Curt From Canada

Our first cruise was our worst cruise (2006).  In the 26 cruises since, it continued to get better.  Multiple issues:
We had significant delays (due to weather) on our early morning flight (7AM planned departure).  We finally arrived in Miami Airport at 2:30PM (no breakfast & no lunch).  We just got to the ship on time before departure.  We never even considered flying in the night before ... Oooooops, our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 1 - Confused Canucks [CC] 0). By the time we got on the ship, the muster drill had just started.  All of the food & beverage venues were closed or were closing.  Like animals after a long cold winter we scavenged tables for scraps of food and drink.  One single orange and one regular coke is all we could find.  We never even considered flying in the night before ... Oooooops, our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 2 - CC 0). Every night the ship was alive with music and dancing.  We had taken lessons in university, but had forgotten everything.  All those people having fun and we were like two sticks in the mud.  We never thought that you could have so much fun dancing on a ship to live music, we should have started lessons up again ... Oooooops, our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 3 - CC 0).  I am sensing a trend. The food was excellent!! We stuffed ourselves silly.  No one told us there was too much good food to be had on vacation.  We gained a pound per day EACH.  We never thought to pace ourselves ... Oooooops our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 4 - CC 0). The last night of the cruise was very depressing.  We had WAYTOO much fun.  We did not want to go home.  No one told us the last night could be that bad.  We did not do our homework and research cruising ahead of time ... Oooooops our bad (RCL wins [in a shutout no less] 5 - CC 0). We learned our lessons well:
We fly in the night before. We want to take credit for the new Muster Drill process, but RCL gets a bonus goal for that (RCL 6 - CC 0). Our Foxtrot is smooth, our Rumba is steamy and our Swing can clear a dance floor (sorry). We pace ourselves in the restaurants (Quality, not Quantity) and get some alternate exercise when we are not dancing. We always make sure have between 3 to 6 cruises booked before the last night.  Making sure the next one is no more than 90 days away. For experienced cruisers there is nothing new here to help.  For rookies ... DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
😉
Curt from Canada

Our first cruise was our worst cruise (2006).  In the 26 cruises since, it continued to get better.  Multiple issues:
We had significant delays (due to weather) on our early morning flight (7AM planned departure).  We finally arrived in Miami Airport at 2:30PM (no breakfast & no lunch).  We just got to the ship on time before departure.  We never even considered flying in the night before ... Oooooops, our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 1 - Confused Canucks [CC] 0). By the time we got on the ship, the muster drill had just started.  All of the food & beverage venues were closed or were closing.  Like animals after a long cold winter we scavenged tables for scraps of food and drink.  One single orange and one regular coke is all we could find.  We never even considered flying in the night before ... Oooooops, our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 2 - CC 0). Every night the ship was alive with music and dancing.  We had taken lessons in university, but had forgotten everything.  All those people having fun and we were like two sticks in the mud.  We never thought that you could have so much fun dancing on a ship to live music, we should have started lessons up again ... Oooooops, our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 3 - CC 0).  I am sensing a trend. The food was excellent!! We stuffed ourselves silly.  No one told us there was too much good food to be had on vacation.  We gained a pound per day EACH.  We never thought to pace ourselves ... Oooooops our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 4 - CC 0). The last night of the cruise was very depressing.  We had WAYTOO much fun.  We did not want to go home.  No one told us the last night could be that bad.  We did not do our homework and research cruising ahead of time ... Oooooops our bad (RCL wins [in a shutout no less] 5 - CC 0). We learned our lessons well:
We fly in the night before. We want to take credit for the new Muster Drill process, but RCL gets a bonus goal for that (RCL 6 - CC 0). Our Foxtrot is smooth, our Rumba is steamy and our Swing can clear a dance floor (sorry). We pace ourselves in the restaurants (Quality, not Quantity) and get some alternate exercise when we are not dancing. We always make sure have between 3 to 6 cruises booked before the last night.  Making sure the next one is no more than 90 days away. For experienced cruisers there is nothing new here to help.  For rookies ... DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
😉
Curt from Canada

