Doak

Simply not true!  Wife and I went on SOS Oct.30th and it was a breeze.  Much easier than Port Canaveral last week.  We arrived at the terminal parked and were onboard in like 25 mins.  Our arrival time was at 3 pm, but it was super easy and fast.  Hope your experience will echo ours.

We were just on the Symphony last week.  I thought I would put this out here for anyone on the fence about cruising right now.  First off some background, my wife and I are often asked, "do you cruise a lot?"  Well this depends on the person that is asking.  We are 57 yrs. old and on the Indy of the seas tomm..  This cruise will be our 45th and 32nd on Royal.  To some that is a lot... to others who are on cruise #169th, which we saw on Symphony that may not be a lot.
For us we had a blast last week in fact many times it was totally like it was pre pandemic.  Poolside no mask required.  The Schooner, the pub, Boleros and casino no mask also.
Flexibility has to be used also as the entertainment is less.  Gone, for now  are the street festival type parades in the promenade.  If I recall correctly Hairspray was only shown on nights 1 & 2.  They did not do the 70's on the promenade.  Halloween costume contest was in Studio B as they are not allowed to have big public gatherings on the promenade per cruise director Brian.  It was fun and a lot of people were dressed up.
The servers in the MDR did not sing on the final night either.  They also are not allowed to crack a lobster for guest.  They can't cut a child's steak.  
Coco Cay was awesome as usual!
That is about all I can think of right now but like I said for us it was a blast to be cruising again.  Oh yes 1 more thing we met a very nice couple in the MDR at lunch also from Florida.  Well we continued to see them and talked often.  On night 7 they were in the Next Cruise off the promenade.  A few hours later they came up to talk to us.  My wife asked hey which cruise they booked.  They booked the 274 night world cruise. We about fainted!  We spoke for several hours and thought thank goodness we ran into these 2 at lunch on day 2.  They also told us 2 other couples had also booked the world cruise and a 4th had it almost booked as they had not yet paid the $8,000.00 deposit.
Happy Cruising!!

This is the kind of stuff that needs to go bye bye on Jan 16, the first day the CSO becomes optional

Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad you had a good time!

We were just on the Symphony last week.  I thought I would put this out here for anyone on the fence about cruising right now.  First off some background, my wife and I are often asked, "do you cruise a lot?"  Well this depends on the person that is asking.  We are 57 yrs. old and on the Indy of the seas tomm..  This cruise will be our 45th and 32nd on Royal.  To some that is a lot... to others who are on cruise #169th, which we saw on Symphony that may not be a lot.
For us we had a blast last week in fact many times it was totally like it was pre pandemic.  Poolside no mask required.  The Schooner, the pub, Boleros and casino no mask also.
Flexibility has to be used also as the entertainment is less.  Gone, for now  are the street festival type parades in the promenade.  If I recall correctly Hairspray was only shown on nights 1 & 2.  They did not do the 70's on the promenade.  Halloween costume contest was in Studio B as they are not allowed to have big public gatherings on the promenade per cruise director Brian.  It was fun and a lot of people were dressed up.
The servers in the MDR did not sing on the final night either.  They also are not allowed to crack a lobster for guest.  They can't cut a child's steak.  
Coco Cay was awesome as usual!
That is about all I can think of right now but like I said for us it was a blast to be cruising again.  Oh yes 1 more thing we met a very nice couple in the MDR at lunch also from Florida.  Well we continued to see them and talked often.  On night 7 they were in the Next Cruise off the promenade.  A few hours later they came up to talk to us.  My wife asked hey which cruise they booked.  They booked the 274 night world cruise. We about fainted!  We spoke for several hours and thought thank goodness we ran into these 2 at lunch on day 2.  They also told us 2 other couples had also booked the world cruise and a 4th had it almost booked as they had not yet paid the $8,000.00 deposit.
Happy Cruising!!

We were just on the Symphony last week.  I thought I would put this out here for anyone on the fence about cruising right now.  First off some background, my wife and I are often asked, "do you cruise a lot?"  Well this depends on the person that is asking.  We are 57 yrs. old and on the Indy of the seas tomm..  This cruise will be our 45th and 32nd on Royal.  To some that is a lot... to others who are on cruise #169th, which we saw on Symphony that may not be a lot.
For us we had a blast last week in fact many times it was totally like it was pre pandemic.  Poolside no mask required.  The Schooner, the pub, Boleros and casino no mask also.
Flexibility has to be used also as the entertainment is less.  Gone, for now  are the street festival type parades in the promenade.  If I recall correctly Hairspray was only shown on nights 1 & 2.  They did not do the 70's on the promenade.  Halloween costume contest was in Studio B as they are not allowed to have big public gatherings on the promenade per cruise director Brian.  It was fun and a lot of people were dressed up.
The servers in the MDR did not sing on the final night either.  They also are not allowed to crack a lobster for guest.  They can't cut a child's steak.  
Coco Cay was awesome as usual!
That is about all I can think of right now but like I said for us it was a blast to be cruising again.  Oh yes 1 more thing we met a very nice couple in the MDR at lunch also from Florida.  Well we continued to see them and talked often.  On night 7 they were in the Next Cruise off the promenade.  A few hours later they came up to talk to us.  My wife asked hey which cruise they booked.  They booked the 274 night world cruise. We about fainted!  We spoke for several hours and thought thank goodness we ran into these 2 at lunch on day 2.  They also told us 2 other couples had also booked the world cruise and a 4th had it almost booked as they had not yet paid the $8,000.00 deposit.
Happy Cruising!!

