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Long overdue. Now if only the CDC would open its eyes regarding testing to cruise.

Day 5: ROME! The good news is that I'm pretty confident I can now correctly pronounce Civitavecchia, now that I've heard it 100 times or so. The bad news is that we are now more than halfway done with our cruise. But, we went to Rome! Our day started pretty early. With a 7am meeting time, we really only had time for a light breakfast - delivered to our suite of course! In hindsight, I might have eaten a bit more, but I was trying to steal bites of my parfait in between typing up words from an earlier update, so I did my best. There are several different options to choose from if you are interested in catching a lot of Rome from an RCCL-sponsored excursion. There are subtle differences between each of them, in terms of what things you visit inside vs outside (or what you visit at all). Our priority was the Vatican museum and the Sistine chapel, along with at least an outside visit of the Colosseum. With that in mind, we settled on Best of Rome, which includes all of that along with a trip to the Trevi Fountain. Once again, we were fortunate to have an incredibly knowledgeable tour guide, who we picked up from the train station once we arrived to Rome itself. There was a separate tour leader who stayed with us on the bus and who had the primary responsibility of making sure we made it to the tour and back to the ship. I felt a little bad for her as she mentioned that she generally does these tours in German, and English was a bit of a challenge. She did great, though. Of course the guide himself spoke excellent English, which worked out well, except for one Spanish couple who was on their honeymoon. The husband didn't speak English at all, and I think they had intended to purchase the Spanish-language version of the same tour. I can't speak for the experience purchasing alternative language tours and how those are managed, but it seemed like RCCL might have dropped the ball here. They made do, and the guide did his best to try to communicate when he could in Spanish, but he mostly ended up having to use Google Translate and read from there for their benefit. Better than nothing, I suppose. We started off with the Colosseum, which was great. The guide gave us a rundown of the history of the stadium, including recent renovations. I was surprised to learn that a great deal of the structure that exists today is actually new: reinforced by bricks added in the last two centuries to stabilize the arena and prevent further decay of the original stone. It's pretty easy to distinguish between original and new construction when you see it. It was really great to learn about how much the film industry has gotten wrong (and right) about the Colosseum, how it was used, and what really happened with the gladiator and animal fights that took place there. Obviously, we have matured a great deal as a society, but it is fascinating to think of how this place really served the same purpose as our sports stadiums do today. Of course, we did get to visit the inside as well, so we got a lot of great pictures too! It wasn't too crowded, and our guide said that Rome is running at about half its typical load of tourists for this time of year. I feel pretty lucky about that, especially when we got to the Vatican. I would not have had a great time if there were twice as many people there. From the Colosseum, we walked down the main road past the Roman Forum to the Trevi Fountain. In my head, the Forum is just a single place, but it really turns out to have been a series of forums built over centuries at the whims of kings, emperors and Roman senators. Each forum or addition served mostly the same purpose, but it has looked pretty different over the years it was in use as new sections were added or left in disrepair. The Trevi Fountain was packed. There are just a lot of people trying to get up close to toss a coin in the pool, which our guide said collects almost 1.5 million Euros every year. The fountain was also the first place in Rome we encountered the street peddlers, which we saw almost constantly from that point forward on the tour. They are everywhere, selling everything from ponchos to selfie sticks to portable phone chargers. One, at St. Peter's Square, also tried to sell me a belt. From the fountain we walked to the meeting place for lunch, where we were