CruisingWalter

Alaska has very limited capacity for most of their shore excursions. Yes you should book any and all excursions that you absolutely want to do in advance. The most popular excursions will sell out in Alaska well in advance. I believe you must cancel your excursions 24 hours in advance to get a refund. You can switch to another excursions if one is available. Check the terms and conditions for the cancellation policy of your particular cruise line. It's possible an excursions may get added between now and June but they are pretty much locked in at this point. It's possible if an excursions sells out and there is more capacity, another run of the same excursion will be added, but for the most part, cruise lines lock in their excursions by now. Alaska is an excellent cruise for booking independent shore excursions. We booked Harv and Mark whale watching in Juneau, Temsco Helicopters Dog Sled/Glacier helo tour in Skagway and a bushplane tour with Pilot Michelle and Island Air Wings in Ketchikan. You can also use sites like shore excursions group to find more independent options. Weather in Alaska runs from cooler mornings to hot afternoons depending on where you are and which month it is. Our temps ranged from 30s to 70s when we did our land/sea tour with Princess in the last week of May, first week of June. The coldest temps were during our 7 days on land, especially in Denali and Copper River. On the ship, I don't think it got much colder than 40 in the mornings. If your hands and toes tend to get cold, chemical warms for your gloves and shoes are fabulous. I only used them in Denali National Park but they were godsend when I needed them. Other than Ketchikan and Glacier Bay it was primarily dry with a lot of sunshine. Some overcast from time to time but it wasn't wet all the time. It was simply stunning, I came home with 3600+ photos. If anyone in your family is a photo buff and has a camera that takes interchangeable lenses, look at lensrentals to rent a long lens. So much to see and photograph in Alaska. 🙂

The Junior Suites are much larger in terms of the cabins themselves. Much wider cabins and larger bathrooms along with the walk-in closet in the junior suites. The Princess Mini Suites are essentially slightly stretched balcony cabins. The only real upgrade is the tub in the shower if you want that. But the cabin itself is slightly longer with the same sized balcony as a regular balcony cabin for the most part. If you get the Reserve Mini Suites (which used to be called Club Level) you get added benefits in the main dining room which we thought was the best perk. In our case on Crown Princess, the dining captain made a fresh entree each evening in the MDR which was awesome. If you're not upgrading to the Reserve Mini Suites, I'm not sure there's a whole lot gained with the Mini Suite on Princess in terms of cabin size and amenities vs. a good balcony cabin. Junior Suites on RCCL are among the best value at sea honestly if you're looking for a larger cabin than a standard balcony. And at least on Oasis class, that Lavazza coffee maker in the cabin was a real winner for me too. 🙂

If it's Terminal A which is the big one near the at the end of the port, be sure to be in the left lane as you're approaching that area. The parking garage entrance is in the left lane as you approach it, BEFORE you go all the way around it to the drop off area near the ship. The entrance had no overhead signage that we saw, I just happened to notice the entrance ramp as we were driving up. Fortunately a port worker stopped traffic in the left lane and I was able to cut across. That easily saved 30-45 minutes vs. having to the follow the traffic around the garage to the drop off area and then into the garage. That road you see on the right was completely jammed with cars when we were approaching, but that's the entrance to the garage from the left lane.

One, never assume anything. If you purchased The Key and you know it comes with a lunch, you also know you get priority embarkation. Which means you show up as soon as embarkation starts. In Florida that would be around 10:30-11:00am. I'm not sure what time it would have started for you in that location, but I would have been at the port at whatever that first boarding time is. Side note, the embarkation lunch is not worth it, we'll skip it the next time we have The Key and go elsewhere. Two, The Key is about much more than just food. I see nothing in your post to 'beware the key.' If you got it at the right price, you saved money using The Key vs. paying for WiFi alone to get some of the extra perks. We used The Key on our Symphony of the Seas sailing and simply waited till the cost of The Key was very close to the price of WiFi alone. It was a great value for us. Three, you were directed to the incorrect dining room. And? I'm sorry but this is a classic 'first world problem' to complain about. How long did it take you to get to the 'correct dining room?' Five or ten minutes? There's only so far that 'correct dining room' would have been. I'm assuming you found the correct dining room with no issues and had a satisfactory breakfast before you left the ship. All in all, I would still recommend The Key to folks if the price is right. Keep an eye on it and when the price is similar to the WiFi package, go for it. Skip the embarkation lunch, take advantage of the priority boarding, and take advantage of the perks at the shows.

