RockerDom31

Port Stops Part II Old San Juan, Puerto Rico Under the advice of the contributors of this forum and blog, we did not book any excursions for this stop. We literally just got off the ship and walked around. It hurt our feet a little! But it is such a beautiful, historic area. As far as I can tell, this isn't really a "beach day" unless you want to travel quite a bit away. This stop was from 2PM - 10PM. Some Pictures: Philipsburg, St. Marteen Excursion This port stop was 9AM - 5PM. We booked a Royal Caribbean Shore Excursion from a Black Friday sale called "Kim Sha Beach Break". This was a 20 minute narrated bus ride to Simpson Bay, and then about 3 hours on the beach, and then a 20 minute bus ride back to the port. This excursion was conducted by Rendezvous Tours. We felt very well-taken care of and safe during the excursion. On the bus ride there, the guide had us fill out a seating chart (we were to sit in the same seats there and back) and anytime the bus door opened, she did count and check to make sure we were all on the bus. The tour guide wore a bright yellow shirt and stayed with us at the beach so if we had any questions, we can talk to her. The beach was in close proximity to the Greenhouse Restaurant where they gave us lunch (included with the excursion) and let us use their clean private bathrooms. The food options were all meat so we asked our tour guide if we could have any vegetarian options. She spoke to the restaurant staff and she special-ordered black bean tacos for us - which was delicious! And filling. I don't remember all of the meat options - but there was one beef, one chicken, and two seafood options. The lunch included 1 drink (water, soda, or beer/wine) and there was a bar there if you wanted more to drink. Luckily, we brought several water bottles from the ship with us. The excursion included two chairs but not the umbrella. That was an extra $5. It seemed like the area of the beach was specific for our ship's excursion. There were three full buses (each one with their own tour guide). Simpson Bay was very sea-weedy and not very enjoyable to swim in. We only spent a few minutes in the water. But it was very warm. Some pictures from this excursion: After returning from the excursion, we were dropped off at the cruise port (interesting security note: an officer boarded our bus and checked all of our Seapass cards) with plenty of time to explore the shops. Another post with the review of the last set of sea days coming right up!

Just had this internal struggle myself. We originally had the Royal Travel Protection Plan at first but ultimately went with Allianz. Their max limits were much higher than Royal’s. It’s the medical evac and expenses limit that we were most concerned with.

Sometimes there’s a cancellation and a reservation opens up. We snagged a 5:30 reservation for MDR by just checking the Royal app while we were on board.

They have one person at the entrance at WJ greeting everyone and reminding everyone to washy washy. People either don’t or they “fake” it (they make the effort to turn the water on and then just grab a paper towel to dry off their dry unwashed hands). The finger licking is usually a result of accidentally getting food on their fingers while holding their plate. Thankfully I have not observed anyone not using the tongs to grab the buffet food.

Currently on Oasis…I would say that it’s “normal” in the sense that I am able to fully enjoy my vacation with only minor inconveniences. *Walking around ports with my Vax card and a mask since you don’t really know what other country’s protocols are. Plenty of shops we entered said “masks required” (whether it was enforced was another story) *Getting the testing done (currently on a 9-night sailing so it had to get done regardless) *Crew wearing masks made it hard to understand them sometimes, especially with music blaring in the background The unfortunate part is that even disgusting behavior is “back to normal” - people not washing hands after leaving the bathroom, people not covering coughs and sneezes, people bypassing the washy washy at Windjammer, and don’t even get me started on the amount of finger licking I see at Windjammer!!

Thanks! The 2pm arrival time wasn’t bad at all. We didn’t do any excursions. We literally just aimlessly walked around Old San Juan - doing some shopping and sightseeing some of the historical buildings. It was neat seeing the city at night from the ship. Pictures coming soon!

Yes! Trivia was either in the Music Hall or Schooner Bar - both of which lead to standing room only by the time the trivia started (and the music hall is 2 floors!)

We were going to get the Voom Surf and Stream internet package anyway. The two-device internet package price was around $20 pp/pd. I believe we paid $23ish pp/pd for the Key.

