Allen2

Baltimore all the way.

Opinion: Only item that MIGHT BE worth purchasing on ship is a T-shirt. Inexpensive, great memory.

Bring back 2X daily room cleaning service; return to free room service; BRING BACK OLD (BETTER) DINING ROOM MENUS - as already stated.

Lost luggage: been there - done that, and our sympathies. One suggestion: if you have Apple phones, purchase Air Tags. Air Tags are four for $89 on Amazon. When you arrive with no luggage, you will at least know "where" the luggage sits. If it is not going to make it in time for boarding, you might have a chance to do some shopping for necessities. Plus you can have a base of knowledge when dealing with the airline claims people - who usually can give you some toiletries and maybe some clothing. For us, Air Tags saved the day when I was able to tell cruise ship employees that one piece of luggage had still not been loaded on board ship prior to a delayed departure for a 14-day cruise. The luggage was found still on the pier! Combine this with the prior tips of splitting clothing in luggage, your stress level will decline (although not go away). The earlier tip about splitting credit cards among pockets and travelers can also be critical. For us, spouse carries two cards and I carry two different cards.

We are believers in Travel Agents, and our long-time "guy" passed away. We read here about MEI and used them and had a miserable experience that took almost a year to resolve. Then we quickly returned to Agency #1 and dealt with two different agents - one of whom has made us happy through many cruises. Agency #1 does the 'extras' for us, including specialty meal, OBC, and other. Guess the moral here is that it is our satisfaction, our money, and we should not stay where the service is unsatisfactory!

Yes - make lemonade out of lemons

On our Navigator trip, traffic from Port to LAX was gridlocked. Would not attempt a 10:30 flight!

Grats added when we order bottled water - note water has been in cans, not bottles. If you do not drink much alcohol and are Diamond and up, you can use your unused drinks to order bottled water, and usually are given water in bottles, not cans. Just keep track of drinks used.

We enjoyed a 10 and an 11 day B2B throughout the Southern Caribbean this past December on the Vision. Highly recommend!! Great service, food, patrons. Good ports overall.

Note that in some tender ports, the ship will issue numbered tickets, tied to orderly boarding of the tenders. Ticket numbers will be called in order. Often times early shore excursions go first - and tender ports are time-consuming. You may have less shore time than expected.

Had similar issues with MEI: unresponsive, incorrect information. Migrated to another agency and am thrilled.

If you purchased this robe, you might have trouble fitting it in your luggage for the sad trip home.

Nail clippers work and TSA has no problem to date

Also happily accepted anywhere in the world.

IMO: Totally agree! Noon to 5 p.m. should get you everything!

Added thought: Apple "Air Tags" are really great for tracking luggage - in almost every situation. Four tags for $99 on Amazon (I believe).

Also: it is normal for luggage tags to sometimes show up later on the web site

Other sensible, easy way: ask your travel agent for help!

You can also negotiate with taxi drivers for a private tour.

There is a prior-mentioned form to use, listing options to send: e-mail, fax, snail mail. Three cruises ago and two ago I used scanned documents and form via e-mail. Had an answer within days. Upcoming did same, and had answer in less than a week.

Correct both places

Would point out that Royal's World Cruise will be longer than mentioned above

One of our "favorites" is breakfast on the balcony - room service breakfast, then enjoy outside!

Carnival has had one service a day for most or all of the year. The issue is, IMO, that Royal should not emulate Carnival.