IRMO12HD

I see BeachGal is linking this thread back to some newer questions so I thought it might be a good time to respond with a few comments/additions/corrections...
First, I am a "local", having lived in several widespread locations in the Los Angeles area virtually all of my life...
I notice BeachGal mentioning Ports o' Call Village.  Important to know that Ports o' Call closed down just prior to the pandemic and has been "under construction" ever since.  The last note I saw was that they expected to open the NEW Ports o' Call sometime in 2023...We are all patiently waiting...
She also mentions Naples and Belmont Brewing.  Note that, even if one is staying in the Long Beach Convention Center area (the recommended tourist area of Long Beach and close to the Carnival pier), Belmont Shores and Naples are a considerable distance away on the other side of Long Beach.  Both would require a car or an Uber. "2nd street (between PCH and Livingston Dr." is the main street through Belmont Shores and Naples...again, the Eastern side of Long Beach.  All of these are even further from San Pedro.
The drive on PCH to Laguna Beach has some somewhat scenic parts...and some not...and is a fairly long drive.  A more scenic drive is going UP the coast...around the Palos Verdes Penninsula from San Pedro...Very hilly with some staggering Pacific Ocean views from the cliffs...
IN San Pedro, there are only two hotels I would recommend--and I have stayed in BOTH for pre-cruise nights:  The Crowne Plaza and the Doubletree.  The one main correction I would make to BeachGal's post is that one is not "down the road" from the other.  They are in different neighborhoods and on different roads...about 2 miles apart.  The Crowne Plaza is in Downtown San Pedro--on 6th Street--walking distance (about three blocks) from the Cruise Terminal.  It is close to a LOT of restaurants (including my favorites--the San Pedro Brewing Co. and the Green Onion--both within steps of the Crowne Plaza).  The Doubletree is two miles downchannel next to the small boat marina--a much quieter and out of the way location--with the 22nd Street Landing being about the only restaurant nearby...but the Doubletree will shutte you to restaurants and to the pier for free.
As to Long Beach, first know that it is a "big" city with a population of around half a million...there are some nice areas and some "not so nice" areas.  The main tourist area of Long Beach is called the "Convention Center" area...or "Downtown".  It puts you across the Harbor from San Pedro, about 6-8 miles away driving across the mouths of the harbor, two bridges and across "Terminal Island"-the large industrial island that spans the harbor entrance.  Long Beach has the Carnival terminal (only Carnival uses that pier--all others cruise out of San Pedro) as well as the Queen Mary and the Aquarium of the Pacific...and several mostly chain restaurants (though also a few local ones).  San Pedro has almost all local restaurants--no real chains.  If cruising Royal Caribbean and only getting in the afternoon or evening prior, stay in San Pedro.  No real reason to deal with extra Ubers or taxis you'd need for Long Beach.  If you have a full spare day for local sightseeing and want to see the QM and Aquarium, Long Beach may work for you.  If you have several days and want to see more of LA--Hollywood, Venice Beach, Rodeo Drive/Beverly Hills, Getty Museums, Santa Monica, the Grove, etc., then stay in Santa Monica (first choice), Hollywood/Universal, Beverly Hills or Venice/Marina del Rey...all far closer to the main tourist sights and more to see/do in local areas.
Good luck all... 
 

Lessons Learned (continued)
 
6.  Be up front with your MDR servers -- if you're only there for the (CRAB CAKES!!) appetizers and have somewhere you need to be in 25 minutes (like a Casino Lesson), tell them, reassure them that you won't starve, enjoy your appetizers -- and go.  
7.  Have fun participating (not competing!) in the different activities onboard -- laugh!  smile! go for the improbable shot!
8. Don't trust Budget's Downtown Miami location to have the car you reserved -- there were SIX irate reservation holders there when we arrived; ended up  Ubering to the Airport Rental Center to pick up a vehicle.
9.  The Best Western North Bay Island is a distance away from the Cruise Port, but has pretty good transportation and dining options. Check out Sana's Cafe for friendly service and good coffee and breakfast options.
10.  I like solo cruising!  

