FireFishII

I love your pictures as you walked around the empty ship.  Why do I keep hearing crickets in my head?  I would love to have that empty ship to myself.    

Best wishes @Templecruiser.  You are in for a treat!  As a cancer survivor myself, I hope your treatment goes smoothly and you come out of the end of it well!

Welcome.  Boy are you in for a treat. 

If you do print your luggage tags (which I strongly recommend), wrap the tags with clear shipping tape.  That will keep the tags from falling apart if they get wet. Carry small bills to tip your porter. If you are with a group, you can drive up to the terminal to drop off the luggage and your passengers. Then go park. 

If you have purchased unlimited dining package (UDP) or Chops + 1 or 3 specialty dining package, once on board, go to the nearest specialty restaurant and make your reservations for the trip. Then start exploring the ship.  

Remember that your rooms won't be available until ~2 pm.  So make sure you have packed your swimming suit in your carry on baggage.  This way you can enjoy Flow Rider, water slides, or just the pools while you wait for your room. 

If you bring wine on board (2 750 ml bottles per stateroom), pack it in your carry on luggage. 

On 12/26/2022 at 9:30 PM, Ampurp85 said:

Ports, we plan to just get off and walk around. We had the water park booked at PDCC but we thought about children and changed our mind.

If you are into water parks, I would have kept your booking.  I don't think you will have many kids on your cruise since schools will be in session.  

I can't wait to read your blog.  Thanks for taking us long. 

28 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:

Interesting sea state.  3m rollers... not big.  I haven't Googled what kind of stability augmentation Navigator has (yet), but even these little ones have us rolling a bit.  That's forecast to increase to 6-7m this evening, so should be a fun ride. 

 

This may answer your question:

And this:

https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/fact-sheet/16/rhapsody-of-the-seas/

The video did not come thru for me. I even tried watching it in YouTube.  Just horizonal lines and audible. 

13 minutes ago, Psycho and Barb said:

Kids hitting all the buttons on an elevator before they get off.

Don't you wish you can force those kids to stay on the elevator until the elevator had visited all the floors they had selected.  I bet those kids would only do that once. 

I have to agree with @Maggie M. I was on a cruise once and watched a casino worker walk out without washing her hands. GROSS!  I usually don't say anything but I did with her. 

I also have to agree with @FloatyBoaty.  Having travel with 3 kids before, there is no accuse to allow the kids to misbehave.  We always came prepare for items to keep them entertain. I would also stay out of sit down restaurants until the kids themselves could sit down for more than 5 minutes at a time. 

17 hours ago, zuko94 said:

We did catch royal being a little unscrupulous with pricing. I have been searching and mock booking and noticed prices I had written down were no longer the same. my wife jumped on her work computer since she's used it a couple times for cruise searches.  I used my daughters computer since I had read something about royal "cookie booking" sure enough my home comp was showing 933 for a balcony and my daughters 833 for a balcony and my wife computers was showing 863. We booked on my daughters computer.  

I won't call it 'unscrupulous' with pricing.  I have noticed the same with airline tickets.  I have learned to use the incognito window with my browser.  Otherwise I get higher prices on the same day when I go back to book.  I have even seen the price increase between my work computer and my home computer on the same day. Those darn cookies.  The alternative is to delete cookies.  But if you do that, be prepared to sign back into all your favorite websites. 

Great price for a balcony.  You will have a fantastic time.

Also, don't forget that some items will have an added gratuity.  That is not shown in the price but added when  you purchase the item.  So, sometimes something looks better until you add the gratuity. 

Depending how far back you booked your cruise, you may still be able to transfer the booking to a travel agent. I think it is 30 days. 

Since this is your first cruise, I won't worry about picking the wrong ship.  There is SO Much to do that it is impossible to do it all.  So my advice is to sit back and enjoy your first cruise.  You will learn what you like and dislike. If you find out that cruising should be in your life, you can try a bigger ship next time. I usually pick a cruise for its port of calls.

Now comes my favorite part of cruise - planning!  Go to your cruise planner and start planning.

If you have not done so already, I would start looking at shore excursions and booking those.  For Coco-cay, figure out if you want the thrills (purchase entrance to Thrill Waterpark) or if you want quiet (I would recommend Coco Beach Club).  There are lots of free options too - like Oasis Lagoon (can get loud) or Chill Island (quiet).  

