berkeleykel

I booked a casita two days on Wonder last summer. One was a port day and it was probably a waste as there were plenty of loungers available. On the sea day we would not have had lounger if not for the casita. 
I booked ahead on the cruise planner, but to pick the location I had to go to one of the bars near the pool deck from 9 am on the day to reserve the specific casita. I then had to go back to the bar to check in later in the day when we came back to actually use it.  Some had already been booked by 9 am and had their names written on the casitas. I assumes those were star class as I wasn’t given the option for choosing ahead and our name was never written on ours.  
We did have someone’s stuff on our casita when we got there on the pool day but the attendant moved it. 
It didn’t offer the best protection from the sun but I’d consider booking one again for a sea day especially as we don’t tend to hit the pool deck early so have less chance of finding loungers. 

I'm from a weed legal state, so everywhere I go, there's an excellent chance of catching some weed aroma.  Even driving down the freeway or stopped at an intersection we smell it.  But I have never smelled it on a ship.  This surprises me. 
Just like the folks that say nobody's gonna tell them what to wear in the dining room, nobody's gonna tell them they can't smoke their weed.
It really doesn't matter to me, but it seems to me they're taking a real chance.  Seems not long ago, there was a young lady basketball player incarcerated in Russia, when nobody was gonna tell her what to do either.🤔 

Day 2
On Day 2 we docked at Palma and took an RC excursion to Palmanova beach. The excursion time was listed as 9:20 am to 1:20 pm. Our tickets said to meet at the Royal Theater at 8:50.  When we arrived we were able to get 2 free cans of water per deluxe beverage package which was good because we forgot to get any water ahead of time to bring with us. We left around 9:00 and walked a short distance through the port building to a double decker bus, which they packed completely full. The bus ride time was listed as 30 mins in the cruise planner but it seemed like much less.  We were dropped off right in front of the Hotel Tropicana and told to meet back there at 1 pm.  
 
The drop off point was right across the street from the beach. This is where we set up camp.  It cost €13.50 (cash only) for 2 loungers and an umbrella for an unlimited time, and they were readily available. However, this part of the beach did not have a life guard. We realised later that if you walked about 5 minutes along the boardwalk, you would get to a part of the beach with a life guard, public toilets (€ 0.50, change only) and public showers. There were several places along the beach to get snacks and drinks if you wanted. We got ice cream for the kids at a cost of €2 per cone at a little gelato stand. 
 
Almost everyone was timely in reboarding the bus and it took off at 1:05 pm.  Okay, everyone was timely but us. We were the last ones to board. Sorry!
 
Once back at the shop we went to the Windjammer for a late lunch, which was heaving.  We realised that buffets, despite our love for them, don’t work so well for families with multiple young children.  Since and adult has to stay behind, it takes four trips to get us all plates. We may look for easier options going forward. 
 
We grabbed some drinks from Boleros and at that point the family went comatose while I caught up on work. We again went to the MDR and again found the food and service good. We are MDR people. 
 
We had booked Voices for after dinner and planned to drop Monster at nursery and big M at Kids Club.  Unfortunately Monster became distraught when we tried to leave him.  I was a little annoyed that the staff member did almost nothing to try to comfort or distract him. She just sat him down and stared at him while he cried and said softly “it’s okay, it’s okay.”  He always cries for babysitters but they’ve always been able to calm him down enough for us to leave and then he’s perfectly happy about 15 mins later. As it was, we were forced to abandon the nursery.  We walked him around in his stroller to try to put him to sleep, but by the time he finally fell asleep (close to 10) we decided it was too late to bother leaving him. We tried to catch a game show at Spotlight Karaoke but the venue was small and we couldn’t hear at all from the back so we left. 
I had a few more hours of work to do late into the night and then it was time to rise and shine to grab our casita for our self-improvised sea day! 
If I had written this post 2 days ago I’m sure I’d have had something to add about the milk situation late at night again, but at this point I haven’t the slightest recollection of how we sorted milk that night. 

Am I the only one who thinks that does NOT look appetizing???

Was it during school holidays? If you want warm weather but minimum kids, September is a good option (at least in the Med/Adriatic where it will still be hot).

