monorailmedic

Your welcome!  Oasis is an awesome ship.  I have friends on her this week.  It's their first Royal Caribbean cruise.  
On the main page for this site, RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com there is a search box (the search box on this page only searches within the message boards).  Type in 'first time' and you will find numerous blog entries and tips for first time and new to Royal Caribbean cruisers.  
There is a wealth of information here and planning your cruise is almost as much fun as taking it!  Enjoy!

I openly question the value these awards have to actual cruisers. 
I know the marketing departments of various cruise lines enjoy the awards, but does anyone actually book a cruise because of an award? Does it influence anyone at all?
As a fan, I love to see RC get all the accolades it can get, but I really doubt it does much to influence bookings.

Everyone has their opinions, and they're all correct opinions for the bearer of them.  You think Royal is the best?  Awesome!  Carnival?  Great.  Think they both stink?  No problem.  
The issue with awards things in many industries (including travel) is that not only are these things very subjective, but there is almost always a business component to them.  Yes guys, that means when Royal gets those awards they're largely as rigged as every other award (as mentioned, MSC got "best new ship" for a ship not yet ready).  
The good news?  None of the awards matter, and as rigged as they are I'm confident they wouldn't promote or prop up a line which wasn't already beloved by many.  Just like individual reviews, pay attention to the things people like and dislike and why they like or dislike them, and then determine how much those things matter to you.

In the most meta of moves, below I've quoted myself from a message board topic here.
I usually do my photo work on a computer, but I've used the below app a few times and it seems to do the job without much fuss.  Straightforward to use, too.  To give you an idea, on my site, most images within an article are 400px wide (though sometimes larger depending on what they are), and in my galleries (where you can see larger versions), they're usually 650px to 1000px wide.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobilephotoresizer&hl=en&rdid=com.simplemobilephotoresizer

In the most meta of moves, below I've quoted myself from a message board topic here.
I usually do my photo work on a computer, but I've used the below app a few times and it seems to do the job without much fuss.  Straightforward to use, too.  To give you an idea, on my site, most images within an article are 400px wide (though sometimes larger depending on what they are), and in my galleries (where you can see larger versions), they're usually 650px to 1000px wide.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobilephotoresizer&hl=en&rdid=com.simplemobilephotoresizer

Everyone has their opinions, and they're all correct opinions for the bearer of them.  You think Royal is the best?  Awesome!  Carnival?  Great.  Think they both stink?  No problem.  
The issue with awards things in many industries (including travel) is that not only are these things very subjective, but there is almost always a business component to them.  Yes guys, that means when Royal gets those awards they're largely as rigged as every other award (as mentioned, MSC got "best new ship" for a ship not yet ready).  
The good news?  None of the awards matter, and as rigged as they are I'm confident they wouldn't promote or prop up a line which wasn't already beloved by many.  Just like individual reviews, pay attention to the things people like and dislike and why they like or dislike them, and then determine how much those things matter to you.

Everyone has their opinions, and they're all correct opinions for the bearer of them.  You think Royal is the best?  Awesome!  Carnival?  Great.  Think they both stink?  No problem.  
The issue with awards things in many industries (including travel) is that not only are these things very subjective, but there is almost always a business component to them.  Yes guys, that means when Royal gets those awards they're largely as rigged as every other award (as mentioned, MSC got "best new ship" for a ship not yet ready).  
The good news?  None of the awards matter, and as rigged as they are I'm confident they wouldn't promote or prop up a line which wasn't already beloved by many.  Just like individual reviews, pay attention to the things people like and dislike and why they like or dislike them, and then determine how much those things matter to you.

The forum name is "Royal Caribbean Blog".  The hottest thread today is about being addicted to Royal Caribbean.  I'm pretty sure partiality is baked in here.
To paraphrase the words of Penn Jillette, "We are biased.  We always try to be fair, but we are biased as heck."

Everyone has their opinions, and they're all correct opinions for the bearer of them.  You think Royal is the best?  Awesome!  Carnival?  Great.  Think they both stink?  No problem.  
The issue with awards things in many industries (including travel) is that not only are these things very subjective, but there is almost always a business component to them.  Yes guys, that means when Royal gets those awards they're largely as rigged as every other award (as mentioned, MSC got "best new ship" for a ship not yet ready).  
The good news?  None of the awards matter, and as rigged as they are I'm confident they wouldn't promote or prop up a line which wasn't already beloved by many.  Just like individual reviews, pay attention to the things people like and dislike and why they like or dislike them, and then determine how much those things matter to you.

This is a great question and honestly not one I've run across.  
Thinking back, there have been times that I've seen tip jars out but many times that I've not (I tend to snoop around the wheelhouse as I still have the curiosity of an 8 year old "ohhh, boat!").

This is a great question and honestly not one I've run across.  
Thinking back, there have been times that I've seen tip jars out but many times that I've not (I tend to snoop around the wheelhouse as I still have the curiosity of an 8 year old "ohhh, boat!").

