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I really didn't know so many people were disgusted with others wearing their C&A pins. I just may have to find mine and wear it on my next cruise.

I have a cruise hat that I've decided to decorate with pins from port stops that i visit and I put my RCL loyalty pins on there... but don't feel the need to wear them constantly on board. But whatever someone else does with their pin really doesn't affect me at all.

I hope all our board members in Florida evacuated and are doing ok. My prayers for those of you that stayed put and weathered this storm.

Day 5 (Cozumel): Day 4 pics will be uploaded with day 5 since I forgot to do that earlier! Today was amazing! It was mom's birthday celebration today and she was treated like the queen she is! We started the day off getting ready for our excursion and then all heading to Coastal Kitchen (the suite restaurant) for breakfast where Jay had our coffee order delivered and waiting for us right when we walked in the door. Star class is so nice!!! The girls followed shortly after because their excursion was about 30 minutes after ours. Gede (our server that we've had each time we've been to Coastal) was on it and we had breakfast in about 7 minutes. The girls arrived and their breakfast was just as quick. It was perfect! Jay came up to get us in Coastal and escorted us off the ship and to the excursion meeting area. He got us settled and then got Kenzie and Kayla set up for their fun day. Smooth sailing! Mom and Cindy were doing a dolphin encounter today, Kenzie and Kayla were doing a beach day, and Tim and I were accompanying Mom and Cindy...Tim to be paparazzi and I was down by the encounter area to assist with mom if needed. I didn't want a repeat of the plane, and she's about as light as a feather in water that was a little choppy. I was glad Cindy was in there holding onto her. Others around her also assisted with Mom, holding onto her to keep her steady, then offering a hat when I got worried she had been in the sun too long (they wouldn't let anyone wear sunscreen in the dolphin enclosure). We got hundreds of pics, and then purchased the package of all the digital pics and two prints. The pics made Cindy tear up every time she saw them because this was something she had always wanted to do and never thought it would happen. I love that this made her that happy!!! When we were waiting on the pics, they offered lunch and drinks, and we declined both. We asked about water, wanting bottled, and they said no, it was filtered tap - um, can someone say NO WAY!!! I think she was offended, oh well! I'm not going to let Mom end up with tummy problems because we let our guard down. We ate at Coastal Kitchen as soon as we were back on the ship. Waaaaaaay better than any free lunch at a dolphin encounter place!!! After lunch, we put our suits on and went to the Solarium. It was nice - busy in there, but nice. There was only one server in there trying to manage drinks for everyone - holy cow!! Kudos to Wei! We got our first drink round and ordered another one. In the two(ish) hours we were there, we got 2 drinks each and were waiting on a water for Tim, and finally gave up. We came back to the room to another star class snack (I mean feast) and hung out on our balcony for a bit. It was so windy, and we realized there was no way we could eat on the balcony tonight. We messaged Jay and found out that our meal was about to leave the kitchen and head our way. We tried to figure it out but Jay ended up setting us up in Coastal Kitchen and had our food rerouted. Gede was our server once again and he got us all square away. He delivered the food that had been traveling all over the ship, and the kitchen did everything they could to revive it. By this time in the cruise, we've eaten so much food that we really could have skipped this meal entirely, and we wouldn't have felt it, so the steaks that were very overcooked because of the reheat, didn't really bother us. Everyone ate what they wanted of the dinner, and it was great because this was Mom's birthday celebration night. We made a big deal about it and she felt special! We had originally forgotten them, so Kayla ran back to the room to get the birthday queen tiara and sash. She wore them both proudly and got happy birthday wishes from so many people all evening! She loved the attention!!! Cindy snuck back to the room just as we were leaving port so she could take some cool pics leaving the port in the sunset. We asked Gede to send mom's cake up to our room and we met Cindy along the way to the comedy show. While waiting for Jay outside of the show, everyone leaving the ice show saw mom in her tiara and were telling her happy birthday. Cindy and I were about to break out in song for her just to see if the group would join us, and that's when Jay showed up. I'm pretty sure they all would have started singing had we started it. The comedy show was great! The first guy was really good, and the second guy was good, but not as good as the first. It is not a clean show, so set your expectations! If you like comedy, we would recommend this show. There was one gal in our audience that had this loud, high-pitched cackle and the first comedian called it out saying it was a great laugh. OMG! She got so loud after that and super annoying. Aunt Cindy wanted to strangle her by the end of the night!! The second comedian wasn't as amused by her, and it pretty much shut down the laugh - thank God!! We came back to the room and found Kenzie and Kayla passed out from the long day in the sun, so we called it a night. Tomorrow - no coffee delivery and no breakfast order! We're sleeping in as long as we want and taking it easy! Pics tomorrow.

