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The reason I mention pre-ordering is I dined with a friend last year on a cruise who has severe issues with gluten in her food, pre-orders her dinners with no sauce, and EVEN then had one dish arrive with what appeared to be no sauce, but they had scraped off the sauce. There was enough left to trigger a reaction. I sat across from her and watched as her tummy literally blow up like a balloon in less than10 minutes.

I'm in the less money/more cruising category.

Personally, I avoid transportation on city streets in Athens, as the traffic is usually congested and slows you down. I suggest downloading the Athens metro app, and plan your routes accordingly. Piraeus is the nearest station, so you may have to Uber to it from Terminals A, B, or C.

My quiet go-to place after lunch on embarkation day is the Viking Crown. My earbuds accompany me, too.

I agree. I take one out when the announcements start. I just had these comical images of (a man) ripping his earbuds out, and asking, "Did I miss anything?"

HAHAHA......(when I stop laughing I will write more)....... OK, I'm back. Then I guess the kind of earbuds where you can turn off noise-cancelling are for you......(snort/laugh)

How lovely! I'm glad you had your earbuds with you.

I just prefer booking with my TA who has group rates, refundable deposits most of the time, and obc. He knows all the ins and outs, while I find the "cruise specialists" in NextCruise are a little iffy knowledge-wise.

Actually, my noise-cancelling setting on my ear-buds, combined with mid-high level audio from my phone, blocks out enough that I can concentrate on my music.

I just did my reservations for my 7 night cruise in November. Just remember when you book a night and put it in your "cart", to click on "return to shopping" to go select MTD again and go to the next night, until you have them all in your cart. Then, check out at the end and all your reservations for the entire cruise are done at once.

I take 2 pairs of noise-cancelling ear buds with me whenever I travel, connect the bluetooth to my phone, and listen to my own music wherever I am on a ship, in an airport, or on an airplane. I take two pair because going from West Coast to East Coast can sometimes be a 12 hour day, so recharging is needed. To me this is path of least resistance, and I don't have to give up what I'm doing, either. Amazon's fit my ears better, but Beats are also good.

I'm open to any cruise options, and the short ones depend on the situation. Next month is an example. My sister and I are taking a 7 night cruise in September. After Celebrity so nicely offered to recognize reciprocal loyalty levels between them and RCCL, I found a Celebrity 4 night cruise for sis and I, THAT GOES TO KEY WEST!!!!! My favorite place I can almost not cruise to to anymore. So, that 4 nighter is a true bonus cruise for us.

I believe in 2021 we had Allianz, and I switched to GeoBlue in 2022. If I have a problem with a cruise, I always go to the cruise line first, then insurance. Plus, I always have Chase Sapphire's trip interruption and cancellation as a back-up option. Not ever having submitted a claim, I don't know the specifics. The flexibility RCCL showed me might be because it happened early in 2021, and maybe they had more incentive to keep the money and give credit instead.

Oh, I believe you. It surprises me that any ship will deliberately alienate potential future passengers over port fees. I've read so many posts where people do get them reimbursed, that I did, indeed, think it was company policy. Thanks for the info.

You will be reimbursed the port fees you pay for Puerto Plata. Personal preferences are just that, and since you are before final payment date, I suggest you look for an alternative cruise, and transfer what you've paid to a new cruise. RCCL may or may not charge a change fee since they initiated the port cancellation. I did this myself last year when the cruise I had booked cancelled Key West from the itinerary.

I enjoy cruising solo, also. I started in January of 2022 after my husband passed in late March 2021. I've met quite a few wonderful friends on these solo cruises, and now join them when I can, or sail by myself. I also make it quite clear that I will not cruise with others if they are on a family cruise. I now have two groups of women I go on a "girls cruise" with every year or two. When I do cruise by myself, I have no problem eating by myself, as I am a huge reader, with my Kindle library on my phone. I love to have a nice meal and read my book. Since I wear hearing aids, I can also stream my favorite music from my phone, which eliminates loud background noise. However, I've found that many passengers are happy to include a solo passenger at their table in My Time Dining for dinner. I also see if I can dovetail visiting family or friends before or after my cruises. For instance, I have a cruise to Hawaii this Fall, and made plans with friends who live in Kauai to visit with them after the cruise. My Kauai friends took their first cruise with me last April. If I cruise out of Baltimore, I will try to see my sister. She and I now plan at least one cruise together per year: her birthday or mine. My rule is to always get my own cabin.

I have always preferred to get FCCs or move deposit money to another cruise, instead of refunds. I first contacted RCCL after my husband passed to see about doing this. I really did not want to be reimbursed, and wanted to know what my options were. RCCL responded immediately and gave me the options I had, including refunds. I chose not to get refunds. Had their response been different, I would then have moved to travel insurance as my next option. As I've posted many times on this board, I advocate annual insurance with credit card travel insurance as a back-up. I didn't have to use this option as RCCL worked with me and my travel agent at the time to move money to other cruises, or obtain FCC's.

I think Customer Service can give you the in-transit pass the day before debarkation. Once you have gone to the b2b lounge, received your new card, and been cleared off the ship, you can take off. Returning to the ship, show the in-transit pass to the staff, and see what that terminal's procedure is. Some let you go in with the embarking crew, some let you get on the ship immediately, some make you wait. If they've already started embarkation of the second cruise, you just show your in-transit pass and your seapass card and board the ship.

I found RCCL very, very compassionate when my husband passed in 2021. They allowed me to choose from moving my booking to another cruise, refunds, or FCC. I suggest you have the doctor's documentation available when you first contact RCCL.

I've been going nuts with both RCCL and Celebrity requiring me to establish new passwords if I log in with more than a few days in between logins. Annoying. I'm wondering if it's because I flip between using the phone app and the web site??? Luckily, I have a password generating app on both my pc and phone, and it automatically updates and synchs any changes, but I'm getting tired of constantly have to do this.

Me, too! Day 1 or 2 is my "pick up my free money day". Getting locked out from more account transfers in the casino is OK with me.

No insurance claim was required because, yes, Delta reimbursed him almost all his expenses for the Mon-Thurs morning delay flying home. They did not reimburse for local Uber transportation to get to hotels: they had to move twice during that time period while in Boston. He knew that what Delta did not pay, he could go to his credit card and file a trip delay/interruption claim. Travel insurance would have been third in line for a claim, but he normally doesn't buy insurance for what was supposed to have been a Fri-Mon trip.

Yes, I understand. No matter what the "delivery system", I would never do this.

Way in the way back they tried it for a while. But, I think it encouraged people to just hang out and hide without paying, and slowed down clearing the ship. I wish RCCL would get a little more descriptive when they make the announcements looking for stragglers. Sometimes there's a large group of b2b cruisers standing while this happens. I wish they would tell the "hiders", "would so-and-so please go to Deck X for debarkation; there are xx passengers waiting to board the ship because of the delay". Or, something similar...........

Not knowing the specifics of the OP's needs, I just went through all the deck plans and picked out the areas I knew to be quiet.