jbrinkm

The books should be fine - I'm able to read ebooks, no problem, on my Kindle without internet. The games might be a different story, and that is dependent by game. Some games require internet and many don't. She can try ahead of time with her favorites by putting her device on airplane mode or turning off wifi prior to the cruise and testing the games at home.

This is how I read it also - the original post used some creative spacing:

Doing our first Discover Scuba on upcoming April cruise and I'm wondering if it might lead to a desire to get certified once back home. Can you tell me what you love about diving? How much does it differ from snorkeling?

I've had good luck with the Seabands, and they come in child size. My oldest got motion sickness badly when very young (we think even as a young baby - HATED the car seat when most babies just go to sleep) and our pediatrician said to try something salty, like saltines or goldfish once we reached toddler age. I also think traveling on an empty stomach can actually make the problem worse from my own experience (as well as chewing gum...). Fresh air when possible. And if none of that helps, I agree with the medication options above. Our ped also said Benadryl but not too often.

Is it just you using the two devices at the same time, or do you have a travel partner that you are sharing with?

I think you would need to throw the red challenge flag! (have you seen those commercials?)

Yes, they add the 18% gratuity on to the package when you purchase it.

I saw on another thread that when you take a cruise, a policy that covers evacuation back to your home hospital is important. It seems to me like this policy DOES cover that, but can someone better versed in this language confirm? EMERGENCY EVACUATION The Company will pay benefits for Covered Evacuation Expenses incurred, up to the Maximum Benefit shown on the Schedule of Benefits, subject to any applicable sub-limits, if an Accidental Injury or Sickness commencing during the course of the Trip results in Your necessary Emergency Evacuation. An Emergency Evacuation must be ordered by a Physician who certifies that the severity of Your Accidental Injury or Sickness warrants Your Emergency Evacuation and verified and arranged by the Travel Assistance Company. Emergency Evacuation means: (a) Your medical condition warrants immediate Transportation from the Hospital where You are first taken when injured or sick to the nearest Hospital where appropriate medical treatment can be obtained; (b) after being treated at a local Hospital, Your medical condition warrants Transportation to Your Home where You reside, to obtain further medical treatment or to recover; or (c) both (a) and (b), above.

That sounds lovely! Do you plan to spend the 3 days in Athens? If you think you have time, I would recommend trying to get on a trip (or even do an overnight) up to the monasteries at Meteora. They are beautiful (men need long pants and women need skirts from what I remember) and the people & restaurants up in that area feel more authentically Greek.

P.S. be careful about full face masks... some allow CO2 to build up potentially causing a health issue. There are some brands that perform better than others in safety tests.

I was going to say this as well. I would not pay for an extra suitcase to bring my own gear for a few hours here and there on a cruise. I've had fine experiences using the gear provided in different places. In fact, I've had better luck with the professional gear that some places use than I've had with my own. I'm just not experienced enough to know how to prep the glass right or something... I used the gear on a tour in Roatan and loved it so much more than what I had at home - I wrote to them afterwards to find out what brand they used so if I ever buy another set for myself, I could get that type.

They're very responsive on WhatsApp! I just did a short, last minute snorkeling in Costa Maya. We saw a ray, very near the shore, along with the fish. Very cool... (didn't end up using Gypsea because we didn't want to book ahead of time, but we did chat with them beforehand) Discover Scuba might be better there. The water didn't seem very rough, but when we were snorkeling, it was a little harder than it seemed it would be to snorkel. Water kept splashing up into the air tube.

Have you been to Europe before? Wondering if Europe tips are also useful, or just cruising, specifically, in Europe...

How did you do it? We couldn't do it on Allure last year but also didn't bring an HDMI cable, we were just trying to cast to the Smart TVs with our phone (we can do this at home). I've seen people posting about how hard it is to reach the ports (TV/HDMI, not cruise stops...) on many ships because of the way the TV is with the wall. Did you bring a universal remote?

Yep, sorry. I skimmed too fast. I had never noticed the water in my planner before so LOL assumed everyone was as surprised about the water as I was. I don't know anything about ordering soda to cabin, haven't seen that anywhere (just the BIY onboard situation).

