Todd

Here is the close hotels to the port under four miles.
 
Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Port Canaveral 1.33 miles from cruise port  Address: 9009 Astronaut Blvd, Cape Canaveral, Florida 32920   Residence Inn Cape Canaveral Cocoa Beach 1.48 miles from cruise port  Address: 8959 Astronaut Boulevard, Cape Canaveral, Florida 32920   Radisson Resort at the Port 1.78 miles from cruise port  Address: 8701 Astronaut Blvd, Cape Canaveral, Florida 32920   Holiday Inn Club Vacations Cape Canaveral Beach Resort 2.23 miles from cruise port  Address: 1000 Shorewood Drive, Cape Canaveral, Florida 32920   Royal Mansions Resort 2.57 miles from cruise port  Address: 8600 Ridgewood Avenue, Cape Canaveral, Florida 32920   Discovery Beach Resort 3.53 miles from cruise port  Address: 300 Barlow Ave., Cocoa Beach, Florida 32931   BEST WESTERN Cocoa Beach Hotel & Suites 3.63 miles from cruise port  Address: 5600 N Atlantic Ave, Cocoa Beach, Florida 32931-3920   La Quinta Inn & Suites Cocoa Beach Oceanfront 3.67 miles from cruise port  Address: 1 Hendry Ave, Cocoa Beach, Florida 32931   Las Olas Beach Club of Cocoa Beach 3.81 miles from cruise port  Address: 5100 Ocean Beach Blvd, Cocoa Beach, Florida 32931

I have not cruise the Caribbean for a few years but in other parts of the World they collect your passport upon booking. Royal hands all the stuff with your passport in the ports and you do not see it again until the last port stop is completed. When you think about it really no other way to do it. Royal brings a ship with 4000 plus passengers into a small port that has 3 passport officers and you must stand in line to be cleared. Even at only one minute per passport the three only would clear 180 passports per hour if a 1000 passengers wanted off the ship it would take over 5 hours. And when you returned another 5 hours. If a port call is 8 hours many passengers could not even get off the ship.
 
So how can they clear several thousand passengers? Royal pays to bring the inspectors on board  at the port before the stop, gives them a cabin and they work all day or night while the ships travels port to port clearing the passports. This is the only way you can clear a large ship for a short port call. As I said maybe the trips started in the US are handled in a different way.

The web is the best place to go when looking for price. But you always need to be smart, many fake or counterfeit items. So use your credit card and if item is fake dispute the charge, counterfeit means the credit card company refunds every time. With things like diamonds GIA certification. Retail diamonds are a triple key item (3 times the cost of the jewelry) and that is after going through several middleman. With web purchases the high costs of retail stores and several of these middle guys are cut out.

The only cruise terminal in Boston is Black Falcon. It is located in South Boston.You look out at the Airport across the harbor and at Castle Island Fort. The public transportation system (MBTA) is located a short walk away. Lots of taxi's near the port and the waterfront restaurants are within walking distance. Most people asked about Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, a 10 to 15 minute walk away.
 
 Black Falcon Cruise Ternimal 1 Black Falcon Ave,  Boston, MA 02210, United States   http://www.massport.com/port-of-boston/cruiseport-boston/

Matt, sorry I was not clear in my post. I'm not talking about just sending a bottle through X Ray. What I am saying is purchase a bottle in a metal case or a metal tube. The X Ray Scanner Machine then just see a metal box, or metal tube. Back in the 35 & 120 mm film days I would carry my cameras inside zero metal cases. If the scanner see these do you really believe they would stop and catch them?

Matt, sorry I was not clear in my post. I'm not talking about just sending a bottle through X Ray. What I am saying is purchase a bottle in a metal case or a metal tube. The X Ray Scanner Machine then just see a metal box, or metal tube. Back in the 35 & 120 mm film days I would carry my cameras inside zero metal cases. If the scanner see these do you really believe they would stop and catch them?

Matt, sorry I was not clear in my post. I'm not talking about just sending a bottle through X Ray. What I am saying is purchase a bottle in a metal case or a metal tube. The X Ray Scanner Machine then just see a metal box, or metal tube. Back in the 35 & 120 mm film days I would carry my cameras inside zero metal cases. If the scanner see these do you really believe they would stop and catch them?

Matt, sorry I was not clear in my post. I'm not talking about just sending a bottle through X Ray. What I am saying is purchase a bottle in a metal case or a metal tube. The X Ray Scanner Machine then just see a metal box, or metal tube. Back in the 35 & 120 mm film days I would carry my cameras inside zero metal cases. If the scanner see these do you really believe they would stop and catch them?

The photos are offered as single prints, CD, or in packages. The packages can be CD only, prints only, or CD and Prints. The pricing is high for the packages and depends upon the length of the cruise. The total package, all prints and CD is $249 to $399 but discounts are offered for C & A and some on the ship like $50 off package promo. 
 
But if you want to purchase a single photo the price is around $30. They also seem to offer a package of a few photos for around $100 dollars. The photo package can be a good deal if you have them take many photos. Reynaline loves photos so while is may seem like a very costly package with 100 to 200 pictures per cruise the costs is much more reasonable per picture.

