twangster

The new cabins on deck 12 might have this feature but it was not retrofitted into existing cabins. I stayed in a 'new' cabin that was added to Liberty and it had a cabin power slot.

I just pull my hotel key card out slightly and leave it propped in the slot but not inserted all the way when I leave. I usually have an old set sail pass or hotel key card in my backpack from a previous trip. When I return I just push it down all the way.

I have thought about the land portion but it seems so expensive. In my mind I'm thinking I could engineer a land tour better. I'm not a big bus tour person and while I'll do one as an excursion on an island to learn something about that island, doing a 4 day long bus tour may be beyond my tolerance for them. I'd rather be able to stop when I want or take longer here rather than there. After riding the train in Alaska I have toyed with the idea of flying in and and just riding trains around for a couple of days with hotels near train stops. I would definitely look into excursions directly or just renting a car in some ports. In some cases the cruise line excursions are competitively prices because they purchase in volume, in other cases, not so much. There is a comfort factor with just showing up when your excursion ticket says to and knowing if last minute changes occur they deal with all that. Must do excursions? Time at Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. The helicopter ride to it is awesome but expensive especially for a family of four. You don't have to do a helicopter to visit the park there. It's a nice park with a visitor center and trails. The White Pass train in Skagway is a must do at least once for anyone. Renting a car is economical for a family of four here. Just do a little research and plan the drive. Make sure you have passports if you want to drive into Canada. The zip line in Icy Strait Point was a lot of fun. Whale watching is great here as it is in prime whale watching territory. Try to book a smaller boat if you can. Bear tour (seek a bear) are pretty good but no guarantees. In Ketchikan something to Misty Fjords, like a floatplane if its in your budget. The float plane is the workhorse of Alaska so experiencing one is unique. The lumberjack show for something a little easier and less expensive. North vs. South - since I've only does Southbound I'm jaded. I like doing the train to get to the ship at noon and boarding. It flows for me and fresh into the vacation seeing Alaska from the train is such a great start to the trip. When Northbound the train departs at 6pm but you have to be off the ship with luggage by 9am-ish. If you want to do the train, that means waiting until 6pm. There are things to do, but it just seems to flow better for me Southbound.

When a pinnacle fences with anyone lower, the pinnacle gets the foil and head gear, the opponent gets a 12" wooden ruler.

You're welcome.

As little as I can... And I volunteer at RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com ?

Originally the Oasis funnels were retractable because needed to get under the Storebaelt Bridge in Denmark when she was first built. Since then they have installed permanent equipment to scrub the smoke to meet emission standards and they are no longer retractable. https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/35/clearing-a-landmark-lowering-the-funnels-for-storebaelt-bridge/ The Storebaelt Bridge is very close in height to the Verrazano-Narrows bridge but they pulled a lot of tricks to clear it and that isn't feasible in NY Harbor even if they could lower the funnel (which they can't). Doing so for every sailing would be a nightmare.

Day -4 A year or so ago I had been thinking about Symphony and when I might be able to sail her. Prices, as expected for her first year were elevated over her sisters. That is until I came across the transatlantic sailing which at the time was priced close to many seven night Caribbean sailings on her. Twelve nights on what would become the largest cruise ship in the world for the price of seven? I was on Anthem when the light bulb went on and I booked it in a YOLO moment that only the drink package can induce. Itinerary is pretty light as ports go: Day 1 - Embark in Barcelona, Spain Day 2 - Sea Day Day 3 - Malaga, Spain Days 4 - 11 - Sea Day Day 12 - Port Canaveral Day 13 - Debark, Miami No excursions booked or planned. The ship is the destination. I'll be sailing in a Boardwalk balcony cabin almost as far aft as you can go on deck 8 right above Playmakers. My step count for this cruise should indeed also be elevated. I'm sailing solo as I often do since friends and family just can't keep up. I won't be alone exactly as there will be a decent contingency from the RCPeriscopers.live community sailing with me. Voom and satellite coverage permitting, there should be ample scopes from this sailing. A business commitment is keeping me stateside until Friday when I'll fly overnight to Barcelona arriving Saturday morning for a Sunday embarkation. Not ideal but I've got to pay for this cruising addiction somehow. Since I'll be in the cruise capital of the world when we disembark in Miami I couldn't let that opportunity go without jumping on another ship so I'll be sliding up the coast to Fort Lauderdale to board Serenade the day we arrive in Miami. That is a factor in my packing strategy since I'm not flying home between cruises. Speaking of packing, I should probably start, later today, ...or maybe tomorrow.

