Mrs. RoyalMoyal

Arrive a day early! 

Arrive a day early! 

Arrive a day early! 

Nobody ever says this one;  bring a watch set to ships time. It gives us ultimate peace of mind when in port and out on excursions.
Cell phones can change time when the connect to the cell network at port and for us, we prefer to leave the phones off and locked up in the safe anyway.

LEARN/KNOW WHAT TYPE OF CRUISER YOU ARE. Knowing what you like to do on a cruise dictates EVERYTHING! Are you an active, out and about person, or a room dweller? Are you in it for the ports, or are you in it for the ship? Are you a foody, or are you fine with just the MDR and Windjammer? Knowing what you like impacts everything from your room selection, to your excursions, to your daily planning.....I know its sounds like a broad "tip or trick" but its the single most important thing to know. 
Other than that, I make sure to wear my trunks on embarkation, and carry a backpack with sunscreen, and other essentials. I dont want to be dependent upon my luggage and room getting ready. I want to enjoy my day on the ship. 
 

I like to help the greater cruise community.  
I find a chair for myself that is available.  Then as I have observed an area for a while, I move chair hog stuff and return to my chair.  Some innocent person comes along and starts using the now empty chair.    Chair hog returns and confronts innocent person who can honestly claim they didn't do it, the chair was unused.  
Walking to breakfast if I notice a series of hogged chairs that are still hogged when I return from breakfast I grab the towel and drop it off somewhere.   Chair is freed up. 
I consider it a community service.  

That is indeed the address. Try the chuleta Cancan/kankan and arroz mamosteao (mixed rice and beans) 
 
you wont regret it! 
 
*this post has been sponsered by a Puerto Rican.

The current smoking rules save me a fortune.  I avoid the casino on all ships but Empress which is smoke free.  I lose money on Empress so it's kind of an inverted blessing they allow smokers in the casino.  

Bring socks for your own skates... and ask your genie for ice time! A crowded rink full of rental skates and board huggers is... frustrating. 

PS, for anyone wondering as I was if there is a second minibar upstairs, the answer is yes 

I did a solo 5 day Bermuda cruise on Anthem in September.  It was my second solo cruise from Cape Liberty (I live in PA so only a little over an hour drive) and I loved it.  I had a balcony cabin on deck 11 and it was all mine.  When I got on board (around 11) I went to 270 for lunch then made my way to the solarium to sit back and relax with a drink until the cabins were ready. I really enjoy the solarium just to relax with a book.  The Solarium bar staff took very good care of me.  I signed up for IFly and loved it!  If you do IFly bring your phone & ask some to take your picture or video (that's the only thing I didn't do).   I also did Northstar and the bumper cars.  I would have tried the trapeze but the ladder to to platform looked scary.  I did my time dining in the MDR and had my own table which was my choice.  The tables are so close together that I was able to meet and talk to other people if I wanted to.  I also bring my e-reader.  I got along really well with the wait staff on the 1st night so I requested their section for the rest of the cruise.  I went to all the shows and hung out at the Music Hall & the Pub.  The best part about cruising solo is that you can do whatever you want whenever you want to.  It is fine to feel excited & nervous.  I still do until I stepped on board the ship then I just relaxed.  I have 2 cruises in 2020 that I'm doing solo 7 day Empress of the Seas to Bermuda out of Cape Liberty in May & 7 day Rhapsody of the seas to the Greek islands out of Venice in August.
You will have a wonderful time!

iFly was so, so much fun! 

you're welcome.. I had selfish reasons lol I am also on the 24th sailing.. But like I said I honestly think they are just having inventory issues.. 

What a mess. And how worrying for everyone booked on those cruises. I would be frantic. 
I have absolutely everything - fingers, legs, eyes, toe nails, even - crossed that you all get your cruises as booked.

I am booked on Oasis December 1 (second sailing after drydock) just noticed that the first 3 sailings after drydock are no longer available for booking. Freaking out a little that these sailings will be canceled....trying not to be paranoid but......not working. Any insight?  This is affecting the first 3 sailings after dry dock....I know Matt Hochberg is booked on the November 24th sailing because I've heard him speak of on the podcast.  I will be so sad if my sailing is canceled......

Love the non Agent Blair drill. From 7 short - 1 long blast it was 12 minutes to dismissal.

Before I forget, here’s a first sunset pic. I apologize for the scattered nature my posts.This whole live blog thing works much better before I’ve started using my Deluxe Beverage package, lol. ?

