ARandomTraveler

It was nice, but mostly an extension of the pool deck with a beach added to it. And the beaches aren't even the best (though I wouldn't say any beach in the Bahamas is my favorite). I enjoyed my day there, but am surprised that so many people list is as one of their favorite ports. Lots of available loungers and umbrellas, nice sunshine and beach sand, a great pool, but mediocre "festival" food, very little to do outside of lounging and very basic water activities, zero culture (which is fine, that's not what the island is for), and the water isn't that nice compared to some of the other islands I've been to (Aruba, Antigua, Barbados, the west side of Jamaica on seven mile beach, St Lucia to name just a few of the islands with my absolute favorite beaches because of the crystal clear, warm and calm water). It's fine, but it doesn't even make it in my top 15 list. Obviously lots of people like it though because they have whole itineraries where that's the only place they go.

CBD is not the same as THC (the "drug" in marijuana). I've forgotten which items or which levels of each substance are legal vs illegal in other places because where I live (Colorado) you can walk into a store about every 200ft and buy any or all of it any time you want and nobody cares.

I have no arguments about any of the items on your list. I'll add (in no particular order, and I KNOW there will be little to no agreement with my list): 1) Suite Lounge 2) Lounger next to the pool 3) coco cay None of these things are bad, just not as exciting and great as you'd think based on reading cruise critic, at least to me.

Normally I'm an advocate for passports (it seems like all Americans would have one just like most of us get driver's licenses, it's so easy and inexpensive to get one), but I agree that this cruise route is very little risk of being left behind and needing a passport to fly home. I's apply for the passport anyway, but if they don't get it in time, no big deal.

First of all, concierge lounge is overrated (in my opinion). Second, you can still use the concierge lounge if you book a suite. Are you sailing a specific cruise line just so you can get some free drinks and sit in one room on the ship? Does it really make you feel that important and appreciated? And do you actually need someone to make you feel important for your vacation to feel special? There's way too many other things to do on a ship to cancel a whole cruise over this. But to each his own. Just another reason why it's a waste of money for people to chase tier status. The benefits could change at any time, and all of those benefits can be purchased if you really want them anyway.

There were 3 ice shows on my Symphony sailing, 2 of them didn't require a reservation, so that might be why you're not seeing it.

Perfect 😁 🥂

No, there isn't a logo on the outside of mine. Mine is a couple years old so I'm not sure if that has changed.

Sorry you're having a hard week.

If you wanna be really "extra" you can get those dehydrated sponges from Trader Joe's and bring one of those to wash your cup out, and you can pack some dish soap in a travel container. I did this, it takes up almost no room in your suitcase, but I never used it because I only got soda twice. https://www.amazon.com/Trader-Joes-Sponges-Vegetable-Cellulose/dp/B008XLGDDQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?adgrpid=58644762120&gclid=Cj0KCQiAnNacBhDvARIsABnDa68fzRVXzYGUMh9rLneT4s9tbIOz7LevGWgKdRW_t4sOcfj9HrjGgOoaAmejEALw_wcB&hvadid=409958405931&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9028727&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=536699180901712893&hvtargid=kwd-326823099516&hydadcr=12157_11118205&keywords=trader+joe's+pop+up+sponges&qid=1670779905&sr=8-3# The other handy thing I bring for my soda cups is these straws. Every time someone saw me with my cup and straw they'd ask where I got the straw, and they were disappointed to find out it didn't come with the cup. Tumbler 1067656 Tumbler Reusable Flexible Straws, 11in, Clear https://a.co/d/h314TUf

People keep mentioning that the cruise ship should pay to wash this person's clothes. What about the suitcase? If it got wet enough to soak their clothes, the chances of the suitcase being dry by the time they need to pack up and go home is probably low (it's so humid in the Caribbean, nothing dries all the way). Even once dry, the suitcase is ruined. How do you clean up a cloth suitcase? I've heard of people whose suitcases got broken and were given a new suitcase from a stash that Royal has on-hand. Hopefully for this person, whatever free suitcase Royal has available to give them would be hard-sided. I've never had anything inside my hard-sided suitcases get wet, even when sitting on the tarmac in rain and snow. Even better is my aluminum suitcase. It's got a rubber gasket seal, so nothing inside gets wet, and nothing inside ever breaks. It's a beast of a suitcase. As for the wine, I've mentioned this before, but whenever I travel with wine, I bring my wine suitcase. I've flown with it so many times on long international flights with layovers and plane changes, my wine has never broken. For anyone who drinks expensive wine, or who travels places where you want t bring your own, or where you want to bring some home, it's worth the investment. If you go to a resort that charges $14/glass of wine, you can save $350 by bringing 5 of your own bottles, which pays for the cost of the suitcase on trip #1. https://flywithwine.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAnNacBhDvARIsABnDa68XAniELHaMiJN6m3_DpSnOy_-Fkt7c6nz_owj789jY0WODXKDO-GIaApRtEALw_wcB

No, I wasn't. I tried when I got on the ship to do it, but no available times populated in the app. I had to go to a kiosk they had set up on the promenade and have one of the employees make all my reservations for me. Then, none of those reservations even showed up in the calendar on my app until day 2 (the employee had warned me that this was normal though). I did try after day 2 to make changes to my reservations on the app, but because everything was fully booked, I always got the message that said I needed to go to guest services to make any changes. I also had to go to guest services one night when I wanted to cancel a dinner reservation because we were too tired and not hungry enough to eat at our 5pm reservation time. The app wouldn't allow me to cancel on my own, I had to go to guest services and have them do it.

