Kirsten

This is why many restaurants pool tips, so the back of the house staff can share in the compensation. 

I am a big supporter of tipping and certainly have no issue with prepaying the gratuities as well as handing out more $$$ throughout my cruise.  My most recent cruise was on Adventure with my balcony room as far aft as possible.  There were some mornings I would walk up the long hallway and peep into rooms that were being “serviced”.  I could not believe the condition of some of the rooms!!  Items thrown everywhere, suitcases still in the way, totally messy rooms!  I would hyperventilate if I was the one who had to go into those rooms to straighten out the beds and pick up after the slobs!  (Sorry for this description but I just couldn’t find any nicer words) No money would be able to compensate for my hard work…some of the rooms even stunk like body odor or old food!  
I do and always will over-tip my room steward as well as compliment him or her (although, I’m not sure I have ever seen a female steward?) for their dedicated service.
Oh…and should I ever come across a steward who isn’t quite up-to-par with the daily duties, I will politely request or mention what is lacking.  That would not change my gratuity compensation.  After all anyone one of us can have an off day…no?

I do not understand why people on vacation, specifically on a cruise think its ok to treat people like crap. I get SO MAD when I see crew members mistreated. The days of standing by are over, I confront people now who do this. This is my vacation/cruise too and if you are gonna be an A-hole to a crew member then you are gonna get it back from me. I used to just sit on my hands, no longer. Someone needs to stick for these people. We are SO overly nice to the crew because of the A-holes that treat them like crap.

Last week in MDR, we saw a family ream a lead waiter over one brunch item coming out wrong. We were seated next to the waiter's station. After the waiter politely took the offending plate away, he returned to the waiter's station and said to his assistant "I don't know if I can take this anymore". It was so sad to see, because they do work so hard and are so nice. Seriously, your meal came out wrong, they get you another one so quickly, why do you feel the need to be rude and demeaning to another human. He continued to serve them very politely and respectfully as they continued to ask for more and more food (that they hadn't previously ordered) throughout the service.

I’m not singling you out personally, just calling attention to what you said….I’ve seen very similar things said recently, and not just here  
This describes the service industry as a whole, not just cruise ships. 
 
Prices are up on everything and there aren’t enough workers, even with increased wages. Seriously. 
 
I’m in retail.  Since the pandemic started in early 2020, I’ve been working 6 and 7 days a week other than the three cruises we’ve taken.  Costs have increased and we can’t find enough help.  No one is happy…customers or workers.
 
When we are lucky enough to have 7 to 8 days of doing nothing, we appreciate the people who wait on us.  We not only pay the gratuities that Royal charges, we pay additional cash directly to the workers who have made a direct impact on us  
Food for thought:  Something we hear from a lot from new hires who leave after a month or so is that they don’t want to work in retail because of the way they get treated by customers.   I know I’ve personally seen crew on ships get talked to by guests in ways I don’t know if I could handle….and I’ve been interacting with customers for 37 years. 

wooooof 18 cabins under his care!!! i don't know how they do it, the crew all work so hard, and the cabin attendants are unfailingly pleasant and kind every day, no matter the hour!
i do not think i could be that cordial with everyone if i was tidying up after them all day long, that's for sure! we try to keep things pretty neat on our end but having the room cleaned is a treat/perk of vacation and i can only imagine what they see/have to take care of on the regular.
they deserve medals or sainthood, honestly. 💚

I personally don't understand removing the automatic gratuities or people who would begrudge an increase. Many of the crew work in multiple areas of the ship to ensure I have the best vacation I can. I don't see them all and $16-18 dollars a day is not that much to ensure I continue to have a wonderful time. I think personally trying to tip each person I interacted with at the end of the cruise seems like a huge burden. I tip those that made my experience wonderful as I go, knowing that the grats will cover the rest.

honestly the crew all work so hard -- we often bring extra money to tip those who helped make our stay exceptional on board. an extra $1-1.50 a day is really not that bad. could save this by making coffee at home or not splurging on some snacks at the grocery store 😊

Many business across the world are struggling to staff up in the wake of the pandemic.  In many cases businesses have to increase total compensation as a means to attract new staff and former staff who were let go during the pandemic.   Hence the increase.  

