Ditchdoc

Almost every day we have a few drink vouchers left over and cash them in for bottles of water.

Having some SCUBA experience I'll add my $0.02. First, I am Advanced Open Water, Dry Suit, NITROX and Rescue Diver certified. I learned to dive as a SCUBA, Swift Water Rescue Team. I have over a thousand logged dives. A lot of my diving has been body, vehicles (including one military helicopter) and evidence recovery in conditions and waters most people wold never consider wading in, much less diving in. I have done a fair amount of diving in the Caribbean, deep dives, drift dives and cave dives. PADI instructors are among the best. Learning to SCUBA is very rewarding. The beauty of the oceans is like nothing you will every see on land. Learning the skills and being comfortable in the water is paramount. It is nothing to rush through and end up being uncertain about. Keep in mind that not everyone is suited for SCUBA. It can feel claustrophobic and scary. Everyone learns differently. Some take more time and patience. Keep in mind that 'quickie' resort and cruise training may not be sufficient for some people. I have seen bad situations where bad instructors just leave people to flounder because they can not keep up with the rest of the class. There are classes where time and money can take precedence over safety. I will say the experience I have had with RC dive shops on board has been good but diving excursions can and are often run by independent dive shops and the quality of instructors, boats and equipment can vary. If SCUBA is all new to you, my advice is get the best training you can. Get your own well fitted mask, snorkel and fins. You might consider a wet suit. These come in full length ankle to wrist and 'shorties' that are thigh to elbow. For Caribbean diving, something thin and light weight alike 0.5 or 1mm thickness. It will act as your cover up, help with any slight chill and offer some protection if you bump into something that might hurt. If you go on a dive boat, be prepared to contend with other divers and motion sickness. Find your rental gear, inspect it and keep it close. If you can, test fit you BC and assemble your tank and regulator, and have your weight in place. If you have questions about how much wight, or anything else, ask your dive master for advice. Test your regulator for a good fit in your mouth, that your tank is full and nothing is leaking air. As a novice, it is easy to the have the tank turned the wrong way, the regulator on the wrong side or what ever. The basic idea here is to plan ahead for that drop into water and be ready so you are not scattered, lost and over anxious when the time comes. I have never had a dive master complain about me double checking and getting everything ready in advance. If anything, it gives them some confidence that you know what you are doing. It takes practice to get good control of buoyancy. Don't over compensate and yo yo. Its easy to be excited and burn up your air in a hurry. Stay calm and enjoy. Ascend slowly and decompress. The last thing you want to do and probably will do is panic at 60 feet or more. Anyway, enough scary stuff. The point of all this is take your training seriously and if you really feel uncomfortable in the water or with the equipment, maybe stick to the swimming pool. Be cautious of accelerated courses that promise certification in a day or two. SCUBA is a serious endeavor that is fun with great rewards and learning to do it properly and safely can not be over emphasized.

Its been a few years back when we did Vancouver to Seward then a week long land tour by bus/train to Fairbanks via Talkeetna and Denali. This was done in mid/late August and the weather was perfect. It was truly a trip of a life time and worth every penny. Some high lights included: Seeing Hubbard glacier calve. The narrow gauge railway at Skagway following the gold rush trail Whale watching from Anchorage thought we say more whales, closer from the ship and dock at Icy Point Straight. Luxurious RC train coaches with 360 degree views and on board meals. Seeing bears and wolves in Denali as well as dog sled teams. I do not think RC offers the extensive a land cruise any longer which was exceptional. I think it is cut back to 3 or 4 days and I think they sold the rail road cars that cost over a million each to another company that hosts the land tour. Regardless, if you get good weather, its a trip not to be missed if you can do it.

