Leaderboard

Our cabin person has been very good. And now at the end of day 5, he has left us 6 towel animals.

Day 5 Well it was 2 more jackpots before I went to dinner. I wish it was me. The vintages have decided that one of the strays is annoying and have been avoiding her. She passed by the table and both pretended to be on the phone and wouldn't make eye contact. I couldn't keep the giggles in . Robin said the saleswoman in the jewelry store was pushy. She was going to buy a pendant but the lady tried to snatch her money. Robin had found a pendant. It was $40. She asked about an Alaskan charm, it was $95. She got her money out to pay for the pendant and the lady tried to take all her cash money!!! This turned her off and she left. Of course they were bending and grinning tonight too. It was nice. I have to say the MDR has been full evey night. So getting our entrees at a decent time isn't happening . But 2hrs has been the longest we were there. But my brother eats......so we could be out much earlier. It was taste of USA and I got 3 "bowls" of the baked potato soup. One for my app and 2 as my entree. The best meal I have had so far. All three were hot and delicious like Little Ceasars claims to be. We were done at 9:05 and I popped into the theater for the headliner. I was too tired for his lackluster style of magic. So I left after 5min. Now I'm in my jammies letting the TV watch me.

We had no luck with five restaurants/bars. But I had scoped out The Twisted Fish Company. I ran back while the vintages paid and was able to score a table with only a 15min wait. The manager was working as a host and offered to seat me, so I would have a table because my party was here yet. I sat down and was just getting water when everyone walked in. The menu looked good and everyone was happy. Robin got onion rings and clam chowder. MB got a grilled chicken burger with a side salad. I tried the exotic burger with fries and my brother got halibut tacos and a pasta salad. Don't judge . I don't eat seafood so my options was limited. The exotic burger had elk, bison, wagyu and wild boar. It was very good. The best meal of the entire voyage so far. We all clean our plates and was happy. The manager thanked us for coming in and we went back to the Tshirt Company to get snacks. The to the jewelry store next door so the vintages could get Alaskan charms. It was almost 4 so we walked back to the ship. My brother and I both believe the vintages may go back to the room and nap.....possibly miss dinner even though they are excited for the short beef ribs. Our neighbors are missing pineapples again.

Juneau for the win. Let's get into it. I got off around 10:30 after checking with the vintages. We designated a meeting spot in case service was spotty. Which let me say it has been nonexistent in the highest elevated spots. I got none on the Klondike bus ride, no service until we made it downtown. The same for as soon as I left the dock today. Juneau port is actually a really good port logistically to me. If is very walkable, even for those with limited mobility. I found the staff to be mostly friendly and plenty of benches and seating available for those who need it. It was us and a Disney ship in the morning, later I believe a Holland ship joined us. My brother excursion, which was ziplining, suffered from the same problem as yesterday. 9 people should have come and only 5 showed up. Again this is hundreds of dollars wasted because no refunds could be had. So the excursion turned into an hour and forty-five minutes instead of three and a half. So as soon as I made it to the dock my brother texted me he was on his way back. We decided to get the tram because there was no line. It was breathtaking but I'm afraid of heights, so I got a little woozy looking down directly . It was full and about a 5min ride. We made it to the sky bridge and did a little souvenir shopping. There were trails to be had but the rain had started pretty heavy and we needed to meet the vintages soon. Of course they weren't at the meeting spot so we went into Taku wild Alaskan seafood and my brother got some smoked salmon in a can to take back. I peeked into the attached restaurant and decided it was a contender. We walked to some more shops and found the Tshirt company. Everything was 50% off since it was the end of season and we got some great deals. The vintages rode the tram while we shopped. My brother and I had time so we walked the port. We checked out a few restaurants but the lines were blocks, two places had an hour wait at 12:30. Tracy's crab shack was what the vintages wanted because Robin has been begging for clam or seafood chowder. The vintages didn't see us and went directly to the Tshirt Company to shop. We kept calling them but they were too busy shopping. My brother thought this and went to get them.

Yes!!! It's all @SweetPea's doing! lol

omg. goodbye. I TOO HAVE QUESTIONS. and we’re all scarred by it tbh i think only @Sweety has the undie collection that brings her much dividends in the casino and yet…. thanks to @SweetPea and batman — in a turn of events none of us could have predicted, this time last year — undies are now a widely discussed topic

FWIW, we always pack more than enough undies (unlike others here lol), and we don't gamble so we don't have lucky coloured undies

I think that bunny is praying for something that he read in the Cruise Planner. Very cute

The bowl of chowder was massive. Robin couldn't finish the soup but she said it was some of the best chowder she has ever had. My brother said those tacos were bomb. Missing pineapples mean visitors. It is 5:20 and we just departed. So a bit of a late start. I am charging my phone while my brother answers some work emails.

