S0nny

This^^^^^ I tend to like staying aft, I like the longer walk to the cabin, also the hallway is usually super quiet but un like others the connecting door has been quite noisy any time I had one, I stay away from "arrows" at all costs. Others say they are not a problem, maybe I am just "lucky" to have always been assigned Loudest Family Ever with Screaming Baby next door, so as long as there is no arrow should be good, but I also like the aft views, I know no view but nice and dark. Not sure about the vibrations but on 9 probably not much of an issue.
What Cabin # ?

@CJS2766 

To answer that question definitively, you might have better success copying and pasting the perks listed for The Key straight from your cruise planner. I wouldn't be surprised if RCCL is trying to find the right combination of perks to ensure The Key brings value to their guests. Maybe they are offering different perks for different sailings?

As you can see from the picture (and link), our last cruise was just like @IRMO12HD said; $7.95 delivery charge for anything not on the "continental breakfast" menu. If you order anything else off the menu, there is a $7.95 flat rate charge whether you order a single PB&J or everything. (so get that second order of fries when your significant other says they "just want one off your plate"). 

To your question about the ironing/pressing, that most likely would be a separate charge. Ironing/pressing is often included for Junior Suite and above, and I haven't yet seen that as a perk of The Key. 
24/7 Room Service | Cruise Ship Food | Royal Caribbean Cruises

@CJS2766 

To answer that question definitively, you might have better success copying and pasting the perks listed for The Key straight from your cruise planner. I wouldn't be surprised if RCCL is trying to find the right combination of perks to ensure The Key brings value to their guests. Maybe they are offering different perks for different sailings?

As you can see from the picture (and link), our last cruise was just like @IRMO12HD said; $7.95 delivery charge for anything not on the "continental breakfast" menu. If you order anything else off the menu, there is a $7.95 flat rate charge whether you order a single PB&J or everything. (so get that second order of fries when your significant other says they "just want one off your plate"). 

To your question about the ironing/pressing, that most likely would be a separate charge. Ironing/pressing is often included for Junior Suite and above, and I haven't yet seen that as a perk of The Key. 
24/7 Room Service | Cruise Ship Food | Royal Caribbean Cruises

@GKMCruising ... did you post the room number...? Either way... sign me up for any room without an arrow! 

@twangster has taken some amazing stargazing photos on his various cruises.   How much of it was visible without the aid of photography I'm unsure, but they are impressive.

I prefer having decorations! It makes it easier when stumbling back to the room 🤣

We do escape rooms all the time, and the ones on RC are some of the BEST in the industry for a comparative price. HIGHLY recommend! 

Yes! @ChristieSuper excited for yall!

Just for anyone lurking the thread with the same question, RCI provides everything to rent EXCEPT the mask and snorkel  included with the price of the class. You can buy a mask and snorkel onboard, but I would strongly encourage anyone planning on doing this to hit up a dive shop on land. Price and variation are SUPER important when finding a mask that works for your face and budget. On the ship, they only had 2 different sets to really choose from. Keeping a seal on a mask can be challenging for beginners, and without tons of options, you may have a difficult time sealing/clearing the mask. 

Me too 🤣 

Yes! @ChristieSuper excited for yall!

Just for anyone lurking the thread with the same question, RCI provides everything to rent EXCEPT the mask and snorkel  included with the price of the class. You can buy a mask and snorkel onboard, but I would strongly encourage anyone planning on doing this to hit up a dive shop on land. Price and variation are SUPER important when finding a mask that works for your face and budget. On the ship, they only had 2 different sets to really choose from. Keeping a seal on a mask can be challenging for beginners, and without tons of options, you may have a difficult time sealing/clearing the mask. 

We do escape rooms all the time, and the ones on RC are some of the BEST in the industry for a comparative price. HIGHLY recommend! 