Sorry for the late start on this one! We are currently winding down Day 4 of 10 on this cruise. Here are some highlights: Background Info It’s my wife and I on this cruise celebrating our 5-year anniversary (which was actually June 2022 but we had 2 weddings to go to at that time and we wanted this specific itinerary). We both have The Key and DBP. We are in a 2D Oceanview Balcony Stateroom. This is our second cruise. Here is our view of the balcony at sunset: Itinerary - Days 1, 2, 3 at sea…Day 4 Labadee…Day 5 San Juan, Puerto Rico…Day 6 Philippsburg, St. Marteen…Days 7, 8, 9 at sea. I believe this is a “one-off” sailing that only happens once this season on Oasis from Cape Liberty. Getting on the Ship Embarkation at Cape Liberty - we had arrived a little bit after 10am and there was already a very long line. We asked the port worker at the very front of the line where do Key members go and he let us in and we skipped the entire line! Inside, there was another section for Key members to check-in. Thanks to the excellent advice of @Matt and others, we had hard copies of everything - Seapass, Negative Test Results, and physical vax card - we spent less than 2 minutes at check-in (they verified docs and took pictures of our passports). Other families were struggling to pull things up on their phone - not a very good cell signal at Cape Liberty. We were on the ship by 11am, first drink in hand by 11:05am! We did not do the Key lunch - we were having way too much fun in the sun to have a sit down lunch. We just grabbed and go from Cafe Promenade. As expected, staterooms opened up at around 1pm. I am a diabetic and needed to have a legit mini-fridge and sharps container (I filled out a special needs form 2 weeks prior and our travel agent checked with Royal to make sure it was noted in the reservation). I was only put on insulin about a month ago. When we arrived, the mini-fridge and sharps container were not in the room. Called Guest Services and got “we will check on that for you”. Meanwhile, I ran into our stateroom attendant and he took care of it. The “mini-fridge” is actually like a cooler for the car that plugs into the cigarette lighter port that holds 6 cans. It was cold enough and it worked. By the way - the mini-fridge that is in the cabinet of the stateroom is more so a wine cooler. Kept drinks cold but not cold enough for insulin. Food Both my wife and I are vegetarian and we have MTD. We’ve only been to the MDR once and we probably won’t be again. As was the case on our last cruise, the vegetarian options were the exact same dishes served at the Windjammer (we left MDR and went to the Windjammer directly afterwards and found our dinner there!). Plus, my wife and I are quick eaters - the MDR just wasn’t for us. We did order off the Vegan menu at MDR and the food was okay - just wasn’t our style. As a matter of fact, our favorite place to eat as of now is El Loco Fresh. We made our own nachos with cheese, beans, salsa, guacamole, etc. Food at Labadee was a bust for vegetarian - just some salads and rice and beans. Moral of the story is that if you are vegetarian on a cruise, you will definitely eat and you will not go hungry. However, just like on land, your choices are not as varied and numerous. So temper your expectations! For breakfast and lunch, we had a much better time at Solarium Bistro. Not as busy, still had a freestyle machine, and anything vegetarian we would have eaten at the Windjammer was present at Solarium Bistro (one morning, we went to Windjammer, ate a small plate, got annoyed with the how busy it was, and then enjoyed a very quiet and peaceful meal at Solarium Bistro.) First Set of Sea Days We did a lot of relaxing on these days - sunning out on the deck, taking naps in the stateroom, exploring the ship. We also did some ship activities such as Trivia and Name that Tune Booked our next cruise! The people at NextCruise was so helpful! Today, we booked a 9-nighter for June 2023 out of Cape Liberty on Liberty of the Seas that goes to Bermuda, Labadee, La Romana DR, and Puerto Plata DR. I have never seen this itinerary before so we just had to YOLO book it! Port Stops Part I Labadee Wow the artisan market folks are insistent!! There are people there who are waiting just outside the market (by the amphitheater) who will take you back to your shop and carve your name on things so you are more likely to buy it. We did negotiate though and they accepted our offer. As far as the beach day itself, it was very nice and relaxing - even if 6000+ people are there with you. Plenty of chairs and umbrellas. There was a Royal Employee who saw us wandering around looking for chairs who set us up with 2 chairs under a tree. Tipped him a $5 as a thank you! Some pictures: Random Observations So Far... 6156 total passengers (2893 New, 1555 gold, 612 platinum, 310 emerald, 587 diamond, 254 diamond plus, 45 pinnacle). Masks - people had them, most people did not. But absolutely nobody cared if you masked up or not. I put one on every so often. All crew still had them on though. Shout-Outs A great big thank you to the MEI Travel team, especially our agent @Daniel W Daniel Wanderman!! Definitely the best travel agent we’ve ever had! A great big thank you to @Matt and to everyone else on this blog and forum! My wife complimented me about how much I know about Royal Caribbean. We did our best on Crown and Anchor trivia! Days 5-10 are forthcoming. Thanks for reading!

On the Docket app for NJ, you can print out a PDF (on official state letterhead) with your vaccination record. I don’t know if that’s still acceptable but at least it’s on paper and not on your phone.

