Todd W

Great information!   Thanks for the write up @DunkelBierJay

following along.    thanks for sharing!

anyone who lives in Texas and has a dog named Chewie is alright in my books.    Texas Proud!    Welcome to the group!

Welcome Ruth!

Hello all!
I love cruising and am excited to have found this blog. I'm on the June 28, 2018 Symphony of the Seas sailing. I'm hoping to find some advice here on disembarkation times and tips on the ship. 
This is my 3rd Royal Caribbean cruise, my 11th cruise total. 
A little bit about me. I'm a romance novel author. I tend to travel as a group of 4-10 (this group is 10). We're a mix of ages -- youngest 8 years old, oldest in late 60s. I usually book one suite and put everyone else in a regular balconies. I book most of my tours independently. 
This is our second European cruise. Our first was on the Navigator of the Seas in 2013 (Med cruise). Loved it. We stayed in the AFT family suite.
Feel free to ask me anything and I hope I find some answers here as well. I'm not a die hard who has written everything down, but I'll share what I know.  Thank you all in advance.
Ruth

Hello Royal Caribbean Board Members!
I am a cruise and travel lover, and want to be always exploring new places! I will be sailing on Symphony of the Seas at the end of July, and am lucky enough to be doing a back to back sailing for a grand total of two weeks on what seems to be an amazing ship. I plan to be doing a (Semi)live blog about my adventures on this board, and would love to have others follow me. 
Ever since I set sail in the Caribbean on Adventure of the Seas, I have fallen in love with the water, cruising, and sailing in general. This addiction has let me fuel my traveling needs, and am always to suggest a cruise for a summer vacation. I live in the Great State of Texas with my two parents and my faithful dog named Chewie (yes, Star Wars).
Please don't hesitate to ask questions about me or about cruising in general! This an amazing blog and board community, and we are all privileged to have a great team to do this, especially being exclusive to Royal!
-Carson 

will sound goofy but last time i cruised RC i was 30lbs heavier and was over indulging way too much.   I still enjoy the indulgent while on vacation but I'm more apt to grab a few smaller , more sensible items throughout the day, and still splurge during the evening.   With that in mind, just curious as to any "grab-and-go" options the Liberty may have available.   Does Sorrento's still have pre-made salads and sandwiches that we can grab for a quick healthy(er) bite later on in the evenings rather than their pizza?    Any other good options for earlier in the morning or later in the evening while out and about on the ship?

new ships and itineraries for my wife and I whenever possible.    now that being said, our upcoming (in 321 days) cruise, we are doing an itinerary we've done before but chose it as we are bringing 2 couples with us who are new to Royal and we love Roatan and Belize out of Galveston.   Hoping everyone else gets hooked as well.  While we loved our cruise on Carnival Breeze, wife and I just loved Royal more ? and are always looking for new loyal royal's to join us!  

We are now 14 days from our cruise, and 7 days from our vacation (we're doing a week in Orlando before heading to the Oasis).  It's going to to be a super busy week as I wrap up work and get ready for the cruise.
So, in case I don't have time later, I wanted to say thanks to @Matt, @WAAAYTOOOand all the rest of you on this board, especially since many that I want to thank are going to be on the group cruise.  Your insight and recommendations have been awesome.  My cruise came together faster and better than I expected and this board is largely responsible.  Keep up the awesome work!  Can't believe it's finally here.  I think booking 18 months out is great for getting exactly what you want but is terrible for the anticipation...  Those of you who have the luxury of multiple cruises per year make me jealous...  Maybe some day soon I'll be in those ranks.

Very true. My aplogies for suggesting as much. ?

@DocLC Sorrento's doesn't have pizza!!!  That's not pizza!!! I don't know what that can be classified as but it sure isn't PIZZA!

will sound goofy but last time i cruised RC i was 30lbs heavier and was over indulging way too much.   I still enjoy the indulgent while on vacation but I'm more apt to grab a few smaller , more sensible items throughout the day, and still splurge during the evening.   With that in mind, just curious as to any "grab-and-go" options the Liberty may have available.   Does Sorrento's still have pre-made salads and sandwiches that we can grab for a quick healthy(er) bite later on in the evenings rather than their pizza?    Any other good options for earlier in the morning or later in the evening while out and about on the ship?

like so many others, i'm of the mind set that if i can prepay for anything before the cruise,, that's my preference.    First cruise we took we didn't do that and while i knew i was going to have some charges at the end of the cruise, i sort of got sticker shock.  we planned for it financially so it wasn't an issue.   however to me couple hundred bucks for odds and ends, no problem. Now spending an extra 600-800 AFTER the cruise for drinks, spec dining etc sort of tarnished the after-effect for me.     