We had 5pm or 5:30pm dinner reservations every day. By the time I got on the ship, everything between 6pm-7:30pm was booked. Even with the 5pm and 5:30pm time slots, there was only 1 day available for 150 Central Park, and there was only 1 day available for Izumi Sushi. Wonderland was fully booked at every time slot every day, and so was the Izumi Hibachi. Like I mentioned before, we did end up being able to get into Wonderland by being willing to go at 9pm when we got on a waitlist. I think there's probably opportunities to get reservations that way if there's something you aren't able to book on the first day. If there's anything you really want to go to, I'd just pay for it separately now so you can secure a day and time, and then see if you can get your money back once you're on the ship, with the expectation that you may not be able to get it back. I honestly assumed that making reservations would be easier because I thought most people would be traveling in large groups and therefore wouldn't buy the UDP, but I was wrong.

Yes, you read that correctly. I had the same attitude and was happy with all the restaurants I was able to get into. But I was a bit annoyed that I couldn't make changes later, and I would have been bummed not to be able to do the hibachi had I not paid for it ahead of time. For example, I booked whatever was available when I got on the ship at 11am, but I wasn't able to book some restaurants more than once because they were booked on all the other days (like 150 Central Park and Izumi sushi). I also booked early dinner times and there were several days where we weren't ready to eat at that time. I would try to change the dinner time to something later, and was unable to because every restaurant was booked solid. Not having any flexibility with dinner reservations was the only downside to the UDP, but I'd still recommend it as long as you go in with that knowledge and a good attitude.

Yes I think you're gonna have some issues. I was on Symphony during Thanksgiving week and I had the UDP. I got on the ship at 11:00 and booked something for every day at a time I was happy with, but a couple restaurants were completely sold out at all time slots already (Wonderland and the Izumi Hibachi) and I wasn't able to get my first choice restaurants some of the days. I was able to get into Wonderland on a waitlist at 9pm later in the week, and I was able to do the hibachi because I pre-paid for it and booked a day and time before getting on the cruise (so I paid additionally for it on top of paying for the UDP). I was able to get that money refunded at the dinner after speaking with the restaurant manager.

I've stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan and liked that hotel for its convenience to the town. If you don't plan to do any walking around or touring of the forts etc, then the Embassy Suites in Isla Verde is a nice and spacious hotel. It's close to a beach, (you can walk to it across the street) and it's also really close to the airport (about a 10 min drive). Embassy Suites will be cheaper than the Sheraton, but the Sheraton is more convenient if you plan to do anything in old San Juan. Both should be willing to hold your bags until check-in.

12-night Singapore to Japan on the Spectrum (July)

I'm not that way at all, but I'm including myself in the group as a whole, and it's a true statement for the majority of average americans.

Yep it does. Private insurance plans do anyway, not sure about the cruise line's insurance plan. They should have bought it. They can still make a land trip out of it. It'll cost a lot more though.

I cruised during Thanksgiving, on Symphony. We had 6600 passengers and it almost never felt crowded. I never saw the guest services line too long, never stood in line for the windjammer, always found a lounger to sit in outside. Elevators were slow, and often full, but that seemed to have more to do with the elevator programming making it so certain elevators only stopped on certain floors. I had a great time and wouldn't hesitate to go on a full sailing on an oasis class ship again.

Exactly! And maybe the problem was that too many people were willing to pay for it at the lower rate, which means it was too low to begin with.

I didn't read the article but I'm not sure that the cruise lines distribute the daily tips only to your specific waiters and room stewards. Maybe they do, I don't know, but I assume it's more like they put everyone's money in one bank account and then use it to pay all of the service people a set wage with it. I'm not sure if they make a wage on top of those gratuities, or if the gratuities is all they get. I don't try to figure it out, I just assume it's part of the cruise fare, and then tip people individually as I go as though it's an entirely separate transaction, not attached to what I think they're already getting or not. To me it seems easier that way.

That reminds me of a commercial I used to see on TV that said "A shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch..." I think it was Weight Watchers. I'll have to give that a try on my next cruise and see how it pans out 😂

I'm all for doing this here in the US. I just look at the daily service charge as part of the total price. For whatever reason, the cruiseline separates it and called it a daily gratuity, and whether it's for their own internal accounting, or if it's because they have to call it that in order to do their taxes a certain way, or if it's to signal to their customers that it's for the staff, who knows, and I don't really care. I would be fine if they just rolled that couple hundred bucks into the total cruise fare and didn't mention it at all. I'd also be fine if they called it a service charge. For whatever reason, they don't. I don't care. I will admit that when I was in Europe a couple months ago, it was uncomfortable to me at first to not tip. I would go to a restaurant and not even be given an opportunity to tip (unless I had Euros on me, which I didn't), and it felt awkward, I'd walk out feeling like the waiter might think I was dissatisfied or something. But after a week or so, I got used to it, and it was really nice. I think Americans would complain more though, if we got rid of tipping, but traded it in for that really high tax you guys have. We Americans have a knack for expecting a lot of things without having to pay for them in any way.

Not sure what they cost, but we got root beer floats and a milkshake using our refreshment drink package, so my guess would be that the Diamond drink voucher should work. edited to add: I just looked at the photo of the menu I took, and it doesn't list a price. It's says "all beverages are available at current bar pricing." This was from Symphony during the Thanksgiving week sailing: