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Hi all! Sorry for the lack of live posts today. It has been a busy day. We went to KSC today on a shore excursion purchased through RC. It is called "Kennedy Space Center Guided Tour". It is pricey but well worth it in my opinion. We got 10% off the Cruise Planner price during the sale at Christmas time. Here's a short summary of our day... Instructions were to meet outside the terminal building at 8:15am. Upon arriving outside, greeters were there to direct you. Greeter: "What excursion are you headed on today?" Hubby: "Cape Canaveral" Greeter: ...looking puzzled Me: We are going on the Kennedy Space Center guided tour. Greeter: "Oh, ok, down to the buses on the right." More evidence to support the fact the I am the Genie, even on vacation...Ok, moving on... The bus left promptly at 8:30am. It took slightly over 20min to get to KSC. The bus ride there and back was very interactive. Our guide gave lots of info about the area and the Space Center. We headed straight to the Saturn V Center. The last time we were here it was about 20 years ago. Hubby and I both noticed throughout the day that they have added many more attractions to the place. At the Saturn V building, we watched a video on the lift off of Apollo 8 and there was plenty of time given to walk around, take pics, and tour independently. Photo Credit: All Hubby After leaving the Saturn V Center, they gave us some time to view the launch pad from the viewing stands. That's where my pic earlier today came from. We boarded the bus again and headed over to the Visitor Complex. Here we watched a short video at Journey to Mars and watched an 3D IMAX movie on "Journey to Space". Many of the attractions here reminded me of the Epcot Center. Our kids were surprisingly engaged and we were really pleased with that. Free time was then given for lunch. It was raining by this point so the break was welcomed. The food choices here are standard theme park items. D2 was quite inspired by this time. She created this. It's called "Mission Chicken" or "Chicken Rocket", she couldn't decide. After lunch, we met back up with the group and it was time to head over to Atlantis. Here we had time to participate in the Shuttle Launch Experience and wander through other exhibits. All in all, it was a very worthwhile experience at KSC. Everything mentioned above was included except lunch. It was a busy day. D2 lost all steam by the end of the day. In chatting with the kids at dinner, they had time to reflect on the visit and they enjoyed it. It was eye opening for them to see the collective effort that goes into a mission. It was also humbling for them to see the sacrifices made by others to get to the point where we are now in space exploration. I am really happy that we took them now (at this age) and not earlier because they are at an age where they can see beyond the "fun" of the exhibits and process the information they took in today. This excursion also provided a really good mix of guided exploration and independent touring. In answer to @Skid's question from earlier, if this excursion is worthwhile as a half-day tour, I feel that the answer is it depends on several factors. If the tour is guided and includes both the Saturn V Center and the Visitor Complex, then no. I fear it may be very rushed. If it only includes part of it, then yes, you can still get some good time in. If your tour is totally independent, then it is worthwhile if you are not visiting for the first time (and you are selective) or if you have researched it and have a set plan (no wandering). Keep in mind that travel time alone is about 50-60 min round trip. On our way back to the ship, we had to wait on a bridge for about 10 min because there was a barge that had to pass. Things like that can eat up time if you only have 6 hours. Our tour was listed as 8hrs but really it was 8:15am-5pm. After we got back, the kids were wiped. It was a quick stop at Sorrento's pizza again (kids like it lol) and then back to the stateroom to clean up for dinner. Going to put the kids to bed then post dinner photos...

Strawberry Fried Cheesecake from Brass & Bock. Rating: A ?

Solarium Bistro recon On Oasis class, they had separate breakfast, lunch, and dinner times here. I found this interesting once I got to the entrance: Here are some sample food offerings in the Solarium Bistro: Current mood: ?? sitting at the solarium bistro bar with a Coco loco, hubby and kids at the pool

Regular breakfast in the WJ today. Grabbed a few photos. I have noticed that for lunch and breakfast they always have a section of Asian food. I don't remember seeing this that regularly on other ships. @jurrjurr no dim sum though. Sorry for all the slanted shots. It was crowded as usual. I am certain I don't like the WJ here on Anthem. The food is good but the poor flow of traffic really bothers me. It is consistently like this. I did find this which I thought was very interesting.... And here on Anthem, mimosas can be found on carts that look like this... Trying to decide what to do now. Hubby might take the kids to the pool so I might go check out the solarium finally. ?

