Leaderboard

Rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby! Yikes, last night was a tough one for me. I almost went for my patch, but so far I didn't do it! Golfing above us went until late last night, about 2300hrs but after that the noise stopped. Labadee is glorious this morning!

I've always received a plastic bag for the C&A laundry that is specifically for shorts, t-shirts, pajamas, socks and underwear. However I've had nice t-shirts ruined by the acid they use in place of laundry soap for the C&A version. A nice RCI t-shirt I bought on board was good for one time only as I placed it in the C&A bag and it came back looking like a tye-dye gone wrong. That's happened more than once so now I only place sock, shorts and shirts I don't care about and underwear in there. Anything nice never goes in the C&A laundry. I'm pretty sure they use C&A guest laundry to clean the scrubbers on the stacks before they run it through the laundry. Once through the wash cycle they mop the floors with C&A guest laundry before drying in the exhaust gases where its 4,000 degrees. Once cooled overnight it's folded and returned to guests. Hiking shorts I have that with plastic belts and loops have melted in the C&A laundry service so now I make a point of writing on the bag "Dry low heat only". The paper bag is usually already in the closet for any guest who wants to pay for laundry using the price list above. I used that recently for jeans on two consecutive Alaska cruises. I wore my jeans a lot on those sailings so I cycled two pair through laundry while wearing a 3rd pair near the end of cruise 1 then alternated and did the same on cruise #2 so I always had clean jeans on hand. Sure it cost money ($11.50 for 2 pair) but it saved from trying to find a laundromat in between the two cruises with only one day to shuttle between Vancouver and Seattle so it was money well spent.

I wouldn't buy him alcohol if you suspect he is an alcoholic.

Santiago is back! I knew it unless he is reading this he was just having a bad day. Tonight, at cabin turn down not one but two towel animals and a cruise Compass! And, drum roll please, the return of my ice bucket with ice. I believe he saw I was able to commandeer another garbage can... At the Royal Theater now, a 70s and 80s music show. I'm looking forward to it!

Ya know what I think? I think this is a nice thread.

The suite lounge was standing room only, I ordered my ginger ale and left. I don't enjoy it like that & as an aside grown people walking past the sink, past the sanitizer right to the snacks offerings buffet style help yourself, just why? The youngsters tonight seemed sugared up and ready to rumble in there, poor Dudley. We made a quick exit. If we don't arrive earlier tomorrow we are going to skip the lounge moving forward, its kind of small for the capacity. The theater was packed at 1930 and the show started at 2000. Adam Kario juggler was announced after an entertaining musical number by the cast. CD Mark Bing Bong said we were in for a treat, eye roll I don't enjoy jugglers. OMG this guy Adam was hysterical,, the comedy along with the juggling had my eyes tearing, yes he was that good. The singing and dancing was nice but this guy stole the show. Great evening, tomorrow Labadee!

Can you believe it!!! I already got my OBC! We purchased the stocks yesterday. We filled out the PDF and emailed it last night. We got notification this afternoon. And the OBC appeared on my account just now! Happy Dance!!

Cutting my photos size seems to be working thanks @twangster. Room service, excellent! Loyalty "party" 14 pins seems to be not many top tiers pretty empty. Napkins folding super fun! OMG no ducks, I am looking like crazy.

Celebrity has changed their vaccine policy so anyone 17 or younger no longer requires a vaccine for thier European cruises.

Excuse me, did I come here for a lecture? This person is an adult, and it's his decision to do that he likes with his life. He really likes this alcohol that you can't get in the US and I'm getting it for him. Good lord people,relax.

