KJones

Yes, that's totally fine

Can't comment on the Sip Tour Brunch, but those lunch prices look pretty good to me

This is true.  There are so many people celebrating what to them is a really important date on the cruise.  The crew isn't able to extend extra exuberance to any specific set of passengers at the expense of the others.  Please do go in knowing that and hopefully don't diminish your gratuities if the crew finds every passenger special and not just you as newlyweds.

"Hey I've got an idea. Let's build a beach for adults only that looks like a blue empanada from above!

Sailing solo leaving your wife, grown kids, family and dogs home…to reach Pinnacle Club status quicker.
Depriving yourself of your loving family and pets just so your wife can enjoy the privileges of Pinnacle with you sooner than if you did it together is an enormously selfless sacrifice.
You, sir, are a hero! I salute you!🫡

If you're talking about filling water bottles from the Freestyle machine it's because the cup has an RFID chip so the machine knows you are allowed to use it.
Beware, poor planning can result in increased out of pocket costs.

I'm just going to say I am the biggest fan of the MDR experience.  I love it soup to nuts!  
I organized a group of 18 with mostly adults but a 4 or so under 16.  They put us all together at a very long table off to the side.  They even had the table marked with a big reserved sign on it with my name which was a nice touch.  However it wasn't as great as it could have been, but it was all our fault.  Sometimes we were not all there right on time, people would move around based on whatever conversation was going on - it was a tiny bit chaotic.  Taking the order of 18 people took quite a long time and inevitably someone would want to change their order by the end of the process.  Dinner was slow and clunky - again all our fault.
We did it again the following year and did multiple tables of either 6 or 8 and had a much better experience.  So my two cents is get a couple of tables instead of trying to act as one big party.

I get it.  You don't want to hear what I'm saying.  
You just want what you want.  
Enjoy your cruise.

The described experience with Iglu doesn't at all reflect a typical one with an actual travel agent, not an online travel consolidator agency.

I think we are just in a different era of time. 50-60 years ago people got dressed up to go anywhere. Men wore suits outside of the home most of the time. 25 years ago most workplaces still had very strict dress codes. Now, a lot of successful entrepreneurs and/or CEO's under 40 wear only hoodies. Things change and that's just the way it is. 
I still dress up somewhat but not to stuffy. I care more about someone's attitude than what they are wearing. I'd rather be cruising with kind hearted, fun loving onsie pajama wearing folks than a bunch of suits treating staff and fellow cruisers like crap.

I don't even notice what people are wearing in the MDR 95% of the time.

No, many excursions have multiple stops.  Often the same guest is late returning to the bus at each stop which means the other guests get less time at each stop since they are sitting on the bus.  In the extreme case, they have to skip a stop so you miss part of your paid excursion due to guests being inconsiderate.

I usually purchase policies with Allianz via AAA portal. I will usually buy insurance for any trip that has non-refundable costs of $1k or more (personal preference/limit), whether it's a cruise or big vacation. I almost always book refundable hotels, so I never include that in my trip value being covered. For cruises, I usually will only insure the value of the cruise fare, airfare and any 3rd party non-refundable excursions/ prepaid things. RC Cruise planner purchases and gratuities would all be refunded if I couldn't make the sailing for some reason, so I don't include those.

Cost will vary by: level of coverage, cost of trip(s) being insured, age of person(s) insured, etc.
If you're cruising 6-8 times per year, you would definitely want the annual policy rather than per trip. It will also cover non-cruise travel.
There's different levels of coverage, so you would need to look up each policy to see what they offer for flight cancellation/ delays, baggage loss/ delays, etc.

Don’t make that assumption. 
 
Even with a passport; it is not unheard of for single parents to be scrutinized if taking a child out of the country. 

They do! When we were there last in 2019 the emailed us to ask if we wanted a refund, even offering to let us go and see how it was before deciding if we wanted to stay. We ended up staying, but transportation to/from port would have been at no cost to us had we decided on the refund after arriving.

I'm afraid that the information that you received is correct.  If you reprice an existing booking with a new discount applied, it would be repriced at the current rate.  Are you able to reprice your existing booking with the 340 points reduced supplement ?  Absolutely.  ...but it will be at the current rate.  Back in the "old days" this kind of repricing would most likely have resulted in an actual savings but with today's soaring rates, there is very little chance that repricing an existing booking will help you at all.  Should the NC reps have mentioned this technicality ?  Maybe...but what you were asking them at the time (could you reprice an existing booking to utilize the 340 perk) was absolutely allowed. They have no way of knowing whether a rate in the future would be higher, lower, the same, or offer you any kind of savings, so they choose to just stay out of that debate.

