cmcclelland

Depends on the sailing.  Cruises that originate and return to a US port allow for guests to sail with a birth certificate.
 
Regardless, everyone should sail with a Passport.  It is in your best interest to do so.

Day 1, Key West Fl, 8/2/16
 
Hey all
 
Thought I would give a little review of each of my Days here in Key West, since our Lovely Royal Caribbean Ships happen to Visit this location.
 
One Advantage with this Land vacation, Vs Cruise Ship. I have time to see many things over several Days, vs 1 Day from a Cruise Ship. (Still would rather be on a Cruise though) (shhh don't tell my Husband) 😮
We are staying at the Doubletree Hilton, Grand Key Resort. Hubby got a fairly good deal with Priceline.
 
We started out this morning to look for a good place to Grab Breakfast, since there is no Windjammer or solarium bistro here. We Drove our own Car to venture out.
 
First stop was a Ihop near the Hotel. We walked in and thought wow it is very hot in here. The waitress proceeded to tell us that there was no AC. We made the decsion to search elsewhere to have Breakfast, which suited my Daughter just fine, since she is a vegan, and not a lot on their menu for that lifestyle choice of diet. Our next stop was a Denny's Downtown, on Duval Street. Had a great Breakfast. Spotted one of the Key West Roosters after Breakfast. He was so very Cute!!!
 
Next stop the Navy Base MWR ITT office(Place to get Discounted Attraction Tickets, at a Military Rate)
We know we want to snorkle, so purchased a snorkle excursion for Thursday,(Weather looks good that day)for $30.00 a person. Next on and off trolley tickets, for $16.00 per person, good for two full Days. We will use that Wednesday & Thursday.
 
Next we headed to base Exchange and Commasary to get essentials while we are here in Key West(like water proof Case for my IPhone, so I can Periscope from the water. VERY IMPORANT!!! 😉 Headed back to hotel for a rest.
 
After a little rest at the Hotel, at about 3pm, we decided to take advantage of the Free Shuttle, the hotel offers, to go back into Town. Parking in town in very Difficult to find, and Expensive!!! Usually $4.00 a hr, to park Downtown.
 
Being that we are major Cat lovers, seeing the Earnest Hemmingway house, and Cats, was a must Do!!!
It was very Hot walk to get there, from the Shuttie drop off point, about .08 of a mile walk, but well worth it!!!!
Very informative. I do recommend seeing this if you come here on a Cruise.
 
Next we walked to the Southern most point in the Continental USA, was 'cool to see that.
 
It was still very hot, it was a mile walk back, to where we wanted to be, we decided to hire a Pedi Cab, bartered to take us where we wanted to go, for $25.00, which I was thankful, along with Hubby, that we did not have to walk a mile back in the Heat.
 
It was close to Dinner time. Having watched Michael Pooles Periscope's, and Live Blog, when he was on the Brillance of the seas, when it came to Key West, I knew Exactly where I wanted to go..... SLOPPY JOES, of Course!!!
Great live music, and I had a sloppy Joe, was very Yummy!
 
Next was trip to Ron Jon Surf Shop!! I am a major Fan of the Ron Jon surf Shops. I never miss a oppturnity to visit one, if there is one, where I happen to be!!!
 
Next Stop was Mallory Square, to see the Street performers, and catch the Sunset for a scope. The Street performers were Awesome!!! The Sunset was a bust this evening, storms were moving in. I got what I could. My husband and I both Agreed, going back each evening, until we get the Right sunset for pictures, and a Scope.
 
We made it back to the Shuttle pickup point in just the Nick of time, before the Rain Down pour got us. We still got wet, but not as bad, if we had to walk back in the rain.
 
We are back in our comfy Hotel, tomorrow most likely sleeping in, and later on Beach Trip, and going back downtown for more exploring of Key West.
 
I would have included some pictures in this review, but unfortunately, when I tried to attach them to post. stated they could not be uploaded, because the files were too large. 😞
I did some Periscoping today as well, and if you did not catch them live, you can watch the replays.
Periscope name, cruisingkat.

