ScooterScott22

Not sure if I am remembering correctly but these items can be found at Mini-bites up on deck 15. Not saying they are there all the time or are the best quality.

I would second this as our son has been cruising since right before his first birthday, except... ...his manners and adventurous palate have taken a steep dive now that he is a teen.

The boarding process is pretty set and standard, expect @twangster to provide full details and logistics. For and overview, as you mentioned get your earliest check in by logging in as soon as your window opens. Still expect that the check-in process likely will not begin before 10 am in most instances, and check-in/boarding can be delayed for many reasons. Boarding will only start once the ship is cleared. There is no early boarding. The Back to Back group will board first, next the Suites and pinnacles and then the key group before the general boarding.

It looks OK from up here,

Have to share that did Ovation in Alaska and planned to bring my parents (grandparents) and they were going to have one of the deck 6 obstructed views but they couldn't make it. The views were not terribly obstructed and my guess is that the deck 7 impacts are even less. Not sure that I would even factor in the obstruction and instead focus on other aspects like price and location when considering this booking if debating between these two spots. The views in Alaska are great and you can find things to look at in every direction. Quick access to a balcony is not a must, but a huge plus. Remember even if your balcony does not have the best view, you likely will want to go to other decks and look around. The views from the bridge wings, Solarium, upper decks and Two70 are all nice and should be part of your day. Sailing up to or away from a port or the glaciers can take hours so there is plenty of time to view the scenery from multiple locations, not just the balcony.

Here is the Day 1 Dining for the Allure on September 17th. We figured that we would do Giovanni's for lunch but the Genie put us in Chops since that was open. We didn't see but my guess is that they used GT for the key on that day. Expect the key to use Chops most likely, or maybe Giovanni's like above. Izumi, and 150 (and Samba Grill) typically will not be open.

Thanks for the info no the Key, we have not used it so I only know that there is a bag drop. As for my comment on the porters, they rumor is they are organized, unlike at many other locals, and are more efficient and really do not let checked bags get by them.

We thought the Ice show and the Aqua show on the Wonder were the best we have seen so far.

You can carry your baggage on. As mentioned you will go through a typical security screening and have to keep your bags with you until the rooms are ready. There are a couple of caveats to that process. - We have done quite a few ports but not Bayonne and the rumor is the porter system there might not be what you see at other ports. Hopefully folks that use that port can explain. - If you have "The Key" you will have a bag drop location after boarding - Suites rooms on the Oasis class can be ready a little earlier, at least the ones up on deck 17. - Star Class has a dedicated porter system. It seems to have changed a little post COVID and a couple weeks ago at Port Everglades the process was to drop the bags at the Star banner. The porters took them to meet you in the room later, similar to other areas, except they still essentially follow you on to the ship as they were brought right up.

The question is likely to get a variety of answers. There is quite a lot to do on most of the ships and different things will be the "best" for different people. Some people like the big shows, some like the entertainers, others the musicians, so this will be tough to get a straight answer. Expect all of the entertainment mentioned, depending on venues available on the ship, as well as comedians and plenty of activities each day. Looking at some of the Cruise Compasses from prior cruises might give you ideas of what to expect - https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass The headliners are always changing so there you cannot pinpoint those entertainers or comedians to one ship. The musicians will also be rotating on a regular bases so that experience will vary. Even the trivia will be hosted by different staff and some maybe more engaging than others even on the same ship. The key shows - Broadway, Ice shows, Two70 and Aqua-Theater will not be all that different from sailing to sailing but the cast may rotate in/out based on contracts. The question is what are you most interested in? The Oasis class has the Aqua-theater, ice show and main theater shows. They probably have the most variety but shows vary between ships. The Quantum class has the main theater and the shows in Two70, which can be interesting, so that might be of interest from an entertainment perspective. Voyager and Freedom class ships also have Studio B along with the main Theater so a little more variety.

If it is a beer you are looking for Rising Tide Tap & Table (not the one on the Oasis ships) has a decent selection. The bad part is they are only open a little later most days.

Having been up there a few times the trend that I have seen is the doors to access the staterooms tend to be closed later in the evening. During the day it is more 50:50 with finding them open.

Back in May we dropped our bags by 8 AM with the porters. We were dropped off and went over to Grills, since we knew we had time to waste before boarding. We were there so early due to some travel logistics and were not parking a car, so not sure if the lot was accepting vehicles that early. Have seen cars turned away from the garage before at PC because they were too early.

Matt's article is great just a couple of notes/quick summary on using the App. (We have looked at the in room TV video but had already completed on the App so not sure of the exact flow there.) Viewing it on the App can be done before boarding and that seems to be the easiest since you can stop by your muster drill location to do the final part of the check off once on the ship. So, for example, on the morning of the cruise you can log in to the app and find the safety icon at the bottom of the screen. Click that and view the required information and videos, drill, horn and station. Once each step is "completed" it will be noted in the app. At that point all you need to do is drop by the station check in once on the ship. Everyone in the party should be done in one viewing but if there are multiple reservations each reservation will need to complete the sequence.

