DonR

the furthest out I have seen berthing assignments the week of arrival starting on Sunday. it is Posted here https://cozumelinsider.com/?Page=CruiseShips&Sort=Arrival Allure will most likely be at the International pier ( the most common one for Royal Ships) due to her size. Picking a place downtown to meet up would definitely be the way to go.

I have kind of wondered sometime why there is no stops in the Tampico area. It is certainly a big enough port and a very rich in historical and recreation area's that could be developed further.

We drive down from DFW but I talked to a few people on the one I just got back from on Radiance that used Galveston Saltwater Moms and were very happy with them . They have a Facebook page you can look up.

Just out of blatant curiosity I looked it up, a single DUI presents no difficulty in entering the US. Multiple DUI's or a DUI accompanied by other issues on a persons record could possibly cause denial of entry. I expect the surprise on the part of most US citizens is that, overall, we engage in international travel far less than citizens of many other countries. We simply don't realize we ought to check entry requirements!

We usually stay in Webster near NASA. If we can we go early enough to spend the afternoon on the beach in Galveston and head back to our hotel after supper. Just adds an extra day of vacation fun!

We always drive the day(or night) before. Mainly from DFW to Galveston. Waaaay too much can happen in Houston morning traffic to risk it!

My wife went to the Loyalty desk while we were waiting for rooms to be ready on our second cruise as platinum and ask for them. They were happy to hand them to her. Funny thing is that once we got to our room more pins were waiting on our bed!

Perhaps this was not a prearranged or Royal Caribbean arranged meeting. I know if you look at the Cruise Compasses for Radiance recently you will find Morning Mass listed Daily. While I have not seen this on other ships I presume the Priest whose name is listed in the compass is actually a crew member.

Pre-shut down we did My Time mainly as it let us hit 6:00 to 6:30 for our table which was more in line with what we do at home. really had no problem and loved it. Walk right in the Maître D would say good evening, check our name and ask if we would like an escort or would we like to make our way to our table on our own. Post pandemic even with reservations we had a 20 to 40 minute wait for a table. On Grandeur in June, My Time was an absolute disaster. We went to Izumi for my birthday the first night and the second, even with reservations, it seems that the My Time staff had no idea what to do with any one who hadn't been there the night before. We were happy with the rest of that cruise but the MDR was simply not up to snuff that trip.

I have put wine in my checked bag and had it delivered to my stateroom with no problem. Sure they could snag it but the guys inspecting checked bags are looking for other things I think. The only time I had to go down to deck one to claim my bag was due to a surge suppressor I had forgotten to remove from my bag from a previous land based trip a couple weeks before. That was 'entertaining'. I had to go to guest services after dinner to find out why my bag wasn't at the cabin, they sent me to Deck one. There was a line so I didn't feel to bad or singled out. There was the crew members and security asking me to remove any prohibited items from my bag and I was honestly telling them I had no idea what they were talking about. Finally one of them realized I wasn't trying to get one over and told me x-ray showed a surge suppressor and I very confusedly searched through the pockets till I found it. Amusingly I got back to my state room and found a note on the door telling me to come claim my bag! They had me fill out a claim form and informed me I could pick it up at the terminal on disembarkation. It was maybe 20 minutes out of my day and once we got past the confusing it was all good. I am curious how many devices just get left after the cruise, we didn't even look for a place to pick up the surge suppressor.

February is peak Winter Weather in Texas which means absolutely nothing. The past two years we have had Arctic blast come through for a week or so that month but had mid 70's right before and right after. Heavy morning fog is not uncommon on the Gulf coast in late winter through spring however the Ships crews and Port Pilots seem to handle it pretty well. The best thing is to watch the extended forecast for your dates. We usually know when a blue northern is on it's way. Weather Underground's 10 day is what I use living in North Texas. and for my travel planning.

I would think the powdered drinks in packets and a shaker cup would work as well. water and milk are easily available in the Windjammer

We love having a balcony, morning coffee is best out by the rail especially with a Caribbean sunrise! . We have done Ocean View rooms when our boy was much smaller just so there was one less thing to plan for. Now that he is 10 he loves sitting out on the balcony as much as we do. The only time we did not make extensive use of a balcony was when we had one for just the two of us on our 20th anniversary. The balcony is great and all, but the furniture in the stateroom is much more comfortable for extracurriculars.

