CrznTxn

The other new item on the menu is the "My Offers" button all the way to the right. For those like my wife who get Casino on-line only offers they show up here. Worked the other day and we booked a November cruise that we had been eyeing a few months ago. Booking on-line was really easy and we called before we booked and verified that this was good. These are very short window offers and we are always checking with this now.

Could be a new cast coming onboard and they have not quite learned the Ice Games moves to perform it yet. On Allure they have just started performing Blue Planet with the new Momma Mia cast who had to learn the new music and moves to add that in addition to Momma Mia. Usually they add only a couple of new cast to the ice show at a time but it could be there were more than usual, Or as what happen on Liberty OTS on several of our cruises the cast had some injuries and illness to too many of the cast and they did an improve show for the guests. Loved those too as it allowed the performers to do what they thought brought the best in their particular talent but still brought us a show.

You will like Allure OTS. We have been on her several times and the wife will get on her the week before to make it a B2B before I get on. Lots to do and looking forward to get on again.

In Roatan there are beaches that are "free" but none really next to the port. The better beaches are on the West End and taxi's there are around $40. Then you have to pay for the food and beverages. For an ala carte experience with a small beach you can book the Sol y Mar Rockstar through the Royal Excursions. It gets you there and back but you pay for the food and drinks you consume. In Costa Maya the beaches in Mahahual are low cost and we always go the the Krazy Lobster. The taxi's are $4 per person each way and you get free seating under the sun or shade, your choice. You do not have to pay anything to get in and the food and drinks are reasonable and massages are $25 per hour. in Cozumel there is not free "beach" but there are alternatives such as Del Mar Latino https://delmarlatinobeachclubcozumel.com within walking distance of the pier ($39 all inclusive) with a swim area, drinks and nice snack foods (love the coconut shrimp) or Nachi Cocom https://cozumelnachicocom.com for $59 pp all inclusive with a great beach and you get your own covered palapa. You do have to pay for the taxi but it's $17 for a group of 4 each way. Both of these you have to reserve ahead of time on the interweb as they only allow a limited number of guests to not be overcrowded.

There are many hotel options between the airport and the cruise terminal. Typically the hotels on the south side of Houston are less expensive than the ones on Galveston Island. If you are going to be in a day early and wanting to see the sights in Galveston then I would recommend staying on Galveston Island and you can now get shared rides to the terminal from the hotel (Uber or Lyft). Getting to the hotel you can check out Galveston Mom's or some other ride share that will pick you up from the airport and take you to the hotel. If some are coming in from the airport on the day of the cruise then I would recommend using the Royal Caribbean shuttle to the port. Less expensive and they drop you off at the front door.

You can call Royal and rebook for a later date. You will incur a transfer fee (usually the deposit amount) but it is much better than a total loss.

We have a set of Frogg Toggs that we use on our motorcycle rides that we take on our Alaska trips. They fit over your clothing, fold small and fit in the small backpack we take on shore. Have not had to use them many times but they are great when needed.

We cruised on four of the other cruise lines before trying Royal as two of the other lines left Texas due to a port closure. Once we got onboard we were hooked on Royal as it fit our cruising style to a "T". As we continued to sail we were introduced to the tier program, which we honestly did not know about, and started to accumulate more perks. It was not the perks that kept us coming back but they did not hurt either. Now that we are D+ status, the extra perks we receive help us save quite a bit on drinks and dining but it is the ships, crew and overall attitude that keeps us coming back. Not saying we always sail on Royal (we have a cruise on another line with our son and kids mid-summer) but we definitely keep coming back to Royal as our go-to cruise line.

We have sailed on Radiance and Allure in the last 60 days as both were/are sailing out of Galveston. Allure is like Wonder in size with all of the shows, amenities and pace. Radiance is much smaller and to us more intimate and slower paced. You do not have the Broadway shows on Radiance but they were very good. The crew seemed friendlier on Radiance (our opinion as we like to talk to the crew where ever we go) and the pace was definitely not so frenzied. Just our opinion but we like the smaller ships even thought we have multiple cruises booked already on Allure and Harmony, both large ships. We are both over 60.

My wife has Signature Casino status which gives her a free device throughout the voyage which I use for my "working vacation" and she uses her and my D+ two days each access for her. We go to the internet desk and they add her two free days to my account which we can both access. Win - win for us and allows us to go on many more cruises now with my company's remote working policy. For the missing days we have set times that we each use the single available access. If we really need the extra three days it is usually only around $75.

