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Hello, I got this tip from a Facebook Group for my sailing and got permission to share the tip. I don’t know if this has been shared before here. It’s a way to see the daily activities for the ship at the current time. I know I'm the most excited for the cruise, but I have a tip if any of you less enthusiastic people are interested. It gives you the current information on the current sailing on the ship so you can get an idea of the activities and menus. You will need the Royal Caribbean app: You will need the Royal Caribbean app: Open app and click on the person icon at the top. Click on select a different sailing Go to bottom and click on get more details on ships we support Click the ship you are going on Click on the sailing with the current date (ie May 22- May 29 2002) If you click on the daily planner you will see all the activities that are planned for this day to get an idea of what is offered. It also says where the ship is right now.

Day 9 - At sea This was our last day and, as usual, it seemed to come round so quickly. We started by heading to the Voom desk to get my free D day of internet activated. For those who might not be aware, if you buy an internet package, as I did, it effectively "hides" your free day and you have to go and see the Voom person for them to release it back to your account. While we were waiting in line, I spoke to an English crew member called Barrie who was working the line to see if he could help anyone out. I quizzed him about the lack of an internet café on board such a technologically advanced ship as Odyssey and he agreed and said he would pass it on to whoever. I don't know if he actually did/will but at least it felt like he was making an effort to accommodate me unlike the GS clerk who simply shrugged and brushed it off as a corporate decision. Not even the D concierge has access to a printer, so the only way to get anything printed is to email it to either the Voom person or a GS person (tip: the Voom line is invariably shorter and they are far more computer savvy). Once that was done, we headed for breakfast ahead of Captain's Corner, which is something we always like to attend. Ship information sheet: Captain's Corner this morning was a bit different from the ones we've attended in the past. Whereas usually you would you have the Captain, the CD or Activities Manager, the Hotel Director, the Head Chef and the Chief Engineer, today's presentation was just by the Captain and the CD: It included a behind the scenes video: And a couple of interesting size comparisons: Oasis vs the Titanic vs the USS Enterprise! And the different ships in the fleet: I didn't ask a question this time round. I had one for the Head Chef, who usually attends these things, but since he didn't... We also didn't get the usual sheet with the photos and biographies of the important crew members. After lunch there was the C&A behind the scenes talk, which was quite well attended. The three speakers explained a bit about what they do, answered questions and showed a couple of videos. It was slated to last 30 minutes but actually took an hour. I thought it was quite interesting but DH was bored and fell asleep. And then we went off to revisit some of the places on the ship before they made us get off the next day, so indulge me if I post a couple of random shots: Flowrider with the sky diving simulator in the backdrop. If you zoom in you can see one of the instructors flying high. Bumper cars. This was the first time we'd actually found time to see them in operation. Which reminds me I had intended to try a campfire cookie and never got round to it. Next time! The sea was like glass today: A Grimaldi Lines ferry, taken from our balcony: And a volcano with a little puff of smoke coming out the top. Could have been either Etna or Stromboli, but I don't know for sure. I took the pic from the solarium where we retreated for a couple of hours before seeing to the dreaded packing, as it was too windy outdoors for our liking and our favourite sheltered spot on deck 15 was completely full. Unusually, we actually managed to get all our packing done and suitcases outside the door before we went for dinner. Final MDR menu: Coconut shrimp. Very good; another of my favourites. Lamb shank, one of my all-time favourites, never disappoints. And the dark chocolate brownie. A wonderful dessert to end a wonderful cruise. Because of being so efficient with our packing we were able to see the final show of the cruise too, which usually we miss. This was a magician/comedian and he was funny and entertaining. I thought the turnout was surprisingly good for the last night of the cruise. And then it was off to bed in preparation for the next day's shock to the system.

Great options for dining are located right at Port Canaveral. Had lunch at Fish Lips the day before our cruise, great Caesar Salad, Shrimp Tacos. Hubby had Grouper sandwich, with salad. Sat outside on the desk, watched the dolphin play, the entire time. Went back in the evening for appetizers and drinks at Gators Dockside. Wasn’t bad, shared Nachos & Egg Rolls. Sat outside again and watched MSC depart from the port. Ship certainly did not look full at all, so wondered if they were picking up more passengers, or what. Would highly recommend these dining options at the port. Most dining options near hotel seemed to be fast food or locally owned smaller restaurants. Didn’t have time to day any of the locally owned. Hope this his helpful to cruisers.

