WAYNO

I am compelled to add a PS to this thread... Just a couple weeks after this cruise, my Wife and some family drove up to the ferry in Port Angeles and ferried to Victoria for a weekend. This time, instead of an excursion, they bought fare on the double-decker bus, a hop-on hop-off self tour. They had a wonderful time and saw views and experienced places, in more depth, than they might experience on a Royal Caribbean tour of Victoria. Just a heads up when trying to plan tours while in Victoria. .

... Sails from Seattle, a 3.5 hour drive from home.

I've not done Paradise peak, but I've done a number of excursions in St. Maarten. The most recent, a van tour, was quite lame. When we returned to the port, I asked the taxi dispatcher about a ride to Maho Beach. He said they all charge 25 bucks. Ultimately, the three of us climbed into a taxi, operated by a delightful young lady. For 75-bucks, we had that taxi the rest of the day, maybe 3 hours. She stopped and waited for us anywhere we wanted, and took us to a lot of places she thought would interest us. And we didn't pay until it was all over. This became one of our all time favorite excursions.

I have been stuck with a couple of GTY Junior Suites. And in spite of this, I've never had a bad cabin, although GTY gives me no choice of location.

When I book, sometimes an OBC is mentioned, sometimes it's not. Either way, it just shows up, often unexpectedly, and I never know the amount until I see it. It is not automatically applied to a purchase, unless I choose to have it applied, but otherwise, at the end of the cruise, the OBC is applied to my final bill.

My Wife is the app-operator. And she says often, the Royal app is a Royal pain. That all said, I photograph documents on my phone and on my email. If at any time the app is not app-ing, I also have photo record of everything pertinent, and I also carry a folder of paper records with photos also of documents. My bases will be covered ! And my cruise will happen.

No it's not tacky. Do what you want and have fun. When we were on a Norwegian boat, we had our Royal Caribbean door magnet on our cabin door. And guess what? They did not make us walk the plank.

I've been on much of the fleet also, and there are just some I prefer. Maybe I like Navigator just because it's so familiar. And maybe just because our cruises aboard Navigator are just always nice cruises. And maybe it's a favorite because we've had such a great time with some of the people we've met, and stayed in contact with after we left the ship. Navigator has a great Promenade. Some of the larger ships don't, and I really miss that. Navigator also has a wonderful ice rink, with a wonderful ice show. That is my favorite show on the ship.

My Wife's last two cruises aboard Quantum, there were no final statements printed or emailed. She double checked on the second cruise, and they verified there are no statements provided in any form, other than taking a photo of the statement on the TV in the cabin. And this continues to be an issue with us, as my Wife is still trying to get reimbursement from our medical insurance for a doctor visit aboard Quantum clear back in May. Last week, aboard Quantum, she specifically asked for a statement from Guest Services for the previous cruise, and that's when they told her there are no statements, nor do they have record of previous cruises. They did provide a hand written address and phone number of where to call to possibly get a statement for previous cruises. This seems an unfair way for them to save a buck.

From the West Coast, flying to the East Coast, we have to get there a day or more early. We're flying against three time zones, and we're fighting airplane changes and layovers along the way. It's easily 12 hours or more from PDX to Florida. We just cannot take a chance. One burp and we could miss our cruise altogether. The one time we tried a red-eye, our flight was changed. The airline said they could get us on another flight 4 hours later, but that would have caused us to miss the cruise. I ended up cancelling everything, but being early in the covid era , the cruise cancelled itself anyway, so fortunately I was out nothing. It was a cheap lesson. On the other hand, we cruise from Los Angeles often. The same time zone, a two hour flight, and leaving early in the morning, we get there way early. If there were flight hiccups, we have many opportunities to make it up. There are probably more flights from PDX to LAX than any other destination. It's always worked, but i still make sure I have my travel protection in place. .

Only my experience, but... I have not found any meet and greet to be hosted by RCI. The meet and greet's have happened because somebody went to Guest Services and asked them to post a meet and greet in the Compass.

