cruisestuff

Last year, my wife and I embarked on our first cruise.  (You may have inferred, correctly, from my username and icon that I am a U.S. Naval officer, retired now; so, yes, I have many cruises of the haze-grey underway kind under my belt, but not, until last year, a pleasure cruise.)  For all we knew at the time, it would be the only cruise we would ever take, so we went as all out as we dared, a cruise to Alaska (the top destination on our list) in a Neptune suite on board Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam.  (Never fear, this post will turn to Royal Caribbean quickly enough.) 
When you drop that kind of money, you want to make sure things go seamlessly.  The Good Mrs. Benson will attest that I don't buy so much as a stapler without gathering as much intelligence as possible and doing research.  After making a travel agent aware of our budget, preferences, and schedule, I spent a week vetting her three recommendations.  And once she had booked our selection, scheduled for a year later, I spent that twelve months scouring every cruise-related web site I could find (you know the ones), with particular attention to any Holland America fora.  The interesting thing was that I never had to post any questions in any of those fora or on any thread, for I discovered that all of the questions I had, and some I hadn't thought of, had already been asked by another poster and thoroughly answered by the experienced cruisers so willing to help.  Thanks to them, during our Alaskan cruise, we suffered only one or two oh-so-minor glitches, and those had been things outside of our power to anticipate.  All of my "homework" had paid off.
We had a marvelous time!  We had barely disembarked when we knew another cruise lied in our future.  Next destination:  Canada/New England.
(O.K., now we get to Royal Caribbean.  Thank you for your patience, folks.)
We had gotten used to suite living.  That would be the standard for our next cruise, and with our budget, that set the time to the autumn of 2020.  Now, I hadn't intended to start seriously exploring our options until the fall of this year.  (While we enjoyed Holland America, that didn't rule out the other lines for our next sailing.)  However, four months ago, on a free morning, I decided, what the heck, let's see what's out there now for a fall, 2020 visit to Canada and New England.  It turned out that there were quite a few, but the one which presented the best bang for the buck, with a ship that seemed to best fit our own personalities, was one offered by Royal Caribbean.  That early, some nineteen months ahead of the sail date, the fare offered was too good to pass up.  I called our TA and booked the 18-25 October 2020 cruise to Canada/New England, in a grand suite on Brilliance of the Seas.
And that's why I'm here.
From the moment our TA confirmed the booking, I've returned to the research mode and buried myself in Royal Caribbean-related fora.  About a month ago, I discovered this site, and what a treasure trove it is.
We've got Cruising 101 down pat.  What I'm here to discover are the things intrinsic to Royal Caribbean and Brilliance of the Seas.  From the short time I've spent prowling the various threads here, it's apparent that, just as before, I'm not going to have to ask any questions.  I'm learning more with each visit here.  By October of 2020, I'll probably know everything I need to know---thanks to you veteran Royal Caribbean cruisers.
However, please don't let that dissuade any of you from posting your own nuggets of advice or helpful observations.  We welcome any input.
I have to say that, even with what little we've found so far, the Good Mrs. Benson and I are getting more excited about our 2020 voyage!

I wanted to post this first on the message boards because so many of you have been so helpful, supportive and good friends since the launch of the message boards and I felt you all deserved to hear it first.
 
For a long time, Royal Caribbean Blog readers and podcast listeners have asked me one question, "How can I help the site?"
 
Certainly contributing content, spreading the word about the blog and checking the blog and podcast out daily is a great way to help and I value all of that assistance.  In fact, I cannot express how much that helps in the long run.
 
I've also been thinking about how to improve the site for everyone and it comes back to a dream I have for the blog.  My dream is simple: Produce interesting and helpful Royal Caribbean content consistently that people want to read and share.  And I would love to do it much more than I currently am able to do it.
 
To that end, I have lots of ideas for new exciting and informative information for this site but I need your help.
 
For better or worse, my ideas require financial backing to become a reality and there is only so much I can do with the way the site is now.  I also want to avoid, if at all possible, plastering the site with ads.
 
Therefore, I have created the Royal Caribbean Blog Insiders, a brand new exclusive group that can make Royal Caribbean Blog possible.
 
Through your financial support, we can grow this blog even more and continue to offer the kind of fun and helpful content I think so many of you have come to expect.
 
This is a purely voluntary action to take and I know how tough things are for everyone these days.  If it's not in the cards right now to help out financially, keep doing what you're doing here on the message boards and on blog's comments and in social media.
 
But if you can, there are a number of contribution levels you can join at and along with your assistance, there are some fun rewards for being a member of the Royal Caribbean Blog Insiders.
 
