RockHoundTX

As others have said, you will need to check the App/Cruise Compass when you get on the ship. Alaska cruises use local port time. In the Carribean, RCL "typically" stays on the original departure port time. Out of the last 30 or so Carribean cruises, I did have one that used local port time for some reason (maybe because it was an Eastern Carribean?). Also as previously warned, an analog watch is best since most sports watches will revert to local time if they connect to GPS. I have seen more than a few pier runners who "thought" they were on-time 😉

After 20 or so cruises, my kids are flow rider "experts". Pretty much no more tricks that they are allowed to learn due to ever stringent rules :-{ Before investing a lot of $$, here are some tips: 1) Do the flow-rider on the day you board. If it is somewhere cold, bring a wet-suit. It is usually open 2 or 3 hours and typically only has 3 or 4 folks doing it. You can sometimes get more riding in on the first day than the rest of the cruise combined. Early morning on the 2nd day of the cruise can also be good. By the last day of the cruise, expect the FlowRider to be packed (may only get 1 or 2 rides in an hour). 2) Weight is almost as important as age. If you are less than about 70 pounds, the water really throws you around if you are not used to it. Really light kids tend to have a really hard time learning but are usually OK once they do. 3) Most kids "get it" after about their 3rd try. First 2 tries are more about just not wiping out. By the 3rd they can usually do 1 simple "trick" (get on knees, etc.). From there, the rest of the cruise is about improving on their trick. 4) Expect to get hurt. Rashes and scrapes are pretty normal. My son broke his collar bone on an Alaska trip doing stand-up surfing (got to spend the day in Juneu at the emergency room). Figure that 1-2 folks a day go to ship medical room due to Flowrider accidents (and thus why they allow only about 20% of the tricks they allowed 10+ years ago). I think this is one of the primary reasons that a parent has to be physically present any time a child under 13 is on the FlowRider. 5) Kids teach other kids. On every cruise I have been on there are kids that are more than happy to help the younger and/or less experienced riders. Typically a kid will try it for the first time and fail miserably. Most of the time, the better riders will step up, offer words of encouragement and some advice, and the next run will go a litte better. Once the kids reach a certain proficiency, usually a "pro" adult or teen (who likely has their own, private board) will give advanced advice. On about half my trips, other cruisers are actually better on the FlowRider than the actual RCL staff (had a pro that actually rode for Team FlowRider on my last cruise). Have fun and be safe.

Many years ago they used to have tokens for T-shirts, hats, etc. It was much more fun back then. I jokingly have my "$40 cruise polo shirt". Now they juat have the BINGO tokens (one of which is almost never present). We walk by them every time we walk through the casino. Probably 20% of the time there is a random quarter that has fallen. Once we have 4 or 5 quarters and see a "ripe" machine, we usually play it back in. I think the most we ever won on one push was about $15. Overall, put more money in than we got our but otherwise a fun time. Anyone that says they make money on the push machines is both super lucky and super selective.

Is Jamaica safe? No. Hasn't been for the 14 years I have been cruising there on multiple cruise-lines. For those stating "it is just as safe as the US", I can't remember the last time I was man-handled, extorted, offered drugs, and a 4-year old child (all of which happened on my one visit to Doctor's Cave Beach in Montego Bay with my wife and 2 young kids) while on the beach in Galveston or Miami. Falmouth is very nice within the controlled port area but get's sketchy fast when you go out. My wife and I are very experienced travelers (have walked large cities in 30+ countries) so decided to "give it a try" and visit some areas outside the Falmouth port area (my wife was looking for a specific coffee that was not available in the port area). Most areas where dirty and continually had to fend off hawkers that wanted to "show us the city" or "provide a great time" but otherwise acceptable. What was not acceptable was being physically pulled into shops over in the straw market area. They then insinuated that you "needed to buy something". Very aggressive. We headed straight back to the ship after that and have not ventured on our own again in Jamaica (but have no problem walking beyond the gates in Roatan, Belize City, etc.). Your mileage may vary.

Adventure seems to be the fastest on RCL (but Carnival has several that are faster). Liberty slides are slow. Harmony has one slide that is pretty fast and the other is dog slow. That being said, the clothes you wear makes a bigger difference than just about anything. Using the right clothes litterally doubles or triples the speed. Wearing a rash-guard shirt pretty much means you are going to go slow or get stuck on most slides. Switch to a cotton t-shirt and shorts and it is twice as fast. No shirt is a little faster but then get rub marks on your back. With the right clothes, you can make it around and down the toilet bowl on Harmony. Even after 30+ cruises, I am still experimenting to see what clothes are the fastest 😉

No problem at all. My kids love to go for sea-day brunch. By the last sea-day, they usually have recruited a whole table of teens to join them. Only issue we ever had was one trip where my son (17) could not do a reservation via the app but my daughter (13) could. Never figured out what was going on with that.