House cleaning Self-care Packed work email out of office messages set! Call me Chappell Roan because we are HOTT HOT TO GO.

Every time I see this thread I think it's a question about 2 brats on Harmony.

Oh no...motion sickness is the worst. Are you taking meds for the motion and they are not working? I hope you feel better soon.

That was me! On Liberty.

We ate at Chops tonight. This is our first experience there, and it was truly fantastic. I ordered the 16 Oz ribeye, and I could not finish it, however much I wanted to. I needed to charge my phone, so no pictures of this wonderful experience. My wife took pictures which are far better than mine, but although she forwards these photos to me, and they are successfully transferred to my photo album, I am unable to post her photos to this website.

We saw Michael Holly tonight. A juggling comedian, he is extremely entertaining.

Currently in the casino. I definitely feel like this casino is small. I can see the end and beginning no matter where I stand. There have been 4 jackpots on dragon link in the past 10min. One for $1700, then $2800, $1200 ,and finally $1900. I played my money for today and dinner is in 15min so I'm good.

That's a full scale sculpture. It is so realistic, I thought just maybe someone would think it was the real deal.

Juneau. 50-ish. Rainy-ish. Folks were bundled like Eskimo's. I wore a vest and short sleeves.

Truth is, that was my appetizer before my Windjammer breakfast. The D Lounge has terrific coffee.

Hubby & I tried Keto late last year. Now I say tried, I counted our carbs every day to the best of my ability. We cut out bread, pastas, potatoes, starches, sugar. In three months, my darling husband lost 20 lbs and went down 3 pant sizes. I lost……………….. NOTHING!!!!!!

I loved the giant Hockey mask in Saint John... ha

We really enjoyed Sidney when we stopped there in.....October 2022 I think. It's a low key port. We walked around on our own and had a ball. We went to the military museum along with some other small museums we came across while walking around. The people were very friendly. There's a monument to the Merchant Mariners in WW II that we feel is worth seeing. It's an easy walk down the waterfront. Oh yea....there's a big fiddle at the port, too. I'm not too sure what it is with Canada and big things....where my in-laws live, there's a giant axe.

To be fair, the brats could be @Lovetocruise2002 kids, so it's not that far off given it's a suite discussion thread.

Already discussed ad nauseam

Mens. Soiled. Underwear. Was there a pineapple sign nearby?!?!? And what is it with these blogs and underwear? I can't remember who it was on here that opened a drawer and found undies in there. Ugh! And GAMBLING WITH THE RIGHT COLOR UNDERWEAR!!!!! The color is apparently NOT brown...

Yes he is, he brought 3 snow overalls on this trip and has worn one to every excursion. He gets cold easy and was like he wasn't taking chances

i thought the same at first and i am 99.9999999% positive it is a statue of some kind.

@Lovetocruise2002 50s and below. People from Oregon, Seattle and Canada are the least bundled up . Juneau has been the coldest, temp wise, but the wind wasn't like Sitka and Skagway, which made them feel colder.

The Dog House ... I try it each time. All I ordered was a Bavarian Dog with no bun, and potato salad. This dog is so anemic, and kind of gross, so I think it's not what I asked for. And the potato salad was so frozen, I don't know if it was good or not. I'll try again on our next cruise.

The Juneau port is great so far. Lots of options, on my way to meet my brother at the tram.....it's colder here than any port we've been to.

