craig403

Embarkation has only been a problem one time for us and that was at a port where we got there too early before the process was opened. We have found that the ports do a pretty good job of getting everyone processed so C&A lines don't seem to be a major perk for us. Everyone has to go through the same process and your cabin isn't going to be ready until 1:00 pm.

Just off the Explorer last month. 2nd time for Pacific Northwest. In Astoria we like to walk around town, go to the Columbia River maritime museum, eat at Josephson's Smokehouse (Google for directions). Maple flavored smoked Salmon. Just the best. Great little town. In Victoria take the shuttle bus at the pier to the Empress Hotel downtown. $10 per person round trip. Walk across the street to the information building and buy a ticket for the harbor tour on the "Harbor Boats". (Search YouTube for Harbor boats in Victoria). Several things to see downtown. Have not done Butchart Gardens. No interests. San Francisco. Take the free shuttle to Fisherman's Wharf to catch the HOHO bus for a city tour or just walk around Fisherman's Wharf and go watch the Sea Lions next to the Carousel. Eat fish and chips. The Explorer was super. We always enjoy the Voyager class ships. Not much in the way of production shows. Cruise Director Dan went a bit too far in selling on board activities. Got tired of him very quickly.

Will security allow you to board with 6 bottles of wine on the first cruise? Having never done a b2b I don't know. 30kg is heavy. In the US we are only allowed 22.7kg and I struggle with that. :-) There is a thread that discusses drink packages in detail. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/4757-drink-package-and-exemptions/

It might be best if you call RCI with your question. Deck plans sometimes use stock pictures in their descriptions.

Chrome works fine also.

All great information. Hopefully your TA has talked to you about transfers. If you're going out of Florida you should be fine. Galveston, it gets a bit more complicated.

There,,,There. Everything will be just fine. You're among friends here. This is your safe space. Use wine and/or Jack and Coke to calm the symptoms.

We have not been on the Anthem either but our routine is similar to what Bird mentioned. Even though you have indicated a dinning time on your reservation I would recommend going to the dinning room soon after getting on the ship to verify that reservation. On other ships in the fleet we even look for a table number we want then ask nicely if we could reserve it for the week. Even with that, the first night will be chaos with everyone trying to make reservations and get seated so get there early.

Sorry, but I don't think anyone will have an answer for you without more details of the problem.

We were on the Voyager a couple years ago when a tooth went bad on me. Medical would only give me Tylenol so in Wellington, New Zealand we ask in the Port Authority office for recommendations. Took a cab to the dentist office where I was seen within 30 minutes and he did a root canal for $375. Try to do that in the US. Back home, RCI sent us claims forms and all of my claim was paid within a couple weeks. Very happy. Not with the tooth but with RCI. As a side note: If you ever have the opportunity to do the Perth to Sydney cruise, highly recommend it.

The part that really concerns me is medical evacuation from the ship or foreign country. I've heard costs in the $25,000.00 range. Even hospitalization in a foreign country could be very complicated and costly. I told my wife if I needed that, just push me overboard. She said "ok, don't have a problem with that". I don't sleep well at night...

Where do you get your insurance from? (Asking for a friend) We go back and forth on trip insurance. Most of the time we get it especially if it is an expensive trip. When we go out of Galveston we gamble and do not take it. We normally purchase the RCI insurance but then I wonder about the close connection between the cruise line and the insurance company. On the other hand, an outside company has no loyalty to the cruise line. I know there are several companies that offer insurance and prices are all over the place but I have never taken the time to research all the exclusions in the policies. That in itself is weird. You spend all that money on the trip but then don't check out the details...

Moved to different topic. :-)

I hate to extend this topic but I must comment. My wife has had hip replacement and needs a soft mattress otherwise she gets cranky the next day. And yes, we have an air mattress we take and we have also taken a memory foam topper with us. Most likely will take it again. I've been married too long to argue about luggage space. You remember the saying "If the wife ain't happy, then nobody is happy". Consider it self preservation. Don't tell her I said this. I'm scared of her....

I use Vacations To Go to quickly find ships and routes I'm interested in. Remembering that prices are for a guaranteed rooms. To get in idea of which cabins and categories are available for a cruise see http://www.seascanner.com/ There may be others but this one is quick and mostly accurate. Then your able to go to the cruise website and select that cabin to see actual prices.

With travel agencies information sometimes will vary depending on the experience of the individual agent. I generally will book with Royal after doing my own research to get an idea of what I want. Then, up until final payment date, if I find a travel agency that is offering extra perks for the same cruise I can transfer the booking to that agent keeping the same room. Whichever, you should keep checking on what you booked so you don't miss a sale or decrease in price. Also, booking with Royal, It will will be easy to upgrade your room to a suite if one becomes available before final payment. Booking this far in advance there is a good chance that someone will cancel. They may even have a waiting list you can get on.

We haven't gotten the survey. Whenever I get those kinds of questions from sources that don't need to know I just make things up. Kind of like the doctors office asking for your social security number....They don't need to know so I just leave it blank or make up numbers to satisfy the form.

Yes, the Royal guarantee does work. Couple years ago we purchased air through Choice Air and transfers through Royal. We were to leave DFW on the same day of the cruise with a connecting flight at ORD. Lightening storm hit DFW and we were delayed so that we would miss our connecting flight. We called Royal and they got us on a direct flight which would get us there later than the last transfer to the port. They arranged for a special bus waiting for us to transfer. As it turned out we were not the only ones on that bus. Yes, we were amazed at the quick response. These days we have more time so we go in the day before.

You can use FireFox in private mode (incognito). Open the browser. On the top right hand corner, you should see the and Mozilla Firefox menu icon. Click on the menu icon (the icon with three horizontal lines) and the Mozilla Firefox menu should appear right below the icon. In the menu, click on the 'New Private Window' tab. ... Start browsing in Private Mode.

Seems like that I read where the construction of the website was outsourced. At any rate, some have had success with clearing the Royal cookies and/or using an incognito browser function. I have done both at times.

The 90 day refund rule is still enforce. For a cruise booked for December 3rd I could get a full deposit refund up until September 4th. The no-refund rate is just a less expensive rate for bookings that you really intend to use. Royal may be some latitude for the rule for extreme circumstances. One of the larger TA's has $200.00 charge for any cancellation at any time. They do allow for a one time change. Maybe Royal has this same policy. Dunno. Cancel After Penalty September 4, 2017 $250 USD / person October 7, 2017 50% of total price (taxes & fees excluded) / person November 4, 2017 75% of total price (taxes & fees excluded) / person November 18, 2017 No refund except for taxes & fees

Doing laundry after we get home. Oh,,,and all the food they force you to eat on a cruise. Three times a day ! It's worth about a pound a day increase you've got to work off.

USB charger is the way to go for phones and such. Low voltage and low current.

A few years ago we decided to try an electric clock in our cabin. Seems it kept losing time. As much as 30 minutes sometimes. We ask the IT director why. He told use that the ships electrical power did not have a constant frequency of 60 hz. Not sure if that is still the case or not. We purchased two battery clocks for our bedside instead. Rather than a power strip, we purchased a three pronged outlet plug. That gives us enough plugs.

I have often thought that buffets were counter productive to hand sanitizer when people go in to lunch. When I'm serving my plate I think of all the people that have already touched that serving spoon. I bring my own sanitizer for after I sit down to eat. Yep,,I'm a germophobe. I don't even like to touch the chair to pull it out and don't even get me started on menu's. This got off topic. Sorry.