I do not use travel agents but it is a personal choice. Maybe if I was located within the Untied States I would but most travel agents here in Asia seem to know less about cruises than I do. I do believe it is a personal choice but a good Travel Agent is a advocate for the traveler.  I will be the first one to admit I manipulate the system 100% to my benefit so booking direct helps me.  I think you need to do what you are comfortable with. For me that is the cruise lines must meet the terms of the contact 100% of the time, and I am not required to allow for any changes to the contract unless required by the UCC , marine and contract law.

The only cruise terminal in Boston is Black Falcon. It is located in South Boston.You look out at the Airport across the harbor and at Castle Island Fort. The public transportation system (MBTA) is located a short walk away. Lots of taxi's near the port and the waterfront restaurants are within walking distance. Most people asked about Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, a 10 to 15 minute walk away.
 
 Black Falcon Cruise Ternimal 1 Black Falcon Ave,  Boston, MA 02210, United States   http://www.massport.com/port-of-boston/cruiseport-boston/

You can get a 100% refund even if only a few days left. But you have the risk of not being allowed to re book. So you need to asked yourself a simple question; what is more important to me being able to cruise with Royal or to get all my money back? If you make yourself into a problem Royal will cancel you off the cruise and refund. But it does have risk involved, one way is to not agree to the terms within the boarding information. Or just be become a problem for Royal.
 
That is from the customers side, looking from Royal's side you booked the cruise and now you will not take the cruise so they are entitled to recover the loss you have caused.  

Matt  I did look at your Travel Sponsor and have no problem doing so.  But in today's age of information most people will not enter the information for a quote, they want to see the answer now.  By requesting people enter blind information and wait for a answer I believe most will just use another site. The travel agency needs to provide some pricing information, when the customer keys in the cruise wanted. 
 
I am involved in several online business, clients want information as soon as they hit enter on the keypad.

If the Genie cannot do that at the least the whole program should be ended. You are not asking for much, dinner reservations for your whole group. I would think any passenger group on the ship, should be able to get this basic level of service done. Really the only thing you are for is a group reservation.

Updated.  Enjoy your cruise.

For those already in Asia great weekend cruise. 
 
Voyager of the Seas Leaving from:  Hong Kong, China  2 NIGHT CRUISE TO NOWHERE CRUISE Jul 8, 2016 Sailing  $135 Inside

A good trick you can use is to do a cruise booking search for the cruise ending on the first day of your cruise and see what time the ship gets into port.  Then add four hours and that should be the start time for embarkation.

A good trick you can use is to do a cruise booking search for the cruise ending on the first day of your cruise and see what time the ship gets into port.  Then add four hours and that should be the start time for embarkation.

It is a very large open question. First I would say make a plan, do not just get on the ship and say we will work it out. Study this site and the ship information, google the ports and find out a little about them. Port calls are short so you will not be able to do everything in the port. Plan out a few things for each port, also plan ship stuff for the sea days. 
 
If you study these post and the blog here you will have a very good understanding and plan of action. Also understand 7 days is not enough time to do everything on the ship without the port calls so don't try to do to much. Last and most important it is a vacation, things can change, ports, routes, etc, just relax  and enjoy the cruise.

The self service drink machines that offer complimentary  drinks, ice tea, lemonade, water juice, etc,  are free. To use the self service Coke or soft drink  machines you need to have a package they are not free. And they can only be used if you have your royal soft drink cup, which has a micro chip, and then only every 15 minutes.  Matt did a complete blog post about these machines here is the link 

No you can not purchase the drink  packages for just sea days. You can purchase the drink package once on the cruise but you must have at least three days left on the cruise.

It depends upon the cruise, the port, the passengers who had the cabin before and the turn  around of the ship. Most of the time the cabin is ready for you when you board. But if you board early or they have delays they will tell you to go to eat first. 

I'd recommend booking as you can always cancel and get your money back if you change your mind. That way you guarantee the sale price.

Short cruises are great if you understand what you are getting, it is not a full one or two week vacation that you can pack everything in. I look at short cruises like long weekends. Do you not look forward to 3 day weekends? Not many would say only three days off so I want to work instead. I can also slide in short cruises and less impact on my other interest. If I want to leave the Philippines for a longer cruise I need to plan and take time, so I create no issues for my business interest. But a 3 to 5 day cruise is very little planning of impact.
 
I have a 5 day cruise booked in this month. I can conduct business here Monday, drop off at  airport Tuesday morning, noon on ship Hong Kong, Sunday morning of ship returns Hong Kong, airport, home Sunday for lunch. And while not 12 or 14 days I'm sure it will be a great trip.  Give me a short cruise every few months and a longer cruise or two over the year I'm happy.

DocLC, Firegal2539
 
Yes I too though that when first  reading... but it could just be as Doc said, family upset and needing help. Nothing wrong with giving the contact information so they can contact Royal. In order for this to be a scam the OP or someone would need to ask for something of $$$ value. The only thing they wanted was information, and while information about this maybe priceless to them, it costs us nothing.
 
But it does bring up a interest point, if you google Royal, Cruises, etc. this site is always very near the top. Congratulations Matt on getting such good real placement.