$66.99 for a bogo on Anthem may 23 transatlantic. I'm torn, I've always gotten the DBX but now as diamond and in a suite and prime in the casino I've got 4 free drinks a day for diamond, plus free drinks in the casino, free drinks in the suite lounge and the diamond lounge, not sure it pencils out to get the package. Also we have the dining package and will specialty dine all 11 nights with 40% off wines by the bottle and we are primarily wine drinkers. A bottle of Kendall Jackson cab is like $35 after the discount (normally $13 a galss), not sure I can justify 130 a day above the freebies when 2 bottles alone does us in at half the price despite 7 sea days. If they are still giving 4 drinks a day for diamond by then it will influence my decision, 2k is a lot for the package and after a few days of drinking a lot we tend to taper off. On a 3 or 4 day cruise, sure, but for an 11? I probably don't have the stamina.

$66.99 BOGO50%; $90 price before discounts. Feb 2023 on Anthem.

This is old advice but I'll repeat it here anyway......
When dealing with an issue where I made my reservations through the website myself, rather than with a TA...I expect to spend quite a bit of time on hold while the agent checks with their 'colleague' or supervisor. So I schedule my call accordingly...and use speakerphone. 
But the best advice I have (which, by the way, I learned on these forums...thanks, guys!) is to always call back and speak to another agent when I don't get the answer I want. It is time-consuming and can be frustrating but usually I end up satisfied with the result. Good luck...and I hope you can get the result you want!

I have read accounts similar to yours regarding upgrades that turned out not to be upgrades at all.  My advice (too late for you, unfortunately) is to never bid on an upgrade that is in the same category that you are already in.  IOW, if you are in a balcony cabin of any kind, only bid on JS or higher.  What you consider an upgrade and what RU considers an upgrade are likely to be in conflict. I hope you get this resolved to your satisfaction but I fear that there is nothing to be done at this point.  Hope you have a wonderful cruise wherever you end up.

Listed times were 9:00 - Noon, 2:00 - 5:00, 7:00 - 10:00 then 10:00 - 2:00 for the Late Night Party Zone (which is $7/hr. per child), but I know on Day 6 they were opened later than that 5:00 listed afternoon time, although I'm not sure why.  I heard they were open the whole time the ship was in port, but I can't confirm that with personal experience.

Just got off a summer cruise for 4 on Oasis sailing at 100%+ capacity in a 1 Bedroom Aqatheater Suite for under $6,500 all in thanks to a minimum bid and without a KSF promo, so yeah, I think you can get some pretty good deals with Royal Up.

I totally know what you're saying.  We were on Oasis in May and there was a great Billy Idol cover band.  A lot of people got there early and took up the seats on the first floor, but didn't seem to know anything about the music.  It was kind of annoying, frankly.  I didn't let it stop me from dancing, though.  So much fun!
 
Looks like you had a wonderful time!  We loved Oasis and I can't wait to go on it again (having a suite definitely enhanced the experience).  Totally agree with you regarding the Suite Lounge, Suite Deck, and Coastal Kitchen.  

I say yes.  I sailed on Oasis in May when it was at least 75-80% capacity.  We originally had a Boardwalk balcony room (got a great deal on it to begin with) and won our minimum bid for a 2 br Grand Suite.  If we had booked that suite, it would have cost us over $10,000. Our total cost was under $4,000, which also included internet for all 4 of us, Coastal Kitchen dining, free drinks in the suite lounge, etc.

