Traveling Mike

I know you have lots of people answering you, but I wanted to make sure there is no doubt. Flying ... Always a day early unless you have time to drive if your flight has issues. I drive 4 hours to the Los Angeles port, and I worry about driving the day of the cruise. That ship will not wait for you

It sounds like you are really sensitive to sounds when you sleep. If you are do not take a chance. If you are just not wanting to be next to a disco it will not be a problem. The only place I have had issues in all my cruises is being below the pool deck. Late at night or early morning they drag the chair around. Also being on the Navigator I am guessing you are on a 3- or 4-day cruise with two ports. There will be as much activity in the Main Promenade.

Offen the sales are by the cruise and not all cruises. Like most people I sign on once a week and check prices. Depending on when you cruise. Black Friday always has great sales on drink and food packages.

We have not cruised out of Port Canaveral in years, but we always stayed an extra day or two at Disney World or Universal Studios and grabbed a shuttle the day of the cruise. The hotels are much cheaper, and you get to have fun in the parks before the cruise.

Unless I am mistaken anything you purchase to eat, or drink has the gratuity added to it.

This will help you understand everyone above's answer. On a Caribbean cruise or Trans-Atlantic cruise, it is often the side you want to see the sun rise or sunset. On most of the Alaska cruises it does not matter. If you look at the picture below you will see all of those islands off the main shore. You will be cruising between them on the way up and back. You are going to have beautiful scenery on all parts of your cruise. When you get to the glaciers the ship captain will spin the ship around to give everyone a great view. Pick your cabin by the location in the ship and how high off the water you want to be. Most of the time the shows are on the front of the ship and the food is on the back. The lower in the ship makes you feel closer to the sea the higher the further you can see out. The lower and middle of the ship has less movement. It seems the first cabins to go are the middle of the ship and middle decks.

It sounds like a computer thing. It could be cabin types or alphabetic or age...

@Home Alone I was a single father and computer programmer for a school district. I was not able to take vacations during school breaks because that is when we are processing report cards and schedule changes. I would always take our vacations during school. California has Short Time Independent Study. You sign up with your school and right before the trip the teachers would give my son his work for the week. He would do all the work and turn it in when we got home. The school gets credit for my son being in school and my son does not miss work. On our Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific cruises, we would email the assignments in so the teachers would not be put out when we got home after two or three weeks. I would check and see if that is a possibility.

I cannot say for sure; I am sure someone else can, but I seen someone in front of me getting on my April cruise have one similar to that taken away.

I took one of the medium sized ships through the Artic Circle in a cabin on the very front of the ship. I did not feel much movement. You are on one of the mega ships the size of a city. The weather will have to be very bad for you to feel movement.

They are also not big enough to hold leftovers from dinner. They are big enough to hold medicine or drinks.

If you do not get it at the table when you get on the ship you can get it at almost any bar. Now you do not need to have the cup to get sodas. Any bar or dining place will give you sodas in the glass. You can give them the souvenir cup and they will fill it. You will also need it if you want to use one of the free style machines.

When I need cash ahead of time I go to Chase and order the foreign currency. Most banks will not have it but you can order it and it will be ready in 3 or 4 days. All you need is a Case Credit card or a Chase account. I understand Bank of America and Well Fargo does the same thing.

In my research the most cost-effective way seems to be Uber or Lyft. One Question for someone that really knows... Can Uber get into the port of Galveston? As of December, they still did not have the clearance to enter the port. The difference is using Uber vs Lyft.

If you are talking about regular coffee, you can order a Continental Breakfast to be delivered to your room for free. That way your wife can have her coffee and Danish while she gets ready. Room Service Sample Menu (royalcaribbean.com)

I just turned D+. What is this wash & fold perk?

I have never even thought about leaving my cabin for they could clean it. Of course, I always tell them not to worry if the sign is up for do not disturb. The only issue I can see if having enough towels.

If you have not see it; this video they explain what you can do . https://youtu.be/AbKhtg9if50

I just checked and the Navigator is in Cabo right now. That would be Mountain time zone. The Navigator will switch from Pacific to Mountain to Central time zones based on the ports it stops at.

Your check-in will be midnight on May 17th. The time will be based on the ship time at the top. Like @Ampurp85 pointed out the app and website still has old information that has not be caught and updated.

Talk to the staff at MTD. I have found that I can always walk in at 5:30 or 6:00 pm. If you are willing to eat early, they can get you in without much of a wait. But there is a big difference between 5:30 and 6:30.

I have planned 3 cruises to or from Rome and all of them have been cancelled because of Covid or ship changes. One of these days I will get there. After hours of planning the hotel, I was going to stay at was Hotel Golden. It is a small family ran hotel where momma cooks your breakfast. Hotel near Spanish Steps | Hotel Golden Official Site (hotelgoldenrome.com) Note: Here is my google maps of things I wanted to see. Rome - Google Maps

I love 14-day cruises and longer. If you like sea days, you will love your cruise; it is a good mixture of good ports and sea days and one entire day going through the canal. On my long cruises I always take some Tide Pods. I drop one in the bathroom sink and hand wash my cloths, rinse them in the shower, ring them out using the bar in the shower, then wrap them in towels to suck the water out. Then I put them on hangers to dry. You can always use the hair dryer to do quick drying. That is a fair amount of work and if that is not for you the ship has a deal of everything that can fit in a bag for $34 (i think) for wash and fold. Food: They will change the food around but there is always lots of options you can do other than main dining every night. Have a pizza night, You can request an entire pizza with the toppings you want. You do not have to take it by the slice. You can always ask at the main dining room for your meal (or desert) to go and eat it on the deck or on your balcony. Kids: September 14 day cruise will have older people but with it being a Panama Canal cruise it will add back more kids and younger people.

1. Should we request the Royal king be split into twins prior to our embarkation day? They can add that on your booking but if they do not do it you will see your cabin steward on the first day and he can change it quickly. They always put ours a king when I cruise with my son and we just ask for it to be separated and they do that within the hour. 2. If we prepay gratuities, that is JUST for the daily gratuities not for the service gratuities when you buy or get drinks... (Also gratuity is still charged even when ordering with the refreshment package?) Am I understanding that correctly? The prepaid gratuity is for the Cabin Steward and your dining staff. If you purchase any of the drink or dining packages they add on a 18% gratuity. If you purchase a single drink they add on a gratuity. Anything you give a staff is above this. 3. CPAP users... what sort of request should I make? Extension cord (understanding I cannot bring my own)? Can I bring my own distilled water? You can request an extension cord from the Cabin Steward. I work on my computer all the time from bed. I always am able to get the extension cord from the cabin steward. I am not sure about the distilled water, I know you can bring your own bottled drinks. I am sure somoene else can help answer this. 4. I know this is going to be a LONG 475 days until embarkation day, but how far our should we expect to start seeing excursion listings on the website? I am starting to see excursions on my April 2024 sailing but not many. It might not be until 4 to 6 months before depending on the cruise. 5. Non-Royal Caribbean excursions... any input in looking into these for either cost or more variety or scamming issues would be appreciated. This can be a answer on it own. Just be carful about getting back to the ship on time. Also make sure there is lots of reviews. There is a separate posting area for excursions that can help you. Depending on the port don't be afraid to do the port on your own. Many ports lend themselves to wondering the port and experiencing things without a tour.

If I was doing it, I would book all under my reservation. It makes everything easier. I do the research and booking on my own then move it to Costco Travel to get the rebate cards. After you book you can always move it to a TA to get the perks.