BTE

@melski94 That’s great info, I am married to a retired jarhead and we use USAA for all our insurance and somehow I didn’t know this bit of wisdom! 
 
We use the coverage available with our travel credit card since it offers decent benefits. But I recently got a policy through Steve who is at this  URL- https://tripinsurancestore.com/getquotation/
He shoots straight snd offers a multitude of options based on budget and need.
happy sailing! ??‍♀️
Lynn

We were at St. Maarten last week.  While there is still plenty of visible hurricane damage, no facilities or services were interrupted that I noticed.  We did not go to Maho but I heard tour operator hocking excursions to go there so I think it’s open for business.  They definitely took a hard shot.

Enjoyed scrolling thru this blog just now as I prepare for next weekends cruise

I sailed on Mariner in November 2018 from terminal A. We were able to access our room at about 12:45 (don't plan on being lucky enough to access it early) and both SetSail passes were in an envelope outside the door, on the room number placard. But since the entire hallway was blocked until 12:45 we could not get the passes until then.
Steven

This is 100% true for tender ports. It may or may not be true for ports where the ship can dock. But in all cases, you will receive documents in your room at least one day before each excursion, if not all at once on embarkation day, that say where to meet / what to look for / when to be there.

That depends with the airline.  The point remains valid,  Accepting restrictions then expecting them not to apply.
Here's the thing - it's unfortunate a loved one was diagnosed with something.  That's something no one wants. 
Years ago when everyone was honest and could be trusted companies could bend rules for such circumstances.  In our modern age, if any company did so it would quickly spread on social media all you have to do to beat the system is fake a diagnosis or claim family member has XYZ to break the contract.  The issue isn't a company who stands by the contract, the issue is the masses that try to scam and take advantage of them.  Blame our society.  An unfortunate sign of the times.  

Susie, after reading all of the comments I don't think you're in a minority on this at all. Every comment I read included a statement of sympathy for this poster's family member, and that's a sentiment I share. Having someone become sick out of the blue in a way that's serious enough to require cancellation of any kind of vacation or other plans is always a horrible event.
But...
The poster also made a point of making a claim that Royal's behavior in this case is shameful and that they're taking advantage of her. And here also, I agree with the general sentiment expressed. Cruises in general are a big expense, and one that typically has to be purchased a year or more in advance. No one plans on anything bad happening in that year, let alone the 3 months after final payment, but the universe doesn't care -- Bad things still happen anyway, and completely at random. It's one thing to take a gamble like that for a week or two; the odds are very much in your favor. But carry that out to three months or longer, and while the odds are still in your favor, they do get worse and worse as the time increases. To not purchase travel insurance on every single cruise is, to my thinking, rolling the dice in way that you have to be ready to pay for.
To @Janyth -- I too am sorry for your family member and whatever diagnosis they received. And I am sorry that you had to pay a financial price for having to cancel after final payment. But I am not going to blame Royal for shabby treatment when this is spelled out clearly as the price you'll have to pay for canceling at the last minute without insurance to cover this possibility.

Enjoyed scrolling thru this blog just now as I prepare for next weekends cruise

Me too & cant't wait

Also your meeting location should be somewhere on the ship like one of the clubs or theater so you won't have to disembark on your own and find your group on shore.  

I think in order to log into the computers to do anything you would have to purchase one hour of VOOM (which is not much cheaper than one day).  I did that last year to check in for my flights since the last day was a sea day.

Thanks for the blog

This. Every day.

Hmmm.  Need option 4.  Lowest effective final price of cruise regardless how its derived.
To me I don't care if how it's presented, what is the final price?
Fare $3,000, OBC $100 = final cost of $2,900
Fare $2,900, OBC $0 = final cost of $2,900
Fare $3,500, OBC $500 = final cost of $3,000 <- bad deal and this is often what I get at NextCruise (a bad deal with lots of OBC).

Was looking at Bermuda & than stumbled across this blog. Thanks JL as it was very informative. I've put this cruise as a future potential

Going back to Bermuda for my cruise. Woohoo.

Maybe do a wine and painting activity in Vintages.  These are pretty successful on land.

If it's not, consider springing for Chef's Table. Still does wine pairings as a focus of the meal, and the wines are all good quality selections from Vintages. Higher price for that meal than that other option I mentioned, but such a good meal and experience!

Funny you mention this. Someone recently posted that they saw an offering akin to Chef's Table, but held in Vintages. Can't remember who or what ship, or even what to search for to find it. I think it was four courses instead of the five offered at CT, but otherwise the same concept of a meal focused on wine pairings.
So maybe Royal is trying to find new uses for the space, rather than scrapping it like they've done on some of the newer ships.
And I may be an outlier, but I actually like sipping a glass of wine while sitting and chatting with friends or family. Do that all the time at holiday gatherings and such. If my wife drank wine, or I was cruising with friends or family who do, I could see being there a lot in the evenings. Especially if they added some live music of a quieter nature so we could have conversations without shouting. (I'm looking at you, Schooner Bar on Anthem!! Why do you have a piano and its singer's mic amped as loudly as a lead electric guitar?!?)

This probably isn't what you are referring to, but this is on my Cruise Planner for a sailing on Allure and it would shock me if this wasn't held in Vintages. 

We put our phones in airplane mode and used the WiFi calling feature to make calls home.  Make sure you have that.  I tried it on our WiFi at home before we left to make sure that it worked.  I have an iPhone if that makes any difference as I am not sure about the others.

This has been my night at work.  Nothing like using company time, company equipment, and company ink to get ready.

Well I went from not cruising for 8 years Jan 2011 to booking a cruise in Dec for Jan 2019. Than I put a deposit down on 1/9 for a cruise in Aug 2019 & today I put a deposit down for one in Feb 2020. My wife asked was I getting carried away all of the sudden LOL but she didn't say no.
Upcoming cruises
Allure          1/27/2019
Ovation       8/9/2019
Adventure   2/1/2020
Guess I'll just work on planning excursions ect.. for the last 2 & hold off booking anything else for now. Thanks to Michelle - MEI Travel.
 

Getting the itch to add #8 now, trying to restrain myself.
And nevermind being productive after the cruise, try the last week before.  Got 4 days to go, at work now, and all I'm doing is sitting at the desk, looking at the cruise schedule.  Spent the last few work nights sitting at the desk browsing excursions for what I already have booked.  

This cruise addiction is bad isn’t it? I know that the closer that I get to my cruise the more useless I become at work.  I’m just glad that the firewall at my jobs allow this website as well as RCCL through otherwise I’d be in trouble!!??