Watch out! After stating affirmatively two days ago I was NOT going to book this ship for the foreseeable future, I kept peeking at prices and room options just for fun...now booked for Aug 2024 in adjoining Surfside Family Suites.  The 99 GBP pp deposit for UK bookings was too tempting.
I'm really not thrilled with the lack of an ocean view, but for families who want Sky level suites and some separation between kids and parents without paying $20k+, this seems to be one of the best options (assuming the balconies can open so we can treat them like connecting rooms, which I think is a pretty safe assumption).  Adjoining Sky junior suites would have had the benefit of being located in the suite neighbourhood, but there are so few of those and they were already sold out for the dates I could do.  I think the kids at least will probably like the surfside view.

https://www.zillow.com/house/royal-caribbean/
What a bargain at $10B!  🤣

Watch out! After stating affirmatively two days ago I was NOT going to book this ship for the foreseeable future, I kept peeking at prices and room options just for fun...now booked for Aug 2024 in adjoining Surfside Family Suites.  The 99 GBP pp deposit for UK bookings was too tempting.
I'm really not thrilled with the lack of an ocean view, but for families who want Sky level suites and some separation between kids and parents without paying $20k+, this seems to be one of the best options (assuming the balconies can open so we can treat them like connecting rooms, which I think is a pretty safe assumption).  Adjoining Sky junior suites would have had the benefit of being located in the suite neighbourhood, but there are so few of those and they were already sold out for the dates I could do.  I think the kids at least will probably like the surfside view.

I will book when it (pretty please) comes to the Med. Not flying 8+ hours with kids for a cruise. Unless I can get a steal of a price on the Ultimate Family Townhouse at some point, which might be worth flying to Miami for.
 
I think I have a better chance of Icon spending a summer in the Med. 

I noticed the reservation system doesn't ask for ages of kids anymore

They are back.  They must have have upgraded the website power source from the old gerbil to a hamster.

$70,000 on the US site.  $99,000 sticker price before discounts applied.

Priced out the Ultimate Family Townhouse for August...£56,000 for 2 adults, 2 kids 😬

I’m old and have the body to match.  Hubby & I have been married for 42 years and I don’t think he’s gonna leave me for a younger woman.  But I gotta say, I hate women at the pool basically naked.  Why? You don’t want tan lines?  How the hell do you dress in your everyday life that someone would see tan lines?!?!!  Ditto for men, leave the Speedo home.  Your junk is not that attractive!
Signed - a crabby old lady!’

I only drink when I'm alone or with someone

Does the cruise contract actually state that the final payment deadline turns off the “48 hours from reserving” language? 
Not to mention that even if Royal had the better contractual argument (not clear at all to me that they do) it still would be incredibly misleading to put a 48 hour best price guarantee at check out for a booking to which it would not apply, when clearly it is being used to induce booking. 
 
@Ptrg did Royal claim you were outside the 48 hours or that the policy just didn’t apply to your booking?

You might find it helpful to compare recent cruise compasses for the two ships: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass

This was my view on Anthem 6702, Aft Stbd. So definately not looking at the Ocean.

I wore my early pins as tie clips or lapel decorations.  A D+ pin remains on my backpack.  If someone behind me anywhere on the planet sees it they likely don't know the cruise connection while anyone who is D+ or above would likely understand what it is.
Once I earned the Pinnacle badge I wasn't wearing it very often.  More than one loyalty ambassador encouraged me to wear it more.  One even stated they wanted more people to see there are nice Pinnacle too.  
When I don't wear it no one knows that I am Pinnacle.  Standing in line like everyone else I blend into the crowd.  No one comments on Pinnacle who know and follow the rules because the majority of Pinnacle who do follow the rules blend in.  No one knows we are amongst them.  That is the vast majority of Pinnacle.  When I wear the Pinnacle badge and stand in the same line only then does anyone know I am Pinnacle.  What has changed?  I am still standing in line to enter the theater like everyone else.  Then the crew start to open the doors and ask if there are any suite guests or Pinnacle and we are allowed in first.  Now people get out of sorts.  Now we are labelled as rude or line jumping.  Royal owns the ship.  Their ship, their rules.  
If someone is wearing the Pinnacle badge they are now identified.  Like driving a company car with a large logo you stand out from all the other cars.   At this point people wait and watch for any perceived transgression even if it isn't.  They didn't use their blinker long enough!!!
What is it that drives some people bonkers over the Pinnacle badge?  Royal took a lot of effort to create them and distribute them.  Royal decided to make it a name badge.  Is it jealousy?  Is it fear of missing out?  It's just a piece of jewelry.  Do these same people get upset when someone wears earrings or a necklace?    Look at that person wearing massive diamond earrings?!!!  To the theater no less!!! 
Do these same people sit in coach class on a plane and silently brood knowing that more loyal guests in the airline's loyalty club received a free upgrade to first class?  When boarding a plane and walking past first class do they silently guess who paid for a first class seat and who received a complimentary upgrade?  When boarding a Southwest flight do these same people hate on people who get to board before them because those passengers earn that by flying more?

