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Do yourself a favor - check your luggage.

I guess that's why surge protectors are banned...

Walking Prague This is day 2 in Prague and I spent the day walking the Old Town. I just head down streets, turn left, turn right, and see what there is to see. I ended up making my way to the river and was able to walk the river path for miles. Before I knew it I hadn't made a large circle around town and crisscrossed the Old Town center. By then I was ready to go back to my room and take my jet lag nap. After the sun went down I went back out on the streets down to the big Avenue that had all the new stores and restaurants at it. The avenue has two lanes going each way and a large section in the middle with benches. This area was packed with kids hanging out. I found out that school has not started yet so they are all out on the town. Now I'm back in my room and trying to get some sleep before I could get up in the morning and have my train ride from Prague to Copenhagen. Talk to you tomorrow

Sorry, I don't buy this. I don't believe there's any sort of guest profile that follows you from cruise to cruise beyond your C&A status. Nothing in my experience backs that up. Plus I only use the envelopes maybe 1/4 of the time as I usually just hand cash to the crew.

Another question would be did the emergency response crew have to show proof of vaccine and a negative test result before being able to board

Came across cruise ship singer Byron James TikTok whose been performing on Oasis and Wonder. Actually, my wife brought this to my attention since I'm not a TikTok aficionado, so I thought I'd share. Performers life onboard If you'd like to check it out: https://www.tiktok.com/tag/cruiseshipsinger?lang=en

My first day in Prague OK if you've been to Prague and you love it so my colon please don't read any further:). I had breakfast at the hotel and it was pretty good mixture between American breakfast European breakfast and a British breakfast. If you don't understand that statement American see bacon and eggs for breakfast. A European breakfast is more cheeses and fruits in little slices of meat. British breakfast it's usually running your eggs and pork and beans. My hotel is right near the center of the older town so it's great for walking. I took off walking looking at things heading towards the Old Town square. As I got near it and in it I just kept thinking big tourist town. The person at the hotel said I could have taken another route but that was newer town with the lots of shopping. I got down into the Old Town square and sat down to get a drink and watch people right in front of the Prague Astronomical Clock. I knew at this location I was going to pay a high price for a drink, but for a very inexpensive town I ended up paying $10 for a single drink. The person taking my order didn't speak hardly any English but I was able to figure out their drink selection wasn't great and I ended up ordering a drink. I ended up enjoying my drink and watching all these people stand around waiting for this clock to go off on the top of the hour. The closer it got to the hour the more crowded the place got. And then finally the top of the hour the clocks struck... hundreds of people watching... And two windows opened and different figurines of priests spun in a circle. I had my camera ready waiting for that really great picture of what's going to happen... And I never took a picture. That was pretty much it. Prague great tourist attraction was a big dud. I got up and started heading towards The Charles bridge. The area was actually really neat, the streets and the buildings is kind of what you see in Harry Potter. The buildings were all different looking colors shapes they're all tall very narrow streets and a lot of people. I got over to the Charles bridge and it was a neat bridge, very old, with different statues spaced out over it. I made the mistake and looked at the water... very dirty. The bridge was simi crowded with people selling items and people taking pictures. After I got 2/3 of the way past the bridge I got to this one plaque that was a picture of a person with the dog and on the other side a crowd of people hanging a man upside down over the edge of a bridge. Part of the plague is a bright gold color from people touching it for good luck. While I was standing there looking at it, a young man told me that you're supposed to touch the crotch of the man hanging upside down for the best luck. Well I had to, so I touched the crotch and instantly felt good luck coming my way. Let's see if it happens. After getting off the bridge I wandered over to a spot that was hidden, you had to know where you were going. I followed my map and got to this little bitty Street, back of nowhere and there was a bunch of people standing by this wall. I started looking at this wall and it was the first time in a long time as actually felt touched by something; I was impressed and actually felt something. I looked at this wall and it made me feel like I was a part of something really big. This was the Lennon Wall. It's based off of John Lennon's death and all these people have come to express their feelings in poetry and art. In my opinion if you come to Prague the Lennon Wall is the number one thing to see. From the linen wall I ordered my bolt car. It cost me $4 to travel about a 15 minute ride. I ended up going to the train restaurant. Before I explain anything I know this it's just a big tourist trap but they do it right. I got there and got seated and you pay a tourist price for a meal. It was actually a very very good hamburger that I got based off the recommendation of the waitress. If you go there don't get the Raspberry lemonade, it was pretty bad. Next to your table our train tracks and your drinks are brought up next to you by a train and you pull them off the train and the train goes on its way. Little bit later here comes the train again and it had my hamburger and fries. It was worth the $18 for the mail just for the enjoyment, it being a different restaurant, and just watching the kids get so excited to see the train come to their table. After a pretty good meal I had 15 minute walk back to my hotel. That was the end of my day in Prague. I've ended it by fighting with that jet lag guy. After sleeping a couple of hours I did walk back to the train restaurant to get my sweater that I had forgot. The very nice waitress seen me walk in, remembered me and brought me my sweater folded U nice and neat. Here are a few pictures from my day.

