Steve_

That's good news to me! Maybe it just hasn't shown up yet! I had heard covid hit pigs hard and affected pork distribution, so I was worried this was not being offered right now. So that's good to hear and I will keep watching for it to pop up! Thank you!

I'm finally getting back to cruising. I still have one more cancelled cruise ahead of me due to the shutdown. But have 5 scheduled. One thing that I was looking forward to in 2020 was swimming with the pigs. And I kept rescheduling it as one cruise was cancelled and I booked it for the next cococay visit. But now, I don't see it as an option! Nor for Nassau! I'm not sure it was from cococay (which i think it was) or Nassau, but it's not showing up for either. Does anyone know if this is still going on? Something that isn't open yet due to covid? Or just hasn't popped up on my planner yet? I did find the website for the island, and how to get there and such. But very surprised it's not available through Royal, so curious what's up.

Yeah, I expect this sailing to be cancelled. Whether Royal sails in May or not is yet to be seen. But this is a 9 night sailing which isn't going to be allowed in the beginning. So they will need to shorten the sailing to make it allowed. Plus, being one of the smaller ships in one of the smaller ports, I don't think it's one of the likely first ships. So I did the final payment rather than rebooking for the the 125% FC. I've actually booked a replacement cruise (ok, cruises) for this. But I do have the invoice showing paid in full. So even if they cancel for non payment, I am sure Royal will make good on it, it will just be the hassle of having to deal with it to get the money back and justify that I should be getting the 125% back in FC. It is just a bit weird. And I wonder if it has to do with the sailings over 7 nights that have been removed from being able to be booked but the sailings still exist in their system. I don't know. It really is weird how it is pulling up our status as Emerald in these notices. Yet the invoice shows we are Diamond. So somewhere there systems are having a mismatch of data.

I have now received my second email reminding me that I am past final payment date and my final payment is due. Only thing is, I paid in full before final payment date. My TA has confirmed this as well. And when I login and look at the cruise, it shows paid in full as well. -Is anyone else experiencing this? -This is on one of the first cruises (as of today's writing on March 1, 2021) for sailing May 2021 -This is for a 9 night cruise, so above the 7 night maximum per CDC guidelines. -The other weird thing I pointed out to the TA is our status shows as Emerald on these notices, yet we are Diamond (one cruise away from D+, and that cruise has been rescheduled 7, 8 maybe 9 times now. And never ever received an email about final payment not received.). Otherwise all the detail is correct, except the invoice shows incorrect balance info. While I honestly do not expect that we will be sailing for a number of reasons (length of sailing, ship, port, etc.), cancelling for non payment puts me in the non refundable policy (lose money) vs the cruise line cancelling (125% cruise credit if chosen). Granted, since there are emails and the invoice showing paid in full, I am sure they will make it right, I am trying to make Royal address this before it becomes an issue. So anyone else dealt with this? dealing with it? NOTE: It isn't spam email as all the links are valid to Royal's page. And for the pdf to be adjusted is something (as a security professional) I have never seen the scammers do yet. Easy to modify the text. But the pdf to include the proper itinerary, rates, etc. Just not show the right payments and therefore not the right balance is something I have yet to see.

I forgot about the breakfast. One of the favorites of ours! My wife I are not buffet people. And we don't like do main dining for breakfast as it just takes so long! But breakfast in chops is great for the suite guests. Can take your time if you like, or they help to get you out quickly if you prefer. And much more attentive than main dining!

The earlier you book, the better rates you have. And if a promo comes up with a better rate, you can always rebook before final payment. I've done that multiples for the same cruise some times, but usually the price goes up. And you can put a fake name for the 3rd person and just change the name later. The rule for changing names is one person on the reservation must remain on the reservation, so you can't change everyone's name. Or at least this is what I've been told. So not sure about the new addition's name, put a parent or siblings name down for now to have it set for 3 people. Then change the name later. And of course keep checking for promotions all the time. My understand when adding the 3rd person, that the rate is already determined on the 1st and 2nd person, so the room rate isn't recalculated even if pricing has gone up. It's based on whatever percentage 3rd and 4th person is charged at. But to be sure there is no issue with rates by adding a 3rd person when you book, you are then only dealing with changing the name. Talk with the person you booked through as I'm sure they've dealt with it and can tell you much better than my understanding. And congratulations!!

