steverk

I flew from Houston to ft Lauderdale on Friday. A tropical low came over Houston as we were scheduled to depart. United offered to fly us out the night before for no additional charge, but there weren't enough seats on the plane. So, we had bad weather, news full of flight delays, airline asking us to change our plans and a holiday weekend. Wasn't promising at all. The result: plane departed 20 minutes late. Landed 20 minutes late. Otherwise, it was an uneventful flight. So chalk on up for the good guys. It helps to take a direct flight first thing in the morning

My adult kids are about to reach diamond and are terrified royal will go back to the old system. I tell them not to worry. With the large number of new diamond members, royal would have to enlarge the diamond lounge fleet wide to be able to go back. Not gonna happen. It's just too expensive.

I've sailed her sister ship, Radiance Of The Seas. I think it's the prettiest of the fleet, but it doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of a larger ship. It does have an indoor pool, sport court, rock climbing, golf course, centrum and more. But only a little kids slides and no flowrider or royal promenade. I would not hesitate to sail her again, but it is a different cruise, which is more focused on the ports.

I understand your situation. I have been allowed to ride freight elevators to facilitate reaching a cruise line shore excursion, so I can confirm they exist and go to every deck. Even decks that are off limits to passengers. Alas, the cruise line will only allow access if you are escorted by a crew member, so it probably doesn't help much.

Liberty! Royal made the perfect sized ship with the Freedom class. And Liberty has the best slides

The first question you should ask is what do you want from. Your cruise? A round trip out of Seattle will have a bigger, newer and more interesting ship. A one way will give you more of alaska.

Mine covers medical evac, and that's why I buy it. In my way of thinking, CFAR is an unnecssary expense. Insurance is designed for low probabilty, high impact events that you can afford to lose. Medivac falls in the category. But if the cost of a missed cruise is going to break you financially, then why are you going in the first place?

I think the fleet is in great shape. Not perfect, but great. I just got off Radiance and thought she looked good. However, one elevator was out of commission. I sailed Liberty in March and found her looking good too. In comparison, there was a whale tail parked near us in cozumel. She had the new hull paint, so that looked good, but the superstructure was a light, streaky brown color. Not so great.

We've used surf for FaceTime many times and rarely have an issue. In fact, we're using it this week. That said, general surfing can be very slow. About a year ago we had the opportunity to compare surf with surf and stream side by side. There was no noticeable difference, but ships have more people now and surf is slower than it was.

I just passed through check in and customs for my northbound Alaska cruise on Radiance. While I needed and arrivecan to fly in, I did not need it to board the ship. This might be different for a southbound sailing.

I have an Allianz annual policy. The price was very good ($425 for everyone in my household), but I haven't had to use it. Therefore I can't really tell you the full story. I purchased it for the medical insurance, but it does have trip interruption coverage

Hurricane season lasts for about 1/2 of the year and seems to be getting longer. In other words, it's very hard to avoid cruising during the season

Depends on the 9 y.o. I wanted to do some of the kids features. They looked like a blast! There's always the beach and snorkeling. And he'll enjoy ordering junk food from snack shack. Thrill waterpark would also be fun, but it is expensive

It is a great place to live and I really like having a major cruise port nearby. The ports may get repetitive, but I'm still blessed!

I completely agree with the advice to avoid 3 day cruises, especially for first timers. But there are always going to be extenuating circumstances. If you daughter will only take a 3 day, then go with what you can. I had an extenuating circumstance once and took my dad on a 3 day cruise. He wanted to go, but was on dialysis and couldn't be away from it for more than 4 days. Dialysis at Sea is a thing, but prohibitively expensive. We took an end of season 3 night cruise out of Seattle and he loved it. Sadly, he passed away 6 months later, so we were never able to go again.

Royal does occasional trips back to Australia. These are repositioning cruises Alaska to/from Australia. I'm booked on Quantum in April 2023 that goes from Brisbane to Honolulu. Then B2B Honolulu to Vancouver. If you're really daring, you can B2B that with Vancouver to Seattle. Which leads me to the topic of this thread. Since I'm flying to Brisbane for this cruise, I guess there really isn't a limit to how far I'll go. Once I get on a plane, I'm there for the duration of the flight. That said, Galveston is 30 minutes from my house. I sail from there a lot. I'll also say that I'm envious of Floridians. A few hours by car and they have their choice of departure ports and destinations. Galveston has very limited ports of call.

I have flown in day of the cruise a few times. At best, it's exceedingly stressful. At worst, you miss the cruise. IMO it's not worth it. Fly in the day before.

As mentioned by @RWDW1204, special needs form is the magic bullet for everything health related. Refrigerators, cpap water, shower stools, sharps containers... everything

Can be used either way. I've even used it for gratuities.

I've been in a cabin with a no show 3 times. Each time I received the extra points. However, I had to call on 2 of the cruises

Maybe a pool table that you play from the inside?

I've got a celebrity cruise in about 45 days and have tried their move up site. I enter my name and booking number and click submit. It erases my name and booking number and leaves me on the same page without explanation. I figured I'd call if it is still doing this at 30 days out.

Be sure to read the blog post for day 1 Radiance of the Seas Live Blog | Royal Caribbean Blog. On that sailing they needed to have an ArriveCan form to get in to Canada and a second one to get on the ship. I haven't heard of this changing, but please let us know if it does. I'm sailing in early June and I want to make boarding as seamless as possible.

Royal is planning to position Radiance in Galveston starting in January. She is offering some different itineraries including a handful to Perfect Day. If lots of people sail on these itineraries, then maybe Royal will make more of them going forward.

For a 7 day cruise? That should be plenty.