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This is a fan site, and not affiliated with Royal Caribbean. Nobody there will read your complaint. I doubt when they advertised the amplification of Explorer of the Seas (and Allure), they had no idea that the pandemic would hit and cause them to shut down for over a year and lose billions of dollars, making the amplification fiscally impossible. I would never consider that "false advertising". Personally, I'd go anyway. You haven't "lost the money". You are choosing to do so by not going on the cruise. You could still have a great time if you chose to do so. Good luck. (I can't speak for anyone else, but personally, I sleep quite well at night).

Italy requires 5 day quarantine after testing positive. From what I could make out from the pharmacy, after a 5 day quarantine, no symptoms (no fever for 24 h, no sob, cough), being fully vaccinated I can get a letter of recovery or chose to retest. This is new as of 6/1. However it’s so unclear being I don’t speak the language. You are right, I’m VERY lucky because if the mandate wasn’t lifted it is possible I would have had to stay another 2-10 days. I want to do the right thing and not get anyone sick. My family wore their N95 mask the entire trip home just to be safe. They said the plane was a Petri dish with people coughing and sneezing all over the place. Sorry to hear you and family are positive. Hope you are feeling well? Great news.. tested negative today!!! Get to go home tomorrow!!

The Day at Sea and The Day of Sadness I cannot express how glad I am that we ended the trip with a sea day. My feet have been aching from all the walking. I have no regrets about any of that, but I am so incredibly glad that we got a day off our feet to wrap things up. We began the day with breakfast in our room from the Mason Jar. Since the very first day, I had an idea that I wanted to try out: Spicy Chicken and Waffles. While we were in the restaurant on the first day, I noticed that the chicken used with the waffles was the same chicken used in the chicken sandwiches (including the Nashville Hot), so I stored that away for later. It was pretty good, but it was actually a bit less spicy than I expected it to be. I'd love to hear from other people how they feel about the Nashville Hot chicken and if it lives up to your expectations regarding heat level. On other sailings, we've really tried to take advantage of everything on the ship during sea days, but this trip was a lot less about the ship for us and more about the ports. We were tired and just ready to relax. So we spent most of the morning sitting on the balcony (one of the best parts of an Aquatheater suite after all!) In addition to our food, we asked Marla to arrange a mimosa bar for us, which is just basically a bottle of champagne with pitchers of various juices - peach, orange and cranberry. We sipped on our mimosas and watched the scenery go by. I couldn't have asked for a better morning. Different from most Caribbean cruises, you actually sail pretty close to land in the Mediterranean so there was a lot to see as we sailed by. That kept our attention longer than I would have expected. After a few hours of relaxation, we got dressed and headed down to Izumi for some sushi. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, different people like different kinds of food. I love sushi, but neither Ashley nor I are really big fans of fried, crunchy sushi. Fortunately, the menu at Izumi is pretty expansive, so we were both able to get food that we really enjoyed. As Star Class, technically you can order as much sushi as you want, but I was pretty worn out from eating at this point, so we kept it light. One small word of caution about Izumi is that it is on deck 4 and there are tables right next to the window. I do not recommend sitting in those tables if you have any kind of vertigo or motion sickness, because the waves+wake do some interesting gymnastics around that part of the ship. It only bothers me a tiny bit, but vertigo is a concern for you, I'd find somewhere else to sit. After Izumi, we headed back up to the suite sun deck one last time. I will reiterate what I've said before - Royal knocked it out of the park with this space. It's easily accessible, has plenty of seating, and it has a great bar. If you are in a suite on Wonder, you owe it to yourself to spend a bit of time here at least. Later in the afternoon, we went down to Giovanni's Wine Bar for some drinks and charcuterie. Despite rebranding from Vintages, and a few updates to the food menu, I have to say that it doesn't feel all that different from Vintages. It's a nice spot for sure, but I think the changes are almost all entirely surface level. We enjoyed our wine, cheese and meats a lot. The wine bar, like Vintages, has a wine flight option, which is a great choice if you do not have a drink package. If you do have a drink package, you are better off ordering the wine by the glass, and just having them one at a time. The bartender should make sure to tell you this, but I know some people are caught off guard. We headed back up to our room to change for dinner: