Tree_skier

I feel the same way. I was born, raised and lived 48 of my 56 years in Vancouver, BC and have travelled all over BC, WA and OR. Now I call central CA my home and love the sunshine but in my mind the PNW is the most beautiful place in the world. Alaska is not dissimilar and I loved my cruise there last year but in spite of having been saturated in its beauty for most of my life I am looking forward to another this year in August. I love cold to but prefer my rain in more a more solid and white form and confined to the mountains. For avid cruisers who have never done an Alaskan cruise, you have to do it. The experience is unforgettable. Thank you @Ozark_Kid for this awesome live review. It is pumping me up for mine in August.

My feeling exactly!

I have never been charged a surcharge on my account.

I had thought about doing that but I always hate the line at GS. So far I've been lucky and had no errant charges.

We did the same thing last year when we were on Sitka. I was tired and my knee was throbbing but I was glad we stumbled upon that little set of stairs. Great views from there.

The weird thing was, on one of them, someone on my Roll Call bid less than I did for the same cabin and they got it and I didn't.

I have bid three times now. Cruises 1 and 3 were considered fair and cruise 2 was considered strong. I have yet to win. Royal up doesn't seem to like me.

Really! I had it on Liberty, which is O3B as well, and it was awful!

That is why I say I follow Dave Ramsay's advice sans credit card prohibition. I travel extensively for work and it is much more difficult to travel on cash than a card. That being said, part of his objection is "vacation money" should be put on existing debt. We have been completely debt free for 6 years. My wife retired at 55 and I still add a couple thousand a month to my retirement portfolio each month. Cruising and skiing all that goes with those are my only vices.

Surf is worthless for anything more than checking email or messaging. IF you plan on doing anything other than that get stream. Surf is not dissimilar to your old dial-up internet.

I know, I have an AE that has good rewards that I am happy with also. I wanted a Visa because there is the odd place that doesn't take AE and when spending of Royal the BOA version doubles up your points.

I have followed Dave Ramsey's advice for years now with the exception of his no credit card prohibition. His main objection is there are hidden costs to the points accumulated because it encourages unnecessary spending to accumulate points. It's sound reasoning but I still like my points. 🙂 I've followed all of his other advice for years now and it has served us well.

Exactly, I finally broke down and got the Royal Caribbean BOA visa. Now I'll get double points for my on board spending 🙂

Last year we found great options for excursions right after you got off the shuttle bus. There were over a dozen vendors selling every kind of excursion you could imagine. They were also at better prices than what had been charged in the cruise planner.

Sorry I'm late to the party... I'm on Allure in December. I'm looking forward to this review.

You never mentioned the ArriveCan app in your description of embarkation. I'm assuming you had that done and that they confirmed you had done it when you checked in?

15% premium on the exchange rate 😲

It’s a trundle bed. Another twin pulls out from underneath.

I've never been to Victoria on a cruise ship. How much of a walk is it down to the inner harbor from the ship? EDIT: I just found the cruise terminal on google maps. 24 minute walk to the Empress from the port... I'm probably staying on the ship.

I should have been more specific... Prices can be all over the map. That being said, it is my experience, when looking on the website, that CB are higher priced than other balcony cabins. There will be anomalies, of course.

Connecting cabins are going to be more expensive. No need to apologize for asking questions.

@Merion_Mom is correct. Unfortunately the only picture I have is from when I took a pic of my towel animal. It doesn't give a sense of the scale with respect to the rest of the room.

Loving your review as always @twangster. Plans for Victoria?

I've never had a Radiance class corner aft. How would say they compare to a Voyager/Freedom class corner aft? I've had 3 of those on deck 10.

Honestly, the same could be said about any vacation you take. Land vacations have similar pitfalls. Go to a Jamaican all inclusive, same problem as a cruise. I don't believe there is any greater likelihood of getting the virus on a cruise ship than any week long land vacation. That Renee happened to diagnose on day 2 of the cruise just seemed to make it seem worse since almost the entire cruise was quarantined. That is highly unlikely to happen on a typical 7 day cruise. Had royal continued testing b2br's she wouldn't be in this situation. What's missing from this thread is the awesome time she and her husband had on the first three legs of this B4B. I understand peoples hesitation to cruise when they read a thread like this but also realize that any vacation plan can be upended in the current environment. I just love cruising so I am will to take that chance.