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Think I mentioned I’m usually too in the moment for pictures, this is why I didn’t periscope. We were having issues with Voom at first then I just didn’t care. Attaching one from formal night with my best friend and a dinner pic with most of the group

Back to Fort Lauderdale. Debarkation. Something about the exit- one of the sides were closed (again not technical, blame it on cold meds) and we could all only get out one way. O.M.G. Easiest experience ever. We kept our luggage and walked off at 6:30 with minimal waiting. At airport by 7:20. Would've been there even earlier but some miscommunication within our own group. Plenty of time for our 11:58 flight.

Sea Days 5 and 6 - I'll combine because they were similar. Almost exact. I lovvvvved these days. The cold/sinus thing knocked me out so I skipped the gym in the morning. Skipped breakfast as well - at home I sorta do intermittent fasting and definitely if I don't work out in the morning, I don't eat til at least 1.Took towel and book and headed to adult pool on 15. RELAXED. Read. Swam. Chatted. Repeat. Oh yeah, for someone who was sick and already has a low tolerance (2 drinks is usually good enough for me)I sure drank a lot. Never once drunk but had a nice buzz. Around 1:30-2pm I'd leave the group and eat lunch at Windjammer. Both days I still had my morning buzz and brilliant me decided to jog. On the track. Buzzed. After a full stomach and multiple alcoholic drinks. WHO KNEW IT WOULD BE FUN?! I only ran 2.5 miles but still. I actually enjoyed it. I wouldn't recommend this and realize my stupidity. Normally I jog in the morning with an empty (besides coffee) stomach. I will say I sweated a tonnnnnn. Drank a bunch of water - also there are 2 water fountains on the track. Back to room for shower, nap and dinner. Drinks and cigars (never for me) up on 15. We had Grease booked one of the nights, but again, too tired, didn't wanna.

Day 4 - St Kitts. A bunch of us took a taxi to the Marriott for a day pass. $39 for use of beach, pools and discount on food and drink. The weather was crappy in the morning - light drizzle and cool for the Caribbean but as the day went on the weather turned amazing. Our mistake - not realizing St Kitts has an Atlantic side and a Caribbean side -(I know I'm not being technical - it's the cold meds, I'm a little cloudy) and we were on the Atlantic side which that day was full of sea weed. No beach for us. The resort was good though. 8/10. Pool could have been cleaner. By this point we were all way too lazy to go anywhere else and we wound up having a great day. We had a very easy group of people who were just happy for sun. Back to port for a tiny bit of shopping and lunch. Park Cafe for the win with Windjammer closed. Back to room and dinner. Brought wine drinkers to Vintages - they lovvvvvved it. Drinks and cigars up on 15. Had the comedy show for 10:30 but just didn't feel like it.

Back home yesterday. Ready to pick up where I left off. I made it a point to keep up with everything and not let being sick ruin my time but honestly I was wiped out. Day 3 was St Thomas. We did not read the fine print and didn't realize we only had a hour and a half (which was really an hour + 20) to swim, snorkel and beach. The ferry was 45 each way and there was a bus that ate another 15-20 minutes of our time. We were all disappointed and annoyed at ourselves for not seeing the part that there was little time on beach. None of us would have picked this excursion. The lovely beach made up for it. Back to the room for dinner. Again, no complaints for the food. Pleasantly surprised every night. Our service was impeccable - no complaints from our very large group. Elvis and Lalit were amazing and friendly every single night. Bar service during dinner was surprisingly quick.

This Royal excursion offered for Hubbard looks interesting so I've booked it. I assume they pick up from the ship like a tender boat does. $269 so not cheap, but it is on sale this weekend for $242. http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?sourcePage=shorexByPort&ProductCode=HG03&DestinationCode=ALCAN I did this identical Radiance itinerary on Celebrity last year. This excursion was NOT offered, I just looked at the excursion book I kept from last year. Here is a timelapse of Hubbard from the Celebrity Millennium last year: A cruise ship will be restricted from going closer than 1 nautical mile from the glacier. The massive current a large ship can create would cause large sections of the glacier to calve so ships are kept at a safe distance. Excursion boats like the one above can approach much closer. You'll also be much closer to the water and dodging the massive chunks of glacier floating by. They must pick you up straight from the ship which makes this excursion really cool (literally, the water will be cold so I'll dress warmly). I'm really excited about this excursion and hope it isn't foggy or we have to skip Hubbard for some other reason. Plus it's a three hour tour on the Minnow. What could go wrong?