I have it booked for Mariner, which I'm on right now. I'll have a full review later this week.

And I doubt the captain will spend the whole time trying to upsell you like the spa people do.

Whatever my wife can't fit in hers

Being a regular in the WJ for breakfast, I have experienced this towards the end of a cruise. Also specialty restaurants made the request each night that I visited a particular restaurant. Ironically, it is that very request that ruins the service for me. Normally I receive amazing service, but as soon as they start with the survey nonsense, it's like they have tarnished, what was up to that moment, a wonderful meal.

For something I am working on, I will need 1.21 gigawatts. Anyone know if the cabin is able to support that?

What is particularly interesting is it seems that only wait staff does this. I do not ever remember a room steward ever mention it. Of course, bar staff never says much of anything. Maybe there is something to the whole script thoughts and wait staff (dining rooms) was selected to be the messenger. Honestly, as I think of it, it is probably the cruise director that should give a 'survey is important' spiel. Maybe we need our own passenger pre-emptive spiel. " I know the end of cruise survey is important and if your service is worth a 10, then I will give a 10, but do not ask for it." (of course, this approach is only partially in jest) Sadly, I will have to wait until May2023 before I get another survey.

Maybe more like this?

I can’t believe it’s Day 3 already! Backing up to Day 1 which is already a blur): I was happy with the hotel. With the kitchenette we were able to pick up a few items from the huge market right across the street to make for breakfast in the room on Day 1, which made for an easier start to the day and allowed the husband and kids to sleep in a little extra. We had a 10:30 am boarding time. We ordered the transfer to arrive at the hotel at 10 am. The driver arrived a few mins early and was waiting in the lobby for us when we came down to check out. He had the car seat and booster seat as requested. The trip to the port was supposed to take 12-15 mins but ended up taking around 20 due to traffic near the port. We arrived at 10:25 am. After security and checking in, we were on the ship just before 11. One note on checking in - the woman who checked our documents insisted that our <2 year old needed to have taken a COVID test. Thankfully I was confident that he didn’t or else she might have sent me into a temporary panic. But instead we were firm and eventually she checked with a co-worker to confirm he in fact did not need to have taken a test. Once on board we grabbed a table at Cafe Promenade. It was nearly empty at the time and we settled in while I connected to our Voom plan (which was quick and simple), booked our show times, and put together a list of times we would want to book the nursery for in the evenings. Next we went to Adventure Ocean to check in and make the nursery reservations for the week. They had all of the times we wanted free and even had times open for Day 1 had we wanted. Since people had boarded at Rome this wasn’t a given even with our early boarding time. Note that on both the Barcelona and Rome embarkation days Adventure Ocean doesn’t open until 7 pm. Then it was to the Windjammer for lunch and to the rooms once they opened at 1 pm. We hung around for a while to try to catch our attendant to ask him to open the balconies between our rooms. We ended up calling housekeeping when we still hadn’t seen him by the time we were about to leave for dinner. In the interim my husband took my 6 year old down the Ultimate Abyss which he loved and insisted on going a second time. Due to my son’s age or size my husband had to go down with him, although in separate mats. I waited at Playmakers near the landing area with the little and ordered our first cocktails of the cruise. One thing about this area that I hadn’t known about beforehand is that there is a climbing structure near Playmakers/Johnny Rockets which is a good distraction for kids for awhile. I’d estimate the ideal ages for it are around 3-8. We had the 6pm seating in the MDR. We had confirmed earlier in the day that our family of 4 was sat at our own table. Looking around, most of the tables were smaller so I think most families we sat by themselves by default. The dining room was also half empty the whole time (we were on Deck 3). Food and service were good. After dinner we saw InTENse in the AquaTheater. We had reservations and arrived around 30 mins early which was not necessary as there were plenty of seats free. The kids and husband were captivated, although Monster fell asleep halfway through despite the noise. It was excellent and I highly recommend for families with kids. If you sit in the front two rows or dead center you will get wet! We realized after changing into PJs that we hadn’t sorted milk for Monster. Husband found some at Starbucks but we were informed we could order it from room service for free, although I’m not sure if they meant that the service charge would be waived. And that was the end of Day 1! Except not for me as I stayed up another 4 hours handing work (hence this post being delayed 2 days). It looks like I’ll have to put in several hours of work a day throughout because things are so busy and the team is leaner than usual at the moment.

