King of Wales

REALLY helpful stuff!  Thank you very much @Pattycruise & @Starrynight0154
Can't wait to get there 🙂

When I was on the beach there were waitstaff that came around.
I did not hang out in the chairs by the pool (I was in the pool)
The bar has a walk up side AND swim up sides.
1 of my 3 days there the DJ did not play due to super rainy weather-we stayed dry in the swim up bar-but it was cold for parts of the body out of the water.  Not too many people showed up that day.  It was February and winter break, maybe all the parents were stuck with their kids elsewhere on the island or the ship.
The 2 times I was there with a DJ he did not seem loud to me but that is really subjective.
"Longer walk" for food/drink and bathrooms is subjective.  
If you divide the hideaway into 3 parts with the Hideaway bar being the center third the food is  to the Left third and the right third.
One side has the snack shack, the other side has the pizza/empanadas and ice cream.  So you'll be walking to get various types of food.
Bathrooms, I think there are 3, don't recall.
The shuttle to hideaway does not stop elsewhere, which is good when you only want to go to hideaway but if you wanted to go to Chill Grill you would have to shuttle back to the shuttle terminal and catch a different shuttle, then shuttle back to the shuttle terminal to get the hideaway shuttle again.  Maybe it's walkable to a Chill Grill when you exit hideaway?  I was satisfied with Snack Shack so did not look further into this.

We enjoyed Hideaway Beach. I believe there’s bathrooms on each end and one in the middle, so very accessible. The heated pool is massive. I don’t think pictures represent how large it is until you see it in person. I was able to swim, get drinks, play with the beach ball that was getting hit around in the pool. Hideaway gets busy but the far end away from the DJ has open chairs on the beach. No roving wait staff the day I was there. The music quickly dies out and you can barely hear it on the end of the beach by the hammocks. The food was okay but we prefer the buffet on Coco Cay. The pizza was Sorrento’s with different toppings, sandwiches, various appetizers. We’re vegetarian so take that opinion with a grain of salt. I didn’t try everything they had to offer at Hideaway. 

RIGHT! I forgot, thanks very much!

They already did that.

Last time I sailed out of Long Beach, I stayed at the Queen Mary Hotel.  I didn't find a lot around it, but the ship/hotel itself was an attraction.
 

1) Chair hogs, obviously.
2) Financial penalties for parents who put their non-potty trained pooping kids in a pool.
3) wow bands for free
4) Free internet
5) Transparent pricing with Grats incl.
6) more food later.
7) more bar venues on the promanade.
8 bring back the cigar lounges
9) get rid of boarding times, they don't matter anyway.
I am sure I will think of more.
 

I just repriced our Holiday cruise on Jewel of the Seas and saved $398.  I booked it 8 days ago so very surprised that Spacious Balcony price went down.

Royal is still doing the tribute bands on the ships, but it is difficult to determine if one will be on any given sailing.  They are definitely not on every sailing.  You can keep an eye on the websites of the usual suspects to see if they mention any upcoming sailings.
Journey  https://dsbband.com/
Led Zeppelin  https://noquarterlegacyband.com/no-quarter-international-led-zeppelin-tribute  and  https://www.zepagain.com/
Aerosmith  https://www.aeromyth.com/    (recently on Oasis out of Bayonne in June)
Bon Jovi  https://slipperywhenwetband.com/
Van Halen https://fanhalen.com/
There are probably others that I cannot recall, but these are the ones I keep an eye on.  If any can think of others, perhaps we can keep a 'definitive list' 😀

I carry a few singles to tip for every drink. I generally tip specialty dining staff $20 or so. MDR is like $50 and $20 for assistant. I spend may be $250 max on 7 night cruise.
In my estimation these people don’t make a lot. If I can afford a week long cruise, I can afford a buck a drink and one meals worth of tipping for a week of service.  Everyone has their own opinion, and none are wrong. 