Wonderland! I really enjoy the Wonderland concept, but I am a food and science nerd, so molecular gastronomy really appeals to me. One of the servers was dressed up as the Mad Hatter, which was a lot of fun. He was entertaining, at least! We've been to Wonderland before, so we tried to choose options we hadn't had the first time around. It was a very different experience than previously, since we didn't have our kids this time, so we weren't trying to work around their limited food preferences. The individual items in the restaurant might seem small, but you actually end up with a seven-course meal, all things included, so the size isn't that much of an issue. The only thing we tried that I would probably not order again is the Tomato Water. It's an interesting novelty, but it's only about 1 oz of liquid, and it just goes so fast. For dessert, I ordered the World (again), and Ashley ordered the Mushroom Garden. They were both delicious, just as expected. Marla came to visit us during the meal and we also asked her to send some desserts up to our room too! Sort of a final send off for the trip. I ordered the Fried Cheesecake (I may have mentioned that this my favorite dessert on the ship), and Ashley ordered the Go Bananas! from Giovanni's. Honestly, it might have been a bit too much, but we loved it. We had thought about finding a nice spot after dinner for one last drink but we were honestly just so tired that we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. We did eat our desserts, and sit out on the balcony for a bit, but mostly we spent the evening packing and preparing for the worst day of the cruise: debarkation day. Our flight out of Barcelona was pretty early at 9:50 am. In hindsight, we should have probably picked a later flight, but it all worked out in the end, even though things were a bit tense at the airport. We had a light, early breakfast at 6am and put our bags outside at 6:30. Not having to set out your bags the night before is another really nice Star Class perk. We met Marla at the elevator at 7:00 and began the long walk of sadness to the terminal. It was super easy to grab a cab right there, and we headed to the airport. On Friday, the US government announced that negative Covid tests were no longer required for flights entering the US as of 12:01 on Sunday June 5th. This was awesome news as it reduced the likelihood of any last second disasters. We had read a post on Facebook from someone who left the ship in Rome on Thursday, tested positive, and had to quarantine for an extra 5 days before they could return home. That would have been worst case scenario for us, so not having to worry about an accidental positive test was really nice. Side note: we tested as soon as we got home to Seattle. Negative. So I feel pretty good about that. The downside to the announcement was that the airlines, who had all been clamoring for this change for months, were completely unprepared to actually handle the change when it happened. Online check-in basically broke for everyone, so we had no choice but to stand in line at the airport to get our boarding passes and check our luggage. The line was long. Long enough that we got pulled out of line finally to ensure that we could make our flight (that's pretty common on international flights), we were right up at the front so we ended up being next in line to check in from there. At that point we scrambled as quickly as possible to security and to the gate. I would have been super stressed if I'd been any further back in line, because we literally got to the gate the moment our zone started boarding. Since the first leg of our flight was just to Paris, the boarding times are really narrow. I'm sure they got everyone on board, but I'd have been screaming if I got there much later than we did. The situation was pretty similar in Paris. After a brief 2 hour flight, we had a 1.5 hour layover in Paris, but that's really not that much time. The international gates are pretty far from the 'domestic' gates in CDG, so there's a lot of walking involved, as well as a brief stop at passport control, even though we were catching a transfer. We managed to find a food kiosk to grab some salads, but we had to carry them on to the plane, because boarding started so quickly. From Paris to Seattle is about 10 hours, which isn't terrible, but is still a pretty long way. We had economy seats on the way back, which might have been a mistake, but we survived somehow . The airline food was decent, and they did an excellent job of coming by often with water (something that did not happen on the Delta flight on the way out). We needed to stay awake as much as possible to fight the coming jet lag, so we just watched a lot of movies. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, we arrived in Seattle! After a quick/eternal 45 minute ride on the train, we were back home to our kids, our puppies and our bed. Whew! What an absolute adventure! We had so much fun, and it was exactly the break we needed. Thanks everyone for coming along the ride with us. I loved reading your comments and seeing everyone's reactions. I hope you enjoyed it!

