JLMoran

Did I just get dropped into the vacationer's version of Monty Python's "Four Yorkshiremen" skit? ?

OK, then! Guess that means we're going to the port at 7:15, as soon as we've dropped off the younger one at high school! ?

Hmmm, since that probably means there will be traffic / lines getting into the port, maybe I'll leave closer to 9 in that case. I don't need to be that guy shouting "FIRST!", but I would like to be boarding as early as possible. She's a big ship, gonna need time on that first day to explore and find where everything is!

Actually watched it after @twangster posted a link on my separate thread about this question, along with your other post showing the drive in. I can deal with small as long as it's not overly crowded when I get there. Port is only about a 45 minute drive from home, so I'm giving serious thought to leaving with the missus at 9:30 to bypass rush hour traffic and get there around 10:15. Hopefully they'll be taking in embarking passengers at that point, so we won't have to wait outside in the chilly October morning air.

Just updated my profile pic to reflect my new board rank. ?

Totally understand. I have the luxury of "not knowing what I'm missing" and only knowing my phone's level of quality. Which is probably a good thing, or I'd be going into debt buying at least a micro four thirds body if not a full-blown DSLR, plus however many lenses, plus carrying bag, plus... ? I do have to say that I'm a little less satisfied with the Moment Tele lens after using it last weekend to photograph / take video of my older daughter's final performance with the youth chorus she's been in the last 9 years. The edge distortion in many of those photos and video clips is a lot more noticeable than the pics I took on my cruise, with people on the edges of the pictures horribly blurred or distorted (maybe the lens needs a cleaning?); creative cropping was necessary (where possible) to clean up most of the pics.

Wow! What an awesome surprise to wake up to the day before sail away! Have an awesome trip, and enjoy the upgrade!

@twangster, meant to ask once this was over -- How did you find the experience of using just your iPhone and the Moment lenses for all your photography? I know you like to take a lot of night shots and photos in more dimly lit areas, but the ones you posted here still seemed pretty good for being on the phone. Do you think that going forward you'll just stick with the phone and leave the big camera behind, or is there still too much of a gap with the kind of photos you like to take for that to be reasonable? Lord knows phone cameras have come a long way in the last 10 years. But I can totally see where having the larger camera bodies with much bigger sensors and support for a variety of lenses is still going to be a necessity for quite some time, especially for those gorgeous night shots and photos of performers on stage.

@Sunken dreams, this was a really nice blog you wrote up. Thanks for sharing!

Interesting. So maybe it has less to do with the specific ship class and more to do with the cruise port you’re leaving from.

SMH I just can't wrap my head around spending the full price of a good used car, or half the price of a good new one, on a room that you will only be in for a week. Or to put it in cruise habit parlance -- that's 2, maybe even 3 Caribbean cruises in a pair of Ocean View Balcony rooms!

I agree with @twangster, that's beyond over the top. I would have refused to move and told them to go pound sand.

Uploading photos is something currently limited to Quantum class ships and some of the Oasis class ships. All others just take your photo at the port terminal checkin desk.

As far as number of pinnacle guests, we can make an educated guess thank to @twangster's tallies on his live blogs: Indy had 9 reported Liberty had 37 Freedom had about 20 Anthem B2B had 30 on the first leg, 22 on the second Assuming Harmony has a number consistent with Anthem, since they're pretty similar capacity, you could argue 20-25 Pinnacle passengers on average. That's versus 101 non-JS suites on the ship (remember, JS doesn't get access to the suite lounge; number per Cruise Deck Plans). Assuming standard double occupancy, that's 202 suite passengers; it will really be a smidge higher due to 2BR ATS and other large suites, so let's call it 210. 25 / 210 = ~11.9% of suite passengers are "duplicated" and competing for space in the Suite Lounge by Pinnacle on average. Or if you prefer, looking at the total you have Pinnacle making up 25 / (210 + 25) = 10.6%. Either way, you're looking at about 1 in 10 people in the Suite Lounge not actually being a suite guest, assuming every passenger who can use the room does use it daily.

