twangster

Stick a visor on front of the aquadome and you've got your basic baseball cap. I can almost see a Thomas the Tank Engine like TV cartoon series in the making. It could be a sequel to Thomas & Friends. Instead of driving around on the Island of Sodor, Icon & Friends can sail around the Island of Sodor.

It's almost like two different people had two different experiences. 😱

Post it on FB. People believe everything on FB.

Last week they forced the RR for a DX exemption I was working on. I was curious if others are getting around that somehow.

Stealing this.

$129 is the fee to watch Utopia sail past from Jetty Park. EDIT - Plus 18% gratuity.

I don't recall that ever being offered to D/D+.

Did the other adult have to buy the refreshment package? That's normally a waiver requirement. The GS drinks can be limiting. Are you sure big drinker wouldn't want more? The big drinker in a GS without a DX would have to visit deck 17 for every drink 11am to 11pm and that only includes cheap beer and wine. The mixed cocktail hours are 5pm to 8pm but for a big drink it might not be appealing to wait until 5pm for a mixed drink, especially having to go to deck 17 for every drink. That's no fun. If you put the under 21 in the OV with the big drinker then big drinker can buy the DX drink package and the under 21 doesn't have to buy anything. Normally when requesting a waiver for just one person buying the DX they require other people in the same cabin who are over 21 to buy the refreshment package. While not as much, it's still several hundred for a 7 night cruise each. Leverage the under 21 in the OV to get around that by putting them in the OV together.

Waiting...

True. MSC has been screwing me around lately so I'm canceling my interior YC. I was very tempted to upgrade myself to their top suite and cancel it on day 91. Petty revenge.

I thought the same thing. Ignore and use a lounger if you are allowed to.

With satellite internet you should never assume 100% availability. It will be unavailable at times, or perform poorly at times. Naturally this will occur when you need it most,

Just booked Allure for a shorty in a suite. Got me thinking. With Allure and what looks like Utopia going into the short FL market I wonder if this change was done for the short market. $100 deposits for Utopia when it will see much higher prices compared to Allure (new ship premium). My deposits for Allure would have been more that $100 after June 1st and if Utopia is priced like I think it will be the $100 suite deposit may have been motivation for Royal to make this change before Utopia is opened for booking.

Purely from an internet perspective the experience will likely be the same.

What ship or class of ship are you sailing? Anyone under age 21 in the group?

Did you mean GS?

Contact a TA to inquire about group rates and if they are available. Group rates are usually the cheapest and they are refundable. You won't find these rates on the public website or through Royal direct.

Royal has streamlined the check in process so it is must faster than it was in the years before the shutdown. They started down this path before the shutdown. It stands to reason that shutdown or not, they can't handle masses of the total ship count all arriving at the same time. Naturally there is a desire to distribute arriving guests across the check in period. As ships grow larger this becomes more of an issue. If you arrive out of turn and it's a miserable wait in a long line you can blame yourself and all the others that did the same. It's that simple.

I might start wearing it on my t-shirt by the pool. That really seems to get people wound up. 🤣😇

Nope. I was told it didn't. But then again I went to chops since I had the UDP.

Would a refundable booking work for you? Secure the cabin, can be converted to NRD later if cheaper, full refund if it doesn't work out.

Are you sure? I didn't think the UDP worked in the MDR.

My TA can't always get me into headquarter groups as a solo. Named groups no problem. I wonder what my TA is doing wrong. Hmmm.

No problem. As far as the train station in Seward goes, there are two. If you book the train through Royal, the whole train is chartered by Royal, it stops right at the cruise terminal, maybe 300 yards away. If you book the train direct with the Alaskan Railroad, the public train station is a 20 minute walk to the cruise terminal or they offer a motorcoach ride for free. Either way, when you check your luggage in Anchorage it goes directly to the ship. You not see your luggage again until it's delivered to your cabin. Do not pack passports, wallets, paperwork, etc in your checked luggage. Take all that stuff as carry on for the train.

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" Nope, just another Royal lifeboat. They do warn small craft to stay at least 50m away.