CrznTxn

Enjoy the meal. Each of the courses are from different ships and restaurants onboard as not all ships have those particular restaurants. We enjoyed it very much.

For good Mexican vanilla get the bottle with the blue top in Cozumel. The others are fine but we have found the blue bottle top to be the best. You can find it at the cruise port or downtown depending on what and where you are going that day. I do not understand why they would remove the vanilla from your luggage. We have brought plenty back for us and our families and never had an issue.

Thanks for the update, cannot wait for the new terminal to open and will see it this next week from the deck of Liberty as we sail past.

The proctored tests are 24/7 365. Doesn't matter the date or time (we do ours at 4:00am). As far a protocols I would wait until about September to review them. Plenty of time to order tests. They recently removed the testing requirement for B2B and if cases remain low maybe they will lift them altogether.

Yes, you will need to complete the ArriveCAN registration prior to embarkation. Do not wait until you get there. There are several posts on the blog of delays while people fill this out. Not something that is widely broadcast and was not needed last year on our Alaska cruise since Canada did not allow ships to stop there. The B2B process for the second leg is easy so do not worry about that, just check in for it as you never know.

You are correct on that 18% is added to your drink purchases. We pre-pay all gratuities but still tip our steward at the end for their hard work. Don't worry they will leave you an envelope for that purpose at the end of your trip. We are D+ and so 5 drinks per day are free and they wife gets her drinks for free in the casino so we carry a lot of $1's for tipping the waiters for these. The main money is for onshore excursions, souvenirs and other purchases. If you have not bought shore excursions before you leave and are planning to find some at the ports they will gladly accept US dollars in payment.

Unless it is a Casino comp. cruise in which case the lead person must be present. You also may not get a refund on your portion of the sailing, but you do get her points for C&A as direct family member.

Have a great time and hopefully your boyfriend is "hooked" on cruising and the next one is not so far apart.

If you print your set sail pass be sure to reduce the scale of the print to 78 to 80 percent so it will print on two pages. With all the safety information they now include it spills over onto a third page which cuts off the barcode. Use the printer properties and change the scale prior to printing. I have all three with me on sail day, printed copy, on phone and on a thumb drive as a last resort. But that is just me.

The "coffee" machine is from the European market and does not make much of anything of size. It is definitely not a K-Cup machine. That said it does make a mean espresso style coffee.

Whichever of the extra storage accessories you choose to take, remember to pick up after yourself in your room and keep it tidy. The room steward is there to clean your room, not pick up your clothes and what ever and put them away.

There are no Laundromats aboard RCCL ships. There is laundry service for $35 per bag that is provided in your stateroom unless you are in a Star Class Suite or Diamond+ or above.

We have used both, with and without middle name. The only reason for the middle name inclusion is that folks on this blog have indicated they had problems during embarkation for not having the full name. Seems to be isolated but to be sure we have added our middle names to exactly match our passport. It is an easy thing to do and alleviates any future possibilities. FYI we have been on 8 cruises since September and have yet to have an issue one way or the other. We do it just to make sure there will be no delays or issues in the future and it is a preemptive strike to eliminate possibilities.

In July they close as David heads back to the states. In August they are building a barn for the new tractor they purchased to help take care of the seaweed. This from Mark himself who was going to make me an August reservation and had to cancel it and the July from David, the owner's son who lives at Maya Chan.

Have found recently that the selection of shore excursions on the website to be lacking. On an earlier cruise that changed itineraries with few excursions we found that there were many onboard. Do not like it that we had to wait and could not take advantage of any discounts.

Georgetown is tough but we we book Blue Waters with Lunch and Drinks in Falmouth. It is close to the pier (15 minutes) and is all inclusive. We try to get first in line and go to the hut to reserve a palapa (extra cost but well worth it). Have not found many others all inclusive that are not an arm and a leg in cost. In George town we always book Stingray City. That is a treat that few places can beat. Have two cruises there in the next couple of months, one to SR City and Camana (Shopping center) and one to SR City and Starfish beach. The wife loves the starfish but our oldest who is with us on our first trip does not so...... All that said, very few places are like Maya Chan and Nachi Cocom (where we go in Cozumel). Good luck and happy sailing.

Maya Chan is it for us at Costa Maya. David and crew know how to treat folks right and as stated, the massages there are top, top notch. They are closed July and August this year though and now we have to find something else to do during that time. Hate to go back to the crowded beach clubs with endless vendors but it is during a cruise and sacrifices must be made.

September of last year they were $34 each way per person. Seems like a lot but it is a long way from LAX to the cruise terminal.

We have used these test kits since August last year on a monthly basis and have yet to find a dud, especially on the latest orders which have newly manufactured kits. There is always the potential for a inconclusive test, as happened to my wife at with clinic administered test, but we have found these kits to be easy and stress free to use. We stopped using the clinic testing as we felt that our trips were for pleasure and early on were not going to take away a local test time for someone who needed it. Even though testing is now easier, we still use the proctored tests and include it as a part of our vacation cost.

Yes, we use the Royal Transfer shuttle when we travel out of LA. It is well worth it.

Going from a Balcony to a JS is just a step up in room size. Not a lot of perks to go along with it unless you consider getting to board before the rest of the unknowing a major perk (I will say boarding early has become one of the wife's major points). It is the next step up with it's perks that you should be afraid of. Once she experiences that, there is never going back.

The wife's was loaded last week while she was away on a cruise and left me at home to fend for myself.

We found on cruises that did not show up in the app you could go to the specific ship, as AshleyDillo said, and the cruise was there. It took the next day before our cruise properly appeared but we had the workaround.

Galveston converted the outside queue area into boarding times and when we left in March they started the process right on time with the 11:00am Suite and Pinnacle guests. When they were complete and the lines inside (they added extra lines instead of the forever "snake" line) were down, which did not take long, they let the next line in. We were fortunate in we had a Suite that trip and were on board within 15 minutes of letting folks in. This past week my wife and son left from there and did the same thing. Even with a balcony and 11:30 check in time they were on-board by 11:30. The staggered enforced times work and with the addition of a few folks inside, the curb to ship time has been greatly reduced along with the stress. That said, get to the port and get in your time line. Chances are not everyone will arrive that early and they will let you in.

No, only Diamond receive 4 drinks per day, Diamond+ 5. Poor choice of words, sorry.