CruisinUpinLife

I've only been on Brilliance and Oasis so far in my memorable adult life.  I would say Oasis was my favorite.  This is because it was such a WOW when we got on and took the cruise.  I didn't dislike our Brilliance trip as it was a great trip with my family.  I still have some wonderful memories with my family on it but I wish we had done more research/been better prepared for our first cruise since the very early 90s (where I was too young to recall anything but dancing on the dance floors).  However, it was obviously a wonderful enough experience that has me LOVING this mode of vacationing.  We cannot wait to try out Freedom very soon!  I know I want to try to do a ship of each class and find our favorite.

I'm so on board with you on this one ..... Sovereign of the Seas was our first cruise too.
In fact, I have a Sovereign T-shirt that I wear as I board the ship every time we cruise ...

I've wondered that myself as I've read this blog!  He does such an amazingly detailed job with his live blogs.  One of the best out there!

I've only been on Brilliance and Oasis so far in my memorable adult life.  I would say Oasis was my favorite.  This is because it was such a WOW when we got on and took the cruise.  I didn't dislike our Brilliance trip as it was a great trip with my family.  I still have some wonderful memories with my family on it but I wish we had done more research/been better prepared for our first cruise since the very early 90s (where I was too young to recall anything but dancing on the dance floors).  However, it was obviously a wonderful enough experience that has me LOVING this mode of vacationing.  We cannot wait to try out Freedom very soon!  I know I want to try to do a ship of each class and find our favorite.

I've wondered that myself as I've read this blog!  He does such an amazingly detailed job with his live blogs.  One of the best out there!

That’s kinda what I figured. I did a search of PADI Certification on the message boards, and didn’t see much come up. I thought any info would be helpful for those trying to decide what’s best for them. 

We are sailing on Freedom leaving the 17th too! My email said to arrive after 12:30 but, like others have commented,  that's just a suggestion.  We are in grand suite and concierge email says boarding begins at 11:30.
Our usual target arrival time is 11:00 and we have never had an issue boarding. 

NICE!!!
Splendour was our first RCL ship in 1999.  It was awesome.  We did a 14N transatlantic.  I still remember that everyday at lunch our Head Waiter cooked an extra pasta course (table-side) just for his tables.  Fantastic!!!  Also, I read the book Perfect Storm on that cruise.  That book goes into great detail of fishing at George's Bank which we sailed over.  Such a great cruise.  WE WERE HOOKED...

I completely agree with your position on the subject.  If your group (you mention "we") is all doing it, and it was a goal of the trip, it seems to me you have hit on the one way that it is productive to do it.
 
My comment was based upon my experience where there was 4 of us (3 brothers and 1 best friend), and 1 did it.  It turned out to be a drag on the group.
 
Here is an example of how it would not work: for me to do it on a trip with my wife only or on a trip with my wife and children (21, 19, and 12).  By the second day of my trip, their trip would be ruined, and I would have to drop out of the course to save it.
 
I would want to save others from the same pitfall who don't think in advance just how involved the process is.

@RCVoyager
While I may have a difference of opinion when we are done, I would have to say it depends on the circumstances. We intentionally did it on this cruise because we were NOT cruising with friends/family. So generally speaking, I would agree with that sentiment; it would be hard to enjoy this experience AND try to enjoy the company of fellow cruisers. We have also had to curtail our drinking (which you may not believe if you read our live blog). 
 
It really depends on the individual person and your personal goals too. If your goal is to eat, drink, see all the shows, lounge by the pool or relax the whole cruise, this may not be the best fit. But if you pick this with intention, you may have an amazingly positive experience. If we could go back and rebook and plan this better, we probably would have NOT selected the UDP, the spa all week access, or The Key. (I’ll give a better review when we are done) Getting our certification has been a goal of ours for almost 9 years. To FINALLY be able to get it done, AND scuba in some amazing ports, AND have the security of a 5 Star PADI dive shop with amazing instructors, for one low price, it really is something that SHOULD be considered. You just must do your due diligence to ensure this experience fits the circumstances. 

I feel like so many people have questions on this so it's wonderful that you are providing a current experience.  I hope it goes wonderfully for your group and all are able to certify!

I believe you can still plan to do that.  This 3pm is just a suggestion, just like they have a suggested embarkation time for everyone.  If you want to get on first, just get there early and you can expect to get on early if there are no reasons for a delay such as CBP inspection or technical delay or anything of that nature.  Just know that as usual, rooms will not open up until 1-130pm.  Have a great trip!  I'll be on Freedom soon enough and CANNOT wait given we hit a record low where I live today.  I'm ready for sunshine and warm temperatures!

