twangster

My bad, on Seascape in November from PCN. Probably cancelling that though. Just a matter of time before MSC raises me rates again, Dreadful, terrible company.

Just back from the drop off. It was a zoo. After an hour going 100' in the drop lane I cut through terminal 5 and dropped off halfway between terminals 5 & 6. Saved an hour. Both T10 (Getaway) and T6 (Seaside) were backed up onto 528. Seaside leaves from T6 but returns to T10 after this cruise. They were asking people to drop off luggage and passengers at T6 and then park at T10. They are running a shuttle between them. My friend reports check in is mayhem.

Casinos on all Royal ships are ashtrays.

Great ship, led or kick started the whole "amplification" thing before it was called that. As such it isn't officially amplified but is 90% of the way there. Cove style balconies common on this class except for Mariner and Navigator. Izumi is unique where it sits on the Promenade.

You may be safer on the islands of your cruise then you are near your home.

Whenever I have embarked MSC in PCN it's been a cluster unless in YC. Their check in system has a habit of quitting randomly. Go as early as you can so you might get ahead of the system shutting down. I'm taking a friend up there this morning since MSC raised my contracted rates for today and refused to set them back. I cancelled today's cruise for a refund. He managed to get his adjusted back but it took a lot of effort.

Don't ever come to Florida. Everything you stated is on the news nearly every single night.

You are unlikely to find written statements from the cruise line for a number of reasons that all come back to protecting themselves if a foreign government makes a change to their customs and immigrations policy at any time, which some government do from time to time. By not putting it in writing no one can come back and blame the cruise line or demand compensation when a foreign government makes a change.

Another collection of tour photos and descriptions. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/05/10/first-look-icon-of-the-seas-construction-tour

That company policy, not a CBP or federal requirement. They could just as easily decide to allow riders to stay on board, but they choose to require that everyone get off.

Cruising in hurricane season comes with the risk that itineraries may be changed. For Allure from Texas that likely means extra sea days. With no alternative home port it could mean delays boarding or disembarking if a storm is impacting Galveston on turn around day. If the port is closed they can't enter the port to load or unload guests so you wait until the port opens. Most cruises during hurricane season operate normally. You just need to understand there is a chance of itineray impact during hurricane season. Royal can't change the weather, its up to mother nature.

A Man Called Otto was playing on Radiance last week. No charge. On the pool deck and in the Cinema.

Technically speaking an access point is different from a repeater. Access points are better.

I know Wonder has Aruba 303H access points in each cabin. Edge class on Celebrity does as well. Odyssey does not. Same Q class Voom experience as other Q ships (shoe in the door).

If you desire front row beach or pool loungers you'll need to be quick but if you are okay with loungers somewhere other than the front row you'll be fine.

One item of interest with Starlink for Apple users - my iCloud files were challenging to access over Starlink. I keep a "Numbers" spreadsheet on my iCloud drive for all my cruising, points, prices, cabin numbers, etc. It's my master cruising spreadsheet. Over time it's grown to a whopping 2.1 MB. "Numbers" is Apple's equivalent to MS Excel. It was impossible to access my spreadsheet with my M1 MacBook Pro over Starlink. It would not open normally and I couldn't manually download it. After hours I'd have 117 kB of the 2.1 MB. I had to open it in a web browser at icloud.com and save it manually as an excel file which then became orphaned from the version on iCloud. This defeats the whole concept of iCloud drive. It never got better over 15 nights on Radiance. Somehow either Starlink or Apple don't like each other. I never had this issue over the old Voom providers. Now back home I'm having to merge my changes manually into my master iCloud file. PITA. YMMV.

My upcoming GTY balcony invoice:

Alaska snow capped mountains in early June Same mountains later in the season and the snow is all gone. Picture taken from Explorer of Radiance sailing out of Juneau, early June. In September that year I was on Radiance taking a picture of Explorer as we departed Juneau at the same time of day compared to the picture taken above. In September it's dark out when at the same time of day in June it's daylight. Early in the cruise season you see more compared to later in the cruise season because it's still light outside so you can see more whales and such because it's light outside longer.

It depends what you are looking for. Best is highly subjective. Best prices are in the shoulder season, May and September. Best weather is possible every month of the cruise season. Best chances to see Salmon run are in mid to late August. Best chances to see snow capped mountains are early in the cruise season. Best photo opportunities are when days are longest, there are more daylight hours so more to see, plus or minus three weeks on either side of June 21. In truth if you were to spend every week on the same cruise you would see something different every cruise. Weather in Alaska is highly variable every month. There is no wrong time to cruise Alaska. I've sailed Alaska in May, June, July, August and September. Every cruise was great with different memories.

I can also verify it doesn't turn off the A/C on Radiance class. Newer Royal ships the balcony door impacts your A/C, but not the neighbors. Perhaps there was a ship somewhere that bundled multiple cabins together. Royal assures us that all cabins are independent. During the restart they went to great lengths to ensure it was public knowledge that all ships have independent air handling with no shared components beyond chiller lines.

I'd reverse 2 & 3. Priorities...

On Jewel the sliding door doesn't lock in place in any position other than fully closed. On some ships the handle can act as a brake to keep the door from closing but on some ships that isn't the case. One time I left the door open but after 20 minutes the movement of the ship caused the door to slide closed. Fortunately the handle didn't flip to the locked position when it slammed closed. From that point on I threw a towel on the threshold of the door so even if the ship rolled a bit the door couldn't close all the way, or slam closed and annoy the neighbors.

Security has a key that can get in the door. No chain or physical barrier device is present on a cabin door. The door lock can keep a cabin attendant out but security can always get in.

At least you had clothes on... 🙂 I know other people who have been locked out on this class. A couple years ago on a group cruise we received a group text message requesting assistance. We engaged security. Some have attributed this to a ghost who roams the ship but I couldn't see it.

Notes from the bar... Over the course of the cruise I sometimes found myself one on one with a bartender. I asked them some questions, different bartenders, different nights. Summary across the bartenders from my unofficial survey. 1. From newbie, Gold, Platinum, etc. to Pinnacle who are the most demanding or difficult? A. Diamond. - They get their first free drinks and act the most entitled with them. 2. What region is best for tips? A. USA instant answer. Second place to Australia but usually it's a tip at the end of the cruise more commonly than per drink, when a tip occurs. Europe distant last place. 3. Who tips the most? A. Instant answer without hesitation... Pinnacle. 4. Gratuity on CAS drinks? A. Before the 4/5/6 CAS drinks there was not gratuity given by the ship to the bar staff for the 3 voucher drinks in the old system. It was expected as part of the job. Now with the 4/5/6 CAS vouchers bar staff get the same gratuity per swipe compared to beverage packages. 5. Do you share tips? A. Depends. It's an arrangement worked out between the team for that bar or shift. Some pool their tips, some choose to go individual and keep tips for themselves.