I had this problem on a Royal up I won several years back, I called RC and they emailed me the correct ones to print. This was about 14 days out. I did keep checking Cruise planner any way and they appeared there about 3 days out.

My wife and I have always done Prepaid, just gets it out of the way and one less thing to think about. On one of my cruises I noticed I was being charged daily, went to guest services and they removed it even though I did not have my invoice with me. When I went searching and brought it up later in my e-mail sure enough I had it there as prepaid. Over all it was no problem and the lady at Guest Services was super nice. We also tip cash onboard, our room attendants and dinning room servers have almost always gone above and beyond and we like to thank them in this way. the cash tips are budgeted as part of our spending money for our vacation.

As mentioned before the Blueberry Nojito is quite tasty. I also get quite a few virgin mango or strawberry daiquiris or Virgin Pina colada. I just dump them off into my Yeti cup and even add iced tea from the wind jammer once I have drank enough to fit it in.

I have always booked directly, I have done it online, over the phone, and at Nextcruise. I have always had confirmation of my transactions within a few minutes and if there were any discrepancies I called at that time to make sure everything was SAT. When I work with RC over the phone I always make sure I can access my email and look at my confirmations before I end the call. Some of the things look weird on the confirmations so I have them walk me through it. Kids sail free always looks weird on the receipts as does our drink packages on cruise planner. There have been occasional errors, and each time I could trace them to my own mistakes. Rebooking trips canceled during the shutdown was multiple levels of headaches and I made sure to watch each line item. My cruises have always been overall to my satisfaction and enjoyment. even when there were itinerary shifts and port cancelations. Some will say "I shouldn't have to put that much work into a vacation" to which I respond by referring you to the Travel agents referenced above who will happily do every bit of the foot work I have described for you. They might even save you some money or be able to throw in some extra perks. I simply like to do it myself at my own pace.

We traveled with our Grand son before we adopted him and carried a copy of the custody papers along with his passport. We also carried the adoption papers till we had all the name changes completed. We got the passport because we like cruising and it makes things easy. Usually the officers directing people in the customs area try to direct us to the birth certificate line as they don't expect a 10 YO to have one but they smile when he flashes his card at them . We were never ask for any of the custody/adoption documents and and as Doomslayer said we never offered them in advance. Having the papers just gives you a piece of mind that you don't have to worry if something did come up.

Congrats and Happy B-day! God Willing, I should be picking up my 1 yr on Dec 6

We took Wrapped presents on board Liberty last year with no problem.

120 days till embarkation, the new cruise pier in Galveston looks awesome!

To be fair to the 8 year old, I was all of those watching Hocus Pocus 2.....

The Blueberry Nojito is quite tasty! I also get the virgin Daiquiri's Typically they can do the Strawberry, Mango and Pina-colada without adding booze. You can get any of them on your Refreshment Package.

the Port Authority has been working towards LNG Bunkering for a couple of years. Stabilis is under contract to provide bunkering and Pilot is looking to build an LNG bunkering port on Pelican Island. https://www.portofgalveston.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=209

@Censored Well I tell ya, I am a Recovering Alcoholic. One of the ones who goes looking for the "Friends of Bill" meetings when I am on board. I have cruised both before and after I became sober and, when I was drinking, I cruised both with and without the DBP. I can assure you cost of the drink had absolutely nothing to do with how much I drank or weather or not I got "drunk and obnoxious". The only thing having the DBP did for me was allowed me to get my drunk on without the worry of what my wife would say when we got the balance sheet being charged to our card on the last night. The getting drunk part was a foregone conclusion. These days I call and get the DBP for my wife and I get the Refreshment package. You can do that if you call and tell them why. (Yes, I am in recovery and my wife drinks, it happens all the time) The DBP makes it easy and we don't worry about when or how many Margarita's she can have or how it will impact that balance sheet. We get on the ship and don't worry about anything till we pick up our luggage when we disembark. It's called "Being on vacation" you might have heard of it. Oh just a reminder..... your first post had nothing to do with the DBP..