You know you have a cruising problem when you see numbers like that and think, "Wow, an ocean view balcony cabin just for the body! And a promenade balcony per lens!" ::raising hand:: Hi, my name is Joe...

About 45 days before your cruise, after you've completed the online check-in, you'll receive an email with final cruise documentation (usually a link to a PDF document, or the PDF may be directly attached in the email). Towards the end of that document will be a page with printable luggage tags that specify your cabin number, ship section (color coded), and a few other bits of information. You need to print these out and attach them to your luggage before you get to the port, as the porters and ship crew use these tags to know where to load the bags onto the ship, which storage area to hold them in for scanning, and ultimately where to take them for drop-off at the cabins. Key thing to note is that these are separate from the luggage tags you use at the airport. If you're flying to the port, don't attach these ship-specific tags until after your flight is done and you're at the destination airport or your hotel (you did fly in the night before, right? ?). If you attach them before your flight, they may well get torn off by the airport staff so they don't get confused about which tag to read. Also, since these are just paper printouts, you may want to invest in a set of tag holders. They give a much more secure attachment to your luggage and also protect the printed tag from getting torn or wet.

I've been keeping my mouth shut, but I really feel like I need to chime in. You say you want to be a CD and that you'd do such a great job of it, and then you make a comment like this. I'll be the first to admit I know nothing about what goes into being a "great" CD, but I would imagine that having an incredible sense of tact and knowing at a near-instinctive level what topics to avoid talking about so as not to piss off your audience and sour their experience have to be two of the qualifications. As a citizen of the US, I was flat-out insulted and offended by that comment, and no amount of subsequent backtracking or clarifying from you is going to change that.

My October 2018 Anthem cruise to Bermuda is showing GTY rooms for Jr. Suites, has had that for about a month now and it's still about 6 weeks away from final payment. That said, this is the first itinerary I've looked at that had any GTY rooms available. I think it partly depends on how well a given sailing is filling up; they may only make GTY rooms available if the class hasn't sold well enough.

Fantastic photos! What did you use to get the close-ups on the stage performers and ice skaters? Looks like you've got some good kit there!

If it wasn't for that word "Guarantee" in the room category name, I'd be wigging out right now. At least you can 100% rest assured that you won't find yourself being told there is no room at all for you when you get to the terminal. Cruise ships, AFAIK, don't (can't?) intentionally oversell their cabins the way airlines oversell their seats, so there will definitely be *something* for you. My complete SWAG on this, being a cynic and having seen enough threads here about how Royal is working harder and harder to maximize revenue -- they have indeed sold out all JS-level rooms, and they're in the process of offering upgrades to full suites to the non-GTY occupants and waiting on that to be settled out first. The goal being to gain some revenue from upgrade charges, rather than bumping you and other GTY-rate purchasers into a higher-category room at no extra charge. You'll still get your JS-level room, and maybe even get bumped after all if they don't get enough people taking upgrade offers, but Royal wants to get as much income out of the sailing as possible rather than leaving money on the table.

Reservations are made by going to www.resortforaday.com, selecting the resort you want to book a day at, and paying through that site. They handle the reservation work and getting everything set up, so that pretty much all you need to worry about when you get to the port is just making your way to the resort and checking in.

This was a station that was set up in the Royal Promenade, right outside of Vintages. It was there from around 8 or 8:30 AM until I'm guessing 11:00 or so, and I want to say it was there every single morning for those who wanted to have that morning indulgence. I'll try and check my Cruise Compasses that I saved and see if maybe it's listed in there. I also saw both Bloody Mary and Mimosa as drink options on the MDR breakfast menu, so that's another way to grab one if you're partial to the MDR for breakfast.

Included in both the Deluxe Package and also the Refreshment Package. My wife broke even on her RP (bought on steep sale) almost purely due to multiple latte / machiatto purchases every day. ?

Makes me glad I bought the trip insurance for my October Anthem cruise! ?

You can order a cappuccino and some other premium coffees in the MDR at breakfast and also dinner, but be prepared for a wait. Otherwise, like @toodle68 said, you can use your package at Cafe Promenade and get a nice variety of lattes, Frappuccino-style cold beverages, and cappuccinos.