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This is such great news, well done Ryan. Little ones can be very tough and resilient. As a grandma with a grandson with multiple allergies and other aliments who always seems to be in and out of hospital it is heartening to read such a positive outcome 👍

Thank you so much. I've never met him, though I feel I have through his great reviews and posts over the years. I do totally agree his blog belongs here on CC. I don't do fb but if that's where his review is I may have to join . The WC is going to so many amazing destinations, I can't wait to hear all about it

Graham, on Symphony in May there were only a handful of passengers in the DL during happy hour, it certainly wasn't full. If it was restricted to just Pins I don't think there will be anyone in there. Serenade in the Caribbean was busier but we often found a seat during HH, if not we just went next door to the lovely Viking Crown Lounge

I agree, I was very disappointed with Windjammer the one time we had dinner there last cruise. Unfortunately there isn’t a sommelier on RC now. But our asst. water on Serenade was absolutely fabulous and was very prompt in getting us drinks

On Serenade it was one queue for reservations and one queue without. We prebooked on the planner, usually around 7 to 7.30 Hardly any wait. Great servers and they said we could have the same table (for 4, but just us, so plenty of room to spread out ), and to just to go straight to our table each evening. There was hardly any queue that I noticed on any night

We've been on Symphony and Serenade this year. Loved both. Nothing really negative to say except maybe the DL on Symphony, (positing, snacks and service) was not as good as Serenade. Love the VC lounge on Jewel class. Gym was good too. Shows were better on Symphony though OK on Serenade. Food was similar, maybe slightly better on Serenade. Nice salad bar with hot and cold sandwiches and cookies in the Solarium cafe for lunch. Outstanding service from our waiters in the MDR on Serenade I guess we've been on more Jewel class ships than Oasis

There's a thread about RC changing the name of the Diamond Lounge to Crown Lounge and barring Diamonds during HH on busy sailings

Agree, capacity is capacity, it works like that anyway. On Serenade last month we would usually visit around 6.30 and most time there were no spare seats. No big deal, we would grab a few snacks and take them next door to the VC lounge.

Thanks Dave, it's nice that some on here don't have the 'I'm alright Jack' attitude . Feel for those who are almost at Diamond and looking forward to ALL the full diamond perks. Sue

I agree, we eat late-ish, ideally around 7 to 7.30, though on med cruises late dinning can be 8.30. Often skip lunch or just have a something light, so a few snacks in the DL with a couple of drinks hits the spot. The hor d'oeuvres are different to anything in the Windjammer and the other bars don't have snacks. Especially like ships where the DL is next to the Viking Crown lounge so plenty of seating if the DL is full. Oh well if we're kicked out of the DL as lowly Diamonds we'll just have to suck it up. Wonder if by the time we get to D+ it will be just a Pin lounge

Beautiful pictures as always Aussie. I think the Australian Tourist Board should employ you, you always make me want to visit Australian

Me too

They regularly have water in the planner with a bigger discount (30% I think) when they have one of their cruise planner promotions If you have enough time wait till the next promotion I didn't know you could buy water in Royal Gifts except for the deal with the cooler

I don't think the cost to provide is much for either. What the management may factor in is the money they are losing because D/D+/pins are not buying the DP and WiFi because of the perks provided at these levels

Just after I took this photo the sun came out

We're having a named storm go through at moment. Not too bad in the South, lots of rain and wind mainly. But up north (where Graham is) and Scotland have had it pretty bad with flooding . Out on the River doing housekeeping chores, pumping out and filling up, getting the boat ready to be taken out next week. It's cold and cloudy here today

Thank you Bonnie, prayers and wishes for safety to Jacks family and of course to Dani and her family 🙏

Surely a large corporate travel company like Royal Caribbean can do the right thing in this case, their passenger is in a war zone! OP, I hope you are in a safe area and that you, your travel agent and Royal Caribbean can work something out

On Symphony in May, cruise was full but only 6-10 people in DL (CL?) for HH. We eat late and often skip lunch so like to pop in for a few snacks and a couple of drinks for an hour or so in the evening. Snacks weren't great (not as good as Serenade last month) and took ages for drinks to be delivered and often wrong. I would ask for a dry rose and I got sweet (yuck). Serenade with the lovely VC lounge next door was much better

You can pre buy through Royal Caribbean some bottles which will be waiting in your cabin when you arrive. I believe, as you bought through RC, there's no corkage charge if you take them into the dinning room . Probably not much different than buying on board though. And if you are diamond or above you can use one of your vouchers to get a 40% discount off a bottle of wine under $100 https://www.royalcaribbean.com/royalgifts/wine-liquor

+1, Happy anniversary, have a fab cruise 🛳 😀 Sue

This sounds an excellent cruise with interesting ports. Will enjoy reading along. Thank you for taking time out to do the blog. Hope your travels to embarkation port goes well 👍

Wow Debbie he sounds like a great boss. How absolutely fabulous 👌

Happy anniversary Greg and Mrs Sea Dog. Your cruise has great ports, will be following your blog with interest

Glad hubby's found his wanderlust again. When we were working we thought we would be jumping on cruises every other month and taking long trips abroad. But reality is we are probably doing the same amount of cruises as pre retirement, 2-3 a year and more short trips. Partly because of the grandchildren and family commitments, partly because of costs, living off pensions, cost of living etc, partly because of the boat which costs a small fortune in mooring fees, we need to get our money's worth out of it. We really enjoyed our European road trip this Summer and want to do more like this