whitsmom

13 hours ago, 10-42 said:

One more idea.  If your cabin requires your Sea Pass card to turn on the lights, take an old unusable prepaid card from the local arcade or something like that.  It doesn't take an actual Sea Pass card or credit card.  Just something about the same shape and size.  No magnetic strip required.  

It doesn't create more space, but it just makes life a little easier.

I always that an old gift card for lights, an over-the-door pocket/shoe hanging to keep all the OTC, sunscreens, and all the other stuff (this is always the first thing I pack!), heavy duty magnets, and the last time I took collapsing/pop-up  laundry hamper type thing for dirty clothes.  I have my 8-slot USP charging port that we take that everything can be in one place.  I also take a small motion night-light for the bathroom.

On 5/6/2022 at 8:08 AM, smokeybandit said:

My AT&T plan only has Mexico

Hopefully, the signal will come from the Alaska side and you should still be good.  We have the business plan with AT&T so that may be why we have Canada on ours.  Fingers crossed that you will be lucky like we were.

My Vax card has both shots listed as well as my booster all on the same card.  I hope that will work for the upload to the app.  We can't start our check in until June 3rd. 

14 hours ago, fa-li said:

Same for us in 2013.  Just remember that part of that land is Canada!

AT&T has Canada and Mexico included so they should be good.

11 minutes ago, Jessi Patterson said:

I have always been terrified of being left behind, so if we do an excursion it's always through the cruise line. 

Me Too!  We now do early dining so we like to be back early enough to get a shower and change for dinner.

We purchased the Key for both of our upcoming cruises (Harmony-July and Jewel-August).  This is the first time with the Key also.  I like the fact that we will have our own check in line (hopefully) and disembark as our July cruise we have a 12:05pm flight out of Orlando from Port Canaveral.  We were going to get WiFi package for all 4 of us anyway so that helped us decide to purchase the Key. After we purchased the Key, we got an email telling us that in lieu of Lunch at Chops on boarding day, we would get fee-free room service for the entire cruise.  Of course, lunch at Chops is back on.  However, my son-in-law called RCI regarding the room service email and they told him to print it out and go to guest services as they "might" still honor that.  Not sure I would even do that anyway but that is what they said.

1 hour ago, TNMIKE said:

will at&t work in alaska  ?

in 2018 we did the Northern Inside Passage on Radiance of the Seas and we had better cell reception on the ship that we have at our own house.  However, we had land not that far away on both sides.  We just watched our phone and only a couple of times did it show cellular at sea and when that happened we just put our phones in airplane mode.  Now if you are not doing the inside passage (northern or southern) then you probably won't while at sea.  We were pleasantly surprise with AT&T coverage on our cruise.

All adults must be vaccinated. Only children (ages 11 and under) are allowed to be UN-vaccinated.  Everyone from 12 on must be fully vaccinated with last dose at least 14 days prior to cruising. This is from their website.

There is an Escape Room on the Harmony so I really hope we can schedule it.  I looked and it is not available to book now so I figure we will just do it on board or maybe with the app as soon as we get on board.  I'm not sure of the ages to play but I would think that 14 year olds would be able to participate.  Sure hope so, as my youngest grand is 14.  Also, I wonder if all 8 of use could do it as the same time.

17 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Google "Harmony of the Seas Scavenger Hunt."

Not being a smart ass, I just did and I think you'll find some useful links. And some less useful like a slightly adult version.

Unsurprisingly, others have done this before. I'd start with a list you find, pick and choose from it, then add suggestions you get here. GL!

Thanks for the heads up.  It never occurred to me to google it (showing my age )!  Off to do some Googling....

7 hours ago, PatS said:

The motor coaches for the land tour leave in the morning from the dock in Seward. You would need to find out what exactly the itinerary is for the first day of the land portion. Some don't stay in Anchorage but go all the way to Denali. 

 

We did the 3 night post land tour in July 2018 and we disembarked and went straight to the motor coach.  We didn't go to Anchorage until the last night.  We went to Talkeena and then onto Denali.