I'm a firm believer that when you take vacations with kids to include one event that is educational during the trip, especially if it's in another country so they learn something and have something to write about in school if asked. Then let them have fun for the rest of the trip. Seems like your doing the same thing Sabrina.

CK Night 4 Menu: I forgot to mention in previous dinner posts that the classics menu (left side) is the same every night. The menu that changes nightly is the one that I am posting. For the classics menu, see the first dinner post. We were all super tired from today's activities so the plan was just to eat quickly and relax the rest of the night. Hubby, D1, and I all started with the Caesar Salad. No pic as I already posted that in another post. D2 had her usual tomatoes in a martini glass. We didn't even have to ask for it tonight. At CK on Anthem, they sit you with the same server each night. I like that way better as they know you well by now and it makes tipping easier at the end. He has also been very accommodating with D2 as she is ridiculously picky. More than once now, he has taken items from the adult menu and modified it to her liking. For example, for dinner tonight, she had the roasted chicken but it was completely plain (zero sauces and garnishes) and her side item was fries. Cheese Tortellini: Flavour was light and not too strong. Hubby and D1 liked this a lot. I liked it too but I could only eat about 1/3 of it as I find tortellini sits heavy in your stomach and fills you up quickly. Rating: A Grilled Barramundi: The plan was for Hubby and I to share this. In the end, we each took a few bites and left it. It was really salty and the texture was very stiff. It was fresh, just not to our personal liking. I want to say rating is a B- but that is highly subjective. Vegetable dish. Sorry, in putting this post together I just realized that my menu pic has the last entree cut off. I also cannot remember the name of it. Whatever it was called, this dish is good! It contains beans, chick peas, and grilled vegetables. The white stuff was a yogurt dressing. Flavouring played a big part in making this dish delicious! Rating: A Dessert! Proof as to how tired my kids were by this point, they skipped dessert. Totally unheard of! Hubby and I still found the strength ? Creme Brûlée, my usual favourite. Rating: A Chocolate and Olive cake. This did not sound appealing at all but our waiter insisted that I try it. I am so glad I listened because this was yummy! It was dense and rich but melted in your mouth. Rating: A New York Cheesecake with Strawberry topping, Hubby's usual favourite. Rating: A After dinner we called it a night. Back to the stateroom for PJs and family time. Everyone, but me, is now fast asleep ? Goodnight all!

