rockmom

7 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Sadly not all her sisters... Navigator is down on deck five by the star lounge.

at least there's a porthole, if I remember correctly, lol. 

1 minute ago, RB9643 said:

 

Wonderful, thank you. Now I can quit checking the website every 4-6 hours.  🙃

 

 

Hahahaha! I do the same!  Once you get onboard, check to see if there are any other things you can reserve once on the ship's Wifi.  And have a great cruise! 

2 minutes ago, RB9643 said:

 

I understand "need to".  My question is "can I"?  Are the other shows going to be able to be booked in advance, or am I done?

 

 

You're done.  

16 minutes ago, RB9643 said:

 

Able to book Spectra only for August 4 Ovation.  Is that going to be it for the Ovation?

 

 

on Quantum class ships, like Ovation, the main show in 270 is the only one where you need to book in advance.  Unlike Oasis class where you need to book the ice, Aqua, comedy and the broadway/production shows in advance or take your chance with standby lines.  

14 minutes ago, ShillyShally said:

I'm hoping I won't need to, but did have to resort to it at a recent hotel conference.  I'm never trying to be difficult but at home I can dry towels more easily and/or do laundry if needed, and on vacation I prefer to feel more on vacation so no extra thought and minimal effort lol!

 

It would be awesome if they opened a housekeeping station for an hour in the morning and evening on each deck - even if just to dump used towels in a bin and ask for new ones.  I know that would likely be seen as we have to do things ourselves but that would be easy enough to just go swap and not worry about requesting.  I know logistically that may not be feasible but I'm all about finding an efficient solution that doesn't add more burden on the crew.  Then again Royal isn't asking me for my help lol!

I can just see the outrage now...  

1 hour ago, slyster said:

I figured it is just as easy to do it myself too. I also just saw our menus and it seems the MDR is open every day for breakfast.  
 

I’ll be ordering room service.  I’m guessing you call as opposed to writing it in your room service card?  We have always left the card on our outside door knob.  

Coastal Kitchen will also be open for breakfast every day.  It's also open for lunch daily, doesn't matter if it's a port day or sea day.  

6 hours ago, luv2sailAgain said:

I got a deal (pretty sure it was Black Friday 2019) for $55 each.  The sailing date was in May of 2020 ☹️. Oh well!!

and I got a Black Friday deal on it in 2020 for my July 2021 sailing on Odyssey--it was $43.99.  Covid nixed that sailing too. 

2 hours ago, Happytime22 said:

If I cancel.... it won't sell out the second I cancel?  Stupid question I know but if I always assume something could go wrong

And sometimes you do lose it.  What I have been able to do in the past is ask someone from my roll call who hasn't purchased anything for that same day/time slot, to see if it shows for them as being 'sold out' or if it says something like 'only 1 left!'.  If that's the case, I just keep my current booking.  

1 hour ago, shirazcruiser said:

I don't think you can book the same excursion without cancelling the first one as it will show a time conflict and not allow you to complete the booking. 

Exactly. You can't buy the same excursion twice for the same person.  You need to cancel and hurry and repurchase.  If definitely throws up the message that you have a conflict at that time and won't let you add it to your cart. 

11 minutes ago, ladysail2 said:

They may or may not.  But if they do grumble, I would pull out the bottle and show them the zero alcohol content. I did it before when I had a half bottle size of something non-alcoholic.  Also, if it’s one person with one bottle, they shouldn’t be checking anyway because one is allowed to bring one bottle at least.

They do treat it like regular wine.  Can't be larger than 750 ml, and only one per person.  Non-alcoholic beer is not allowed.  So it would work just like bringing regular wine, soda and water onboard.  One bottle of NA wine per person, and then up to 12 bottles and/or cans of soda, water, just etc, not to exceed 17 ounces each, per stateroom (not per person).  FYI, the majority of NA wines and beers do still contain a trace amount of alcohol.   

Agree on balcony, plus with the blackout curtains, someone can be inside sleeping while someone is out on the balcony.  Remember, there's a LOT of daylight during summer in Alaska.  We spent a ton of time out on our balcony when we cruised Alaska.  

15 minutes ago, ajtaylor29 said:

are you sure about that? I thought that we had upgraded from a balcony to a suite before and got double points, maybe not....? 

From the Royal website under Royal Up FAQ's 

59 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

 

This isn't always true. Storms don't always crawl in with plenty of lead time. They can pop up out of sunny skies in minutes. That's likely what happened here and why they pushed off when they did. 

This is totally true. They are called microbursts and can give little to no warning.  Because they appear so suddenly, many times they don't even appear on radar.  And...they are most common in the southeast portion of the U.S. during the hot, humid summer months.  

1 minute ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

So, not just a pseudo division, but fully smoke free?

Just now, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

The casino on the Wonder is non-smoking?! How many other Royals ships (casinos) are?

 

Tom

There are two casinos.  One is smoking, one is non. On several of the older Oasis class they have already replaced Jazz on 4 with a non-smoking casino. Utopia is being built with it.  