I'm really glad the OP had a great time on the tour. I highly recommend at least one tour on a cruise ship because it is remarkable how the entire operation works. We did our tour on a Celebrity ship and the part that fascinated me the most was actually the refuse area. Incredible how they deal with the trash and recyclables that are generated on the ship. As for the vlogger discussion, as someone who worked in television, film production and marketing for almost 30 years and who has been a prolific vlogger for about 10 for myself and others, there is a 'right way' and 'wrong way' to go about vlogging. The right way is to do it in a way that minimizes intrusion into others vacations, especially if you're livestreaming. Whenever we livestream from a ship, theme park or any other public location we always set up in a position where there are no people behind us. Or if there are, they are far in the distance, not recognizable. People who livestream all day while walking around a ship, theme park or other public area are the worst. When filming, I do my best to minimize filming other people in the footage which is difficult when you're in a big public area. Definitely no children. And when at dinner, the food vlogs are the most popular part of my TikTok and YouTube channels, I use a phone in vertical mode to film me. That minimizes the field of view beyond me and when I'm editing the clips later, I can either blur or zoom in a bit to cut out any unnecessary folks in the background. In my case I started vlogging to share what I hoped was useful information for others who might go travel and it was a natural extension of what I was going in my 'day job.' Now it's really found an audience and it's just part of all my travels. Now that I've moved on from full time creative and marketing it's a way for me to keep active in the tools and techniques of video production.

Secret doors, no. Secret shows, yes, by invite only.

Unfortunately some unscrupulous TAs snag the handicap cabins for their perfectly capable clients to give them the larger cabins. It's up to RCCL to demand proof that the clients really do require that cabin, but oftentimes, it's not requested. It really stinks when there is a limited supply of them and people who actually need them can't get one.

The phone message says to press a certain button if you ARE a travel agent. If you're working with a travel agent, always let them deal with the matter. Guests calling directly into the cruise lines tend to mess things up more than they help. Let your TA take care of things directly.

As others have mentioned, the B2B are not one cruise, but two. So Royal doesn't owe you anything towards that second cruise. It sounds you like you booked directly vs. using a travel agent. Travel agents can always help in this situation. My advice would be to book the 7 night cruise after the short one if you have the time available to do so. At least your cruise was cancelled with plenty of notice and plenty of time to switch. Liberty of the Seas April 21 was cancelled just 10 days ago. Two months before the cruise.

Sounds like us, we were booked way back in 2019 and had to rebook three times before finally sailing Scarlet in 2022. But we've only been once so far. We have two more sailings coming up in April and November. I can't repeat one cruise line too many times in a row, they get stale for me. 3 times for one cruise line in a row is about my limit. We've been on 8 of them so far, MSC will be next, and that should be interesting with the wild mix of reviews out there for that line. 🙂

Sounds like their take on a formal night. Dress up for the night and call yourself 'fancy.' Basic rule of Virgin Voyages is don't overthink anything. Dress fancy if you want or not, they really don't care. 🙂

