FionaMG

Absolutely agree, the food-available times are rubbish now on Royal. Not only after 9pm but there's that giant hole in the middle of the afternoon too, from 3pm to 6pm. Remember when the WJ used to be open during those hours with sandwiches and cakes and stuff? 😕

Oh. That’s perfect.  Thank you!!!!

There are a few Alaska sailings online now for summer 2025. Although it's a bit early, this must be a test load ahead of the scheduled release at the end of the month. These are the ones I'm seeing at the moment.

You can book it at Next Cruise. Just ask them for an open booking. It's the same reduced deposit and then you can convert it to the specific sailing of your choice once they're released.
If you've booked your current cruise with a travel agent, the open booking will be assigned to them, so you just have to get in touch with them to let them know what sailing to convert it to. If you booked direct with Royal then you just have to call them when you've picked your specific sailing.
And you'll still get your OBC as long as you pick your sailing within 60 days of booking.

There are a few Alaska sailings online now for summer 2025. Although it's a bit early, this must be a test load ahead of the scheduled release at the end of the month. These are the ones I'm seeing at the moment.

There are a few Alaska sailings online now for summer 2025. Although it's a bit early, this must be a test load ahead of the scheduled release at the end of the month. These are the ones I'm seeing at the moment.

I'm not surprised the flight was rough. We have a huge storm front here right now. A ship (can't remember which one) that was supposed to be calling at Lisbon yesterday had to cancel the port call. I'm like your wife and would have been terrified too. 😬
It's a shame you didn't make it into the city but hopefully you will have another chance in the future.
Safe onward travels. I hope the seas will be smooth for you. 😊

@teddy I'm so sorry to see the weather is being so horrible for your layover. 😬
I can't remember if I already mentioned it but if you want something indoors to do I suggest you check out the Oceanarium: https://www.oceanario.pt/en
 

Absolutely agree, the food-available times are rubbish now on Royal. Not only after 9pm but there's that giant hole in the middle of the afternoon too, from 3pm to 6pm. Remember when the WJ used to be open during those hours with sandwiches and cakes and stuff? 😕

Glad to hear it. 😊
It's not just at Boston; TAP always do that with carry on bags. Just as well you stuck to their rules.
Have a great trip! 😁

I think they're all seriously underwhelming.
I'd say out of the ones I've tried my favourite was the Asian night but that isn't one of the more common ones (it turned up on our 8-night cruise on Anthem out of NJ). I particularly liked the salmon teriyaki on that one.
Out of all the others I've tried, the ones I disliked least were Welcome Aboard, Caribbean and Bon Voyage.
I have yet to experience the Mexican and Taste of the USA menus, both of which look so bad to me that I would probably be tempted to pay for speciality dining on those nights.
Obviously it's all very subjective and others will inevitably love the things I've said I dislike.
 

We did this in St Kitts.  Was decent and learned a lot about the island.  Only downside was the people that showed up 1.5 hours late.  We waited a long time for them beyond departure time and then had to turn around 30-45 minutes in to trip to go back and get them.  They had trouble following the directions on the ticket and waited with the Royal Excursion crowd.  Small group too which was nice.  Booked through http://shoreexcursionsgroup.com (shore excursions group) and locally they used http://isaacsexotictours.com (Isaac's Exotic Tours).
 

Thanks everyone for the advice (Please continue to post any other advice....its very helpful).
So far I'm thinking I may walk to the Queen's stairs (the wife's requested stop) then head across to John Watling's for some rum (thank you @instaGator and then head to the Pirate Museum. Basically a big triangle across the near part of the city. I know people are suggesting a beach visit.....but I grew up in Redondo Beach so I'm all full up on beach days from when I was a kid....plus I think Coco Cay covers that pretty well on the cruise.
 
Again, I'm still open to suggestions. I know that this stop has been given a low score on the "things to do" list...but I know this group has done most everything there is to do.  I appreciate the help.

DH, DS and I enjoyed the "Adventure Jeeps, Beach & Local Lunch" excursion offered by Royal, although it could have done to be about an hour longer, as we only had time for half an hour at the beach at the very end of the tour.
The food served at the local lunch was very tasty. It was a fun excursion. You do need to bear in mind that the jeeps take 4 people so if there are fewer than four in your party you may have to share with others.
Depending on the time of the tour, you may do lunch first or last.
We got this tour heavily discounted during the Black Friday sale, at $68.99 pp. In the week before we sailed I saw it at $100.

Just thinking out of the box here. Are you travelling with someone else in the same cabin (spouse, parent, friend or whoever)? If so, perhaps they could try to do the check-in under their account. It only needs one person on a booking to do the check-in process as they can check in everyone else on the booking as well.

Okay after all the hubbub we are on here. I have a lot to catch up on. This sailing has 6720 pax so getting things squared away has been a hassle. I almost got all the times but Izumi was not happening.

