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Day 4 - At Sea I will say that if you tend toward seasickness, an itinerary in the North Sea might not be for you. Last night we had 30 foot swells most of the night. Several passengers actually switched rooms in the middle of the night because their cabins were “too loud, with lots of creaking and popping”, including the one directly below us. Personally I feel it just sounded like a ship at sea, but maybe they were more used to larger ships. Dunno. Morning saw much smoother sailing. There was a Blue Nose ceremony at 10:30am, a champagne toast at 5pm, and a balloon drop at 5:15pm. We also got certificates for crossing the Arctic Circle. There have been lots of activities, including various trivia, bingo, art auctions, and the like. I will send in the Cruise Compasses at the end. I’ve gotten behind already in posting food pictures, so here’s a bunch, in no particular order, to catch up! Lunch at Izumi, but we mostly failed at getting photos. Here’s karaage and potstickers: From the MDR or room service: Pepper Steak Pie: Classic Cheesecake: Seafood cake: Braised Short Ribs: Chicken Schnitzel: Classic chocolate cake: Steak Oscar: Jaffa cake: And here’s a jaunty hippo!

“The Starry Neighbor (Neighbour?) Chronicles: Pining for the Fjords” – Anthem of the Seas, July 8th-15th, 2022 PININ' for the FJORDS?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that? This cruise…long awaited, cancelled, booked again, wasn’t sure if was going to happen, now it looks like it might. That’s definitely the definition of “pining”! We started this journey pre-pandemic when @Matt announced the Anthem Group Cruise to Norway for July 2021. We had never entertained sailing to the Fjords prior to that but could not pass on the opportunity to sail with friends and sail an itinerary that is out of the norm for us. We all know what happened after that. Pandemic came, GC was cancelled, goodbye Norway sailing. When European sailings were released for Summer 2022, we discussed in detail what we would want to do. At the time (it was December 2020), we were still in the height of the pandemic, and it seemed crazy to even thinking about travelling internationally. It was a toss up between a Greek Isle sailing or try again for Norway. We let the kids decide. One kid loves nature and the other loves big cities, neither one has even been to Europe. It was an easy decision to try again for Norway, which would have us sailing out of Southampton. That checks off nature (the Fjords) for one, and the big city (London) for the other. After we decided on the itinerary, the next part was deciding how big we would go for this sailing. I promise that I have always had in my mind that we would do a smaller, older ship for Europe. It was beyond my control that the only ship offering this sailing (in July 2022 which we needed) is Anthem of the Seas. It is also beyond my control that Anthem’s only suites with aft views (which I really wanted for the Fjords) are the Star Class lofts. I was good, I held several cabin categories and waited for Hubby to come home. Then I sent a message to @GregD telling him of our plans. We (Hubby, @GregD, The Boss, and I) were supposed to sail the original Odyssey Inaugural together in November 2020 along with a ton of other blog/Insider friends, so we were sharing our misery together over that lost sailing. The conversation went like this: Me: I am pretty sure the GC to Norway is not going to happen so this is the replacement in 2022. Prices are way better than 2021. I am thinking of Star, and I want those aft views of the Fjords. Greg: Yeah, star class would be awesome on Quantum class ships with all those activities. Me: We’ve been on Anthem twice already. Hubby really wants to try SC on Anthem. (See my justification there ) Me: YOLO Book It! for you and fam? LOL Greg: I will talk to the boss. The Boss: Norway is a must do, and if we are looking at a third cruise being cancelled, STAR CLASS IS A REQUIREMENT!! Me: Woohoo! @WAAAYTOOO said to stay away from the corner lofts, they are way smaller. Greg: Yup. Greg: So, I did a thing… (sends email to TA to inquire) Me: Let me know how it plays out. ---Day after--- Greg: STAR CLASS NEIGHBORS! And so, the “Starry Neighbor (Neighbours?) Chronicles” begins!

Today would be a good day to announce major protocol changes with all the other stuff in the headlines that would push cruise protocols to the back page.