I totally know what you're saying.  We were on Oasis in May and there was a great Billy Idol cover band.  A lot of people got there early and took up the seats on the first floor, but didn't seem to know anything about the music.  It was kind of annoying, frankly.  I didn't let it stop me from dancing, though.  So much fun!
 
Looks like you had a wonderful time!  We loved Oasis and I can't wait to go on it again (having a suite definitely enhanced the experience).  Totally agree with you regarding the Suite Lounge, Suite Deck, and Coastal Kitchen.  

Day 6 - Sea Day
 
Apologies in advance for the lack of photos today, it was definitely a casual lounge about day!  We woke up at our leisure this morning, threw on our bathing suits and made our way up to the Windjammer a little after 9:00 for some breakfast, and it was a madhouse.  The line to get in wrapped past the hallway leading to the hand washing station and into the elevator lobby.  I wanted to scrap the Windjammer and head down to Park Cafe, but DW LOVES her a buffet breakfast, so we persevered. The line did move fairly quickly (they seemed to be letting about 15-20 people at a time), and we were “scrubbing in” within about 10 or 15 minutes.  We divided and conquered once inside, with my youngest and I finding a table while my oldest and DW loaded up their plates.  We managed to find a table tucked away in a corner right between the two sides of the buffet, so I texted her our location and waited for my turn to grab some food. Getting through the line was definitely like playing a high-stakes game of Frogger; the number of people combined with the lack of coffee in their system led to some interesting decision making by the crowd.  All in all, we had a nice breakfast, but it was a bit more chaotic than I like to start my day, and personally would prefer to start my mornings elsewhere.
After breakfast we made our way out to the pool deck and up to the suite sun deck.  Did I mention previously that this is a criminally underutilized space?  It’s really nice up there with plenty of loungers, some fun alternate seating options like covered daybeds and even a few semi-private rooms right over the bow available on a first come, first served basis.  Even the towels are nicer up there, and you don’t have to sign them out.  We hung out on two of the day beds for a bit, then moved our things to some out-of-the-way loungers to make our way down to the pool.  After a few hours of pool deck fun, we headed back to El Loco Fresh for lunch (probably our favorite quick-service lunch spot!).  The boys wanted to go try Adventure Ocean for the afternoon, so they headed back to the cabin while I took advantage of a lull in the line to go down the Ultimate Abyss (fun!) and then come back to meet them.
Since we had registered the boys on Day 1, drop off at AO couldn’t have been easier.  They tapped my SeaPass, checked off their names and reminded us we had to pick them up by 7, which wouldn’t be a problem since we had reservations at Izumi Hibachi at 7.  We went back up to the suite sun deck and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with some quality time with our favorite bartender Dana and lounging about on our own.  Around 6 we headed back to shower and change for dinner, went and picked up the kids and headed down to deck 4 for dinner.
Dinner at the Hibachi was a fun experience.  We were seated with two other families at our table who were also friendly conversationalists, so that always helps the experience.  I forget the name of our chef, but he was pretty good.  Sure, many of the jokes and interactions are canned, but it was still a good time, and something the kids hadn’t experienced, so they really loved the “dinner and a show” aspect.  In my experience, hibachi restaurants are much more about the entertainment than the food itself, but the main courses were surprisingly good.  Both my kids went with chicken which they enjoyed.  I had the Geisha combo; the chicken was quite good and the steak (medium rare) was surprisingly tender and delicious.  My wife had the Izumi combo and thought the scallops were just okay, but loved the lobster.  On the whole, if you have a good hibachi restaurant near home, Izumi may not quite match the quality of what you're accustomed to, but it is still a really good time. It may not have been the best meal we had on board, but it was the most fun!
After dinner, the plan was to let the kids go back and try the late-night party at AO, but my oldest protested a bit.  Turns out he didn’t have as great of a time at first during the afternoon as he had hoped and was reluctant to go back.  After a little investigation, it turns out that the staff has all of the kids start out in the “arena,” which is the sports area, then they start to split off for different activities from there if they want.  He is not the least bit competitive and not a fan of group sporting events, but he is also an extreme rule follower, so rather than ask to go somewhere else immediately, he just sat and moped on the sidelines for a half an hour or so before finally being given some other options.  We talked about it, and I told him he is allowed to just ask to do something else right away, and he agreed to give it another try.  We’re glad that he did, because he had a great time.  We checked in on him after 90 minutes, and he asked to stay longer, so we let them stay until midnight.  He made a few new friends, played some video games and even decided to join a group game. Turns out asking for what you want combined with the slightly less structured format of the late night sessions were just the thing. My youngest also loved both experiences, as he is our athletic social butterfly who just goes with the flow no matter what!  For the late-night session (I forget if that starts at 9 or 10 PM, but it runs to 1 AM!), it is $7/hr. Per child, and worth every penny!
While the kids enjoyed AO, we explored some of the bars and music venues. We went to the Music Hall to see the Def Leppard cover band, but it was a really odd crowd.  There was one guy on the first level who was really, REALLY into Def Leppard, then everyone else grabbed all the seating or lined up along the rail on the second level, but obviously couldn’t care less about the band.  Like I said, weird scene, and as huge live music fans and concert goers, my wife and I just couldn’t get into it and opted to try some other venues, which was a shame because the band was pretty good.  Next we went to the Schooner Bar, and the young lady playing piano and singing there was fantastic.  After that, we headed down to the Irish Pub where there was pretty good acoustic guitarist and I discovered my new favorite beer cocktail: the Beer’s Knees: The Botanist gin, lemon juice, honey and Paulaner Weiss.  I wish I had found this drink earlier in the cruise, or perhaps it’s better that I didn’t or else my memories and “being present” goal might have suffered!  Finally, we ended up at the Trellis bar in Central Park, where we were convinced to try the best Chocolate Martini anywhere according to a fellow guest.  I don’t know about the best ANYWHERE, but it was really good, and a perfect nightcap.  Once we finished the drinks, we picked up the boys from AO, headed down to Sorrento's for a bedtime pizza, people watching and conversation, then finally headed off to bed to get ready for our last full day on board.


