kadmgs

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

I have not tried it yet for sea sickness, but I recently bought and used a Relief Band for chemo nausea. It was amazing. Its effectiveness definitely justified the cost for me. I plan on taking it with me in November on our Adventure cruise and we bought one for DW since it worked so well for me.

I will echo @Galveston Steve's statement. I haven't tried Koop's as well, but everyone on the Galveston Eats facebook page rave about it. I'll be down there in October and plan to try it. Depending on the amount of time you have while in Galveston, I recommend taking your boys to LaKing's Confectionery. It is an almost 100 year old candy store in the historic part of the Strand. My brother and I loved going every summer on vacation when we were kids.

We live an hour from Galveston. I'm IHG and a HIVC owner, so we stay mostly out at one of the timeshares. I would not recommend the Holiday Inn Resort next to the San Luis Hotel. It is old and needs serious updating/remodeling. I haven't stayed at the Holiday Inn Express @ 3228 Seawall, but it is next door to a great option for dinner, The Spot. It is very kid-friendly and has tons of outdoor seating, both covered and not, with great views of the Gulf. It is actually several different restaurant concepts in one area, kinda under one roof, but not really. They are known for their burgers and they are good in my opinion. They also have seafood and other stuff, but it might not all be available in the same area. If you go there, look at the menus before you choose which place to order from. We have the Holiday Inn Express booked for our Thanksgiving cruise because I could use points. I would recommend Uber or Lyft if you want to venture out and for the morning of departure.

Thank you!

Thank you!

Well, this isn't happening now. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in April and we were hoping I wouldn't have to do chemo, but I found out Wednesday that I do. So, we have to cancel.

We aren't getting off the ship in Belize. We aren't snorkeling or diving on this trip, so Belize options are limited. We've been to Belize before and did a city tour... do not recommend. It was not good. We are going to Paradise Beach in Cozumel, a private tour in Roatan (don't remember the company, DH booked it), and the Krazy Lobster in Costa Maya.

We are IHG rewards members, so we've stayed at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami and the Intercontinental Miami. Both are located on Biscayne Bay Blvd. and are across the street/across the park from Bayside Marketplace. Bayside is a shopping/dining/entertainment area on the edge of Biscayne Bay. You can see the cruise terminal from both hotels. The Holiday Inn is a more affordable location compared to the Intercontinental. We Lyfted from the hotel to the terminal and it took less than ten minutes. We love to spend time in Little Havana when we are in Miami and its about a 10 minute Lyft to there from both hotels.

I agree. Central Park is pretty busy on formal night. The reverse thinking on this is that there will more than likely be a ship photographer near by that you can take pictures with. You could even speak with the photo people to see if they would be in on it with you. There is an option to buy a private photo session with a photographer. You could tell you're girlfriend you won a free session and you thought pictures together in Central Park would be nice. You could do the whole, "Oops, I dropped my seapass card" drop to your knee to it pick up trick, all while the photographer is snapping away.

The "international" plug fits multiple plugs. Your UK converter will work just fine.

1. Yes, only 2 outlets. However, there is also a European outlet as well. Get a travel outlet converter to use. Be aware of the different voltage on Euro plugs. For example, I plugged the hair dryer into my converter on Oasis in December and it got HOT, FAST and then shut off due to overheating... I forgot about the difference in American appliances (110 volts) versus Euro (220 volts). 2. You will get a flyer with instructions in your cabin when you board about logging in. Basically, the system will recognize your stateroom number and it will know which plan you paid for. If you log in on your phone and your husband is already logged in on his, it will prompt you to log him out. You will then be able to log in on your device and vice versa. 3. You can use wifi calling. We do. Once on board, put your phone in airplane mode and manually turn your wifi back on. You can then use the wifi without using your cell data plan. 4. yes, we order a light continental breakfast delivered each morning and then later in the morning have a "sit down" breakfast. We follow the "Hobbit" meal plan when cruising. 5. Yes, it gets pretty dark. I've used hair clips to close the little tiny gaps at times if it shows through. 6. I would be careful to schedule anything within 2 hours of departure from a port unless you are on a Royal excursion. You don't want to get left if there is a complication. The ship will only wait for you if you are on a Royal sponsored excursion aka one you purchased through the cruise planner. 7. I've also never heard of anyone dealing with bedbugs onboard. Hotels, yes, but not on a Royal ship.

I agree with Andy. The bathroom really is a big upgrade for us compared to non-suite rooms. Not tripping over bags and/or anything else because of the closet is a bonus as well.

I firmly believe that decrease in interaction with guests is due to staffing shortages. We were on Oasis in December and had a conversation with our stateroom attendant about it. She explained how their schedules were working due to COVID protocols. They were assigned more staterooms that usual and there was a weird week by week rotation that they were on. My guess is that servers in the MDR are being assigned to more tables than usual and that leads to them simply not having time to build a relationship. As a former waiter and front manager in a land based restaurant, I can attest that it is much easier to manage a 4 table section than it is a 6 or 8 table section.

I would stay in the Clear Lake/Webster area. It is much safer and about half way between Hobby and Galveston. Uber/Lyft from Hobby to this area isn't bad at all.

Hobby airport is in a rough part of town. With that being said, I've at the Holiday Inn just down the street from this La Quinta and I haven't had any issues. However, I'm never by myself and I keep my head on a swivel. I just looked at Google Maps and this location is a newer location, so at least the rooms don't open to the outside. I think you will be ok, just be careful and be aware that crime in that area can be an issue.

Now that you said that, I think I remember seeing them. Those sailings conflicted with my school schedule if I remember correctly. That or we didn't want to sail on Enchantment. We aren't fans of small ships. Matt's assessment of fuel costs makes the most sense.

Were these Enchantment sailings?

Conch is the national dish of the Bahamas, so I would say conch salad or conch fritters.

As Ashley said, an additional food option is an assumption. I would expect them to increase food options with another snack shack location or the like due to increased capacity. I thought I read the area would include a pool, but I may be confusing it with something else. Regardless, it would still give a more quiet location without kids and increase capacity of the island.

We have done this as well and didn't have an issue.

Theoretically, yes it would because people would choose to use the adults-only pool or food option rather than the current options. I for one would fit this description. I prefer the more laid back, quite areas of the island, but that's not possible right now if I want to go to the pool unless I pay for the beach club. Hideaway beach will be free, so it would give me an option rather than going to the oasis pool.

Same... haven't used it for hanging a curtain, but have used them for hats, lanyards, etc.

They are currently in the process of expanding the island/amenities with the addition of hideaway beach (the adults only area). This would allow for more people to be on the island in the event two oasis class ships were there at the same time.

This... Since the re-design of Cococay, there hasn't been an itinerary out of Galveston that included it. Therefore, there is no data to prove how it would sell. The number of ships at any given time/scheduling of ships is the only reason I see as justification. I have a feeling there are many of us that sail out of Galveston who would jump at the chance to go to Cococay. There are a few Radiance sailings that include Cococay, but those are times in which I can sail aka they are during school. Radiance data can't be used either because the majority of people with school aged children are not going to sail when Radiance is sailing out of Galveston (Spring '23).