rudeney

Thanks @BennyBrun! I really enjoyed the trip and the photos!

You need to read your policy, but I have found that most "included" insurance on credit cards is not very good. An example is with a friend who had a card with rental coverage. When he needed to file a, he discovered that the credit card insurance was only "secondary" and he'd have to file first with his personal insurance, which did not cover rental cars unless rented in conjunction with another claim. Since there was essentially no primary coverage, the card company declined to cover anything. After that, I found that AMEX offers a rider for primary coverage that costs $19.99 per rental (not day). I had to use it once with an Enterprise car where a rock cracked the windshield. The Enterprise agent told me I needed to pay estimated damages right then and there. I called AMEX and they had me put the agent on the phone. After a brief conversation, the agent told me it was all handled and to have a nice day.

Maybe what RCCL needs to do is follow the method many resorts use: Instead of picking a specific room, they could ask you what you want, like aft/mid/forward, upper deck, near elevators or not, connecting or not, near any other cabins attached to the booking, etc. Then, if you want a specific room, allow it to be entered into the comments. That way, no one gets disappointed when they have to rearrange things. You'd only be disappointed if you didn't get all of your requests honored, but this happens all the time at resorts and people still have great vacations. I think the expectation that a person has reserved a specific cabin and then gets moved is what creates the real problems like this. I'm not saying that @ceo418 is wrong to complain (I would) just that if the expectations were different, RCCL would not have to deal with this problem.

You could try OnPoint. I have not used them, but I've seen some here have. Search the forum for that company and see what you think.

About 12 glass of Scotch a day should do it.

@Spif Barwunkel Did you get the Moderna or Pfizaerr vaccine, and if so did you get sick, like with the flu for a day or two? If so, then it is highly likely that you had COVID prior to your vaccine and did not know it. I saw a presentation by two researchers who pretty much proved that having COVID antibodies would result in a bad reaction to the mRNA vaccines. Since I had COVID in 2020, my doctor suggested I take the J&J vaccine, which I did, and I had really no side-effects (a tiny bit of fatigue the night after).

Not always, I have seen several times that GTY is more expensive than "pick your own". I have no clue why except "crappy Royal IT".

If they conform to Rule 1 (most discount airlines - SWA, Frontier, etc. do not) then as long as the delay/cancelation is the airlines fault (not weather or FAA mandated) then the airline has to help you - book a flight on another airline, get you a hotel, meals, etc. The problem is, some airlines stretch the meaning of "weather". For example, you are flying out of Philly on a flight that originates in Detroit. If the flight cannot land in Philly due to weather, or it lands and can't leave due to weather, then you are compensated, and that seems fairly obvious. But what if the flight can't leave Detroit because of weather there, but there is no problem in Philly? Technically, that falls under Rule 1 coverage, but most airlines will deny it. You have to push them on it. I've done it before, but these days, they are so shirt-staffed with so many angry passengers with problems, by the time you get someone to help, it's probably too late to even get on another flight.

That sounds like their mesh system is not "meshing". They may not even use a mesh system, but just a bunch of wifi receivers with the same SSID and a grid of antennas. They need to upgrade their system. Surely one day's worth of Voom revenue would pay for that!

That's not what I have experienced. I've sent emails (and years ago, mailed letters) to the executive offices of several companies when I have had very poor customer service interactions. In every case, I have received a phone call from a US-based representative who had the ability and authority to address my problems. Don't get me wrong - I'm not a chronic complainer looking for freebies, and it takes quite a bit to push me over the edge to escalate my problems.

