ARandomTraveler

I had this same question when I sailed Symphony. The comedy shows didn't show up on the schedule until boarding day (I think 1 or 2 might have popped up a week or so in advance). I was pleasantly surprised when I boarded to find there were many comedy shows throughout the week. Maybe they let the comedians pick which days they feel like working each sailing or something. Who knows.

Colorado's casinos are all non-smoking

From what I understand, the casino on spectrum is entirely smoke free. Of course it's serving a different market so not sure if it offers any real indication of how it would be on other cruises.

Well shoot - I better get on top of this and figure out if I can exchange some dollars here at home before I leave. I'm pretty sure my bank charges a hefty International ATM fee, and my credit card company charges a fee for "cash advances" which is what it would be to take out money from an atm (if that's even possible). I've read posts from people saying they've gotten foreign currency from their local AAA. I have one near me so I'll check there tomorrow and see what they say. I leave in 8 days so I might be too late. Thank you to everyone for your replies.

I just bought the Japan Rail pass, which should arrive in the mail in a day or two. From the research I've done, the Japan Rail pass is worth buying if you'll do at least 1 round trip from Tokyo to another city like Kyoto or Osaka. You have to buy it and have it shipped to your house before you get to Japan (shipping says it takes 2 days, but if you purchase on a Thursday or Friday, it will take closer to 5 days to get to you). If you'll only be using local trains in Tokyo (or Kyoto or Osaka), the SUICA card is more useful and less money. You buy the actual card, and load it with money, at the train station in Japan. The difference between the SUICA and the ICOCA (from the limited amount I read about it) is where you can go to get your money back if you don't use up all the money you pre-loaded onto it. The excess funds on the SUICA card can be refunded in Tokyo, and the excess funds loaded onto the ICOCA can be refunded only in Osaka or Kyoto or something like that. Otherwise they're basically the same. I leave for my trip next week so take what I've said and do some backup research in case I'm wrong. Heres a blog I read that gives a lot of info: https://www.twowanderingsoles.com/blog/how-to-purchase-japan-rail-pass-ticket

Thanks everyone for your tips! I'll be headed to Singapore next week for several days before my cruise, which will drop us off in Japan. Very excited to get to see this country!!

Ever been to Paris and walked the Champs Elysees? You gotta step over a loooootta gypsies looking to take your money there too. I've traveled a lot of places and the places I've felt the most unsafe in are all in the United States.

Adventure has them and yes they are available 24/7 on the promenade.

I got an email for Royal Up 18 days prior to my next cruise. It also showed up in my "upcoming reservations" section, right beneath the button to get into the cruise planner where you buy drink and dining packages etc. I didn't bother to try because I'm happy with the room type and location I picked. Our ship is sold out anyway. They're offering bids for rooms that haven't been available since 10 months ago.

It's not a 3-day pass, it's a 3-meal pass. So if you choose to use it for lunch one day, you can't also use it for dinner that same day without using up another one of your 3 days. As @Biker19 said, it makes little sense to use it for lunch. The price of a 3-day meal package is usually around $132, which is $44/meal. You can generally purchase lunch at a specialty restaurant for less than $44, so you'd be wasting one of your meals to use it on a lunch. I had the UDP on my last cruise and we got great use out of it, but we really had to force feed ourselves. Lunches and dinners at a specialty restaurant all in one day was so much food, and also so much time spent sitting around a dining table instead of doing something more fun or more relaxing (in my opinion). However, for my next cruise, I started buying dinners a-La-carte because certain ones were on sale, but then I got to the point where I had booked enough of them that I may as well have booked a 3 or 5 day plan, and then at that point I was like "f- it, I'll just book the unlimited plan again." So I went ahead and bought it, with the mindset that I won't get my dollar-for-dollar value out of it, but it would decrease the decision making about when to use the "coveted" days in one of the limited plans. It's there for it I want it, it opens up every dining option on the ship, any day I want it, and I don't have to worry about it. If I end up having over-paid for it because I eat at the windjammer or the main dining room more nights, so be it. Moral of the story - I'd either book individual restaurants that you know you want to go to (and therefore you can pick which day and time you want to go before getting on the ship), or just pay for the unlimited plan.

Did Spectrum have Starlink?

As someone who gets seasick, forward venues are where I feel the most movement, including on Oasis class ships in calm seas.

I'll find out in 2 weeks, not sailing Odyssey but I'll be on Spectrum, which is also a Quantum Ultra-Class, and it has the Patisserie. It also has a tea shop. I'm not sure if that's a venue specific to Spectrum or if Odyssey has one also, but to my knowledge, the drink package works there.

