Zacharius

I mean, Nassau can be a pretty violent place - there's a decently high gang-on-gang violence rate around Nassau. Not in places that most tourists will ever go to, but it definitely can be a violent place.

Long Beach also has a LOT fewer flights than LAX or even SNA. Southwest has bumped up their presence, but it's still not a ton compared to the other airports. I would say, nine times out of ten, it's quicker to fly a nonstop in to LAX or SNA than it is to connect and fly in to LGB, even with Los Angeles traffic (my colleague is going to Long Beach for work next week, and she's definitely taking the nonstop to LAX and renting a car, which will still save her a good amount of time versus changing planes and going in to LGB itself).

Mazatlan may be changed due to the fact that it's in Sinaloa which is the main problem area right now. It's fairly far from Culiacan, where yesterday's violence was, but I would imagine Royal's insurers may not be thrilled about sending any ship to Sinaloa right now. But this is so recent, I doubt Royal knows yet which is why they haven't told you anything yet. I would say the other two stops are probably fine. But this is all a guess right now, of course.

SNA is almost twice the distance to the port than LAX, so it's definitely going to cost more and take longer. While SNA is a more efficient airport, most or all of the time saved will be lost during the commute. I don't have any specific recommendations on ground transport vendors other than Uber/Lyft, but do expect to pay quite a bit more if you fly in to SNA. EDIT - right now, at 9am local on a Thursday, Lyft is quoting pretty much the same price from SNA and LAX to the Port, so ignore my advice

I don't think any other nationalities could use their birth certificate so, by that definition, it's going to be only Americans with birth certificates.

It would also depend on the makeup of the passenger manifest. There are some cruises that are made of up a higher-than-usual number of non-Americans, who by default will use a passport and not a birth certificate. I was on a cruise once which, despite being closed loop from an American port, was made up of roughly 33% non-Americans according to the captain's announcement - mostly Canadians and Brits.

Yes Keep in mind that you get rec-accommodated on the "next available flight", not necessarily the "next flight". Big difference. And if it's from the US to Europe, during high season, when flights are often full...well, "next available flight" is highly unlikely to be the "next flight".

I know, I was just trying to think of the crappiest place on Long Island and LIC came to mind.

Long Island City Cruise Port sounds awful

It's going to be a lot longer than that because there's no way you can drive 44 hours in India without crashing in to at least 20 random things that should or shouldn't be stopped in the middle of the road. "India's pretty small, right? I think it is, so we're good" - Royal Caribbean Itinerary Planning Group

I looked at the print itinerary and saw that they're advertising Taj Mahal on the day they're in Kochi. Talk about a long day because those two are about 1200 miles apart, each way, in a straight line...

Ugh, I hate those early flights. I don't mind 6am flights, but there's just something mentally more difficult to me about flights in the 5:00 hour. The worst are flights leaving India that are constantly at like 3am. Every time I have to take the 3:30am Delhi to London flight I just cringe...and then sleep the entire way, which I do admit is lovely. Definitely start the communication with your AirBnB host early. If they're nice, they will let you know if there's a chance to get in early, and then let you know when it's ready. I've done that many times when the hosts are actually helpful.

Just a heads up - seat maps are not an accurate representation of actual passenger loads/counts. That can go either way - the plane can appear full when it really isn't (because seats are set aside, but not booked), or it can look empty but is full (because tickets are booked without seat assignments). I have experienced both many times. There are websites where you can pay to get a more accurate idea of passenger loads because of available inventory counts in each fare code, but that obviously doesn't seem worth it to a casual traveler (or even many road warriors for that matter).

Wait, but Alaska is domestic

Yeah, unfortunately, this is purely an Israeli immigration issue (not customs like many people are saying here, but immigration like you say). Royal Caribbean has no power and little to no influence over the immigration systems and officials of sovereign nations, and Israel can be particularly tough on those trying to enter, even for friendly countries like the UK. (I once entered Israel on my Namibian passport instead of my US passport and it was...not friendly). Sorry for your experience.

It can be airline dependent and even fare class/fare code dependent. Since many/most of the cruise air tickets are negotiated between the airline and the cruise line, many of them may have terms and conditions that differ from "regular" tickets, or even other cruise-procured tickets. Heck, there's even a chance that you may take two trips on United booked through Royal Caribbean in 2023 and they have entirely different rules and restrictions.

Seattle is tricky these days. I am a regular visitor since I work in the aerospace industry. Downtown/City Center isn't as enjoyable as it was even just a few years ago, for sure. But I still like to stay down there sometimes, as recently as a few weeks ago. There are places to avoid, especially at night, and places where you should keep your head on a swivel. On top of that, I fully admit that I am an adventurous traveler by nature and have no problem visiting places most tourists would avoid. BUT, I still don't worry too much in most of downtown Seattle, and will be staying downtown again on my next trip in mid-January.

Have you been to either before? London is truly one of the great cities of the world...I have been there at least 60 times and still find things to do and enjoy. A day isn't much in London, but it's better than nothing. On the flip side, Southampton is a bit more relaxing and may get you in the vacation mode a bit more - it has some smaller museums and galleries, a nice little harbour, some decent restaurants/pubs. It really depends what you prefer, as they are very, very different.

It does still get somewhat busy during the summer with airlines from various parts of Europe. But, it's just that part of the year, and most of the flights don't offer connections outside of Europe, and none offer connections to South America (or even Madrid, for that matter).

Yeah, Rimini is a fairly obscure, little used airport outside of certain times of year these days. Nothing connects it to Madrid during any time of the year, unfortunately.

Not always the case. I know this gets nitpicky, but that's me Before I met my wife, I dated a girl who has no idea who her father is(nor does her mom), so his name definitely isn't on the birth certificate.

Hey, it's 2022, anyone can be named anything these days!

Do you already have your flights booked? If not, and assuming you are flying out of Buenos Aires, it may be worth looking at the nonstop flight from EZE to Rome. Both ITA and Aerolineas Argentinas fly that route. Sure, it's a longer train ride once you get in to Rome, but that would still offset the time of changing in Madrid and taking a train from Bologna. Just something to cosnider.

USVI is considered domestic (as it should) by AT&T. I've never had any issue in my multiple trips there, either on St. Thomas, St. Croix, or St. John.