Done

Communication through written text without the aide of body language is easily misconstrued

We liked Hooked enough to eat there twice on our last Symphony cruise.

I am curious as well if the OP is a one and done.

We were never up early enough to view our entry into a port. The cruises we have taken all arrived at the ports pretty early in the morning (for us anyway). It was very rare we were ever in our cabin when the ship left port. Port or starboard doesn't matter to us.

I'm not saying don't do it but watch the accounting like a hawk. I now have 2 separate cruises where I cancelled a specialty dining reservation a changed it to a multiple specialty dining package. RCCL issued a credit to the credit card used and ALSO deducted the amount of the refund credit from my cruise invoice. The first time I attempted to pay the remaining balance in the amount I knew was correct and they refunded the "excess" in the form of credit to my credit card. The online payment page now says I have a balance equal to the credit issued in error. I tried to pay it again, it was immediately refunded again but my account still shows a balance owed. I have called and spoke with 3 different customer service agents who assure me it will be fixed by the final payment date. That was 6 weeks ago and it is still messed up! I now have a different cruise with the exact same issue but I not have attempted to make any further payments on that one yet.

We sail in August and I have suggested to my wife that we eat at the MDR more often to avoid the self serve buffets as much as possible. For past cruises we had been at the Windjammer more as we didn't feel like retuning to our cabin to change clothes for dinner. That now seems more likely.

I dislike those Promenade sales for the congestion they cause. The crowds they attract make it difficult to walk from one end to the other.

This is a good example of the reliability of public forum answers. A question is answered and then another says the first answer is wrong. The 2nd answer is also refuted with either support for the first answer or a completely different response. In the end, who knows what the actual answer is.

I wonder if masks are required on the White Pass train? Is it regulated by the same federal guidelines as the airlines and other passenger trains? I think masks are required on passenger trains in the lower 48 states.

Speed of the ship helps to determine their itineraries. We sailed on one of the last sailings of Majesty of the Seas. We were told that ship only did short distance cruises from Florida to the Bahamas as it wasn't fast enough to go much further away.

I have looked via google maps and Ward Cove is not much of town yet. NCL is using the new port and it appears RCL is going to be using from time to time. There is one local excursion vendor now (The Mill) and availability of their different excursions seem to be tied to days an NCL ship is in port. 5 ships plans to stop in Ketchikan on Aug 14. Even with Ovation moving to Ward Cove I would imagine Ketchikan will be very crowded Ketchikan Sunday 14 August, 2022 Seabourn Odyssey 07:00 15:00 Celebrity Solstice 07:00 16:00 Ovation Of The Seas 07:00 16:00 Carnival Splendor 07:00 13:00 Ruby Princess 08:00 18:00 I did little digging and the total possible number of passengers of the 5 ships is 16,706. Even at a conservative estimate of 80% occupancy that comes to 12860 people visiting a town with a population of 14K. Oh My!

It is unclear what RCCL's plans are for getting us to and from Ketchikan. I looked at the new excursions offered and none of those trip our trigger. Some are sold out. They gave us a $40 pre-purchase credit. I look at the terms and conditions and if I read the boiler plate correctly we have to use the credit to PRE-PURCHASE using cruise planner. It is NOT an OBC that can used once on board. I will mention this is the 2nd time RCCL has changed our current excursion reservations and the options for new excursions have been reduced each time. I understand the need to be prepared for changes. I guess I didn't anticipate the changes would affect us like this. This is the first cruise of a B2B cruise on Ovation and we paid for most of them using FCC's from the past 2 years of cancellations. Those FCC's are void after 9/30/22 but I owe to us to explore other options.

and most times cheaper to book

Maybe this will help with your decision. I received this email from RCL yesterday regarding our Aug 12 sailing on Ovation: Dear Guest, Due to port congestion in Ketchikan, we've had to slightly adjust our arrival. Instead of arriving directly at Ketchikan, we'll now debark a little further north in Ward Cove - just a short 15-minute drive away. As a result of this change, we've had to slightly adjust some of our shore excursion offerings to allow additional time for the short drive. Unfortunately, making this change means we have to cancel all Cruise Planner reservations for the old tours impacted by this change. We've issued a full refund to your original form of payment, which you should see within 14 business days. Additionally, we'll also be providing you with a non-refundable Onboard Credit which should reflect on your account in the next 3 business days, so you can put it towards booking a new tour in Ward Cove! Please feel free to visit Cruise Planner to book and explore other exciting tour options for your sailing. We're sorry for any confusion caused by this but appreciate your understanding. We can't wait to welcome you onboard! Sincerely, Royal Caribbean International

We visited Labadee in Feb, 2020 just a week or so before the shutdown. We were not impressed and we now avoid cruises stopping there. That can be a challenge in itself. We too encountered very pushy vendors! One used a toddler trained to get in our way so she could attempt to drag us into her shop. Another guy tried to rub aloe on my face without my permission and then said I owed him $10. Not a good time.

We are moving from Diamond to Diamond Plus after the first of a B2B cruise and were advised by Q&A support to let the loyalty desk know early into the first cruise to give them the time to make sure our new status was awarded on the 2nd cruise. We were also advised to visit the customer service desk on day 2 or 3 (after the initial crowds on day 1) to make sure they know we are on a B2B (AKA continuous cruise).

We book JS's. The reasons in order are: Bathroom - Bathtub w/shower, much more room. I'm a big guy and I like the extra space Double C&A Points We have never taken advantage of the Coastal Kitchen On Quantum class ships some of the JS's had both a half bath (commode and sink) and full bath with commode, sink with the bathtub/shower. There is another JS layout on Quantum class that have split baths with commode and sink in one and tub/shower, sink and separate shower with a rain shower head.

I whole heartily agree. I did not mean to scare folks or disparage Seattle in any way.

I have come across a YouTube video describing downtown Seattle as deteriorating, with multiple homeless tent cities and increasing violence and drug use. Ialso searched and found several news articles describing similar conditions. I realize I am seeing one side of the story and the news media tends to jump on stories that they believe encourages sales and advertising. To borrow a line to a song, "There are 3 sides to every story, yours, mine and the truth!" We have a hotel booked in the shadow of Space Needle in August relatively close to the cruise port arriving a day before the cruise. We had planned to find a restaurant within walking distance to our hotel. Anyone with recent experience staying in proximity to that area? What is the truth?

I get email advertising all inclusive NCL cruise deals weekly, sometimes twice a week.

We used to take the stairs from deck 2 after an excursion and deck 9. Used to.....

I have several "cruising" cargo shorts that have a zippered pocket on my leg in front. It goes in there zipped shut. I can't tell how many times I slap that pocket to ensure it is still there. As I write this I realize I might not be wearing those shorts much on our Alaskan cruise if the weather is cooler. I got to come up with a plan B.

We did the self disembark just once. RCL said carry offs would be allowed off starting at 7:30 am. The line to get off starting forming at 6:00 as we asked the first few in line. We got in line at 7:10 am and I estimate there were 100 or so people ahead of us. The line started moving at 7:45 am. We hailed a cab (Port Liberty, NJ) to Newark airport around 8:30 am and just made a 10:45 am flight. We paid extra for SW early bird checkin which was a waste. We had A group boarding positions and by the time we reached the gate the C group was boarding. They let us on in front of the last of the C group (if looks could kill ) and we got the last 2 seats together. Never again. Flights noon or later are the earliest we will book. BTW - Southwest no longer flies out of Newark. La Guardia is now the only airport they use to service NYC or NJ.

From the RCCL FAQ .

If you are traveling with kids be advised Orient Beach has a clothing optional section.