IMG_4209.HEIC

Day 5 – Perfect Day at Coco Cay
 
We pulled in nice and early and were awoken by the ship maneuvering onto the pier.  From the moment we opened the blinds and saw the island from our balcony we were blown away.  Pictures don’t really do it justice.  We had Beach Club access, so we knew there would be continental breakfast and coffee available there, so we were anxious to get ashore as quickly as possible, and we were on the island by 7:45. Thanks to a fairly remarkable Black Friday sale, we were able to score our passes for $79 for my wife and I and $54 for the kids.  I assumed at that price point it would be worth it.  After spending the day there, I would easily pay double or more for the experience.  Everything was absolutely spectacular.  The beach, the service, the drinks, the food, we even had strong Wifi signals.  The boys loved going back and forth between the infinity pool and the beach and took their first real shot at snorkeling.  Despite being told that the Beach Club beach was not the best location for snorkeling (and it may well not be), we were able to see several decently sized schools of fish, a few sting rays (including one that swam right under a woman on her float) and even a small shark!  The complimentary floating mats were wonderful to laze about in the ocean on and the life jackets were perfect for letting my youngest really adventure out with us to see what he could see.  There’s a pretty cool sandbar a ways off of the beach there as well, where we found a conch and some sea anemone.  The lunch was also fantastic, as was our server Lenice.  I loved the Bento-style boxes the appetizers were served in!  The ceviche wasn’t the greatest, but the Babaganoush, hummus and shrimp cocktail were fantastic.  My wife went for the grilled lobster and I had (with Lenice’s encouragement) a surf & turf.  The kids went for a burger and mac and cheese, which were far better than I anticipated children’s menu items would be!  As good as everything was, it was Lenice’s attention and service that impressed us the most.  You know those servers who are watching your table like a hawk making sure everything is just right without making you FEEL like you’re being overly watched over?  Personable, friendly and engaging and beyond professional, we were lucky to have met her.  The bartenders there were equally fantastic, mixing up drinks for adults and the kids quickly (and in the case of the adults, strong!).  We had every intention of exploring the rest of the island, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to leave the Beach Club, everything was just so…perfect!  Late in the day, about and hour before we needed to be back on board a storm front started to roll in.  We could see the dark clouds and even hear the thunder.  Low and behold, we watched the little system break in two and skirt around the island!  Not a drop of rain fell on us!  As we walked out to head back to the ship, an empty tram just happened to be going by and he stopped to ask if we wanted a ride back to the ship.  It really was a perfect day!  This was far and away our favorite day of the entire trip.  Coco Cay is a home run, and the Beach Club is a grand slam.  I hope to be back there soon!
 
