YOLO

Yes, and as Ricky Ricardo used to say...  "thanks for splainin"   @CruiseGus

Yes, and as Ricky Ricardo used to say...  "thanks for splainin"   @CruiseGus

?  Congratulations to my Super Royal Cruise Info Dude!  ?  @Matt

Make it a Kraken Dark & Stormy (aka Perfect Storm per Kraken Rum's web site) and you're on!

Holy moly!
I've often said numbers and stats are nice, but not the focus of what I'm trying to do. I'd rather have a community of 10 people who are supportive, helpful and fun than 10k people who do not talk.
I think it's safe to say that we've retained a good balance of fun and knowledgeable folks here, while attaining a tremendous goal.
The credit lays not with me, but with all of you.  Seriously. These boards do not grow to 10,000 people just because of me. I can't answer every thread, start my live blog ridiculously early (*cough @Lovetocruise2002 *cough), share breaking news or comment for the umpeeth time if @twangster is indeed real.
So many of you have been posting here for years, and others have recently joined and already feel like part of the family. It's been a tremendous journey so far and I am so thankful you are all here to share in it.
A special thank you to the moderators, who help enforce the rules; to some special long-term members who help flag down spammers and alert me when @monorailmedic is being overly annoying; @WAAAYTOOO for answering all those casino threads that I know nothing about; the entire MEI Travel team for helping support our great community.
There's no question the needle is moving in the right direction, and I thank you all once again for being part of this. One of the few regrets I have in the history of this site is not starting the message boards sooner, and today is a great example of why that is.
Thanks all, and let's celebrate with a Kraken and diet coke while onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise!

Please join me in congratulating  @Matt on this 25th day of July 2019 as the Royal Caribbean Blog message boards have reached 10,000 members. Woot!  Woot!

Fair winds, following seas and may the Kraken always be full in your cup! 
Happy cruising everyone!

Oh, well, then, isn't it nice that we have this blog on which to meet!

I hope it doesn't hurt to mention here, but CC ie Cruise Critic Royal Caribbean Forum shut down all discussions numerous times

I'm still quite new, here, so I didn't know anyone had shut down the discussion and deleted all posts. I've appreciated having some friends to talk about it with here. 
So the grandfather is actually the STEP-grandfather - oh, the poor man. I'm a step-grandmother and I know that being a step-anything is yet one step farther from being totally accepted, we're on probation for a long time, until all the results are in . . . . and this is the worst result possible. Have marriages ended over incidents like this?
 

It appears to me that the Grandfather in question is at least the 2nd husband of the maternal grandmother.  According to the obituary there are 2 sets of maternal grandparents, with the 2nd set having the last name of the mother, nee making that set the mothers father.  Personally I can only see that as making accepting blame on the part of the subject grandfather even harder to comprehend.
I don't know all the facts and probably never will, but I cannot see where RCCL has any blame based on when we do know.
Also glad that this forum has allowed and open and civil discussion, I think we all know who shut it down and deleted all posts.

My wife has to always remind me which side of the pool deck NOT to walk on.  You are right, it is bad enough as it is.
Shutting and locking all windows on a cruise ship isn't a solution.  Next should they prevent you from walking on outside decks?  Then maybe prevent balcony usage?  There are plenty of other ship railings where passengers can use bad judgement.  If the Cruise Lines had to fully protect against bad judgement they would go out of business.

I have a 14-night transatlantic to Canada, Greenland, and Iceland booked, followed by a planned 4- or 5-night land tour of southern Ireland after we disembark in Dublin. Going to be using all 20 of my available vacation days and taking off the entire month of August next year. And I can't wait!! Kind of the perfect balance, alternating a couple of port days with one or two sea days so there's some time to recharge the batteries.
Also have eyed those 11/12-night Anthem sailings to the Southern Caribbean that @YOLO mentioned. Also 50/50 between sea and port days, although the sea days are all at the start and end. Your Baltic cruise will be much more port-intensive, only a few sea days in there; if that's to your liking, definitely go for it! You will not be bored and only question is if you might feel any burnout after so many days going port-to-port-to-port.

