leesam82

Overall I agree with you. I think that all reviews are good to read and just as @Pattycruise brought up its critical because it allows new cruisers and seasoned cruisers to temper some expectations. I wil agree with @smokeybandit that many new / non-frequent cruisers have very critical expectations. 
I will not say that I am the most seasoned cruiser, but I have had family members and others ask me about cruising. I always tell them to prepare for the unexpected and try not to go cruising with a specific expectation or expecting perfection. I think that many times cruisers going in expecting perfection and being disappointed with getting 90%. I always encourage people to learn as much as possible about the experience and leave it up to them to decide if its worth it or not. 
On my most recent sailing, I had a family member who swore off Royal because of a bad initial experience, that had a great time this past June and will go cruising again on the ship that matches what they are looking for. 
 

@Sifsig It sucks that you had a sub par experience onboard with regards to the entertainment. A lot of different factors can come into play with regards to your experience on board. 
My family trip on the the Oasis OTS in June the entertainment was great. But I will say that there were some staffing issues as 1) There were nearly 6000 passangers on board and I was able to see that the MDR staff seemed a bit overwhelmed especially on day one. It did get better later on as less people were dining at the MDR as passengers went to other restaurants. 2) We got very lucky in that the weather was agreeable for us. We had smooth sailing majority of the cruise. 
One suggestion is for you not to write off royal due to one experience. If port liberty is going to be your main port to sail out of I would also suggest trying the Fall/Winter cruise on the Anthem OTS. Though the ports are the same its a different ship and you will have a different experience. 

Overall I agree with you. I think that all reviews are good to read and just as @Pattycruise brought up its critical because it allows new cruisers and seasoned cruisers to temper some expectations. I wil agree with @smokeybandit that many new / non-frequent cruisers have very critical expectations. 
I will not say that I am the most seasoned cruiser, but I have had family members and others ask me about cruising. I always tell them to prepare for the unexpected and try not to go cruising with a specific expectation or expecting perfection. I think that many times cruisers going in expecting perfection and being disappointed with getting 90%. I always encourage people to learn as much as possible about the experience and leave it up to them to decide if its worth it or not. 
On my most recent sailing, I had a family member who swore off Royal because of a bad initial experience, that had a great time this past June and will go cruising again on the ship that matches what they are looking for. 
 

@Sifsig It sucks that you had a sub par experience onboard with regards to the entertainment. A lot of different factors can come into play with regards to your experience on board. 
My family trip on the the Oasis OTS in June the entertainment was great. But I will say that there were some staffing issues as 1) There were nearly 6000 passangers on board and I was able to see that the MDR staff seemed a bit overwhelmed especially on day one. It did get better later on as less people were dining at the MDR as passengers went to other restaurants. 2) We got very lucky in that the weather was agreeable for us. We had smooth sailing majority of the cruise. 
One suggestion is for you not to write off royal due to one experience. If port liberty is going to be your main port to sail out of I would also suggest trying the Fall/Winter cruise on the Anthem OTS. Though the ports are the same its a different ship and you will have a different experience. 

Malt Vinegar 4Life!

Too funny!!!
 

I would love if this lazy river was long enough to take you throughout CocoCay. Can you imagine getting one near the entrance of thrill water park and having it through out the island so you could get off at south beach or the beach club. I think that would be cool. I know the logistics of that would take too long but it would be interesting. 

I would love if this lazy river was long enough to take you throughout CocoCay. Can you imagine getting one near the entrance of thrill water park and having it through out the island so you could get off at south beach or the beach club. I think that would be cool. I know the logistics of that would take too long but it would be interesting. 

Hello Sorry you had to go through that. This exact thing happened to my family member on our most recent sailing. One thing I would suggest in the future if you are taking the Walgreens rapid NAAT, I would call if you don't get the results within 3 hours. Majority of the time the tests are already completed they just haven't sent out the paperwork. So you can ask the pharmacy staff to print out a copy for pick up. This is what my family member did so they were able to have the test results for our cruise.

Hello Sorry you had to go through that. This exact thing happened to my family member on our most recent sailing. One thing I would suggest in the future if you are taking the Walgreens rapid NAAT, I would call if you don't get the results within 3 hours. Majority of the time the tests are already completed they just haven't sent out the paperwork. So you can ask the pharmacy staff to print out a copy for pick up. This is what my family member did so they were able to have the test results for our cruise.

Truth is I'm addicted to cat videos, in 4k.  

As a grandparent, I resemble that remark!

Hello Sorry you had to go through that. This exact thing happened to my family member on our most recent sailing. One thing I would suggest in the future if you are taking the Walgreens rapid NAAT, I would call if you don't get the results within 3 hours. Majority of the time the tests are already completed they just haven't sent out the paperwork. So you can ask the pharmacy staff to print out a copy for pick up. This is what my family member did so they were able to have the test results for our cruise.

I would say that overall Royal Caribbean provides the best experience for everyone in the family. Everyone of my cruises with Royal has been a multi-generational trip with young kids to grandparents. I have always enjoyed the fact that Royal does a great job to catering to each generation in the family. There are plenty of things for the kids to do, as well as enjoyable things for the grandparents. Plus having grandparents onboard was great when we wanted someone to watch the kids if they were not at adventure ocean. 