I wanted to start this blog by sharing our Open Water Diver Certification process on board Harmony OTS, Nov 2019. Hopefully this will help answer any questions or concerns. This will be partly live since we are still on board; if you have any questions you want me to relay, let me know! (We disembark on Nov 16, 2019)
We signed up for the excursion about a week prior to the cruise. I asked a bunch of questions, and THAT same day the excursion team reached out to the dive team. All my questions were answered that same day (appreciated the quick responses!). They also included copies of our medical questionnaire (see pictures) and asked us to send them back. The same day I sent them back, they responded with my PADI redeem key so I could start my eLearning modules. I HIGHLY recommend getting them done early (obviously...) this was a last minute decision (largely thanks to @twangster and noting some advice he posted. I owe you a beer on our next cruise...provided I get certified... ??)
Since it was a last minute decision, we spent most of the morning of our embarkation (both before and after we were on the ship) frantically trying to finish ?? Ultimately it didn’t seem like a huge deal if we hadn’t, since all open water stuff was going to be done the following day. They didn’t seem too concerned that some of our modules appeared as not complete (even though they were), they just softly reminded us to finish them and encouraged us to get them done ASAP. There are NUMEROUS glitches with the PADI eLearning app (known as “PADI Library” in the Apple store). We found the iPad to be WAY easier to use vs. just an iPhone. Even with the large screen of the iPhone 11 Pro... it still was difficult to navigate, watch videos, take exams, etc. 
Once on board, we showed up before 3:pm to prove all our pre-cruise requirements were completed, our medical questionnaire, doctors note (if needed), and PADI folder were all filled out. I would HIGHLY suggest you review the medical requirements and get all issues signed off by your MD well in advance. We had to show back up at 6pm to fit our gear (and buy what we didn’t have). They (Francois and Kelly) seemed really friendly, and probably would have let us borrow equipment had we pressed the issue, but we wanted to just buy our own anyway. If you’re smarter than we are, I would suggest going to your local PADI (or dive) shop, try on products there, and buy them in advance. Ultimately the masks they offered ranged in price from $20-120 , but they had limited options for colors, styles, brands etc. This is like going into your local bowling alley and seeing all the pretty, fancy pro gear, and then going online and seeing about 8 million different options than what was offered. You may not only save some money, but also have something that fits better or you like more. 
That was it for day 1!!
They were supposed to have us do our confined water dives on Perfect Day, but the pool was down for maintenance apparently. This meant we got a free day in Cocoa Cay! BUT it meant we had to use the on board pool (and NOT the aqua pool like I’ve heard they used in the past) for our initial confined dives. This meant our first sea day was an almost all day practicum  day and only in 4.5 ft of water ?

Day 2 (our 3rd cruise day and first sea day). We met at 6:30am at the dive shop. We grabbed our gear (prepared and fitted previously) then prepped it like they taught us, and went into the pool. There are 7 in our class and they said that is about typical for on board certification. People ranged from having previous dive experience to having none. Overall our class went until about 10:30am. At that time one of our classmates apparently gagged on something and threw up in the pool ?? Whatever, lol ?  happens. Rolling with the flow of the ocean is what cruising is all about. They did have to clean out the pool which meant lessons were over for the morning. This was kinda a hindrance since we need to come BACK this/that evening at 4:30pm for more training. 

As of writing this (I’m sitting in the hot tub in the solarium relaxing until evening class), things haven’t been too crazy difficult or hard. Super basic skills (removing mask and regulators, practicing emergency procedures etc) were all we completed. (But according to our instructors we are doing relatively well!)
I’ll keep you all updated with the thing that happen next and relay any lessons learned I thought might be useful!

It absolutely has 150 CP.. Every Oasis class ship has this restaurant.. 

Here is @twangster's Live Blog experience when he missed a cruise earlier this year.  He details his situation very well.

I kind of agree with you.  I've had a couple of great desserts but in general, they aren't always worth the calories.

I would NEVER make anyone move, I would only propose the question and then ask them politely, like my parents taught me! 
Thank you for shedding light on your perspective on how people might feel if someone made them move!

In general, do not shop on the ship unless you aren't worried about how much money you spend, know what land pricing is for the items, or you need a particular item urgently and cannot wait to pick it up in a port.  They definitely will make you think it's the deal of the century but when you get home you may find it was cheaper at home.  They do a great job of luring in those that love a "sale" and don't realize the true value of what they are buying.  They just see it as x% off the original price.  It reminds me a lot of how annoyed we all get when they say "sale!" on their website for pre cruise purchases and you'll find the "sale" prices all over the place when they are all 20% off on board pricing.  It's an operational model that truly fascinates me.

