SPS

I hope that everyone here gets to sail with Captain Marek Slaby. He has been tenured on Radiance for a number of years; there is a running rumor he may tapped for Icon— and for good reason. He is the most personable and likable captain I have sailed with. His announcements are honest, frank, and each day he rattles off every birthday aboard, including crew. Passengers stop and listen to his words when he is on the PA.   Honest.
 
Let me describe how Captian Merek deals with those who are late to come back aboard. “This is Captian Merek coming to you from the bridge. It’s now 5:40 and all aboard was at 5:30. We are still waiting for Tom and Mary in cabin 9632, Rueben from cabin 3126, and Estelle from cabin 1174…..” There a grins from ear to ear on everyone onboard when they hear the captain very publicly call out those who are late.
 
Those grins turn out to widespread laughter the next port stop when you here the following “the local authorities have cleared the ship and the gangway on deck 2 is now open. I would like to remind Estelle in cabin 1174, Tom and Mary from cabin 9632, and Reuben from cabin 3126 that all aboard is at 6:30 pm tonight….”
 
Allow me to say one more nice thing about Captian Marek. Capt Marek loves to sing. He has single handedly created a show that happens once a week in the Centrum; Rock’in With the Captain. It’s the band and six or seven crew members (all amateurs) who also like to sing and are shockingly quite good! They are wearing their work uniforms of cabin attendant, server, laundry person, etc. They sing whatever songs they want across any genre. The Captain…..his jam is 80’s Judas Priest!

If you find someone with loud music on Coco Cay, then you can bet they have a chair by the ship pool saved at the same time

I'll second this. I've used Twitter a few times and get replies in a very timely manner.
As for calling, some days/times can be busier that others. Just last Tuesday afternoon, I surprisingly had a wait time of only 3 minutes. 
I know all too well about the marathon wait times you speak of.

Black & White? Ugh, so inelegant. LOL!

Black & White? Ugh, so inelegant. LOL!

Black & White? Ugh, so inelegant. LOL!

Black & White? Ugh, so inelegant. LOL!

Try messaging them on social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.). I find they respond a whole lot faster that way.

My cruise in July was the same as @SpeedNoodles and @SPS.  We got on quickly.  Getting off the ship was just as fast.

Much like @SpeedNoodles, We  boarded Quantum at the Seattle port in August and the approximate amount of time from arrival/check bags/check-in to stepping foot on board was about 30 minutes.

As a guy that needs to sunscreen his entire head, I prefer Banana Boat products. They work and rub in easier than other brands I've tried.
As for reef safe, the requirement varies by island and/or excursion. I buy reef safe just to be sure.

As a guy that needs to sunscreen his entire head, I prefer Banana Boat products. They work and rub in easier than other brands I've tried.
As for reef safe, the requirement varies by island and/or excursion. I buy reef safe just to be sure.

A good time, maybe?
What venue and ship is this for?

Truth about any 'yes'.  My mother-in-law did the check in for herself and my 80 year old father-in-law.  She accidently checked he was pregnant. Denied...  he had to take a pregnancy test at the port (KIDDING! 😀), but they did have delay at the port.

As a guy that needs to sunscreen his entire head, I prefer Banana Boat products. They work and rub in easier than other brands I've tried.
As for reef safe, the requirement varies by island and/or excursion. I buy reef safe just to be sure.

As a guy that needs to sunscreen his entire head, I prefer Banana Boat products. They work and rub in easier than other brands I've tried.
As for reef safe, the requirement varies by island and/or excursion. I buy reef safe just to be sure.

If you choose to bid on a Royal Up, you may have to option to bid on several categories of Stateroom on the same webpage; Oceanview, Spacious Oceanview, Balcony, Obstructed View Balcony, Suites, etc.
If a cabin in one of your chosen categories is available and your bid is "right", only one of the bids will be accepted.

Back in Auguest, @JennaRCB wrote a good article on the Royal Up program:  https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/08/02/royal-caribbeans-royalup-guide-tips-and-tricks

Appreciate it! Happy cruising!

If you choose to bid on a Royal Up, you may have to option to bid on several categories of Stateroom on the same webpage; Oceanview, Spacious Oceanview, Balcony, Obstructed View Balcony, Suites, etc.
If a cabin in one of your chosen categories is available and your bid is "right", only one of the bids will be accepted.

