brillohead

I'm so glad the mobility accommodations you opted for made such a great difference for you! I often cruise with friends who are wheelchair-bound due, and they've always been treated well with Royal.

I gave up on trying to keep up with this thread while I was on my five cruises (especially since three of those five weeks were on Explorer with its awful internet).... did I miss anything important from April 23rd until now, or just more of the same good chit-chat and photos as ever?

I really think that Royal needs to put signage up on every single elevator door that reads, "please stand to the side and allow others to exit the elevator car before you enter". Not sure why grown adults need this pointed out to them, but it's been occurring regularly for years and years. They need another over the elevator call buttons that say, "if the elevator car is full, please wait until the doors have closed before pressing the call button again". I had one cruise where the doofus kept pushing the button over and over again, and I finally stuck my head out into the lobby and said, "our car will NEVER LEAVE so another one can come for you if you don't let the doors close before you push the button". And as someone else who was on this same cruise, I wish they'd put personnel at the top of the stairs during Mamma Mia to stop latecomers. I had people walking in front of me and the row in front of me AN HOUR AFTER THE SHOW STARTED to get to a seat. I'm not talking about people who were there from the beginning of the show and had to make a quick bathroom trip, or just a couple of people on time, I'm talking about more than half a dozen different groups of people who didn't show up until ten minutes to an hour into the production! How rude!!! It's not Royal's fault that people are rude idiots, but some signage and some stair-blockers would make the experience better for the rest of the passengers.

Not many longer cruises offered by larger ships. Not everyone wants to cruise for a long period of time on a tiny ship without the amenities of a bigger ship. (Personally, Voyager class is as small as I like to go.) And when there isn't a longer cruise to choose from, consecutive cruises (back to back or side to side, or a combination of both) are the way to go. As someone who has to fly to the port, each consecutive cruise I add on effectively reduces my per-cruise cost. A $1000 cruise with a $500 flight costs me $1500/cruise, but two $1000 cruises in a row with that same $500 flight costs me $1250/cruise.

For many people, the reason we CAN cruise is because we are frugal.

For future reference, the highest they will match is Diamond on RCL and Elite on Celebrity. Even Pinnacle on RCL only gets you to Elite on Celebrity, and vice versa with Celebrity's upper levels only matching to Diamond on RCL.

Nope, never had any variant, unless I had the original back in January 2020 before we knew that this was going to be made into a big deal. (Early January I had what I assumed at the time was influenza -- fever, fatigue, cough -- unsure which it was, don't really care, as the treatment for both was the same: rest and fluids.) I've only been regular-vaccinated, no boosters at all. Meh, for the vast majority of the population, it's only ever been the equivalent of a regular cold. I understand the need for extra protective measures for those at risk (elderly, immunocompromised, comorbidities), but the general population hasn't had nearly as much to fear as the media and government have wanted us to believe. JMHO

Everyone is allowed to vacation how they want. Not the way I want to spend my money, but it works for them.

What I did on my last move was go the night before and meet the room attendant for my future room (note, they may or may not be the room attendant for your sailing as well -- they often get assigned to new areas). I explained the situation, and that morning I brought my luggage to the new room myself at 8:00, and the room attendant let me put it in the empty closet. Then when B2Bers were allowed back onto the ship, I was able to go right to my room and unpack instead of having to wait until later in the afternoon when it got moved for me. Note: if you're moving rooms and have door decorations, DO NOT put the decorations on your new door until the afternoon. The crews that strip the rooms will assume that the door decorations were left behind by the previous passengers, not newly-placed by the new passengers, and they will be discarded.

Listening to what? I did FIVE CRUISES IN A ROW, never wore a mask, shared dining tables with strangers most weeks, did shared excursions / taxi rides in most ports, and didn't get COVID.

