Nike4000

@omeinv awesome! thanks for confirming. She was a little worried, as was I. We figure the best part is that we'll be able to quiz each other and keep the knowledge fresh.

Random follow-up question - my daughter was able to successfully submit her health certification form (I have a few issues my doctor wants to discuss with me first) and now has access to the E-learning portion of the course. Yesterday afternoon she started working on section 1 of the online learning. Will she have any issues come December if she passes the course this far in advance? Meaning, is there a specific timeframe that you need to complete the practical portion of the course after completing the online portion? I'd hate for her to get on the ship and find out that because she completed the online course more than 6 months earlier, that she'd have to retake it or something similar. I'm assuming not, but want to ask the experts.

Well, over the weekend we received an email from Royal Diver with instructions for getting access to the PADI online course material. Hopefully between now and our end-of-year cruise my daughter and I can complete the classroom part! So far, I've been impressed with Royal's execution. I wasn't expecting the email from them until about 3 months before the cruise. The lead time assures we can sort out the medical forms and get proper studying in. Love it! My daughter has already visited a dive shop near her and has tried on some masks. I'm lagging behind in that department, but I'll get there.

@mac66 - thanks for the different perspective, I'll definitely take that into consideration. I'm not entirely sure what our focus will be once we get certified. It might become a major focus, or might just be a once or twice a year recreational thing. Honestly have no clue at this point. We'll more than likely purchase the masks simply because we both enjoy snorkeling and would have enjoyed our most recent snorkeling excursion if we had masks that fit us better than the ones the vendor offered. I'm just collecting all of this info at this point and will see where we end up at the end of the year.

@Bobroo - That's great to hear about RC's commitment to providing a quality experience. I honestly had no idea what to expect and am so happy to hear that it should be a quality situation. Based on what I'm reading from everyone, it sounds like it's a wise investment to purchase quality masks beforehand. Beyond that, it's going to be up to my daughter and me to figure out how far we want to take things before we've had our first class. That makes perfect sense and I'm totally on board with it. Although, I'm so stoked to finally be moving forward on a dream I've had since I was a kid, the dive shop team might have an easy time upselling me on a few additional items. I'm heading down the YouTube rabbit hole for dive videos, wish me luck!

Yeah, space is definitely at a premium on the cruise ship. Plus I can imagine that spending time outfitting every participant takes away from time allocated to teaching. Makes lots of sense to have us arrive with our own kits. I 100% agree about getting the right gear. If I'm battling my mask the whole time, not only will the experience suck because of that irritation, but it's very likely I'll miss something important the instructor has to say.

So much fantastic information from both of you! This is awesome for a noob! I swear that I read somewhere in the fine print on the excursion that the participants need to provide their own masks, snorkels, and fins but I'm at a loss finding it right now. I'm sure we'll get some clarity closer to the cruise. I don't mind buying quality gear, especially if it'll make the experience even more enjoyable. Better first experience = stronger likelihood of a second experience. Also, we're driving to the port, so adding a bag of scuba gear to the car is not a big deal - yet. I'm sure if I had to lug tanks, etc., to the port I'd quickly change my tune! When I hit the local dive shop, I'll keep your preferred gear in mind and use it as a comparative. Knowing an experienced diver prefers X equipment is always helpful. At this point, I'll probably hold off on the dive computer, But, for round 2 it's definitely in the mix!

@Bobroo - thanks for the excellent tips, we'll definitely come prepared. Two questions: Why not go ahead and get our fins as well? What sort of YouTube videos should we be watching? Do you have any channels you'd recommend? Okay, technically that was 3 questions, but I think the second two come as a single package. 😁 The great thing is that we have loads of time to prepare and it sounds like we'll need to take advantage of as much of that prep time as possible.

