rudeney

My cruise uses the old version of Cruise Planner which has a printer icon at the top. I would not call the result "concise" - it's just the same thing I see in the calendar on the webpage without all the Cruise Planner banners and footers:

Note that coffee from the onboard Starbucks store is not included in the DBP. Cafe Promenade now uses Starbucks beans and the coffee drinks from the are included in the DBP. If you want soft drinks and don't want to carry the cup around, you can order whatever you want from any bar or restaurant. You would just not have the wide selection that the Freestyle machine offers unless you use the cup.

No - it must be professionally administered or proctored. Here are the official rules for Canadian cruises (which RCCL follows): https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/cruise And don't forget to do ArriveCAN!

Yeah, as I age, my memory fails me and things start to blend together, but I do know that back when the CL was on the same floor or maybe one below the suites (Freedom/Voyager class), the concierge always seemed to be there as soon as we boarded as we'd often go in and introduce ourselves. I usually only have one wheeled carry-on which is not a big deal.

We booked 5:30 TD, but also bought the UDP and likely won't go in the MDR at all. I probably should have booked MTD. I may see about changing it as that would make things easier for the MDR crew.

What? OMG! Don't tell my wife! That's her biggest fear. I remember on DCL, they gave us our cards at the terminal, but all the stateroom doors were open and that freaked her out.

That story does ring a bell, so maybe I'm not as senile as I thought!

I always enjoy the belly flop contest. It's funny and the CD (or whoever hosts it) always makes it fun. My daughter tried to get me into it but there was no way (but I'll bet I would've won it!) . She did once rope me into the cornhole competition. My opponent was a drunk guy we called Capt. Jack (Sparrow) because we was always stumbling around with a drink in hand the whole time. Now I'm not really good at cornhole, but I figure against a drunk guy, I was in like Flint! Um, no. He beat me - badly!

I thought I remembered that suite passengers were allowed to drop off their carry-ons similar to what they now offer as a benefit with The Key. Thinking back, it may have been that we could drop off carry-ons in the suite lounge, then pick them up when the staterooms were ready. That may not have been an "official" suite benefit, but I've always found the concierges to be very accommodating.

None of the COVID tests are FDA cleared or approved. They are "authorized" under "emergency use authorization". Abbott states this about Binax: The BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Antigen Self Test has not been FDA cleared or approved. It has been authorized by the FDA under an emergency use authorization https://www.abbott.com/corpnewsroom/diagnostics-testing/BinaxNOW-what-you-need-to-know.html

OK, thanks for that clarification! I knew it ended before our next cruise, but thought it was the first part of September.

Same here! Not from being on a cruise, but just "living life", our adult daughter started with it last week, then I picked it up this weekend, and now my wife has it. It's a sore throat, some coughing (not deep - just throat-tickle) and a stuffy nose. No one has had a temperature, maybe some mild headaches and body aches. It does seem to go away fairly quickly - like 5 days or less. But it's not COVID! We've all ben testing daily and always negative. Honestly, I was almost hoping it was COVID so we could get some extra antibodies going before the cruise! 🤣

I think it ended when they stopped refunding cruise fares when people tested positive and could not cruise. That either changed Sept. 1st, or maybe it was Sept. 11th? Not to say "I told you so", but months ago, when we were speculating when testing might end, I said I'd put money on it being when that reimbursement policy ended. I guess i was right! 🤣 You are right, though, that it will strongly influence people not to seek medical car on the ship if they feel sick. But based on how many people feel about it these days, if you have a sore throat and the sniffles, there's no reason to seek treatment or get tested - just treat the symptoms like you do with a cold, but of course be kind and don't spread it to others (just like most of us do with a cold).

Agreed! And like I said, I am not sure where I heard that, so I could be wrong.

That's my understanding - vaccinated passengers on cruises of less than 10 days and not stopping in Canada or Bermuda do not need to test.

I would agree. I paid $245pp (inclusive of gratuity) for 7 nights. I intend to eat in specialty restaurants at least 6 /7 nights plus we'll do a few lunches, so that puts the per-meal price around $30.

Shhhhhh! 🤣 Seriously, it's the basic economics of capitalism. When demand outstrips supply, prices will increase.

I'm far from an expert, but from what I've seen in LV, if there's not much action, they will have fewer tables open and low minimums to entice players to join games. As the tables get more crowded, they will raise the minimums and then open more tables. You can walk through the casino at 10pm and all tables will be open with higher minimums. 12 hours later at 10am they will have two tables open with $10 minimums. Not recently, but a few years back I saw a $5 table one morning at Caesar's. It seems like getting more players would be better, but they look at the "handle" (total flow of cash through the table) and "drop" (money exchanged for chips). They know that in the long run, they will make an average percentage return, so the more dollars played, the more they make. The easiest way to increase the handle and drop is top raise the minimum bets. Of course if this keeps people off the tables, it has the opposite effect, but the pit bosses should know how to manage this. If they have open tables that are empty, they really need to lower the minimum to get some some action, but as @OCSC Mike said, that $15 minimum may be a corporate policy.

I think there were some website issues yesterday. I checked-in a few weeks back and went to look at something and after a bit of spinning wheel time, the screen came up blank. I kept re-trying and it eventually got there, but it would not show my set-sail pass. Royal IT at its usual best!

Headed to Quest...

It seems that recently I heard someone mention that the dining room head waiters were releasing unoccupied TD seats to MTD if the guests did not show within 30 minutes of the scheduled time. Did I just imagine that or did someone post about it?

Yep, that's what I was trying to say when I stated, "Make sure you get the ship location correct on the diagram." On some ships, there are four quadrants (fore/aft - port/starboard), but on the larger ones, they use a 6-section grid to include midship. My guess is that this is just for the crew to quickly eyeball and get the luggage close to the roo. If you're quadrant is off by a few cabin numbers, I'll bet you'd be OK. Sometimes they don't even deliver luggage to the actual room - just the general area. As mentioned, if you don't have the correct colors, you could also just print it in grayscale. It can't be any worse than the handwritten tags you'd get at the terminal. Oh, and suites have a special notation with a red border and "Suite" at the bottom. I guess if you wanted to photoshop your own tags, you could add your CAS status, too. 😏

I was pricing out an Alaska cruise, and staying in the Celebrity Retreat was actually cheaper than a RCCL GS + tips +DBP. That is definitely an option.

I believe the reimbursements have ended now. If you test positive and get quarantined, you are just SOL.

My wife saw a Virgin commercial on TV and started talking about that since they have kid-free cruises. I found a few online videos from their cruises and we quickly realized that we are probably aa few decades beyond their demographic.