Doug_Texas

I did that test routine many times during COVID and will NOT go thought that nonsense again. Pay $150 each for a titers test for my wife and myself and hope I have documented results from a sample taken 72 - 80 hours before sailing or arriving in Honduras? No thanks! I have 3 cruises upcoming with Honduras on the sailings. $900 and 3 visits to labs and looking for pdf results so I can travel to a 3rd world country? No. If implemented, I’ll be cancelling any cruise that attempts to force such nonsense. I had measles as a child and am not playing this game. Royal and the other cruise lines should just make Cozumel an overnight and cancel Honduras as a port-of-call. That would get their attention.

Oh gosh, don’t give them ideas about a Tdap vaccination requirement.

I’ve got 3 cruises that include Roatan with paid non-refundable deposits in place. I’m a pre-1957 that had measles as a child that is presumed immune. The timeline for a negative test would not work for cruising. I’m not overreacting and assume this nonsense will quickly be resolved. I don’t believe in the end Honduras will not sacrifice their cruise tourism revenue. As of today they haven’t implemented the requirement.

Looks like it’s not enforced yet but definitely worth watching. https://roatantourismbureau.com/community-updates/measles-vaccine-requirement-not-yet-enforced-for-entry-into-honduras

Royal has the most generous loyalty program in the cruise industry. D, D+, and Pinnacle is a cost as I assume we don’t purchase drink packages or photos. Royal has to be looking closely at what happens to Carnaval and Southwest Airlines passenger loads and make decisions accordingly. Eliminating cruises from Florida over 8 nights changed our sailing analysis. Changing the loyalty program would just be another input to our decision matrix.

Main pool was open and heated with cruisers in the main pool. I’m not surprised at this trend and really just reporting a surprise. I’ll adjust and in the future avoid the Solarium especially during family hours. I’m curious if my transatlantic will sport this new feature but of course there aren’t many families on those sailings.

It was not on the app but on the paper Cruise Compass. It said the afternoon session was for inclement weather but we were docked and it was merely cloudy.

Got back on board today after a long hike and was headed to Solarium hot tub. The Solarium, pool, and hot tub were jam packed with screaming children. I asked the towel guy what was going on and he said Solarium Family Time was from 8-10 am and 1-3 pm.

I’m fed up with U.S. tipping, it’s ridiculous. I’ve always been a generous tipper but am frugal and sail in interior cabins. Daily gratuities are up 27% since COVID ($14.50 to $18.50). Stateroom servicing of rooms went from twice a day to once a day (which is no problem). On a 7 night sailing we pay $259 for daily gratuities, another $60 for 3 nights specialty dining gratuities, another $176 of tab included alcohol gratuities, and about $80 in $1 bills for each alcoholic beverage we order. That’s $575 in gratuities which is about 28% of our normal cruise fare. And the appreciation for this is the insulting “Tip Tip Hooray” envelopes left in our stateroom as if no gratuities have been paid at all (a practice NCL doesn’t do). I don’t like to be the grumpy poster but we just had an 80’ cedar fence section replaced. I got 3 quotes from professional companies and went with one that cost $4,200. When they finished the work I had to approve the job on my phone to charge my credit card and the approval asked if I wanted to tip 18%, 20%, or 22% for the workers. Yep, they wanted an extra $840 at the end as a gratuity. When I go to a pro sporting event and stand in a concession line for 10 minutes to get my wife and I two $12.50 beers they spin the display wanting a $5 tip for grabbing two beers from the cooler behind them. Aussies are right, Americans are stupid.

The porter will tag bags for you at the cruise terminal - no big deal.

It’s the WJ. People are loud, rude, cut the line, waste huge amounts of food, and knock you down to get past you …. and the payoff is wandering around looking for a vacant table. Loud people on phones is a minor breach of manners. Royal is a mass market value line and will NEVER take issues with customers for bad manners. It is best to not have other expectations. We track the successful cruses that we don’t enter the WJ for the entire cruise.

We do the same. The card is a novelty for driving (not flying) into Canada - other foreign countries do not recognize the card as any type of passport. I always figured if my wallet was lost or stolen while ashore better to lose the passport card than my drivers license.

Yes - wild speculation abounds.

I’m sorry for you and the stories on the thread about great TAs are my experience as well. I wouldn’t attempt a transfer back to “direct” and have no idea if it’s possible but better to just consider this a lesson learned and use a different TA or book direct for the next booking.

I love Grand Cayman but I’d rather sail to ports that welcome tourism and commerce. I love Key West too but when the locals don’t want you there it puts a damper on your experience.

We booked a 14 night Celebrity - the Elite Plus happy hour really not useful. This is no where near the D+ voucher benefit. We use bar service during the day at the pool and after dinner most so the happy hour isn’t a real benefit. We had to buy the “All Included” like everyone else. The “All Included” is a very restricted bar menu just like the E+ happy hour. There are a couple nice things like the free bags of laundry but in general the status match is pretty much a perk without benefit. Unless you’re not a vacation drinker the benefit belongs to Pinnacle.

I just had that happen on Explorer. The good news is that if you wait you can get great deals. The bad news is they interrupt your meals constantly trying to sell.

The newer NCL ships (Prima, Viva, etc.) have very large non-smoking casinos and small smoking casinos. It’s undeniable that in the U.S. smokers are a small percentage of the population. It’ so common, especially when hot outside, you see old men parked at a slot machines smoking and drinking but not playing. I agree with @Ampurp85 that revenue would go up. NCL Viva

Agree. All the Sabor margaritas (on the rocks) are outstanding.

Agree 100%. We went to Wonderland once and loved it but have no interest in going back for dinner. Every time we are on a ship with Wonderland we go to the bar once so my wife can get the “cotton candy martini”.

Carnival banned 24 passengers for life as a result of the brawl. Will they sail on a different cruise line?

Search for a cruise over 8 nights from any Florida port after 2025 that’s not a repositioning to Europe. 0 cruises over 8 nights.

I essentially agree with you but the assumption that they can push Royal customers to Celebrity or Celebrity customers to Silverseas has a lot of risk. While others will say that Royal is fine with that as they bring new cruisers in and push older, higher status cruisers out “Loyal to Royal” doesn’t necessarily become loyal to Celebrity. There are a lot 10 and 11 night Norwegian sailings out of Florida and those sailings are probably more attractive to me. The status match for my D+ on Celebrity only gives me a happy hour for drinks and no casino match for Prime. I end up with Celebrity and “All Included” which is really a different product and much more expensive than my D+ on Royal or “Free at Sea” on NCL. As I’ve said, it’s fine for Royal to evaluate their customer base and say “out with the old, in with the new.” Probably a sound business case.

I was shopping for my annual travel insurance policy and one major insurance carrier exempted a handful of countries from coverage, one of which is Haiti. I’ve always been comfortable with Labadee as a port but having my medical and evacuation coverage suspended at this port is not something I would want.

$35 + 18% gratuity = $41.30 - perhaps that is the difference. ????