JBC1

We also got a bottle of champagne. 
First drink at Brock and Brass. Muster in 45 min in 270.

The Survey Debacle
Not too long after booking (I believe we booked the weekend of 3/15 or thereabouts for our 4/27 departure) we received the infamous Genie survey for all Star Class guests.
For some reason, known only to the cruising gods, they chose to send said survey to Batman, not me.
Bad idea. Horrible, in fact.
It probably seemed like a good idea at the time.
Why Batman would be the lead on any vacation is mind blowing. 
Batman has never booked a vacation in his life. Batman is Mr. Just-Tell-Me-Where-and-When-to-Show-Up-and-What-to-Bring.
Must.
Be.
Nice.
(I kid.)
(Sort of)
Surely, he is going to grasp the magnitude the survey responses carry. I can trust him with this. Batman knows what’s at stake, right?
Right?!
Um…..
Let’s hope they do not read the surveys at all… That they are merely a means to entertain yourself while counting down to your cruise.  (Humor me this.)
 
Survey: Complete this sentence: “The hardest I ever laughed was when …”
Batman: When SweetPea began speaking in text. “Dub Tea Eff” (WTF), Bee Tea Dub (BTW), Eye Dee Kay (IDK), etc
Really, Batman?  Really?!  Dude, that was literally 10 years ago. That was the last time I made you laugh like that? 
"It was classic."
Let's be clear. Not Audrey Hepburn in an LBD classic. Blue eye shadow and leg warmer classic.
You at least could’ve made it relevant. Like when I insisted my skin looked pulled tighter lying down, looking face up, and I tried to take a selfie in that position for the required security photo for online check-in “to speed up the embarkation process.”
Fun fact: my skin did not look pulled tighter. I just looked like a mannequin.
 
Survey: If you could invite 3 people – famous or infamous – throughout history for a dinner party, whom would you invite?
Batman: Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman
One) Great. Not to diminish the comedic genius of the Carol Burnett Show, but now Royal also thinks we’re “dinner at 4pm” people. Two) If I get a Blu-Ray edition of Harvey Korman’s Greatest Hits as a random gift …
 
Dub Tea Eff would I do with that? Batman, you know I do not have an eBay account, right?
 
Survey: If you could only bring three things with you to a deserted island, what would they be?
Batman: SweetPea, Satellite Service, a SMART TV.
First, I mean, hey. Priorities.
Second, it’s sweet that he wanted me with him on the island. Honestly. I mean that. I do. But that should’ve been a GIVEN, no? Clearly Royal assumes your stateroom party will be stranded TOGETHER.  I was a wasted pick!! You get 3 items, Batman, and you just wasted 33.33% on me! Besides, every chick knows that if you’re going to be stranded on a deserted island, you need a high-quality lip balm with no menthol and an SPF of at least 15. And iodine for drinking water. Please.
 
Survey: Are you more of a morning person or “night owl?”
Batman: Midnight Mongoose.
 
Succinct. I like it. “Mongoose” though??
 
Survey: What are your culinary delights and loves – for meals, snacks, and “comfort food?”
Batman: If SweetPea asks for breakfast, she means a Bloody Mary. Spicy. With a slice of bacon.
 
Credit where credit is due: #NailedIt
 
Survey: Over half our guests onboard are celebrating something – are you celebrating anything?
Batman: Me, making it to 50! Oh, and SweetPea has a birthday on the ship (Wednesday)
 
Batman has declared 2019 as the Year of Batman: he gets one vacation for every decade he’s “made it” to. This is vacation #2, with 3 planned and 4 and 5 TBD (that’s Tea Bee Dee, if you’re keeping up). So yes, although it's my birthday on the ship, he's commandeered this vacation as 1/5th of the Year of Batman. 
 
Survey: Are there any morning rules we should know about?
Batman: What is this “morning” you speak of?
#Truth. Even a broken clock ….
 
(Both Batman and I work shifts; never 9a-5p. The older we get, the harder it is to adjust to a normal schedule when we’re not working. If you read live blogs for breakfast food pics, you should stop reading now to avoid future disappointment).
 
Survey: Is there anything else we need to know?
Batman: We are leaving two black cats at home who we will miss horribly.
 
If our beautiful stateroom is made into a quasi-cat sanctuary for our cruise so we “don’t miss our cats so much,” please call the Coast Guard in advance as there will be a man overboard. I will allow him to dress warmly and put on a life jacket first. I’m not completely inhumane.
Perhaps though we won't need to miss one of them at all, if this guy has anything to say about it. I've heard there may be a dog called Tommy onboard. Maybe he'd like a playmate? ?
 
 
 
I digress. Of course, those are not all the survey questions. @Lovetocruise2002 has them all listed in her brilliant "I Dream of Genie" blog. I only note these here to see how (if? God, I hope it’s “if” and not “how), these in particular are interpreted onboard.
I can't even stand the suspense. 

