HeWhoWaits

You're doing it wrong! Cutting back on how much you eat leading up to the cruise causes your stomach to shrink (albeit slightly) which makes you get full quicker. The right approach is to warm up for the excessive eating on the cruise by gradually increasing your food intake leading up to the cruise. That way, you won't be as uncomfortably full after each of your daily seven or eight meals.

The complete lack of communication by Royal is the biggest issue with the situation. Our Alaska cruise would have been cancelled for non-payment (despite a receipt that shows paid in full) if I hadn't called to try to get a lower price. Phone rep and customer care both attributed it to a "system glitch" but there was no explanation given for why no notifications went out. The cynic in me thinks the "system glitch" could be a ploy by Royal to get some free cash flow.

But all of that happens AFTER you test negative and the worries about testing positive pre-cruise have passed.

A friend who had also gotten a mystery refund recently called about her sailing (also paid in full). She called Royal based on my experience. The exact same situation - no email, not showing in online account, pending payment on a cruise past final payment date. Royal IT strikes again!

But you DO get all the other perks.

We received an unexplained refund of $101.98 from Royal Caribbean to our credit card. Calling today to see about repricing a cruise past final payment, the representative says the account shows a balance due of $101.98 and that the cruise could be cancelled for failure to pay in full. Our online account page shows that there is no payment due on the cruise. If I hadn't called today, there would have been no way to know that there is a pending balance. Check your credit card statements and if you have mystery refunds due to a "system glitch" make sure you don't have any cruises in danger of being cancelled without notice.

You're obviously NOT your parents' favorite child!

But not at midnight like the opening of check-in. Look for them the afternoon of 30 days to boarding.

This is one reason to use Air2Sea for your flights. The airline portion of your trip is then with Royal and is "part of the cruise."

Check your Cruise Planner. if the OBC shows there, it's available to you (whether you're being told you're entitled to it or not).

Bloody Marys and Mimosas at breakfast also work.

We usually plan $5 per person as the baseline. We'll tip more for a particularly good experience.

The physical tickets delivered to your stateroom have names on them, but we've never had them check if the ticket holder was the person listed on the ticket.

Our number one must do CELEBRATE! We're on a cruise, after all.

Perhaps you're on a cruise where they won't be requiring vaccination records. (I know, I know. Wishful thinking).

on May 6 Ovation cruisers. Help us out here.

But will their system recognize that the muster information has been viewed in the app prior to boarding? I already watched the videos for our upcoming Alaska cruise (and learned exactly what I expected to learn - absolutely nothing).

In Sitka, I recommend a visit to the Alaska Raptor Center. If there are no Royal excursions, arrange private transportation - it's well worth the visit. My parents have been long-time supporters of the ARC and when my father passed in early 2021, a nice chunk of change was donated to the endowment fund there (the fund is now named "The Alaska Raptor Center John H. Ellis Endowment Fund").

All individuals can be checked in on one device.

For now just create the posts in the general roll call board (rather than under a specific ship). @Mattwill surely get around to creating the rest of the ship-specific sub-topics when he has time.

In this context, "arrival time" and "boarding time slot" are the same thing. Different posters use different terminology but we're all talking about when you can board the ship.

The best thing to do is to keep checking. We found out almost a week ago about the change for our July sailing and there are no excursions posted yet for George Town, Grand Cayman.

1. Check in opens at midnight in the time zone of the departure port. 2. Earlier check in ensures availability of all the potential boarding time slots. Later the same day may or may not have the earliest slots available. 3. You can start with as little as selecting the time slot if you use the app then go back later and add the details. More information is required up front if checking in on the website. 4. Checking in has no impact on pending Royal Up offers.

None of us here have any inside information (not even @Matt), but for now my wife's June 18 from Port Canaveral with friends still includes Bonaire in the itinerary.

My wife and her friends are on the same cruise on Mariner with no announced itinerary change.