@coneyraven  you need one of these!

Sorry @JLMoran...I think this is more similar ? So off topic!! lol

My first thought was Brent Burns or Joe Thorton lol
@Todd W, awesome pic!

Here's a pic, captured from the opening video at this year's WWDC in San Jose. He goes there every year and is a regular commentator / pundit / fan of the Mac and Apple's audio kit.

That name sounds really familiar.   Our paths may have crossed in one of the facebook beard groups i'm linked to.   Thanks for the compliment. by the way, much appreciated.    Fortunate to have a wife who loves my beard and won't let me cut it and also doesn't mind all the money i spend on beard products lol

@coneyraven  you need one of these!

@coneyraven  you need one of these!

Same as us and we love that place. Just made reservations because you reminded me it's not too early and they only take about 100 people per day! Thanks!

One step closer to Diamond!

Just realizing i've never introduced myself.    Name is Todd and i'm from a small town just north of the Dallas metroplex (Wylie).    My wife and I will be married 7 years in October.  I have 2 boys from my previous marriage (14 and 16) who definitely keep us on our toes.    Michelle and I both took our first cruise in 2012 for our honeymoon.  We chose Mariner out of Galveston and instantly fell in love with cruising!   Second cruise we took our boys on Carnival Breeze which was a blast for all of us but she and I quickly felt like we were missing something.    We were in such awe of Mariner and while Breeze was a great ship, the overall feel of it just wasn't the same for us.   Not to say we won't try Carnival again but we've opted to book our next 2 cruise back on Royal  (Liberty in '19 and Harmony in '20).    As an added bonus, through our love of cruising, we've also (re)introduced both of her sisters and husbands to cruising again.   Both couples last cruised back in the early 90's.   2 of them went on our Breeze cruise and loved it so now we have all 4 of them coming with us on Liberty next year which will be great!  As for me, i'm the obsessive planner and want to know everything about our trip LONG in advance.   She leaves me be and doesn't want to spoil the excitement ahead of time so i have to make sure i parse out my info to everyone, keeping it minimialistic at  best so as to not burn everyone out.    LOL   i can't figure out why none of them are as obsessed as i am   HAH!      anyway, happy to be here.   It's a very refreshing break from all the drama over at the other site.      Love getting to know everyone here and appreciate all the feedback i've received so far on my questions.     Cheers!

Just realizing i've never introduced myself.    Name is Todd and i'm from a small town just north of the Dallas metroplex (Wylie).    My wife and I will be married 7 years in October.  I have 2 boys from my previous marriage (14 and 16) who definitely keep us on our toes.    Michelle and I both took our first cruise in 2012 for our honeymoon.  We chose Mariner out of Galveston and instantly fell in love with cruising!   Second cruise we took our boys on Carnival Breeze which was a blast for all of us but she and I quickly felt like we were missing something.    We were in such awe of Mariner and while Breeze was a great ship, the overall feel of it just wasn't the same for us.   Not to say we won't try Carnival again but we've opted to book our next 2 cruise back on Royal  (Liberty in '19 and Harmony in '20).    As an added bonus, through our love of cruising, we've also (re)introduced both of her sisters and husbands to cruising again.   Both couples last cruised back in the early 90's.   2 of them went on our Breeze cruise and loved it so now we have all 4 of them coming with us on Liberty next year which will be great!  As for me, i'm the obsessive planner and want to know everything about our trip LONG in advance.   She leaves me be and doesn't want to spoil the excitement ahead of time so i have to make sure i parse out my info to everyone, keeping it minimialistic at  best so as to not burn everyone out.    LOL   i can't figure out why none of them are as obsessed as i am   HAH!      anyway, happy to be here.   It's a very refreshing break from all the drama over at the other site.      Love getting to know everyone here and appreciate all the feedback i've received so far on my questions.     Cheers!

add me to the list as well.  i wasn't even aware of this until @Matt made mention of this in the recent TA thread.    Sorry it took me so long to get here!