jbrinkm

ThinkSport is also my favorite! It seems to spread better/easier than some of the other safe brands. I'll also recommend the Juice Beauty brand if anyone has sensitive skin on their face. It is expensive, so I only use it on my face, but it is the only one I've ever found that doesn't irritate my skin.

I don't remember there being a child lock per say, but from what I remember, there is the typical deadbolt or chain system on the inside of the door like a hotel room. Someone who has cruised more recently will be able to tell you better than I can. What class ship are you on? Also, will you have the connecting door open at night? If the lock doesn't seem adequate, you could hang some bells on the door or get one of those inexpensive little motion sensor alarms (my son has one from a spy kit) to put near the door to warn you. Just make sure the 13 year old knows to turn it on/off before using the door!

The first gives you two separate log ins. No one can be kicked off of their (one device at a time) that they are logged into. The second gives you one log in that can be used on two different devices and a device could be kicked off. If the two people each only have one device, there shouldn't be a problem. If there is a third device (maybe one person has a phone AND a tablet), it could kick off one of the users on one of the connected devices. For example, my family of four got the one log in, two devices package. My husband needs one for work and the kids and I will share the other. If both of my kids try to log on at the same time, my husband will get kicked off. We were willing to trust the kids and work out a schedule to save $10-15/day. Some people don't want to deal with the hassle and pay more to each have their own log in.

Mark Preston is on Allure right now. I looked at YouTube and it seems that he is JUST a singer/crooner, is that correct? I looked at the Entertainment Schedule from a February sailing that is identical to my itinerary in April and I'm really disappointed that they don't have more shows that are family friendly (or maybe I should say family entertaining since the singing of old songs is, I guess, family friendly). I hope they switch it up before April which is prime Spring Break time for families. The schedule I'm looking at doesn't have a family friendly comedy show either (no juggler/magician/comedian for families at all). Any hope that they'll switch it up between now and April?

Thanks, I'll check in with our TA now!

This is our third Royal cruise and we do have the C&A accounts (all 4 of us) but this is the first time we've had a separate room from the kids, so I don't know if their preferences were ever recorded. I thought I remembered submitting this online before the cruise in the past (I might be remembering wrong!) but we haven't cruised since 2017 so it feels like everything has changed. Is the CAS site different than the Royal site? Also we used a Royal TA so maybe she put that in for us already. She knows that one room is for a married couple and the other is for 2 kids, so even though she didn't ask, maybe she just put it in already...

How do they know if you want the beds together or apart in your room? Do you tell your cabin steward when you arrive? Also, my husband is a cover hog - do you think they'd let us have the "Queen" set up but have two top sheet/blanket sets, or would that be too much to ask?

I've been peeking at the latest Cruise Compasses to see if the policy is still in effect, and it seems to be for now, on most ships that I've looked at. There is a little note at the bottom of the third page that says something like 'contactless breakfast is now complimentary... all other meals incur a $-- fee'. I'm really, really hoping that the policy will still be in place for my April sailing. I saw a post that they were waiving the hot breakfast fee to reduce crowding in WJ in the AM and with all of the Spring Break travel happening during the next two months, I can't see the ships getting less crowded.

I need to knock on wood or something here, but we've been flying Frontier almost exclusively for the past 4-5 years and have never had any kind of a problem - everything has always gone very smoothly. I know you have to pay extra for everything but you have to now also with all of the big airlines as well. Since we're usually paying for a whole family, I love the prices, especially when we can fly on flexible days to get the best deals.

I guess that's true, LOL! Thanks!

I'm not sure that is possible since Royal will have your child's birthdate from official documents when they are cruising. yes, I think this is the route we'll need to go. We do text with the kids (obviously) and hoping I can figure out the phone settings onboard to keep this working, as well as wifi calling (I know to put on airplane mode and then re-activate wifi, but I've seen some other settings that might need to be turned on or off for messaging and wifi calling to work - I'll have to tinker with that once on board if it doesn't work). I already have WhatsApp and I guess that I could get the kids on it also but I'm very hesitant because I don't trust the company that owns it and their privacy practices, especially with kids.

A child needs to be 13 in order to have an account with Royal Caribbean and an account is needed to log into the app.

Follow up questions that I don't see in the article - if you have Voom, can you use the chat feature in the Royal app for free? I only see alternate messaging apps listed there. We purchased 2 Voom packages for a family of 4. My husband needs one for work and the other will rotate between me and the kids. When they are not with us, I wanted one of them to be logged in in case we need to reach them but was considering some other options, like the $1.99 Royal messaging in the app. But my son will be 2 weeks shy of 13 on this cruise and apparently can't have the app because of his age, so that won't help him (and he is much more responsive to messages on his phone than his older sibling, and they'll be together at all times when not with us.) The Royal messaging in the app won't help us at all if Voom doesn't allow free access.

