HappyTexan44

One example I just remembered from the City Secrets book. The Vatican has something in common with huge old museums, in that they don't have a complete understanding of what is in their storehouse. Some time in the 80's? (going by memory) they found a box of marble penises. Apparently, when Pope Whoever ordered all them removed from the statues, he didn't say to dispose of them. So, they were stored. When the book was written there was someone working on figuring out which one went with which statue, and at that time if you asked nicely they might let you view them.

Well, it looked like they did that, which is good. Hopefully no change fee was required. I'd put myself in the OP's place and thought of my non-refundable deposits. Extremely unlikely that they'll be adding a vax req, to my Galveston to Mexico cruise, but then I wouldn't have thought that they'd have added back any vax requirements.

The question is though, What will Royal do for the unvaccinated guests booked on that cruise? (assuming that they really dad add a vaccinated requirement).

You might want to read it ahead of time and take a copy or a photo of the pages of interest. I don't remember it being that heavy, but then I'm pretty sure mine had a thick paper cover.

I auto-tip anyone that takes my luggage. If I'd given it thought, I'd have guessed that the tips were shared with those who got the luggage to the room, maybe? This will now be the exception. Although, we will be leaving Galveston and someone mentioned a conveyor belt that people can put their luggage on. Even assuming no tip either way, I'd much rather do it myself and therefore Know that it at least got that far.

I once had a super-short trip, I think I was gone around 24 hours. I also had a rental car. So, I thought what the heck, I'll use airport parking. When I got back to the car, it was lightly raining, and my driver's side window had been opened and my headlights were turned on. I'd had a blanket in the backseat and I think they thought I was hiding something really good and then tried to punish me by making me come back to a wet seat and dead battery. The seat was very dry so they must have still been there. I said something when I paid, and I got a "What do you expect" shrug. Criminals were probably friends of hers.

Once you narrow down your excursion options, make sure you read reviews on each excursion. This is probably more likely for the Caribbean ones that I'm researching. But I've seen many described as "Spend a lot of time standing around waiting on people, drinking and being dumped to spend time in expensive tourist stores."

Anyone have a guess when Port Parking reservations for Feb 2024 will be allowed? Inflation is only going to get worse, so I am trying to buy everything as early as possible. Unless I hear that theft is problem in port parking, we will park at the port. I just really like the idea of covered parking really close. DFW Airport, you should never use the airport parking.

Thinking about this. If the menu is as limited as this, I am more likely to request tweaks to what is on the menu. I'm probably not the only one, and that would have the opposite effect of what they want. Before I hit the Submit Reply button, my brain kept working. Maybe tweaking everything could be a customer protest? Royal will be closing watching the data, and if they see it having the opposite effect they'll want to add the classics back.

If I knew the Key includes both a Giovanni's embarkation lunch, and a Chops lunch later, I'd be more likely to get it. Seating in WJ embarkation lunch is such a frequent complaint, that using Chops as an overflow seating sounds like a good idea.

We will be on the 5-night Voyager cruise leaving the Feb 19th. I wonder if a bunch of people on the Feb 5th cruise will change to mine? Mine is Day 3 - Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico Day 4 - Cozumel, Mexico I'd picked that cruise because I was looking for the cheapest cruise in 2024, Voyager-class or bigger, leaving out of Galveston, 5-7 nights. This is a starter cruise for us to see if we like it. Ports really didn't matter. I've been to all the big ones already, and DH and DD have been to none. I wouldn't want to spend any time in port in the evening, particularly with two attractive teenage blonde girls. But, for a substantial OBC or cheaper price I'd be willing to change to the Feb 5th cruise.

Ben and Jerry's does their best. They are a close second. Haagan-Dazs is very creamy but lacking in flavor. Tillamook is somehow too sweet, although their cheese is amazing. I feel genuine sympathy for those who don't have access to Blue Bell.

What can we do to make this less likely to happen? Not tip until they put it on the cart? It sounds like the bad ones are hustling for the tips but not providing the service to get the tips.

Blue Bell is the pinnacle of all ice creams . Blue Bunny is the only ice cream that I've ever rejected. I was hungry, had a bite, and then tossed the rest.

Speaking of Banana Splits. How is the quality of the Royal's ice cream? What brand would you compare it to? I frequently find myself disappointed in restaurant ice cream. I admit to being spoiled, but I realize that there are other worthwhile ice creams than Blue Bell. For example, people rave about the shakes at Toothsomes near Universal in Orlando. The Ice Cream is grocery store generic quality.