I have attended multiple self-led Veteran's get togethers in different bars throughout the fleet. They are enjoyable. The ones I've attended have always been announced in the Cruise Compass. I have also attended multiple Veteran's recognition ceremonies in the Promenade on Veteran's Day and other patriotic holidays. Most were okay, but one, and I can't remember the ship, turned into an overdone recognize the ships officers ceremony. That one I wanted to leave before the end.

And just a few more... Victoria... And finally Seattle again. These 1-week vacations go oh so fast. The good and the less than good... Their cruise was wonderful. The service was great throughout. The food was good. The excursions were good, the tour guides friendly and informative. VOOM was mostly unusable throughout the cruise, so our communications were minimal. And the heat in their cabin didn't work the first two days.

Firstly, I am not on this cruise, but my Wife and her high school friend are. They are in their last port, Victoria, as I am writing. The VOOM service has been awful. I've heard very little from my Wife for a week. But last night I was bombarded with dozens of photos. So, with little narration, here are some photos. Oh, by the way... Rain was forecast the entire cruise. Fortunately, the weather folks got it wrong, and the second half of this cruise has been rain free. Arrival at port, (we drove from Oregon), Seattle was foggy and quite misty. Sitka, and that's all I know... Skagway, I think... And I assume Endicott Arm... Juneau, and Tram... And their cabin, an Oceanview Balcony... This was my Wife's 2nd Alaska cruise in two months. The first one was with her brother. He is kind've fuddy, so they didn't do some things my Wife would have liked. This time, with her friend, they did and saw much more. And in two more months, I will join my Wife on this cruise also. We've done it previously, too, but each time, there are changes to ports of call, so it's a whole new cruise experience. .

I procrastinated and didn't check in until this evening, but I still got an 11:30 slot. My experience with Seattle, is although they would like you to honor and respect your boarding time, there is as much chance of late arrivals as there is with early arrivals, and they shoo us in whenever we get there.

Door decorations are cheap at Dollar Tree. + + = And as far as poster boards on doors? They are fun, and every time we return to the cabin we see new greetings. We learned this awhile back, when we brought our Son on a cruise. We left a note pad on our door in case we found ourselves out of contact. Each time, there were plenty of notes, but none from our Son. I Love cruising. And have a great Birthday!

We have been on Navigator many times, and we love it. Although we have not been to Catalina, our daughter-in-law was there last year for a day, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. Enjoy your cruise!

I dropped my Wife and her friend at the ship this morning. These are the only photos I could get. Quantum ties up to a fish processing dock. Quaint to me since I live out here, but likely an eye-opener for the eastern types. Seattle weather was typical, but it gets them primed for Alaska all week, which is forecast to be rain, followed by more rain.

I totally get that. My motivation for getting this blanket, is, I almost never sleep under the covers at home. Guess I'm just always warm. But on occasion, I wake up chilly. I just want something easy to pull over me that would be my own. My Wife is a huge hog of blankets, and the throw-blanket on the foot of the bed is already often in use.

@RCIfan1912 And with your update... I looked into all of our upcoming cruises, and the beach towel is no longer offered on any of them. And I know very recently it was. Maybe they've just run out, regardless of the cruise or time of year. I would expect it to be offered again.

Good question, and one I had not thought about. We have three Alaska cruises booked in a row, and the blanket is/was available for each of those cruises. We have a Mexico cruise booked in January, so I just looked on that planner. The blanket is not offered.

Glad I procrastinated. It was available for our September cruise for $39.99 . I bought it.

I also suspect we're missing some information or you were given bogus information. I don't know their motivation for doing so, other than to switch you off to another shuttle vendor. I've done this transfer shuttle a lot, and this is absolutely contrary to our experience. The buses leave for the airport, 8-thirty-ish +/- . We step out of the terminal and immediately into a bus or bus waiting line, leaving our luggage with the driver. They cannot afford to let folks hang around the terminal area for 4 hours while the new cruisers are also arriving.

I bit on this and found everything is truly discounted. I bought beverages, Voom, and some gift items for our September cruise. Glad I waited. But this same discount was not available for our July/August cruise.

We were on Symphony this year, but your entertainment question I cannot answer. I have found good shows are scarce throughout the fleet, so I just don't pay any attention to what's available or what has changed.