With a cruise next year where I'd be able to fully take advantage of the DBP, I've been mulling biting the proverbial bullet and purchasing the package. Ultimately decided against it, however, one of the graphs I created for this decision I don't think I've seen during any discussion of which drink package (if any) to purchase. That graph is the stacked bar chart showing how each beverage packages' cost is a part of the others which drinks it includes. Here's a cleaned up comparison chart for Royal's drink packages for a sailing out of Port Liberty in 2025 aboard Odyssey for a 7-night itinerary which includes CocoCay (prices seem to be about standard, however). I found it interesting how the break even point for the DBP, assuming drinking enough to break even with the lower level packages, is 4 drink per day. Which so happens to be the same number of drink vouchers provided at Diamond. Is this a coincidence or is there something going on here from Royal's end that they haven't publicly stated? Description of columns Pre-Cruise: Pre-cruise price in the cruise planner after typical discounts and before gratuity. Add. Bev. Cost: The additional cost of the beverage package compared to the package immediately preceding it. In the case of the Classic Soda, there is no package before and thus the cost of the Classic Soda is in this cell instead. Avg. Drink Cost / Add. Bev. Type: An average drink cost for drinks not included before this beverage package is purchased and which are covered by the beverage package level. Soda is simple at $3.50. Refreshment and Deluxe I kept it simple and went with an off the top of my head average based on personal experience and knowledge of Royal's beverage menus. Package Add. Only Count / Break Even: How many drinks which are covered at a specific beverage package level, and not included in a lower level package, and at the "Avg. Drink Cost / Add. Bev. Type" price point needed to be drunk to at least break even. Rounded up. ex. The Refreshment Package costs $29.99 with an average drink cost of $6.00 for beverages not covered by the Classic Soda Package. Therefore, 5 non-covered by Soda need to be drank to break even with the Refreshment if no Soda package drinks are drunk. Add. Bev. Count / Break Even: How many additional drinks must be drunk to break even and not covered under a lower level package for the "Add. Bev. Cost" of the package. Rounded up. ex. There is a $45.00 premium over the cost of the Refreshment Package for the Deluxe Beverage Package ("Add. Bev. Cost"). The "Avg. Drink Cost / Add. Bev. Type" for Deluxe is $12.00. Thus, 4 additional drinks which are only covered in the Deluxe, compared to the Refreshment, need to be drunk to break even.

I'm curious to see what changes, if anything, when I go on my next Royal cruise with the same USB hubs and plugs I usually bring. Realistically, this ban is not as impactful as I think some are worried about because in practice, security has always been lackadaisical about enforcing the rules about things like which plugs are allowed or not. I wish there was a clearer answer, but like many new Royal Caribbean policies, it will take some time to get a consensus on what is allowed or not.

playing devil’s advocate here…. i swear by my away luggage as it’s been through a lot and i’ve had my carryon for over a decade and it still looks brand new (in my opinion). i also find away’s warranty and return policy to be OUTSTANDING. one of the things that deterred me heavily from monos was their return process. so i too ordered during black friday last year and when i wanted to send the suitcases back, it would have eaten into my return fee for each bag (a carryon and suitcase) while i was intrigued by the interior pocket space and storage, one of the best things for me with away is that i can (and have) send back without needing to rationalize it with customer service (which was my monos experience - i did have to fight to get them to waive the return fees). to be fair, in their defense — it was during their busiest period of time, and their return for any reason policy may have changed since then. my away suitcase lost a small “bumper” on the bottom and they replaced the entire thing, no questions asked. they had me for life after that but i think it varies with your experience and, as @Cactus527 said, how you prefer your bag structured. i was pleased to read that they had replaced the bag without any grief

Day 6 . Sea day. The boat is really rocking. And today the D Lounge is popular.

demon. ship.

I'm currently on Wonder of the Seas on the September 15th, 2024 sailing. I used my diamond voucher so that I could get my free internet access just so I could look this information up (I hadn't planned on getting online). Ashley's instructions worked perfectly. Thank you!

this is like a cowboy western movie MY LORD this makes me so happy!!!!! this is so sweet !!!!! i am very pleased to add this to my vernacular/understanding. thank you for explaining YESSSSSSSS i mean you guys have really been through it!!!! the tacos looked good, so did the onion rings. that might be the biggest bowl of soup i’ve ever seen in my entire life????? ….i've yet to discern if this is a good or bad thing, honestly. i love the happy pics of you and the overhead shot of the ship was so cool.

I AM SCREAMING i was stuck with a hellfire work day and SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED. NOT A COICINDENCE I THINK. MANY…… ADVENTURES. this is the saddest thing i have ever heard. or a….. seal??????? unsure. i am cackling with laughter omg O M G!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOODBYE FOREVER!!!!!!!! oh MY GOD????!?!?!?!???!!!!!!! this is….. horrifying. THIS IS A LITTLE TOO FAMILIAR, THANKS are you sure some of the bears didn’t come back aboard with you???? oh man now i need to catch up on page 6. i love that @WAYNO gave you such a cool duck!!!!

Star Class privileges are for Star Class guests only. The shoreside genies will never waiver from this, especially since most of their correspondence is in writing. They aren't as familiar with the nuances of what happens on the ship. Asking the Concierge at a week out is something that the Sky class guests are allowed to do, but you will also get your genie contact at the week out point as well and they should be able to secure you reservations for 5. The only caveat is that if you are looking for a reservation at one of those limited space dining options (Royal Railway, Chef's Table, Omakase, Hibachi) you need to make the reservations in advance. They will refund the Star Class guests and the dining package guests onboard. For those specific experiences, if they are selling the times online there is no way for the onboard genie to get you that time once it sells out. Those slots have limited seats and it isn't just as simple as adding another small table to make a larger table in those cases.

