JupiterTwo

The only situation I can recall when RCL issued refunds was when the departure port itself was hit by a hurricane, as was the case with Harvey and Galveston. Even then, RCL royally messed things up by waiting until after the last possible moment to declare the cancellation of the cruise. Carnival had already diverted their ships to New Orleans, but RCL stubbornly insisted that the Liberty was still going to Galveston as scheduled. This was insane, as there would be no dock workers or terminal staff to receive the ship because everyone was home taking care of their own houses and supply needs. Also, RCL forced people to choose between flying into a disaster area or lose their cruise fares. They waited until the day before the scheduled departure to finally announce that Liberty was being diverted to New Orleans, but people were already in transit to Galveston by that point.

That's nuts! My last cruise on the Liberty was before COVID-19, but we used to grab some pizza and then sit at the Hoof & Claw with a drink and enjoy Derek Lewis and his wild party karaoke show. Lewis is long gone (cut when RCL eliminated some entertainment positions), and apparently taking a slice to the pub is gone, too.

My wife and I always enjoyed the late seating at the MDR. We loved meeting new people and settling down for a nice dinner and taking turns telling each other about our day. Our first cruise together was on Norwegian, right after they changed to Freestyle dining, so it was mostly specialty restaurants. We enjoyed the French restaurant and steakhouse. The Italian restaurant was too salty. We tried their MDR twice, which was essentially MyTime dining. The first time they sat us at a table for four with an elderly Cuban couple. The husband pretended to not speak English, so the wife would translate. Not a fun evening. The second time we were seated at a table for eight, with people from Ireland, Canada, and two other states. It was a blast! On the last evening, we were able to get into the last seating at the Teppanyaki restaurant, which we really enjoyed. For our 9-night Mediterranean cruise, we had a nice group, two other couples at a table for eight on the Brilliance. It was for my wife's 50th birthday, which fell on the Venice overnight. I think we ate at Chops for one night. Our go-to ship has been the Liberty out of Galveston, which only has Chops, Giovanni's, and Sabor, so we ate mostly at the MDR, with one night at Chops. Again, we always had a great group of people at our table (we always asked to be seated at large tables with other couples). Our only exception has been when we sailed on the Disney Wonder when it would stop at Galveston. Their fine-dining restaurant is Palo's, which is nothing like the specialty restaurants on RCL. We always made a dinner reservation for one evening, and also did the brunch on a sea day. We did two sailings on the Wonder. Our Alaska cruise was with Princess and it was our first cruise in a full suite. We enjoyed the suite breakfast (in the Italian restaurant on the Island Princess), and ate at the club class section at a table for two each night. We met a nice older couple at the cordoned-off suite happy hour section of the main bar, and were often seated next to them for dinner. No specialty dining on this cruise. Our last cruise (pre-covid) was a B2B on the Enchantment in a grand suite, so Chops was the only specialty choice. I think we ate there once on each leg. Otherwise, we did breakfast in Chops and MyTime on one leg and the late seating MDR on the other. We asked for a large group, but were seated with a small family from Sweden who had an autistic teenage son. We didn't want to offend them by asking to change, and we actually got along well with them and their son opened up to us. Now we're booked on the Allure for next April out of Galveston, which will be our 25th anniversary. We've never been on a ship this size, the Liberty being our largest. We will be in an Owner's Suite, so will enjoy the suite breakfasts. We're not crazy about the Coastal Kitchen menus, but the occasional lunch or dinner menu is acceptable to say we tried it. I did buy the Izumi Hibachi dinner for the second night, which will at least be freshly made in front of us. Otherwise we will again have late-seating MDR and will play it by ear for specialty restaurants. I guess we'll try the occasional meal at one of the Central Park restaurants at some point.

Thanks. I forgot about that.

I just bought the 24 water bottles in my name and the soda package in my wife's name. No alcohol package, as we're Diamond and in a suite. I hope that's going to work out.

They use something called "Drink of the Day."

It's about one mile further up Harborside Drive from the existing terminals.

Maybe they will insist on seeing the timestamp of the photo, although that might be too technical for some people to find. Still, it's possible to keep an old test around and just keep retaking a picture of it. Yucky, but possible.

When we get back to our stateroom in the evening, my wife likes to go through the next day's Compass with a highlighter and plan out her next day's activities. Then she takes it with her from trivia to bingo to whatever. She'll miss doing that.

I wonder... is it safe to assume that everybody has a smartphone that run the app, or will their be people who for one reason or another don't have the capability to read a virtual-only Cruise Compass?

Bookmarking for another Allure cruise.

I'll be following your live review with anticipation. My wife and I booked an Owner's Suite for next April out of Galveston.

Thanks for this review! My wife and I just today booked an Owner's Suite on the Allure for April 16, 2023 out of Galveston. It will be our 25th wedding anniversary on the cruise. It's also our first cruise since COVID-19, our last cruise being a B2B on the Enchantment of the Seas in January 2020. I haven't been on a ship larger than the Liberty of the Seas, so we're looking forward to finally getting to experience the larger ships. Steve

A vaccine is an inoculation intended to induce immunity. An inoculation does not need to be for the purpose of immunization, although that may be the widely intended usage. Since the Covid-19 shot does not induce immunity, it is not a vaccine. It is an inoculation intended to aid the body's immune system's response to Covid, but it is not intended to provide immunity from Covid. As such, in my opinion to be medically consistent, cruise lines should either require passengers to show proof of flu shots, or drop showing proof of covid shots, as neither shots induce immunity but both shots aid the immune system's response to their intended pathogens.

That's why my wife and I did our Alaska land tour and cruise with Princess.

Many of the glacier sites are by permit only. The cruise lines that do get to visit them have a tight appointment schedule of when they can be there. If Royal misses its appointed slot for the cruise, it likely cannot go back at a future date that week, as those slots have already been permitted to other cruises.

That would be Skimbleshanks, the railway cat. Seriously, though, it's a show that one really has to be knowledgeable of before going. It's essentially a revue of T. S. Elliot's poetry Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats put to the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. You'd have to like Webber's artistic style and Elliot's poetry to enjoy Cats. Knowing in advance that it's about a dozen poems put to music via a weak plot (the poems in the book were all standalone) makes all the difference on one's appreciation of the show.

Water. 2 parts hydrogen to 1 part oxygen.

Doesn't the card also have no international transaction fees if you use the card in foreign ports? What's that worth?

I was on the Enchantment in 2020 catching the end of the ventriloquist's show while waiting for my wife to arrive from trivia. I actually caught more of the show than I expected, and watched a portion when he picked on a guy in the audience to feed off of. My wife showed up and we watched his second set together, and when he got to the exact same portion of the show he picked on me! I knew his routine at this point, so I just played along. I didn't want to the THAT guy!

Maybe the problem with the toilet paper begins at the Windjammer?