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Stingray Swim in Grand Cayman, Climbing Dunn's River Falls in Jamaica with my son, Dolphin Encounter with my son (can't remember where, several ports have this) and Rainforest Trek/Cave Tubing in Belize.

@cruising mickey  I am a hot green tea drinker, and yes, I remember there being at least green tea bags.  I do not however remember seeing any iced or cold green tea options available.  You may need to carry some on. 

One thing to note, you will still come out cheaper if you buy either the UDP or the 3 night package and make your reservations for nightly dining once you board the ship.  Prices for Specialty Restaurants onboard are $$$.  Yes, while it's true you can't make the reservations in advance since you aren't Star or Sky Class, you will still be able to get decent reservations as long as you reserve first day on ship.

MMM the Shirley Ginger sounds very tasty, as does the Blueberry Nojito.  Can't wait to try something new!

Just carry on two bottles of wine when you board the ship and keep them in your stateroom. Nightcap assured!

On 6/18/2021 at 1:10 PM, SpeedNoodles said:

If my memory serves me correctly (and there's a significant chance it does not), the tracelets were a requirement of the government in Singapore.

I am with @SpeedNoodles I believe that was a condition of the Singaporean govt., especially since the sailings were all unvaccinated at the time they began.

Go to your browser/Google and type in "vision of the seas room video"  You will see several videos taken by passengers of different room types on that ship.  That may answer your questions.

23 hours ago, Temeculaguy said:

I have never cruised on RCL but have three RCL cruises booked in the next 13 months and am curious to see the differences. It was never brand loyalty, just that we live near the Los Angeles and San Diego ports and RCL hasn't had much of a presence in Southern California for a while. As my wife and I have moved into new age and tax brackets we get a little pickier, we have more vacation time so we can afford the time and the money of flying to a port but that wasn't always the case. We are native Californians, tattoos and surgically enhanced body parts on display seem normal to us, so the carnival crowd didn't bother us in fact we probably are them. What bothered us was the lack of specialty dining, limited suites, wine offerings and a few other things the older or smaller ships can lack. I was reluctant to switch because it means forfeiting loyalty and casino perks (sometimes free rooms) since I spend way too much time and money playing cards. I do like the suite offerings on Royal, were trying all three, JS, GS and OS on three different ships. Royal seems to have more rabid fans so I'm optimistic. One little thing I really like, probably not important to most, is the wine list and the beverage package rules as it pertains to wines above the price limit. On some lines, if they have a price limit of $13 and you order a $15 glass, you pay the whole $15. From what I've read with Royal's DBX, you just pay the difference. Plus the 40% off on bottles with the DBX serves as a backstop in case we don't like the offerings by the glass and from the wine lists posted, the prices are reasonable and selection suits us. Were not wine snobs, I prefer hobbyists but I've had land based tropical vacations at high end resorts impacted when I see the cabernet on ice when I approach the bar for the first time. I can improvise on land, I can always find a store nearby, on a cruise I am stuck. Maybe we are wine snobs.

You can bring 2 bottles of wine onto the ship on Royal. 

On 5/10/2021 at 8:09 AM, LovetoCruise87 said:

I agree. My wife has to eat gluten free. Sometimes it is very hard to find gluten free food, or have someone know what you are talking about. 

The MDR menus notate on the menu which dishes are GF and which are vegetarian.

I would prefer recyclable plastic to the aluminum Dasani bottles that were being advertised as available for in room water.  Don't care for "tinny" tasting water.

9 minutes ago, Galveston Steve said:

I'm trying to get permission to pull my grandson from kindergarten for the Aug 15th sailing.  I don't think it's gonna fly.

@GalvestonSteve well they made him do school from home for half of the last year.  Maybe I can request "school from cruise ship" for three days?

Is it terrible that I want to just take my kid out of school for several days to go on a cruise?  His school starts Aug. 17.  

Feeling the tears well up already!!!  I can't wait, August will be here before I know it and I'll be boarding and hopefully watching sail away from my balcony with a fruity drink in hand!

@steverk

Things are looking up for my mid August cruise on Explorer!

2 hours ago, twangster said:

I wonder how long since she has been able to put on a pair of skates.

It must have felt great to finally get back on the ice, assuming at this point she has.