My family and I went on a cruise on the Enchantment of the Seas last week. I'm a male in my 20s, and I went with my grandma in her 80s and my uncle in his 40s, for reference. MONDAY 3/5 (Leaving Miami): Getting on the boat was a breeze, especially because my grandma has been on enough cruises to qualify for gold status (the word on the card, not the actual gold-colored card), so we got to skip the longest lines. I remembered it taking much longer the last time I went on a RCI cruise (Liberty of the Seas in 2008), so that was a pleasant surprise. One annoying thing when we got on board- we had pre-paid for different beverage packages (they were nice enough to let my uncle get the deluxe beverage package with only making me and my grandma get the refreshment package even though we were all 21+) that all came with the Coke freestyle cups. But, they already had those in our room, which we couldn't yet access. Since Windjammer's machines are cup-sensitive, we were unable to get soda at the first lunch even though we had paid for it, but that isn't the biggest deal in the world. A touch I really liked was that they provided mini-buffets by the pool deck as we were getting ready to leave Miami. As it was a beautiful day, a lot of people were on the pool deck watching us leave, but we were able to get a table. Dinner was really nice. We chose the 6 PM seating and were paired with three other small groups of people. My family all went for the prime rib, which we really enjoyed. I will touch on this more later, but our wait staff gave us really good service too. We elected not to go to the evening show, instead walking around the boat. Also, we spent a couple hours watching the entertainment in the Centrum, which was pretty good (except when a drunk guy broke a glass on the dance floor). When my grandma went back to the room, my uncle and I continued to explore the ship. Even though the shuffleboard courts theoretically close at 9, there was nothing stopping us from playing and no one waiting, so we played several games (I eeked out the win too). A nice way to start the trip. TUESDAY 3/6 (Nassau): On Tuesday, we were in Nassau. Breakfast in the Windjammer was decent enough everyday (I certainly didn't need that chocolate covered cheesecake at breakfast though). Since we could do more for less money using a third-party excursion service, we had booked a Nassau tour through Viator with a company called Tyrone Wilson's Shore Excursions. Our guide, Kevin, knew everything to know about Nassau and even seemed to know everybody. While we did make five stops, one of the real highlights was getting to hear him talk about the Bahamas. My personal favorite stop was the Queen's Staircase, both for the history and for the views as we descended. My uncle and grandma also really enjoyed the rum distillery. I don't drink, so it wasn't the stop I was looking forward to most, but it was still very interesting to see and learn about the industry. The only real disappointing stop was the chocolate factory because they only gave you a tiny crumb as a sample (whereas all the other sampling stops were far more generous) and ridiculously overcharged for any additional chocolate you wanted to purchase. I had been there before (as a hotel guest), but we also had about 30 minutes to explore the Atlantis resort. Our guide also drove us through some poorer areas of Nassau, so we got to see the various ways people live there. We also asked him for a lunch recommendation, and he recommended us some place called Bahamian Cookin' (or something like that) a couple blocks inland in downtown that was excellent. We later went to this zoo and gardens that was somewhat disappointing, at least relative to the excellent tour Kevin had given us earlier in the day. We got back on the boat in time to get ready for dinner, which was formal night. Unfortunately, we were the only ones at our table who were able to get there. We again went for the beef, all getting the tenderloin. Since the dining room wasn't very full, they must have had a bunch of extra food, so we were offered seconds, which we happily accepted. I think there might have even been thirds. Additionally, the service was far better than I could have ever expected. Our waiter remembered that I had a Diet Coke the night before and had one there for me as soon as I sat down, without my even having to ask. When they realized how much we seemed to all like beef, they sent promoters from Chops Grille to offer us a discount for the next night, which we seriously considered, but decided against (largely because my uncle would have wanted lobster, which wasn't included with the base surcharge). After dinner, we split up, all having different things we wanted to do. My uncle had wanted to enter the poker tournament in the casino (by the way, the casino has tutorials of the