SteveinSC

Thank you. I found it...shows "Pending". Fingers crossed! 
 
EDIT: While it shows PENDING, we bid to upgrade to a balcony, and they show sold out, so im not getting my hopes up.  I suspect they havent gotten around to declining the bid. ?

Thank you. I found it...shows "Pending". Fingers crossed! 
 
EDIT: While it shows PENDING, we bid to upgrade to a balcony, and they show sold out, so im not getting my hopes up.  I suspect they havent gotten around to declining the bid. ?

Ok, first, if you're reading a forum where people are shaming other people, leave that forum.  That's unnecessary.  We don't do that here. There's no reason for you to feel badly about a cruise like that. 
$50 is plenty because it truly is on top of what is expected.  If you WANT to leave more, that's fine - if you want to leave less, there's nothing wrong with that either.  I've left less, I've left more, depending on my particular room steward.  

Don't let it bother you.  Everyone tips their own way.  Tipping is included so anything you give is above and beyond.
Imagine how I feel/felt when I tipped my Genie $200 for a 9 night cruise with my family of 4 and then come back to see people saying they tip $50-$100/night/person to their Genie......I'm not going to tip $1800-$3600

Our good friend’s parents and aunt (if you can follow that, lol) go every year. Our friends have been on it a few times - but not this year - and their daughter (now 11) has always managed to befriend the players’ younger kids. Apparently she’s ended up in a couple of different family photos, lol. 
And not to leave you hanging... I-O! ?

As a Buckeye living in Columbus, we have always wanted to do this cruise. The reason we don't, is that it has always been a 4 or 5 night cruise and considerably more expensive. Not to mention it sells out in no time flat, particularly the suites. There are a ton of Buckeyes fans with a lot of disposable income!

I can get you into the system, for a few extra cruise points ?
 

@Shelley finlay Yeah so if the taxi and hotel exceeded the $200 threshold then you would be on the hook for your food. I think this is why we haven't seen more people complaining. They knew it was a certain amount and chose to submit their receipts accordingly.

First, you should realize this website has no relation to Royal Caribbean.  Second, do you have anything in writing saying they would reimburse food?  There's plenty of threads on here from people on the current sailing and I don't recall any of them mentioning this.

Other shots from around the ship.
I think that's all, folks. If you have any questions about the ship, I'm happy to help. 
 

Our towel animals from this week. MIL's birthday cake, Jack the rabbit, Bruno the bear, Tusks the elephant, Fred the ?, and Kong the primate of some sort.

Sadly we've reached our last full sea day, but fortunately it is beautiful! The seas calmed overnight again. And we were ready to take on the day. DS requested breakfast in the Windjammer. It was breakfast in the Windjammer  - not bad, not great, but a good breakfast buffet. We managed to go when it wasn't too crowded. After we ate, the kids hit AO and we all went to the casino where we all made donations to Royal Caribbean. ? We had the Suite Cocktail party at 11:15am, so we used that as an excuse to stop opening our wallets. On Liberty the event was held on the first sea day, which I think I prefer. The officers would see you around the ship the rest of the week and talk to you. There's no real chance for that in this case. The good was on display and self serve as opposed to passed on Liberty. I liked this because I could go back for seconds of my favorites. ? DS wanted a snack when I picked up the kids, so we quietly walked through the Solarium to visit Park Cafe and grab him a slice of pizza. Now DH and MIL are napping and DD is getting her daily dose of RCTV. Ds and I are at the pool, soaking up the last bit of warm sunshine before it's back to 40 degree weather. It looks like a lot of people had the same idea this afternoon - it's pretty packed.

Dinner last night is a bit of a long story. I had been in contact with Jorge, the suite concierge, before the cruise about setting up a couple of surprises for Mimi's birthday. We ordered her some chocolate covered strawberries, and because we were planning on eating in the MDR the whole cruise, he was going to have the wait staff sing her happy birthday on night 1 which was her actual birthday. When we stopped in the suite lounge on night one, Jorge waited until MIL went to look at the food and came over to me to say he had confirmed her surprise song in the MDR. He looked so excited - like my son when we talk about Christmas! Well...it didn't happen. Somewhere there was a breakdown in communication. It really wasn't a big deal as she wasn't expecting it, and she was having a wonderful time. I mentioned it to him brfore we left the ship on day 3, and I emphasized that we were fine that it didn't happen, we just wanted him to be aware that somewhere the wires got crossed. He was so upset and said it was unacceptable (my DH'S favorite saying at the office when someone doesn't meet their commitments) and that he would fix the issue. Again, not a big deal. He called last night saying how embarrassed he was and offered us all complimentary dinner at Chops. We're in! He stopped by during the meal with a bottle of champagne, and then our head waiter stopped by with one of the gifts and gear cakes and had the waiters at Chops sing to my MIL. We thought all of this was above and beyond, and we went to bed with very happy tummies. ?