Perspective from the other neighbour (neighbor?) It seems so long ago when COVID wasn’t a thing, but our story started out on Empress. The Boss (Heather) and I were looking for an adults only cruise. There was an 8(9?) night Eastern Caribbean BVI cruise that we had booked. The week we booked happened to include Heathers birthday. I remember reading a @twangster blog that got me interested in that Itinerary. We had one of the aft owners suites booked I think. As time went on Heather was nervous about being on a little ship (she is prone to motion sickness) but we liked the idea of going to places that the bigger ships couldn’t get into I remember when @Matt announced the 2021 group cruise in Norway, and I thought this sounds like a great experience. I brought it up to The Boss who much to my surprise thought the same thing. As she tells it, she never thought about going there, but now that the idea was in her head, why not. We decided that Empress was out and Norway was in, so we jumped ship and the group cruise was booked. That cruise was also our Anniversary, so why not celebrate with friends. We booked one of the short lived spa balcony rooms, because suite prices were stupid money at the time. The Boss figured if she couldn’t get her suite, the spa bonus was a consolation prize and we didn’t need all that space since it was just us adults. At the time, we had a GS Odyssey Inaugural, a GS2BR on Liberty, plus an A2 on Oasis booked, so something had to give. Boy did it give. COVID happened and things started getting cancelled. We were so excited to be on those group cruises so that we could finally meet some of these people that we interact with online. The Boss was fully ready to learn from the Suite Snob master herself. As things were going from bad to worse, I remember getting that message from Sabrina about shifting the Norway cruise to the following summer. I told The Boss about it, and she demanded Star Class. You all have seen how that conversation went. After messaging my TA, and what seemed like eternity later, the switch was made again, and we all became Star Class neighbors, and the chronicles began. We couldn’t just stop there though. We also decided to make this an even bigger vacation. The plan was to do two days in Southampton pre cruise, then 5 days in London after the cruise. If you have read my previous Navigator blog, you saw how we like to surprise our kids. Well, we are at it again. The kids are now coming with us, and they have no idea. They think that they are staying at the grandparents while The Boss and I are on the cruise. They still think we are in a balcony room, so the star class room will also be a surprise to them. The plan of attack for letting them in on this is that my dad will drop us off at the airport. The kids will ride along, since they are going to his house after, and they will get the first surprise in the parking lot when we get there. We will still tell them we are in a standard balcony room until we get to the terminal and find the star class banner with an “oops…did we forget to mention we were star class too?" As we have gotten closer we have been teasing the kids about the things that we are doing. One of the booked excursions ends at the top of a mountain with a snack of waffles. Johnny lamented “but I like waffles.” Lydia was also whining about not going. We told her that she wouldn’t have any fun. The cruise will be mostly scenery and mountains, to which she replied tearfully “I love mountains….” Will the kids end up in therapy from their parents lying to them all the time? Maybe. Is it worth it for the surprises? Definitely.

The bottom line is that society must learn how to live with this new virus much like society has learned to live with other viruses. We collectively have taken great strides forward from the days when there were lockdowns and vaccine passports implemented in some form in various cities and countries. Those have all but disappeared and we are free to go watch Top Gun in a packed movie theater sitting beside strangers with no protocols for 3 hours. Yet cruising is still subject to excessive government regulation and the only industry subject to the scrutiny of government oversight related to the virus to this extent.

Well to be fair to the person who revived this thread, I wish more people would simply search the forum for their questions, read the past thread, and then go ahead and revive the thread and ask their additional questions. Ever since I started the CHeck-In process thread and provided tons of detailed info about a month ago, SEVERAL new threads asking questions that are answered in my post popped up. So yeah, old thread but thank you @Andrew patchingfor continuing the thread instead of creating another one.

We've got someone on Freedom this weekend to test out Starlink So far, looks very promising

I wanted to share a recent issue I had on Mariner with in App Booking/Reserving and the ships Voom WIFI. For the first 2 days on our 6 day cruise I couldn't book or reserve anything in the Royal App. It was always greyed out and just kept saying "Ship Wi-Fi needed for booking." despite me being connected to the Mariner VOOM Wi-FI. My wife had the same issue on her iPhone but two people in my party with Androids had no issues. I eventually had some time to troubleshoot and the fix was related to Apple iOS Privacy Settings under the Wi-Fi Access Point Information Settings. It appears that the privacy setting for "Limit IP Address Tracking" prevents the ship from knowing you're actually on the ship. If you run into this issue, here is how I resolved it: Steps: Settings -> Wi-Fi -> select the Information (i) icon next to the ships SSID (WiFi-Guest-Mariner for me). On those settings you'll see "Limit IP Address Tracking". Disable that setting and then close and reopen the Royal Caribbean App and the button should now be live. I've attached a screenshot in case anyone would like to see the visual. Hopefully this helps someone in need in the future. It was super annoying not being able to use the app!

Just remember an early check-in time does not necessarily equate to an early boarding time because even though you've gone through check-in the ship may not be cleared to board for some time later.

Honestly, for us, its no longer the fear of getting Covid. Cruise Industry policies for Covid protocols mean very little to us now that we have done a post-pandemic cruise. The single biggest thing for us is for the CDC/Government to do something about Covid quarantining in general. I am a vaxxer, pro-masks (for us-those who chose not to mask are no longer my concern), and pro-mitigation. We loved our cruise so much that even IF we got Covid on the cruise (having been vaxxed and having had Covid twice now), we would have thought it was worth it. BUT it is after the cruise that affects us. We wouldn't be able to go back to work and earn back the money we spent on the cruise. We would have to be stuck at home quarantined while thinking about how much fun we had, etc. Kids would have to stay home from school/summer school, etc...

UGH...I have been thinking about our next cruise non-stop since last week....I am thinking smaller scale now just to get my fix. I now see why and how many of you have so many cruises under your belts. I never felt this way cruising Carnival....just saying.

well then i'm screwed.

Problem with the color coding is this is purely historic data using very unrealistic thresholds. It is rather meaningless in predicting future cruises. Really all that should matter are percentage of cases that require medical care not available on board ship. While that too doesn't project future cruises, it does show the true impact of covid on board since the whole point of these protocols was to prevent onboard medical staff from being overwhelmed. Frankly they may be more overwhelmed with the quarantine rules than they would without.

Order history is an option if you click on your initials in the white circle at the top right.

Even with a GTY, you can call and ask to be moved to another available cabin within your category. Maybe they could move you back to the original cabin. You won't know if you don't try ! Good luck and have a great cruise.

We had an excellent obstructed balcony cabin on our recent Odyssey sailing. It was 6622, which we actually chose based on @twangster's predictions in the original post. Lots of open space and water. It was hardly obstructed at all, as you can see from the pics below. All of the pics were taken standing up at the rail except for the last one, which I deliberately took sitting down to demonstrate what the view would be like from that position. The seating area just beneath us was rarely used, so we were never bothered with noise and, since the smoking deck on Odyssey is on the port side, there was no smoke to worry about either. The only thing to be aware of is that, if you are on your balcony, you are visible to people on the deck beneath you, so you'd not want to be doing anything out there that would be best left unseen! Also, the cabin next to ours, 6624, would have an even better view but it's a 3-berth cabin so it would be a great choice for a family of three. The location of this cabin is great too. Not quite half-way between the two sets of lifts, making it really convenient to get anywhere on the ship and, of course, just one deck up from the public areas, restaurants, Two70 etc on deck five. I would highly recommend this cabin if you're looking to save a few pennies by booking an obstructed balcony.

I think that one thing that, at least, I have learned about Royal (probably others as well) is that next to nothing is standardized between ships, embarkation locations, sailings, sailing dates, crew availability, and destinations.