Back in Auguest, @JennaRCB wrote a good article on the Royal Up program:  https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/08/02/royal-caribbeans-royalup-guide-tips-and-tricks

If you choose to bid on a Royal Up, you may have to option to bid on several categories of Stateroom on the same webpage; Oceanview, Spacious Oceanview, Balcony, Obstructed View Balcony, Suites, etc.
If a cabin in one of your chosen categories is available and your bid is "right", only one of the bids will be accepted.

Back in Auguest, @JennaRCB wrote a good article on the Royal Up program:  https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/08/02/royal-caribbeans-royalup-guide-tips-and-tricks

Something I think worth mentioning is that you will not be given the option to bid on every single cabin type that is above yours.  It depends on the cabin type you originally booked. 
 
For example, booking an Inside on Anthem, the options we were given were Outside View, Larger Outside View, Obstructed Balcony, Ocean View Balcony,  and Ocean View With larger balcony.  
 
We’ve never seen the option to bid on suites unless we’ve originally booked an Oceanview Balcony (or higher). 
 
Something else I think is worth mentioning… be aware that if your bid is accepted, you could get a cabin (in that category) anywhere on the ship.  If you don’t want to be in a certain area, and will be unhappy if you’re put there, don’t bid  
 
Something something else that is important to mention…. Sometimes it’s cheaper to just upgrade than put a high bid in for the same potential upgrade   
 

They have a lot of items that are very difficult to find in the US.  They had 4 different kinds of Blanton's bourbon as an example.

After months of reading blogs and FB posts leading up to my cruise,it's finally come and gone and I thought I'd share a few things. Just got off Oasis this past Sunday...3 of us, 2 adults and an 11 yr old. 
1. Don't overpack. I read it a million times, I swore we wouldn't, yet..here we were with a large suitcase,a large duffel bag and three back packs. Packing up on our last night, cursing as I packed tons of unworn clothes,  unnecessary footwear and clothes for "cold nights". Next time it WILL be one suitcase and maybe a backpack. 
2. Magnetic hooks. Maybe they are helpful on older ships but our basic (boardwalk balcony) room had hooks on the bathroom wall, bathroom door, inside the shower, next to the front door and next to the vanity/ mirror on the desk. Plenty of hooks. We put a few on the balcony walls just because we brought them..but definitely not needed.  
3. Plug extender. This one came in handy..not needed,though. again would have had enough plugs between the ones behind the bed and the ones on the desk. We never needed to have more than one or two chargers in at any time. And all of our Android devices,including lap top and tablet all use the same charger. 
4. Take some adult time. I love my kid...I do. But after day 3 I needed some daddy time,once the wife and kid were down for the night..I strolled around on my own. Hit the casino, walked the pool deck, just sat on the balcony. I did this early in the morning sometimes also, since I am a very early riser and they are not. 
5.Maybe we missed something,but after all the reviews,we thought for sure we would have loved coco cay more. But we did chill beach, ate at a few stands, checked out the straw market, hung out in the pool for a bit...then were all ready to get back to the ship by maybe 1:30.  I don't know..maybe we will explore the other beaches next time,but we took advantage of the empty ship and enjoyed that more. 
6. Planned for the worst and got yhe opposite. Read so much about crowds,lines and food issues. We experienced none of this. The ship never felt over crowded, food was fine,service was amazing, shows were fantastic (no amount of reading or watching videos can compare with how amazing aqua 80 was in person). The only time we ever felt a little crowded was Windjammer. 
 
Edited to Add one more. 
Tipping/dining (I'll combine them):
We are over tippers. We are both former service workers,so we tip more than necessary.  I saw so many people posting how,besides the pre-paid tips, they tip additionally on every drink. I think I saw maybe 2 other people put cash on the bar the whole trip. I'm not shaming anyone..it's totally your choice since the drink price includes tip, just surprised how many people say they do it compared to the amount we actually saw. Also...dining at MDR,we did it 3 nights, and it never took longer than maybe 75-80 minutes. 
Overall it was an amazing trip on a beatiful ship.  I played way more mini golf than I could imagine, ate way more pizza and drank way too many mocktails. We can't wait to book our next one..already dropped the deposit at next cruise..just gotta pick the date!

Buffalo trace is very popular here in Texas so I would think it should be available from the start of cruise. It really depends on whether RC has purchased it from a local distributor or not. I've sailed so many times from Galveston but can't remember what was available last time we cruised. We're sailing March 18,  I'll repost here when I can and let you know. Not that it will be the same in 2024.