@deep1With all due respect, and sending the best of vibes, I've never seen a person who could use a TA more than you

@RFW63050 NextCruise has the same exact prices that any Travel Agent can access and also the same as you can access yourself directly booking through Royal. What NextCruise offers that the TA can't is some onboard credit for booking with NextCruise. This OBC amount varies depending on booking refundable, nonrefundable, cruise length, room category. But the cruisefare will be the same. NextCruise also may offer a reduced deposit for some cruises, where you may be able to only put down $100 versus a $250 deposit for 5+ night cruises. If you use NextCruise you can still assign the booking to your TA of choice and get any additional incentives that TA may offer! Unless you are cruising very soon, it isn't always to your advantage to wait until you are on a sailing to book a cruise as the prices may increase between what they are now and when you are on a sailing. NextCruise also sells open bookings where you get some OBC for purchasing (which is really fronting the deposit) but then you have some time to actually use the booking number on a cruise once you are off the ship. @Matt actually just released a podcast dedicated to NextCruise which you may want to check out: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/podcast/episode-454-nextcruise

No one knows, that's the only thing for certain

Consensus seems to be sometime next year, my personal opinion, the sooner the better.

I booked the wrong one by mistake because they switched the tiles around in the cruise planner and I wasn't paying attention. I didn't want to cancel in advance for a refund to my CC because that's in euros and my CP was in USD, so I would have lost out on the exchange rate and foreign currency transaction fee. So I loaned Royal the cost of the package for a few months and went straight to the Voom desk on boarding where the man took about 3 seconds to cancel it and the full dollar amount went straight to OBC.

Saw a blackboard menu outside the Whalebone Brewery in Exmouth. It said Soup of the Day - Beer.

I thought this was going to be about botox or some lipo. Not *that* kind of work. I need a cruise.

We had reserved E bikes at Jo-E Cycle near Stanley Park. The rental process was quite smooth, and we tried them out in the small alleyway next-door before heading to the park. I must admit I found the E bike a little intimidating to ride on the actual Road in Vancouver. In some places there is a dedicated bike lane but not on every street, besides this the roads go up and down hills, and it was pretty wet that day. Once we made it to the park things were definitely easier as there is a dedicated bike path that goes around the whole park on the seawall. At some points it is necessary to walk your bike, and I was a little nervous about having the extra oomph from the battery and accidentally going off the raised bike path onto the pedestrian path. The views of Stanley Park and the water were absolutely fantastic, and we had an exhilarating time. Even with the somewhat bad weather, the park was fairly busy. We also got a chance to admire some small boats and even a houseboat/boathouse(?) nearby. It took us about an hour and a half to ride around the park and after returning the e-bikes, we decided to walk to Gastown.

Not to get off topic, but I initially misread this as "Booking entire SHIP" and I was just thinking, "Wow, I wanna party with you."

Air2Sea will do what they can but they are still at the mercy of the airlines and flight availability. You can help prevent as much travel issues as possible by planning to arrive well in advance of embarkation (the night before at a minimum). Air2Sea will be a point of contact to get the assistance in rebooking something last minute, but you also need to be proactive if something happens to ensure that you make it on time. Knowing what alternates exist to get you to your destination can help the process if there is an issue.

FrHoffard giveth, FrHoffard taketh away too?

To be fair, the airline industry today is not what it was pre-pandemic. Most of the issues air passengers face are due to airlines making significant changes to flights or substituting different equipment with entirely different classes of services such as no comfort plus or business class options. If booked through Air2Sea or if you booked the same flights direct, you'd have the same significant impact forced on you by the airline. Some airlines are better at notifying Air2Sea or direct booked passengers. Other airlines are pretty weak in the notification department. The nightmare isn't because you booked through Air2Sea. Airlines are causing these nightmares.