We were just on the Symphony last week.  I thought I would put this out here for anyone on the fence about cruising right now.  First off some background, my wife and I are often asked, "do you cruise a lot?"  Well this depends on the person that is asking.  We are 57 yrs. old and on the Indy of the seas tomm..  This cruise will be our 45th and 32nd on Royal.  To some that is a lot... to others who are on cruise #169th, which we saw on Symphony that may not be a lot.
For us we had a blast last week in fact many times it was totally like it was pre pandemic.  Poolside no mask required.  The Schooner, the pub, Boleros and casino no mask also.
Flexibility has to be used also as the entertainment is less.  Gone, for now  are the street festival type parades in the promenade.  If I recall correctly Hairspray was only shown on nights 1 & 2.  They did not do the 70's on the promenade.  Halloween costume contest was in Studio B as they are not allowed to have big public gatherings on the promenade per cruise director Brian.  It was fun and a lot of people were dressed up.
The servers in the MDR did not sing on the final night either.  They also are not allowed to crack a lobster for guest.  They can't cut a child's steak.  
Coco Cay was awesome as usual!
That is about all I can think of right now but like I said for us it was a blast to be cruising again.  Oh yes 1 more thing we met a very nice couple in the MDR at lunch also from Florida.  Well we continued to see them and talked often.  On night 7 they were in the Next Cruise off the promenade.  A few hours later they came up to talk to us.  My wife asked hey which cruise they booked.  They booked the 274 night world cruise. We about fainted!  We spoke for several hours and thought thank goodness we ran into these 2 at lunch on day 2.  They also told us 2 other couples had also booked the world cruise and a 4th had it almost booked as they had not yet paid the $8,000.00 deposit.
Happy Cruising!!

Definitely a real thing. 

If you don'tgets satisfaction from a Royal Caribbean customer service agent call again and talk with another. Seems like everyone has a different answer or result.

Favorite pub guy Charlie Jourdan.
Favorite schooner guy Billy Pando.  Kelly Goodrich close 2nd.
Favorite band Muzak Express or Centerpiece. As a side note these two bands are from the Philippines. I saw the male singer from Centerpiece in the star lounge one night and spoke with him.
I asked him if they here the music they play on the ships while they were growing up as they play American pop hits from many decades.  He said no and they buy cd's and teach themselves to play the music and songs. Pretty incredible!
 

They really are weird with their policies.  We had the same experience that WAAAYTOO had. WE got them included aboard Oasis then jumped off and got on Allure same day.  We were charged for the milkshakes on Allure. I went to guest services but to no avail.
I am shocked that RCL is not more uniform ship to ship.

They really are weird with their policies.  We had the same experience that WAAAYTOO had. WE got them included aboard Oasis then jumped off and got on Allure same day.  We were charged for the milkshakes on Allure. I went to guest services but to no avail.
I am shocked that RCL is not more uniform ship to ship.

We really enjoyed Christmas and NYE on a cruise ship in the past. They are so much fun and the menus on both big nights are upgraded in the MDR.
This year we will be on Navigator out of LA for both so we are very exited to finally be able to sail on RC out of California again.

Twangster I always enjoy your post and photos even more.
With that said that photo of the Milky Way was on a whole different level my friend!
Thank You!

This was on the Anthem in 2019. There was also the Gingerbread Village in the Windjammer…and Christmas trees and decorations all over the ship. The ship’s officers and members of the show ‘We Will Rock You’ performed Christmas carols and Santa and his elves paraded the Royal Esplanade. Of course, these things were pre-Covid. So, I expect things will be somewhat different this year.

I agree, I would not take the chance. 

If you get tested at say Walgreens or CVS - they are not a lab and those work.  I would hope that a Doctor trumps a "trained" video person all day long. 

I think I read on RCL website that a physician note was not good enough.  The results  had to be from a lab.

Possibly... we end up at different bar as our "go to" each cruise it seems. 

I'm not usually a huge fan of the late-December holidays, but I'm very much looking forward to being on Anthem for Christmas and New Year's Eve. All these pictures have me feeling like a kid at...well...Christmas!

Do you want to bet your cruise on it?
 
I would not.

I think I read on RCL website that a physician note was not good enough.  The results  had to be from a lab.

Gettin' old  no WAAAY, see what I did there?  But you were on our last Brilliance sailing out of Tampa couple of years ago. I was looking for you guys but never came across you,lol.

Check out this Christmas video by Cruise Director Mitch on the Anthem…
 

We are on Oasis Dec. 19th. 🙂