The Sushi Making class is AWESOME -- but don't eat before you go 🙂

I haven't tried that yet. My Diamond drinks so far have been the cheaper end liquor and mixer ones. Maybe I should go down and test it out..in the name of research.

They're starting to bring back some onboard extras that they had stopped offering due to COVID.
Old article about the Sip.Tour.Brunch: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/12/19/spotted-sip-tour-brunch-galley-tour
Basically this is a meal and a behind the scenes galley tour.
The sushi making class has also shown back up for my upcoming Oasis cruise.

I did the tour a few months ago and really enjoyed it. Honestly, it is a shopping tour in disguise, but at each food stop you get to learn a little bit about their product and get a sample. After the sampling the wait around long enough for you to purchase additional items, but it is not a hard push.
Off the top of my head our food stops were (I may be missing one or two):
The New Duff for Guava Duff Tasty Teas for a variety of teas John Watlings Distillery for rum and conch fritters The Bahamas Rum Cake Factory for rum cake We also stopped by the fort near Queen's Staircase and a beach to the west of the city, both locations having souvenir shopping.
Our driver/guide was really knowledgeable and his passion was strong! Our driver was Harrison, who was well known by the locals, and showed great pride in his tour and his bus. He shared history and tales about Nassau, along with different Bahamian music that all tied into it.
Our last stop was at the Fish Fry where we had a lunch and a demo on how they harvest conch from the shell. 
It was a morning/lunch time well spent! Probably my favorite Nassau experience.

We did a similar excursion by Royal years ago, and the meeting instructions were on the tickets we received from the stateroom attendant.  If you are using a 3rd party, then you would be given instructions, perhaps printing tickets online or through a travel agent.
Some Royal excursions meet on your ship while others meet on the pier just off the ship.  That is what ours did.  We literally walked as a group from the pier to the boat we used for snorkeling.  Vendors have signs with the tour name, and you gather together at the meeting point.  Some tour names are very similar, so check to be sure you are with the correct group.  Each group usually has a unique number.  Don't let your ticket blow away in the wind!
 

so we r doing the sail and snorkel tour in nassau.  what is the process as soon as u get off the ship? where do we go?

Will do -- and thank you!

I've been in the airline industry now for 26 years (just celebrated my 26th year on September 15th started straight out of high school), I've gone through furloughs after 9/11, bankruptcy, and mergers, I've seen people loose their jobs, departments shutter, entire stations closed, because the airline industry was in survival mode. 
In 2020 and in 2021 the nations airlines received a total of 3 government bailouts to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.  The cruise line industry unfortunately was left out in the cold.  The nations airlines were allowed to operate without any government oversight during covid, while cruise lines were forced to shut down.   Some of the money the nations airlines received from the government does NOT have to be paid back at all, some of the money does have to be paid back but at unbelievable low interest rates. Cruise lines like Royal Caribbean were forced to borrow billions of dollars.  I'm sure every single penny has to be paid back with interest.  Who knows what the interest rates are but I'm willing to bet Royal Caribbean's interest rates on their covid related debt is much higher than the interest rate the nations airlines are paying on their covid related government backed debt.
No one wants to see anyone loose their job, but when a company has gone through what Royal Caribbean has been through without any financial assistance from the government sometimes cost cutting measure have to be put in place.  Cruising is back and Royal has taken delivery of Odyssey, Wonder, and next year Icon will join the fleet.  That is all exciting news for their customers because we all appreciate the fact we can cruise again.  However, Royal Caribbean executives still have to deal with paying down all the covid related debt they were forced to take on just to survive.  I think the last thing any of use want to see is Royal Caribbean forced into bankruptcy, or Royal Caribbean forced into a merger with another cruise line.  To keep that from happening the executives at times must make hard, difficult decisions that unfortunately will impact the lives of some of their employees.