Checked in waiting in the terminal, we had secured a 1030 check in. Nothing special for suites this early as far as check in. Regular line but it was so short, there was signage but the personnel said they weren't using it yet because it was early. Lots of parking, great parking garage with plenty of spaces this early. Staff here seems tired, and avoids eye contact probably exhausted. If you engage them with a smile they are kind in response. No special waiting area for suites, keys, pins it seems. We asked and they said just sit anywhere, they will call us. No worries we are here, the ship is there, my car is secure, all good!

Since my introduction to participating in a live blog with @Lovetocruise2002 on her Star Class take over I'm going to document our family sweet 16 celebration cruise. Note: Daughter celebrating, me still scratching my head looking at baby pics thinking where in the heck did the time go? I had her when I was 40, so shocked and happy! Please be kind and don't do the math! Best thing that ever happened to me, after meeting hubby of course, married 30 years in August....together 32 years. Harmony to celebrate our Anniversary 01 August! Mariner of the Seas June 13-18, 2022 Cabin: 1804, it's been a 2X canceled cabin due to pandemic really happy to sail from this perspective. Bringing my motion patches just in case. VP Ocean view Panoramic Suite. Royal Up Bid: Royal Suite still pending, while that would be nice I'm perfectly fine trying out the cabin I have. Antigens negative yesterday, so happy! Stepping off the Allure last Sunday we all felt good but were just a little nervous, all for naught! Concierge contact and host Dudley! Yay, we met him on the first sailing of the Adventure out of the Bahamas back in June 2021. Our only request was a private table for the three of us in the MDR. There are no birthday decorations at all on board as reflected by the cruise planner so I am just bringing some small sweet 16 items to decorate the cabin. The Labadee cabanas are really high so we are just going to skip breakfast and go over early for some chairs in our hidden nook. Embarkation lunch at Jaimies Italian. We have never dined there. We are doing MDR for a change for dinner. Asked for a table off to the side as it usually gets really loud in there. Itinerary: Leaving out of Port Canaveral Terminal 5, Sea Day, Labadee, Sea Day, Coco Cay, Port Canaveral. A quick sailing, I will want to stay on for sure! I asked Dudley if I could bring him anything and he needed some laundry detergent and such, I purchased and packed to discretly give to him, I was so happy he felt comfortable enough to ask. It made me feel good to get something he needed. We are driving over from Tampa FL to Port Canaveral today and staying in the Hampton at Port Canaveral. With the sailing embarkation on a Monday Interstate 4 is never fun, but on a Monday just no! Would rather arrive a day earlier I'm just more comfortable because you just never know! Please be patient and kind, this is my first time doing this blog thing alone, I will try to channel my inner Sabrina to make it as fun as possible. Mariner here we come! Cabana prices are high! Last pic was me last week in Labadee, that is what I plan to do this entire trip....I love the water!

And BTW, although I don’t expect OP to return, we are booked on Explorer in October. If, as you state, you are both disabled, the amp wouldn’t do you much good anyway as it usually means adding water slides and other physical activities which you might not be able to use AND the cruise fare will increase as a result too.

Diamond gets a free photo…….

Day Eight: Starting Our Post Cruise Adventure Sadly, we had to get off the cruise today. We had time to eat a quick breakfast and then go back to the room to get all our stuff. There was the option to check our bags and get them when we got off, but we didn’t want to damage any of our suitcases so we took them all. Once we got off the cruise we were in Seward where the bus tours are. We were really early to our tour so we sat on a bench and waited for the bus to arrive. Fifteen minutes before it was supposed to leave my dad got a text saying we were put on a different bus company. This bus was almost entirely full already and there were only four seats left and none of them were together. Only one each on the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh rows. I was in the seventh with a window seat. We had great driver and tour guide on the bus named Mike and Brenna. We drove for a while then got to the Exit Glacier. We got out and went to hike for about an hour. It was a bit of a difficult hike for me but that could just be because I don’t hike much. We got to this overlook pretty close to the glacier and got some awesome pictures. Then it was back to the bus and on the way to Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. We got to the wildlife park and they gave us all our lunches and a water bottle. The lunch had a sandwich (ham, turkey, or roast beef), carrots, potato chips, and cookie. It was a really good lunch, but we didn’t have any tables designated for us so we found these rocks that looked like benches near the bear enclosure to eat. After we ate, we went to see the bears, owl, bald eagle, wolves, porcupines, caribou, moose, and a lynx. We would’ve seen more, but eating took up a lot of our time and we had to get back to the bus. Our next stop was a ski lodge. We didn’t go skiing but we did go up the ski lift. It’s not like the benches that are open, it was a gondola and could hold thirty-ish people. It only took us five minutes to go about 2,000 feet up. Once we were up there it wasn’t much colder, but there was snow! I made a little snowball and threw it at the ground. An Alaska trip isn’t complete without snow. The last stop was the Ulu Factory in Anchorage. We only got five minutes there so we went in the gift shop then right back on the bus. An ulu is a curved kind of knife that’s special to Alaska. We got one at an earlier port. We were a little late on drop offs. We were supposed to be at our stop around 5:15 PM, but we got there at 6:45. If you go on this tour be sure to not have a immediate activity afterwards because you might be late. My dad’s cousin picked us up and it was an hour and fifteen minutes to her house in Willow, where we were staying for the night. We got there, had pizza for dinner, watched a show, unpacked, and went to sleep. Stay tuned for my Alaska Adventure!

