CrimsonCruiser

I have a little baby list so far but I'm hoping to at least have sailed on one in each current class. Oasis Class: Allure (Hoping to get on flagship Oasis one day) Quantum Class: Odyssey Freedom Class: Freedom & Liberty (really want to finish the class and get on Independence) Voyager Class: -- (I think I'd like Navigator or Mariner best) Radiance Class: -- (Would love to do an Alaska in this class. Seems built for it) Vision Class: Enchantment (Wasn't the best class for us so probably won't be doing any other here)

Unfortunately with all the insanity going on on debarkation/turn around day, it's pretty hard to get someone to make a special trip to the room. I mentioned this in another lost items thread as a possibility of what may happen to forgotten things: You leave your room at 8AM, the forgotten item missed in the hurry to be out on time for breakfast, shuttle, flight whatever. Within probably an hour, an attendant is in your room, frantically cleaning - vacuum, mop, tub, sink, windows, sheets, beds together or apart, hangers stocked, fridge emptied, trash etc etc - to get their block of rooms turned over by 1 PM. If they find a forgotten item, they probably have a bucket or bag on their cart to drop those items in. They finish all of their rooms. Meanwhile, you're calling their number but they're not there and as it's all hands on deck to get the ship emptied, cleaned and ready for new guests, no one has the freedom to run around to look. So you make your case and leave. The attendant finishes their block of rooms and takes this now mixed bag of forgotten items - most likely untagged from the room they came from - to Hotel operations on board. Hotel Op gathers them all, maybe makes a brief list of the items turned in and hands the several bags off to operations on land with this possible list. Operations on land is busy dealing with new passenger luggage, crew mail etc etc that the lost and found items aren't touched until the ship departs and things are calmer. At this point they have 192 pieces of jewelry, 221 sunglasses, 59 pieces of clothing, 87 packs of medication, 85 books, 102 electronics, 219 toys and gods know what else. They sort them into loose piles based on those categories, tag it with ship and date. A week later, maybe, that case - and 500 others - hit their desk. Maybe, just maybe, they take the time sort through each individual item to see if it matches a (poorly?) described sentence on a case. Maybe they find it...but in that time...it will be months with more and more ships coming in and more and more people forgetting things. And all of this doesn't even consider abandoned or lost luggage that they have to deal with. I've said all this to say I know you're upset and I'm not trying to say what you're feeling isn't valid. But I hope you know it's not that Royal doesn't care...more likely that they just don't have the manpower to give each case dedicated attention. Hopefully, in some months, you'll get your necklaces back. I'd advise keeping up with your case, calling once a week or so just to make sure they know you're serious about wanting the things back. Squeaky wheel and all that. It may not expedite the process but it could keep your case from getting shelved (as I'm sure there are many people who give up after a few days or a week and inevitably it gets pushed down the list)

Glad to finally have a time frame though. Probably won't book anything right up front but it will be nice to see what the options are for fall 2024 that's not Icon (I'm too poor for Icon lol)

I do believe I recall seeing them available on Allure this past August. Vitamin Water was my go to for a port excursion day

Yay! I'm so glad they've worked so well for the family!!

At any bar you can get a can of soda with DBP (from what I hear) or a glass of Coke, Diet Coke or Sprite without having to have your cup. The biggest benefit of the cups, in my opinion, is access to the freestyle machines because of the vast options (additional flavors of soda, flavored water, juices etc etc.) but you are not going to be without soda if you choose not to take the cup with you. It's just limited.

If you're pretty sure you're not going to use them you can do like others and toss them in your luggage to be used as tumblers at home. I would also recommend something like these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0781K452Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 which are great for putting the cups in on the ship. I tend to dangle mine from my wrist most times, but I've also succeeded in attaching it to the strap of a backpack or purse for fully hands free hydration.

This is good to know because I'm also an extra firm pillow user and while I've made do with Royal's it's still... making do

The "all good" brand I referenced in my above post is spray on. You do still want to rub a little bit faaaaaar less than a cream.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!

