MuttMutt

My phones have always had wifi calling on when I picked them up. The issue with wifi calling is that if you step out of wifi range while on a phone call the call will usually drop. VoLTE was supposed to help fix that but it still seems to happen. So most of the time I turn wifi calling off and only turn it on for certain reasons. The reason why phones don't send sms and mms messages or calls with wifi calling of is those systems designs predate cell phones having internet access. There are a few proposed replacements like rcs available but most providers have no real incentive to implement them in an open way. Right now the only other option is to use a different application that runs over data, that is the reason why I recommend Signal.

I am on android using Google fi for service. For quite a few years even before Google fi I have been able to text or call over wifi. For a while now I have been using Signal https://www.signal.org/ and have been able to set it up to work on devices with no service or sim card. But on a device with service it drops in and works for sms and mms messages from anyone. I don't use what's app because it's already been showed that someone had keys to the back end and can read anything they want.

Just the other day I contacted my TA and got 131 on my 7 day inside cabin as OBC with a reprice. By the time I received the email it was already on my account. There is no reason I know of for it to take 14 days unless they are refunding it instead.

Most modern phones have a calling and texting over wifi feature. It's easy to try out too. Go to a local store. Turn airplane mode on. Turn wifi back on since airplane mode will turn it off. Connect to a wifi network and make some texts and call someone you know to verify it works. If it does purchase voom for on the ship and text away. The only other option I see if it doesn't work and they don't use something like Signal messenger (it's a drop in secure text replacement app) is to install a messaging app on an old phone that doesn't have service and leave it with them for communication with you while on the ship. As long as the phone will connect to wifi they should be able to message you so if they plan to go top the store or something you can take that phone and get it connected to the hotspots ahead of time.

Agreed. But the main dining room was more enforced before. I walked around in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt woke avoiding the pictures and dining room. I was more than happy to be able to just find a place to sit and people watch. Now it's not going to matter at all.

Never seen anything like that but the TA I use has a "90 Day Ticker" that shows some of the cheapest prices I have ever seen. Most of the time I just can't find something that will work for me.

Right now with the Windjammer being shut down for dinner it will be difficult to enforce a true formal night. For me I look at a vacation as a way of not dressing up. The more casual the better, it's one of the few times when all of my tattoos are actually visible. But to each their own. There is usually enough room on the ship so that everyone can enjoy their vacation in whatever way they choose. But I would think that with Windjammer down in the evenings they may be shifting the casual people to one of the rooms and this who dressed up to another.

@Christie It is well worth learning to dive hands down. However it will take some time on board to do your skills and such, if that is not an issue you may as well go for it since your time is constrained at home. You will be given a code or link to start doing the online learning and you have to have it all completed and all the testing done before you start doing in water stuff. You should also try to watch some of the dive video's online as much as you can to expand your knowledge on things like doing mask clears and taking your BCD on and off in the water. The more you have exposed yourself to the better off you will be when it comes to be skill time just remember that ever instructor is a little different in how they handle things so some steps may be a little different. Also remember to watch the ones based on PADI techniques as other agencies do have some minor differences like how to hand off a regulator when you are out of air. And all along the way teach your husband and/or children the hand signals. It will help you practice and will get them prepped if they ever decide to join later on. I actually have the open water course video's that I have had my friend watch so she isn't as worried while I am on a dive on the ship.

Would be interesting. Supposed to be on AOTS in February. When is the dry dock supposed to happen?

You and me both. I have been dragging my feet on booking a cruise in Florida since Galveston is an easy drive for me. Keep hoping they will open more areas up.

Yep, most site administrators put in a redirect from the non www version of a site to the correct page. With secure pages it must match exactly or it will fail and cause issues. Sadly some sites are configured to be secure on the non www version and they also don't put in a redirect sometimes as well. On big sites it's usually an oversite, on small sites it's often someone who doesn't understand how the servers work.

Took about 12 hours for the approval. Shipped the next day FedEx overnight. So from order to arrival was about 40 hours through eMed.

Awesome. That opens up a whole world of possibilities.

That is why I bought the 6 tests. We are driving down a few days before and have a room booked. We will test a few days before we leave out and basically avoid going out and dealing with people. Then when we are at the room we can test again the day before the ship leaves out to have our result to cruise. That gives us a couple to use before or after the trip as we see fit.

Well my tests showed up today. They show to expire 10-04-21 but that has been extended to January 3rd through an ammended cdc shelf life change for the kits. I wish they would expire closer to March but it's all good.

I took my bcd, fins, mask, regulators, and that kind of stuff but not a cylinder. She took hers? Plus my 117 steels are 60 pounds each full. I'm guessing the porters won't enjoy that, lol.

Who knows for sure. I am sure that anyone with some sort of medical id can easily make up a printed sheet and give you a test result. I know it says no hand written notes are accepted but honestly it's easy enough to forge the documentation either way. Was looking up some info on testing sites as well and came across this for those who may be looking: https://doineedacovid19test.com/ They are doing free stuff but they clearly state that they can't guarantee when results will show up. I may use one a week before I head to a port area though instead of wasting a kit.

Bought a pack of 6 Binax Now tests through Emed.com and should be here today. Shipping was almost 20 and overnight. Just selected the option for "returning on a trip to enter the US" and went through no problem. I figured that was as close as possible to the real reason and honestly they don't care unless you are trying to resell them or something. However after reading this line I may have found a loophole: If you purchase a test at Walmart and have a "medical professional" do the test or supervise would this not count as well? I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't take them to someone you know who is in that classification and have them do the test for you or "supervise" you and have it still be valid. The big key in all of this is the "IF" in the taken at home and not supervised.

Don't know. It's odd that they killed off from two separate cruises. At this point I am almost considering canceling. It's not that I don't enjoy being on the ship but the few excursions I want to do end up being dives and if I am going to end up being on the same route and only able to do a couple (Costa Maya is WAY overpriced IMHO so only doing it once) I honestly have much less desire to go. I like being in the water to burn a couple cylinders and then basically lounging around the rest of the day. I have even considered finding out if I can take my cylinders with me on the ship if I end up in a place like CoCo Cay or Labadee. Then get to the dock and just hop off and explore while the people around are wondering what just happened.

Just had two things canceled on my b2b on Liberty starting on October 24th. Anyone else have the same thing happen? Sounds like they are canceling the stop from what the email stated.

I understand. I sometimes wear my contacts but am ok to drive or dive without corrective lenses. But yeah, getting on the ship and in the water is something I really miss right now. Did some local lake dives a couple months ago but closed on a house so trying to fix some issues before the middle of October so may not get much water time till then. Most of my lake dives end up being underwater clean up dives as well but I enjoy getting the trash out of the water and posting videos on YouTube.

I understand. Hopefully things go well for you. I did my certification a little over 2 years ago in OKC after my wife passed away and it was one of the best things I could have done.

Rhapsody of the Seas is a vision class and predates the PADI onboard shop. Pretty sure you still have to be on a Freedom, Oasis, Quantum, or Voyager class ship to have the PADI dive class available. You could do the classroom part at a local dive shop and then do the in water portion at a port but that may require more than one day to complete depending on the dive operation at the port. It would also likely need to be booked outside of the cruise lines available activities. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/01/23/royal-caribbean-becomes-only-cruise-line-offer-full-range-of-padi-scuba-diving-offerings

Which I also answered in the same post.

Correct, solarium is adult only. But age will not make a difference. Unvaxinated is unvaxinated, age does not excuse it. No covid vaccine is no entry even if the parents or other party members are.