Kim&N8

Agreed @Tim B. Looks exciting to me ? I'll be watching for it. I'm also looking for some of those new Cuba ports @twangster was talking about- Havana is the current stop but it looks like Cienfuegos and Santiago are coming on line soon! The email was interesting to me as it said 5 cities you've never been to but include St Maarteen and San Juan which are pretty frequent stops from what I've seen. I get that Havana is new and defiantly makes the list of places many haven't been and Curaco I don't see to much chatter about. 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-destinations/cuba?icid=hpnwbt_conten_cb_hm_banner_2373

That's fine...i'll bring my own straws and dispose of them once I'm finished...there will be a fight if they try and take my straws! ?
I've found 180 of them in a plastic container ?
https://www.boxed.com/product/648/twizzlers-180-twists?pf=3&gid=648&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_purpose=acquisition&utm_campaign=shopping-lowbid-georgia&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2p_2-8uG3QIVloWzCh2l9gvGEAQYBCABEgLvofD_BwE

One of the huge hidden pollutants of the sea is noise pollution. https://www.sonicsea.org/film

That being said, I'll be the guy on the pool deck selling black market plastic straws for $1 a piece. #ultimatestrawpackage

No. Not to the extent you're making it out to be. I do get your logic but in my eyes anything helps. I also don't give two sh**** about a straw. Unless it's a shake because logistically I'm not sure how that works besides getting a whole lotta shake everywhere.

Yep...were looking at you! ? ??

Gaelic Storm.  Best band on the planet that many have not heard of.  Lots of drinking songs.  Give em a go.  You won't regret it.

Radio Margaritaville! https://www.margaritaville.com/radio-margaritaville

Updating over 2,700 cabin doors plus the computer upgrades to work with the new RFID locks, plus adding hundreds of POS terminals to read them is easily a million dollar investment for hardware alone.  The labor to retrofit a ship is probably another half that. 
You can't put $1.5M to $2M into a ship upgrade without increasing fares.  Wow bands aren't going to generate new revenue that didn't exist before, they are just 'cool'.  To recover the cost fares would have to go up.    
It's one thing to build new ships with new tech.  The incremental cost isn't that much.  Retrofitting existing ships to add them would require downtime.  Every minute of a dry dock is precious, extending a dry dock to perform a Wow band upgrade causes more money to be lost.   
I agree wow bands are cool tech but not so cool I am willing to pay more for the privilege.  

When we cruised aboard the Symphony of the Seas on the Pre-Inaugural cruise (31MAR) they had WOW bands available (I believe $5); however, they didn't have the muster station information printed on them.  We could have traded our Harmony WOW bands, but they said that all 'WOW band ships' in the future will convert to the clean version (no-muster station information).  With that knowledge, we kept our Harmony bands and they uploaded our Symphony data onto them for free.  Unlocking the cabin door is what I use it for.  Here's hoping that they'll expand its uses in the future. 
They still have the same four colors available; Blue, Black, White & Yellow.

thanks for that, that bag is about the same size as my wifes so i wont have the added expense of buying her a new one lol 
pickpockets are everywhere, even in our home cities so it's just about taking care and being alert. my wife usually puts strap over one shoulder around her neck with bag at other side to make it more difficult for bag snatchers, way i see it by doing it this way if they try to snatch her bag there's a good chance they will have to take her as well so its a win win situation ?
 

arrive early,  grab a cold adult beverage and find a seat in the promenade for some class-A touristy people watching and some food.   after a bit of that, relocate up to the pool deck, grab another cold drink and more people watching.     Once room opens up,   drop off carry on's,  back to the pool deck for another....     it's a vicious cycle but someone has to do it!  ?

The bar crawl needs to be accompanied by intermittent runs to El Loco Fresh for Guac and chips.  ?

Understand 100% It was fun, but the organizer had it down to a science. Could tell it wasn't their first time setting it up.
One thought to take some of the gambling aspect out of it. No pot, no fee to participate. Good prize and crummy prize (example: voucher for a shirt | a sticker/magnet).

Make it the 5K* Pub Crawl. Not sure how many stops are typically planned. If it happens to be five, naming is perfect.
 
 
*Kraken

Comment about a Poker "Run"... Fun to do, but the logistics can be a pain. Plus depending on numbers of participants it can become very complex.
On one cruise it was combined with a Suite only cabin crawl. Think we stopped at 4 different suites plus a refreshment break at a bar. Drew two cards at the first and last stop, then one at the other stops. Best and worst 5 card hand (out of 7), split was 90/10.

