KristiZ

I have never, ever had trouble getting a spot in a specialty restaurant (other than Teppanyaki) at lunchtime. And yes, you can 100% make a reservation the night before, or even the morning of using the app.

Welcome to the boards! We'll be on this cruise too. We plan to take the train to the airport and fly out in the afternoon in a leisurely fashion. I've sailed out to Civitavecchia before, but pre-covid. I'm sure others who have been there more recently can comment on the time they were able to debark. If you have a flight to Athens noon or later you should easily be able to make it. If you don't want to take the train, Royal also has a bus transfer you can call them to book.

We chose “Grand Etang, Annandale Falls, and Fort Frederick” and enjoyed it. We had a great guide and interesting sights. First stop was Fort Frederick, just outside of St, George’s. Great views of the city and harbor. Next off to Annandale Falls, a small waterfall on the way up the mountain. It was a short walk to a pretty falls, and there were cliff jumpers there to entertain a bit. Next, the rest of the way up the mountain, into the rainforest in Grand Etang national preserve. It rained on us up there, but it wasn’t cold at all. Last stop was the Laura’s Herb and Spice farm. This was an excellent stop — the local guide spent 30 minutes walking us around the working spice farm, showing us all the things they grow. Then back to the ship, on island time again; we were nearly an hour late for no other reason than we were enjoying ourselves and loitered a bit at each stop. Here's a link to my blog from the trip if you want to see pics (about halfway down the first page):

PTY is a lovely airport, once you're past security. Plan plenty of time for bag drop, security, and immigration, because even on a good day the flow and spacing leaves something to be desired.

Do you mean from the Roll Calls? If so, you can start a new one. Or do you mean from Royal's availability? If so it could be a charter.

There’s a city bus that will drop you just over a mile from the Visitor Center. The walk is on a paved path, so no worries about traffic. Might be Route 3, if I recall.

There are always a few veg choices in the Windjammer, if the MDR menu isn't to your liking.

Because if you were going to work that hard you would have made $20s or $100s, not $1s! Hahaha!

Welcome to the boards! No, not everyone needs the app. But it is much more convenient if each person has it -- you can see the daily schedule, send messages to one another, get reminders about reservations, etc. It also makes check-in easier.

Welcome to the boards! A lot of us book under US rules, which are likely different than yours. Hopefully one of our experienced cruisers from that region will chime in with some advice for you!

We've done them recently on Serenade and Vision.

Personally I prefer lunches at specialty restaurants. Much cheaper, and then I can have my big meal at lunchtime which I prefer. The few times I do eat dinner at one of the places with slightly different menus I make sure to pick something not available at lunch, though!

If the earliest Royal excursions leave at 830a, expect tendering to not start until 830a. Once the ship arrives they will need time to get set up and clear any local authorities before starting the tendering operation. And you are correct, Royal excursions will have tendering priority.

Ah! Good! Benefit of doing your B2B out of a port where there are a ton of consecutive cruisers!

There is (most of the time) a nice luncheon for B2B cruisers. Also, you'd have to find your own way back to the ship after the Airboat, if you buy it through Royal -- those excursions do either airport or hotel dropoff. Not that this is bad, just another thing to consider.

Welcome to the boards! If last summer was any indication of the crowds at Schiphol, there is zero chance you will make that flight. We were in business class and one of our party was in a wheelchair (so expedited security) and it took us nearly two hours to get through to the gate.

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I'm guessing that plan would have changed when they realized how often it gets below freezing in Shanghai in the winter. Even Hong Kong will occasionally get quite cold, based on winds from the north. Central Park would not have enjoyed that! Easy enough to move an Oasis ship to Singapore during the winter, though, so not really a problem. Makes sense why they would want the Quantum class flexibility right now which things are still developing however.

It's too cold to sail an Oasis class ship out of China year-round. Best fit for the market is Quantum class.

WS category gets the extra point. As does the JS, guaranty or otherwise. And also your TA is wrong about this. Hope that helps!

MisterZ and I call this the "What If..." game. He loves it, me not so much

Welcome to the boards! You'll want to check the Vietnam immigration website. Any advise here would likely be speculation or past experiences which might no longer be true.

Not that I'm aware of.

It's just as likely to be far less nefarious than you all are suggesting. Airlines oversell, certainly. But I can tell you that a surprising non-zero number of times there was a different reason for a denied boarding. Like someone on the prior flight peed on the seat and the whole row had to be removed from inventory. Or someone stole the seatbelts in a row and there were no spares, so those seats were unusable. (I have more stories -- 14 years as a front-line airline employee!) Could just be that Allure is aging and there are plumbing issues or electrical problems or whatever, that the onboard maintenance team is struggling to get under control. So some sailings have a block of cabins that are unusable for whatever reason. I find there are far fewer complex plots and way more examples of general incompetence in the world. Everywhere.

Welcome to the boards! I've never seen a recliner in any cabin ever.