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I know I heard about this project many times but didn't pay much attention to it or what they were doing but HOLY FREAKING COW! I am just blown away. I'm a sucker, a big time sucker for a lazy river so that has something to do with my excitement. Everything here looks amazing. I suppose there won't be any cruises from NJ? Too far? Would LOVE to go to Coco Cay and Perfect Day Mexico on the same cruise.

Woo! We finished packing around 9 pm last night for our 6:40 am flight . Left the house around 3:50 but had a great travel day (Indy to Houston to Miami). Other than being tired, it’s been smooth sailing (pun intended). We got upgraded to a suite for our hotel room with a great view of downtown Miami. We’ve been in communication with Lisha via What’sApp since yesterday and she sent our schedule earlier this morning. Other than adjusting our day 2 dinner to later (which was no issue), everything was as we hoped (and the earlier dinner was my fault when I thought the only show was at 7:30).

DAY 3: Provence/Marseille, France Turning back the clock to Day 3… We once again ate breakfast in the Solarium Bistro and then headed out for our excursion, Scenic Marseille. This was another easy and short tour. We really felt rushed, but I guess that’s the nature of many of the tours. Some pics from the morning on our balcony and on the pool deck of the port area… Seagulls were swarming when we docked… I couldn’t understand them since they spoke French! Yeah, I know, too corny! The Marseille “Hollywood” sign… Brilliance is apparently undergoing some maintenance here in Marseille… a couple of pics at the end of this post. Completely surrounded by construction cranes. Some pics during the bus drive along the coast to our first stop… Some of the famous museums in Marseille… Once at “Vieux-Port” or the “Old Port”… the Notre-Dame de la Garde Basílica on the hill… … a piece of art work made completely out of stainless steel which acts also as a source of shade. The “Hotel de Ville de Marseille” in across the water with all the flags… houses the mayor and other member so government… Family-friendly (not nude!) local beach… … an Army memorial for all soldiers that died for France in North Africa… … Chateau d’If… used in “The Count of Monte Cristo”… … Vallon des Auffes… Parc Lonchamp and Palais Longhchamp… such a beautiful structure and fountain. It’s amazing how they build around these monuments and structures with residential property, etc. Christine… … the both of us… … walking up to get a closer look… … just pics of building across the street and the palms that are everywhere in the Med! We returned to Vieux-Port… some more pics of the area… More of the Hotel de Ville de Marseille (mayor and government building)… … pano of port area… … Saint-Ferreol church… … Notre-Dame de la Garde Basílica… We then returned to the port… Brilliance is being serviced in port… cranes all around her… The Holland America Oosterdam was also visiting today…

I recall reading (somewhere) that you could "hook" your lazy river tube up at any of the floating bars so I guess there IS bar service mid-laze.

One more day until cruise day. I will be on Freedom next month.

A few moments while we digest dinner and rest from the 10.5 hour excursion in Rome today!!! This morning I went back to the CL to hopefully help paint a better picture of the location, etc. First couple of pics I took just inside the entrance which faces to the aft of the ship and the Boardwalk… If you exit the lounge and turn left, you enter El Loco Fresh which is on the starboard side… If you exit to the right, you pass the mini-golf course and can enter the Mason Jar which is on the port side. Not a dungeon, but not much light can filter in with that overhang… … this morning’s spread…

GIOVANNI'S ITALIAN KITCHEN Dinner Menu Som's Solo Sour is on newer menus in place of Napa Sour

Yeah, I think the more main purpose is to allow ships that can't reach PDCC as quickly from ports like Galveston (especially this one), Tampa, New Orleans, etc. to be able to run short cruises to PDMX like all the FL shorties that go to PDCC/Nassau (and perhaps charge a premium). I'm sure it will also be included on longer Western itineraries too. Maybe some of the Westerns I'm used to that go to PDCC and then the usual Mexico/Roatan ports will just head straight to Mexico instead. If the logistics work, I'd certainly try it... says the boring guy about to go nowhere but PDCC for the foreseeable future, lol.

Can't imagine any non-Royal Caribbean Group mainstream cruise line, and even a few of the premiums, wanting to port at Costa Maya once PDM is open and shuffling their guests past this.

I hear you, I love a lazy River too. Went to,Puerto Plata on my Symphony cruise a week ago, they had a lazy River (free of charge) but it’s nothing compared to the one that’s going to be in Mexico. I’m a Philly girl and would love to only cruise out of Bayonne or Baltimore but this is a game changer for me.

Floating, but not moving. Now if the bar moves down the river with the passengers, now you're taking!

I love the almond croissants.

Here's a new one. These "options" show up after I select the guests for the DBP... of course they don't actually do anything.

I'm thinking the lazy river version of this, no need to stop!

This will increase the value of the western Caribbean cruises. Looks like it will be pretty cool

Mine is a balcony. My offers have been junior suites. I was going to pass but I guess I'll check it out for the first time. No email yet.

Here are some pictures from our Signature Event Cruise on the Wonder 10/23

The show that evening was Blades in Studio B. The show was excellent as usual. I’ll always be amazed at how these athletes can perform some of these complex moves on ice on a moving ship! You have to get the night shots! Pool deck! Look like a full moon tonight! Darn iPhone cannot focus on the moon… this is when I miss my DSLR! A ton of pics of Central Park from many locations! The Crown Lounge… the SeaPass card actually worked and let me in this time… LOL! The entrance is directly across from the Boardwalk near El Loco Fresh. I hear this is a small lounge, but of course we have no frame of reference! Shot from right corner near the concierge desk looking to the back of the lounge… … opposite corner near main entrance looking back… … left side of lounge… … back right (where I’m actually sitting now) toward entrance… … coffee, latte, cappuccino machine… … view as you exit the lounge… … just some more random night shots! OK, bedtime! Need to recharge for a looong day in Florence & Pisa. Not sure when I’ll be able to start Day 3 (Provence/Marseille), but I’ll try! Have a great night everyone (it’s almost midnight here)!

DAY 2: Palma De Mallorca, Spain Looong day! Currently sitting in the Crown Lounge (10:00pm - no one here ) to catch up a bit while Christine goes to sleep in our cabin. We have a 10.5 hour tour tomorrow (Best of Florence & Pisa). We ate breakfast in the Solarium Bistro this morning (Day 2) and we met in the Amber Theater to head out for our RC excursion, Easy Palma. Some shots from our balcony and the ship before be disembarked for the tour… Bellver Castle on the hill… A TUI cruise line ship… Mein Schiff… not sure which one in the series. I see they are not very original with their names and just add a number after the name … It was interesting to see the first couple of this line were converted Celebrity ships. This was a very low-key and short tour (about 3.5 hours). A good warm-up for the more grueling tours to come! The first stop was the Bellver Castle. Unfortunately, we just walked around the grounds and took pics since it’s closed on Mondays and we could not enter and take on the panoramic views from the ramparts. Next, we stopped near the Catedral de Mallorca. We only could view it from the outside. After that we were given some free time to wander the nearby streets. Allure in the distance! Hard to get nice shots of the ship. We are never far enough away on foot to get a nice shot! When we returned to the ship, we went to the Windjammer for lunch. Not a bad selection, but not nearly as extensive/impressive as Wonder and Icon. We later stopped by the Pesky Parrot. Since it was a port day, the bar was empty and every time “Brad” the parrot started his performance, it would scare the out of us! “Brad”… Christine tried the “Pretty Bird”… Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, Campari, pineapple and lime juices and strawberry puree… I tried the “Painchiller”… Bacardi Caribbean Spiced Rum, Hard Truth Toasted Coconut rum, pina colada mix and blood orange sour. After some exploring and a little rest back at the cabin, we all met at the Mason Jar for a drink before heading to dinner. I think we like the Mason Jar on Allure better than the one on Wonder. It seems more open or expansive. There are multiple entrances to both the restaurant and the bar area. The bar area is much larger as it’s 4-sided with tables and chairs/booths all around… … of course I had to have my PB&J Old Fashioned! Christine tried my other favorite… the Mississippi Moonlight! After drinks, we headed back to the cabin to dress a little more appropriately for dinner. Tonight, we had dinner at one of our favorites… 150 Central Park… LOVE the bread! The iPhone brightens up the restaurant, but of course it’s always dimly lit for ambience. Some of us had the Roasted Pumpkin Bisque… … or the Seared Honey-Glazed Scallops… Half our party had the Roasted Tenderloin of Beef… my favorite!!!! … the other half, the Lobster Thermidor… For dessert, some had the Fried Cheesecake… … while others had the Peanut Butter Chocolate Tart. As always, the service and food were exceptional! We miss 150 CP when we sail Odyssey or Icon! Will continue on in a sec…

I have a few minutes in between dinner and the show tonight… So, after sail away, we headed to dinner at Izumi (Sushi table side)! More food pics! We all had either the Pork Gyoza Dumplings or the Shrimp and Pork Wonton Soup… both great as usual! Delicious! I’m going to try to label these correctly, but with all the rolls flying around the table (not all pictured here), even our waiter was confused and served the wrong rolls to each of us! Truffled Creamy Lobster Tempura Roll (mine)… delicious! Crispy Philly Roll (Christine’s)… I went with the one roll and the Chicken Teriyaki with Fried Rice… Christine (choco-holic) went with the Chocolate Lava Cake… The other desserts… Assorted Mochi Ice Cream… … and Crispy Sesame Balls… Random pic taken after dinner while walking around Central Park! LOL! After dinner we killed some time and walked around. I stopped into the Royal store and picked up my Allure ship model AND an Allure ship ornament! I have not seen these for years! On Odyssey, both Wonder sailings, and last year on Icon, they were sold out! We eventually made our way to the Amber Theater to see “Blue Planet”. OK, I think I’ve said this before about so many of Royal’s original productions including “The Book”… I don’t care for scene/skit based, non-story line, types of shows. The performers were all great as usual, but these older shows need to be replaced. From what I’ve heard, Columbus and Flight are far superior. Just a quick photo dump… … OK, gotta go to the show… I’ll be back!

… trying to sneak a few moments before I have to head out again. Back from excursion and in between meals… LOL! We decided to have our embarkation day lunch in Giovanni’s… food and service was excellent. Ahhhh… the memories… our first Oasis class experience was on Allure! We can now use the slides as a landmark since they are above the forward elevator tower! OK @OCSC Mike, here comes some food porn… … more wine… have to use our shiny new vouchers! Most of us skipped the appetizer and ordered a half-size portion of one item in the left column plus a full entree from the right column. Tagliatelle Carbonara… Chicken Piccata… Branzino… Garlicky Herb Prawns… Eggplant Parmigiana… Desserts! Every meal on a cruise ship must end with dessert! Panna Cotta… Tiramisu… Pistachio Italian Ice Cream… After lunch, the cabins were ready and we went back to unpack… As expected, nothing has changed in most cabins… here’s out OV balcony on Deck 8… We are on the beginning of the bump out so we have a slightly larger balcony on one side. Views from our balcony while in port… We forgot how abysmal the outlet/charging options were on Allure! We get spoiled when we sail on the newer ships! I’m good… my USB charging hub and 10,000 charging cables do the trick! We met back up for sail away… some random pics taken along the way… Don’t laugh… I know, still babes in the woods… finally got our Diamond pins! It was looking a little sketchy right before sail away… Luckily, it blew over with no rain at the port! Come on… let’s get going here! Heading out backwards at first… the Costa Smerelda was still in port. Not a bad looking ship for Costa… looked it up… 1,100 feet long and 185K gross tons! Sounds like the same size as Mardi Gras, etc. Have to sign off for now… will be back when I can to finish embarkation day!

Great investment back in 1975 at $650,000 and will secure his retirement for his family. Per google, his networth is $108 million, and i'm sure his stock options are doing incredible since covid.

While on the Symphony of the Seas, 3 of us needed to sleep in one stateroom. While the queen size bed can separate into two twin size bed, you still need an extra bed for one person. My house keeper said that my couch was not a sofa-bed, but I figured out that if you have this type of couch in your stateroom, you can remove the back cousins and ask your housekeeper for an extra sheet, pillow and blanket. Now with the back cushions removed, simply add the sheet, pillow and blanket, and you basically have another twin size bed. I would recommend storing the cushions in a closet, to hide them away. If you're wondering what type of couch, simply look at the picture below. I also circled the cushions that can be taken out. (The back cushions are not attached to anything so they're easy to move.)

Huge news! Can't wait!

This one with the lies again. She was a delight to meet for the whole 5 mins that we ran into one another.

these are the spouses of my (now adult) children. Because the kids have my level that I was at when they turned 18 their spouses and children get that level, even though my children do not have the points yet in their own right I know this is correct because my newly married son has just done a cruise for his honeymoon (first one that has cruised since marrying) and his wife (my daughter in law) has got his emerald perks although he was only platinum points wise at the start of their cruise. I had also asked about it from a loyalty adviser last year when thinking about booking my big birthday cruise. And I am now diamond plus (as of Sunday ) so I am not saying the in-laws have my perks - its that they have their spouses perks

Boy, are you BOTH in for big disappointments !

Twenty three nights on Quantum of the Seas including Brisbane, Sydney, Picton, Wellington, Auckland, Papeete, Moorea, Raiatea and Hawaii. I am writing this review in May having arrived back home in Florida. Twenty three nights is a long time to take off from work and with so many sea days on this journey I decided to make this a working cruise. That ended up working out really well but it left little time to post this thread live so I am posting it all from the future, of the cruise, in the past, tense that is, which will become a recurring theme managing the date and time difference with the US as I worked remotely during the voyage. The transpacific cruise by itself was 21 nights. I added a 2 night repositioning cruise before it to make it a total of 23 nights. I don't see a lot of transpacific reviews or trip reports so I thought this could help fill in that void. I've been waiting to post this here as @mashley1021 has been posting live from Quantum's voyage from Hawaii to Vancouver occurring after my cruise. I didn't want to steal her thunder or cause confusion posting this now historical account of Quantum's Transpacific from Australia to Hawaii. You can check out her most excellent thread here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/52355-hawaii-is-calling-quantum-of-the-seas-42825/

We signed up for the 3 Specialty Dining Package on Oasis for 5 of us (3 different rooms - linked). When we try to make a reservation for a dinner, it makes us make the reservation for all 5. We would like to split up on certain nights. There's got to be a way, but I can't figure it out. Thanks.

You can select who will be dining when, even when your dinning is linked. It doesn't even automatically choose both people when you share a room.

You will be trying GK not GT. Freedom has the kitchen version.

I called and interestingly they couldn't figure out how to do it either. They said we could do it once on board. I just hope the time slots we want aren't taken by then.

Day Three / Day One (B) Sydney and the end of cruise #1. An early arrival into Sydney.

I have sailed on Quantum to Alaska and three other sister ships in this class so I was already comfortable with the ship. I had received an email letting me know as a Pinnacle I had made the list for access to the Suite Lounge and Coastal Kitchen. The top forty are given access to manage the numbers and save space for suite guests. I headed to Coastal Kitchen to make dinner reservations. Night one is still the Filet night so how could I resist? Given that I made the booking for the two night repo cruise not long before the sail date I had a different cabin compared to my cabin for the transpacific. With only two nights I didn't unpack my suitcase for the first cruise. Cabin 7244 - 2D balcony

Brisbane My friends live just outside of the Brisbane city limits. After taking them out for dinner it was time to head to bed. The next day they took me to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. You can't visit Australia without seeing Koalas and Kangaroos! So cute! They warned me to keep an eye out for drop bears. Fortunately non presented themselves during my visit. First time feeding a Kangaroo using the Roo food acquired at the sanctuary. These things have incredible teeth and claws. Note to self - don't ever upset a Kangaroo.

Flights I found a very reasonable business class ticket from Florida to Sydney flying on ANA through Japan. Later when I added the two night Brisbane cruise the airfare had doubled so it was cheaper to leave my ANA airfare alone and book a separate short domestic flight from Sydney to Brisbane. I ended up liking the ANA routing and layover in Haneda as it broke up the flight, gave me a chance to shower in the airport lounge and the impact from the time change was more gradual and therefore more manageable by the time I reached Brisbane. By breaking it down to more flight legs over time it was easier on my body. Plus lay flay seats are the only way to go when flying long haul international and the cost for business class direct to Sydney was pretty expensive. On the plane ride from Haneda to Sydney we flew over the Great Barrier reef. While the best parts weren't on my side of the plane it was cool to look down and see it from 41,000 feet. I promise my photos will get better as this continues. Arriving into Sydney the customs process was easy and the transfer from the international terminal to the domestic terminal was simple following the signs to the free shuttle bus. Australia still allows non-passengers to go through security so my friend met me at the gate in Brisbane as I deplaned. Super easy. My cell service is with US Mobile which includes Japan, Australia and New Zealand plus many other countries. ANA included free internet with business class so I could stay connected for the entire journey. The return from Honolulu to Florida was domestic on Delta. Being purely domestic it was much more reasonable compared to a long haul from Australia to Florida.

A transpacific has long been on my bucket list so this was my first. The ports in New Zealand had just one duplicate port with my last New Zealand cruise and with three new stops in French Polynesia a lot of this cruise would be new to me. I liked that. As it turns some of the port stops were over weekends so that meant I didn't need to take as much time off work since I can work remotely on sea days. Cruise #1 Sun 06 April 2025 Brisbane, Australia - 04:30 PM Boarding Mon 07 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Tue 08 April 2025 Sydney, Australia 06:30 AM - Departure Cruise #2 Tue 08 April 2025 Sydney, Australia - 05:00 PM Boarding Wed 09 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Thu 10 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Fri 11 April 2025 Picton, New Zealand 11:00 AM 08:00 PM Docked Sat 12 April 2025 Wellington, New Zealand 07:00 AM 06:30 PM Docked Sun 13 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Mon 14 April 2025 Auckland, New Zealand 07:30 AM 06:30 PM Docked Tue 15 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Wed 16 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Wed 16 April 2025 International Dateline - - Cruising Thu 17 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Fri 18 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Sat 19 April 2025 Papeete, Tahiti 08:00 AM 11:59 PM Docked Sun 20 April 2025 Moorea, French Polynesia 08:00 AM 08:00 PM Tendered Mon 21 April 2025 Raiatea, French Polynesia 07:00 AM 05:00 PM Tendered Tue 22 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Wed 23 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Thu 24 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Fri 25 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Sat 26 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising Sun 27 April 2025 Honolulu (Oahu), Hawaii 07:00 AM - Docked Mon 28 April 2025 Honolulu (Oahu), Hawaii - - Departure Australia has laws regarding smoking inside and these are enforced on cruise ships sailing from Australian ports. On this cruise the interior smoking ban remained in effect for the full voyage all the way to Hawaii. Twenty three nights of smoke free bliss.

Background I was originally booked on Ovation of the Seas for several in a row all the way through to the US mainland. When Ovation was redeployed to Singapore they moved displaced Ovation guests over to Quantum. We went from nineteen nights to twenty one nights frozen at our lower Ovation cruise fare. They changed Quantum's departure port from Brisbane to Sydney in the process since that is where Ovation sailed from. I had booked this before cruise fares went crazy and now with twenty one nights for the price of nineteen? That was a major win. I have some friends in Brisbane so I decided to add the two night Brisbane to Sydney repositioning cruise before the Sydney transpacific making this twenty three nights. I have visited Australia before and cruised from Sydney to New Zealand on Ovation. Spending a few days in Brisbane before the cruise would allow me to explore a different part of Australia. Now it became a win-win. I like Quantum class so it doesn't take very much to convince me to book one. On my previous trip to Australia I learned how costly it is to fly round trip between the US and Australia especially if you desire to upgrade out of economy on the plane ride. A benefit of sailing a transpacific is that you don't need round trip airfare all the way to and from Australia. Instead some of that round trip airfare money can be put towards the transpacific cruise fare. All you need is a one way international plane ticket and more time. That being said the new Quantum Hawaii to Vancouver cruise with Maui unavailable wasn't that attractive to keep compared to the original Ovation Hawaii cruise I had booked. They would price protect us but there were fewer nights and fewer ports of call. They also transferred that Hawaii cruise from Ovation to Quantum so I cancelled it for a refund of my deposit and decided to fly home from Honolulu which is a domestic flight at a reasonable cost.

Hey Everyone! As I stated way back in the beginning of this, we were in a 2 bedroom grand suite. It was my first time in the same cabin with my parents since 2008 (On the Indy actually which I will be on this summer again, although solo this time...). We had separate bedrooms and bathrooms so it really wasn't bad and I think my mom liked having the common "living room" type space in the middle of the room. Anyways, we were in room 10634: It had a doorbell, I know, very exciting content here: When you entered the room, you were in a hallway, on the left was my room and on the right was the walk in closet and the second bathroom. Walk in closet: Second bathroom, basically a standard cabin bathroom, worked fine for me: My bedroom: My Closet in front of the bed: (I took the hanging shelf thing with because I watched many cabin tours of this cabin and knew about the minimal drawers/ no shelves in the second bedroom in advance) Then, if you go forward from the hallway I showed earlier, we had the living area: More storage in the living area: The door on the left was the cooler and the right was a cabinet: Next to the TV above, you will see a door to my parent's room: Closet on the left of the bed: Cabinets in front of the bed next to the TV: Closet on the right of the bed: Desk/vanity, to the right of the closet that was to the right of the bed: (Yes, I know this is a mess, blame my mom) Bathroom on that bedroom, pretty much the same as a JS bathroom: Balcony photos (these are not great, I took them from the inside because I got around to taking these photos about halfway through the cruise and it was cold and windy outside so I refused to go outside to take them, sorry! I hoped it would get better but it never really did until we got to Vancouver): Ok, so overall, we liked the cabin. It had ample storage for 3 people and probably would be fine with 4 as well, we all agreed the 8 it sleeps would be pushing it though. If my room had the upper bunks down, I don't think you could open the closet, it was pretty tight in there. We liked the living area and played lots of games on that coffee table. And the balcony is huge and would be great for a warmer weather cruise, sadly ours wasn't that. The biggest negatives we had were: 1. My parents are not used to sharing a sink anymore and are spoiled with GS and OS normally so they were not so happy with the one sink in their bathroom even though they knew about it in advance. The sink also was one of those huge over mount sinks and as a result they had no counter space really in their bathroom. 2. My room didn't have a mirror at all and the only mirror in the common area was in my bathroom. So, the only place I could do my hair was on my desk without a mirror since I needed an outlet and obviously cruise ship bathrooms don't have outlets. Or in the common area also without a mirror. I knew about this in advance so I took a travel mirror but it still seems like a mistake to not have a mirror at least in the common area. I ended up waiting until my mom was ready sometimes and using her vanity area but she also had managed to cover that with all her makeup so it was a mess and not super convenient. Also, I was generally faster than her so waiting was not ideal. Overall, those were the only negatives so clearly it wasn't that bad. Anyways, since we clearly didn't kill each other, we do have a 2 bedroom aqua theater suite booked next year on Utopia. Hopefully we aren't pushing our luck! Thanks for putting up with me for this 8 day sailing and let me know if you have any further questions! - Ashley

Wow, back so soon, very unlike me... Anyways day 9 aka Vancouver and travel home! We had gotten an email a few months back that due to the tides, we would be docking in Vancouver late in order for the ship to make it under the Lion's gate bridge. We weren't supposed to dock until around 8:30, and get clearance until around 9:30. The next guests weren't getting on until the next day in Seattle so there was really no impact there, and in theory it meant we could have had a more relaxing disembarkation day, especially with our flight not being until after 4:30pm since we waited for the direct flight on Air Canada, but you know how Royal is, and even if Royal wasn't that way, my mom would have managed to kill the relaxation. Even though we weren't scheduled to dock until 8:30, we still were told to vacate our cabins by 8:30 and most of the venues closed for breakfast at 8:30 or 9. So after that, everyone just sat around the public spaces on the ship frustrated, more on that later... Here is us going under the bridge in question: In case anyone was concerned, we fit. Then, to kill time, we went to breakfast at Coastal Kitchen like 10 minutes before they closed, we normally aren't those people but we became those people. We had booked the late transfer to YVR and were supposed to disembark at 11am so we figured, let's try to kill some time. We got promptly kicked out of Coastal Kitchen, along with another table we were chatting with, at 9:30. At that time, we expected at least some tags to have been called but we found out the only thing called was self carry and it was just called by the time we made it to the Suite waiting area in Wonderland. Nothing was open at this point and the water, coffee, etc in the waiting areas had long emptied out so there really was nothing to do. At 10 they were supposed to call red tags, key, etc and those were not called until after 10:30. They were quite a bit behind schedule and by 11:15 were like 45 minutes behind. They then skipped a bunch of numbers to call the late transfer (33), which was our number for the transfer. At that point, only through 15 had been called and it was just us and one other person also on the transfer waiting in the suite waiting area. The Concierge was thrilled to be done escorting people at that point . Anyways, we proceeded ashore and were the first people in line by the buses for the transfer so we got on the first bus. Thankfully, the bus was pretty smooth and we all agreed worked out well in our situation with a late flight. The driver even made a little tour of it narrating the entire drive, here was the cauldron from the Vancouver olympics since I managed to snap the photo of it as we drove by: They made 2 stops, one in the terminal for US flights and the second in the terminal for Canada flights, we got off at the first stop and by the time we got to the airport were just within the 4 hours that we could check our bags. We then went through security and US immigration which was all pretty smooth, they have a preferred traveler lane in the US YVR terminal that worked with Global Entry and an MPC lane at immigration. Then we waited in the Air Canada Lounge for our flight. Unfortunately, right at the time we moved to the gate, the flight was delayed an hour and a half to back up to the lounge we went. During the delay, I checked in for the Indy group cruise in June so for anyone on there, see you this summer! It was a pretty conveniently timed delay for that. Then when we headed back down a second time, they called for boarding. This was my first time flying a regional jet in ages and it also was an international flight, a very interesting combination. We were in business class, I think I have mentioned in the past that my dad only flies at the front of the plane and I guess I get the benefit of that. Overall, not a bad 2.5 hour flight. We had better service than we did on AA on our outbound to Honolulu and the meal was actually pretty good. Fun fact: we had previously sworn off Air Canada. So in May 2020, we were supposed to do this same cruise on Ovation of the Seas (Albeit a better 11 night itinerary with more ports at the beginning and end back then), and we had this same flight booked because AA canceled their direct flight from YVR to PHX and was going to reroute us through DFW so we insisted on a refund. AA refunded us and we booked Air Canada. That would have been some time in the fall of 2019. Then fast forward to May 2020, the height of Covid, and the cruise was cancelled but we held on to the flight hoping Air Canada would cancel it so we would get a refund. They did cancel it, yay! But they still refused to refund us, not yay. So my parents disputed the charge with Amex and got the money back but basically it boiled down to Canada's laws around flight cancelations being not as favorable as the US at that time. At that point, we had 0 plan to ever fly Air Canada again so a flight credit was useless to us. We were overall pretty annoyed with them so I think this is a case of second chances being a good thing. Now that we finally flew them, can confirm they might not be as bad as AA, although that is a low bar. Anyways, thanks everyone! We finally made it to the point where we got home! Not that you care at this point, but we got a our luggage from baggage claim very quickly by PHX standards and then had a driver take us home. Ok, so going to do one last post in a few minutes here about the cabin since I never got to that while on the ship... Thanks! -Ashley