So, our ports, in order are Roatan, Costa Maya, and then Cozumel. Which two are we most likely to have our open water dives? If we skip Costa Maya for the dive, the family will probably stay on the ship. My wife isn’t a fan of that port and my son hates the beach. So,… family fun time on the ship! I’ve read about the course work and am looking forward to it. Many years ago I participated in a program through the Scripps Oceanography Institute in California and on one of the days we were snorkeling, a Scripps guide (he was a scuba instructor) started walking us through the hand signals, basics of scuba, cool stuff like that. It’s been 40 or so years since then and I’m eager to see how much my old brain remembers. I have am appointment with my PCP in May and based on what you said I’m setting a reminder to tell him about the scuba course. That should give me plenty of time to work on any areas of concern while leaving time to get the doctor’s sign off in the fall. My daughter won’t have any issues, she’s super physically active with her horses and other interests. Thank you for all of the information you shared, it’s really helpful! Notes have been made and reminders scheduled! I’ll send you an email about the dive shop recommendation, that will be amazing!

Wow!! I can’t thank you enough for the amazingly detailed and thorough response @omeinv!! Holy smokes this is far beyond what I could have hoped for! Dude, I’m printing & saving your post and will definitely add it to my file for reference prior to the cruise. To answer your first question, I can confirm that we booked the exact excursion, I copy & pasted the excursion name when writing the post to make sure I referenced it correctly. Below is a screen grab from the RC app of the excursion I booked. For your second question, you are correct, Cozumel is the third port. Sounds like we should focus on family activities in Costa Maya. I assume we’ll find out exactly which ports we’re diving at before we sail, hopefully?!?! Maybe? We’ll only have 1 sea day between Cozumel and the return to Galveston. Will that allow sufficient time to get the necessary certificates and paperwork done? I’ll be rather irked if we complete the process and the instructor drops the ball on wrapping everything up before we debark. Any additional advice will be greatly appreciated. We’ve both got local PADI dive shops “near” us and we’re going to visit them to get the necessary gear (while also looking to build relationships for future scuba adventures). From my app:

I apologize in advance if this isn't the correct forum for this post! Please point me in the right direction and I'll gladly repost my question. This winter we've booked a cruise on Royal's Harmony of the Seas for the whole family. My daughter (24yo) and I have already registered for the PADI Open Water Diver Course. I know that the class involves diving at two different cruise ports to complete the experience. We're 100% fine with that. Our question is, will those two cruise ports be the first two on our itinerary, Roatan and Costa Maya (in order)? Or, could it be a combination of any two of the three ports? We're trying to sort out which of the three ports the whole family can do something together. Because I know y'all will ask, she lives halfway across the country and we want to learn to scuba dive together. It's a fun father/daughter bonding experience which is why we're not doing it beforehand.

I apologize if this isn't the right place to post this, happy to open a new thread if necessary, but thought this was app-adjacent. We are about 100 days out from our sailing, so lots of time still. However, when I look on the website, for both my wife and I, it says "Arrival Status: Incomplete" and to "Use the Princess Cruises® App to Check-in." Of course, when I go into the new Princess app, it says that we're "All Set" and "Ready to Sail." Everything on the Travel Checklist has a green checkmark. I even loaded the old app and it shows that we're ready to sail. What's up with the website? Is this type of disconnect normal? Am I missing something? This is our first time on Princess as a couple, I sailed on the Pacific Princess back in The Love Boat days.

Just FYI about Moody Gardens, it's off season so lots of the stuff was shut down (aquarium, etc.). However, they were prepping for holiday activities, including an ice sculpture experience that looked pretty cool. If you visit the ice sculptures, let me know what you thought. We tried to sneak a peek in the tent but security chased us off. Also, we had dinner at Shearns and it was pretty good, but expensive.

