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We just got off of Oasis of the Seas this past Sunday. There were six of use including two children (3 & 5) and my wife's parents who are in their late sixties. This was our first RC cruise. We have done Disney a couple of years ago and my wife and I did a carnival cruise 13 years ago. We arrived at MCO the day before and used Ace Luxury Transportation to transfer all of use to our hotel at Port Canaveral. I cannot say enough about Ace. They get great reviews and we had used them on our last Disney cruise. Communication is great and they are always inside the airport near the baggage claim holding a sign with your name. Uber is probably cheaper but i do all of the trip planning for the group so it just takes a level of stress away knowing that someone is waiting and can help me move all the luggage. This cruise had three port stops (St. Martin, San Juan, Labadee) and three full days at sea. We have never been to Labadee but have been to the others. I purposely booked this cruise because with the sea days it would be less moving around. With the young kids and the grandparents having some mobility/endurance issues i figured it would be more relaxing using the ship as the destinations. The first two days were sea days. We loved it. We could relax. The kids enjoyed the pool and of course the ice cream cones. The kids tried out the kid zone and my oldest loved it but my youngest became clingy and never went back. More on that later. The first morning we did a character breakfast with the kids. THey loved it. All the characters came around to the tables for pictures and dancing. The only complaint was the food service was really off that morning. I ordered an egg white omelette and took and hour to get it. When it arrived it was completely wrong. I am not picky so i was going to eat it because i did not want to wait for another. I took one of the kids to the bathroom and when i got back my wife had returned it. Never saw another one. A couple of other families had left because their younger kids grew restless while all the adults were waiting for food. Its a small complaint because i was not there to enjoy my breakfast. We were there for the kids and their food was quick and they loved it. So mission accomplished in my books. St Martin - we did the Capt Bobs boat excursion not booked through RC. JLMoran did a great review on them. I can second his review. Worth every cent. Food was good. Plenty of beer, water and soda. My wife is mostly vegan so they made here a separate meal which she liked. Capt was friendly and with 6 others on the boat besides us there was plenty of room. Capt Bob said since we had the small kids he put us with the smaller group which was nice for EVERYONE! Kids did great. We rented a house 4 years ago on St. Martin at Bay Rouge near Donald Trumps investment property. I had told our Capt about it and he made a stop there so we could see it. The destruction to the area and the whole island is horrible to see. Knowing what it looked like before and seeing it now made us sad. We love St. Martin and hope they are able to bounce back. San Juan - We went to the fort by Uber. Super easy. The kids enjoyed it. My kids love pirates so they were in heaven. AFter that Kids and grandparents went back to the ship. ALl needed naps from our long day at St. Martin. My wife and I went for a couple of drinks and some food. I found a place online called Casa Melaza casamelaza.com. The owners were great. We tried a flight of different rums and ended up buying a couple of bottles of Barralito 3 star. There is no distribution off of Puerto Rico of this rum. Owners said most of their business is from the hotels not the ships. It is just a few steps off of the road from all the shopping. I found that odd. If anyone is interested it is worth your stop and their prices are good. Owners were super friendly and had a great chat with them. Labadee - We rented a over the water cabana at Nellie's beach. Awesome!!! Luckily i bought this on a black friday sale for $395. I think i saw it for $525 at one point. Having a little cover from the sun was great. We got the first one since it was closest to the water and the least steep entrance. The farther ones are more private but this worked for us the best. Service was great. Golf cart to anywhere we wanted to go. I walked most places but the grandparents appreciated the rides. I bought an all day roller coaster pass. We can have a free passenger. My son went a few times with me and my wife went once. It was a lot of fun. Dining - We did the MDR for dinner all but one night. We were tired after St. Martin so we just did Wind Jammers that night. MDR service was excellent. Loved our servers. They were great with the kids. Food was good. Some things better than others but no real complaints. It was nice to sit down as a family and TRY and teach the kids some manners. We messed up the first formal night. I had it stuck in my head it was the 2nd sea day not Day 2. Did not really pay attention to the cruise compass that day. MY FAULT. We had dresses and slacks and nice shirts on but when we walked in a immediately realized my mistake. We offered to go change but they said we looked great and there was no need. We saw people dressed less. In the end we had a great dinner and felt comfortable. We had suits and nice dresses on the second formal night. We had planned on following the rules for both nights but thats what i get for not paying attention. Deluxe Drink Package - I bought our for 40/day on a sale during black friday. We basically only had to have 4 cocktails to win that fight. With 3 seas days, labadee and a short san juan day it worked in our favor. Countless bottles of water, a couple of specialty coffees a day, a few extra red bulls to keep me moving and a few fresh squeezed juices thrown in there. A rough guess is that between the two of us we saved $400-500. Never felt pushed to drink nor did i fell like i was over drinking. My kids get up early so being hungover is painful. I got up and ran 3 miles 4 different days at 6 am. 4 or 5 cocktails throughout the day at the pool, 1 or 2 at dinner, and the 1 or 2 after dinner never felt to much. If a cruise was port heavy i could see not buying it. It worked for us and was nice not worrying about the end result aka the BILL. Kids Club - My oldest loved it. He is 5 but turns six the summer and when they saw him they instantly said he would be happier probably with the older kids (6-8 yo). Daughter did not but i think it was her being three more so than the activities. Having the kids separated probably hurts us a little. My daughter may have stayed if he was with her. Once you check them in they can not change locations. I liked Disneys a little better because they have less restricted hours and a little bit more free play, but my son loved it and getting back there after dinner was his first thought. The kids are able to roam freely between areas. The staff was great and my son was glowing and talking a mile a minute about what they did and the friends he met. Disembark-We walked off around 0650. Was out of the terminal by 0715. Super easy. Ace Luxury Transportation called me 4 different times to direct me to him and where he was parked. We were at the airport and through security by 0815. Flight was not till 1225. I had worried we would be pushing it. Again Ace is awesome and highly recommend. Communication was awesome and extremely helpful. Observations - -Room Attendant (Gena) was awesome. -We had room 12594 which was a superior balcony room (larger balcony on the "bump") Room was nice. Clean and relatively roomy for a cruise ship. We enjoyed the balcony. -I had read some critics on other sites about how rude everyone was on this ship (staff and guest). I did not find that at all. People were more than kind and staff was very pleasant. All staff everywhere stopped and talked to the kids. I thought the service was great. -The ship is aging but by and large looked great. A few stains in the carpet here and there but very clean. -Weather was great despite rainy Florida and returning to TS Alberto. We loved this cruise. We booked under a kids sail free promotion. It was more than half of a disney cruise of the same length. My kids never missed Disney at all. They loved the small wonders too. Had a lot of fun trying to find them. It gave mommy a few minutes to herself. I could definitely see doing another RC cruise in the future. We like to try a lot of different vacations/experiences so it will probably be a couple of years before we do it again. Thank you for all the tips. I have read this blog a ton and used so many tips from so many people. It was a huge help. So thank you to one and all for that help. Next trip is September. We are taking the kids back to Iceland. Thank you for listening to me babble.