I'm 43, not a full empty nester yet, but my daughter is going into her senior year at college so she lives out of state most of the year. I will say that age-wise I don't necessarily fit the demographic, but I have the parental, financial and lifestyle mindset of an empty nester. We went on our first Oasis class (Symphony) during Thanksgiving week and loved it. I thought there was way more to do on the ship as a "childless" adult than there was for kids, and I think I enjoyed the ship far more with her as an older "kid" than I would have if I had brought her on there as an actual kid. I loved all the options for things to do, tons of shows, places to eat, music venues to hang out in, and places to find a lounger where there weren't any people with young children. It was great, my favorite class of ship of the 3 classes I've sailed so far (Voyager class, Freedom class and Oasis class).

I have 4 cruises booked right now, 2 with Royal and 2 with Celebrity, and the Celebrity premium drink packages are the most expensive at $86.99/day.

You'll get the whole $500 back as long as you cancel before the final payment date. The $138 just makes your final payment $138 more expensive. Definitely worth it in my opinion. I just put deposits on 2 cruises (back-to-back) that charged $450 each to make them refundable, and I thought it was worth it. The cruises aren't until next year and I'm willing to pay $900 more for the option to change my plans, rather than forking over an $1800 deposit and being required to leave it earmarked for another cruise or losing it altogether if I want to do something else. I prefer to have the flexibility of changing my mind. I look at the lower price as the discount for being willing to sacrifice the flexibility, rather than looking at the extra cost as a penalty.

Based on the way I read your post, it kind of sounds like you'd rather go on the cruise that takes you to new ports you haven't visited. But those options are $900 more than the Oasis balcony, so you need some convincing to spend the money. I think one of the benefits of cruising is getting to see so many new places in the span of one vacation. Unless I'm going on a cruise to completely check-out, lay in the sun and do nothing, then I tend to choose a cruise that at least takes me to 1 new place (which is getting hard to do, hence why 3 of my next 4 cruises require me to fly halfway around the world to get to them). An 11 day cruise going to a bunch of places that you've never been, and that you might not consider going to on a land vacation sounds like the best, most interesting, biggest bang for your buck option to me. Plus the Panama Canal and South American itineraries aren't very common with Royal Caribbean, so if you don't pick that one, the opportunity might not come up again for a while. If you can swing the extra $900 and 4 more days of vacation time, that would be my choice.

Thanks for this! I thought they stopped doing the Wow bands. I'll definitely buy them for my next cruise. I wish they'd let us buy them in the cruise planner so they'd be waiting for us in the room with the key cards. I hate standing in line at guest services.

Do they limit the number or people, or is the service just unreliable in general?

Someone wrote a trip report that I read this week that mentioned using the luggage valet in Seattle, so I assume it's up and running again.

I'm aware of it. My cruise will be spending 2 days in Hong Kong.

I do more all-inclusive than cruises (about 3 AI's to every 1 cruise). But I have to agree here. Cruise entertainment is far superior, even to the most high end expensive all-inclusives. Especially for kids and teens. For teens, a cruise is absolutely a better option. Now, if the dad getting unlimited drinks for the least money is this family's #1 vacation priority, by all means, go with the all-inclusive, but if he's open to suggestions, then I'd suggest he pay up for the drink package and let his family have the most fun.

Huh? Who said anything about a travel advisory. And how is Singapore and China apples to oranges? They go to the same Asian ports. If by "travel advisory" you mean the notice about it being an immersive cruise and 90% Asian etc, I did get that same email for my Singapore cruise. Other than that I don't know what you're referring to, or why you think my cruise around Asia doesn't count as Asian.

Uh oh. I hope my sailing doesn't get cancelled. Spectrum was built by Meyer Werft. It sounds like the only reason MSC cancelled was because they refused delivery of the ship, so maybe it's not something so serious that all the other ships in operation have to be removed from service, but just something that gave them the right to refuse taking ownership until it was fixed.

I'm headed out on a cruise that leaves from Singapore, stops in Nha Trang Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. I'll be spending several days in Singapore before the cruise, and a couple weeks in Japan at the end. I know Singapore and Japan are really good about accepting digital payments, so using Apple pay and credit cards will be my primary method of payment. However, I'm not sure about Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan. I'm also not sure if there are instances in Singapore or Japan where cash would be preferred or necessary (like food stalls and taxis etc). I'll bring US dollars onto the ship for tips, but should I bring additional US dollars to exchange for local currency at any of the other places?