Todd W

welcome @Angelicious one of the biggest things i learned when we took our two boys on their first cruise (12 & 14) was to give them freedom but also at the beginning we kept it in short bursts if you will. Our number one rule we set was if at any point they missed a check-in with us, then the rest of that day and the next, they would be attached to our hip. The first couple days we required them to check in with us every couple hours which was a huge success. We always let them know where we were going to be. If our agenda changed, we updated them with a sticky note on our cabin mirror. As the week progressed and they gained more of our trust, we began to make the check in times a bit longer in between. They enjoyed the freedom and we weren't nearly as nervous. The vast majority of the times, we were running into them by chance as they hung out with others their age which was nice. Never had one incident at all, kids made all their check-ins and even found that they wanted to spend more time with us than had originally planned. Don't get me wrong, we spent plenty of family time together on the trip but the boys definitely enjoyed their "alone" time from us. This wasn't just a run-free and be good, see you in a week type scenario. ?

Hah! I'm no Cap'n Kirk. l it will essentially be a no-win situation for me any way i look at it.

does it count if i eat less and drink more? Leaving for LoS in April and my wife and I are totally in calorie counting frenzy so we can go full on Kobayashi-mode on the ship hah!

welcome aboard. We've all been there with the First Cruise jitters. These forums are a wealth of information to help out with your questions. I have as much fun planning as i do on the actual trip.

sorry about that @Matt . I totally missed that one on the main page.

Just a heads up, I'm seeing $44.00 for the deluxe bev package on LoS for April. I originally purchased on the buy one, get one 50% off ($47 pp) so this nets me approx $50 in savings so i'm happy to take it lol

last i heard, RC is phasing out the electronic hold'em tables and going back to dealers (finally) but don't hold me to it. You may try calling or emailing Club Royale [email protected] (888) 561-2234.

i think the OP has pulled a Keyser Soze on us. "And like that… he is gone."

that was sort of my feeling as well. I used to see it all the time over on that other site. gives the perception of trying to stir the pot rather than being a legit concern. or simply someone like myself. I can tend to fly off the handle at times and vent when i should really take a step back, relax and gather my thoughts and then make a post. I'm my own worst enemy most of the time lol

Sorry for the unfortunate circumstances, these type of situations are really tough to get through from all aspects. It's unfortunate in your financial loss. Given you just created this account right before you made this first post, its obviously clear that you are frustrated and intended to express that in some way. Please don't take this the wrong way but given these details, i'm wondering if you think this blog is directly affiliated with Royal Caribbean, which it's not. If your intent was to blow off steam, this is certainly the place to do it. However, if your intent was to bring light to your frustration directly with Royal, I would recommend directing your comments to [email protected] CEO of the company's office. Just know that with the specific rules and stipulations in place as many have mentioned, I wouldn't expect much more than an apology at best. Still, it never hurts to go straight to the top, you never know. All the best for your family member.

Don't forget you can bring 2 bottles of wine on board per stateroom and leave all your troubles behind.!

i thought the same thing. Sadly that seems to be the mentality of a large portion of our young adults these days.

I absolutely agree with this one (as well as all of @JLMoran suggestions he mentioned). This is an often missed step and there's nothing worse than being on vacation out of the country and needing to use your credit card only to find it has been temporarily blocked for "suspicious activity" . Seems to be common practice for most of the larger CC companies and/or bank cards to flag sudden overseas activity as suspect.

thanks for the info everyone. Seems simply enough, the deluxe package it is!

I've often thought about this in the past and saw a post today on another site that made me want to ask. Does anyone feel that those with the deluxe bev package get smaller pours in cocktails vs someone who is paying as they go? We've never bought the package so i don't have any frame of reference but i'm considering it for our April cruise. A shorter pour is all moot I guess since we would have unlimited drinks and can just get another and another ? I just don't want to necessarily have an up-charge to my $12 drink limit to get what I would feel to be a solid pour if i'm competing with the pay-as-you-go crowd who pay the same per drink without an upcharge boost in liquor. now i've probably confused myself and anyone reading this... In short has anyone noticed or not, if the same amount of liquor is in a drink regardless of unlimited or pay-for ? I know in college when the bars would have a cover for "unlimited" well drinks, they were typically mixer plus a splash of liquor vs a tall pour if we were simply paying at the bar. Thoughts ?

no worries, i don't want you to put any time in it on my behalf, you have cruises to enjoy! please do so!

@twangster looks like the majority of your awesome pics have disappeared. I'm heading out on her in April and was hoping you could point me to your pics if you have them hosted somewhere else. My anticipation kicked into high gear once the new year rolled in. fingers crossed! if not, no big deal

Thanks for your feedback @Michael Vitale. Our group has never been and have reservations for our April cruise. I've mostly read positive reviews on the place and looking forward to seeing what its all about. I'll definitely make sure to share my feedback as well afterwards.

yep add another +1, 2, 3 or whatever it's up to now for @michelle! She's always been great to work with!

Has anyone been to LFK since the fire last year? We've got an April excursion scheduled there and was just curious as to the current state of things there since that mess.

i could very well be wrong. i did some digging around on the internets this morning and was basing my comments off of what i saw in that area. The fact that they had RC signage makes me believe you're probably correct @Matt but then again, I've been in multiple DELL call centers in the US and Canada in the past that had their branding and they were all staffed and managed by the Outsourcing company that i was working for at the time. If i was to make a swag on it, I would think they own the building but had it managed and staffed by 3rd party representing Royal simply from a cost perspective.

as i understand it, Royal call center in Oregon was contracted out to a company called "Hospitality - One Touch" who also handles similar work for other cruiselines, hotels etc.

while it sucks to see US call center jobs move to other countries, as someone who used to run a 3rd party Call Center for another industry, it's becoming more and more commonplace simply due to labor costs. Royal isn't the first and they won't be the last. On a funny note, it can be rather comedic at times. At one point in time, my old facility handled level 1 tech support for a major brand PC company HQ'd out of Austin ? All overseas agents had to attend language desensitization classes to sound "more American" . Since my facility was based in Texas those agents would use our texas "twang" as their ideal speaking voice. So you would get someone obviously from Mumbai on the phone , trying to sound like John Wayne with the name of "George" trying to help US customers. It was hilariously embarrassing.

wait what? we're supposed to wash our hands after using the toilet?? ? totally agree on all accounts. Drink package cup is for freestyle only. anything else is just ewwwwww

reports of suspected Arson. thankfully it doesn't sound like anyone was hurt. https://cruiseradio.net/fire-destroys-popular-caribbean-cruise-destination/