twangster

@twangster posted this shot of the Texas drink menu a while back and this was the same when I cruised out of there last spring. So I doubt it has changed since then. 
 
(For some reason, the link isn't going straight to the comment with the photo. But scroll about 3/4 the way down the page and you'll see it.)

The Mahahual area and the short distance down the coast to Maya Chan is very different from Cancun and the tourist areas a few hundred miles up the coast where most tourism related violence occurs.  
This area is more remote from the big city like touristy areas of Cancun or the western larger towns of Mexico. 
I have visited this part of Mexico a number of times and never felt unsafe.  Maya Chan in particular has a meeting point a short walk from the port area.  The Maya Chan experience includes the van ride through Mahahual down to the Maya Chan property.    I was last at Maya Chan in early December a few weeks before Christmas and once again never felt unsafe. 
The shuttle ride down to the Maya Chan property is not a long distance but the roads are not very good so it does take a little bit of time to slowly make the drive over bumps and potholes.  However the rough roads are a testament to how remote the location is very far away from the mass tourism of Cancun.
I love the staff at Maya Chan and I'll be going again late January and probably again in February.  I've been to Maya Chan a number of times.  The bumpy shuttle ride is well worth the time given the great food, cold drinks and the remote ambience that is so different from the mass tourist feel of the port.  

The Mahahual area and the short distance down the coast to Maya Chan is very different from Cancun and the tourist areas a few hundred miles up the coast where most tourism related violence occurs.  
This area is more remote from the big city like touristy areas of Cancun or the western larger towns of Mexico. 
I have visited this part of Mexico a number of times and never felt unsafe.  Maya Chan in particular has a meeting point a short walk from the port area.  The Maya Chan experience includes the van ride through Mahahual down to the Maya Chan property.    I was last at Maya Chan in early December a few weeks before Christmas and once again never felt unsafe. 
The shuttle ride down to the Maya Chan property is not a long distance but the roads are not very good so it does take a little bit of time to slowly make the drive over bumps and potholes.  However the rough roads are a testament to how remote the location is very far away from the mass tourism of Cancun.
I love the staff at Maya Chan and I'll be going again late January and probably again in February.  I've been to Maya Chan a number of times.  The bumpy shuttle ride is well worth the time given the great food, cold drinks and the remote ambience that is so different from the mass tourist feel of the port.  

The Mahahual area and the short distance down the coast to Maya Chan is very different from Cancun and the tourist areas a few hundred miles up the coast where most tourism related violence occurs.  
This area is more remote from the big city like touristy areas of Cancun or the western larger towns of Mexico. 
I have visited this part of Mexico a number of times and never felt unsafe.  Maya Chan in particular has a meeting point a short walk from the port area.  The Maya Chan experience includes the van ride through Mahahual down to the Maya Chan property.    I was last at Maya Chan in early December a few weeks before Christmas and once again never felt unsafe. 
The shuttle ride down to the Maya Chan property is not a long distance but the roads are not very good so it does take a little bit of time to slowly make the drive over bumps and potholes.  However the rough roads are a testament to how remote the location is very far away from the mass tourism of Cancun.
I love the staff at Maya Chan and I'll be going again late January and probably again in February.  I've been to Maya Chan a number of times.  The bumpy shuttle ride is well worth the time given the great food, cold drinks and the remote ambience that is so different from the mass tourist feel of the port.  

Challenge accepted. 

I think it is more offensive to attempt to force others to wear clothing to meet your personal preferences than anything I’ve seen before worn in the MDR.
Royal does’t have a dress code.  They have suggestions that are just that, a suggestion that can be followed or ignored.  
People on vacation may desire to take a break from dressing up for work every day of their life.  Some people don’t want to bring formal wear or don’t have room for it when paying for luggage on a flight to a cruise.  Whatever someone’s reason to not dress formally is, that is well within their privilege to exercise on Royal Caribbean.
There are cruise lines that do have strict dress codes.  If that’s is your thing that’s great.  Cruise on those cruise lines.  Don’t expect a family friendly mass market cruise line to have or enforce a dress code.  

