twangster

Princess has the fastest internet using the newer O3b satellite technology. O3b is a satellite internet provider owned by SES. It's often referred to as SES/O3b. Royal's Oasis, Quantum and Freedom class (plus Enchantment) also use O3b. The difference is that Royal caps each user to 4Mb down and 2Mb up. Princess doesn't impose a per user limit so you get what is available at that moment which is typically 10 to 15 times faster than Royal. The technology and service provider is the same so it's a matter of speed. Latency with O3b is typically 200-300ms. Older Royal ships (pre-Freedom, except Enchantment) use the old legacy satellite technology with the same per user cap of 4Mb down and 2Mb up. Latency on the older technology is typically 600-700ms. Carnival varies by ship. All ships use the older legacy satellites but newer ships don't impose a per user limit. The newer ships also leverage shore cellular when in select ports but only on the newer ships. The older ships have abysmal performance (inc. Breeze and older) while the newer ships have a better experience but still pale compared to Princess and Royal's newer ships. MSC uses the new O3b on newer ships including and since Meraviglia. Older ships uses the legacy satellite technology from a European satellite internet provider. MSC limits per users to roughly 6 Mb down and 3 Mb up. Some MSC plans also have a total transfer cap and once you reach that you have to buy another plan. It's 1.5GB IIRC. NCL most plans still go back to the days of bucket of minutes and the need to logout or burn though your bucket of minutes very quickly. That places them in their own miserable spot on the sea of ship internet. In this case being in their own league is not a good thing. So in summary: Princess has the fastest and best internet at sea MSC has the next fastest on the newer ships but with a possible total transfer cap. Older ships are middle of the pack. Royal has the next best internet on newer ships. Older ships fall back to having 2nd slowest internet at sea. Carnival has faster internet but higher latency on the newer ships rendering a 4th place finish behind Royal's newer ships. Older ships are dead last in the internet speed race at sea. They are more of a snail's internet pace. NCL is on a different playing field. A playing field covered in mud and hard to draw comparisons. Having said all that satellite internet on all lines is impacted by rain fade and occasionally from being in a less desirable spot on the sea at times. If the internet seems dreadfully bad it's possible the ship is passing through a heavy rain cloud. You might not know this in the casino, or pub, or inside the ship somewhere so at times people declare the internet is terrible when really it's just that moment in time. Alaska is so far North it's really hard for any ship to have good internet up there.

Right now the answer is yes, at least for ships operating from the USA. It could change at any time though.

Doesn't matter getting when getting off.

If you go back decades and decades the Cuban cigar did warrant the attention it garnered. However since that time the ability for a Cuban company to consistently produce great product has diminished while at the same time the ability for growers in nearby countries to achieve equal or better tobacco with more modern approaches has surpassed Cuban capabilities. There was a time when only France could produce good "fine" wine. Since that time there is great wine to be found the world over. Cigar tobacco is very similar. I've long had access to Cuban cigars through living in other countries. Like any cigar there are good and not so good cigars from Cuba and other regions. Ironically it's the US embargo against Cuban imports that makes Cuban cigars in demand in the US. In other countries where Cuban cigars compete side by side with cigars from other regions many people are over the hype.

Royal Caribbean offers a version where Richard Fain was so impressed with the Morgan on the Voyager mock up model he offered up his personal Morgan to become the vehicle on Voyager. Naturally that accounting of the story leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

Actually it does say you have to return to the ship in the tour group. You are going out of your way to sensationalize something that is isn't occurring in broad practice. Has someone broken the rules and gotten away it? Perhaps, but that is the exception and not the general practice.

I don't think anyone who tests positive 2 days before a cruise can embark. Period. It doesn't matter if they are fully vaxxed, or half vaxxed or unvaxxed or previously infected. A positive test result equals no embarkation.

I am far from being a CDC fanboy, far from it, but letting unvaccinated guests free to roam around foreign countries that have low vaccination rates then allowing those same people to return to the US, doesn't seem like a blind justification. As much as I despise the CDC I can see logic in their decision that vaccinated guests have a lower risk profile while unvaccinated guests are more at risk. An unvaccinated person freely roaming a foreign country is at a higher risk compared to a vaccinated person doing the same. It seems to me this CDC requirement will lessen the opportunity for infection & spread. That seems like science I can get behind.