I've recently started doing consecutive B2B/S2S cruises, and so I know where you're coming from. I highly recommend, if you don't have them already, that you get a pack of 22-pound magnetic hooks like these. They make them in heavier sizes, but I find that the 22-pound version is plenty strong for holding a wet garment on a hanger, while adding as little weight as possible to your luggage. In addition to checking to see if your Barcelona hotel offers laundry services, don't forget to see if they have coin (or credit card, in this day and age) operated self-laundry machines somewhere on the premises. That will be the cheapest AND easiest way for you to do your own laundry without having to lug it to/from a laundromat. If they do have on-site laundry facilities, you could even do one small load from your traveling day and two days there the night before you board Vision. On Vision, you'll get the wash-n-fold offer. Sometimes it's a plastic bag, sometimes it's a paper bag -- I've come across both in the past six months, although the paper bag was more common. It will be $25 with your Diamond discount, and you'll get one bag per Diamond member. I do not put graphic t-shirts in with the wash-n-fold, in order to preserve the screen printing on them, but undies, socks, pajamas, knit slacks, and plain t-shirts would be fine. For my swimgear and graphic t-shirts, I wash those out in the bathroom sink (if the sink fills slowly, use the shower hose to fill it up -- can also use the shower's stronger stream to agitate the sink water). Some people bring Woolite or other laundry detergent, but that's just more weight to pack into the luggage as far as I'm concerned. I just use a handful of the Mystery Goo that is in the shower dispenser. I also pre-treat any stains with straight Mystery Goo worked into the stain and surrounding fabric. Depending on how deep the sink is, I wash items individually or a few at a time. If the sink is so shallow that I'm concerned about getting an adequate rinse afterward, I will hang the article in the shower and hose it down on both sides. When everything is washed and rinsed, I let it all drip in the shower until it doesn't drip anymore. Then I lay my post-shower towel on the floor of the stateroom and place each item flat on the towel. If I've washed multiple items and can't fit them all on one towel, I lay a second towel on top of the first layer of clothing and make another layer, like a laundry lasagna. When it's all laid out, I roll it up from one end, then move it behind the vanity chair (so I can hold onto the back and not fall and break a hip) and walk on it sideways, like a skateboard. This drives the moisture into the towel layers, like wringing it out, only without stretching and wrinkling the clothing's fabric. Unroll the lasagna tube, hang each item on a hanger, and suspend each hanger from the ceiling with a magnetic hook. I do this before leaving for dinner each evening, and everything is dry the next morning. Works like a charm!

Exactly. It works for some people, it doesn't work for others. JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER ASPECT OF CRUISING! Some people will only cruise in a balcony room or a suite, others are totally fine with an inside. Some don't care about the room at all, as long as they get to cruise. Some people will only cruise on a small ship, others will only cruise on a big ship. Some don't care about the ship at all, as long as they get to cruise. Some people will only cruise in a warm climate, others will only cruise in a cooler climate. Some don't care about the weather at all, as long as they get to cruise. Some people will only eat in the MDR, others will only eat in specialty restaurants, still others will only eat in the buffet. Some don't care about the food at all, as long as they get to cruise. Some people unplug from the outside world on a cruise, others are connected via Voom at all times, still others only check in with occasional free wifi on a port day here and there. Even before I got my free D/D+ drinks, I never got the booze package, and I only rarely got the refreshment package (if there was a super cheap Black Friday deal) -- normally, I was fine with just the soda package. Now that I get my five free D+ drinks, I wouldn't even consider getting even the refreshment package no matter how cheap it was (well, maybe if it was cheaper than the soda package). But I have friends who are Pinnacle who still get the booze package, because even with their six free CAS drinks, they still drink enough on vacation that the package makes good financial sense to them. There is no one answer/situation that works for everyone. The beauty of cruising is that you can choose the experience that works for you, and the people next door can choose the experience that works for them. I don't understand why so many people seem to feel the need to get judgmental over which experiences other people choose or don't choose. Someone wearing shorts in the MDR doesn't change the way my food tastes. Someone surfing through Facebook or Instagram or whatever doesn't change the temperature of the water in the pool or hot tub. Someone drinking DBP cocktails or someone drinking cocktails they paid for individually or someone drinking free CAS cocktails or someone drinking a free iced tea doesn't change the way the drink in my glass tastes.