12 minutes ago, ddame said:

Hi Barb, I've been browsing the Dining tab's Specialty restaurants but found no links before. Went back to check it again and the only link I find is to the Reservation page. Maybe I'm going blind ;] Can you tell me where is the sample menu link on the page?

2 minutes ago, ddame said:

We're booked on the 7/2 Symphony of the Seas sailing. When can we see actual or even sample menus of the specialty restaurants? I'd like to make an informed decision when booking our 3 Specialty Dining package. Thanks!

log into the cruise planner on the website, not the app.  Under dining they'll have all the specialty restaurants that you can purchase individually. Click on each one--there will be a link to a sample menu.  On the app, go to your sailing, click on dining, you should see all restaurants listed, click in each one, you should see a menu.  

5 hours ago, Joseph2018Baltic said:

I honestly believe that like all things, the email request have gotten out of hand, and so, they cut back on how they handle it.  

I totally agree.  I'm sure they are inundated with hundreds of requests.  I'm sure table assingments for thousand of people are tough enough and then they get flooded with requests from people wanting specific tables, areas, clusters of tables, one ginormous table and so on.  Throw in the size of ships now and it's probably not scalable anymore. There's always a long line at MDR on boarding day with more requests.  And everyone and their party wants a window.  

1 hour ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

"Several" posts?  How many?  10?  20?  50?  Compared to the hundreds of thousands that DIDN'T have an issue?

As I said in my original post, you don't 'need' it, until you do.  Just like travel insurance.  Or earthquake insurance on your homeowner's policy--and a lot of other stuff where there's a very good chance you'll never need it.  But regret not having it if you're one of the few people who end up in a situation where you need it.  For an adult, the cost for a passport is $130 for 10 years.  If you renew at 9 1/2 years, that still less than $1.50 per month.  Since kids under 16 only have 5 year passports, the cost goes to just under $2 per month.  That's dirt cheap for some peace of mind when traveling, even if you only use your passport a few times over the span of its validity.  Literally pennies per day.  

5 minutes ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

No one has ever been on a cruise with a birth certificate and been unable to fly home. Don’t be overly dramatic. Find me the former American who was left behind in Nassau and forced to live his days as a Bahamian…

 

The fear-mongering is crazy. If that were truly a risk, the U.S. State Department wouldn’t allow cruising with a birth certificate. 

not fear mongering.  It does happen.  You do eventually get to fly, but you have to jump through a lot of hoops--such as working through the embassy. You aren't stuck there forever. But the time that you're there is on your own dime and as I said, it adds to the stress when you really need/want to get home if there's an emergency.  

And yes, over the years there have been several posts about this happening.  

12 minutes ago, FirstAnthem said:

Thank you! That’s an idea I hadn’t thought of! Lots of different ways to do this day….fun stuff to think about and fun decisions to make! 😊

It would probably be less expensive that booking a full cabana not in the water park and then having to add in water park passes.  And this way there's passes for you and your husband in case you want to go in and watch or maybe do a slide or the wave pool.  

14 minutes ago, FirstAnthem said:

Thank you for thank info! Are there other things on CocoCay that older teen boys might find fun? For instance, are there kayaks, paddle boards, snorkeling that are no charge? I will look this up, I just like to get perspective from people who have been there. Thank you! 

They have kayaks and snorkeling gear, but there's a charge.  And the kayaks you need to go in a group with a guide.  You know what might work, although it adds $$, would be to get the Water Park cabana and then for you and your husband, a beach bed at South Beach or Chill Island.  

ETA:  That way you'd be able to go into the water park, they'd have a place to 'hang' and you could retreat to your more sedate beach bed. The beach beds also have a couple of additional loungers, a couple of floating mats and a cooler with waters.  

7 minutes ago, topnole said:

If you need to fly back it will be very expensive regardless of documentation.  

yes, but at least if everyone has a passport, they can all get on a flight. 

Just now, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Because THEY. ARE. NOT. NEEDED.  Some people don't like spending money they don't need to.  

 

 

They are not needed--until they are, and you have to fly home, but you can't.  Because you or your child doesn't have a passport. Then you are dealing with the embassy and a whole lot of grief rather than getting home for whatever the emergency might be.  Very terrifying if you are ill or injured and would much prefer to be in the U.S. for care.  

On 6/21/2023 at 8:58 AM, Ravensfan1973 said:

I've seen from some on here that the Black Friday Sales are the best of the year.  Problem is our ship leaves on Black Friday November 24th of this year.  Would it be too late to reserve something the morning of? I'm specifically looking at the zipline in Labadee. We aren't getting the alcohol pkg. We all don't drink alot, just here and there and I have around $500 on board credit we'll use for drinks, etc.

For something like the zipline, you could shut yourself out of getting it if you wait.  When you go to book it, you choose the time.  Prime time slots fill up.  There will probably be another sale starting soon, I'd book it then to ensure that you get it, and that you get a time that you want.  We booked it mid-morning, so that the rest of the day we could enjoy the beach and lunch without have to head to the tram and head up the 'mountain' to do the zip.