twangster

The zipline at Labadee is pretty awesome but not exactly cheap. There are sales from time to time so you can save some money by frequently visiting the cruise planner and keeping track of items you like. If you see it cheaper cancel your purchase and buy it again,

If you go back to the home page of RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com there is a search box in the upper right. Searching for Labadee will give you a number of results to look over such as : Labadee: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/search/node/labadee Or for Falmouth: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/search/node/falmouth

Falmouth is a nice port but one that lends itself to doing a booked excursion of some sort. My adult son and I enjoy reggae so we have enjoyed the Bob Marley experience. Other's just like a day at a resort or at a beach. The Netflix movie "Like Father" made Blue Hole a popular excursion to book. Dunn River Falls is a very popular destination but a bit of a bus ride from Falmouth. There are many good choices depending on what you are looking for. Labadee is a private destination so you are basically visiting a private beach destination where you will need to book something through the cruise line if you are looking to do more than just have a beach day. They have an incredible zip line that goes over water and other beach type activities like Jet Skis. You can also rent a private cabana or simply spend nothing and lounge on the included loungers near the water all day. If you buy a drink package for use on the ship it also covers drinks at Labadee. Spend nothing or spend something is up to you. Food comes off the ship so meals are covered for your day here. You can literally spend nothing and have a great beach day here. You'll want to find and look over the Cruise Planner on Royal's website. Here you will find the excursions offered at each stop but also optional drink, dining and internet plans if you so choose. Most of the time you are better to pre-purchase in the cruise planner because once onboard prices tend to be higher for the same thing.

Shore excursions tend to span a range of so much so it might help if you include some general ideas what you or your group are thinking, their likes and expectations. An 80 y.o. bouncing around a JetSki may work for some and not so much for another. An only adult crowd will look for different activities compared to a family with young children. What sort of activities does your group seek?

Welcome to the message boards! @Lovetocruise2002or @SpeedNoodles can move the post to Shore Excursions. No worries.

LOL. I only have children in the AF so at this point I have no skin in this game.

Inevitable and not surprising really. It does raise questions about what to do with the ships. Alaska isn't a sure thing in 2021 so we'll have to see how this plays out. Hopefully timing of a vaccine will prevent a large increase next winter down under that's being experienced in the Northern Hemisphere right now. Also hopefully you won't have a repeat of the wildfires this summer like last year.

When the SeaSide first crossed the Atlantic she stopped in Antigua. We were across the pier. This was her first sailing and she hadn't stopped in America yet so the SeaSide had a larger than normal number of Europeans on board. Out of the blue an older, somewhat large lady walks onto her balcony in full view of everyone on our ship completely naked placing some clothes out to dry on her balcony. She took her time oblivious to another ship across the pier. Somethings can't be unseen.

In line with what @Gears mentioned, another strange occurrence is seeing your cruise ship Captain riding a Harley around Labadee. Captain Johnny keeps his personal Harley on board the ship. I was on this sailing when he tweeted this. Saw him riding it around.

Do we know yet if the vaccines prevent one from spreading the virus even if it doesn't take hold in their own system? I imagine a vaccine will greatly reduce (but perhaps not eliminate) one from being a carrier that could spread the virus to someone else but to what extent?

Strangest thing I've seen on a Royal ship was a college aged adult wearing a wild and elaborate halloween costume walking around the ship normally but completely outside of the halloween season. Must have lost a bet with his buddies. It was a double take moment. Did I just see that?

Not a Royal ship, one of a lesser competitor. There are four or five adults drinking in a hot tub mid day on a sea day. A little boy is going up and down the stairs to the hot tub every few minutes making faces and saying stuff, teasing the presumably family members in the hot tub. After this continues for a while the child reaches the top of the stairs, turns around, lowers his trunks and proceeds to do something normally done in a bathroom. The moment the realization struck the family in the hot tub they simultaneously all flew out of the tub in all directions, leaping over railings in unison. It was quite the sight to see drunk adults moving so quickly in precision with each other.

I thought Horizon was being pulled apart at a Greek yard. Everyone focuses on Turkey and India but there are other ship breaking yards. Rumors circulating that two M class Celebrity ships are going to a reorganized Pullmantur. Add Grandeur and they are back at three ships. Empress is garnering high prices for it's OV cabins to boutique destinations. I could see Royal trying to keep her for those special routes. Majesty is a different story but if she breaks even in NOLA or turns a small profit they might keep her just in case Cuba comes back in 2023 or beyond.

People talking out loud to their phones held at arm's length.

Ghosts of ... Florida man.

What is notable to me is that they realigned some ships, swapping home ports and such but they found no place for Grandeur in that mix. That was a few months ago now and even now there is still nothing for Grandeur past March. Surely if they planned to keep her they'd announce something and start taking deposits for cruises. Right when things are supposed to be opening back up you would think if she was staying they would want people booking her. Maybe they used her to secure credit and can't deal with her right now but will once March arrives.