Becoming a member of the Royal Caribbean Blog Insiders is completely up to you and you can cancel at any time. No questions asked!
 
Take a look and consider if becoming an Insider is right for you: https://www.patreon.com/RoyalCaribbeanBlog
 
No matter what, I want to emphasize that I consider all of you my friends and I thank you for everything you have done and for being active here on the site.
 
Matt

In my opinion unless it's truly a service dog it shouldn't be allowed around food at all

It's a situation that's occurring more and more in society.  Part of the challenge for any company is that they have limited ability to challenge a guest's assertion they have a disability that requires a service animal.  No company on land or at sea can require anyone to prove a disability.  I could sit in a wheel chair and make all sorts of claims about a disability and no store, or theater, or amusement park or cruise line can legally challenge me.
As many people note when flying that an airplane can solve many disabilities.  Some people claim the need for assistance to board and/or priority boarding for their ailment then miraculously by the end of the flight they can jump up and walk off the plane like a fully abled body person can.  The miracle of flight.  This is what our society has come to.  
Airlines and cruise lines have noted the abuse of the service animal policy and are trying to deal with it as best they can but people will go to great lengths to fake a need.  It is really unfortunate because there are truly valid needs that are being impacted by the fakers.
Princess has them too.   

No! You would be missing out! My wife and I did a 3 night Mariner of the Seas cruise back in May... just so we could go to see and hang out at Coco Cay. We were there the 2nd weekend after if 'officially' opened. It was great. Not like the other ports where you have to fight the crowds from other ships, plus the maze of locals trying to braid your hair and rent you a scooter. You just walk off the ship.... and go relax, swim, drink, etc. 
While we were there, we didn't plan any excursions or anything like jet skis or the zip line... we just walked around to scope it out, then went to one of the beaches for about an hour to sun and swim. (there were some people there snorkeling on their own... seemed to be having fun). Then we found some loungers/umbrella close to the pool and pool bar. Hung out there for another few hours swimming, sunning, and partaking of some adult beverages. Also, played in the 4 on 4 beach volleyball competition. Then went to one of the 'snack shacks' for lunch... GREAT chicken sandwiches there! When we were ready to head back to the ship, we did walk through the larger buffet area to check it out... looked like they had a nice selection as well. 
Trust me.... what Royal has done with Coco cay, is the best thing going in the Bahamas right now. Its what people are looking for when they think of a tropical cruise. Usually you have to pay for an excursion at other ports just to have something close to this. Be sure to check out some of the daily cruise compasses that are loaded here on Matt's site... and you can see most of the activities planned while you are at Coco cay, so you can have a better idea of everything that is going on. 
Cheers and have fun. 

No, no, say it ain't so!
 

Wow! He's a jack of all trades...DJ, CD, magician, police officer, and Canadian!

No HiRO tonight
 

Sea day, clouds, coolish..yet a lot of activities are not too crowded at all. No lines at either Flowrider, short lines at Ultimate Abyss, zip line and rock walls.Mini golf was pretty crowded, a soccer games going on at the basketball court, ping pong tables in use. 
Many empty tables at Windjammer at 12:30, many at window view.  But a huge line at El Loco Fresh.
THIS is what I call a ship's model

And this is a Piano Staircase that lights up and plays as you hit each step

 

Zip line from aquatheater..

 
Pop up piano player on the boardwalk

Even some creepy guy up against the glass watching.
 

You win...

I heard Carnival Corporation is trying a hostile take over of Royal Caribbean International to make RCI pay the fines for Carnival Corporation.

Now if only RC could find a way to stretch my cruise dollars!

I heard that @twangster is going to be the Godfather of Odyssey of the Seas.
Not the Fairy Godfather, mind you. Just...

Stick a new sign out the front.. done!

Got me!!!!. As my kids would say, don't I feel sheepish?!!!! 

???
I have no idea who anyone else is! all of my recommendations come from this blog!

Congrats Matt!! But I voted for The Five Foot Traveller?

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

Or...

I love the replacement of the plastic water bottles.

I've switched to watching news from the BBC and F24 (France) as well as Asia. ALL the "main stream" news outlets in the US are nothing but biased political reporting, celebrity news and little else. One day I saw reports about unrest and violence in 6 different countries in Africa, hundreds of deaths, all in one day and all of which was ignored by the media here. But if a Kardashian farts there will be live reports from the scene.

Celebrity and Royal make the news on CBS SUNDAY MORNING !!
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/sail-away-new-technology-in-cruise-ship-design/