Post cruise roundup: After we disembarked, we headed to the Kennedy Space Center. Five hours was not nearly enough. We flew from Orlando to Salt Lake City and then onto Sacramento arriving at 11:30 California time. By the time we arrived at my parents house we were up for 22 hours. The next day we drove home. About halfway home I started feeling sick. Turns out five of the 10 of our party have Covid, including me and my wife. As we pulled in our driveway, I had a feeling like I might have Schrodinger’s dog. Because at that moment, our dog was ecstatic to see us while simultaneously pissed off that we abandoned him for 12 days. There is only 69 days until our next cruise on the Navigator of the Seas. This will only be four days, but we are going to cruise with my daughter, son in law, our 7 year old granddaughter, our almost 3 year old grandson, and in November, our youngest granddaughter who will 10 months old. If we end up being allowed to cruise, I’ll be back in November for another live blog. This cruise will truly be a cheapskate cruise, no drink package because we will be taking care of the grandkids most of the time, no 30 year anniversary jewelry, and hopefully no expensive laundry service on the ship. Thank you for following along and for those who left me encouraging replies.

We have been trying to get to Coco cay since before this miserable pandemic and we are finally here on Oasis. This could not be better and cooler. I watched, we watched a million videos of this island and none of really prepared us for how freaking awesome it truly it. Kids are having a blast and there is no better value on vacations at all. We will be back here on Oasis or anthem and probably both. This splash away bay is just amazing. The dump buckets are just so much fun. This vacation was worth every penny even with a 7 month old which can be a bit challenging at times. 9 year old is having the time of his life. Just loving this! Loving this!

If we keep our noses clean until Wednesday our little band of misfits will be headed to Suite 1740, The Royal Loft on Allure this Saturday - the very place this Star Class nonsense began! Four years ago we sailed in this suite and experienced Star Class for the first time. I truly believe they put something in the endless parade of snacks and drinks that attacks whatever lobe of the brain might contain common sense. Because from that time forward our cruise planning goes something like this: “ Look, we can snag a great balcony room on an Oasis Class for a week for under $2500! Nah, let’s go ahead and fork out the $1.2 mil for the Royal Loft so we get free laundry!!” It’s a disease. And I’m not sure there’s a cure. This trip will be our core group of regulars: my bride Stacy who will be celebrating the end of 30 years of service as a Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse, daughter Taylor who will be celebrating birthday #23 and the end of her preschool teaching career, and daughter Kaitlyn who will be celebrating introducing her boyfriend to cruising Star Class. I think in last years blog from this same room I referred to her “new boyfriend” who didn’t make that trip. Now he’s THE boyfriend who will be joining us. Welcome aboard Victor! Rounding out the group is yours truly, Jim, who will be celebrating still waking up each morning! It’s important to note, as I’m sure I’ll refer to it later, that it was very doubtful that this cruise would actually take place. We booked it over a year and a half ago. Then in April of this year the one formerly known as Nurse Ratchet hatched the brilliant idea to buy a local market and convert it into a restaurant. So, with a partner, we purchased the property and the dream to build Just a Small Town Grill (thanks Journey) began. It was at that point we accepted the probability that opening a new restaurant and taking a cruise around the same time probably wouldn’t happen. We have spent nearly 5 months planning to cancel this one. But thanks to County Building officials it now appears that we can squeeze this one in while we wait for them to waddle through the governmental red tape and approve a Land Use Permit. I gripe daily about the hoops they are making us jump through but inside I’m a little grateful for their incompetence and other nonsense! I’ll write more tomorrow about our plans, travel, Genie Jay and other details. Hope you all come along for the ride!

RC website shows that the All Access Ship Tour is still unavailable due to COVID, however, it just appeared on my planner and I booked it for my sailing on Freedom on 9/19/2022. Pretty excited to see it back!

For me - anything more than 2 hours and I am booking Economy Plus. But I also check out the price difference for First Class. Once I was able to score First Class for only $50 from TX to Brazil. SWEET!

We need More!

I see both in my Cruise Planner but I'm not sailing on Navigator.

