Good lord, this forum's list feature just looks like crap.
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sflheadbanger wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 10:00 am
Thanks to all who have taken time to bless us newbies with your wisdom. A couple more questions if you don't mind.
What's the best way to communicate with a partner on board? I assume no cell service and it looks like internet access is extra? Do short range walkies work well, or are there better ways?
The 'best' way would be to pay for the WiFi package, though I understand the expense. If you already HAVE a nice set of walkies, especially if they are higher end those could work, but interiors of the ship (where many events happen) could be blockers. I only tried to use these once with a cheap pair, and the results were not great.
The Royal app supposedly has a chat-with-friends-onbroad feature that is $3 per day (apparently it used to be free).
Reports on CruiseCritic vary as to whether it works well or not.
Best bet would be to buy the lowest Wi-Fi tier and use, e.g., Facebook messenger, etc. Text messaging should be okay and probably audio. Video messaging might or might not work.
I'm not sure walkies would work too well onbroad. Reports on CruiseCritic about their functionality have been spotty at best.
Remember that all interior walls on the ship are metal
and signals -- including Wi-Fi, too -- have a hard time penetrating. In fact, if your Wi-Fi in your stateroom is lousy, one proven workaround is to prop your door open.
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What's the best time to get to the ship to board? I think boarding starts at noon, is there any reason to arrive earlier than that?
This is a crap shoot. In general, the earlier the better, as once the shows start things get crazy and hanging out on the ship before the chaos starts at 5, especially for a newbie, is a great way to get learn the ship and meet people. That being said, sometimes boardings are delayed and everyone winds up hanging out in the cruise terminal for hours. It depends. I would error on the side of getting there earlier, but be prepared for a long line, and maybe not to be allowed on board right away at the end of the line.
I've always tried to get there fairly early, around 10:30 am at the latest. I've had to wait in the seating area in the terminal for a while, but that was part of the fun; it's a bit of a party atmosphere.
Note that this is the first 70K sailing out of PortMiami since 2015 and we've been out of Port Everglades for five years thereafter, so things might be different from what most of us remember.
I was onbroad in 2015 but I can't remember the specifics of our boarding process that year.
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What's a general time to assume you're done with disembarking? We're trying to figure out when to schedule our bright line tickets for.
You can get off as early as 8:00am if you tell them you have an early flight and carry your own luggage off. If you leave it to chance to would be between 8-11 depending on when they call your boarding group. I would error on the side of ant flight to be after 1:00pm, but to be sure there are no issues
sfheadbanger, I'm assuming you're taking Brightline (the new-ish train system) north to Fort Lauderdale and not to an airport? If so, you're probably okay to get a ticket at noon or later. You may be able to change your ticket time if you end up there wayyy early.
As I recall, first-class passengers can get free transportation within five miles at the end of your ride.
In a year or two they'll finish the line and we'll be able to take Brightline to and from Orlando from Miami, which opens another potential airport for us as well as easier transit to/from Disney, Universal, etc. Brightline is America's first privately-owned passenger rail system in YEARS.