joshvc

I can confirm it's running, was on board last week and met several parties that had done it. Not sure on capacity though.

Right, used to that, but right now there's literally nothing except paid Perfect Day activities on the Daily Planner in the app. I'm sure things will appear on Saturday, but this is unusual. It's not a big deal as this is a very low key cruise for us, but if you were coordinating a group and wanted to hit the ground running, it would be a limiter.

You can still be a control freak! Most of the time I have my itinerary and room picked already and know Royal's price, and just send Brock (my MEI agent) the details. I do have him check refundable rates for me, and sometimes he has come back with lower prices than what Royal shows. Hopefully I'm one of his easiest customers, but I like knowing he and MEI have my back if things go sideways.

Most arcade games are $1-2- I think the most common price was 3 games for $5. I think the table minimums are going to vary by ship, day, and region, but walking through a completely dead casino on Explorer in December, I don't recall seeing blackjack for under $10. I don't like playing at empty tables so I didn't hang around and can't say for sure if they ever moved it down from there.

Just got our first successful Royal Up notification (got the rejection notice at dinner in the MDR last time) for our sailing Saturday on Mariner. Moved from a 10th floor interior to an 8th floor Ocean View Balcony. My bid was $155 each, but I actually don't remember what the minimum was- it was either $100 or $150. I had other bids at about the same price on Spacious Ocean View Balcony, Junior Suite, and Panoramic Suite, plus $100 on the Panoramic room. I happened to check last night, and the suites and panoramic rooms are all sold out*, but there were about 25 balconies available between the various options. Looks like that was enough for us to get one. (*sold out doesn't always mean full, but I expect this ship is close).

We sail on Mariner on Saturday, and the last couple sailings (including one departing today) are showing no ice shows and no skating sessions at all. The app still hasn't loaded activities for this weekend's trip. Has anyone seen anything (or been out on Mariner recently) about what's going on with Studio B? For that matter, have the shows & open sessions been happening on other ships lately? We were on Explorer at Christmas, and it was virtually impossible to get a chance to skate- you had to line up more than 30 minutes before distribution to get a chance because of limited capacity, which disappointed a lot of guests. Could they have just suspended them entirely, or is something wrong with Mariner's rink?

Good question, I plan to swing by the MDR to check on that after boarding.

Sailing this weekend, so I asked about this via their facebook team yesterday and was told they're not marking people anymore, just bring the vaccination record to the port and they'll handle it there. I did go ahead and accept the appointment for the on-site test for the kiddo, but expect to bypass it as he reached 14 days from the 2nd dose yesterday.

Oh this is really good to know, thanks- hadn't seen a report from San Juan on the timing topic, we'll head over closer to the time then.

We sail Sunday, so I don't have the experience yet, but our plan is this: Already loaded passports & vax cards in the app. Friday morning COVID antigen tests near home Print out negative test results- I've read here that shuffling back & forth betweeen the Royal app and your test results on your phone is a pain Friday afternoon flight to San Juan. Have to fill out Puerto Rico's TravelSafe questionnaire on the way, probably in the airport. Saturday, fill out Royal's healthy sail questions in the app, then just a tourist day in San Juan, will pick up some wine to carry onto the ship Sunday we'll leave the hotel about an hour before our check-in appointment, hoping we can get in a little early but not standing around for too long if we can't. I'll try to report back Monday or so with how things went.

We have a 5 day Mariner cruise in March, only stops are Nassau and Labadee. Also hoping for Coco Cay but Oasis is already there that day, so not sure if they'd put another ship in with Oasis, especially if they're back toward full capacity at spring break. Seems like it's more likely to be San Juan or St. Thomas, but that's just a guess.

Is this also the case in port? Our next cruise has a heavy USVI itinerary and I may need to take a call or two, which will be free for me as long as I'm not hitting the ship tower.

I can't offer much in the way of help with the travel agent, but for the ship navigation/tour concern, I think you may find that you can nominate one of your party to do this yourselves- there are incredibly detailed tours of each ship on Youtube, done by this site and several others. I've used these to get a feel for ships we would be on, and by the time you board, it's like you've already been there. I'd start by having this nominee do that, then they can go scout the ship on their own while the rest of your party settles in your rooms, to fill in the gaps and see things in person. In less than an hour, they'll be ready to give the rest of the party a more than adequate tour. They'll also know the unique needs & concerns of your traveling party better than anyone, so can focus on areas of concern in their guidance. The check-in process is much like that of a hotel, just with many, many more people. This might be a place where your TA and/or working with Royal can help, if crowds & chaos represent a challenge, by helping get an ideal arrival time. In the Before Times, the advice would be to get there incredibly early, even 9 or 10 AM. Arrival times are apparently more enforced now, but nobody will be able to predict procedures that far out. Good luck with your planning, being this far ahead will serve you well!

You should be able to do that on the phone with Royal, they can manage your existing stuff much more than the website allows you to (assuming that their policy lets you do that, which I don't know off hand).

As Matt said above, you will still need a passport or the birth certificate + acceptable ID to get on the cruise- the government doesn't care that you never left Royal property, they care that you're going to/went to the Bahamas (or Haiti). At the island itself, just your SeaPass card will do for getting on & off the ship.