rjweber3

I on Wonder of the Seas right now. We boarded the ship at 10:15 am this morning and I had a drink in my hand by 10:30 am.
Our original boarding time was suppose to be 12:00pm but since we are in a suite they didn't hold us back which we knew they wouldn't.  However they were redirecting people in non-suites to the appropriate lines to wait for their assigned check-in time.  We were told today's sailing is over capacity the sailing isn't oversold but every stateroom will be occupied which is probably why they were redirecting people who showed up early in non-suite rooms to the appropriate line where they would have to wait for their check-in time to come around.
But if you are in a suite or have purchased the key they started boarding at 10:00 am

I really prefer the older, smaller ships. Better itineraries and Oasis Class seems SO SLOW! But then, I'm older too.
Radiance, Brilliance, Serenade, Explorer, Mariner.

I really prefer the older, smaller ships. Better itineraries and Oasis Class seems SO SLOW! But then, I'm older too.
Radiance, Brilliance, Serenade, Explorer, Mariner.

This was my first London experience and sailing from Southampton
we flew in on Wednesday so we could have a few days in London prior to heading to Southampton.
Flight: virgin from JFK to Heathrow 8am flight-landing essentially 8pm. Immigration? Look at the camera-no line….Customs? No one present to ask a question.  Luggage was already in the terminal on the belt.  I’ve never had an easier time!
hotel-we stayed at comfort inn Victoria . It was clean, the room had a full and a twin.  No way I can sleep in a full with hubby, we are tall and not thin.  The room itself was nice , the beds too firm, pillows very soft! And the room was hot despite the ac unit being on.   Was the ac fixable? Could be, but we didn’t bother, we opened the window and put a fan on.  We were a “good walk” from Buckingham palace and Westminster Abby -(opposite directions) we took the tube from Westminster Abby to Kensington palace to check out the park and Sunken garden.  The tube was relatively clean and felt safe.  No crazed looking people like NYC.  Our hotel was across the corner from a pub. Oddly the pub closed at 11-seriously, even on a Friday!
we were walking distance to the train station and the Apollo theater.  We purchased tickets to Wicked.  There are NO last minute deals for tickets (unlike NYC TKTS Booth). Tickets were substantially less price wise than NYC Broadway.  We are at a small Italian restaurant and really enjoyed the food,(lasagna annd chicken”parm”)  and the pricing was good . Ill Posto Ristorante /pizzeria.  The man at an adjacent table had pizza and he couldn’t get over how good it was.  I would go back. 
 
departure to Southampton.  We were warned months ago by UK residents in our Facebook group sailing that there was potential for train strikes.  We chose to book a bus, as recommended by the UK residents so we wouldn’t have the worry over a strike.    We purchased tickets from National Express website a few months ago and upgraded to “reserve your seat” and paid for an extra piece of luggage. (Ticket price includes a large luggage and a backpack size carry on) the cost was 22 pounds with reserved seats and extra luggage-TOTAL!. I looked at ticket pricing the night before the bus trip and it was at 16 pounds for one ticket without reserved seats or extra luggage so book early!  We checked out the bus station prior to our departure day.  Very easy to find the National Express bus area. The bus station has food-nothing glorified.  Don’t look for an egg sandwich -it’s not happening.  
‘Bus:  the bus begins boarding 15 minutes prior to departure.  Gates (door outside) closes 2 minutes prior to departure snd does not reopen-even if you pound and beg (witnessed this). There are chairs at each gate-not enough to hold all the passengers.  The public restrooms-well they are public, not the cleanest. 
passengers line up for the bus early….because they don’t pay to reserve seats….who wants to sit next to the toilet?
the driver checks your ticket and counts your bags and loads them. 
reserved  seats have a seatbelt across them and a reserved sign.  No mistakes if you took those seats!
Overhead bin space is very narrow-maybe the height of a bottle of water. Leg space is minimal.  So if you go get on the bus with an oversized bag -if the driver overlooks it-expect to hold it or place under your legs. I do not know if you have the option to purchase extra luggage space when you are boarding.  
our bus had issues where it became overbearingly hot….not warm…HOT. I run hot but others started yelling about the heat.  The controls are above the front area near the driver and a passenger made the adjustment per the driver.  Later it became cold-I LOVE the cold….but it was ridiculous.  Same passenger fixed it-to which we had adjustments made twice more hot then cold.  I told hubby he now knows what menopause is like!
when we arrived at the bus station the passengers couldn’t disembark quick enough.  I thought maybe they got a prize for getting off the bus first, or there were limited free drinks on the sidewalk.  I was row 5 and was one of the last people off the bus.  I’m from NY and even subway riders aren’t so rude. 
 
Southampton-we chose to stay at Ibis.  It’s clean and breakfast is included.  We walked from Southampton bus station to the hotel-about 10 minutes.  Check in was speedy.  The room is quaint.  2 twins again (or it would have been a full)
‘we went to The Standing Order aka Witherspoons to meet fellow cruisers and have some libations and food.  It was inexpensive!  Don’t forget you don’t have waiters come around, you order via the app or at the bar. 
there is a Boots pharmacy a very short walk from the Ibis hotel. The cruise port appears to be a 10 minute walk. If you didn’t want to go to the standing order (highly recommend) the Inis has food and pricier drinks and they only accept card.  . There’s a McDonald’s down the block and a TGI Fridays as well.
 