different table games 30 minutes before opening every night, which I enjoyed, even if I wasn't really planning to play). Assuming full capacity, the winner from Tuesday was set to play Wednesday's winner on Thursday for a free cruise on the Allure of the Seas. I walked around with him for a while, but went back to the room to get out of my suit. My grandma went to the music show that night, which we allowed her to do alone since neither of us wanted to go. While my uncle was playing poker, I met up with my grandma after the show and we went to the Love and Marriage Game Show. That gameshow actually has importance in our family because, on our cruise 10 years ago, my grandmother and my late grandfather were the long-married couple on the show (they came in last). When they were trying to find couples, my grandma told that story, which was a nice moment for all of us. The show (in my biased opinion) didn't live up to the one ten years ago, but that could just be me. We still had a good time. Afterwards, I met back up with my uncle, who had unfortunately only come in third in the poker tournament, and we went back up to the pool deck because I had read in reviews that there was a big party with a poolside buffet when leaving Nassau. That was only partially accurate, as they only had food inside the Solarium, but there was music from the boat's DJ. It was a bit more of a party scene than I would have liked because there was a group of close to 500 spring breakers just from one school on a ship of only 2500, but we enjoyed it still. After that ended, we did briefly go to the Viking Crown Lounge, but that was a little too wild for me, as it was pretty much only the spring breakers (I'm about that age myself, but I am not really that wild). Some of them were enjoyable to talk to individually, but they were crazy as a group (my uncle actually described them as entertainment). We got some late night food from the Solarium (my uncle had the idea of putting pizza inside a burger, which he said was excellent) and went back to the room. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7 (Not CocoCay): While at breakfast, even though it was partly sunny outside, we heard an announcement from the captain that the weather would not allow us to go to CocoCay as planned because the seas were too rough and a cold front was approaching from the west. Royal Caribbean did do a good job of adding more events, such as ping pong tournaments, trivia contests, and game shows to try to let us still have a good time. But, as the weather was still pretty nice, we grabbed seats at the pool and hung out there (but unfortunately they weren't opening the main pool until 11). Before lunch, we went to play Family Feud, one of the added activities, which was fun. Lunch in the Windjammer was likely the same thing they were going to serve on the island, but it was good, and we rushed out of lunch to play sports trivia, which was harder than we expected (or, more accurately, a lot of the questions were from sports we didn't follow as closely as the Big Four American sports). By the time we finished with trivia, the bad weather had arrived, so we mostly had to stay inside. I did use the Solarium pool in this time (and found out that I'm actually 7 feet tall if that is really 5'6" deep). At dinner, to our surprise, again nobody else showed up, so we yet again got fed like royalty. My grandma was finally tired of beef and got a lasagna, while my uncle and I had multiple beef short ribs. If you are ever on this cruise, you must get the warm chocolate cookie with ice cream. I made the mistake of not getting it, but had a bite of my uncle's one, and it was easily the best dessert I had. But, since the dining room wasn't full, I was then able to order one anyway. After dinner, my grandma is a big North Carolina fan and wanted to watch their game, so we went to the casino, where the only sports bar is on the ship. We tried our luck with the penny slots before the game, and I wasted $5 in about 15 minutes and decided I had had enough. My grandma and uncle were up for a little while, but they lost theirs too. My uncle decided to give the poker a second go, but again finished in a tantalizingly close third, good for nothing. The casino sports bar was also crowded with some of the students on spring break, which really wasn't too bad. The only annoying part is that smoking is allowed in the casino, so you could intermittently smell smoke. I do wish they had a smoke-free place to watch sports other than your stateroom on board (and I know newer RCI ships do). After the game, my uncle and I caught the second half of the adult comedy show, which we definitely enjoyed. We took advantage of the midnight buffet in the Park Cafe before calling it a night. THURSDAY, MARCH 8 (Key West): This was my fourth cruise, but I had never been