livinginyellow

Ship is moving pretty quick today and everything is rocking pretty steadily. Walking down our hall on deck 9 causes us to sway back and forth - I am prone to motion sickness and have definitely felt sicker today than i have in a while on a cruise (though Sprite is helping a lot. I cant take Dramamine since it makes me exhausted). My husbands fine....of course...

We did the escape room today and they only allowed 12 in. It was definitely tricky but we would still highly recommend. We didn't win (womp), but we were told only 1 group all week won, so we dont feel that bad.

Lobster night tonight! Also first showing of Cats.

To whomever asked about game shows: no quest this week. The only game show we are going to get is the yes/no game show tomorrow and thats it. A fairly light entertainment schedule this week fwiw.

1 minute ago, nelblu said:

 

 

I’m solo and that seated me, in the mdr, a table for 2. Surrounded by many tables for 2.  No or very little social distancing. 
 

Either the CDC or RCL have gone bonkers. I’m at pool and wanted to cool off.   There are only a few pax and some are couples. Was told that I could not because only 9 are allowed at any time. Even tho, there was plenty of social distance between of more than 10 feet.  Some nice lady came out and I went in for a few laps. 

Try the Solarium. That pool has been PACKED and no social distancing. I feel safe, so it's not a worry. But don't lean on the blue line in the pool - that's a great way to get blue paint on your back. We learned the hard way earlier this week 🤣🤣

5 hours ago, DJLDRUMS said:

Has anyone found out if there will be "The Quest" Saturday evening?

No clue. They have been adding entertainment to the App the day before so we don't know what's on tap for the rest of the week. I'd be surprised if they did it though, as they haven't had anything else of the likes (no love and marriage game show, etc. And barely any trivia compared to other ships we've been on.

3 hours ago, ecslady said:

Are they seating solo travelers with others at dinner?

 

Have you tried room service for breakfast?  If so, how was it?

Nope. I have eaten solo at breakfast every day this week and it hasnt been an issue! No room service for us tho - the continental isn't worth it for us and I'd rather eat at MDR instead of pay the money for more.

As I said above, were on this cruise too, but I took a chance to get away from my phone for a few days. We have had a genuinely great time. My husband was nervous about masks but they really are no issue. And most everyone wears them when needed. The only downside is the entertainment isnt as robust because if the smaller capacity - less trivia, activities, etc. But the rest of the ship has been fantastic. Pools and hot tubs have been mostly empty, and Coco Cay weirdly cleared out at 3ish yesterday (we were there until 530) so we sat in an empty swim up bar in both the ocean and pool for hours. I wish all cruises were like this - it's worth sailing and potentially being exposed for this smaller capacity. So sad were getting towards the end of the week. Doing chops tonight though and can't wait 

12 minutes ago, wingatesl said:

Nassau: complete bust. No alcohol sales anywhere. Atlantis was empty. 

We're on this cruise too and I finally grabbed some wifi - we are current drinking a beer a block down from the port. But I agree - this port is so sad and it's just awful seeing what happened to it after COVID.

20 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

That's not how the cdc site explains the color coding system.     There are several ships in "green" that have just crew only onboard.     Orange, yellow and red pertains to how many covid cases of crew and passengers exist is what I read.   If a ship turns Red that is bad!    We don't ever want to see that.

It still says simulated, which is what scares me! I am sailing this weekend on oasis, so here's to hoping it changes soon.

3 hours ago, ticketsunlimited said:

Oasis received CDC certification on September 30th.  They can now start taking our money again.  We will be making our contribution on 9/16.

Where did you find this info? According to the CDC site, we are still waiting for approval: https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/cruise-ship-color-status.html

12 hours ago, DJLDRUMS said:

For anyone who did the Oasis Test Cruise. Was it obvious that there were anyone from the CDC on board? And, with your return has anyone who's booked on the September 5th sailing been given any notification that the Oasis got the Ok to take on paying passengers in a little over a week.

My husband and I are on the Sept. 5 sailing and we definitely haven't heard that it WON'T be sailing. And considering the message that just went out from Michael Bayley included a sentence that said Oasis would be sailing on Sept. 5, then I am assuming that we are a go!

1 hour ago, thjeepster said:

Never been on this class of ship before and was wondering where are the best places to go to get photos taken?  We will be getting married on the ship in Oct.

I got married on a cruise ship a few years ago, and I would HIGHLY recommend doing a group photo. That's one of the only ones in my house - because it was just AMAZING having people take a whole vacation with us. It's the best memory I have of that week.