I imagine the port has been deflecting by alluding to the CG being the source of the closure.  That's sort of true, but the ball is in the port's hand to resolve the closure.  I think the CG just wanted to point that out.

Ports are regulated at the federal level.  The USCG is the branch of the federal government who implements federal oversight of maritime ports.  However the port, the piers and facilities are not owned by the federal government or the USCG.  The San Juan Cruise Port is a local authority who owns and operates the port.  Recall they contracted a 3rd party to operate and expand the San Juan cruise port which led to an increase in the passenger fees last year.  There was some controversy surrounding that with claims of bribery and kickbacks.  The San Juan cruise port has a history of such controversy.  
The dolphin was struck by another cruise line.  With that damage inflicted the USCG closed that pier to cruise ships until the San Juan port authority who owns the facility can implement repairs or produce an engineering assessment that says the dolphin isn't required, or that the remnants of the dolphin sitting on the bottom are not a hazard.  Until the owner of the pier provides an assessment, the USCG will not allow cruise ships to use that pier.
It's not the Coast Guard responsibility to fix the damage.  They're waiting on the port.  
Since San Juan outsourced the operation and management of the cruise port I imagine there may be some finger pointing going on.   Damages and repairs may not be within the scope of that contract.  Or they may be waiting for insurance companies to pay out.  Or they may be waiting for the cruise line that did the damage to pay.  
For whatever reason, no responsible party has provided the required assessment to the USCG so they can review it and begin the next steps.  
The USCG is simply letting everyone know they are waiting for the assessment. 
Perhaps the port has an assessment and they don't like what it says.  Maybe they are trying to find another engineering firm to provide a favorable assessment.  Maybe the pier is beyond repair or the costs are prohibitive.  We don't know, neither does the USCG.

Serenade balcony chairs are just that, chairs that can't recline.  

Yet they have been labeled with stickers.

If you modify the booking to be solo before boarding then you should get double points.  That may result in a change in fare to prevailing rates for a solo cruiser.  
Making no changes and boarding with a no-show guest isn’t supposed to result in double points but it might. YMMV.  

I think it is more offensive to attempt to force others to wear clothing to meet your personal preferences than anything I’ve seen before worn in the MDR.
Royal does’t have a dress code.  They have suggestions that are just that, a suggestion that can be followed or ignored.  
People on vacation may desire to take a break from dressing up for work every day of their life.  Some people don’t want to bring formal wear or don’t have room for it when paying for luggage on a flight to a cruise.  Whatever someone’s reason to not dress formally is, that is well within their privilege to exercise on Royal Caribbean.
There are cruise lines that do have strict dress codes.  If that’s is your thing that’s great.  Cruise on those cruise lines.  Don’t expect a family friendly mass market cruise line to have or enforce a dress code.  

I think it is more offensive to attempt to force others to wear clothing to meet your personal preferences than anything I’ve seen before worn in the MDR.
Royal does’t have a dress code.  They have suggestions that are just that, a suggestion that can be followed or ignored.  
People on vacation may desire to take a break from dressing up for work every day of their life.  Some people don’t want to bring formal wear or don’t have room for it when paying for luggage on a flight to a cruise.  Whatever someone’s reason to not dress formally is, that is well within their privilege to exercise on Royal Caribbean.
There are cruise lines that do have strict dress codes.  If that’s is your thing that’s great.  Cruise on those cruise lines.  Don’t expect a family friendly mass market cruise line to have or enforce a dress code.  

If you modify the booking to be solo before boarding then you should get double points.  That may result in a change in fare to prevailing rates for a solo cruiser.  
Making no changes and boarding with a no-show guest isn’t supposed to result in double points but it might. YMMV.  

If you modify the booking to be solo before boarding then you should get double points.  That may result in a change in fare to prevailing rates for a solo cruiser.  
Making no changes and boarding with a no-show guest isn’t supposed to result in double points but it might. YMMV.  

