twangster

I think the bigger impact of tattooing is the whole "don't go in the water" for a while aspect. No hot tubs, no pools, no ocean, etc. As you indicate, motion usually isn't like that most of the time. Any ship can experience some swell that causes shows to be postponed, etc, but most days motion wouldn't impact these activities. No regerts.

Still a lot cheaper than a family of four going to Atlantis in Nassau. Truth is there is quite a bit to do on CocoCay without the water park. Oasis Lagoon pool is included, beach is included, most food is included. I think there is some truth to this. I'm thinking the half-day passes weren't popular, too hard to plan a day around them, easier just to do full day passes.

Both ships the same Lirica class. Perhaps the reverse gear has an issue in this class. Two azipods as opposed to conventional propeller shaft. Someone has some explaining to do...

Royal ships often don't restock mid-cruise, they've built their cold storage to keep enough for most voyages. During hurricane season in the Caribbean they maintain over two weeks of cold storage food on the ship. Fresh fruit and perishables don't last over two weeks so those turn over on a different timeframe. If a hurricane forces a diversion they can sail for over two weeks and not run out of food although fresh fruit may be replaced with canned varieties. This occurs on transatlantics and transpacific crossings sometimes. Try ordering a Mojito on day 13 and you may be told no fresh mint available. I was sailing in the Caribbean out of Florida when a sister ship pulled up beside us in St Maarten arriving on a crossing from Europe. The ship's traded supplies. Our ship took several boxes of paper in exchange for some of our fresh fruit so guests on that ship could once again enjoy fresh fruit and mint in the Mojitos before their arrival two days later in Miami.

International sometimes has 70lb limits. Check each carrier.

Little ones are good for USB charging cables, small electrical adapters, SD cards and such.

@Pippa_OceanTime is a packing cube fan.

Two debarks in Vancouver coming off Alaska cruises (US) have been super easy. On Radiance last year I documented my Vancouver debark experience here (and the post after it): https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/9160-not-so-live-blog-radiance-of-the-seas-alaska-southbound-83118/&do=findComment&comment=83951 My understanding for Ovation when it arrived from Hawaii this past month it was a little chaotic. Maybe the volume of guests and luggage? As I approach to check in (I was embarking) guests with luggage were coming off which I suspect were self-assist. I think self -assist was more of a normal experience but the tagged luggage process became a mess due to the shear volume of luggage that a small terminal couldn't handle as well.

USB hubs or power stations do not appear on the banned list and I've had success bring one on numerous cruises.

Some ships are going with pre-punched SeaPass cards. Navigator and Ovation for example, Ovation uses RFID so it's kind of cool those cards can use standard lanyards.

That is one of the names that Royal has trade marked, among others. In the past though names have been trade marked but never used, yet, so it's anyone's guess.

It happens. Not ideal but it occurs enough they have procedures in place to handle it.

Update: Money received, my epic insurance experience is over. My remaining 2019 cruises have insurance from another carrier purchased on a per cruise basis (no annual policy). I still have some coverage from Allianz. I still believe in insurance for the unexpected. Biggest lesson learned - don't fly in the day of the cruise. That wasn't an option this time and I thought it would be okay given a short flight to Houston. What could go wrong? The best outcome would have been to take the cruise, so fly in the day before.

Found a video that got lost for a bit. Day 4 before our arrival into Icy Strait Point. Having breakfast on my balcony when this happens... Dall's Porpoises.

Like that's ever going to happen. :)

They mean when off the ship somewhere other than Royal's own private destinations of CocoCay and Labadee. For example in Cozumel. Leave the ship and walk into a bar, you pay just like a local. At Royal private destinations the DX package works and always on the ship it works regardless of the port you are visiting.

China is a very different market with vastly different consumer purchasing trends compared to the West. Without direct participation from previous guests in that region there is less information to go on here in these boards.

Roughly 3 1/2" in diameter.

I'm surprised they haven't added Planet Z to the existing Q class. Is Xbox big in Asia?

