DoomSlayer

They have an OK selection while in Texas waters. Good opportunity to try a Shinner Bock if you haven’t before. Good stuff will come out as soon as they reach international waters around 7:30 or 8pm. Like others have said, Royal is just following Texas law, so don’t put blame on them.

They are there for my January sailing. Not interested personally because I will be doing things with kids and grandkids on other parts of the island, but they do show as available.

Don’t lose hope. Last RUP I won was two days before sailing. It can come in at anytime.

They probably won’t drop prices significantly unless they need a quick influx of cash/revenue. Why mow 10 yards for $10 each when you can mow 5 yards for $20 each. It’s all business math — maximize revenue profit by spending the least amount in resources to realize the revenue. As long as there are at least 5 people willing to pay $20 to have their lawn mowed, you profit more because you will have spent less in gasoline and time for the same amount of revenue. Same applies here, if they fill half the cabanas, and leave the other half unsold, they spend less money serving the cabanas while at the same time, increase their profit margin.

Don't let the weather scare you. They will try their best to avoid storms and go around them, but sometimes it is not 100% possible. More than likely, you will still have a wonderful time and a great trip. I will say, just as a precaution, bring some motion sickness meds if you are prone to motion/sea sickness. Our last trip was a little rocky because of storms, but we still had a great time.

Both are just for fun. We brought St. Patrick's Day magnets I found for cheap on Amazon for our last trip in March for our doors. Kids had a blast putting them on the doors and everyone that walked by commented that they were cute and wished they thought of doing it too. None of them were stolen from our doors. Also, on the same trip, my kids had a blast going on "Duck Hunts" looking for the little rubber ducks. They found five in total and put them on their bedroom shelves when we got home.

ATT has plans for cruise ships which covers Royal Caribbean. AT&T Cruise Packages – Cruise Ship Talk, Text & Data Plans (att.com)

I usually handle travel to and from on my own outside of Air2Sea. I do always plan to get there a day early regardless of how I get there (driving or flying) to be on the safe side. I also either book late flights or next day flights for disembarkation. I do make a point of using the same travel credit card for both the cruise and air travel because I can get refunded by my card if something goes wrong and I miss the ship.

I am glad it worked out for you and thanks for sharing. I have had issues too where it took time, patience, and escalations to solve -- which is frustrating. Let's hope you don't have to go through it again.

If you want them to be able to contact you, an internet plan is your best option. One phone call would more than likely pay for it. T-Mobile does not have a plan that covers cruise ships to my knowledge (I have the magenta plus plan with them). If you truly want to remain as disconnected as possible, then just get internet for one device that they can call and don't open any other apps. WiFi calling with T-Mobile on iPhone works pretty good on the ship and is what I use to stay connected with work and family. If you want an emergency only option, just share your ship information and give them royal's main number. In an emergency, they can reach out to the ship to let them know there is an emergency back home. This what I give my Ex-Wife when I travel with the kids because I don't want her to ruin my vacation.

It's all marketing to make us feel good about parting with our $$$. The real formula is: Price^2 = p^2*c^2 + m^2*c^4 Real physics and math nerds will realize the price approaches infinity as their body mass (m) is affected by a constant rate of consumption (c) and the ship's acceleration rate (p) also approaches the constant rate of consumption (c).

I wait until “wake-up” time too and never had a bad time slot.

It really depends on what countries you are visiting and their laws, it has nothing to do with it being a closed loop cruise. Mexico and some other Caribbean countries don't have the 6-month rule. Europe and many Asian countries do. The technical rule in European Schengen countries is that a passport must be valid for at least 3 months after your visa expires. Standard tourist visas for a US citizen entering the Schengen countries is 90 days (3 months). So with a little math: 3 months + 3 months = 6 months. This is where the 6-month rule comes from for most of Europe. UK and many eastern European countries have different rules. For example -- Mexico technically does have a 2-month rule for US passports if the person is traveling more than 20km into the country. Border towns and costal areas don't even require a passport for US citizens because they are within the 20km buffer zone, but you will need a birth certificate and government issued id to prove nationality and identity. These rules apply to both land and sea crossings. Air travel requires a passport though because of different air-travel specific laws and treaties. This is why you don't need a passport on a closed loop cruise to Mexico. If I was traveling to Mexico or the Carribean with a soon to expire Passport, I would defiantly take a birth certificate and driver's license as a backup. Best case scenario, you take your birth certificate and driver's license and find out you don't need them. Worst case scenario, you don't take your birth certificate and driver's license, are asked for them, and are denied boarding at the port.