The pools are ridiculously small with very little lounge seating around them. If you get there early enough, there are sort of 'bed type loungers' tucked up under Deck 16 that are sort of comfortable triangular padded things. Those big round weird bed things are at the back of Deck 16 near the net, barely used by anyone as is the big padded area behind the net that was looking quite a bit worse for wear when we sailed Scarlet. However, a space that does not get mentioned much at all with fantastic outdoor seating are the 'porches' on Deck 7 midship. I don't know what their official names are, but there are two really nice wings set out in the middle of Deck 7 between the lifeboats that are quite lovely. Varied seating and often empty because most folks gravitate towards The Dock at the aft of Deck 7. Completely uncovered but since they are on both sides of the ship you can choose the side opposite the sun to get shade. Much of the seating inside the ship is quite comfortable and there is a huge variety of seating to choose from. The Dock House has all sorts of comfortable seating as does On The Rocks and Sips champagne lounge. I can't say I paid much attention to the seating in the restaurants other than to remember I wasn't uncomfortable anywhere. The big wooden chairs at the back of the Dock on Deck 7 for me were the most uncomfortable chairs on the entire ship other than those small silver chairs on the balconies. Otherwise, the ship was quite inviting and social. VV has a Celebrity vibe and I think they compare very nicely. Celebrity absolutely wins for the pools, but you'll find the overall vibe of the ship quite similar. We've sailed 8 cruise lines including four 4 times so far with Celebrity. VV honestly compares most closely to Celebrity and Disney for overall quality, food quality and the quality of the crew. VV has some of the best crew we've ever met and it is nice to see a crew who can express themselves a bit more. Plus they're among the highest paid in the industry and they get free WiFi. I think how they are treated by the company really shows in their performance. For us, right now VV is among the best cruise experience at sea. No nickel and diming, almost all-inclusive, no photographers, no hard sell, amazing crew, best food by far of any cruise line. We'll be back on Scarlet in April and Valiant for the first time in November. Between those we'll be cruising MSC, Princess, possibly Celebrity again and probably another RCCL.

VV is in the process of evaluating all of their shows. They've been running basically the same shows since they launched, time for a refresh to keep things from getting stale. No clue why people liked NSA so much. Terrible show with an actress who was trying way too hard to be provocative. We made it through about 10 minutes and walked out. Great band though.

Thanks for the heads up! Overall the Roll Calls have been much quieter throughout CC since the restart with so many folks starting FB groups instead. I find that exhausting compared to have the roll calls for all the cruises lines in one place. 🙂

By the 7th cruise the ship and the crew should be well underway in figuring out the kinks. With any new ship, the cruise line will cherry pick the best of the best from their existing ships to be part of the launch team. So you're going to have leaders who are well versed in the Virgin way of doing things helping everyone else get up to speed quickly. Virgin is building four identical ships so that makes it much easier to train new folks because everything is the same. All the other cruise lines usually tweak this, that or the other, but it appears VV is sticking to the original plan of four identical ships. The only thing I will say is that Valiant Lady seemed to get worse reviews for the overall food quality than Scarlet Lady when she was in Europe. The meals and menu are essentially the same, but the food suppliers would be different in Europe. Other than the culinary team onboard the two ships, that would be the major difference. I have not seen many, if any, complaints about the food quality during her winter season here in Miami. So that might be one little thing to watch for when you sail Resilient. But heading out on a ship in her second month of operation is a lot different than being first. I will say VV seems to have had the most successful MerMaiden voyages of any cruise line I've watched. Probably in part because they do keep it simple and all of the ships are identical. You should have an amazing time on your voyage!

I posted an article earlier where the former CEO of Royal Caribbean says the island was built to hold three Oasis Class ships on the same day. I have no idea where the third one would dock, but that's the quote from Royal. My expectation would be that the third ship would be a much smaller class of ship.

Hideaway Beach will not open until Q4 2023. Right now it's a fenced off area that you will see on your tram ride.