I prefer having decorations! It makes it easier when stumbling back to the room 🤣

I wanted to start this blog by sharing our Open Water Diver Certification process on board Harmony OTS, Nov 2019. Hopefully this will help answer any questions or concerns. This will be partly live since we are still on board; if you have any questions you want me to relay, let me know! (We disembark on Nov 16, 2019)
We signed up for the excursion about a week prior to the cruise. I asked a bunch of questions, and THAT same day the excursion team reached out to the dive team. All my questions were answered that same day (appreciated the quick responses!). They also included copies of our medical questionnaire (see pictures) and asked us to send them back. The same day I sent them back, they responded with my PADI redeem key so I could start my eLearning modules. I HIGHLY recommend getting them done early (obviously...) this was a last minute decision (largely thanks to @twangster and noting some advice he posted. I owe you a beer on our next cruise...provided I get certified... ??)
Since it was a last minute decision, we spent most of the morning of our embarkation (both before and after we were on the ship) frantically trying to finish ?? Ultimately it didn’t seem like a huge deal if we hadn’t, since all open water stuff was going to be done the following day. They didn’t seem too concerned that some of our modules appeared as not complete (even though they were), they just softly reminded us to finish them and encouraged us to get them done ASAP. There are NUMEROUS glitches with the PADI eLearning app (known as “PADI Library” in the Apple store). We found the iPad to be WAY easier to use vs. just an iPhone. Even with the large screen of the iPhone 11 Pro... it still was difficult to navigate, watch videos, take exams, etc. 
Once on board, we showed up before 3:pm to prove all our pre-cruise requirements were completed, our medical questionnaire, doctors note (if needed), and PADI folder were all filled out. I would HIGHLY suggest you review the medical requirements and get all issues signed off by your MD well in advance. We had to show back up at 6pm to fit our gear (and buy what we didn’t have). They (Francois and Kelly) seemed really friendly, and probably would have let us borrow equipment had we pressed the issue, but we wanted to just buy our own anyway. If you’re smarter than we are, I would suggest going to your local PADI (or dive) shop, try on products there, and buy them in advance. Ultimately the masks they offered ranged in price from $20-120 , but they had limited options for colors, styles, brands etc. This is like going into your local bowling alley and seeing all the pretty, fancy pro gear, and then going online and seeing about 8 million different options than what was offered. You may not only save some money, but also have something that fits better or you like more. 
That was it for day 1!!
They were supposed to have us do our confined water dives on Perfect Day, but the pool was down for maintenance apparently. This meant we got a free day in Cocoa Cay! BUT it meant we had to use the on board pool (and NOT the aqua pool like I’ve heard they used in the past) for our initial confined dives. This meant our first sea day was an almost all day practicum  day and only in 4.5 ft of water ?

Day 2 (our 3rd cruise day and first sea day). We met at 6:30am at the dive shop. We grabbed our gear (prepared and fitted previously) then prepped it like they taught us, and went into the pool. There are 7 in our class and they said that is about typical for on board certification. People ranged from having previous dive experience to having none. Overall our class went until about 10:30am. At that time one of our classmates apparently gagged on something and threw up in the pool ?? Whatever, lol ?  happens. Rolling with the flow of the ocean is what cruising is all about. They did have to clean out the pool which meant lessons were over for the morning. This was kinda a hindrance since we need to come BACK this/that evening at 4:30pm for more training. 

As of writing this (I’m sitting in the hot tub in the solarium relaxing until evening class), things haven’t been too crazy difficult or hard. Super basic skills (removing mask and regulators, practicing emergency procedures etc) were all we completed. (But according to our instructors we are doing relatively well!)
I’ll keep you all updated with the thing that happen next and relay any lessons learned I thought might be useful!

I know you mentioned it earlier in the thread- but wanting to verify before I go shopping this weekend.  What should I purchase ahead of time?  Just mask and fins?  What about a regulator?  Would a bag to carry the stuff in help too? 
(There's this tik tok about having ADD and hyperfixation and basically it's like "I have this new hobby, all I can think about is this new hobby, I've bought premium products for this hobby...."  This is me to a tee lol).  

@ChristieI'll look forward to reading about your experiences, especially in St Thomas.  I'm PADI Certified, but a looooonnnng time ago -- and my last dives were in 2016 in Australia, so I'm taking a refresher dive locally and have signed up for the St Thomas scuba trip when I'm there on Oasis in December.

