely earned. If we feel someone is just going through the motions or - worse - is actively fishing for tips then no extra will be forthcoming. ETA: We always always tipped the Adventure Ocean staff even though they're not generally on the tipping radar because, boy, do they earn it!

AHHHHH !!!! I totally missed that ! Thanks. I was thinking chicken, not cock !

I don’t agree with this recommendation. Until something changes, the abbots test is the only at home test accepted by Royal Caribbean.

The day has finally arrived...Cruise Ship ban has officially ended! Shame it's not a RCI ship, but Pacific Explorer will roll into Sydney Harbour tomorrow morning.

The last things I'll add are: There is no bad or wrong Alaska cruise. There is no wrong time to cruise to Alaska. I'm getting ready for my seventh and eighth cruises to Alaska in a few weeks. I've sailed three different cruise lines in every month of the Alaska cruise season from a number of embarkation ports for Alaska. Every trip has been different. Every trip memorable for different reasons. The only mistake you can make with respect to an Alaska cruise is not booking one.

Don't pay for the Kits, get them free from the Government. Chances are they will be the ihealth kind which can be done online. It does cost about $20.00 to do the online proctored part of the test. But, if there is a change to the pre-cruise requirement before you cruise, your not out a dime. If you haven't got one yet, you will be eligible to get up to 8 of them. https://www.covid.gov/tests

I'd instead bring a USB hub rather than a power strip. It's irrelevant what a manufacturer says because ultimately, it's up to the cruise line what the policy is.

There won't be 3 ships. We've seen this before and one ship always has had an itinerary change or some 3rd party site that predicted the ships in port was simply wrong.