Mrs. RoyalMoyal

As I already posted in another thread.  Hubby is getting his vaccine this month, mine should be no later than May.  We already wear masks everywhere we go.  As soon as those borders open up, we will be there!  It's already been way too long!

I think it's safe to say someone at Royal needs to practise their copy/paste and proofreading skills! ?
I'd be thrilled to have even just the 4 anytime drinks that D on Quantum have been getting. Fresh orange juice at breakfast and maybe a concoction from the vitality cafe in the spa. Hmm, nice.

You get the SL and I get a paragraph or six.

 
Oh boy!  I always wanted a paragraph.

Matt did I inspire your blog post? ? ? 
 
Agree on the drink vouchers. I probably won’t get the drink package as long as this stays in place. 

Agree.
The extra drink coupons are worth much more than old rules in Diamond Lounge.

Which cruise is more appealing for you guys this summer? Adventure sailing out of Nassau, or Vision sailing out of Bemuda?
 
Here's the latest update I have for you guys with regard to me going back to work.
 
 

Hi @CHRIS WONG, glad to hear you’ll be back on board in a relatively short time!
For me, Vision is the better sailing. But purely from a ports perspective. My wife and I love Bermuda and have been itching to get back since our last visit in late 2019. Having the overnight in Coco Key is kind of icing on the cake, since neither of us have been there. And flying to/from Bermuda is very easy and short for us since we live in NJ and have plenty of airports close by.

Or in your case flights.  I know that for March break sailings, I forgo the usual booking trends and book those flights as early as possible.  Tracking over the years has shown that flights over March break just go up, never down.

I am triple booked for one week in August...

One on Rhapsody to Europe that I booked pre-pandemic.  I figure that one is a no-go.
One on Anthem out that I booked as a 'backup'.  I figure the odds of that are better than Europe, but not great.
Then I just booked Adventure, which I am sure will go.

You guys...I am so sad reading this thread, you have no idea.  FOMO is real. ?
Someone else will have to blog this summer.  I am headed to the mountains.  We won't be vaccinated in time.  Hubby is getting his tomorrow but most of Canada is spacing the shots out 4 months apart.  I might be May at the earliest so summer cruising is a no go.  

I don't see air loaded in the system yet.

Apparently interior and oceanview are available but with my Crown and Anchor discount a balcony was the lowest price.   YMMV.
 
 

Food is very personal so this is kind of like asking people should I buy a mattress that is hard or soft?  Plush or firm? 
I am definitely a proud member of #teamCK.
Having said I am not going to lie.  Not every nightly CK menu appeals to my tastes.  If the choices were CK or MDR I would say CK.  Once you bring specialty dining into it... that can change the math.
You are fortunate to be doing a B2B and that is both fantastic for a bunch of unrelated reasons but also fantastic from a dining perspective given your willingness to entertain all options.
The Ultimate Dining Package on any ship but especially Oasis class is a lot of choice and a lot of food.  Bring stretchy pants.  I have my favorites but that's not important.  What is important is that it gives you the opportunity to decide what venues YOU like.  
UDP on one cruise and CK on the other is a solid strategy.  I have mixed feeling the order to do that in.
My suggestion would be to do the UDP on cruise #1 of the B2B.  Explore eat venue, try different things.  By the end of the week you will know what works for your stomach and what doesn't as much.
On cruise #2 having eaten so much on cruise you may decide not eat until day 3.  Just kidding.  CK has lighter meals, not in taste but in portions or size so after a week of so much food with the UDP this may be just what the doctor (or stomach) ordered.  
Having said that I changed my mind.
Do CK on cruise #1 and UDP on cruise #2.  By exploring the CK for dinner you can look at the menu daily and maybe even decide to try the MDR one night.  While onboard you can visit each specialty venue and see for yourself how the venue appeals to your preferences.  A big part of specialty dining is the ambiance.  Chops has a covered enclosed glass outdoor area.  Maybe that looks appealing for a Central Park dinner after dark on the next cruise for example.   With this foundation you can go into cruise #2 with a game plan for UDP.  That game plan might include a night in CK to enjoy a favorite entree discovered on cruise #1.
Either way don't forget to check out places like Playmakers for the food included with the UDP.
I think (as much as I am #teamCK) two weeks of CK would be too much.  I also think two weeks of UDP would be wayyyyy toooo muchhhh food.  
At the end of the day this is about discovering what YOU like.  Enjoy the ship, she is fantastic.

There is a trick to planning all dining including My Time for the duration of the cruise.
Click on the Dining button, choose All Dining

 
Next click Plan All Cruise Dining at the bottom
 
 
 
This will open a screen where you can plan every night and checkout only once.
 

 
With the new My Royal Cruise planner coming this will likely change but I suspect there will be something similar.  

Having sailed two of her sisters I actually like Quantum class.  Tastes and aesthetics are personal so no problems with your opinions but I fond of them in general and look forward to trying the evolution of the class.  
Cheers!

I'm afraid you are probably correct.  I'm surprised that they went that far ahead; however, it is better for people to know now possibly before final payment is due than to wait until so closed to sail date.  So many people (me included) have to fly to get to the port adding another thing to have to deal with.

I have no issues with any of the rules/protocols.