I would rather drink horse piss than Fosters. I cruise Royal not P&O and Carnival; just saying, haha

Day 8 Chania (Souda), Crete We had another early start today, much to DH's disgruntlement. We were in Crete and I had booked us on an excursion to Kournas, Arkadi Monastery and Rethymno. Meeting time in the theatre was at 7 am and I mistakenly assumed that with there being early excursions the WJ would be open at 6 am, like it was in Santorini. Wrong! Saved by the Café Promenade. Moral of the story: always check opening times. For those not taking an excursion, there was a shuttle provided to and from the port to the city of Chania at a cost of $6 per person for the round trip. Tickets could be purchased in the app or at the shore excursions desk. One of my reasons for purchasing an excursion here (apart from the obvious one of wanting to see a bit of the island) was that this was a short port day, with all-aboard at 2.30 pm and just as well, since our bus was the last one back, with the guide getting a phone call when we were a few minutes out to see where we were. And, in fact, we ended up being about 45 minutes late leaving as we waited for one couple who presumably missed the last shuttle and came screeching right up to the gangway in a taxi with a police escort! They were really lucky, as this was the last stop of the cruise. The next day was at sea and then back to Civi. Anyway, excursion today to Arkadi Monastery, Rethymno and Lake Kournas was very nice, although I really don't know why they had us meet in the theatre at 7 when the ship wasn't even due to be cleared till 7.30. This was another one in Spanish, for the same reason as the one in Santorini. Our first stop was at the monastery. After the guide showed us around we had some free time, which we put to good use by sampling some local yogurt with thyme honey at the café. It cost €4 for a huge plateful. I wish I had remembered to take a pic. The monastery: An olive tree in the grounds. The arrow points to a hole made by a Turkish shell at some time in the past (can't remember what date). The next stop was in the town of Rethymno. Again, the guide showed us around a bit and then we had some more free time to wander. In the pic below, just faintly visible to the right of the lighthouse is a mountain with some snow on top. It's over 2000 metres high and the last of the snow doesn't melt until late June. Somehow, you just don't associate snow-capped mountains with the Greek Isles. Our final stop was at Lake Kournas where we got to sample a local speciality, a type of flatbread/pancake-type thing, made with cheese and spread with honey. It wasn't my favourite because I am not keen on sweet and savoury together, but I think I would have liked it more just with some butter. I enjoyed this excursion. I liked that we got to learn about each of the places we visited and then had a little bit of free time to explore them at will. Tonight's MDR menu: We didn't fancy any of the starters on the main menu so we ordered the butternut squash soup from the vegan menu, which was very good. Unfortunately, by the time I remembered to take a pic all that was left of it was a drip on the tablecloth, but hey, it was essentially a bowl of orange-coloured soup so it's not too hard to imagine. My bad. The lobster tails were very nice but also very small so our waiter brought us another one each. AND he took them out of the shells for us, which appears to be something of a dying tradition: The molten chocolate. I swear, I don't know why I keep ordering this cruise after cruise after cruise. It's never, ever molten. (Well with the exception of the one I had in Chops once). At least this one was mildly warm, a step up on the last time when it felt like it had come straight out of the fridge onto my plate. Tonight's show was Showgirl, a typical singing and dancing production show, enhanced with the use of technology and lighting effects. I liked it even though the story line was again tenuous. We went to guest services after the show to exchange our departure tags as the ones they'd given us were too late. I asked what happened to the forms they usually give out so people can say what time they need to be off the ship. Oh, we just assign times randomly now except for the people who've booked our transfers. Seriously?!? I also asked where we could print our boarding passes for our flight home. Oh, we don't have computers and printers for guests' use any more because of COVID. What?!? They had them on Harmony back in September. Oh, well it's a corporate decision. And I also needed to deal with the fact that my credit card company's security system is on steroids and declined the usual hold for my onboard account. It's an issue they have with electronic payments so I gave him the card and it turns out that they don't even have the physical payment terminals onboard any more. So of course when he tried to put it through without me inputting a pin of course it was declined again. Grrrr. Sometimes technology is just too sophisticated. Which means another wait in line tomorrow to try a different card or pay cash. Luckily we're not big spenders! So I would have to say I was somewhat underwhelmed with this interaction and of course made a point of mentioning it on the post-cruise questionnaire. And after all of that, we headed to the casino so that DH could lose last night's winnings. There was particular machine (tex mex oil magnate or some such thing) that seemed to be alternatively fairly generous and very tight-fisted. Tonight it took back all of the last night's winnings in about 20 seconds!

