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If you have any phone made in the last 5 years, it probably works better than Royal’s free computers

I can't imagine wanting to leave a cruise early. When I get off of one, I'm already looking for another gang plank to get on another one--if only I could afford to LOL

Welcome to DRY DOCK! Over the last 3 weeks, Symphony Of The Seas has been located in the Navantia Shipyard located in the south of Spain, getting routine maintenance around the entire ship. This is my exclusive look into what happens during a Dry Dock period, on one of the largest cruise ships in the world! The first cruise of the Mediterranean season will begin tomorrow!

Seven days to go! I've been watching the Galveston webcams off and on all day, but I'm not sure it has been making time go any faster. DH finally tried on clothes last night and fortunately neither of us are good about throwing out old clothes. He too was able to fit back into quite a bit of a smaller wardrobe he had tucked in the back of the closet, and he will only need a couple pairs of nice shorts, a belt, and maybe a swim suit - I couldn't get him to try his on last night. After all the dress clothes, he was kind of done. He can pick up all that up after work tomorrow. One more check mark! Here's my packing list - it's served me pretty well over the years, and I use it for land travel too. I just leave certain stuff off like the magnetic hooks. I print it out and on the back I list the details for the outfits I plan to wear kind of like this: Day one / embarkation - blue shorts, tie dye shirt, tennis shoes Day one / dinner - yellow floral dress, brown sandals, silver bangle bracelets On the front, in the blanks around the clothes, I just list a short description of everything. Once I pack, I put the list in my suitcase so I can make sure I repack everything. Packing list.pdf I decided I need a new pair of black heels. I tried wearing just black flats the last two cruises, and it worked ok. But my formal night dress will look better with heels and while I'm 5'1", DH is 6'4" so I think it's a valid purchase. I have them picked out, just need to pick them up tomorrow while running some errands for this week's cake order. I would have done it today to get one more day of break in time, but DS's Blue & Gold Cub Scout ceremony is this evening, and we've been doing some prep work for that.

This is tremendous! Congratulations. You be you at dinner. Nice people make me want to get to know them. Having to force chit chat with tablemates that seem judgey is NOT fun. I almost always eat in Windjammer for that very reason.

20 Days Left Today we went shopping for some new vacation clothes and also got a bunch of snacks for the road trip. We'll be doing a two week quarantine before the trip starting Tuesday. I did this last year and figured I'd do it again even if there aren't covid tests anymore. I don't want to risk getting sick.

This has been my experience on the 2 cruises I've taken. I was never asked by any staff about filling out the survey. I've been fortunate to have excellent service and tipped our wait staff and cabin attendant extra $ and made sure to mention them by name in the surveys (I take their picture, paying special attention that their name tag is readable).

Just because it keeps getting asked often, I figured I'd report on our "Guarantee" assignments. First of all, right now, I am posting from my stateroom desk onboard Celebrity Infinity, somewhere just south of the Equator in the Atlantic, having left Salvador, Brazil yesterday and heading for the Canary Islands next, en route to Lisbon, Portugal. After that, we're headed to Barcelona to board the Symphony of the Seas for a Western Med cruise. We are booked on Quantum of the Seas for August 21--so a little over 4 months away. We booked three cabins with "Unobstructed Balcony Guarantees" (Yes, you can get those without the possibility of getting stuck with an obstructed view. Of course, you pay a little more). I've been checking the website for cabin assignments on a regular basis...and they finally came up yesterday...so 128 days prior to embarkation. Of course, from my experience, cabin assignments can come up anywhere from immediately after booking all the way to just days before the cruise. Once we got a cabin assigned AT THE PIER upon check-in. We ended up with #13626 and our daughters (and son-in-law and other daughters' "guest") got #13664 and #13668. All three are unobstructed category 1D balcony cabins, near the midship elevators on Deck 13, all on the Starboard side...the daughters cabins have one other cabin between them, just aft of the elevators and ours is just forward of the elevators. So, Royal Caribbean DID place all three in fairly close proximity and the location on the ship is pretty good--though I rather would have a deck other than 13 with cabins above and below. Deck 13 puts us just below the "Noodle Shop" and the girls below "Coastal Kitchen". Hopefully the noise is limited.