You can still fly on Anthem... iFly that is ? I quite enjoy Anthem, have sailed her three times. She'll be missed over here.

I've booked it for Symphony next week. If it isn't honored you know I'll post about that ? The spas are operated by Steiner Leisure. I wonder if they see this as Royal stepping into their onboard sales opportunities? Do you recall how much it was on Oasis once onboard?

Has anyone who purchased the pass in the cruise planner had an opportunity to use it onboard? The time slots appears to be unsettled dust as Royal figures this out. Each time has limited capacity and once a few people buy that time it becomes unavailable for other's to purchase. Curious if anyone has pre-purchased it and sailed with it.

Some folks who are Diamond/Diamond Plus/Pinnacle have started getting emails. It seems this will be a cruise with very high numbers of them. Pinnacles will have their nightly happy hour in Dazzles and it's exclusive to them. Diamond and Diamond Plus will have their nightly Diamond happy hours in the Diamond Lounge, Jazz on 4 and The Attic. Apparently Royal is implementing lessons learned from the President's Cruise since the TA will have similar top tier C&A numbers present. In that sense it won't be a normal Royal cruise experience for non top tier since many venues will be closed at times for special top tier events much like the President's Cruise.

You get the pleasure of hauling it around. Think of it as a work out to burn some more calories before the food onslaught begins. Not very many ships are offering carry-on storage that I've seen. Only Mariner in my experience.

Welcome to the message boards! I have cruised a few times with a step daughter every year through ages 17 to 21. She was supposed to come with me on Millie but couldn't make it at the last minute. She would have been 20 last year. I say that to let you know I understand what cruising with a teenage girl is like... We've been on a couple Carnival cruises together and Allure of the Seas. We both loved Allure and vowed not to return to Carnival after that. In 2017 I faced the same decision you face... Radiance or Millennium. I hadn't sailed on a Radiance class ship and I had never sailed Celebrity. Neither ship jumps out as being perfect for her age group and since I was the one paying for it, I decided I would pick based on my needs. She was just thrilled to be going when I booked it. I had a very enjoyable cruise on Radiance but Celebrity is a little more upscale. When I looked at the two I was looking at a Junior Suite on Radiance versus a Sky Suite on Millie. A JS on Radiance gets you double points and priority boarding on day one. A Sky Suite on Celebrity gets you some more points in their system, priority boarding, lounge access, a dedicated suite restaurant and the 4 in package offered at the time netted me free gratuity, internet, drink package and $200 OBC. Stepping up a suite class on Radiance to a GS would get me concierge lounge access. Big deal. That would be much more money than a Sky Suite on Celebrity. I had always wanted to try Celebrity so it was pretty hard not to end up on Millie. Millie is supposed to be 'Edge-ified' by next summer. That alone would likely make me think long and hard about going on her. Taking suites out of the equation, I still think Celebrity is a nicer experience for two ships that are very close in size and features. Both have an indoor solarium with pool. Neither has flowriders or ice skating. Both have specialty restaurants. I enjoyed entertainment on Celebrity more but that's personal. Food in the suite restaurant was better on Millie but that isn't fair comparing it to MDR on Radiance. Buffet was better on Millie. The Celebrity experience is just a little nicer. Champagne upon boarding, towels placed all over the pool deck (no need to scan your seapass card to 'borrow' one), and so on. Small things that I notice. Fellow guests nice on both ships but if I wasn't a Diamond Plus with Concierge Lounge access Radiance would have been just a bit less enjoyable for me. I met some nice folks in their, but those same type of folks were all over the ship on Millie to meet. On Royal's newer ships, or newly AMPED ships there is a lot more to do and that keeps me young. That's why I'm still sailing Royal but when you look at Radiance class they don't have all that. The casinos are smoke free on Celebrity if that's important to you. It was so nice to walk in them and not be killed by cigarette smoke. I'm currently booked on Ovation to Alaska in 2019 with her. She's never been on Quantum class. However when I wake each morning I hear Millie calling out to me, tempting me to switch not only for the itinerary but a freshly refurbished ship is pretty attractive as well. Ovation might be more suited to her for activities but she has developed expensive tastes so Millie may be more suited to her style.

