Southern Waters

30 minutes ago, SPS said:

It was no more hectic than any other port I've embarked at. (August 2022, 11:00am)

I think the issue may arise if more than one ship is doing it's turn around on your departure day. We had the luxury of Quantum being the only ship in port on a Monday morning.

You can check if other ships are departing on your departure date here:

2023 Sailing Schedule Updated 3.14.23.pdf (portseattle.org)

Thanks for that link; looks like Celebrity Solstice will be at Pier 91 that day.  I've also checked which ships are in each port by looking at this site but I can't tell which dock (66 or 91) the ships are at:

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/

My only 2 cruises were both on Indy's sister ship Liberty, and I loved pretty much everything except those crowded elevators.  But the stairs worked fine and I actually lost 5 pounds that week LOL.  I'm on Ovation in June and sorta bummed that there's no Johnny Rocket's or Sorrento's, only pizza delivery for a price.  However, I've never tried Blue Iguana so there's that.

I'm going to be signing up for the boarding time for our group.  I know people seem to be going after the early times, but I've heard from several people that the RCL port in Seattle was a chaotic mess.  Has anyone had that problem?  If so, we may want to choose 12 or 12:30 to maybe avoid the initial rush to get on.

I have a little cube with 2 USB outlets and the electrical prongs fold up into it.  I'll be taking it along with a couple of others; maybe at least some of them squeak by

21 minutes ago, Xaa said:

I've seen their channel and they are fine, but they get their affiliated commission whether it makes it onboard or not.  What I think @WAAAYTOOO is trying to illustrate is that seizures are often very arbitrary.  While the truly prohibited power strips with surge protection will almost always get taken, those in charge of doing the inspection don't know what they are seeing, don't always know the rule, don't know what they don't know and don't care because once they've made the decision to take it they are going to adhere to that no matter what.

The one the OP posts should be allowed, but will often get taken by those that take anything with a cord.  The one you post, also allowed, is less likely to be taken but might be by someone who doesn't know what they are looking at.

I've had good luck with a usb hub like this one below, but will not be shocked if one day they take that too.  There are rules around what is prohibited, but only you need to follow them.  The folks at the port will enforce whatever they want.

 

Thanks for that explanation; it just illustrates my point.  Someone like me who's fairly new to cruising has no way of knowing what power solution is OK to bring other than no surge protection.  Maybe I should get an additional one of a different type and hope one of them makes it past the willy nilly port inspector.

19 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I had a power block almost identical to the one above, confiscated a few weeks ago.  The screeners do not know or care about "ship safe/no surge protection".  They just DO.NOT.CARE.  They will not take the time to listen to your plea and they don't do any investigation.  They take it.  You can get it back but it will not go onto the ship with you IF they decide it's not going.

I ordered it from Parodeejay's Amazon store, thinking that since they've been on almost 100 cruises they should know what's allowed.  Looking at their page this morning, I see mine above and also the one the OP asked about.  Go figure!

1 hour ago, Psycho and Barb said:

Yes.  But depending on a bunch of factors...Like the port, the guy doing the screening, Etc., you may get lucky and get it onboard.  

Just curious, what makes it prohibited?  When the item's description says it's a "cruise ship power strip with no surge protection", how is a fairly new cruiser to know?  I have this one that I successfully took on the cruise I took in October; it also says it's safe for cruise ships.

I'm on Ovation June 9 and Juneau excursions show up both on the app and the website.  The "Reserve" button is not grayed out

Several doors down from us on Liberty in October was this door decoration; it was on 3 or 4 doors along there.  It wasn't close enough to us to be an issue, but I imagine the neighbors knew every time people walked by late at night LOL

The Royal cheesecake on Liberty in October was divine, and I think I got it 3 different nights in the MDR.  I'll bet that's one of the desserts that disappeared with the new menus since I liked it so much, but like Pattycruise I don't need it anyway.  I hope we can still get the Ranger coconut cookies when we cruise in June.

My Royal app is working fine, at least what I'm able to do on it.  I have an Android too, but I do my cruise planner on my PC and not the app because I can't find it on the app LOL.

On 3/18/2023 at 7:12 PM, Ampurp85 said:

If you sign out of your account and log back in the points should show up as correct. A bunch of us had this issue a couple of months ago. 

I clear my online browsing history on my PC every night, so I am logged out at the end of the day (at least on the website).  On the app, it's different because I guess I'm always logged in there. 

I checked in for 4 of us just for the boarding time.  Each person can then go in and add the other information.

This will work if the cruise staff enforces it, otherwise chair hogging will go on as usual.

2 hours ago, Rackham said:

Nope. The discount should apply to non-alcoholic beer if you'd like one.

Thanks for the info, guess I'm just SOL unless I get a soda.