Rome!

Day 6: Naples (Pompeii) First off, I want to thank you all for you wonderful comments about this blog. I've really been enjoying keeping up with it, and I'm glad to see that you all are enjoying it as well! For the first time, really, on this whole vacation, I finally took the opportunity to sleep in. I think I woke up just after nine. It was late enough, at least, that we missed breakfast. I'll be honest, though, I don't think I could have handled it anyway! Between the Star Class snacks and massive portions at the specialty restaurants, I'm definitely never hungry on board this ship. We had tossed around a few options for our excursion in Naples. Most of what's available is some combination of Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. We obviously wanted to prioritize Pompeii, but we didn't think we would want to do another full day excursion the day after Rome. I think that instinct ended up being right (for us, at least). Because of that, our excursion was an afternoon one, once again. Once we felt awake enough to face the world, we headed back up to the suite sun deck for a couple of drinks and an opportunity to take in the view of Naples. Among the ports that we stopped in during this past week, Naples has the best skyline by far. We sipped on our frozen drinks while I got caught up with this blog (finally!). We again had lunch in Coastal Kitchen, and then it was downstairs to join the group heading to Pompeii! Pompeii The bus ride to Pompeii is only about 30 minutes, which is mercifully short after rides of 60-90 minutes each way for the previous few excursions. It felt like no time at all, and we had arrived to the entrance to the ruins of Pompeii. There is a bit of a souvenir market outside, as well as a couple of restaurants, and some snack stands. The tour included a bottle of water, which was provided to us once we arrived. Just a couple of things to note before we got into the ruins. First, while the market contains a lot of interesting souvenirs, there is also a lot of adult... iconography in the market as well. Just something to be aware of if you're visiting with children or just generally don't want to be around that sort of thing. Second, before they brought us into the ruins themselves, we were corralled into a small building selling shell jewelry and given a 5 minute sales pitch about how rare and precious the jewelry is, and then escorted down into their showroom. I know this is a part of how these excursions are funded, but having a sales pitch be a part of every single trip is almost as good a reason as any to book private tours or just to visit these places on your own. Given the choice, I would have preferred to have the half hour we spent waiting for people to shop actually inside the ruins themselves. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, we entered through the ticket line and into the ruins themselves. You do kind of have to walk around the city to enter it properly, but we eventually made our way inside. I think it's hard to really capture the essence of what you feel in the ruins of Pompeii. While the structure is very well preserved (and supplemented by brick in some places where pieces of stone had collapsed or washed out, they are still ruins. But as you walk through the streets, you start to fill in the spaces in your mind where things like doors, roofs, wooden stairs, and furniture might have been. The painted stucco still retains some of its color and decorations in places, and you don't have to stretch your imagination to being to imagine what life might have been like in this city for real humans. One thing that I always find challenging about archaeology and anthropology is how much we have to infer because of the loss of biological material. Anything made of wood, paper or cloth would have decayed long ago. And a lot of the things we use every day as humans are made of these materials. We're really left with a rough outline of life, but the Romans in Pompeii would have lived a life as full of color and energy as our own. There are places in Pompeii where you can really see that, from the mosaic floor decorations to the fire pits or to the gardens in the homes of the very wealthy. This is the one excursion where I really felt rushed for time. The guide walked us through the ruins at a bit faster pace than we preferred (which wouldn't have been the case if we hadn't stopped at the jewelry store). While the commentary was interesting, I honestly recommend just doing this one on your own if you can, or booking a tour that gets you 4 hours or so inside the ruins. There is a lot to see and explore, and we didn't even get to everything. 150 Central Park I was beginning to feel a bit hungry, so I messaged Marla about some snacks for our room to munch on while getting ready for dinner. They arrived almost immediately after we reached the room, and we got them set up outside on the balcony. I probably overindulged on the snacks a bit, which certainly impacted by ability to eat my full meal at dinner. Turns out our parents were right about snacks ruining your dinner! In any case, Marla sent us cheese and crackers, strawberries and cream, and a full platter of chicken wings (my downfall!). Tonight was a dress your best night, and while I didn't pack a suit, I did clean up a bit and wear a nice button-up with some dress pants. 150CP is my favorite restaurant on the ship, so I was pretty excited. We specifically requested the high-backed chairs (Royal Chairs, according to the hostess), just for the fanciness factor, and of course, as Star Class, our request was granted. They are, in fact, very fancy, but they are also a little awkward to maneuver if you need to get up or readjust the seat at all. Our meal was delectable as always. I started with the short rib, which is the most tender piece of meat you can imagine. I followed that up with the veal medallions. I did my best, but alas, due to my overindulgence with the chicken wings, I was defeated. I managed to rally (you would too), when they brought out the fried cheesecake - my favorite dish in my favorite restaurant. The fried cheesecake is absolutely wonderful. I would have had a second order if I wasn't feeling completely full. Ashley started off her meal with a beet salad, followed by her favorite dish, the lobster thermidor. For her dessert, she selected the artisanal cheese platter, which turned out to be a very good choice as well. We lingered over some after dinner coffee before a slow stroll in Central Park. Then we headed down the elevator to deck 4, the Royal Theater and Voices. Voices Voices is an original RCCL production. It doesn't have quite the expansive feel of a full broadway show (it's only 45 minutes long). But it was very good. The singers are incredible, and the entire show is done a cappella, with the background rhythm and bass lines provided by voice as well. There is an excellent dance team as well. The performance is really a survey of great songs over the last 60 years or so, and there is definitely something there for everyone. It was a nice show to catch as the last one, but I think I still feel the emptiness of not having a larger show on board the ship. I know Effectors 2 is preparing to start up on the ship soon, but it was not ready as of our sailing. And that about does it for day 6. We have really enjoyed this trip up to this point, but I will say we have started to really miss our kids. I'm glad to have a single sea day to relax one last time, but we are feeling ready to get back home, which I think is exactly where you want to be at the close of a vacation. I will probably cover the last day (Sea Day, Izumi Sushi and Wonderland!) and our travel home in a wrap up post on Monday, since we have to leave the ship pretty early tomorrow morning.

Cringeworthy: I tried a speedo once and got advice as to not embarrass myself or wife. Friends told me to strategically place a Potato in my speedo before I go out on deck. I was getting looks from everyone and thought I was magnificent until my wife told me I should have put the Potato in the front.

True, at least for now! We are both just swamped! Any of the ones mentioned would be great! Melissa, Kathy, Jennifer, Meghan, Brock, take your pick!

I thought I'd seen everything on this blog but I've never before seen someone say they are going to avoid a cruise because they didn't like the embarkation terminal!

You can put minors under an adult's account. All adults need their own account.

Thank you all, looks like the consensus is….. they are all terrific!

Public hot tubs. Seeing lots of foam just adds to the cringe factor. Buffets.

I always get quick (usually within 2-3 hours, always within 12 hours), personal answers when I message them via Facebook regarding specific issues.

I'm still waiting for a response from my December 2021 email to them. That ship has literally sailed. LOL!

This is true in almost any crowded activity, not just cruise ships: People that exit, for example the theatre, and just stop there, at the exit, the whole party just to talk right in the middle of the exit/hallway, or other activity/venues. This bothers me more than those that try to get on a packed elevator before letting ANYONE off. Stupid, just stupid.

Pompeii!! Plus a few pics from 150 Central Park.

So sorry that this happened and I hope you are able to get back home quickly and painlessly. STOP ALL THIS UNNECESSARY TESTING ! It's helping NObody. So insane.

https://crew-center.com/overwhelming-number-applicants-turn-out-royal-caribbean-recruitment-fair-trinidad-and-tobago?fbclid=IwAR0tEwCiYnEqNvZgKs8sfoP8s1KvRu8CziyrnuZ-ip3xDmW-WP9tbL21UB0 so many looking for work. I hope they can find some qualified people to hire.

Hi everyone! We are preparing for our second Royal Caribbean cruise later this year on Navigator of the Seas. We originally booked a 3-night weekend cruise. Our travel agent forwarded us an email and we learned the cruise had been extended to a 7-night cruise. Since we had already booked, we were told we are locked in at our price and will get to enjoy our original 3-night pricing. My question is we have already booked a deluxe beverage package with Voom and they still show as reserved on our account. Does Royal Caribbean honor this pricing as well even though the length of the cruise was extended or do I have to cancel and re-book for a higher amount? Thanks!!!

Hit and run people, hit and run. If this persons post had any shred of truth in it that means they booked the cruise prior to COVID (no one could predict COVID and it impact) and there were several ways for this individual to either get their money back. Or if amplification was really the deal breaker they could have switched their cruise to any number of newer or amplified ships. Hit and run.

I don't know the answer to your question, but wow! What a great "upgrade"!

Slow but I'm trying....

Boarding was a bit chaotic but we agreed as a family to just pack our patience and count our many blessings. A decent amount of stressed families cutting in line pushing by but in about 20 minutes we were onboard. First stop muster spot. Then we explored a bit before our 1200 Jamie's lunch. As an aside we met eatsleepcruise bloggers Heidi and Don, the light from these two the most amazing and kind people. They, their friends and hubby all took pictures for each other. What a great couple. Jamie's, well we had to wait in line a very long line for the WindJammer before we would arrive. There was another couple and us, I was shocked and when we left it was just us! We don't do phones at the dinner table so I only have a pic of the dessert but every dish was better then expected. We ordered smaller portions of all of the appetizers just so good! Cabin 1804....drum roll please, yikes. We are so spoiled for sure. Couch was really stained, no ice in bucket, broken hangers and a missing garbage can. The bath and a half are so tiny after staying in the crown loft. The view is amazing. We see them and they see me, I have been floss dancing for everyone who looks up. Oh, Jamie's brought out a dessert with a candle, lit! I was shocked, All the servers sang and it was just so special. So long for now. Wifi slow having trouble with pics...

Want some cheese with your whine? OMG.

Don't pay attention to the percentage off at all. Ever. Just look at how much it is per person, per day. If you're comfortable with the price, if it makes sense to you based on how much you'll drink (remember that it includes bottled water, specialty coffees, fresh juices, shakes at JRs, energy drinks), then go for it. Lock in the price to protect yourself against it going up. If it goes down even more, you can always cancel and rebook it at the lower price.

Oops. I guess it’s been a while since I audited the loyalty gifts. Thanks, Shari.

Your second paragraph sort of negates your last one. If you do what you want, why can't people, who sit next to others playing slots, do what they want? I have sat at machines and played then stop and chatted with others. If someone wants to use that machine, they have a mouth to ask, otherwise that isn't a big deal. People aren't mind readers, unless someone says, "I want to play that," they aren't wrong for sitting there. If someone used strong language with me because of a seat, they would get that same language back and I won't move.

You're welcome. Trust me, you are not alone. I've found the that stress and worry of needing to test negative 2 days before a cruise has really stomped on my usual pre-cruise anticipation and excitement.

I find it "laughable" (not sure that's the word I want to use) that the industry is accepting vaccines that were administered over a year ago.....as a standard to say "ok you can cruise" while we all know it does not prevent the spread. Now I understand people saying it prevents you from getting seriously ill and it won't overwhelm the ship medical facilities, but the science seems to indicate that the farther out you are from vaccine the less protection you are offered from getting more seriously ill. Also, the new variants are not as deadly for the majority of people. So at what point is requiring the vaccine moot?......I was too young for the 60/s 70's travel-but do know that the smallpox vaccine eradicated smallpox, so if that was the case with the Covid vaccine I might be more inclined to say "mandate it" (and I am not a "mandate type of person")

Glad you made it there safely. Have a great cruise !!!