@Cile so are you going to cancel the cruise if you don't get the Royal Up? That is what your last post seems to state. Hopefully you were just referring to cancelling the Royal Up bid. The chances of getting a successful bid for Royal Up seems to be best when the ships are not sailing full and your mid-November timeframe seems that is it could be one with good odds. Obviously it depends on how many higher staterooms are actually booked and what you have bid (and bid on) that influence the chance. It seems that most successful bids get accepted about 30 days to a week out. That is based on our experience with the program, both winning and losing bids, and seeing others get winning bids. If you don't get a winning bid by the last week, I would expect to be sailing in my originally booked stateroom. It doesn't seem worth it to do the extra work to cancel a bid at that point. Good luck and enjoy your sailing!

Anyone on board that can share what is going on at sail away? My wife and son were headed out on MSC and were scheduled for 6 to sail out. They took off a little early and went REAL slow past terminal 1-3 area. I was chatting with them and watching the Port Webcam. They said it looked like there was an emergency vehicle by the Harmony. As I looked at the website, it looked like they were at the Carnival terminal and had engines running. Wondering if they started out and then stopped to offload at the other terminal. Any confirmation?

I think you are forgetting the average age of the cruising population. Granted, Royal does skew a little lower than some other lines (except Disney and maybe Carnival). And yes, I understand that we all (hopefully) get there since my wife thinks if is funny that AARP now is sending me things in the mail.

For those not familiar with the Wonder OTS, the Windjammer has quite a different layout compared to the other Oasis class ships. Wonder is the image on the left and the other is Allure. On Wonder it is on deck 15 and the stations are further back. That allows the front area to accommodate the early breakfast items towards the front. The seating area is further back and wraps along the upper Boardwalk where the mini golf and sports courts are on the other ships.

Wondering if the lounge on the Allure is busier than others in the Oasis group. It seems like the location is a bonus that draws a few more people than other ships of the same class. The drawback is the shared space aspect since the upper level is utilized for Chefs Table. While it has positives , it does create a bad situation for both parties. It cuts down the available space in the lounge at probably the busiest time of the day. The noise and interruptions from below during the dinner were a negative for the dining experience.

There are WAYYTTOOOOO many treats to list... One notable item we encountered was the Blue Cheese balls that were delivered as part of afternoon snack a few days last trip. There was quite a variety on most days and some we could determine where they came from but my guess is these little whipped dollops of goodness were something that was on the apps in the suites lounge on certain days.

Might be easier to ask for later test. I had a prof that let me take a test late due to an out of the country trip. Rational was he would rather have one person (me) cheat, rather than have me share the questions with the rest of the class.

Quick report on our Allure specialty restaurant experience. - Chops - one lunch and one dinner - on par with most of our other Chops experiences. Food and service were maybe a notch above the others. - Izumi - one hibachi dinner, one sushi lunch - both good, again on par with the other experiences in the fleet. - Chef’s Table - food was very good, some dishes better than others. Cannot say enough about Andrei (sp?). He is great and we were happy to see him again, dined with him on Ovation in 2019. - Samba Grill - nice experience, food was decent. Fun to do something a little different on the ship. Not high on the list to do again but would go for the variety. - Sabor - lunch - maybe we were just too far into meals and snack deliveries but just average. The food and service was fine but we were running out of room when we dined so not a good time to judge. - Giovanni Table - one lunch - it looked like the older menu and food was ok, service was a little slow. 150 - two dinners - both were good, service was very good. Wonder OTS still is best 150 in the fleet but this one seems pretty close, especially for an older/un-amped ship. - Coastal Kitchen - one dinner in CK, one dinner in room - food was pretty good, service in CK was good. Have to say that overall was fine with limited time there. Stopped in twice for a drink on the way to dinner reservations, and also when checking in dinner, and have to say that some guests in there created a negative vibe. So the scorecard is Chops, 150, Chefs Table and Izumi are all easy green lights. Sabor, Giovanni, Samba and CK were all fine. There were no “never again” in the dining.

Not really since port is closed to all traffic. DCL extended the current cruise and has cancelled the next already.

We just hit diamond with the last cruise and anticipate I’ll never wear one, even if pinnacle happens. Did pack our emerald pins on one cruise with some friends to wear as a joke. (But even then didn’t put it on.) That is the only reason I would wear one. Not one of the perks are connected to actually having a pin on so really not a factor.

We are debarking tomorrow and had dinner at Samba this sailing. I’ll add a few notes. The meats vary but the tenderloin and rib were the best. They have three sauces and the chimichurri may help with the rounds. I was surprised that the bacon wrapped chicken didn’t please me. Bacon is always a plus but I guess this was the exception to prove the rule. For the self serve apps there are a couple selections that were interesting but it will depend on your interests. They bring a plate of vegetables to serve family style. The other apps were cheese empanada, yucca, and a fried banana. A plate of small “cheese” bread was the initial dish.