S0nny

Inshan Mohammed, absolutely. The mannerisms, the conversation, he was a fantastic as the Mad Hatter.
I even tried pouting on the steps of Wonderland in an attempt to get him to stay.
 

We just got off 4 weeks on Symphony, weeks 2~5 of Symphony's restart (More on that later).
First, I wanted to talk about passenger count and the odds of a Royal Up bid.
Our cruise passenger count would drop daily as better counts were out.
Aug 21st the first count was around 1,500 and eventually whittled down to 1,127. Rumor was 125 were turned away for insufficient or improper documentation as adjustments were made.
Aug 29th we heard about 1,700 and eventually Coco Cay was told to prepare for only 1,414.
Sept 4th, the holiday week, they still had 2,100 reservations on the books. Ended up with a number around 1,725 +/-50
Sept 11th we had the largest number of B2B at 93. It was moved from Boleros to the Schooner Bar. Last number I heard, but seemed high compared to Sept 4th, was 1,750 +/- 100.
Things are very fluid right now. It is hard to plan for an exact number, as some people are waiting till the last minute to cancel, likely in hopes of better protocols. 
But to cruise with those numbers is perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Royal Up was crazy. People would Royal Up from Interior to Balcony, Balcony to Grand Suite, Grand Suite to Royal Loft (Aug 29th).
People we interacted with won Royal Up to the Ultimate Family Suite (About 8 passengers with only paying the Bid for the first 2 passengers), Deck 8 Aqua 2-Bd with the largest balcony (1 occupant), Crown Lofts were going like penny candy in a candy store, Owner's Suite were available, and naturally those Royal Ups created a backfill for Grand Suite, Junior Suite, Balcony and Ocean View. Right now, if you are cruising on the Symphony, have an interior stateroom, and give a reasonable Royal Up bid there is a lot of backfill above you sitting empty.
We received Royal Up all 3 weeks we bid up from Grand Suite (Aug 29th we did not bid, rather stayed with Star Class Aqua 2-Bd).
Below is meant as nothing more than reading the past x numbers on the roulette wheel sign to increase your odds of winning.
Therefore, I am not giving the exact $$ number, which likely would not work right now anyway, but my Aug 21st and Sept 4th bids were notably less than $500. (Remember, the bid $$ is per person for up to the first 2 passengers).
Aug 21 Grand Suite to Crown Loft.
Aug 29th - We did not bid up from Star Class Aqua 2-Bd, but I know the winning Grand Suite to Royal Loft Royal Up bid was notably less than $3,000 per/person.
Sep 4th Grand Suite to Owner's Suite Deck 12 240 (Which has a mildly annoying post in the several yards into the middle of the entrance to the room).
Sep 11th Grand Suite to Star Class Aqua 2-Bd Deck 10 734 for notably less than $1,700 per/person.

Again, the passenger counts were very low, and those numbers may not be more than a guideline right now, especially since they are now more public.
You may get it for a lesser bid, or you may bid a little more and still not get it.
The objective is to encourage you to sign up for Royal Up if you have not done so, and to BID FOLKS!

Closing thoughts:
Professional Photographer, Ajuraj (pronounced Achoo, like a sneeze is acceptable) and Aakash are fantastic! Though his studio shots are excellent, Ajuraj is willing to break away from the normal studio style photos. I saw him shoot one couple at CBC getting low for a continuation of the pool into the ocean at the infinity pool. It is worth a sitting. Some examples below.
Sunil is a great Royal Genie. At various times we had interaction with the entire Royal Genie staff. Even the newest Genie was great and willing to serve from my interaction with him and one passenger where that is who was his Royal Genie.
Hairspray, Mark Preston, and Jeff Tracta were great entertainment. When comedian Landry said he would bring on the headliner for the Family Comedy Show, the lady behind us appropriately said, "Headliner, I thought he was the headliner," because he was that good.
The entire staff is so eager to serve. We made many friends over 4 weeks. Priya in Guest Services, Flavia in Next Cruise, if we could have packed waitress May at Hooked Restaurant in our luggage we would have, Victor, Praveen and many of the photo staff for special night and port pictures produced great shots in our photo package, Made and Alina on the Rising Tide Bar, Sachin and Mark in Chops, Radu and Boodhoo in Jamie's, Justin and Decan have the Coastal Kitchen and seating running like a well oiled machine, same with the Johnny Rockets crew who occasionally come out and put on a performance on Boardwalk, Rebeka at Sugar Beach is sweeter than the sugar behind the door, even Maria in housekeeping whose task was to keep the fwd Promenade stairs by the big lollipop cleaned down to the entertainment on Deck 4 was super friendly and excited to see passengers she recognized.
If possible, I would list so many great crew members, but let me list those who were not great--ready--NOBODY!

