RockerDom31

I feel the same - I've only been on Anthem and Oasis - both of which had Freestyle. Looks like I'll be relying on the cans of Coke Zero (and hopefully other Zero Sugar drinks).

MEI all the way!

The first thing I would do is fix the funny math. I'm sure everyone on this board can think of at least one instance of pricing that just doesn't quite make much sense (whether it is the cruise fare or the cruise planner purchases).

We are "loyal" to Royal, which started off because of convenience sake. We live in NJ and Bayonne is a much more convenient port than any of the NY ports. Our first cruise was to Bermuda in 2019 and if that had not gone well, we probably would have tried another line. But it did go well and so we did another Royal cruise. And then that went well, so we booked another one for this coming summer. And heck, just a few weeks ago, we booked a Royal cruise for NEXT summer. Maybe one day we will try Celebrity but still from Bayonne. Driving to the port is such a money-saver. Not having to pay for the NYC bridges is also quite the money-saver. We did an all-inclusive resort for our honeymoon and another one for our 1-year anniversary. Between the cost of flights and the cost of the resort itself, we could've gone on 6 cruises and saw more places for the same price. Loyalties can come and go. I was once loyal to K-mart, Nissans, and Organic Chemistry. But now, I go to Target, drive a Subaru, and teach HS Chemistry and college General Chemistry. For the time being, we like the way Royal operates and it works out for us.

I just re-read the original post and realize my reply was not answering the question! Sorry! If given the option, I personally would purchase from the travel insurance company directly. While I have never done 3rd party booking for travel insurance, I have had nothing but bad experiences when using 3rd party services for other kinds of products (airfare, hotel, car-buying).

You would need to look at the terms of each policy and decide what is important to you. For example, medical transportation is a big factor that should be carefully looked at since a private jet or helicopter transfer can cost a significant amount. You should also check to see how your claim would be paid out - future cruise credit vs. cash. Another big consideration is how they handle pre-existing conditions. Fwiw, my wife and I use Allianz. They checked all the boxes for us but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will for you.

Do the Spotted Lantern Flies count as a wild animal? If so, there were plenty of those on the top deck on Oasis out of NJ last summer!

My wife and I were so eager to go on vacation that we spent all of embarkation day basking in the hot NJ summer sun, sipping many cocktails. …And not a drop of sunscreen was used! (Which we did bring with us!) Unfortunately, we didn’t feel the consequence of this until the following morning when we both experienced some extremely painful showers. And with 3 sea days and the first port being Labadee, we had to live off of the vending machine aloe for 4 days. I’m pretty sure we emptied the vending machine! Once we arrived to Puerto Rico, we hit up the CVS and bought more aloe, which is when we realized that the ship vending machine aloe was super marked up! We knew it was but we didn’t expect it to be that much! Lesson learned!

104 days to go! Who's on the ship with me?? This is the second time we are going to Bermuda and Labadee and our first time going to DR. My wife and I are very excited! Since we've started cruising, we've never seen an itinerary from Cape Liberty that went to DR so we jumped right on to that opportunity as soon as we could!

There's also other casual quick-eat options besides Main Dining Room and Windjammer Buffet. On Liberty, there's Sorrento's (pizza) and Cafe Promenade (sandwiches and small plate stuff, including sweets). Room service is also an option with a $7.95 charge per order (you can order as many items as you want but each order is $7.95 + gratuity). I actually find it easier to just load up a plate from Windjammer and take it back to the room (if Windjammer is still open that is).

I have used that exact same Anker charger on Oasis (2022) and Anthem (2019) - no issues either time. We even bought USB-powered fans so that we didn't need to use up a plug.

I'll be on Liberty in June and was wondering something similar...What can someone with the Deluxe Beverage Package get in terms of Zero Sugar drinks (I'm diabetic). On Oasis and Anthem, I used the Freestyle machines to get Coke Zero, Sprite Zero, but most importantly, Powerade Zero for hydration. Besides Diet Coke from the bars, are there any other options? I did use to stock up on Coke Zero cans from Windjammer when I was on Oasis and Anthem (I never got charged for them so I am assuming they are covered with the DBP?). Thanks!

