BND

We've never done it, but to me it just seems strange. Probably funny to watch, but otherwise, especially now as I can't really dance due to a knee issue, we don't go to any dance parties anymore. Sucks that at 63 and previously very active I can't participate.

We've seen him. His show was pretty good.

We were on Jewel last Nov out of PC. The wifi was down for most of boarding day. We were on a b2b with the first cruise being the first after a TA from Europe. They had problems all the way across. It was all the wifi, crew and guests. I think they have some kind of wiring issue. We've had no issue on other ships.

Next Cruise doesn't know much about currently available cruises lol. I've found I know more about cabins and ships than they do.

They started that a few years ago to make dinner move faster. One reason was that people complained they were missing shows. With the size of the servings, I always have room for dessert.

90% of answers can be found by googling. Usually when I find something for someone who's too lazy to look it up themselves, I mention Google when I supply the answer, especially on FB. Of course, there's always the ones that are looking for how to get away with something. There is something the Disboards (Disney) do that I like a lot. They do not allow any talk of breaking Disney's rules. It keeps a lot of the arguing down.

On the app, the arrival time selection is separate from the check in. You have to click on it.

I love people who open threads that have tipping in the title and then complain about a new tipping thread. We tip $1 per drink and that's what I see most often see others doing.

Did anyone say anything different?

I grew up in MD and have lived in the metro area the majority of my life. High wind warnings restrict high profile vehicles even outside of tropical storms/hurricanes. I was just making an observation based on years of experience.

They also close the Bay Bridge (rt 50) for high winds. I fully expect they will close the bridge/tunnel (rt 13) as much for storm surge as for wind.

It really didn't. A low pressure system has been forecast for about a week and showing up on forecast maps for longer than that.. The track wasn't locked in. As of right now, it's not a tropical storm, but it may become one.

Baltimore is supposed to get a lot of rain and wind. We're in No VA and we're expecting 40+ mph winds and 2-3 inches of rain. There are tropical storm warnings/watches along the east coast including the tidal Potomac and the Bay.

We have on multiple trips. As for B2B, the only time we had lunch on turnaround day in a specialty was on Oasis. We've eaten in Chops, Jamie's and GIovanni's on different ships on embarkation day.

Our cruise on Jewel on Oct 20 does not have a specialty open for lunch which we always do to avoid the WJ. I've been checking for months. Our other cruises that have reservations open have lunch on boarding day. In Jan on Wonder we're doing Mason Jar and in Apr on Vision we're doing Chops. After that, it's too far out. We've had lunch on Jewel in Chops before so I know they do it usually. I guess we'll just wait til cabins open and then go grab something in the WJ once the crowds with all their luggage have left. It just means eating a bigger breakfast and probably getting something at Cafe Latretudes to hold us over as we have late dining.

We have ridden Amtrak from DC to Newark and NYC many times. We get a car service into NYC and take the train from there. We have done it from Newark one time, but never again. Fine station to come into, not so great to wait in. Anyway, we have made a train as early as 1015 several times. You only have to be at the train station when boarding starts so unlike an airport, no need to be there an hour or two ahead of time. We'll be taking Amtrak from Manassas, VA as we recently moved closer to there next month for our Jewel cruise to NE/Canada. We are going to stay in NYC for a couple of days after the trip so return time was up to us, although there are limited trains that run south of DC and stop in Manassas.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/cas-amenities-feb-2023.pdf

Old news. It was reported a while ago.

They definitely had a beer and wine package. We started cruising in 2005 and with Royal in 2009. Something else that a lot of people miss is the wine bottle package where you could buy bottles of wine. On a 7 night you could buy like 4 or 5 bottles for the dining room. Anyway, they will make more changes in the future. The cost has to hit a breaking point where it's too costly for cruisers and not profitable for Royal. As I've said before, the only reason Royal offers it is because they make money on it.

Park Cafe has late night snacks. Pizza and a few other things.

When we're in CC, we get off the ship early and grab shady seats by the pool. Once it starts getting crowded and we lose the shade, we go grab lunch and then go back to the ship. As I said previously we booked Hideaway for $43.99 for Jan, but are still debating. While we love good music, we aren't big partiers. Since we're on Wonder, we're just as happy to stay onboard so we'll decide before the cruise whether we really want to do it.

I remember the beer/wine and soda, but not the deluxe. I remember after we'd been cruising on Royal for a few years and we were on Allure or Oasis I think noting that with the new package, people were slamming drinks back like crazy when we were in the Solarium. I seemed to remember that the package was new. I just googled and there is a blog post from 2016 about the revamped packages. That's what I remember. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/09/06/royal-caribbean-revamps-its-unlimited-drink-package-offerings

Refund of what? Deposit? Was it a refundable deposit and/or did they put you in a group booking? After final payment, there are penalties but before that you forfeit money even before final payment.

Did they have a drink package 20 years ago? I don't remember seeing it until the last 10 years or so. We have never bought it because having done cruises before it was offered and buying what we wanted when we wanted we never spent anywhere near what a package costs, and that included coffee, water, soda as well as alcohol. And, now we get 5 drinks a day which is plenty. We even use one a day for specialty coffee.

I love good champagne. That's not what they give out. But, I'm sure it won't stop anyone from booking a cruise.