Hopefully I can share some from my son who is going with me. He has my hand-me-down Nikon D7100 but does a great job with it.

That's the only good part about the Pens losing. It would have been very awkward rooting against Fleury! Doesn't matter all that much to me, but my daughter has been a huge Pens fan for many years. She's been known to make 6-7 hour drives there to attend home games. Viva Las Vegas!

No! Don't say that! I'm not a Vegas fan but I do love a great story and the hockey gods have been with them all year so Vegas all the way! And I love Fleury!

Sounds like a good reason to arrive for checkin at 10:00 and head straight to Guest Services as soon as you’ve boarded. Secure the rollaway, then lounge by the pool for a few hours, secure in the knowledge you beat out the slowpokes and late arrivers. ?

It seemed like deck 16 always was less crowded Why thank you. ?

Deck 16, one level up from the pool can be less busy but you will still have people walking by. On a sea day this will get busy too but seems more open than the pool deck on deck 15. If you are in a GS or above, the suite sun deck is often not very busy.

A duo. I can't wait.

@Hockeyman55's photos are better and it's not the camera body. He is a great photographer.

Another cruise or another lens? That's a tough decision. ?

Has anyone had any luck with getting a rollaway into a JS?

My kids hate sharing a bed so I'm always looking for alternatives for them. No one sleeps well when they have to share.

Never thought to ask about a JS and a rollaway. Will have to ask as I have all 4 kids in a JS in Nov and I haven't told the youngest 2 that they may have to share a bed. This would save my ears from all the complaining!

Another reason I can never cheer for the Caps. They took out my Pens lol.

