Starry Eyes

That’s the tip of the iceberg. Now imagine if you and your wife found yourselves needing to return home from another country without passports. That could happen for several reasons: you are called home from the cruise due to a dire emergency, one of you is hospitalized in another country due to accident or illness, you miss the ship in port, due to a major mechanical problem the ship leave you stranded in another country, etc. All those things and more have actually happened to people. If you travel, renew your passports.

For early traditional you could be assigned to any floor. In general with the new system one of the dining rooms is initially used for early traditional, but those early diners begin to exit that specific dining room, MTD diners are seated in that dining room. For the rest if the evening that particular dining room is dedicated to MTD. Meanwhile the other dining rooms have the usual early and late traditional seatings.

After excluding consecutive cruises (since we did not go through check in), since restart we scanned passports and took photos for 16 cruises. Our photos have only re-taken by the shoreside agent only once. If yours are re-taken every time, it might be your technique (not close enough?) or background.

There aren’t many obstructed balconies on Liberty. There are a few deck 6 aft balconies that really bug some people; google pictures of those to see if you’d find them acceptable or not. Higher aft balconies generally pretty popular. Personally, I’d book a last minute gty balcony on LOTS for the right price.

RoyalUp should indicate your Current Category in the header (it may be best seen on a computer rather than a phone). I suspect Another Critic is asking what how RoyalUp lists your current accommodation.

Be careful what you say…they might try selling the hotcakes at a special hotcake bar on Icon, too 😉😀😉

People should bring the wine they like to drink. If they happen to enjoy a particular inexpensive bottle, that’s what they should bring. Those that enjoy more expensive wine will bring it. The corkage fee probably won’t be charged, but even if it is the wine suits the person.

I don’t pick Sorrentos as a spot to sit and relax at any time of day. The seating doez not seem especially conducive to relaxation…perhaps that’s intentional so people can find a seat to eat pizza rather than seats occupied by people relaxing long term.

I don’t tend to eat that late, though on a few cruises I’ve had a late craving or my sleep cycle was still in the wrong time zone. Room service isn’t the answer if family members are sleeping. Some late night bite options would be nice then. It wouldn’t have to be WJ. It could be a smaller venue.

If you do that could face a fine for bring those products from ship into the country in violation of agriculture laws. The fines could be more than your cruise fare. It would be the most expensive carrot you never ate.

The first El Loco we visited was on Wonder. The bar and margarita were a high point. I was sorry to discover not all El Locos had the bar. On Wonder Cantina Fresca bar is past the food line and around the corner near Wonder Dunes, so you might not see it if you just glance into El Loco. If you just want to go to the bar when El Loco food line is very busy, you may want to go aft on the port side then turn before the sport court to cross to starboard.

Continuing the El Loco discussion…it was open for breakfast on our wonder cruise last month. Though the breakfast buffets there was smaller, when we visited was far less crowded than other other venues. I did see an omelet station sign, but did not enquire…they might have made an omelet to order if asked. We like the margaritas at the the bar at El Loco on Wonder. We went to that bar for margaritas after boarding last month. Not only did the friendly bartender make two great drinks, the El Loco opened a bit early, so we enjoyed a serene lunch up there while the maddening crowd lined up waiting for WJ to open…double bonus. It was more peaceful than Park Cafe for a first lunch.

LOL. So many ships are now sailing so full that the odds of a RoyalUp win are much lower, especially if one bids close to the minimum.

The location risks are similar for Guarantee bookings and RoyalUp. With either one you can be placed in the least desirable cabin in the category (to your tastes) and you may be stuck there, unable to move due to lack of availability. Some people are flexible and willing to do this; other are not. For others it is situational (they will do it for certain categories, on certain ship, or for a certain bargain price). You booked an XN. You seemed to have escaped a deck 14 assignment with your CP cabin (presumably you’d have told us if you were already in deck 14😀). You’ll have to weigh to cost of the upgrade and the risk of a poor location vs your wish for an oceanview.

Someone in a JS or full suite might cancel. As the bids are already submitted, the resulting vacancy can be filled quickly and profitably. I did win a bid in the past when all categories above mine had previously been sold out.

We have ordered Carne Asada several times and always enjoyed it.

I like it too, though I’d only recommend it to people who want a hotter soup. The people who want a milder soup might order with the enchilada soup.

If you dress smart casual to the MDR or anywhere else on “dress your best night” or “formal night”, nobody will bat an eye. Plenty if people dress up; others don’t.

I don’t know if past Oasis class gty assignments will be of much help foretelling your future Icon gty assignment, though I’m happy share my Oasis class assignment memories. I’ve booked multiple XN over the years and been assigned both Central Park and Boardwalk. I have not necessarily been assigned the one that was cheaper when I booked or cheaper when cabins were assigned. Once I thought I’d probably get CP because substantially more were available than BW and CP was cheaper, yet I’d be assigned BW🤷‍♀️. Usually though if one had far greater availability at assignment time, that’s where I’d land. I have been allowed to swap cabins within the exact same category one assigned if a cabin I like better is still available. Lately by the time I am assigned there are often no cabins in my category available, better or worse. Here’s my approach: I picture the absolute worst (for me) balcony cabin assignment; that’s what I paid for with a gty balcony booking. I accept the idea of that cabin or I need to pay for an upgrade. If I am assigned that cabin, I got what I paid for. If I get anything better, even a little better, I remember to be happy.

Items purchased in the cruise planner can be returned for a refund. Different packages (or the same one if there is a price drop) can be repurchased. Decide how many devices your family will need to have on line simultaneously, and fine tune you purchase before the cruise. My experience on Aos was similar to Airbear. Wifi in cabin was weak, though it improved as soon as I walked to the corridor.

Other people have had trouble with point displays. Here’s the suggestion, copied and pasted from another thread. Log into your account online. At the top, you'll see your initials. Click them and select Profile -- then on the right, select My Loyalty. You should then see your Crown and Anchor number. Write it down or otherwise know what it is (LOL!), and then delete it from that box so the box is empty. Then, re-enter it and choose "SAVE" at the bottom. This should force the system to update your C&A and your points hopefully will thenappear.

We are in the RoyalUp era, so in your hypothetical situation I suspect 5 bids from balcony to suite would be accepted. There would then be enough available balcony cabins for the gty bookings. Royal would profit from the RoyalUp bids; it does not profit by giving free upgrades to gty bookings.

That’s understandable, but OP’s considering a regular upgrade, not RoyalUp

And in some ports terminal buildings are designed so people simply walk their luggage down nice wide, switchback ramps rather than using escalators.

I don’t think it is worth it. An inflatable tub should suffice for a toddler. Making D one cruise sooner isn’t worth that much.