rudeney

I am with you on all that! I was just pointing out my observation that the effort for a stateroom with 1 person vs. 2 is really no different, but it is when there are more than 2 in the room.

Good point! I've never had an issue getting a chair in the suite section.

I wasn't really saying you have to "reserve" a chair. What I was trying to say is make it a monetary penalty, like the $25 they charge for failure to return a towel. They can put up signs and threaten to remove belongings, but until chair-hogs get hit in the wallet, they will keep doing it. So maybe instead of reserving a chair, you go to the towel stand and have your SeaPass card scanned where you get a card to place on a chair that you are using. To get your deposit back, you have to return the card. The crew can watch and whenever a card sits on a chair for more than 30 minutes, they collect them and the hog loses the deposit.

I wish I could answer that but we are not Diamond yet and can’t go in. If I can find out the answer I’ll let you know. I suspect is self-serve. We aren't Diamond, either, but two weeks ago on Voyager, everything in the Suite Lounge (except bar drinks) was self-serve.

The thing is, a cabin with one person in it is really no easier to maintain that with two people. But adding a 3rd and 4th passenger, the attendant has to deal with the extra bedding. If they really wanted to be fair to the crew, (at least the stateroom staff) there would be a flat gratuity per room based on double-occupancy, then add to that per additional occupant.

They make you check-out towels, surely they can come up with a system where you have to check-out a chair.

This is what I usually carry: Two of these: These: And these: I only used one of the 120v cubes and the two USB bricks. I had plenty of outlets for two phones, a laptop, a Kindle, and our rechargeable night light. I also brought a 10-foot USB cord for a phone on the far side of the bed.

This came up on the All-Access Tour on Voyager a few weeks ago. The security officer made a comment about not having a COVID quarantine section anymore. I assume that if you test positive on that ship, you are just quarantined to your own room.

Every time I see a thread titles "Tips" I get my hopes up that it will tips about cruising and not just another thread about gratuities.

Great choice on the shirt - that's the one I'd have picked! I have several Tommy Bahama shirts like that and they do run long. It's the style I guess.

Unfortunately, they use a 3rd part "processing company" for lost and found: https://www.chargerback.com/

Have a couple of those, too. I ended up not using them on the last cruise because I brought a couple of 3-outlet USB fast chargers so I had plenty of plugs. I am thinking about this two-room thing you do. We always sail in suites for the extra room, but It'd be nice to get the extra points and have two bathrooms, Hmm....

Yep, I brought two adapters just like this. Everything we needed to plug in, except my laptop charger and my wife's curling iron are USB. I also brought a USB-powered alarm clock that projects on the ceiling (much easier than rolling over the grab a phone) and one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08V1H1P7L My wife likes to have a nightlight in the bathroom and this worked perfectly - only had to recharge once all week.

I can't help with reservations on Wonder, but you should probably try to get on as early as possible and then hit the closest specialty venue to make them. I will say that on Voyager the week before last, we had the UDP and ate in specialty dining every night but one, and it was never more than half full. I am pretty sure you don't have to buy UDP for everyone, but if anyone without it accompanies you to dinner, they will have to pay "cash" prices, and they charge based on age - not what you order, except in the a la carts restaurants.

To save $35 on the DBP, I'd cancel and rebuy. I probably wouldn't do that with shorex, The Key or UDP for fear of it being sold-out when trying to re-purchase.

That is correct - each person who buys The Key will have an individual Voom login. Note that everyone in the room has to buy it, or no one can have it.

And that's a real issue. Why is the paper, that was printed the night before, more up-to-date than dynamic web/app content that can be changed with a few keystrokes? If RCCL is trying to push everyone into the app, they need to make sure it's properly updated.

Besides shore excursions, I think the only things they "run out of" are The Key and the UDP.

I think this is the same "service dog" on Voyager last week.

My advice is to avoid shoulder surgery unless there is no other option, I wen tin Dec. 2019 for a simple bone spur and arthritis cleanup and came out with 4 pins and a 6-way rotator cuff repair that is just in the last year began to function normally. Add to that a C5/C6 disk issue due to "surgical positioning" and I wish had had just put up with the pain.

It does sound like they are phasing out the printed Cruise Compass, but a week ago, Voyager had them. We got one every day, and I asked some others on the ship to make sure it wasn't because of our age or being in a suite - everyone got them. I am guessing it's ship-specific, though. I think it's just cost-cutting, and hopefully they will still print them for those of us who do want them. If not, then they need to really beef up the app so we can flag things we want to do and create reminders and daily plans.

With current onboard cocktail prices at $14, you only need to drink 5 a day to make $68 for the DBP a better value. Of you are like me and drink mixed drinks, choose the top-shelf liquor, you're looking at around $12/drink, so 6 a day at this price. And that doesn't count any soft drinks, bottled water, fresh juice, etc. If those numbers meet your expected beverage consumption, then $68 is a good price.

We booked our last cruise (which we return from a week ago) back in March. I checked prices in Cruise Planner each day. I didn't have the opportunity to get any Black Friday prices, but every holiday - Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day - had a "sale" that did offer the lowest prices. My advice: Check every day because sometimes they make mistakes, like when on some cruises, The Key was offered at less than the price of Voom by itself. Even if not, you'll get an idea for the range of prices and be ready to jump when what you want bottoms out.

There are a few things that COVID precautions have made better. This boarding process is definitely one of them. I definitely do not miss the days of waiting in a queue at the check-in desk to then spend time answering questions and filling in forms. Doing all of this in the app so that all we have to do is show ID and a SetSail pass is a tremendous improvement. The idea of reserved check-in times helps pace the crowds, but honestly, even when they don't enforce these arrival times, crowds are not that bad and things move much more quickly than they did when we had to visit the counters. Unless passengers get held in waiting before boarding, it's almost a continually moving queue right onto the ship. Of course the other big thing that is now much better is the discontinuation of the ship-wide muster drill. Being able to watch a video and then check-in with the crew after boarding is so much less stressful. I always thought they should have somehow penalized those passengers who showed up late to the drills because the rest of us had to stand there waiting on them. This new process means no one has to wait on those selfish people.

Or just stop into Giovanni's when you board (that's the closest place) and they can help you there.