Without being privy to the communication you had with Royal it's hard to know where the confusion came from. Unvaccinated children can get off in Nassau... as long as they are booked on an excursion through Royal Caribbean. Other cruise lines are doing the same thing because they have to and other internet sites have similar stories where people didn't understand the requirement to book a ship tour to leave the ship. Some ports require a ship tour for vaccinated guests too. That's not the cruise lines adding that for specific ports, those are the regulations created by the country being visited. St. Kitts, Barbados and St. Lucia have established this requirement for vaccinated and unvaccinated guests. It's unfortunate you were not clear on the requirements for Nassau.

Voyager class and higher. I haven't seen a list of which car is on each ship.

I think the biggest lesson learned is that Royal and Celebrity are not connected at the hip. They are two separate lines with the ability to think and operate independently. So many times I see people trying to read tea leaves when Celebrity does something anticipating that will pass over to Royal. Simple not the case. Each company is independent and the two make their own decisions (and then reverse them) on their own.

You'll be recognized as Elite. The status recognition level you have when you sail, not when you book. I am not sure about using the Royal Next cert for Celebrity but every fiber in my being says no. The two are separate operating companies with no clean way to send revenue between the two companies. You can always ask at Next Cruise.

Dry heaving seems like such a waste. No sense of accomplishment.

There have been rumors of Rhapsody showing up on some port schedules in Oz. It's beginning to look like that may have been a placeholder for Enchantment down under.

For lunch make sure you eat something that will be easy coming up on the ride back across the channel. Soup is a good choice.

Royal does offer testing at the pier for a cost. Unvaccinated children that are required to be tested at the pier are not charged, but anyone who is vaccinated and requires a test would have to pay at the pier. There are many 3rd party testing locations all over South Florida. At this point it's like asking where can you get your car washed.

Free? Royal Caribbean?

Harmony edition from last week:

Suite terminal priority varies by city. Some terminals offer better access for suite guests. The ship can influence this as well. Some have more suites compared to others.

For the most part I think the Vancouver port has operated pretty much as stated or expected. Medical diversions occur on cruises from time to time so they can always play a factor. If flying international from YVR (Vancouver) there can be long lines in the international terminal for flights to the US. In the past the first part of the process could only be bypassed for expedited service with a Nexus card. Global Entry, if everyone in your party has Global Entry doesn't kick in until further in the process. I'm fairly certain having Nexus and Global Entry saved me 45 minutes to an hour the last few times, but that was pre-pandemic. I would budget lots of time for the security, immigration & customs process when flying to the US from Vancouver. Booking an early flight out of Vancouver will cause some stress and anxiety as there will likely be slow moving queues in the airport.

I'm always surprised when I hear of people using the coffee card or any drink card (10 bear card, 10 any drink card) across multiple sailings. It's long been the policy that these cards are for the current sailing only. Back in 2017 on Grandeur they wrote my folio number on the back and validated it with every card use. So I was surprised when you said you were able to use them on other ships. I've always considered them to be the ship and sail date you bought them on. Although on Empress I was told on a B2B they would let me use it on the next cruise even though they weren't supposed to.

The CDC has so far been following the science... that the virus only travels by airplane since the land border is open without any testing requirement to enter the US. Note to self. Always travel with a couple of eMed kits in my carry on just in case. I hope they continue to leave the land border alone. Pretty soon I'll need a full car office with printer, scanner, eMed kits, small kitchen to cook food and make coffee while waiting for results, etc. Maybe I should buy a motorhome. Looking down the road (pun intended) to when both sides land border require a test to enter... So what happens when you drive across a border bridge and reach the other side without a test? Can't go forward without a test and can't go back into the source country without a test. Stuck on the bridge. "Bridge People". What happens if you catch the virus while stuck on the bridge between the two countries? Hmmm. Note to self - stay well away from other Bridge People.

People watching. Probably jealous as heck remembering the old days when they used to do something similar. Just be glad none of them became an Alpha, Alpha, Alpha from all the excitement. Seriously hope when I'm in my 80's I can people watch from the a Viking Crown Lounge, or whatever equivalent venue exists in a few decades after Icon class has been crushed in a yard somewhere.

These are standard on all OA class otherwise the entire SOLAS and similar documentation for other purposes has to be re-written for each ship. Much easier to use the same documentation and process on all ships in the class.