Yesterday was our stop in Cozumel. We were going to Paradise Beach, so we took our time getting ready and ate breakfast in the MDR. We got off the ship around 9:30am and caught a taxi for 5 to the beach. It's $17 for a cab for 4, $21 for 5 people. We went all inclusive again, but it wasn't worth it this time. The kids didn't eat near as much as last time, and somehow the grown ups didn't drink as much either. We spent most of our time at the pool and everyone had a great time. Around 2:00pm we made our way back to the ship, and got ready for the evening.
We had an appointment with Next Cruise at 4:30 pm but no other plans. Mimi's going on another cruise with us! We booked the 7 day on Jewel from Galveston to Key West, Nassau, and Cocoa Cay. For DH and my date-cation we went with something that worked better with DH work schedule. We're taking a 4 day on Enchantment from Galveston to Cozumel. We'll drive down on Sunday, embark on Memorial Day, disembark that Friday which he also has off work. He only has to take 3 days off, so it was a winner for us.
After that we went to the suite lounge where it was starting to get a little rocky again as soon as we pulled away from the dock. We went to the Windjammer and we were all stumbling around too much. DH helped MIL get her plate while the kids and I found a table. By the time they got back with her food, DS was feeling queasy. I took him back to the room. The rest of the family decided they didn't want to eat anything, so they were just a few minutes behind us. DD and I ordered grilled cheese sandwiches from room service, and everyone went to bed early again. 
The first picture is the full moon peeking out from behind the clouds as the sun is rising on the other side of the ship.

Just wondering if the people who are quarantined on a cruise ship will receive cruise points from their respective cruise lines for being quarantined?

Honestly, this is probably what it comes down to.  I, admittedly, do a lot more things that raise my risk of illness/injury/death than I probably should....but its been a hell of a good time!  Hope you, also, have a great cruise. 

Its growth rate on a cruise ship (which has grown by 1% since I wrote that) cannot be compared to the growth rate outside in the real world.   Its night and day difference. Norovirus, Influenza and every other virus spreads faster in a confined space. My bigger message in pointing all of this out is bigger than JUST coronavirus....its living in fear as a result of hype and hysteria. I refuse to buy into it before looking at cold, hard numbers first, because numbers never lie. Im inside 90 days on a cruise, and im more concerned with breaking my ankle tripping over my 4 year olds toys because statistics show im more likely to do that than contract Coronavirus. Welcome to the boards, btw!   

I’d still go.  Washy Washy!!!! ? ? ?  
  

It's Official, booked the missing link to my B2B2B today.  Sailing three weeks on the Oasis starting 3/8/20.  I am sure that many on this blog have experienced this amazing opportunity but I feel pretty luck to do it at 50.  Now let's pray for a great cabin as I did Interior Guar!  I am on deck 12 mid in a CPB for 3/8 and deck 8 aft OVB for 3/22.

Texas does have some funky tax rules, so the choice of drinks while still in port is limited to those for which the Texas alcohol taxes have been prepaid.  So while the options are limited while in port in Galveston, the opportunity to enjoy a drink is still immediate.  Once you get into international waters, the options for drinks are greatly expanded.

Understatement of the century. We're looking at about 45,000 cases worldwide...That is .00058% of the world population. Now, the vast majority of those are in China, and an even more vast majority of those are in East and Southeast Asia - maybe like 98%, I believe. So only 2% of the .00058% of the world's people (a) have Coronavirus and (b) are outside of E/SE Asia. These are rough numbers, and it's always changing, but just goes to show how ridiculously small of an issue this currently is outside of that region. Now, picture even just one of those people being the random few thousand people on that ship at the same time as you. 
The mathematician and engineer in me cannot even remotely calculate how small the odds of that are. 

There is absolutely, positively no reason to be remotely concerned about coronavirus on a Caribbean cruise.
To date, this is a problem in Asia/China.  Not one here.
Worry about bigger issues, like what happens when @Big Dawg Ron is on your cruise.

Here's what is advertised on my sailing, and what I purchased yesterday. I was charged $19 and $61 pp/pd plus 18% grats.

 

They will take 25%off total  I believe