It is a lot! LOL

They had a sign on the closed cabin hallway doors that the rooms would be available at 2:00pm. They announced their availability around 1:30 pm. BTW - while we were on the ship by 11:30 am, the muster station checkin wasn't available until noon. We watched the videos while eating lunch and when the cabin availability was announced we did the muster station checkin. The lines at some of the muster stations were quite long but most guests decided going to their cabins was a higher priority, the lines cleared and we breezed through muster checkin.

Someone will definitely contact you soon if they haven't already! I am not able to take new clients right now so it will be given to someone who is. We are all dealing with so much pent up demand!

They are usually not available until between 1pm and 2pm. The hallway doors will be closed until they are ready.

We just hand them a dollar or two with the SeaPass. Nobody else needs to know it's there.

For the 'free diamond drinks' on wonder in the med last week, I would tip discreetly. A couple of times it was *too* discreetly, as the bar waiter didn't notice and left before I could pass it over... lol I always tip discreetly though; it seems weird and wrong to be too showy about it.

UGH. I hope everything is ok with the patient. It seems like there are sooo many more of these medical emergencies/evacuations lately. I would love to know how that trend line looks....but of course, they will never release that information.

The best we can hope for is an improved service at the same price, there's no way Royal will reduce the price (hoping I'll be proved wrong), wouldn't be surprised to see the price increase.

Actually, I think your "pre-emptive spiel" is a good idea. I remember years ago it became a problem with wait staff requesting high marks for service, so much so we almost dreaded dinner because we knew what was coming. It was constant, at every meal. Like high-pressure sales. And then it abruptly stopped. Possibly one reminder and that was it. It was so pleasant. I always assumed it was because passengers complained, either in person or on the surveys.

I do sympathize with the dilemma you faced. I hate to be made to feel uncomfortable when I am the customer. Under the circumstances you describe, I would rather not tip (extra envelopes) at the end of the cruise. Out of about 16 cruises I think I can remember two when we weren't thrilled about the MDR service, but the survey spiel was usually just one and done. Hope your next experience is better.

Currently, ships that use the affected dock are tendering guests into the port using the ships life boats. Last week, Quantum left this message in the staterooms of it's guests.

We've had extremely different experiences in Alaska

Look for something that is in a price range you feel comfortable with. On Amazon, you have 30 days to return with full refund including shipping, so if you don't like the fit or feel, you can send them back. I look for shoes with lots (in the thousands or at least high hundreds) of reviews and then read the reviews and see the questions page. You can tell if they are true to size or have a "weakness" in the design. Then get them weeks if not months before and start breaking them in. I have a pair of hiking shoes that I really like but they are bulky. I will wear them on the plane, so I don't have to pack them. I will pack some Top-Sider type shoes that I can slip on and walk around the ship. They will work with most anything including my Khaki, golf shirt, sports coat (will also wear it on the plane) for formal night.

I think this portion of the film is from the show "flight." I'm not sure which ship it is on, but I've seen that clip on marketing videos for some time now.

My travel agent recommended a company called "railbookers" to arrange the land potion of an Alaska trip I was considering. I haven't booked it yet, so I can't really say much about them. Their itineraries look great and are customizable. All transport is done by the Alaska Railroad and you had your choice of Adventure (cheapest) class and Gold Star (nicest class). On my most recent trip to Alaska, I extended my stay in Seward. It was the highlight of that trip. We took the "Kenai Fjords National Park Tour with Dinner on Fox Island" tour from this company Multiple Cruise Options for Tours of Kenai Fjords National Park (alaskacollection.com). It was fantastic. The next day, we took the Alaska Railroad Gold Leaf service to Anchorage. It took 4 hours but was outstanding. One word of warning though. The train from Seward to Anchorage leaves at 6 pm. This means the whole trip is in daylight in June, but will be dark in September. As far as which side of the ship to book, I think it is an overrated concern. Ideally, you would want starboard for a northbound trip and port of southbound as you might see more land. In reality, it doesn't make much difference as much of the trip is winding through islands, so they are visible on both sides of the ship. Occasionally, you'll hear someone question if it even makes sense to purchase a balcony. You can put me in that category. Don't get me wrong, on a sunny day, sitting on your balcony in Alaska is tough to beat. However, Alaska is a chilly, rainy place and it is rare that sitting on your balcony is comfortable. On my last cruise, the balcony was 3x the price of an interior. I prefer taking 3 cruises on an interior to 1 cruise with a cold, damp balcony.

This is what I use. I got a couple back in 2019 but looks like they have a new one with even more ports on it. But this works great. https://a.co/d/06cZKjn

On my last cruise my brother cut the waiter off the third time he was giving the speil. He told him we promised to give 10s if he'd just spare us the sales pitch that night.