Well .... I'm in "its depends" category. It depends in part on demand. If 90% of the ship is on land at CoCo Cay and there is little demand and a lot of unused deck chairs, it does not matter too much if you 'reserve' a couple of spots early on while you get breakfast etc. On the other hand, on a sea day, when the pools are crowded and half the ship wants a spot at the pool, then the crew needs to be a bit more diligent about about looking for 'abandoned' deck chairs. To me, putting a sign on almost everything is obnoxious and ugly. Put a few signs in conspicuous places so people know and/or reminded. Like the police mark tires of limited parking areas, mark chairs in a simple way. Every 30 minutes to an hour, walk back through and any marked chair that is still unoccupied is made available for someone else. Its not rocket science but it is common courtesy.

She is still in dry dock on 3/23. I would guess she should be coming out most any day. In a week for sure.

In general, US custom's allows for 1 liter per person, period. Once, the wife and I purchased a liter each on board. On an excursion, were given a bottle of Cuban rum. I did not really think about it until we hit customs and the agent noted the 3 bottles instead of the 2 allowed. I just said, 'oops, do you want to dispose of one?'. The agent looked at me and simply said 'Go on' and we did. I can not attest to what goes on behind the scenes in customs but with ports simply using facial recognition and you keep going with no human interaction, I am not sure what you might get away with in your bags.

I think you are asking for something that does not exist per say. Almost every one of your examples can at least be queried in a search engine like Google or Bing. For instance, I looked up "which ships have a Flow Riders' and quickly found not only which ships but most anything you want to know about Flow Riders. Most of your other questions returned similar results. Lately, there has been a lot of news about AI search engines that in effect can answer very complicated questions by searching tens of thousands if not millions of web pages, find what is being asked and present it in what ever format you want. This is pretty cutting edge but it is the near future. Even so, as I stated before, much of this information can change day to day just like the availability of Sky Pads. The info you get may not always be current. It is the way of the world. It takes some skill with research and sleuthing to find some answers. That is where sites like this, where the information of many minds with experience come together, are helpful. Good luck in your future travels and I hope you find what you are looking for.

On our last cruise VOOM was available on the RC app. The wife and I are both C&A members so we both were able to activate our free VOOM perk anytime we wanted and it terminated 24 hours later. We juggled it with WiFi access at some ports and ended up using it during a day at sea to catch up with family etc. You can check with your phone provider but most Caribbean islands charge little or nothing for texting and data.

Check some local outdoor shops where you will be hiking. Bear spray cost $40-$60 a can. Many of these shops will rent you a can for the day for a few bucks and you only get charged the full price if you don't bring it back, or have to use it.

A lot of this information is dynamic. It changes on a regular basis, sometimes, daily. Keeping data bases updated requires good communication and hands on the keyboard. Companies have a lot of focus on this when it comes to cash flow. Public schedules and such, not so much. Its more localized by cruise directors and ship. People usually choose their cruise by port, destination and cost. Smaller details like an Escape Room can usually be found out by drilling down to each individual ship once it is chosen.

What do you get if you cross an elephant with a rhinoceros? Elephrino? (ell if I no)