From what I've been reading in mutliple online places, it seems that the ports are the ones that are cracking down on these. Unfortunately, I don't think there's an easy way to differentiate a "power strip" from a "surge protector" so it might just be easier on the port agents to just err on the side of caution and just confiscate anything remotely resembling a surge protector. I seem to recall an online post in which a passenger was told by a port agent that even if the CEO of the cruise line told him not to confiscate the item, he's still going to because he wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't (and something along the lines of "I don't work for the cruise line").

I always err on the side of caution and bring the original container with the pharmacy label on it (that has my name, doctor's name, medication name, etc.). Additionally, when my travel agent called to verify that our medical fridge and sharps container request was noted on our reservation, Royal sent this email: Nobody asked about it at all but knowing the kind of luck I have, if I didn't bring the prescription labels, that's when they would ask!

I have a thing for hot sauces. One time, I bought several hot sauces in St. Marteen and was flagged by security when my bag went through the scanner. I just showed them that it wasn’t alcohol and they sent me on my way. No biggie but it might save a few seconds if you let them know before putting your bag in the scanner.

Booking as soon as possible is your best bet. Should the price go down, you can re-price up to the final payment date.

And I second the Poopourri and Liquid IV! I would like to add aloe to that list because it is really expensive from the ship’s vending machine

In my opinion, the most valuable travel product is… all of the knowledge that I’ve learned on RoyalCaribbeanBlog!!

I spy…a Symphony 7-night sailing to Bahamas/Perfect Day from Cape Liberty in Sept 2024

I am far from being an expert on anything discussed here. But I imagine Coast Guard evacuations also depends on location. A cruise leaving from Cape Liberty or Baltimore and heading south might be more likely to do a USCG evac since they spend a lot of time hugging the US East Coast. Personally, I would never be upset at re-routing due to medical evac, inclement weather, civil unrest, etc. It just goes to show you the great lengths Royal will take for the sake of passenger safety.

And also, I forgot to mention in my previous post…the last thing Royal or any cruise line needs is bad PR. If they truly felt that guests and crew were in any danger, then they would adjust accordingly. They have before and they will again. I totally get it - whenever I tell people that we went to Haiti, I almost always get a look of surprise and I have to explain that we were in a remote private area (I’ve been referring to it as a “private resort” for what it’s worth!). I can tell that they’ve been on a Royal cruise there previously if they DON’T give me a surprised look haha.

We enjoyed our time in Labadee. However, walking around the market isn’t like walking around your mall. Yes, the vendors are very persistent. However, you are free to negotiate (and you should). There is absolutely no way to leave the Labadee area - there’s no public transportation whatsoever. Just a bus that circles around to different parts of Labadee. The only mishap I’ve heard of was a few years ago, a few locals were protesting in boats by the dock. So Royal skipped the port. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/01/19/political-protests-haiti-prevent-royal-caribbean-guests-going-labadee

I think a part of it is the itinerary too. The primary itinerary for Oasis from Cape Liberty is generally 7 days Port Canaveral - Nassau, Bahamas - Coco Cay. This itinerary might be more attractive to families with children as opposed to the "one-off" New England/Canadian or Eastern Caribbean itinerary from Cape Liberty on Oasis. I am basing this purely off of observations and conversations.

Oh! And also, I edited the first post for clarity and added some pictures. Make sure to re-read! Enjoy!