I would say that overall Royal Caribbean provides the best experience for everyone in the family. Everyone of my cruises with Royal has been a multi-generational trip with young kids to grandparents. I have always enjoyed the fact that Royal does a great job to catering to each generation in the family. There are plenty of things for the kids to do, as well as enjoyable things for the grandparents. Plus having grandparents onboard was great when we wanted someone to watch the kids if they were not at adventure ocean. 

Hello Sorry you had to go through that. This exact thing happened to my family member on our most recent sailing. One thing I would suggest in the future if you are taking the Walgreens rapid NAAT, I would call if you don't get the results within 3 hours. Majority of the time the tests are already completed they just haven't sent out the paperwork. So you can ask the pharmacy staff to print out a copy for pick up. This is what my family member did so they were able to have the test results for our cruise.

I had a huge family cruise on the Oasis OTS. We got back and my mother tested positive after she started feeling a little under the weather. I personally have been on two cruises during Covid and have personally lucked out not catching anything. With that said, I was at Disney World in April and My kids and I all caught covid. Luckily everyone is vaccinated so the symptoms were pretty mild. 
Unfortunately anywhere you go that has a high density of people one will be at risk. This could be cruise ships to amusement parks and everything in between. My advice is to understand the risks, mitigate the risks as much as one can, and hope for the best. I personally think that COVID will be with us and it will be a part of cruising as like any sickness like norovirus. 

I try to drink as much alcohol as possible while on a cruise ship.  I haven't had COVID post cruising.  There is a moral to that story, somewhere!
Seriously though, I get sick after just about every vacation, including COVID once, whether on a cruise ship or a trip to Las Vegas or......  I'm not really a big drinker other than on a cruise.  I just don't worry about it.  I try to be a social butterfly, I don't avoid elevators that have more than X people in it, I don't wear masks if I don't have to and I avoid activities/places that require a mask.  I just don't care because it is almost a sure thing that I'm going to come down with something when I get home.  I'm sure I have what they call "Long COVID", I seem to permanently have a runny nose/sniffles.  I've been like that since I had COVID back in circa 2020.  

Just recently got on the Oasis ots sailing on June 17th. They were checking everyone's negative covid test results. 
What could be happening is that some port terminal agents are not checking if the test results have a Clia or certificate number on the lab print out. I would not risk this. Please make sure your lab report has everything required by Royal.

Just clarify from experience and as a scientist who works on diagnostic tests, the posters are correct in the three choices 1) regular PCR which sent out to a third party medical lab 2) rapid PCR also known as a Naat. Depending on the machine that is being run you can have results in like 45 mins. The interest thing about the machine that run naat test is they are a hybrid of PCR and an antigen test depending on the brand of equipment 3) the regular antigen test ( many Walgreens have now stopped offering this)
The problem arises actually after the test as there is red tape and other hurdles that need to be addressed. My advice is that if you took an Naat from Walgreens and you know that you have the correct email with them ( check that you have a confirmation for the test) then I would call and ask for a print out. I would also caution those using Walgreens regular PCR tests as their needs to be a thrid party medical lab. So even though the PCR process only takes about 4 to 8 hrs depending on the PCR method, you may not get results in 24 hours. much of is has to do with the fact that medical labs do what is called sample batching. Meaning they aren't going to waste reagents to run only a few samples. They will wait to have a full load before running. Another issue is the transit time from collection site to the lab as there can be logistical issues. The sample could have been misplaced and then run later or there could be a delay in delivery of the sample. 
 
My last bit of advice would be if you are expecting results with in a certain be time frame and you don't get one, call back and ask. 

Just clarify from experience and as a scientist who works on diagnostic tests, the posters are correct in the three choices 1) regular PCR which sent out to a third party medical lab 2) rapid PCR also known as a Naat. Depending on the machine that is being run you can have results in like 45 mins. The interest thing about the machine that run naat test is they are a hybrid of PCR and an antigen test depending on the brand of equipment 3) the regular antigen test ( many Walgreens have now stopped offering this)
The problem arises actually after the test as there is red tape and other hurdles that need to be addressed. My advice is that if you took an Naat from Walgreens and you know that you have the correct email with them ( check that you have a confirmation for the test) then I would call and ask for a print out. I would also caution those using Walgreens regular PCR tests as their needs to be a thrid party medical lab. So even though the PCR process only takes about 4 to 8 hrs depending on the PCR method, you may not get results in 24 hours. much of is has to do with the fact that medical labs do what is called sample batching. Meaning they aren't going to waste reagents to run only a few samples. They will wait to have a full load before running. Another issue is the transit time from collection site to the lab as there can be logistical issues. The sample could have been misplaced and then run later or there could be a delay in delivery of the sample. 
 
My last bit of advice would be if you are expecting results with in a certain be time frame and you don't get one, call back and ask. 

The last time I saw a this was in 2019 pre pandemic. I have not seen it recently. I am itching to participate in one.

Currently at the port for the Oasis sailing. Garage is disabled only. 

Currently at the port for the Oasis sailing. Garage is disabled only.