on one that reentered the US before returning to the embarkation port, so I had never been through the "you must wake up at a certain time to go through customs" thing before. It was pretty early in the morning, so we just rolled straight out of bed to do that and ate and got ready for the day afterwards. We did the hop-on, hop-off bus tour in Key West that morning. When we first got on, our guide, Louis, was excellent, so we rode around most of the way before getting off at the location of the Southernmost Point and the butterfly house, which we enjoyed (even if my grandma inadvertently took a butterfly out on her shirt and had to get an employee to return it to its habitat). We ate lunch at Sloppy Joe's, where they actually invented the Sloppy Joe and went around both on the bus and on our own to see a few more landmarks before returning to the boat. It was a sunny, but not hot, day, which made it perfect for exploring the island. The previous night we had considered seeing if we could take them up on their Chops Grille offer and even got to the point of asking them if it would still be good for Thursday, which they said it would. However, we really liked our waiters in the main dining room and were offered a discount on getting the Chops food in the main dining room, which we did. My grandma and I got the Chops filet, which was excellent, while my uncle got their lobster, which he seemed to enjoy. My uncle and I got the lamb shank as well since it still wasn't full (we weren't totally alone, as one of the other three groups did come that night). After that, we wanted to watch basketball again, so we went back to the casino. Before going to the casino, we checked out the Centrum entertainment and I somehow got drafted into doing some dance in front of everybody without even being told what I was doing. At least I didn't drop the woman from the activities staff when she jumped! Duke and North Carolina were playing in back to back games and my family is split between those two schools (I'm actually a fan of a different school, but I was rooting for both that night, and both won). Again, the college spring breakers were at the casino bar, but some were into the games since they were mostly from North Carolina themselves (I actually live in Tennessee, but my family is from NC). Once they had both won, it was about 11:30, so The Quest was already well into progress, but my uncle and I decided to go anyway. While I don't mind humor that isn't PG-rated, The Quest went too far for our tastes, so we left after about 10 minutes, went back to the room and called it a trip. FRIDAY, MARCH 9 (Returning to Miami): I had breakfast with my grandma, but, after breakfast, my flight to Tennessee was much later than theirs to North Carolina, so I stayed on the boat when they left. I decided to simply carry my bags off, so I went a little before when my number would have been called, but the line was already crazy. It likely took me well over an hour to get off the boat, but there was nothing we had to wait for after getting off since we had been through customs in Key West the day before. I had reserved a $30 shuttle to FLL, but that had taken me so long and I didn't know where to go that I found an third-party shuttle to the airport for only $20 that I took. In the future, I would just do that from the beginning. I got to the airport in plenty of time, but my grandma and uncle actually missed their flight out of Miami to get home. OVERALL THOUGHTS: -I really liked the refreshment package, but I probably could have lived with just the classic soda package if I had been paying for that part myself (my grandma was gracious enough to pay for most of the cruise for all of us). -The food was of excellent quality, and there was virtually always somewhere you could go. The late night food was actually really good too. -This was a relatively small RCI ship, but everything was running well and the crew did a great job. -We had fun plans for CocoCay (the Aqua Park and walking the nature trails), so I was disappointed it got cancelled, but it was handled well. -I didn't see what they gained from roping off the pools at night. I wouldn't have minded taking a night swim, but that was impossible. Also, the Solarium may technically be a retractable roof, but it was always closed, even though three of the four days had perfect weather. -They do need to have a place to watch sports that isn't smoky. I don't think it would be a big deal to put a couple TVs at one of the bars, possibly the Schooner Bar. -We did a bunch of the game shows and trivia and really enjoyed all of that. All in all, my complaints are minor, and I had a really good time and would go back on the Enchantment of the Seas. But, from seeing the pictures of the very newest ships, I think I want to try one of them the next time I go on a cruise.