Completely understand. However, I have been cruising long enough that I have seen the pendulum swing both ways. When enough people vote with their wallet, things change. There was a time in the mid 2010s where food and service also took a nose-dive (2013-2016?) at least on the RCL cruises I was taking at the time (and per the comments here on Cruise Critic for other ships). Then from about 2017-2020 it got much better. Post-COVID, I was on 2 ships (while they were still begging for passengers) where food was fantastic. They had some of the biggest, juiciest prime rib I had ever eaten. That was followed by 3 cruises where the food was absolutely horrid (food poisoning, the whole 9 yards) where both "supply chain" and "crew quarentine" were blamed. Been on 2 cruises since the "belt tightening" happened with the new menus, etc. and for both the food was "OK" but far from great. If this becomes the "new standard", prices will need to fall significantly before the price/quality ratio is again within my budget. I went on cruises since it was "the best bang for the buck" but that is no longer the case. I can fly to an island and sit on a beach for 2 weeks (eating and drinking quite well) for what it costs for my family to do a 7-day cruise these days. The real question is how many people will vote with their wallet? RCL has done a good job of attracting lots of new customers. RCL really no longer cares about us Diamonds/Diamond+ and likely sees us as a hinderance. As long as the cabins are getting filled without RCL having to pour a ton of money into advertising, then nothing is really going to change. However, all it takes is one "poop cruise", sinking, or virus to hit the news and go viral for passengers to suddenly dry up. How soon that happens and what the cruise industry does about it (lower fares? better food? more activites?) is the question. I love cruising and have $$ set aside to book if/when quality goes up or prices come down. Just will patiently wait and plan all my other vacations in the mean-time. Lots of other (non-cruise) memories to make.

My wife and I rate food as much as 1/3 of the overall "cruise experience". Did Harmony in December and the food was a mixed bag. First two nights in the MDR was actually much better than I had expected but went down from there. First time in 30+ cruises that we actually skipped a night in MDR (did Solarium Bistro and WJ that night). Most nights we would pick one or two items in the MDR and then immediately go up to WJ. On this trip the food quality was much better than I feared but definitely not up to pre-COVID RC standards. Selection in the MDR was definitely an issue given the new menus. Food has always been variable and across all my cruises has varied from 2/10 (during COVID when I think half the cooking staff was in quarientine) and 9/10 (a trip in 2017 that was a limited capacity 7-day sailing that had rack of lamb in the WJ!!!). Across all my RC cruises I would say my personal average would be in the 7- 7.5/10 range. I would rate my recent Harmony trip at about a 6/10. Had I not had expectations from the past on what "good" actually used to be, then probably would have rated it more along the lines of 7.5/10. I completely understand "inflation" and "making up for COVID", but it just did not sit right with me that I paid almost twice the price for this cruise while my food choice (and quality) were significantly reduced. I currently have ZERO cruises booked 😞 Until prices come down or food quality goes up, there are other better options for my retirement $$$.

I think they had it on 2 of 3 trips we took on Liberty in 2021 and 2022. My teen son is a sushi-holic. While it is not the huge spread they had pre-Covid, they did have it one night each cruise (I think it was the second formal night). It will likely be where/near where they usually have the salads. They usually have 3 different sushi-rolls but I think only 1 actually had fish in it (the other two were variations of California rolls). It is pretty crappy sushi but still tastes OK with enough fake wasabi. When you get on the ship, you can ask the Windjammer head chef if they will have it. The one time they did not have it was because of "supply chain issues" and something they needed not showing up. Back in about 2017, there was a period of about a year when they stopped serving it (my son was devistated) but they had it back the following year (I think we did something like 9 cruises on Liberty when it was out of Galveston).

Started cruising in the late 1980s. Did a few cruises in the early 2000s, and then went into full "cruise-mide" in the mid 2010s with up to 6 family cruises per year. Booked 8 cruises as soon as the order banks opened up post-Covid. Currently only have 1 cruise left to take and really don't expect to take any cruises in 2024 or 2025 given the outrageous prices and drop-off in quality. While it is easy to complain that "back in the day everything was better", but with cruises that is not the case. While the food quality is highly variable (even on a B2B), the food, entertainment, and overall experience was much better in the 2017-2019 period than it was back in the 1980-2010 period. The food on the first 3 post-Covid cruises I took was also wonderful. BUT, then it happened. Food and entertainment on my last 4 cruises has been pretty bad (as in, food poisoning bad). This was a across 4 different ships and 2 different cruise lines. At first they blamed it on food supply chain issues, then blamed inability to get staff, and now just straight-out admitting it is cost cutting due to "inflated prices". I booked cruises since it was the best "bang for my buck" vacation experience. I "eat nice" at home (steak BBQ brisket, etc.) maybe twice per week and the rest of my meals are pretty much peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Being on a cruise is my time to splurge. On a cruise, you will find me and my wife either in the gym or eating (we are both fitter than 99%+ of people our age). The dining experience makes up 50% of our enjoyment (Cozumel looses it luster after you have been there 30+ times). When the food quality (and quantity) goes down and the prices double, cruises are no longer an affordable and enjoyable option. I am sure that many feel the same. Unlike Pre-Covid (and the 2 years Post-Covid) when my wife and I checked cruise prices 2-3 times per day, now we do it maybe once per week. We look at the prices and just shake our head in disgust. We have already booked a far better (and cheaper) vacation for 2024. I expect that at some point we will book another cruise, but no idea when that will be. However, it won't be until either food/entertainment quality goes way up or cruise prices go way down (hopefully both). Luckily, the cruise industry is a supply/demand service and I fully expect demand to weaken at some point over the next 12-18 months.