Hello all. One of the Med ports with many options to choose from is Napoli. The port is very close to the city and to many attractions. One of the top attractions is the beautiful Island Capri. To tour Capri you have 3 options : Using boat tour (starts around 200$ PP without dinner) , use 3rd party vendor (around 140$) or tour yourself , I will focus on the tour yourself option. Even for tour yourself you can choose to take ferry tickets from the boat (99$ PP in the cruise planner) or to buy them directly (45 $ PP). When we decided to visit Capri RCL excursion for self Capri tour was already fully booked so we went and did it ourselves. There are two options when you buy the ferry ticket , one is to do it in the port or you can book them ahead of time , get a voucher and replace it in the port. We booked our ticket in https://www.capri.net/en/t/napoli/capri . When booking the ticket , please make sure you book the one that goes out of Molo Beverello , this is the fast ferry port and the one which adjust to the RCL peer. You will see many companies , but just book using the one that you like their schedule. We used LNG for the 8:35 am ferry going back at 16:30 PM, LNG have a very good advantage since they have special lines for online tickets. The ship is docking at 7 am so 8:35 is very doable. Since you need to convert the voucher to tickets , the safe time to go of the ship is around 8 am. If you want to buy ticket in the port take into consideration they are not accepting credit cards. Here is a "map" to the location : Since Capri is very poplar destination the key to enjoy it is to start the tour early morning before all the queues. We had some delays getting off the ship (our fault) so we only disembark at 08:18. It only 5 minutes from the ship to the ferry port. You need to go out of the port and cross the parking lot were many taxi driver will try to sell you a day tour to anywhere (I am sure if you will tell them you want to visit Rome they will say no problem). Before the end of the parking area go to the left were you will see the ferry areas and building . the first window is the LNG online ticket which I was happy to see as there was zero line and we exchange the tickets in no time. They also told us were to get the ferry and we got on it just on time. The ferry ride takes around 50 minutes. Once the ferry arrived Capri port you will see on your left side a small port were you can book a ride to the blue cave if you want or you can continue forward and right to the ticket booth were you can buy bus tickets to Capri and AnaCapri , funicular tickets or to take a Taxi. Bus and funicular tickets cost between 1.4 to 2 Euros PP one way. Taxi ride will cost around 20 Euros The ticket booth : We bought the funicular ticket to Capri , again since we came early their were no lines. To save some time we also bought tickets to the way back. The funicular entrance is 1 minute walk to the left to cave like entrench were you need to stamp the tickets and get in. The rides takes less than 5 minutes. The funicular will bring you near the main streets (if you can call it like that) of Capri were you can choose to roam around Capri or to take the buss near by to AnaCapri were you can take the chairlift (9 Euros both way) to the highest point in the Island. the chairlift takes around 10 minutes with a very nice view during and after the ride. Since we have done last time the chairlift we decide just to walk around Capri streets which some are located on the side of the hill . After that we went to drink some coffee in one of the coffee shops , Capri is very expensive but there are places which are more expensive from other , so please read the menu first if you don't to pay 7 Euros for espresso ... To Enjoy the view , we went to Augustus gardens in Capri (7 minutes from the funicular) , you pay 1.5 Euros and the view is amazing. It started to be hot and we decided that we would like to shorten the visit so around 1 PM we took the train down to the port and went to the ticket booth of the ferry to replace our 4:30 PM ferry tickets to something earlier . My spouse explain the situation to the lady in the booth using the Italian she learned long time ago and she happily replaced the tickets. Since we had time until we needed to board the ferry we went to one of the port restaurants (after checking the menu) and got a tasty lasagna and fresh salad , this plus two draft beer was around 28 Euros. When we went to the ferry docks we could see huge lines to the funicular and to the ticket booth , so again , come early Ferry ride back was 45 minutes and 7 minutes after we were back on the Wonder of the Seas. To conclude , going to Capri by yourself is easy and much cheaper if you direct buy the ferry tickets. The all on board was 7:30 PM which gives you enough time to do it without worries to miss the ship.

I was wondering about that. I almost missed the finger sandwiches because they were in the middle. But since I only had high tea once in England, I thought I was wrong. It is nice to find out I was not wrong. There goes the swelling of my head. LOL!!! In my hometown, they just opened a restaurant that serves high tea and elevenses. Maybe elevenses is more in line with what @WAYNO would like. I know my husband would like it. What is Elevenses for those who have not read the Hobbit: think sweet and savory breads, meats and cheeses. It is also cheaper than high tea - which my husband would also like. Ha Ha.

I think I'm in the same boat (ha!) but we're on a mission to do a lot of new things this cruise and we want to make it at least once. Then..it's back to Suite room service!

On the few occasions when we have had breakfast in the MDR, I have found it to be a far more relaxing and civilised experience than the WJ. But not so much better than I'm willing to get up early on purpose!

The US federal employee mandate expires June 20. Obviously that's not at all related to cruising but it does show a shift is happening.

Was told it had to go to resolution and they would call me back. Refused to hang up. Said I would wait. About an hour in now. But to their credit they check back with me every 20 minutes or so. I got all night and my phone charger is on my desk if I need it. Also to their credit, I got disconnected and was ready to go nuclear. As I was dialing back they called me.