Who doesn't love a balcony cabin? It seems a lot of people do because balcony cabins are one of the most popular types of cabins offered to cruisers. What could be better than reading a book, eating breakfast or enjoying a favorite beverage on your very own balcony overlooking the ocean? Budget minded cruisers can't always afford the extra cost associated with a cabin that includes a dedicated balcony exclusively for that guest. Enter the obstructed balcony. Cabins with obstructed views are nothing new to the cruise industry. For decades cruise ships have had oceanview and balcony cabins in places where ship equipment or superstructure ends up blocking the view. The obstruction could be a lifeboat, window washing equipment or structural pieces that are required in various places around a ship. Quantum class ships feature a design where the lifeboats are stored near the level of deck 5 for quick access in the event of an emergency. Their location while optimal for quick and easy access in an emergency it does mean they obstruct some views for select balcony cabins on deck 6. The good news is these deck six cabins are offered as obstructed balconies at a discount perfect for budget minded cruise guests who are willing to accept an obstruction in the name of saving money. It's pretty clear when selecting these cabins they are obstructed so no one should be surprised the first time they walk into their cabin. What isn't clear when selecting a particular obstructed balcony cabin is how obstructed one cabin may be compared to another in the same category. Not all obstructed balcony cabins are equally obstructed. Lifeboats are supported and lowered into the water by davits. Davits are very strong structural towers that can raise or lower a fully loaded lifeboat. The davits that support lifeboats themselves are an obstruction that also block the views for some deck 6 balcony cabins on Quantum class ships. Davits can block more view compared to a lifeboat since davits are taller than the lifeboats they support. Consider this picture of Ovation of the Seas. The deck 6 obstructed ocean view cabins within the green area in the picture merely have to look over the lifeboat which sits close to or just below the height of the balcony railing. A few cabins in either direction the lifeboat davits impose a much greater obstruction. The cabins highlighted in yellow may be partially blocked by a davit towards one end of the balcony. For someone picking a cabin on a deck plan it isn't immediately evident which obstructed balconies have less obstruction versus cabins that have greater obstruction. Now we get to the whole point of this post. Here is a preliminary guide to which cabins have davits in front of them and are therefore more obstructed. Using various videos and photos from Odyssey of the Seas during her construction and conveyance I've estimated which balconies are more likely to have a greater obstruction. Since no guest has actually sailed on Odyssey when this post was written this is a preliminary version until guests can begin boarding and provide feedback with respect to these obstructed balcony cabins. Since this is a preliminary guestimate follow through with your own research to make sure you pick the best obstructed deck 6 cabin for your needs. Note that each ship within this class has slightly different variations of lifeboats and where davits are placed. In addition there are at least four different types of lifeboats used on each ship. Consequently you need to be careful drawing conclusions based on guest feedback from other ships within this class. The image above may be a little blurry from web page compression so I am also including a PDF version that should be easier to read. Odyssey Deck 6 Obstructed Balcony Guide.pdf Obstructed ocean view cabins are a great way to enjoy all the benefits of having your own balcony while saving money if you don't mind an obstructed view. If you book early you can often enjoy your pick of cabins within this category all at the same price. By selecting carefully you can enjoy a much less obstructed view while saving hundreds of dollars that can be put into beverage packages or shore excursions.

You can test any time after midnight TONIGHT. At 12:01 a.m. it will be Saturday which is two calendar days prior to your sail date. For our Alaska cruise in May, we did our test for 9:00 a.m. EDT on Wednesday for an 11:00 a.m. PDT boarding on Friday. That's 53 hours before boarding.

During a conference call with investors Carnival Corporation refused to rule out selling one or more of their 9 brands to raise cash. Carnival did not dispute rumors that they could sell their Seabourn brand, Holland America brand or other brands as means to raise cash all the CEO said was the company would evaluate all options including the sail of brands. It was revealed that because of the Covid shut down Carnival Corporations debt has ballooned to $35.1 Billion dollars and the interest on that debt is costing Carnival $120 Million dollars every month. Carnival reveal that while they are doing extremely well here in the U.S., they are not doing so well in Europe. Although other cruise lines are doing well in Europe Carnival Corporation revealed they have experiencing more as they put it "challenges" in Europe in regards to demand. This is why Carnival is taking 3 cruise ships from Costa one in 2022 will go permanently to Australia a 2nd Costa ship will set sail from New York starting in 2023 and a third Costa ship will set sail from Long Beach in 2024. According to Carnival's CEO they are moving and will move ships from brands that are experiencing weaker demand to brands where demand is strong. https://thepointsguy.com/news/carnival-corporation-cruise-brand-sale-question/