We celebrated our sons 16th on Oasis over Christmas. I know how you are feeling; yikes, where did the time go! And in Alberta they can get a graduated driving license at 16 so the fun has just begun. Lol Happy sailing and celebration!

I believe all guests six and older on a reservation must purchase the Key. So if you have two in a cabin, you both must purchase the Key. Each Key purchase includes one Voom Surf and Stream.

Thanks for this, my wife and I are taking our motorhome to Italy for 2 months in August, Cinque Terre is on our list. We are going to stop in La Spieza for a few days and do the full hike. It's nice to see the pictures and hear good feedback.

@Floski I just went down to check for particulars. 25.00$ per night to leave car here in their lot. They have hired a third party shuttle that leaves at 1045 and 1115. If you want another time you must make your own arrangements. They do have sign ups so they know how many are going and what time they prefer. I hope this helps.

Great news!

Antarctica! Currently 5/7 continents done, so once I visit Australia I will definitely be planning my Antartica trip! I'll probably do a small vessel with a company like Gadventures or Intrepid. Just about $8,000!

My understanding is that Freedom is a trial ship, sort of a proof of concept. Royal's problem today is their choice of speeds and throughput they have commited to. SES/O3b is capable of higher speeds, Royal chooses to save money and not select that option. During the shutdown they cut back on their bandwidth commitment and they haven't reverted back to pre-shutdown levels yet. They could easily make the same choice with Starlink. If they do the guest experience will be no different. It's possible this PoC is a negotiating tactic with SES/O3b, their current provider. "Lower prices or we'll go with the competition". While Royal has been letting the Voom guest experience continually decline since they did their last significant internet at sea upgrade in 2013, other cruise lines have not. Princess upgraded their entire fleet to SES/O3b prior to the shutdown. It's the same provider Royal uses yet their internet doesn't suck. That tells us the problem isn't the technology or service provider, the problem is Royal. This exercise and experiment with Starlink is only about saving money, not making the user experience better which they could do right now by paying for it.

Jacki York @ MEI very helpful and fast response time

The Trade association CLIA that represents the interests Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian and other cruise lines is now asking the CDC to drop its recommendation that recommends all cruise passengers present a negative COVID test prior to boarding. Although CDC only recommends passengers be tested it appears as though (at least here in the US) cruise lines will not take the next step and remove the testing requirement on their own unless the CDC first ends their recommendation that the test be required. This probably has more to do with legal ramification no cruise line wants to be sued by someone claiming they got COVID onboard a cruise. The CDC's recommendation is a problem for cruise lines as long as it exists. Should the recommendation go away that then may provide legal cover for cruise lines against someone looking to file a frivolous lawsuit. According to the article (link provided below) the CLIA is only asking for the CDC to remove its testing recommendation there are no signs yet that the industry is looking to move away from the vaccine requirement. The CDC finally caved into the pressure from the nations airlines, lets see if they extend that same courtesy to the cruise line industry. https://www.thestreet.com/investing/cruise-lines-call-for-cdc-to-change-covid-testing-policy