We just docked back in Barcelona and I figured I’d jump on and share our experience with everyone. Would love to answer questions as I’m sure many of you had questions similar to what we had.
Overall, we had an incredible time and have almost nothing but good to say about our first “post-covid” cruise.
On our ship, that carries over 6000 passengers, had 900 on board. We heard we picked up 300 more in Rome, but can’t confirm that. We hear there’s 600 on the 8/29 sailing. The ship was unbelievably empty. We bid the lowest amount on a RoyalUp suite and won. So, we were spoiled with a bigger room and incredibly empty ship. Everyone paid so much attention to you. No lines at slides, empty mini golf, empty rock wall and flow rider… you could do anything you wanted. Shows were well attended, but still so much seating available.
One of the only complaints we had, sorry had to add it in, was the push for specialty dining. The first two days, literally every crew member that saw you, would give you a 5 minute spiel about the packages. It became very annoying. After day 2, we only heard it here and there.
Excursions had to be through Royal Caribbean, but they all went smoothly. Not my style of tours, but we were happy to see all of the sites. The tours were even smaller groups and some people didn’t even get off the ship. Shopping was usually cut out, as we weren’t able to go out on our own. We still managed to get some good souvenirs. Heads up on the churches… you don’t go inside. So ignore the “wear pants and sleeves” rule, or at least ask about it.
Testing went well. We had a test at the beginning and the end. A couple passengers did test positive and were immediately removed from line and weren’t allowed on the ship. You get your results before they even let you on. Nerve racking, but once you get the results, it felt so good to just get on board.
The new muster drill is AMAZING! You just watch a couple safety videos on the RC app and you get it checked off near the entrance of the ship. Takes 2 minutes.
Everything on the ship was open. Masks were required at all indoor spaces, so if you just hang out outside, problem solved. The staff was not even super strict about pointing out if a mask falls below your nose, etc. We even took our masks off at most tours, because it seems Italy is only “requiring” it for cruise passengers. In Florence, it blew me away how many tourists there were and we were the only group with masks.
Play bingo and go to the contests and auctions, because there’s no competition on the ship. Attend the casino drawings and raffles. We won more stuff on this cruise because our chances were so much higher. We even won a $1200 painting (3 groups at the raffle)
As always, food was amazing, shows were awesome, crew was all smiles, and everything felt very normal for cruising. Can’t wait for masks to become non-existent.
Let me know what else you want to know? For those holding out… just go. It will be worth it to be on an empty ship.

I am going to wait a few days and see if something official comes from RC before my happy returns ?

It looks like we are still sailing. Website still open for bookings
happy or what ?

Marina, from Singapore 2017, it was also my very first ever cruise. Never looked backed. Now been on 11 RC cruises, love it.
 
John ?

Marina, from Singapore 2017, it was also my very first ever cruise. Never looked backed. Now been on 11 RC cruises, love it.
 
John ?

Hey CaptainPanda If you will please contact me.  The price I gave you should never be more than what Royal has.   Contact me and we will figure out where the difference is.
 

Hey CaptainPanda,  I looked at your cruise on the Royal Caribbean site and I believe you are looking at the price on the front screen which is the lead in price for Balcony cabins and does not include taxes,  port fees or let you pick your cabin etc.   I am going to email you directly and I will give you more information.   Thanks!

I was supposed to be going on Voyager too but alas, it's not meant to be.
On the bright side, I can now book another sailling on Quantum

So sad to hear today my B2B on Voyager from Singapore is cancelled for December, when will it end. Hoping the Jewel of the Seas will sail in October from Cyrus also a B2B.
John
?

So sad to hear today my B2B on Voyager from Singapore is cancelled for December, when will it end. Hoping the Jewel of the Seas will sail in October from Cyrus also a B2B.
John
?

So sad to hear today my B2B on Voyager from Singapore is cancelled for December, when will it end. Hoping the Jewel of the Seas will sail in October from Cyrus also a B2B.
John
?

So sad to hear today my B2B on Voyager from Singapore is cancelled for December, when will it end. Hoping the Jewel of the Seas will sail in October from Cyrus also a B2B.
John
?

So sad to hear today my B2B on Voyager from Singapore is cancelled for December, when will it end. Hoping the Jewel of the Seas will sail in October from Cyrus also a B2B.
John
?

It is what it is. If you can afford it, and the company provides it…enjoy it! Ignore the nasty glances and whatever comments are made by those who don’t realize why the service is being provided. It’s not special treatment…it’s a purchased service.
But I like how another cruise line provides the service when going to a show. Upper suite guests are escorted into the venue early through a crew door, out of sight of the passengers waiting on lines for the doors to open. This way we can chose our seats and be settled before the rush. It means being early and having to wait for the show to start, but at least you’re not being paraded down the aisle just before show time and escorted to prime seats that everyone else had to turn away from because they are ‘reserved’.
Either way…enjoy the perks that come with the price!

This has been going on since RC started the crown and anchor program. We got the look once and we were in an inside cabin!!! But upon check in DW flashed our C&A card of the PLATINUM color. This was in the early 90's. The agent saw them and had her supervisor walked us around the long line of people waiting to embark and got on before them. The looks were, shall I just say interesting.

This whole hostility thing is just a mirror of today’s society unfortunately. Why can’t people just be happy? 

understand, have heard it while in line for something and I always make a point to also make a comment just to be generally overheard, like if we would have have paid 10 or 15 thousand for our cruise that could have been us also.  sometime people just have to be reminded that money is privilege, that's just a fact.
Don't let it bother you!! just enjoy that privilege.

Star class with no C&A or other discounts is usually $10k+ so who cares about hostility. When I went to Egypt, we had private everything and we definitely got comments and looks. I was young when I flew 1st class for the first time and I had people be outright rude to me in the lounge. Some one is going to always be a hater. I do agree that loyalty should be taken into consideration but don't let anyone stop you from enjoying something you paid for.

We just got our notification of successful bid from balcony to sky loft suite on a uk sailing... very excited ?

Fantastic, thanks for the info.
 
John 

Yes. If a specialty restaurant is open you can use the package there.

All amplifications were put on hold in 2020. There were several ships that were due for upgrades but due to the pandemic those plans were postponed to a later date.

Hi Guys,
Does the unlimited dinning package include Speciality dinning on embarkation for lunch.
Thanks in advance for any info.
John ?