Reigert2008

Totally! we're not sure yet if we will carry anything on, since it's one more thing to lug around all day until the room is ready. It'll probably depend on the boarding time, length of cruise, and ship. thanks!

I totally agree that it is certainly a choice that differs greatly for each individual! For those of us that don't drink alcohol, it gets even trickier to figure out the best plan of action. We have always purchased the Refreshment Package and generally do not drink sodas much at home, but on the cruise it's different . However I drink a ton of espresso based drinks and sparkling water, while the wife drinks no coffee or sparkling water and does plain water and sodas. So trying to find the balance has been difficult so far. We will turn diamond after our next cruise and our first diamond cruise will be in early 2023. Here is our current plan: Crown and Anchor "Welcome Waters" - 2 bottles in the room Diamond Lounge Coffee Machine - will use for hot and iced espresso type drinks (i mostly drink espresso alone or make it "americano") Diamond Vouchers - 4 per person per day - plan to use for Frappuccino style coffee drinks, smoothies, and mocktails Soda Package - for each person - plan to use for sodas in venues and Powerade, sodas, and sparkling Dasani from the Free style machines Maybe we end up back at the Refreshment package or maybe we end up dropping the soda package at some point, but we were too nervous to not have at least the soda package (it was $8.99 a person) for the first time while learning the new diamond ropes. We know we can "carry on" some things, but since we typically fly to the port and not have a car it is sometimes difficult to find small packages at reasonable prices. It's also a pain to carry heavy items on since we travel very lightly. As long as we spend less than $400 total on the drinks, we're still ahead of buying the Refreshment package ($23.99 pppd for 7 nights, plus 18%)

How is Babbel? They have a Lifetime subscription for 50% off and the I get 10% back from my credit card, so I’ve been looking into that. I can get a lifetime for barely more than what a year would be.

In some video on Youtube from RoyalCaribbenblog.com (that I cannot find now), @JennaRCB mentions that she took some brief language classes while onboard Harmony. I've looked at some of the cruise compassed here on the site, but cannot find the section where they may be listed and what languages they may offer. Does anyone have any insight as to which languages are offered and when they may occur? I agree with @JennaRCB where it is nice to at least know some basics for various ports of call. I need to learn some French for a land vacation in 2023 and maybe I can learn some French while on a ship! Thanks!

No, they are not. If someone "steals" your towel, you should go to the towel station and report it so they can update your count. It's also a good idea to check your count when you return your towels. We always return all of ours at the same time, so I always ask to make sure I'm back to "zero". In my opinion, it's best to return the towels at the end of each day and make sure you are back to "zero" and then get new fresh towels each morning when you need them. Doing this we have never had an issue with being charged for a towel.

That's good to know! Thanks!

Did you use a travel agent to book this? I'd suspect a good travel agent would have been aware of the interporting and at least been able to prepare the guests for differences or suggest an alternate sailing.

my wife and I will turn Diamond after our next cruise this year. We already have a cruise booked with her parents and that will be our first as Diamond, while they will be either Platinum or Emerald (I forget). We’ve been having so much fun “reminding” them of our future status. Any time we talk about the trip, one of will say something about “I wonder what snacks will be in the Diamond loung on the sea day” or “we’ll get you settled before visiting the lounge”, it’s been a hoot and they kick it back to us as well. We’ve also started referring to ourselves as “pre-Diamond” or “pre-pre-Diamond plus” it all started when my father in law asked why our set sail passes were different colors they will actually move from Gold to Platinum with the next one.

MCO is ceasing operations at 10:30AM on Wednesday 09/28/2022. I read some place that is was through Friday the 30th, but have not seen a verified time of re-opening.

If it helps, we used Lyft on September 11th after our cruise and it was $67.78 plus tip to get to Hobby. We did some walking around after the cruise and was picked up at 11:09 am about a half mile from the port.

By chance, did you turn off the “master switch” by the door? We were on the Oasis back in February and my in-laws were complaining about the A/C not working the first two nights (it did during the day) and I showed them how to not use the Master switch at night and the A/C magically worked the rest of the cruise

im not a TA, so I don’t fully understand the process, but you have a short window to move it to a TA and the cruise cannot be fully paid for. A good TA is the most valuable thing you will never pay for we’ve used our MEI TA for both cruises and land vacations.

With GTY rooms you may not even find out your cabins until the week of your cruise. If having connecting or close rooms is a requirement, you may need to move out of the GTY category so you have more control. If you still have time, I’d recommend moving the reservation(s) to a travel agent ( I recommend MEI travel) as a travel agent has expertise in these matters and can guide you through options. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com has a big yellow box where you can fill out a form to be contacted by an agent. good luck!

We just returned home from our first cruise out of Texas. One thing that struck us as different was that the Texas flag was hanging on the promenade, over the "TV" at the pool, and off the bridge. These were only there on embarkation day and then disappeared until the last night / early morning of disembarkation (next embarkation). With Royal, we have cruised from Maryland, Washington State, and multiple ports in Florida and we've never seen a state flag being displayed in this manner. Is this some Texas regulation or something that requires ships to do this?

perfect! Thanks so much!

Thanks! We're still taking things slow and are trying to avoid public transportation as much as possible. We've been looking at a couple of excursions that may work, but we also enjoy walking and tend to walk pretty far anyway We were last in Grand Cayman with Disney way back in 2013, and i think we ended up about half way without even trying and was just wandering through town hitting up shops and such.

Question, is it walkable to Sea Wall BLVD from the Springhill suites? I;m thinking more about sidewalk availability and such. We are staying at the Springhill for a future cruise and the hotel itself looks great. Thanks!

Hopefully, someone can answer this. We would like to visit Hell, to send our post card. Can you walk from the cruise port? It looks like you can, but wasn't sure if sidewalks or safety issues would prevent it. Looks like about 6 miles each way, which wouldn't be out of the ordinary for our "wandering around" for the day. Thanks!

I agree, the MDR staff always let us know how important 10s are and on our last cruise was event mentioned that if they get all 10s they get an extra day off. It’s really uncomfortable for us since they’ve already earned a 10 with the amazing service. I know they really want everyone to complete the survey and Royal needs to find a better way to incentivize passengers to complete the survey, so the staff aren’t “begging” for scores. It’s a small thing, but t leaves us with a bad taste right at the end of the trip.

It probably be best to have your travel agent reach out to Royal. You also may want to contact the special needs department, here’s the link to the form. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/resources/guest-special-needs good luck!

It’s best for each adult to login separately using the same information they’d use on the Royal Caribbean site. Of course for children, they may not have personal e-mail yet, so you can see theirs on your device. also I’d print out all your documentation since it’ll be easier to show that than scroll through phones and worry about dead spots in service.

The long standing suggestion is to. It have a before noon. Its also recommended to be at the airport no less than two hours before your flight, so for a 9 am flight, you really should be at the airport at 7 am. yes, I understand many people don’t get to the airport that early before a flight, but that is the general recommendation and I follow it. I’ve also never missed a flight, so YMMV.

You should call Travel agent or Royal to get a direct answer and explain your situation. It’ll be much faster and you’ll have an official response. good luck.

When you book through Royal there’s an option to prepay the gratuities. Your TA can also add them to your invoice, so I’d contact them to have them added. If you booked direct with Royal, then you may need to call.

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center. I keep an eye on this throughout hurricane center both for “fun” and for vacation hiccups. https://www.nhc.noaa.gov