Sailing into Nassau: Here with Enchanment and Empress. ?: Hubby from the treadmill

Stayed in the WJ so long that they rolled out lunch desserts...so I snapped a few pics before everything was picked through. Something for all of you to look at while you are having lunch at work ? don't hate me lol

No laying in bed!! Get out there and take more pic's and start posting for us all to see Podcasting comes to mind for todays activities

I finally got around to editing some pictures and thought I would post a live blog style review of our day in Cozumel from this February even though it’s not so live anymore. I made a video but the image quality is so much better in the pictures. All of the pictures were extracted from the GoPro footage. We were cruising with some friends and didn’t have any plans for the day except that we wanted to check out the East side of the island. We had heard that it was beautiful and since this was our third trip to Cozumel we wanted to try something a little different. We decided to rent some scooters by the cruise port and headed East. It was $55 for the day including full insurance coverage. I think it took around 20 minutes or so to get to the East side of the island but I did not actually time it. Once you get out of downtown there is a side road that is for designated for scooters and bicycles. The ride down the coastline was beautiful and the pictures don’t even do it justice. We had pulled over to check the map, but we saw this little beachside bar and decided to check it out. The place was called Rasta Bar. It was free to enter and they had a full bar and menu. We weren’t that hungry so we just had some chips and guacamole and a few beers. The chips and guacamole were around $6 and the beers were $3 each. There were miles of untouched beach and coastline in either direction of the bar. There was plenty of white sandy beach, hammocks, and a beach volleyball court. We had planned to just stop for a few minutes but we decided to stay a while because it was exactly what we were looking for. I can’t say enough about how beautiful the undeveloped beaches on the East side of the Island are. Our only regret about the day was that we hadn’t brought anything for the beach like flip flops or beach towels because we didn’t know what we were going to do when we set out. It was a great day and it was probably our favorite thing that we have experienced in Cozumel. We went downtown afterwards to our favorite spot called the Thirsty Cougar. We didn’t take any pictures but it was great as usual. Overall the day was incredibly affordable coming in at under $100 total for the two of us. I would highly recommend renting scooters as a fun way to explore Cozumel. Not only was the ride exhilarating, but it was also incredibly convenient to be able to travel anywhere you wanted on the island without worrying about transportation costs adding up. One tip I would give to anyone who decides to rent scooters is to take pictures of the scooter before you leave the rental place. When we returned them at the end of the day they tried to charge our friends for a scratch that was already there. Luckily, he had taken pictures and we were able to resolve the issue without any problems. Rasta Bar was great and there were several other beachside bars on the Eastern coast that looked great as well. We look forward to seeing more of the island on our next trip to Cozumel.

So we basically had a super low key day filled with eating, pool (for the kids), more eating, wandering, more eating, and eating again ? I have not a clue how I am going to eat dinner in an hour and a half. Random findings from wandering: Wonder how long it will take them to fix this sign? Very cool.... My favourite piece of art on this ship:

That's what I figured too. Especially when I watched mine come out of a cooler ? Side note: IMO it is not worth it to get the refreshment package and then pay for the difference in alcohol. For example, the rum for my Coco loco was $7.95 plus 18%. That works out to $9.38. A margarita is even more because it has 2 liquors. So basically if you get a good deal on the deluxe package you might as well get that.

^^^ this woman is exactly how excited I get when I see a cart full of mimosas!!!

You are welcome, it was my honor.

Don't forget about that time on the helipad...

Start on deck 2 then work your way up ?

Disney Dream heading out of port right at you, don't shed a tear too much... Enchantment and Empress also in port.

I'm pretty sure those fried pickles would become a daily thing for me.

you had me at Lobster mac & cheese wedges. edit: OMG! aaaannnddd fried pickles!?

The Coco Locos were probably already made earlier. The bar staff on Anthem told me they start prepping for CocoCay many hours before the ship arrives. They have to haul cart after cart of food and beverages down to the lower deck to get ready to off load it onto tenders to supply the island (certain tender boats have a flat cargo area on the front to transfer supplies to the island). This is all accomplished in the 4-5 hours leading up to arrival. When they skip CocoCay they get to drag all the carts back upstairs and unload them. It's a tremendous amount of effort. The Coco Loco (same as the Labradoozie) is made without alcohol. Alcohol is added at the time of drink purchase. Instead of just dumping the Coco Loco semi-frozen slushie mix out, they start selling it on the ship.

Did you hide them from you daughters and husband? Hint....put them in the safe!

I brought some back to my room. Will let you know if it actually tastes like that later ?

Don't you mean BRUNCH!

I warned you on the first post. We are lazy cruisers!

Podcasting? I only know how to listen to @Matt's. Everyone got up but now two are back in bed lol

Actually, that is the exact reason that I gave hubby for booking this excursion. As a teacher, I look for the teachable moment always. They are there. I think my kids are starting to catch on though lol....

More time to enjoy the ship!

Great excursion blog post. So much better than my feeble attempts. Well done!

Thank you. Any day that I don't have to cook or worry about dinner is a great time! And no worries, that's what RC Blog is all about, helping each other, learning from each other. So ask away! ?