I will never forget my first snorkeling experience. I had gone with a sorority sister (alumnae, we were not kids) and in Mexico, thought it would be fun. We got on the excursion boat, they gave us instructions and me in my anxiety filled mind about swimming freely and alone in the open ocean with all sorts of sea monsters and no one to drag my lifeless body to safety once I couldn’t breath took over. I went over the process over and over and over. My sister was laughing at me. Once it was time to get out of the boat, I was the last person and in tears. I wouldn’t get fully in the water. To this day, my sister mimicks the tour guide; “Senorita, you must let go of the laaaadder! You must let go of the ladder!!” So I did... then, “Senorita, you must let go of the rope!” Oh, the agony! I let go, began swimming, crying, hyperventilating and swallowing water. Then, it all clicked together and I was 100% fine. It was super easy, didn’t die, and actually loved it. So yes, the toughest part is getting over it and realizing it is easy. I am usually pretty darn well put together and don’t lose it, so for that to happen, it was really scary. I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. Go for it, you will love it!

Thanks for the live blog, @ellcee! There's a lot to be said for just relaxing, especially when you're fighting off a cold or whatever. Glad you were still able to have a fun and enjoyable vacation. Drink package on Anthem is back down to $42/day for the current sale, doesn't seem like it's going any lower than this. So you'll need to decide if that price ($247.80 total after auto-gratuities) is worth taking the gamble on how much you'll be drinking and how many coffees you'll have each morning. Considering that all places in Bermuda except bars and restaurants close at 5 PM, you may still find some value in it even with the two full days we have there. Depends on whether you think you'll be bar-hopping around Bermuda that one night.

Stray thoughts/Things I forgot to mention: Pools, only went in one pool and one hot tub. Very happy. As I mentioned before, we tried to never be chair hogs. One of us would go down early and then we'd all take turns - after the initial morning grab chairs no chair was unattended for more than 30 minutes, someone was always there or in the pool. One of the attendants on the 2nd sea day tried to say we were hogging but he was wrong, it was the row above. The last sea day I was in my chair by 7:25 and while I went up to fill my cup some guy came over and said I stole his chair. Lies. All good though, my friends were there and took care of it. Bar service - pretty damn good. Quick. The good ones learned our names. Same as Cafe Promenade - the morning and afternoon staff knew my name and would get my coffee before I asked. They were tipped almost every time after that. Sorrentos - again, We're all from New York. We likened it to frozen pizza, not the best but will do for a late night snack with no complaint. Food overall - 8/10. 8 because the desserts, with exception of the cookies, were okay. Seafood cake - meh. Had some excellent steak dishes. Really good pasta dishes. Drink Package - worth it for all the coffees, bottled waters and drinks. Still on the fence for my solo Bermuda trip on whether or not I'm getting it but it was well used during this one. Honestly, I did not do very much. We relaxed A LOT. I realized how much I needed to just to relax and do nothing. I'm glad we booked shows but we never made it to them. I made it to the airport not thrilled to go home but not dreading work this week. That says a lot. There was plenty to do but most times I chose not to.

In your case originally both Enchantment and Grandeur were set to share CocoCay on January 29, 2019. In this case Grandeur was diverted to Grand Bahamas. I have not visited Grand Bahamas and would have preferred a change to Grand Bahamas over Miami primarily for that reason. I don't think Grand Bahamas can accommodate larger or mega ships so it doesn't have the exposure that other ports like Nassau does. It was popular for short weekend getaways from Florida but in 2016 it did get some damage from storms. Some of the hotels used to service the weekend Florida crowds haven't been fully restored but that doesn't impact cruise ships visits directly. I'd like to visit one day, until then hopefully someone else can comment on Grand Bahamas.

Embarkation Day - We're on board!? After a short queue getting through the terminal, we were onboard and in the Schooner bar with a drink in hand by 11:36 - Tom Collins for me and a Heineken for The Captain. There's no 'drink package' sticker on our sea pass cards and when I asked at check-in the lady there said the 'DX' code printrd on them 'might' mean drinks package and to check at a bar on-board. We duly headed straight for the first bar and weren't asked to sign for anything so hopefully that means our packages are loaded correctly but I'll double-check when we can get into the cabins which today will be at 2pm. We're just in Playmakers where we're pleased to see they're showingthe England vs Belgium play-off and the Wimbledon finals. They've also just made an announcement that the deck 3 MDR will be open for buffet lunch until 12:30 today. Cruise is sold out so I'm wondering if that's why to help control the crowds.

@KJ1231 will likely have a better perspective having just sailed her. I can weigh in after my cruise at the end of August. Izumi straight after muster may be a good strategy but getting there with the typical post-muster everyone-in-the-elevator at once thing going on might be a struggle. Depending where you are coming from and how long you will be in Alaska before day one, your stomach may be still in a different time zone. Consider that in making reservations.