Day Seven: Hubbard Glacier It’s the last day of the cruise, but don’t worry, it’s not the end of my adventure or of my blog just yet. We tried to wake up early but I slept till 8 am. We got bundled up then went outside to see the glacier from the ship. It was pretty cold but the glacier looked so cool. There were pieces of ice floating all around in the water. There was this one piece that looked like a swan. Ice bird instead ice berg! We then got a quick breakfast and went back outside to get some more pictures with it. After we had seen every possible angle of the glacier my mom and I went to do some scrapbooking. It was only thirty minutes long so we only had time to get the supplies and make a little scrapbook out of the scrapbooking paper. It was fun and seems like a good idea to keep memories. Earlier this week we signed up for the egg drop. Now it was finally time to build it. We had a design that had a paper cup with balloons all around it and a parachute on top. We went to the ninth floor in the Centrum for the competition and if we had been launching straight down the egg would’ve been fine. Sadly they made us launch over a bar and it tipped and the egg fell out. We went to get lunch and on the way I found another duck! This one looked like a Wonder Woman duck and she was hiding by a ship map. Afterward we went to do a riddle contest. We only missed two questions but still lost. We stayed to do another trivia and got smoothies. The smoothies were amazing, but each was seven bucks so if you get one, enjoy it. I sure did, my strawberry one was amazing. My brother and I left in the middle of the trivia to go rock climb. Neither of us had rock climbed in a while so we couldn’t make it all the way to the top, but I think I did pretty good for it being my first time. We all met back in the cabin and got fancied up again. Since it was the last night there wasn’t any photos though. We went to a variety show that had two songs by the orchestra, a tango dance, and comedy. It was really good and all the performers were really talented. Next it was time for dinner. I had a Caesar salad, turkey, and apple blossom a la mode. It was all amazing, but I didn’t have time to stay for dessert so my brother brought it to me at teen karaoke. A friend and I sung “If I Had A Million Dollars” together. It was really fun and my dessert was still warm when I got to it. I went to play some ping pong with a friend and my brother. None of us were really good at it but we had tons of fun. I’m pretty sure we hit it on the floor more than on the table. At least it was entertaining. We went back to Optix one last time. We got out Twister and played a couple rounds though we weren’t really sure who won. We played a bit of foosball then had to leave. We got back to the room and helped finish packing till about 1:00 in the morning then we were out like a light. Stay tuned for my Alaska Adventure!

Showing my age here, anyone else remember Paul Harvey? As you have all been so kind and supportive through the trials and tribulations of my brother’s attempt at his first cruise, wanted to fill you in on the final outcome. 1. Royal refunded port taxes, fees, prepaid gratuities and DPB. 2. AON insurance issued FCCs for 90% of the unrefunded cruise fare. This was confusing because they issued 2 FCCs but he only received 1. They are reissuing the 2nd. 3. SWA returned the points used for the cancelled flights and gave them $650 in LUV anytime vouchers. So in the end he had to eat 10% of the cruise fare ($177 we had a very suite deal) and the cost of the insurance ($148). We are now looking for another cruise to book. I will take one for the team and go too (the things I do for my brother). I won’t ever be able to recreate the deal we had on Harmony but at least he got what I consider reasonable compensation for his ordeal. Thanks to all here, my RC family!

Day Six: Skagway We docked early today so we woke up early. We had a very quick breakfast then got started on exploring Skagway. We were supposed to have an excursion, but it was canceled so we just explored the city. We went shopping for a while. My brother got a lot of cool display souvenirs with moose and sled dogs on them. I got some earrings with the colors of the northern lights. After we were finished shopping, we decided to rent some bicycles and go around the city to see some nature on them. I think we were going to rent regular bicycles but then we found electric bicycles for only a little bit more. They had two modes on them. You could pedal with varying amounts of help from the engine or you could use the throttle. I got up to 20 miles per hour in both, but for most the time I was at around 16 mph. It was really really fun and my favorite experience yet. The shop we rented from we Klondike Electric Bikes and they were amazing. On the bikes we went to Gold Rush Cemetery which was really beautiful. There was a waterfall there and the water was really cold. Then we went back on the bikes and went a little farther to a little beach with a ton of rocks. We tried skipping rocks, but since we’d never done that before, none worked so we went back and returned the bikes. We shopped a little bit more, then decided to go on a hike. We went to Yakutania Point which was a hard hike since it was really windy. We stood on a giant rock that made it look like we could’ve just been blown off into the ocean. It was really fun, but very windy so we left to the ship. We got to do some Harry Potter trivia but we didn’t win. Then I rushed off to do teen table tennis. I’m very bad at table tennis so I only got to do the first round but it was really fun cause I got to do it with a friend. We got back to the room and I blogged a little bit. Yet again we got fancied up and got some more pictures done then went off to dinner. I got Caesar salad, spaghetti, and molten chocolate cake with ice cream. They were all absolutely amazing and the cake was to die for. We went to Optix and we played twister. I lost the first round, but tied the second. Then there was a Mario Kart tournament. I made it past the first round but lost in the second. It was still really fun. We went back to the room and fell asleep in a snap. Stay tuned for my Alaska Adventure!

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!

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!

Rome