WackyCactus

How was the muster drill done.  Was it just through the phone app.  Was it quick?

I created my own "excursion" on Bimini!!!
I was going to walk seven miles back to the ship after taking a taxi to Alice Town to get some Crack Conch from the Conch Fu Shack.  After walking a mile, I saw BIRD scooters on the side of the road.  Long story short, I rented one and rode it all the way to the Hilton tram stop.  Cost me less than $10.  Next time I visit Bimini, I'll get a BIRD Day Pass ($24) and go from one end of Bimini to the other.  The lady at the information center called one end the "End of the World".  I have to call BIRD and ask them about the availability of their scooters all over the island.  A Day Pass has a 30-minute limit and I want to make sure there are other scooters available to transfer to.
EDIT:  The 30-minute limit is for each ride.  With a Day Pass, you can have an unlimited number of rides for 24 hours (Thanks, @Strife)

 

I purchased The Key on my past cruise on Navigator.  I loved the perks.  I will say if it's a short cruise, like 4 days, and there are no "Cruise" dates, I found that a lot of the perks did not get used.  For instance, the private hours at the rock climb, or flowrider.  These were provided when we were on shore excursions.
I did like the quick check in, and the ability to hand off my carry on to someone else to take care of.  The lunch at Chops was awesome.  The steak was amazing, and the burger was too 🙂  The internet combined with The Key was really nice too.  I brought my laptop and hooked it up to the TV in room and streamed Netflix, because the in room TV entertainment is always less than spectacular lol.

I purchased it for my next 7 day cruise and hope to use it the extras for the shows and what not.
Oh, the ala carte breakfast on departure date was SOOOO good too.
The Key is a pro move.

Hi everyone, I know we get heated debating which dessert is the best one to order, or if a balcony room is worth it, but let's keep these basic rules in mind when chatting here.
No profanity No personal insults No political discussion This includes tropes about politicians and generalizations about political parties No debating religion Keep your posts relevant and accurate to each specific thread. We can all have our little fun within each thread but please make sure the information you're putting out there is correct and current.   Topics not related to Royal Caribbean may be removed. Posts or comments encouraging cruisers to break any Royal Caribbean policy is not allowed and will be removed.

Ok, so I'm confused.  I thought Richard D Fain was CEO?  Now I see this person named, Michael Bayley?  Did Fain get the axe or something?

Ok, so I'm confused.  I thought Richard D Fain was CEO?  Now I see this person named, Michael Bayley?  Did Fain get the axe or something?

When I did L&S they mandated that it be out of the same port.  Mind you there was a sailing out of that port at the time.

There’s nothing like driving into any port and you see that first glimpse of the ship. Gets me every time. 

Michael Bayley is CEO of Royal Caribbean International (a single cruise line).  Richard Fain is the Chairman (or maybe CEO or both, doesn't really matter) of the parent company Royal Caribbean Group (which owns several cruise lines).

Oh I forgot to mention this.  When we had a Chill Island cabana, you don't get to reserve the actual cabana until you are on the ship.  I don't know if this is the case with the Coco Beach Club though.  But for us, as soon as we boarded we went to guest services and reserved our cabana location immediately.  It was like the first thing we did on the ship.  So I would check with RCL if your cabana location is reserved prior to sailing or when you board.  Just keep in mind that you are likely not the only ship docking at Coco Cay, so someone from another ship might be thinking the same thing.

While I was not at Coco Beach Club, we had a cabana at Chill Island on our second stop and it was amazing.  The island works very well and doesn't ever seem crowded.  Our first stop we did the water park, and this was just fun beyond fun.
I honestly feel that you will be fine.  Our cruise was at the end of October, specifically October 31, and it was not crowded at all.  The water park had minimal lines.  It was all around good times.

@bretts173 One answer is that there is a perceived risk to all viruses.....noro, flu, stomach, COVID for any activity that gathers a bunch of people who value their autonomy. Another truer reason is that people are in a rush. There is still a 100% chance, currently, for catching the virus at restaurants, stores, plane, etc. But people want things to be back to "normal" so most are opening with capacity restrictions and safety protocols.

My take on this is as follows.  Being a frontline health care worker, I can definitely say I would have no problem wearing a mask, and would definitely welcome RCL enforcing people to wear masks while scientists try and figure out a vaccine.
I'm sure this will get some people charged up, but if a person is not wearing a mask they are just being selfish and unnecessarily putting others at risk.  I'm saying this, because of what we know of how the virus easily spreads now, there is no reason for people not to be wearing a mask.  I mean, what's the worst that could happen?  You die prematurely, right.  The virus has been shown to cause other medical problems for people.  Amputating limbs, etc. etc. 

My guess is that if one cruise line decides to do it the others will do it.  I wouldn't see the industry as a whole having different rules in regards to this virus from ship to ship.  For instance, I doubt Carnival wants another scene where people are trapped at sea on a Princess cruise ship dying.  But, hey, I could be wrong.
 
How many people do I think will wear a mask?  Well, I think every one would wear a mask if it meant they would be disembarked at the next stop and have to find their own way home.  And FYI, there aren't enough masks for health care workers as evidenced by my own need to recycle the N95 masks that I use.  So my expectations are right on par with reality.  I feel your own misguided beliefs that this is not feasible and passive aggressiveness shows exactly where you stand on this.