Second Set of Sea Days (Days 7, 8, 9) We did the same kind of activities as we did on the first set of sea days. Relaxing on the deck, doing some trivia and other games, and eating and drinking...a lot. Something different though is that we reserved a casita: It was kind of nice to have a "home" so we didn't have to fight for chairs on the deck. However, we probably should have spent the money on getting a beach bed or tent at Labadee than having the Casita. We had it from 9PM - 6PM but probably only spent a total of 3 hours in it. There was a "call" button to ask for a casita attendant for drinks but we weren't that far from the bar anyway. It did include a fruit plate and bottles of water. We put the rope up anytime we left it so that people didn't claim it as their own. For those wondering, it was about $150ish for the reservation. We did do a Captain's Q&A session in the Royal Theater. It was pretty neat. The Captain (I think it was "Captain Tore", I probably misspelled his name) will most likely retiring once this session is up - he has been working the seas in various capacities (not just with Royal) for 40+ years. The most interesting fact I learned - the Oasis clears the Verazzano Bridge by just 40 feet!) Last Sea Day picture at night: Disembarkation Day: Sad day indeed. But all good things must come to an end. We had three suitcases with us and we left two in the hallway the night before. We kept an empty suitcase for the last set of dirty laundry and all of the toiletries. Since we were Key members, we got special Key luggage tags - not a numbered tag like everyone else. We also got a special breakfast in the MDR. We ordered a veggie omelet, a bran muffin, and hash browns which were all delicious. Probably the same exact breakfast we would have gotten anyway but without any of the crowds. We were on Deck 4 and there were probably only 4-5 families there with us so it was definitely a more peaceful way to end the cruise. Leaving the ship was easy. There wasn't a long line to get off the ship and once we did, there was a special Key section for the luggage (next to the Suites section). Since we used passports, they used facial recognition for customs (I'm assuming it was because we used passports because there was a separate line for "birth certificates"). Other Thoughts and Last (Maybe) Impressions: Overall, this was a vacation that went very well for 98% of it (all thanks to all of you! ). The 2% that didn't go right were very minor issues and was fully expected (lack of a variety of vegetarian food options, a bit of buyer's remorse for the casita). Of the 10 day cruise, it rained for a total of 25 minutes. Very lucky! Absolutely no rough waves whatsoever. Very lucky! The comedy show in Blaze was amazing! Very 18+ though so be warned. We did not watch Cats. We're dog people! lol. Music Hall is a very nice venue. It's two floors and both floors have a bar (the top floor bar is not always open though). Prepaid gratuities but gave an extra $50 to our stateroom attendance. We did not tip additional to any wait staff (we only did MDR once) or bar staff (The DBP includes an 18% gratuity). We tipped the excursion tour guide $20 Because of some sunburn, we bought some Aloe from the vending machines on the ship. It cost $15.99! But we got about $13 refunded in port fees for reasons that I do not know. So the final portfolio bill was $1.65. This was the best of both worlds - a nice/new-ish big ship and a unique itinerary. Nothing wrong with the Bahamas-Coco Cay itinerary that Oasis usually does from Cape Liberty but we have been to the Bahamas multiple times before. This went into the decision of NOT going on Oasis next summer - we decided on Liberty because it offered a more unique itinerary (Bermuda, Labadee, two different DR ports). Covid Thoughts: ::Knock on wood:: Both my wife and I haven't had symptoms (and therefore do not feel the need to test). There were a few reports on Facebook of people having to quarantine on the ship (unfortunately, for one family it was on Day 2) and people testing positive once they got home. Interesting observation that I'm not sure if this was Covid-related or not...on Anthem in August 2019, we had to put a card in a slot to be able to turn the lights and AC on. But on Oasis, the stateroom attendant told us to never touch the "master switch" that turns on the lights and AC (there was no card slot). I'm assuming this is part of the airflow improvements? Or maybe Oasis was this way all along and it had nothing to do with the Covid improvements? Overall, we felt pretty good about how Royal handles the health aspect of things. Me being a teacher and my wife working in a congregate day program setting, we felt more comfortable walking around the ship than our own workplaces. There was always crew cleaning and disinfecting. I do wish that there was SOME sort of airflow in the elevators. I don't believe there to be any air exchange besides the door opening and closing. The most random encounter on this trip - running into one of my students in an elevator! Never saw them again after that haha. I'm sure I missed some details so if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask! Thanks for reading!