tjcruisers

First cruise, the night before in the hotel. Since then I've managed to stay even or lose weight (weird isn't it ). I find I can stay disciplined for breakfast and lunch and given the amount I'm walking per day around the ship, dinner can be a splurge with no affect

Last summer there was a short strike by port workers in British Columbia, what I remember they didn't affect the cruise ships only container ships

Nice, targeting retirement or at least semi retirement end of 2026. Hopefully I can do a few legs of the cruise

I've never read my contract with my TA that close. Only had to cancel once (ok covid cancelled it for us), never got dinged. I wouldn't have an issue if there was a reasonable charge for a cancellation (as I am using their time to book everything)

Never really thought about customs when shipping lost and found items, that kind of adds a wrinkle as I wouldn't expect them to be experts on the paperwork required for each country.

Only went out of SJ once, but it was by far the easiest, most relaxing embarkation I've had so far. This was 7 or so years ago, left the hotel at 11, got to the ship at 11:10, were in the buffet by 11:25. Definitely want to go out of there again. Only downside is there is no direct flight for us

I think it's been at a level 3 most of my adult life. Unless your going to Kingston, I wouldn't worry. Tourist areas are patrolled by police/soldiers

I wonder if some excursions have a waitlist or something like that (something like a bus tour I can see them adding another bus if there is enough interest)

I'd almost point at the TA for kind of messing up. I'm assuming they were booked at the same time with the same TA, should have asked if you wanted the rooms together or near proximity (at least that what our TA asks when we book multiple rooms).

I remember a cruise we did out of Fort Lauderdale where they definitely changed the WJ offerings quite a bit due to the demographics of the cruise. Vaguely remember they also had additional offering on the menu in MDR (was 10 years ago, well before the theme nights)

Good catch, I know up here you can get an expedited one in 8-10 business days, I think the same in the US.

Done Bayonne a handful of times, closest port we live to. Definitely not polished like the other ones I've been to.I do find it somewhat disorganized. FRom what I remember I like it better before the redid it

A guy I work with has a son in law who is a commercial pilot. Talks a lot about the issues with flying. He was saying the pilots have to fly so many hours a year to maintain certification. When covid grounded everything the pilots couldn't get their hours. This required them to have to go through the certification process again coming out of covid. Was saying a lot of the pilots who were in their 50's just ended up retiring, as it wasn't worth their effort to recert. Was also saying the pilot can only work so many hours a day/week/month, that includes more than just flying time, but essentially the time they enter the airport until the time they leave. To a story about a flight that was going form Toronto to Cancun and then back to Toronto. There was a weather event in Cancun which delayed the arrival of the Toronto flight, long enough the make those pilot ineligible to fly the return portion. The airline had to use a private jet to fly his son in law and another pilot down to Cancun so they could bring that return flight back. Creates a real domino effect if anything happens

In our case, we as well got a last minute notification as well. Don't remember if they notified us via text or pushed it out on the RC app. We got it about 10 am at the hotel the morning of asking to arrive an hour later (we had a 11:15 am boarding). Seeing we had already booked the shuttle and the time, couldn't really change it. We ended up being a few hours delayed to get on the ship.Also ended up pushing when the rooms were going to ready to almost sail away. To make it even worse they didn't let anybody past the security until they got the all clear (as opposed to a least processing people and getting them to sit in the waiting area for the all clear)

Only booked one once as we were going with another couple that required it (unfortunately it was for June 2020). Their room wasn't significantly more expensive (maybe a few hundred in total), we did have to go through the travel agent and provide documentation. It was a significantly bigger cabin, had to be close to 1 and a half times larger than a normal balcony.

Can't speak for the actual cruise ships, but I live near the border where this comes up. Talking to the border agents, they were saying it depends on the age of the kid if they ask for it. The younger the kid, the more likely they'll ask (13 year old might be fine, 5 year old you'll need it). Might want to look beyond what Royal says and look at the countries the ship is going to as well (could be a requirement from them). In the end as mentioned above I'd play it safe and have the form signed/notarized

We did as a cruise coming off a repositioning and were delayed a few hours as they were doing a coast guard inspection (which we were told they had to do on repositioning). It did push boarding out past noon

My oldest son requires a wheelchair for long distances. As ashleydillo mentions fill out that form. We just did for our Oct cruise, about a week later you'll get a response from access department. For the wheelchair part of the response Hello XXXXXX, Thank you for contacting the Access Department. Don't worry, we're here to help make your sailing experience smooth sailing! Royal Caribbean International is happy to provide wheelchair assistance during boarding and departure. However, during peak times, there might be a short wait for assistance. We bring our own collapsible one, so I can't speak to how long you'll need to wait for a porter to get one. On a side note you might want to consider renting one if you think it'll be beneficial during time on the ship or in port. Many places that do that, the one we use for oxygen for above kid is special needs at sea and they have them (should be reasonably priced seeing you can buy one at walmart for 150)

Was only on the Wonder once last August, was suppose to self assist at 7am. Went down at 6:30 (didn't want to have the elevator rush). As we were getting off the elevator a crew member was there saying we're clear you can disembark. I think I was on the I95 by 7am. What I remember was a hurricane was moving in the next day or no (so they might have been rushing stuff for that)

Can’t speak for the US, but north of the border we can go to city hall and they’ll notarize for $15 (kind of found out by accident). Just have to call to see when the person is in

Definitely a day or 2 earlier. If that mean you and you one friend go a few days earlier and let the other 2 risk it so be it. As it is there is far too small a window for error

Room steward should be able to get you one, can also fill this out https://www.royalcaribbean.com/resources/guest-special-needs (section for sharps container and medical refrigerator if anything needs refrigeration)

Which ship? Anthem? For dining on the ship, ones included in the windjammer buffet, main dining rooms (you should pick your dining time). cafe 270, sorrentos, doghouse. If you haven't done so download the Royal Caribbean app, that'll show you the included ones. Have you done your checking yet? The app you can use it for online checkin. On the day of embarkation you can use it to do the online muster £400 to spend onboard, I guess depends on the person. For my wife and myself that is plenty, we usually get a few drinks a day, play bingo, grab lunch at Johnny Rockets once and by a few tshirts and things Dress code is mostly casual (shorts tshirt), some people dress business casual for the main dining room. You should be fine there. Everything onboard goes on your seapass card. Seeing you have booked excursions outside of royal, make sure you back one the ship at the specified departure time, the ship won't wait if your late. Also the you should follow is ship time, not local time. Whatever the time is on the ship, that's what you use. On your cell phone disable the auto time change and set you clock to the ship time. We always tried to by back on a the ship at least an hour early

Can't say for the suite, but on our Wonder cruise last year we were maybe five rooms in from the suite on the boardwalk. It was loud, room shook. I found the music being played for the watershow on Wonder is louder and more constant than that of other Oasis/Allure. Also the show I think ran every night on Wonder (or pretty close to it), don't recall that on Oasis/Allure

Like many said I just look at the price, not the percent off. Do that wherever I shop. I usually have a good idea of what the general/average price is before I go in and make my decision based on how the current price is (drives my wife nuts as I'm not an impulse buyer)