I'm confident that all cruise lines value the safety of customers, or they have none.  It's simple business.
 
Keep in mind that while US travel advisories are good to be aware of, you'll note there are also travel advisories for Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, and many other places that Americans (including US based cruise lines) frequently travel.  These advisories are there to ensure people know what's going on, provide for certain protocols for local embassies, and generally, provide the same advice that is prudent to follow anytime one travels anywhere.  They are also frequently specific to certain regions.  For example, the Turkey warning specifically advises American's to avoid travel to the SE of the country.  Kusadasi is on the central west coast, the better part of 1k miles from the SE side.  
 
It is not uncommon for other countries to issue travel advisories to the US.  Currently, Bahrain, The Bahamas, and the UAE have bulletins cautioning citizens who may be traveling to the US.  Again, these type of warnings are just to keep people aware of global circumstances, they are not indicitive  of imminent danger to the general public.
 
As you note, you have the choice to stay on board, and I think it's always important to watch our for your own safety.  I sincerely hope your sailing is enjoyable regardless of any global politics.

Just to be safe... we bought some luggage tags from Amazon to protect the paper tags. We've used them on several cruises.
 
Cruisetags, NARROW Cruise Ship Luggage Tags (8 Pack)  I think they are about $10 for 8 
 

Another note on this... 
 
I had a luggage tag rip off of my bag once, but I caught it right before we handed it to the porters. The plastic covers for tags are inexpensive and kind of nice to have, and avoids the "rippage" issues.

I have seen people turned away at the door on formal night for being in shorts....recently.
 
So can you get away with it ?  Sometimes.  Do you want to be embarrassed and turned away ?  Not me.
 
On non-formal nights they will absolutely NOT turn you away in shorts.  ...but depending upon the ship and who's running things, they CAN and DO prohibit shorts on formal nights.

I'm just reporting what actually happens...   I used to be against shorts in the MDR.  But now I'm all for it.  Makes packing much easier.  With only 1 pair of slacks and no suit jacket I was able to carry on my luggage for this past trip.  My wife still had a checked back, but I did not.
 
I used to be a tux guy for formal nights.  Now in the Caribbean, not so much.  Maybe on a more formal cruise or a colder climate.  

Hey, Candie -
 
The ship is in good condition.  I did notice a slight vibration every once in a while.  I think Freedom has known propeller problems that they have been tweaking on and off.  I was afraid that it might be worse in our cabin (aft balcony JS) but it wasn't at all.  I only noticed it a couple of times during the whole cruise and always somewhere other than our room.
 
I didn't notice any signs of age or maintenance needed. She was in pretty good shape.  I will also admit that I don't do the whole ship inspection thing anymore.  I only go to a few places on the ship and it it's not on the route from my room to the dining room to the casino I am likely NOT to see it !  The shows were as good as any.  I don't really enjoy the shows much.  The only reason we went to the one we did was b/c the comedian (Jimmy Chicken!) played poker with us the night before the show and we wanted to see his show.  Otherwise, I'm sure I would have skipped it.  He is actually quite talented and in the end, I was glad I went. I have seen the ice show twice before so it wasn't all that exciting...but we went.
 
One thing that we did this time that had never been offered to us before was a behind the scenes tour of Studio B (ice rink).  I had been on all of the bridge tours and galley tours and entertainment back stage tours before so we weren't interested in that at all but when we saw that they were offering a back stage tour of Studio B, we went.  It was very interesting and the Entertainment Manager (Wayne) did a good tour.  Needless to say, a lot of work and coordination goes into those shows and keeping the ice prepped.   One tidbit.  The skaters/performers have NO creative license whatsoever.  Every move that they make on the ice is choreographed in Miami.  They cannot improvise at all.  That goes for all of the ice shows on all of the ships.  I found that interesting.
 
