Jim the Titan

Lobster isn't that big of a deal in Europe. So I wouldn't bet on it. Probably you could buy the lobster tail.

Except that balcony rooms doesn't get you double C&A points. 

That's always been my definition. No judgment to those who like them, everyone has their own preferences. Many people wouldn't want to set foot in my interiors but we like them (and the savings).

Still have to pay. Junior suites are more just glorified balcony rooms as opposed to a true suite so you aren’t going to have full suite perks with that category.

no, only Grand Suite and above - $7.95 for anyone else, for anything other than the continental breakfast

Hi Jim!
We are on your cruise, hope to Meet up! We did a lot of research watching you tube videos. It helps a lot. We also asked people who have been to the places. We are doing: 
Palma de Mallorca - North Coast and Wine tasting. For the views of the island plus you still have a few hours to see the city centre. 
Marseille- no excursion, there is a tram that will take you to sights we learned on a you tube video. 
Florence- doing the electric car to see the city. We have tickets to see David and again a few other places we learned on youtube videos.
Rome- the train excursion and bought tickets to see the Sistine Chapel, reservations at a place for lunch and hopefully take a taxi tothe coliseum. 
 
Naples- we weren’t very interested in Pompei so we are doing Capri/Positano. 
 
Hope this Helps! 
 
Hope and Dave from Tampa! 
 
 

We booked the week after you after research and booking the excursions thru RC when they were on sale we found the prices not back (we saved hundreds). The advantage of course is getting to back to the ship on time.
We did booked one 3rd party called Shore Excursion To Florence And Pisa thru Viator for only $136 for 3 of us.
Palma de Mallorca, Spain  - We booked Drach Caves Provence (Marseille), France - We booked AIX on your own Florence/Pisa (La Spezia), Italy - We booked To Florence And Pisa Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy - We booked Rome in a Day with Colosseum Naples, Italy - We booked Sorrento $ the Amalfi Drive All total was like $1,000 for 3 of us.

Hello there! Thanks for taking the time to click on this thread. My wife and I are going on the 14th of May 2023 trip and had a few questions regarding shore excursions. I am a second time cruiser but last time was back in 2011 or so on the Liberty of the Seas. Same itinerary different ship. Among the things Ive learned from the first trip, is the fact that the prices of shore excursions you book from the ship are way more expensive than if you book from a 3rd party provider. 
The port stops that are scheduled are:
Palma de Mallorca, Spain Provence (Marseille), France Florence/Pisa (La Spezia), Italy Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy Naples, Italy Can anyone recommend a tour operator or activities we can do on a budget? All your input will be very much appreciated. 

I feel like I watched a documentary at some point where they said the only thing they don't make on board is ice cream? I might be making that up...but it feels right in my brain.

I recommend  Rixk Steve's book on Mediterranean Cruises. It's a good start for planning do it yourself excursions.
I also used Viator if you want to do a private or small group tour. 

Wow this thread was very helpful! Thank you for this post and seeing it through.

The triple sec and lime juice aren't really keto friendly (although not the worst) I'd go for a straightup vodka and diet cranberry.  I'm a rum guy, so my goto is rum and diet - just make sure its not the sugar added kind of rum like malibu.  Basically if you stick to vodka, gin or your higher proof whiskeys and rums, you'll be ok. Just make sure the mixers are sugar free as well ;)

Just looking ahead to a cruise I have in a few months, the MDR sugar-free offerings are:
Pear and Blueberry Cobbler Peach Shortcake Coconut Layer Cake Dark Chocolate Custard Profiteroles Pineapple Sunshine Cake Cherries Jubilee Those are just the ones specifically advertised as "no sugar added." There may be other options available and the menu could conceivably change between now and your cruise. But this has been kind of a "standard" menu for some time now, so that should at least give you an idea. There is always at least one of these on the MDR menu, as well as several options in the Windjammer. 
I travel with family members who are diabetic and they've never missed a dessert yet.  😀
 

If you have the Royal app already installed, look at Dining - Main Dining - and select a day to get a general idea of what is offered. For example, on my next cruise, on Day 1 it lists a No Sugar Added Pear & Blueberry Cobbler. On Day 2 a No Sugar Added Peach Shortcake. Day 3: No Sugar Coconut Layer cake - etc etc. So a good variety. I also remember seeing sugarless desserts in Windjammer. 

