RoseofTX

The main issue isn't the cruise, its the what happens when there is an emergency. In order to get off the ship (other than for a day excursion), they may require a valid passport to enter the country (to go to a hospital or catch your flight). In the Caribbean, many do not have the "6 month validity" requirement. Columbia was one exception if you are doing a Panama canal cruise. For the US, you only need a valid one to use it to re-enter. So while a guideline, if you are getting close to 6 months, best to get it current to renewed to eliminate any worry. I would think as noted above, it would be more pertinent on a European cruise (of course, in this case, you also flew there anyway so you would have had it).

I think one thing is if it an extension cord. In the pictures above, the top 2 are "USB chargers" and the 2 bottom ones are "extension cords" with USB outlets. The difference being, they are designed to plug other electric devices into them. The bottom 2 (while many people swear by them) are not in compliance with their policy. We brought a 3-tap non-corded outlet and a 6 port charger which was plenty for us.

We did our own thing years ago, but through a private company. It is quite a ways out so you would probably need to arrange a taxi that would wait. But as you note, the official closing time on Sunday is 5pm so it is closed even before the tour leaves. The park officially closes 1 hours after that, so whatever they have arranged is a special arrangement. The place has a lot to offer besides flowers as it is a quite a marvel how they transformed this area. It is kind of a shame that they have scheduled this mandatory stop with such short hours (a friend of ours on a Carnival ship gets into port even later than yours), and you don't get the opportunity to actually visit Victoria.

A simple one, but everyone can feel the pain. I had put all of our booked excursions in our calendars on our phone. The one in Cozumel left at 11:00 so letting my wife sleep in before a casual stroll to the meeting point. I happen to look at the app, and notice that the excursion is at 10:00 ship time (11:00 local). No more sleeping in, waking up soundly sleeping wife and hurried departure to the excursion. But it was especially painful since we had been talking about the difference between ship and local time and everything make it clear what time it was including the app and the paper tickets. And then we get there and she says, did you bring the tickets? Quick trip back to the room to fetch them, good thing the pier is short there and we hadn't gone out past security....

But that's the hack some people have worked out, book now to get your desired spot and buy the UDP. Once they get on board, they cancel their paid booking and swap in their UDP. To me, I don't want to use the hack, but it makes the UDP less attractive not knowing what is going to be left when I get the option to book.

It seems like they could allow for bookings the UDP restaurants in advance. Of course it probably reduce sales since people would reconsider booking it once the prime slots were filled. But as you say, I can see now how the hack works. Since it says you can cancel on board beyond 24 hours with no penalty for OBC. But I don't think you should be able to automatically swap your reservation from paid to UDP. A wait list for example would solve that.

I have seen several posts that suggest that you can book them in advance in the planner and either not get charged or get a (refundable) OBC for the price if you use the OBC. For places like Izumi, this would seem the best way to assure you get in.

I am very curious about booking both the specialty dining beforehand and the UDP. Not being able to book in advance is one of the things I didn't like with the packages (UDP or 3 day). For our recent sailing on the Allure, we ended up booking the ones we wanted on sale and actually saved a little over buying them as a 3 day package and had a confirmed reservation right away. For our upcoming trip on Harmony (when it replaces the Allure), we were considering the UDP but if we wait to book them when we get on board means having to possibly swap plans around if they are already booked up. This seems like it will become morelikely if all of the package buyers learn this is an option and book them up in advance rather than waiting to get on the ship.

From what I read, the issue is not once or twice service, but specific things done at this time. It seems like the better option is the ability to customize what you need. That is, some customers need bed/couch setup/takedown and others want ice and others want towels. Some people might want then to make the beds and/or turn them down or towel animals or not. If the service was more clearly defined, than I am sure it could both cut down the time and to save the environment