The casino manager (Carlos Sanchez) is one of the best I have come across recently. He was ever-present and always smiling.  He always spoke to Dan and me.  The Casino host was Alexander (sorry...cannot recall his last name) and while he was very friendly, he was obviously new.  He ran good tournaments and was ok but nothing like Carlos.  I only saw him on the floor a couple of times the whole cruise.  On some cruises I never even know who the Casino Manager IS b/c they don't actually come out on the floor and WORK but Carlos was supervising an area nearly every night.  Don't know if they were short-handed or what....but he was always running around somewhere.
 
We both got FCC which is the first time that has happened.  Of course, we cannot take any of the "free" cruises that they are pushing so we will have to convert ours into some other form of revenue - most likely paying down cruises we already have on the books.  That's good enough for us.  I am already booked SOLID !

My overall experience was very good.  It always is.
 
Service in the MDR was a little slow the first night but after that, we were in and out in under an hour (we aren't ones to hang out and lollygag - gotsta get to the casino !  LOL).
 
Degradation of overall service is a tricky one.  Yes, over the years I have noticed a few things.  I miss the midnight buffets, beautiful ice sculptures and carved fruit tables and no, I did not get a towel animal every night.  I have definitely noticed a reduced number of servers in almost all of the venues.  For instance, for the past several cruises, there is no longer a bar service person in the MDR.  Any drinks you order (which, BTW, we NEVER do) will be attended to by your table waiters now.  The bar servers in the casino are definitely rarer than they used to be but it is very rare that I need one, so I don't really miss them like some do.  I don't lay out by the pool so I haven't personally experienced the shortage of servers that I hear so much about in the pool area.  There are definitely fewer servers scattered around the Windjammer, but I usually try and avoid the WJ anyway, so it doesn't impact me that much.
 
Have I noticed a reduction in service over the years ?  Yes.  Does it negatively impact my experience ?  Not really.  I guess the question you have to ask is, would I be willing to pay to get some of those things back ?  The answer, from me, is definitely, NO.  While the ice sculptures were beautiful, I saw them a couple of times during a cruise and I'm fairly sure that the fruit sculptures probably went to waste.  That's never a good thing.  Towel animals ?  Well....not that big a deal.  They are usually in my way and end up on the floor soon anyway.  I am an acknowledged decapitator of towel animals (never on purpose, of course).  Once the head is gone, it's pretty hard to salvage it !
 
So my experience was wonderful as it always is.  I will say (selfishly) that I missed my suite perks.  I will not be making that mistake again soon !

I am not one to produce lengthy cruise reviews but there are a couple of things from my cruise last week on Freedom that are worth passing on.
 
My streak is in tact !  I still have never had a bad cruise !  WHEW !
 
1.  Diamond Plus members are no longer invited to the reserved section of seats at the ice shows.  We had no problem at all finding a good seat but I was surprised that the reserved seating no longer includes D+ - Gold card holders only.
 
2.  D+ were welcome in both the D Lounge and the Concierge Lounge although all of our voice messages came from the Diamond Lounge Concierge.  We did not receive any voice or written correspondence whatsoever from the Concierge Club Concierge.
 
3.  D+ are still included in the reserved seating area of the main theater.
 
4.  Even though we were only in a Junior Suite, we were allowed to go to the express disembark line for Suites.  I was very surprised at this.  It has been my experience in the past that the express line for Suites only included Gold card suites but it was a very welcome and unexpected benefit as the disembark line was endless by the time we got downstairs.  This was our own fault.  We had a disembark number of 3....but chose to wait until later to disembark since we had a later flight.  What a mistake that turned out to be - until they moved us from that endless line into the express line where NOBODY was.  We were very fortunate.
 
5.  The seas were some of the calmest we have ever experienced.  We almost NEVER cruise in the summer but since we were repeat victims of Empress Gate this was what we got.  Cruising during the summer can be very risky but we got lucky.  The seas were like glass.
 
6.  While on Grand Cayman, we heard from some locals that they are going to be building a pier next year !  Finally !  I know that they had resisted building any kind of dock or pier b/c of the unavoidable damage to the reef.  I guess finances finally overcame the environmental concerns.  While I heard that this construction had been approved, there is still significant resistance to the plan - primarily from environmentalists and those financially impacted (primarily those that operate the tenders, I am guessing).
 