Our first cruise was our worst cruise (2006).  In the 26 cruises since, it continued to get better.  Multiple issues:
We had significant delays (due to weather) on our early morning flight (7AM planned departure).  We finally arrived in Miami Airport at 2:30PM (no breakfast & no lunch).  We just got to the ship on time before departure.  We never even considered flying in the night before ... Oooooops, our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 1 - Confused Canucks [CC] 0). By the time we got on the ship, the muster drill had just started.  All of the food & beverage venues were closed or were closing.  Like animals after a long cold winter we scavenged tables for scraps of food and drink.  One single orange and one regular coke is all we could find.  We never even considered flying in the night before ... Oooooops, our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 2 - CC 0). Every night the ship was alive with music and dancing.  We had taken lessons in university, but had forgotten everything.  All those people having fun and we were like two sticks in the mud.  We never thought that you could have so much fun dancing on a ship to live music, we should have started lessons up again ... Oooooops, our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 3 - CC 0).  I am sensing a trend. The food was excellent!! We stuffed ourselves silly.  No one told us there was too much good food to be had on vacation.  We gained a pound per day EACH.  We never thought to pace ourselves ... Oooooops our bad (RCL wins this one ... RCL 4 - CC 0). The last night of the cruise was very depressing.  We had WAYTOO much fun.  We did not want to go home.  No one told us the last night could be that bad.  We did not do our homework and research cruising ahead of time ... Oooooops our bad (RCL wins [in a shutout no less] 5 - CC 0). We learned our lessons well:
We fly in the night before. We want to take credit for the new Muster Drill process, but RCL gets a bonus goal for that (RCL 6 - CC 0). Our Foxtrot is smooth, our Rumba is steamy and our Swing can clear a dance floor (sorry). We pace ourselves in the restaurants (Quality, not Quantity) and get some alternate exercise when we are not dancing. We always make sure have between 3 to 6 cruises booked before the last night.  Making sure the next one is no more than 90 days away. For experienced cruisers there is nothing new here to help.  For rookies ... DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
😉
Curt from Canada

Before MAR 2020, I kept a database (with lots of input from this fantastic board).  Below is the data (a small sample, but with some trends if you look at it).  My plan is to start up again (as soon as the sailing begin ... I should have said that louder ... AS SOON AS THE SAILINGS BEGIN! ... and they will).  A few observations:
1).  A few get assigned very far in advance.  These appear to be outliners (and the frequency may come down over time with more data).
2). Just over a month before there is an inflection point where almost half have their assignment set.
3). Almost all have been set 10-19 days before sailing.
4). All have been assigned by the time you board. ?
 
Stay Safe, Stay Apart, Stay Connected,
Curt from Canada

Starlink users on land report rain outages.  While Starlink is lower at around 550km above the earth, that's still a long way for faint signals to travel and rain fade as it is called still impacts LEO constellations like Starlink.   
Initially and the reason they are starting on Indy is because that ship is within Starlink's current maritime coverage map.  The problem with the current approach is that an earth or ground station in Florida will need to downlink the signal. Even if the ship is under sunny skies if the Florida ground station has a thunderstorm moving through that can also create an outage.   
Also keep in mind the satellites are moving pretty fast.  A storm on the horizon will impact signals when the storm is in between the satellite and the ship.  It doesn't take a storm sitting on top of the ship to cause an outage.  Once more satellites are launched this can be mitigated by having multiple satellites to choose from.  Right now there aren't very many overhead a given cell on the earth's surface at the same.  
Starlink is in its infancy.  It has launched around 1/4 of the satellites it needs to do this properly.  It won't be perfect on day one.  Like a fine wine it will improve with age.  

CAS Upgrades are a thing from the days when airplanes and cruise ships didn't go full.  I think my parents had some slides they once showed us of an airplane trip in coach with lots of legroom and big comfy coach seating.  
That is the era in which Royal Caribbean CAS upgrades worked.  Since that time ships, like airplanes have sailed full and there no upgrades to be had.   Then the pandemic.  
During the restart I had picked an interior cabin and found myself in a balcony but that was because I had chosen a cabin in what later became a quarantine cabin.  That wasn't a CAS upgrade.
Ships are not full right now as quarantine areas are being freed up so maybe that's where they are getting upgrades from.  The summer peak is over and there are last minute bargains so presumably there are upgrades to be had that RoyalUp isn't consuming.
Sometimes you need to careful blindly accepting an "upgrade".  In some cases not every cabin move is an upgrade in everyone's opinion.  Most suites will book up so it's really interior and OV guests that may benefit.  Older ships have fewer balcony cabins.  Some classes like Quantum class are mostly balcony cabins.  A lot depends on what you are starting with and the type of ship you are sailing.

We are very generous tippers and I totally believe in the gratuity culture....but I also agree with @JBC and feel as if a mandatory gratuity is not a gratuity at all, but a compulsory charge.  I would much prefer that they include that compulsory charge in with the cruise fare.  That would permit people who want to tip generously to do so and those who would be removing their mandatory gratuity would feel as if they're getting away without paying. Win-win.

Many business across the world are struggling to staff up in the wake of the pandemic.  In many cases businesses have to increase total compensation as a means to attract new staff and former staff who were let go during the pandemic.   Hence the increase.  

Is it because "everyone" is on Jewel to Greenland at pretty much the same time?
😉
Curt from Canada

However the ice on the pool isnt thick enough to skate on yet so it is the perfect time to get away.  