We used the slot machine account manager transfer funds from your cabin account to the machine method. Once the money was in the slot machine we hit the cash out button and took the printed ticket to the cashier for payment. However, On Celebrity Equinox (Apr 2023) we saw a new policy which said if you don't gamble at least 50% of what you transferred, they would not let you do any more transfers for the remaining of the cruise. Make your first transfer as large an amount as you can because you won't get another chance. The only caveat was that half the total OBC was assigned to each of the persons in the cabin. So each of us could make one transfer. We only read the policy after having made the first transfer so we got a second chance with the second person to recover the remaining amount.

Speed limitations tend to create itinerary issues when one port of call is distant enough that the ship requires more speed to reach it. In Europe, in the Med. at least, often ports of call are close enough so that top speed is never required. Other european itineraries are similar but occasionally one itinerary is built that does require the ship go faster between two ports. This can be done if the ports in question are already full of ships so they juggle the ports into a different order on the itinerary but in doing so they add more distance and that additional distance requires more speed. Adjusting an itinerary is complex because one change ripples through the itinerary and impacts other ports of call. Who wants to arrive in a port of call at 2am and depart at 11am? That's nine hours in port but at awkward times. The ideal Itineraries are built on the basis of arriving early in the morning and leaving late afternoon or evening. Speed limitations change everything and can make it challenging to perform an itinerary with decent times in each port of call. The ship has multiple engines that generate electrical power. The propulsion motors consume electricity and make the ship move. Top speeds are usually achieved by bringing more engines online to generate more electricity so that top speeds are realized. Sometimes not all engines are available or not enough engines are available to generate the electrical demand required for top speed. When that happens and the ship has an itinerary that requires top speeds between two or more ports of call then they have to adjust the itinerary. Transatlantic crossings don't tend to operate at top speed. They tend to plan these itineraries to operate the ship at a more fuel efficient 60% to 80% of top speed. Consequently a ship that has speed limitations often won't impact transatlantic or transpacific crossings. Allure had an inoperative azipod in 2019. Most itineraries were not impacted. The exception was St. Kitts which is farther away from the US mainland and requires higher speeds to reach but only for the leg of the itinerary visiting St. Kitts. Consequently it was the port most impacted by Allure's speed restrictions and they dropped St. Kitts most often. After that season of dropping St. Kitts when Allure crossed the Atlantic in March 2020 she did so with all the propellor blades removed from one of the azipods to minimize drag. The propellor blades were strapped to the helipad and we crossed the Atlantic with only two of three azipods moving the ship. This wasn't unsafe or dangerous. The two remaining azipods did their jobs and we crossed without incident, other than the pandemic which blew up from not much to full blown out of control during the crossing. Other than the pandemic looming over us the transatlantic crossing was a great cruise. Having one azipod completely unavailable is clearly a major speed limitation but it didn't impact this cruise while select itineraries involving St. Kitts mostly were impacted.

I was on a New England/Canada cruise out of NY. 2 people I met planned to get off in Maine, stay with friends and get back on at the next port in Maine. Lucky for them they inquired at Guest Services about their plans. They were told they would not be permitted back onboard and they’d have to pay the penalty for violating the PVSA. Needless to say they vacated those plans.

