wdwkings

While the topic of missing the ship is valid and even possible in Nassau, with this itinerary it really would be hard to miss the ship. There are only 3 opportunities. If you miss initial boarding it is sad but not a logistical problem, just go home. Royal will not leave you behind on Cococay, even though many of us wouldn’t mind that situation. That leaves Nassau and in reality you can get from one side of the island to the other in 30 minutes so you really have to not be paying attention or have extenuating circumstances to miss the ship. So the OP should not really have too much to worry about. Also the ship has a short trip from Nassau to Coco, so if the ship would have to delay departure it isn’t as pressed for time to get to the next port. In general discussion about missing the ship are valid. Realistically, with this itineraries, the risks are low. It would really take poor planning or just disregard for your timetable to miss the ship. Port times do change so the only reliable source for actual Archer time would be the listed time as you depart the ship the day of.

We just stayed at Atlantis so just sharing a few items. Every day we were at the resort, there were 4-5 cruise ships in port. While the crowds did build in the morning and decrease each afternoon, it never seemed horrible. There was a pretty large conference happening so that might have helped (decrease some of the hotel guests at the common areas/pools since they were in session during the day). During the day security was pretty diligent about checking for access (wristband or key card). Some people and some days they seemed to be stricter. The accessible area without the day pass really seemed pretty limited but I am not exactly sure of the limites since we were staying onsite. Food on property was a bit pricey so plan accordingly. With the day pass the water park area really seemed to be the “win”. While some of the lines did get a little long, most were pretty manageable. The beach areas were nice if that is what you are looking for with the middle, more protected beach probably the best. The eastern most beach was too choppy most days.

Just wondering what you mean by boarding early. Suites and top tier status will get the first boarding options. All staterooms will be made available to guests at the same time, after a ship wide announcement. Usually that is in the early afternoon as mentioned with a few exceptions. Our last Quantum class cruise was on Quantum last year and rooms were ready at 2pm. - Star Class rooms usually are arranged to be ready when the party arrives to the port. - Sky Class rooms on Deck 17 with the Oasis Class ships sometimes are available for guest earlier than the other decks. If that happens an announcement will be made in the Suite Lounge/CK area.

Use MIA more for work but have used it for a few non work trips. TSA can vary. TSA pre check will help and Clear is an option if you are a member. Our shortest TSA was with pre check last year after a cruise, 5 min or less at terminal H for Delta. It is predominantly American at the North Terminal. So remember which carrier can impact waits at the terminal.

Lots of opinions and even though many people think they are right, only an individual can determine what is correct for them. I’ll add that we sometimes take passports and sometimes not, many different reasons factor into the decision. First note you can never plan for everything. Long story but we once had our tour bus stuck in the parking lot at a site due to an helicopter evacuation of a medical emergency. Never a problem with us or our tour and no risk based on our port times but if port times were different it could have easily been a delay that put us at risk. Second note, and much more fun, we like to get passport stamps. Some of the ports do this for you, so if you want to get one you have to bring your passport with you. Nassau, Williamstad and Qranjestad all have an office right at or very near the port or port area where you can pop in and get a passport stamp.

Chiming in to share two items. First, we are inside 100 days for our next cruise, in a suite, but there are still uncertain schedule details. Because of that situation just sharing, rooms become open on sailings, even near sailing, for lots of reasons. Second, you never know when it might happen. Years before RoyalUp while on another line lucked into an upgrade. Nothing was available even when we checked in at the port. While at an event of the first morning with some of the senior staff happened to chat with one of the hotel staff. Found out one of the suites was booked but the guest did not arrive, he was able to work with us so we got the upgrade by lunch. So in the famous words of Lloyd Christmas “so your telling me there is a chance”

Can’t share any specific on booking for the junior suite but can say it is likely you should be able to get reservations if you have some flexibility. We did Quantum from Honolulu to Vancouver last years and if the trend holds the dinners were not terribly busy. We had an Owners Suite and only a few nights seemed moderately busy. Most nights there seemed to be openings. YMMV but just have a little flexibility with times and you should be good.

Been to Houston plenty of times For work and have seen the transfer desk at both airports. Personally I would not use them and do what we did this spring for our only time sailing from Galveston. We flew into Hobby and did an Uber to the port. We did stay near the airport and used the hotel van. If you fly into the day before as you stated, you could be halfway to the port in the time it takes to head back to Hobby to catch the RCL shuttle. At Bush, so only use that airport if you have to, the drive is further to the port but you would have to backtrack to the airport to catch the shuttle. The shuttle could be ok but the time and cost would have to align to make sense.

The early dinner time is not the only affected, they have time to go after dinner, as was pointed out. The late dinner has time before but not after. So both times are impacted. If I use your (flawed) logic Jamon, the “late dinner is the only one impacted” because they can’t go get a snack/dessert after dinner. It is just your perspective.

We have about a 50% RoyalUp success rate, with 3 "wins". All of those notifications were 25 - 40 days out from the cruise.

@amygutman don’t put much faith into the star class questionnaire. It might have been used at one time but it seems that is not an item the genies really are paying much attention to these days. If you are within 30 days expect to get an email directly from the genie in the next week or so. That is where you will want to communicate your requests. They are good about coordinating with you once they start with the emails. Expect that you will be using WhatsApp while on the ship, so if you do not have an account for everyone in the party you might want to add that to your phones. The genie will setup a group chat in WhatsApp for the party a day or so ahead of the cruise. They will still meet you each day but that seems to be the more common communication method on all of our post COVID star class cruises. Have fun and enjoy the cruise. If you are familiar with Royal, star class can be a nice experience. Don’t worry about the post stating the suites on Royal is not up to par. We have sailed on other lines in suites also and there are positive and negative to everyone. While we did enjoy the areas of the MSC yacht club, especially the sun deck/pool area, service levels on other lines including MSC, really aren’t that different from star class. NOT saying that Royal couldn’t do better, just that the difference between them is not large.

Thanks, For the record our last cruise was for his 16th b day. I did recalculate points and he and i will both hit D+ on our next cruise (if we keep it as planned) since we will be in a suite (gotta love the double points). So that only leave my wife, but I'm guessing it is easier for the spouse to share status, rather than the child to share status to the parents.

Wondering if our son’s status can be shared with my wife. Because of work schedules my son has one more than me and two more cruises than my wife. We are all Diamond on our own since most of the trips have been together. With our next cruise I will be like a point away from diamond +. He should make it with the extra cruise. I’ll need one more and she will need at least two.

Adding a note about VPN, not all are quite the same. I have never had an issue with working remotely from the ship, including with the VPN. A friend had issues with his and even checked with the Royal IT person on the ship, was told that I would not work. sorry, I don’t know the specifics or what troubleshooting was done for him.

The original poster was doing Harmony out of Galveston. Is that your port also? The reason I ask is every port is a little different, but the trend for Royal lately is that boarding is relatively quick. We arrived a little earlier than planned at Galveston and even though we were star class and had “priority boarding” they were already on boarding group 3 by the time we were walking on the ship