Pattycruise

My 9 y/o likes them, but I’m not sure my older back would. Like others said you can get pads/toppers from the stewards, but I have seen many people brining their own things on board. If you can fit it in your luggage, I would think that would be one of those items that fall in the category of better to have, and not need vs need, and not have.

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.

This is the new cup, on Oasis. 

I’ve had Chops for lunch on multiple occasions, it is 1/2 the price of dinner  with a slightly limited menu.  We had dinner at Chops on Fathers Day, had it been a sea day we would have done lunch, my family of 6 cost a lot! The service was impeccable.  The shrimp cocktail is so much better than those little wet shrimp served in the MDR.  My family is mostly about the filet, it did not disappoint.  I felt the mashed potatoes were off, reminded me of the cheap instant potatoes I had when I was growing up. This is not the norm  all their sides are good.  The Key lime pie is my go to dessert.  

Tampa has small terminals and the luggage offloading process really requires guests to pay attention and follow the times that luggage tag numbers are called.  Avoid putting your luggage out the night before for the fastest debarking process. 
The biggest factor will be the ship arriving on time.  Tampa Bay looks big and broad.  It has the appearance of a big body of water but it is shallow.  There are narrow shipping channels that ships must stay within and their transit through the channels is impacted by other shipping.  Some of the channels are not very wide and in places two ships can't pass each other so movement is carefully choreographed between the local pilots.    Other forms of shipping use the same channels, cargo, container and tankers.  Certain times of year are prone to fog.  During inclement weather or fog they won't let ships navigate some parts of the Bay including at times the transit under the bridge.
That all sounds a lot worse than it actually is.  It is a nice port to sail from and the transit through the Bay and under the bridge can be very enjoyable.  On the way back to port much of that occurs in the dark.  It usually goes pretty smoothly and the local pilots are pros at this.  However when weather is off or another ship is delayed or has an issue it can impact all other ships in ways you don't tend to experience in other ports.
In February a few years ago the fog was bad.  We were held outside of the Bay all day waiting for the fog to dissipate.  When it finally did there was a cruise ship that was stuck in port just as we were stuck out of the port.  We then had to wait for that ship to transit the shipping channels on it's way out before were allowed to start our way in as two ships can't use the channels at the same time.  We finally docked at 6pm.  As it turns out I had a 7pm flight and thought I was going to be sitting in the airport all day.  Instead I just made my flight.  At check in they warned my my luggage might not make the plane but it did.   I got to the gate as the flight was boarding.  It was a lot of stress and go, go, go race for a taxi.  But I made it.  Everyone else who had earlier flight times had to spend an extra day in Tampa and fly out the next day.
Other cruises from Tampa have gone perfectly on schedule.  If it's your only option it is doable if everything goes right.  Just be prepared for an extra day in Tampa in case it doesn't go as planned.

It asked me if I have fatigue, headaches, and so on. Of course I do (100% disabled, jumped out of airplanes for 5 years, and I'm old). It also asked if you have been around a possible COVID person. So almost any human is probably high risk. if you have zero risk factors and just say that you want to travel is when they will probably try to charge you.

@whitsmom So I just checked the Hyatt on the airport property has a DAY STAY situation. They could spend the day there, luggage secure and enjoy the pool and restaurants. It looks like it is perfectly set up for your exact situation. Look under "offers" & sure enough I believe it is available from 1000-1800. If their flight is at 2000 it's perfect, they could gather their luggage get through security & be at the gate refreshed and ready to board their flight. I would totally opt for this if it was me. I hope this helps 🙂
Looks like 169.00

By 9am they will likely start paging their names to get them to leave. 
There is nothing to do on the ship, once the early breakfast service has completed everything closes.  They can't use the pools or get a drink.  
They will need to vacate their cabins as soon as possible so it can be cleaned and sanitized for the next guest.  Sleeping in and staying in the cabin is pretty impactful to the cabin attendants who have to "turn" that cabin and get it ready for the next guest.  
Customs and Border Protection will require the ship reaches a zero guest count before any new guests can begin to embark.  Hiding out and overstaying can delay the boarding process for the next cruise. 
Don't let them be "those people". 

Ok, I'll sign up for a test next week and report back. Retired and have nothing else to do with my time.

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.

This is the new cup, on Oasis. 

Did you try CVS, Walgreens?

I’ve had Chops for lunch on multiple occasions, it is 1/2 the price of dinner  with a slightly limited menu.  We had dinner at Chops on Fathers Day, had it been a sea day we would have done lunch, my family of 6 cost a lot! The service was impeccable.  The shrimp cocktail is so much better than those little wet shrimp served in the MDR.  My family is mostly about the filet, it did not disappoint.  I felt the mashed potatoes were off, reminded me of the cheap instant potatoes I had when I was growing up. This is not the norm  all their sides are good.  The Key lime pie is my go to dessert.  

I don’t think they are pandering, smoking has been allowed all along, except for a brief stint during a Covid surge.  I believe the CEO tapped around the answer of a smoking ban by alluding to the loss of revenue.  I’m sure they’ve put a lot of data analysis into the decision.  As a non smoker you can vote with your wallet, as many have.  

