wordell1

I buy the home tests through Royal to avoid any issues. They are easy to do and can be done anywhere/anytime.

Yes - sounds like you have it right. Definitely have original cards, passports/ids, and a printed copy of the covid test with you along with your sea pass. Having everything printed speeds everything up.

I'm not sure what you read or what happened but I have a hard time seeing someone outright turned away from MTD. More likely, they were told that they would have to wait for a table. If you have not already done so, I recommend making reservations in your cruise planner for MTD. There will be two lines at the dining room for MTD, one for reservations and one without. It is always better to be in the reservations line, especially on the first night.

Roatan is a great place for a private/small group tour. It is inexpensive and worth it. I use Rony's tours. HOME - Roatan Tours, Cruiseship Activities, Excursions, Zipline Canopy Tours with Ronys Independent Tours, Roatan (ronystours.com)

Transatlantic sailings are sea day intensive. I would always go with the bigger ship for that reason. More to do.

You can/should request that all his dinners be gluten free. Q How does Royal Caribbean accommodate guests with special dietary requirements or gluten and other food allergies? A We make every effort to accommodate our guests' dietary requirements whenever possible. We can accommodate dietary needs such as: Food allergies, Gluten-free, Kosher, Low-fat, and Low-sodium. A variety of vegetarian Meals are available on all menus in the Main Dining Room and Windjammer Cafe every day. Guests do not need to make a special request for these meals. Lactose-free/soy milk, ensure, and kosher meals are available at no extra charge. All you have to do is notify us at least 45 days prior to sailing (90 days for European/South American Itineraries). Vegan menus are available upon request at the Main Dining Room. Kosher for Passover meal requests MUST be received 90 days in advance in order to be accommodated. Contact your travel advisor or Certified Vacation Planner and request that the remark be noted in your reservation details. If you made your reservation online at royalcaribbean.com you may add your request to the "update personal information." section. You may also send an e-mail request to [email protected]; please include in the e-mail the guests' names, booking number, ship name and sail date. E-mails will receive an automated response. We kindly ask that guests do not call Royal Caribbean International suppliers with specific questions. Special meal requests that are received less than 45 days of sailing (90 days for European/Asian itineraries) are dependent on the ship's product availability. We will try to accommodate to the best of our ability.

We were all EU fully vaccinated so we didn't really deal with any of the restrictions. I will say that there was a big disparity between the Italian "rules", and what was followed in practice. We were not required to wear masks on trains, buses, taxis, or even on the flights to and from Rome.

I had the Coq Au Vin on Wonder a few weeks back and it was really good. I thought maybe it had been subbed in because Wonder was in Europe - there were other changes as well. Pot Pies and Curries on the menu every night.

The pure troll posts are obvious. First post ever, usually a full name - but not one that sounds real, rambling post which sounds like they barely speak English.

This, it's monitored for sure. They would be crazy not to keep up with what their customers are thinking.

I walked around Naples all day and never felt even remotely unsafe - pretty much stayed in the older part of town close to the port. The streets were busy - too busy for anything more than pickpockets. I wear cargo pants with hidden zipper pockets so I wasn't overly worried about them.

If you want to travel on your own, Rick Steves is the best. We used his guide for our cruise on Wonder a few weeks back. Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports (Rick Steves Travel Guide): Steves, Rick: 9781641710954: Amazon.com: Books Naples, Barcelona, Mallorca, and Marseille are easy do it yourself ports. La Spezia is very far from Florence so I would at least consider the ship tour to ensure there are no issues getting back in time. We decided it was too far to Florence and chose to do Cinque Terre on our own. I have a review in the shore excursion section of what we did. Rome is 50/50 - Its close enough to do on your own, just make sure you leave enough time to be back to the ship. Personally, I would book a private tour here to maximize your time. There is a lot to do in Rome. We started in Rome and stayed 3 extra days.

There are a lot of stairs and steep hills in the Cinque Terre towns. There is limited access by vehicle, so i'm sure the drop off point would require some walking into the towns. We were just there (did it on our own, not through Royal) and it did not seem wheelchair friendly to me.

No, you should be OK. In your case, it probably makes sense.

This is accurate. It took us about 1.5 hours to move from terminal 3 to terminal 5. To be honest, I would never intentionally choose to connect through Heathrow ever again. It is literally the only airport I have ever been to that makes you go back through security on a connection (we did not go through customs). There is a lot to do in Terminal 5 in terms of Restaurants and shopping. I would personally avoid the lounges unless they are free with your ticket.

I picked up some cargo style pants at Costco at all places that were great for Europe. They had several zipper pockets that allowed me to keep my wallet and passport safe.

I just got back from a cruise on Wonder from Civitavecchia. The dress was very similar to what you see in the US. Because we stayed additional days, we were trying to limit luggage. I didn't even bring my usually dinner jacket - I wore only casual polo style shirts with a nice pair of pants. I did not feel out of place at all. Pool customs on the ship were also the same but you would be very likely to see topless bathers at most European beaches.

There's a larger paper bag that you can fill for $35 (or cheaper with C and A discounts)

Good decision to fly in the day before. Flying these days is just too crazy to risk missing your cruise. Spend the extra time in Rome.

I was just there last week and saw all types of bags. I think larger backpacks may have been an issue. They do run you through a metal detector at most tourist attractions in Rome.

All of your passport information is already submitted by Royal to the immigration personnel at the port before you depart. There have been reports on this site where people were flagged for spending certain amounts onboard for jewelry (and needed to pay a duty tax). For most, they do not check closely.

Starting Sunday, you can freely fly back without a test. I'm pretty sure that you would be violating Italian quarantine rules, and I'm not sure what the implications of that would be. Since you are "in the system", you are probably stuck until you qualify to get out.

We had a great time. If anything, we did too much! I am looking forward to sleeping on the plane tomorrow.

They maintain a lot while still running cruises every week. A few years back, they replaced the carpeting one all of the stairs of Liberty of the Seas while we were enjoying our cruise. They closed off 2 floors at at time for a few hours while they completed the work. I was impressed by how quickly they did it and the fact that they could do it with minimal impact on cruise passengers.