I don't think I've ever had the flu, or if I did, I assumed it wa just an especially bad cold. But I have lost my sense of taste and smell with a cold, but that situation is far different than with COVID. When I have lost those senses with a cold, it's because of the sinus drainage and congestion. With COVID, my sense of taste and smell just suddenly "turned off" and it was after I had recovered from the sinus/cold symptoms. I could only taste one thing - salt. Anything I ate that had any small amount of salt tasted like a box of Morton's had been dumped in my mouth. And my sense of smell was absolutely gone. My normal sense of taste came back within a week or so, but my sense of smell came back slowly and not fully. Many things I cannot smell, others I smell "very strongly" - like having a super-power. Smells made up of multiple chemicals are strange because I can smell "part" of them but not other components, so the whole smell is just wrong. Sewage, for example, is only a sulfur smell, as are eggs,. If blindfolded, I could not tell a pile of poo from a plate of scrambled eggs. Luckily, I don't eat with a blindfold over my eyes. I didn't die from COVID, nor was I hospitalized, and even back in 2020 with the "original recipe" virus, my respiratory symptoms were just a cold. I feel lucky that I got out with nothing but a warped sense of smell. Because of that, and the vaccine and boosters and my otherwise excellent immune system, I feel I am safe to go out in the world and live life as normal despite the current COVID variants.

That would depend on the insurance policy. We always get a policy that covers pre-existing conditions. I just read my policy and some parts seem like it might cover it as it states, "We will reimburse the insured a pre-departure trip cancellation benefit if the insured is prevented from taking his/her covered trip due to...sickness, covered injury, or death." It requires a written doctor's opinion. I;d say if a doctor tells the OP that she can't travel to an area with forest fire smoke due to her asthma, that's no different than, for example, saying I can't travel because I just had a heart attack. It certainly would be worth the OP investigating it, assuming she has insurance.

We are in a GS, so I'll likely just reply to the concierge's email beforehand to get all of our dining booked. I would prefer Chops on the first night since that's our favorite restaurant. I just find it odd the way this is worded in Cruise Planner and the app. Of course I have to remind myself that it's Royal IT we're dealing with!

Yep - that's what we did. It was just a souvenir for our granddaughter, and not expected to be anything incredibly valuable. I only had it appraised because the local jeweler we deal with included it in a periodic batch appraisal of all of our jewelry to keep our insurance up to date. It just confirmed what I had always assumed, that these touristy shops the cruise lines promote are selling cheap junk. But sometimes cheap junk makes a good souvenir.

I'm glad that helps - I probably gave you more info than you asked for. We only cruise once every couple of years, so I'm always hanging out here trying to keep up with all the changes - especially post-COVID. I'm an OCD planner, so I am constantly building my own list of "things to know".

My favorite ID10T story...Back in the 80's, I worker for a company that wrote software for pharmacies. This was back in the good old days of no Internet, no dial-up, green screens, and dot matrix printers. Our software had a hot key where pressing CTRL-A would abort the current operation. One of the users called and said the every evening, right as she started running her end of day reports, she would get the "Operation Cancelled - User Abort" message. The only way that message would appear is if she pressed CTRL+A, but she was not doing that. After weeks of diagnosis and even sending her a new computer and keyboard with fresh software installed, it continued to happen. So the owner of the company got on a plane and flew to that pharmacy to help. That night, he watched her get ready to run the report. She got everything setup, ready to start the EOD reports. She then removed the prescription bottle labels from her dot-matrix printer and replaced them with green bar paper. The printer sat on the counter, next to the computer. As she was leaning over to change the paper, her very large boob would rest on the left side of the keyboard, and, you guess it...press CTRL+A.

We did the shopping presentation once. Our granddaughter enjoyed using the coupons for the free trinkets, but that was the only thing that we got out of it. Other than that, it was a waste of time and we hardly ever go into those touristy shops in port. As for Diamonds International, they had a guarantee that if your item did not appraise for more than the price you paid, they would refund the difference. We bought a ring and later had it appraised by our jeweler, and it was worth about 75% of what we paid for it. I filed the claim with DI and they denied it because they said the appraiser had to be an independent gemologist, not associated with a retail store. That type of appraisal costs about $100, and the ring only cost about $250, so it wasn't worth the trouble.

