twangster

Royal agents don't know what the Alaska Railroad does directly. On the two occasions I've used it the railroad used a truck to transport luggage directly to the ship when booking directly with the railroad.

Royal will also offer the train as a transfer. Their train is a charter, the whole train goes to the ship compared to what the Alaska Railroad offers to the public. The Royal charter train departs from the Anchorage airport early afternoon so that fly in morning guests can catch it. The AR train direct leaves early in the morning from the downtown train station in Anchorage so it arrives to the ship much earlier compared to the Royal charter train. Either way there is a luggage drop in Anchorage and that luggage goes by truck straight to the ship so you don't have to mess with luggage in Seward.

Alaska Railroad, Coastal Classic, Gold Star service if you can afford it. https://www.alaskarailroad.com/

Does that mean my room is ready too?

Surf only can do wifi calling but no video. Surf & Stream is a much better experience. All ships are not equal for Voom and all regions are not equal for Voom. On an Alaska cruise do your Zoom over cellular while at a port. Voom in Alaska is very spotty because it's so far North and satellite coverage is lacking. Anywhere and everywhere Voom can be spotty at times. If its raining satellite internet gets slow and Zoom may not work at all even on the newest ships with the best Voom technology.

Flights to Seattle will almost always be less expensive but... the only way to reach Hubbard Glacier (on Royal) is to sail from Vancouver or Seward. If you are putting the money to do an Alaskan cruise budget more money for excursions and if you can afford it, look into flights to Anchorage/Vancouver. They may a couple hundred higher but Hubbard Glacier is a much more impressive glacier to sail past. Sailing from Seattle is still a great way to see Alaska. I have cruises booked from Seattle. But if you've got the money there are elevated itineraries from the more Northern ports. I also have cruises booked from Vancouver. It's a very easy port to sail from.

In the past there was a section dedicated to suites/key/diamond plus/pinnacle. This was implemented different in different venues. Protocols are changing this for as long as protocols are with us. Will they revert to old ways at some point? Unknown.

Missed you last week, will try again on another cruise.

The only purpose of luggage tags is to get your luggage somewhere in the vicinity of your stateroom on boarding day. There is no tracking and no correlation to you. It is as simple as getting your luggage onto the right deck and right general area of the ship such as deck 8, port side, aft. Once your luggage is in the right general area eventually cabin attendants may move it closer to your door based on the cabin number. The handwritten scribbles of the dock workers work just fine.

I'm secretly hoping they forget to apply my double points for my last cruise. That way I'll get a crystal block on my next cruise and once I call them to fix my missing points I'll get the block for my last cruise which they didn't have on board but will ship in a couple months. With my luck they'll post my points properly.

I took a picture of my Cucumber Martini from the Champagne Bar on Allure in July... Right after I spilled it on my shorts. Darn martini glasses. The Captain made the ship lurch. #awkward #cutoff #NoIDidn'tPeeMyPants

On the Allure test sailing I went to the Champagne Bar and asked for one. It's not on the menu. The one bartender looked confused but another bartender heard and stepped in. He said "You must be a legacy cruiser" in a fun tone. He offered to make me one.

Woohoo! Great ship, think you'll love it.

Reduced single supplements are dynamic as they are capacity controlled. They allocate X and once X are sold in a category they are gone. Sometimes X = 1, sometimes X = 2, sometimes X might equal something else. It isn't published. If you see something don't spend a lot of time thinking about it. Someone else like me might swoop in and take it from you.

Originally I was very keen on the UPS for the forward views and booked it when it first released. As it turned out they later chartered the ship and cancelled the cruise. For my next Oasis SC booking I had a choice between the GPS and UPS. In the interim between bookings I had lost some zest for the UPS for the reasons in this thread. I jumped into the GPS and the UPS remains available months later. I like the idea and location of the UPS for the views but I don't think they did a very good job with the space, like someone who had never cruised before designed it. Personally I think they should drop the UPS to Sky Class and reduce the price below loft suites.

PEV was very smooth boarding Odyssey last week. I had 12 noon which was the earliest I ever saw. I drove to the port and despite going slow on the interstate I arrived early. The suites/pinnacle door was working normally and I was checked in and upstairs at 11:41am. I waited maybe 20 minutes before boarding started. For my cruise it seemed like it worked because people didn't come early in masses. On a different date that could be very different if masses ignore the appointment times. The parking lot and arrivals loop at terminal 18 was empty when I got there. it was kind of eerie actually, like am I at the right terminal? I can see the ship but where are the people?

I'm really not sure what they'll do and I'm afraid to guess.

Congratulations! That's a huge accomplishment. Cheers!

Allure did receive some minor updates such as new pool deck chairs and handwashing stations in the Windjammer. I was on the last Allure sailing when the shutdown occurred in 2020 and the first sailing fo the restart on the test sailing in July 2021. In my opinion she is a great ship. She missed out on the water slides and new restaurants like Playmakers but even without these updates she is still a great ship. I have future cruises booked on her despite knowing she missed her amplification.

A recent sail away party on Mardi Gras was very much Royal like in terms of energy and spirit. My Mardi Gras sailing was 60% capacity. Someone who stayed on for the B2B reported the next sailing had a completely different vibe to the sail away party. It was much more of a party crowd. He also reported a number of fights and drunken guests "moments" which we didn't see on the first sailing (including vomit more than once). Royal at the moment is operating with around 30%-40% capacity. Right now the lower capacity can impact the vibe and spirit of the ship for events like sail away parties. Take away the drunken buffoonery that was always less common on Royal and that too can change the guest experience. That's a change for the better for me and why I started sailing Royal more in the first place but for a younger crowd there may be an appeal for some of that.... that's personal like food and entertainment. For Mardi Gras it goes to show that the guests themselves create the vibe felt on the ship. At my age I'm totally over the college frat party drink till you puke approach to cruising. That's not "fun" to me or required to have "fun". I sailed Mardi Gras when I did because of reduced capacity. I can't imagine what that ship will be like at capacity. It has nearly identical maximum capacity to Oasis class but is 2/3 the size. I met several frequent cruisers who were sampling Mardi Gras while their primary cruise line was someone else. Everyone of them had the same conclusion. Beautiful ship, can't imagine what it will be like at full capacity.

Prepare to be underwhelmed.

I know a couple who will sometimes put the husband as a 3rd in a friends cabin and book the wife in a suite. Once on board they get an extra key from guest services. In their case they designated the wife as the ladder climber. It doesn't matter who you pick, but if one or the other has more points already, might as well designate them as the ladder climber. When they don't know a friend on board they get whatever is cheapest for him. Interior, OV, balcony, what ever, it doesn't matter. The wife gets the extra points, they both climb higher, faster.

I might have a couple Harmony 2022 cruises. And i might add another soon.

I've yet to see a snorkel excursion that forces you to snorkel. Stay on the excursion boat, wade without snorkeling if a beach stop is included, read a book, drink rum punch, what ever. A snorkel excursion on a catamaran or large enough boat to have some shade can be quite enjoyable without getting in the water if she enjoys sailboats or excursion boats.

Odyssey will use terminal 18. There will be signs once you get through past the security checkpoint. In the Uber app you are best to enter a destination like "Port Everglades Terminal 18", otherwise drivers get suspicious of cancelled rides and chargebacks for not dropping off at the right location. However I'd follow the instructions in the email for testing purposes.