I need more vacation time!!!! That sounds amazing and I’m droving distance to NJ ? 

@Matt has had a bunch of us badgering him for a 2020 July group cruise to Canada & New England. Granted, that's only a 6-night itinerary; we might have to make it a B2B with the 8-night Bahamas & Perfect Day run for a proper vacation, not to mention giving enough time for all of us to properly sample the Kraken and other libations. ?

The 5k bar crawl idea isn't bad at all! Someone suggested it be called the 5Kraken bar crawl.

@Matt there were awesome ideas happening on periscope last night. The radio this morning told me it’s National Rum day which reminded me of the kraken 5k... your event could be The Kraken 5k... rum for rum! We’ll need a winners medal ? 
 
Also I bet we could get a whole list of amazing group cruise ideas going here! 

Maybe you'll get a better response than i did...he just laughs at my group cruise ideas ?
He lets small things get in the way of my suggestions...like his kids need to attend school and he has to work and ect...?

thanks @Lovetocruise2002! looked/sounded like a great show
 

Tonight's show was called "Gallery of Dreams" and Hubby and I were reminded why we like Royal so much. Those of you who were following on Periscope a few weeks ago know that we sailed the MSC Seaside and did not care too much for their entertainment. Tonight's show on Mariner was not the broadway type shows that you would find on Oasis or Quantum class ships, yet it did not disappoint. Vocals were strong, it was much more theatrical, the live orchestra was there, the set changes, just overall a better experience. Hubby says, "The analogy would be if you were watching a TV that you thought was pretty good and then you put it up against a better TV and you're like...WHOA." His words, not mine ? 
Anyway, here are two clips for those of you  not on Periscope. And @Kim&N8 I saw your question, but could not answer. It was called "Gallery of Dreams".
https://www.pscp.tv/w/bkOAvTF4TlFhYVJPT2V3UWJ8MXlOeGFYcWVST1hKau1VOeGCdBJSCCDfWYS97LvLnz0QTu2GZhgo-eBuWPpV
https://www.pscp.tv/w/bkOA5zF4TlFhYVJPT2V3UWJ8MU9kSnJweWJBdnpLWCaQMzDIZqtyqrzJdfLGuFLg8TU-xC5ED2QX_i-zNuIJ

@twangster welcome back to Miami! 
 

We have never bought digital packages, but it's definitely worth looking at to make sure your pictures are there and they are you. 
They use a facial recognition program for a lot of the pictures.  The smaller ships ask for your stateroom number where on Quantum & Harmony I feel like it just "happened."  On Adventure this past May, we were asked for our stateroom number at the beginning of the week, then not again. Every night the photographers came into the dining room.  Just the first night we gave him the stateroom number.  He never asked again.  We don't usually stop for the port photographers, so can't speak to them, but passing by I don't recall hearing them ask.  Our pictures were always in our online album.  We did stair portraits one evening and was asked the room number as there were 6 of us and they wanted to make sure the pictures got assigned to both rooms.  We did a family shot  of the four of us in front of a backdrop and were not asked for our room number.
On Harmony we did have pictures that were not ours, the people looked NOTHING like us (different race) so they must've been asked for a room number, cause there was no way an elderly Indian woman was mistaken for me by the facial recognition program.  LOL 
 

For us, the drink packages don't make sense.  At first I was really annoyed at the change, as we have a 12 night repo coming up this Fall and are going with another couple.  The husband can really drink, a lot, and my husband tries very hard to keep up with him when they are together.  The wife, barely drinks at all. I am somewhere in between.  I enjoy a frozen drink in the afternoon, then a couple beers or wine at night, but that's about it. 
To buy us both a drink package for the 12 nights was $1500+!  Since then, we've calmed down a bit about the policy, realizing that we really don't NEED a drink package.  Just because we're on vacation doesn't mean we NEED to change our habits and overdo it; we'll just pay for it afterwards.  My husband got a coffee card (we had one on a 7 night sailing and had a hard time using 15 punches between the three of us) so he can get his coffee, and the rest we'll pay as we go.  That's what OBC is for...LOL 
We cruised in May, 7 nights, and did what we wanted, bought what ever drinks we wanted, and the drink package wouldn't have been worth it.  By day 7 we were down to 1-2 beers a day, and forcing the specialty coffees.  There is no way on 12 nights (with 7 sea days) we can keep it up.  I know everyone WANTS the package...but do you really NEED the package?  LOL