The crew were clear it’s a test and don’t know if it’s on any other ship. But the goal is reduce demand on WJ. As others pointed out, the menu is similar to B2B menu.

i am so glad to have found (and be found by) my people!!! J sometimes looks at me like i'm nuts (and lets face it,,,,, i definitely am ) so it's always nice to find a fellow cruiser with similar tendencies i think i have an extreme case of FORO; fear of running out -- like i'd much rather have stuff to keep me afloat when i'm aboard than to have to rely on the ship shops or international ports to make up the difference. when we were on odyssey in december, i had eaten something that didn't agree with me and hunting down a powerade was like scaling mount everest. now i just bring my own stuff to support and it's just given such peace of mind. i didn't even think about stuff like this ten years ago and while there is definitely a part of me that longs for that blind confidence and blissful state of being unaware, there is also the part of me that takes comfort in knowing i have my arsenal if need be since i started working from home, i rarely get dressed up (heck there are days when i don't really "get dressed" out of my pajamas until a certain hour...) and the retail gal in me misses it. i do enjoy that aspect of cruising; getting dressed to have a nice dinner and stroll around to wind down the evening. that's probably why my outfit list is so insane trying to give all my favorite fashions their time in the sun since they aren't getting much wear in the work world right now. also this time in two weeks, we'll be sailing!! hooray!

I mean..if they plan on staying where they get off, might sound pretty tempting.

I've done this. Had to get off mid week in Puerto Rico and fly back to New York. Had to go to guests services and they had to arrange to have a crew member escort me to customs who were waiting especially for us to check me and my luggage before I could get a taxi for the airport. The immigration agents are not set up on port days to handle random passengers and there bags. It had to be arranged on board a few hours in advance by guests services on board. You can't do it without them involved. No cost, just some paperwork and escort.

Hello! First post here. I tried to search for more info on this but didn't have any luck. I am staying in a Grand Suite on the Allure next month which is a part of the Sky Class. I noticed in some YT videos of the new terminal that there is a escalator for all guests and an escalator with a sign that says 'Suites and Pinnacle Members.' The part that confuses me is that the Sky Class perks on the RC site do not include expedited boarding. My question is: As a Sky Class traveler can we actually go through the Suite boarding area? I was under the impression that Grand Suite and above included the perks of expedited boarding and departure but now I read those are under Star Class on RC. Curious if anyone else had issues going through the other side of the terminal in Sky Class. My boarding pass does say Suite in my Apple Wallet. Thank you

Welcome to the message boards! When you get to Galveston, there is a special line for you because you are a suite guest. When you enter the building, there is an entrance to the right (everyone else goes to the left). https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/11/09/first-look-royal-caribbeans-new-galveston-cruise-terminal-opens-today

We really need a new thread about JUST packing lists.

Your dogs have the same look like my dogs. When we get back they have the look like are you done traveling.

more days to go...

It is also possible the online offer is incorrect, which is why the CC transaction didn't go through. It could be that $50 is the correct amount for a short cruise, even online. But if that is the case, Royal should be able to fix the glitch.

It is usually in the MTD so deck 3.

Hello! We just booked this cruise as a short getaway for DH and I. Nice surprise as we weren't planning on a cruise until December(so exciting to see a countdown less than 90 days). Celebrating our birthdays (a bit late but we wanted to do something) and we are only a couple points from Diamond so this short cruise will get us to it. Nice that you are repeating Navigator. We've been on her once before. Great ship! Are you staying at a hotel beforehand ? Never cruised from this port before so booked based on research.

We did 10 days on land before a 7-night Alaska cruise. Even with doing laundry towards the end of the land portion, we sure as hell weren't bringing anything fancier than jeans. Plenty of people casually dressed for formal night just like the Caribbean. Don't worry about getting dressed up.

take those screenshots of the OBC offer and try messaging them on Twitter. See if they can help you get the correct amount.

I like it better than The Key lunch. I'll have the Scallops, Short Rib and Dark Chocolate Cookie please.

