FloatyBoaty

I've got everything booked for our June and September cruises and have been tracking the prices (well, I do that on everything). Some prices have been pretty static, but there are some excursions that are 25-40-50% higher than when I paid for them. Internet and beverage prices are much higher currently. Now, I am giving them my money way way out in advance, so that is the negative, but it is satisfying to see something I purchased for $75 now at $103 etc.. And I love knowing that I can always (up to 48ish hours before cruise) cancel any my purchases in the cruise planner.

I've seen a lot of people participate in (Dress in) White Night although it hasn't come up on all of my cruises. It's easy to participate in too - just have white shirts and/or pants with you. Another pretty popular one in terms of participation seems to be Caribbean night. There were quite a few people on my last cruise fully decked out for 70's/disco night (in 270), which somehow also fell on Formal night. They had full on outfits, wigs. I'm not a good enough packer to devote extra space in my suitcase for something that only has one purpose though.

We have had these same items either both in the room when we arrived or dropped off to the room within a couple of hours of the rooms being opened (one item there, the other delivered afterwards). It has not been an issue at all. We did not receive a follow up call or email. I think these items are very common requests.

It was really awful once we were a day out from Brisbane when I was on March 14-27 as well (over to New Zealand). The crew did have a "Starlink test day" on the crew wifi when we were in one of the NZ ports. The wifi did not improve after that and not sure whether it was ever set up for passengers while I was onboard. Crew said it was supposed to be operational the 28th.

I just sailed Quantum out of Brisbane mid-March. I had both the actual test strip with the negative result with me and a photo of it. It is still required by Australia (for cruises) and they did check.

We stayed at Hotel Nouvel on Calle Santa Anna last August for 4 nights before getting on Wonder. Old, beautiful and incredibly centrally located: https://www.hotelnouvel.es/en/ . We walked almost everywhere. We had a "Jr Suite" with the rounded balcony right above the sign in the web page photo. There was one bed (2 twins together, like on the ship) and then another twin behind a half wall. They also have what they call a triple room. Rate then was under $150/night.

I just said on one of my excursions last week that there should be reviews available in the cruise planner or MUCH MORE DETAIL. The descriptions are all very marketing-y and you often do not get a real sense of how much time you'll be spending somewhere & especially, how much time you'll be driving around vs doing stuff. Sure, you can get additional information from the Excursions desk, but by then any pre-purchasing discounts are long gone. This seems like such a huge project - there are so many excursions listed for some of my cruises, and I would imagine they change them up a bit. I would be very likely to look for reviews and comments on excursions I'm considering.

They had 2:00 listed in the app and on the hallway doors for my March 14 cruise. The doors were open and rooms available at about 1:50. The luggage I had left with the porter was already in the hallway in batches (had not yet been distributed to right outside each room, but easy to find). I did not have any issues with the once daily cleaning and actually preferred it. My stateroom attendant was cleaning in our hallway from 9 am to 5-6 pm daily, so he was always easy to find if needed. There was a card in my room with a QR code for additional requests & when I used it, he responded in less than 15 minutes, also bringing me his personal card.

Currently on Quantum of the Seas. It’s really more fluid here- doesn’t have to be an “early” or “late” hard and fast choice. Just put out the “make up my room” sign when you want it done and they get to it as soon as they can. Has been great so far (day 4 of 13).

Late. Like.

That happened to my Quantum cruise: 1st it completely disappeared for a couple of days, then it was back on the list but if you clicked on it it came up blank, then it was finally back another couple days later. I just checked on cruisemapper.com and all of those weeks do show up, none indicating a charter - at this point. Fingers crossed that it's just another Royal IT glitch and it will show up again for you like mine did.

I've ordered AU$ and NZ$ from Bank of America for my upcoming cruise. I didn't know I could do this when we went to Barcelona last year and we got stuck paying the outrageous fees at the airport for our first batch of Euros. When we needed more, we used a Santander Bank ATM and Schwab refunded us the ATM fees as they do all ATM fees.

