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fwiw, you might want to check what it would cost to simply upgrade yourself to a bigger cabin that is available. Especially now that you are past final payment date. I was able to get a better cabin for a few hundred dollars more than my original cost which was many hundreds less than the minimum bid for the same cabin through royal up (although obviously $40 is a great minimum so ymmv)

Awww, thank you! That’s my granddog

Michelle at MEI was first my travel agent for Adventures by Disney trips, then Disney and Universal and non theme park trips, before I finally started cruising. She always manages to put us in a better room than requested or expected. To me, the biggest perk is that she has gotten to know what’s important to us over the years, and takes that into consideration without me having to spell it out every booking. I just ask her to pick what she thinks is best, and then we all say How does she do it?

International flights: noise cancel headphones are your friends cruising out of Europe from the US: if you can swing it, two days early is so much better than one, so you are over jet lag by the time you embark. Getting over jet lag - get outside and walk! Nothing resets your internal clock like sunshine. And make yourself stay awake til after dinner. Denmark: Copenhagen was so lovely. Rick Steves has a cruise guidebook that includes going out of Denmark and it includes some great restaurants and good sight seeing/self guided walking tour suggestions

Maybe cruising every month makes it harder to just enjoy being on a ship no matter what the little disappointments might be. Our first cruise since the shutdown is coming up this month, and I would be happy to help serve meals or clean stairwells, just to not be doing it alone in my own house!

Great work!

Staying in a suite, do not have UDP Was just wondering - I know the suite concierge will contact me about a week out, and can make dining reservations for me at that time. Do those reservations immediately incur a charge, like when I book something myself in the cruise planner? Or will it be charged when we eat, at on-ship rates?

At the moment, it seems very few shows are actually happening. I've been stalking the current cruises each week, hoping to see theater productions and aqua theater shows appear, but no luck so far. I sail at the end of April, so unsure if they will have solved their issues by then. But by July, I would think you'd have better luck.

My MEI agent Michelle can also book all sorts of European trips and add ons. In addition to her own extensive travel experience, she has a huge network she can reach out to for answers. You are not charged for a TA’s services, they are paid on the other side through commissions

We will be acting precruise the same way we do in the two weeks before we see our adult immune suppressed daughter: N95 mask, well fitted, anytime we are indoors in public spaces, no parties, no indoor restaurants. We still get together with very close friends and family, people we can trust to be honest with us about their level of exposure, and who will happily test before spending indoor time with us. This is more extreme than most would advise, especially with low community spread right now. But in terms of peace of mind going into a COVID test, it works. For us, it’s about not being the ones to kill our child, so doesn’t seem overly taxing.

Serenade is a lovely ship, and imo a great size for a first cruise! You can definitely bring a euro plug converter. Your iphone and ipad (if you have these) will be fine as they are dual voltage. If you'll be brining a hair dryer or flat iron, you can get ones that toggle between voltages. I do this because there will be a small vanity for getting ready, and this is where the Euro plug is located. On Alaska cruises, you may be close enough to land to get AT&T coverage even when you are technically "at sea." However, you may want to get their travel pass ($10 a day for first device, $5 for others, IF you take it out of airplane mode while abroad) so you don't accidentally get dinged with roaming charges while you are off the coast of Canada. As others have said, WhatsApp works great too. You can always use a pants hanger from the closet to clip your drapes closed. Finally, you didn't ask for tips, but I strongly encourage you to bring a pair of good binoculars. There are some great wildlife sightings to be had. Enjoy!

You mention local pharmacies may be booked up. You can book an appointment in any location. So if you don’t want to do an online test, just book an appointment at a Miami Walgreens convenient to your hotel.

I too am wondering about this!

Vaccines also vastly reduce chance of severe illness if one does become infected. I would imagine cruise lines would far rather set aside a few cabins for quarantine than have to worry about interruptions to their schedules due to having to do a detour for medical emergency. (I know they still will occasionally have to do this, but less likely for covid related problems if passengers are vaxxed)

OP, in the general area of your hotel (10 minute walk) is Toulouse Petite Kitchen. Absolutely delightful food, drink, and atmosphere. You will need reservations. Make them on the early side, and in August you’ll be able to stroll back to your hotel before full dark.

We took a ferry over to Alki Island and rented bicycles. So much fun to pedal around and see all the pretty spots. At the tip was an ice cream shack, and we saw Orcas while we ate our ice cream. Great afternoon!

We did a food & beer walking tour that was fantastic. Learned a lot about the town& history and got signature snacks and brews at many local landmarks. Can’t remember the guide, plus this was 2013 so probably new people anyway. Definitely worth a browse on trip advisor for something similar.

I took no photos of the cabin but you can see the sofa set up in this one. There was another sliding glass door width past the chairs. My aunt and uncle were next door in a spacious balcony cabin and the JS was double the width. You could easily have the sofa bed open all the time and it would just feel like a hotel room with two beds.

I loved our JS on Explorer, and we almost always go full suite. It was so spacious, and I loved the walk in closet. It’s just the balcony that’s not as nice. But there are enough lovely outdoor spaces on that ship it was fine.

Princess’s program is much better for military, imo. One form and automatic OBC for every cruise. I do find with Royal that this is an area where using a TA comes in handy. I know she checks for all available discounts, and figures out the most cost-saving combination. Sometimes you could possibly get a military discount for instance, but it could not be combined with say a C&A balcony discount and one would be worth more. I don’t worry about the details because I know my TA is on it.

Ooof. Had you made reservations ahead of time for more nights at CK and then ditched them? Where did you eat instead? This is one of my anxieties (I have several over-thought, unreasonable ones lol) that we will go night one for the filet and miss the chance to connect with MDR staff, and then will regret. I've also wondered if having star class there means the sky class guests are given the short end of the stick. Aaack! But still, perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised if I go in knowing it is not perfect.

Yay! Was hoping you would do a recap!

I saw that on the cruise compass. Looks like a lot of the entertainment that I was looking forward to was not running. Makes me worry that I will feel like Harmony was an expensive mistake since we usually sail on smaller ships. I know your cruise was colored by missing your brother, but in general did you feel like it was “worth it” without the shows?

My MEI agent is always able to make things work painlessly. The one time I called Royal, to look into a cruise in Norway, the rep decided best use of time was to scold me for calling it a "Norwegian cruise" since that is the name of another cruise line. The concept of the word as a place descriptor was lost on her. Needless to say, I did not book that trip. Nor have I bothered trying to deal directly with Royal since.

Just for your planning, they do set up some nice photo ops on formal nights, and there will be professional photographers there. We like to take advantage of this, because even at ship prices to buy a photo or two, it is much less expensive (and way less of a hassle!) than booking a professional photo session at home. Some of our favorite family photos and holiday card photos are from cruises. I also make my husband do at least one photo just him - keeps his mother happy, lol. You definitely do not have to dress up, but this is one of the factors that makes it worth it to me.