Ladyxsuebee

I’m not sure why this is ridiculous. It would be ridiculous if they said we couldn’t cruise or limit ship construction due to greenhouse emissions, but if going a little slower helps the environment, why not? I’m not a ultra liberal environmental tree hugger, but happy to help if I can. 

I will be on the following week !  Can't wait to see the new amped Oasis.
If you truly do not want to eat in the MDR (or any of the other complimentary meal options) then I do recommend that you look into the UDP.  As you noted, in a JS you may or may not be able to eat  in CK.  You would not know until you get on board and you might not even know from day-to-day, depending on how booked they are.
I have found that the UDP is worth the money on the O class ships b/c there are so many different options for dining.  It the price isn't outrageous, I would say it's a good option.  If you do decide to purchase the UDP, do NOT include your 8-year-old.  There is no need to pay full price for him.  They will either charge a reduced children's price for him or sometimes they don't even charge you at all.  I certainly wouldn't depend on getting his meals for free but it might happen that way.  Even if they do charge him it will not be full price.
Regarding the Key....the only perk that you would be duplicating with the Key would be lunch on embarkation day.  If you get the UDP that would already be covered by the rest of the perks would be of benefit if you are interested in them.

Yup, this is part of the complication in working out how easily you can break even at a given price. @Grenadyr created a very handy utility for helping to figure that out, here's the link to the topic:
 

I never look at the "percentage off". Just look at the price per day.  The rest is simply marketing.

My father-in-law is like that. A cup of joe, is a cup of joe. He even uses k-cups a second time! ?

Yeah, this. The room service coffee is the same as the MDR coffee; serviceable in a pinch while it's hot, not much else.

I have never been aware of this!!!!!  Complete game changer, for me, as I wake up and need my coffee injected into my veins IMMEDIATELY, followed by some sort of breakfast. Waiting on my wife and kids to get up to go get coffee/breakfast has always been like dying a slow death, for me.....and this will solve that. GAME. CHANGER. Thank you!  Im not dramatic about it, at all..... 

A little back story about room service. The assistant waiters with the lowest seniority get the duty of delivering the room service goodies. You'll see a different person everyday. I'm sure it's a bunch of running around the ship to places they were just at seemingly just minutes ago.
The delivery of your order is awkward. The full trays are a tight squeeze inside your cabin doorframe. It's an uneasy transition from when you answer the door and the waiter tries to enter fighting off the 10,000 lbs of force door closer with your tray of food. And, there isn't always a clear landing place for the tray once he/she gets inside. Above all else you are probably in your PJs trying to quickly cover yourself up with that inadequate free Royal robe. Yeah, it's a real awkward place and time. And yeah, that assistant waiter has drawn the short straw.
Now that you now this, that person who delivers your order? Deserves a couple bucks!!! Two or three dollar bills and a polite thank you go along way. My experience is they are surprised to receive it so it must not happen often. But now you reading this know better;  you are an advanced cruiser. Be that guy, do the right thing! When you place the order, whether its on the stateroom television or using a door hanger; lay a couple spare dollars out so they are ready to go. "Oh yeah, I gotta tip this dude" rummaging around to find a couple crumpled dollar bills after the tray of food has landed only adds to the strangeness.
 
Now, turn those bright lights back off because you look ridiculous with squinty eyes and messy hair. And for God sakes tighten that robe back up because Sponge Bob Squarepants is peeking out.

that is "preeeeecious"

I just upload my pic with a smile on my face.
 

I don't bother with it anymore.  The last 2 times they have re-taken our photos anyway...so I don't even bother now.  It takes maybe 5 more seconds each to check in.

No, it's not mandatory.  I do it, and have never had any trouble with it, but many people report that they just end up having to retake their photo at the port (which takes no time at all).  I just use my cell phone and stand in front of a light, neutral background. But it's no big deal if you don't want to go through the hassle. 

Attached the wrong St Thomas 2008 from balcony on MOS

St Thomas from MOS 2008
Americas Cup sailing 2013

St Thomas crop.bmp

I think this is my best picture ever.  Taken on our June 2017 Alaska cruise on the Radiance of the Seas at Icy Straight Point.  The whales are bubble net feeding...You can even see the ones that got away in the center.

Here are my favorites from this past week on Mariner.  Yes,  one is just a chicken.  I was the one wandering the island desperately searching for wildlife.  I did manage to catch sight of the chickens (admit it, she's looking pretty sassy), I found an iguana, and I saw several pelicans roosting (yep, I'm THAT nerd).

