Leaderboard

Here you go:

He had a high fever and started coughing. I brought tests from home. Tested him and self reported it to the cruise line. Wanted to do the right thing by reporting it and trying to make sure no one else got it from us.

Haven't been on Wonder yet but agree with Matt and his reasoning. All Oasis class are great for kids IMO. Take the GS on Harmony now (I'll be in one for the first time in 15 days) and try Wonder later.

Well this takes us from 9 tests to 6. It’s an improvement but the US needs to drop it’s ridiculous testing requirement. We literally will walk off a ship that has been in the US ALL WEEK, go straight to Vancouver airport and we need a freakin test. Meanwhile you could drive from Seattle across the border, traisp all over Canada for 2 weeks, drive back across the border and no test required. Proof our government is totally dysfunctional

How is this possible? Icon is being constructed in a dry dock.

My wife noticed an offer on the Deluxe Drinks Package that was posted on a Facebook group. This is for European sailings of 5 nights or above and represents a huge saving. The offer is only available on Live Chat and although the offer advertised has expired, Royal Caribbean have extended it. Today's price is £71.05 pppd, but if you contact Royal Caribbean on Live Chat they will add it to your outstanding balance at £40 pppd (in fact it's slightly under, as the cost per person for the 7 night sailing is £275)

My paid cruise had a significant price reduction. Great, no big deal, my TA took care of it. It was refunded as expected as OBC. Then a week later the OBC was gone and that amount was refunded to my credit card.

What caused your son to be tested?

This!

Are you in your original room or did they move you? does room service deliver cocktails?

Arrived at the port at 11:15 and went straight to the 1230 line. Didn’t matter. They were shoveling people through as fast as they could in all lines. No one checked my time and I was on the ship by 1140 wandering around and checking everything out. Did muster drill right away, made show reservations as fast as I could… And they were already selling out… Then a quick lunch. As Matt has said many times in his videos, don’t go to the Windjammer on that first day, like I did! Unbelievably packed. Vitality spa Café was empty, solarium bistro was nearly empty, there are many other choices. Changed into my swimsuit and swam in all three pools. Two people in the first pool, four people in the second pool, absolutely no one else in the third pool. Swam for an hour, soaked in the hot tub alone, found a Casita on the sundeck, which was deserted, and looked out the ocean for a while, watching all the sailboats and windsurfers play. Rooms were ready at one but I didn’t come down till about 230. I have unpacked and organized the room, had a shower, and I’m headed back out for the Sail away party and more exploration . I have reservations for the aqua theater tonight. Found several documents in my room. Sharing these . I love my port-side boardwalk balcony cabin! Great views of people zip lining overhead, the aqua theater, the boardwalk area, the ocean and sky, and of course, people on their balconies across the way. Somebody somewhere gave a tip to bring some clothes pins or clips so that when you go to sleep at night you can pinch the curtains shut and they’ll stay shut in the room will stay dark. So glad I listened and brought along clips because they will definitely be needed. Internet on the Allure is pretty slow compared to Odyssey. Uploading photos is a drawn out process.

Royal is planning to position Radiance in Galveston starting in January. She is offering some different itineraries including a handful to Perfect Day. If lots of people sail on these itineraries, then maybe Royal will make more of them going forward.

Suite all the way. You won’t believe how small a balcony cabin will feel by day 3!

Suite all day long. What you get for benefits out weighs the little extra Wonder gives. You’ll appreciate the Much larger room over a balcony especially with 4 in a room. Then the kids will get there own Wi-Fi I’m sure they’ll use. Then if a royal up is available, try for a 2 bedroom GS.

Drink a lot more.

I will second this, load in all your vax info beforehand. That is the most time consuming part of the app. When the border first opened back up in November 2021, it took a while to get my info into the app. I saved Hubby and kids as "dependents" and since November 2021, we have used Arrive Can several times and it has been very quick to fill out with vax info and passport info pre-loaded. I have also never been asked to show the actual app receipt at the land border crossing. I think it definitely is linked to the passport because each time we have crossed since November, the land border agent thanks us for filling out the app properly, even though they never asked to see it.

A travel tip that may seem obvious: allow plenty of time in the morning to get your taxi or Uber, if you’re not taking a pre-designated shuttle. I’m staying at the Holiday Inn within sight of the port, and I just came down to ask for a cab and there are about 30 people in front of me waiting for their turn. The front desk called the cab service for me and was put on hold. This will take a while. Somehow I have never run into this before. we are just far enough off the main drag to where I can’t exactly go out on the corner and hope to flag a cab passing by.

I think it's easier to use our ipad. That way, you can prop it up and see it easier, especially when you need to show them things like your ID or the bar code on the box. You just need a book or something to prop it up against.

Welcome to the message boards. I think your kids will have a great time on either ship. I don't think one or the other has such a big difference in experience that it's worth the change. Heck, I'd argue being in a grand suite is better for the kids because you get the suite benefits, which are super helpful for embarkation and disembarkation with kids.

Weatherman - only job you can be wrong 90% of the time & not get fired!!

