SG65CB

When they drive us around the Caribbean island and I see the housing I get the idea they can use the $10 a lot more than I can.

A post about the Coco Cay Beach Club being sold out, followed by multiple posts bemoaning the outrageously high price. It's like a real-life lesson in economics! Who said vacations can't be educational and restorative at the same time?

Bottled water for sure. On port days they'll often have a cart set up near the Windjammer or the gangway so you can grab a water to take with you off the ship - or back to your room. You can also get a closed bottle of water at any bar. For the can of pop (or beer) you'd have to convince the bartender to serve it unopened. We often get Diamond drink beers unopened and put it in the refrigerator for later, unsure if they'll do it for drink package cans.

He won't be denied entry wearing shorts. Is he dressed properly? Are shorts appropriate for a white tablecloth restaurant? Of course not.

Three balconies for the adults, one interior across the hall for the four kids. Possibly lower price than two Junior Suites and a balcony cabin. Would have to price it out on your specific cruise.

Royal Caribbean has excursions for post-Voyager cruisers. We did the "Old San Juan On Your Own" excursion. $20 per person. When you get off the ship you put your suitcases into a truck and you get on a bus. The bus takes you to Old San Juan where you can wander and explore for a few hours. Then get back on the bus at a pre-arranged time and they take you to the airport where your bags are waiting for you. They have another similar excursion except the time in OSJ is a guided tour.

Two weeks ago at SJU Southwest would not let anyone check bags until 4 hours before their flight.

You can tell if your reservations are linked if you take a look at your Royal Caribbean booking confirmation document. In the guest information section it shows your dining time and below that it will say "Stateroom Dining With Booking ID:" and list the reservation number for the other cabin. If they are linked then MDR seating will be together. If you make and specialty dining reservations this will keep those reservations together at one table too.

If you prefer to arrange it in person instead of over the phone, the ship has a loyalty ambassador and office hours are posted in the Cruise Compass. You can visit the ambassador and they can upgrade your significant other to Diamond on the spot. This assumes a non-married significant other qualifies, I don't know the exact rule but they will need to at least reside at the same address as you.

I was on the Spencer Ambrose tour a couple of weeks ago. The website says lunch is at a restaurant buffet, but it was actually served at Sugar Beach. They handed out individually-packed lunches. It was delicious and plenty of food. Chicken, fish, rice, beans, noodles, salad, all prepared in the local style. It was nice to sit under a tree near the Pitons while eating lunch. They also had a cooler stocked with beer, water, soft drinks, and rum punch. it was available at Sugar Beach and during the boat trip back to the ship.

When a cruise ship is in town Rainbow Beach will have a lot of people. Perfectly safe, hundreds of fellow vacationers. It is a 1 mile taxi ride from the cruise pier. $5 each way. They use taxi vans, they'll fill a van with people and then go to the beach. The same for the return trip, you'll be in a shared taxi with a bunch of people. You just go out to the street and catch the next taxi. Rainbow beach has a bar/restaurant with public restrooms. There is a company that rents chairs and umbrellas.

Maybe that's the case for My Time Dining in MDR, but traditional dining they often put unrelated people or groups together at the same table, especially singles.

I was on Voyager a couple of weeks ago - sister ship to Navigator. Most nights they had an event listed as "18-20s Meet". Usually it was some type of game and took place in the Star Lounge, which is a multi-purpose room towards the front of the ship, on deck 5 above the theater. It was an evening event starting around 8:30 or 9:00. For example on the first night they had "18-20s Meet for Finish That Lyric, Star Lounge, 9:00 PM".

Puerto Rico, Pan American pier, handlers were taking our bags. As the handler took our bags he said if we'd like to tip for service, please give it to that guy and pointed to an older man standing at a counter. They must pool the tips. Our bags were in the luggage bins before we even tipped.

I won the raffle once. The cruise director called my cabin and recorded a video of him talking to me on the phone, and played it during his next daily morning show on TV. My friend answered the phone "pizza shop", the CD paused and then asked for me. During the call he accidentally hung up on me and called me back - twice.

Luggage tags typically have the lowest C&A level in the cabin. But the Crown and Anchor level on the luggage tag has no bearing on how the luggage is handled. I didn't think they were still putting that on the luggage tag, it wasn't on mine last month.

About 5 posts up from here you told Capt BJ he could only discuss RC on the RC board? 🤔

Yes it is still there, inside the terminal off to the left side as you enter.

The survey asks if anyone asked you for a 10. You don't want to get them in trouble, so you say "no". But what if they are required to ask for a 10, and by saying "no" you actually get them in trouble for not asking? These things need to be overthought...

March 2023 - Shipwreck is going strong. Beach chairs are free.

I was at Rainbow Beach during a cruise about 6 years ago, went there again last week (March 2023). The beach has become more popular since our first visit, three rows of chairs and umbrellas spread down the beach, maybe 100 umbrellas, they keep adding more as people arrive. Probably a lot less people when a cruise ship is not in port. Not saying this is bad, just be prepared to see a lot of people. It is a long beach, you can walk further down the beach and set down a towel if you want to get away from the people. The beach bar-restaurant Rhythms is going strong and has a bunch of seating. You can also grab food and drinks to-go and take it to the beach. New restrooms have been constructed in a separate building so you no longer have to walk through the restaurant to reach them. They are available to the public. You do not need to arrange for a cab to come back and pick you up, you can just walk out to the street and grab a cab on demand. When one van fills up they head back to port and the next cab pulls up. As noted above, $5 per person each way. The restaurant is to the right, not visible in this photo. You can see to the left the beach extends way down and there is plenty of open space once you go past the umbrellas and lounge chairs.

If you want two entrees you order them both at the same time, but they only put one on the table at a time. The other stays on the server's cart until you finish the first. One trip to the kitchen.

Was just on Voyager on deck 10 GS. When I was out on the balcony late at night I heard them using a hose on the deck above a couple of nights, but with the balcony door shut it was not heard in the cabin. One time the entire week we heard noise inside the cabin, something dragged across the floor above. Noise from above when in a deck 10 suite in any of the Voyager or Freedom class ships has never been a problem for us, rarely do you hear anything. Edited to add: even during the day, noise from above is not an issue with the balcony door closed.

Some people have noted this was an actual product that was sold on Celebrity ships. What was the price when it was a real product on Celebrity?

Waiting to hear actual experiences with converting couches into beds and back into couches without twice a day service. We were in a suite last week so we still had twice a day service and the couch was converted for us. They are also delivering paper copies of the Cruise Compass to suites without asking.