fireclan

Or the poors in GenPop...

I'm a long time user of DDG but definitely no expert about how these things work. I know I don't have the annoying ads so much when I use it compared to when I accidentally use big G. But my understanding is that bloggers want and need these ads as income for their sites. And without income, they may not be able to maintain a site. I'm not sure it would be beneficial to a site to have everyone blocking ads, however annoying. Unless the site could get income from the user in another way, which would be to contribute with a "membership" to help support the site. I have chosen this avenue for me with my (somewhat) ad-blocking browser. This site is of value to me, entertains me, passes along good information and keeps me in touch with cruising when I am not on a ship. And I would like it to continue. So, I'm sure many, many more of you understand how the whole blogging, ads, etc. things work WAY better than me. But this is my opinion, however simple it may sound.

I think when you book online, you may not be able to start cruise planning immediately. But I would suspect by this morning (hopefully) you are in the planner and scheduling all the things.

We've done two (or three?) SB on Anthem in the past. We've watched the game in the theater (no commercials) and food was provided along the back of the theater - things like hot dogs, nachos, burgers, etc. I haven't been a football fan for years, but enjoyed pretending to vote for a team. During commercial times, I think there were some giveaways like the typical keychains, pens, etc.

Yes, grasshopper, things are not always as they seem.

If you're both diamond +, don't you each get 2 free days?

Just some advice from an old lady who has been washing towels a looonnnggg time - don't use fabric softener on microfiber, it reduces absorbency.

Happy New Year to you and Dan! Where are you, what ship?

As a lifelong Maryland resident, I occasionally cruise out of Baltimore and wished that port provided ship options other than the oldest and smallest in the fleet (but, hey, it's still a cruise!). I'll relay a few things that I've been told in the past few years which MAY indicate a change coming to Baltimore - several years ago my son, a county (adjacent to Baltimore) firefighter toured an area south of the Frances Scott Key bridge which they were instructed would be "Royal Caribbean's new cruise port". At the time, if I remember the conversation correctly, the property was undergoing some type of soil remediation (?). The location would be in his station's response area and definitely eliminated the Key bridge as an obstacle. More recently, my brother, who owns a communication business located in a suburb of Baltimore, put a bid in to provide services to "Royal Caribbean's new cruise port" and he indicated the same location as my son reported. Unfortunately, he didn't get the bid so no more information forthcoming. That's all I got, but I'm hopeful it's news and not rumor!

Gosh, that's a shame. I remember twenty years ago, sailing on Celebrity, the same happened to us. Went to pick up our luggage in the terminal and one bag was missing. And no one was the least bit helpful. We had to fly home without it. It actually caught up with us several days later...the airline (or airport?) delivered it to our home How that happened I have no idea since it went missing in the cruise terminal. Good luck to you.

I do not trust the information in the app. I booked some My Time dining times for my husband and I on the current cruise we are on. The reservation times were NOT the same in our apps. I also purchased Chef's Table for Christmas dinner. My app reservation said 6:30. Guess what? Everyone else was there at 6:00 so we were 30 minutes late. Not only am I embarrassed for holding up a very special dinner, I'm pissed off about it. I will be skeptical about app info going forward.

We left late, 11:30 to midnight I believe. It seemed, from our balcony, quite a bit of medical support equipment left with the patient. @WAAAYTOOO gave a great description of the almost eeriness of pulling into a dark, abandoned dock. Very odd. On a lighter note, we saw Elon's second launch of the night go over Grand Turk while watching the medical evac.

This is definitely a strange emergency. Only an unmarked passenger mini van came out to meet the ship. Not an emergency vehicle in sight.

We're on Adventure 12/22 - 30 and we received these beautiful beach totes and two towels for Christmas! What a treat!

Both illnesses started 2 days before DISembarkation, not embarkation. As I've learned on this blog... "Reading is Fundamental"

Royal Caribbean states on their website that a guarantee room can be assigned in advance or on the day of sailing. In a post by @twangster in 2021, he mentions the same. As a more experienced cruiser, you or I might be concerned if no cabin had been assigned by the week of the cruise but a relatively new cruiser would probably think this is totally normal for a guarantee. I respectfully disagree that the cruiser shares any responsibility in this fiasco by not doing "due diligence".

We're booked on Odyssey out of NJ in Jan 2025. But, same old-same old itinerary as you mentioned.

Adventure of the Seas, Dec 22, 2023

Same with us! My husband cranks that wood stove up...

@Traveling Mike I hope this morning finds you on your way to the cruise you're not excited about! Maybe it's the pre-cruise packing and traveling that's has you a bit unmotivated (I have really grown to dislike that part of the cruise experience), or maybe you've had enough of cruising for a while. Hopefully some down time on your B2B will give you perspective as ponder these thoughts and feelings. As @Xaa posted, please honor that "contract" you made here and bring us along on your journey! Bon voyage!

Usually my husband and I cruise together but I book the on-board purchases under my name. When I want to take advantage of a lower price, I book it under his name and then cancel it from my name (if that makes sense). It's worked for us in the past.

Sometimes people just want to vent about their negative cruise or travel experience. Those issues mentioned may not bother me, but it annoyed the OP enough to find an outlet for his disappointment with his recent cruise. I really don't believe he was looking for suggestions, answers, or a discussion, just somewhere to let someone know how he/she was feeling. And maybe thinking, as many have previously, that these posts somehow get read by Royal Caribbean.

Etsy has these you can personalize with the anchor instead of an initial hopefully. (fingers crossed I inserted image correctly).

I checked ebay, sorry, no luck.

Probably something you can pay to purchase in the future...