Went to Divers Direct in Orlando today. Walt was super nice and didn’t take advantage of my “need the best gear” personality. Excited for our cruise in a few weeks 

Hi Christie,
I was certified, twice, on RC ships, with three attempts (due to getting sick) as SCUBA diver and upgrade to Open Water. The only items necessary are mask and snorkel. If you have picky feet, like me, I would also buy fins in advance, but it is not necessary. The cost of the course includes all other gear. I have attached the SCUBA course outline I received October 2017, as I cannot find a later copy. The number of stops on the cruise will determine the exact days of pool sessions and open water sessions. 
I hope this helps, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask
HM Scuba Course Schedule LB, FL, CZ no cw on D6.pptx

Door decor still allowed. Crew saw me in the process of putting ours up (on odyssey a few weeks back) and never said anything and no one bothered it.
Used dollartree poster putty (which pulled off cleanly) on a cut-down dollar tree photo backdrop. In fact everything but "Chi-town" came from dollar tree

Hubby and I always bring a Thank You gift bag for our room steward.  We put in it some Tide Pods and a box of fabric softener sheets, a magnet from our state and a few little other odds and ends and Always put in a Big Bag of Chocolate Bars, the bite size ones with Snickers in it.  We tell them use what you want and do with the rest whatever you want.  They usually tell us they will share it, but the biggest smiles come from the bag of Candy.  We were on Mariner in Sept and our room steward told us how much she appreciated the laundry items because they were unable to get off the ship.  We give them their gift bag on day 1 and on the last day we give them their tip with a nice Thank You note.  Everybody is different, we enjoy doing this and come up with new ideas each time.
 

I like Rice Krispy Treats.

I intend to tip. No reason not to. But I would imagine that after not working much through all the happenings I'm sure there are expenses that need paid off. And since they can't go to shore they can only purchase what is on the ship from what I understand is an inflated price. I would rather pick up 30 bucks worth of stuff that can be shared than to throw 3 times that in cash so they can buy the same amount of stuff on the ship. 
 
Everyone is welcome to do as they wish but I think many of the workers will appreciate when people bring stuff to the ship since they will get a larger variety of things and the fact that some people will show they truly care. I was also thinking about seeing if I could do a run to the store on my B2B, im sure I could take a drive to the store and pick a few things up if needed. 

Almond butter for those with allergies. 
 
Disclosure: I profit from almond butter sales.

I picture a TV commercial featuring Bubba Gump...
 
There's, uh, almond butter, almond milk, Almond Joy, almond extract, Jordan almonds, almond flour, almond oil, almond paste, marzipan, almond cream..."

@Matt, thank you.
Because we were in a row on the restart cruises weeks 2, 3, 4, & 5 our ability to get to know the crew was awesome.
Our Genie said more than 80% of the crew recognized us and most of the rest knew about us.
We would be walking places and hear a new voice call out, "Mr Jack, Mrs Sue," or "Austin Powers" or "Jack and Rose."
They knew my wife's name is Sue, but they fondly called her Rose.
When we heard our names and turn around, there was always a new face smiling, and/or waving, dancing, or a combination.

By the middle of week 3 I understood the term "Sea Legs."
The crew laughed when I asked them if it was normal to discover you had muscles in new places, and they ache.
Several told me they brought their ointments and such when they were called back.

However, your ship, after ship, after ship with reviews, blog reports, and videos in a short time after the restart is more impressive.
I was watching and reading them, and waiting for new ones multiple times a day before the cruise.
A couple of times during the cruise I dropped in on for a short watch of your live reports while you were cruising.
First thing I did when I got home was to go over your reviews.

Thank you so much for this site, your work, and 'Everyone' on this Blog that helped me be well-prepared for the B4B cruise.
Yes, @WAAAYTOOO, @twangster, @AshleyDillo, @cruisellama, @LovetoCruise87, and so many others it would make this a long post.
All of you prepared the wife and I very well for the B4B.

4 cruises in a row? I'm impressed.