The @Lovetocruise2002pre-cruise plan is as follows: July 3rd: DTW-LHR. Delta, booked through Air2Sea. Hopefully no flight drama and lost luggage like last time. I will not be able to function as well this time if I lose my luggage. July 4th - 8th: Spending a few days in London, England. We have Harry Potter fans here so the girls are really looking forward to that. My 16 year old is just looking forward to "all things British" as she puts it. This will be their first time across the pond and Hubby and I have not been to London since 2004! The excitement is real. July 8th - Blackberry Cars (who has excellent reviews on TripAdvisor and has been extremely pleasant to deal with pre-travel) will pick us up from our London hotel and drive us to Southampton. I will admit, I am way more nervous about testing for this sailing than any other one since the restart, because we are spending those days in London before the cruise. At this point, not much more we can do but hope for the best. I was really hoping that Royal would ditch the testing for Southampton sailings in time for our cruise but no such luck. However, one good thing is that when we got the protocols email a week ago, Royal has now put in writing that they will accept Switch Health test for pre-cruise for Canadians. That will save us some money rather than having to find a place to test in London.

TAs are independent contractors who either hold a CLIA number and other industry certifications or work for an agency (I think almost all are 1099 contractors with them) and have been trained. Customer Service reps with Royal are trained by the cruise line and can't book outside their company's system.

I'd like to see RC source their own "brand" of bourbon. I mean it's all coming from MGP anyway, but it'd be an interesting novelty to serve "Royal Caribbean Whiskey"

From Royal's Website: "What's Included Unlimited visits to speciality dining restaurants every night of your sailing and lunch on sea days. For restaurants with a la carte pricing, you’ll receive a $35 food credit, with the exception of Port Side BBQ and Playmakers which will be $20. For ships with these venues, Teppanyaki/Izumi Hibachi is included, with a $10 surcharge, Chef's Table is included, with a $49.99 surcharge, and Dadong is included, with a $35 surcharge. These will be charged once onboard." So it'd be, basically, $100 for two people for the Chef's Table. And the wine is included (probably where that $50 charge is mostly coming from).

On our June 10 sailing, they only had minor issues with certain cheaper brands of champagne and red wines. Crown, Kraken, what have you...I had them all! Drank way more than I did even in my college years LOL!

That’s just one of the reasons we were glad for the older teens. Lol

That's some good thinking there!

Now we are deviating from the original context. "Are Royal's Phone Answerers Legally Required To Be TAs?" removing the legal condition from the question... A person who is hired to work in a contact center (phone answerer) for any company does not necessarily need to be industry certified to work as a contact center agent. The company will likely establish policy and training requirements that an individual should meet before they begin to interact with customers. That's just basic business sense, but those are defined within the company. In the context of Royal Caribbean a contact center agent can access Royal's reservation systems and not be certified by a 3rd party to do so. Royal doesn't use SABRE, Royal uses its own in-house reservation system so no 3rd party can impose requirements for accessing their system. Unlike legacy airlines that tended to outsource their booking and reservation platforms, cruise lines mostly have their own in-house platforms.

Ah...Let me clarify....if you have a 11 am check in, get there early. As to your idea that boarding time are staggered for a reason, that is correct on a practical level. But in order to achieve what you suggest, EVERYONE has to show up at their boarding times and no one can show up early. I do not mean to suggest that anyone boarding at 1 pm should show up at 11 am, but we all know that the 1 pm group does not all get on between 11 and 11:30. There are ALWAYS those idiots who did not do their due diligence and are missing documents. We cannot control that. I think that those of us who are ready shoud be rewarded, hence show up a little early.

The simple answer is no. Legally there is no requirement for any one to be a travel agent who is employed or contracted to work in the travel industry.

We just got off the ship and the escape room was amazing. It was extremely well done with great ‘decorations’ and PLENTY of different puzzles for our group of 12 to do. We got out with 6:41 left. You book it on the app under ‘Mission Control’. We looked under Escape Room and had trouble finding it at first.

At least you have some time. I sail Monday and this issue is still not resolved. I received another balance due email last night. I guess I will call them one more time tonight when I get home, then just hope for the best Monday morning. Didn't I read somewhere the reservations are transferred to the ship two days before sailing? That would be tomorrow. This has been a terrible experience. I imagine I will book again with Royal, the casino offers are too good to pass up, but this has put a bad taste in my mouth that will likely linger for quite a while

I have seen/heard more than once the filet at Giovannis was better than Chops. We were at Giovannis first night and it was the best meal we had on that trip. Several of us had the filet and it was indeed tremendous.