Hey y'all! I'm sailing on July 2nd from Cape Liberty for 5 nights to Bermuda on the Adventure of the Seas! I've been playing cruise director for my family and I already have a lot to say about the experience just doing the "boring" stuff after checking in. While I am excited for the voyage itself, I want to compare this experience to my other experiences as a Disney cruiser for most of my childhood (even if it was only like two cruises LMAO). I've had nothing but amazing experiences on there and I've essentially sold my soul to the Mouse because of DCL. I'm willing to let that change though. Royal Caribbean has been a cruise line I've been wanting to sail with ever since the first Symphony of the Seas commercials hit airwaves on TV. It's a dream come true cruising on Royal this year, especially having gone 5+ years without international travel. I've done so much research on Royal Caribbean as a cruise line, Adventure of the Seas as a ship, and as mentioned earlier, have been playing cruise director for my family, researching ports and activities on the ships. For now, I already have some thoughts to share from booking and checking in. We did not book through a travel agent (my family wanted to save as much money as possible easing back into international travel like this. At 17, what else can you do ), so trying to get connecting inside cabins was a pain. Every time we found rooms next to each other, they weren't connecting. If we tried finding a new price, those rooms wouldn't be available unless we went back to the previous settings. This was low-key a dealbreaker because we preferred having that access to each other's rooms. We eventually gave up on the idea and settled on rooms adjacent to each other. Making reservations on the cruise planner website was ridiculously easy. On DCL, there was no way to plan your cruise as extensively and as easy as how Royal has it set up. We were able to reserve almost everything we wanted except for theater shows. I'm not too mad about it, but it was interesting. Maybe it could've been because we were too far out until the sailing. Checking in... waiting had to have been the worst part. We booked around mid-April and just waiting got the gears going for me. I like to look cute on a vacation and have fun doing so and knowing where and when we were going might have almost cost me my Pinterest account here and there. ANYWAY, checking in had to have been the easiest thing ever. I punched in everyone's data on my computer and we were basically set. The one concern I did have was the lack of resources available to us to make sure my mom (a Philippine citizen and American permanent resident) would be allowed to travel into Bermuda without a visa. Everyone thinks she's good, but we're on the lookout for an answer. (If anyone does have any answers, please check out this thread to help a concerned son out.) I'm über-excited for this cruise, especially with how it's just right after summer break for me. Entering senior year with a bang we are!

I know the blue bloods downtown pretty much hate having an ugly Carnival ship being so close to the historic area, so they've finally gotten their way and Carnival is leaving. I was thinking......Carnival is a pretty dirty ship, emissions-wise, and that is a big reason why they're hated here. HOWEVER - Royal is a much cleaner running vessel and wouldn't "soot up" their homes as badly. I know it's a pipe dream, but how freaking awesome would it be to have a real cruise line home porting 15 minutes from my house? OHPLEASE OHPLEASE OHPLEASE

Wonderful option, if you are coming a day early, or staying another day. You are right across the highway from the cruise port. Hampton offers a great pool area, pool bar, Mon - Thur; 5:00-10pm. Great breakfast before setting sail. Rooms are very well kept, and staff, very pleasant. I would certainly recommend this option.

Did a search and didn't see a topic so figured may as well start one. Anyway found some video posted online about the accident this morning to tie in with the front page post. The pilot just had a REALLY bad day is all I can say. Glad no one is hurt but have to imagine they will need to put some divers in the water to inspect the hull and azipods and where they are at the water is muddy so not much vis to see what happened. I suspect that will happen at another stop where water conditions are clearer for a better idea of the actual damage.

I edited the title for you. You have to click on the dots in the upper right corner of the first post and that's where it will allow you to edit the title..for future reference

Apologies for posting a non-live report in this forum. I just wanted to sum up some aspects of the cruise, while things are still fresh. We were on Serenade May 15-22, 2022, from Vancouver to Alaska. I will share some info that could be useful to others, as well as some more personal reflections. In sharing our experiences, I hope nothing comes across as too political. YMMV. Due to airline schedule changes, we arrived in Vancouver 2 nights ahead of time rather than 1, giving us a whole day to explore Vancouver. We stayed at Le hotel Soleil near Canada place, which was an excellent value considering the location and set up of our mini-suite. Waking up early due to the time change from the East Coast, we had some delicious coffee and breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Not much else seemed to be open at 6:30-7:00 on a Saturday. Following this, we headed over to scope out the cruise port and try to find where we needed to go the next day for check-in. We were told it would be clearly marked the next day (which was half true), and we checked out some other ships docked there in the rain. (Thought I had a Pic but can’t find ; )

I would go ahead and cancel anything you bought in the Cruise Planner now, and not wait for RC to cancel them automatically. I've found that I've gotten the refund(s) much quicker that way.

