MommaBear55

For ease of getting to the port: Cape Liberty (don't have to fly there). For beauty on sail away: Miami, Vancouver and Tampa. For convenience in small terminals: Civitavecchia and Ravenna. For a place to spend time before or after a cruise: Rome, London, Venice, San Juan. I haven't met an embarkation port I haven't liked, because I'm going on a cruise!

I've always left on the auto grats, and used to tip more. Now, with the increase in service charge and decrease in service, I only tip for our D+ drinks and if our cabin attendant actually fulfills the very few extra requests we have.

And by upgrading this way, you get the double points. Enjoy!

18% of zero is still zero.

I'm absolutely going. I don't believe in worrying about things that are 1,400 miles away. I travel in Maine when there are nutty things going on in Florida or Missouri, for instance. We've just done an amazing cruise around Greece, I felt no need to take any special precautions other than the usual caution against pick pockets.

We would always take an aft over anything else. We are on deck 9 on Explorer, sister ship, and although we can't see water directly down, we can see it for miles in an 180 degree view.

Once you've been assigned a cabin category, you are locked into that category. If you are in North America, you can change into any other open cabin in that exact designator. If you want off deck 6, your options are to bid on an upgrade or pay the full difference between what you paid for your guarantee cabin and what the cabin you want is currently priced at. It's for this reason I never do a balcony gty on the Quantum class.

It's all the old people stacked up like cord wood falling over the scooter that might impede you ...

Each country has different rules on their carriage contracts. This is one nice one we have in the US, UK has better consumer protection.

If you are in North America, you can call and get changed to any open cabin in the exact same category. I've done it many times.

I think SOLAS addresses strollers and motorized scooters, one could easily walk over dishes to exit in an emergency.

Leaving anything blocking a corridor is against SOLAS (safety of life at sea) maritime law. If it really impedes your ability to get through a passageway, it's worth a call to guest services.

What an unusual circumstance, sorry this happened to all of you. I am one who is ready to leave when the cruise is over, I don't like hanging around the last day. I am much happier to board the ship at 10:30 or 11 and enjoy my first day. Most hotels have a check out time between 10 and noon, I can't picture how I'd spend my time if I couldn't get on board after checking out of the hotel.

Yes, recently I've seen ocean view to be more expensive than balcony. If the better suite is cheaper, grab it

You can choose one main and anything else you want. Yes, you can use your diamond drinks in the specialty restaurants.

The biggest problem we had was trying to fly down the day before, the airlines ended up canceling our flights a few weeks ahead, so we had to go early on Thanksgiving day, and we did Thanksgiving the weekend before. Otherwise it was a great cruise.

It was to indicate that I had experience understanding the difference between European and American habits.

Argument was too strong a word, word choice and sentence structure can be an issue for me. Let's say, a conversation that has run it's course?

I'm not willing to continue this argument. As someone with dual citizenship and spends 3-4 months in Europe a year, there's a difference. If you don't feel it, that's fine. You do it your way, I'll do it mine. Both of us will be served.

Not wearing shorts, t shirts or ball caps to dinner.

I just believe in honoring local customs and not being the stereotypical American tourist. You do you, boo.

Maybe I just ignore the way crazy yanks dress when I'm in Europe for 2 to 3 months every year. I'll make sure I pay attention starting in a few weeks. To be fair, I'm not fond of the socks with sandals look, but I'll check out whether that goes on in the Fall.

I was responding to your ",like what?" concerning how social mores on Royal Caribbean ships vary based on their location in the world. So, yes, things are different in ships in Europe.

In Europe it is rare to see a European wearing shorts, t shirt or hat in a restaurant.

Yes, it absolutely can sell out. We have always purchased it as early as we can. I've not found it to go down in price , but I always look!