Ours was all over the place price wise. I was only looking from corner of eye as I was focused on internet. Few weeks before cruise I noticed it was less than the internet alone and grabbed it. Glad I did.  Worked out to like $340 for the two of us for the 7 day sailing.
 

We also purchased The Key for our recent Oasis cruise, for less than the cost of internet alone. There was only one security line for Key guests when we arrived shortly after 10 am. It moved slowly due to an older passenger in a scooter, but once he  was through, it moved much quicker.
I believe we were on the ship around 10:30. After visiting our muster station, we dropped our carry-on bags at the main dining room. The crew member was very nice and told us to be sure to come back for lunch. We would usually go to the buffet for lunch, but the Chops Lunch in the main dining room made for the most pleasant embarkation day lunch ever! My wife was instantly won over. 
On arriving at our stateroom, our attendant made note that we were Key guests. I'm not sure it mattered, as we received the same great service that we always do.
We did take advantage of some of the special times for activities, for example, i rode the slide twice at 9:05am with no wait. We also used the seating in the main theater for Cats (The performers were great, but what the heck did we watch?}
We received the Key luggage tags on the next-to-last day. On debarkation morning, we went to the breakfast in the main dining room {so relaxed!} then collected our carry-on luggage from our room and left the ship at 8:30. There was almost no line so we just walked off ourselves. The luggage for Key guests was in one spot and it was there first, meaning we could have walked off immediately upon being cleared if we preferred. 
Bottom line, we will absolutely purchase the key again if it is $5 -$10 more than Voom itself.

I would never have expected my response to having the Key. Normally something I wouldn't consider it popped up on my cruise planner for less than the Zoom Internet alone. Made no sense not to get it for my Oasis voyage.  Arriving "Port Liberty" there were lines around the building. Dropped off my sweetie while I parked the car. Got to the garage that was already full and asked the attendant where I should go and that I had the key.  He just said " Key? there's room in here". Walked back past thousands in line to my sweetie. Asked where "Key" goes. They escorted us past long lines to one roped off and nobody waiting. Right to and through security then to check in and escorted right to the ship with zero wait. Deck four MDR was waiting for us to set down our carry on bags and eat a really way good Chops lunch. 
Shows? Right in... treated royally. Anywhere we dropped the "Key" word we bypassed lines and were pampered, even the dinner lines... A special line at customer service even was open for suites, diamond and up and Key people. Getting off special breakfast of crab eggs benedict was had then walk past the crowds  and fast tracked back to the car. I didn't ever think I'd like being pampered but I did and my Fiance' really loved every bit of it. I will splurge any time it gets available at reasonable rate... 😄
 

We're considering this same tour for next April. 
If you go ahead with it we would love to hear how it went for you, if you don't mind sharing. 
Thanks a lot and have a great time on your cruise. 😊

Are the extensions they provide large enough if you're sleeping on the far side of the bed? Going to cruise on Navigator the seas and it looks like the outlet is quite a distance away from the bed

At the top tier event. They have rum punch, champagne and mimosas. 

It is really hot in San Pedro, even though Chicago was still in mid 80s when I left, it feels hotter here. There was not enough shade to cool me off. Ship feels full, no seats in pool deck or in solarium. Speaking of the solarium; several families had babies and children in there, crew tried to enforce rules but people literally ignored them.
I really wanted to take a shower as soon as rooms opened but I lack clean underwear. All my packing cubes look alike and I keep a same color scheme with clothes. So I ended up with the cube that contained bathing suits and shorts in my carry-on.  Luckily I don't smell like anything but airline.
These are pictures of the virtual balcony, its pretty cool. The rest of the room is standard. I will say that I shockingly have 3 outlets; two are 120v and the other is European.
More about boarding...... they ask if you are vaxxed but don't need to see the card. The crew member joked they are now on an honor system. There was an area by the makeshift terminal that had covid testing.  When we boarded we were given an letter informing us that due to the hurricane we wouldn't be visiting Cabo, people were so upset as it's now an overnight in Ensenada. Excursions would be refunded as OBC. 
My room had 4 bottles of Niagara 16oz water in it, so no cans. I did get my plate of cookies but all of them were stale, so I made a trip to the WJ and got fresh ones. I also tried out the new cup, I don't like, it will get tossed. Guest services had a sign saying don't ask for upgrades as all the rooms are occupied. Crew still have mask and WJ is all self-serve. Saw people eating stuff as they got stuff, other than dessert I will keep my distance. 
The DX is bogo but price was $98/day. Chops+1 is $100+grats onboard and the UDP is $44/day, making it $260 onboard versus the $195 in the CP. We now have 2 sea days in a row, so good casino fun for me. 

