ScooterScott22

Have two small things but they can both be frustrating in their own way.
- Getting up early to go for a jog, thinking “I have a good jump starting the day”, get about halfway or more along the jogging track and find a rope and a team of pressure washers.
- Finding a nice quite, relatively secluded spot to relax for a little bit and to enjoy the scenery, views or ambiance of the location.  After taking things in for a bit when I’m ready for a little siesta, a group or activity of some sort comes along disturbing the peace.   

Have two small things but they can both be frustrating in their own way.
- Getting up early to go for a jog, thinking “I have a good jump starting the day”, get about halfway or more along the jogging track and find a rope and a team of pressure washers.
- Finding a nice quite, relatively secluded spot to relax for a little bit and to enjoy the scenery, views or ambiance of the location.  After taking things in for a bit when I’m ready for a little siesta, a group or activity of some sort comes along disturbing the peace.   

Have two small things but they can both be frustrating in their own way.
- Getting up early to go for a jog, thinking “I have a good jump starting the day”, get about halfway or more along the jogging track and find a rope and a team of pressure washers.
- Finding a nice quite, relatively secluded spot to relax for a little bit and to enjoy the scenery, views or ambiance of the location.  After taking things in for a bit when I’m ready for a little siesta, a group or activity of some sort comes along disturbing the peace.   

Like you we found a wealth of information from the people on this thread and others on these boards.  We were able to relax and enjoy the experience and let the genie work their magic since folks on here eased our itch to plan.  
There are some great tips and info so far but I wanted to address your item about specifically planning before hand.  When we did our Grand Loft Suite last year due to a few reasons we had two specific dining requests that we submitted to the genie via email prior to the cruise.  If you know that you want to do something specific, especially that first day, don’t be afraid to ask up front when you get the email from your genie.  You could actually make all your requests before boarding but that takes any some of the fun that accompanies spontaneity.
Enjoy!

Like you we found a wealth of information from the people on this thread and others on these boards.  We were able to relax and enjoy the experience and let the genie work their magic since folks on here eased our itch to plan.  
There are some great tips and info so far but I wanted to address your item about specifically planning before hand.  When we did our Grand Loft Suite last year due to a few reasons we had two specific dining requests that we submitted to the genie via email prior to the cruise.  If you know that you want to do something specific, especially that first day, don’t be afraid to ask up front when you get the email from your genie.  You could actually make all your requests before boarding but that takes any some of the fun that accompanies spontaneity.
Enjoy!

Sorry wanted to link it -
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/15125-js-no-longer-have-access-to-ck/
 

@WAAAYTOOO helped answer questions about the GLS for us not long ago.  
 
I can add we did Alaska last year in 10720 and were very happy.  It was our first time in a GLS so we did not have many expectations about the room going in.  We have done suites on other Cruise lines.  For out party of three the room was large enough but we do understand it is one of the smaller suites.  Since we were doing the Alaska cruise having the three balconies was really a bonus.  Being on the corner and able to walk out to the side balconies on either level, as well as the back payed off.  The rear balcony was fine but I feel that we saw more scenery and wildlife since we had the side also.  It seems that the main benefit of the corner is if you expect less time at Open sea and more direct scenery having the corner might be a relative trade-off for the space.
 
I’ll also add we did make the switch on our cruise next year to the middle lower room, I think 8324.  So we can share more but it is almost 10 months away.

There are some great tips and info in this thread so far.  One thing I think you should remember is that the general layout of the ship is the same even if it is much larger.  Your will find the top decks still have the public spaces for sunning and swimming as well as other activities and some places to get drinks and eats.  Progressing down you will find mainly Decks with staterooms until you reach the lower public spaces which will have theater, shops Restaurants and Casino.  
 
Yes, there is much more to do and lots more stairs and walking but if you are typically on the top decks to sunbath, swim and play person, then that will probably hold true for the larger ship.  If you recognize your normal pattern of where you spend your time on the smaller ship it will help with your planning for the larger one.  Unless you are doing a longer cruise like a trans Atlantic understand you will not be able to do it all.  Have fun and happy planning.

The equation can get really complicated if you factor in the parks and strategies to visit them.  For example, time of year, budgets for parks, must do rides - thrill vs kid vs classic vs Harry Potter, fastpass/ultimate pass use, your park familiarity and Transportation can impact how successful your park time will be.  With the post-COVID uncertainty it makes it even tougher.  
So looking at your question and trying to simplify by ignoring some of those details, I think you can get the answer internally from you and your family.  You mentioned in the first post that the kids would be fine because “they don’t care” and then state the would want to do Universal and Disney.  So float the idea of cruise only and see how they react.  Then give the option for one park and see which they pick.  That might help gauge what park(s) are important and how you can best use the 9 days.  For the cruise longer is better but it is stealing from park time.  If you just want a few days at sea to relax and get away the 4 day is fine.  If you can narrow that park time with the questions above to the kids and family the 7 day becomes more do-able.
For me the answer is easy, the 7 day.  But I live in the Orlando area, know the parks very well and have season passes so my situation isn’t a fair comparison. This is a cruise message board and that might also be influencing my response some.  Good luck with the planning and have fun.

