loki007

Things definitely have changed since COVID. Staffing is difficult and i don't fault Royal for that. lots of new people, trained fast and put to work before they would have been pre-COVID I'm sure. I do fault royal for stuffing these ships to more than max capacity. That just exacerbates the poor service situation. We have moved to Celebrity and I'm hopeful my experience in December will be better than our 3 Royal experiences in 2022. Hope your cruise gets better.

Yeah our Canadian family don't visit much when the exchange rate is so bad.

inflation hits alcohol too. price of grain is up 20%

ive done zoom calls before on Oasis(Central Park is nice and quiet). Better if you can just do audio and not be on video

looks like they've done a great job with the neighborhoods separating action from relaxing. I definitely think you would like celebrity which definitely more adult, service oriented.

we always buy the DBP even though my wife probably doesn't get her moneys worth most days. I just don't want to think about it and worry about my bill at the end of the cruise. Pre-paying for the DBP is worth it for us.

the free coffee is garbage, the specialty coffee is fantastic. I always start the day with a triple shot latte

State department website reports 7-10 weeks for new applications. If its been longer than that there is something wrong. We had our renewals processed and in hand in under a month las year.

i was on Mariner in July and they were doing this in the Solarium until 10am. So basically people would sleep on the chairs from 630am until 10 then left for hours

I have never had the need for bug spray on 13 cruises. We kayaked thru a mangrove forest in St Thomas, Inland excursions in Mexico, I don't recall ever seeing a mosquito

We had a great stop in Falmouth pre-pandemic. Hired a driver for the day and went to the Falls and a couple other cool spots. Get a cab and have them take you to Scotchies for some authentic Jerk Chicken and your pint of Red Stripe.

i have, a word of wisdom...do not park under a street light. After a week my car was literally covered in bird poop

we have had the boardwalk balcony a couple times and they are a lot of fun. Lots of action during the day, quiet at night.

Labadee is awesome, one of our favorite ports. The beaches and water are spectacular, nothing better that a cold Labadoozie with the Boozie!

they are the same zip line. Dragons breath you are sitting and Dragons fire you are lying down prone. We did the Dragons breath and it was a lot of fun.

Do you have kids with you? The jolly Pirate is a lot of fun. Takes you to a couple nice snorkeling spots, provide all the gear, open bar, rope swing. It goes out of eagle beach. Take a cab there, rent some chairs, lots of food options around. highly recommend Pelican Pier, or Nos Clubhuis at the Marriott.

only and an oasis class ship. Older ships do not have a spa cafe

Same with the celebrity site

Never had a problem getting a drink whenever I felt like one

there is plenty of parking, both covered and non covered. i think you will be fine with the truck

you should see them on the cruise planner, unless they aren't doing them post COVID?

lines aren't terrible. sessions are a few minutes depending on how busy it is. I would recommend buying the private lessons. The staff will spend a lot more time with your kids and make sure they have fun.

beach loungers are free at coco cay and there are plenty of them. If you want to buy upgrades there are day beds, cabanas, and i highly recommend the coco beach club.

we always buy the key and enjoy it. You will get an email a couple weeks before embarkation that you can check in early with the key. Its usually around 11:00

we have verizon unlimited and didnt have to do anything on our recent cruise. when you get to port and your phone connects to the local network you should get a text from verizon saying if you use your device its $10 for 24 hours. We had several travel pass credits and didnt even have to pay the $10.