A few details. Testing: since we sail 48 hours before the end of required testing I think we will all test on Wednesday. I know 3 of us will test at home using the EMed tests. Katie may get the test at work since she is a Nurse Practitioner. I’m not sure where Victor is testing. Travel: the ladies and I will fly from Palm Springs, Ca on Friday morning leaving just after 6am. Hopefully we’ll change planes in Dallas and arrive in Ft. Lauderdale at around 430 pm. Victor will leave around the same time from San Diego and meet us in Dallas for the connecting flight. Because of recent reports I’ve read we will have Air Tags in our luggage. That way we’ll know where our luggage is vacationing if it doesn’t arrive with us. We’ll hail an Uber to the hotel. Lodging: Staying at the Atlantic Hotel and Spa in Ft. Lauderdale. We’ve never stayed there but have heard good things about it. We have a 2 bedroom, 2 bath suite for the 5 of us. The one who consumes the most alcohol on the flights gets the living room sofa bed! No plans for dinner Friday night. Might try the dining options in the hotel or even order in. Saturday morning we will again use Uber to the port around 1030. This is a pretty relaxed group of cruisers. Very few concrete plans once we’re aboard. I believe we will have dinners at Chops, Izumi Hibachi, 150, Giovanni’s , Coastal Kitchen, Chef’s Table, Samba Grill and one informal dinner on our balcony. Breakfast and lunch we’ll decide on the fly. I’m sure there will be breakfast in Coastal Kitchen and on our balcony and I might even wander down to the Wipe Out Cafe! We have left the schedule up to Jay to make dining and shows work. Our plan is to go to most all shows in the evenings. Our itinerary is Day 1, Ft. Lauderdale, day 2 at sea, day 3 Labadee, day 4 at sea, day 5 Aruba, day 6 Curaçao days 7 & 8 at sea and then home. Labadee will I think be a beach day at Barefoot Beach for the rest while I wander around taking pictures and braving the local marketplace! We have zero plans for the other two ports. If any of you have a “must do” in either port let me know! Our communication with Jay has been very good. He responds promptly and I can tell by our exchanges that he has a great sense of humor. Our special requests have been few. We have asked to acknowledge a couple of special occasions and are leaving it up to Jay to surprise us. I’ve asked for some light snacks and drinks on the balcony for boarding day sail away. Put the usual requests in for beverages to be stocked in the room. Once aboard I’m the morning Starbucks and Bloody Mary orders shall be placed! Tomorrow is testing day, meeting with the young lady who will take care of the animals, more remodel work at the restaurant and picking up the new car we ordered so we can leave it behind on Friday! Looking forward to being ab

Thanks to everyone for the info. Even without the lounge we are looking forward to being back on Liberty. This cruise was first booked for April 2020 and finally after several rebooks...it's finally going to happen.

Ft. Lauderdale is definitely closer, but Miami is quite manageable as well. The issue is proximity to port comes with a much higher hotel price tag for both cities. If you are comfortable with rideshares (Uber/Lyft) you can work out the most cost effective combo of flight/hotel/transportation between the ports. Miami also has a decent light rail and transit system where you can get pretty close to the port and take a rideshare for the last little bit to get there. Last time I left out of Miami I flew in the morning of the cruise (yeah, yeah, yeah..first flight out and low risk short flight plus it was a comp cruise anyways!). Then I got on the train from the airport and used the transit system to get to a hotel by Bayside Marketplace (Starbucks in the lobby) and grabbed a Lyft to the port.

Not sure it has been suggested but since IHG is one of your preferred an in between location would be the Staybridge in Webster. It is about 15 minutes from Hobby and 30 to the cruise port. It's where we will be staying pre-cruise but we also have family to ferry us from the airport and then to the ship with a free 'loaner' car too. LOL

I doubted we'd be alone on the ship! Welcome aboard.

We are very fortunate that he is well. Thanks.

As far as seaport closest to airport - hands down, its Fort Lauderdale. You can almost see the cruise ships from the airport!

We do the annual deal with Allianz as well...it covers ALL travel and has benefits for folks like us who are more "mature" in age.

I like your wife and haven't met her. I give my wife $100 in ones per cruise and tell her tip $2 a drink, but I never thought about the cleaning staff, I'm going to copy you but I'll give you full credit for the idea. We leave tips in WJ but we are never around to see the reaction, I like your approach.

I have never heard this; I was told the envelops were to recognize particular crew members.

My wife runs through our stack of ones giving $2-3 to just about every person she runs across cleaning stair railings and bathrooms and bussing our tables in the WJ. She's actually had some break into tears.