Bowen

I’m not a boomer, but I might play one on a cruise. It doesn’t feel like ten years ago that WJ was open until 11, but I guess so.

We’re on Allure right now and having a great time. We’ve noticed some changes in the Windjammer this cruise. They now close at 9 pm, it’s been 11 pm since I started cruising 20 years ago, and the selections are much less. The food is still very good, but waiting in line for ten minutes at 9:30 for Sorrentos or Promenade Cafe isn’t welcome. For the first time since my cruising career began I’m feeling a little leery of what might be coming. The changes on this trip are so noticeable. If they are having to make these types of cutbacks, what else is going to get cut back? We’re fine with the one per day House keeping, that’s been no problem, but it does feel a little odd to basically not see your room attendant at all.

I think a consequence of locking down for two years is that people’s immune systems spent two years not fighting bugs. Everyone in my sphere has been way sicker since most places started reopening.

We sail tomorrow, I went in today to answer the health questions, but they are gone. Does it close 24 hours prior, so like you only have between midnight and 5 p.m. the day before or something?

Escape rooms would be awesome. Also we did a murder mystery dinner on board once, they should offer those on every ship.

It’s all very hit or miss. We have two power blocks, we put one in our luggage and one in our carry on

I’m glad to see it’s being normalized. We’ve had every sickness of the ship, from the flu to noro. We always do the same thing, quarantine until the symptoms are 24 hours gone. We never report it and wouldn’t report COVID unless (as the OP pasted) it were bad enough to see a doctor on board. We don’t bring tests, we don’t even think of it anymore.

The same comedians did both shows on Allure in January, the shows were similar, but not exactly the same, and the family friendly one was indeed family friendly. I wasn’t able to see the non family friendly shows, they were all booked up, but I asked friends on board who attended both.

I don’t think this is anything more than just a comp some people were offered. Not everyone got the offer and they are still offering normal comps. It seems like much ado about nothing. Not a great comp, but also not meaning the normal comps are gone.

I know in Roatan there is a huge pool with a walk in grade. I don’t know if you have to pay to swim, but it’s extremely convenient to the pier, restaurants, etc. There is sand, beach views, and lots of seating and l loungers. I can’t help with the dolphin encounter, sorry!

People with disabilities, people with facial piercings, people with lots of tattoos, people when they find out you homeschool, yeah it happens to pretty much everyone. We just move on with life and understand that people are judgmental and no amount of wishing is going to stop that. I choose not to be a victim, they can stare if they want, it doesn’t matter. OP will have a great time.

How many bottles of water are you allowed to bring per state room? Do you just check it with your luggage? How do you mark it?

Hi! You’re going to have a great time! I love the rule about not trusting other kids, especially in such loose settings that don’t mimic every day life. You can set a spending limit and I absolutely would. My kids know their limits, but they also know I get them a video arcade card each cruise. It just gets uploaded to their sea pass though. On one of our last cruises they racked up a huge amount in the arcade because they thought the money would end when the arcade money ran out. Not so! Lesson learned.

Boarding based on class, enormous typo.

They used to do special boarding bars on class, I think even at Emerald. They don’t anymore, so I can only guess that somehow it was costing them money. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I do think Emerald used to Have a special boarding line. Now they don’t even have one for Diamond, at least not that I’ve seen since the COVID mandates ended.

That happens to everyone, it’s not new, it’s not relegated to people’s sexual preferences, it’s just life in society.

Maybe so, but it’s not enough dedication to make It monetarily viable for Royal to give better perks. Like I said, it took me 20 years, I feel you, but the line is going to look at the bottom line.

If your think anyone is going to complain to guest services, you’re not paying attention. No one is going to risk getting black balled from a cruise line or risk being charged with a hate crime for not wanting to see a man in a bikini. Believe me, no one is going to say anything at all. The OP and their gender fluid partner will be fine.

Same boat here! Boat, ha ha ha.

And now that the thread has experienced anything other than “acceptable” responses, I expect it will be locked soon.

Yes your gender fluid partner will get looks. No, no one will say anything.

They’re reserving the perks for the loyal customers. Not much point in giving great perks to someone who has been on two cruises and splits their time along the other cruise lines. It took me almost 20 years to get to Diamond, in hindsight the half dozen cruises I took on other lines would have been better spent on Royal. Royal would have been happy to Diamond me much sooner.

Man, good to know. This changes my math for what I want to spend in the casino.

We always bring a noise machine, no issues.

I wonder if the rules are different for closed loop cruises in the US? We were denied flying to France a couple of years ago because our passports expired before the six month mark, but I do think that might only be for international travel.