I would not be willing to put holes in my clothes for a pin, but the lanyard idea sounds good.

I really didn't know so many people were disgusted with others wearing their C&A pins.  I just may have to find mine and wear it on my next cruise.🤩

I apparently took exactly 3 photos on Day 7, so here is a view the Mediterranean Sea in the morning and my husband and Monster sneaking in an afternoon nap. 

Day 7 - Sea Day
I may be three weeks late but I refuse to give up! However long it takes, this blog will be completed…
In our last full day of the cruise l spontaneously woke up around 7 am and spent a few hours on my own while the kids were still sleeping. I used this opportunity to check out the Solarium for the first time, which was pretty nice, and I took a few moments to relax and do some reading. However, towels were already laid out in most of the prime loungers with the forward view which was a bit baffling. Who are these people who wake up at 6am??? I also picked up a couple of extra tip envelopes from Guest Services and reserved our casita location for later in the day. 
Once back in the stateroom the kids were up and we headed to the Windjammer for breakfast around 10 am. We had been debating doing brunch in the MDR instead, but decided we’d rather have something quick so we could get to the pool deck before it was too crowded since it was the only sea day. 
Before heading to the pool we tried to catch the parade at 11:15 am on the promenade deck. We got there right at the start time, but by that point it was too crowded to see anything, especially for the kids (strangely it seemed like more adults were watching than kids), so we left for Splashaway Bay. 
When we got to the pool deck just before 11:30 am we didn’t see a single spare lounger, so we were glad to have the casita reserved even though we didn’t end up staying too long.  It was our third day spending time on the pool deck and the kids had a bit of a been-there-done-that attitude, so they were happy enough to leave after an hour or so. I should note that my 6 year old spent about half his time in the beach pool on our first day at the pool deck, but after that he only wanted to stick to Splashaway Bay because he didn’t like the salt water in the pool.  
We had lunch at El Loco Fresh which I thought was pretty good (at least compared to UK Mexican food), and it was convenient to be able to eat outside while still wet in our swimwear. 
We planned to spend the rest of the day doing our favourite things on cruises that we hadn’t had much time to get to yet: trivia, bingo and game shows.
First up was cartoon trivia where we got second place after a tiebreaker, driven 95% by my husband (I literally only knew one answer)! I then headed straight to bingo while my husband took the kids to play mini golf again and to finish up our arcade credits.  I paid $49 for six cards (three games each) plus one extra for having gold C&A level, which was an unexpected perk (the staff noticed this when I went to pay; I didn’t bring it up). The expected value of bingo was super low relative to jackpots in the $300-500 range, but I love bingo and the only time I ever get to play is on cruises so I was willing to eat the last investment. I also got a scratch card as part of the package and won $10, to be redeemed from the casino. I did not win at bingo sadly. 
What remained of the trip took a big turn at this point. I had woken up with a stomachache that got progressively worse throughout the day, until sitting through bingo, which went 20 minutes over schedule, became agony. Since bingo went over my husband had already started Trivia at 5 at Schooner’s, so I met him there. We did miserably bad again, as had been a trend for any of the general knowledge trivia sessions on this cruise. 
Afterwards we should have gone to dinner at 6 pm in the MDR, but I wasn’t up to it at all. I ended up in bed with bad chills. My husband took the kids to the windjammer for dinner but dropped off our tip envelopes with our MDR waiter staff first and explained our absence. We didn’t want them to think we were ditching them on the last night on purpose. I proceeded to sleep from 6 pm to roughly 3 am, when I got up in order to pack in a panic, despite feeling like death, with only the force of sheer adrenaline behind me (given we would be leaving the room within 5 hours at that point and hadn’t packed a thing). I took a a rapid antigen Covid test to be sure that wasn’t the root of my illness, but tested negative. I then crashed in bed again around 5 am for basically a nap before needing to get up in the morning to get everyone ready to leave the room by 8 am. 
That brings us to the end of Day 7. At some point in the near or distant future, I’ll update on Day 8 and overall thoughts on the trip. 