Even in the US you're considered boosted the minute the shot is in the arm

I know what you are going through.  We had a June 12th Alaska cruise canceled because my son tested positive with no symptoms.  My travel agent warned us that we had to do the questionnaire that asks if we have been in direct contact.  Royal did not ask us for proof to get the 100% cancel.  I spent 3 days trying to get them to do a lift and shift because I had such a great deal, but they would not do it.  They gave me a 100% no questions refund and I had to rebook in July at a higher price.  It was disappointing but my son gets his Alaska cruise in 15 more days.

The print out is exactly what you need

Did you try CVS, Walgreens?

Yes, I was doing the same for my group until COVID hit and ruined our dreams.  I had a group of 31 in 12 rooms and when doing this through Royal groups department the main person making all the reservations is called the “tour conductor”.  If the group reaches 16 staterooms the “tour conductor” gets a free room.  But 8 rooms provides a nice discount as well which was the price of one person.  So basically my fare was free but not my husband’s unless we hit 16 rooms!   However I was choosing the OBC for everyone.  I spent many mega hours working on it and every time a sale popped up I would call and save everyone money…which of course lowered my discount…but I enjoyed helping out the others.  The saddest part was not being able to actually enjoy the cruise with everyone, thank you very much COVID!! 😖

I’ve not had that experience with the12 cruises I’ve done out of Bayonne.  The entry process to the terminal has been done by arrival time, (guy with a bullhorn and someone checking set sail passes) which cuts back the “wait  to get into the terminal”.  The longest I’ve waited to get through security was 15 minutes, and that’s  due to the people who don’t understand to empty their pockets and not as many gates open.
once I get through it’s been typically 5 minutes to see a check in agent, worst case 10 minutes and my documents are typically in order and uploaded so it’s 2minutes tops on the run through and then on my way onboard.
the only slowdowns to speak of …system down….that was a pain, added maybe 5-10 minutes  more to check in and the time Oasis had us go through the check in process but wait in a large seating area because the ship had to pull out to let a container ship pass.  (So thankful they had seats ready for that wait) and once for Adventure, I think the ship wasn’t ready.
my one experience in Miami was different, in January they let you enter whenever, security was quick but the terminal agent I had was a complete disaster, I’d swear there was a hidden video to try and watch me lose my sh$t.  She took about 30 minutes, I kid you not, for 4 of us, whose documents were already uploaded and I had printouts,  she created her own dilemma, decided to find a laptop and started the whole process over again. Meanwhile all the other agents were processing people through without issue.  

They had regular cups the week prior, this was the second half of a B2B when they rolled out the new cups.
I’ve not seen cups in the room at all since the restart.  On one sailing on ANTHEM cups were not available until after we ported in Port Canaveral and resupplied. 
Yep, on the Yellow, I snapped the photo as they were putting the cups out, having noticed the difference from the previous week of my B2B, I didn’t want to stand around while they unloaded the rest. 

Seattle did nothing to enforce boarding times (thus not even entering the building until well past our arrival time), security only had 4 of the potential 10 scanners open (delaying things even worse than the norm for people not having a clue about emptying their pockets despite being told every couple of minutes for the entire time they were weaving through the rat maze), and the check-in agent couldn't operate the technology to process all of our documents that were uploaded AND in hand (she had to be at least 75 years old).

I earned prime the week of April 3, which is in the new casino year to establish your 2500 points for the following casino year and the benefit is also granted for the remainder of this casino year (casino year is April 1-March 31.)  I play 3 card poker and spent many an hour playing,  the casino was good to many of us.  I earned prime and came home up $800, so essentially it cost me time, not money.
for slots you earn 1 point for every $5 played,(whether it be your cash or the winnings on the machine) for video poker it’s 1 point for every $10 played, and for the tables it’s size of bet and the amount of time played to earn your points.  I played on Adventure recently and it was abysmal, lost $600 earned 180 points….I barely had play time.  ($40 a hand)  I don’t consider myself a big gambler.  If my goal was to be prime and this was the associated cost I wouldn’t continue to try, that would be a huge investment!

another benefit of prime is the annual tier benefit of a free cruise (up to 7 days) anywhere they sail, subject to availability and you only pay taxes/port fees and can bring a guest who also only pays taxes/port fees.   Prime members free cruise is an interior stateroom, the other levels have other categories. You can pay an additional fee to upgrade the cabin. 

So we just need the smokers to pay the fuel surcharge for the privilege to smoke?  Hmm

I dress for no one. Not at work (OK, maybe for customers), not at home, and not on a cruise. With one massive exception. I dress for my soulmate. Since I really can’t see what I am wearing, and I really could care less about what anyone else thinks, I dress for only one person ... the woman I fell in love with 43 years ago and the woman I want to make happy every single day of my life. 
I also do not care what other people wear … I am looking at my soulmate, everyone else is the equivalent of “visual background noise” … Sorry if some of you are upset.
These genuine requests for what is normal and tolerated in the MDR and on Formal nights are sincere questions (and good ones). My advice is ... Ask your soulmate(s). Ask the person(s) who you are devoted to. Ask the only person(s) on the earth that matters. You and they will be much happier as a result. 
On a cruise (and many times at home), I wear what my soulmate wants.  She also asks me what I prefer that she wears, and I am honest and very appreciative when she responds. When we do this, almost always she says I “look sexy”, and I feel great (I also laugh a little ... OK, maybe a lot). I think she is the most beautiful woman on the ship, and I would wear anything to make her happy. 
I hope everyone can have this feeling when they go cruising. 
Curt from Canada.