CrznTxn

On all of our recent cruises they have retaken our photo at the port. We upload photos but it seems that their standard operating procedure now is to take a new "fresh" photo of you as you are now. I guess they believe folks will upload an old photo that makes them look 10 years younger.

This will be the second leg of the wife's B2B. She was excited to get on the previous week's sailing that she decided she would stay for another while I stay home and mind the fort. Nice when you are retired.

This will be the wife's middle section of her B2B2B. She loves these size ships and has several cruises booked on Mariner through early December while she leaves me at home.

There are two cruises that we always take every year that are the same, early in the year for birthday and mid-year for anniversary. They are usually on the same ship and although they have the same stops we meet different people and arrange our schedule so each one is different. The ships are so big that we do not have any issues trying new things that we did not get around to before. But that is just us.

My wife requested a new lanyard for her that has the snap/take apart near the end. she gets so tired of taking it off her neck and now she can un-snap it to had to the waiter or others. I also got a heavier duty plastic card holder to go with it because she kept wearing the lightweight ones out. Made her very happy and is one of the first things that go in her backpack when she is packing. It's the little things that count.

Yes, you can limit the Sea Pass charges on your children. Check with Guest Services when you get onboard. Take the cash and pay down your charges daily. I do not think they will put money against your account for a prepay but I have not tried it so it is just a guess.

If you are sailing out of Galveston you do not even leave the ship. You meet in one of the ship lounges (Comedy Club on Harmony) and Customs and Border Patrol come onboard and check your passport or other papers. They then give you your new sea pass card and you are good to go. If you are changing rooms, go to your new room during the first leg of your trip and meet your new room steward. We do that and they arrange moving your hanging clothes and suitcase to your new room. Has been great for us, plus we give them time to refresh the room and then go unpack before anyone else. We get some really dirty looks when we come out the closed doors in the hallway while everyone is waiting.

They finally opened the Express Check-in for Galveston last week and it is sooooo nice. You go to the folks at the front of the terminal and are placed in the front lobby with the Key guests to wait in the AC which is nice at this time of year. Then they let you upstairs early to your own check in area and it is very quick. From time of going up the escalator to sitting in the waiting area was all of 5 minutes. Really love this program and hope I get this in the future. Also hope RCCL does not make this the way Southwest Airlines does it and make it a pay option. So, boys and girls, check those boarding passes before you arrive at the terminal to see if you received the upgrade.

There were many "hot" areas on Harmony the last two weeks. The walkways and elevator areas on some floors were hot while others were not. Seemed random but noticeable at times. Never stayed long enough in those areas to really affect me, except for waiting for an elevator which takes forever.

Clo O'Conner is Cruise Director since May this year. Should be there when you go. The captain can change at anytime due to vacations, etc. Can't help there.

If you used the barcode trick and it showed a room, you will not get bumped. We do this often and never had a problem. The wife is on the same cruise, and she is in a GTY cabin. This is a back-to-back cruise for her so I do not think they will throw her off.

The details from @Traveling Mike apply to the actual reservation and not the "extras" like the drink package, excursions, etc. Those you can book and rebook with no penalties. We do that many times and generally Royal is quick on the refunds. Only exception was during the COVID era.

We started with X and then due to our location to the Texas port went with the other cruise lines (I still cringe at that one) until we sailed on Royal and have not looked back. With our D+ status and Signature for the wife in the Casino the perks make it unlikely for us to consider moving to X unless they decide to move closer. I look at the perks and for us they are a game changer as the free internet, drink vouchers, BOGO dinners and others allow me to remote work for a cost that we cannot justify anywhere else. We are about 12 months away from Pinnacle with our current bookings and look forward to those perks as well. We receive offers from the other folks but the wife definitely says no to them. All that said, if X offered reciprocal perks and status across the board, and sailed out of Texas we would be tempted.

Most of it is having the robots perform certain tasks around a specified course for time. The sponsoring company is down the road from my mom and these are a big deal in the STEM world (spoken from a true nerd). Will be interesting to see what the kids come up with. Much better than some of the other charter groups we have had on previous cruises.

The wife and her two best friends are sailing on this cruise while I stay at home. She has been waiting to sail to Perfect Day again and could not wait to book this one.