Suites "Gifts" It seems they are still giving out the "new ship" gifts to Suites guests on UT. We didn't get the hats and beach bags that some got on the earliest sailings, but we did get a couple of trinkets. We got something every night except the first night...for some reason. We got luggage tags, sleeping masks and "vanity headbands". Now....I have no idea what a vanity headband is...or what it looks like, since I haven't yet removed one from its glamorous brown paper bag, but I'm sure it's awesome. I will just save that little surprise for another time. Dan has already used his sleeping mask. He loves to snooze in the recliner during the day so he used his this afternoon. I guess it worked !

Concierge Service As I mentioned, we were in a Sky level suite on the second leg (a Sky Junior Suite....very nice !) and so we had full access to the SL and the CK. Now.....we also had full access on the first leg, but we were NOT in a suite on that one, so we were there by virtue of our Pinn status and there are some restrictions to (non-suite) Pinns in the SL, mainly having to do with drinks...more on that later. The Concierges on leg #2 were Jaime and Ruby. My original correspondence with the Suites Concierges gave the names of 2 females so I don't know when Jaime slipped in there, but by the time we got onboard, it was Jaime and Ruby. Simply awesome service. I can't say enough positive things about them both. Back to the drinks in the SL. As it should have been, when we got a beverage in the SL on our first leg, one of our Pinn vouchers was used. Absolutely correct. No debate or dispute about that. BUT on the second leg, we were in a full suite and as you may have guessed, we had a HELL of a time getting them to NOT use our vouchers for drinks on that second leg, in the SL. Big deal ? No, not really. I almost NEVER use all of my vouchers, anyway, so I should have just shut up and said nothing. But oh no....not me. After the first 2 nights, I decided to go to Jaime and ask him for a SECOND Sea pass card....a Suites card. I had heard of others doing that and I thought that might solve our problem. It was a bad idea. Jaime worked SOOOO hard to get those new cards for us. He even personally came to our suite to drop off the cards b/c the printer wasn't working when we were at his desk earlier. He gave us both WoW bands with the new suites info programmed into it....it was really such good service. Oops. One problem. When he programmed the new suites cards, it inactivated our Pinn cards. If we had realized this, it would have been ok....we would just have put our Pinn cards away and used the suites cards, going forward....but we did NOT realize it until we got to the casino. The Pinn cards were DED and we had not yet received our [new] suites cards...so we were dead in the water. We had to go to Guest Services and have our Pinn cards RE-programmed...and the GS guy also reprogrammed our WoW bands so all was well. We never told Jaime that he suites cards didn't actually work out. I didn't have the heart to tell him. He worked so hard.... Suites Sun Deck Wow. What a mess this was. We had heard (I know, I know) that suites guests were getting complimentary drinks on the Suites Sun Deck just as they would have gotten if they had been in the SL. I had also heard that the opposite was true. So rather than embarrass myself, I asked Jaime. He called the Beverage Manager and the BM told him that no - drinks were only complimentary if you are in the SL...not on the SSD. Ok. Cool. No problem. Except, that the bartenders WERE treating the SSD just like the SL. All of the complimentary drinks (11-11) were complimentary on the SSD and all of the liquor during happy hour were too. They were even laughing about it. So it's one of those ...."there is the law and then there is the way things are done" (any of you who are Outlander fans will recognize that line).

Yes you will almost certainly have a different experience. 3 and 4 night sailings usually have a much higher percentage of what you experienced/saw than a 7 day. This is especially true for ships that ONLY do 3/4 nights like the Independence currently.

Those are mostly good shenanigans....except for the creepers who were staring....