On a sad note, the Mad Hatter of so many years retired (24 years) at the end of the Aug 21st cruise. There is a replacement, but it will take some time to get the character down, according to those that went starting Aug 29th.

Safety precautions were great. In San Juan, Channel 13 interviewed myself and several passengers about safety concerns.
Safety Concerns? I told them I was more concerned during my air transportation than on the ship, and my daughter is a flight attendant.
Here are some examples:
The day before the cruise, even though I answered several emails, I received a call from Royal to verify I was vax'ed and would be providing proof.
Don't have the negative test paperwork, you don't get on. Ever see that at a hotel? At the airport?
Vax'ed have a colored wristband, Unvax'ed do not, so anyone can instantly tell if the person next to you has been vax'ed or not. Ever see that at the grocery store? Shopping Mall? (Let's hope that never comes to land. No Scarlet Letters or wristbands, but because of the media, I can understand it on the ship).
Even though Vax'ed and UnVax'ed are separated by Decks in the MDR, there is still table spacing distancing. Maybe some land restaurants have that, but do they include the proper docs to verify?
At the Casino, when anyone gets up, they wipe the area down fast.
The crew is tested once or twice a week, perhaps depending on the amount of interaction with passengers. We had Zero Positives during our cruises.
6 or your group in an elevator.
Okay, a comment here about elevator limits, folks. Use common sense. If 6 unvax'ed strangers can get in the larger capacity elevators, is it really unsafe if a group of 6 and 2 vax'ed get in the elevator? Many times, as long as no one objected, 6 or more of us invited vax'ed (we would see their wristbands) in the elevator if they wished.
In 4 weeks, I only had one group of six friends, panicky adamant about the sign saying only 6. I mean over the top panicky. If a 7th got on, especially not one of their 6 group, they would all surely die before the end of the cruise. That was okay. I understand how the media has overplayed the safety concerns aboard ships. In that scenario I wasn't concerned about CoVid-19 variants. I was concerned about forgetting all my years successfully writing procedures and protocols to meet general Federal Aviation Build Guidelines.
Anyway, on and on the precautions are in play.
In 4 weeks B2B you see so much that many shorter time passenger miss. In this case, I was impressed.


 

Hey there! 
 
Haha, I actually wouldn’t mind doing an onboard clinic and recoup some travel costs. One one cruise, my mom got acupuncture and the lady was also a chiropractor. They snuck me down to the spa to swap adjustments with her 🙂 
The kids sure don’t keep, do they? Poor thing is so excited to be back on a ship.  She’s most excited to be an explorer in adventure ocean.  
 
Yea, sorry I kinda disappeared for a while. Went through several hard years with Kenzie’s autism diagnosis and intensive therapy and I finally feel like I’m getting my feet back underneath me. In all transparency, it was hard to read about peoples’ amazing vacations while we were in the thick of it.
 
Sorry to derail the thread. If I decide to do it, I’ll post a review with a flipped itinerary (Coco Cay at the end) and Eastern Caribbean ports. 

7 year old ?!  Where has the time gone ?!  I remember when she was a newborn.  Holy cow !!  She'll be graduating from college before you know it !
You'll be Star Class, right ?  So no need to worry about something to do.  The Genie can help you set up a clinic somewhere on the ship and you can see a few patients.  Might as well work if hubby is going to work, right ?  LOL
It's good to see you on the boards.  You've been gone waaaytooo long.

Not sure for RC but in general it’s always been advised not to laminate the cards since there may be future booster shots to add, which looks like it’ll be likely soon. 

The Royal App didn’t work during the sea trial. 
P C Load Letter error
Engineers will be taking the ship back out to sea and test again soon. 
 

Keep watching the website for price reductions for the UBP/UDP. They go up and down about every two weeks and you can score a good price then. Remember you can always cancel your cruise planner purchases and repurchase without penalty. That's half the fun after booking the cruise!

Y'all... nothing makes me more excited than paying that deposit and seeing your cruise show up in the Cruise Planner. Huge shoutout to @Sharla from MEI for booking us so easily ❤️ You ROCK!
This will be our first time on a Freedom Class ship and we are stoked 🙂 This was originally booked for April of 2020 out of San Juan. Of course when the cruise was canceled we couldn't decide if it was better to Lift and Shift or get the 125% FCC. We chose FCC, but opted for the refund for the drink/dining package. Now seeing the prices go up by almost 500 smackers for the cruise and then almost DOUBLE for the UBP/UDP... we probably should have opted to lift and shift and FCC for the OBC. Oh well... you live and learn 🤑 Just happy to see that little ticker in my cruise planner!
Doin this cruise to celebrate another birthday for our friend group... I apologize in advance those who will be on the ship with us 🤣 If you find me though, I will buy ya a drink to make up for the shenanigans! 

Y'all... nothing makes me more excited than paying that deposit and seeing your cruise show up in the Cruise Planner. Huge shoutout to @Sharla from MEI for booking us so easily ❤️ You ROCK!
This will be our first time on a Freedom Class ship and we are stoked 🙂 This was originally booked for April of 2020 out of San Juan. Of course when the cruise was canceled we couldn't decide if it was better to Lift and Shift or get the 125% FCC. We chose FCC, but opted for the refund for the drink/dining package. Now seeing the prices go up by almost 500 smackers for the cruise and then almost DOUBLE for the UBP/UDP... we probably should have opted to lift and shift and FCC for the OBC. Oh well... you live and learn 🤑 Just happy to see that little ticker in my cruise planner!
Doin this cruise to celebrate another birthday for our friend group... I apologize in advance those who will be on the ship with us 🤣 If you find me though, I will buy ya a drink to make up for the shenanigans! 

Y'all... nothing makes me more excited than paying that deposit and seeing your cruise show up in the Cruise Planner. Huge shoutout to @Sharla from MEI for booking us so easily ❤️ You ROCK!
This will be our first time on a Freedom Class ship and we are stoked 🙂 This was originally booked for April of 2020 out of San Juan. Of course when the cruise was canceled we couldn't decide if it was better to Lift and Shift or get the 125% FCC. We chose FCC, but opted for the refund for the drink/dining package. Now seeing the prices go up by almost 500 smackers for the cruise and then almost DOUBLE for the UBP/UDP... we probably should have opted to lift and shift and FCC for the OBC. Oh well... you live and learn 🤑 Just happy to see that little ticker in my cruise planner!
Doin this cruise to celebrate another birthday for our friend group... I apologize in advance those who will be on the ship with us 🤣 If you find me though, I will buy ya a drink to make up for the shenanigans! 

828 onboard this week on Odyssey.

I'm willing to bet that there are still at least 200 who will push in front of you at the Windjammer buffet and/or rush onto the elevator without letting others off first.

Matt's video hit the nail on the head (as usual).
I agree with  @emmef , I would purchase them now and watch for sales. Our last cruise we bought the UBP for $52 and The Key for $18 (roughly 66 and 23 AUD). Personally, I don't think we got much value out of The Key even at that price... We were always going to buy the internet package so in the end it wasn't too much more per person per day. But I felt it wasn't as useful for us on that voyage. We didn't tender at any ports, so the biggest advantage was moot. And being in a junior suite and Platinum, I would imagine there will already be priority lines on embarkation. 

Can't wait to hear about the cruise and whether or not you thought it was all worth it!

Me too!! I wear a mask every day anyways... Wearing it on a cruise ship means I just get a better view! haha

Matt's video hit the nail on the head (as usual).
I agree with  @emmef , I would purchase them now and watch for sales. Our last cruise we bought the UBP for $52 and The Key for $18 (roughly 66 and 23 AUD). Personally, I don't think we got much value out of The Key even at that price... We were always going to buy the internet package so in the end it wasn't too much more per person per day. But I felt it wasn't as useful for us on that voyage. We didn't tender at any ports, so the biggest advantage was moot. And being in a junior suite and Platinum, I would imagine there will already be priority lines on embarkation. 

Can't wait to hear about the cruise and whether or not you thought it was all worth it!

Because nobody breathes, coughs, or sneezes, near people when they're outside....

What would be too much???
To book a cruise knowing of all the restrictions and measures RC and governments of ports of call have implemented then have to listen to fellow guests who signed up agreeing to all of the measures constantly complain about it.

Royal's math and sales I am sure...lol

Everyone should know how to contact their elected officials.  Start with your local voter registration office or their website.
I have already written to my governor and the representatives in Congress for my specific electoral district regarding the CDC and their cruise industry lockout. 
No elected officials is required to pay any attention to a citizen outside of their district.  A senator in Texas couldn't give a hoot what I think because they don't represent me (and I can't vote for or against them).   They are accountable to the citizens that reside in their district and those are the voices they will (or should) pay attention to.
Start writing the elected officials that represent you.  My representatives in Congress can't do anything alone but with support from other members of Congress they can explore options IF enough in Congress are willing to support them.

My thoughts on The Key
 

New itineraries are always exciting because there could be some intriguing surprises.

I witnessed a very rowdy exchange between a traveler and TSA at DFW airport last week.  Traveler felt a face shield alone was sufficient (no mask), they were escorted to the exit door, and not allowed back into the terminal. I assume a flight was missed.  

Better than the alternative

2021 and beyond cruise wear

Or wear two masks or 3 and a shield..just to be really safe...although with the new variant out, who knows yet what will really work.?
 
Anyone think cruising is coming back in 2021 for real??