MTNeedsAVacay

Alaska is very large and sparsely populated.   No cell towers away from the towns and villages.  In larger towns Ike Juneau the speeds are okay.  In smaller towns that are remote the speeds will be slower.  Go into airplane mode leaving port to avoid potential cellular roaming charges from the ship cell tower.  

If it’s anything like tmobile, don’t count on it at all. Best I could get was 3g. How did we live like that?!?

I'm gonna stick with 6216 on deck 6. Keep an open mind and go with the flow. We have a view of the ocean on one of the grandest ships on the ocean. How bad can it really be? 🤣

‘Times we have won royal up and didn’t like the room selection ………… I’ve gone to the website and looked for what other rooms were available available in that same category, then I called Royal and asked if I could switch from my current room to the available room I wanted …….. and they’ve changed the room for me all 3 times that I have asked.
 

These 2 cruises this summer are the first time trying this system and I only bid minimum or 5-10 bucks over minimum on 2 suites. I don't think I'd ever go much over that. To me it's just a shot, just a chance, no high hopes. 
The more I think about this move the more I like it. It's privacy for sure. We don't have to worry about getting out of the shower and the curtains being closed. Yeah, I'm good with this move. 
In the end it's a freaking cruise on Oasis, nothing is bad. 🤣

I’m sorry you had such a difficult time on Ovation. We sail Ovation in August and have big hopes and positive vibes for our sailing. Just like the others, I agree the 20% was generous. To put it in perspective, we sailed Star Class in November. Our bags, which based on previous Star sailings, should always stay with us, they were lost…for 8 hrs. Turns out RC sends them to be sanitized now due to covid. Now we know. Then, our Star suite had brown /red spots everywhere in the bathroom. We asked the stateroom attendant and he said it was construction glue.  It wiped with a wet tissue. We were on the next sailing after a “special” cruise and didnt want to take chances.  Both our toilets also broke that day too. We voiced our concern. At our first port, the Housekeeping Manager, our attendant and another officer scrubbed the walls clean. We still asked to see the manager. He of course came and we let him have it. Not about our issues but that due to short staff, our poor attendant was left by himself trying  to take care of these rooms by himself. SC usually has 2 attendants per room. My poor man had 6 rooms by himself. We assured the manager that our attendant was top notch, overworked and still did everything with a smile and a hello every time we saw him. Our concern was management wasn’t pitching in to help and that is why our stateroom wasn’t SC clean. We thanked the manager for his help cleaning the bathroom and left it at that. The Mgr saw to it we were given a voucher for 15% off the next cruise. Obviously we were disappointed in our Star Class experience but we didn’t use that voucher because nothing ruined our great vacation. All was handled without one word to the genie. We tipped our attendant more than the genie on that one. We haven’t stopped booking Star either. Royal, IMHO always tries to set things right and we always appreciate the gesture and which is why, even with our complaints, we don’t want to sample the grass someplace else. Loyal to Royal until too old. Then Celebrity, lol. BTW, we were married in Cozumel quite a few years ago on an Allure sailing. This dumb new husband left our marriage license on a pile of shirts in a shop at the port. Found out after we departed. I’ve only seen my wife truly angry once and this was that time. After giving me a joking hard time, Allure crew immediately contacted the shore crew. Our license was found and was waiting for us via Fedex when we got home. Wheew!  You can’t put a price on that. We love Royal. 

Rumor has it this fight started when they found out only 1 bottle of Kraken was left on the whole ship

Right outside Cafe Promanade! 
Wonder if they were fighting over the last slice of pizza  🤣
 

This happened to us twice this year- first time in April, my husband and I took our tests and the same time; he got his results back in less than an hour and mine never came back. Called the Walgreens and they said I could pick up a physical copy of my results. We were lucky the Walgreens is just down the street from us. The second time was a few weeks ago, 3 of us tested at the same time. My daughter and I both got our results back in about an hour, but nothing for my husband. He called the next morning and finally got a hold of someone who told him he didn't get results because his test was inconclusive. Why he didn't get an email with that information too is weird. Then he went back to retest, and after that a few hours, still didn't get an email with results. So he called and we were able to pick up the physical copy. 
All this to say, testing was free (unlike the proctored at-home tests), but be prepared for some possible glitches! Have a backup plan just in case, and test as early as possible to give you time to pick up results or retest!