Henry....stick to decaf!

Is that a rhetorical question? Here is my haul from our January cruise. I love liquor drinks but I'm such an idiot - I can't make a good mixed drink to save my life.

Has anyone else noticed that smell when walking onto the ship? With only 4 cruises before this it already feels like I'm home when that smell hits me. Great feeling. Dinner was in the MDR most of the week. The first night i had the horseradish salmon. It was delicious, and my favorite dish of the week. For dessert I had the hazelnut chocolate cake...amazing, and the best dessert of the week. The NY strip was really really good. I tried the duck, and lamb, later in the week, both were so so. The lobster bisque was pretty awful. We had dinner in the Windjamair one night, so I was able to try the chicken curry, and sapi jamur (beef), both were delicious. The pepperoni pizza was pretty decent for a buffet. My wife visited the omelet station in the Windjamair every morning. The rock wall had weird hours all week, so I didn't get to climb as much as I wanted, but I made it to 3 sessions I think. There was 1 route on the wall I just couldn't complete, but I got a little farther each time I tried, so I'm happy with that. The wall was closed on day 4 due to high winds. I had to skip the adult speed climb this time around due to formal night dinner. I had lunch at Izumi on day 2 (1st sea day) while the baby and wife napped. I haven't had raw fish, so this being my first time trying sushi I started with something cooked to some extent...the crispy spicy tuna roll, and the champagne lobster roll...wow. I absolutely loved both of them. They organized the rolls beautifully on the plate. It was more food than I thought it'd be, so I only ended up eating 9 of the 16 pieces, and took the rest back to my room for later. I loved the crispy spicy tuna roll so much I got it on day 4 (2nd sea day) for lunch and took it back to my balcony. Cruising with a baby was not the best experience. We enjoyed the cruise, but there just wasn't a whole lot for a 1yr old to do, which is fine, Brilliance is a wonderful ship regardless. It was a great learning cruise I guess. My wife said our next one will have to be on a ship with a toddler pool, so Freedom-class or above. Our son loved the Schooner Bar (as did I), the Colony Club, climbing stairs, and the mini golf course. But, his favorite activity was riding the elevators by the Centrum and/or ocean. The crew loved him and would stop to say hi to him when they could. We left him in the nursery 3 times. The first time he did great, but the last two times he screamed as we dropped him off, so we ended up picking him up an hour early each session. We're hoping he'll grow out of it for next time. We took him to the open play twice and he loved it, since we were there with him. Our day in Grand Cayman was...interesting. We did the Trolley Roger tour, which was nice and short for the baby (we booked it on board, on embarkation day I believe). We walked around town afterwards and long story short I lost my phone. I freaked out, finally settled things in my head after back tracking and searching our bags, then we got back on board. My wife dumped the diaper bag out on the bed...there's my phone. Hooray! It had fallen to the bottom of the bag and I missed it each time I checked in there. I felt like an idiot for a few hours, apologized to my wife, and we moved on with our day. The next day in Cozumel went much better. There were 4 ships in port...Empress, Liberty, Brilliance, and Carnival Breeze. We received the "dangerous ferry" letter about Cozumel, so we decided we'd better try to book an excursion in Cozumel before everyone else started rebooking due to the ferry cancellations. We wanted somewhere our son could run around and get in the water. I probably should've booked Nachi like I originally planned, but we decided to go into this cruise with no plans. So, during our sail away in Grand Cayman we booked Chankanaab National Park day pass. For us it was a good choice. A small beach our son could walk into, a splash pad, a small playground, a pool with a swim up bar (in this case it was full of booty shaking spring breakers...I thought people only acted that way in movies/tv, lol), a sea lion show, and more. Our pass got us all that and more, including a small buffet lunch, and open bar at 3 of the bars on property. It was $50 per adult, the baby got in free. We were there 3hrs, but could've stayed longer. Our Junior Suite was amazing. The space in the room, and hump balcony were great. The bathtub was perfect for our little dude. Also, I really liked having the bath robes. We were able to put a blow up pool on the balcony for little man to play in. Overall it was a good cruise. Brilliance is a great ship. We've been on Serenade as well, so now I can say I'm a fan of the Radiance-class. Next time we cruise we'll have a 2 1/2, and 1yr old, so we'll be looking for that toddler pool on Freedom-class or higher, and we'll be looking into 2 connecting cabins as Matt and others have suggested. All my wishes came true...honey stung chicken, rock climbing, sushi, and meeting Michael Poole. I'll post some random pictures whenever I get around to it. Thank you to everyone on the forum, blog, and podcast for all the little tips and tricks!