I'd love to see it happen and it makes sense. What else is Royal going to do with a fifth OA class ship coming soon? Many of Liberty's ports of call are already OA class destinations. However these rumors have circulated for a while. The local squabbling over this concept was left out of the article. If I recall the City and the Port Board are often at odds with each other with a lot of small town politics in play. Now it seems Royal will just lease the land and pay for the terminal. It would be interesting to hear what Royal has to say about that. This outcome is likely attributed to the animosity between the City and the Port. With the debt issues out of the way, what other means will the City use to block it?

I am definitely looking forward to this as getting to Texas from Missouri is a breeze! And! An Oasis class ship, no less! Woot!

I went to grad school at U of Miami and lived in South Beach for all my adult life until coming back home to NJ recently, so ask any questions. What types of activities do you enjoy? Miami has a great opera and you can wear one of your outfits from formal night. In that same complex, they have the ballet, symphony and shows. There are some great restaurants and bars, can do happy hour in Brickell. South Beach is full of things to do and see. Walk down Ocean Dr, just to see it, but do not shop or dine there. The prices are even more astronomical than regular South Beach high prices. Do Lincoln Rd which is a pedestrian mall full of boutiques stores and restaurants, art galleries, hooka bars, symphony, lounges, theater and more. Plenty of clubs. Please note that attire does matter for most venues. Have some authentic Cuban cuisine, go to Little Havana, Versailles (in Miami, it is pronounced in Spanish, Ver-sign-yes), the Gables. Visiting the Everglades is cool. You can take a tour bus to Key West for the day or stray overnight.

OP was asking specifically about Refreshment Package (no alcohol), which is a lot less (at least in the US). The lowest anyone has seen recently in the US for the Refreshment package is 18 USD/day, and that price usually shows up around sales like Fourth of July or Labor Day. A price of 32 USD (43.20 AUD) per day seems pretty high for the non-alcoholic package, but I checked and saw that Australia can charge a VAT; this could be having an effect on the overall price, if VAT has to be paid for all of the beverage packages. I tend to agree with @Neaxan and @Adriana; if your budget lets you buy it now, go ahead and do so as long as you have the option later on to cancel and re-purchase if a better sale price comes along.

Not sure about Ovation...but I have a 12 night sailing on Serenade that is on sale for US$ 42 per day. I've seen it for this sailing as high as $48 per day.

I think OP was asking about the average drink package price...?

Why not - you can always cancel and rebook later if the price drops (better check if this is applicable in your home country). I've done it a few times already when the currency exchange rates were altered in our favor.

@ellcee thank you so much for sharing your week with us. Sorry to hear that you came down with a cold but it is clear in all your posts that you have a great attitude to not let it get you down. And sometimes the best vacations are those that you can lounge around and do nothing!

Galveston Steve has posted such great information about the port, especially concerning restaurants and hotels! I always like to eat the local specialty food whenever I am traveling, because it is usually something I can't get at home. If you have the same sensibilities, be sure to eat fresh gulf shrimp. They come in on ships every day in Galveston and most seafood restaurants buy them in the morning and serve them right away. They are sweet and large and so much more delicious than the frozen things you get in other parts of the country.

Safe trip home joe

Well, good night Symphony. What an enjoyable 2 weeks! Hope to see you again for my first Royal contract! Fingers crossed that quitting CC may help me get there. Still planning to stay here though. I've noticed a lot of love on this ship. Hopefully my gym efforts won't go to waste and my next cruise will be with a significant other.

@Adriana @twangster Thank you.

Bring your yeti but at the filling stations you can't fill them directly. Use one of their glasses and dump that into your cup. The idea is to avoid transferring your germs onto the machines. Also bring some dish soap to wash it occasionally.

Embarkation Day - Morning Woke up to an awesome view this morning! Well, I say 'woke up to' but I doubt she was there when I actually awoke at 5:13am (too excited to get back to sleep!) but when I finally allowed myself to get up at 7, she was there and I could see the poor unfortunates who were having to disembark! Have just been for a quick 30min session in the hotel's gym - my strategy for helping to balance the cruise calories. Time to get ready for breakfast then our taxi for the long trek to the port is booked for 10:30

Here is Matt's review of the British Colonial Hilton in Nassau: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/04/03/excursion-focus-british-colonial-hilton-nassau-bahamas We went there also last May. Easy to walk to, but may not be with mobility issues.