Columbia, Haiti and Honduras are specifically spelled out in the new policy

I have found CP baristas very helpful when I explain what I want. They taught me I really like espresso macchiato rather than cappuccino, because too much milk covers up espresso flavor. At two punches per drink (7+ total), I am paying slightly less than menu for a full drink but more than menu for a double espresso. So value depends on your selection. When I lost my card, CP gave me a replacement.

We are trying to decide if the specialty coffees at the CP are worth buying a package to have them (either the Refreshment Pkg or the Cafe Select coffee card). Recent reviews in some of my Navigator of the Seas facebook groups have given the CP coffee not so great reviews so I’m asking here to ask you lovely people to chime in! Our other option is to just pay at Starbucks for their drinks which are at least predictable, lol. 
Are the specialty coffee drink choices at the CP as good as the coffee we could get at Starbucks on Navigator of the Seas? Please give me your brutal honesty. My partner was recently diagnosed with some blood sugar issues so having one coffee a day will be his only daily sweet indulgence so I want to make sure it’ll be great! 😊

Just off the phone with RC. As of 11/2 you no longer need to provide a negative Covid test result, even when cruising over 10 nights. 
Obviously some countries do still require a negative test. 

We were on the Wonders of the seas in August.After 20 year decde to take a excursion back to Florance..What a disapointment.We waste our whole day 2 hours to Florance and 2 hours back.The guide took us to shop with jewelry...walk to the Piazza del Duomo and told us she are going back to area of jewelry shop...we all do not know the area so walk back with her and eat ice cream and after hour and half get on the bus to leather factory...I the Royal Caribbean excursion is a rip off...why can guide not walk with the group and show Florance to them..

I’ll be in La Spezia (Allure of the Seas) in May 13th this year
I’ve booked a Florence & Pisa tour through Joe Banana Limos and Travel they also pick up at La Spezia. 
Like Tuggboat i haven't been yet.
When we get back I can give you my opinion
They have really great reviews and they are very responsive to all the emails i've sent (questions that popped up)
   

You can do Split and Dubrovnik on your own. Uber from the port to the city centre, both are very walkable and easy to navigate. Most interesting sights are within the city walls. In Dubrovnik you can take a stroll on the city wall, the route along the sea has beautiful views. Just bear in mind that it's quite a few steps and expensive. We did it in autumn of 2020 when there weren't a lot of tourist arounds so it was worth it. Might be different if the city is full of tourists and you're shuffled around the wall in a long queue.

I really recommend the hop on hop off busses, much cheaper and you can choose where you want your free time. 
Edit: Not RC, there are busses in the port you can buy tickets to.

So let me start by saying we enjoyed this tour very much. The star of this tour was the Acropolis. It was fantastic and worth the price of the tour on its own. BUT, if your idea of seeing "highlights" of Athens is getting out and exploring them, this is not the tour for you. Highlights were pointed out as we drove passed them on the bus to and from the Acropolis. Having bad knees, I was afraid the walk to the top of the Acropolis would be too much. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. After the Acropolis, we headed back into town for a short walking tour of the Plaka and independent time. Because of the terrible rush hour traffic, the 3hrs of independent time was cut to about 2hrs. We still had time to explore the Plaka, just as not as much as we had wanted. Like a lot of excursions that we have taken in the past, you spend a lot of time on the bus getting from one place to another. I guess it can't be helped that the port is 30min from downtown Athens and getting around Athens is like any other major world city of 3million people. Traffic is the same everywhere. 
If I had to do it again, I would have done the Acropolis on its own and just walked to the other sites I wanted. Things are pretty compact around the Acropolis and easy to walk to.
 
Happy Cruising!

Also, happy to report the refund process/turnaround time appears to be back to "normal". We cancelled/repurchased a couple of items in the Cruise Planner over the last month and each time our CC was credited with the refund literally in 2 days (business). If you used onboard credit (OBC) for the purchase, it should be credited back immediately to your Cruise Planner.

Get on board and head to a specialty restaurant and you can make all of the reservations you want there. They sometimes will have a kiosk in the Promenade set up as well, but I've found it less crowded at the restaurants themselves. You can also make reservations on the app. If you forget and don't make a reservation, they will at least have a courtesy one made for you. I would think it shows up in your app, but I'm not sure as I've always made the reservations. You can switch them up even after the reservations have been made as long as they have space for you.