I’m sorry, but if we ever earn Pinnacle…I’m wearing that dang tag! Think about what it takes to earn that honor…We would wear it with pride. Just bring honest

We have arrived in Ft. Lauderdale. No issues with weather in traveling. Next step ….tomorrow is ship day!

Those suite guests and Pinnacles can get pretty rowdy between 5 and 8pm

I hate going to the concierge club on Anthem....it is just too far away from everything and there is no easy way.......the elevators are such a long walk and there are no back stairs or anything for public use to short cut the treck.......I suppose what I'm saying is......how many people actually go

I'm on Allure in December and had planned on skipping Samba. Not anymore as it sounds amazing.

It's a very nice itinerary. Very easy DIY ports that don't really need excursions. The only one we booked was the bus transfer to Puerto del Carmen beach in Lanzarote because it's a pain to get to on public transport. However there are plenty of taxis on the pier if you prefer to go on your own schedule and for two the round trip cost of the taxi is about the same as the bus transfer if you book it during a sale. Otherwise we're just doing our own thing. There are "free" walking tours available in some of the ports, the ones where you pay what you want at the end of the tour. We've used a company called Guru Walks for these in the past and they can be useful for a brief overview and to get your bearings. The weather has been very pleasant, perfect for sightseeing in non-beach ports and nice and sunny and warm for the beaches too. The really good thing is that if this were your standard 7-night cruise, we'd be on our way to the airport now, but instead we have another 5 days!

From P&O for Feb sailing..

I got all my pins up to Diamond, making D+ in Jan, but they are still in the thing they came in. I am indifferent either way, wear them or don't. My issue is the people who throw their status around: i.e. "I am diamond do this, give me that, pledge your soul.......etc." My last cruise had about 5 pins, they were are pretty nice and they all wore their pins. People would indeed come up to them.......but people would also come up to me and ask questions. Lots of newbies would ask what "diamond prime" means when they read my seapass card.

There is a discount onboard It is for D+/Pinnacle. Irecall a fellow passenger asking for the discounted rate when she was at the bar on embarkation day and receiving it. The bartender had a “cheat sheet” that showed the various discounts, and total cost. when I started this response I thought it was for Diamond on up, but I did find it in my photos, and modified my post. Keep in mind this was a price list from last fall.

Thanks, Robert.

I don't normally, but am considering using them as rank insignia if I wear a Star Trek uniform for Halloween.

I think you'll be safe. The suite guests go between 5-8 for cocktails and finger food and the Pinnacles to complain. Bill

I look at it like: 1 - you can wear them but if you are a braggard, then you get looked down on 2 - if you look down on someone wearing them, it better be because they were braggards and not just wearing them

The best excursion that we ever had was one through https://www.thenativechoice.com in Costa Maya. At the time it was billed as a cultural experience (dinner with a Mayan family) plus the Chacchoben ruins, but that exact one no longer exists. A lot of their staff are current and former educators. It was just wonderful and I would highly recommend any tour that they offer. There is currently one called “Mayan Family + Seven Color Lagoon Tour” and also “Chacchoben Ruins Tour.” We also love Jaime’s Blue Reef in Costa Maya since we have now done a lot of the tours because we’ve been to Costa Maya so much. It is in a more rural part of Mexico, but not very far from the port. It is a small, all-inclusive with super friendly staff (shout out to Digby). But, you do need a reservation. http://www.jaimesbluereef.com (Royal Caribbean blog also recently posted its own review of Jaime’s). In Cozumel, we have done Mr. Sanchos many times and can *no longer* recommend it. The food and drinks are now more like fast food, it is too crowded, and the service is fair to poor. Nachi Cocom is highly rated and what we have reserved for an upcoming West Carib cruise. We prefer Mexico to many of the Caribbean islands, I think you’ll enjoy it!

