Kellie in Texas

We'll be in Cozumel on Adventure OTS in January. Looking at this RCCL excursion to Playa Mia which includes transportation, the lunch buffet, drinks, etc. When I log into the cruise planner, it says the excursion departs at 9:00 am and is four hours long. I assume that means at the end of four hours, we get back on the bus back to the ship; is that correct? I've seen other beach excursions that have return transportation options -- for example, every hour on the hour -- so you can stay longer if you want to, but this one seems to be just the four hours.

I've used the Royal app on two cruises now (Liberty in January 2022 and Serenade in June 2022). I'm almost positive that after the January cruise was done, I could still see the information about it in the app. Now that both of these cruises are in the past, when I go into the app, I get a mostly white screen that says "Link a cruise" and "Enable planning with guests across multiple reservations" and it asks for name, date of birth and reservation number. I don't have any new cruises booked yet but I can't get past that screen. Do I need to uninstall and reinstall the app maybe?

By mid-January, there weren't any NCAA games (assume you're talking college football), so I can't speak to that.

We were on Liberty this past January and the NFL playoff games were on TV. There weren't any of the pregame shows, just the games. Reception wasn't HD but at least we could watch. They were probably on in some of the bars too, but we were fine watching in our cabin.

We were on Serenade in June from Vancouver. I think it was two days before the end of the cruise, we had a notice in our cabin to log into the Royal app to indicate what departure time we wanted. So we didn't have to go ask anybody, they asked us, and we entered the into in the app. If you do the walk-off, carry your own luggage (which we did), then you don't have to put your luggage out in the hallway the night before departure.

Looking at a cruise beginning and ending in Galveston (Adventure of the Seas) in early 2023. Ports are Costa Maya and Cozumel. One person does not have a passport. Can she go on the cruise with a certified birth certificate and official ID (driver's license)? I know it's recommended to always have a passport, but is it required? Personally I'll encourage her to get one and she's got time, but I just wanted to clarify whether it's required. I think the answer is no, it's not required.

How nice to hear such good news. @fvandewouwerenjoy your cruises.

Thank you @WxNerd, that link is very helpful.

Former Adventure OTS folks, I'm wondering if there are balcony cabins -- not the big suites, can't afford those -- that will sleep 3 people but where the third person isn't on a pull-out couch. One of the drop-down from the ceiling bunks would be okay. Thinking about booking two balconies for 4 of us but may invite oldest son's girlfriend so our younger son would then be in our room. We cruised last month of Serenade to Alaska and the pull-out couch for the two sons was extremely uncomfortable for them. It wasn't really even a normal couch, more like a futon with a wooden frame and a thin foam pad on it. So my goal is for both sons to have actual beds next time around.

My main question when I hear about people doing 14 or more days at one time on a cruise is ... how do you do your laundry?? I know they have the $30+ a bag special and dry cleaning, but I don't want to put my everyday clothes (tshirts, knit pants, khakis, etc.) in a hot washer and hot dryer.

I don't have recent experience but we were on Liberty in June 2017 when my youngest son was 15. He spent a lot of time in the teen club, mainly playing video games. They also had specific times (i.e., just for the teens, no adults) for games on the sport court (he's a soccer player) and I remember one night they had dinner in the Windjammer together. They definitely had more activities than that, but those are the ones he enjoyed the most.

Pan Pacific Waterfront is about as central as you can get.

I have friends on Royal Princess this week and the bridgecam shows them at Skagway today.

@ckmommyJust starting to read this (we did a Baltics cruise in June 2016 for my oldest son's college graduation but it was only 7 days). My younger son is a junior at Sam Houston. Just thought I'd throw that out there. Go Bearkats! 😄 And congrats to your daughter on her graduation and first job.

We did not use the spa or the solarium. The Windjammer has an outdoor seating area on the aft; it's a nice place to eat outdoors if it's not too cold or windy, which it was a couple of times for us. There's also quite a few tables and chairs just out the doors of the Windjammer, past the elevators and out by the pool. There's a drink station out there too (coffee, tea, etc.) You just have to avoid the ping pong players. 🙂

Just got home from this cruise yesterday which had been booked for June 2020 and was postponed twice due to Covid. I had booked it back in 2019 and scored an aft balcony, 1602. This cabin says it sleeps four and we had four people - myself, DH and sons ages 29 and 20. Sons are young enough to "sleep anywhere"and I knew this cabin had a "fold-out couch" but it was really more like a futon. It was loveseat-sized and had a wooden frame with a small layer of foam padding. We asked the cabin attendant for an extra layer and he brought a thick mattress pad, which helped, but they did not sleep well at all. And their feet hung off the end too. I'm sure it would be fine for little kids but next time, we'll spring for two balconies and have the balcony divider opened up. We did enjoy the walk-in closet and the bigger shower/bathtub combo. We stayed at the Pan Pacific pre-cruise. I would never spend that kind of money for a hotel room for one night anywhere else but it was very quiet, the room was huge, and they took our luggage straight to the ship for us on Sunday morning. Be aware that there is still a lot of walking from the PP to where you actually get on the ship. The hotel is attached to the cruise terminal/convention center but you walk a long way down the halls and through security etc. If you have mobility issues, plan ahead for that. Across the street from the PP is Waterfront Center, which is an underground food court/mall. There was a Rexall drug store there, plus lots of eating places and a few stores. The boarding procedure on June 5 was awful. We made it through check-in and security fairly quickly and got to the big room with all the chairs in it and found a seat to wait. We had the 11:00 am boarding time, which came and went and nobody was moving. Some other people waiting reported that the employees there said there would be announcements as to when people could start boarding, but no announcements ever came. Finally about 11:30 or so, people just started getting into a line, so we did too. It was an unorganized mess. Fortunately, the cruise was great, the scenery stunning, and the weather was lovely most of the week. Let me know if I can answer anything else.

I have an Alaska Air credit card and one of the perks is one free checked bag for up to 6 people on the same ticket. This is my first time to use the card in this manner, so how do I get the free bag check? Do I just show the credit card to the bag check person at the airport?

@martincathhas been a very helpful poster on this board but I haven't seen anything lately. Is he still around?