I am currently aboard Navigator and I have to say this was my worst boarding ever.
My flight was actually super good. Fast boarding, everyone was respectful with their carry on luggage. We landed early and only waited maybe 5 mins for a gate. I took the bus to the shared transit area and had a Lyft within 5min. Unfortunately,but also fortunately, my driver needed to get gas, which took 20min thanks to major lines at Costco.
I got not only an email but several alerts not to arrive before my boarding time, which was 11:30. My plane got in at 9:30 and I got my Lyft at 10am, expecting to wait and start my boarding around 11:15. I got to the port at 10:50. Several crew members told me to get in line even though I was early. 
People with 1pm boarding kept complaining they were here so they should board, almost nobody had luggage tags or doc ready. Lots of people had full water bottles and other stuff that needed to be tossed. I bypassed them all and ended up boarding and completing eMuster by 11:03. However there's no "real" terminal, just tents that lead to a room that leads to the ship.
They required mask in the "terminal " and lots of people were dicks about it. I saw tons of mask and mask wrappers on the ramp leading up to the ship. I don't know who raised them but trash goes in a trash can. The pool deck was full and already a mess. Lots of plates and cups in walkways, chairs and tables. I hit up The Lime and the Coconut,  then El Loco Fresh and enjoyed my brunch while making my dinner reservations. 
Rooms just opened so I am going to shower, charge my phone and then get my second drink of the day. Sucky, but they have the flimsy cheap cups that aren't insulated. 

2 Days to go.....
I don't know if it is because I don't normally travel in September or because I downsized luggage, but I still have not packed. I normally am "pre" packed at least a week or two ahead of the trip.  Then closer to the trip I vacillate and change a few things. Since it is Labor Day, I guess I will endure the labor of packing. My cat is currently sitting in the open luggage giving me an expression that says this is my new home. She has never seen this one before, so she sniffed and patted for a few minutes before climbing in. I hate to break her heart and throw her out, but.........
On a funny note, my coworker joined a FB roll call for this sailing and now no longer "needs" me. He has been flirting with two members and made tentative plans to meet said women. I laughed super hard at him believing I was going to change anything I was doing to hang with him. Even harder that he thought I would somehow be sad. I could tell it bothered him that it didn't bother me.
The app was, for a long time, showing ribs as an option for the MDR. I was excited by this; I hope it would happen; it was still showing until last week. Now it is the same old boring menu that is the same across all the fleet. I do like the menu on 2 nights so hopefully the food taste accordingly. I have not heard anything about not stopping in Ensenada, so things should be fine. I believe I received my RoyalUp email before the 30 days mark and then got a RoyalUp email every week until this past Friday. The sailing still shows quite a bit of rooms available, so I am unsure how full it will be. I am so excited, I haven't cruised since Feb. I can't wait to get on the ship and hit El Loco Fresh.

My 5N stops at Ensenda and Cabo, the 3N only stops at Ensenada. I have the same Virtual Balcony for both sailings and yes, an interior can be roomy for just one person. 
Thanks, I will take a look at the Crown Plaza video on Youtube.

One last thing I want to leave you with. 
The only real issue I had on the trip was I got real tired of hearing people complain.  Our cruise has over 300 Pinnacle cruisers and the most of the rest was Diamond and Diamond plus.  The ship had a couple of meetings with the staff warning them how picky the cruisers on this cruise were going to be.  Most of the people on the cruise were great but there was enough that were not that you got tired of hearing it.  I was told that the ship had to leave about 350 staff in Copenhagen because the USA would not give them a work visa.  All the ships are short staffed to start with.  All the staff was working their hardest to make a great cruise for us.  I seen the glass half full and appreciate everything they did.  Please, going forward do not be the glass half empty person and only see what you did not get on your cruise.
Thank you for following,
Mike
 

Greenland
We spent two days in Greenland. We were scheduled to go to 2 ports then the cruise one of the fjords but we were told because of the weather we had to skip Nuuk.  The first day we went to a small town of 300 people called Qaqortoq. We had to park out in the Bay and tender in to the town. It was very foggy and it took forever to get people off the ship. After I got off the tender I stopped and looked around.  Left was downhill and right was uphill.  I figured I was fresh and would go uphill.  Walking around the town I quickly figured out this was not your typical tourist stop.  There was not much for tourists other than their local museum.  At the top of the hill I ended up going through their local grocery store. The items in the store was Pretty much what You'd expect to see in the United states. It was also your small town typical store that had everything from hardware to groceries. I made my way down through the streets to the couple of shops that were down by the Bay. They had a fish market that was a little bit different. This fish market had well, seals, fish, and seagulls. Yes seagulls that they butcher for you. There was a little cafe that pretty much everybody of the ship was piled into to get sodas and beers. I read reviews that they had really good hamburgers and French fries but the line was so long I decided I'd just go back to the ship and eat.
The next day we spent the entire morning selling up one of the fiords. Of fiord is pretty much a big deep river that goes inland. At the very end of it was a very large iceberg that the melting feeds the water of the fiord. The night before I went to bed early so I got up about 5:00 in the morning and by 7:00 o'clock I had me in nice comfortable round bed in the adults area. I was able to stretch out lay down on the pillows play some music on my cell phone and watch the scenery go by. It was beautiful scenery but a little different than I expected. I expected a lot more snow and ice and icebergs than what we've seen. No don't get me wrong it's beautiful scenery just not what I expected. And along the way there was one village that housed 100 people. I kind of wondered how do they live there this seems strange that out in the middle of this nowhere these hundred people live.
Over all Greenland was a beautiful place but it's also one of those places that I've been there, seen that, been there... I am done
 
Long, deep fjords

Reykjavik
our second day in Reykjavik we did a tour called the golden circle. I was expecting southern Iceland to be just like northern Iceland and all volcanic rock. It turned out the scenery was a lot nicer. It was rolling hills with some color from small vegetation. That don't get me wrong it still was all volcanic rock. Nice thing about doing this multiple days later is this I'm just telling you about what I can remember. Our first stop was a waterfall that went down the river it had this big gigantic waterfall nothing spectacular. Second stop was geysers; If you've been to Yellowstone you looked at these and said oh these aren't anything. If you haven't been to Yellowstone you looked at them and said oh man this is amazing. Our next stop was at a tomato farm and I'll get to into that in a minute in detail. And our last stop was actually a pretty cool volcanic area that this pathway was cut actually created down through the volcanic rock.
The actual highlight of the trip was the tomato farm which sounds strange. The people that own the farm came up with the idea when they were 17 years old. They ended up going to college and one of them studied to become a horse farmer and the other one studied to be a tomato farmer. When they graduated they found this farm that had been shut down for a few years and got it very cheap. Well they started raising Icelandic horses. And they also started growing tomatoes in greenhouses. Now years later they export 2000 pounds of tomatoes a day to the market and raise and train horses that are exported all over the world. The horses are special because they have two extra gates; Away they trot or run. They do it in a way that the rider does not go up or down he could stay steady. They showed us an example by the man carrying a beer in his hand while his horse trotted around the track. It was actually pretty impressive. The tomatoes are grown in a greenhouse and the base of the plant is in of barks that is like 6 inches by 6 inches right then the vines are trained to go over and then up to the ceiling. The last part of our tour was lunch. This was the best freshest tomato soup I've ever had. And they had tons of fresh baked bread to go with it. Needless to say my diet went out the door and I had seconds of everything.