On most of our cruises the time to leave the ship after docking has been between 20 and 30 minutes. The cruise compass has the All Aboard times listed but don't try and be the last one aboard. My last cruise everyone was on-board a little early and the Captain thanked everyone and got the heck out of Dodge about 15 minutes early (it was our last stop).

We have had this on other cruise lines but have never seen it on Royal, at least not in the last 6 years. Suspect that with COVID it was permanently dropped. In Galveston I did not see a departure lounge other than the Suite and Pinnacle lounge, so us lowly D+ and Diamond passengers have to wait and dash to the Schooner Bar for a drink when they call us in. Oh by the way, if you do go out of Galveston they call the boarding by tier level. The Suites and Pinnacles have their own departure area and the Key folks go first in the other area followed by D+, Diamond and on down. As a Diamond you get on quickly before the rush. This is a non-published benefit.

The TSA style stop before going to the ship has to do with how many ships and what size are in the port at that time. If only one small ship is in then they do not bother with the stop and let the ship do the screening. If there are multiple ships, especially if one is an Oasis class ship or larger, then they add the stop and screening inside the port. Makes for a faster entry onto the ship and not a total backup outside in the elements. There are more X-Ray machines in the port and they can queue more people at a time. I do notice that they are a little stricter than on the ship. Stopped us on one trip for a few seashells gathered on the beach. Told us we had to purchase cleaned shell from a local vendor and not pick them up ourselves.

Most of the beaches along the strip in Costa Maya put nets and floats out to catch the seaweed. Several years ago these were further out than they are today which greatly reduces the swim area but the beaches are clean. Some of the private beaches like Maya Chan have floats out but the seaweed still gets through. The last two years have been tough on Cost Maya with the seaweed during the spring and summer.

I think it is just a normal Royal glitch. It does show up in the cruise planner when I log in now but not on the opening page.

Unless there is a Margaritaville outside the International Port where Royal docks, meeting your friend at the bar inside the port will probably not happen. Security will not let them in unless they have special permission and a pass. Allure docks at one pier all the time.

Will be interesting to see if they apply the "new cruise math" to the certificates that folks earn while gambling on-board. The offered cruises out of Galveston are only at higher point levels which is a bummer for those of us who consistently cruise from that port. Typically the wife gets an upper point level and I get a lower level so we use hers for scheduling future cruises. Will have to see if you can combine the offers in order to get both of us in a balcony at a lower cost.

We sailed on Grandeur last November with no Pinnacles aboard and still had the Top Tier event. The "recognized" person had around 500 C&A points and we only had about 30 people at the event as they restricted it to Diamond and above. It was great and we were able to talk to the Captain and officers one on one for the length of the event. Much better than the dog and pony show they have now on the larger ships that we quit going to.

If you earned your Prime tier status after March 31, 2022, then you will receive the tier status offer after April 1st, 2023 (usually around April 15th). Then you can talk to Royal or your travel agent about booking your complementary cruise. There are blackout dates, typically holiday cruises. If you reached Prime status in October of last year you should have been receiving other offers in the mail or you can go to www.clubroyaleoffers.com and enter your last name and C&A number to see if you have additional offers.

Buying the internet package is entirely up to you and if you feel you do not need it, don't. I need it for my "workcations" that the wife and I do now since she is retired and 95% of our office is now operating remote. Makes the monthly cruises easier to justify and the boss does not mind at all since the work gets done. Plus having conference calls while looking out at the ocean or at an amazing port of call is a real treat.

Allure last week had extra folks with hand sanitizer at the shows and other venues. At the end of the cruise we had a questionnaire in our room asking if anyone had "intestinal" issues during the cruise. They take it very serious. On another cruise line in the past we knew when there were possible issues as the salt and pepper shakers would disappear and paper condiment packets would show up on the tables.

Almost all the safes we have in our balcony rooms will not fit a tablet. It seems when they upgrade the rooms the safes tend to shrink. The compartment where they sit did not change, only the size of the safe.

Can get the same hamburger in Windjammer BUT the milkshakes are what I go for. Can't get them anywhere else and is a treat for each trip.

Wondering the same. Maybe we will know after next week when folks can get one for real.

If you want to be close to the action then the D+ seating is not for you. We enjoy the D+ seating in the theater as it is usually less crowded and we get there early enough to have seats in the center a couple of rows back from the railing as it can interfere with the sight line. The seating for the ice show is at the end and the action comes at you. Just depends how you want to view the shows.