The wife and I were on this same sailing and had a wonderful time. We kept looking for the second show in the Aqua Theater and never found it in the app. I'm sure we just missed seeing it & now we're both sad. The Fine Line was so amazing we saw it twice - one with reservations and once waiting in the standby line. The Columbus show was very funny & entertaining. We ended up using our noise cancelling headphones to cut down on the sound - it was turned up to 11 otherwise the noise was intolerable. Grease is not exactly family-friendly, I think people forget the heavy themes that play out in the story. This sailing were the first performances of the new cast and my wife & I thought they did a great job. We did the "All Access Ship Tour" which is a can't miss for anyone who is curious about the behind the scenes goings on. Super cool way to spend a couple of hours, very illuminating! During the tour, the security team told us that the reason we went back to the full Port of Galveston the first night instead of having the passenger taken off via helicopter is because the chopper was involved in a search & rescue operation elsewhere totally unrelated to the Harmony situation. Chops and both Izumi Hibachi and Sushi were fantastic meals. Johnny Rockets was totally disappointing for both lunch and breakfast. We never really found Windjammer to be extremely crowded the few times we ate there. Park Cafe, Solarium Bistro, Sorrento's, the Dog House, Mini bites, and others offered so many breakfast & lunch options that eating at Windjammer was pretty unnecessary. The new Royal embark/debark experience in Galveston is super easy and smooth. It took us less than 10 minutes to go from parking in the North Lot to being on the ship, and then maybe 5 minutes from our final badge scan to loading the car. EZ PZ all the way. We had an 11am port arrival time and were on the ship by 11:06. Pre-cruise we spent Saturday night at Moody Gardens, away from the motorcycle rally and it was fantastic. It was our first time staying away from the port/seawall and we might just keep it as our main hotel before boarding. Not much more to add to what @Rewind has already shared. Great review/overview of a wonderful cruise. Let me know if I can answer any questions about Harmony of the Seas from a lower tier of loyalty perspective.

@Pattywac and @Ideb - we just returned from our cruise on Royal's Harmony of the Seas & we did the glass bottom boat and monkey/sloth excursion. It was fantastic! We had a great time, plus there was a bonus stop at a Roatan chocolate factory! Highlights from the excursion: Darby, our guide, was amazing! Lots of wonderful insights into Roatan and it's culture. Plus there were prizes for answering questions correctly! Who doesn't love interactive guides? The bus wasn't the most comfortable, but it had air conditioning and was fully functioning. I'll take it! We had every seat full, including the jump seat and the bus handled the hills and traffic without a single issue. The chocolate factory was our first stop. Decent restrooms and the chocolate was great. Plus, there were a bunch of little shops to explore, which was nice. Large bottles of cold water were $2, so we stocked up on a few. Second stop was to see Monkeys & Sloths. Our guide (not Darby), who looked like he was about 12, shared tons of great information and spent time talking about some of Roatan's natural medicines and treatments, in addition to educating us about the monkeys & sloths. Plus, we got to hold a macaw & have our pictures taken with it on our own devices - no forced fee for the photo like some other places. Holding the sloths was so awesome. The one I was holding tried to steal my hat, very slowly. It was fun to experience. They also had decent restrooms! Third and final stop was the "glass bottom boat" which was really a semi-submersible. We've had bad, bad, bad experiences with these in the past, but this one was a-okay. First, it had air conditioning, which made it tolerable. Second, we actually got to see thriving sea life and some amazing coral reefs. No bathroom on board, you had to hold it. The bad parts of the excursion were: Three people were late to the meeting point, so we had to return to pick them up, which added an hour to the excursion. That hour was spent in traffic, which SUCKED! One guy kept trying to get a chant going of "Leave them" and heavily criticized Darby for going back throughout the rest of the tour. Food was not available outside of the chocolate factory. With the 5 hour duration of the excursion, it's a long excursion to not have a lunch break or some sort of snack included. Overall, we had a great time and will definitely consider this excursion again for future visits to Roatan. Darby was fantastic, we'd make sure to request Darby again on future trips.

Our port arrival time is 11am to 11:30am and, no, we're not in a Suite, nor did we purchase The Key. We're Gold status. I was online at midnight to book my PAT and took the earliest time I could. YMMV Edit to add that we were able to check in at 45 days prior to sail date.

We've got an 11am PAT for our upcoming cruise on Harmony.

Have you seen or heard any information about an implementation date? All I can find is the vague "sometime in 2024" timing. Nothing can happen with ETIAS until the EES (entry/exit system) goes into place, which has an even more vague "TBC" timing. Interestingly enough, the Schengen Information System is the other part of that process, which has been implemented for a group of 31 countries, but not the United Kingdom. It looks like there's still a lot of details to be sorted out before ETIAS goes live. We have a spring European cruise booked and with my luck, they'll roll it out the week we sail.

He might want to try magnetic register covers instead. You can get a 3 pack at Home Depot for $9 and just cut them to size. Add a little glue and you're good to go. I've used these to turn stickers into magnets with very little hassle.

We've bought several magnets from Etsy before. Most recently we purchased one from TheCruiseConnection & the magnet was shipped super quickly. We've also bought several magnets from both MagicalEverydayATX and GraysonTagsandMore. We've been super pleased with both store's products.

My sister-in-law and her husband have always driven down from Frisco to Galveston the day of the ship and been fine. However, about a year ago, they drove down the day of their cruise as usual, and unfortunately there was an accident somewhere in Houston that blocked up the whole freeway. They were stuck & ended up missing their cruise. They had to eat the cost of that cruise. It was then that they realized how minimal the cost of a pre-cruise hotel is in the grand scheme of things. Since then, they've driven down the day before for all of their subsequent cruises. Can you drive down the day of your cruise? Yes, definitely. Do you want to have to deal with the stress of not knowing if you're going to make it? No! As @GJustice said, treat the day before your cruise as the start of your vacation. Relax and enjoy the drive. Spend the night in a Galveston hotel, get some good seafood for dinner, sleep in the morning of your cruise and take your time getting over to the terminal. Make it an enjoyable experience.

We've booked the monkey, sloth, glass bottom boat excursion through Royal for our upcoming fall cruise. I'll post a reply about the experience once we've done it. The excursion took a while to open up for our fall booking, so just keep an eye on it.

The last time we were in Roatan, we booked the Daniel Johnson Monkey & Sloth Hangout tour directly through Daniel Johnson's and it was both good and bad. The good was that we got to hang out with monkeys & sloths. Holding the sloth was super cool and totally worth the price of admission. Their staff was incredibly friendly and helpful - very responsive to my multiple emails in advance of our cruise. Awesome to work with and the price was great. Our driver, we were in her personal car, was amazing, friendly, and highlighted all sorts of cool & interesting things we passed along the way to the Monkey & Sloth hangout. She was a fabulous tour guide and a great driver considering that the "rules of the road" in Roatan are more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules. The bad included two things. First, we added the Zip Line experience to the tour and were never able to actually go on the zip lines. After our monkey & sloth encounter, our driver took us to the zip line place where we sat for nearly 2 hours waiting for the group in front of us to finish. Every time we asked, we were told "They're on the last zip line" - for 2 hours we heard this. Plus, there was another group ahead of us. We finally asked to be taken back to the ship. The people at Daniel Johnson's refunded us for the zip line experience and were very apologetic. The second negative aspect was finding our contact after debarking the ship. We had to go outside of the cruise port to get our ride and it was absolute chaos. There were tons of people crowding the gate, making locating our contact challenging. I dislike crowds and this one was huge and aggressive. I ended up getting pick pocketed while making my way to our contact (they got nothing of value) and someone tried to pull our backpack off of my wife's shoulder. It was rough and not pleasant. So, all that being said - Sloths were AWESOME & we can't wait to hold them again. But, based on our negative experience, we're going to book through Royal directly for our upcoming trip and see if the transportation experience is any better.

The times we've gone, the food was included and it's a pretty basic buffet for making tacos and fajitas. The food was good, nothing super special, but since it was included, it was fine. We usually end up only snacking from the buffet - i.e. chips and queso - and then eating when we get back on the ship. However, we've never done the catamaran and I think they end up at a different part of the beach. So, YMMV.

We've seen Jeep tours to Passion Island before, like this one. We've never taken the Jeeps though, we enjoy the Twister boat too much. Good luck!