YOLO

@BrianB Thanks for this post. Here in MA I see a new CVS option for "Rapid test with provider visit". From what I am seeing today, this test can only be scheduled 3 days in advance like you say. So in theory, for my May 12th Adventure cruise, I would have the ability to sign up for this test on May 10th which is the first day RCCL would accept a test for my cruise. My only worry is what if this option goes away before then (10 days from today)? I am thinking about signing up for a CVS PCR test for the 10th today and then cancelling it on the morning of the 10th if the Rapid test with visit is available. Are you at all worried about this sort of issue? NOTE: Since our cruise stops in Bermuda and we have to deal with sending them the results too (on the 11th per instructions), I was hoping to get the Rapid test instead of the PCR test specifically for that reason. Otherwise, PCR would be fine. We did the CVS PCR test on our April 3rd Anthem sailing with no problem. Also, for those wondering, this test appears to be free with insurance. Can anyone who has taken this test confirm? In the past I have taken both the CVS PCR and CVS Antigen tests and can confirm that both were free with insurance!

This is not a given - if you have insurance then it is free !!! It seems like many posters don't mention this - not sure if by mistake or on purpose...

I am filling out the Bermuda Travel Authorization right now and am wondering if it is possible to do what @Poolside is thinking - use one test & result for both RCCL at the Pier and this BTA form. For Royal I have to get my test no earlier than 2 days before embarkation. Since CVS only has PCR tests now, I will not get my results until the night before my cruise. And the BTA form clearly says that my pre-arrival test result can be uploaded "up to 1 day before departure" which I guess departure day means embarkation day. Has anyone done this? HELP!!!

@Deborah Starghill Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog Forum! Yes, it would be nice to know what ports! But, since it is your first cruise then I say yes !!!

Thanks! I was envisioning them in a liqueur, so ditto on the sweet for me. But I do like whiskey, so that liquor would be fun to try too.

Which liquor works best?

No I don't think so. I think it was Dramamine Original Formula Motion Sickness which contains Dimenhydrinate and adults take 1-2 tablets every 4-6 hours. Bonine you take once per day. If there are new formulations of Dramamine then I am not familiar with that. Maybe they have started to copy Bonine. Who knows...

I also saw a U2 tribute on the Anthem before the pandemic. They were https://u2lavation.com/. The also played at the Stadium Theatre in Woonsocket, RI a few months before the cruise, but was able to make it to that show. Wish I had. I keep waiting for them to come back...

I know this is not the answer to the question asked, but Cecile and I both find that Bonine works way better than Dramamine. You only need to take one pill per day and FSA/HSA eligible.

@Matt stole my thunder. I do my tests at CVS. They will text you a link which you can log into from your phone or computer. You can then download the results as a PDF file. If this PDF is all you have at the terminal then you can open it and show it to the representative. Just make sure your phone can open a PDF file first! Alternatively, clicking on your text link will get you to the website which you could show, but you will have to login first which is not ideal. I like the PDF file better. Also, if they want a copy at that point you could just mail it to them or find a printer to print it. It is a solid back-up plan.

Honestly, I don't know how anyone could resist it. We visit everyday, sometimes more than once. My wife loves the vanilla and I love it all...

On our recent Anthem cruise we brought all kinds of snacks, from ginger cookies, to trail mixes, to junior mints, and Hershey's Nuggets - we love these chocolate morsels. (https://www.amazon.com/HERSHEYS-Nuggets-Chocolate-Candy-Assortment/dp/B07PFF8J2P). So I guess other people do too since we found them for sale on-board at "The Shop". That is saying something as they only have room for a few chocolate candy items!

Another great band we have seen many time on the Anthem are The Royal Swedes (https://theroyalswedes.com/). They are a house band rather than a tribute, but sometimes plays sets which consist of specific artists/styles/genres. We love them. Actually, we first we first heard about the Cruise Shutdown from The Royal Swedes during an Anthem set they were playing on March 13, 2020 - yup they made that announcement on Friday the 13th !!!

I was on that sailing. Yes, not only did we have Aeromyth (https://www.aeromyth.com/) once in 270. & twice in the Music Hall, but in the theater we had https://ryanmolloy.com/dreamers.asp as a Frankie Valli tribute.

@BrianB Like @twangster mentioned, maybe you can only do this for certain CP items. So I guess the lesson to learn from this is give it a try, you have nothing to lose, and if it works then YooHoo! Otherwise, cancel and re-book at your own risk...

In addition to @AshleyDillo's comment, you can only text other people you know who also have the Whatsapp installed and running. For me, this alone makes it useless...

Agreed, haven't seen these in a long time.

@dmband Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog Forum! Have you made final payment? Converting 3 reservations into 1 (if this is what you are thinking of doing) at this point may be too late altogether or very costly if possible. Check with your TA or contact RCL directly if you don't have one. They can guide you as to whether it may be best to forgo the bid and just change your booking. Also you face the problem of when your GS bid might be accepted, which technically could be on your cruise sail date (not likely). But getting your bid accepted close to embarkation day would make it almost impossible to get your inside rooms refunded.

Royal's Quantum class has this - and I think started this trend...

I like Celebrity, but being an Engineer the tech stuff pulls at me. So for me I would pick by ship and for me that's Symphony over Equinox. I don't look at it as Royal over Celebrity...

@San415 Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog!

@Zoe Renee Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog Forum! It sounds like you have a valid charge card account and an active account number. Even if you don't have the physical card, you may be able to log in to you credit card website and obtain your new/updated card information there. Also, it is worth noting that whenever you want to make final payment with a different card than you made your deposit with, then you need to contact your TA if you have one or Royal directly if you don't. They don't know what they don't know...

@MuttMutt Thanks again for all of the raspberry pi information. Once I started to research this hardware option to play movies, I wondered if there might not be a cheaper solution. As it turns out, there are some small and cheap media players where uSD or USB files can be played. I wonder if you ever tried something like this? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WPY8VKL Since I am only taking the Chromebook on the cruise to play movies, as smaller solution like this would be awesome if it worked. FYI, Your media server is a beast! Sounds like fun stuff. For me I have 4 Synology NAS boxes. 1 main, 2 backup, 1 portable. Since I do not do any transcoding - I play the files in full resolution. My NAS media server can do that just fine. I use Plex on my NVIDIA Shield to play my movies - all of which are hardwired together. It works.

FYI, I was able to watch my full resolution 1080P MKV movie media files on the in room TV w/o any problem during my recent Anthem cruise. Here is what I took on my trip: A 512GB uSD memory card containing my HD MKV files. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B1HMJ9Z) A HP x360 Chromebook and BT mouse. A USB-C to HDMI cable. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075V5JK36) A cheap universal remote control. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product) This setup worked perfectly. The apps I used to the play the movies were either MX Player or VLC. I like both of these players. My choice is MX Player, but if a media files doesn't play (usually due to the wrong codec) then almost always VLC will play it. We managed to watch all 4 Lethal Weapon movies on this cruise. I like to take lots of movies with us, because we never know what we will be in the mood for. Glad to have found this option as opposed to renting movies from Royal for $11.99 each. Like others have mention above, using VOOM to stream is not a good solution. That is true in fact of trying to screen mirror from a phone/tablet/laptop to the TV since by doing that you are also relying on VOOM. Remember, the solution above allows for full resolution HD (as if you were watching an HD Blu Ray) through a hardwired connection. Nice!

@Fredsbabe Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog Forum! Good idea, but for me I am OK with the desalinated water on the ship and would rather save the packing space. Since I always get the soda package, I always have an insulated cup (for cold only) waiting for me on embarkation day.