It depends on the slide/attraction. On rides like The Tidal Wave on Liberty, they actually weigh you and your ride partner since there is both a minimum and maximum total weight (there are 2 people on the raft). I don't remember ever seeing anyone weighed for anything else. I have seen some rather large folks get on the water slides and no-one even batted an eye. However, there are other attractions that did have weight limits (trapeze, etc.). If I remember correctly, those did have red/green lights (but I think there was an actual digital read-out as well if someone wanted to check their actual weight).

The main reason to buy is if you find something that you cannot find locally in the US. For "generic" mid/high-end watches (Tag Heuer, etc.) you can find them new in the US for cheaper (just have to look around and wait for deals/sales to pop up). As an example, my local Sam's Club was selling the standard Tag black-face diver's watch for about 20%-30% less than the best negotiated price we could find on any of the islands for the exact same watch. Now if you are looking for a rare Rolex, definitely want to go with an official Rolex store. Fakes have become so good that even experts have a problem identifying them. At some of the random stores in Cozumel, I saw some comically bad fakes in some stores (but most of these were priced as fakes) plus a few really good fakes in some of the "higher-end" stores that were being passed off as real (there are some great Youtube videos on how to spot some of the most common fakes). That being said, there are some fakes that are so good that unluss you have a real version to compare to (and a 10x loupe), you likely would not know until it was too late. The other issue is "frankenstein" pieces where an actual Rolex (or what-ever else high-end brand) is sacraficed to make a more desirable/trendy watch (i.e., changing out a watch-face, etc.).

Both times were out of Galveston since the restart. Both taste and definitions are definitely regional (I have been to 49 states and 30+ countries so not much I have not eaten). I find Krispy Kreme to be 100x better than Dunkin but Dunkin is still OK. However, Shipley is generally terrible (again, don't like cake donuts. A donut is supposed to be sweet and fluffy). Same with hamburgers. I absolutely cannot stand In-N-Out burger and the associated East-coast copy-cats (P. Terry's, etc.). Tried them dozens of times in multiple states. They just don't taste right to me and the limp fries are terrible. I will take Whataburger any day of the week (and I am a huge fan of Guy's Burgers on Carnival). As for definitions, I still remember the first time I was invited to a BBQ up in Chicago. About an hour into the meal the host asked me why I was not eating. I said "I am waiting on the brisket and ribs to come out. Not sure why everyone is filling up on hamburgers and hotdogs.". He just looked at me strange and said "Uhhh... All we have is hamburgers and hotdogs. That is what we call a BBQ up here.". We were both embarrassed. Now if I am invited to a BBQ anywhere up North, I politely decline. If you get invited to a BBQ here in Texas (or at least rural Texas), pulled pork, brisket, ribs, and sausage are pretty much a minimum even for a "family gathering" (and for a "big" BBQ with mulitple families, you can expect a whole hog and maybe deer or goat). For a "really big" BBQ everyone shows up with their trailered smokers behind their truck and it turns into a 2-day affair 😉

On my last two Carnival cruises on the Vista they had something they actually called "pecan pie". Unfortunately, it was NOTHING like what any Texan would think a pecan pie actually is. It was more like a dry, grainy, cake with bits of pecan on top. Pretty sure it had absolutely no corn syrup in it. Absolutely terrible and a total waste of pecans 😞 I actually did a post about 2 years ago asking if ANY cruise-line had real pecan pie (the Royal Carribbean "pecan pie" is just as bad and flavorless) and never found one that did. Only thing I could come up with is that corn syrup is either too expensive or too messy for a ship. I can't think of a single corn syrup based dessert on any of my 50+ cruises. The moral to this story is that no matter what wonderful dish you can come up with, some bean-counter in Miami or Seattle can screw it up. Regional food differences are also an issue. Look no further than the stale, cake-like donuts that get served at breakfast. On one cruise I was joking with the Indian head chef and asked him why the donuts were so bad on all the cruise ships. He was "huhh. Our donuts are great. When we cruise out of New Jersey they love them. Not sure why everyone from Texas complains so much.". I did another cruise on the same ship two weeks later and brought a dozen Krispy Kreme and gave to him. His comment was "Wow!! These are fantastic!! I really wished we could make something like this. Unfortunately, I can only make what corporate tells me to make with the ingredients that they send."

That week will have nearly as many (if not more) than Xmas week. Most schools will be off that week and prices tend to be slightly cheaper than Xmas week. You should expect a LOT of kids based on my past experience. Probably the 1st or 2nd most kid-packed of the year (even more than the summer or Spring Break).