Hmmmm maybe it would be nice to drop testing, allow unvax/vax to cruise but say it is required to bring 1 or 2 test depending on cruise length. They could use those cheap government style test and if at any point, you feel sick you test and be honest. Otherwise, you live life and continue to be careful and kind.

Oh boy. I must be having a lovely time, I just posted all about the Bamboo Room under dining and my Jamie's question. Readers digest version, Bamboo Room nice. No blue towels in room, QR code request yielded nothing. Will get on Barefoot Beach and the Beach Club I hope. Ice bucket went bye bye, did he think I would use it as a garbage? I asked for ice, he is not the best but I'm not complaining about him I can always make do just fine.

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).

I specifically cruise for two reasons. 1) I love the fact that I do not need to plan too many things in additional to the cruise itself. I don't need to call and figure out what restaurants to eat at etc. I don't need to worry if the restaurant is accessible. For me cruising is very convenient. Everything is right there. Essentially its a traveling all inclusive resort that moves to different ports. 2) I love the mulit-generational activities on board. I do a lot of traveling with grand parents, kids, other parents. It is nice knowing that there is something for everyone no matter the age. I personally think RCL has done a pretty good job of emphasizing this. I have family members that want to just do nothing and enjoy the sea breeze and read, while others want to go to the casino, and others who love the onboard shows. Cruises have a good mix of things for everyone in the family.

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!

I redeemed and my OBC came a few days later on my cruise planner. Hasn’t always been that quick in the past so I was happy.

Agree with above posts. The chicken wings were also tasty and crunchy.

Skipped breakfast and walked to Bare Foot Beach. It was nothing short of breathtaking in the morning only one other couple, no kids yet so right in the water we went. Landed amazing chairs and umbrella up front on the beach, retrieved our towels and floating mats and the water was our for about 40 minutes. Cabanas, remember those prices? Huh, one over water and two standards booked, that's it all others remained empty. Um, hello Mr. Liberty are you listening? Lower the price and you will rent more yielding $$$ the cruiseline needs, gees!! I'll crop and have more pics later. Lovely day at Labadee!!!

You can’t rely on the honesty of people! I’d feel much safer if they kept the vaccine mandatory for cruising since the constant close contact.

So it seems the only thing to do on that ship is eat and sunbathe.

Often D+ and Pinnacle will talk about this in the lounge and it's not unusual to hear other frequent cruisers say they won't put anything nice in the free laundry service. I know I am not alone as someone who has been disappointed by it. But they do a good job on socks and underwear so not all is lost.

My MEI agent worked their magic to get it turned around.

I believe the paper one is for the Diamond Plus benefit. If you pay, you get the plastic one.

I thought it was a fun thread!

There are 2 different types of bags. There is a paper one and there is a plastic one. Frankly, I have no idea what the difference is between the 2 of them. I just know that I can get more into the plastic one than I can into the paper one....plus the plastic one comes with a tear-off ribbon that acts like a "tie" to secure the bag. @Kathleenhad an excellent piece of advice. Always check with your room attendant on the first day to find out if there is a certain day(s) for the wash special. Some ships in the past only had the special (or if it's C&A freebie or discount) on certain days so if doing wash is something you are anticipating, be sure that there are no limits (or if there are, what those limits are) on when or how you can submit your bags of laundry.

Taxi. Just make sure you get the driver to tell you the price before you leave (rates are fixed by zone) because they're known for scamming on price.

FCC gets issued when it's good and ready! Sometimes it's a week, sometimes even after 45 days we have to beg for it to be issued. You can call or have your TA call and do it for payment so soon.

YIPPEE !!!!

i think you hsve your answer already but yes, all the uploading is basically worthless as i have to show my passport and vax card every time even though they have digital copies already ... makes no sense but it is what it is.

It's a no from me.

I went on this cruise, plus I live in Europe. Everything on that itinerary is easy (and safe) to do on your own. If you have any specific questions you can DM me. Going on Wonder again next week (same itinerary) Tourist trap: all those websites and on-site sellers who sell you 'skip the line' tickets. For all attractions you can just go to their own website and buy tickets in advance. This is as 'skip the line' as it will get and much cheaper. Especially in Rome there are a lot of fake sellers out there. They even show you an ID so it looks like they are 'official'.