taken to a small restaurant outside of St. Peter's Square. Lunch was pleasant, if not extravagant, with a simple meal of pasta, followed by meat, potatoes and veggies and capped off with a small slice of tiramisu. We were running slightly behind, and we ended up being just a bit rushed to finish our meal. It started raining just as we finished our meal, which was unfortunate, because we had to walk about 7-10 minutes from the restaurant to the Vatican museum. A few people did end up buying umbrellas from the aforementioned street peddlers, but I live in Seattle and a little rain never hurt me. I got a bit damp on the way over, but honestly, it dried up pretty quickly and the rain helped keep the temperature down for the duration of the tour. We got the rundown on the way over to the Vatican, and I was a bit surprised to learn that it's actually only been an independent nation for about a hundred years, due to an agreement made with Mussolini in the 1920s. There's a bit of rigamarole to get into the museum itself, especially for groups. The museum requires that groups use their headsets, so we had to swap over from the ones provided by the tour company to those provided by the Vatican. It wasn't too bad, but it took several minutes to get everyone sort of reorganized. The Vatican Museum is incredibly densely packed, both by guests and by exhibits. The artwork and sculpture on display there is absolutely incredible. There is just so much of it. It's a very different experience than the Louvre was. The hallways are also very narrow, which made the crowds of people that much more intolerable. It was honestly hard to keep up with the tour guide, because you're just pushing your way past dozens and dozens of people to even move 100 feet. At the end of that museum, though, is the Sistine Chapel. In order to keep the atmosphere of the chapel respectful and somewhat quiet, there are tour group spots just outside, which are just signs with all the artwork in the chapel that the tour guide can point to and tell you all about everything before you go inside. Which is great, because once you are inside, you really don't want the guide talking in your ear at all. The chapel is very, very beautiful. Everyone has seen pictures of the frescoes at some point or another, but no photograph can really do this church justice. We just stood in awe for about 10 minutes, standing in silence and soaking in the beauty from every direction. As with so many of these types of things, there are details in every corner, and there is just so much to take in. You have to walk around the backside of the square to exit, and since we had a few extra minutes, the tour guide gave us the chance to sneak into St. Peter's Basilica to get some more pictures. Interestingly, the basilica is the only place we entered where the dress code was being enforced. That surprised me a little, because I thought the Sistine Chapel would also have had dress code enforcement. We really only had about 3 minutes inside the basilica, so we snapped a few quick photos and headed back outside. Naturally, the last stop on the tour was the obligatory sales pitch inside one of the gift shops (conveniently partnered with Royal Caribbean, of course). I didn't mind so much, since they only gave us about 20 minutes before it was time to head back over to the bus to return to the ship. The drive back was about a half hour shorter than the drive out, so we made good time, which was great, because it meant we could relax a bit before dinner. Once we arrived, I sent a quick message to Marla for some pre-dinner drinks to be delivered to the room, and we lounged for a while before changing for Izumi. We've done hibachi both on a ship and on land before, so we knew what to expect. The food was delicious, the drinks were great, and our table mates were pleasant and conversational. Our chef was hilarious, and the food portions are really generous. There are a couple of options for entrees with either one or two servings of meat. The up-charge for the restaurant is pretty high, though, so I definitely recommend getting it as part of a dining package to help ease some of the burden. We were scheduled to attend the headliner show after dinner, but we were just so tired that we decided to forgo it this one time. We finished up our dinner and our desserts and headed back to our rooms to rest up for the next day: Pompeii, 150 Central Park and Voices!

