YOLO

@megndanielle820 & @JP350 Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog Forum! @twangster Just checking out the island the first time you visit is a great idea. For us, we book the Coco Beach Club everytime we can (depending on who we cruise with) - we love it!

Or like Tom Brady says "My favorite championship (think cruise) is my next one"...

I wish I had your problem !!!

@ckruetze & @Pooch Thanks - good to know...

@twangster All good points. Some of my cruiser friends have already said no, but I still am thinking of talking to my wife about this GC.

That was us - years ago when we were younger...

Oh, also when the Diamond drink system went kerflooey one night at dinner, the head waiter corrected all of our accounts!

On the Ovation last week our head waiter helped us a lot. We had a group of 8. One is vegan and he took her custom (not off the app vegan menu) order for each following day - whatever she wanted and they could make. One of us has pine-nut allergies. He checked every menu the night before for her allergies. One of us required Gluten Free and he took care of that too each night. And lastly my wife had surgery the previous week for a blockage. He got whatever soup she wanted (that was all she was eating). He earned our money last week!

@1sttimecruiserhere Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog Forum! Some thoughts (Googling will find you many many opinions): Auto-Charged gratuities (usually 18%) should always be paid, but you can negotiate (fight) with Customer Service to pay as you go. We usually do not pre-pay gratuities, but doing so will lock in your price. This only cost us once when the price went up, but depending on how you look at it, we gave the crew the new proper rate by letting Royal charge our account the new daily rate. Yes, we pay more now than when we started cruising - before auto-pay gratuities. In fact we tip about as much as we used to in addition to the ~$30 a day we auto-pay - probably what the cruise lines were hoping for. We always tip extra to the room steward, head waiter, waiter, assistant waiter, and bartenders (depending on service quality). We usually end up with OBC ($325 on the Ovation last week) which covers our gratuities and the T-Shirt sales. Something new on Ovation last week for us anyway. The last 3 days of gratuities were charged 3 days before the departure date so that accounts could settle. We were OK with that as it makes no difference to us.

On the Ovation last week I was standing near the left end of Solarium Bar. Someone opened the side-hinged door right at the end of the bar going into the Solarium Bistro/Cafe. It was like hurricane force winds coming out into the Solarium. It took two crew members to close the door!

We love a warm Solarium on the Anthem out of NJ. Not so happy with the people who walk by, open a window, and then walk away. I know, we are getting old...

@CruisingOz Can you change your signature to single space lines? Not sure, but just sayin' - it is pretty long...

@PatsFanBrian Thanks for the tips. I used to love Jack's Abbey's IPL, but I now prefer more of an IPA. Worked in Worcester and have had Wachusett plenty. My favorite is Blueberry, although purists laugh at fruit in beer. I don't care, I just like it.

Yes, that is it. They mustn't carry any short extension cords onboard. And I think they are all 12 gauge / 20 amp types!

Yes, as Pooch says - "Woo-Sox", but this is only their second season. Prior to that they were "Paw-Sox" from Pawtucket, RI. I grew up in RI. I like the old mascot Paws better than the new mascot Woofster. I saw Mark "The Bird" Fidrych pitch at McCoy Stadium for the PawSox. The sox picked him up after he blew out his arm in Detroit. I saw many MLB stars play there over the years...

Chris - and I got to me you! I guess I should have asked for a selfie...

I have never be bothered with power blocks (110V/5V_USB or just 5V_USB). They have sometimes unplugged them when cleaning and so I try to remember to always do that myself when leaving the room. BUT, they do not like extension cords even for ligit reasons like a CPAP. They always offer to replace mine with their ugly ones...

Why would you like it open?

I know me saying/writing this would never hold up in court and Judge Judy would have my butt for mentioning this, but Guyla told me that she worked he way up to senior staff on Rhapsody and they admitted to her that Rhapsody was in fact for sale twice. So I can't prove this as fact and am not saying it is, so for me caveat emptor is the best approach. I plan to read more Rhapsody reviews...

@Tania I was at Polar Park last night (July 4th Fireworks Game) and saw the AAA WooSox [BOS Red Sox] score 4 runs in the 8th to come from behind to defeat the RailRiders [NY Yankees]. Also, the WooSox wore really awesome jerseys last night. The front looked like an abbreviated flag. You can sort of see it here...https://www.masslive.com/worcesterredsox/2022/07/ronaldo-hernandez-blasts-game-winning-home-run-in-the-eighth-boosts-woosox-over-railriders-6-4.html

Start Line (Hopkinton) and Greater Good (Worcester) are good too. YES to VT - they have has some great ones...

I supposed there is a chance that the Rhapsody may not even be owned by Royal in 2024...

A "3 Hour Tour" will not get you through the canal...

@ErikH Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog Forum!

It is a conundrum: provide for local businesses or protect locals and environment. I'm in MA and could drive there, but still like stopping when cruising...