Do you know how much? I was thinking about doing this for my teens, who each have a debit card where they get their allowance. I was thinking about linking their debit cards to their SeaPasses and putting an extra amount on for "cruise expenses" - then they can just keep what they don't spend. Then if they go over, it is coming out of their own allowance money (i.e. natural consequence...). But I guess I'd need to put on (and take off after the cruise) whatever the amount of the hold is, as well, for this to work.

I can only talk about Greece (Athens & Santorini). In Athens, we used Athens Insiders and they were amazing. You can use them for the ubiquitous Parthenon/Acropolis tours if you've never done that before, or they offer custom tours, or other "off the beaten path" tours. We especially loved the treasure hunt, but did it with kids (although all the adults in the group enjoyed it as well). Santorini - if you are able to withstand a rigorous climb, we really loved taking a tour of the volcano (but we had a big group and did a private ship tour, so can't recommend any specific commercial tour). Other than that, Santorini is beautiful to just walk around in Oia, looking at the architecture. But you must do it well before sunset because the streets are utterly packed with people trying to get that "perfect" photograph. Like every walkway with any kind of view is wall to wall people. We were trying to get back to our hotel after dinner and got separated from my parents. We couldn't get through certain places at all, and I was terrified we were going to lose the kids. My husband, who is Greek-American and spent every summer in Greece growing up, said that Santorini "doesn't feel like Greece". People can be a bit rude, it is very expensive, there are rules about luggage, etc. If you have a chance to do anything else in Greece before your cruise, I highly, highly recommend trying to get up to Meteora to see the amazing monasteries. As far as your other questions, you might have more luck parsing them out into each individual port. I realize that it is much easier to put them all in one post, but you might not catch the attention of someone who knows about Ajaccio, for example.

Is Fuel on Allure (or any other ship that has it) a teen-only hangout space? Is that the mock "bar" with non-alcoholic drinks? Are the drinks there complimentary or for a fee? Can anyone post a menu?

Hi again @KDK I just replied to you on our roll call. The Allure cruise that just left today (2/27) is identical to ours - 6 night Western - so that would be a good one to peek at.

So it seems to be called "The Social Feed" and the last one I've seen posted on here was on Oasis from November 28, 2021. However, I do see some teen activities listed as part of the overall activity schedule in the latest Allure Cruise Compass.

Related check in on app question - if you've done everything except the health check in (which needs to be done the day before embarkation), is your Set Sail pass completely ready? Does it change at all once you do the health questions?

I love this possibility. I see similar wording (pic attached) on the latest Allure Cruise Compass and really hope it continues through my April cruise which is spring break for many families, so if the point is to reduce crowding in Windjammer, I'm crossing my fingers that it will continue for my (most likely) crowded cruise. We have a balcony for the first time ever, so I was planning to have the continental every morning out there and then run and get an egg somewhere shortly afterwards because I need some protein in the morning. This would fully solve that issue!

I was going to say something similar - I wonder if a TA could help.

Looks like it was Steve McGrew on the Feb 4 sailing: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compasses/freedom-of-the-seas/fri-02042022-0000

Has anyone tried to get reimbursed from their insurance for the Covid tests that you buy from Royal? If you submitted it, any luck? Booking a test with a pharmacy is free but a real pain for a family of 4 - trying to get back to back appointments, putting in ALL of the info, making sure you can get the appointments before they book up in your time frame, etc... I love the convenience of the at home proctored but they're a bit expensive, especially compared to free.

Ice, Ice, Emmy, do do do do-do do do... LOL We're using a cruise travel agent for the first time since our honeymoon in 2000. We used one then because it was a complicated trip and she did all of the flights and transfers and hotels, etc. The four cruises we've been on since then, I've booked and managed myself and was happy doing so and I was VERY skeptical about using a TA this time (I'm just using a Royal TA assigned when I emailed a question). BUT, I've been happy so far! She was able to move us from one cruise to a different one (the original one I had wanted but was pretty expensive when I tried to book so we chose an alternative and then the price dropped on our first choice) with no hassle, and she was able to find us additional discounts and an onboard credit plus picked us really good rooms that weren't showing online. I'm still able to do everything I want to do myself on the website/planner/app.

You could get a day pass to a resort pool, or a day room at a hotel. We aren't doing a back to back but we do have a late flight after our cruise so we got a room for the day where we could nap or visit the pool or just be on Wi-Fi, catching up on everything. We can leave our luggage and walk around to get lunch or whatever else we might want to see.