Internet
For any of you trying to follow my blog I am very sorry, the Internet has been too bad to use since we left Iceland. Part of the time even text messages wouldn't go through. I can't wait for the new Elon Musk satellite system to be installed in all the Royal Caribbean ships.
I am sorry
Unfortunately I had a friend that took something I mentioned personally.  These are just my thoughts and experiences to share with you. They are not meant to make anybody upset. My feelings are just my feelings; They're not right they're not wrong they're just what I see, feal and observe. Please don't take them personally. And if you disagree let me know educate me; I am always open to discussions.
Now to catch up
What did the daddy tomato do when the baby tomato was walking too slow down the street? He smacked him on the head and told him Ketchup.

Reykjavik Iceland – Blue Lagoon
I’ve been debating on how much to tell you about this trip. The first part of this trip it’s not very pleasant but I thought about it and you’re here to hear about my experiences so I’m going to let you know about the bad part as well as the good part.  Feel free to skip the bad part.
The bad part... One of the people from our Facebook group arranged a trip to the blue lagoon for everybody.  We had 100 people traveling on two 57 passenger busses.  When we got to the parking lot I was assigned the lead on bus 1 and she took bus 2.  After we got everyone loaded, she was on bus 1 double checking our lists and someone from bus 2 came over and told us there was a medical emergency.  I went to bus 2 to find out there was a man having a heart attack.  I got the bus drivers to call for an ambulance and I went back to bus 1 to ask for a doctor or nurse.  Right away 2 nurses jumped up and went to help.  I was busy trying to contact the ship to let them know of the issue.  When I want back to bus 1 I had some people on the front of the bus asking why we were not leaving.  I told them we had a medical emergency, and they did not care.  I was told, “This is my vacation, and it should not be affected by someone else problems.  That is the other bus and not ours.”.   I told her it did affect our bus because people on our bus was trying to save a life.  We got everyone off the bus 2 that we could, and the ambulance showed up.  I informed the ambulance crew what was going on and they went to work.  At that point I got the husbands off my bus to stay with their wives and loaded my bus with everyone I could fit.  At that point we left for the Blue Lagoon.  One note:  When we got to the Blue Lagoon the people had realized what they had done and apologized.  Just remember we are all the same big family.
Now the good part…  On our bus was a guide to help us with the Blue Lagoon.  He contacted the Blue Lagoon and let them know of our issues.  They were great and told us we would get the full two hours there no matter when we showed up.  When we got there, it was a large lava field.  They have cut out pathways and the lagoon in the lava field.  We had to go upstairs and take a shower with no cloths on.  It was funny to see people in their 50’s and 60’s waiting for the private showers when there were ones without doors open.  I jumped in the one that was open and took my shower.  Then you put on your bathing suit, go downstairs, and jump in the lagoon.  The water was blue and has a fog on top from the light rain hitting the hot water.  It was fantastic.  After getting our free drink (not much selection) we found our way over to the far end of the pool to get our face mask.  It was a white paste that you put on your face and neck to open and clean all the pores.  After about one hour in the pool everyone was looking at the clock and trying to figure out how long they could stay and still make the bus.  I stayed as long as I could; 15 minutes to get out, shower, get dressed and get to the bus.  I know I was pushing it but I was really enjoying the experience.
If you ever find you way to Iceland, make sure you do the Blue Lagoon.  If it is raining or snowing don’t worry.  It just makes it a better experience.