My credit card covers evacuations and return to home.

I have always had "trip" insurance covered with my travel credit card which includes trip cancelation, interruption, and delay protection as well as emergency medical coverage -- as long as I paid for the trip with that credit card. I was looking at my health insurance website today (for something completely unrelated) and found out that I have full global health coverage through my employer, and it includes services rendered on cruise ships -- including non-emergency services. You may want to check yours as this was a well hidden benefit I did not realize I had. From my insurance coverage docs: "Services rendered in a foreign land, and services rendered on a cruise ship that require interpretation or currency conversion must be submitted through Blue Cross Blue Shield Global Core. Invoices and a BCBSGC International Claim Form must be submitted to the BCBSGC Service Center at the address on the claim form." I even went so far as to look up hospitals and doctors in Costa Maya, Cozumel, and Honduras (my main travel destinations since I live close to Galveston), and low and behold, several were marked as "In Network". Moral of the story is to check what coverage you already have before buying a separate "trip insurance" package -- you may not need it.

Makes sense now, thanks for clarifying. My only advice is to just make sure everyone knows their assigned muster stations if people are going between rooms. As others mentioned, there are a lot of logistics like attached credit cards, muster rosters, and damage liabilities that will make a room swap hard, if not impossible, to do. Instead, focus on having fun, set rules for your teens (like honoring curfew), and check-in with each other regularly. Go to guest services and ask that the adults be given a room card for access to the other room on your linked reservation. Have fun on your trip -- Allure is a great ship for the family!

That works when both parents agree and sign the passport application, but there are times when parents (usually divorced or unwed) don't agree or refuse to allow the child to have a passport. Courts can intervene and one verdict from the court can be that a parent can travel out to a nearby country but not have a passport which would not allow travel beyond that.

Definitely on vision class, they are cheaper. I have had good suite deals on Voyager class ships, but it may be more because of the market for Galveston is not as tight as one of the big Florida ports. I have a limited lense I guess because I mainly sail out of Galveston because it is close to me.

I’m confused how you even booked this to be honest. Their policy is that there must be at least one adult in each room unless they are in adjacent cabins or directly across the hall from adults linked in their reservation.

Assuming you are asking about US passports. It’s up to the parents. There is no requirement for them to have passports if they don’t go beyond the north western hemisphere or travel internationally by air. US children (Under 16) can enter Canada, Mexico, and most countries in the north western hemisphere with only their birth certificates as long as it is land or water crossings. You will find a lot of opinions here I am sure one way or the other. I have traveled with my younger children using only birth certificates with no issues. Just realize if you are in a foreign country on a cruise and have an emergency requiring you to fly home, you will have to apply for an emergency one way passport from the US consulate or embassy before you can fly home.

Maybe stop your mail so it’s not waiting in your mailbox the whole time and pick it up when you get back.

It’s on the billboards and their storefront sign on the building. The main signs on the poles outside the store usually just have the logo and the town name. I live in north Texas and noticed Denton has a Buc-ee’s Blvd. whenever I drive thru. It’s definitely become a Texas icon.

Don’t feel too bad because @Ahaque got it wrong too. It is actually spelled “Buc-ee’s”. https://buc-ees.com

Me either.

Not sure I agree as the suites on the smaller ships a generally cheaper and are a good option when you just need the extra space without killing the budget. The non Oasis / Quantum ships just don't have the facilities to match the perks you find with Sky or Star class suites and are therefore cheaper and less prestigious. Personally, I don't seek out suites unless I need them. I paid for a 2 bedroom suite for an upcoming trip in January because I wanted to invite my daughter, her husband, and granddaughter -- and have a private living space where we could comfortably take care of the little one without having to run between staterooms. This averaged out to about $650 a person which was a good deal to me because we wanted space on this trip. My status would not have gotten me the desired benefit of having more space that comes with suites. I used one of my casino comps and paid for the upgrade from a balcony to the suite which was well worth it to me in this case. However, if it was just me and my wife (as it normally is), we would not have gone for the suite life as we would not have needed the space benefit.