HappyTexan44

Seems like the solution will be people regularly videotaping the treats. Maybe even have it started before you approach so they don't clam up when they see you start recording.

This brings up something related. What about charging batteries? Wouldn't need them on the ship, but for excursions they might be nice. Maybe they are called battery banks?

We also aren't guests invited over to someone's house for dinner. We pay to cruise, and we pay a pretty penny.

The price of a soda package is minor enough that if I wanted soda, I'd have one for myself. If the ship had freestyle machines, we'd all have one. But, as it is, since I completely avoid nutrasweet, and as much as possible avoid corn syrup, there won't be anything in a bartender's gun that I can drink. I'd understand the suggestion to be unofficially transferring the package, not cheating.

Well, bummer. Our ship, Voyager doesn't have the machines, so a bartender or employee will need to be involved to get sodas and apparently they sometimes check the seapass card. I'll cancel and rebook now while the price is still the same.

Is it possible to transfer a purchased beverage package to someone else within the group? At the moment I have the soda plus internet package for myself. If I decide I don't want the package for myself, can I transfer it to one of the kids? The plan was for the adults (mainly me) to use the one-device internet as needed for wifi-calling home. Does texting work on cell phones if you have wifi?

Interesting idea, since when they refund it will automatically settle.

I've had that happen multiple times in hotels. I think sheets aren't changed often and they get away with it. If I even suspect that the bedding wasn't changed, I'll spill water it so it is obvious that they were changed after I asked (or not)

Not for us. Destinations didn't enter the equation at all. I setup an excel sheet with every ship leaving from Galveston within our broad date range, with columns for amenities/activities on each ship and the cheapest price for connecting cabins. Yes, I am an engineer. Then I removed every amenity/activity that was on all ships. Then I removed the upcharge restaurants that remained since we wouldn't be doing those anyway. (Note freestyle wasn't in there since it wasn't advertised per ship, and at that point I thought it was on all) The next ship up from Voyager (Harmony?) was considerably more expensive, and I didn't think that the few extras justified the expense. Zipline had been the only thing interesting, and I thought we could take the money saved and do a whole zipeline excursion on our upcoming vacation. But then I really like laser tag and I envisioned us doing that together. There were a couple of smaller ships that were options, but they triggered the "Oh, no, we might be bored" worry. Voyager seemed the happy medium of activities/price. Note, this will be what I call our Starter Cruise, since we've never gone. So everything will be new to us on the ship. I've been to all the major ports that a Galveston cruise would visit, and the family has been to none. So all are equally interesting. I will be really interested to hear if the upcoming cruise mentioned that has sea days has laser tag. Sea-Day-only makes sense.

I did some googling and I found an article with this regarding Voyager, "You don't need kids to enjoy Battle for Planet Z, a free laser tag team game which takes place on sea days in Studio B. However, you will definitely need a pair of closed toe shoes." Does anyone on recently remember what was going on in Studio B?

To be fair to Royal, plants freezing off the coast of Texas isn't a normal thing.

Wait, what? No laser tag? That had been one of the deciding factors to pick Voyager. I was comparing price vs. activities.

It was in one order. I'm in one cabin with a teen and DH is in another cabin with a teen. I had just selected both of us when I placed the order. Although, someone mentioned that the $50 shows up per cabin so maybe I got two $50 OBC's and they just look the same. I'll have to spend one and see if the other stays.

Too bad they don't allow us to do Step 1 ahead of time, leisurely.

Tears in the sheets and confetti on the floor are facts not opinions. "Filthy" might be hyperbole, but either there were tears on the sheets and confetti, or the OP was lying. Assuming the OP wasn't lying, filthy seems like as good word.

That room sounds disgusting. It obviously wasn't cleaned, and also likely where you got the flu. I'd have demanded new clean sheets, and sat there while watching the room being cleaned. And some people wondered why I said I'd bring a bottle of H2O2 onboard to sanitize the rooms first thing.

Before you do the final booking, you could do a search for just your ship and your month. That won't tell you explicitly if it is in Dry Dock before or after, but it will tell where it is around your time frame. If you see cruises, you know you are good.

They save it for the most egregious people.

So, I'd bought two packages. We have two rooms with DH in one and Me in the other. It shows only $50 OBC, but then it still shows the pass.

So they give you the Freestyle cup to hand to someone, and because of what cup it is they fill it with fussing about seapass card, etc.?

No, not really. But, then Rome makes my heart go pitty-pat. I've been to a great many cities and all but one of them was wonderful. But I love Rome. When I was in college, I did the Europe Eurorail 'backpacking' thing. It was for 7 weeks and I spent over 3 weeks in Rome or nearby. For part of that trip I was with my Swedish friend doing her post-graduation continental trip and she wanted to avoid Italy because of the World Cup, otherwise I probably would have spent more time there.

Also, I wonder if people have extra PTO time that they didn't use when they were afraid to leave their house?

I'm with you in that I'm committed to the nonrefundable cruise. So, I'm closely reading the reviews hoping to spot something on each menu where people say, "Well, this item was pretty good." So far it seems the kitchen is still getting used to the new items, so I haven't started a list yet.

People that are mean to wait staff eat spit. Never done it myself, or seen it, but I've heard about from people that laughed about doing it.

I'd have a hard time even getting on the ship if it was in Rome. I'd be like some kid whining, "Do I have to go on this cruise?" Galveston on the hand ... I love Texas, but that is a whole different story.