7.   While snorkeling on GC, Dan saw an (approx.) 8' Nurse Shark.  He was so tickled.  Of course, rather than being afraid, he followed the thing as far as he could.  When he returned to shore, the locals (same ones who told us about the pier) said that it was a very, very rare occurrence.  This young man had lived in GC all of his life and said that he could count the number of times he had seen a Nurse shark on 1 hand.
 
8.  The casino gods were not favorable to me. 

I have one of my monitors dedicated to this!

While I can't speak to what was being done, underwater inspections are routine while in port.  I think most cruise lines now send underwater video to the Chief Engineer or other senior officers to ensure the hull and propulsion systems are ship-shape. A prop blade may have been replaced because of fatigue or debris, but what is quite common is loose fishing nets and similar things getting wrapped around the props, shafts, etc.  Debris build up frequently, and as it does, affects the efficiency of the propellers and causes vibration.  This means a bunch of crew members find themselves using all sorts of tools to scrape junk away.  

I did Atlantis once...YEARS ago, when I first started cruising.  I thought it was a good excursion but I do recall that the lines for getting to the buses was VERY long and it was very crowded.  At that time, the tour included at least parts of the aquarium.  I don't believe it does, anymore.  The casino is fabulous but wasn't really even open during the time that we were there.  Darn it. 
 
I am not familiar with the "Charm and Beauty of Nassau" tour but I will just give you my 2 cents.  Whenever I visit a new port, I ALWAYS do the "familiarization/introduction" tour (they call it something different at each port) just to get an overall feel of the place and see if there is anywhere I want to go BACK to at another time.  These general tours are usually quite affordable and a good way (for me, at least) to get an idea of what there is to see and do.  It sounds, to me, like the Charm and Beauty is one of those general type tours.
 
I do not know how long you will be in Nassau or what the hours are, but I will caution you...if your wife is a bit skiddish about "sketchy" circumstances, I would advise you to stay close to the compound when not on an organized tour.  Nassau can be a sketchy place, particularly at nighttime.  I don't mean to scare you.  It's NOT Beirut, but I will admit that I do not go outside of the compound at night in Nassau.  I rarely even get off the boat anymore in Nassau.  There are some beautiful homes in and around Nassau and I do recall that whatever tour it was I took went past the many celebrity homes and I enjoyed that very much.
 
It will be great.  You are on a cruise !  Enjoy it

For staterooms in general, I am more concerned with there being other staterooms above and below my room to minimize noise (no public spaces above or below my room).
 
If they were both good in that regard, I'd go high.

My opinion, I always go for as high as I can...  My next is on Oasis, deck 11 overlooking the boardwalk.

Here is what I recommend. Book all of the cruises that it will take to push you into D+. That way, if they DO change the rules on you (and I have heard these same rumors) then you can make the case that you had already booked all of the cruises you needed to make D+. I did this when I was about to make Diamond the last time they changed the rules, and they grandfathered me in as Diamond with no problem at all once I passed the original threshold. They were actually very gracious about it. I was surprised.

Many ports have no ships. Many ports that have more passengers in the area have no Royal ships. I believe looking for more is just not in the cards right now.  The port has 2 ships and other ports within a few hours have many more Royal Ships. I think Port Canaveral is doing well, look at the members in Southern California 0 Royal Ships. 

In the online magazine, Travel Weekly, there was an article about Oasis of the Seas sailing out of Port Canaveral in the 2016-2017 season. Also Freedom and Majesty sail from PC.

Considering RC recently released its 2017-2018 itineraries for PC, I do not think there is a chance of something new coming to PC until at least 2018.

I was hoping RC would invest in a Jacksonville port.  Jacksonville has a large airport and would shorten driving time for a number of people.  The current Jax cruise port only uses smaller ships due to a bridge.  A newer port would have to be closer to the naval base so maybe its a security thing.  Has anyone heard any talk about a new Jax cruise port?