You bring up and interesting point.  I'm not sure I see it that way but am receptive to hearing different opinions.  To me, with internet packages you're distributing a commodity which is, for the purposes of this conversation, practically limitless (no single Voom user is doing so much with their phone/laptop that there is a notable difference in overhead to RCI).  With a drink package, two people consuming alcohol on one package actually does represent an increase in overhead.  Further, with the alcohol package, that's someone who would otherwise be paying for drinks (a la carte or w/ another package), whereas with Voom, if you didn't need to be connected all the time, and your friend didn't need to be connected all the time, but you both wanted some access, you'd simply pass a phone/tablet/computer back and forth using the same package, something I don't think most would argue is problematic.
Another factor is that many (if not most) guests wanting to be connected want that connection constantly (I know I do), and the percentage of guests with this desire will only increase.  Wanting to maintain that connection means you won't be able to share, and I suspect the percentage of guests who want that constant connection will only increase over time (essentially, this is why we see everyone moving away from metered connections, where you buy X minutes or X megabytes).
Looking at it yet a third way, sharing a drink package would be like paying for one person to eat at a buffet but actually having two people eat there.  You're doubling consumption.  If however there was a conveyor belt of food which never stopped, and uneaten food went into the abyss, then you'd be paying for the access to the food, and not the food itself.  Being as how time you didn't use the internet connection is gone (it's a perishable commodity in this way), I see Voom like that conveyor belt, and the movement as time.
It's a genuinely interesting thing to think about - so I really am receptive to hearing differing opinions on this one.

I doubt his for a few reasons, including that I'm not sure China would want to/be able to pressure RCI to make these changes.  In the case of Apple it's about devices in that country rather than, "a Chinese citizen may travel with you outside of our control."  To point out one that is reasonably comparable, if you roam with T-Mobile in China you're actually not subject to the "Great Firewall of China."  Interestingly, whatever methods of blocking traffic China uses, at least as of a couple years ago, seems to be dependent on the IP as I had friends there connecting to my PPTP VPN at home but unable reach other PPTP VPN servers.

Glad you enjoyed.  I use the episodes I'm on to help me fall asleep. 

Glad you enjoyed.  I use the episodes I'm on to help me fall asleep. 

Glad you enjoyed.  I use the episodes I'm on to help me fall asleep. 

Glad you enjoyed.  I use the episodes I'm on to help me fall asleep. 

I've not, but I know @Big Dawg Ron has.  Pretty sure there was a note in the Cruise Compass, and the rates were incredible.  I think @mpoole3 has seen offers as well.

Sorrentos: Second best reason to get the drink package!

I heard a call.  Did someone set off the "bash Sorrentos" siren? 
Yeah, I'm not a fan - at all.  Many lines do pizza poorly and Sorrentos is definitely one of them.  We had pretty great pizza (from a similar style venue) on HAL's Nieuw Amsterdam recently, so floating and good pizza are not incompatible.   

I heard a call.  Did someone set off the "bash Sorrentos" siren? 
Yeah, I'm not a fan - at all.  Many lines do pizza poorly and Sorrentos is definitely one of them.  We had pretty great pizza (from a similar style venue) on HAL's Nieuw Amsterdam recently, so floating and good pizza are not incompatible.   

Just wanted to pop in and say hello! I haven't been back on since I went on my Oasis cruise over Thanksgiving. It was wonderful and I fell in love with Cozumel and Labadee. Was absolutely spoiled with our balcony. It ended on a very high note as I got engaged on the second to last night after going to Quest. *yay* And the fiance loved his first cruise so much that we are going to honeymoon on the Allure in April 2019. I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who helped with all of my questions I had and who apparently had esp and asked questions I didn't even know I needed the answer to. xoxo to you all!

Alright, this thread inspired me to write this out a bit more.  Shameless plug incoming...
http://www.cruisehabit.com/“smart-bags”-have-become-popular-–-we-find-some-impracticalities-and-now-airlines-are-banning-them

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for making my first cruise on Royal go well with all the tips and reviews on the board plus the blog post.  Just a quick story time.
The wife and I flew out of MSP on Friday, Dec 8th, 2017 to Fort lauderdale thru Atlanta.  The same day a massive unheard of soul crushing blizzard fell on Atlanta. Our flight to ATL landed 45 mins late but our flight to FLL was a nightmare.  We got on the plane at 3pm and then over the next 8 hours got on and off the plane twice, pushed back and then the flight got canceled because the crew timed out.  ATL only has 8 deicing trucks and they apparently breakdown easily.  MSP has 40 for a comparison.  All the flights the next day were past the set sail time so we had to improvise.  We stood in line for 2 hours trying to get our checked luggage back and Delta said no go at 1AM.  I started the search for a rental car and all the one way, one day rentals were gone and was told there is no way we can rent you a car.  Here is the trick:  If you reserve a one way car but for a weekly rate it will come up and you can get out of there.  It cost more but when in need its totally worth it.  Most programs have an early return policy so you will get a little money back.   In the end we got a car from Hertz for $360 and drove from 2AM-noon to fort lauderdale without bags.  Did a quick Walmart fashion stock up and got on the boat.   During the drive down talk to Delta and got our bags rerouted to Jamaica our 4th day stop and we picked them up there and enjoyed the rest of our cruise.  So we were the casual people on formal night :)
 

The Voom package allows full internet usage -- email, Snapchat, Facebook, Netflix, YouTube, etc. You can download and also upload without extra charge (although upload speed will be a lot slower than download), so you can live blog from the ship and send images and such, post to Facebook or Instagram, or connect to your office over their VPN.
You can send messages through apps like Messages (iPhone only), Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, etc. -- all of these use internet data for sending and receiving. To my knowledge, you can not get SMS or MMS messages with VOOM, those only work over cellular networks.
For phone calls, you actually can get those as well, but only if your phone is a smartphone on a network provider that allows WiFi calling. Easiest way to determine that is to go your phone's Settings app and (at least on an iPhone, not sure about Android) tap "Cellular". From there, you should have an option labeled "WiFi Calling" in the section for your carrier, assuming your carrier allows it. If you tap on that, you can set up WiFi calling so that you'll get cellular calls over the internet.
Do note you need to do that setup step at home before you board the ship. I believe the reasoning is to make sure the phone is the same approximate geographic area the carrier has on record for your billing address, and also possibly for things like 911 calling so they know where to route that call.