I remember being on a DCL ship and every balcony had key to unlock the partition inside a "break in case of emergency" box:

A mixed drink, say Johnnie Walker Black on the rocks, is about $11 + 18% gratuity onboard. Last week, I ordered that at my local Long Horn Steakhouse. It was $12 + gratuity + 9% sales tax. I was at the Omni hotel in Nashville a few months ago and they were charging $20 for that drink. Beer is probably cheaper. Last week, we were at our favorite local pizza parlor and my IPA was $4.25, my wife's Michelob Ultra was $3.50 (both draught, not cans).

Not as part of the drink package. You can pre-purchase bottles of wine and even small bottles of liquor with mixers to be delivered to your cabin via the RCCL website: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/royalgifts/

OK, you can go on the RCCL website and get an idea for cabin prices and availability for that ship on that date. You might also consider using a TA who might do things like give you OBC, included gratuities, dining, etc. A TA can also help with flights, hotels and other travel needs. Once you have booked, you then have access to RCCL's Cruise Planner where you can pre-purchase shore excursions, Internet access, spa treatments, specialty dining, and beverage packages. Prices fluctuate. Ignore that "sale" banners - everything is always on sale. Just watch the bottom line price. Buy when you are comfortable with the price, and if it drops later on, you can always "return" a purchase and re-buy at lower price. You will see "bundles" that include Voom Internet. Those are usually not as good a deal as buying it separately. You don't need to buy Voom for each person - you can buy an multi-device package for one person, then share. In fact, you only need to buy it for the maximum number of simultaneous devices. Three people may only need two at a time online. Download the Royal app. You can then access menus (including bar menus with drink prices) for your cruise. You will use the app to check-in and select a boarding time 45 days prior to your cruise. The morning before boarding, or once onboard, use the app to watch the safety video. You then report to your designated muster station and they confirm that you watched the video and check you off the list - no more mass muster drills waiting in a lifejacket for the drunk stragglers to show up! If you haven't cruised since COVID, then you need to learn about all the requirements related to that. You must be fully vaccinated more than two weeks prior to your embarkation (fully means 2 shots of Modern or Pfizer, or on of J&J, boosters are not required). As of now, they require a negative CVOID test to be take no more than 2 days before boarding. There are some other rules if you have recovered from COVID but continue to test positive 2 days prior to boarding. Masks are not required onboard, but there is no social distancing or other special precautions, except the crew does mask. If you have the ship test you while onboard and you are positive for COVID, you will be removed from your cabin and quarantined. If you want to book seats for shows and specialty dining, you can do that once onboard, and you should do it as soon as you board to get the best times/seats. That is, unless you are in a full suite (which is not a Junior Suite, but a Grand Suite or above). Suite guests will get an email from the concierge a few days before sailing and can then request these things be pre-booked. I hope that helps get you pointed in the right direction!

I don't know why, but when someone has a phone or "radio" conversation, it's always much more annoying than just hearing people around me talking. It's not always that the phone conversation is louder, either. I think it has to do with the poor sound of the other's voice and it makes my brain have to concentrate to better understand them, even though I really don't car to eavesdrop. It's the same if sitting in a waiting room with a TV playing with audio vs. someone watching a phone or tablet. It's just annoying. But what takes the cake is people at a very nice restaurant who plop a tablet in front of a kid and play Baby Shark at full volume. That is the most annoying use of electronics!

Is this the same for UDP? My app also shows the reservation I had to make for Day 1 when I added UDP, but no venue is listed - it just states "Unlimited Dining Package 7 Nights".

If you already have a cruise booked on that ship, use the Royal app and look at the menus for the various onboard bars to get prices. I do think drink prices are the same across ships, so what I see on Voyager is that most fruity or frozen cocktails (like a Goombay Smash) are US$13. Most call-brand mixed drinks (like gin and tonic) are US$10 - US$11. Beer are US$7.50 - US$8 for most, a few specialty beers are up to US$9. Wines run the gamut, with most common one being US9$ - US$15 glass.

Oh I agree - sharing a few drinks on a single DBP isn't going to make price go up. But I still don't think RCCL's drink prices are all that high. Of course they charge more than I'd like to see, but $10 for Chivas on the rocks is less expensive than our local Outback Steakhouse charges.