broadwaybaby123

Well, my house is divided: My niece and I are TEAM ROYAL but will not turn down a Celebrity cruise, as that's our second favorite line. My parents are TEAM CELEBRITY but will not turn down Royal since that's their second favorite line.

I'm in the same age range as you and will be on my 26th cruise soon. I've cruises all the major lines (see my signature for more information). Typically I travel with my parents and sometimes my niece (who's 10). If you don't like kids, consider Virgin Voyages, they're adults only. I like Royal because of the experiences the offer. I LOVE doing the signature activities like "The Ultimate Abyss" (tallest dry slide at sea), "The North Star" (observation tower), and the bumper cars. I didn't care for Carnival last time. For me, it's a hit or miss. I sailed 3 times with them and hated it twice. I'm giving them another chance next year. I hated Norwegian. Too many lines and way too disorganized. I had to wait for dinner for 2 1/2 hours MINIMUM every night! I like Celebrity, they're very well organized and is geared towards those that want to relax. I like Princess, but they're often pricey. I hated Costa, but I LOVED their food. The two things I hated: 1.) The announcements: There were SEVEN LANGUAGES for the announcements, and despite English being the primary one spoken, guess which one was consistently last! 2.) Smoking: At the time I went, it was allowed EVERYWHERE! This non-smoker couldn't breathe anywhere outside her cabin.

Hope you left the ship in one piece for me...it's my turn this week!

That's not the only fun surprise we have in store for her. We booked the Carnival Venezia for next year.....and she's on it! She has no idea!

Ok folks, Sea World question: we're taking my niece next week to Sea World during our port stop in Port Canaveral. She's 10 and has no idea she's going (we're not telling her until we get onboard Anthem). This will be my first time to Sea World too. What are some "Can't Miss" things to do? The Killer Whale and Dolphin shows are already on our "Must" list.

I'm taking my niece on my next cruise. If they don't have passports, they'll need copies of their driver's license and birth certificates in addition to a notarized form, which is signed in the presence of a notary by the parents. Notaries can usually be found in any hospitals, nursing homes, or banks.

I actually saw "Mamma Mia" on Broadway, you should see it if you get the chance. It's the ONLY show I've seen where the audience was literally singing and dancing in the aisles! As far as the music being live, yes, it's live. The band plays the music offstage. Although I haven't been on Allure, in almost every single production I've ever seen (both on ships and on land), the music was always done live.

I had that happen a few weeks ago. It's due to a glitch in the system. Copy your Crown And Anchor number, delete it from your profile, and then add it back in and you should see your points.

I'm actually heading on the Venezia next year and I'm also a veteran Royal cruiser. I'll let you know my thoughts next year.

And once you reach a certain point level, the reciprocity stops.

So this is coming from a Royal Caribbean cruiser trying Carnival after many years, I assume it's the same with Carnival. I know on Royal you can choose your arrival time in half hour increments starting around 9AM. However, that doesn't mean that you'll be on the ship at that time. That's just the time that you arrive at the terminal. Depending on how things are going with the Zero Count (how fast the cruisers from the previous week get off the ship so that the crew can start to clean) and how things are going with the Customs department, you could be waiting a while to get onboard. I was cruising April of last year and due to staffing shortages at the terminal, I didn't get onboard until 1PM, despite having an arrival time of 10:30AM. I cruised out of the same port in October, had the arrival time scheduled for 10:30AM again and was on the ship by 11.

Not necessarily. Although they honor reciprocal status, you accumulate points separately on each line up to a certain point (I think it's Diamond on Royal and either Elite or Elite Plus on Celebrity).

Nope, I've had mine since 1999 (my first Royal cruise!). Just call and ask, if you have it, send them proof of those missing cruises and they'll add them for you. I had to do this for Celebrity, when my very first cruise was back in 1993.

Ok I was wondering about Guy's Burgers since I haven't had one in over 5 years (the last time was on my last Carnival cruise). Is there a lot of grease on the burgers?

I'm actually close to both levels on both lines (I'm due to level up to Diamond in Crown And Anchor either this cruise or my next and I'm already Elite in Captain's Club). Ask me again in October when I go on the Summit.

Ok then, the same logic applies to the KFC.

You certainly CAN dine off the ship, but it'll probably cost you more. A McDonald's Happy Meal can easily cost $20 or more in Bermuda. Basically the ship becomes a floating hotel once docked. You can come and go as you please.

Not entirely true. I just got off Oasis, we had communication issues with our Cabin Steward who spoke English but didn't necessarily understand it. It wasn't until we went to Guest Services that our needs were met.

They may have vendors that can supply them, so yes, it's likely that they can get missing parts while in port.

I almost forgot to add: while it's great that you told your cabin steward, they might not know English well enough to know what you're talking about. Even if they do, they will most likely not be in a position to help, since sometimes Maintenance issues require certain training and certifications. That's why your first step should always be to Guest Services or the Ambassador desk for issues like this.

Call the front desk and tell them what Maintenance told you and what happened. Ask if there's an available room to switch to. If you're a C&A member, call the Ambassador desk, they can also intervene. Maintenance may not have the part onboard, so yes, you may have to wait a day or two, but not the entire trip, especially if you keep going to Guest Services or the Ambassador desk. There's not much they can do if they don't have the part, so you may have to wait until the next port day.

Do you have a link? I never got one.

Do they still have Power Up Points? I haven't gotten any since August.

COVID is still here, I know quite a few people who recently recovered from it. The thing is, you're just as likely to get it on a ship as you are anywhere else. Plus, the strains that are out now are much milder than the original strain, even if they're much more easily transmissible. I still wear my mask by choice. I'm an Activity Director for a 55+ Retirement Community and I want to be sure I don't pass COVID on to my residents. I'm in contact with hundreds of people daily, so it seems like such a small sacrifice to make to help minimize the spread.

Ok so I'm going to put on my Activity Director hat here and tell you to take those comments that state you need to "entertain yourself" with a grain of salt. A lot of time and effort goes into planning these schedules, sometimes it takes months. As Activity Directors, we try to meet a broad range of interests. That's why we offer variety. Not everyone likes to do everything, and that's ok, we don't expect you to do everything Sometimes people don't know where to look in the app, so I'm glad that someone showed you where to find that information. Now it is up to you to use those instructions to find out what's going on throughout the ship.