Bill S

This is correct.

We just got off of a cruise on Liberty, from Galveston (yay! no masks!). If you have lost your vaccination card, or if it's incomplete, you can get your family doctor to fill out a new one for you. Ours did for both of us. They can look them up, online. Mine had taken an unintentional bath in my wallet in French Polynesia (it WAS readable, but not great). TAKE PICTURES of them, both/all parties, on multiple phones. Just in case. We do the same for passports and driver's licenses.

We bid on several Royal Ups on our Liberty trip last week. Some at about the midpoint. None accepted. And we didn't get notified until long after getting aboard. I'm not even going to bother next time.

Yay! on the bracelets. We leave Sunday. I guess I'm crazy, but they drive me nuts. ADHD thing, I guess. I'm the same way with shirt tags not on the collar.

I find these posts so troubling, personally. We've been all over the world in the last year plus. Life is too short to be obsessed about Covid, especially now that the virus is doing what they all do with time: They become less virulent. Get back to life, folks. It's important. And, in case you are interested, I'm a molecular biologist.

You might be happier on Viking... Adults only.

We booked our DBP about 2 weeks ago, for a cruise that starts this Sunday. Early last week, it dropped from $58 to $54, so we cancelled and rebooked it.

1) Tests at Walgreens/CVS, etc. are free. 2) We've traveled all over the hemisphere in the last year. Many, many Covid tests. The folks at Walgreens know us now. "Where are you going this time?". Anyway, quit freaking out. We just plain don't worry about it anymore. We haven't had a single issue, but at the same time, it's not something you can control anyway.

I've only been on 3 ocean cruises. Princess to Alaska a few years back (Princess was not good), NCL, and most recently RC. We are doing another RC in a few days, and we have one on NCL booked late in the summer. I'm not a fan of NCL, but it's with a big group. I hate Pepsi, and their pricing just seems shady. I HATE the Haven part, when you are traveling with a group. Some in, some not in. If I were cruising alone, I might think differently. Royal Caribbean: I'm a huge Southwest Airlines fan. Have been for over 40 years. RC is the SWA of the cruise industry. Reasonably priced, but most importantly, make sure everyone has fun, no matter what it is you want from the cruise. Sure hope next week's is good... P.S. I'm NOT a cruising fan. I do this for my wife. I would much prefer smaller ships, and we are looking forward to a Viking river cruise. I hate crowds.

The CDC says 3 days for vaxxed and boosted, but RC still says 2 days: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center/getting-ready-to-cruise

I have a really hard time with bracelets. ADHD thing. Tags on shirts too. And jewelry, except my wedding ring. Any chance I could wear it on my ankle? I can deal with that. We have a cruise in 6 days... PS - I'm not kidding.

1) The Key cost us $20 a day. The Zoom/Stream package (which I need for work) is $18 a day. For $2, I'll take the Key. 2) The Suite Lounge is SUPPOSED to be open from 11-11, with beer and wine. That works for us, for the most part. We are close to break even on the DBX. We have it mostly for convenience, and it adds to our trip enjoyment not having to worry about it. And we do like our non-alcoholic drinks too.

Here's my problem: We have a balcony stateroom. We bought the Deluxe Beverage Package, and the Key. The beverage package barely makes sense for us. However, if we were to be upgraded to a suite (other than Junior, which we didn't bid on), we probably wouldn't need either of those, right? We would also pack 2 bottles of wine to have, if we didn't have the beverage package. We can only cancel these and get a refund up to 2 days before the departure. Otherwise it's cruise credit, and who needs/uses $1200 in credit? So, at this point, we will probably remove our Royal bids the 2 days before the trip - or at least substantially discount them.

On our last cruise we bought the Key package, and we also did for our next one, leaving in 10 days. It's a little bit more than the Zoom package that comes with it, but it does give one some nice perks, including preferential disembarking. It's kind of like the drink package, it's hard to justify, but it keeps giving back during the cruise. Preferred seating at shows, etc. Staff seems to treat you differently too.

Correct, and correct. We bid on some, but I'm not thrilled that most of those suites are on 10, on Liberty, which is just below the pool deck.

We have a cruise coming up in a week and a half. I just took the opportunity to let RCL our opinion (using "contact us"), and we all should do the same. If they opt in on our ship (LIberty), we will cancel. And we are with a group. All the same. It is just so onerous, and just not worth the risk. It's not just face masks. Look at the quarantine-if-exposed requirements. 10 days isolated alone in a cabin? I don't think so.

For those not familiar with tipping: First: Americans are NOT "used to" the automatic gratuity added. This is a BS resort area thing. I remember the first time I ran into it, in the Bahamas, in the 70s. I thought it was a crock then, and still do. Automatic gratuities are not "tipping", they are just a separate, hidden, line item to ping tourists with. It does nothing to reward good performance, as those who perform above and beyond get the same "tip" as those that do nothing. Now I'll step down off of my soapbox. Second: TIPPING some believe the origin is "To Insure Promptness", is rewarding someone for good service. As such, it's an incentive. And I am wholly and completely in on that. During the pandemic, our tip rate in restaurants has been in the 40-60% range, with good service. Typical is 15-20%. Here in the US, so many service people were paid to stay home, we rewarded those who actually worked. So, in the US, if you just assume that service workers (other than retail and fast food) have no income other than tips, you will be just fine. Tip them based on an hourly rate (it took them 5 minutes, at $30 an hour, that's $3). Anyway, I generally spread a lot of 5s and 10s around on the ship.

We like to bring a whole bunch of mainly $5 bills, and some 10s and 20s with us. It's hard to get small bills once on board. In spite of Covid, we've had a couple of really good years. Generally, it's not unusual for us to tip over 50% on meals out at home. On the ship, we'll spend a few hundred on cash tips.

We have a cruise coming up in 2 weeks. We are in a spacious balcony. After having a suite on NCL a few years ago that was directly under the pool deck, I swore I wouldn't do that again. On Liberty, most of the suites are on 10, right under the pool deck... So, there's no way I'm taking (even for free) a JS on 10. Did bid on the others, figuring maybe I can put up with it... I agree, not having control of where your upgrade is, takes a lot of the reward out of it. You should at least be able to reject the upgrade.

We have a trip on LIberty out of Galveston at the end of the month. We'd booked the Deluxe package at $56/day. On Tuesday, I checked, and it had gone down to $52/day. We also booked the Key, and it went from $28/day down to $20 a day. So I cancelled both, and re-bought. No big deal.

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