USFFrank

I would think this pushes any Discovery ship to 2030 at the earliest.

Thanks for the good info as my husband is an Episcopal priest (former Catholic priest) and says Mass for our family when we cruise. I will have him post something on the boards as we would welcome anyone that wanted to join. 

I'm not aware of any "official" list, but I do know that RCCL always tries to book a priest for Christmas and Easter sailings. Same with a rabbi for Hanukkah and Passover. While they obviously can't guarantee the clergy member won't have to cancel at the last minute for some reason, the odds are very good that there will be a priest on any Easter sailings. 
More info at RCCL FAQ: Does Royal Caribbean offer Religious Services onboard?

Radiance and Vision size ships sail in and out of Tampa & Baltimore. Voyager class and above are too tall. These new ships need to be able to sail under bridges in order to get into open water from those 2 ports. Not sure of the size criteria for Alaska & the Panama Canal, but maybe they could be a little longer and wider than the Vision & Radiance class and have a retractable smokestack like the Oasis class ships.

Radiance and Vision size ships sail in and out of Tampa & Baltimore. Voyager class and above are too tall. These new ships need to be able to sail under bridges in order to get into open water from those 2 ports. Not sure of the size criteria for Alaska & the Panama Canal, but maybe they could be a little longer and wider than the Vision & Radiance class and have a retractable smokestack like the Oasis class ships.

Best thing to do is once you are on the ship and have your seapass cards,  check to see if they all have the same table number.  If yes, then you should be OK. If not go down to your main dining room to see if you can all be seated together.

I wonder how many US cities would have areas with Level 4 Warnings if the State Department was able to apply their metrics to those locations…🤔

Best thing to do is once you are on the ship and have your seapass cards,  check to see if they all have the same table number.  If yes, then you should be OK. If not go down to your main dining room to see if you can all be seated together.

The maximum weight of a Panamax ship is only 52,500 "deadweight" tons. I think Discovery-class will be a Neo-Panamax ship, which can fit into the new locks. To get to the canal, ships must pass under three bridges, which will constrain height. The design should include providing for sailing to and from Tampa, Baltimore, and other ports that have low bridges. They will also take the width of the ship into account. The lifeboats on the Discovery can't obstruct the ship from getting into the lock. 
Discovery should be, therefore, a little smaller than Voyager-class and shaped a little differently. 
Panamax - Wikipedia

Just returned from 11 days on Anthem.   Met our cabin attendant the first night and when he asked if we needed anything, we requested the daily compass.
Problem solved!
 
Other items we requested:  extra blanket (it was cold leaving and returning to NYC), wine glasses.  
We encouraged our attendant to take a "day off" from servicing our cabin and provided a nice tip at the end of the voyage.
 

Typical for us to ask for the Cruise Compass and a couple of extra towels every day. We are generally pleased with the response.
Last cruise was a B2B for two weeks and by the end of the cruise I think we had 7  towel animals lined up.
Our cabin attendant received a nice tip.
 

It may depend on what you might need the insurance for.
In my case I wouldn't necessarily need it for the travelling to port part for I live within a 4 hour drive to Miami, FL, and even less to the other 3 Florida ports, so I take my chances on traveling out early on embarkation day.
But for health insurance look and see what Royal offers.
On previous vacations I used Allianz where you can customize the type of travel insurance you need.
 

If the rumors are true and the new Discovery Class ships are going to be a similar size to the Radiance Class then I think you will see a few things that don't take up a massive footprint (Rock Climbing Wall obviously, Mini Golf, Flowrider and perhaps a couple water slides) but you can't put too much on that size of ship.  I'm curious if they will try to do a promenade like Voyager Class and above or will they do the traditional Atrium Style like the older ships.  Also curious if they bring back the Viking Crown Lounge.  Either way I'm looking forward to seeing what's next...

Your room steward has gone above and beyond, in that case.

If we got an upgraded experience overall with food and service I’d consider booking at higher prices. I’m not willing to pay significantly more for less product. Royal employees are being asked to do more with less, customers are being asked to pay more. Jason Liberty is the classic greedy out of touch CEO that reaps all the benefits and isn’t held accountable. 

This speaks to my question about a correction...I have reasonably priced cruises booked through June 2025, and the likelihood I will book again with Royal is almost nil right now. I may cancel one of the sailings too....I have no problem booking elsewhere. I will keep an eye on it, but I think it will take some time for the market to figure it out and tell Royal that their product isn't worth it...once the honeymoon period with Icon wears off, we may have a milestone. The sooner people realize the product doesn't bring the kind of value they are used to and when the novelty wears off may be telling. Utopia probably won't sustain the momentum they are having for very much longer.

That travel advisory is a little Wild, Wild, West scary for those areas outlined in the bulletin!  Eeeesshhh!  😳
Even back in May 2019 when we visited Jamaica on Allure, there were some "minor" safety concerns. Our friends that traveled with us have a go-to driver that they always use while in Jamaica (FYI... he was armed from what I was told... concealed of course). They actually just returned from a quick getaway this past week in Montego Bay without any incidents or concerns.
Our driver explained during our travels, that at that time, Jamaica was a hotbed for international phone scam rings. The government had just cracked down on these rings and some of the organizers/leaders were still on the loose on the island and the military was trying to track them down.
They set up military checkpoints throughout the island... we must have passed through 3 or 4 on our way to Rick's Cafe and all of our other stops! He clearly knew the soldiers at these checkpoints and we passed through quickly! 

 
We never felt unsafe during that 2019 trip, but I guess it's become a little more dangerous in some areas.
I would do what makes you feel most comfortable... most of the risk appears to be primarily after dark and in the more sketchy, remote areas. 

It may depend on what you might need the insurance for.
In my case I wouldn't necessarily need it for the travelling to port part for I live within a 4 hour drive to Miami, FL, and even less to the other 3 Florida ports, so I take my chances on traveling out early on embarkation day.
But for health insurance look and see what Royal offers.
On previous vacations I used Allianz where you can customize the type of travel insurance you need.
 

We found that immediately post Pandemic the food to be as good as ever. But about the time the menus were changed was the BIG dropoff. Cruised in November 2022 and then the same ship again in Feb 2023 and the difference was shocking. I've railed against new leadership ad nauseam but you can almost pinpoint the change of leadership to the drop in quality. Although to be fair, I've never had a great meal in Chops. Only just decent and not worth the extra fee. So maybe I was just lucky before and it's always been generally subpar.

The popups are becoming more ubiquitous and persistent. Some even refuse to close for 3-5 seconds. I also understand the economic requirements, but they are becoming a reason not to view this blog. 

Annoying thing is for me a large % seem to be for other cruise lines!
#L2R 🫶 

Yes, I mean I get that ads are what makes this site possible but the pop ups blocking things is very annoying. 

Does anyone else get constant ads popping up on this site? It’s nearly impossible to read through posts without constant ads in your face. It’s even worse on my iPhone with the yellow banners now. 

The aqua show will run in place of the halftime show😀 I'll take Hideaway Heist over what the NFL puts out anytime.

I can appreciate your concern, but absolutely do not bother. I'm fairly certain that Royal and crew members are fairly aware of the fact that everyone everywhere has been/ is getting sick these last few months - whether it's covid, flu, rsv or the basic cold.