@JLMoran Also the Head Server was present all the time. The previous cruises we have done we only saw them the last night to ask for a tip basically. He was at our table at least once if not more every night. He even filled our waters a few times. I was part a closed facebook group for this sailing and i probably saw 10+ positive comments about the servers being awesome. I dont have another RC cruise to compare it to but our experience with the MDR was very positive.

@Lovetocruise2002 My son would agree with the TV selection haha! Besides a little more flexible hours with disney which was not that big of a deal my son loved it and is still talking about all the fun he had.

@JLMoran The kids did everything for the most part. We brought their own goggles and life vest with us. The last snorkel area was a little much for my 3 yo so she stayed with the grandparents on the boat and her and the Capt. fed the fish some bread. The grandparents did about half of it. They stayed on the boat more towards the end. I was worried it would be too much for them but they loved it and would do it again. As far as dining..... We had the 5:30 seating due to the kids. a little bit a push sometimes to get ready for early dinner but we always made it. At times the food was a little slow for the adults. The kids food came out very quick. At 6:45 the kids club staff would meet you at the entrance of the dining room and take the kids up the deck 14. My son would clean his plate and have dessert and ask about every minute if it was time to go meet them yet. I would say two nights were slow and the other nights were better. It wasnt our servers though. I noticed all tables were slow those nights. Our kids were fed so not a huge deal. Our main server was good, but our assistant server was awesome. He needs promoted. (which i will reflect in my survey to RC). He made dolls, swans and other characters out of the napkins for my daughter. After first night he had our drinks waiting on us when we set down. Since we had the drink package i guess he figured it was not that much of a risk to have that waiting. Iced tea for the grandparents and milk for the kids. Most of the time i would be taking my last sip and the next one would come out. After the second he would ask. For dessert you brought me a double shot of espresso automatically. Our main server was ill one night and his replacement was didnt know us but he did a great job under the circumstances. My wife is mostly vegan and they did a great job figuring out would she could have and made her some special dishes a few times. I feel like we are a very easy to please family. It wasn't all perfect but it was pretty good. My wives father's biggest complaint was that when he asked for steak sauce they would not leave the bottle. By the third night they had a two bottles waiting for him. We had a good laugh about it. Quality of food was good. I have had better and i have had way worse. Some dishes were better than others. I thought the lobster was over cooked. I live on a barrier island in North Carolina and eat fresh seafood all the time. So i figure i am kind of a seafood snob. The lobster was fine even over cooked a little. THat character breakfast was pretty bad as far as service goes, but maybe that was just a bad day for everyone. @JLMoran If you have a specific question i am happy to answer as best as i can. I am no cruise expert like others here.

I am looking at the beautiful pictures.

Gibraltar- go to Cathedral Square and get a shared mini-van to do a tour of the rock taking in viewing points, St Michael's Cave (breathtaking)and top of the rock. Think it was about €20 per person when we were there in 2016 and well worth it. You will likely only have a few hours in Gib as it's more a refuelling stop so not much time to do much more. We'll be back this summer and are going to visit the siege tunnels and/or the WW2 tunnels this time. Barcelona - a fabulous city. Hop on Hop off bus is a good option but there are at least 2 (and possibly 3) routes that you can do - impossible to do them all in one port day I would think so have a look beforehand and decide which you'd prefer and choose a couple of places to hop off at. For a first time visit, I'd recommend taking in La Sagrada Familia (Gaudi's still-to-be-completed cathedral). I've never been inside but it's massively impressive from the outside. Parc Guell is another Gaudi spot that's worth a look, although you'd have to 'Hop Off' to see it. I believe there are renovations currently taking place and they are limiting the number of people who can go in at once. I don't know when these are due to finish but if you can get in there are spectacular views across the whole city to be had if you climb to the top of the steps right at the back of the park. The tour of the Camp Nou football (soccer) stadium is well worth doing if you're a fan. Las Ramblas is great for the hustle and bustle, stalls and street entertainers. We go back there this summer too and are considering an electric bike/segway tour. I also want to take in more of the gothic quarter. Malaga would be the port from which to visit the Alhambra. I believe it is quite a distance from the port so personally I'd be more comfortable booking with RC to visit there. We haven't done that but also visited Malaga in 2016. It was a beautiful city with plenty to see and do. We took a horse and carriage ride (€40ish for 30 mins) which was a different, peaceful way to see some of the city but there was no narration/explanation of the sights (or our driver at least didn't give any). We then went to the cathedral (spectacular) and the Roman fort - this place was AMAZING: €2 to get in and we were there for a good 2 hours. You also get fantastic views of the ship in the port. We'd love to go back and visit the castle/fort that is at the top of the hill above the Roman fort and the Picasso Museum. The beach looked nice too if you just want to relax. Haven't yet been to any of the other ports so can't advise on those I'm afraid although we are going to Nice this July so depending when your cruise is may be able to give some info - we've booked a coach transfer with RC. We will be visiting Cartagena next year so would be interested to hear what you decide to do there.