However, I have worked in a supermarket throughout the pandemic (actually since 1985).  Interacting with the public during the pandemic has really made me realize how selfish the majority of people actually are.  Based on my observations as a retail worker, I think people will be very difficult to manage onboard.
 
Here's why:
First, social distancing seems to be a difficult thing for people to do while grocery shopping.  Sure, everyone follows the rules while lining up to check out, but while shopping, it's a free-for-all.  Seriously.  People are all over the place with zero respect for other shoppers or employees.  One day I tried to count the number of people who were within a foot of me (using the 12" floor tiles).  I lost count in the 80s.

Second....Masks.  My state has a mandate that everyone must wear one while out in public.  Businesses must enforce the mandate to the point of calling the police.   So.....people will wear one to enter the store (as we have a person at the door), then promptly pull it down.  Because of my physical stature, I'm often asked by fellow associates to be the point person in asking someone politely to pull their mask back up.  There have been times when I feel like I have seen people's thoughts about how far they can push me by refusing.  For what it's worth, all I do is ask politely.  If they refuse, we call the store manager and the local police.  I do not engage other than asking once.
 
If it's this bad in a supermarket when they have to wear a mask for the short time they're shopping, I cannot imagine the disaster in trying to make people wear a mask on a ship after they've "paid good money to be here".  Add a few drinks to that, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Amazon has many videos online, a few covered by Prime, most are a small charge.  
Go to the Prime Video area and search for "Cruise Ship".
There is an episode of National Geographic's Worlds Toughest Fixes where they cut open the hull and insert a new power plant into Radiance.  They use the same dry dock in Freeport during this older video that buckled and caused the crane to fall onto Oasis this year.   Fascinating stuff.  Season one, episode five best $3 I've spent in a while.

I never want to eat traditional dining again, I choose MyTime so I can do specialty dining or pizza or Windjammer. 
As someone who likes to stay on the ship if at all possible I never want to get off the ship in Nassau or Cozumel again if I can help it!

At the moment the exchange rate is $0.79 which isn't bad compared to recent times so if you do tip in CAD just remember it's not dollar for dollar.
LOL.  Try shopping in Canada.  Before you know it you have 10 lbs of coin in your pocket and are listing to starboard like a ship in trouble.  You know those old pirates movies where they always pay in gold coins?  I call BS.  I've experienced a pocket full of coin in Canada.  Took a chiropractor 6 sessions to get my back straight again.

Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules. Danny from Harr travel does some detailed walkthroughs. If you want to know where every outlet is in your stateroom or every bathroom on the pool deck, see if he's done the ship you're sailing.

I'm good with the travel-sized things - more than enough sample bottles and refillable travel bottles to get by (I like the soft silicone ones). 
It's mostly snacks and stuff that kids could eat on the plane (in the past, anyway) or in the pre-cruise hotel, or if I need to fill the emergency coffee stockpile with Starbucks Via singles.
Forgot to mention the daily weather check. Approximately 25% of Canadian conversations are about the weather (50% is comparing ourselves to the States, 20% is love and/or hate for the Maple Leafs, and 5% is "other", in case you were wondering) so I'm almost obliged to check out the weather patterns.

Nope.  Same discount.   To save more money I use a day 2 strategy.
The following is only for D+ members.
If you can use your cell phone on day one since the ship is in port until 5pm to 6pm typically and you buy the internet on the morning of day 2 it is "free" on a 3 night cruise or ~$20 for a 4 night cruise (for D+ members).  Buying a full voyage Voom plan on day one costs more since it's prorated and gets cheaper as the cruise progresses.
I built a spreadsheet that compares cruise planner purchases versus on board.  
Here is a comparison if the cruise planner price for Surf and Stream is $11.99 per day and the onboard daily rate for Surf and Stream is $21.99, a typical rate prior to the shutdown.
 
If you can wait until day 2 to buy Voom, then for a D+ it's cheapest to buy on board using the D+ discount for cruises 6 nights or shorter.
If you must have Voom on day 1 then for a 3 or 4 night cruise it's cheapest to buy it on board.
For cruises longer than 6 nights it's always cheapest to buy it ahead of time.  
That is all assuming a cruise planner advance price of $11.99 per day.
Since the photo quality will probably make that hard to read here is the important part blown up larger:

 
The cruise planner doesn't always have it for $11.99 so the math changes as the cruise planner planner prices goes up.
For example, when it's $14.99 in the cruise planner:
 
At $14.99 in the cruise planner it's best to buy it on board on day 2 for anything 9 nights or shorter but if you must have Voom on day 1 then it's cheapest to buy it on board for anything 6 nights or shorter.  Once you reach 10 nights it's always cheapest to buy it in advance in the cruise planner.  But again this is assuming the cruise planner price is $14.99 per day.      
In some cases it's only a few dollars but a few dollars is always better in my pocket.

Another vote for Embassy Suites, it suits families well. They do have parking and shuttle service, but we park at the port. It is fabulous to just walk to the car, and go home. It's a long enough drive that I do not want that journey to be longer. 

We had the Key on Freedom and enjoyed lunch in Chops on Embarkation day. But that was in April 2019.. when the Key was a great value. $1.50 more than VOOM stream and surf, (It was 19.99 each pp/pd) 4 extra hours on the flowrider, 2 hours on the ice rink, great show seating, and walked to customs from debarkation breakfast. The Key has evolved.. but it was great that week!