Some really good points being made here. The comparison of cruise vs land resort vacations/cost is not easy. Trying to distill it down to something relatively simple is not easy. Cruise ships are more expensive to run. Anyone that has owned even a small boat, especially if it was kept at a dock in salt water, knows it is not cheap. Refueling a cruise ship can easily top a million dollars. Here are some really rough numbers that are more indicative than actual. Cruise ships are highly compact or dense. Lets say 4,000 passengers at about $1,000 each. That is 4 million for one week. A hotel is not so much passenger as room based. A moderate size hotel of 400 rooms at $125 a night x 7 nights is $350,000 for one week. A cruise ship can easily have 600 staff but those same passengers are probably paying at least another mandatory $100 in tips or another $400,000 per week to help pay them. A 400 room hotel will have a staff of about 500 people whose salary comes out of the room rate. Cruise ships provide a whole list of free high tech entertainment (Broadway shows, ice shows, even computer controlled drone light shows) as well as shore excursions for additional cost. Hotels, depending, offer WiFi and a swimming pool and the surrounding neighborhood for entertainment, all at additional cost.. All inclusive resorts generally include food and drink. Cruise ships include food. Hotels can offer a lot of space per person, room size averages about 350 square feet. Cruise ships are compact and cabins average about 200 square feet. Using these very arbitrary numbers, a cruise ship stay is about $200 a night (including mandatory tip) and a hotel is about $125 a night. An all inclusive resort can be about $200 per night and may include air fare. Cruise ships and hotels are hard to compare in a lot of respects. It seems pretty obvious cruise ships are expensive to operate. When you compare basic cost of cruising to all inclusive resorts, the cost is similar. There can be a lot of difference in available activities and entertainment. Most all cruise ships offer gambling. Ships have yet to incorporate down hill skiing. When you start looking at luxury or exclusivity or paying tens of thousands for butlers, multi level suits and so on, I can not say how they might compare. Overall I would say cruising is a good value, competitive but not necessarily under or over priced. The cruise industry continues to grow with more ships, private islands and resorts. The cruise industry carries about 30 million passengers annually. Walt Disney World has about 58 million guests annually. If anything, this indicates the cruising industry has a lot of room to grow.

In AARP magazine this month is an article "Cruise Ships are Revving Up". Its speaks briefly on a few aspects of returning to cruising after COVID. There is one segment that compares some vacation costs: $2,720 A seven night Royal Caribbean cruise $6,698 A seven night Oceania cruise $4,981 Seven nights at Secrets Aura Cozumel resort $7,299 Seven nights at Sandals Grande St. Lucian Recently I read an article (I tried to find it again with no luck) about Royal Caribbean reconsidering its pricing. The gist being, there was thought being given to equivalent land based vacations and that in general, cruising was under priced. The implication being, cruise lines, and RC in particular, may increase prices to be more in line with other vacation choices. Though I certainly would hate to see prices at RC increase, I do understand. Not only does RC incur all the burden of a massive hotel, but it also must maintain its moving platform or ship. Anyway, it was just an observation and I am interested in others thoughts or insight.

Also here https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/03/15/royal-caribbean-cancels-first-mariner-of-the-seas-sailing-after-scheduled-drydock

Doing a B2B in May....looking forward to the fresh paint

OMG.....if I only had a brain.....

Just missed you .... we board on the 12th for a back to back thru the 26th.

RE ship movement and room location The least movement will be lower decks mid ship. The most movement will be forward on the upper decks. The most engine noise will be at the rear. You may hear water slapping the hull on exterior room near the water line or lower decks. Having said that, larger ships are more stable with mild or moderate oceans. Near shore, where cruise ships stay most of the time, the ocean waves are usually less than 10 feet which is barely noticeable on a large ship. Typically, you never notice the ships movement. Sometimes you can get good size swells over a fairly long period. If they are broadside to the ship, it rolls left to right. These are usually the most noticeable if you look out a window from, say the dining room, you may see the the horizon move up and down as the ship rolls. Again, you may not notice it unless you look. The captain and the crew want smooth sailing. Sea sick people are no fun. Neither is trying to work in the galley, serve tables and so on. As such, the captain will do all they can to minimize any rockin and rollin. Some times, it can get a little rough. Not crazy dangerous or anything but it can be uncomfortable. Walking down a long hall may cause you to wobble from wall to wall. This is rare unless you are going trans Atlantic or Pacific. I think most people deal with moderate ship movement with no issues and room selection will not make enough of a difference to even put it on the worry list. Everyone is different and how they cope with ship movement. Some are more sensitive than others. There is always Dramamine and Scopolamine. You see people wearing these as patches behind their ears. They tend to make you a bit drowsy and sleepy as a side effect. Some people swear by the pressure point wrist bands. In addition: Don't use close vision like reading or phone browsing if the motion of the ocean is bothering you. I find it helps to just lay down and close my eyes if I start to feel flush and warm, the beginning signs of motion sickness. Its kind of like swinging in a hammock or porch swing. Take a nap. You will feel better. Some say to keep moving, fresh air, look at the horizon, stay hydrated and eat ginger (ginger ale, ginger snaps, ginger tea etc.) I really do not think room location is going to make a big difference. I certainly do not want to spend my expensive vacation closed up in my room because there happens to be less movement there. If you are prone to get really sea sick, maybe the ocean is not for you. No where on the ship is going to give you much relief. If you do find one spot on the ship that is not moving much, everyone else that is sea sick will be trying to find the same spot. Personally, I am not sure I want to go where a bunch of people are throwing up if I am already queasy. Finally: Watch your alcohol intake. A seasick drunk is a bad combination. PS ... if your ship hits a hurricane, tsunami, giant whirlpool or worm hole in the Bermuda triangle, all bets are off.