For a large family or group, $600-800 across 6-8 people for a cabanas isn't bad to have a hang out place you all can share. Cruising solo I'd never do it, but as group size increases it becomes better value.

It's a 7 step process... because most cruises are 7 nights.

CocoCay has been around for several decades. I often visit with zero purchases, or maybe a few drinks, or maybe an excursion. It depends. Sometimes I want to do more than just beach. The point is you don't have to ride in a balloon. Cabanas are a luxury. So are suites. So are specialty restaurants. I often cruise without any of those. Just did 13 nights in an interior cabin, had a blast.

"I girl" - see! She's a bot! It's iGirl. I knew it!

As long as the ship arrives on time you can make this flight if using self-assist to disembark and you don't wait until the end of the self-assist time slot to start. Take a cab to the airport. I'd get up early and be near the front of the self-assist line Congratulations for making Diamond, that is a great accomplishment. Unfortunately you won't be Diamond until your next cruise and more importantly, C&A status does nothing for self-assist guests as they disembark. Even as a D+ I'm just like everyone else in the self-assist line.

Welcome to the message boards. I just completed a Canada/New England cruise on Adventure a couple days ago that started in Canada on Oct. 8. In my case it was a one-way repositioning cruise from Quebec to Ft. Lauderdale but it stopped at many of the same ports. Adventure will now spend it's winter in Florida and this was the cruise that moved her Southbound to her winter home. Being an October cruise it was definitely cooler and jacket weather until we reached the warmer waters of Florida. In July or August the weather will be much warmer. My live blog can be found here in the message boards at RoyalCarribeanBlog.com: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/9521-adventure-ots-13-night-snowbird-migration-quebec-to-ft-lauderdale-oct-8-2018/ By looking at the photos in each port you can judge what people are wearing. Anthem is a cool weather ship. She was designed to be used in cooler climates and features a very nice covered Solarium that Adventure does not. In this sense she would be a much better October New England ship compared to Adventure but the outer decks and balconies will likely be cool in October.

Nudge worked, it's up now. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compasses/radiance-of-the-seas/fri-2018-08-31-0000

I've yet to find a decent hotel that has both a free airport shuttle and a free port shuttle. Finding one with a free airport shuttle is easy. Many hotels charge $10-$15 per head for a port shuttle. I usually just take a Lyft ride to the ship for around $12.

Med is port intensive, but many great ports. Which transatlantic are you looking at? Many have some ports but lots of sea days. Which ship? An older, smaller ship isn't that big of a deal on a Med port intensive cruise because you are off the ship day after day. Lot's of sea days on a smaller, older ship with not much to do may be in your wheelhouse or may be very boring.

I just spent 13 nights on Adventure, sister ship to Navigator. For every one I saw on board it was fine, including some 12' seas in the North Atlantic. The worst it got was much like riding on a subway train There are many things that contribute to ship motion. Wave height isn't the most important factor. Wave pitch, ship speed and angle relative to wind and waves all play a role in ship movement. What is fine for many may not be so good for others. Stabilizers do make a big difference but they don't eliminate all roll. They had them deployed on my Adventure cruise at times. Has she talked with her doctor? It could be something prescribed like a patch may be in order.