Wow, the ship really wants to make amends over this.
I got a call from the Windjammer Manager about 20 minutes ago. Got another apology and thank-you for reporting the issue at Guest Services so they had the formal record. Was told not only are they going to speaking to the supplier, but also their own QC team that picks up the shipments.
After this, I was asked to confirm our table in the MDR, and then offered complementary specialty dining in any venue of our choice. Initially asked if we wanted it tonight, but we already had all of our plans timed out around MDR schedule so I asked if it could be a different night. Was told no problem, and that he’d send his business card so I could call him after I had a chance to talk with Cathy and figure out which night and venue.
It arrived about 10 minutes later, attached to this:

Say what you want about Royal; when they are politely notified about a matter like this, with zero histrionics and no demands or even requests for compensation, they seriously go out of their way to let you know it’s being treated with all seriousness, and that you are part of that treatment.

I want you to know I read this in the way it was intended...by singing it.
Enjoy the cruise, get that sun!

I loved IFly.  I was all set to sign up again before I even got my suit off but they said on the 5 day cruise you could only sign up once ☹️.  If I had known I would have given someone my phone to video me.  Oh well next time.

Photography
This year is going to be a bit different on the photography front. In addition to my now-rapidly-aging iPhone 6s Plus with Moment add-on lenses that I've used on the last two cruises, I'm going to be bringing a new camera with me. It's a first-generation Sony Cybershot DSC-RX100. Even though the camera was introduced about 4 years prior to my phone, this is still a big upgrade from my phone's camera, even though it's "just" a compact model that can easily fit in my pocket.
1" equivalent 20 megapixel sensor -- way larger than the sensor on my phone 3.6x optical zoom (28-100mm equivalent), vs the phone's fixed 28mm lens ƒ/1.8-4.9 variable aperture, vs. phone's fixed aperture Full manual mode along with Aperture and Shutter priority modes This camera is something special for me. It was a gift from @twangster, given to me just before last year's trip on Anthem; apparently he really wants me to get off the phone and step up my photography game! ? I've been learning how to use it for the last year, but I still have a ways to go before I feel like I've mastered it. Most likely for this trip I'll be sticking with the automatic mode for most of my shots, but when I'm able I'll also tinker around with one or two of the controls to see if I can get something better after taking an initial auto-mode pic.
Now, here's the rub -- I don't have a laptop or large-storage iPad; all I'll be bringing on that front is a 2013 first-gen iPad Air with only 16 GB of space, most of which is already used up. I'm mainly using that to read the eBooks I've purchased for this trip. But I will try and find my USB dongle for the thing so that I can at least try to offload the pictures from the camera so they can be edited and posted here. If that works without any friction, great! Otherwise, pictures will end up posted in two separate groups: Anything posted during the cruise will have been taken with my phone, while pictures taken with the new camera won't be posted until after I've gotten home and had time to transfer and edit them on my iMac.
Just to show what a difference this new camera makes for me, here are some pictures I took with it last fall, not long after I got home from the previous Bermuda trip. Chose these ones because of the depth of field that I can never get with my phone, plus the much-improved color, contrast and shadow detail:

Hello! This will be my first attempt at a live blog, and it just seemed right to do it here as opposed to CC. The Blog and podcast have been instrumental in my return to Royal Caribbean. I've been on 4 prior RCI sailings on the Viking Serenade and Rhapsody of the Seas, the last one being in 2007. I was convinced to sail this itinerary by @twangster's wonderful Snowbird Migration blog last year, and have been addicted to all of your awesome Live Blogs. I'll be sailing with my mother, and have been waiting for cruise day for about 367 days, but who's counting? I've taken much of the advice that I learned here and have pre-purchased most everything except Vroom. I'm kicking myself for not buying the Deluxe Drink Package before this last weekend, as it did go up slightly. Two weeks ago my Royal Up bid was accepted for a total of $150 for a Large Balcony cat 1C from a standard balcony. Today is my last work day, and I don't think I'll be able to sleep for the next 72 hours! I'll add more as soon as I get off work.

On Anthem out of Bayonne, Molson Canadien is offered.. but on Freedom out of San Juan it is not. The beer offered varies ftom ship to ship.... the Molson was in a large can, only in the Solarium, it was $8.00 plus gratuities.
It was American Molson... distributed in the USA.