CruisingNewb

Policy does NOT necessarily mean rule. Policies with enforcement mechanisms are rules. If the chair hog policy has no measurable enforcement mechanism, it is simply a guideline. While I do not agree with taking matters into your own hands, for the issue of chair hogs, which has been a pain for many, this is the one exception I personally have. As long as you don't escalate any situations or cause disturbance to anyone other than you and the hogs, go hog wild! For us, personally, we never cared where we sat during pool time.

I used safari and the app. No issues. Sorry to those who ran into issues. It can be a bummer! My only issue was canceling and rebooking. I don't know how you rich folks do it, but canceling over $3,000 worth of purchases and rebooking them to save a $1,000 is costing me a lot of money because I NEED THAT REFUND ASAP! lolololol I am hoping the refunds hit my account this week.

Yes. It seems fleet-wide. Yes. It seems uncomfortable for those who want to sit upright. No. You should not cut them. No. As a fan base, we should not advocate cutting them and replacing them later. Cruise hacks that are within the rules are one thing, actually hacking off the zip ties is simply wrong. Let's let RCCL figure it out before taking matters into your own hands.

We have a 10 day pre-boarding cruise ritual where we limit our intake of calories to 1,200 daily, with moderate exercise. We lose anywhere from 5 to 8 pounds pre-boarding. How soon do we break our diet? IMMEDIATELY. Walking around and engaging in activities will burn calories during your cruise. After a 10 day pre-boarding caloric limit, we find that we cannot gorge ourselves on mountain high piled plates of buffet food. So we eat modest amounts throughout the day, but we do first breakfast, 2nd breakfast, first lunch, second lunch, first dinner, and second dinner daily LOL One thing I will say that is contrary to what a lot of people, including Matt, have said, is don't overdo water. Yes. Drink water, but don't start your meals with a glass of water. Water expands your stomach and its capacity to fill it. Alot of competition eaters eat frozen grapes and drink extra water days before competing so that their stomachs are enlarged and they can eat tons. Just go easy on water and drink normally. Water and salad before main meal has potential negative results. Just my 2 cents, no need to Wikipedia this stuff or start a brou haha.

Last time I went to a barber for a shave and haircut, I remembered how awesome it was to go to a barber instead of supercuts. Generally, I would say that a visit to the onboard barber would be a great gift. I only have reservations to my suggestion because I have never used the Ships' Barbers before. How about pre-purchasing a spot in a Texas Hold em or blackjack event? That would be fun if your husband likes gambling.

It took 4 paragraphs to offer a perspective. Seems like this is a big deal for many cruisers. OMG! Not enough outlets! What will I do without my pocket-sized technological advancements!?!? Oh wait...I am on a gigantic technological marvel that is also a resort!

My family of 4 each have at least 2 electrical devices (ie: smart phone and tablet) alongside other devices such as cameras, gopros, etc. We have always used those outlet adapters from Amazon that say "cruiseline approved" or whatever. In reality, we are spending so much time enjoying our cruise that we don't end up needing the outlet adapter because: (1) the ships we have cruised on have enough outlets for our needs, (2) we simply rotate charging and prioritize charging, and (3) we have our devices set up to not drain batteries while cruising (ie: turn off most location settings on apps, use low battery mode when necessary). For us, it is simply not a big deal. For those people who still can't make it work without an adapter, pay a few bucks more and get portable power banks with multiple USB connectors. Many, including the one that I use, are non-surge protecting, multi-USB, devices. Plug it in and charge it to full capacity during the day time. At night, plug in your devices to the power bank. Rinse, wash, repeat. I am reasonably risk-averse and would not want to hold up any line or have to surrender an outlet adapter because I interpreted a policy incorrectly or played the "they didn't enforce it last time" game. Just don't think this is worth the stress.

You have to click on the link that @Gadget Hackwrench posted above and do the homework yourself. I believe that the link will give you the information necessary, or at the very least, direct you to the right place to answer your question. Since your's is a question replete with things like i94 and i797, you best not take advice from a fan forum.

Also, I can't be 100% sure, but I am fairly certain that the English Pub near the shops, on the Promenade level, had chicken wings. Pretty sure I have pictures, but I would have to look for them.

If I remember correctly, on the Ovation, we had wings from room service and were also pleasantly pleased. NOT the best wings, or even really good, but good enough.

Doesn't this question depend upon what the cruise itinerary is? For example, what ports of call, closed loop, etc?

