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Judging by this weeks podcast though, if you arrive early it might be faster to go through the normal line anyway.

A Disney board I'm on has been insane.  The DCL one is pretty similar to any other cruise one, wondering about where uncancelled cruises next week will go and such, but the Disney World one has just gone off the deep end.  The main Irma thread is getting something like 100 posts an hour, people talking about 6+ hour hold times to cancel their trip, so many arguments about this and that, last night it started feeling like a chatroom with how quickly people were posting.  I do not envy the mods over there right now.

Luckily I had this board to run to for a more relaxed thoughtful discussions.  Usually

And as always, best of luck to everyone affected in any way.

1 hour ago, monctonguy said:

This season is shaping up to be a bad one....

I remember warning my sister-in-law about this last year when she told me she was planning her honeymoon.  We are in a La Nina weather pattern, which reduces wind sheer and stability over the Atlantic where the strongest storms form.  Couple that with especially warm water this year and you end up with a stretch of warm humid air and nothing to disrupt the developing storms.  Everything is set up to foster strong storms like Irma this year.

Best nightlight option IMO is a battery powered light.  I am a fan of Pak-Lites myself because they have two power settings, you can get them in red or orange which is great for night lighting, and you can glue a magnet to the back of the 9v battery to stick it to the wall.  A lot of people talk up those inexpensive tealights too.  With either option having a battery light makes it easier to put anywhere, not just where there is an outlet.

I didn't expect anything for my Nov '18 cruise, but checked anyway and they did have Voom Surf & Stream on sale for 20% off.  Figured it can't hurt, still have 450 days to either get a better deal or be glad I locked it in when I did!

Do a search for "issuu to pdf".  Once you download it as a PDF you will be able to print it off.

Welcome to the forum Speggy!  I'm taking my first RCCL trip next year as well and one thing I'm good at is research.

AFAIK all bars on the ship accept the package, including the Bionic Bar last I have seen.  You can definitely use it for drinks during dinner, though a recent discussion here seems to point to service being somewhat slow when ordering a drink at dinner (at least in the MDR) and that stopping by a bar on your way to dinner and bringing the drink with you is a much better option.  You are correct that room service is not included, but you are always welcome to get a drink and take it back to your room to enjoy.

The line is doing a trial run on the "all or none" package purchase on a few sailings this year, no idea what they will do from there.  With any luck the push-back will convince them not to implement it fleet wide, but given Carnival and Norwegian both have a similar requirement I am thinking it is not a matter of 'if' but 'when'.

The largest ship I see scheduled for Port NOLA is the Carnival Triumph, which is about 2/3 the size of Liberty so it is probable the port can't accommodate the larger ship.  Miami probably is the closest US port capable of handling a Freedom class ship.

Have to admit, I chuckled that the paper you got pointed out that additional photos are not being taken.  As if this part of the trip is one anybody wants pictures of.  Glad to see the other discounts though, especially laundry.  Good luck and thank you so much for the updates, while I hate that it is happening to you (and everyone) we do appreciate getting the updates and hearing first hand how this is being handled.

Perhaps they don't care, but you really would only need to copy and paste what you wrote us with some minor edits.  If they don't care, you wasted 5 minutes.  If they do care, something happens that is likely worth more than 5 minutes of your time.  At the very least you would be able to share with us their response, and if they don't care then we can all be angry together!  We like being angry at large companies after all

I see they had to reroute to Miami.  Best of luck to @Kansas Cruiser and everyone finding a way home from there.  What a nightmare this storm turned in to so quickly

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8028

Quote

After waiting outside of Galveston all morning, Liberty of the Seas is now headed to Miami where it will debark passengers Tuesday or Wednesday. We are waiting word from Royal Caribbean about how the line will assist travelers in getting home, though a spokesperson said in an email to Cruise Critic, "We are doing all we can to help guests adjust their travel arrangements and appreciate their patience during a stressful time."

The August 27 departure of Liberty is canceled. Booked passengers will have their fares fully refunded and will receive a future cruise credit. Liberty of the Seas plans to return to Galveston on Friday, if conditions permit.

November 26th, 2018 - Independence of the Seas

Our first Royal Caribbean cruise!  Finally managed to get our friends to book last night too as a late honeymoon, will be their first cruise ever.

Did RCL have any ships affected by Matthew last year?  That would be a good source to try to figure out the options they will take this time around. 

I wasn't on this board then but I was on a DCL one, they had two ships already at sea that had to be delayed in returning to Canaveral.  They sailed together slowly through the Gulf and supplies were brought in by boat so the buffet and dinner remained more or less the same.  Luckily there was minimal damage to Port Canaveral so they were able to dock after the storm passed and only a day late.  Meanwhile another ship due out of NYC for Florida and Nassau was rerouted to a Canadian cruise with additional OBC offered and full refunds for those uninterested in the itinerary.  I think they ended up only cancelling one cruise and reducing another by a day.

Of course, the board was full of "experts" who felt the situation was being handled wrong by Disney and all the cruises should have been cancelled and returned early, etc, etc.  I guess being an entrepreneur where I get people who hire me but then second guess me at every turn has made me very sympathetic to the cruise lines in these situations.  I don't know what is going to happen with this storm so I trust the captain first and the cruise line second to figure out the safest options.  Obviously I'm more concerned with the people living in these areas right this moment than the people who might lose a cruise, but just as I hope the people living there got out and have good insurance, I hope the people who are booked on this weekends cruise have insurance that covers this.