 

I wish RC could see what cruisers put as their top 5.  The one common theme is a few of the larger ships are popular but cruisers really like the smaller ships.  I know that they want to pack the people onboard but would like them to come out with a new one for Voyager or Freedom class.  That seems for us to be a nice balance of size and being able to not have to make reservations for the shows. 

Could this become the beginning of combining/consolidation of all three line reservation staffs?

Or not
 
 

Doing a little googling, Sitka is in a tough spot. They're projecting a population decline and its workforce is comprised of 40% of people that don't live in the area.

This is how people are.  We all want to live in a small quiet place.  The last house we think should be built is the one for us to move in.  The last business allowed, the small business we start.  Anything beyond that is too much and ruining the fabric.  This is really everyplace.  People are very strange and forgetful that it required acceptance for them to come initially.

Same kind of thing happened in Key West where they limited the size and number of ships that could visit.

Ha try living in Florida! The tourists never go away! I love it though because we pay no state income tax because of it. Got to take the good with the bad! 

https://www.cruisehive.com/nettalk-maritime-and-starlink-team-up-for-cruise-ships/112741

I don't have advice about what to do -but I will jump on the bandwagon in affirming what an awesome idea this is. One set of grandparents also did this for me (not all but some) and I love those memories. The other grandparents took each of their grands to a local theater production when they turned 16. Not quite as extravagant because they were farmers and had little disposable income, but I have a really wonderful, lovely, treasured memory of that time.  

Seems like pretty standard reviews for a lower mid tier chain hotel. I can’t speak to the actual hotel, however, I can tell you it’s close enough to Port Everglades that you don’t need to wait 2 hours for the shuttle and can just call an Uber for an inexpensive trip to the port. If 5 star Wynn Las Vegas has rooms with bed bugs then you can pretty much assume a Homewood suites might have them as well so I wouldn’t put much weight on the reviews. 

on RCCL discounts are for specific cruises only, not across the board, and discount amount varies.  They are certainly not what they were pre-Covid, but then again nothing is.  Get a good agent, or for self service, use Vacations To Go as a search engine, and select the type of discounts you qualify for, they will clearly show the book rate, and the discounted rate for all categories underneath in yellow. 
 

@WAAAYTOOO It is in a sense 🤣. The scooters seem to bring out the worst in folks 😂.
The blind gent doesn't like to ASK for help. So, I get the sense that if I book him help, he will partake but if it makes him seem like a burden or uncapable, he won't. 

Unfortunately, the military discount is almost non-existent.  Every blue moon you will see a fare that permits a military discount but it's really, really rare.  I would not expect to see any kind of military discount and then be extremely happy if one shows up.
As for the senior discount, if your parents have no Crown & Anchor status then a senior discount might apply.  I wouldn't look for it to be much but since I haven't qualified for a senior discount - maybe ever (I'm certainly old enough but never seem to see a senior discount apply 😪) I'm not sure how much it would likely be.  Not much, I'm guessing...

Definitely, please, for your own good, avoid the ATMs on the ship when at all possible. Most ports will have ATMs with lower fees...and even better if you can get just a bit away from the port to get the cash from a non-port ATM. 

I know a lot of people on this board say that they would never pay Disney prices, but having looked at both the new Royal ships and the new Disney ships and prices are not far off. And Disney includes a lot more onboard than Royal does. Adult beach is included at Castaway Cay.

That's what I thought !  Didn't they say that this new beach was going to be complimentary ?  Of course, this doesn't surprise me at all, but I guess I am a bit disappointed since they originally said it would be included in your cruise fare.

@Matt If you need me to check it out and report back since I'll be on that cruise with you sans kids, I'd be happy to freelance for the day if you want to buy me a couple passes. 😁

Royal always has variable pricing for almost all of its add-ons. The price of a cabana, coco beach club access, drink package and more all vary from ship to ship and sailing to sailing.

I believe the Hyatt Regency is built so the river flows into their lobby. If you want touristy maybe the Buckhorn museum https://www.buckhornmuseum.com/ Natural Bridge Caverns is just north of SA and they have added additional activities beyond just walking through the caves.

We were on the Radiance when her Azipod malfunctioned.  There was a loud bang and the whole ship shuddered.  We were in our aft cabin on deck 8 at the time. We immediately turned to the TV channel that showed the the speed and watched as the ship went from 22.4 knots to 14 knots in a matter of minutes.  We also looked at the wake and saw that ther was only half of the wake compared to before.  This was at about 4pm.  We went up to the Diamond lounge and about 15 minutes later and noticed that the ship seemed to be stopped.  There were no announcements and everything went on as if nothing had happened.  A storm was coming in and the ship could not outrun it.  The ship started moving again at about 5:30.  It could only travel at about 15 knots for the rest of the way into Seward.  That night the ship rocked and rolled through the storm with closet doors and drawers banging.  It was rough enough to knock over a nightstand with the phone on it.  It wasn't until the next morning that the captain let the passengers know there was an issue and we would be a couple of hours late docking.  The captain and the crew did everything they could do in order to make the passengers enjoy their last night on board.  

That would be really awesome, however my granddaughter is a freshman in HS this year so can only travel while on school vacation.  I am planning to spend 5 days there with her during February school break.  Her April vacation is the week after the 8th and she actually has other plans for that vacation 🤷🏼‍♀️ !