Eagle LNG To Introduce Caribbean-Based Vessels to Fuel Royal Caribbean Group Ships

Just to be clear the time is not a boarding time. It a check in time to arrive at the terminal for the wellness check. The ship will almost certainly not be boarding at 10am and probably not boarding at 10:30am. There will almost certainly be waiting time in the terminal until the ship boards. Nonetheless 10am or 10:30am are great early times to secure that will allow you to be among the first to board once CBP determines the ship can commence boarding which could be anytime but typically before noon.

The stacking is all wrong in this picture. Per my English friends, you start at the bottom tier with savory (finger sandwiches and the like), then you move up to the middle tier for scones, then finally to the top tier for sweets. Not sure if you need your Pinky finger out or not.

I just checked in last night and received at 10 AM boarding time, so I have to assume that porters will be around and at the ready when your family arrives!

1030 will be the earliest boarding time, although based on my recent experience (5/29 cruise) you can get to the terminal, through security and checked in by 1000/1015. You'll be directed to a seating area and when it's time to board, they'll call you by the area/row you're seated in. There will be plenty of porters there to take your luggage.

This is definitely something to take care of ASAP. I have read many accounts of people getting “balance due” emails; some of them are told not to worry about it - IT glitch, we’ll take care of it and then wham ! Cruise cancelled for non-payment. While those tales generally end with the cruise being re-instated at the original cruise fare, any Cruise Planner purchases which automatically get cancelled when the cruise gets cancelled, do NOT get re-instated and are not price protected. You have to rebook those at prevailing rates which, of course, are considerably higher than what you originally paid. I would advise that when you call, do not hang up the phone until you get a new confirmation showing a -0- balance due. It’s rather sad that this same issue keeps coming up again and again and the cruise line keeps cancelling these cruises over and over again. You’d think that with this being such a common “glitch”, that they would hold off cancelling the cruise until they could confirm that it truly is a non-payment situation.

I am totally onboard with this. Still allow for full refund cancellations for testing positive within the 10 days prior to sailing. The one time I sailed on NCL since the restart they tested at the port right before you boarded, covered by the cruiseline You also had to test on your own within 72 hours of boarding. That self test was your insurance policy to get the refund if you popped positive on the boarding test. If you couldn't prove that you had tested negative within the 72 hours prior to boarding and were denied boarding because of the positive test, you weren't eligible to get any assistance from NCL or a refund. It was a prescreening for the embarkation day testing; positive at the 72 hour mark then you apply for a refund and don't show at the port to sail.

I would like to see at least one or both go but I can understand the need to keep one or the other for liability sakes. Liability is really the only issue I can see as a stop gate to dropping testing and vax requirements. Because the ship is a sort of "closed" environment, anyone who catches anything will try to sue. I would say if they could include language in the cruise contract that absolves the line of liability, it would make it easier. But people don't read the contracts now, it would just make the lines look bad. If they do get rid of testing, I believe it will happen after the summer is over.

Not looking for an argument but stating my thoughts that have been eating at me for awhile now: So not only would I love to see the pre-cruise testing stop…how about allowing the unvaccinated back onboard? I have never taken sides and I do not think it is my place to do so. I am me…and nobody else. I am vaccinated and boosted (twice) and got COVID for the first time 2 weeks ago after returning from a family vacation to Disney. There were nine of us and only 2 did not get sick…both unvaccinated! I think this virus is pretty close to becoming our next head cold or flu. Some will get very sick…some will have mild symptoms…some will never get sick! So…….why are the unvaccinated still being penalized this late in the game? I certainly hope my thoughts here do not start a war on words…but I feel better having finally stated how I think.

Headed to airport soon. Only mistake of this trip was renting a car at Barcelona airport. Rental took along time and price quoted online didn’t include lots of extra fees added on. We drove south along coast about an hour to Sitges. I hadn’t done my research and after checking into hotel and seeing room and vibe at hotel pool we decided to leave. They would not refund us even though it was only 1pm and we didn’t use room. I put in a dispute with my credit card company. We ended up driving back to Barcelona, past Wonder and got a hotel in Gothic quarter. The extra time in Barcelona was enjoyable. In summary, I don’t recommend renting a car and leaving Barcelona unless plans are well researched. Ended up being an expensive mistake with car rental cost, parking and time. Lessened learned. Other than this, the trip was amazing and we plan to be home late tonight after our 13 hour flight home.

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!

Once all the infrastructure is in place, this is going to blow the doors off all current Internet on ships. I wonder if Starlink will even let their service be exclusive to one line. Glad to see Royal getting in front of this now.

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!