emeraldcity

Two weeks ago I booked on board about 3:00 in the afternoon of boarding day. I wouldn't recommend waiting much past that as it does fill up.

For entertainment, my two favorites are Symphony and Odyssey. There ae other shows I enjoyed on various ships (who doesn't like Mamma Mia), but if I was booking based on entertainment only, I would pick one of those two. Did anyone else get the impression that the team that put together the aqua show on the Symphony was the same group that created the Harmony aqua show?

My experience has been that when you approach the desk where they are handing out stickers for the various coaches, they ask how many are in your party and then they make sure that your party all gets the same sticker.

The ship I'm on is the Explorer.

Check the Daily Planner in the App for your sailing. Ours lists quite a number of Halloween activities for Oct. 31st., including Halloween themed trivia, costume parade and Monster Mash Bash. Tonight's attire is "Halloween Costume".

Because of the huge price difference, we also did a guarantee balcony on the Odyssey. And we were assigned a midship deck 6 balcony close to the open space between two life boats. So we got a little slice of the view we were passing. I had heard that once you were assigned your room you could call and ask for a change, but the reality was that there was nothing else available "in our category". Never again ... not on that class of ship. And with the ships sailing at or near capacity, the RoyalUp isn't likely to be in the cards. We consoled ourselves with the fact that at least we had our own little private outside place.

You might want to consider calling Royal Caribbean and asking if there is an accessible room available. I had two broken ankles 3-1/2 months before my cruise and I was hopeful I'd be able to manage with a walker by the time of the cruise, but they didn't clear me to put weight on the second foot until 2 weeks before the cruise. So I was just beginning serious PT shortly before the cruise. Fortunately there was an accessible cabin available. My granddaughters pushed me through airports in the wheelchair and the scooter I rented was waiting in the cabin when I got on board. That scooter saved my vacation. I have since sailed in a balcony cabin and taken a hard look at the logistics of trying to get around the cabin in a walker. It's wishful thinking to believe it would work out. And I can't imagine trying to take a shower (even with them providing a shower chair). Good luck to your mom as she recovers from this set-back. It sounds like she is a very determined lady and she will get her life back with that mindset. I got mine back. 🙂

I appreciate the positive vibes. I just made final payment yesterday on a Harmony cruise.

I was in your shoes last year. I won't bother with my personal story. I'm just chiming in to give you my personal experience on getting on in-person appointment. Call first thing ... available appointments go early in the morning. The reps who answer the phone may not be ready to be creative, so be pro-active. They told me the best they could do was an appointment 10 days out in Detroit (I'm in Cleveland). I took it and sweated it out for several hours, then called back with my newly assigned appointment number. I asked if there was anything in Buffalo and she said they had lots of openings, so she gave me one 3 days out. You will need all your paperwork again ... birth certificate, etc ... and you have to pay for it all over again. Don't forget to bring proof of travel within the two week window. I'm sending positive vibes your way and I hope it all works out for you.

Make sure she at least takes her grad cap for some pictures. We did a number of photos each evening at the photo backdrops. We also took the cap ashore with us (it was a Greek Isles cruise), so I have pictures of her wearing her cap at the Colosseum in Rome and on the Acropolis in Athens.

I did the March transatlantic on the Symphony and was hoping to utilize the library. It's a good thing I took some books with me (to leave behind after reading) because the shelves were nearly bare. They have ample shelving in the card room for books, so if you're cruising soon on the ship and you have some books around that you'd be willing to part with, it would be awfully thoughtful if you slip them into your luggage so you can drop them off.

Correct. The funds just simply go on your on-board account.

Follow the advice above. It's really very easy. I was a bit hesitant, but I asked at the casino cashier about it and they even gave me a little folder that stepped me through the process.

Oh woe! This all starts March 10th. I sail March 9th. So I guess I'm stuck with the old program. Or perhaps my steward is primed to sneak into my cabin at the stroke of midnight and confiscate my plate of cookies they left the day before. And I can't call and change my amenities (currently slippers and tote bag) because you have to call 10 days prior to the cruise ... and I only have 9 days. What rotten luck. I was getting tired of the slippers and planned to change them before my next cruise anyway. I hadn't changed it because nothing was terribly appealing. And a new offering like the toiletries bag definitely caught my interest. However, the thought comes to mind that if they actually deliver slippers to my cabin at some point on the cruise, I will be in possession of pristine collector's items. Will they increase in value the longer I hold onto them? Inquiring minds want to know.