On a frequent basis I have worked while cruising.  Ships that use O3b satellite technology work much better for the applications you suggest.  These ships include Freedom, Oasis and Quantum class plus Enchantment and Majesty.  Other ships use legacy satellite technology that has more latency (delay) and these types of applications may work but not always as well.  
Ships position in a factor.  In places like Alaska, parts of Northern Europe, around the bottom of New Zealand, etc. Voom can experience throughput issues so these applications more frequently struggle there.  
Weather is a factor for satellite internet so when the ship is under rainy skies there can be times of slowdown.  What goes up must come down so when the ship is under sunny skies but the satellite earth station where signals comes down to earth is under rainy skies the internet can be slow. 
For non-O3b ships the ships change satellites at times in places like the Western or Southern Caribbean.  Different satellites are used in Europe versus the Caribbean yielding different user experiences.
For O3b ships the satellites are in orbit around the earth.  The ship will need to switch from one satellite to another when necessary and during the period of switch over Voom performance can be suspect.   
Given the ship heading and position on the earth, sometimes the antenna on the ship must "look" through the exhaust coming out the stack to see the satellite which can cause internet issues until the ship turns.  The result is poor performance for a brief time like an hour or two.
Sometimes your cabin may be in between access points located in the hall.  With so much metal in your cabin (that's why people bring magnets) the WiFi signal deep in your cabin may be weak yielding slow spots.  At times when the pub or promenade is packed for an event there can be so many people connected to one access point WiFi performance is impacted.  
Given all of the above there is frequent opportunity for Voom to not operate perfectly and the user experience can be less than ideal.  With home internet becoming faster and faster while ship internet being relatively unchanged for several years people have grown accustomed to their fantastic home internet experience and the bar is set very high.  People often complain about Voom because it isn't the same as at home.  
As I have worked from ships I always remain aware that the internet could be flaky at any time and unlike land internet Voom performance can be inconsistent.  Most of the time it works fine understanding all the things that set it apart from internet at home and all the things that can slow it down. 
If you have fiber based gigabit internet at home you may find Voom to be lacking but with patience and understanding it will get the job done most of the time. 

Voice calls work great. Depending on ship you may have some trouble with video calls. 

Yes, it works! I had it last cruise and it worked perfectly. Made calls to the mainland with no issues at all ?

My take on this is as follows.  Being a frontline health care worker, I can definitely say I would have no problem wearing a mask, and would definitely welcome RCL enforcing people to wear masks while scientists try and figure out a vaccine.
I'm sure this will get some people charged up, but if a person is not wearing a mask they are just being selfish and unnecessarily putting others at risk.  I'm saying this, because of what we know of how the virus easily spreads now, there is no reason for people not to be wearing a mask.  I mean, what's the worst that could happen?  You die prematurely, right.  The virus has been shown to cause other medical problems for people.  Amputating limbs, etc. etc. 

My take on this is as follows.  Being a frontline health care worker, I can definitely say I would have no problem wearing a mask, and would definitely welcome RCL enforcing people to wear masks while scientists try and figure out a vaccine.
I'm sure this will get some people charged up, but if a person is not wearing a mask they are just being selfish and unnecessarily putting others at risk.  I'm saying this, because of what we know of how the virus easily spreads now, there is no reason for people not to be wearing a mask.  I mean, what's the worst that could happen?  You die prematurely, right.  The virus has been shown to cause other medical problems for people.  Amputating limbs, etc. etc. 

My take on this is as follows.  Being a frontline health care worker, I can definitely say I would have no problem wearing a mask, and would definitely welcome RCL enforcing people to wear masks while scientists try and figure out a vaccine.
I'm sure this will get some people charged up, but if a person is not wearing a mask they are just being selfish and unnecessarily putting others at risk.  I'm saying this, because of what we know of how the virus easily spreads now, there is no reason for people not to be wearing a mask.  I mean, what's the worst that could happen?  You die prematurely, right.  The virus has been shown to cause other medical problems for people.  Amputating limbs, etc. etc. 

My take on this is as follows.  Being a frontline health care worker, I can definitely say I would have no problem wearing a mask, and would definitely welcome RCL enforcing people to wear masks while scientists try and figure out a vaccine.
I'm sure this will get some people charged up, but if a person is not wearing a mask they are just being selfish and unnecessarily putting others at risk.  I'm saying this, because of what we know of how the virus easily spreads now, there is no reason for people not to be wearing a mask.  I mean, what's the worst that could happen?  You die prematurely, right.  The virus has been shown to cause other medical problems for people.  Amputating limbs, etc. etc. 

While I was not at Coco Beach Club, we had a cabana at Chill Island on our second stop and it was amazing.  The island works very well and doesn't ever seem crowded.  Our first stop we did the water park, and this was just fun beyond fun.
I honestly feel that you will be fine.  Our cruise was at the end of October, specifically October 31, and it was not crowded at all.  The water park had minimal lines.  It was all around good times.

My take on this is as follows.  Being a frontline health care worker, I can definitely say I would have no problem wearing a mask, and would definitely welcome RCL enforcing people to wear masks while scientists try and figure out a vaccine.
I'm sure this will get some people charged up, but if a person is not wearing a mask they are just being selfish and unnecessarily putting others at risk.  I'm saying this, because of what we know of how the virus easily spreads now, there is no reason for people not to be wearing a mask.  I mean, what's the worst that could happen?  You die prematurely, right.  The virus has been shown to cause other medical problems for people.  Amputating limbs, etc. etc. 

So it's been 10 years since I've sailed on a Freedom Class vessel and never in a suite.
RCI goes to great lengths to publish their suite perks for Oasis and Quantum class ships- not so much for the smaller ones.
What I've been able to gleam so far is this
Suite lounge access with concierge Reserved seats in the theatre/studio B Expedited embarkation, disembark and tendering Reserved breakfast/lunch location- usually Chops. Pressing of formal attire on first formal night.  
 
What am I missing?
Room service for those in a full suite is included at no extra charge,right?

I don’t have a screen shot for Liberty either, but I remember it being on port days at very inconvenient times.