Fingers crossed ... never been sea sick. And have been on 3 sailings where a lot of the crew was down for the count. One sailing the wine steward (remember them? I think I just dated myself) almost spilled the bottle on me. We had the last table at the back of the dining room and the wine steward as well as the dining staff had a very challenging night. We literally watched a couple of the wine glasses sliding across the table it was so rough. There were 8 of us traveling, 5 made it to dinner, 3 finished dinner together. I have never seen main dining as empty as that night. Had to be 25% filled, if that. Fun times at sea! But it's a toss up for 2nd or 3rd roughest sailing for me, but probably 3rd, but quite memorable. Oh... I am so ready to get back to sea!

1 - The concierge will help you with all your needs. They will reach out to you by email 1-3 weeks before sailing and ask how they can help. They will help you with dining reservations, shows, there are reserved seats for suite guests in the shows, my wife and I enjoy the concierge lounge before dinner for some light food and drinks which are included, they will also help with shore excursions. Basically anything you would go to guest services for, they can help without going to stand in line, and they get to know you. As for your second question, personally I have never done this. But from what I understand is you are better to add them early as ships have a capacity limit. So even though a room may have a capacity of 4, if the ship is at it's capacity you may not be able to add an additional person. You can easily take a person off (prior to final payment though). So what I've always heard is add the person earlier, even if you use a fake name and change the name later. Even with covid, the speculation is ships will be sailing 50-70% full, but there will be a capacity limit. But as far as adding someone, it is quite easy as long as the room has the capacity and the sailing isn't at capacity, just calling Royal (or travel agent) and having a 3rd or 4th person added to the booking. They can even put the charges for the additional person on a separate credit card if that is something you want to do. Quite easy as long as you don't hit the capacity issue.

Agreed on space. But it is only slightly larger than the Grand Suite. But it is also about 50% less the cost of a Grand Suite. I talked with my wife about the concern of no balcony during this covid nightmare, and we are going to pass on this even for a short sailing. Due to the way the US government has handled ships with potential cases it is not a pleasant thought to have extra time stuck at sea or docked and confined to a cabin with no balcony. But I will gladly entertain this option again for a short sailing where we expect temperatures not to be the best for the use of the balcony. I do wonder if the price has dropped due to covid and this reason. As I have seen these in the past, but I have never given them a second thought and I assume that is because the price difference was not dramatic. But when I look now at see a 50% difference, it does make me question if in a suite, do I need the balcony on certain sailings? But given our current environment that we all find ourselves in and as discussed, we are leaning towards making sure we have a balcony. We are undecided on the sailing we were looking at, but as it is a short sailing, we may opt for a junior suite instead of the Grand as it is about the same price as the panormacic suite. Sometimes the price difference makes sense, some times it doesn't. Depends on itinieray, time of year (weather) and our anticipate port excusions (who knows during the covid world for sure). Thank you all for the feedback. I am glad I posted as we have both decided we want to try this category at some point if the price seems right, but during covid the timing doesn't seem appropriate to us. So thank you for highlighting that concern! Something we may not have thought about until too late.

We currently have 5 sailings booked, 4 in the grand and 1 junior suite. But after @Lovetocruise2002’s comments concerning Covid, i might have to stick with a room with a balcony. While we were looking at late 2022, hopefully the Covid nightmare will be behind us. But that is going to be something we think about before we book now as even a short cruise can be kept at sea, denied debarkation, etc. the balcony in a bad situation can make the difference. As @WAAAYTOOOsaid, they seem to be a great value. All of the sailings I looked at, they seemed to be about 50% of the Grand suite and either just above or just below the junior suite by less than $100. thanks for all the additional pics.

Nice views. That's what has me thinking about it. Since the sailing we are looking at we don't anticipate we'll be using the balcony much (or at all) with the lower temps, this is half the cost of the Grande and we won't be using the balcony so this seems like a nice option. But we haven't done a non balcony room in ... well, since our first sailing ever! But this is no port hole view either!

Hi, Diamond cruiser here (diamond plus after the next sailing whenever that is!). We mostly sail in Grand Suites lately. We are considering an Oceanview Panoramic View Suite on Adventure overlooking the front of the ship. Interested to hear if anyone has tried these rooms forward facing. One of our concerns is if we are going to hear a lot of wind noise. Since there is no balcony door, we suspect this won't be bad at all. Other than the balcony, I am curious to hear what others find as pros/cons of the room. I know this category exists on other ships and I think they are not always forward facing, so still happy to hear feedback on the room.

Well, Lady G should be coming out of dry dock very soon as she is expected in Baltimore for a sailing Friday morning. Let you know if we see anything new...