We are on Mariner right now and we were just in Curaçao 2 days ago. We had an amazing tour with Joey from Gone Caribe. https://www.gonecaribe.com/build-your-own-trip We saw flamingos, Visited Shete Boka National Park, swam with turtles and snorkeled at the most beautiful beach. Our boys (14 & 16) loved it as much as we did. Highly recommend a tour with Gone Caribe. Worth every dollar.

In South Florida the last thing we listen to is the weather forecast. Do not let this impact your trip in any way. It literally rains here for 15 minutes and the sun comes back out.

I'm moving this to the Live Blog section, since that's basically what it is.

Absolutely agree with you. If we listened to the weatherman...We would stay home and miss a lot of good fishing, hunting and beach days.

My kids favorite memory of Coco is the first time we were there in a day bed on the old south beach (before the perfect day extravaganza)....it started raining and they were all like "What do we do now" as they watched all the people run out of the water, pack up their crap and leave......it wasn't a thunder storm, so I took them into the water....which was warm, and the chilly rain splashed on their faces while they swam.....20 minutes later it stopped, sun came out...and we were the only people around for the rest of the day.

born & raised in Miami I can tell you that the weather forecast mean absolutely nothing down here this time of year. It says 50% chance of rain from May to September & chances are it might rain at some point in the day, almost every day but they don't tend to be complete washouts. As others have mentioned, on sea days the captain does his best to stay clear of storms, but have no control over port days. you're on vacation, don't let a little rain affect your day. The best thing about oasis class ships are all the different kinds of entertainment that they offer that aren't reliant on good weather. Happy Sailing!

Your gonna get wet anyway so what difference does a little rain make

Got to think positive here. Good chance you will not get sunburned. However, you may get waterlogged. `

I know everyone is keen to get back to Vanuatu but I think their government needs to be conservative in their decision making. It is important to remember they don't have the health infrastructure of NZ, Aust, US or for that matter New Caledonia. The number of hospital beds and ventilators per head of populations is well under the countries most of us call home. Also unfortunately adding to this as a population they are also over represented in conditions that increase the risk of serious COVID outcomes (such as Diabetes etc). On the other hand a great deal of the countries income is from tourism so opening up is important. Yes, can’t wait to get back there…. But I absolutely wouldn’t want to do so if I knew I was putting the people of Vanuatu at undue risk. I am happy to let Vanuatu make their own decision on when they want to open up and respect the fact they are being cautious. When they do I hope Australia and New Zealand continue to support them as far as ensuring they have access to any medical facilities they may require as they open up and that the cruise lines act responsibility and take into consideration the nature of the countries infrastructure itself when deciding to dock in a given day our not (Which I think they will be especially RCL which has long term agreements in place with Vanuatu). I actually wouldn’t be upset if you had do a rapid test before being allowed off the ship in port. Given most itineraries see a 2 or 3 day sail before you land it gives time for your viral load to be high enough to test positive. It might be a nice compromise between having the ships return and keeping the population as safe as possible (Never will 100% but anything we can do to reduce pressure on their health system the better).

I get emails directly from Royal regarding my sailing. My TA also does, and she forwards them to me. So it seems to be hit and miss.

At the terminal I'd use Euros, as others have said tipping in Europe appreciated but not always expected. Personally I'd tip a couple of Euros, but I'm from the UK and we don't have the same tipping culture as they have in the US.

I dont mind, but the issue isn't that the photos have a watermark or not on them. What typically happens is the person that takes the photo posts them on their social media account. Then someone else saves them and reposts without asking permission. Then you see them, and re-post here. It's just a very gray area and I always want to be respectful of whomever took the original photo. Use your best judgement.

Yes, that's been my experience. One sailing they didn't do this and flat out refused to give it to me. I've since done this a few times and gotten double points so don't know what was up with that one sailing.

You can't add without repricing but you can have a no-show - they'll just refund the port fees for that 3rd person.

BE PREPARED TO WAIT AWHILE TO GET YOUR REFUND! I had the worst customer service experience with Air 2 Sea. It's sounds like an exaggeration and an over used expression, but it truly was. We booked airfare for a family of four adults in December, and on January 15 cancelled the airfare for both cabins. The customer service reps were really nice, pleasant and said that would not be a problem. They informed us it would take 5-10 business days to get a refund. After that time had passed and no refund, I called and they said that they did not automatically credit my credit card and I would have to request this to be done (what???). OK, whatever... they could process the credit, but it may not show up on my credit statement for 1-2 billing cycles. This was due to the credit card's billing cycle not them. So on March 18 (2 months later) I received my the credit BUT for only 1 of the 2 cabins (2 airfares). When I called them again, they said my wife had to request the refund since her name was on the cabin. She would have to call them back and request the credit personally. BTW: Each call you're on hold for an hour or many times they just tell you to call back due to their call volume. Each time I've called, I've been promised dates of when I will have the refund and each time they come up with a different excuse. Being totally fed up and given another "10-20 days" before I get the refund, I refused to hang up and needed a supervisor. After another 30 minutes on hold, I spoke to "Jorge" who stated he was a supervisor and he apologized that it shouldn't have taken this long and there was a miscommunication on their end. He promised I would get the refund by the end of the week. Happy Days! On May 13, I received my $960 refund and $100 OBC. Almost 6 months later and untold hours and phone calls, I finally got my refund.