Haven't been on HoTS but had a look on deck plans: it's got cabins above and below and is away from elevators with only a few cabins past it so unlikely to get much foot traffic past the cabin. I'd be happy with that.

RCI carries two channels of ESPN Caribbean. Unlike ESPN America (regular ESPN) the Caribbean feed does carry games that can't be played on ESPN in the US due to coverage rights. Technically ESPN Caribbean is international so many sports including NFL games on Sundays are available (you won't find those on ESPN in the US). Not positive but perhaps the games might be available through those channels. 'On Air' in the promenade is a multi use bar that often has sports games on. Last resort is using Voom Surf and Stream. This is their internet plan available for purchase. I've watched football games on my iPad using Voom and it works quite well. Hard for 30 to crowd around an iPad but its a last resort option.

Thanks @KathyC!! The pics help a lot! I was told before by RC too that it couldn't fit but I thought I had read recently of people doing it. It's good to know that it's an option.

Yes. We had one last week on Adventure. My TA called RCCL in advance and requested it, but was told one wouldn't fit. He then advised me to talk to my stateroom attendant when we boarded. We did and he was easily able to secure one for us with plenty of room. The only disadvantage to the rollaway was that the blue chairs were put in front of the slider to the balcony, so we had to move them around to get out at night. But as you can see, plenty of room to move around the room.

JLMoran I'm a little late to this thread but want to thank you for a fabulous post. Very well done! I loved the photos and descriptions and it makes me think again about possibly doing the chef's table.

@twangsterbot always says that "competition is a good thing". Let's see him up his game for Alaska! I'm sure it will be amazing as always. ?

Hey, I resemble that remark! Never flown out of any terminal but C as far as I can remember. I will say that the last time I was there for this cruise back in March/April, the terminal had undergone a lot of refurbishment since the last time I'd been there, with a lot of new dining venues and beverage establishments I'd never seen before. But parking was still a mess, getting through security when already late was harrowing, and the terminal gates were just as crowded as I always remembered.

My biggest problem is waking up the next day and not having Windjammer for breakfast....?

I would recommend the Refreshment Package if you enjoy the virgin drinks, especially if you can catch it on sale for $18 per person per night. Very easy to "break even" or come out ahead after having just a few mocktails a day.

We've sailed out of Tampa, Miami, Bayonne, Port Everglades, San Juan, Manhattan and Canaveral. Each one is a blur as we are just so excited to get onboard, or exhausted and want to get home. ? Just went thru the Bayonne on and off this past week, so still fresh. Very easy on, very easy off. No issues with parking or exiting. Very easy. Last September was Port Everglades, and some to report. Love how everything is so close between the airport, the port, hotels and fun. Personally, I don't care if the airport or cruise port is shiny and pretty, it's a small place in the overall vacation and I guess I have low expectations. As long as I don't have to sit on the floor and be a zombie, I'm good. I can't remember saying we'd avoid cruising out of any of the above. Next up for us, Boston and Baltimore. Two more to try!

No more life jackets is so wonderful. Friends of ours were on a carnival cruise 2 weeks ago and 1 person did not show up for the muster drill. They went to his cabin and found him drunk as a skunk. They proceeded to remove him from the ship. And sailed off into the sunset without him. Most muster drills are on the deck but can be held in various other locations. Especially during inclement weather.

I'm right there with you... Guess being in a suite is a rich mans problem. Wow, someone who someone else think shouldn't be here even though they've spent about 100K to cruise on this line. If thats the case maybe those who cruise in a suite shouldn't be allowed the the MDR or Windjammer, after all, we're just steerage...

Oh BEWARE, for there shall be wearing of sackcloth and ashes, rending of garments, and gnashing of teeth when it finally happens ! I wouldn't even be surprised if the moon turns to blood and frogs rain from the skies !