Well, it is natural. Tips are for service. Less service means less tips. Unfortunately, I suspect they'll end up with less money. My guess is that Royal will say, "Well you have more rooms, but you only have to do one service on each. Since we didn't double the number of your rooms, we are being generous in keeping your share of the auto-grats the same." Then the cash tips will drop to basically zero, because people aren't receiving the service to warrant cash tips.

I had been on the fence about switching to cash tips (of the same or greater amount) or leaving the pre-paid gratuities in place. This might make me more likely to switch to cash. I hate the stuff in the hallways. But at some point I might start doing that too. We'll be four people in two rooms each with max. occupancy of two, and two of the people being teen girls. We also believe in bringing our creature comforts, and will drive, so we'll have lots of stuff. On the other hand, we won't need a genuine clean twice a day. If they do a mini-service, e.g. ice and new towels, later in the day, that would be fine. If they kept the hallways clear with frequent passes to pick stuff up, I wouldn't mind putting stuff in the hallways. I suspect though, that what I call a mini-service is what the second clean was anyway.

@island lady That brings up a question, what are the best seats? Front and center?

This sounds like a lovely trip! Like you, I am planning my first cruise. But, I did spend three weeks in Rome and I love history and particularly Ancient Roman history (therefore the three weeks there) You will have to make some tough choices on what to visit. I'd skip the Colosseum. Not that it isn't worth visiting, but I don't think it rises to a must-do until the stay is at least three-days. You might think that the Vatican is only worthwhile for Catholics. I'm not. But it is my top 5 favorite museums. They have a huge collection of Roman statues. I've read that at one point people were taking the marble statues and burning them to make plaster. Marble apparently makes awesome plaster. So a pope had his people gather up the statues that weren't burnt yet. Something worth knowing on the statues. Only gods were more than life-size. Even statues of people being precisely life-size was a little presumptuous. So, people were a little bit smaller than life-size. This explains why in a museum you might see a huge statue and they'll say, "We used to think it was goddess Whatever, but now we aren't sure which goddess it is." and you would otherwise wonder, "How do you know it isn't Mrs. Richie-Rich" Some things I heard from a Roman on a train that is local lore. So take it with a grain of salt. In the Vatican there is a copper framework over the hole to the tomb. The copper was from the Colosseum water pipes. Locals said, "The Pope took what the barbarians left." The sculptor of the Neptune fountain was a competitor to the architect of one of the nearby buildings. Neptune has his arm up over his head as if to say, "The building is going to fall on me." To me it looks like he is hunting, but amusing if a double-meaning was meant. Many homes built during a certain time period have an entry-way that has one giant slab of marble and the room is the precise size of the marble that had been outside the Colosseum. Everyone denies that theirs came from there. There is an amazing book on Rome called City Secrets. They asked the local Art Historians, etc. Where do you take visiting friends? There are a ton of amazing gems just out on the street. The book came out a while ago, but considering its slant that shouldn't be a problem. Just in general: You might have better luck with a planned private excursion, but not through the cruise.

We have several of those giant mugs with lids that you can buy for sodas at 7-11's. We attend an annual convention where you get free draft beer, and what they care about is people not spilling on the carpet. So, he uses that for beer. Our plan is to bring it on board and he'll get a pitcher of beer. He calls the mug his Wee Mug, because after you finish it you have to wee. I hope the Voyager has a place that serves draft beer.

This is what I'd bought. You can also get them going the other direction if you want. The plastic doesn't block the RFID, so is fine. https://www.amazon.com/Vertical-Badge-Holder-Waterproof-Resealable/dp/B07LB3DYX9/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?keywords=lanyard+sleeve+for+id&qid=1672758777&sprefix=lanyard+sl%2Caps%2C114&sr=8-3-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExTkZMWjFRT0dTUEtLJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMTkwOTMyU0g4WU8zR1hHMlMmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDYzNDI2MzNUWTc4S0tXS0ZMWlkmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

@lolalow What did you think of the Promenade rooms? We have Voyager 7291 and 7293 Connecting Promenade Rooms booked. As a pale redhead, I suspect I'll prefer these to a balcony and certainly better than a regular connecting interior. But, I'm paying close attention.

Before our first trip to Universal in Florida, from Amazon I bought a package of plastic sleeves for a lanyard. It had a a ziploc top so was secure. There isn't any reason you couldn't use the same sleeve on your bracelet.

That was funny and horrible.

Why should people get out of the way of a scooter? I can understand not stepping in front of a scooter. But the same rules should apply whether someone is walking or in a scooter. Imagine someone walking along and saying, "get out of my way" or beeping and hollering. Scooters shouldn't be plowing through people, and if the person in the scooter is beeping and hollering, then they are plowing through people. Scooters should also go at the same speed as the people walking nearby, and in the same direction.