Irieman

Calling all experts! I am aware of purchasing gifts for others on their cruises but what is the best way to gift experiences such as the escape room or a ship tour. Specifically, my sister and husband are sailing their first cruise on Mariner in a few weeks. . Their children want to buy and surprise them with an escape room experience. What can I offer them as advice? Thanks in advance!

Hi @FloridaCruiseGirl1210. I always do early bird check-in since SW reserves your spot within who purchased early bird first. So if you were the 30th person to buy early bird check-in you would be 45th to board. (The first 15 are reserved for business and those who want to pay even more) For me it's worth it not to watch the clock and try to get a low number based on the time I check in. Do note that there are still preboarders such as folks with wheel chairs so my scenario might not be absolutely true. Still, I have always felt that I had more than 2/3s of the plane available to to me at the worst using the early bird option.

Matt recently posted a third party news article about vegan main dining room choices starting August 1st. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/08/02/new-vegan-menu-be-added-royal-caribbeans-main-dining-room#disqus_thread Can fellow bloggers confirm this is now across the fleet. My partner and I are 6 months in on being plant based and are thrilled with the health benefits. Having these choices just makes us more loyal to Royal!

I know "stuff" happens but it was being rerouted twice in 4 months to Nassua that made us bail to the smallest ship with a big heart. If RC could have found a different subsitute port it would have kept us on AOS. It's all good and with Twangster's 14 day live blog on Empress, we are more than excited to be one with the sea!

Just catching up on the replies right now as I'm in the middle of a 27 hour road trip from Maine to Florida. As I said we were very disappointed in losing Roatan as a port. We went through the multiple emotional stages of itinerary change and came up with a substitute sailing. For the same price we booked the junior suite on empress for the same week. The ports are Roatan, Belize, Cozumel, and Key West. I know we've gone from the largest class to the smallest ship but for us it's still YOLO. It's a chance to experience a small ship and a different type of cabin. At some point I'll start an empress tips and tricks thread to get some great advice it for now we'll just get excited!

Sailing on AOS the end of Janaury and just got the dreaded broken propulsion email. I am a super optimistic guy who loves sailing once or twice a year but this is the second port switch to Nassau in a month. First rerouted from Havana on Majesty and now we won't make Roatan so back to Nassau. I am sure we will have a great time but Roatan was going to be a highlight. Seems like Nassau is the Bermunda Triangle of cruise changes.

Hi LarryR - post on all the boards that you want but Royal is your best shot. They know who the customer was that was in the room the cruise before yours. Assuming it's of value, like jewelery, I would reach out to customer service and see if someone has been looking for it. If it's a $20 item the owner probably has written it off and you will.... throw it out.

I will admit liking it also. I do understand the criticism and am thankful that someone told me to read up on the story as it is hard to follow what is going on. Maybe more on topic is that I am amazed that it is staying for another drydock cycle. I shared last September that the stage manager on the back stage tour said that he was given word that a brand new mixing board was being installed which is a sign of a new production. He also shared that the current agreement with Cats allows for a finite number of cast cycles. Well, renegotiation won the day.

Just want to share my experience from January. Airport Taxi line was organized but about 20 minutes. Not a big deal but if you are impatient then it will raise your blood pressure. Driver was nice and flat rates a plus. For us it was to a hotel. After that, we Uber'd everywhere else and had a fast and easy experience. Timed the embarkation just right. Arrived after the initial que so from Uber to Royal Prom took no more than 10 minutes. That was about at noon. Was simply amazed!

Placing my vote for Willemstad, Curacao! A short walk across the walking bridge to the city where you have so many places to visit. Some highlights of what we did were the floating market, tasting Blue Curacao, visiting the oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, strolling the streets of brightly colored buildings and taking lots of photos.

Hello all - I have two cruises, not paid in full, that I booked about 90 days ago. I really would like to move them to an agent. Anyone have success doing that after the listed 60 day window? Thanks for any advice.

Stockholder benefit.... Well, RCL stock has significantly out preformed both other publically traded cruise stock the last 10 years. Although I sold my shares to help pay my kids college tuition, It went from 30 to 70 for me. Add the dividend and I would say I was very happy with the benefits even though I never used the credit.

Well @Father4 you can see it is a personal preference. I have enjoyed this thread seeing how others make their cruising choice. For me, I guess it's a sliding scale each time. In your case I looked up the choices of your itinerary and I have a slight preference for one over the other. With the ships, I have a much bigger preference for liberty so in this case the choice of ship wins out. Two other things. 1. I've been on liberty and from a kid's perspective there's just so many awesome memories to be had. Not just going to the ice show but being able to ice skate in the middle of the ocean it's just an example that my kids loved. 2. Finally, I always give the nod to the cylinder showers as compared to the shower curtains. That's just me but I do bring that up an awful lot 🙂 No matter what you choose, I am sure your entire family it's going to have an amazing time! Enjoy

Hi @Jill. The decision to have the track at the pool deck seems worse after the Freedom and Voyager class upgrades during the last cycle. They added the panoramic rooms on deck 12 and significantly cut down the track distance by about 40 percent. Not that I am complaining because those are my favorite rooms. I am also a runner and walker so I do the deck 4 and 5 walk. I also walk some interesting routes on different decks. Get creative and find different loops all over the ship. Enjoy!!

Hello FuntoSail, they are sister ships of the Oasis class so the showers will be similar. I love the Cylindrical shape. Always feels like I am on a Star Trek transporter pad! And no, I am not going on the Star Trek theme cruise 🤣