Room has been changed!  Special thanks to @recogneyes for giving us a simple solution!  Thanks all that answered, truly appreciated!

Personally, I would use an ATM on shore rather than ship machine. Fees are going to be much higher onboard.

My guess: weather. With all the hurricanes / storms / wind this time of year, they likely don't want mass cancellations the day of, so they just dont' want to allow reservations in advance. It might be available to book at the shore excursion desk once you're onboard. Again, just a guess.

I often read negatives about what didn't go right. Now its time for what did go right, which was most everything. From the time the taxi pulled up to the big blue girl all was good. The Key whisked us past the crowds right on board to a great chops lunch. Muster was quick and easy but required a red do as something didn't register with the system the first time. No problem I like deck 4 any way. Room great, attendant great, pre-ordered blanket and water in place. Ketchikan maintained its rep as my favorite stop. Shopped till we dropped. Gal got a mastodon or mammoth bone bracelet. We watched the salmon in the river. Then we ducked the long lines of the fish house for my snaky "best place" the Crab and Go. Chowder of course good but the halibut they do is the best fish dish I have ever tasted (and I'm a pro fishing boat captain). We did the bears in Sitka and they didn't disappoint. Lunch there was at a street vendor and we had snow crab rolls and wild berry tea. Juneau we got lucky . Cab ride to the glacier was shared. The fog lifted allowing us to see it in all its glory. We saw eagles as well. We had done lunch aboard before going in to town so no food secrets there. Found a blanket in town for 1/4 the price they were charging back on the ship. Sea days were spent on the balcony spotting whales, dolphins, mola, a couple otters and puffins. Even a school of tuna that I had no idea went that far north. We stayed aboard in Victoria. Hated to get off. We did a day room thing in town. Revisited Pike's place. Then off to Airport. Heard nightmare stories about long TSA lines.... They were not exaggerating! Should have listened to advice. Flight packed but smooth. Found out the hard way that sleeping on an Alaska air 737 wasn't gonna happen. Still sleepy as a person could get , I stayed awake reliving the great rip we just had. The mindset on Fiancé was that this would be a one time thing. Not a full day after getting home and she's already fine tuning one southbound on Radiance to get more Alaska time and maybe some inside passage time this trip. 

Sure wish they would have given the same compensation for the Panama Canal cruises that they're giving for these

We just did this in August 2023.  I am disabled and walk with a cane.  I had no issue with the distance.  However, the entire path from the upper to the lower city is marble stone and very slippery.  Thankfully my wife took my hand and I had to go very slowly.  People without disability seemed to have no problems.  I highly recommend Ephesus!

I believe it’s referring to the actual site of Ephesus being strenuous, more than the Basilica or House of Virgin Mary. The entire site is quite a walk, with a slight incline and some uneven footing and stairs throughout. It took us just over an hour to walk the length of the city ruins (at the pace of the tour guide, not us) and there is no shade to be found, so it’s pretty exhausting if you’re going in the summer. 
It was so awesome and definitely worth the heat! 

I usually purchase policies with Allianz via AAA portal. I will usually buy insurance for any trip that has non-refundable costs of $1k or more (personal preference/limit), whether it's a cruise or big vacation. I almost always book refundable hotels, so I never include that in my trip value being covered. For cruises, I usually will only insure the value of the cruise fare, airfare and any 3rd party non-refundable excursions/ prepaid things. RC Cruise planner purchases and gratuities would all be refunded if I couldn't make the sailing for some reason, so I don't include those.

Cost will vary by: level of coverage, cost of trip(s) being insured, age of person(s) insured, etc.
If you're cruising 6-8 times per year, you would definitely want the annual policy rather than per trip. It will also cover non-cruise travel.
There's different levels of coverage, so you would need to look up each policy to see what they offer for flight cancellation/ delays, baggage loss/ delays, etc.

Not really but I've also not seen anyone really make a fuss to those who did choose to mask up especially in elevators or while boarding. I think, overall, most people see masking as a personal choice and no one bothers you if you choose to wear it. we chose to mask in the shuttles and on the plane but opted against it for the ship and ports (not really sure why...probably just didn't feel like messing with it tbh)