five.

I was so excited for this sandwich on Harmony two weeks ago. What a joke. The first one I got had way too much horseradish and the au jus was put inside the roll. So it was hard as a rock and the meat was way too thick. I finished it, but it was not good. I went back a second time later on the cruise (a bit more prepared) and when I asked for au jus for dipping, the guy could not accommodate me, I then asked for it to be poured on, I had to ask 3 times to get enough to help soften it, he kept doing very small amounts. I ended up covering all of the meat and roll in the au jus and that sandwich was much closer to what I was expecting, but still very chewy. At least I couldn't have used it as a bat. I was reading a book series by a Buffalo NY author that has kummelwecks in the book and I was so let down by the poor impersonation.

It seems like CC is resizing the one I attached to the thread. Here it is on an image site: https://i.imgur.com/5L98eBq.jpeg

I have never really liked the traditional "deck-by-deck" deck plans that are available in pdf form on the web. I much prefer the cutout version that displays the whole ship in one go. In the old days Carnival had a tri-fold pocket map that they gave out on boarding day and it would fit in your pocket. When we were on HAL in May they did not have that, but did give me a kind of crappy printout. Well when we went on our first RC ship last week, I took a picture by the elevator when we got on the ship and figured that would be as good as I'd get nowadays. I eventually braved the long service desk lines to ask about something else and then thought to ask if they had anything like this and low and behold they had the old tri-fold pocket deck plans that we always preferred. I went through the trouble at scanning it in and splicing it together for everyone. It was too large for my scanner to do in one go, 3.5"x19". I don't really know design layout well enough to reconfigure it into an easily printable pdf. But I did do it into a clean image. Maybe somebody will find it useful.

I think this is a great choice based on our recent cruise. MTD was nuts, crazy lines. You can also request a window seat when you email them.

I tried the same on my Harmony cruise last week, but was unsuccessful. The itinerary changed (because of Fiona) and a number of people were deciding to cancel. So I was hopeful a minimum bid would be enough. I will say that the option to email you the results of the bid, when you don't have internet access is a bit nerve racking. I eventually braved the customer service line to be told that if we had won the bid, we would also have been notified by them. Hopefully that is correct.

I was on Harmony last week and I wish there was some a la carte pricing for Chops desserts and chips and salsa at Sabor. They were both fantastic.

We were on Harmony last week and did Park Cafe and Solarium Bistro after giving WJ one shot. Did not try MDR or Johnny Rockets for breakfast. For breakfast Solarium Bistro is more like a mini WJ and they do have oatmeal, you just have to ask for it. My wife preferred Solarium Bistro, since she likes the traditional (eggs and bacon). It didn't matter to me, since I just do oatmeal.

If you go on a Royal ship again, print out the pdf from a few posts up and follow their instructions. It specifically says that you can check a dive knife with security.

Yea, that bit was in a pdf that I found: Items such as dive knives must be reported to ship’s personnel at the time of boarding and may be permitted onboard, but held in safe custody by the ship's Security staff when not in use ashore On page 9: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/guest-conduct-policy.pdf

I guess I don't read it like that. To me according to the rules all knives are among the prohibited items. They have the scissors exclusion, but nothing about knives. Prohibited Items: Sharp Objects, including all knives and scissors. (Note: Personal grooming items such as safety razors are allowed. Scissors with blade length less than 4 inches are allowed.)

Sure. The rule is "none are allowed." Though later it says you can check a scuba knife with security. I wasn't saying that it wasn't clear. I was saying I prefer that HAL specifically allows small blades. Plenty of people in this thread say they carry small ones, but according to the rules it's not allowed. I don't like that discrepancy. If you're going to allow it, then put it in the rules.

I much prefer HAL's rules regarding this: Please Note: Firearms, explosives, fireworks, other weapons and knives or sharp blades over two and half inches long and illegal drugs of any kind are prohibited without exception. For safety reasons drones and any other remote controlled aerial devices/ toys are not allowed on board our ship. Extension cords (without surge protectors) are allowed on board when used with proper caution. However, if such devices are determined to pose a hazard, they will be removed and returned the last day of the cruise prior to debark

royalcaribbean.com/account/cruise-planner/category/pt_shoreX/product/SMYS?bookingId=xxxxxxx&shipCode=xx&sailDate=xxxxxxx Do you mind posting your url without the https portion, just curious if there is a way we can force the old layout.

A little more info in there mentioning to also include details like ship, sail date and reservation number.

Will you be on the 9/18 sailing?

Totally unrelated to the topic at hand, but this made me remember my honeymoon cruise. We got sat with two other young couples on a carnival cruise and really had an enjoyable week. This was before specialty dining really existed so all three couples were in the MDR the entire week and got to know each other a little bit. One of the other women was a Victoria Secret swimsuit model! That was something else. One day my fair skinned wife got burned out at port and the model, gave us her cabin number to stop by for her remedy that would take care of it in no time. So we get to their cabin and knock on the door, she answers the door topless. This newly married dude has never been so slack jawed in my life. My face turned so red, I was looking straight at the ceiling. She just laughed and brought my wife in and got her squared away, while I stayed in the hallway.

Other forums discourage bringing old threads back from the dead or even prevent it, so that is what I am used to. I thought it would be useful to others.

Thanks for that explanation. I was wondering if I had done something wrong. Though the total time on the call was 5 minutes, so not so bad compared to some of the other calls I've made lately, related to travel.

This old thread was helpful to me. I had never received any email notifications other than an ad after booking for my cruise. Still nothing, even after paying it in full. Searched around and found that thread, called the number and had to speak to someone, it was not automated... But I got an invoice emailed to me right away. It's pretty crazy to me that it's not already doing that. Relevant info: You can use this automated number to get an updated invoice: 866-562-7625, press #4, if you booked with Royal directly.

I did not see it mentioned elsewhere. Here is the actual letter: https://issuu.com/hochmania/docs/577819365-letter-to-fcc-fina

We used Verifly with Holland America recently and it made embarkation much faster, however it doesn't look like Royal is an option. I see: Carnival, Cunard, P&O, Viking, HAL.

I was turned down for a HAL OBC. Of course it was a free cruise, so that's fine. I just thought it would work, since it had always worked in the past.

We just got off the 5/28 Koningsdam, it was myself, wife and in-laws (who are both in scooters). 2 of 4 of our party ended up with covid. Ours was a Vancouver - Vancouver route and at the time, you had to positive to fly back to the US. FIL was running out of meds and could not isolate in Vancouver. I ended up flying to Seattle, renting a car and driving back for him. We then decided to drive across the country and make our way back home, instead of isolating in place. The experience at the end did sour the Alaska trip for everyone and added a lot of stress. Since you are looking at Seattle - Seattle and since the covid negative test is no longer required for Vancouver, all are options. But if it's covid itself that worries you, I would do as Mary suggested and look for something else. We were blessed with perfect weather on the cruise and I am still not sure it was worth the mess. I still have to deal with the travel insurance bit of it all.

A screenshot from another thread. Hope it helps.

We all did one in the navigator app, but still had to do one while doing embarkation for our group of 4 on 5/28 Koningsdam. I don't remember ever seeing the picture (the one I took or the one they took) show up in the navigator app, so who knows.