I want to talk about dinner and those shenanigans. The first night we were sat in the Silk dining room table 734. It took a while to order, first night growing pains, but she served us one at a time, one item at a time. She completely forgot about one of my brother's apps and entrees. There was a table next to us that literally stared at us all throughout their dinner. Robin wasn't having this and would stare at them to force them to either look away or say something. They never said anything, it was awkward. Anyway, although the service was meh, we tipped our service staff. I want to say since we had MTD and a standing 7:45 reservation, we prefer to tip as we go because we might not be sat at the same table. Robin gave her a tip first and she did 3 quick bows, then MB tipped her, and she clutched her chest and did 3 more bows and when my brother handing her ours, she did 4 deep bows. We learned the deep bows are for royalty, so it was special. She was so happy for the tip. I loved that she was happy, but it was also awkward. The second night we were sat at a different table and the service was on point. Again, the vintages gave their tip and we ours, man were they bending and grinning**. They were trying to give us so much and do so much. My brother got bread wrapped up to take back to the room and we were told to request this table, which we did because we liked the service. The third night they sat a walk-in at our table because we were there late after Starwater. We were sat at the table next to ours. The server was a fast talker, she wasn't bad, but she had to repeat herself a lot to the vintage because she talked so fast. Anyway, Robin didn't make it to dinner but our wonderful waiters from night two came over and apologized for us not having our table. They brought our bread and drinks, confusing our current service crew. I overheard them telling them things we liked. It was so funny because other tables were looking like why is that table getting 4 people??? So when we tipped our server, she was ecstatic, she screamed WIFI!!! We were confused and she was like "now I can afford Wi-Fi, I am going to buy Wi-Fi" and skipped away. She then brought out my brother's bread to go. We were tickled about the Wi-Fi, so we told Robin. Night 4 we got our night 2 waiters, and they went out their way to set us up with drinks, bread and menus despite two other tables that had been sat before us waiting. We laughed and while we were waiting the other two sets of servers came over to say hello and ask if we needed anything. Robin said at the end of dinner she was going to give our server from night 3 her tip because she understands that any little bit helps. So we have good service and tip our waiters who are really bending and grinning. I mean they brought extra stuff, breads already prepared to go for my brother, lemons because they overheard Robin saying she needed to make tea in the room for her throat. Just on it. Then Robin calls over the waitress from night 2 to give her the tip. She literally screamed in appreciation, the screamed WIFI!! then covered her mouth and said sorry this is a secret. She thanked us and said we are too generous; she is happy to meet people like us. Then she bowed. It really made Robins night, she said she enjoys seeing joy on people's face and can't wait to eat tonight. **the term "bending and grinning" is what vintage black people use to say when someone is doing the most in a manner that almost seems flirtatious.

And again the DL is empty...

The simplest way to sum up the rules is "Don't add power outlets". Single outlet power adapters (for voltage and/or shape) are fine. Multi-port chargers (USB/Thunderbird/etc) are fine. Neither of these increase the number of power outlets.

Dear Jason Liberty, Want to make a million dollars a year and keep the tiki torches and pitchforks at bay? Please find a USB adapter that YOU would use yourself, one that your gang of security goombahs will find acceptable on all of your vessels, silkscreen a Royal Caribbean logo on it, and then sell it to us! Make them a pre-cruise purchase, like a drink cup that awaits you when the cabins open up. Sell them at the shops onboard. Throw them out with the flashing rings during 70's night or make them a prize for trivia or bingo. Maybe even bellyflop guy gets one? Just promise me they won't be made by the same manufacturer that makes the crappy Royal Caribbean pens. Want a billion dollar idea? Find the manufacturer of the GoalZero 10 Nomad solar panel and have them contract manufacture a 15 watt model also with the Royal Caribbean logo on it. Call it The Big, Fat Dupaa-- because there is absolutely no reason why a passenger shouldn't be charging there phone, vape pen, or other small electronic device while they are sitting poolside or in a hot tub on their big, fat dupaa. I understand that the solar panel idea will get a lot of pushback from your best customers who live in the Pinnacle filled homes of The Villages and elsewhere in conservative Florida. But Jason, guess what? The next hurricane or tropical rainstorm that knocks out electricity statewide; guess who is gonna drag out their Big Fat Dupaa and charge their phones on their veranda??? Yea, it's better we keep that part quiet and between us girls. Your favorite 100+ shareholder, Bobroo

Juneau, Day 5 ... We're still moving, but this is what my balcony is revealing at 6:30 am. We have some pretty extreme tides happening right now.

I'm up. I'm always up. Please don't ask me how this scrolled into my Amazon feed. It just did. Don't press me further. We are not swingers. I swear. I hate being naked, much less in front of strangers. However ... would it be wrong to buy this and randomly stick it on a door on our next cruise? Or maybe not randomly. I'm thinking this would've been fair play for our Stage 5 Clingers on our last Symphony Cruise. Yes, i purposely included the part that said 100 were bought in the last month .... Either I'm not the only one with this idea or ...... P.S. Chris Wong

Cruise planner closes tonight! It is getting super real! I have one more shopping stop at Target for a prescription and toiletries. Then cleaning the house and packing! We aren't going to visit with our friends on Saturday after all so we are going to leave home mid-morning and get down to the hotel by Newark in the afternoon. We will go into Manhattan for dinner but still unsure if we will go to the Comedy Cellar or a musical. Luggage tags printed Passports taken out of the safe Packing list made Laundry done MTD, Entertainment, and excursions booked Trivia, activities, and random events onboard "liked" in the app _ Packing _ Cleaning _ Self-Care primping