After getting back to the ship and showering and changing, it was up to the Suite Lounge then over to dinner at CK (spoiler alert: it was good).  After that, it was off to see Aqua80 again, but this time from the Aquatheater.  The concierge suggested we arrive 15-30 minutes early to ensure a good seat.  If you are a suite, Pinnacle, or Key guest (there was one more category that I can’t recall.  Maybe Diamond or Diamond +?  There were four boxes…)you may not need to be there THAT early, as there is prime seating reserved right in the middle for those guests.  It took us a minute to figure out what that area was for, but then we saw a young lady standing off to the side of the roped off area holding a sign.  We showed her our SeaPass cards and just like that, best seats in the house.  At about 5 minutes before showtime, they dropped the rope and allowed anyone to take the remaining seats.  The reserved section was about 2/3 filled at that point, so I wouldn’t count on being able to grab a preferred seat at the last minute.  If you do not have access to reserved seating, you definitely want to be there that 20-30 minutes early if you want to choose your seats.  It filled up fast, and there were more than a few arguments over saving seats in the rows around us.  Also, as I heard the poor young lady with the sign have to explain a few dozen times: HAVING RESERVATIONS DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE RESERVED SEATING AREA!  Your reservation gets you in the theater, nothing more.  In any event, do get there, because as amazing as the show was from our balcony, it was even better in the theater!  I could have watched it every night of the cruise, because a.) I’m a child of the 80s, so the music was spot on for me and b.) each time I saw it, I picked up on something I missed previously.  The cast of the show are really spectacular.  After the show it was off to Sorrento’s for a late night pie then off to bed to get ready for our last two days at sea.  I’m going to have to pause here again, because this is taking far longer than I anticipated, and I’m trying to pack up for another upcoming (much smaller!) vacation while also cleaning the house for guests coming over tonight.  I hope to finish tomorrow! Thanks to all who have been following along, and feel free to keep the questions coming!
 

