WAAAYTOOO

I'm just about to get off Serenade.    Happy I did not see this post until today 😉.   
Was at Hubbard June 30th and heard fellow passengers the next day commenting that the ship did not get as close to the glacier as they had on previous cruises.  Perhaps this had something to do with their observation.
Was lucky my better half insisted on booking the Hubbard excursion to get close to the glacier.   It was pricey but an absolutely fantastic day and one of my all time cruising highlights.  Weather was perfect which of course helped.   
 
 
 

Yes this!!!
I just sat on top of one carry on to zip it cause I am trying to carry as much as I possibly can lol

I'm from Glasgow, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 too, although I've not lived there for too many years to mention!
So from one Glaswegian to another, have an amazing trip. 😊
I don't know if you have anything planned yet for La Spezia but I can't recommend Cinque Terre highly enough.
 

Day 13 - Debarkation
Hi, Amsterdam!

Everyone had to be off the ship by 830a, which was earlier than I remember any prior cruise. I suspect it was in part to force people to the airport sooner, in hopes they wouldn’t miss their flights.
We had breakfast in Chops. I was glad they still offered the suite breakfast this last day. Much less stressful than the Windjammer! We disembarked at about 815am. We were in our taxi by 835am and at the airport by right about 9am. Our flight was at 1255pm and MomMe’s was 400pm (was supposed to be 230pm but she was informed of the delay the day before).
Schipol is a nightmare right now. Everything you’ve read in the news, true. People in the sailing’s Facebook group were reporting 4-5 hours in line to clear security! We were all in business class, so dropping off our bags took less than 10 minutes and we headed to the Priority Line for security. 
We were in that line for 15 minutes (and had made it about half way to the escalator) when a skycap took one look at MomMe and said “you guys follow me”. He was pushing a woman in a wheelchair and just added us to her (non-existent) “family”. In fairness, had I realized how awful the security and immigration lines were, I would have gotten MomMe a wheelchair anyway. She would never have made it standing in line for the estimated 1.5 hours it would have taken us (and remember we were in the “priority” lines!). That guy was absolutely my favorite person of the day!
Even inside the terminal was a mess. Anyone transiting who had to go through immigration also had to stand in huge lines. They were announcing “if your connecting flight is in more than two hours, please go away and come back to immigration later” in an attempt to get people through more smoothly. Awful!
Our flight was lovely, and we are back in the (exceedingly marginal) Crowne Plaza in Panama. Our last leg home to Managua is tomorrow.
Thank you for following along, and I hope this blog was both helpful and entertaining!

A few more random photos:
 

What's the phone number for this company?  I was told they'd found my keys and were FedExing them back to me and they were supposed to arrive on 6/30. But they never even got to FedEx.  Today marks 2 weeks since my cruise ended. 
 
 
 
 

It was! I did not want to bother my TA either. They don't get commission on flights and these flights (the one that was cancelled on March 12th) I had booked directly through Delta anyway. But it was a cruise with a group of friends, and she had heard from others that I was in trouble. She went out her way. It was beyond her job description.

I need to try not to overpack. This will be a challenge. 

Funny story. I had routine blood work done a week after a cruise recently. One of the liver metrics was above normal. One that is affected by alcohol consumption.

My father died of COPD shortly after I quit but, I let him smoke in the house until we had to put him in an assisted living facility, it didn't bother any of us.  He lived with us for that last several years of his life.  He was a smoker.  He did quit several times during his life, he'd quit for a year or two at a time.  I don't know why he kept starting again.  As stated, I quit only because of the cost.  I always said that if cigarettes ever got above $5.00 a pack, I'd quit, and I did.  I'm 70 now with no lung issues.  I have age related physical restrictions, but that is about it.  My wife is about the same.  But, she never smoked at all.  In fact, we both walk almost everyday.  I speed walk, I try to do 3.5 miles in about 48 minutes.  My resting heart rate is in the mid to high 40s.  My Drs say I'm blessed to be in such good shape, vitals that is.  I'm a little overweight.  But, I've lost about 85 pounds over the last couple years.  
Sorry, TMI.  It's late and I'm the only one up.  That's when I ramble a lot.
 

Since my September Quantum sailing was booked on Cruise With Confidence, I am cancelling it moving the FCC over to my Oasis in January.  Quantum could be fixed by then, but didn't want to take the chance. Discovery Princess is going out 1 day earlier, so trying them out for the first time. I always get drinks packages and wifi, so the Princess offering with a balcony was a little cheaper. Was in a studio balcony on Quantum.  Have to admit, Im appreciating the IT aspects better thus far.  

So funny I was thinking the same thing. I explored everything Labadee has to offer and I like you just want the laid back beach experience you describe. That is why I actually would choose Labadee over CoCo Cay every time.  Moving forward after experiencing the beach club on Coco Cay especially when there are two ships there, I'll opt for that beach moving forward. As of right now though, not moving forward. Curious to see though how they proceed. I'll be watching.