I think the question was whether a copy, not the original, would be accepted if laminated. I haven't heard anyone state they laminated a copy and still got through check-in.

No relation. It's actually the owners last name (Richard Emerson who was actually born deaf) while Emerson is my first. I do think I should get some naming rights though... say free product . Happy to have my name assocated with such great beers though...

The benefit of using Next cruise is the reduced deposit as well as onboard credit. You can however, do both. You can book with Nextcruise (or purchase a next cruise certificate) and have the booking moved to you travel agent. Something to keep in mind is that some of the larger travel agencies buy group space at a great rate and then these cabins are sold through thier various agents. If you book one of those cabins the reduced deposit is not valid and you have to pay the difference of the deposit. I have actually decided to stop using Next cruise with Royal as I find there program doesn't really offer much benifit compared to other lines.

We found the same issue, when speaking directly to a Quest rep. We decided to purchase the test offered by RC. It had a problem with my microphone on my phone, but was still able to chat with the test proctor. . AFter doing mine we called in again, did my husbands, and smooth sailing. Had our test emailed to us in less than 10 min. Easily done at home, with no worries if accepted by R/C

So this is all your fault then

ArriveCAN applies to any visit to Canada by road, rail, plane or sea. If your international travel includes the word "Canada" you'll need ArriveCAN.

Got off the Oasis on May 8 after a seven day cruise. Had a slight sore throat after getting home that afternoon which lasted into the next day. Tested positive. Fortunately just minor cold symptoms for three days. Had the booster back in December. This was my 18th cruise since September…many were b2bs…luckily this was just a quickie cruise otherwise I would have been aboard testing positive on day 2. I was booked on the Adventure on May 12. The first thing I did was go into my Cruise Planner and canceled my purchases…dining package and beach bed. Then I called to cancel the cruise. Because of CWC, I didn’t need to send a copy of my test as I canceled before the 48hrs. My Cruise Planner purchases were refunded to my credit card in three days. My total cruise fare was refunded in two weeks…two days after the cruise ended. That was pleasantly surprising as I thought it would take much longer. Oh, well…I believe getting Covid was inevitable. Fortunately it didn’t happen while I was aboard, especially during Delta and the beginning of Omicron. At least now I’ll have strong antibodies for months. I’ll probably get a second booster before the winter months…depending on how the infection rates look at that time.

Needed this guy

It's safe to assume "some number" of people have it and/or contracted it on every ship sailing at this point. Knowing the actual number is virtually impossible.

A lot of people on the Oasis May 15-22 sailing have it as well.

So conceivably no one has been able to book a cruise on RC's website all day. Seems like something they would have some urgency to fix

It would be a no to Tui's but being having been a Dunedin based Scarfie and still living down here I'd be deported if I didn't say yes to Speights. PErsonally i prefer an Emerson's but i might be basied.

Next booking probably... Some of the groups I'm in describe problems with theirs so no perfect world I guess. When I do switch I will use the ones recommended here...

Wash your mouth out!!!!! A New Zealander woudn't been seen dead drinking Fosters!

Gotta try to completely disable Harmony before they send it over to us plebs in Texas.

It's not a luck thing. Any specialty restaurant can do it (or there is usually someone on the Promenade who is taking reservations for specialty restaurants as well). It doesn't matter what venue you go to.

I can’t speak for Aust, but imagine it is similar, but for most things there’s is not too many issues especially for food and beverage so there should not be an impact on their availability. Believe me, if Australia or New Zealand ran out of beer there would be riots….

In the US there are a lot of new to Royal or new to cruise booking right now. It seems they don't know any better so they are paying our crazy specialty dining prices up here. Royal. as a business, will gladly raise prices if people are still willing to pay it and it seems they are. I'm not, but that's me. I hope you folks down under don't have the same problem.

We were on Apex last month and really loved it. I think if you have children or a big party person, then Royal would be better. If you're a little older and like it a little quieter, Celebrity is a better choice. We sail both but I kind of lean towards Celebrity.