They WERE recommending reservations at the beginning of the Adventure of the Seas sailing, (I read that out through the unofficial RCI blog) but it sounds like they aren't anymore.

2 minutes ago, JessyCruises said:

I told them that I had bid on a Royal Up and heard not a response so wanted to know if there were any onboard upgrades available if I did not get the Royal Up.  I was not specifically asking for a feee upgrade.

Good point. Thank you! 

Just now, JessyCruises said:

When we boarded we did ask.  They said there would probably not be any available  but did write our names on a list and they said they would call if anything popped up.  As expected, we did not receive a call 😃

 

It never hurts to ask however!  

LOL ok sorry this is a dumb question - but how did you phrase it? I am not against asking, but never sure how to say "hey I'd like to inquire about this free upgrade that I heard about on the internet" 🤣

Does asking for an upgrade onboard work? Maybe not generally, but during this time? I am sailing in two weeks and I am excited about our room (an inside room overlooking Central Park) but we were randomly upgraded JS a few years ago and I wouldn't hate getting having that again....

How strict are they about masks in vaccinated areas? We are on the 9/5 sailing and my husband has some reservations about going on a vacation with masks - but was much happier when I saw in today's Compass above that you don't need one in a vaccinated area! 

8 hours ago, travelplus said:

I want to emulate the Cruise Experience at home on my Samsung TV whereby I can create my own Cruise Planners and have it display along with the Screen that shows which Zones are allowed to disembark along with Port Information as well as a way to emulate the Map Channel by feeding it data and it can pull it from current cruises and have it display info like Distance Travelled, Apparent Wind etc as well as  a TV Channel Guide etc.choose files...

 

Any software that you recommend to do this? Thanks

I guarantee Royal Caribbean has a HUGE team of coders making their software. I highly doubt that there is something similar you can buy off the shelf 😞

24 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Royal UP. I don’t think they do automatic upgrades. 

They definitely used to, at least before the pandemic. We got upgraded to a JS once for free.

Now it's showing 30% off with the same price ($53) so I grabbed it! Woo.

Funny story - since I posted this this morning, my cruise's package dropped from $61 to $53! Not sure if I should grab it, but I might since its already a $200 savings for the week.

1 minute ago, Jimbo said:

Oh we can lift it, just wonder where you store it for that long of a ride without it being in the way or taking up seats?

Well that's what I am saying - there are luggage receptacles above your head. So it wouldn't be in the way at all.

Just now, Jimbo said:

Okay I see it's Amtrak, but stops are short and there are maybe 10 to 15 along the way.........so what would you do with your luggage? try carrying it on and put maybe 2 regular size suit cases and a garment bag in the row behind you?

If you can lift it, the baggage portion of riding on Amtrak is really, really easy! 

3 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I agree with this. Last time I followed  the price for a year and every week the price just fluctuated a dollar or two. I waited until black friday and while the price of the deluxe package was the same they offered Voom for $10 a day if you purchased the deluxe drink package. Since I was going to purchase Voom at the going rate anyway, I saved $5 a day on that by combining the purchase. To me it doesn't matter if I'm paying out of the right pocket or left pocket. 

Did you see any fluctuations on July 4?  

4 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I think there'll be a sale this weekend. Holiday weekends typically have a sale.  Wait at least to Saturday.  No sense booking now and cancelling and rebooking on the weekend

Good advice. Thank you! 

2 minutes ago, Jasukkie said:

I think they will have protocols in place by the time you board for areas of the ship for vaxxed vs unvaxxed passengers. At some point, they will have an opportunity for vaxxed people to show that they are vaccinated. They may add mask protocols since they don't appear at this point to be restricting who is sailing. Everything is written in quicksand at this point.

Fine with me! Was already planning on bringing our vax cards anyways. I would love nothing more for them to separate out unvaxxed vs vaxxed - while I am not fearful of much right now because I am vaxxed, I'd love to feel that much more safer 🙂

1 minute ago, Sea Dog said:

I would. Once we book a cruise I'm always looking at the cruise planner daily for prices. There is always a black Friday sale but there are sales though out the year. Bottom line don't fall for the fuzzy math and percentages off. Just look at the bottom line price. If you can get the drink package for between $41-$50 you have gotten a great deal.

It's at $61/day right now, which doesn't seem too awful (since I remember the old top-tier Premium package to be $55/day) You think it's worth it to just grab it for now?