rjweber3

The ship has all the dietary info published in the kitchen. Just ask the head waiter when you board and maybe he can give you copies.

Obviously YMMV but we had it on Harmony last august and it was just ok. And thats being fairly generous. Little to no seasoning, very bland.  It was served hot temp wise, no issues there. And we love Mexican food. The service was great, atmosphere was great, food was meh. And I was really looking forward to it.
It was the least enjoyable non MDR meal I have ever had on RC.

As answered above, there is no way to know.  I wouldn't expect it.

There is 50+ year precedent I can personally attest to that viewing a mass when one cannot attend in person is acceptable within doctrine. 
Local TV stations in both my home and current city offer televised mass, both Sundays and on select Holy Days. The concept (which used to be called "Mass for Shut Ins") was implemented as TVs became commonly available and the number of available priests to visit shut-ins dropped. Yes, in-person Mass is the obligation but so is attending confession every single Saturday before attending Mass on Sunday. So is fasting during Lent. So are a lot of other obligations the Catholic Church allows a little leeway on. 

Actually much easier than that. Any Sunday departure will work. Just go to the Saturday evening mass the day prior to boarding and a Sunday afternoon or evening mass when you return. 

Right on cue, I just checked my hotel for next month and it dropped $20

Direct is great, but you should try nonstop some day 🙂
 
Back in the late 2000s, I found myself flying the Saturday morning, 6am ONT-PHX-MDW flight 1-2x monthly for like six months in a row. This was before WN had an ONT-MDW nonstop. There were always like 60-70 of us through passengers in Phoenix, sometimes more. Every. Single. Time. I guess that's why they started doing nonstops on the route. Anyways, those people in Phoenix who thought their A20 meant something got a shock when they found out they were really like the 85th person onboard and most of the good seats were long gone. 

There is the whole drama of the SWA boarding process.  
On my last flight I was A3 so I boarded near the front and got the first row bulkhead window.   The lady in the aisle was saving the middle seat for her husband who "Is in the bathroom".  I heard her tell that over and over again.  Except no one was in the bathroom.  I could see since I was in the first row.  The bathroom door was not shut all the way and it was bumping with the cockpit door.  
Her husband finally boarded and was nearly the last person on the plane.    It was a full flight so I knew someone would be next to me.   Any passenger could have plopped themselves down and taken that seat.  The flight attendants would not stop them if they did.  She was also trying to save overhead bin space for her "medication bag".  Apparently her "medication bag" was in the bathroom with her husband.   Not really.  It was just a carry on.  
On the same flight a few rows back a lady was trying to save three rows for her family.  That didn't end well for her.  She lost the row in front and behind her.  I heard her say "I'm saving this row" and another passenger respond "You can't do that" and with that they sat in that row.  She freaked out and the flight attendants told her you can't save rows.  
People are scum.  They say anything to try to get their way.  

Okay...I've visited Barcelona maybe 12+ times...including two cruises out of Barcelona in the past year (Vision of the Seas August 2022, Symphony of the Seas April 2023).  I ABSOLUTELY LOVE Barcelona. First, you didn't leave yourself nearly enough time.
Must sees?  It's a LONG list...but, we will give it a try:
1)  La Sagrada Familia:  Absolutely the most incredible cathedral...maybe even the most incredible building...anywhere in the world.  A masterwork by the mad genius Gaudi.
2)  Parc Guell:  Another Gaudi Masterwork.  Nothing like it anywhere.
Note:  To visit either of these, you may need to arrange tickets in advance (talking about an inside visit to La Sagrada Familia.  You are free to visit the outside).
3)  Casa Batllo.  Yeah, Gaudi again.
4)  Casa Mila.  One more by Gaudi.
5)  Museo Picasso.  Not far from you, in the Barri Gotic.
6)  La Boqueria:   The market...on Las Ramblas
7)  Everything else--Las Ramblas, the Barri Gotic, the Old Cathedral, the Jewish Ghetto, Montjuic.
There is a lot more outside the city.  In the future plan several days--head to Girona (Medeival city where parts of Game of Thrones were filmed), Figueras (home of Salvador Dali with the Dali Museum), Andorra (yeah, the country in the Pyrrenes), Montserrat (Monastery in the mountains).
Las Ramblas is not a "tourist trap".  It is the heart of the city and a great thoroughfare for a stroll--night or day.  H10 is a great hotel chain.  Last few visits, we've stayed at the H10 Catalunya Plaza--one of my favorite hotels anywhere...and the BEST location in the city--right on the Placa Catalunya.  I cannot say enough about the place--outstanding breakfast, free "welcome" drink at the bar...chocolates, wine and more delivered to the room, gratis...great staff.
Have fun.  Enjoy!

Can you...yes?
 
Will you....maybe...

Well we are up to 6 couples now (The Danube Dozen), I’m not too worried now about being entertained. I have a feeling we may be the entertainment. 
 
I did score an unbelievable Airbnb in Budapest. 7 bedrooms, 3 bath for $298 TOTAL for 2 nights pre-cruise. That comes to $50 a couple for both nights! It’s brand new and gorgeous and right in the middle of everything. Host has over 22k reviews so I’m comfortable knowing it’s not a bait and switch. 

While I have AT&T, like mentioned by @Ampurp85 the pricing of the "plan" leaves me with very little value for the price. But I do have WiFi calling as part of my plan, and have had great success with calling/texting using the ship WiFi and the regular phone features (and not data messaging and/or internet video/audio chats, though I've used those as well without any issue), and the party on the other end is actually quite surprised I'm talking to them from a ship out at sea.
If you are already planning on purchasing internet, check with your carrier if they have WiFi calling (most do now, and free for most as well) and add it if it's free. The WiFi calling helps even if not out far from land, but even back home or in an area with coverage but a bad building layout that kills signal - the WiFi calling has made it seamless for me in those situations as well.

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.

You want to be both disconnected and available for contact?
I don't have T-Mobile, but I think their international plan will handle you while in port.  On the ship if you don't put your phone in airplane mode, you'll connect to the cell tower on the ship and can incur some hefty charges unless you make sure none of your apps use data and nobody but your emergency people send you texts etc.
I think you might want a 1 device plan on WifI and then leave the phone in your safe, but have some agreed upon times with your kids that you will check it.  Maybe first thing in the morning, around lunch time and in the evening.  Then check those times and put it back in the safe.

There but for the Grace of God go us all............
Questions
This storm was a known quantity, particularly the winds and seas. Unfortunately heading toward the coast of the Carolinas so evasion options were limited. I understand scheduling, logistics, & financial pressures, but maybe a diversion to Jacksonville or even delaying return to Charleston by 12-24 hours might have been options to consider? That was to put it mildly, nautical though not epically so.
The captain, like an airline captain, is the ultimate authority on the ship and decision maker. Think Carnival will call him/her on the carpet?
According to Wikipedia, the vessel once wore the mantle of "world's largest".........in 1996. A veritable dinghy now. 😲
 

It's not the bridge that is the only limiting factor in using the canal.  Royal has a tendency to place their lifeboats so they hang outside the hull in part.  Some ships have walkways that go around the hump hanging like a shelf off the side of the ship.  These protrusions from the side profile of the ship don't allow them to use the canal even if the Bridge of the Americas was replaced.  
If you look at all the ships from all lines that use the canal you will find smooth sides to the ship far enough from the waterline that they can slide down the concrete wall of a lock chamber and not do any damage to the ship or lock.  By placing the lifeboats far out or by having walkways hanging off the ship Royal gains inside space to make the ships have larger internal volume (gross tonnage) giving them more space for venues inside the ship but the trade off is having parts of the ship or the lifeboats hanging out of the side profile.   This also limits their ability to the use Panama Canal.  

I wouldn't presume to know what Royal Caribbean is planning to do about ports like Tampa and Baltimore.  If you zoom out from Royal Caribbean International to Royal Caribbean group, there are just too many possibilities.  Here are some that I can think of off the top of my head.
Build a new class of RCI ship that can service these ports.    Stop servicing these smaller ports entirely. Give these ports over to one of RCGs other lines like Celebrity or maybe introduce Marella to the United States at these ports. The real question is how many small ports does RCG want to support? There's more than just Tampa and Baltimore.  For example, what about New Orleans? Or Northern Europe? Panama Canal?
Once that question is answered, the next one is "how does RCG choose to do it?"  As you can see, there's more than one way to skin that cat.
What I've heard about Discovery project is that it will be neo-panamax.  That means about the size of an RCI Voyager class or a Celebrity Edge class. I'm no expert on ports, but I believe that would be too large for Baltimore, Tampa and dicey for New Orleans.  It would definitely work for Panama, Northern Europe. and Alaska.

