Whizbank

I was on navigator earlier this summer. I also have anxiety about crowds and figured I wouldn't really enjoy a cruise. But, actually, you never feel like there are that many people around unless you are at a planned activity. The viking lounge was empty earlier in day and was a great inside spot for piece and quiet, as was the card room. Port day was wonderful, the ship was empty and everywhere was peaceful. I also liked deck 4 after muster, no one was around. It turned out that I like cruising much more than I thought I would. Have fun on your adventure and know that the fear of the unknown is much worse than the actual reality. Good luck! 

As a former Atlantic City casino employee, let me tell you unequivocally that there were approximately 423,654 things that were more influential in the Revel going under than their smoking policy...

That would be a definite plus if they would eliminate the smoking.  On our last cruise we didn't gamble at all because of the smoke and almost got sick walking thru the casino because fo the smoke.  And on Adventures of the Seas it doesn't stay in the casino, it was rising up into other areas of the ship.  Would love if they would eliminate the smoking in the casino  before our Allure of the Seas in December with the family.

Oh, that would be WONDERFUL!!!

We were scheduled for a September 2nd cruise on Navigator that was shortened by hurricane dorian.  RCI went above what would be expected in this situation, and made switching cruises fairly simple.  We are now heading out of Port Canaveral on the 9th. 
I can't imagine the stress the customer service reps have been under and everyone was very kind, patient, and helpful.  The only issue was the amount of time spent on hold, but that was to be expected under the circumstances.  I will absolutely be sailing and recommending RCI in the future.

Thanks for just considering using our sponsor!

Navigator of the seas Jun 10-14. First cruise and first longer than a weekend vacation with hubby in 28 yrs of marriage. 

Waiting when we got back to our room. 

Just remember, the news just cares about ratings. This isn't about right or wrong. It's about milking the story to get eyeballs. My advice is don't watch or click.

SOLD!!

@Skid no problem with the hijack I love it. You are giving me such great ideas! 

Some more observations: I majorly over packed. I should have gone with 1 pair of shorts, 2 shirts, 2 dresses, underwear and swimsuit. My rothys were perfect for everywhere including the pool deck so 1 pair of shoes was plenty. I brought phone and Kindle and chargers and Bluetooth. Actually only used the phone so the rest could have stayed home. Thought I did good but in retrospect it's obvious I brought too much
The Rc shampoo/body wash is not good for my hair. Made it both dry and unmanageable. The Paul Mitchell I got at FLL hotel was much better
I would love to have their designers come and design rooms for me. The use of space is awesome. The closet, the shelves, the drawers. The room under the bed. The ottoman with storage. The shelves beside and behind the mirror in the main room and the bathroom. The shelf above the closet. I'm really impressed with how well that all worked. 

Who: me, age 49+, DH 72, visually and mobility impaired
Where: leaving Cincinnati for ft Lauderdale, Port of Miami, Monday morning embarkation on Navigator of the Seas
Who else: meeting 4 friends from HS with with either DH or DS of their own
Why: Celebrating the big 50. Girls did 40 trip to Vegas 10 yrs ago but wanted to bring others this time. Picked cruise since my hubby is both visually and mobility impaired and hoping cruise will work best
What else: I'm afraid of flying and heights. DH usually uses cane but for this adventure to bought a travel walker and arranged wheelchairs and rented on from special needs at sea which is supposed to be in our room. 1305, deck 10, accessible interior room
So, I figured people might be interested in hearing our adventures since we are going to overcome challenges. Since hubby is not totally in a wheelchair we may have some new insights into what to expect. 
Day 1-Saturday. Getting ready to leave Cincinnati. Decided to rent a hotel room near airport where I can leave the car and take shuttle to airport in morning. Managed to stuff everything in 1 carryon backpack, 1 large suitcase, 1 cpap machine duffel, and neck purse, since it's up to me to schlep everything while simultaneously not letting Dave run into anything or fall over something. No wheelchairs at hotel or shuttle so will need to walk slowly and carefully with travel walker (no seat, weight 7 pounds, folds up small small!) first arranged wheelchair at Airport. Flying first class on delta non stop to fll so Dave can be more comfortable. Mobility issues due to: various injuries caused by blind guy doing whatever he wanted while ignoring what could happen. As in, motorcycle rallies, dog showing, crew chief on pro race car, engine building etc. Ended up on front page of USA today years ago as only blind crew chief in drag racing. 5 yrs ago had major back surgery and now has a bunch of titanium pins and wires holding his back together. 
Other: my best friend and hubby are flying down with us, flying down a day early to stay at hotel in FLL, then taking a car to Port of Miami Monday morning. Against advice of everyone on these boards, traveling with birth certificates and id's since tax season (I'm a CPA) was overwhelming and never managed to get passports. Did buy travel insurance with evac and medical just in case. Will fill in more details as this adventure progresses. Send questions! 

