alfaeric

Tangent... it pays to look when out and about. We were at a KOA store just outside of Devils Tower last summer where we found a bottle for $65.

Cruises on the Jewel are more old school than new- no real "features", but things that happen on every cruise- shows in the theater, events in the centrum, guitar player in the pub, piano in the Schooner Bar, and some other events in the Safari Club. There is a small cinema that is fun to see movies in. And if the pool tables work, those are interesting. Maybe they will heat the Solarium to hang out in. But, for us, the "lack" of stuff helps us pay more attention to where we are going. Sometime after you get off, we will take the TA to Iceland and Greenland- which should be really cool.

IIRC from a month ago, no Blanton's, but I remember seeing EH Taylor. Don't recall seeing Stagg or Weller.

On top of that, they offer some rums that are really hard to find around the island. Like Ron Barrilito 4 and 5 star (3 star is pretty easy to find). And some interesting bottlings of Don Q. We always get rum at the airport when travelling to Puerto Rico- just so much easier that way.

It’s one place. One per ship.

Other than the time posts, it’s actually 100% of the D access, since it’s only the former D lounge, now known as the crown lounge. That’s it, as far as I know.

Interesting that this thread went from one criticizing Royal providing a benefit to a group and then bashing said group as being entitled. Of all the cruises we’ve sailed as D or higher, a solarium sail away has never been offered to us, so we’d never expect one. Let alone be offended that we didn’t get it. I can easily see being upset at Royal for offering this, but to be mad at those who get it? Really?

We do, too. And have been for over a decade of cruising. coolio, since you are airline carryon only, this will be super easy to do. Carry off is just as easy. And we still manage to overpack.

Even with WiFi calling, it won’t WiFi sms text.

Cruising isn't for everyone. Especially if you are not open to try some international slop that uses cheap rice as the base. Or if you don't want to walk to different buffet stations to see what other veggies are available. When you focus on negatives of a largely positive review, interesting. But at least you know before hand you won't have a good time. That's a relief.

For the Caribbean, only JS's and above had kettles. I say had, because they were paired with a one cup coffee maker- and both have been replaced with a Lavazza machine. For just hot water, just run it w/o a coffee pod. Works fine. Two things to be aware of- 1) they are loud, and would wake up most people sleeping if you were up early; and 2) there is significant leaking into the pod "catcher" (no idea what it's called)- so plan on emptying it when you are done. But the water is hot. If you are in a JS or up, you will have one of those, balcony or down- nothing.

Given that the games that were ONLY streaming on Prime were shown on the ships, I'd wager that the game will also be shown on board. Pretty much no difference between Prime and Peacock in that respect.

I just remembered one thing to add- the ships showed the Thursday night streaming only game from Prime Video. If that adds anything.

No. But as pointed out before, peacock is about the US market, which the ships are outside of. Again, seeing so many games, and noting how gambling has saturated the market, I see no reason why the games would not be broadcast somewhere. RCI stands to make more money showing them.

It's a conclusion watching all of the games recent only cruises. Especially walking by Playmakers and seeing them show 3 games at the same time for both afternoon game slots. And then listening to the MNF game Saturday- pointing out that they will broadcast the games outside of the US. That's why I said it's "clear to me" as opposed to being certain. Given how much money the casino rakes in for RCI, I'd wager it has something to do with that.

It's been pretty clear to me that RCI has a contract with the NFL to show all of the games. Even the game that will be streaming on peacock. The only "twist" for the offseason is that they may actually be ESPN feeds instead of the nominal networks- that was mentioned during one of the games this weekend that the games will be on ESPN Caribbean- which are the consistent two ESPN channels on RCI. On our recent Symphony cruises, there were a bunch of people watching games in the Aqua theater, as well as a bunch in Playmakers- who were showing as many games as they could at the same time.

Ask for a coffee mug plate. Those are generally small enough to fit into the fridge.

Yes. So if you want specific seats, the doors open ~40 min before. If not, IIRC, SNF on the first night isn't very crowded- given people are still getting used to being on a ship. Either way, there were seats right up to the performance. And yes, Go Blue is both warranted and quite welcome!!

Of the 4 nights, the first two nights will be Saturday Night Fever, Night 3 will be a guest, and night 4 will be In the Air twice. The theater is pretty busy.

To us, the Quantum ships are kind of a combination of the ships with a Royal Promenade and ones with a Centrum. Especially how the path toward the both the theater in the front and the lounge in the aft go along one side. We've sailed the Anthem quite a few times, and very much looking forward to the Odyssey soon.

How important that you get the seats you want vs whatever is available? I don't think anyone has been fully turned away from a show, so you can get in. But you will be seated in places you may not see that well. As for making reservations- they open up the first of the month prior to the one you cruse from. So ships sailing Feb 1-28 all open on Jan 1. That would be the first choice. IMHO, instead of waiting in line to book when you get on board- open up the app and make reservations. We've made them later than 1pm on boarding day and gotten all of the shows except the comedy show. And that also has a stand by line. While it may be odd to need reservations, the ship holds +6000 people, and the venues are pretty small, relatively speaking. So they really are needed.

FWIW, a few years ago, we ran outside the port in Jamaica- never felt uncomfortable, but it certainly wasn't nice enough to warrant wandering around. By that, I mean there's not really much to see. Plenty of interesting excursions around, though. And the port area isn't bad- good place to get some steps in off the ship. Labadee, on the other hand- plenty of nice places to go and just do nothing. The "worst" part of that is the market area where you may get a lot of people trying to sell you stuff. But it's not dangerous. We were bummed on a recent cruise that it got flooded in some heavy rain, forcing us to miss the stop.

Labadee isn't real Haiti anyway.

I think it was the Harmony- and it *might* have been because a Key person asked. Normally, we all see the lines go straight out the isle toward Studio B, and this "specific" line was to the right (looking out of the theater) right next to the door. Our most recent Symphony cruise, no crew came out to make the line until it opened for people to come in. Harmony last March and Allure last Feb- someone came out to make sure the lines were organized. Again, it was odd for the Symphony, because the Aqua Theater lines were organized with signs. Not sure why they need that kind of organization- even with the smaller venue, there are fewer reservations per show.

We were just on her in December, had a really good time! There is some wear- more noticeable in some place than others. WRT SNF- if you like the Bee Gees, you will enjoy it. The story is rather thin, but it's also not all that long- so the characters can't really be developed too much. Ice show is great. BTW, if you are on the 4 night cruise, they do the aerial show, as well. Totally get the want for an Oasis ship, though. We were on Symphony the week after Liberty.... (and Allure in Feb).