This was my first London experience and sailing from Southampton
we flew in on Wednesday so we could have a few days in London prior to heading to Southampton.
Flight: virgin from JFK to Heathrow 8am flight-landing essentially 8pm. Immigration? Look at the camera-no line….Customs? No one present to ask a question.  Luggage was already in the terminal on the belt.  I’ve never had an easier time!
hotel-we stayed at comfort inn Victoria . It was clean, the room had a full and a twin.  No way I can sleep in a full with hubby, we are tall and not thin.  The room itself was nice , the beds too firm, pillows very soft! And the room was hot despite the ac unit being on.   Was the ac fixable? Could be, but we didn’t bother, we opened the window and put a fan on.  We were a “good walk” from Buckingham palace and Westminster Abby -(opposite directions) we took the tube from Westminster Abby to Kensington palace to check out the park and Sunken garden.  The tube was relatively clean and felt safe.  No crazed looking people like NYC.  Our hotel was across the corner from a pub. Oddly the pub closed at 11-seriously, even on a Friday!
we were walking distance to the train station and the Apollo theater.  We purchased tickets to Wicked.  There are NO last minute deals for tickets (unlike NYC TKTS Booth). Tickets were substantially less price wise than NYC Broadway.  We are at a small Italian restaurant and really enjoyed the food,(lasagna annd chicken”parm”)  and the pricing was good . Ill Posto Ristorante /pizzeria.  The man at an adjacent table had pizza and he couldn’t get over how good it was.  I would go back. 
 
departure to Southampton.  We were warned months ago by UK residents in our Facebook group sailing that there was potential for train strikes.  We chose to book a bus, as recommended by the UK residents so we wouldn’t have the worry over a strike.    We purchased tickets from National Express website a few months ago and upgraded to “reserve your seat” and paid for an extra piece of luggage. (Ticket price includes a large luggage and a backpack size carry on) the cost was 22 pounds with reserved seats and extra luggage-TOTAL!. I looked at ticket pricing the night before the bus trip and it was at 16 pounds for one ticket without reserved seats or extra luggage so book early!  We checked out the bus station prior to our departure day.  Very easy to find the National Express bus area. The bus station has food-nothing glorified.  Don’t look for an egg sandwich -it’s not happening.  
‘Bus:  the bus begins boarding 15 minutes prior to departure.  Gates (door outside) closes 2 minutes prior to departure snd does not reopen-even if you pound and beg (witnessed this). There are chairs at each gate-not enough to hold all the passengers.  The public restrooms-well they are public, not the cleanest. 
passengers line up for the bus early….because they don’t pay to reserve seats….who wants to sit next to the toilet?
the driver checks your ticket and counts your bags and loads them. 
reserved  seats have a seatbelt across them and a reserved sign.  No mistakes if you took those seats!
Overhead bin space is very narrow-maybe the height of a bottle of water. Leg space is minimal.  So if you go get on the bus with an oversized bag -if the driver overlooks it-expect to hold it or place under your legs. I do not know if you have the option to purchase extra luggage space when you are boarding.  
our bus had issues where it became overbearingly hot….not warm…HOT. I run hot but others started yelling about the heat.  The controls are above the front area near the driver and a passenger made the adjustment per the driver.  Later it became cold-I LOVE the cold….but it was ridiculous.  Same passenger fixed it-to which we had adjustments made twice more hot then cold.  I told hubby he now knows what menopause is like!
when we arrived at the bus station the passengers couldn’t disembark quick enough.  I thought maybe they got a prize for getting off the bus first, or there were limited free drinks on the sidewalk.  I was row 5 and was one of the last people off the bus.  I’m from NY and even subway riders aren’t so rude. 
 
Southampton-we chose to stay at Ibis.  It’s clean and breakfast is included.  We walked from Southampton bus station to the hotel-about 10 minutes.  Check in was speedy.  The room is quaint.  2 twins again (or it would have been a full)
‘we went to The Standing Order aka Witherspoons to meet fellow cruisers and have some libations and food.  It was inexpensive!  Don’t forget you don’t have waiters come around, you order via the app or at the bar. 
there is a Boots pharmacy a very short walk from the Ibis hotel. The cruise port appears to be a 10 minute walk. If you didn’t want to go to the standing order (highly recommend) the Inis has food and pricier drinks and they only accept card.  . There’s a McDonald’s down the block and a TGI Fridays as well.
 
 

Well I made it to the station, much worse for wear than I thought 🙃 😅
Unfortunately bff's mom was weak and had a spill. She is okay and didn't break anything but she cancelled. I've never dealt with a no-show so that's going to be a new experience. 
We checked bags, omg so many bags for 7 people. The blind gent can barely see, like he only recognized me because of all the purple. My mother is already having mood swings.
Also the new vintage is a lot. She ranks on carnival and she brought a speaker to play music 😵🤯 I think it is so uncouth to play music for others to hear in public spaces......plus I'm a grunge girl 😈🤟

That’s a lot of our meals that she can’t fully customize, lol. I make her keep the onion ring that comes on the burger at Playmakers just so she can pluck it off & give it to me. 🤣

Go into your cruise planner and click on your initials top right. Royal Gifts is in the drop-down menu.

I just tried this as I wanted to grab a price without bothering my TA on a weekend. It's a 48 hour+5 hour hold.  We'll see if I can transfer a hold to a TA or how that works.

Hoping things will get better as soon as possible. Stay safe.

I liked the salmon on both the old and new menus but prefer the new (current) one.
I also loved the banana split, which sounds daft because it's just a banana and ice cream, right? But the ice cream was really good, much better than MDR ice cream and they put some sort of crispy caramelly stuff on top that was just wonderful. 😋

Lamb Shank is a good night for sure!  That's a good one.  I get two each night and I would get the Lamb Shank and the Chicken Chettinad and feel a little slighted that I was missing the Med Steak.  My wife would certainly get the turkey and I would sample from her plate for her safety. 😉

It shows you how subjective the food is; to me, that is one of the better menus. The Mediterranean steak is different and better according to DH and DS. The chicken chettinad is a bit spicier than the other Indian dishes I tried.