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Tevana replaced Tazo as the paid tea option, which is inline with what Starbucks carries land-side (I think Starbucks owns Tevana). Bigelow is the free tea option, which is better than the dodgy brands they used to carry.

I think the algorithm is set up to put the Pinns as far away from the Suite Lounge/CK as possible. 😛

Bear Down! First thing my wife does when she sees the room attendant is ask for a mattress topper. What they have aren't the greatest, but I find them to make the beds comfortable enough.

Singapore is wonderful to visit and if the ship is going to be mainly Singaporeans with some Aussies and others sprinkled in then I can't think of a better crowd. Almost everyone in Singapore speaks English, especially the demographic that will be going on a cruise. I managed a team in Singapore years ago so I spent quite a bit of time there, and my kids loved going there. We're probably going to cruise Spectrum next December as well. We haven't been back since my kids were pre-teens, and we were supposed to cruise Voyager out of Singapore in Summer 2020 to celebrate my son's high school graduation, but COVID had other plans so this would now be to celebrate his high school AND college graduation. A few days in Singapore along with a 5 day cruise sounds perfect to me.

Boarding Navigator today and the Royal app shows they have a menorah (chanukiah) lighting service every night in the Star Lounge.

Too funny. I also prefer to carve at the top of the wave, and my wife calls me a boring Flowrider as well. Meanwhile my 20 YO son gets on the wave with no shirt to show off his 6 pack and does Show Pony 360s, and everyone goes nuts. I don't bother with the Show Pony because with this middle-aged Dad body, getting into that position would probably entail a visit to the medical center afterwards. He's joining us on Navigator next week, but they don't usually do BOTB so I think I will be spared another defeat at his hands (not that I really mind).

3 is perfect. Just enough time to catch your breath. Even more perfect if the 3 in line are my 2 sons and me! 🏄‍♂️

Sometime in Early 2023: PRESENTER: And the award for "Least Surprising Announcement by a Cruise Line, 2022" goes to....No more Diamond Plus members in Concierge Lounge, Royal Caribbean International! ANNOUNCER: Accepting this award on behalf of Royal Caribbean is Micheal Bayley MB: I'd just like to thank all of the people who made this day possible. I remember when we set this whole process in play when we first kicked Diamond members out of the Concierge lounge years ago. Then we had the genius idea to get rid of the Concierge Lounge concept and rebrand the concept as the Suite Lounge, and never let D+ in in the first place. Anyone who cruises with us enough to reach those statuses has seen this coming for years. COVID delayed our plan for this announcement, but the overwhelming return of our loyal customers to cruising, along with giving loyalty points away like candy during COVID brought us to that day in December where we made what I think was the least surprising announcement in the history of the Cruise Industry. I hope to be up here in the coming years when we make further announcements about the rebrand of the Diamond Lounge to "People Who Like to Congratulate Themselves for How Much They Cruise Lounge" which will be reserved for our Pinnacle and Diamond Plus members and.... ORCHESTRA PLAYS HIM OFF Commercial Break

Your weather sounds wonderful to me. Going on Navigator next week and looks like the high temps will be around 60 🥶. I packed the wetsuits in the Flowbag this morning.

Always good to bring a bunch of people along to keep the Flow widow occupied. I really want to do this itinerary. Haven't been to Aruba/Curacao since the pre-Flowrider days so this one is on my wish list.

Maybe they'll make the room attendants work in the MDR in the evening. Might speed up the service everyone is complaining about.

If it is all about the kids I'd go with Freedom class. At that age my kids were 100% into kid's club and the water playground. If they have never been on a cruise that should be enough to blow their minds. They will probably be too small for the slides, and really the only thing that will be missing from Oasis class that they could do is the merry-go-round. Plus on Freedom class the slides are at the back of the ship, so you can avoid that part of the ship so they don't feel disappointed for being too small to do those activities. On Oasis class the slides are everywhere you go, so you can't miss them. Then if you want to take them again as they get a bit older and big enough to do slides/Flowrider you can go with Freedom class again or go large with Oasis class or Icon, which would blow their minds once again.

I bought one of these last week at Costco. Imported the app via Smart Switch from my phone (Samsung Z Flip 3) and it works fine. Tablet came with Android 12 though.