@twangster She has a video of the first time she got out on the ice.  Fair to say she overdid it a bit, but she was SOOO HAPPY to be out on the ice doing what she loves.  I have really enjoyed watching her videos as I follow figure skating and cruising 

On 5/15/2021 at 7:02 AM, smokeybandit said:

Interesting that proof of recovery is only good for the last 90 days.

That's because they believe that natural immunity only lasts 90 days.  That is what a nurse friend of mine told me.  I think it's hogwash.  I think that as normally happens this guidance will be updated once they have more months/years of data. There are always outliers in every situation. 

20 minutes ago, Elnoz said:

Please educate me, I have no experience with even researching Alaska cruises. Why is this legislation needed? I understand Canada has halted cruises due to the virus, but why is legislation necessary to allow cruising from one US state to another?

Check out Matt's blog on this:

Royal Caribbean Group CEO on 2021 Alaska cruises: "reason for some hope" | Royal Caribbean Blog

On 5/1/2021 at 9:05 AM, FManke said:

We only have passport cards now, but need to get full passports for Oct. Do we have to fill out applications for new passports? Is there a different form if we already have the cards?

You will have to fill out the renewal applications.  I just had to do this for my husband as we are flying to Barbados in December and his passport card won't work for Caribbean flights.  He had a passport in the past, so I was able to do a renewal.  

I just sent it off today, so I will let you know how long it takes.  Of course, we normally have pretty quick service since we live in Texas and there is a passport processing place in state.

For anyone interested, here is the itinerary for the Oct. 31, 2022 Cruise on Norwegian Prima

Day 1 Galveston
Day 2 At Sea
Day 3 Cozumel
Day 4 At Sea
Day 5 At Sea
Day 6 Oranjestad, Aruba
Day 7 Willemstad, Curacao
Day 8 Kralendijk, Bonaire
Day 9 At Sea
Day 10 At Sea
Day 11 Great Stirrup Cay  (NCL Private Island)
Day 12 Miami

7 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

If I join the Latitude club, how high would I need to be to book now? I live near Sacramento, CA 38.5 degrees north, hopefully this is high enough. 

Latitudes is the name of their loyalty club at NCL.  I'm a member of the loyalty club on NCL and RCI.  I like both, but slightly prefer RCI, but I could NOT pass up going on this awesome new ship!  My husband and I are doing a 20 year anniversary cruise and leaving our son at home.

15 hours ago, Zurc said:

I was curious, went on NCL dot com to price the Prima from Galveston to Miami.   The booking stayed consistent price-wise, but when it got to the payment page, and it showed booking add-ons, the booking total was over $5 Million dollars.  $5,000,016.75.     And we thought RCI website support was challenged.  
 

p.s.  after seeing that price for an Oceanview, I can attest Royal Caribbean is a much better value

@Zurc If you aren't a Latitudes member, or if you aren't signed in with your membership it will not let you book. 

Prices are pretty good.   We are sailing in a handicapped accesible balcony room for about 2200 per person including WiFi, Specialty Dining, Excursion Credit, and the flight home to Houston from Miami.

On 5/12/2021 at 5:04 PM, Galveston Steve said:

The Port of Galveston is now acknowledging that NCL's Norwegian Prima will call on Galveston on 27 Oct 2022, before repositioning to Miami and Port Canaveral for the winter.  This will be the first NCL ship to ever call on Galveston.

Discussions are also in progress to home port an NCL ship in Galveston beginning in November 2023.

I am BOOKED!!!    11 Day Cruise on NCL Prima from Galveston to Miami,  visiting the beautiful Southern Caribbean!!!!

Oct. 31, 2022 - Nov. 11, 2022

Bookings only open to Latitudes members currently,  but opens to general public next week!

There is also a 12 day Cruise on Prima from New York to Galveston!!!!  In October 2022.

John from @ The Ship Show will be rooming with Tony from LaLidoLoca. Jenny is not going on the June 12 cruise.

1 hour ago, cruisellama said:

Might be mistaken, didn't the Evian come delivered in glass bottles and Dasani is delivered in plastic?   Definitely preferred the Evian and would purchase the case on-board.

The new Dasani is in metal cans.  The Dasani and Evian used to be in plastic (at least last I remember in 2019).

On 4/21/2021 at 8:53 AM, sk8erguy1978 said:

Honestly, this is why I assumed they went with Dasani.

All true, however Dasani is absolutely terrible filtered water, imho.

bleh