Day 4 - Nassau, Bahamas
Another late entry to port allowed us a lazy morning before heading ashore.  We decided to do breakfast in the MDR for a change of pace and for the kids to just see what it's like.  We got there around 9:00 and there were only two groups ahead of us.  We were at our table in under 2 minutes, and had pastries on our plate and drinks on the way a minute later.  Both the food and service were quite good (although the coffee, as frequently noted, was not), and we were through the meal in under 45 minutes.  We could've been out even sooner, but we were in no rush.
We headed up to the Suite Sun Deck a bit before finally heading back to slather up in sunscreen before heading ashore.  As an aside, the Sun Deck is a criminally underutilized space.  It's really fantastic up there!  Oasis' Sun Deck bartender, Dana, is worth the visit alone.  After our first visit, she remembered all of our names, our cabin number AND what types of drinks we liked (not just a favorite drink, but more like a flavor profile.  VERY impressive!). We opted to do the Blue Lagoon Deluxe Beach Break excursion through RCI.  Our tickets told us to meet on the pier at 2:00, but we got there closer to 1:45.  There were plenty of crew members shoreside point us to the gathering area, so finding the Blue Lagoon personnel was fairly straightforward.  Once we got to our gathering point, things were a little chaotic; there were literally hundreds of people already there (good thing we didn't show up at 2!).  Everyone who had any of the Blue Lagoon excursions (Dolphin Encounter, Sting Ray Encounter, Segway Tour, etc.) met in the same location, and then they lined us up by excursion to be loaded onto separate tenders to the island.  The process was slow and HOT, there was absolutely no shade on the pier, and the sun reflecting the heat off of the concrete combined with the mass of humanity gathered there made it doubly so.  Once we got loaded up, the tender took about 20 minutes to get to Blue Lagoon, and it was pleasant ride, both for the scenery and the welcome breeze!  Once there, there were lots of employees everywhere directing you where throughout the island.  The included lunch wasn't anything special, but it filled us up.  Sodexo-esque hot dogs, burgers, BBQ chicken, fries, rice, and a salad bar.  There was also a fruit punch or lemonade included.  The island itself was quite nice, particularly so if you have little ones.  The water is clear, bathwater calm and not very deep.  I'm 6'3" and could easily walk the entire swimming area without the water getting much past my waist.  There were drinks of adult and alcohol free available for purchase, but we didn't get any as we brought our own water.  You can also walk through the sea life enclosures to view the stingrays and dolphins, even if your excursion doesn't include them (you just can't go down the floating docks and interact with them).  Since we were the last ship to arrive, beach chairs were fairly slim pickings when we arrived and shade was at a premium, but you could always find some.  Once some of the other ship's guests departed, you could find seats anywhere you wanted.  As the last ship to depart, the return tender process looked insane but was actually quite easy.  Three tenders were tied up, and the line to get on them at boarding time stretched back at least a hundred yards (maybe more, that's just where I could see to!), but once boarding began the line moved very quickly.  All three tenders were heading back to Oasis, so the crew members all along the line were telling us to board any boat, it doesn't matter which one, just make sure you stay together with your family!  Oh, an important note: once arriving back at the pier, we were required to show our SeaPass cards AND our passports to Bahamian officials to get off the tender pier and back to the ship.  No one checked to see if we had them with us when we left, and despite the fact that it says to bring them on the paperwork, I'm guessing more than one family has forgotten to/ignored that.  I'm not sure if you'd actually be detained as indicated or not if you didn't have it, but we opted not to find out.  Final verdict?  After a rough start and a forgettable lunch, we did rather enjoy our time at Blue Lagoon.  It's a nice option for families with little ones who just want a no-frills beach day.  That said, I probably wouldn’t do it again.  I'd either try checking out Pearl Island or just staying on the ship.  I get why so many people skip Nassau.
Dinner at CK again.  Very good (again!).  Wait staff really getting to know us now; a glass of Merlot waiting for me and a Prosecco for my wife upon my arrival, Shirley Temples for the boys.  Also starting to enjoy going up to the suite lounge for a beverage prior to dinner each night.  The suite lounge is an underrated space, we enjoyed just relaxing there a bit before our meal.  After dinner we opted for another quick family ride at Rising Tide for a digestif then the plan was hit the sack a bit early for an early morning arrival at Coco Cay the next morning.  I say that this was the plan because tonight we learned the one major drawback of the Aquasuites: they are LOUD when Aqua80 is playing!  We had been watching the show from our balcony the previous night, so we didn't appreciate just how loud it would be in the cabin while it was going on!  It was over by 11:30, and we're all typically night owls, so it wasn't a huge deal for us, but if you like to go to bed on the earlier side, these rooms are probably not for you.  In any event, we wandered back out to the balcony to see the last half our of the show again, then we went straight to bed to get ready for a Perfect Day tomorrow.