I know the libraries were apparently emptied during Covid. And the well-stocked library on my pre-covid cruise on the Allure was a treasure trove of good books for that transatlantic (March 2020). When I cruised the Allure shortly after start-up, the shelves were bare. So I have an upcoming transatlantic on Symphony and I was hoping someone who's currently been on that ship can tell me if the pickings are still pretty slim. If so, I'd better plan on bringing a nice supply with me.

Thank you for the chuckle.

This is going to rank as one of the most trivial questions I've ever posted, and I apologize in advance for this bit of nonsense. But I love my salads and I love being able to customize them. And when I'm done putting the perfect salad together, I want to drizzle ranch dressing on it. I was rather surprised to find that it wasn't offered on the Vision. So I'm hoping some cruiser recently off the Symphony can advise if the Windjammer or the Park Cafe is offering ranch dressing. Because, if not, I'm seriously thinking about smuggling a bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing on board.

I totally agree. Not only was Prins Christian Sund breath-taking, it was also the best day weather-wise of the entire trip. I didn't know Royal was offering a Greenland itinerary out of the East Coast. That's a stroke of brilliance. I hope it becomes a regular offering.

Go on your cruise and enjoy yourself. I had plans with two friends to cruise last February. We hadn't seen each other in over 2 years due to the pandemic. We had each booked our own cabin. Two days before the cruise I fell and broke both ankles shortly after checking into my pre-cruise hotel. It would never have occurred to me to expect them to cancel just because I couldn't go with them. Frankly, that would have made me feel worse. I encouraged them to go and have a wonderful time ... just be sure and send me pictures.

Thank you for the info. I'd love to do the entire South America segment, but I've written it off as out of my price tolerance. But I'd give some serious though to a portion thereof ...

Gasp! Potentially no chips on my TA this March. Must consider visit to Walgreen's to stock up ... and you thought us Midwesterners flew in a day early because of potential flight delays.

Unfortunately, this post has gone off the rails. My experience is that the vast majority of people are very considerate. Last February I broke both ankles in a fall shortly after arriving in Ft. Lauderdale for a cruise on the Odyssey. You can't imagine the heartache or seeing your ship in the port as the plane is taking off returning you home two days later with both legs in splints. Fast forward about 100 days and I returned to Florida for a cruise on the Symphony with my granddaughters pushing me through airports in a wheelchair. Once we reached the room (fortunately there was an accessible cabin available three weeks prior to sailing when it became obvious that I wasn't going to be ready to take on the world yet with a walker) the scooter we rented was waiting for me. That scooter saved my vacation. I set it on turtle mode when in a crowded situation and found that people were very considerate overall. They held the door for me without asking. They commandeered an elevator for me without my asking. They squeezed themselves against elevators walls and encouraged me to join them in an elevator that I thought looked too full. They moved chairs out of the way in the Windjammer to help me navigate to an empty table. The list goes on and on. It was a very hard way to learn how challenging life can be when you have mobility issues. But I will never forget how grateful I was to all those strangers who made an effort to make life a little easier for me.

The Alaska Cruise was amazing, but it wasn't the cruise or the walks around various towns that ended up being the cherished memories we still savor. It was the excursions. The train in Skagway, the small plane out of Talkeetna to land on Ruth Glacier on the slopes of Mt. McKinley, white-water rafting in Denali, 4-man zodiac boats we got to drive on a guided tour in Ketchikan, the glass-topped train from Denali to Anchorage. It was an incredible experience. Determine what your goals are. I went primarily for the scenery, but I also wanted to get a feel for the history and the geology. The Visitor's Center at Mendenhall is a fantastic resource for helping understand the forces that create the glaciers. The Skagway train helps you understand the huge obstacles the gold rush miners faced in trying to reach the gold fields. The white-water rafting and the zodiac boats involved stepping out of our comfortable world and experiencing something of the wild and rough side of life that Alaska epitomizes. And the staged Lumberjack Show in Ketchikan turned out to be an incredible way to learn about how the skills of the loggers were developed to deal with the terrain and the environment. Take a look at a map of Alaska and you will realize what an incredibly tiny portion of the state you will see when you skirt the edge on your cruise ship and step ashore in a few towns along the way. If you only ever get to do it once, will you have short-changed yourself if you skipped an excursion or two because it cost more than you were expecting?

The best answer is "It depends". It doesn't hurt to call and have them check into possible change. My cruising partner had to bow out, so I called to see about changing to a solo booking. For the staggering fee of $4.10, I was moved to a balcony cabin with the larger balcony and now I get double points. Win-win.