We were in Europe for a month this summer. We used USD on our non-Royal cruise ship. On a side note, we rarely used Euros, Francs, Krons, or Pounds. Amongst the 9 countries we visited, we found that most places wanted electronic payment. I used ApplePay and my travel credit card 99% of the time and ended up wasting time to exchange my Euros, Francs, Krons, and Pounds back to USD. So many Youtubers and bloggers said you need cash. Not really. Even most of the rest rooms that we had to pay for was electronic payment. Europe is pretty advanced.

Floating Saunas are exactly that. Dry saunas that float on the water. You are tied to a dock but its like a tiny houseboat. You sit in a wood burning sauna for 10 minutes and then jump into the icy fjord. There are a dozen or so near the Opera house in downtown, and a few near the City Hall area.

We were in Norway this summer and absolutely loved our time there! This news makes me happy because although we don't plan on returning soon, it should be on every cruisers' bucket list. Do the floating sauna on the fjords! OMG.

I actually agree and have been hoping for one. I have to use some other forums and sites for things like Deckplans, photos of rooms, etc. The fact that the Blog itself covers some of these ship specific things, and the fact that there are other places we can go to find this information are both reasons to make a sticky thread or specific forum topic here and make it all centralized. I love this fan forum more than any other fan forum for any other hobby I have ever participated in. I love it so much, I am on even when I do not have pending cruises. I really think a centralized all-in-one forum is the way to go.

If, and this is a BIG "if", RCCL Employee policy frowns upon alcohol possession or alcohol gifts, I would be cautious in gifting any bottle of alcohol to an employee. I don't ever want to be the reason someone loses their job, especially since cruise employees are spending so much time away from their families to support them.

Yep. Plus if you are already at 6 drinks, your math will definitely be faulty lol!

Another thing... @Matt makes an excellent point on his Blog that another bonus to the drink package is that it allows you to try new drinks. If you don't like, it, stop drinking it and order something else.

The problem with these kinds of questions is that its NOT simple math. It never is. It can't be. Otherwise, businesses would not survive. Take for instance a Fast Food cheese burger. If you pay $10 for a cheeseburger from a drive through, what are you getting? You are getting about $2.00 meal if you break down the ingredient cost. Why then would anyone go to McDonalds or Burger King? The math doesn't justify the meal. We pay the mark-up prices because we want convenience and quickness, without self-labor. Is the DBP worth it mathematically? Well, why is everyone, including me in the past, fixated on the retail prices v. drink count v. days of drinking? If math were the sole factor, you take the cost of a cocktail, about $1.50, and see how many of these you can drink. Remember, alcohol mark-up is the biggest mark-up in the food and beverage industry. YOU ARE NOT DRINKING $1,000 worth of alcohol in a week. THIS IS NOT a reasonable way of calculating. So, the point is convenience PLUS worth of goods, services, and labor. The drink package works on Cococay. It covers lots of drinks. Cruise ship cocktails are not as strong as ones you will find at your local watering hole. Unless you are really restrained or cannot take much alcohol, you will likely drink at least 2 cocktails a day. Throw in a glass or 2 of wine and a beer. Have some bottled water. Yeah, its worth it in the end. Otherwise, why wouldn't we be doing the simple math for the worthiness of the ENTIRE cruise? Why not break down costs of the cruise, meals, and everything else while we are at it, I believe the math will not work out in anyone's favor based upon how we have been traditionally calculating worth on these boards. We choose to cruise for the value of our enjoyment, not by the cost break-down of every goods and services we receive.

There are alot of reasonably priced luggage storage places in Manhattan that we have used in the past. You can always look at that as an option.

One idea is to buy some Starbucks instant ice coffee packets and just ask for ice water. It doesn't have to be Starbucks, Nescafe and Dunkin also offers them. They are very small and transportable packets and good enough in a pinch!

I LOVE the Starbucks location mugs! We have a lot, don't know exactly how many, but this summer alone, we brought back a suitcase worth from Hamburg, Berlin, Oslo, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin, London, and Copenhagen. I did not even know that RCCL Starbucks had their own! Can't wait to collect my Symphony of the Seas mug!

Navigator for 3 and 4 night Mexico was perfect. Ovation is such an awesome ship that I may do the Mexico 3 nighter again and again!

CP150 that good? Okay! I am leaning that way now! Thank you!

I saw the menu for CK and we will be eating there a lot. I am not sure that steak is the make or break deciding point but I am glad to know CK has that option at least for one night! Thanks!