RobInMN

I attempted to summarize various experiences reported on this forum in a pervious thread:

I tried sending an email to that email address, but have not received any response. We also don't do Facebook. 😞

I said something like that, not that one specifically. Sorry I didn't take the time to research and find a specific model.

If you are trying to put 4 adults in 1 room, I'd recommend looking hard at at least a JS. You'll really appreciate the extra space in both square footage and storage. The walk in closet is large enough to double as a private changing room😉 Plus you get double points, as it's a "suite". For privacy, someone on here once mentioned magnetic hooks and (shower?) curtains.

yep. Sorry, was directing that at the OP. Just giving them an example of what you were talking about. I use one also.

Yes, get something like this. Just make sure it doesn't have surge protection https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Charger-PowerPort-iPhone-Galaxy/dp/B00P936188/ref=sr_1_16?crid=1JV84GFHKL4A9&keywords=usb%2Bcharger&qid=1675300707&sprefix=usb%2Bcharge%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-16&th=1 You can also get something like this to make use of the Euro outlet: https://www.amazon.com/European-Charger-Vifigen-Universal-Compatible/dp/B07H3R4JHM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3P8QQHXLSPMC9&keywords=usb%2Beuro%2Bcharger&qid=1675300809&sprefix=usb%2Beuro%2Bcharge%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-1&th=1

Zero charging ports. I don't know if there are any additional ones elsewhere in an GS, but our JS only had 1 Eruo and 2 US at the desk (plus the shaver one in the bathroom). I am pretty sure that this is the standard for any Radiance and Voyager class ships. And likely Freedom also.

Points were converted in 2012 per the formula documented here:

While we haven't gone quite that far, we've simply put "no sales pitch please" on our questionnaire, whether it was the old paper ones or the newer tablet based ones. I feel the wording is non-confrontational. And if we're lucky, we'll get an extra couple minutes of massage that they would have taken up with the sales pitch.

Minnesota here. Winter: Furnace is set to 68. Summer: A/C set to 72. In the spring and fall (and rare summer), if the dew point is less than 50, we will open the house up, and that can be totally nice up to 80, and tolerable to about 85. Especially if there is any bit of a breeze. Humidity is "Relative Humidity", it is relative to the temperature. 80% RH at 70 degrees is much worse than 85 degrees with 30% RH. My comfort is directly related to the dew point, not RH. I totally believe in the whole "but it's a dry heat" thing. Summer in Minnesota, if I'm going to a restaurant and it's 85, with a dew point of 65, I'm probably not going to be eating outside on the patio. Visited my SIL in Albuquerque one summer, sat on the patio, in the shade, totally comfortable, when we left, the car said it was 105 degrees out!

It's cheaper to do 1 person, 4 devices. It's very easy to switch. You can actively log out of 1 device before logging into another (logout.com or something). or you can simply log in on the next device, and it will tell you that you are already at the max, and if you confirm, then it will randomly kick off one of the other devices. (oldest connected maybe??)

What is this "Check" thing you speak of???🤣 Seriously though, pay with any credit card that has any rewards of any type and send a check to your CC company.

First, I'll say that we stayed about 3 blocks or so from the Munich Central (Train) Station. Pre-cruise, was just my wife, daughter (19), and me. The cruise was us, my sister, her, husband & their 2 kids (10 & 13?), and my parents. We did all of our tours through Radius Tours. I'm sure there's others that might do same/similar tours, but we were very happy with Radius, and would recommend them. I think all the tours met at the train station which was then very convenient. We did: Munich Bavarian Beer Tour. We did this the night we arrived. We felt this was a perfect thing to do after a day of traveling, and as an introduction to Munich. Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site Tour Third Reich Tour – Munich’s cruel history (Same day - immediately after) Neuschwanstein Castle Tour (long, all day tour) The next day we went to Nuremburg I would say that Dachau is an absolute must. If you are remotely interested WW2 history, the Third Reich Tour should be on your list. I love castles, cathedrals, forts, and ruins, so I really liked Neuschwanstein, but if that's not your thing, easily skipped. The one thing we did not get to due to timing and days it's open is the Munich Documentation Center. It is a 3 or 4 story building that houses the Munich and National Socialism exhibit. It came highly recommended, but we just could not fit it in without arriving 1 day earlier. And you need to go to the main Hofbräuhaus and also the Augustiner-Keller Beer Garden, it's right near the train station. If you do the Munich Bavarian Beer Tour, you will end at the main Hofbräuhaus. The Third Reich Tour will stop there to explain it's historical significance, but not eat/drink. like @Second seating said, the train was super easy. In Munich, we walked with our luggage to the train station (you'll see lots of people doing this). Train station is very easily navigable. In Nuremburg we caught a taxi right outside the station that took us to the port/dock. We were very impressed with Ama, and actually have them booked again for the Grand Danube on AmaMagna. The ship were were on was AmaDante, and it's not necessarily the newest, but nice. Crew was great. Only two negatives. The first was that 2019 was abnormally hot (everywhere), and the ship's AC was not designed for such heat. I feel this was probably a common issue regardless of ship/company that summer. They tried their best, and had everyone try to keep the curtains on the sunny side closed as much as possible. Second was also not their fault, and that was leaving Mainz, there was a barge was beached on a sand bar blocking river traffic as they tried to free it. This delayed us from leaving by a few hours, which meant that it got too dark for us to see the castles along the Rhine River Gorge earlier than planned. We got to see many, but not all that you would normally get to see. Anyway, if there was a castle or Roman ruins tour, I took it! Different family members sometimes chose different tours. No complaints about any of the tours from anyone. In Tier, my sister's family and us actually left early and walked up to to the Roman Amphitheater and Roman Baths on our own before joining up with the actual tour group at the Basilica of Constantine. If I remember correctly, the actual tour was just going to do a drive-by of the Amphitheater and Baths and we wanted to go in them. Ama had no issue with that. The Castle Hike in Wertheim was cool, and has great views! Probably the biggest issue with excursions is picking one over the other. Don't have time to do them all.