Hi Pete,  Are you asking about 12 nights in general or are you concerned specifically about a 12 Baltic?  Like others, I would say more is better - that's if you can afford the time.  We did the Anthem's very first US cruise out of NJ on 151110 which was 12N to the Southern Caribbean.  I love the SC and 12N allowed us time to get there.  It was awesome.  I also did a 14N transatlantic on the Splendor in 1999.  That was just so incredible all around, including the price which was only $69 per person per day including the cruise and Virgin Air to England.  Every day at lunch the headwaiter for our table section would make a special (and not on the menu) pasta for just us at table-side.  Probably the best cruise I was ever on.  Really a once in a lifetime experience!  The longest we did was a 14N just last year where we booked the Dawn back-to-back from Boston to Quebec City to Boston.  Loved it.  Quebec City was awesome.  Been wanting to do that cruise for a long time.  BUT, 14N for me was a bit tough from a work standpoint.  Probably won't do that again until I retire.  In the end I am glad I did those cruises.  If you are itching for the Baltics, I think you will be too.

If the windows are sealed, the ONLY solution is to ban smoking on the pool deck.
The smoke and smell is already bad enough that as an asthmatic I cannot walk through the smoking-permitted area most of the day.

Welcome to the RCB forums!  @doubleJ  @foxrunner  @Oreocruiser & @Chaosgirl426

Welcome to the RCB forums!  @doubleJ  @foxrunner  @Oreocruiser & @Chaosgirl426

Hahaha, damn them...

I just wear whatever my wife "suggests"....LOL

This became a big issue this morning as we started to pack for our cruise on the Freedom this weekend.  My husband really doesn't want to dress up this cruise. He asked if he could wear nice shorts to the MDR (with a polo type shirt). It looks like he can get away with that.  For formal nights we will I guess eat at Windjammer but as I told him I am still dressing up. ? I don't get an excuse to wear my fancy dresses and heels very often. 

I find this bizarre coming from Europe where long pants is the norm for many European restaurants. In fact 70-80% of Europeans will wear a suit/tux for formal night on cruises in MDR. If you don't want to wear one that's ok just head to windjammer.
I don't get the attitude of people wanting to spoil the MDR experience on formal nights by wearing shorts and flip flops. 
Yes I get wanting to be relaxed on holiday but that's why the windjammer is there.
In saying all that we are limited by luggage allowance as we are flying in and only have 20KG and plan to shop stateside ? 
I might still hire a tux onboard has anyone else done it?
 
 
 

Skid, thanks for this info!  Not sure why, but I never noticed the 'ORDER HISTORY'  link before.  My eyes always go right to the 'CART'.  I have been waiting for prices to go down before purchasing, but with this info, I will book now and then keep looking for a price drop.  No, my preference would be to do this directly on the website and to not have to call.  This is great.  Thanks Again...

Welcome Pippa & MD to the RCB! 
Ditto on that Job too.  I sit in front of 3 computer screens at work, but they make me do stuff for my cruise money.

Agreed!  Well put.  Why do so many people in the world today believe they are entitled?  Such a sad state of humanity...

Chances are Royal will settle with the family for a couple million with no admittance of fault. The sad thing is that it was an accident. Accidents happen. It's part of life. Not every accident is someone's fault (although I will say I think the grandfather is totally at fault in this situation).  However, we have to remember that none of us were there to see what happened and until all the facts are revealed to the public (which will probably be if it goes to trial), everything is speculation. I do think the lawyer is pushing the family to make a case out of this, maybe for his own greed (he'd take at least 33% of any settlement).

I think it's pretty obvious who is right and who is wrong.  If the grandfather set the baby on a railing on a balcony or an open area on one of the upper decks, same thing would have happened.  If the window had been closed and the baby fell into the window, it's likely the pane would've held the weight but not guaranteed.  A screen probably wouldn't have.  And the baby still could've been severely injured or killed. 
Their Today Show performance disgusted me.
I don't think this is anything more than trying to gin up public outrage against Royal Caribbean and pushing them to settle to shut them up.  It isn't about protecting other children, it isn't about restitution for Royal Caribbean's negligence, it's about taking advantage of self-inflicted tragedy to blame somebody else for their own stupidity and get a big check in the process.