Al Miller

My opinion is going to be unpopular but I'll let it fly. Budget for paying for bags. It is an Alaskan cruise. Weather is unpredictable. We traveled in August. Some ports were warm (seattle 90s). Some were rainy, some were cold. Also, give thought to excursions. We had hiking boots we wouldn't normally take on a cruise. We did glaciers and bear watching. Those boots and rain gear were worth it. Even just a quick run to Tracy's Crab Shack, it poured. Plan accordingly. 

I learned about https://www.insuremytrip.com/ on this blog - you put in your information and then they offer you a choice of different policies, and I've been a happy customer for the past 3 trips. However, I think you have to book almost immediately to get "cancel for any reason" coverage. I like using an outside company because it covers the whole trip - not just the cruise. Apparently my credit card offers some benefits but it is hard to know what they will cover and for how much.
I also got worried about the medical coverage that was included in the last plan I bought for my cruise in March, so I bought a supplemental health plan from Geo Blue for this trip as well. The person who recommended that one says it was the only travel insurance he needed, although I'm not sure if it would cover everything that my other policy does? But I might look into that next time and see if the Geo Blue plus my credit card would cover the same as my current policy from insure my trip...
Some people buy a full year's worth of coverage for all of their trips. I know Allianz offers one. We usually only take 1 big trip a year so I haven't moved in that direction yet. 

Ditto on insuremytrip.com 

My TA can get me "Tin Leg" policies and they seem pretty good. The last few cruises I have started getting the policies myself using the "Squaremouth" website for comparison. It's easier than I thought it would be to buy the policy myself and generally a lot cheaper and better than RC's offering. And it lets me pick and choose very specifically. I always try to get the highest MedEvac and Medical coverage I can. The trip interruption and whatnot I don't care so much about. Missing my cruise would suck, but it would not ruin me financially. Breaking my leg in Aruba, spending the night in the hospital in Mexico or being helicoptered off the ship very well could. So I usually err on the side of too much medical coverage.

Thank you, I've looked at allianz and travel guard and so far 100% like their offerings more. I'll check out the website you mentioned

My TA can get me "Tin Leg" policies and they seem pretty good. The last few cruises I have started getting the policies myself using the "Squaremouth" website for comparison. It's easier than I thought it would be to buy the policy myself and generally a lot cheaper and better than RC's offering. And it lets me pick and choose very specifically. I always try to get the highest MedEvac and Medical coverage I can. The trip interruption and whatnot I don't care so much about. Missing my cruise would suck, but it would not ruin me financially. Breaking my leg in Aruba, spending the night in the hospital in Mexico or being helicoptered off the ship very well could. So I usually err on the side of too much medical coverage.

My TA can get me "Tin Leg" policies and they seem pretty good. The last few cruises I have started getting the policies myself using the "Squaremouth" website for comparison. It's easier than I thought it would be to buy the policy myself and generally a lot cheaper and better than RC's offering. And it lets me pick and choose very specifically. I always try to get the highest MedEvac and Medical coverage I can. The trip interruption and whatnot I don't care so much about. Missing my cruise would suck, but it would not ruin me financially. Breaking my leg in Aruba, spending the night in the hospital in Mexico or being helicoptered off the ship very well could. So I usually err on the side of too much medical coverage.

It may depend on what you might need the insurance for.
In my case I wouldn't necessarily need it for the travelling to port part for I live within a 4 hour drive to Miami, FL, and even less to the other 3 Florida ports, so I take my chances on traveling out early on embarkation day.
But for health insurance look and see what Royal offers.
On previous vacations I used Allianz where you can customize the type of travel insurance you need.
 

nothing will happen if you arrive after your time, I don't think they are even enforcing if you arrive early any longer. Just don't miss the boat 😃

Hit and run as mentioned above. 

I get this surprise relatively often.  ....like finding out that Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is British !

They are not refusing to honor anything THEY put on their website.  You, unfortunately, seemed to have misunderstood how this process works.
 

We found that immediately post Pandemic the food to be as good as ever. But about the time the menus were changed was the BIG dropoff. Cruised in November 2022 and then the same ship again in Feb 2023 and the difference was shocking. I've railed against new leadership ad nauseam but you can almost pinpoint the change of leadership to the drop in quality. Although to be fair, I've never had a great meal in Chops. Only just decent and not worth the extra fee. So maybe I was just lucky before and it's always been generally subpar.

We found that immediately post Pandemic the food to be as good as ever. But about the time the menus were changed was the BIG dropoff. Cruised in November 2022 and then the same ship again in Feb 2023 and the difference was shocking. I've railed against new leadership ad nauseam but you can almost pinpoint the change of leadership to the drop in quality. Although to be fair, I've never had a great meal in Chops. Only just decent and not worth the extra fee. So maybe I was just lucky before and it's always been generally subpar.

We found that immediately post Pandemic the food to be as good as ever. But about the time the menus were changed was the BIG dropoff. Cruised in November 2022 and then the same ship again in Feb 2023 and the difference was shocking. I've railed against new leadership ad nauseam but you can almost pinpoint the change of leadership to the drop in quality. Although to be fair, I've never had a great meal in Chops. Only just decent and not worth the extra fee. So maybe I was just lucky before and it's always been generally subpar.

I'm sure he had some food he didn't like and some that was fatty.   Saying you had a filet that was fatty is essentially saying that you had a filet that wasn't a filet.
I get it though,  when the overall experience is poor for someone,  it's easy to conflate a few complaints. 

IME food is basically the same on all ships.  Love it or hate it, the food is created from the same fleet standard recipes and fleet standard items.  Nearly all ships are supplied from the same warehouses supplied by the same food distributors in bulk.  
If the food doesn't work for you on Royal that is perfectly acceptable.  We all have different tastes.  Someone else may love the food I dislike.  Someone else may dislike the food I love.  That is fine, we are unique individuals.  
However to be perfectly honest and blunt the food quality has declined considerably on Royal over the past 18 months, for my personal tastes and I do now struggle at times on Royal when I did not three years ago.  As a result the number of my Royal cruises has declined and I am now sailing other lines on an increased basis.  No one who loves Royal's current state of food should feel insulted by my personal views, we are different unique individuals.  

Lobster remains #1 on my "most overhyped cruise experience" list.

I could go to Walmart today and get 2 tails for $15-$16.

If you didn't put down $1000, then you didn't book for four people. Sorry to be the broken record, but a good travel agent would have solved all of this before it got this far.

While I see your point, that's not at all an example of bait and switch.  Royal advertises that you get free drinks in the lounge.  You got free drinks in the lounge.  Believing or assuming you should also get free drinks anywhere else is on you.

The removal of the Burger is mystifying. The last few video reviews I've seen seem to show they've screwed with the "Epic Brownie" too. They really cant stop crapifying everything they touch lately can they?

Yes, and it is a much larger course and is (checks notes), yes, is included with your cruise fare. Not $1 per second.

The removal of the Burger is mystifying. The last few video reviews I've seen seem to show they've screwed with the "Epic Brownie" too. They really cant stop crapifying everything they touch lately can they?

Well it was actually one of the only good deals Royal had left. So naturally it had to go. It sets a bad precedent. Cant have any sort of value for money. It's against the new company policy.