No, but their site is down right now which may be the reason why you can't do this. There are just 4 simple questions to answer and you can do it at the port, so I wouldn't worry about it. Their site right now:

Which probably weren't made in the last 5 years

I've left a cruise early due to a family emergency but that's different than choosing to depart a cruise early. Working through it with guest services I received a pass that I gave to security when leaving the ship. Seeing me with all my luggage made security at the gangway pause but with the pass they scanned me off and away I went. I would not have been let off without the pass. I had already completed a web based travel authorization application with the country involved and in my case it didn't violate the PVSA so that was one less hurdle. That other country basically wanted to see my flight showing I wasn't staying on their island indefinitely. During the restart of cruising the testing requirements were a major PITA but those are gone now. Flying home that same day resulted in the SSSS on my boarding pass for the flight off the island. An unexpected one-way plane ticket purchased on short notice raised a flag and TSA was very thorough screening me. The ship was very accommodating and helpful given the situation but I have no idea what they would have done if I just wanted off for no reason.

Bots wear badges?

You know it was a long time ago, but I might have had to show my flight info/reservation.

Weird. Very inconsistent experiences. We were lectured on a daily basis about the “give us all 10s”. We also had a server who disappointed us at Giovanni’s try to reason out to us why his disappointment should not be reflected by a score lower than 10 on the survey…twice during the meal. It was a lecture by him that he felt the need to interrupt our meal to give us!!

The discounts are not available precruise. For the Signature, when you create your internet account after boarding, the package should already be preloaded. For the prime, the person would need to visit the Voom desk to get the discount applied to a package.

They will have a few but you will need an internet package to do so.

Its so weird...this seems to go both ways. We were never ONCE asked to fill out the surveys...one time we mentioned that we thought someone was doing a great job and appreciated them and she said cool, make sure you fill out the survey and point that out. But that was it...never asked us to make it a 10 and no one else ever mentioned the survey to us.

I have to wear a badge for work. I'm not doing that on vacation. No lanyards for me. Seapass card goes in my pocket.

55, 217, 301(Icon)… can’t wait…online looking at RC cruise stuff every day…

I have one cruise booked that is over 600 days out and I am constantly checking on and researching for!! That’s not to mention the ones I have that are 110 and 220 days out. Cruise planning is a disease! It’s spreads, only gets worse with time, and there is no known cure once you catch it.

Well, the day has arrived when we have to say goodbye to Quantum and our amazing genie, Hailey. We headed up for breakfast one last time in Coastal Kitchen. We went with my parents as I didn’t think it would be an issue for the manager on the last morning of the cruise. The wait staff were short staffed and very busy, and unfortunately Chao had already left the ship to begin his trip home. The CK manager kindly organised for one of the other Chinese waiters transfer our tip into his account for us. After breakfast we returned to the Royal Loft Suite for the last time to wait for Hailey to escort us off the ship. The rest of the family were already there waiting for us. While waiting Rohan and Reynan stopped by to wish us a safe journey home. Not long after Hailey arrived and we began the final trek between the cabin and the lifts, I have become used to this long walk and will miss it, and it certainly helped to keep my step count up. Getting off the ship was really easy and Hailey soon had us at the customs checkpoint where she would have to leave us. We gave her small gift we had brought from New Zealand of some Māori art painted on a heart. There were long hugs goodbye and promises to keep in touch. A lady from customs then escorted us through to collect our bags and out into the main terminal building. Our cruise maybe over but it has been the most wonderful experience for both us and for the rest of the family so thank you to everyone on board who made it so special, and very special thanks to Hailey, the best genie we could have hoped for. We look forward to coming back next year and doing it all again. But before that, we have Brilliance coming in in November this year. Stray Observations A couple of differences I noticed between Quantum and Ovation, Jamie’s Italian does not have an outdoor dining area like Ovation does. The second thing I noticed is on Ovation there is a place where you can buy ice cream inside the entrance of Windjammer that is not there on Quantum. Reflections on Star Class Star Class is definitely worth the extra money you pay but it works best if you are travelling with family or friends, or it your first time on a ship and you want to make the most of all it offers. It is difficult to put into words the high quality of service and pampering you receive while on board but you do feel like royalty. We have booked Star next year on Quantum, but as we have seen all the shows and we will travelling by ourselves it will be a different experience again. We have already told Hailey she will have to do the laser tag with us. Thanks to all those who followed along and taken the time to read my posts. Until next time.