Day 3 - Port Canaveral
So, due to the prior day's weather issues and our afternoon arrival in port, DW decided to rebook the Casita this morning.  I was shocked there was availability given the capacity of the cruise, but we were happy to get one!  It serves it purpose nicely if you just enjoying hanging out at the pool for an extended period and just want somewhere to stash your stuff and/or take a break for a bit.  We had Casita #7, and it provided excellent sun protection for the first 3 or so hours, but by lunch time it provided very little protection.  What it was also perfect for was as a place to sit outside and enjoy breakfast and lunch.  Wait staff were thorough and responded quickly when summoned with the call button.  It ended up being a very enjoyable morning.  If I was not in a suite, I would book one again in a heartbeat.  Unfortunately for me, I had not yet discovered the Suite Sun Deck on the bow.  If I had, I would not have booked the Casita as the service and amenities there were far superior.  That said, it was definitely a live and learn experience, and given that we still thoroughly enjoyed the experience, I couldn't be too disappointed!
As for the actual port call, I'm sorry to say that on this itinerary that Port Canaveral is just about a total waste.  It gets in too late to make a trip to KSC or Disney really viable, and the rest of the excursions provided through RCI seemed either to be the cattle-call bus tour variety or consisted of a long ride for a short visit somewhere.  Now, as luck would have it, some family friends from NJ happened to be in Cape Canaveral that day for a softball tournament, so (thanks again to the suggestions of my more seasoned message board mates!) we arranged to meet at Grills for a late lunch.  Based on quick Googling and poor research on my part, I assumed we'd be at Terminal 1, leading to a quick walk over.  Turns out, we were at Terminal 6, around the opposite end of the complex.  We walked off the ship and went to the taxi stand, where they informed us it would be $80 for a round trip for the four of us to go the 2.7 miles to Grills.  That seemed beyond insane, so after a little finagling on the Lyft app, we got a ride for $13.  I'm not sure if it was just my phone or it's an app glitch, but Lyft would NOT let me enter Grills or its address as a destination.  Whenever I did, it would default to the Disney Cruise terminal zone.  Oddly enough, I was able to enter Cocoa Beach Parasail across the street as a destination, and that did work. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Anyhow, we arrived 15 minutes later than anticipated thanks to my incompetence, but the place was only half full at 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon, so no big deal.  Grills itself was quite good.  The food and entertainment were excellent and the staff was very friendly.  It definitely seemed to be a place that locals frequented but tourists were welcomed.  After lunch and a bit of a walk about, we headed back to the ship where we checked out the previous night's formal portraits (they were quite good!), went hunting for small wonders, then got ready for another excellent CK dinner.
After dinner, we again hit the Rising Tide to enjoy some more family conversation time and listened to the musicians before heading back to the the suite to check out Aqua80 from our balcony.  I am not engaging in hyperbole when I say that Aqua80 is hands down, far and away the greatest, most impressive show I have ever seen at sea, and easily a top 5 that I have seen anywhere.  The combination of elements with the music, the dancing, the diving, the fact that the stage itself serves as a key character, just incredible.  We were constantly looking around trying to figure out what was going to happen next!  A very specific warning for future residents of cabin 12730: when the high-rope walker comes out for his portion of the program, be careful because you CAN be seen in the background on the big screen in the theater for a short time!
I'm going to stop here for the day, and finish up tomorrow or Friday.  I hope something here was useful to someone, and again, please don't hesitate to ask any questions that you might have!  This cruise was such an amazing trip for us due largely to the invaluable input from so many people on this site, I'd like to be able to pay forward their knowledge and kindness in some small way!

I've successfully upgraded a couple times and would say it was a good deal. 
Since the ships have been sailing full though, my bids have not been accepted.  So I would say it's possible but not likely at this point. 

Azova offers proctored video tests for Covid tests bought outside on the US. https://athomevideo.azova.com/

Azova offers proctored video tests for Covid tests bought outside on the US. https://athomevideo.azova.com/