“I’m done with RC. “
 
Well no reason to hang out here then.  The rest of us can go back to discussing and enjoying our Royal Caribbean vacations!

Any weather app or weather website can be used, just change the location.  For that far in advance just search Google for “seasonal” or something like “average temperature by month” and the location.
 

I believe flowers would fall into the category of with fruits and things that are usually prohibited in international travel because they may have bugs not native to the area. I imagine whatever Royal used to sell before had to go through a series of certifications.

@RCL_Cruiser Oh no! As a seasoned cruiser my last sailing had me thinking, thank goodness this wasn't my first sailing I would never sail again. Not knowing the specifics of your sailing.... my sailing was super weird, it's important to differentiate the irritants, was it the cruise line OR the passengers that had no clue how to behave on a ship? My sailing was sold out with over 4500 first time cruisers. I'm not saying not to contact corporate I'm saying maybe you could give sailing another try taking into consideration what you learned and your specific cruising style. 
Being it was your first time I realize maybe you didn't think things could be mitigated, but if the crew can help they will. By all means I have no idea what you endured but I understand with many cruises under my belt that if you pay for a product, you deserve the product. 
Our sailing was weird for lack of a better term and honestly it was a combination of our fellow passengers as well as the ships inability to mitigate some things. I promise you the time of year and size of ship I'm sure directly impacted your experience. I do not make excuses for Royal, sometimes they get it wrong (to many passengers, not enough ships offerings) but please reconsider a sailing opposite what you just experienced, maybe then you will fall in love with the seas like many of us have. 
I wish you a positive experience moving forward! Best of luck with the follow up!

Whatever your concern is, you probably should have addressed it onboard before you left the ship.

Visited laundry on our all access tour. Mad respect, this crew works so hard. Just wow! They seemed to be very respectful of the passengers items. 

There are some really cool things that people do to their doors. 

This!  All of the doors look the same.

Agreed! Fun to do and very helpful late night…

Absolutely!  It’s fun to do and helps you find your room after a few drinks!  🤪  On our last cruise our friends hung up a magnetic board with an outline of the US States.  There were very tiny sticky dots in a baggie next to it and people stuck the dots on the state they came from.  By the end of the cruise there were over 75 dots which filled at least 60% of the 50 states!  
Of course, it helped that our rooms were near the top of the hallway so there was lots of traffic to stop by!

Sorry to be blunt but it is your fault.  You are exclusively and entirely responsible to have the proper documentation.  
It is not the cruise line's fault you waited until April. The passport waiting game has been an issue since 2021.   
Every week someone has a reason (in their mind) why they should be granted an exception.  You are way down a long list of people who think the contract that was accepted should now not apply to them.  
If they did grant an exception for a [delayed passport] (or insert something else here) it would spread like wildfire on social media... just tell them you [didn't get your passport back in time] (or something else inserted here) and you can change cruises!  Suddenly thousands of people who don't like the weather forecast would claim [their passport is delayed] (or insert some other excuse here).   Everyone on social media would love it!  Then the cruise lines would have to buckle down and enforce the contract, just like they are doing. 
 

Royal will certainly allow a rebooking (with the change fee and any difference in cruise fare) for an open spot on the same or another ship.

Well then if you have any OBC left, on the last night go to the casino and charge whatever is left to your casino account, then you can cash it out as cash.

Just for future reference, here are the numbers that I use for RCI:
Air2Sea: 844-278-9745
General RCI number: 866-562-7625
Groups: 800-327-2055
Shore Excursions: 800-398-9819
Crown & Anchor: 800-526-9723
 
All of these are toll free numbers when called within the USA.

I carry a few singles to tip for every drink. I generally tip specialty dining staff $20 or so. MDR is like $50 and $20 for assistant. I spend may be $250 max on 7 night cruise.
In my estimation these people don’t make a lot. If I can afford a week long cruise, I can afford a buck a drink and one meals worth of tipping for a week of service.  Everyone has their own opinion, and none are wrong.