KristiZ

Well, sure, but lounging onboard the ship while everyone else is off cooking in the sun? I'll take it! ?

OHMYGOODNESS YES. I can't wait. Working is overrated ?

Wait... so you're saying it's more likely she'll have some rare, fantastic repo route to get her to her new home port in LA??

Let me try again... no, not normally. Unless you're all in a JS or above, in which case the Diamond status doesn't matter.

@Traveler, will you be on the inagural cruise now, and do one of your great blogs for us??

I actually see the same change on my Radiance booking in Dec'21, so it's not just Mariner.

I suspect they changed their mind when you asked for a permanent cabin as your “licensing fee” ?

I gotta say, UDP is always way too much food for us. I prefer a 3-night package myself. Or even just doing ala carte as we go, especially since you can usually get a good price at lunchtime in most venues.

The face shield is only a supplement to a mask. CDC recommends it only in addition, not in place of, cloth face coverings. I’ll bet no will be the answer.

Welcome to the boards! While expensive, the only way I can recommend seeing ruins from Cozumel is to do Chichen Itza by air. This gives you maximum time at the ruins and avoids the long bus rides that you'd have to take to other sites.

I've sailed on 9 different Royal ships and have loved them all... EXCEPT Legend. And she's gone, so nothing to worry about ?

I did an Ensenada run in the mid-90s on Viking Serenade. Is that what you're thinking of?

I can tell you that the sailing you have booked in the GS, you will get to access most of those activities for free at least once. For example, we got a free pass on the bumper cars that included a “jump the line”. Royal is just, for whatever reason, very circumspect about advertising the perks in that market.

We cruised over Christmas and New Years for the first time three years ago and are sold on doing it every year! We love the festive decorations and special events.

I think this is because all her remaining itineraries are 8+ days

I grabbed the Arctic trip on Jewel. Maybe 2022 will be my Arctic year, since 2020 got canceled and 2021 didn't run that itinerary! Fingers crossed!

We did a 12-day trip a few years ago. Even though it was port intensive, we didn't feel overwhelmed. I think you'll have no problem, especially if you take the turnaround day as a "day of rest".

I did! ? So far so good -- only been 7 weeks, so the new-car smell hasn't worn off yet ? ? Yup.

The Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka is actually pretty cool. We did it years ago on a ship excursion.

No.

I just moved from Tokyo to Managua. Part of the protocol involved a COVID test. In the major airline hub cities (and in some cases actually in the airport) you can get a RT-PCR test with a less than 12 hour turn around. Newark had facilities for this, for sure, and we actually tested at the lab recommended by Avianca in Miami, about 20 minutes from the airport. Cost was $189 per person and all you have to say to get an appointment is that you’re “traveling”. There was also a choice of lab that took 24 hours to return results but only cost about $90. So long as cruises are leaving from large cities like that, it shouldn’t be a problem.

You should definitely wait. The current market is very screwed up with all the changes to service. I would start looking again mid-December, personally.

Please L&S my Nov 1 2020 Liberty sailing to Oct 3 2021 on Liberty (sigh) Please add Mar 26 2021 Grandeur

All true except the minimum is actually 8 cabins https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/staterooms-group-reservations

As @WAAAYTOOO says, I would definitely suggest not trying to rent a car. You would need an IDP to do it, and even if you could find a company that would come to the port with the car (a big if), you will only be able to estimate what time you get to disembark. The immigration process in Japan for cruise ships is definitely one of the, shall we say, least customer service oriented systems I've seen ? You will definitely need some yen if you want to do things on your own. While more places are taking credit card than have in the past, non-cash forms of payment being accepted in Japan is never guaranteed. The fastest/easiest way to get around is by taxi. You would need two with a group that size, but that is easy to do. Some taxis take credit cards. You can also check out something like AirBnB Experiences and see if you can get a local guide for a day. This is an excellent basic travel guide for Okinawa: https://www.visitokinawa.jp/?fbclid=IwAR1gg15J2v_ro8RgPuDN2bACBViV5d1WIJrcCsFVeq24mBnzkhmH3F8KdYY Here is the castle near Nagagusuku: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7107.html If you're there during the week, this is a good lunch spot (please ignore the crap website): https://tantantei-minami-uebara.food96.com/ This is a small chain, but also good local food: http://danbo.jp/store_info/ Heading north from the port will get you to some lovely natural areas. Enjoy, and feel free to ask more questions!