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf ..... Coming to a Windjammer Near You.

We have an upcoming cruise on Harmony in late August and are staying star class.  First time on RCCL (we have sailed DCL) and first time on Western Caribbean itinerary.  It’s just me and my 9 year old son.  He doesn’t like the beach but loves swimming in pools.  I love lying around getting served frozen drinks.  We will be getting off at coco cay and at Costa maya (to zip line.).  I’ve considered getting a resort day pass in Cozumel but am also considering just staying on the ship in both Cozumel and Roatan.  It seems kind of silly to disembark to go somewhere to pay for food, drink and pools when we have all of that already on board.  But does the ship really empty out on port days and/or if we stayed onboard for 2/4 port days will we regret it?  I’m also super concerned about safety - as we will be traveling without my husband.  

So any advice?  Is using the ship’s pools on a port day with less people and enjoying our star class perks just as good as snagging a day pass for a resort?  Thanks for any advice!

https://www.porthole.com/top-cruise-influencers-for-2019/

A quick search shows that the RV story is completely fake. It never happened. It's been repeated over the years with the details changed every time. Just another example of how fake stories like this and the coffee make people think that Americans shouldn't seek out justice from corporations that are negligent. 
 
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cruise-uncontrol/
https://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20050203/news/605209362
https://www.chron.com/news/casey/article/Incredible-lawsuit-tales-1826357.php 
 
Was Royal negligent by having a small open window on the 11th deck? Probably not IMO.  But if the family thinks they can prove they were it is their right as Americans to seek justice through the court system. 

Here's the thing -- life is dangerous and terrible, awful accidents happen.  And the awful, horrible things that happen can be just unimaginably painful and impossible to ever forget.  Reality, however, is that most of the time, these awful, horrible things really are just plain accidents.  There are not bad actors.  Royal Caribbean cannot create a cruise ship without windows that anyone would want to cruise on in the Southern Caribbean.  That area of the world is just plain hot.  If every area on a cruise ship were indoors, no one would cruise.  Outdoor areas require air circulation and a breeze or they become unbearable.  Thus, the pool deck of ships needs to be outdoors and it needs windows and fresh area.  There is no alternative.  Similarly, most of us want access to open air balconies, because being indoors on a cruise ship stinks and being outdoors without a breeze is miserable.
On the other hand, all of us do stupid things occasionally.  Who hasn't done something stupid like accidently not noticing a stop sign or a red light?  Who hasn't failed to notice a car in the lane next to us when changing lanes? Who hasn't lost track of a toddler for a couple of minutes at some point? All of us experience moments of distraction where we accidently engage in conduct that could cause an accident.  In almost all instances, our momentary lapses do not result in harm to us or anyone else.  In rare and awful cases, absolute tragedy results.  
Here, one possible scenario is that grandpa got on a ship.  A lot is going on and he focused on many different distractions at once.  He puts his granddaughter on his lap as he always does, and she stands up to look out over the rail.  Or he unthinkly, out of habit, stands her up on the rail as he always does and just for a brief second does not recongnize the danger of the open window and she is gone.  It is horrible and beyond tragic.  It is something too awful for anyone to contemplate.  But, it is not something for which either ship or granddad should be blamed.  
I took my eye off my five year old one day while we were swimming in a placid swimming hole I thought was safe.  I two seconds, my little boy was taken by a current I never saw or recognized over 20 foot dam.  He went over the waterfall, came up, and managed to hold onto a fallen tree until we could get to him and he was fine.  For the rest of my life, however, I will relive the horror of that moment and I will never, ever overcome the guilt of not recognizing the danger of that swimming area.  But, blaming me for my negligence would not help anyone.  It might make folks feel better about the safety of their own kids.  But, really, life is dangerous.  And every once in awhile, horrible accidents happen.  My deepest sympathy is with this family. 
The attorney, however, I hold the attorney in absolute contempt.

