JeffT237

Can anyone please share any personal experiences with self disembarkation in Seward? Efficient and easy to get off? We have a 6:00am arrival time in September on the Celebrity Summit, 1st time Celebrity cruisers and 1st time Seward for us, just trying to plan our transfer to Anchorage. Thanks!

We've sailed on 3 classes and I rank them in this order: Oasis class, Freedom class and Voyager class. For us Oasis is our favorite due to having a Central Park, great entertainment and multiple speciality restaurants. The other 2 classes we've sailed on were enjoyable as well, but Oasis wins for us.

Not trying to argue with you, but Royal clearly states their position on this and many other of their guest conduct policies and what those consequences are. Some of those consequences are denied boarding, a lifetime ban and arrest (probably in handcuffs) and prosecution according to the local jurisdiction. There are many stories of passengers who have been arrested in foreign ports for many different reasons, to me it wouldn't be worth the risk. Personally I agree, confiscating it would be reasonable however that's not up to you and I. I wouldn't want to leave that decision up to someone else.

Yeah I don't think a business enforcing its own posted rules is Draconian.

Royal Caribbean allows on embarkation day for passengers to bring 12 sealed plastic water bottles, and they have a water package that can be ordered pre-cruise as well.

I just relayed your question to my wife (she's not on CC), she said she has used the Frio bag for about 6 years now and no longer takes ice packs when she travels. She is on an Omnipod for her insulin delivery and carries her extra vials in the Frio bag. She has taken them on all of our excursions, our last cruise was March 2023 to the Western Caribbean ports and it kept her insulin at the proper temp. She's used it several days tent camping when it was over 100 degrees one day. She also used it on all of our day trips in Hawaii this past August without issues. She just needed to reactivate the cooling feature with water as needed. As one of the previous posters stated discuss with your medical team, and maybe contact Frio with what you use and what your concerns are. I believe the original question was about the in cabin fridge and if it could freeze ice packs to cool their insulin while traveling or out and about. I don't want to give out bad info on an important topic like this. I'll end with the Frio bags work well for my wife while traveling and on excursions.

I thought there was no definitive date when the new reservation system goes live, I heard it was some time after the inaugural Icon sailing likely in the first half of 2024. Has a definitive date been released? Also does anyone know if this is only for the UDP or does it include the 3 night dining package? We sail on the Harmony in March, hoping this is available for our sailing!

Our last Royal Caribbean cruise was last March on the Wonder and did not see the card offered. Pre pandemic we saw it all the time, usually it was offered mid cruise, we never saw it on the first day. Not sure if it was phased out.

Also thinking back on it now, we did receive a small medication refrigerator that special needs had delivered to our cabin several years ago for her insulin vials. She likes the Frio bag now especially when our travel includes flying, less to pack with the ice packs and going through TSA with diabetic supplies can sometimes cause delays for us. The bags also work well on excursions.

My wife is type 1 and we travel and cruise frequently. The cabin refrigertor will not get cold enough to freeze her ice packs. In the past we've given the ice packs to the room steward and they would keep them in a freezer for us. She now uses a product with great results called the Frio bag, it is specifically made for insulin and travel as the bags only use water to activate the cooling feature. You can purchase them on Amazon but here's a link to their page with all of the info. She has used them for cruising, camping and while exploring on our land based vacations. She's been very happy with the performance of the bags. https://www.frioinsulincoolingcase.com

I don't think it is a matter of being ungrateful, more a matter of reasonable expectations. We primarily cruise the newer ships when selecting a cruise, we've found the older ships not to be what we like anymore. When we did we could look past the public areas that needed some attention, but I would not appreciate a dirty cabin, linens or broken items. Of course a visit to GS or bringing it to the attention of a crew member to address it is reasonable and will more than likely it will get resolved. I don't think that is being ungrateful. The OP was quick to point out the professionalism of the crew, had a bad experience, shared it and tried to address it with Royal to get it resolved.