Odds are the final decision won't be made until you are underway, and it will be at the discretion of the captain.  Generally speaking they are less concerned with whether they can dock as they are whether they can leave once docked.  Rough seas can push the ship against the dock and cause damage, and getting stuck and not returning on time to disembark (and more importantly embark on the next trip) is far worse than missing a port of call.  Also if tendering is required rough seas are going to nix just about any chance of visiting.

(Don't think I heard that podcast, so apologies if I repeat anything Matt said) Someone was taking a Disney cruise last week and concerned on another board I follow.  I reminded her that cruising is the best way to visit the Caribbean during hurricane season.  She was worried about missing Cozumel, but I told her if she does she will either get a different port or an extra sea day.  On the other hand, if you plan to fly in to Cozumel and a hurricane hits then you either cancel the trip or you get stuck on an island experiencing a hurricane.  As it happened, they did miss it, and while she was unhappy about that she did have a great cruise.  She did get a bit seasick due to rougher seas, her recommendation is to pack a couple seasick remedies just in case.  Ginger, dimenhydrinate , meclizine, whatever you think might help.  Trust that the captain and crew are going to do what they can to avoid the worst of the rough seas, will take care of you the best they can if they do hit some rough patches, and go in to it with the "I'm going to enjoy this no matter what" mindset.

Enjoy your trip and best of luck that Nine doesn't affect you too much!

We are cruising in January from Port of Miami and flying in to FLL and staying at the Holiday Inn downtown Miami.  It was much cheaper than flying in to MIA.  We wanted to stay close to port and the Holiday Inn is right across from Bayside Marketplace so plenty of shopping and eating options, but staying in Fort Lauderdale would have been cheaper, yes.  I like the idea of opening the blinds in the morning and seeing our ship docked and waiting for us too, but that is one of those things where value is subjective.

Funny enough, the flight home from either airport was the same price, so we are flying home from MIA.  Don't know if that is just our airline and where we are heading but might be worth looking in to.

11:00?  I think the last people off get drug off the ship kicking and screaming by 9 AM.  They have to turn the ship over and have it ready to go for boarding, which usually begins between 11 and noon.

And welcome to the board!

Out of curiosity I wanted to look up the other major players in the North American cruise market to see how they stacked up:

Carnival: If one adult in a cabin purchases the package all adults over 21 must also purchase it

Celebrity: Does not require everyone in room to purchase package

Disney: No drink package offered

Holland: If one adult in a cabin purchases the package all adults over 21 must also purchase it

Norwegian: All passengers sharing a cabin OR using the same payment method must purchase the beverage package INCLUDING guests under 21 (only charged for soda package)

Princess: Does not require everyone in room to purchase package but is only available on 7 night or longer cruises

So I was incorrect saying RCL is the only line currently allowing only one person in the room to get a package, but you do have to move up a tier price-wise to find it elsewhere.

21 minutes ago, RBRSKI said:

So explain to those on this blog who don't drink and want to go with a friend who does, what should they do?  

1: Don't get the package and friend can pay for drinks out of pocket

2: Get the package and enjoy as many lattes, sodas, and fresh squeezed juices as you can handle

3: Vote with your wallet and go to another line that has a drink package that doesn't require every adult in the room to buy in to.  When you find one please let us know

42 minutes ago, RBRSKI said:

I am surprised that this is a legal thing any cruise line can do!

RCL is the only line that has a drink package and doesn't currently require all adults in a room to purchase it together, so I'm thinking that if there was anything unlawful about it they would have been called on that long ago.  Nobody that chooses not to drink is being forced to drink, and nobody is being forced to purchase the package.  If this is happening (a single anonymous source on Cruise Critic is not enough to convince me) they are being informed before handing any money over, so I'm not sure where anything illegal could even be considered to be happening.  Anybody has the option of purchasing drinks individually without the package.

Not to say I'm a fan of the possible change, though it won't affect my wife and I as we will both be getting the package I know others this would negatively affect.  But I firmly place ALL of the blame on the people abusing the system.  Yes, there might be bartenders who are letting people get away with it, but those people are still knowingly abusing the system.  If someone walks up to the bar with the intent to get a free drink for someone who does not have a package then they are the problem, whether a bartender wants to cause a fuss or not.

Everything you experienced is normal.  The people at the post office do this often so they know what is likely to cause delays or problems with applications, so listen to their advice.  That's also why I'm glad we got our photos there, because they see the people coming back in to reapply because their photo was rejected so they immediately noticed slight problems with our photos before printing them out.  Yes, they make their own photocopies and, like you said, there are payments going to the Dept of State and then other payments going to the place you applied at.  I was ok with that since we were able to put the USPS's fee on a card and get some miles out of it.  They also do send in the original birth certificates, you get them back in a separate mailing from your passports.

Personal opinion, even if you are only getting them to cruise I would have (and did) still gotten the books.  Being able to board the ship without your birth certificate is one perk of having a passport, but a bigger one is the ability to fly back to the US from a foreign country in case of emergency.  You can't do that with the card so if you had a medical emergency or missed the boat you will still be knocking at the consulate door for emergency passports.  Plus, I don't know if I might decide in 8 years to do a Trans-Atlantic and need to fly back from Europe, but I know that is an option.

Hi!

Introductions... Not my strong suit.  Well I have been reading and listening to RCBlog content for the past few months, ever since we decided to start looking for our first Royal Caribbean cruise.  So I decided to finally sign up and officially join the group.  We will finally board our first RCL ship in November 2018, and while we intend to try other lines in the future (so far we have only been on one other line, DCL) we are hopeful to become regulars "of the seas".  (Too corny?  It's ok, you can tell me)

Looking forward to being a part of what seems like a great community.