I had same thing happen this spring. It turned out, when I checked in, the Country of Birth somehow got dropped from the check in. I went back through on the web and added it back in, and all worked fine. Over on the cc boards, a bunch of people have complained about this glitch. I hope this fix works for you!

Check out this article we just posted: Best shore excursion in every Caribbean cruise port

Are you less than 45 days before your cruise? You have to be able to check in first before you can see SetSail Pass.

ooooh! This would be so cool! Do it! Pwease

I would probably put mine on the lanyard or carry-on, as has been suggested. Bathing suit (from an earlier post) no way! I think that the pins show you have experience and that you'd (probably) welcome conversations and questions (esp for newbies). I'm not comfortable with the phrase "earned it".....if others had more money and a more flexible job, we could "earn it" too. Just some tricky implications with that phrase. But, again, I don't default to assuming that's what people are trying to display. My thought is that they are kind of ambassadors who might be interested in telling stories, answering questions for the rest of us "earning" our way up!

While I do agree that it wont work, Orlando is the second stop and after that is Miami, after Miami the ship goes to Nassau and coco cay the foreign places and then back north. in either case she has found a separate solution where she will take the older son on cruise in January by himself which happens to be 11 nights. she sees this as win win for her

I am a college prof. Believe me, asking NOW (end of September) about a final in mid December to be date adjusted has an *excellent* chance of happening. Have them ask! I bet it can happen.

Guilty here. We and our cruising friends always have ours on because we attached them to our lanyards. We aren't arrogant about our status but we have earned that status and enjoy the perks. We have witnessed people who make sure that everyone knows that they are diamond or whatever (this was back in 2014) and they were jerks about it. I don't mind seeing people wear their status pins or not but we do enjoy wearing ours.

Casita was great, even in extreme wind and a little rain. MDR is the MDR. I’ve actually enjoyed the few meals we’ve had and the service is great. CocoCay was fantastic, not worth the price we paid for the beach club but absolutely no complaints. Lunch was fantastic and the service was also fantastic. There was only our ship so we really could’ve gone anywhere but now I know. Today is Nassau and after 20 minutes we finally were in the right spot- RC didn’t do a great job of marking the areas. We had the private cabana for 2 but last minute canceled when they offered money back for weather. I don’t mind rain but they mentioned lightning and since our transportation is a boat and the winds have been nuts it felt risky. I don’t take risks on vacation. Back in the ship and okay with it although this was the excursion I was looking forward to most. It’s nice when the ship is a little less crowded. Speaking of crowds, not really an issue and capacity.

So is it more snooty to wear them, or to look down on somebody who does?

My in-laws are very into status. They constantly brag about being D+ and are super impressed when they meet Pinnacle members. So I like to wear my Platinum pin when we go to the MDR with them so that I can wow them.

I like having them. They're fun, small round shiny things. Just made Diamond (but should be getting the pins on the next cruise). The mom and I wore our Platinum and Emerald pins on our lanyards with our sea pass. More to mark it as our Royal Caribbean Lanyard than anything else I think. TBH if I ever make pinnacle not sure I'd wear the bar just cuz it's bulky unlike the small round pins that can be easily placed anywhere. But in response to OP...it has nothing to do with "ooh I'm special look at me." I like things I have and I like to wear them regardless if anyone else notices them or not.

We are debarking tomorrow and had dinner at Samba this sailing. I’ll add a few notes. The meats vary but the tenderloin and rib were the best. They have three sauces and the chimichurri may help with the rounds. I was surprised that the bacon wrapped chicken didn’t please me. Bacon is always a plus but I guess this was the exception to prove the rule. For the self serve apps there are a couple selections that were interesting but it will depend on your interests. They bring a plate of vegetables to serve family style. The other apps were cheese empanada, yucca, and a fried banana. A plate of small “cheese” bread was the initial dish.

