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My phone (running Android 13) lets me lock the time zone, so it won't change time based on location. I discovered that on a Western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston where the ship did NOT switch to local time. My watch (Garmin smartwatch) can get its time zone info from GPS or from my phone. Once I locked my phone's time zone, the watch honored that.

Kraken is already kind of sweet. Mixed with soda it tastes a bit like root beer. The bartender kept making my glass taller, and increasing the amount of soda, as the day went on.

I had the DBP on Adventure two weeks ago. I thought a lot of the mixed drinks were on the weak side, not due to watered liquor, just a lot of mixer. That was OK. I needed the hydration and nutrition a mixer can provide, and was able to order as many as I liked. The one drink that seemed perfect was a Kraken and soda. I started ordering those as soon as the Solarium bar opened on a port day. Soon everyone else in the Solarium was ordering them.

I boarded Adventure a couple of weeks ago. The security screening (and everything else) was very fast. Maybe because it's a smaller boat, so fewer people using the terminal at the same time. I parked in the north lot, short walk to the terminal, porter asked for my bags, I asked if he worked here. Haha. Up an escalator, showed my ticket to someone, scanned my luggage, then walked onto the boat. They had a ton of staff working, probably more than they needed.

My advice is to use the Waze app. Tell it when you want to arrive and it will tell you when to leave. Just do it for next Sunday at 4pm to get a ballpark idea.

I parked at the North Lot. It seems to be exclusive to the Royal terminal. Same for the neighboring lots.

A few rows on the north of the north lot are covered. The rest are not.

I left on the Adventure on 11/14 and came back on 11/19. Leaving was a breeze. Arriving had some bumps. It was raining when we the boat unloaded, and they make the passengers depart on the side of the terminal, not the front. The front is next to the north parking lot, where my car was, so I had to walk outside in the rain to get around to the front. People were huddled up against the building waiting on rides or something, making everyone who was walking go out in the puddles. The parking lot has arms for entrance and exit, and the rain made it so that the exit arms wouldn't open. I sat there watching the guy swipe his card 50 times with no success. He asked if I had my parking ticket (from when I arrived) because the QR code on it might open the gate. I said I didn't know, but if I did, it was in my trunk. Eventually I got out in the rain to dig through my backpack in the trunk, but didn't find the ticket. Eventually the gate arm just raised by itself. Traffic on the way in was light. Traffic on the way out was very slow.

With the $100 OBC from MyVegas Slots, buy in is only $50.

I just played in a Hold'em tournament on Adventure (11/18/2022), so I have recent info. $100 buy in, plus $50 to double your stack. Everyone doubled. Ten minute rounds. Blinds go up fast. An aggressive strategy is probably best. One table, ten seats. Sign up as soon as the casino will let you. Don't wait until the day of the tournament. We had one tournament on the first sea day. The second sea day had one scheduled, but some players complained a lot and they added another. Our tournament lasted about an hour and a half. First two places paid out. First place was $840. Not sure what second place was.

I just got back. The MDR food quality was sub-par. The service was always top notch. I didn't look at any display food. The ship is aging, but aren't we all? My friends and I had a blast. We enjoyed the bars, the water slides, the Flowrider, the Solarium, and the card room. Also the bars. Blue Moon was my favorite. I loved the casino. I got to play in the poker tournament and came in first place. Paid for the cruise and the booze package. I came to love the Windjammer. Yes, it's a big buffet of institutional food. You have to seek out the bright spots. For me, those were the Chinese and Indian dishes. The comedy show might have been funny in 1993. The ice show was excellent. Shout out to Max.

Your friends wanted a new room because they saw a cockroach? Why not a whole new boat? This one is obviously ruined.

No helpful advice, but you have my sympathy. Health problems are the worst, and amplified when they are expensive.

Aha! That was it, thank you! As a part time UI developer, that's a needlessly confusing design.

There is no order history in my cruise planner.

That makes me feel better. I’m not sure I can pack much more than that into my car (Miata).

Yeah, that seems wrong. And $100-$200 per room seems like a crazy low price for stealing most of a day from your vacation.

So ... "carry on" includes those wheeled suitcases? I imagined "carry on" to just be a single backpack. And I was only planning to bring a backpack and a wheeled suitcase on my first cruise. Am I underestimating how much stuff I need to bring for five nights? Do people normally pack more than a suitcase + backpack worth of stuff?

Thanks! I’m mostly a beer and a shot kind of drinker, but it seemed a little suspect to not cover mixed drinks.

I just read the fine print on my DBP: "Package includes any single beverage item with a value of up to $13 for select ships and sail dates." So does that mean I just can't get an Old Fashioned? I never thought that was a fancy cocktail.

I'm sitting here at my home office desk and a Macallan tasting sounds pretty good, with or without bottles to buy.

I don't normally drink flavored teas, but I tried some of their Chocolate Chai Surprise last week and was definitely impressed. It tastes exactly how you would expect chocolate chai to taste.

I have never cruised. It never seemed like my kind of vacation. I signed up for one because some friends are going and I really enjoy hanging out with them. We make our own fun. We also enjoy a drink. My friend group is the #1 reason I want to go on this cruise. The unlimited drinks package is the #2 reason. I would still go without the drink package, but I wouldn't be as giddy about it. I don't plan to get drunk on my trip. I learned in high school that drinking too much makes me feel bad, and I don't want to waste my vacation feeling bad. If I have a good time, the drinks package might be the reason I come back for a second cruise. So RCI may want to hang onto that.

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I love tea, too. My regular afternoon cup is Darjeeling from Harney and Sons.