We did it in 2019 with our (then) 5 and 7 year olds. They are picky eaters but it was a fun experience. I believe we had bought the 3 night dining package and our kids were free or very inexpensive, so it was worth it. They really loved the atmosphere: large and/or decorative chairs, eclectic silverware, interesting presentation of food, etc.

For us today we had to: Show our negative COVID test results to get into the terminal. Next stop in the terminal was verification of passport and sail pass. Then security. At the actual check in we showed passport and sail pass. Then before going on the gangway another check of the sail pass. Finally at the ship itself a final check of the sail pass. At no point was the ArriveCAN verification asked for.

Face Mask Requirements According to U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Information Bulletin 02-21 CH-5, face masks are no longer required while indoors in buildings located on Port Everglades property, including all cruise terminals.

It's not even that they don't want others to know, but if you lose it it would hopefully take some time for someone to figure out which deck to let themselves into your cabin and steal stuff (or worse, I guess).

Tested this morning via the proctored iHealth tests. We are all negative. Woohoo!!!

This is how we do any requests in the dining room. Waiter, location, numbers at the table. Always had great luck

This sounds like Royal and sounds like a reasonable guess.

Thank you all! I did take one cruise with my parents "back in the day" and we were seated at a table with other families. Ended up hanging out with those kids the majority of the cruise so that was really nice to be able to meet them. As it's just my husband and I now I didn't really give it a whole lot of thought until I read this post. A group may be nice but then again my husband can carry on a conversation with a rock if he wanted to. So if we got bored he'd probably just start talking to the table next us anyway, lol (poor people). We have a little bit of time before our cruise so I will give it some thought. Again, thanks for the feedback!!

I think everyone should hold off on beverage packages for 2023 cruises. Right now, they have set the prices at a high point to gauge what consumers are willing to pay. I can't imagine many of you want to pay $80+ for the DX. So, I am sure they will decrease, as long as people don't pay the high prices.

We have a cruise coming up in Sept and we will be requesting a private table since it is only my wife and I. Not that we don't like meeting new people, but for dinner we like it to be just us two. We usually travel with at least 6 in our group, so just the two of us is going to be great!

I used to frequent a forum similar to this one that is dedicated to DCL cruising, as my three previous cruises were all on their ships. There are a lot of people who are deeply comforted by the Disney Bubble and intimidated by the idea of venturing outside it, and one reason that’s frequently cited is the lack of casinos—people say they don’t want to be on a ship with one, period, partially because of the cigarette smoke. My thought was, how could I possibly be affected by the existence of the casino if I don’t go in? And even DCL ships have a smoking section, so how could this be different? I was a daily smoker for a decade, so I’m not just being a scold when I say it turns out that on this ship I have found all the cigarette smoke to be unpleasant and, to a certain extent, ubiquitous: the whole area of the Royal Promenade around the staircase to the casino reeks of stale smoke. Every time I go up to the pool deck, I accidentally emerge right in the middle of the smoking section, which feels larger than I expected. This morning before 6 a.m. I went out to my verandah to enjoy the last glimpses of the planets before sunrise and someone very nearby was smoking. (I know that last one is just a rule breaker, which can happen anywhere, and after I loudly stated, “I can smell your smoke,” they either stopped or reoriented in a way that eliminated the impact on my area…it was just a moment of, “Ugh, again?!”) So, there are definitely differences in the experience beyond the lack of split bathrooms and the pornography on the PPV—which was itself a record scratch moment for me. (I was scrolling through the options and the porn is literally right below Sing 2. It’s good to know that when I’m sailing with family I’ll need to activate parental controls before my kid gets the remote.) Am I crazy, or does this cloud look like a cruise ship? It has smokestacks and everything. (I promise I’ll start to include pictures of something other than sky and water soon...)

All, I am on Celebrity Bermuda cruise starting Friday. They just changed the itinerary to have Bermuda first to avoid the extra testing per Bermuda TA.

I will agree with others - once you have a travel agent, all update emails go to them. The issue may be, the emails may not go directly to your individual agent but to a general email in the company. Which mean the email has to go from Royal to General company to all TAs to all clients of a TA and it may get lost in the shuffle. The most you can do, I think, is to check in regularly with your TA about any updates/changes/notices etc that may have come out.

For reasons which I have never been able to understand, some of my Royal emails go directly to my trash can. They are normally the ones that relate directly to my booking (Cruise Planner purchase confirmations and booking confirmations, etc.). They never miss getting the promo emails to the right spot though ! So I would recommend that you take a look in your trash can and see if they may be going there.

Do you have any other unsolicited advice to share? I'll be snorkeling for the first time at Labadee in August. I can swim well enough, but have never breathed through a snorkel. I'm nervous about being able to breathe comfortably and dive down to see the good stuff. How deep of water do these excursions normally take you to?