Have you found the ships coin?

Yes. ?

Grabbed an entire plateful for sharing. Next cruise I'll ask the Genie ?

I just asked RCI on facebook if they had a projected end date for the new website, a week , two weeks? The response that i was given was....None at this time... It would be nice if the IT department would have published a completion timeframe for all its customers. What was i thinking?

It's currently 68 degrees. The water would have been too cold for the kids to truly enjoy anyway. I will get that menu pic too for you today. I feel like today is a great day to try those desserts! And I have extra OBC now ?

No clue. We are still in bed. ? The Captain announced that we actually won't be able to dock at Nassau until after 6pm because there are already too many ships there today. We'll probably spend the day exploring the ship. We have really done that yet.

Sorry to hear that... the RC private islands are always some of my favorite destinations, a nice beach with no one constantly trying to sell you stuff. Plus the hollowed out pineapple of frozen drink perfection. Just a great relaxing family day for us.

Its been a few years since we did Allure, but there was a soft serve ice cream machine setup hidden in the wall by one of the pools IIRC. Seem to recall it had very limited hours of operation.

If you are booking for yourself/immediate household, you could get away by booking everything one your own. I find that a travel agent is most useful when it's with multiple parties. They can combine all reservations together for dining and activities for you. You can do it on your own but it takes time and work and the other party's consent. I have learned the hard way. People in the group will assume you are the point person and go to you to make changes. Having a travel agent may or may not save you money but it will save your sanity especially dealing with a group cruise!

I have booked a sailing with Expedia (Travel Agent) but I think I'm much better off booking with RC directly! I mean if I were to choose Expedia or RC... Expedia provides virtually no help or benefits as a Travel Agent. They don't reply to your emails. Even if they did, the replies are those auto-generated ones. And when you turn to RC, they claimed they can't do anything or update anything for my booking because I have booked the sailing with Travel Agent. So basically none of them will (or can) answer my inquiries. I guess my best alternative for help and answers come on RoyalCaribbean blog, @Matt's podcast (EXTREMELY informative, LOVE IT) and the helpful contributors on this forum

Eww...no. Germaphobe here remember?! Lol

Since it was nearly two years (I know, I suck) since our last cruise, I had completely forgotten the smell. OHMYGOSH - when we boarded a few weeks ago, it all came back to me and I was literally overwhelmed. I really did feel like I was where the Lord meant for me to be.

Cabin Photos: This is a Family Junior Suite (FJ). The FJ on Anthem can sleep either 4 or 5. The ones on Deck 8 and 9 can accommodate 5 and the ones on the other decks only sleep 4. Powder room: Toilet/sink Full Bath: shower with curtain ?, sink, toilet. One complaint is that there is a lack of storage in here. Shelves on the wall would have been great. L'Occitane bath amenities in suites for anyone who is wondering. Room: Balcony: Storage: At night with the Pullman:

I loved the pictures in the Schooner Bar menu.

Maybe when I do finally try to log in(in a few days to spare me the aggravation) I will be lucky and instead of booked cruises disappeared, I will have free/extra ones added!!! Trying to think/stay positive here people....

"seamless" appears to have the measles.

Done .... Thanks Matt --- already trying to make something Great even better ..... Bravo Sir.