19 hours ago, Melissa lendzyk said:

Worst customer service ever.  I was transferred several times, disconnected several times, and told there is nothin V they could do several times. I made reservations for my son and I, along with my sister and brother in law for same time my time dining. I also booked all our shows at the same time. I had everything perfectly lined up. A week later my son and I were the only ones on the my time dining reservation. No show reservations were showing for any of us. I told them why would I spend a combined $7000 on a cruise to not be able to eat together? I see my sister once a year!   They said it could be a glitch?! Unbelievable. So now I have to trust the 12th person I talked to to write an email to the department and wait back for a response?  What a mess. I would prefer to just get a refund for the whole thing. Now I have to fight 6000 passengers for the spare seats in the shows? That was the whole point of me reserving early. Ridiculous customer service. And on top of that not one customer service rep I spoke with could speak clear English and I am pretty sure they were all together at a call center passing me around.

I don't know when you're cruising, but you can email rcldining@rccl.com and tell them your seating preference.  I got this from Matt on one of his live Q&As last summer; he said to email them about 3 weeks before your cruise.  I did it before our last cruise and we were seated together as requested, but we were doing traditional dining.  I don't know how it would work for MTD.

On 4/18/2022 at 9:39 PM, JDawg said:

The best band I have seen on a cruise was the Rock Cover band Phoenix out of Las Vegas.  They were on Wonder during the Inaugural cruise.  Played all kinds of 70’s classic rock.

The next best was an Eagles tribute band called “The Long Run”.  Cannot remember if we saw them on the Allure or the Oasis a few years ago.

We saw "The Long Run" on Liberty in January 2018 and they were very impressive!  They did a great rendition of "Hotel California" and "Get Over It" among others. 

I purchased Voom surf and stream ($13.99/day with an additional device for $11.99/day) during the black Friday sales.  At the time, my roommate wasn't sure if she wanted it or not.  Every time I checked my purchase history, the $11.99 price for an additional device was still showing.  When she decided she wanted it, I tried to add her but when I clicked on it the price showed as $19.99/day with "additional savings" for another device.  I called RCL customer service and the guy had me send him a screen shot that also showed the current date and time.  He was able to override it and get her the $11.99 price.  From recent stories in the news about Wonder overbooking on 2 different cruises, to posts on this blog about points being lost, etc. it sounds like RCL really does need to put the IT guys in dry dock as someone else said LOL.

I've only recently learned about this discount by watching Matt on his Live Q&As every week.  I don't drink alcohol, so can I use my discount on a mocktail?

On 3/11/2023 at 12:35 PM, MaryCS62 said:

I can't see my C&A points on the website, and if they're on the app, I can't find them. 

Same here.  I've looked everywhere on the app I can think of but don't see my C&A status/points, although my past cruises and the # of points awarded for each cruise does show up.  I always make sure my C&A # is on my reservation/invoice.  On the website using my PC, this message shows up on my sign-in page: "Sorry, we're unable to display your loyalty status and points right now.  Please check back later."  This message has been there for months now so they're not exactly jumping on the problem to get it fixed, but I'm at least 3 cruises away from moving up to the next level so there's no hurry in my case.   

I've only been on 2 cruises and both of those were on Liberty, mainly because Galveston is the nearest port for me and I can drive there (I hate flying!).  But I have Ovation to Alaska coming up in June and I know it's a big step up from Freedom class.  

Either early or late

Once/day is fine with me

As far as I'm concerned, what I need from the room attendant every day is a refilled ice bucket and clean towels.  I usually make my own bed and pick up after myself anyway; turn down service is not necessary. 

16 minutes ago, Randon1234 said:

Tell your friend they can call royal and get the refreshment package even though the roommate is getting the deluxe. They will switch it. 

Thanks for the info!

I don't get the DBP because I seldom drink alcohol and I'm fine with the iced tea, water, and free juices at breakfast.  I also bring Crystal Light on the Go packets with me and I drink that a lot of the time.  I usually get one mocktail/day which was $8 on Liberty in October (BTW the lava flow is to die for!).   One of my friends on our upcoming June cruise had to get the DBP because her roommate wanted it.  She said she only drinks 1 or 2 glasses of wine/day and didn't think she'd get her money's worth.  I told her about all the other drinks she could get with that package and that made her feel better; she drinks a lot of coffee so the specialty coffees being available was a definite plus.

I'm on this cruise along with 5 of my high school classmates (we're having our 50-year reunion this fall).  In all, there are about 30 people in our travel agent's group.  It's my first cruise to Alaska and it's been on my bucket list for about 30 years.  So excited to finally get there!  We'll have a free day in Seattle on the 8th and my roommate wants to go to Pike Street Market but I'm really interested in a ferry ride.  We've about decided on the one to Bainbridge Island; has anyone done that one before and if so, do you recommend it?

ETA:  I just realized this is for the June 2nd cruise; I'm actually on the June 9th sailing.  Really showing my age!