Marc

Yup! Even though I've cruised much more than the rest of my family, my husband (who would be "Emerald") and our younger son (who would be "Gold") are both considered "Diamond" due to my status.

From what I remember, I think I saw that the 60%-off-2nd is slightly better than 30%-off-both when you have balcony discount. With the 30% off sale, the balcony discount is also similarly reduced by 30%. With the 60% off the second passenger sale, I got the full balcony discount because it was based on the first passenger's 100% rate.

Be careful where you find the $1,500 number. Royal Caribbean's web site averages out the per-person cost, factoring in the 60% savings on the second passenger. The price you see there already includes most of the sale pricing factored in. If, for example, the price for a cabin were $1,500 per person, what Royal Caribbean's web site would show you is that it's $1,050/person (based on $1,500 for the first person, $600 for the second person, meaning a total of $2,100, or $1,050 per person).

Hey, I'm internet-famous! :D I'm right up there with Fabio, Charo, and Cher!

Technically, the rules say that the only beverages permitted to be brought onboard are two bottles of wine (up to 750 ml) per cabin. Unofficially, though, sealed containers of soda and water are usually permitted.

Royal Caribbean should read their own web site:

If I remember correctly, the bar changes location every fifteen minutes. For example, at 5:30 it might depart the Royal Promenade to go up to Central Park, and then at 5:45 it would depart Central Park to go back down, and so on.

You can also download a PDF of just the luggage tag by itself on the online check-in page (once your e-docs are issued).

This page has the official details. In summary, the cabin that purchases the package gets all pictures that include the people in that cabin, plus any that may include their "children aged 21 and under, who may be traveling in a separate stateroom".

I did the Isla Pasión by Twister excursion. It was a speedboat ride to/from Isla Pasión that did tricks in the water (mostly just stopping quickly in a very tight turn). The speedboat ride was a lot of fun, and I really liked the island, too. The service and facilities were great!

Grasping at straws... Have you tried from a different device (another computer, or perhaps from a smart phone or tablet)?

You probably have that "unavailable" page in your cache. In your browser, empty your cache and that may clear the problem for you. Worst case, try a different browser — oh, wait, you did. Hmm... Are you running through any sort of caching proxy (like at work)? That may impede your efforts.

Liberty of the Seas has (chlorinated) freshwater pools. I believe that the Splashaway Bay would also be freshwater.

It certainly seems that that's the trend.

Personal peeve: Royal Caribbean should call it a "daily service charge" because that's more akin to what it actually is. To increase the "gratuities" makes me think that we've seen an incremental improvement in service worthy of an increase in the "gratuities", which is rather silly to have done prior to going on the cruise.

From my casual observations, the coaster is available as an all-day excursion when fewer people are at Labadee (a single Freedom-class ship or smaller). If two ships are there, or if an Oasis-class ship is there, then they only offer the single-ride tickets. That said, I've heard that one can slip some money to the person at Labadee who is administering the ride and get an all-day pass for the coaster. I've not tried this myself, though.

It is generally recommended that you carry the wine onboard with you and not put it into your checked bags. You'll get through security with the wine fairly easily (they may examine the bottles, but that's about it). If you have it in your checked bag, you may find that your bag is not delivered to your stateroom and that you must instead go downstairs to the security office area and claim your bag, where they will probably have you open the bag to ensure that there's no contraband (non-permitted alcohol being the most obvious thing they'd be concerned about after X-raying your bag).

There are two welcome back parties: one for all Crown & Anchor members, and one for "top tier" members (Platinum and higher). I suspect that the former would be for Gold and higher as they would be checking for a Crown & Anchor level to be printed on the SeaPass card, and a pre-registered Crown & Anchor member wouldn't have any such notation listed on their SeaPass.

Some number of years ago, they added "priority" check-in lines for Gold C&A members as well. So, basically every tier of Crown & Anchor has their own check-in line to separate them from the non-C&A members, I guess. As far as departure lounge, what I've usually seen is that there is a lounge available for all C&A tiers.

No, Freedom of the Seas may serve Starbucks beverages at Café Promenade, but she doesn't have a true Starbucks onboard.

You're right. That wording is rather unclear. I've never seen that wording, though. Where did you find it say that? I'm curious which part of Royal Caribbean would "own" that wording. :) I did some searching and found that there is similar wording present in the Australia Terms and Conditions page. There, it says: There, the "each" makes more sense as it's referring to the bottles being 750 ml each (as opposed to 750 ml total).

When I initially read your post, I misread the URL. I thought it said "tubas on a cruise". I couldn't imagine who'd want to go on such a group cruise!

What makes you say that (the "none at sea" part)? WMS offers Cellular At Sea, providing cellular services on cruise ships. Of course, using this does cost a pretty penny, especially for data!

I can almost ditto this. My first Royal Caribbean cruise was Viking Serenade, and unlike you, it turned me off from Royal Caribbean. It was far too small for my liking and didn't give me that cruise ship experience that I was looking for. It wasn't until cruising on Liberty of the Seas many years later that I fell in love with Royal Caribbean.

No, it wasn't. :(