Fourth Quarter 2023 according to the Earnings Call that happened yesterday or today. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/02/07/royal-caribbean-executives-talk-cococay-expansion-higher-prices-more

Article from 2019, but Coco Cay was designed for 3 ships, not 2. Back then they were expecting up to 12,000 to be at CocoCay at full capacity, but now I guess the number is 13,000 with Icon class. “We’re kind of feeling pretty optimistic about the potential for three ship calls versus two ship calls that could take us up to 12,000 (guests) a day,” Michael Bayley added. (former CEO) https://cruise-arabia.com/2019/05/01/royal-caribbean-says-perfect-day-at-cococay-could-handle-three-oasis-ships-at-once/

I'm most curios how Icon will impact the overall island since she is designed from the ground up to to sail with 3 or more passengers in most of her cabins.

All cruise lines cancel occasionally. Carnival just announced a cancellation yesterday for a charter. In general the charters are announced at least a year in advance, but not always. When Valiant Lady launched, VV made a very bad move to cancel four cruises so ABC could film the bachelorette onboard. The bad move was because they cancelled literally three weeks before the first cruise. And with only one ship in Europe, there was nowhere for the folks to rebook. That was a horrible deal for those who booked their holidays. And the same does hold true right now if VV were to cancel a cruise, you would have no option to hop on another ship normally. Right now the only time there are two ships together is during the winter season in Miami. So yes, I would expect VV to cancel cruises from time to time due to a charter, the same as every other cruise line out there.

Just saw this on a cruise industry news site. With the release of Icon and the opening of the adults-only Hideaway Beach, Coco Cay capacity will be increased to 13,000 guests per day. I get that people will use Hideaway Beach, but does this have the potential to overwhelm the water park and other areas? We've only visited with one Oasis class ship and it was lovely. How is it for you folks who are there with 2 or 3 ships at a time? https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/02/royal-caribbean-expanding-cococay-for-13000-guests-daily/

Food is the best at sea right now. We love the NCL specialty dining and VV is like eating at a specialty dining restaurant each night. The Waterfront on NCL has a bit of a nicer setup all the way around the ship, it's a bit industrial on VV with the lifeboats mounted above the deck. But the Dock is far superior to anything on NCL's Waterfront with the food, the views and the overall ambiance. The live entertainment is certainly different. NCL has the big shows including Broadway shows. VV is decidedly different and they're actually in a changeover time right now. VV has awesome live music throughout the ship but the bigger live shows can leave some scratching their heads. Our favorites were Duel Reality and the Diva show. Casino is non smoking on VV which is a huge plus for us, though we really don't gamble. It's really nice to be able walk through the casino without feeling like an ashtray. Having all the meals, WiFi, gratuities and soft drinks makes so much sense and it is nice to have no photographers following you around. Pools are weak if you actually want to swim, but for lounging and talking to folks, they're ok. The net is useless, good to take one photo but ridiculously uncomfortable and wasted space. Bathrooms are tiny in the main cabins, lovely in the suites. Overall, VV is our current favorite cruise line of the 8 we have sailed so far. They compare nicely with Celebrity and even Disney which is no surprise given the CEO.

Deck 14 is also directly beneath the gym and pools so you definitely do not want that deck. Decks 10, 11, 12 puts you about halfway between the lower decks and top decks. As for the location front to back, it's a mid sized ship so it really doesn't matter where you set yourself up on the ship. We had a Cheeky Corner Suite the first time on the aft and it was lovely to walk straight up to the Galley, down to the Dock and the Wake. But super convenient to go anywhere. In April we have a Sea Terrace about midship and in November we're going for an Insider midship Deck 10. Honestly, it's a good sized ship with things spread out so no need to really worry about a specific location to take advantage of activities or food. Work through a travel agent so you can choose the specific location or just book online via the website and the system will randomly place you somewhere on the ship.

There are some cabins that sleep three or four. All of the Cheeky Corner Suites have an adjoining Sea Terrace if you wanted to go that route. And of course the Solo Insider and Sea View are an option for your daughter. Reach out to a travel advisor so they can book you into specific cabins so you'll be close together if that what you'd like to do.