Since Allure wasn't revamped, she has kept the 2-story Diamond Lounge located on deck 11..the best DL on an Oasis class ship!

Technically you can.
 
First go pick your months and do that search. For instance, I want to look for cruises in March 2023.
 
You end up with a URL like this which has a min date of March 1 and a max date of March 31
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/?dates_minDate=03%2F01%2F2023&dates_maxDate=03%2F31%2F2023&durationCode_6to8=true&featured=true
 
If I wanted to look for cruises that depart, say between March 16 to March 20, I just change the middle numbers
 
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/?dates_minDate=03%2F16%2F2023&dates_maxDate=03%2F20%2F2023&durationCode_6to8=true&featured=true
 
Of course you can tweak that too to do like March 15 to April 15 or December 15 into the new year through January 15.

Just venting about a minor irritation. I know there are other sites that let you narrow down your exact travel window, but I'd prefer to do it on RC's official website. I actually find the whole "search for a cruise" process really clunky and frustrating on RC's site (I know, I know, Royal IT...). What if I'm considering different room types? Go back and start over. What if I'm considering 1 vs 2 rooms. Go back and start over. Why do I often have to click twice on the page where you choose the floor for your room (once for floor and then "select")? And why can't the number of days selection be part of the other choices? Do many people really just choose a 3-5 day cruise with no other considerations?
Ugh.

I'm with you on this!

We all piled back onto the bus to go the hour and a half to our last included excursion of the land tour, the Alaska Sea Life Center. We saw dall sheep along the way on the mountains next to the road, but no pictures. The Sea Life Center is at the far end of Seward, and as we drove though, we caught a glimpse of how our day would end.
 
 
A few on the bus wanted to just be dropped off, but we continued on to the aquarium as planned. We have a pretty big aquarium close to home, so this one felt a little small, but they had a long bank of touch tanks, puffins, seals, a sea lion, an octopus, and lunch...I mean a red king crab.

 




 
We were fortunate that our visit happened to be at feeding time for the sea lion. You could tell he knew what was going on when all the people started to gather.



 
The pictures don't really do the sea lion or crab justice, they were both huge. The seal and sea lion tanks also have an underwater viewing area on the bottom floor of the center.

 
The only salmon we were able to see this trip - they don't run until July. We're planning our return trip a little later in the season so we can see them in the wild.

 
After about an hour, we boarded the bus one last time, and you could feel the excitement. It was cruise time!

Day five of the land tour - Day one of the cruise!
So far, breakfast buffets at the hotels have been what you would expect from the free breakfasts at a Hilton - scrambled eggs, sausage/bacon, pastry, pancakes/french toast, and fruit. Today's buffet at the Alyeska Resort was really good though - smoked salmon, reindeer sausage, lingonberry jam, grilled pineapple, vegetable frittata, and a few other items that really made it step above what has been offered so far.
DH started talking about "next time we come up here". Which was a far cry from his previous attitude of "this will be a once in a lifetime trip". After being on someone else's schedule for 5 days and seeing all the wasted time of being in a group of 40 (it takes a good 20-30 minutes just to load or unload the bus for example), we have decided we will do a future pre-cruise land trip on our own. We can spend a couple nights in a few towns so we feel we have time to get a feel for the local culture and not go from hotel to bus to planned activity. Rinse. Repeat. We've already started planning possibilities. We would stay at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge and the Alyeska Resort again, but we would definitely not stay at Denali Park Lodge again. Maybe fly into Fairbanks next time. We'll see; no date has been set on this future trip.
Anyway, we got downstairs a few minutes before we were supposed to meet, and we had a bit of a wait which made us a little nervous after yesterday's delay. We boarded our bus about 10:30 leaving all our luggage sitting on the curb of the hotel. A truck picks up the luggage from all the cruise tours and takes it directly to the ship at this point. We made it to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, an included excursion, about 11am. The center is a sanctuary for injured or orphaned animals. We saw wood bison, musk ox, deer, elk, caribou (reindeer), moose, coyotes, wolves, and a couple other critters. We were on a schedule and were only given an hour at this stop, so we missed a few things. I personally think the best parts were the bears. Now everyone had seen one, and the kids (and DH) could stop teasing me. 