Flowrider is popular in North America. Some people even bring their own boards with them. The main challenge for slides will be height. They don't have much to work with and stay under the top of the iFly and stack areas. They could try something like Navigator's water blaster ride since the jet blast of water keeps you moving (don't need to start as high). If they removed Skypad they could build a small water slide tower in that corner.

The more I think of it the more I'm inclined that she will be a close copy of Spectrum with a different name painted on her, at least in terms of major infrastructure. It's a short build window. Making changes requires re-modeling a lot of engineering data to determine how adding or removing a few thousand pounds here or there alerts ship handling on top of modifying blueprints and architectural designs. When Navigator was refreshed and AMPED they went to sea with engineers on board and sensor tanks placed around the ship to validate and measure handling under various conditions such as sharp turns and emergency stops. There is a lot that goes into modifying a design such as hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on modeling and predicting handling characteristics. It's one reason why they find a design and stick with it. Deviating costs money. Looking at Ovation's top decks: Where would slides go? There isn't much room by the Flowrider and iFly. The SeaPlex area contains all the communication antennas. Those need to be up high to avoid blocking satellites by ship infrastructure and causing outages. No slides there. Putting slides midship by the main pool blocks a lot of sight lines for the pool. North Star needs it's own space, no slides there. Slides forward over the Solarium and newer suites area wouldn't work. Slides would have to go at the back but there isn't a lot of room for the landing zones and tower of stairs to climb up unless they remove iFly. Big part of me says no slides. Only time will tell.

Slides on Quantum class. Interesting idea. Certainly would buck the trend but a missing feature. The challenge is keeping the slides below the height of the stacks (retracted) so as to maintain the neoPanamax dimensions. I think SeaPlex stays just for the bumper cars and multi-use aspect. They should add laser tag to the SeaPlex, it's just inflatable walls, easy to add to existing Q class ships as well. The design has been set for some time, it's not like they figure it out as they build it. Removing SkyPad from the Q Ultra design would cost money since it deviates from the cookie cutter rinse and repeat method of ship building. However given the current Skypad situation maybe they'll sign that change order. Ships move from region to region over the years they'll be in service. The question becomes how much will they deviate from the cold weather capabilities just for the initial deployment where ever she lands for the first few years. Retractable roofs for the indoor pools and solarium solve some of that while keeping the cold weather capabilities. I'm equally interested in the suites only concept of the Solarium on Spectrum. Blocking off the Solarium from the non-suite masses would be a first in the fleet for North America yet a dedicated suites only area is what MSC and NCL offer so maybe they go there with Odyssey.

Agree about FLL. Some airlines have baggage rules and accept checked luggage only within so many hours of your flight. FLL offers a bus service between the land side different terminals but's it's slow and infrequent (walking between terminals is sometimes faster). Not all terminals in FLL offer Clear so validate which airline you are using and if Clear has a presence in the terminal used for your airline. At the moment there is no shuttle between terminals after security so once you go through security you are limited to what that terminal offers.

As a data point, a shot of liquor added to a complimentary hot chocolate on a recent Alaska cruise was $10.61 all in (including gratuity).

When I did a galley tour on Navigator a couple months ago (right after refresh) they explained how the menu was created. It varies by ship and sometimes even sail date. The food and beverage manager sits down with the head chef and they plan the menu. They have a budget, such as $100,000 for a 9 night sailing. Historically they know how much lobster will be consumed on the 2nd formal night so that consumes so much of the budget. So many nights will have a steak entree so that consumes more of the budget. Historically they know for each and every entree - chicken, lamb, beef, etc. how much will be consumed so each offering is calculated how much of the budget is consumed. As the cruise progresses they track their estimates versus actual budget dollars consumed for that sailing. If near the end there is surplus budget they may alter a menu and add something they know will be popular and consume more of the surplus budget. They might even place lobster and other seafood in the Windjammer on the final night if the budget allows it. It's all tracked against the budget so they are constantly fine tuning the menu to stay within the budget as seasonal and regional or cultural differences trends change over time. Consequently they don't publish the menu in advance and the menu in the app doesn't always match what is actually offered on any given night of the cruise.