I hope your family realizes using a Travel Agent doesn't cost anything. They are paid by the cruise line and would have been super helpful in finding you the adjacent rooms you were looking for! If you didn't book through Royal Caribbean directly and used some third-party site to book, that third-party site is actually your TA. Adventure of the Seas never had it set up where you can make show reservations in advance. You will be able to reserve shows that require reservations using the app once you board the ship. I'm not sure if Adventure even requires reservations for their shows, though! All I see from https://www.gov.bm/bermuda-entry-visas is: I interpret this to mean your mom will be ok, but hopefully others with actual experience will chime in on that post for you. Excited to follow along your blog. Welcome to the message boards!

Yes, after being on hold with them for over 20 minutes, they told me that since the flight is over 30 days away to try again in a few days. The crazy thing is that we also requested a change with our outbound flight (on AA) and it was taken care of in less than 12 hours. I first contacted Air2Sea 2.5 weeks ago when I learned that our original flight was cancelled.

They make it sound like a love tap, not an egregious navigating mistake that it is.

I have seen this offer on Celebrity several times. I had 2 $500 off 1500 offers for RC (one each on different Amex cards) and was able to take advantage of both.

Our trip begins in FIVE DAYS! We are mostly packed, which is a huge deal for me, because I almost never pack until the day before I leave for a trip. We packed much lighter for this trip than other recent trips because it's so much easier to just not have to deal with large luggage while traveling across Europe. A carry-on and a backpack each is all we have for 2 weeks. I spent a good chunk of this weekend finalizing ticket purchases to most of the places we're visiting in Europe (some we purchased months back), so I thought this would be a good time for a preview of the activities! Pre-Cruise Amsterdam The first leg of our journey begins in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Home of Anne Frank, Vincent Van Gogh, and Rembrandt. The Amsterdam Dungeon - 1 hour interactive performance showcasing the 'dark history' of Amsterdam. Apparently there are several of these sprinkled across a few different cities in Europe. It's supposed to be a little bit scary and a little bit creepy, but with great acting and fun. Van Gogh Museum - It wouldn't be much of a trip to Amsterdam, if we didn't visit the gallery of one of the greatest European artists even to live. Canal Cruise - I probably knew at some point that Amsterdam was a canal city, but I had completely forgotten. We're doing this in the evening to try to catch the sunset while we're on the boat. Senses Restaurant - I love food, so we're going to try a lot of restaurants on this trip! This restaurant is in our hotel, but also highly rated and recommended. We only have about 24 hours in Amsterdam, so we're going to be walking around and seeing only the outside of: The Royal Palace The Oude Church The Rembrandt House The Skinny Bridge (there's no inside here, I guess) Brussels We are taking a train from Amsterdam to Paris, with a brief stop for a few hours in Brussels along the way. There are a couple of things we wanted to catch here, but there was just no way for us to fit a full day or two into our travel plans, because we wanted more time in Paris and Barcelona. The Grand-Place - gorgeous town square, pavilion and surrounding architecture with a somewhat grisly history dating back to the Inquisition. The square itself dates back more than half a millennium and the surrounding buildings date from the 17th century showcasing the transition from Gothic to Baroque architecture. Mannekin Pis - self explanatory, I think. Iconic sculpture and just something you have to see once. Paris Obviously, we are very excited about Wonder of the Seas, but Paris is the highlight of this trip for me. We are spending 3 days and 4 nights here, and it won't be enough, but I'm so, so pumped about this. My wife has been to Paris a couple of times, but this will be my first time, so there's a lot to look forward to! The Panthéon - Our hotel room also has a view of this 18th century mausoleum. Perhaps the iconic neoclassical building in Western Europe. Notre Dame - I've been fascinated by this church since I was a child - thanks to Victor Hugo. Monumental, iconic and majestic. If you're interested in some compelling philosophy about the reconstruction and refurbishment of old buildings, Notre Dame is great place to start. It has been damaged by fire, time and weather, and undergone a number of renovations since its completion in 1260. Arc de Triomphe - Inspired by the 1st century Arch of Titus in Rome, it's the crown of Champs-Élysées. Eiffel Tower - I think you all know what this is. Versailles - You can probably spend a few days exploring Versailles, but we will only get one. This massive residence served as the living quarters and seat of government of the French monarchy for hundreds of years. The Louvre - the most popular museum in the world (sorry British Museum fans), and home to the Mona Lisa, among other incredible works of art and history. This facility is enormous and would take about a week to really see everything, but again, we get only a day. We will make the best of it! Paris Catacombs - the remains