In 2018 we did the inside passage on the Radiance and we had AT&T cell reception better than at home.  Only once or twice that we didn't but land was fairly close on both sides.  We were pleasantly surprised by this.  I download several shows/movies to watch onto my iPad so that I don't need internet to watch.  Not sure about the TV's though as I really didn't pay attention to that.

I was thinking of making (or finding one) scavenger hunt (taking photos) game for our family for our Harmony cruise in July.  If anyone has ever done this or has seen a list/game already prepared let me know what you did or where you saw it.  I might even include the airport portion also.  We are doing the Western Caribbean on Harmony if that helps.

36 minutes ago, GKMCruising said:

Our 2 1/2 year old daughter had a blast duck hunting on Wonder - I began to wonder if there were more ducks than passengers onboard at one point.

 

This was the final haul once we got home - planning on taking some to hide on our next cruise in September.

This makes me smile!  Did any have tags/notes attached?  I might do some for our Harmony cruise as the grands will be with us (even though they are 14 & 16) I think they would get a kick out of hiding them.  I may ask them before ordering any. 

I think the duck thing is a cute idea especially for kids; however, with all the extra cleaning and sanitizing that they are doing now they may get rid of them before they could be found.  Not sure if this is the case or not but something to keep in mind.  I would hate to spend the money and time and they just get tossed by the cleaning crew.

On 4/29/2022 at 1:11 PM, OCSC Mike said:

Yes, NAAT at Walgreens is what most people who go that route are using. It's specifically mentioned on the RC testing page. It's actually a rapid PCR test.

That's good to know.  We have the eMed tests; however, I think I will schedule the Rapid NAAT at Walgreens as a backup.  We have 6 tests but we have 2 cruises and we have to test to return to US on 2nd one.  I might want to take 4 tests so that we have 2 extra to test before flying back to US from Amsterdam.  One can only hope that they will stop the flying to US testing!!!!!!!  All this testing is so stressful as the timing doesn't allow much wiggle room (especially the 1 day be fly back home and depending on VOOM to work)!

On 4/24/2022 at 6:31 PM, FoxboroCruiser said:

I’ve been downloading movie and tv shows to watch when traveling for years.  No need for an internet connection, guaranteed to work, just delete when you’re done with it.  Can’t get a sporting event that happens after you leave home, but for shows and movies it works every time. Worth a try if you just want some stuff to watch to fill time.

Same here!  Works like a charm and so easy to do. I just start looking at what I want to download the week before we leave.  I always have more stuff downloaded that what I actually take time to watch; however, I would rather have stuff to chose from.

Oh I hope that is not going to become company wide.  We have the Key for our Harmony (July) and Jewel (August) cruises.

From what I saw on the website, you have to test with laptop or desktop but you can get a link/app to view on phone.

https://ihealthlabs.com/products/ihealth-verified-covid-test-service

(scroll down to Technical Requirement

I'm not sure if RCI will except those or not but the website says that it is suitable for flights back to USA.  It did say you can only use a laptop or desktop and that tablets and phones are not supported.

Maybe someone on here has used them to cruise.  I would be interested to know if you can or not.

Dramamine has a children's version.  Not sure the age of use for it.  I used it for my Granddaughter but she was 10.

I got my email about Royal Up last week.  Since we are cruising with the family (3 cabins) we won't be doing Royal Up.  I love sitting or standing on the balcony (I'm out there a lot) - it's my happy place.  Not sure if I would ever Royal Up really because I keep thinking I would rather use that money to book another cruise...but never say never

I bought a phone tripod from Amazon.  I wasn't sure if we would need it or not, but I figure that I could use it for other stuff too.  We won't have to tested until mid-July so (fingers crossed) maybe we won't have to test by then.    I know it's a stretch but I can hope!

Harmony for us mid-July so I will live vicarious thru you. 

On 4/23/2022 at 6:31 PM, YOLO said:

I know this is not the answer to the question asked, but Cecile and I both find that Bonine works way better than Dramamine.  You only need to take one pill per day and FSA/HSA eligible.

This is what I use at night before bed.  I start taking it on the flight there (day before boarding).  Bonine works better for me too for some reason.  The only ones that need this are myself and my youngest granddaughter.