LisaLisa87

Wow. I'll wait for the early reports (I'm booked on the fourth sailing), but that is a bigger number than I was expecting. Hard to believe the passes would sell out with that kind of capacity.

Thanks for sharing this. Gotta say... the pizza doesn't look like anything special. At the very least, there should be a couple of special menu items at the Snack Shack since they're charging for admission!

This suggests to me that they're going to sell a lot of day passes. I'd be interested in knowing what the capacity will be and whether there will be enough lounge chairs to go around. I've booked this for now, but I really don't want to have to race off the ship to make sure we get lounge chairs and an umbrella.

Ours wasn't emailed to us either, so I sent an email to the address listed in the Past Cruises area on Royal's website. I got an auto response saying I'd get a real response in several days. So I called 800-256-6649, spoke to a live person, and had the statement within 5 minutes.

Since we're talking about balconies, we absolutely loved the balcony of our side-facing CLS. If you go by floor square footage alone they may not seem very impressive, but the height makes them feel much, much bigger. We spent more time on our balcony on this cruise than we have on any other cruise -- including the time we had an ATS!

For $800, and taking into account that you're celebrating a milestone anniversary, I'd do it. DH and I just celebrated our 25th on Harmony and stayed in a CLS for the first time. We absolutely loved it. The extra bathroom was great and we loved being so close to CK and the lounge. We ended up using the lounge much more than we did when we sailed in a suite that wasn't on deck 17. If you weren't celebrating anything special, I'd keep the GS.

With an early all aboard time, I'd stick with one of the Royal excursions -- especially if you've never gone on our own before. We've vacationed on St. Thomas and have taken both the passenger and car ferry to St. John multiple times. As others have said, it's not particularly difficult, but timing is very important. I would not recommend that someone try it for the first time while on a cruise, unless they have a really long day in port.

Interesting... and we actually sailed at the end of April (I just corrected my post). I assumed this had been around awhile since I hadn't cruise RCI since 2018. I agree that it's a good idea, but I guess time will tell whether the requests are actually carried out!

We had the option to submit stateroom requests for our sailing on Oasis at the end of April. The only request I made was to have the bed separated since I was sailing with my sister, and it wasn't done. Not a big deal as our stateroom attendant handled it while we were at dinner. I would actually have been impressed if the request had been carried out before our arrival!

I didn't get an email from Royal at the 45 day mark, but I was still able to check in via their web site. I wasn't able to print luggage tags for another several weeks. When you log into your account on the web site, does it say "Check-in unavailable"? If so, that's unusual at 30 days out.

You should be able to see details for your specific sailing in the app now. I'm sailing on 9/2 and can see excursions, activities, entertainment, menus, etc. in the app. If you're sailing in October, you may have to wait a little longer but can view earlier sailings until then.

I'm on the September 2 sailing, and I was able to book everything but the adult comedy shows starting on August 2. I'll keep checking, but I've read reports that people on recent sailings have had to wait until they've boarded to book the comedy shows.

My sister and I both went on all the Perfect Storm waterslides on Oasis earlier this year. We had a blast, but I will say that I tweaked my back a little the third time I went down the green and blue one (which I think is called the Supercell). That one was the most fun, but I never quite made it around the bowl without having to push with my hands. That last time I went over the lip a little funny. No regrets, though!

I have a related question. Sorry to hijack, OP, but I didn't want to start a new thread for something along the same lines. How does tipping for the servers in CK work? We'll be eating dinner only at CK and specialty restaurants, although we'll probably be all over the ship for breakfast and lunch. Should we be tipping the servers at CK after each meal?

DH and I are celebrating our 25th next month with a Western Caribbean sailing on Harmony. We considered a Med cruise but ultimately decided we wanted something more relaxing for this particular vacation. While an Alaskan cruise might not be quite as complex to plan or as taxing physically as a Med cruise, we ruled that itinerary out early as well. Since a Caribbean cruise is less expensive than either of those options, we were able to justify booking a sky class suite. The suite perks will definitely make this feel like more of a Special Occasion. We're currently in the early stages of planning an Alaskan cruise for next year (with NCL since Glacier Bay is a must for us).

Regarding tipping the bartenders in the suite lounge, do most people tip them by the drink, by the day, or once at the end of the cruise? I'm leaning toward daily when we visit during happy hour, although last time we were in a suite I think we tipped once at the beginning of the cruise and again at the end.

It wasn’t important to me to get THE earliest time for our upcoming cruise, so I waited until the next morning (around 7:30am) and got the second earliest time.

Same! And each time I get excited, thinking Hall and Oates is going to be on my cruise (or at least someone's cruise!). 😂

I'm not the OP, but I definitely prefer balcony rooms where the sofa is next to the balcony and always choose that layout when possible. I know plenty of others prefer the opposite layout!

Oof... a constant reminder that your cruise is almost over.

Thank you both!

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but are you completely protected from rain while inside the cabana? If it's raining hard, can it get between the slats of the roof? We're toying with the idea of getting one for our upcoming sailing, and I'd feel better about spending the money if I knew we could use it even if it's raining. Thank you!

It's very easy to do on your own. We've been to St. Thomas a handful of times (including two land trips), and Magens Bay is still our favorite. If you don't need lounge chairs, walk down the beach a ways and you'll have a lot more space -- both on the beach and in the water. We had your same port times last time we were there, and we ended up doing some shopping in Charlotte Amalie first and then getting in an open air taxi and heading to Magens. We didn't have any trouble getting a ride back to the port when we were ready to leave.

Ours actually went down a little. 🤷‍♀️ Icon 2/17/24

Happy Anniversary to you and Lisa! I'm looking forward to following along on your adventures. Did you happen to see the Wham! documentary on Netflix? It ended before he officially launched his solo career, but watching it inspired me to revisit some of his best videos. Freedom '90 was one of my favorites. Have a great cruise!