You know your child the best so only you can really determine if they might have a positive experience in AO.  The staff will attempt to engage and even though our experience is that most of the staff have some official educational background and child life training the success can be very individual.  It seems that with regards to shy children they all make an effort to engage everyone but some of counselors do better with certain individuals, so a little luck may be involved also.  
To me there seems to be two types of shyness in children.  The first being a true shy child that appears to be much more of an introvert and the shyness may wane but is persistently present.  The other, which seems to be more common, is the child that is shy to start but once they get engaged open up and they tend to engage easier with subsequent events.  It is not an either/or situation as as shy children can be somewhere in between.  Our son is pretty shy to start but usually after a day or so gets pretty comfortable once he finds a few friends or a counselor that he likes.  After a couple of days it become hard to get him out of the club.  
All children have a pretty good is chance to enjoy themselves as the type of events in AO will vary each day.  Besides the open houses, I would encourage you to review the daily schedule.  If your child is more of the first type I described above the GaGa ball and other similar activities would be better to avoid.  The “classroom” like activities, like the science classes, that are on the schedule might be good to attend.  Some of those allow the parents to attend also.  It may take a couple of visit but with the right events, right kids or counselor the AO usually wins the kids over at some point.

Regarding the North Slope workers, the 14-day travel quarantine STILL applies to them, even thought they are considered "Critical Infrastructure".  The oil producers have been either using in-state personnel, or just extending the work rotation schedules of those employees already working up there (in other words, NOT rotating them out).  They did have one confirmed case of COVID-19 on the North Slope, and quickly isolated them from everyone.  The producers have also cut production down quite a bit over the last few weeks, and are certainly scaling back on ALL activity.  I'm sure this has significantly reduced the required labor workforce.
As an interesting side story with all of this, several of the North Slope oil producers got together and contracted with Alaska's largest local in-state regional commuter airline (Ravn Airlines) to provide air-travel service between the North Slope and Fairbanks & Anchorage, so that the employees didn't have to travel with other "public" air transportation to help keep the employees better isolated and separate.  Then literally about 4 days later, Ravn Airlines filed chapter 11 bankruptcy and completely stopped all service in the state leaving the oil producers high and dry!  I haven't heard exactly what the producers did to replace the lost commuter airline service, but am assuming they just re-contracted with large commercial carriers such as Alaska Airlines.  This regional airline (Ravn) also serviced about 115+ cities, towns, and small villages in the state, and has now stranded many remote communities with no travel ability out of their area.  Ravn Airlines was also the ONLY airline that serviced the small city in which I live, so instead of me flying to Anchorage (35 minute commuter flight) to connect with regular commercial flights, I now have to drive 4+ hours to get to Anchorage!  At least I am on the road system, and CAN drive!

As I currently reside in Alaska, I'm seeing first hand the impact this current 14-day travel quarantine has had on this state.  Obviously, cruising has been completely shut down until at least July, and it has had devastating effects on the travel and tourism industries up here.  All restaurant dine-in service has been completely stopped, with local take-out the only option allowed.  National and state parks have closed, along with stopping all passenger train service.
The governor locked down travel in the state in the latter half of March.  This even includes travel BETWEEN communities and towns in Alaska!  This has been a very literal stay-at-home statewide mandate.   As of today (4/28/20) we have only had 351 confirmed cases in the entire state, and have had only 9 deaths.  Our "new case" rate is anywhere from zero to three or four a day, and has been trending downward.
Just this last weekend, the governor released "phase 1" of opening things back up, and that is the permission to now travel between communities with minimal human-to-human contact (stay in your car), and restaurants can now open at 25% capacity with reservations ONLY and 10' distance between tables.  This "phase 1" is suppose to last 10-14 days before the next "phase 2" is considered, depending on how the new COVID-19 cases progress and trend.
The restriction of interstate travel is supposed to be considered for lifting in "phase 4" which is about 45-60 days or so out.  This would put it at the end of June / first part of July.

Haven’t seen any reference to this and it is not set in stone but there is some good news.  A group of researchers at Oxford had been working on vaccines and the timing of this pandemic has helped speed some things up for them.  They were able to take some established work and quickly modified things specific to this virus to get a head start.  That coupled with the world focus on this disease has provided them some additional support/funding and “fast track” pathways for approval.  If things progress then predictions are a vaccine could be ready by September.
https://www.ovg.ox.ac.uk/news/oxford-covid-19-vaccine-begins-human-trial-stage
https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2020/astrazeneca-and-oxford-university-announce-landmark-agreement-for-covid-19-vaccine.html
https://www.barrons.com/articles/good-news-on-oxford-vaccine-is-bright-spot-in-somber-covid-19-landscape-51588084298

218 since the last cruise...
...372 until we board the Ovation.  Even though it is a long way off since it is the trans-pacific there are still a lot of “what if’s” in my mind.  So I am really hopeful that the Oxford group’s vaccine really does well and is out buy this September as some are predicting.