In your planner:

We just thought everything about the trip was good. Including the snorkeling gear! I wrote to them afterwards and asked what brand it was, I enjoyed it so much. For our upcoming April day that we booked with them, we'll do Zipline, Sloths again, 3 reef snorkel and chocolate factory. I can let you know when we return how all of those went. The only thing that I felt any hesitation about was leaving the port and where we had to meet them, but that is true for any non-cruise trip in Roatan. Nothing happened, it was just really crowded and busy and it is a very poor country, so there weren't great facilities where to meet them. They also get really good reviews everywhere I've searched for the company, including Viator where we booked last year.

Like the Haribo Sugar Free Gummi Bear reviews?

I can understand that approach and applaud it - however, sometimes it is really not convenient to do it right away (trying to make a show or get out of the room for a port excursion, etc...). And some people may feel like they are not trying to take that kind of a vacation (DIY), but would prefer to be a bit more pampered for the increased price of a cruise vacation vs camping. If you get room service at a nice hotel, you don't take your own dishes back to the kitchen; someone comes and gets them. I'd like to see one of those multi-slot tray carts on every half floor, like at IKEA, if you've ever eaten there or another cafeteria-style location. Although, I guess that wouldn't help for food brought up without a tray...

Out of curiosity, where else do you use the travel router other than a cruise ship?

Johnny Rockets milkshakes are supposed to be a YES (see pics) Juices are included so that would include Vitality Spa beverages, without any of the additions (you have to pay extra for those): https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/menus/vitality-cafe-menu-sample.pdf (scroll down to bottom - "included") If there is a Freestyle machine, people have reported that they include some type of energy drink, possibly Powerade

Roatan Getaway Tours, right? I'm assuming that was just an autocorrect or typo? We used them (booked through Viator) and absolutely loved them. So much so that we are doing a cruise with the same ports this year and booked them direct for an entire day of activities. They are very responsive to questions. The sanctuary was AJs and the snorkeling took place right near there at the Southeast part of the island. I don't know Roatan well enough to tell you where. The snorkeling was very easy for beginners: very warm, clear, shallow water. We saw mostly spiny lobsters and conch, not as many colorful fish. It was wonderful to just float along in that water, though - SO relaxing, even if we didn't see as many interesting things. We're doing the 3 reef snorkel as part of our upcoming excursion so I'm hopeful we'll have a chance to see more this time (we did great snorkeling in Cozumel last year, so it didn't matter so much then). I've been recommending them all over the boards. Great experience. Feel free to ask more questions!

We didn't use our TVs so I can't answer that part of the question. I DO know that it is very, very difficult to stream or use an attached device. I will try to point you to some info by someone who was able to figure out something, but I can't link directly. There's a cruise line specific blog site Royal Caribbean blog that has message boards. If you look for user Ron Donze, he posted a thread titled Firestick, signing onto Voom on December 7, 2022. He used an HDMI cable. Hopefully you'll be able to just use what is on the TV and not have to worry about it!

Add me to this club as well! We enjoy early dinner and then some entertainment, but then did not care for having only pizza as an option if we wanted a snack in the later part of the evening. Just too heavy and greasy if we were going to bed soon. And the promenade was always really crowded in those later evening hours because other things weren't open to disperse the masses. I also didn't realize that the WJ was closed in the later afternoons. I remember we took my MIL with us on a cruise years ago when the kids were younger. She found a small group of Greek ladies (she's Greek) and would hang out with them all afternoon in the WJ, talking, having coffee or tea and little pastries, enjoying the view out the large windows (she had some mobility challenges from arthritis so it was hard for her to move around the ship to different locations and she couldn't do shore excursions with us). It is a nice space to sit and hang out. That makes me a little sad, that people can no longer use it as a public common space at less busy times for eating.

Me too - mine is MIA and emails are now bouncing. I thought it was just a glitch at first but then saw a few more reports on the boards and so switched to a different reputable TA from a know company.