WhoCruiser

I'm wondering if this is available in the USA Costco stores as well, could be a real good option?

It appears they are preparing to finally fill the void left there by Pullmantur going out of business in the wake of the onset of covid. The demand is definitely there in the local market.

Usually the only nuts at the Schooner Bar are my friends and I singing along with the piano player, LOL!

In Aruba, especially if you're arriving later in the day, I can highly recommend the sunset party booze cruise that Red Sail catamaran offers on several of their boats. It is usually offered through the ship's tour office, and if not, I'm sure they can take people directly as well if the ship's commitment has not filled up all of their availability already. If you like a booze cruise it's probably the best I've ever had, I take my Doctor Who celebrity/fan group on that one every time we hit Aruba, going again next month.

Viking Crown would definitely get my vote for the best view.

On the last two sailings with my celebrity/fan Doctor Who group, both of which were on Explorer Of The Seas, we discovered that there was actually a complete printed Indian menu that the waiter could bring you if you knew to ask for it. I assume it is similar on the other ships in the fleet, as they are cooking a lot of these dishes for the crew anyway, and are happy to let you know what's available.

May I ask which departure date? I have a group of my own sailing on the April 18th departure.

My Doctor Who celebrity/fan group is cruising on vision of the Seas on the April 18th departure out of Port Everglades. A number of us were online in the wee hours of the night as soon as the check-in window opened the other day, and quite a few of us got the 11 a.m. check-in time. By the next day others were reporting nothing earlier than 11:30 available hope that info helps you.

My Doctor Who group that is sailing on the April 18th departure on vision of the Seas has an overnight stay in Aruba. I have not checked into this detail, but I assume it would probably be the same procedure there?...

On the 30th of January we booked a boardwalk balcony View guarantee cabin on wonder of the Seas for the August 14th sailing out of Barcelona checking on cruise planner today I see they have assigned me a cabin number it also appears to be not a boardwalk View cabin but a Central Park View cabin which in my mind is a bit of an upgrade because it's more centrally located for Less "ocean motion" and I think it's also less likely to have loud noise outside then being further back toward the aqua theater and pool, that's my experience your mileage may vary.

Glad to hear that they don't seem to be that noisy because that was a concern I had. I have booked one for my Sweetie and me on Wonder Of The Seas for a 7-night Western Mediterranean out of Barcelona on 14 August and it was a hell of a deal. This special pricing did not show up on Royal Caribbean's website at all, this is apparently a Travelocity only exclusive, I'm guessing they must have bought a huge block of rooms in these 2 specific categories and are now trying to unload them at bargain rates. They advertised inside guarantee cabins for $604 per person, and we got the boardwalk balcony guarantee cabin for $694 per person. At prices like that I literally could not believe it, the Travelocity listing said that this rate is set to expire on 31 January so if anybody else out there wants to give it a go I'd hurry.

Exactly what she said... I'm the organizer and group leader of the group she's referring to, and we, and other groups as well, definitely do make hood use of that space from time to time. Having this dedicated space set aside for such uses also lessens the frequency of having to take a normal bar or show lounge out of service for a private function, if it can be done in the meeting space area instead. Over the years on many cruises I have also seen this space used for staff training purposes by the cruise line itself. In the case of our own group, we do a meet the Stars celebrity/fan vacation group with various cast and crew members of the long running (almost 59 years now!) BBC TV series Doctor Who, and among other things, we have creative workshop sessions in the conference rooms, and also generally have an end of the trip wrap party there as well. Additionally, some of our actors or production behind the scenes people also wish to give a professional presentation, where once again the conference rooms are ideally suited to that with proper seating and audio visual display equipment already there. Barring any additional unexpected surprises from covid restrictions, our group will be sailing on Vision Of The Seas with an 11 night Central and South American itinerary departing on the 18th of April this year, and looking further down the line we are just formulating plans now to be on a 7 night Western Caribbean Voyage aboard Wonder Of The Seas in October of 2023. By the way, not all cruise lines have these dedicated meeting areas, and I can say that the fact that Royal Caribbean DOES have them is one major factor in why we are repeat cruisers with them. Anyone interested in checking out the past present or future information on our event, including a ton of fun and free to view videos for the benefit of charity, can check us out at our official event website located at www.scificruise.com

As a group leader who has organized over 20 voyages over the years and is currently looking into potential itineraries for the latter half of 2023, it's very frustrating that Royal does not have schedules out sooner. I am quite interested in seeing concrete itineraries & rates for Harmony and/or any other Oasis class ships sailing out of Port Canaveral in the Summer through to the pre-Christmas period of 2023 and right now there is nada. Meanwhile, I'm seeing something that would easily meet my needs on Carnival's new Mardi Gras, and I may well go that route instead if I can't realistically compare anything from Royal.