Hi All, Just looking for some advice about carrying on medications - particularly insulin pens. I saw a few posts on this forum from a few years ago and I don't know if things have changed since then. For my pill medications, I keep them in the original container with the label that has my name on it and the name of the medication. It's a general rule of thumb I follow whenever I travel with my pill medications whether it be via land, sea, or air. However, I have recently been put on two different kinds of insulin pens (one long-acting and one quick-acting). Question #1 - Should I bring the original insulin pen boxes with me that has the label with my name on it? I currently have them in an insulin pen bag but the actual pens themselves don't have my name on it. (and same with the needles - they are in a box with a label with my name on it). Question #2 - Can I ask for a sharps container or do I have to bring one on board with me? And particularly, who do I reach out to? Also, if anyone has any words of advice for taking insulin while on a cruise ship, I am all-ears (or I suppose "eyes" in this case!). The insulin can be kept at room temperature for 50 days so I don't have to worry about that. I don't know if location makes a difference but the cruise is going to Puerto Rico, St. Marteen, and Labadee. Thanks everyone!

Hi All, Just wondering if anyone has ever done the "Kim Sha Beach Break" excursion in St. Marteen, booked directly with Royal Caribbean (http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?ProductCode=SM06&DestinationCode=CARIB). We bought this back on a Black Friday sale and it sounded interesting to us. I couldn't find anything in the forums. Thanks!

Thanks everyone! I was able to snag a 10AM slot and are officially checked-in!

Hi All, We are 46 days away from embarkation on Oasis from Bayonne on a 9-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary! Online check-in theoretically opens at midnight tonight and I definitely want to get as early of a check-in time as possible. I was wondering what the process was like? I imagine it is relatively different than our last check-in in 2019. What kind of documents is needed to complete? I know that the security photo can also be taken at this time but can a picture be uploaded from the photo reel? Or does it have to be taken at that time? (I don't mind staying up but my wife will most likely be asleep! Basically, I am wondering if I can take a picture of her ahead of time and then upload it). Do you suggest checking in on the app on a phone or in the cruise planner on a computer? Thanks for all of your help!

Maybe the fan had a heating element in it? Or maybe it was just too big?

Wow so many steamers and power strips!

I know this wasn’t the purpose of your post but I just have to share this story… I am 100% Filipino, born in NYC, raised in Jersey. And while I’ve only been on one cruise, I absolutely love cruising!! The worst part of cruising for me - the amount of times I got asked a question by people who thought I was a crew member. “What time does [insert place here] open?” “Where is the nearest restroom?” “How do I get to [insert place here]?” And my personal favorite “Wow, you have to stand in line with the rest of us?” I must have said “I’m sorry I don’t work here” a dozen or more times! Anyway, I chuckle at it now and if that was the worst of my vacation, so be it haha.

I overheard a crew member working the North Star on Anthem tell a passenger that the restrictions are there for the emergency procedures they would have to take in the event the North Star gets stuck in the upright position. Not sure how true it is and I don’t know the exactly details of what that emergency procedure might be.

I've only done the Cape Liberty to Bermuda cruise and that was on Anthem. I get sea-sick very easily but most of this trip was okay to me. Don't get me wrong, you feel the ship moving but form what I heard, it's not better or worse than being on any other cruise ship. On the way back though, we were outrunning a hurricane so the ship was full speed through rough waters. I had to rely on my seasick wristbands that day but it was probably the best night of sleep I've had in my adult life. I felt like a baby in a rocking chair!

You should also check into any fees that the TA has hidden in their terms and conditions. When COVID first happened and our Oasis cruise was cancelled, we were charged a $150/per person cancellation fee since we went with the full cruise fare refund instead of future cruise credit. In addition, we would have been charged the same cancellation fee if we “lift and shift”ed because they considered that a “cancellation”. They also charged a $75 revision fee if ANY changes were made to the reservation. I thought this was normal until I started perusing on this board and realized that I really needed to leave them. So I just took my lumps, paid for the cancellation fee, switched to MEI, and tell all of my friends, family, and coworkers (who are in the same town as the local TA) about my experience.

Just an FYI...Oasis of the Seas August 5, 2022 departure from Cape Liberty, NJ...The Key went down in price - saved $36! We used the savings to book a shore excursion

Ordinarily, this is one of those moments that someone would post a video or previous posts because this question has been asked quite frequently. However...the Key during this weird pandemic-y time looks different than before the pandemic. And it was just recently brought back into service. I'd be interested to find out how it is now. FWIW, we did get it for our August 2022 cruise on Oasis. But our purchase price was literally just another $5 more per person/per day (about an extra $100 total) than just getting the internet streaming package so we felt it was worth it.

Without taking the Key benefits into consideration, was there a gratuity added on in addition to the $7.95 service fee? Or would people traditionally tip the room service delivery person in cash? Or both? If it is the case that gratuity was tacked on, does the Key benefit (of having room service be included) change any of that? Just want to make sure I am not short-changing anyone on their tip!

Good call! I will do that. Thanks!

Wow complimentary room service - That’s a good perk to have. You can definitely get your money’s worth between the internet and if you get room service a few times.