Bottom paint, new zincs, prop balance or update perhaps. Azipod access with bearing replacement, lubrication, thruster maintenance, general inspection and cleaning. Anything normally underwater that needs servicing otherwise there would be little need to dry dock. Anchors and chains are laid out on the dry dock floor for inspection. Any valves used for sea water access for disposal, engine cooling and so on are inspected and replaced as needed. Actually, I have no idea but that all seems at least possible.

We spend thousands on a cruise .... and get so emotional over 98 cents worth of cookies ... Along the same lines .... RC spends millions running a ship every day .... yet they begrudge the most loyal customers a Budwiser that cost 10 cents a can in bulk .... go figure.

Last two cruises the wife and I took 2 bottles with accessories in our carry on picknik wine tote. We never opened a bottle either time and have decided it is one less thing we need to carry. I realize everyone drinking habits differ. Right now, we get 4 drinks each every day. We generally find that to be plenty. Several times at the end of the day before retiring, we have 2-4 diamond drinks we never used so we 'cash in' with bottled waters to keep in the fridge. Those we seem to always need/drink.

Speaking of blocks...this just came in email from C&A... DIAMOND & ABOVECRYSTAL BLOCKS, NOW IN COLORThis spring, we’ll debut brand new, full-color crystal blocks! We’ll be saying goodbye to current designs over the next several months as we transition to our new look. Members receive their first crystal block at 140 cruise points and earn subsequent blocks for every 70 points thereafter.

Corporations can be slow to implement new technology. There are several aspects to this including development, installing hardware, updating, cost and whats up to date today, is old tomorrow. Money can overcome many of the issues but its not always available. Bands, facial recognition, apps all take time to develop and implement. Often they never quiet work as expected on roll out. Much is data and information based. Imagine the spread sheet it would take to contain all the information about passengers and information on daily ship activities along with invertible and constant changes. A lot of information is useless if it is not current. Keeping information current can be somewhat automated or passive but many times, it takes a person at the keyboard inputting updates. Then there are times when the information is there but but not disseminated appropriately There are so many variables and not all are always understood in advance. I personally like the idea of the RC App and information it provides. At the same time, it falls flat on having up to date information and has the potential for so much more than its current capabilities. I am confident it will get better and at times, will probably get worse before it gets better. I just always try to remind myself that being stuck in Interstate traffic moving at 35mph is still better than walking. Magnetic cards are better than carrying a metal key with 4 inch plastic diamond shaped fob attached.

The RC card returns $10 for every $1000 you charge. You have to charge about $60,000 to get in the BOGO range. If you have that level of cash flow, go for it. You do get double for charging RC cruises and recently there were bonuses for 'Valentine's' meals in February.

Diamonds can get their drink allotment anywhere and the lounge offers no extra. Last cruise I went to the lounge early morning to get coffee but the machine was out of order. Never bothered going back. I am at a point where I just don't see much, if any, value in the Diamond lounge.