Yes for sure. I am now back to my happy place playing the “Heidi the beer lady” slot machine in CR. I swear if I get side swiped by the disgruntled couple on their zoot scoots in CR I will be crafting another post! Lol

No Live blog for you!

This coming from the guy who was like, "What will I fill my time with between June - October so I can get my glass block on Symphony? Oops, I just booked Mariner...Oops, I just booked another 8 cruises before that..." It's the like boy who cried wolf lol ? You know I'm just kidding right? We all benefit from you cruising...

What is this "IF" nonsense? At the rate you are cruising, you will be there before I can even make D+!

I've seen plenty of annoying non-Pinnacle suite guests in the lounge. I swear if I ever make it to Pinnacle I'm not going to wear the badge but do things to annoy the entitled Pinnacles. When they complain I'll whip out my SeaPass card like a trump card ?

I agree with @twangster, that's beyond over the top. I would have refused to move and told them to go pound sand.

That is over the top. I would have refused to move out of principle.

I'm from Texas and I might be offended if I had any idea what point you were trying to make with this post. I think this quote from Billy Madison says it better than I could...

As far as number of pinnacle guests, we can make an educated guess thank to @twangster's tallies on his live blogs: Indy had 9 reported Liberty had 37 Freedom had about 20 Anthem B2B had 30 on the first leg, 22 on the second Assuming Harmony has a number consistent with Anthem, since they're pretty similar capacity, you could argue 20-25 Pinnacle passengers on average. That's versus 101 non-JS suites on the ship (remember, JS doesn't get access to the suite lounge; number per Cruise Deck Plans). Assuming standard double occupancy, that's 202 suite passengers; it will really be a smidge higher due to 2BR ATS and other large suites, so let's call it 210. 25 / 210 = ~11.9% of suite passengers are "duplicated" and competing for space in the Suite Lounge by Pinnacle on average. Or if you prefer, looking at the total you have Pinnacle making up 25 / (210 + 25) = 10.6%. Either way, you're looking at about 1 in 10 people in the Suite Lounge not actually being a suite guest, assuming every passenger who can use the room does use it daily.

Sure. Maybe I am being a bit harsh on it as Baltimore was my first cruise outside of Europe (actually my first visit to the United States), but right away when we arrived in Washington, the first thing we saw was a "Welcome Home All Americans" banner and those who were non American were completely ignored. That sort of set the tone. So as for cruising from Baltimore, I mainly mean that it attracts a much more mature clientele than what I usually sail with. Even during the summer, it didn't seem to attract much of a young crowd, and it was pretty much made up of only Americans. They didn't seem to try and cater for non American guests on that sailing, and Baltimore is too much of a pain to get to anyway. I would go to New Jersey and sail on AD or AN if I wanted to do those itineraries again (which I do). Then again, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the East Coast.

I've been keeping my mouth shut, but I really feel like I need to chime in. You say you want to be a CD and that you'd do such a great job of it, and then you make a comment like this. I'll be the first to admit I know nothing about what goes into being a "great" CD, but I would imagine that having an incredible sense of tact and knowing at a near-instinctive level what topics to avoid talking about so as not to piss off your audience and sour their experience have to be two of the qualifications. As a citizen of the US, I was flat-out insulted and offended by that comment, and no amount of subsequent backtracking or clarifying from you is going to change that.

Just seeing this article now. Love women like this...she's a ship captain yet "rainbows send her off the edge".

We are diamond plus, we get 6 bottles of water each night with our coupons. My husband gets a couple bottles of beer in the diamond lounge.

I always get 16 oz bottles. You can get Evian too, but not every bar carries it. I also love that I can grab a free bottle on my way out to shore from the guy at the water stand by the ship exit.

Yes! I don't think I'm the pickiest person but I hate their free coffee.

Was on Rhapsody in Feb. Had the regular drink package which allowed soda, water,fresh o.j. and specialty coffees. Sometimes we got Evian with no hassle and sometimes they said it was a chargeable item. We stocked up with water every time we ordered anything to drink all cruise. The extra water comes in handy. Our previous cruise the ship had Starbucks but other premium coffees were no charge. Any thing is much better than M.D.R. coffee. YUCK Cowboy coffee is way better than M.D.R. coffee.

I would do the same thing.

I don't recall seeing any US sports live games being played on any of my cruises. Not saying they don't, but I wouldn't count on the hockey game being on.