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We took Thanksgiving cruises, and I recall the water in Nassau was very cold for snorkeling, but pleasant outside for sight-seeing. Ditto our other ports of call.

Check with the hotel concierge to see which pharmacies/test centers are near your location. Or you can Google test sites in Barcelona.

I don't think you can guarantee you'll make the right decision, but you can follow a sound process. Have you engaged your daughter in the discussion? Even when there is a low chance of a tropical storm, you could encounter bad weather along the way. My bias would be to complete the cruise, but only after I considered my child's input.

I thought this at first, but with the gratuity about $17 higher, the soda price would be about 90CAD higher... which doesn't make sense to me. it is almost like the soda is being charged (for gratuity purposes) at the on-the-ship price or something.

If you are overseas, you may need to wait until disembarkation day (or the wee hours the night before) when you are closer to your return port and have better signal strength. My son reports he was disconnected a couple of times during proctoring, but was reconnected and continued the test successfully.

If our cruise in two weeks is like this, I think we'll explore dining options other than the MDR. Since our My Time reservations are so late (8ish) I am hoping we'll fare better. My advice is to look at what you can control, and don't get overwhelmed by what you can''t...

As you already know, the beverage generates the gratuity. As for its calculation, perhaps the VOOM was discounted in the package and the soda remained full price (e.g., higher than the soda sale price). No one seems to understand Royal Math... I do agree with you that the gratuity on the package seems too high, so your question is a good one!

There seem to be two types of cruisers, lanyard people like me, and "pocket people". So it is really a matter of preference. Now what I do some of the time is wear the lanyard and stuff the card in my shirt pocket...There is also a phone-sized lanyard that is great for going to the pool or beach, and you can stuff valuables in it instead of your phone. For some, lanyard hunting is kind of a sport when cruising. I will tell you this: Some holders are soft plastic and tear easily, so I recycle old conference name tag holders that are hard plastic. Whatever you choose, have a great cruise! Many cruisers swear by the luggage tag holders. We haven't yet ordered them, but it is a bit tedious wrapping paper tags with clear tape!

My son just got back from the Baltic and used the Royal App with his VOOM package. Now Internet access was spotty at times.

If you are parking at the port, keep in mind it can fill up. If you are parking at an off-port facility, check out their shuttle schedule. For example, hotels might have a fixed schedule you'd want to synchronize with your check-in time.

We input our information 45 days out and about 30 days out we checked again and got the confirmation.

My son just got back from the Baltic and reports that Tallin is the easiest walk from the ship on that itinerary. He and his wife had a good time without an excursion.

I've heard that the cabanas can sell out quickly, or become very overpriced. We find that Coco Cay is a stop that doesn't really require an excursion. One can snorkel off the beach, enjoy the pool, etc. Families can try the Thrill Park, but we just enjoy Chill Island.

We sailed the Harmony in September 2019 just after a hurricane - like the day after a near-hit. We found the oceans calm and the water clear. Worst weather we've had on a cruise was not a hurricane, just a spring storm that the Oasis sailed through.

We won't drive more than about 600 miles or so (e.g., from North Carolina to Orlando but not Miami). We will fly to Australia or Papeete for a special cruise, such as when our son did a semester abroad at Wollongong. For Europe, I prefer at least 10 nights to justify the expense, as noted above, but we are trying an eight-night cruise this October with a couple of days in Barcelona tacked on to get over jet lag.

#2 - The $100 at the website (MyCruises) is probably your promotional OBC from Royal, but I can't tell its origin from your question. #1 - By the time you take your next cruise, the price of your desired (booked) cruise may have increased. In other words, if you can get a good price now, you might consider booking it now. The one time we used Next Cruise, it was for a new booking. I do not know their policy for canceling and re-booking.

On our Caribbean cruises the price has been around $8.99/day for soda package, but I noticed on our October Med cruise it was listed as $9.99/day. PS. Surf, stream, and internet listed today at $24.19/day for our trip.

The bundle is always cheaper. On our upcoming cruise, the "bundled price" was about $2 more per day than the ala carte prices for beverage package and VOOM.

I actually like inside cabins because I can sleep off "jet lag" much faster. My wife prefers ocean view. We opt for the balcony only when it isn't much more than ocean view (booking 18-24 months in advance seems to bring the price down). That said, the extra space in a balcony room is nice if you have a family of 3 or 4. So for me, the worst advice would be "only select X room". All types of rooms have their place. Now that we are getting older, I am wishing we had taken more cruises when we were younger; I guess I saved too much for retirement!

We went to Pisa instead, but I vaguely recall a tour like "Florence at your leisure" if you just want transportation.

Simply taking a shuttle to the beach could be fun. We did that when we sailed out of Baltimore. There is also a dinosaur museum/gift shop in Coco Beach, near Ron Jon's.

We asked about employment contracts/schedules for senior officers once -- how long did they really spend away from families, etc.

Years ago, I asked a travel agent how far in advance I should book a cruise. I was told it didn't really matter, but 6 months was probably good. I have since learned to book early, when deployment schedules are announced.

I think the question was whether a copy, not the original, would be accepted if laminated. I haven't heard anyone state they laminated a copy and still got through check-in.

Haven't done that excursion, but normally excursion operators sell their own pictures to make money (the operator is a 3rd party even when the excursion is booked through Royal). Royal photographers take pictures as you get off the ship, etc.