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/10/politics/us-to-end-pre-departure-testing-requirement/index.html cool

I think I figured out the problem but I could be wrong. When I went to the upgrade website on my phone, I was able to select my bid but I did not realized that I had to scroll down to the bottom of the page where there was a "Continue" button. From there I was sent to a page where I had to enter my CC info. All this time I thought I had entered a bid but I had not. But when I went to the website on a regular laptop, I could see that there were 3 steps involved: bid, CC info, and review. So all this time I had THOUGHT I had entered a bid but I really had not. I hope others have not made the same mistake I had made.

Can only share recent experience... it asked me to enter CC info when I put in my bids.

Fantastic news! Just in time for our trip across the pond next month! What a relief!

Day 4: La Spezia Finally, a free morning. With our farmhouse excursion booked for 2:30pm, we decided to take it easy, sleep in and just generally relax before heading out to Tuscany. We had a leisurely breakfast in our room and then made our way to the suite sun deck for a dip in the hot tub and some midmorning cocktails. The sun deck is one of the things I've been looking forward to on this cruise, especially as ships are beginning to fill up and pool deck space is becoming a hot commodity once again. The experience is great and a nice upside to sea days or free time when you're booked in a suite. The bar service opened just after we arrived, and there were maybe a half dozen other people on the deck the whole time we were there. It was quite nice to get a little break, soak up a bit of sun and enjoy ourselves off our feet for once on this vacation. We lagged just a bit getting ready, so we were a bit rushed eating lunch in Coastal Kitchen. No worries though, as the wait staff always seems prepared to adjust to our needs on timing. With lunch wrapped, we made our way downstairs to Studio B for the excursion. Before I talk about the Tuscan Farmhouse Experience, I want to share a bit about our thought process on this. We bounced around a bit between this excursion and going to Pisa to see the tower. When we come back to Italy again with our kids, that's almost certainly what we'll do. I certainly wouldn't want to discourage anyone from visiting, but here's my view: if you've ever done a small highway roadtrip in the US, you'll have certainly seen sides for roadside attractions for things like "World's Largest Ball of Yarn." These are potentially interesting sights for sure, but they're just roadside tourist traps, designed to get you to buy a t-shirt and maybe a snack while you're there. The leaning tower of Pisa is Italy's "World's Largest Ball of Yarn." It's an interesting oddity with a little shop attached. Fun to see, probably, but I don't think I want to do that more than once. Tuscan Farmhouse Experience Instead, we rode a bus for 90 minutes to the heart of Tuscany. We even saw the leaning tower on our way there. I got a good picture of it from maybe 5 miles away. The drive is gorgeous and gets even more beautiful the further you go. The landscapes of Tuscany are famous, and with good reason. A large number of my pictures of this excursion are from the bus ride itself. On arriving to the farm, we were all unloaded from the bus and then loaded right back on to a horse-drawn carriage (that held about 20 people). We followed the road up to the farmhouse itself while the owner of the farm told us all about the crops and trees they raise on the property. The staff is just the farmer's family, and they treated us like family, which made everything so much nicer. When we reached the farmhouse, we were treated to an authentic, family style, Italian dinner, replete with wine, bread, cheeses, deli meats, pasta and more. I wish I had known how much food we were going to eat - I would have picked a different restaurant for the evening! Just before they wrapped up the meal, the farmer came out and sang us all a song! It was absolutely wonderful, and just really created a great feeling for the whole experience. Of course, they too had a little shop where they sold different wines, truffle honey, and limoncello (we bought a bottle of this). We all piled back into the bus and headed back to the ship, full and happy. We did end up heading back about an hour late - so be warned that this excursion might be a bit inaccurate with regards to timing. If you get a chance to try this excursion, I would say jump on it. It was a ton of fun and a real authentic Italian experience. Chops Grille (suite dining) About the time I realized how much food we were eating at the farm and given that we had a show scheduled almost immediately after dinner, we decided to message Marla and let her know that we would just eat in our room instead, to save the song and dance of ordering food and drinks, and to save some of the embarrassment of only being able to pick at a steak dinner because we were already so full. Our food arrived to our room shortly after we did, so the timing there was perfect. I ordered the beef carpaccio (my favorite dish from Chops) and Ashley started off with the grilled black pepper bacon. I ate a salad before my ribeye, which was definitely the right decision, and Ashley ate the lobster bisque (her favorite) and the petite filet. We wrapped up dinner with cheesecake and key lime pie, along with a couple of signature coffees. 365: The Seasons on Ice We always get a kick out of the different ice shows, and this time around was no different. The show started off with a stellar juggling performance by Victor Kee. I loved it. The skaters were exciting, having a good time, and able to brush off the occasional fall or slip. One skater even pulled off an on-ice backflip! As with the show on the Allure, there was an ice skating aerialist, which always terrifies me, and just as before, the skater did a tremendous job. After the show, we made an early exit to our suite, because Rome waits for no one (we had to be up to make our 7:00a meeting time for the big Rome excursion!) More on that in the next post!

I started cruising in 1976 on board Carnival's Festival. The Festival had originally been launched as the Transvel Castle in 1961 for North Atlantic crossing The Festival was actually the TSS Festival which stood for Turbine Steam Ship. The ship was fast and had that unmistakable large high bow for the North Atlantic. If you wanted to use a hair dryer or curling iron you had to go down the hall to "get ready" rooms which had 110 volt electric outlets. Just a few years later we were on the Song of American which was a remarkable ship of the RCCL. She was sold off way to soon in my humble opinion. Next up was the Sovereign of the Seas which was a beautiful ship with the last of her class just retiring which was Majesty of the Seas. Then came Rhapsody of the Seas which is a Vision Class of ship which we thought was as big as cruise ships were ever going to get. Much to our surprise came Voyager Class of ships including the Navigator of the Seas which was a great class of cruise ship. Then came Freedom Class of ship which was wonderful we've sailed on both the Freedom and the Liberty. Later came the Mega liners. In my short time cruising I've seen such changes mostly for the better. Here is a photo chart of the aforementioned ships for comparison. Bill

Definitely great news! It wasn't long ago we were going to need 3 covid tests getting to and from our Greek Isle cruise in Oct, but as of Sat, we'll only need the one to board the cruise. Hopefully by Oct that one will disappear too. Happy Cruising!