A lot to unpack here but I'll try to take a shot*
Criminal liability-multiple news outlets are reporting that the grandfather is being investigated for criminal liability.  Winkleman is not a criminal attorney but the outcome of the criminal case could/will have implications upon a civil recovery.  He wants to get out in front of that story-line and you can bet that a strong criminal defense attorney will be hired.  
Civil liability-One aspect that is often overlooked with the "cruise line cases" is what law would apply.  Maritime law and conflict of laws can create a number of complicated questions about what jurisdiction's laws would control the case.  For civil actions a lot of times the cases end up applying Florida law.  In this case Florida (RCL HQ, where tickets are purchased from, etc) has interest and Puerto Rico (embark/disembark, locus of accident) are the two likely applicable jurisdictions.  Winkleman will want PR law to apply because there's something called joint and several liability.  This means that if any "joint tortfeasor (party responsible)" is found liable for any reason, then the full award can be recovered from any person found liable. 
Why does this matter-because grandpops was negligent, there's no doubt about it.  As everyone here said, he either failed to see something that was pretty obvious or otherwise made a really poor choice.  So what about RCL? Winkelman will argue RCL was negligent because it failed to take reasonable steps to prevent a foreseeable accident.  The argument will be that it was foreseeable that someone may not realize that the glass had been opened and it would have been easy enough to install screens/warnings or other safety measures to prevent this from happening.  As a note: nearly all hotels in the US that have windows you can open have some sort of child protection on them because there were a rash of suits in the 90s about kids banging on screens and falling out of windows.
A jury may or may not actually agree that anything that RCL did was unreasonable, or they might say "hey, they could have put a warning by the window," they could have done a little bit more, etc. etc.  We see it all the time, and the jury will almost certainly assign liability to grandpops.  However, this is where the joint and several liability kicks in, lets say the jury says grandpops is 99% liable and RCL is 1% liable.  Family can still recover the full award from RCL.  Both jurisdictions allow for awards for emotional pain and suffering from the loss of a child as well, those tend to be big numbers.  
 
*I am an attorney, but I am not your attorney, this should not be construed as legal advice or an official opinion regarding applicable laws or principals.

No.  Only to things that the seller knows are dangerous and chooses to ignore that fact.  Do you have any idea how hot that coffee had to be to cause the serious injuries it did?  Do you know how many other people McDonalds was aware of having been burned before, yet did nothing.  It is a great case to show how inaccurate reporting will cause people to have an opinion that actual facts can never shake.  It is an excellent case to show that companies cannot ignore things that injure consumers because they make more money selling it than the injuries cost.  It is also an excellent case to show how reporting inaccurate facts to further an agenda really does work.  The reporting, not the law, is the dog and pony show, I'll leave the other part of your analogy alone.
 
 

I'm sorry this is wrong. Not calling you out in particular since this is a huge misconception across the country. 
McDonald's was absolutely negligent in how they served their coffee. 
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13971482/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit-stella-liebeck
The 79 year-old victim suffered third degree burns on her legs and genitals which required extensive surgery to repair because McDonald's served coffee at over 190 degrees. They also knew that this was a problem because before this case they had already received over 700 reports of burns due to hot coffee. They didn't even deny they knew this was dangerous in the case! Yet they continued to serve it at near boiling temperatures. 
In addition the victim didn't want to file a lawsuit. She only wanted her medical expenses paid. McDonalds refused and only offered her $800. Her lawsuit was for those expenses only but the jury thought McDonald's was so negligent that they awarded her even more. 
So how did it end up that everyone in America thinks she was greedy because she got some lukewarm coffee on her? McDonald's funded a misinformation campaign that the media bought into and spread to everyone. Corporations have used this fake story to keep people with real injuries from pursuing damages for fear they might be considered in the same way this woman was. Don't fall for McDonald's lies.  

What a lot of people don't realize is that when someone wins a baseless lawsuit and receives a large reward, they get appealed.  Often the rewards are greatly reduced or even eliminated. That is not newsworthy and so people don't know about it. If companies just relented and settled,  it would only encourage more suits which is really a form of extortion. I still think this is a desperate attempt to protect the grandfather. We are all just speculating as we are not privy to all the facts.

I can understand why they would get an attorney. 1000's of news outlets and people have already weighed in and tried and convicted the grandfather based on 2 line news articles. The only chance they have of controlling the narrative is to have someone present their side to the media and public. And, this way they can grieve out of spotlight while he deals with public and media for them. No matter the blame or fault its a tragic death that wasn't intentional but has probably destroyed this whole family's lives.