Traveling Mike

It amazes me how many people have opinions and have not done their research. Starlink is an entirely new concept of satellite internet. As far as throttling the internet they have to do it like most companies. The bandwidth is only so big and they need enough to go around.

Update: Nov 19, 2022 Freedom of the Seas Independence of the Seas Liberty of the Seas Enchantment of the Seas Oasis of the Seas Navigator of the Seas Allure of the Seas

I am cruising on the Navigator next week and wonder if it has Starlink. I have searched and the only thing I can find is Matt's article from October 14th. This was his list. Can anyone help update the list? Note: List below updated Nov 19, 2022 Allure Enchantment Freedom Harmony Independence Jewel Liberty Mariner Navigator Oasis Symphony Wonder

I am guessing you have kids because of your name and two cabins. The basic gratuity comes automatically out, and I am assuming you are talking about tipping on top of that. (Lots of assumptions). I have traveled for years with me, and my son and I have always done my tip up front. The room steward will introduce themselves the first day and that is when I give them a cash tip and apologize for what is going to happen. I tell them my son will come in a leave a mess when I am not there, and I am sorry and hope the tip helps a little. Now that he is grown up and I cruise alone I still give a tip the first day from habit. I think most of the time it gives me a little better service and I feel better for asking for extras.

Royal Caribbean has a bus that runs between FL and Miami. When I did a RCL cruise with a b2b on Celebrity, they put me on the bus for free. The bus went from Miami to the FL Airport to the FL Port. I am sure they have one that goes the other way.

Good time to Quit

I am sure it is related to the server issues Royal have been having all day. The strange thing is the origination I work for had major server issues today also. Makes you wonder what upgrades Microsoft pushed out last night.

I am almost ready to retire from IT. Maybe they need to pay me lots of money to fix their sites. It just takes a little bit of common sense.

I love Cabo on my own. I would recommend getting off the street that is next to the bay and get ready to say "No Thank you" 50 million times while you do. Food: La Taquiza Centro - Google Maps Last time we were there they had to go get someone off of break that spoke English. Food was great. Drink: Monkey Business Bar Beach: Just have one of the water taxis take you to lover's beach.

If you are looking for cost effective in Miami I always stay in an Airbnb.

I do not know what will work for you but here are a few things from me and my son cruising for the last 15 years. He had to do sit down dinners with me. If I would let him, he would spend 24x7 in the kid's area. What did help him is they would bring his meal when we got our appetizer. Then he would eat his desert when we had our main meal. Then he could excuse himself to go play while I enjoyed the remaining of my meal. Yours are a little young to make their own way to the kids' area but I think I read someplace that the ship would escort kids to the kids area. Plan everything but realize you will only do 1/2 of it. You do not have to do everything. Don't be afraid to say I don't want to do that now. Make time to rest and watch the water go by.

He does not live on the ship. He might have been doing some B2B but you will find there are people on all cruise lines that think they are entitled. I am 62 years old and have been on over 30 cruises and I am entitled to wait in line with everyone else, apologize when I make a mistake and cut un line, and be nice to everyone I can.

When my category is sold out, I keep an eye on the category's above mine. If the price gets to one I am willing to pay I will upgrade.

In the Online Planner (RCL Site) you just select the Dining tab. Near the bottom you will see My Time Dinning. Click the option to schedule a dinner and one of the options is to "Add a Guest". Then the form below will pop up to add your friends. you will need their information to add them to your reservation.

Alaska Cruise: Book an inside room to get the dark room to sleep. Spend extra time in the Solarium soaking up the warm water watching Alaska go by.

Just remember that you will not be able to get on the ship no matter what until it is cleared by customs. Every passenger from the previous cruise has to be off the ship and cleared through customs before anyone can get on for the next cruise. I have had some cruises where the first people did not get on until 1 pm because of issues clearing the ship.

I have used this company for years and have collected a few times. They were great helping me deal with Covid cancelations and moving my cruise insurance and collecting for non-refundable hotels with canceled covid cruises. Travel Insurance | Get a Quote and Buy | Travel Guard

The last two cruises I have done with my son they have done the beds wrong no matter what the invoice says. We just tell the room Stuart when we get there, and it is fixed before we go to bed.

I am an ex-truck driver, so I am not very picky. I am 61 years old, so I don't eat what I don't like. Now with that said I will hardly eat at the buffet on the RCL ships. Every time I do, I am sorry because of the quality of food. The main dining on the RCL is not bad and I have a good dinner. Lately I have been purchasing the Unlimited Dining Plan and eating all my meals at the Specialty Restaurants on the RCL ships. I have been very happy with the quality in the Specialty Restaurants. On the Celebrity Cruises I have been very happy with the food in their buffet. The main dining room is very good and makes me want to eat there and not the specialty restaurants. The Specialty Restaurants on Celebrity are just OK. I do not think there is enough difference in the main dining room and the SR to spend the extra money. Sad to say I have not been on Silver Seas. Note: if this helps... I can lose weight on the RCL ships, and I seem to gain weight on the Celebrity Ships.

I got Soda and Internet for $17 last Black Friday. Booked it for all of my 2022 cruises.

My April cruise I was assigned my cabin 7 days before my cruise. My September cruise I was assigned my cabin 20 days before my cruise. My November Cruise I was assigned my cabin 6 months before my cruise. Do you see a pattern.... I don't

Here are a couple of items I think help: Do what you want. Plan to do everything but don't try to do it. Take time to relax. Don't stay behind your camera taking pictures and video of everything. The internet is full of pictures of your ship. Enjoy the ship with your eyes. The walls are magnetic. I like to take magnetic clips to keep my paperwork for the cruise: Daily planner, reservations, shore excursion tickets... Find time to just set at a bar or on the pool deck and just enjoy the day. You do not need the internet unless you have someone not on the cruise you need to stay in contact with. You can find a Daily Planner for your ship and often cruise to see show times to see what dinner time is best for you. Here is the link Royal Caribbean Cruise Compass | Royal Caribbean Blog

This is for non-suite cabins: I am a guy's guy with old man hair, and I take my own shampoo and conditioner on all RCL Ships. With a week of their combo products my hair is all over the place.

I have done UDP for my last 4 RCL cruises. The first day is reserved for you and you can change it when you get to the cruise port. I would recommend that you try to connect to the ship internet and book all of your reservations while you are waiting to get on the ship. If you are not comfortable with that, I would go to one of the Specialty Restaurants and reserve all your dinners. On my last two cruises all the dinners were overbooked, and people could not get reservations even with UDP. It might be different on your cruise but I would not risk it.

If you change it now, you are on the phone with a travel agent or cruise line. If you wait until you are on the ship you are standing in a long line at customer service.