Matt

Black Friday, or any major holiday, is not what you want to aim for. Here's why:

Thanks, I may look into that when we go in May

Unvaccinated kids have to get a PCR test only for their pre-cruise requirement.

You have to check with the excursion, but most tour operators will refund your money if your ship is unable to visit (such as it being cancelled). The one place that refused to return money was Nachi Cocom. I booked a trip in 2020 with a deposit down and they never responded to my refund requests. Regardless, check their policy on refunds if your ship doesnt visit.

Whatever the reason, there's a death every year on these charters. It's incredible Royal continues to allow this group to sail with them given that track record.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/01/19/royal-caribbean-will-offer-southern-food-restaurant-wonder-of-the-seas

Every Royal Caribbean ship that I've covered in the life of this blog pre-Covid has

Welcome to the message boards! You can ask. It's up to the crew to approve it, and it depends on how many kids are there, etc. So I would ask politely. I've seen it approved and other times not. Just be okay if anser is no.

Article about pre-paying gratuities: Should you prepay gratuities for a Royal Caribbean cruise? For me, I pre-pay to help avoid a giant bill at the end of the cruise. Plus, pre-paying locks in gratuities at the current rate. If you wait to pay gratuities onboard and Royal raises the gratuity rate, you would pay higher rate. Granted, that hasn't happened in a while. Ultimately, I like to prepay for budget reasons.

Any purchase you make onboard is charged to your SeaPass account, which gets charged to your credit card at the end of the cruise. Cruise planner purchases usually get refunded in about 7-10 days or so.

"Past couple months" is a misnomer in the sense that this policy only was added about a month ago. You're right pre-Omicron the mask rules were being enforced differently. But it seems recently that's changed.

Sorry to hear that. Hope you're able to reschedule for another cruise soon.

Yes, and kids too!

I'm not familiar with how that works. But I generally tip them with cash when I order one and/or catch them at the end of the cruise to give them one lump tip