That's not always an option for everyone, either because they can't (work obligations, parents/kids back home, etc.) or they simply don't want to. Your comment is as helpful as telling people to give their swimsuit a vacation for the week and stay out of the pool / off the beach or to give their liver a vacation for the week and not drink anything but water/tea/coffee. People are allowed to do what they want on their vacation, within the confines of the law and the cruise contract.

I just picked an October date at random:

If you don't need to be on the road early, I'd just have a leisurely breakfast and then find a deck chair or some quiet place to read/relax and wait for the final call. Unless you actually enjoy standing in line and looking at a bunch of grumpy faces all morning! LOL

I've heard that Terminal G is scheduled for renovations next year, so they probably are just waiting until then to put in Facial Recognition. But they REALLY need to do it ASAP!

Honestly, it's "luck of the draw". For Terminal A, I walked right on at 11am. For Terminal G, I was there by 10am because I just came down the street from Terminal A, and I was on the ship by 10:45 (no line outside at all). The next week was the week they only had two CBP agents and B2B cruisers didn't get off and back on again until almost noon. It has nothing to do with checking documents, and everything to do with getting the first passengers off the ship so the second group of passengers can get on.

No, because you'd have to be in the same place at the same time, and that's only if your phone allows you to share a wifi connection -- most phones share internet via the phone's data plan.

Heck, they don't even care if you don't even KNOW the other people. I've often purchased a 4-device plan, then sold off the extra three devices to people in my roll call thread. We'd meet on the first day, and they'd pay me cash or PayPal for 1/4 of the total price, and I'd give them the log-on information. Worked great, and everyone got a much cheaper price!

Why aren't there threads about how unreasonable the costs are for a day pass to an all-inclusive resort on a port day? Those are often in the $100 range, and that's usually only for 7-8 hours, not the entire day and night. If the DBP is too expensive for your consumption level, then DON'T GET IT. It's not rocket science, folks. Sheesh.

Have you looked at the available options for breakfast and lunch in the MDR?

One person gets a three-device plan, and you all use it.

I did a B3B on Explorer, and two of the three I was on had HUGE delays in getting people off the ship mainly b/c of problems with Customs and Border Patrol. The morning that was the worst, they didn't even clear the ship to start debarking passengers until just before 8am, and then the lines just CRAWLED along. When they finally let off the consecutive cruisers, we found out why the lines were so slow -- Terminal G doesn't have the facial recognition, and CBP had a grand total of TWO agents working that morning. Yes, that's two whole agents for almost 3,000 passengers.... no wonder it was so slow! The consecutive cruisers didn't get through customs and back onto the ship until just before noon that day, when they were supposed to be already boarding the first two batches of oncoming passengers. That meant that the check-in area was full, the lines weren't moving, and the lines went out the door and down the sidewalk -- it was all kinds of messed up. I really don't understand why they can't hook up a few tablets for the Facial Recognition System in Terminal G.... they have it down the block in Terminal A, and they have it retrofitted into the old Terminal 18 in Port Everglades, so why can't they do it in Terminal G?

I think the main reason I've seen for people doing no-shows is because they are three people in a room, and removing the third person would cause them to get relocated to a double-occupancy room that isn't in their desired location. I think certain hump and aft rooms on certain ships are only available for triple/quad occupancy. In that case, because that specific room is what is desired, rather than cost savings, they continue to pay for the third person as a no-show in order to remain eligible for that particular room. I've also heard of people booking a fake third person into the room at the time of the original booking, just to be able to have their desired room location with only two people in the room.

Pool is allowed on Coco Cay, just not on the ship outside of the little kiddie splash area (separate from the regular kid zone). Feel free to bring a small inflatable pool and put some water in it with a bucket!