Many people including myself prefer the new approach of any drink,  at any bar, at any time of day, including the private destinations.
The nightly happy hour event had to change.  It wasn't scalable with the growing number of Diamonds and during a pandemic it is a super spreader event.  Yes, the virus is still with us and impacting cruising.  
Personally I love the new approach.
Diamond is not being cancelled.  It is still one of the best loyalty levels on any cruise line.  The any time, any drink four voucher drinks made it even better.
If you have grown weary there is nothing wrong sailing with other lines.  NCL doesn't provide a nightly open bar for loyalty tiers.  Carnival doesn't provide a nightly open bar for loyalty tiers.  MSC doesn't provide a nightly open bar for loyalty tiers.  Despite that if the grass is greener somewhere else for you, by all means go there.  It's always good to try something different if for no reason than to remind yourself why Royal is still the best.  

This happened to us twice this year- first time in April, my husband and I took our tests and the same time; he got his results back in less than an hour and mine never came back. Called the Walgreens and they said I could pick up a physical copy of my results. We were lucky the Walgreens is just down the street from us. The second time was a few weeks ago, 3 of us tested at the same time. My daughter and I both got our results back in about an hour, but nothing for my husband. He called the next morning and finally got a hold of someone who told him he didn't get results because his test was inconclusive. Why he didn't get an email with that information too is weird. Then he went back to retest, and after that a few hours, still didn't get an email with results. So he called and we were able to pick up the physical copy. 
All this to say, testing was free (unlike the proctored at-home tests), but be prepared for some possible glitches! Have a backup plan just in case, and test as early as possible to give you time to pick up results or retest!

Another tip - bring lots of things to keep your kid entertained while waiting for the results! Snacks, toys, activities, tablet, whatever. It's literally just a bunch of rows of chairs to wait in, so it's not much of anything to keep them busy!

You can fit 35 people in a suite and have enough booze for them!? Jesus Christ, how big are the suites? Also, are any of you fancy pants suite people cruising on Oddessy of the Seas in September... me and my wife are great fun at parties when invited 🤪 

A lot depends on how many “extra” people we’re talking about.  Of course, @Mattis correct…the official answer is “no”, but if you are just looking to have 1-2 people join you for a show, my guess is that you will be accommodated.  More than that ?  It would put the Genie in a very uncomfortable position of having to really bend the rules.  Don’t be “that guy”.
From my experience, when you ask the Genie this question, he/she will recite you official policy and tell you that only Star Class passengers will be entitled to SC amenities.  They will never put anything in writing or even over the phone, that contradicts official policy.  But when you speak with them personally, they will let you know what they can and cannot do for you and the other passengers.  My experience has been that the reserved seating for an extra person or 2 has never been a problem.  
 
Regarding food and drinks in the suite - this will not be a problem.  More likely than not, you will have waaay more food and beverages in your suite than you and 25 people could ever consume.  We have yet to be in SC when we did not have to tell them to STOP with the food and drinks !  It just keeps coming and coming and coming !  They do not care who comes to your suite nor what they eat or drink. I have had as many as 35 people in the suite for which food and beverages were provided.  You do NOT need to worry about this one…
I agree with @twangster.  Leave the bears at home.  They will be constantly trying to climb on the railings of the balcony and are likely to scare your neighbors.  😜. …and the tip you would have to give your suite attendants for cleaning up after them would be prohibitive.

To me, this is one of the weaknesses of the Star Class program, even the suite program.  A lot of people travel with extended family and want to be able to meet up.  There really should be some middle ground.
As an example, I think that you should be able to add an extra room for kids or extended family and add Start Class benefits to it (at a reasonable cost).  Even with an adjoining room, you can't do that now.

They frown upon bears in the suite.  No pets allowed unless registered service animals.   🤣
A lot of what you are asking about can vary by genie and ship.  Some ships have strict rules about how far a genie can go and seating for non-Star guests is unlikely to be allowed but you can always ask.

Different ships will load schedules at different times. If the sailings were both on Harmony you might worry, but as it is just keep checking back. Our Enchantment sailing back in March didn’t load in the app until January. 

My condolences for having to move back to Maryland