I suspect this is the wrong board to be asking peeps to talk you out of it... 🤣

You know me better than that 😉

Since you are out of school those first two weeks of September right after schools are back have traditionally been bargain weeks.  No surprise really that a 12 night repo cruise early September is a bargain rate.  Peak of hurricane season, longer than most working folks can take off work, school is back in eliminating families from the mix, the summer cruise season is over.  Perfect storm of low pricing factors. 
Book and keep watching for price drops, at least for non-suites.  🙂 

There are people who are "born to the sea" and others that are "born to the suites".
😉
Book Serenade and get the kids to promise they ill be on their best behaviour.  I am certain they would keep their word.
😉
Curt from Canada

Is it because "everyone" is on Jewel to Greenland at pretty much the same time?
😉
Curt from Canada

Before MAR 2020, I kept a database (with lots of input from this fantastic board).  Below is the data (a small sample, but with some trends if you look at it).  My plan is to start up again (as soon as the sailing begin ... I should have said that louder ... AS SOON AS THE SAILINGS BEGIN! ... and they will).  A few observations:
1).  A few get assigned very far in advance.  These appear to be outliners (and the frequency may come down over time with more data).
2). Just over a month before there is an inflection point where almost half have their assignment set.
3). Almost all have been set 10-19 days before sailing.
4). All have been assigned by the time you board. ?
 
Stay Safe, Stay Apart, Stay Connected,
Curt from Canada

After Hubby returned from his sunrise photos we were deep into the fjords and by about 7am, I stepped out onto the balcony and was greeted by these sights. Quite breathtaking. We spent about an hour taking photos. This was one of those times that I was actually glad Hubby brought a tripod. We ended up with some really beautiful family shots. As it got closer to 8am, the lighting was perfect!
Another massive photo dump ahead. Photos all by Hubby. 
 

This morning we had arranged with Leroy to have breakfast delivered to the room to avoid the fiasco of Hubby and the kids scrambling at the last minute to find something to eat before we headed off. This turned out really well as it gave everyone a chance to watch the sail into Flåm and eat at their leisure. 

Shortly afterwards, we were off to meet Leroy and @GregD and the gang to ride the Flåmsbana train. Not going to bother to describe it as Greg already did in an above post. The train ride was a good way to see many sights but agreed that it goes by quite fast. There is only one opportunity to get out and take pics (at the waterfall). These pics were taken from inside the train.

 

That is approximately 68 degF to 74 DegF (from one of the last "bilingual" Canadians [Imperial & Metric]) ... actually was taught both in school (when Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth).
😉
 
Curt from Canada

That is approximately 68 degF to 74 DegF (from one of the last "bilingual" Canadians [Imperial & Metric]) ... actually was taught both in school (when Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth).
😉
 
Curt from Canada

That is approximately 68 degF to 74 DegF (from one of the last "bilingual" Canadians [Imperial & Metric]) ... actually was taught both in school (when Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth).
😉
 
Curt from Canada

That is approximately 68 degF to 74 DegF (from one of the last "bilingual" Canadians [Imperial & Metric]) ... actually was taught both in school (when Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth).
😉
 
Curt from Canada

I dress for no one. Not at work (OK, maybe for customers), not at home, and not on a cruise. With one massive exception. I dress for my soulmate. Since I really can’t see what I am wearing, and I really could care less about what anyone else thinks, I dress for only one person ... the woman I fell in love with 43 years ago and the woman I want to make happy every single day of my life. 
I also do not care what other people wear … I am looking at my soulmate, everyone else is the equivalent of “visual background noise” … Sorry if some of you are upset.
These genuine requests for what is normal and tolerated in the MDR and on Formal nights are sincere questions (and good ones). My advice is ... Ask your soulmate(s). Ask the person(s) who you are devoted to. Ask the only person(s) on the earth that matters. You and they will be much happier as a result. 
On a cruise (and many times at home), I wear what my soulmate wants.  She also asks me what I prefer that she wears, and I am honest and very appreciative when she responds. When we do this, almost always she says I “look sexy”, and I feel great (I also laugh a little ... OK, maybe a lot). I think she is the most beautiful woman on the ship, and I would wear anything to make her happy. 
I hope everyone can have this feeling when they go cruising. 
Curt from Canada. 

Well, that's because you are a newlywed.  Just wait until you two get to know each other.
😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

I dress for no one. Not at work (OK, maybe for customers), not at home, and not on a cruise. With one massive exception. I dress for my soulmate. Since I really can’t see what I am wearing, and I really could care less about what anyone else thinks, I dress for only one person ... the woman I fell in love with 43 years ago and the woman I want to make happy every single day of my life. 
I also do not care what other people wear … I am looking at my soulmate, everyone else is the equivalent of “visual background noise” … Sorry if some of you are upset.
These genuine requests for what is normal and tolerated in the MDR and on Formal nights are sincere questions (and good ones). My advice is ... Ask your soulmate(s). Ask the person(s) who you are devoted to. Ask the only person(s) on the earth that matters. You and they will be much happier as a result. 
On a cruise (and many times at home), I wear what my soulmate wants.  She also asks me what I prefer that she wears, and I am honest and very appreciative when she responds. When we do this, almost always she says I “look sexy”, and I feel great (I also laugh a little ... OK, maybe a lot). I think she is the most beautiful woman on the ship, and I would wear anything to make her happy. 
I hope everyone can have this feeling when they go cruising. 
Curt from Canada.