Quantum class ships do advance reservations for the shows in 270 - so for Anthem that would be Spectra's Cabaret. All of the other shows on Anthem were just walk-in.

I use a travel agent. I know she knows that that is our preference, but not sure how anything goes through the system until you are actually on the ship. I believe one of Matt's "first things to do" recommendations after boarding is to check out your table location, so that's how I just started getting in line to check. One time, while traveling solo, I did try out the group table thing. It was ok, but not for me. I now request single tables when I cruise solo as well. As people have mentioned, many of the 2-tops are so close together that sometimes you end up striking up a conversation with your neighbors, but at least you are not stuck doing dinner at their pace. Oh, and is that how it should be? No idea - they have way more experience at this than me. When you look at these boards and see that people are trying to join their parties together, switch times, (and nothing wrong with any of that) etc etc, it just seems like everything is still in motion until people board.

If you have traditional dining, go to the dining room as soon as you board - don't wait until dinnertime. I add it to my list of booking entertaining, booking specialty dining as my priorities. There will be a line, but I have never not gotten what I requested when making the request right away. Maybe this is what you're already doing? If so, then for me, the only time spent is waiting in the line - once at the podium it's been taken care of quickly. That's been my experience anyway.

Here's the Wonder Vitality Menu Board from August 2022. I don't have any photos of that fitness center.

Visited the Vitality Cafe about a half dozen times on Wonder - really nice. Great smoothies & protein drinks, made fresh to order. I did not work out in the fitness center there myself, just used the track on those cruises, but the fitness center looked pretty great walking through.

What ship?

My upcoming cruise will be the 4th cruise in a row that I have had the Key. I look at it similarly to @Xaa. You have to price it in total - not by day, as some of the benefits only come one time, not every day. For me, I know I would be getting internet - I just have to be able to be reached by family, even on vacation. I like the priority embarkation, but won't need it when we have a suite. I really like the Chops lunch. I don't use the special times at the rock climbing wall or whatever, and have only used the priority seating in the theater one time when I couldn't get there early. The priority seating is NOT the front row or anything close - it has been the center balcony for me recently. I will strongly consider the Key for additional cruises if the price comes down from the current rates - I don't even want to buy and reprice it, I just don't want it for 32.99/day. I have had the Key on Wonder, Oasis, Anthem, and next on Quantum. I don't think the Key experience was any different on Wonder than anywhere else for me.

I don't technically know the answer, but she made it to Australia months ago and has been completing all of her itineraries as scheduled (except during typhoon Gabrielle a few weeks ago, when they understandably needed to get out of the way).

I have used @Jenn Greene at MEI for my 2023 and 2024 bookings and find her to be very efficient and responsive.

Here's a couple of posts from this summer - overall Alaska cruise guide and 10 things to do in each of those cities. I haven't been to either yet - doing Alaska in September. Have a blast! https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/alaska-cruises https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/04/08/top-10-things-do-ketchikan https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/04/04/top-10-things-do-skagway-alaska

Hey, sorry to butt in on @steverk's post, but this has just been such a huge conundrum for me since my nightmare of noise night at Home2Suites in January. I look at the map and I look at the hotels and I just end up closing it all back up without making a reservation. I understand the Jersey City recommendation, but our flight is not scheduled to arrive at Newark until about 4:30 on a weekday afternoon. Is it worth it to Uber over to Jersey City with commuting traffic, etc, or just stay near the airport (check out the Elizabeth recommendation?) when arriving early evening. Appreciate your thoughts - and now back to your regular programming...

Was that the Springhill Suites Newark Airport? If so, I stayed next to it at the Home 2 Suites in January and didn't sleep AT ALL due to all of the plane and highway noise. I'm looking for a hotel myself for our June cruise out of Cape Liberty and just wonder if that Springhill suites was any quieter or at least bearable? Thanks!

There is also the Fleet Guide: