CrznTxn

Pretty typical for current cruises. Have found terrific bartenders on our cruises and we tend to gravitate to them. Over the last several cruises they have been reassigned to different bars and we have to look until we find them again. The specialty restaurants are a hit or miss. Once this one is great and the next time is stinks. We have always eaten breakfast in Windjammer although your time of early is late for us. Never had an issue but sometimes we have to look around to find the freshest selections on the eggs, bacon, etc. We love the Muster 2.0 and the first thing we do on embarkation, other than going to the bar and getting the first drink of the cruise, is make all our show reservations. With the capacity up to full the chair hogs have returned with a vengeance and if you are not sitting in your chair by 8:30am they are all covered by towels. Agree there should be a "pool patrol" that monitors the chairs as we have seen them unused for 5~6 hours before the owners return to use them or remove the towels so they don't get charged. Could make for some interesting confrontations though. The Solarium pool on our last cruise was sooooo crowded that we skipped that all together. You would have to shove folks aside just to get into the pool. They did not seem to mind so to each their own.

You book it onboard. When you purchase it the discount will be figured in the price you pay. We have the same thing with our D+. May also look at the internet before sailing. Sometimes you can get it cheaper than 15%.

If you just booked the cruise it might take a few hours to finish processing. I book our excursions and other purchase items typically a year in advance, especially around Black Friday but lately Royal has not shown many of the items until 6 to 8 months out. We book and keep watching the prices and when if goes down we cancel and book it at the lower price.

The tenders in Grand Cayman hold more than 100 people. They usually leave every 20 to 30 minutes depending on how full or if one of the others has pulled up. They port into two openings on Liberty, one in the front and one in the back. It is nice an easy, was there last month.

We had this happen on a new offer right after it came out. We were onboard and went to Next Cruise where we were told no room in the inn. We requested a "downgrade" to an ocean view cabin and were accommodated. We keep checking daily to see if any of the cabins are open that were in the offer and if so we will be calling immediately and be a pest to get the cabin they offered.

Typically it is night 2 of a 4N cruise. Closer to sail date after check in it will appear in the App under Daily Planner. We noticed they finally included it on our sailing last week, prior to that we always wondered.

They were not on last week's cruise out of Galveston. Sure miss them and hope they are reinstated when we take our grandkids next March. They loved the cupcake class and actually stood in the Promenade and handed out the ones they made to people coming by who wanted them. I personally enjoyed the sushi class (and the sake) and pigged out on what I made.

On our cruise last week the pool deck attendants typically had their masks below their chins and there were other instances around the ship where the crew had their mask down and no one seemed bothered by it. They told us they were about to start a trial where half the crew were going to be allowed to go mask free and see over the next two weeks how it went. If it is successful then they would allow the entire crew to make a personal choice to go without mask.

Used Onpoint Thursday for our Sunday 7 day cruise and it worked just fine. It is a Zoom meeting and besides the proctor being a couple minutes late he was quick and efficient and the test only took about 8 minutes. You also see the actual person not just hear a voice. Once the liquid moved past the test line without any indicating line and the Control line turned red he declared we did not have COVID and gave us a Negative result. Oh yes, both of us took the test at the same time on camera which was great. The result came up on the reporting site within a couple of minutes and he also sent a PDF file that we printed about 30 ~ 40 minutes later. If we still have to test when we sail for 7 days in October we will definitely use them again. FYI, we used the government tests we received through the post office.

You can see the Galveston official parking information in the link below: https://portofgalveston.com/91/Cruise-Parking--General-Information The lots are outside and vary in price by location to the terminal. All the parking options are listed on the site.

Liberty is a fun ship for all the family with the water slides, Flow Rider, climbing wall and other activities. The clubs for the kids are great and they have nice shows and things to do for all. Roatan is a fantastic place to snorkel as the reef in most locations is right off the beach. There are many options and as you can see loyal customers. We have a couple of places we enjoy but the island is our favorite by far. Belize has tours you can take and we have been to the zoo, howler monkeys, and cave tubing which we really enjoyed. Costa Maya is next to a fishing village and if you are willing to have some travel time on your excursion there are great Mayan ruins and caves to explore. Near the port there is a beach strip (not really much of a beach) with several "clubs" that you can get seating, drinks and food. The Krazy Lobster is probably the least expensive and is really nice although we go to Maya Chan (you book it yourself) as it is restricted in numbers and is all inclusive including transportation. The only drawback is it is in a nature area and if you want pristine beach and water it is not really for you. We love it as the service is impeccable and the folks there are incredible. Cozumel has many, many options and you can look to see what your family wants to do and go from there.

Have fun on your cruise!

Almost all of our cruises are Casino offer bookings. We would not be enjoying our D+ perks currently if they did not count. Thank goodness they do!

Unfortunately Maya Chan does not have beach wheelchairs. It is sand as soon as you leave the taxi and the only "hard" surface is a small area inside the restaurant by the serving area and bar. All other areas including the tables by the restaurant are sand.

Port Parking (www.portparking.com) has elevated, inside parking and opened a new facility close to the new terminal. We use them for all our cruises and they have separate buildings next to each other, one for the 4-5 day cruises and one for the 7 day. They are not the lowest price but are very close to it and are definitely closer to the new terminal than the others. They give senior discounts, coupon discounts (same code every time) and a loyalty program the gives really good discounts to repeat cruisers.

We always tip cash for our drinks at least a $1 per drink. The staff does not think it is too little and are very eager to find us and collect again (It has given us many a "forgotten" drink charge). We also give "extra" treats in the form of small bags of chocolate bars. These really get us extra service and time with the crew as it is more personal than money and is something they can enjoy alone or share. These get us noticed on repeat cruises which makes our time onboard more enjoyable. When my wife took our younger adult son on a cruise this past spring he was amazed and asked if everyone on the ship knew who she was. For these folks who are serving on a ship for 9 months, any gratuity monetary or otherwise, is greatly appreciated.

Grandeur a week ago had insulated cups.

On our cruise two weeks ago the captain was asked that question. He stated that all Royal Caribbean ships will dock at the new terminal starting with the Allure of the Seas in November. We have Allure and Adventure in December out of that terminal. Terminal 1 will be used for Princess which is coming in December, Disney and any other ships that come in. Carnival also uses Terminal 1 on occasions when two of their ships are in on the same date. (See Google Maps on Galveston Cruise Terminal).

Upgrades are one thing, having Royal come out with another offer for the same dates for an existing booking, same room category but with Free Play added and they will not modify the existing booking. Frustrating to say the least. This has happen three times in the past six months and their only reply is they cannot change the booking after the final payment date but could give no clarification as to what that date is. Is it the expiration date of the first offer, second offer, 90 days from sail date, etc.? This even happened two weeks ago, the day after we booked on onboard with Next Cruise, where a new offer came out the next day! Nope, cannot modify the booking, you can try to cancel and rebook but run the risk of no available rooms (there were only three rooms available when we booked) or a room location that is not as good as the previous one.

There is no visibility by the ship working staff that you have or have not prepaid gratuities.

I would talk to the restaurant manager the night before your second leg. Finding someone one the morning of disembarkation is a challenge as they are preparing for new guests and do not have things ready. As you are a B2B cruiser you will be the first ones back on the ship for the second leg and you could go before anyone else and talk to them then. I would also ask the Diamond Concierge about it during your first leg to see if they can set it up before you even get to the second leg.

If you look under Virtual COVID Testing in the search there is a thread where several folks used them successfully. We have an appointment with them this Thursday afternoon for our Sunday departure testing.

As @DDaley states, if you want each of you to be using the internet at the same time you have to purchase a Voom for each one (3 devices). We use my wife's Surf and Stream account and kick each other off regularly, except when I am working while on-board to pay for her cruises.

We are using the OnPoint testing for the first time Thursday for our Sunday sailing and hopefully it is as successful as some others have done. Thank goodness for the extra day for testing and will be holding RTT on Interweb speed dial if OP falls through. Have always used the eMed tests without any issue but we have a plethora of Gov't tests on hand and do not want to spend any more than we have to and are hoping that the testing requirement fades in the sunset soon.

The only complaints we have when on a cruise is a 24 hour day is tooooooo short. There should be a relativity theory that when on a cruise, one day lasts three of a day not on a cruise. Maybe we can circle the Bermuda Triangle a few times.