Another point about GTY which you will want to remember for your next cruise. The room that gets assigned to you can be anywhere on the ship. Forward, Aft, lower deck, higher deck, mid-ship, obstructed view…however most of the “optimal” rooms most likely will have been self-chosen. Therefore what you are assigned may not be in the best location. I prefer mid-ship or aft (always more aft than forward) and higher decks. Because of that I will never book with a GTY because if I was assigned a forward lower deck room it would most definitely ruin my cruise. Back to your point of why did they change your assigned room…because you did not actually choose it…it likely was still “open” to be assigned by a TA or Royal to someone requesting that particular room or location. GTY is a promise you will receive the type of room you have paid for but it is more of a “last call” type of assignment. Typically this type of room is not assigned until very close to sail date. BTW…what ship are you on tomorrow? Perhaps you can go to Guest Services once onboard to ask if there are any rooms in your category available that you might prefer? Come back and let us know how your cruise turns out!

THIS! Exactly, I always declare and have never had to pay. I think its when you don't declare it and they find it, and they can fine you, they make it worth their time?

As long as they keep Wonderland though October so my Sister can try it for her birthday that will be fine by me, LoL

Hooked, on the Wonder, has the best steak (and you get included lobster). We have eaten at Chops over a dozen times - very good overall. I tried to deviate from the filet one time and was severely disappointed and sent the bone in ribeye back for a filet. Mason Jar is also better than Chops. RCL needs to banish Wonderland and bring in Hooked / Mason Jar as replacements.

Only been to Chops on Anthem (twice) and we really enjoyed ourselves both times. One was a full capacity pre covid cruise, the other reduced was a reduced capacity post covid cruise. I always have the filet and the wife always has some kind of fish (she is not mad about red meat). Never a complaint in fact we indulged in a bottle of Moet last time and REALLY enjoyed ourselves.

Before 9/11 when you could bring liquids onto planes in carry-on I brought dozens of wine bottles back from South America. Declared everything and CBP said "Welcome home". Always declare it and have never been required to pay duties or taxes that they could impose.

Not here in the UK. However we have extra consumer rights when booking cruises in the UK, so maybe that makes up for their lack of expertise, LOL.

Thank you so much! I appreciate you telling me who you work with. I know every TA has their strenghts and I love the TA you recommend has a lot of cruise experience. We just got off Ovation...such an amazing ship!

Thank you for your reply! I do prepare to be assign with any stateroom. Just didn't think after they assigned you once, they can re-assign you again and again and again until 24hours before my embarkation. That's a bit wired to me... But at least now I know what GTY really means...

If "home" means the U.S. of A. an issue is Duty (Taxes) on the bottles of alcohol you bring back. Duty free doesn't mean quantity free. You can only bring back X amount of bottles/milliliters per person. If you are willing to pay the "Duty" on any over authorization amount of alcohol, you can bring what you want. Don't forget the Kraken!

Yes. Normally upon returning to the ship when you go through the security on the ship you will place bags on the x ray. Once they see the bottles they will flag you to go to a table where they collect the items which will be returned to on the last night of the cruise. Your cruise is slightly differemt. September 25 is from Barcelona. In Barcelona there is a wine store right in the cruise terminal after security. You can bring those bottles right on the ship to your cabin. In the Med they implement different policies for wine on board.

Same. I do miss cruising, but the most important thing is to be able to vacation with friends and family, that means doing something that welcomes everyone, regardless of vaccination status. Thankfully there are loads of places. Actually I think cruises might be the last to let it go. It's a shame, it's going to cost them a lot of money.

That's not me. I got that off the Internet. This is me: That was after a milestone of losing 85 pounds. Opps, sorry, this is the picture of me:

I would firmly disagree with people arriving more than 30min before their boarding time. This is why the lines, are what they are. If everyone has copies of documents and everything in order, then the check-in and boarding process will be a snap. There is a purpose to having staggered boarding times: someone with a 1pm boarding time shouldn't be there at 11:30 because they cause issues for people who will/should be boarding at that time.

I suspect what's going on is the inability to shake the legacy of Concordia.

I have a done the Hartleys Undersea Walk and horeshoe beach.