of more than 6 million people are buried beneath the city in Paris. Almost certainly not suitable for small children, but a fascinating bit of history. Le Jules Verne - the restaurant inside the Eiffel Tower. I have never spent this much on a meal, so I have high expectations, but French cooking in a restaurant operated by a chef with 3 Michelin stars, 400 feet above the ground? What's not to love? Barcelona The final leg of our continental journey and our embarkation point for Wonder of the Seas, Barcelona has a rich history and again, incredible architecture and artistic influence. Famous for the architect, Antoni Gaudi, whose work features prominently throughout the city. We are taking the train from Paris to Barcelona. It's about a 6 hour ride through the best of the French and Spanish countryside. Hopefully, it will be relatively easy to get some pictures as we ride. Casa Battlo - Commissioned redesign of an older home, this house and its façade is some of Gaudi's most iconic work. Casa Milo - Gaudi's final commission of a private residence, this home resembles a stone quarry. Fabulously unique and just really, really interesting. Basilica de la Sagrada Familia - the largest unfinished cathedral in the world, Sagrada Familia was developed by multiple architects, including Gaudi at one point. Estimated to be finally completed over the next decade. Picasso Museum - at this point, I think you would be completely forgiven for believing this trip is just an excuse to see old artwork. You might be right. This is the largest collection of work by Pablo Picasso, who began his art career in the city before he eventually relocated to France. Many of his earliest artwork is contained in the collection, which boasts nearly 5000 pieces. Park Guell - Once again a curiosity of Gaudi's invention. Park Guell just looks so darn cool. We are also taking in a Flamenco show. The location isn't special in any way, but it should still be a lot of fun. Wonder of the Seas We booked all of our excursions with Royal Caribbean this time around, for two primary reasons. First, I've never been to any of these ports, and I don't have the confidence that we would be able to make it back to the ship without issue if something occurred during an excursion. Second, we spent a lot of time planning our continental stops - the back half of this trip is meant to be as effortless as possible. Marla will handle everything for us on the ship, and the excursions are booked without needing to spend too much time thinking about them, coordinating with private guides or trying to drum up business to make sure a tour happens. Palma de Mallorca Mysterious Drach Caves of Palma - Underground lakes, caves and fun. We considered a beach day, but we did our beach/cruise vacation this year already. Caves it is. Marseilles Culinary Flavors of Provence - Because a Star Class food coma just isn't enough. There is a big difference between Parisian cuisine and the fare of southern France. This is basically 4 hours of walking around and eating food, with another few hours of on-your-own exploration. If there is any shopping to be had during our trip, this is probably when it will take place,. La Spezia (Florence/Pisa) Tuscan Farmhouse Experience - The thing about Pisa is that it's really something you only want to do once. It's an interesting novelty, but it's also kind of out of the way and there's not much else around it. So we're going to wait until we have a trip where we bring our kids. We both love wine and the idea of rustic living (we would never do it - we're city mice to the core), so this should be a pleasant afternoon. Rome Best of Rome - Good luck trying to figure out which excursion in Rome goes where. It took me days of trying to work out the details, and I finally found a blog online that covered the details of each one, and now I can no longer find it. That said, this excursion focuses on the Vatican sites, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, etc. But it also stops around the Colosseum/Forum and Trevi Fountain. I'm not super into crowds, so I'm happy to pass on the interior of the Colosseum this time. Naples The Ruins of Pompeii - Our final excursion is a visit to the incredibly well preserved ruins of the city of Pompeii, destroyed by Mount Vesuvius almost 2000 years ago. We looked at some of the other options in Naples as well, as a visit to the Amalfi coast, Sorrento, and the like would be a lot of fun. In the end, though, we decided choose one, focus on having a great experience and then prepare to relax for the last day and half of the cruise. I think we'll be glad, in the end, to have given ourselves a bit of respite before heading back home. ---------------------- And that's... everything. We have a lot planned over the next few weeks, and I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time thinking about anything else right now!

If you're not looking for water slides, rock wall climbing, sports court, flowriders, merry-go-rounds or cup cake making classes...you will likely stick with Celebrity as your first choice. That's just our opinion after our first Celebrity cruise and sailing on RCL for around 18ish or so years. The classic drink package is included with your cruise fare. Do yourself a favor and upgrade to the premium package, totally worth it.

I love Solarium Bistro for dinner! Hummus, pita, soup, salmon... so good! And the desserts are Mediterranean too. The baklava is amazing.