I purchased a reef safe sunscreen for the first time and opted for All Good because not only does it not have the primary 3 ingredients that make a sunscreen non-reef safe (Oxybenzone, Octinoxate and Octocrylene) but also doesn't have any of the other 15 ingredients that appear on reef-toxic lists: Homosalate 4-methylbenzylidene camphor PABA Parabens Triclosan Any nanoparticles or “nano-sized” zinc or titanium (if it doesn’t explicitly say “micro-sized” or “non-nano” and it can rub in, it’s probably nano-sized) Any form of microplastic, such as “exfoliating beads” It was also the only one I found that didn't have all of these ingredients AND still came in a spray on form. My only "issue" is that as a dark-skin person, it did leave a little bit of a white cast so I looked a little ashier than I liked. But it worked well and, thanks to the white cast, I was able to see that it stayed on well even after spending almost an hour out in the ocean.

no worries. I actually wrote up a review of the resort we stayed at in Curacao: We hadn't explored Aruba before so we did a ride around tour there instead.

Before getting on Allure in August, I kept hoping it would get whisked away to get amped (mainly cuz I really want to try the ultimate Abyss) but now that I've done it, it was really fun with so much to do already, I'm actually good if it waits til 2025. In fact, it may give me a chance to hop on an Oasis class again for a lower than normal cost in 2024!

I'm somewhere in the middle. The annual cruise my mom and I take is literally our only vacation in the year so it is important to us that it both be relaxing and interesting, equally. So we plan the big things i.e. excursions. We plan one excursion per port and make sure to break up the level of activity so we don't end up doing 2 or 3 days of high-intensity exploring back to back. On the ship, we plan what shows we want to see and when since those fill up but we never really plan the smaller level events (we try mind you...but we never stick to it). Since we get a free dinner from our TA, we also plan that but that's pretty easy for us since neither of us eat lobster so we just skip lobster night. Other than that we really just go with the flow, doing what feels right at the time and enjoying the time away from work.

Thanks! It makes sense for there to be a time frame. Less likely to lose things if they aren't just chilling back there for too long. There are only so many carts for so many planes...

Does anyone know if it's possible to check you luggage at the airport then leave and come back? I've always thought that was a thing people can do but I wonder if there is a security reason why they may not allow this.

I'm in a similar boat - need August 2024 leaving FL or Galveston!

Apparently collapsible toys exist on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/collapsible-sand-toys/s?k=collapsible+sand+toys Maybe these would be better for you since they would take up less space?

I remember having to do something similar on our Bahamas cruise that stopped in Key West on the way back up from the Bahamas. Fortunately we never had to get off the ship, just take us, our passports and our seapasses down to the theater. It was early but it was fast and I don't think they did more than a cursory glance at my US passport. (this was years ago though so things may have changed. We were also on Enchantment which is a MUCH smaller ship)

I think I agree with SpeedNoodles. The fact that you're saving money by not having to fly, a lower fare and will have the slides on the ship to entertain the kiddos sounds like a win. Allure's amplification is on hold indefinitely so I think you could plan to do Allure out of TX in a year or so and still get to experience an Oasis class for a nice budget. I will also, for the sake of comparison, list the non-water slide features you may not get on Navigator: So much food. Included food on Allure that won't be on Navi includes the dog house, the donuts (in the morning), Johnny Rockets breakfast, park cafe, solarium bistro and I think the vitality cafe. Not huge things as you can get hot dogs, donuts and breakfast at Windjammer and cafe bites and coffee from cafe promenade. Broadway shows. I think only Oasis class ships have full broadway shows in the main theaters. Now! you will still get amazing shows and Royal usually works on having at least one production show of their own on every ship but you won't get to say I saw broadway at se. The aquatheater - it's really one of a kind and probably the only thing no other class has anything like. All that said however I still stand by my initial assessment and that is what i would do if in your shoes

I think it's a server preference thing. On our cruise in 2021 I expected to have to use the app so I was pulling my phone out but presented with paper menus every time. This time on Allure, our head waiter told us to use the app but then the assistant brought us paper menus unprompted. So I think they're given free reign to suggest as they see fit.

you mean off to the side disconnected from the main ship? That's the bridge/ front of ship area. It'll go here:

If I can chime in, I'd save a suite for an older ship (and by older I mean literally anything other than Wonder and Icon) because the prices will be nicer on your wallet, and do some connecting or side by side ocean view balcony rooms on Icon. Just the opinion of a broke single person lol

Enjoy! We were never up and moving enough to take advantage and I regret it. lol. Gonna try to get on another Oasis class in 2024 so we can partake