Has there been any hints from RCI about possibly doing this again in the future, like maybe once every 5 years or so? I'd love to do this after we retire.

We took AmaWaterway's "Rivers and Castles" in 2019. It went from Nuremburg to Luxemburg. Starting on the Main-Danube Canal, then the Main, then the Rhine. We did 3 days in Munich before the cruise. I highly recommend it, regardless of who you book it with. We also just did a Christmas Markets cruise (Grand Circle - wasn't my choice) that also started in Nuremburg (2 nights here was part of the cruise), ending in Vienna. Didn't actually get to see any of Vienna due to flight home, but loved the cities we visited, which was mostly in Bavaria. If your husband's genealogy is rooted in Bavaria, I would recommend spending a few days in both Munich (Dachau, Neuschwanstein) and Nuremburg in conjunction with a river cruise.

I looked it up. Yes, the Norwegian Bliss is the largest cruise ship to transit the Panama Canal. Took me a while to find a reference, but I finally found one related to the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver that said that Bliss is 60m (197'). Apparently with a 200' clearance, it has the same issue as Bridge of the Americas. Anyway, while that does exceed the Panamax, apparently it can be done at low tide (which it has to do in Vancouver as well). I suppose taller ships could go through the locks on the Atlantic (Colon) side and turn around in Gatun Lake and go back out the same locks? Don't know if anyone does that or if it makes any sense finacially. For reference, it also took me forever to find the height of the Quantum class, and finally found an article about the Verrazano-Narrows bridge that said Quantum is 213'. Oasis class is 236'. The Verrazano Narrows bridge has a 228' clearance. Some(all?) Oasis class ships have retractable stacks that allow them to clear it. BTW, Found a photo of Symphony and Odyssey side by side at CocoCay, and they are fairly similar in height.

I'm with you on Oasis/Quantum. Love the big ships. If we're doing Caribbean, I won't do anything other than Oasis/Quantum. All though, we did do a 3 night weekend get-a-way on Freedom just after COVID for the points (4 nights x2 for JS x2 double points). However, there are places they just don't (can't) go. From other discussions on this board about the Panama Canal, even with the new locks, you will not see an Oasis or Quantum class ship going through the Panama Canal until the Bridge of the Americas is replaced with something taller. Clearance is only 201 feet. Even the Voyager/Freedom classes are too tall. The Radiance class was built as a "Panamax", being the largest ship that will go through the locks. (Length: 950ft, Bean: 106ft, Height: 190ft) The "New Panamax" with the new locks is still limited by the height of the Bridge. (Length 1201ft, Beam 168ft, Height: 190ft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panamax So, we are doing it on the Radiance of the Seas in Spring '24. Sorry, but I'm not doing a Vision class. It's also why we did 24 nights on Jewel last summer. The larger ships can't/won't do Arctic Circle and Iceland. Heck, even on Jewel, the pier/dock was about 1/3 the length of the ship in Honningsvag. 🤣

1 point for a cabin 1 extra point if you are in a suite (including Junior Suite) 1 extra point if you are solo in a double occupancy room

@QuickGold posted this link in the other thread on this: Royal says they aren't going back https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/01/26/royal-caribbean-we-have-no-intention-of-moving-back-old-muster-drill

Do you know for sure that it actually landed? From this, you can't actually see any landing. From other threads on this board, the general consensus (from some very knowledgeable people) is that the "helipads" on the front of many RC ships is really just a designated (medical) evac location for a basket. That helicopters don't actually land, and supposedly actually can't land as the ships structure won't actually support the weight. Again, this is not from anything I know personally, just what I've read here over the years. The video could be showing a helicopter coming in for such a basket evac as opposed to actually landing, you really can't tell either way. Still a cool video though! Thanks for posting it.

We've got plenty of snow up here in Minnesota to feed it.

We are due to board AmaMagna in 2 moths, Mar 27th, at Vilshofen, Germany. 2 weeks to Giurgia, Romania. We'll let you know...

We did a 3 night Coco Cay on Freedom Fall '21, and Odyssey was also there. Our next cruise was on Odyssey Spring '22, and it went to Coco Cay (rescheduled from Grand Cayman) and Jewel was also there. Our next cruise was on Jewel Summer '22. 🤣

Honestly, I'd say Youtube videos.

To piggyback what @Amberle3 said. The way I look at it is that it gives you a couple loyalty perks and a couple suite type perks. I don't think it's worth it for us, but we did it once. It was a anniversary cruise for my in-laws. My MIL enjoyed the reserved section at the shows and that sort of thing. And she felt a little special. So that was nice. But like what has been said before, if the difference between key and the VOOM plan is close enough in price, then maybe. But purely on it's own, no, I don't think it's worth it.