In a nutshell because it costs money.
Before the shutdown ships were full and there wasn't the contention for bandwidth we see today.  There is one simple answer - Royal is not subscribing to enough throughput with the current provider.  If too many users are the culprit it means there isn't enough bandwidth right now yet there was in 2019 so what's changed?  
A secondary reason is that Royal is conditioning us to hate the current experience at the current price points.  Then they can come along and save us by introducing a new service at a higher price point.  "Introducing Vroom!  The enhanced ultra speed internet powered by Starlink.  For just $39.95 per day..."   

Brisbane, Australia >Mystery Island, Vanuatu >Noumea, New Caledonia >Vila, Vanuatu >Brisbane 
 

I did a B2B (back-to-back) in February.  It was really a S2S (side to side. different ships).  The price of the cruise is the price of the cruise.  What it did get me is I flew from California to Florida and took two cruises.  I was able to cruise Western Caribbean followed by Eastern Caribbean with no hotel room or additional flight.  Royal Caribbean took care of my Covid Testing for the second cruise at no cost.  Royal Caribbean transported me from Miami to Fort Lauderdale at no cost.  I enjoyed it so much that I am looking at doing it again in December 2023 and April 2024.

Thank You.  I must say that looking back I am proud of myself for never once getting upset or nasty with a representative during the apprx. 10-12 hours I spent on the phone with them over this two week saga.  Guess I am mellowing out as I get older.  😀

Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise and things mostly got worked out in the end.
I was following along even though I don't think I posted anything and felt awful that you had to deal with such stress. You handled it better than I could.

Final Outcome for those that may be having this issue...
The cruise went fine and we enjoyed ourselves.
When I returned home, the ~$58 I insisted they owed me (I can add) was refunded to my card.  That was a nice surprise, as I had no intention of spending one more minute on the phone with them to try to get it resolved, and would have just let it go.
In the future, I will not apply for Royal Caribbean stockholder OBC even though I am entitled to it, as I am convinced this triggered my issues after it was applied and I subsequently cancelled and rebooked a Cruise Planner item to save a few bucks.  Just not worth the hassle and stress I endured for two weeks leading up to the cruise.  Also, I instantly regretted sending a brokerage statement, even a heavily redacted one, to a cruise line who obviously does not have the best IT department, to say the least.
Advice to those finding themselves in this situation....insist that they change the final payment due date to the day of the cruise for all reservations the moment you get your first e-mail.  They did this for me, they can do it for you.  Alleviates at least a little of the stress and stops the daily e-mails.  
To Royal Caribbean....fix this!!  Devote whatever resources are required to make it happen yesterday.  It is ridiculous to be told by multiple employees on the phone that this is a 'known issue' and 'not to worry about it'.  That's a big ask when your customer is not sure they will be able to board the ship on the sailing date for a cruise they paid in full the day it was booked.  If you know about it, fix it.

As a Florida resident, I truly feel bad for all the people who have to fly in. Another added expense and stress factor to what should be a great experience. We have had to fly to three of our cruises and it has not been enjoyable, easy or cheap. We will not do out of State cruises for the foreseeable future, but I hope you guys keep coming to enjoy the vacations.

We're flying out two days early for our next cruise.

Both negative today and ready to roll on Monday! Tomorrow we'll be on the road for 11 hours to get to Miami.

Funny you ask this. We had an awful experience at March break. We flew out a day early with what we thought was plenty of time to spare. Our flight got cancelled at the gate. Then the flight Delta rebooked us on also got cancelled later that afternoon. Now in a total panic, Delta told us there are no flights which would get us to Miami in time to catch our cruise the next day. We did not book through Air2Sea and this was group cruise that we did not want to miss.
 
My TA saved the day. Literally. We had to rent a car from Detroit, drive to Pittsburgh, and catch a 6am flight next day to Miami. We almost missed our ship! Luggage never made it though but that was a small price to pay.
Anyway, that experience a few months ago left me fearing for the worst now with the disaster that air travel is at the moment.  
 
I did something today that I never would have done. We have a sailing on Freedom 7/25 and booked to fly from DTW-MIA on 7/24 through Air2Sea this time. I have been tracking this flight and it has been cancelled 6 times in the last 14 days. Today, I double booked us for 7/24. If the original Air2Sea flight gets cancelled, I now have a back up fully refundable flight to Florida later that same day. Never would I have thought that air travel would be so unreliable that I would have to do this.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Planner sales are smoke and mirrors. They raise the price just before something goes on sale and then reduce it back down to where it was to start with....or perhaps a bit higher.  That's the way it always goes.  Ignore the percentages off.  They mean nothing.  All that matters is the bottom line price...and be sure that you are comparing apples to apples and that if there is a gratuity (food packages come to mind) that you are comparing a new price that has charged grats the same way as the old price.  IOW, if your dining package was purchased under the "old" Cruise Planner system, it already includes gratuities but if it is now using the "new" My Royal Cruise system, the grats are not included in the price that they quote but are added at checkout.  Just be sure you know what you're comparing....

I’m certainly no expert in this area, but I suspect that for a cruise in August (this being July) that the TA’s have had to return any unsold cabins back to Royal’s inventory.  I don’t think they can hold onto unsold inventory indefinitely….but I could be wrong.

Excellent !  So glad to hear that SOME exemptions are being approved.  Very good news, indeed