If you have specific questions just ask and I will answer later. I am at Labadee right now and heading off ship shortly

I am on Allure now and ate there Tuesday night. They have appetizers brought to table and other appetizers to pick your own on a display. They bring sides for your meal and the meat is brought on skewers…they bring each kind but you can decline if there is one or two you prefer not to try. The tenderloin is amazing as is the boneless beef ribs. Chicken wrapped with bacon, sausage, top sirloin, bottom sirloin, lamb are also on skewers. Meal is quite filling!!!

I don't think that wearing them is what bothers other people, is the people that act entitled while using them, so go ahead and wear whatever you want on your next cruise, I'm sure no one will be disgusted about it, unless you act entitled...

I can confirm the Costa Maya and Cozumel ones are spot on as that's what we do almost every time (just note if you want to do Maya Chan you'll need to book way in advance as they fill up very quickly). I booked the Roatan suggestion for my next cruise after reading that post a few days ago since we have yet to find a must do there yet. Any recommendations made by the blog have yet to fail me.

The only thing that is required is the ESTA which is for entry to US. As long as you have that then you are OK.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/non-united-states-citizen-travel-documentation

As long as you are in the ship early and go straight to a specialty restaurant, you should have no issues getting the time and venue you want….within +\- 15 minutes.

Glad it turned out for you but a TA wouldn’t have let you make that mistake in the first place.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/menus/hooked-seafood-menu-sample.pdf It's on the menu at Wonder. There's also lobster on the menu at 150 Central Park, but it doesn't specify it is Maine lobster. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/menus/one-hundred-fifty-central-park-menu-sample.pdf

When we made diamond we went to the C&A office and asked for them. The guy reached into a drawer and handed them to us without even checking who we were or whether we had even earned them. I would imagine you could go and collect them all except perhaps Pinnacle. We stashed them away with all our other mementos of cruising. Don't have a problem with anyone wearing them. It seems like everybody and their brother are at lease Diamonds these days so having a D pin isn't much of a thing anymore. And.... I should have added...so why would anyone care if anyone else wore them or not?

I've gotten so used to seeing the wide spreads of food in Star Class that I legitimately thought this was your dining table. Took me quite a moment to realize it was the galley

Live and let live... If somebody has earned something let them show it if they want. How many drive fancy cars or live in big houses or wear custom tailored suits? I doubt that those opposed to pins in the higher ranks ranks here would be open to non d or d+ using their lounges? So maybe you don't wear pins but you're still proud of the status you've achieved?

My lovely wife will also get a shot of Baileys on our way to the room for the night if she has a voucher left. It goes into the cooler and makes a nice coffee in the morning.

I don't think so. However, once my wife and I had one drink left, so I swung by the trellis bar and asked for two unopened beers. Put them in the cooler in our room and we drank them on the balcony a few days later.

To the original poster, it looks like Ian is headed north of you. Safe travels.