RIP Wipe Out Cafe Breakfast as it was a tradition for me. It was great for grabbing a quick bite on the way to early sessions on the Flowrider without the bedlam of the WJ. The made to order omelettes were a hidden gem. I agree that the post-breakfast offerings in Wipe-out were crap, but El Loco Fresh isn't any better. You basically go from school cafeteria quality cheeseburgers to school cafeteria quality tacos. I haven't been going to Park Cafe for the kummelfat sandwiches for awhile now. Sounds like they are doing their best to ruin the pre-amplification charm of Allure.

Some day we will be on a cruise together and they can start a support group.

I have a pair of full length bottoms, a pair of shorts, and a front zip jacket. Gives me flexibility depending on how cold it is vs a full suit. You can also go thicker on the jacket and thinner on the bottoms so you are not as constrained on the legs. I agree with the earlier post that you don't need anything fancy since you are not diving in it. I just order whatever is relatively cheap on Amazon.

My wife (the original Flow Widow) wishes you were correct.

The Wave House in San Diego had a hot tub on the Flow Barrel for those waiting in line. Only got to do it once years ago before it closed.

Just go use the toilet in the casino. No one expects you to get a straight flush there.

I have only sailed single Flowrider ships since the new rules, and to this point I am loving the new rules. Early on, the noobs got their chance to do two face plants, then they get shooed away for the day, but the last time (August on Ovation) they wouldn't even let them try unless they said they had done it before, and they only got the band if they could control themselves. Leaves only a handful of people who can do stand-up and I ended up getting more runs in than when on the ships with 2 Flowriders. I think the stand-up junkies pick the double Flowrider ships by default, so you tend to get more who can do it on those cruises. For my Ovation Alaska cruise in August I had my wet suit with me day one and ended up having the wave to myself for almost 4 hours, even with it being a mixed session, and it not being that cold. I have never in my life had to take myself off the Flowrider due to exhaustion and sit and watch an empty wave while I catch my breath, but this was a first. The Key seems to be a better idea for Flowrider purposes on shorter cruises, since it seems they do one Key session per cruise regardless of length of cruise. On a 3 Day Navigator cruise a guy had the Key and had the wave to himself for an hour one morning. If you are already going to pay for wifi it makes sense on a 3-day if the Key is only a few bucks more a day, not so much on a longer cruise. I still miss the early days of the Key when I got 6 Key Flowrider sessions on Liberty with just me and my son every day.

Unfortunately, I think you may be right. With all the ambulance chasers looking at the Royal Caribbean Flowriders as an easy mark, I think Royal is going to do everything they can to de-emphasize the Flowrider in the coming years. Icon is the perfect example. Who needs 2 Flowriders when you have a Six Flags waterpark on-board? With all the restrictions on stand-up surfing on-board now, if I was a ship designer at RCI I would be looking at better uses for that prime real estate rather than accommodating the few people on-board who can pass the stand-up test. I don't think they will completely get rid of them because there is a subset of extremely loyal customers (myself included) who heavily base their cruising decisions on whether or not there is a Flowrider on the ship, but I'm afraid the days of 2nd Flowriders on the mega-ships are numbered.

Least favorite - Wonder. Only 1 Flowrider. Discouraging to see that the "one Flowrider on the megaships" is a thing now with the Icon reveal. Was hoping that Wonder was a one-off since it was designed for the Asian market. Favorite is Allure. Since we always do UDP, the Samba Grill is a nice change of pace from the normal Chops/Izumi/Whatever Italian place is onboard rotation. Since the kids are now grown we don't need all the slides. Just wish it had Playmakers. So happy that Allure is coming to Galveston. Nonstop flights from Tucson to Hobby vs connections or driving to Phoenix to get to FLL/MIA.

You know you are sailing out of Galveston by all the people walking around with 12 packs of Dr. Pepper at embarkation..

I wondered why I didn't see any posts from you on that cruise. I was hoping to live vicariously through you since COVID saw to it that we couldn't do the cruise in June.

I don't think you will be disappointed. I hear the weather is better in June than late August. We got poured on at every port, but still had a great cruise. Just plan for rain and be thankful when it doesn't.