MarcBerger

Ashley!! Brilliant! Didn’t consider that brunch would be a totally separate option, but there it was.
I snagged one for our cruise!
Thank you!

You can book brunch right away on the App, once on board. Or just go directly there!

You can book brunch right away on the App, once on board. Or just go directly there!

yes - was actually on boat fron 18th dec 2022- 2 jan 2023 (6+9 B2B)   Going to Cadiz for dry dock

Sorry, but CUBA is CUBA the owners of that port prior to Fidel need to take up their complaint with the legitimate government of CUBA.
USA has no legal or other reason to become involved
Do I necessarily agree with the policy of there government, but that is not my legal concern.
If i was CUBA I would put all my resources into Building a new port that could accommodate huge ships and invite everyone, big port taxes would not shy away the cruise ships. 

Did you miss the large 20’ walls isolating the Labadee peninsula? Also, there are armed guards stationed at the entry points armed with side arms and assault rifles. I have been recently with absolutely zero issues regarding safety. Labadee is a great & safe destination unlike the remainder of Haiti proper which is a war zone. 

There are areas in every major city in Canada and the US where if I walk into the wrong part of town my life is in real danger.  Best case is getting mugged or robbed, worst case is significant risk to life.  
Labadee is nothing like that.  I am safe walking around Royal Caribbean's Labadee.  
No one is so considerate to map out the danger areas in American cities.  Perhaps our government should issue domestic warnings. 

It doesn’t exist. I wouldn’t go to Labadee if I were you. Royal Caribbean has a habit of putting their customers directly in the line of fire. 

Based on this it seems he's gotten the itch again
 
 

On Anthem in some cabins I had bad wifi coverage especially when the desk was closer to the balcony.  In those cases I use a water bottle to prop open the door which is all it takes to let enough signal in for the wifi to be useable.  The same has occured on Ovation, Quantum and Odyssey.  It's not a newer vs. older technology problem.  
On Jewel the wifi was rock solid.  A friend who sailed on her first Starlink cruise reported initially they retained the 4 x 2 per user limit but after a few days they removed it and he was getting results like Anthem has been getting over 100Mbps.  
There will always be wifi challenges.  The ship is all metal.  Doors, walls, ceilings and floors.  In a normal building an access point mounted on a ceiling on one floor would provide some sort of coverage to the floor above.  That is less so when the floor is made of metal.  Metal also bounces the signal causing reflections and multipathing.    Drywall and concrete tend to absorb signals and let some signal through more than bounce the signal but there is no drywall or concrete used on a ship. 
A ship will always be a challenging wifi environment and there will always be dead spots.  Newer ships are at least putting access points inside each cabin so that eliminates a very important weak coverage area from a guest perspective.  

On the Anthem now. Coming up the east coast after leaving Nassau the day before yesterday. Heavy cloud cover. Speeds have been all over the place this cruise. Maybe they’re still tweaking it. Usually download speeds have been between 3 and 8. Sometimes in the teens and twenties. No problem streaming HD movies on Prime, Netflix and YouTube in my room on deck 7 mid.
Then….this. I’m sitting just outside Sorrento’s at 7:51 Christmas morning.

Starlink may be launching a variant of the next gen v2 satellites soon.
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-first-starlink-gen2-satellite-launch-2022/
This is important because it was previously stated they would not launch them on Falcon 9 but only launch v2 on Starship.  Starship has been delayed so if they do find a way to begin launching v2 mini on Falcon 9 that could help the maritime service sooner rather than later.

The 16 Starlink antennas on Oasis:
12 in a semi-circle at the edge of the SL/CK roof

4 on top of the Suite Sun Deck.
2 on Port.


2 on Starboard

Sure, it's the 6th and final oasis class ship being built in France.
Booking will likely open up spring/summer of 2023....It won't be done till end of 2024.
6 days ago. courtesy 
Pavels Kurenbins Send      
 
Icon is much closer to being completed and will be doing sea trials by summer/fall 2023 and debuting Jan 2024.

50 minutes or several hours!!  I would have been a nervous wreck!!  I have a diet coke addiction!  But only between the hours of 11 and 3.  After 3, if I drink caffine, I won't be able to sleep. 
Speaking of Diet Coke: Here is a question: If I am on a Mediterranean cruise, will I get that crappy diet coke stuff that is usually sold in Africa and European cities? 
 

Keel laying for Icon was in April, and keel laying for Utopia was in July, both of this year (2022). It should be feasible, if construction for both ships follows normal timing, (and I am clueless on how long it takes to build a cruise ship) for both ships to be completed in 2024.
https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/press-release/1599/royal-caribbean-celebrates-keel-laying-for-icon-of-the-seas/
https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2022/07/keel-laid-for-royal-caribbeans-utopia-of-the-seas-at-chantiers/

I was just at Labadee two days ago.  No issues. 

https://www.clickorlando.com/weather/2022/12/16/christmas-miracle-arctic-blast-could-bring-below-freezing-temperatures-to-central-florida/
By next Thursday, Dec 22, that cold front will be entering the Sunshine State. The cold will blast in Friday morning with coldest air settling in by the morning of Christmas Eve. The cold is currently charging up around Siberia.
Widespread 20s and 30s will be likely across Central Florida both Saturday and Sunday morning. If winds stay calm and skies remain clear, sub-freezing temperatures will be possible in Orlando.

However, there IS one from USA to Israel, if that might work. Rhapsody, 17 nights, departing Miami on the 29th of April 2023 and ending in Haifa.
To do Israel to USA, the work-around would be a b2b, repo+transatlantic. Again on Rhapsody, depart Haifa on the 6th of November 2023, 6-night repo to Barcelona followed immediately by a 14-night transatlantic departing from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale on the 12th of November 2023.
 

There are no cruises that go from Israel to USA.
Cruises from Israel sail only around the Mediterranean 

These are the free drinks offered on a RC cruise: 
tap water milk tea coffee (regular and decaf) lemonade iced tea flavored waters juices (at breakfast and not fresh squeezed) Hot chocolate (via instant packets)

I am baffled why you think this is a RC issue or problem for them to resolve. Nothing you encountered had ANYTHING to do with ANYTHING RC can control. You were dealing with agents of a sovereign foreign government. If I flew to GB and got stopped, delayed and screamed at by your Customs folks…..is that Delta Airlines fault in ANY way?? How do you think this is any different? 

Given the reaction of the Israeli official, it kind of sounds like they may have been calling your wife's name for awhile and you only noticed at the 2 hour mark when they shouted it.  Since you just returned to the ship at that point, you don't even know if there was a simple miscommunication or an actual problem with your wife's passport.  You don't know (or at least don't state) that you were denied entry to the country, so I'm not sure what you want from Royal.

Note to self:  Make sure to have all my ducks in a row if I ever travel to Israel.

Once you step off the ship Royal has no authority to act on your behalf or become involved with a local in-country issue. 
If you fly to Canada and a Canadian CBSA official doesn't like something would you expect a crew member from the airline to come running to your aid?  If so, you have the wrong expectation about what a carrier, either a ship or a plane, is responsible for. 
Royal has no legal authority to provide aid with immigration in a foreign country.  The 200 crew you saw lined up were going through the immigration process themselves.  They were not standing around looking for something to do.  They can't provide services like water or anything in a terminal of a foreign country.  Any attempt to inject themselves would not be welcomed by a foreign immigration officer. 
This notion that Royal is accountable for your every minute off the ship is an improper expectation.