Sounds like the OP disembarked Wonder yesterday and tested positive on the mandatory "return to US" test, which is doubly unfortunate given that the requirement is about to be lifted. Probably her husband and children flew as planned, which ultimately was a very brave but also very sensible decision on the family's part. I would not be surprised if the husband and children subsequently test positive after arriving home but at least they will be home where they have their normal support system. It would be an even worse nightmare for them to have stayed and potentially all test positive in Italy. OP: I'm so sorry this has happened to you. As far as the certificate of recovery is concerned, since you are now in the Italian system, you should be able to get this from their healthcare system, as the EU has three different types of certification: 1 - vaccination; 2 - negative test, which has limited validity depending on the type of test; and 3 -certificate of recovery. Potentially, the pharmacy where you did your test may be able to assist with this, if you can find someone there who speaks enough English. If you haven't already done so, I would also suggest you contact your Embassy for assistance. I wish you a speedy recovery and a safe flight home to your family as soon as possible.

You have officially MADE MY DAY! I have been stressing about our return to US from Amsterdam in August. Seriously, I feel a huge weight has been lifted off me. I was so worried that we wouldn't have good enough WiFi on the ship to test properly the day before disembarkation.

Starts Sunday US will end Covid-19 testing requirement for air travelers entering the country - CNNPolitics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/10/politics/us-to-end-pre-departure-testing-requirement/index.html

I also love the Grand Marnier Souffle. I think it's the best dessert on the ship with the World (where it's available) running a close second. In the "old days" I would have said that it should be no problem asking the CK to please get the souffle for you from the MDR but it seems as though that may not be something they would do "these days". I suspect that the staffing shortage(s) would be the primary reason for limiting such cross-kitchen requests; their claim that it is a health hazard is BS but whatever their reasons, I imagine that you might get some pushback for asking to have the souffle served to you in the CK, I'm sorry to say. I agree with @Linda Rand @Ampurp85though. I see no reason why you couldn't get a dessert-to-go from the MDR although it might mean a bit of a wait. My recommendation would be to ask for room service to deliver the souffles to your suite since MDR room service is complimentary for suite guests. That way, they could bring it any time, even if you aren't there. Then you could enjoy it at your leisure. This method would eliminate the need for you to wait around for someone to bring it to you and then have to haul it back to your room. Just have them deliver it !

I rarely pay extra for food but have had multiple excellent steaks in locations that aren't Chops... CK, Giovanni's Table, Beach Club at Cococay. That said, I'm an interior/WJ kinda guy, so I'm guessing our tastes don't align to closely.

Here I am, 51 days out from my Oasis of the Seas cruise out of Bayonne, and low and behold I see those magical words in my email inbox: Your Stateroom Has Been Upgraded. My minimum $700 bid moved me from a JS guarantee to a 1 Bedroom Aquatheater Suite! I am beyond stunned, the timing, the acceptance, all of it! So Suite Snob crew (this is in fact a term of endearment!), help a dad who's never stayed in anything bigger than a Promenade View room taking his kids on their 1st cruise with the lowdown: what do I do now? Do I cancel my MDR reservations if we're going to do CK, or will the concierge do that? I suddenly have so many questions that I hadn't even thought about! Any advice/pointers/experience would be greatly appreciated!

Covid is all over the ships. Our Harmony last week has a bunch of Covid positive along with cases of Flu A. Our Radiance Alaska which we cancelled and moved to Harmony also had a lot of Covid and people stuck in Canada. Just about every ship sailing across all the lines are in the CDC Orange category. Masks didn’t seem to help either as several wore them inside the ship at all times and still got it

I just cancelled and repurchased on cruise planner. Upon cancellation, OBC was available instantly and was used to repurchase

Always room for more TX

And THIS is why I keep turning to you all for advice, I never would have thought of the room service option! So, it sounds like I'll go with asking Monday evening to start with (being sure to emphasize that I have a plan B if it is a big inconvenience), and if it is, I'll order a few through room service. Well done, team, and many thanks!

