AshleyDillo

Adorable...yeah he's on this sailing..he has been periscoping some of his antics.

I didn't think to check the casino yesterday when we were there, but I was wondering this as well. I thought maybe they wouldn't have authority to run the casino with the Bahamian government.

No 20 minute timeout for posting on this site apparently....hence evenjngevening.

It is definitely a fun time. The MEI folks take care of you and it's always great to run into a familiar face around the ship. Me and @CGTLH played an impromptu game of laser tag this evenjngevening with from group cruise folks.

They were the most food-shy seagulls I've ever seen at the beach bungalows. The chickens were a bit more appreciative of our scraps.

If you ask nicely they may give you some bread to go without having to dine there...they did that on Symphony for one of our cruise pals. The bread was the only highlight of CP150 for me honestly..but everyone else seems to love that place.

The specialty dining when you eat at the restaurant will come with a zeroed out bill that you can add a tip that goes onto the onboard account. When it's delivered it doesn't come with a bill. If you don't want to travel with the bulk of small bills, just bring big ones and break them in the casino or guest services. @CGTLH likes to hit up the bank for $2 bills before sailing..crew seem to enjoy the novelty of those and they are legal tender.

We typically tipped delivery folks we interacted with, same as room service deliveries. Couldn't really tip for deliveries just left in the room. We also tipped extra for the room steward and the genie in cash at the end of the cruise. I believe that is expected but not required. We left a tip at the specialty restaurants as well. I think there is no daily service charge for Star Class, so that's something to consider when you try to put a value on what's included and also to keep in mind when it comes to tipping for drinks, restaurants, etc.

NCL still has to tender into their private island here...neener neener.

Michael Poole's first walk down the pier scope

Can't see much from the helipad... They're hard at work at making the dock longer! And it's pretty and clean... Almost Perfect Day waterslides ? I haven't attempted to leave or paid attention to announcements, so not sure what the towel check situation is. Don't see it on the pier so I'm assuming everyone has to go to the pool deck for them?

Yup..we are docked. Laziness won and I didn't get up to go watch this morning. Fell asleep at 4am at 8.8 kts, woke up to some vibration and couldn't shake the sleep and finally woke again 725am at 0.0kts. Bowcam doesn't show much right now..and my bed is cozy...no clue what's happening outside.

I believe you are on the July group cruise with @CGTLH.

Ask any bartender at a bar that has the blenders what they can make. It really depends on what cartons of the mix they have on hand. The standards are usually there (pina colada, strawberry daquiri, miami vice, mudslides) but sometimes they have different mixes or can make other creations for you. Frozen mojito is a tasty choice.

I second this! We took the morning train on our own (actually diverting from the land tour's bus itinerary) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. You get to see wildlife and little towns and even a glacier along that route. The train was a very comfortable way to get from Anchorage to Seward. Also if you're in Seward the morning before the cruise departs it is a real easy town to explore. They have a free shuttle bus that will take you in a loop around the town. We visited the Alaska Sealife Center for part of the morning before the cruise.

Yes..you can order from the main dining menu, specialty restaurants or room service and have it delivered to your room. They can set up the ATS table on the balcony for you. With 8 in the room, you can get 8 entrees, apps, desserts, etc. at once so that would be plenty to share with your guests. All of the food will get delivered at once, just a heads up..they're going to need all the flat surfaces they can if you do order 8 of each ?

That's an awful thing to have happen while you were on a cruise. I am sorry for your loss. Insurance companies are notoriously slow in issuing claim payments, so it make take some time for the claim to be reviewed and settled. It takes a lot of documentation and the claimant (that's you) is going to be responsible for tracking down all of the information needed to decide if a claim is covered and how much reimbursement would be offered. Each travel policy is different in what they will and will not cover and for what reasons, so you're going to really need to read and understand your insurance documents thoroughly. I would suggest following up with Royal about potential refunds. If you left the cruise early, in anything you should get the port fees refunded for any port that the ship visited while you were no longer on board. A lot of customer service is outsourced so you need to read your documents, understand what you are entitled to and escalate and advocate for yourself

That's not bad at all! I was playing around with SC bookings and was able to get pricing as low as $10K for 4 people with the current website sale. If you can find enough people to tolerate in one of those 8 person rooms, SC becomes really affordable when you consider it includes the gratuity, dining and drink packages. You just need the flexibility to sail the off season, of course. If you're going to gamble anyways, might as well take advantage of the casino "loyalty" programs. I never understood those that refused to participate in those at land-based casinos. I wouldn't drop a dime in a casino without getting points for something.

We did an independent whale watching tour in ISP and it was amazing. The boat was much smaller than the typical whale watching boats (6 people!) so we had a more personalized experience. I wasn't in charge of the booking, so I can't recommend a specific company to use but a quick search on TripAdvisor will give you lots of options. ISP is small and I would have no issues with straying from an RCL excursion at this port.

It was all flour tortilla based when I went in November. They had nothing corn -- not even nachos. But I've seen photos online of people who had nachos on El Loco Fresh wrappers..so who knows what they're doing now.

I've seen other lines charge immediately as you bring it on board, so think of it as corkage fee gambling. ?

Please do! I love alternative (and cheaper!) transportation. I know we used the Tri-Rail from the Miami airport to our hotel in Brickell and the only issue we had was a considerable delay in departure where we sat on the train for a good 45 minutes before it departed. Public transportation options for me locally are very limited, so I get excited when I am in a city that has it available.

Amen! I did 4 in a little aft-facing interior on an older NCL ship..fortunately we were around the corner from a public restroom.

Not sure about the a la carte outside of drinks and oyster shooters...you may still have to pay the cover fee, but then you can order whatever. Just if they don't have the dining space they can probably accommodate two folks at the bar.

Let him know that if they don't have any tables available as a walk-in he can sit at the bar and order from the full menu there as well ?