Interesting article, looks like Richard Fain is downsizing his home. He really was the mastermind behind what Royal Caribbean has become (including the Icon class of ships). Hopefully the current leadership, despite the significant post covid benefit they've gotten, don't dismantle things and follow Carnival's downward spiral. https://www.homes.com/news/former-cruise-line-ceo-lists-florida-waterfront-mansion-for-42-million/746651985/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=RSSFeed_Desktop&utm_content=yahoo-home_1551771&utm_term=&tblci=GiCMb17V-Cs5MQLAi-v-FTZ-pgcX2XJCJuIMhJv3vqKZYSCy0GIok6DgoYCws_xCMJvbXg#tblciGiCMb17V-Cs5MQLAi-v-FTZ-pgcX2XJCJuIMhJv3vqKZYSCy0GIok6DgoYCws_xCMJvbXg

He was definitely customer focused, something that is now lacking IMO

I enjoyed watching the videos he put out during the shutdown. They were always positive. I do wish he was still CEO. I don't believe we would be paying these astronomically high prices for a cruise nowadays if he were still in charge.

Oh, how much do I miss him ?

Richard Fain single-handedly helped me get through the pandemic. There will always be a spot in my heart for him.

I prefer Giovanni’s to Jamie’s. I prefer the Table to the Kitchen.

To be fair, this could happen on any line at any time.

We cruise in June and I purchased all of our tickets through Trenitalia 3 weeks ago- everything was available. Civitavecchia Port (bus + train) to Rome- St. Peter and back again. I was also able to book our tickets from Venice to Milan a week later in June. I watched a few Youtube videos on the process and purchasing in the station day of, which is possible,but it did look like it would eat time out of our day, so I prepurchased and will use the app. I found this post on Rick Steves that provides some great money saving tips when booking through Trenitalia.

The two times that I have driven from Seattle to Vancouver, it took us 3 hours, an hour of which was sitting in line at the border. I would be much more likely to take the train in the future because I want to avoid that headache/ frustration. In San Diego, I highly recommend a tour of the USS Midway. It's almost directly beside the cruise port, and definitely worth it! All the people giving the tours are Navy veterans.