I apparently took exactly 3 photos on Day 7, so here is a view the Mediterranean Sea in the morning and my husband and Monster sneaking in an afternoon nap. 

Day 7 - Sea Day
I may be three weeks late but I refuse to give up! However long it takes, this blog will be completed…
In our last full day of the cruise l spontaneously woke up around 7 am and spent a few hours on my own while the kids were still sleeping. I used this opportunity to check out the Solarium for the first time, which was pretty nice, and I took a few moments to relax and do some reading. However, towels were already laid out in most of the prime loungers with the forward view which was a bit baffling. Who are these people who wake up at 6am??? I also picked up a couple of extra tip envelopes from Guest Services and reserved our casita location for later in the day. 
Once back in the stateroom the kids were up and we headed to the Windjammer for breakfast around 10 am. We had been debating doing brunch in the MDR instead, but decided we’d rather have something quick so we could get to the pool deck before it was too crowded since it was the only sea day. 
Before heading to the pool we tried to catch the parade at 11:15 am on the promenade deck. We got there right at the start time, but by that point it was too crowded to see anything, especially for the kids (strangely it seemed like more adults were watching than kids), so we left for Splashaway Bay. 
When we got to the pool deck just before 11:30 am we didn’t see a single spare lounger, so we were glad to have the casita reserved even though we didn’t end up staying too long.  It was our third day spending time on the pool deck and the kids had a bit of a been-there-done-that attitude, so they were happy enough to leave after an hour or so. I should note that my 6 year old spent about half his time in the beach pool on our first day at the pool deck, but after that he only wanted to stick to Splashaway Bay because he didn’t like the salt water in the pool.  
We had lunch at El Loco Fresh which I thought was pretty good (at least compared to UK Mexican food), and it was convenient to be able to eat outside while still wet in our swimwear. 
We planned to spend the rest of the day doing our favourite things on cruises that we hadn’t had much time to get to yet: trivia, bingo and game shows.
First up was cartoon trivia where we got second place after a tiebreaker, driven 95% by my husband (I literally only knew one answer)! I then headed straight to bingo while my husband took the kids to play mini golf again and to finish up our arcade credits.  I paid $49 for six cards (three games each) plus one extra for having gold C&A level, which was an unexpected perk (the staff noticed this when I went to pay; I didn’t bring it up). The expected value of bingo was super low relative to jackpots in the $300-500 range, but I love bingo and the only time I ever get to play is on cruises so I was willing to eat the last investment. I also got a scratch card as part of the package and won $10, to be redeemed from the casino. I did not win at bingo sadly. 
What remained of the trip took a big turn at this point. I had woken up with a stomachache that got progressively worse throughout the day, until sitting through bingo, which went 20 minutes over schedule, became agony. Since bingo went over my husband had already started Trivia at 5 at Schooner’s, so I met him there. We did miserably bad again, as had been a trend for any of the general knowledge trivia sessions on this cruise. 
Afterwards we should have gone to dinner at 6 pm in the MDR, but I wasn’t up to it at all. I ended up in bed with bad chills. My husband took the kids to the windjammer for dinner but dropped off our tip envelopes with our MDR waiter staff first and explained our absence. We didn’t want them to think we were ditching them on the last night on purpose. I proceeded to sleep from 6 pm to roughly 3 am, when I got up in order to pack in a panic, despite feeling like death, with only the force of sheer adrenaline behind me (given we would be leaving the room within 5 hours at that point and hadn’t packed a thing). I took a a rapid antigen Covid test to be sure that wasn’t the root of my illness, but tested negative. I then crashed in bed again around 5 am for basically a nap before needing to get up in the morning to get everyone ready to leave the room by 8 am. 
That brings us to the end of Day 7. At some point in the near or distant future, I’ll update on Day 8 and overall thoughts on the trip.