218 since the last cruise...
...372 until we board the Ovation.  Even though it is a long way off since it is the trans-pacific there are still a lot of “what if’s” in my mind.  So I am really hopeful that the Oxford group’s vaccine really does well and is out buy this September as some are predicting.

218 since the last cruise...
...372 until we board the Ovation.  Even though it is a long way off since it is the trans-pacific there are still a lot of “what if’s” in my mind.  So I am really hopeful that the Oxford group’s vaccine really does well and is out buy this September as some are predicting.

We did our first WBTA last September and I think that the statement for other cruises holds for the most part with the TA - The sea conditions you experience will depend on the current weather conditions.  If the weather is decent expect it to be pretty smooth and if there is a storm, not so much.  
 
We had a mix of both rough and smooth sailing.  There was a tropical system that moved up the east coast and to the Canadian maritime providences.  Because of that we started off great in England and Ireland and the first days at sea.  Things started getting rough as we progressed west and got closer to the storm.  It was projected to head right into our path, based on timing of the storm and our port schedule they made the decision to turn south and skip the Canadian stops.  Once far enough south and out of the reach of the storm, things settled down.  With the change we ended up with an extra sea day and a night in port at NYC.

Adding that in this day of lean business processes (thanks Toyota) there is quite a bit of “just in time” supply.  While some of the items may have been ordered or even made, they might not be onsite.  In lean processes having the necessary material lying around waiting for use is wasted money, space, etc.  That can help the port by reducing unnecessary supplies from laying around and wasting space.  Looking at lean processes for Royal this means the project manager could have a timeline that does not require the new materials to be available until after the removal and cleaning of the space that will be remodeled.  As a byproduct in this situation, it is possible that the supplies were on order but not actually purchased.  That could mean the capital is still with RC and the higher ups are choosing to keep that capital.  That is just speculation but does seem to fit with the situation.

Adding that in this day of lean business processes (thanks Toyota) there is quite a bit of “just in time” supply.  While some of the items may have been ordered or even made, they might not be onsite.  In lean processes having the necessary material lying around waiting for use is wasted money, space, etc.  That can help the port by reducing unnecessary supplies from laying around and wasting space.  Looking at lean processes for Royal this means the project manager could have a timeline that does not require the new materials to be available until after the removal and cleaning of the space that will be remodeled.  As a byproduct in this situation, it is possible that the supplies were on order but not actually purchased.  That could mean the capital is still with RC and the higher ups are choosing to keep that capital.  That is just speculation but does seem to fit with the situation.

While I am not discounting the economic impact there are some other things to consider.  Imagine being the local health care center Dahl in Skagway.  Since the local population is near 1000, the numbers work out easily.  If the percentages hold, it would mean that 600 town members become ill with the virus, and 200 would need to be hospitalized, not to mention how many would need intensive care.  Dahl would not be able to handle the patient volume.  And most would have to be transported out.  

While I am not discounting the economic impact there are some other things to consider.  Imagine being the local health care center Dahl in Skagway.  Since the local population is near 1000, the numbers work out easily.  If the percentages hold, it would mean that 600 town members become ill with the virus, and 200 would need to be hospitalized, not to mention how many would need intensive care.  Dahl would not be able to handle the patient volume.  And most would have to be transported out.  

A nice photo of Ovation and Spectrum together in Sydney harbour yesterday before Spectrum left for her first complementary cruise.
Photo Credit: royalcaribbean_aunz

As a frequent traveler for work I can share there is a key difference in the cruise loyalty programs that will make purchasing the points problematic.  Hotel, car rental and airlines require an annual requirement to retain status and cruise lines your status is for life.  (There are a few exceptions such as million miler balances, lifetime diamond, etc.). 
 
The annual programs allow you to purchase up since there are always people that are leveling up AND down.  Since the cruise lines will never lower your status purchasing status would create an even bigger log-jam at the top tiers.  It is already getting strained as you can see by the threads on Diamond/plus status and the lounge and drinks.

As a frequent traveler for work I can share there is a key difference in the cruise loyalty programs that will make purchasing the points problematic.  Hotel, car rental and airlines require an annual requirement to retain status and cruise lines your status is for life.  (There are a few exceptions such as million miler balances, lifetime diamond, etc.). 
 
The annual programs allow you to purchase up since there are always people that are leveling up AND down.  Since the cruise lines will never lower your status purchasing status would create an even bigger log-jam at the top tiers.  It is already getting strained as you can see by the threads on Diamond/plus status and the lounge and drinks.

In both Bayonne and Miami we kept our bags with us through security.  Granted, we were Star Class, but I don't think that made any difference.  I believe the security scanners are all the same.  It was tight for our biggest suitcase but they all made it through - both times.
Having said that, I do not recommend that you keep your big luggage with you through security unless you are going to be going straight to your room.  Even if you are going straight to your room it could be a real PITA b/c trying to wheel big luggage through the ship and up and down elevators is a real nuisance. I don't recommend it but I do think it could be done.