Assuming your 4/11 cruise is for THIS year ?  If so, it is already past final payment date and you would not be able to use your casino certificate for that cruise.  Technically, you can only use the certificate on a new booking BUT I have had mixed results applying a casino certificate to an already-booked cruise.  The only thing that is absolutely forbidden is to apply a casino certificate to a booking that already has a casino discount applied (double dipping).  If you had a cruise booked for which the final payment date had not yet passed, AND you did not already have a casino discount on that one, you MIGHT stand a chance of using the certificate on that cruise but after final payment date.  Nope.  
The certificates are designed to encourage new bookings so it makes sense that they would require you to book a new cruise to use it....and it is always a "gamble" (see what I did there ???) to try and use it on an already-booked cruise...but I HAVE done it before.

Thanks for the update. Glad things are working out for you.  Best of luck for a full recovery.

Just wanted to post an update in case it helps someone else out in the future.  I did have to contact RCCL and cancel our cruise.  RCCL will refund our Taxes, fees and port expenses as well as any add-ons that we purchased for the cruise.  (Excursions, drink packages, etc.)  I then contacted the Royal Rewards Department to see if I could save the credit card points.  They said that in a case like mine, they would hold the points and I would have 6 months from the date of cancellation to move the points to a new booking.  I then contacted the insurance company that RCCL uses for their Vacation Protection Plan.  I went to their website travelclaim.com and printed off the Attending Physician Statement which we will have completed by my husbands doctor at his upcoming appointment.  I then need to start a claim on their website and send in the completed Physician statement.  They said it would take 4 weeks to process the claim after they received the Physician Statement.  I then needed to contact Delta concerning our non-refundable plane tickets.  I explained everything to them and they said that if I provided them with either the doctor's information or the hospital's information (name, address and phone) that they would hold the value of the tickets and that I would have 1 year from the date that I purchased the tickets, to use that value to book other airfare.  
Thank you for the well wishes and @Ladyxsuebee, we will be thinking of you during your cruise.  We hope you have a great time.   

Not sure if any of you have been on Norwegian Escape. The casino on that ship is built into the atrium of the ship. When I was on it back in 2017, as soon as I boarded the ship you could smell the scent of stale smoke. I'm not sure if it's still that way today but Royal usually having their casinos tucked away kind of solves the problem for most of the ship. In essence for the non-smokers, it can be much worse. On the Norwegian Bliss they built a completely walled off smoking section (looking at you Royal). There was still a faint smell outside the room from the doors opening but I would say it corrected the smell by 90% from the old setup on the Escape. I truly feel bad for the employees that have to work in that room. The smoke was so potent you could hardly stop your eyes from tearing up, (not an exaggeration). They need to find a company with state of the art equipment to filter the air. For how much the casinos pull in, I think it's the least they can do.
Simple calculation, conduct surveys of how many of their customers smoke while gambling. If the casino is 10,000 square/feet and 30% of customers smoke while gaming, have a 3,000 sq./ft. gaming space dedicated for them.

I wonder if another happy medium could be met that maybe like how they used to do in diners, with a smoking "section" of the casino.  Walled off, behind a door, maybe with glass walls to make it prettier and sparklier.  Superior air handling in the smoking zone.  Towards the back so the smoke that would escape through the door wouldnt absolutely choke the non smokers and wouldnt escape the casino in general.  Happy for both maybe?  

@monctonguy, not to belabor the point here, but...
@bretts173 has now indicated twice that the person smoking was not blowing the smoke in any general direction. He was intentionally blowing it into her face from the start, and continued to do so after she politely asked him to stop.
If you're going to call her action childish, then the same must be applied at that point to the smoker. I'm not making any kind of "well he started it!" argument here, just saying that as I read the account, he was being an inconsiderate jerk from the get-go, she and on-board security both tried to handle things politely and tactfully, and when he refused to play along with "let's be civilized about this" then he quite frankly got some instant karma handed to him.

I
If you read correctly I said the guy was blowing the smoke directly into my face.  And I did not throw the drink at him, just gently poured it on him.  I also said it was fine that he was smoking by the way because that is legal.
i find it interesting that smokers suggest that a little harmless liquid can lead to charges of assault when carcinogenic smoke was blown straight into someones face.
 

Very interesting topic... I'm an ex-smoker (about 8 years now), however people smoking around me has never been an issue.

On our last Voyager cruise out of Singapore, I visited the casino quite a few times. My partner ( another ex-smoker, but she now hates smoke) did not visit anywhere as much as I did.

The smoke didn't put me off, however, by about day four, I had developed a cough. Didn't think much of it until my partner suggested it may be due to all the smoke in the casino.

Didn't visit the casino for the next two days and the cough disappeared.

Our next cruise is Radiance out of Sydney, so there is no smoking in the casino, and I'm actually very happy about that idea. All land based casinos in Australia have been non smoking for many years, and none of them have gone out of business.