It comes down to personal preferences. The corner lofted suites on this class have a layout that involves a number of disconnected spaces. That could work well if different couples were sharing the space and they wanted their own space to retreat to at times such as a private balcony on the side to escape to. Some home floor plans are open, some home floor plans not as much. People like both for their own reasons. The OLS is great and very different than anything one might have experienced on most cruise ships. It's a beautiful suite but might suffer from the closed floor plan concept if that isn't your thing. There are GLS that also occupy the corner positions that will have the same closed effect as the OLS. There are also GLS in the middle aft that are more open. It may come down to how many are in your party and if the individuals involved enjoy having space to escape on their own or if that idea doesn't work as well for you. There are numerous video on sites like YouTube that display all lofted suites so take a look at those keeping in mind if your group would do better with each floor plan.

That's kind of a loaded question, or one that takes a lot of keystrokes to answer. That's a good thing because Star Class comes with a lot. A lot more than anyone can type in one post. I suggest starting with some user experiences such as this trip report from @Lovetocruise2002: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/10695-“i-dream-of-genie”-–-star-class-harmony-of-the-seas-–-031019-031719/&tab=comments#comment-100860 Oh... and welcome to the message boards!

My travel agent was able to shift some cruises today from 2021 into 2022. I feel good with this approach because they were non-refundable so I didn't have to put out any new funds that weren't already at risk. I am really hoping and thinking that Royal will survive this unprecedented event. If they do we will all have to give a lot of credit to their senior leadership team for an amazing display of business acumen. This past week Royal proposed another $1B in stock to be sold so it seems to me they are well aware of the timing of how this will progress and they are taking steps to continue navigating through uncharted waters. I'll feel better when my next significant refund is received. At that point I'll still be "loaning" some money to Royal, just a more reasonable amount to risk given the low chance that risk turns greater. All this to say - I think Royal will be back to the great cruise company we have known. I'm not sure when, but cruising will be back and safer than it was before which is still safer than most schools, churches, restaurants and entertainment venues in our hometowns.

There is L&S programmed in the system and then there is some form of shifting that can be accomplished irrespective of what you call it. My TA was able to somehow shift two cruises today that were non-refundable and would otherwise have incurred the standard $100 fee but she did it without any fees. Both had already been the benefactor of "magic" shifts already that weren't within the norms of L&S. Both were in 2021 and not in immediate jeopardy. Yet somehow she got them shifted into 2022 on different ships, in different regions, with different durations and different cabins in different months. A good travel agent is hard to beat. It is at times like this I really appreciate a good TA. I've cruised a bunch and don't need a TA but I always use one. I doubt I would have been able to pull off what she accomplished today. The best part is... all I had to do is tell her what I wanted to do. "Do you think I could do this...?" . Hours later - done.

You can get some ideas but going through my trip blogs. Only one Alaska cruise was on Ovation but the shore excursions are the same regardless of the ship. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5211-alaska-recap-celebrity-millennium-june-2017/ https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/6634-explorer-alaska-62218-7-nights-rclblog-group-cruise/ https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/12630-ovation-goes-north-way-north-to-alaska-11-nights-may-13-2019/ https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/9160-radiance-of-the-seas-alaska-southbound-83118/ As you plan your cruise take a look at your arrival and departure times. Most ports will likely have long days so you can do something in the morning and something different in the afternoon. Most ports are the US so renting a car can be a great way to explore if you research the area and make a plan, otherwise there are plenty of excursions to book independently or through the ship. Search the internet for a particular stop and you should quickly find independent excursions with ratings. I'll often do an organized excursion in the morning then self explore for the second half of the day. Some ports like Skagway are very close to Canada and some excursions require a passport to cross the border. Plan accordingly. If you can, plan a healthy excursion budget. Alaska is beautiful but you need to leave the port area to experience Alaska best and an excursion or rental car will let you really experience Alaska.

Indeed Pinnacle guests are treated well. Leading up to Pinnacle I spent ~$4k on Voom purchases. That perk alone saves me a bunch. It's also nice always having 40% off the drink package just in case I feel like it - no longer have to watch for cruise planner sales. If I feel like it I can just buy it on board but with at least 3 bottles of wine, happy hour drinks and a couple of Pinnacle events it rarely makes sense to buy the DX. On the Allure TA in March they used Dazzles for us. Had CK breakfast in Chops and the CK lunch in 150CP (too many Pins on board). Seems like all we did was sleep, eat and drink. On top of that Sabor and Samba Grill farewell meals (both were supposed to be lost in the Amplification right after that cruise). I can generally find balcony cabins below OV rates and a smidge above interior now. So yeah, Pinnacle is a great level. However Celebrity's Elite and Elite Plus now have very few real perks. Zenith will hopefully get lounge access back once the pandemic passes, hopefully. With losing so much money it will be curious to see how Pins are handled going forward. For my 2021 cruises I'm expecting we'll lose CK access but hoping we retain Suite Lounge access. Time will tell.

I'm not sure they are loading everything right now. For me I see both under Perfect day CocoCay shore excursions. What ship? Maybe they are blocking these during COVID protocols. Putting rental gear in your mouth sort of thing.

Now that Always In has been introduced chasing more points gets you more free laundry, not a whole lot else. If happy in a lesser cabin just pay for laundry. Wayyyy cheaper.

Guests on the former Pullmantur line are facing this right now. From what I gather they can't get a response from anyone.