Airlines used to fly into storms and planes crashed.  No one warned them not to.  Modern pilots learned a lot about what not to do based on mistakes made by others before them.
For the purpose of weather you can't compare aviation with ships.  Airlines fly fast and can delay a departure to wait for the computer projected clear weather.  They are nimble and can quickly fly in another direction.
Ships move slowly and can't always sail in every direction, for example when near land, their movement is unlike an airline that fly in any direction over land or water.  
He was there 6 six years so whatever audition he submitted seemed to work.   

Not sure if you can see me cringing from over here...

Whether or not Stormy applies, it is said someone like her would be cost effective for Royal as their presence on the ship doesn’t count against the lifeboat capacity since she has her own floatation devices. 
I don’t know if this is correct.

Mr. Fain never had to deal with the aftermath and recovery of losing $45B.  
It was largely Jason Liberty who was behind the scenes, in the trenches, negotiating with creditors and navigating the financial stormy seas that kept the company alive during the shutdown. 
I can see why the board had confidence in Liberty.    
No disrespect meant for Richard Fain who accomplished great things over his tenure.  He impacted the entire cruise industry in a good way.  
I can also he see why he wouldn't want to stay in a position to make the cuts and adjustments required to continue keeping the company alive in the face of a mountain of debt.  Indeed a lot of the service cuts we all face come from Jason Liberty but that is the reality he is facing still trying to lead the company through the turbulent waters of massive, crushing debt.  While I point the finger at Jason Liberty I also recognize that his priority is keeping the company afloat.  All that debt didn't disappear once they started booking 100% capacity.  That debt is an albatross around the company's neck and will be through the next decade and beyond.  

I hope Royal's bean counters factored in the cost of all the free PR they would receive when they planned this last cost cutting exercise.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/m/743ae22f-5a98-306e-89c8-8bdc6afd434d/royal-caribbean-loses-a-key.html
 

As already mentioned it's just more cost cutting to show profits to shareholders. I worked for a big box car dealership and the founding CEO of the company believed in his people and believed that if the company treated the people as if they had value they would be invested in the company and in return always do the right thing for the company and it's customers. I know this because at a company function I had the opportunity to sit with him and talk. Unfortunately some of the executives below him felt they should be more focused on theirs and shareholders profits not so much the people who do the heavy lifting. So the board eventually forced him to step down. With that everything changed and all the extras us workers were getting eventually dried up. I do not know Richard Fain but from what I was able to assess it appeared he had a similar approach to leadership, did he always do the right thing probably not but it did seem he cared about the employees.  In 2008 the company I worked for let over 600 of us go in an effort to show a third quarter profit amidst a crashing economy. In the early days of entrepreneurship people didn't go to school to learn how to do business but today you need a business degree so you go to a college to learn how to do business. I think this is were we lost our way so now people go to school and are taught that this is the only way to do business. I'm not saying that Jason Liberty is doing the wrong thing I think he's trying show his value as new CEO unfortunately the only value he has is what he provides for shareholders.

No worries, I love Royal as much as anyone and have been sailing with them since the early 80s and will continue to.  It's just disappointing to see all of the many changes and ultimately downgrades to the experience.  Covid had a huge impact on the cruise industry and is forcing many hard decisions and changes.  I get it and understand it, I just don't have to like it.

I was being facetious.  The meaning behind it is that Royal seems to let money drive their decisions just a little too much.  I get it, they are a business with an obligation to their shareholders, of which I am one.  However, it wasn't a "former local weatherman" and it wasn't Captain Claus who Royal made the fall guy who put my family and myself in harms way sailing a ship straight into the heart of a bomb cyclone with 150MPH winds, it was the guys pinching pennies in Miami who have now claimed Mr. Van Fleet.