Thank you for the wonderful descriptions. As many times as I have been to Italy on business, I only managed to make it to Rome once and that trip was so harried that we missed the Vatican altogether. I certainly hope we get the chance to go back again and spend some time.

Remember that it opens up at midnight in the time zone in which you are embarking. So if you live in a different time zone, be sure to note the difference.

WOOHOO ! I love me some Greece. This is how it should be everywhere !

This was my experience in the past 10 days.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, and I fully understand that I may be, probably am. So, here goes. An at home test that is proctored, the results provided by the monitoring company doesn't have to have a CLIA number on the results documents. Why? Because it isn't a lab. It has to have a Certification Number, I think that is what you mean by "stamp", @Ampurp85. Why do I think that, well an at home proctored test doesn't involve a "LAB". Nope, it involves a computer, an Internet connection, a prepackaged testing kit, that no medical personnel handles with you, your kitchen or where ever you are located and a person at the other end of the internet connection that has been "Certified" (what ever that is/involves) to watch a Zoom/Facetime type connection, he/she actually doesn't perform any testing, touch any testing equipment or a patient of any type. The CLIA number is for actual labs that test specimens and produce documentation +/- of their actually tested in their hands. This is why I think Royal says, "CLIA Number" or "Certification Number". One, the Certification Number is for the proctor and/or his/her company OR two, the CLIA Number is of the labs that actually tests specimens that they physically have in hand an process in medically approved devices/chemicals. I believe that is why some at home proctored results from various companies that provide that service don't have CLIA numbers, but do have some type of Certification numbers. Thoughts?

Thank you so much! I’ll definitely let him know. That was his only reservation with cruising - looks like we’ll be booking! Thank you for your help

This is the perfect area for either port as it’s close to the airport and quick access to the highway.

Was a firm believer in off site parking but our Harmony cruise in March out of PC, I bit the bullet & parked in the terminal garage. OMG it was about $45 more than off site but soooooooo convenient! Pulled in about 10:40 & were all checked in & in the waiting area 15 minutes later. Off the ship @ 9am & on the highway by 9:15. Worth every penny.

Three of six in party on May 28th Allure cruise now sick with Covid. Expect the rest will soon. Symptoms are just a bad cold so far. Still scheduled for August cruise since antibodies good for 90 days.

I've been waiting all week for RC to release its 2023-24 Singapore sailings, which were scheduled to occur the week of 6 June. With no new itineraries opening up I decided to search online for the latest deployment schedule and it now shows that opening week has been delayed. @MattI don't recall seeing this in any of your blog posts, but correct me if I am wrong. I thought some people might like to know.

I just spotted this just now and I know it wasn't there last time I looked (yesterday). When you click on it, it takes you into a day by day list of the excursions on your cruise and you can book them right there in the app ahead of the cruise, rather than having to go into the cruise planner.

Nice meeting you at the Hibachi.

Naples-went to Capri.

There is supposed to be an an out today that the US is doing away with the Ree try Covid test, effective this Sunday. Woo hoo No worries about transporting tests, finding time to test and having to quarantine!!!!

I'm sorry you had to put up with that. I hope you mentioned it to someone (guest services, shore excursions, in the survey) afterward. Once, my mom had a poor time on an excursion and she just kinda sighed and said it is what it is. We happened to be at guest services talking about something else on a different sailing and that excursion came up and the staff there (which happened to include the manager by complete chance) said we should tell someone on the ship because that's the only way they know if there are issues and if they need to pull their partnership. So now, even though we don't like complaining, we make sure to mention things if they're bad.

Nachos! Beware the nachos! They are piled high, dangerously addictive and eating them will force you (yes FORCE you) to drink more than you planned…but what a delicious way to go! Love Playmakers!

Once you have the OBC applied to your sailing, it is like any other OBC. If you cancel, the OBC appears almost immediately and you can use it for something else.

@Atlantix2000 that was it! Thank you, and thanks to @SpeedNoodles also. Have an amazing weekend!

This is fantastic!! I'm sure the cruise industry will be thrilled too. Now the folks from the US can go overseas to cruise and not worry about a test to return home!

Maybe we can convince “Bar Rescue” to come in and do a show, heck they could do whole series with one episode on each ship. LOL.

Yeah hubby said we can continue in suites but take less cruises. Nope! I did manage to convince him to upgrade to a JS for our 12 night Holy Land on Odyssey. By changing from Alaska to Harmony, that put us 12 points behind on reaching Diamond Plus so we took the left over Alaska $ from our refund and upgraded to JS to get quadruple points and push us over the finish line. Hopefully we can get in to CK a few nights!

Rodrigo was great! Someone else on our sailing was also onboard the prior week & mentioned him on another forum so I wasn’t surprised when we met him. He was just as she described. We were in a Grand Suite as well, great experience all around. Back to steerage for us next month as that suite was courtesy of my generous FIL. At least I can’t miss CK since Indy doesn’t have one.

I think travel services are catching on to how much this is affecting things. I am starting to get survey's from places basically wanting to know why I'm not traveling. The latest one was from British Airways. It's very obvious from the questions that they know people are just (mostly) not going to spend money in places that require them to do COVID tests/vaccines. I've heard that it's really killing American tourism as well, the requirement to test to get into the states. Hopefully they can all get back to normal sooner rather than later, surely they need the money.

In the FAQ it says this Tests We Do Not Accept Antibody tests are not accepted, as they do not detect a current infection. Home test kits that are self-administered at home, and not supervised live by a telehealth professional, are also not accepted. Supervised telehealth tests are not accepted for unvaccinated guests – only for vaccinated guests. Item #2 says home kits self administered and not supervised live by a telehealth professional are not accepted. If you have a home kit and get a supervised telehealth proctor like onpoint I believe it will meet the criteria of an approved test-because it is supervised. The Binax Now test kits were a way for Royal to make it easier for the Royal Passenger ---when testing requirements started there were not many telehealth professional nor home kits around and we all were trying to figure out how to get testing done.

They are not the only tests accepted. Not sure where the confusion lies on Royal's FAQ about testing. You can take any test that fulfills the requirements they list.

Be sure to check out the CK menus on the app. I was looking forward to eating in CK very much, until I checked out the menus. I doubt that my husband will be interested in most of the dinner choices (both apps and entrees), so expect that we'll be in the main dining room or buffet for many of the dinners....... or ordering room service from the main dining room!!! Guess he's kind of picky. But I fully expect to enjoy breakfast there, and some lunches. But we're definitely looking forward to the suite, the suite lounge, and the suite sun deck. We'd love to try an aqua suite, to be able to enjoy the HUGE balcony and our comfy view of the aqua show. Enjoy!!!!

When I have made offers it ask me for a CC number every time I make a new bid. It doesn't take the CC you have on file with RC as they are different companies.

Oldest DD developed Celiac at age 15 - she's almost 26 now, so we've been dealing with this for a while. She's gone on 2 cruises, and had no problems with any kind of cross contamination. DH took a ship's tour, and they brought them to the kitchens & showed them the allergy prep area - completely separate from the rest of the kitchen. She will say it's a gluten allergy if people don't understand celiac, so that they take it seriously. Unfortunately, the longer she is gluten free, the worse the consequences are for accidental ingestion - her body really doesn't tolerate it well, severe stomach upset, brain fog, etc for a few days after. That being said, while she found the MDR safe, & got special help in Windjammer (buffet) some people are concerned about the specialty restaurants, as they do not have separate prep areas. We did Chops and Giovanni's on Adventure without an issue for her, but she is careful to order simple items, ones that are less likely to be contaminated. MDR waiters gave her the next days menu each night, & she told them what she wanted. Even if it wasn't labeled gluten free, most of the time it could be prepared that way. Exceptions were things like ravioli or lasagna, which did not have gluten free options. Sometimes, she got a baked potato instead of whatever the other potato option was if it had gluten in it. She never had as many options as the rest of us, but she never went hungry.

Just remember there is an annual cap on benefits for annual policies. So depending upon how much you travel and how much each trip costs, you may use up benefits before the year is out. The big difference I see in policies is how much you are covered for medical and evacuation. What you actually need should drive your decision-making. We found that even Allianz had different benefit levels with different premiums.