CrznTxn

If you have two rooms with two in one and one in the other someone is going to have to pay for a second person or solo rate in the single person room. Might talk to Royal about consolidating into one room if you have only three cruisers. With them trying to move everyone to a balcony or higher on the ships you may get a good deal.

Yes, we walked each port on our own and browsed through the shops that were open with several closed. In Cozumel we actually walked out of the port with no issues and went on our tour that way.

Hope to get to the port early for our Galveston Cruise in October and swing by for a quick peek. Cannot wait to sail out of the new terminal.

Once on the ship the app was easy to use to make reservations for the shows and most restaurants. They did have little tables for each of the restaurants in front of Izumi's on the promenade for our Adventure sailing a couple of weeks ago with folks there to sign you up, super easy. The app lists all the activities during the day but I still set the alarm on my phone to signal for an event I wanted to attend. Wish they had that feature but not required.

Agree on having the book passport. Have made unexpected stops in the middle of a cruise in a foreign port to drop off very ill passengers and injured crew. Hard to get back to the states without a passport. Also passport cards will not work for an airline flight from a foreign country.

You do not have to wear the mask while on the beach, in the water or while eating (was in Cozumel in early August) but need to wear it when going place to place. It is the rules and does no good to debate anyone on it. You either accept it or don't go and I am from a state where masks are not required.

We are going the end of September on Ovation OTS and looking at Matt's latest posting I cannot wait to see (hopefully) the Northern Lights as he said September is the best time during the Alaska cruise season for this. Have been all over the world but this is one of the things that I have not experienced. Swapped my snorkel gear for my big camera. Hoping we will pass the Covid testing again and enjoy the scenery and wildlife along the way. Hopefully that will be outside the ship and not inside.?

We have had our pre-cruise COVID testing done at one of the local CVS locations. We had to find ones that administer the rapid testing as not all of them around us do. The past several days they have been cancelling appointments for the rapid test due to the large number of testing done and shortage of supplies. We ordered the Abbott home test kit through eMed that Royal and the airlines accept for our next cruise in September. Matt did a great review on it on the Blog and we also read up on it. It comes in a six-pack which for us is ok as we have several cruises coming up in the upcoming months. Cost was approximately $175 with tax and shipping for all six kits. Our insurance covers the CVS test but we did not want to bump anyone locally who might really need the test for health reasons.

We were in Cozumel a couple of weeks ago. If you are vaccinated you can get off the ship and go on any excursion you wish. If you are not vaccinated then you need to take a Royal Excursion. The wife and I were the only ones traveling and we booked our own excursion to the beach. There were families there with unvaccinated children but they are in their own designated area as were we. Only overlap was when we were in the water, restrooms and water slide (for me). As far as I know they did not restrict anyone from going to the downtown area. Cannot say for sure as we did not go there.

Must be why they were so stingy with the bacon in Windjammer on our Adventure cruise. They were only giving out one at a time from a small stack and seemed hesitant to add more when requested.?

Our last sailing in August had kids everywhere. Adventure Ocean is open although you must schedule for it and it is size restricted. Kids can get off the ship for shore excursions but they must be through the ship. Everyone I saw was having a good time and enjoyed their cruise. We are also on the Thanksgiving cruise on Navigator.

We sailed out of Nassau on 8/7 and we also minimum bid for a Jr Suite for grins. Two days before we left we received the email that we won the bid. Larger room and a lot more storage space although we packed very lightly for the flight and did not use half the space. Was a great preview for our October cruise where we actually have a Jr Suite booked. Now I'll have to contend with trying to upgrade on all our future cruises.

Departure time on all past voyages on Liberty OTS has been at 4:00pm. But as stated above, with the current new protocols, it may be delayed as the crew needs additional time to clean the ship after passenger disembarkation so boarding may not start until 12:00 pushing the departure time out.

We had a summer cruise on a competitor's ship and late one evening after the wife and I strolled through the ship we made our way back to the room. Needing some fresh air I stepped out on our balcony and looked down. Just below us was one of the many hot tubs and the sights I saw were forever burned into my mind as I noticed all the clothing off to the side and the extra large folks in their birthday suits. ?

According to the cruise staff, the passenger load for this week's cruise is 890 guests. This is super light and they said there were approximately 180 kids on-board, so only about 600 adults. That is super light. Another great thing about this past week's cruise, NO CHAIR HOGS!!

Let the dirt start flying!!!!

We try to book 9 ~ 12 months out so we can watch the pricing and cruise planner sales. The CWC deadline is approaching later this month and we are trying to decide on a replacement date next year for our September Liberty OTS cruise that was cancelled. Lately we have received our refunds sooner than later and are just waiting for the refunds to hit on the September cruise so we can move the OBC to our January cruise. That will be the third move for that money.

Was also on this cruise and liked the less folks on-board and the multitude of open beach chairs on CoCo Cay. Was easy to find the perfect spot on the beach and spent large amounts of time snorkeling and taking pictures until my camera memory ran out (inadvertently removed the memory card and the in-camera memory is small) ?. Going to the shows was great and the reservations through the app worked great. The elevator behavior was different, had one gentleman see I was the only one in the elevator and refuse to get in and others pack it out. There definitely was no social distancing in the shops and in some of the other areas and other than the masks, seemed like old day cruising. They did send one family home down the hall from us after the COVID testing but there was no hoopla made of it and it was done quietly and discretely. Did see where others received a second test due to close contact but came back negative. Overall a fantastic experience and the staff was exceptional. Can't wait for the next one in October.

Don't think an amplification is going to happen. Royal announced the test cruise for Liberty to occur on September 18th. Not enough time from now to then for a proper entire ship update. They may be doing some updates but do not expect a big change.

We use Port Parking in Galveston. It is the first large building on the right when you drive in and their shuttle drops you off in front of the terminal. It is easier to get in and out of their spot. Already have it booked for our next cruise from there.

Cadiz is for propulsion and navigation equipment updates and maybe even a new paint job. If they were doing the next amplification, which they were supposed to do last year, then they would have done that at the facility in Freeport, The Bahamas. The video shown was the first amplification.

Seen the tantrums other sites are having. I hope Royal will wait until their Thursday test results on the various cruises to see if they are having an "epidemic" of outbreaks on-hand before they break out the mask rule.?

Hope they wait until next week to implement. That way we are already on our ship and can enjoy the last week of freedom. If not, oh well, we are still on a cruise and it beats having to stay at home locked down for a vacation anytime.

???

Matt has a list on the homepage that lists the ships that are scheduled to sail and from what port. Will they? Hard to say. We will also be on Adventure this weekend, I know they will be sailing!