It depends what region you live in and the website you booked through.  Guests booking through the USA & Canada process/website can reprice before final payment due date. Guests booking in other regions are subject to other terms.  
This can be influenced by consumer protection laws in some countries which is why repricing isn’t available globally.  
Once final payment due date has passed you can not get price drops but you might be able to get a cabin upgrade if the numbers are in your favor for the cabin you are upgrading to on that particular sail date.

I think it is more offensive to attempt to force others to wear clothing to meet your personal preferences than anything I’ve seen before worn in the MDR.
Royal does’t have a dress code.  They have suggestions that are just that, a suggestion that can be followed or ignored.  
People on vacation may desire to take a break from dressing up for work every day of their life.  Some people don’t want to bring formal wear or don’t have room for it when paying for luggage on a flight to a cruise.  Whatever someone’s reason to not dress formally is, that is well within their privilege to exercise on Royal Caribbean.
There are cruise lines that do have strict dress codes.  If that’s is your thing that’s great.  Cruise on those cruise lines.  Don’t expect a family friendly mass market cruise line to have or enforce a dress code.  

Challenge accepted. 

I think it is more offensive to attempt to force others to wear clothing to meet your personal preferences than anything I’ve seen before worn in the MDR.
Royal does’t have a dress code.  They have suggestions that are just that, a suggestion that can be followed or ignored.  
People on vacation may desire to take a break from dressing up for work every day of their life.  Some people don’t want to bring formal wear or don’t have room for it when paying for luggage on a flight to a cruise.  Whatever someone’s reason to not dress formally is, that is well within their privilege to exercise on Royal Caribbean.
There are cruise lines that do have strict dress codes.  If that’s is your thing that’s great.  Cruise on those cruise lines.  Don’t expect a family friendly mass market cruise line to have or enforce a dress code.  

Challenge accepted. 

There are two schools of thought.  
1. Cruise the newest and biggest and boldest since it has everything imaginable.
2. Cruise a smaller, older ship to see if you like it. If you do like cruising, you've got room to grow on future cruises on something bigger.
If you start on the newest and biggest you may never be tempted to go on something smaller. It's hard to grow when you start on the biggies.
If you start on an older, smaller ship, there is always the bigger ships for next time. It only gets better.
The truth is none of us are you.  We don't know you, we only know ourselves. 
There is no wrong way to cruise.  I have my personal thoughts and preferences but they apply to me so I won't inject them here.
The US Visa required to sail from the US is an interesting twist.  If that is proving to be time intensive I'd be very tempted to sail from somewhere other than a US port.  
I'm the kind of person that can sail on any ship and have a great experience.  Some people need more.  Nothing wrong with that until they book the wrong ship and then go on social media to complain that ship didn't meet expectations.    
This site has some great ship tour videos so watch some and then decide if you could enjoy a cruise on that ship.  

I think it is more offensive to attempt to force others to wear clothing to meet your personal preferences than anything I’ve seen before worn in the MDR.
Royal does’t have a dress code.  They have suggestions that are just that, a suggestion that can be followed or ignored.  
People on vacation may desire to take a break from dressing up for work every day of their life.  Some people don’t want to bring formal wear or don’t have room for it when paying for luggage on a flight to a cruise.  Whatever someone’s reason to not dress formally is, that is well within their privilege to exercise on Royal Caribbean.
There are cruise lines that do have strict dress codes.  If that’s is your thing that’s great.  Cruise on those cruise lines.  Don’t expect a family friendly mass market cruise line to have or enforce a dress code.  

Challenge accepted. 

Challenge accepted. 

Challenge accepted. 

3 night cruises can have a more active party vibe but even so on Royal Caribbean it’s pretty tame in contrast to a 3 night Carnival cruise.  
5 night cruises tend to consume weekdays so for working class that means time off work which is why they don’t always suffer from a party vibe.
I’ve done many 5 night cruises.  I’ve never thought it was a party vibe.