Look at what you want to experience on board - Spa?  Specialty dining? Fitness? Classes? Chef's Table? 

Then sit back and count down the days until you are on board with a drink in your hand! Welcome.

Agree, work with a good travel agent and let them do the leg work for you.

Very time I have gone sailing, the winds drop off to NOTHING!  I am glad you had a great time with sail. Be grateful that I was not on the sailboat.  LOL!

54 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

If we ever sail together again, remind me to tell you a story about me, cows, and a bunch of Grade 1s. You will laugh even harder, I promise.

I think I have a story that could beat your cow story.  I was about 6 years old when a cow stepped on my foot.  Thank goodness the ground was soft with who knows what.  My father, in trying to get me to stop crying, put me on the cow's back and let me ride him like you would a horse.  Yes, it got me to stop crying.  

I used my TA to add pre-paid gratuities.  I have booked 2 cruises this year on 2 different cruise lines.  Both times I was happy I had pre-paid because on both lines - the price of gratuities had increased between the time I paid and the time I cruised.  And yes, I also like having a smaller final bill at the end of the cruise.  If you don't pay off your credit card bill at the end of the month, then you will be paying interests. 

And I think the interest I could have earned prior to the cruise would be less than the interest on my CC bill. 

Will she 'CHURCH' today?  Inquisitive minds would like to know. LOL!  Happy sailing!

Thanks for posting.  I have thought about Solo but don't like the price. My husband teaches so he can only take the summer for cursing while I want to travel more. It maybe in my future. I have traveled before.  What I hate is to eat alone unless I have a good book. I look forward to your blog. 

16 minutes ago, D Alt said:

After reading all this, I would avoid going to the medical center at all costs.  Barring any real emergency, wait til you get home to go to the doctor. 

But in the case of @markm, he had a condition that could have been fatal.  My advise would be to buy insurance and use it if necessary.  But also bring along over the counter cold remedies.     

2 hours ago, NancyP said:

Regarding travel insurance, I’m considering booking a family cruise with age ranges in 20s, 50-60s, and 80s. Can I get different policies for each of us (basic for daughter, moderate for us and high for elderly parents) even if it’s all one trip/booking? Reading this thread reminded me of the differences in what we all may need and I want to have (some) peace of mind. Thanks!

If you have booked thru a travel agent, they should be able to help you.  But yes, you can get different coverage for each person.

20 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Just landed! What a relief! 

Run DON'T walk to the nearest exit.  You never know when they will change their minds and shut the doors on you.  After all, they may have just realized that they forgot to load the luggage and have to go back for it. LOL!  Sorry, bad joke. ENJOY

36 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

I'm not sure of the exact balcony config between a GS and OV balcony, but I can confirm that generally speaking the dividers can be opened on Allure.

We had CP balconies on Allure back in 2019 and the attendant was able to swing open the divider...

 

I was also on Allure this past summer.  They were able to open the ocean view balcony dividers between our two rooms.

@Lovetocruise2002- you may just get that win due to SW flights being canceled.  There should be at least 1 person on one of those canceled flights that

had a Star Class suite.

@twangster- she should be ok as long as she is not on a SW flight. LOL!  Since we have not heard from her in the past 2 hours, I am going to assume that the flight took off. 

3 hours ago, D Alt said:

I love cookies too, but the CC ones.  They didn't have them every day.  And the only day with the really good ones was CocoCay.  

I did not know that CocoCay had cookies!!  Now I feel cheated.  Nah - I just need to get on a cruise with a CocoCay stop.

Ditto - I had traveled with my family (all adults).  We had 4 rooms.  When our pictures were taken, we gave all 4 room numbers.  Each room was responsible for their own photo package.  I got the bare minimum while my sister got the 100 photo package.  

The only rule when giving a room number was at least 1 person from that room must have been in the picture. So, photos of just my husband and myself were not shared among the other 3 rooms. 

19 hours ago, JasonOasis said:

Southwest has hubs in ATL, BWI, MDW, DEN, HOU, BNA, OAK, PHX, and STL, they don't like to call them hubs but any airport where thousands of passengers make connections on the same carrier every day is a hub. 

That just goes to show me that I can't believe everything I read. But does that mean I should believe you?  LOL!  Just kidding.