Day 7 - Sea Day I may be three weeks late but I refuse to give up! However long it takes, this blog will be completed… In our last full day of the cruise l spontaneously woke up around 7 am and spent a few hours on my own while the kids were still sleeping. I used this opportunity to check out the Solarium for the first time, which was pretty nice, and I took a few moments to relax and do some reading. However, towels were already laid out in most of the prime loungers with the forward view which was a bit baffling. Who are these people who wake up at 6am??? I also picked up a couple of extra tip envelopes from Guest Services and reserved our casita location for later in the day. Once back in the stateroom the kids were up and we headed to the Windjammer for breakfast around 10 am. We had been debating doing brunch in the MDR instead, but decided we’d rather have something quick so we could get to the pool deck before it was too crowded since it was the only sea day. Before heading to the pool we tried to catch the parade at 11:15 am on the promenade deck. We got there right at the start time, but by that point it was too crowded to see anything, especially for the kids (strangely it seemed like more adults were watching than kids), so we left for Splashaway Bay. When we got to the pool deck just before 11:30 am we didn’t see a single spare lounger, so we were glad to have the casita reserved even though we didn’t end up staying too long. It was our third day spending time on the pool deck and the kids had a bit of a been-there-done-that attitude, so they were happy enough to leave after an hour or so. I should note that my 6 year old spent about half his time in the beach pool on our first day at the pool deck, but after that he only wanted to stick to Splashaway Bay because he didn’t like the salt water in the pool. We had lunch at El Loco Fresh which I thought was pretty good (at least compared to UK Mexican food), and it was convenient to be able to eat outside while still wet in our swimwear. We planned to spend the rest of the day doing our favourite things on cruises that we hadn’t had much time to get to yet: trivia, bingo and game shows. First up was cartoon trivia where we got second place after a tiebreaker, driven 95% by my husband (I literally only knew one answer)! I then headed straight to bingo while my husband took the kids to play mini golf again and to finish up our arcade credits. I paid $49 for six cards (three games each) plus one extra for having gold C&A level, which was an unexpected perk (the staff noticed this when I went to pay; I didn’t bring it up). The expected value of bingo was super low relative to jackpots in the $300-500 range, but I love bingo and the only time I ever get to play is on cruises so I was willing to eat the last investment. I also got a scratch card as part of the package and won $10, to be redeemed from the casino. I did not win at bingo sadly. What remained of the trip took a big turn at this point. I had woken up with a stomachache that got progressively worse throughout the day, until sitting through bingo, which went 20 minutes over schedule, became agony. Since bingo went over my husband had already started Trivia at 5 at Schooner’s, so I met him there. We did miserably bad again, as had been a trend for any of the general knowledge trivia sessions on this cruise. Afterwards we should have gone to dinner at 6 pm in the MDR, but I wasn’t up to it at all. I ended up in bed with bad chills. My husband took the kids to the windjammer for dinner but dropped off our tip envelopes with our MDR waiter staff first and explained our absence. We didn’t want them to think we were ditching them on the last night on purpose. I proceeded to sleep from 6 pm to roughly 3 am, when I got up in order to pack in a panic, despite feeling like death, with only the force of sheer adrenaline behind me (given we would be leaving the room within 5 hours at that point and hadn’t packed a thing). I took a a rapid antigen Covid test to be sure that wasn’t the root of my illness, but tested negative. I then crashed in bed again around 5 am for basically a nap before needing to get up in the morning to get everyone ready to leave the room by 8 am. That brings us to the end of Day 7. At some point in the near or distant future, I’ll update on Day 8 and overall thoughts on the trip.

You'll be able to get a lunch reservation somewhere, I wouldn't worry too much about it if it were me. Make a reservation once you get onboard the ship.

One last thing I want to leave you with. The only real issue I had on the trip was I got real tired of hearing people complain. Our cruise has over 300 Pinnacle cruisers and the most of the rest was Diamond and Diamond plus. The ship had a couple of meetings with the staff warning them how picky the cruisers on this cruise were going to be. Most of the people on the cruise were great but there was enough that were not that you got tired of hearing it. I was told that the ship had to leave about 350 staff in Copenhagen because the USA would not give them a work visa. All the ships are short staffed to start with. All the staff was working their hardest to make a great cruise for us. I seen the glass half full and appreciate everything they did. Please, going forward do not be the glass half empty person and only see what you did not get on your cruise. Thank you for following, Mike

I have one piece of advice if you decide to do Samba. I have offered this many times on other threads. They save the best cuts of meat for the END. They will try and fill you up on cheaper cuts. They certainly aren't BAD options but if you are a real beef lover I recommend you pass on most of the preliminary "rounds" and save plenty of room for the picanha, which is the last cut they will offer you. I am not a big meat eater so it was WAAAYTOOO much meat for me but I will say...that picanha absolutely melted in my mouth. I thought that saying was just a fabrication, but it actually can happen ! I enjoyed my meal at Samba Grill. I love the venue with the water passing by in that little stream. They have (or at least, they did, when we went there) Brazilian dancers and it was a fun meal.