I like it! Hello Platinum! lol

Thank you for the details above! This is very helpful! Quick question... I'm going to have roughly $500 of Onboard Credits via my RCCL credit card for my next cruise... If I don't use all of the Onboard Credit, can this be refunded back to my credit card in points, or better yet, cash back to my credit card? Thanks!

Hello everyone, does anyone know if there are events or if many passengers dress up, we have 4 couples crusing on Oct 27-Nov 3 on the Liberty. Being I am quite the planner, I am keeping an eye out for everyone. Also two of the couples we have been on quite a few RC cruises and two couples are newbies. Any information will be greatly appreciated

Most are still swipe

That little brown one on the edge of the hot tub is only 4 years old. She definitely looks younger when her hair is grown out - it gets curly and she is scruffy - cute. The black one is about 15 and has quite a lot more gray than when we got him from the shelter when he was just a pup.

I'm from Utah and very lucky, you're right!

yes!! another harmony sailor!! you will be getting on as we are getting off - we are doing eastern itinerary maybe i’ll try to hide a cruising duck or two for you all

WHOA! We're going the week BEFORE YOU! I'm stuck, because I don't know what to dress for-Formal Night (which is what, usually the 2nd night at sea) and Halloween, which is the same night! Keep in touch, I'll let you know of anything that comes up!

A few pre-cruise details – we homeschool and this cruise is the start of our summer break. Our last day of school will be Thursday the 20th. Our homeschool co-op is Friday the 21st – I teach 2 baking classes and an elementary science class, plus DH and I teach a high school cooking class there. I also run a home based wedding bakery, and some idiot thought it would be ok to book a wedding on the Saturday we leave. It was me… I’m the idiot. The only reason I booked this wedding is that it is taking place at my favorite venue which is 5 minutes from my house, and it’s just a groom’s cake and a bunch of little desserts that will just go in their fridge when I get there anyway. The venue manager will be there for me at 8am to drop off, but my kitchen will probably be a wreck and what keeps us from getting on the road when we really want. Our plan is to have the car re-loaded and be on the road to Houston by 11am or noon at the latest on the 22nd. It’s a good thing I thrive on stress! We live between Dallas and Oklahoma and always make the 4-5 hour drive to the south Houston area a day or two before. We like to stay at the Homewood Suites in Clear Lake for a few reasons. First, we can get a 2 bedroom suite. If you have read my previous blogs, you know DH is a MORNING person. He’s usually up by 4 or 5am without an alarm. The rest of us…not so much. The separate bedrooms give the kids their own beds (two doubles in that second bedroom) and DH his own space in the living room in the morning without waking the rest of us up. Next, free breakfast in the morning, and hotel waffles make my kids happy. Finally, it’s just a short 35 minute drive to our preferred parking lot in Galveston in the morning. We like to park at Lighthouse as they have always taken care of us. Uncovered for the week was $95 with a $5 off coupon code found on their website. Parking at the new terminal was quite a bit more than that (almost double for the coveted covered spots), so we decided to save a little and take the few minutes to be shuttled over. I'm sure that money we saved will find its way to the casino though.

In Athens this past September my sister and I did a Royal excursion "Acropolis Sightseeing, New Acropolis Museum with Plaka Free Time". It was an all day trip around 7 hours but I thought it was well worth it. In Mykonos we did the another Royal excursion the "Delos tour" (an island off Mykonos with more ruins) which was okay then we were dropped off right in the middle of town in Mykonos and wandered around and I finally got my greek pastry. We were on Odyssey and the ship was docked so we took the water taxi back to where the ship was.