You may be correct, I've never been to that beach but I remember seeing this video. It's a couple of years old so maybe it's changed but at the 1:52 mark it shows a sign posted "Crew Area". Maybe this is a different beach, but the location seems to be the same.

I thought Cove Beach was the beach for the crew, is it public as well?

We were on CoCo Cay for the first time last March and enjoyed the Beach Club. It was definately quieter than the other areas we saw, but there is an up-charge for it. It was not full and there were very few kids there, and no loud music playing. We really enjoyed the Beach Club for what we paid. I've seen recently the pricing has really gone up from what we paid so at current pricing it may be higher than what a lot of passengers are willing to pay. Also we were on the Wonder and one of the Odyssey class ships was there as well, so the island was busy. I'm pretty sure the Red Bull plane was a planned event and not a regular occurrence. With the number of people on the island staying onboard may be a better choice if you're looking for a quiet day, but ship days can be loud too. Enjoy!

I will agree with a previous poster, a shorter complaint letter can be more effective. I will also add that we had a similar experience on another cruise line and after several back and forth with the companies customer service I turned to the Better Business Bureau to finally get the issue resolved. Royal like many companies are not an accredited BBB business (the other cruise line was not either) but they do respond to the complaint process. Visit the BBB web site and you can read past complaints and even the businesses response. Hope you get the resolution you are looking for.

Another vote for Columbus Cove, nice beach.

I'd say it is the $100,000 chalice, but it does come with the drink package for life!

I forgot to add, since you said you have not been with Royal for a while as a reminder they have dynamic pricing. So the prices I booked at are the lowest I found them, they were higher at times. You just have to keep checking, and if you find a price drop after you book you can always cancel and rebook at the lower price. The current 3 night package on our upcoming Harmony cruise is $131.99.

Last March I paid $105.99pp on The Wonder, this March for our upcoming Harmony cruise we are paying $112.99pp. Keep in mind there is an 18% gratuity added on a time of purchase.

Great comments, 100% agree. I read a lot of these type of posts and like many, wonder why people who no longer like the product Royal offers continue to cruise with Royal. Especially long time cruisers, they seem genuinely so unhappy with everything Royal offers anymore. Is it simply the free drink vouchers and the earned status of being a high tier passenger? I would think a higher end cruise line with smaller ships that cater to an elevated experience would be the answer. We still enjoy cruising, we cruise on other lines as well and the complaints are similar on those message boards too. We certainly never have had a meal that has been "inedible", we've cruised enough to know what to expect as we do both speciality and included. All indications and reporting are that cruise bookings are in demand across all lines, millions of people have been enjoying cruising so it can't be as dire as some on the message boards make it out to be.

3 cruises in the last 18 months, Port Canaveral somewhat enforced, Port of Los Angels strictly enforced, and Seattle not enforced at all. What port are you sailing from? But even with my past experiences, I bet it is different from week to week.

Maybe this was the video the OP viewed

You probably won't find the answer you are looking for on this board, YouTube or any social media platform. I'm just as guilty of reading and watching many people's views on food and all things cruising, however in the 3 cruises we have done (not all on RCI) post pandemic we have found most of the complaints about the onboard experiences to be overly exaggerated. After too much time on CC I have questioned should I even cruise anymore, but once onboard most of those concerns quickly went away. If you do chose to cruise on Royal I'm willing to bet you will find the food to be good, whether that be the included food or if you choose to do speciality dining. If you're that concerned stick with Celebrity since you already know you like it. Best of luck with whatever you decide, it's still cruising!

In your opinion what exactly are the cruise lines trying to do here? Purposely lower the quality and quantity of the included food options to force passengers to spend more on speciality dining?

We had been moving towards more speciality dining well before the pandemic. We just enjoy the food and atmosphere more than the MDR food and experience. We typically purchase the 3 night dining package and almost always get a speciality dining voucher for another dinner from our TA. The remaining nights we decide when we get onboard with either the MDR or Solarium Bistro. In all our cruises we've yet to do a dinner in the WJ.