She is getting one after the Alaska season next year. 
Radiance has a revenue cruise from Alaska to Tokyo Sept. 4, 2020 and then she enters a multi-million dollar refreshment.  From there she sails from Singapore to Brisbane in November 2020 to launch the new homeport of Brisbane for the 2020 Australia season.  Once that wraps up she heads North through Hawaii to Alaska for the 2021 Alaska season.  
No word yet on what the "multi-million dollar refreshment" will include.
 

Your best bet is to try one way of dining this cruise and try the other way on your next cruise.  I find a lot of these things are personal preferences and until you do both yourselves, you don't really know what works best for you.  I can understanding gathering pros/cons to try to do what may work best for you first.
Personally, I didn't care for MTD but that is probably because we weren't very organized and were a group.  We should have done traditional dining.  It was also our first cruise we had been on since the early 90s....lots of things had changed!  Most for the better.

If you are prone to allergies, make sure you take your meds or avoid Central Park.  Central Park is very beautiful and I loved it but it didn't agree with me very well.  AND I forgot my really good meds.

Good news , site working now directly.

We cruised out of PR in March '17.  At the time, flights from Logan (Boston) were $900/pp.  I looked at Newark and the price was $550/pp.  So we booked Newark, drove 3.5 hours the night before, stayed in a hotel that included 7 days of parking and saved over $400 overall.
We're looking to take Freedom out of PR in March '21.  We'll be looking at the same options when it comes time to book flights.  It helps to have multiple choices of airports within a reasonable driving distance.

Agree that old Cruise Compasses will give you a good idea of what the showtimes are likely to be but unfortunately there is no way to know ahead of time exactly what your entertainment acts will be or what time they are going to begin.  Royal (and all cruise lines, I'm guessing) book their entertainment rather last minute....or at least it seems that way as there are so very often last minute changes to the entertainment lineup.
When you get within 2 weeks of your cruise you can email [email protected] and they will give you the entertainment information that they have.  Just include the ship and sail date in your email and they will give you what they have BUT there is a very real chance that there will be some last minute changes to that lineup.  It's the best you can do though.  It's better than nothing !!

Ok , lets talk about the elephant in the room.
When we just thought on taking a cruise from China we started to read around, well lets say , you can find better reviews for Nassau  ? 
I think many people expects such cruise will be just exactly the same as any other RCL cruise without taking into consideration that different places has different culture and different  customs. 
Some of the things I have read :
1. Food , not enough western food - Well I Think its a good time to try other things , western food I have everywhere
2. The Chinese food is not that good - I think when most of us think about Chinese food  we think about restaurants as PF Changs or fast food like Panda express (which I admit I like) but that is western Chinese food not really Chinese food ... I also like authentic Chinese food  which I experience mainly in Singapore Chinese street food.
3. The messages are always first in Chinese - Well what do you expect when at least 90% are people from China , I do not mind as long as the important announcement will also be in English .
4. People are pushing in queues and into elevators - Oh you mean like most of the cruises I have been in the Caribbean during rush time ? 
5. People do not respect people personal space - For this one I do not have any answer .
6, Not enough Trivia - Not a showstopper for us.
7. Shows story lines is not clear - The Gift anyone ? 
8. Shows are boring  - mm , Cats anyone ?  
Let me tell you story ,  17 years ago (when I was young and handsome) I worked on a prove of concept that we had to present to a Japanese company , we worked like crazy to meet the time line , 20 + hours per day. Few days before we had to go to Tokyo someone arranged us culture differences lecture  to prepare  for the travel . We have been told we must come with a suite to the meetings, we must bow when presenting ourselves , never to show our shoe sole , never cross our legs when seating  and many other things. AS I did not had a normal suit with me I had to find time to go and buy one at the last minute and find someone that will do the require  alters  on the spot. The flight day arrived (the good thing no WIFI during the flight so I could sleep few hours), we landed checked that everything still working (it was not , we had to spend another sleepless night to fix it) and run to the hotel to get prepare. We all came to the meeting location  with our best suits, ties and shoes just to see our customer coming without suits , some with sandals and jeans. Yes we all bow and exchange business cards holding it with our two hands but later I notice people were seating almost the opposite from what we have been told.
After few days when we already had some off the record small talks I asked one of the people for the difference ,first he told me that what we have been told is true mainly for older generation and second , that they also got a lecture on the  culture difference before our meeting .... 
So I hope for the  good , we will come  with opened mind ,  I am going to participate in many activities as I can and to have fun.