Pre-Embarkation Day So today we travelled down to Southampton from our home in the Midlands. Blogging will now be done via my phone so please excuse any typos! Although it's only a 2.5hr drive, we decided to book a 'stay and park' with Holiday Inn for a more relaxed start to our cruise than driving down on embarkation day - we're doubly glad we did as there were a couple of accidents and very heavy traffic that made our journey over 3.5 hrs long today! At one point Waze diverted us around a gridlocked motorway down an unclassified road. Cleary we weren't the only ones making use of this diversion and we ended up in a traffic jam on a single track road! When we finally arrived, I was extremely excited about the view from our room as Cunard's Queen Elizabeth was there to greet us. After unloading the car, we went to get a drink and some food as we were famished after our drive. My husband enjoys craft beer and I'd found a brewery near to the hotel called 'The Dancing Man' . Unfortunately they weren't serving food so we just had a drink and some bar snacks - IPA for him, lager for me. As we were leaving in search of more substantial food, we noticed that QE was just pulling away so I took the opportunity to do my first periscope! Thanks to @Lovetocruise2002 for tuning in. After watching her sail away, we found a lovely traditional pub for food, The Duke of Wellington. The prices were good, the portions were huge and the service was friendly. It really hit the spot. Feeling stuffed, we took a stroll down to the Ocean Village Marina to walk off dinner and have a look at some not-too-shabby yachts. I've yet to spot the newly launched super-yacht Elandess which has been in the area today but I'll keep an eye out tomorrow. We're now back at the hotel bar having a quick drink before getting an early night and hoping that excitement doesn't keep us from sleeping! Hopefully, when we wake up in the morning, we'll be able to see Independence from our window...

On St. Thomas you can take a taxi to Mountain Top for some amazing views and souvenir shopping. Many people rave about their Banana Daiquiris which can be non-alcoholic on a hot day. There are a couple of scenic overlooks you can ask any driver to take you to. Drake's Seat for views of Magens Bay for example. Close by is an overlook for amazing views of the harbor. A visit to Blackbeard's Castle if they have re-opened by the time of your visit is an option. They received some roof damage during the 2017 hurricane season and are working towards recovery.

UGH. So sorry that you are not feeling well. Hopefully the sea air will squelch it quickly.

You actually don't need to take an extension cord with you. Just fill out the RCCL Special Needs form and an extension cord and a gallon of distilled water will be delivered to your stateroom on Day 1. If is is not waiting for you when you get to your room, just notify your stateroom attendant and it will delivered while you are at dinner. https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/allaboutcruising/guestSpecialNeeds.do

The power cord for a CPAP should not ever be banned. That would be a violation of the ADA. ( I think medical equipment is covered by the ADA or possibly a similar law) A common extension cord to use with your CPAP can and has been confiscated upon boarding but Royal will supply you with an extension cord for medical use upon request. They will also supply distilled water free of charge for use in medical equipment. Ask your travel agent to note it on your reservation or ask your cabin attendant on day one. If they failed to leave one in your cabin simply call housekeeping on your cabin phone.

Yup, that was me! Freedom does indeed offer the Teen Spa services, and they can only be booked / purchased on board. My older daughter was 17 and still needed her mom to purchase whatever she might have wanted and sign a waiver indicating permission for our daughter to have the treatment. I'd recommend visiting the spa on embarkation day and making the arrangement for your son's deep tissue massage. If you can deal with the tour, he can also get a sample of the other massage options they have (bamboo rods, hot rocks, and some kind of gourd-shaped herb pack) in case something else interests him as an add-on. Be aware that he'll also need a signed waiver / permission form from you if he wants to use the gym. Basically, under 18 requires parental approval for any activities involving spa or gym area, whether paid or complementary. As for the "Mommy and me" services, you can do a mom and daughter paired massage or father and son, but not mixed gender. That was the only paired service I saw, but there may be others that we just didn't inquire about (e.g., facials or hair styling).

Thank you @princevaliantus. It's. So. Long. Away........................... ugh........................

Holy mackerel - we paid 3x that (we had a spacious balcony)! We just did this itinerary 2 weeks ago. Matt posted the Cruise Compass for this itinerary today if you need details.... Do it!

Welcome to the message boards! I am a certified open water diver and I would highly recommend a Discover Scuba Excursion as long as it is performed by a PADI Five Star operator (or equivalent). You'll be fine booking through Royal since Royal operates PADI Five Star dive centers on much of it's fleet including Harmony. If you are booking direct with an island operator make sure you research them thoroughly. The "Discover Scuba" offered by PADI Five Star operators is a sanctioned program through the PADI. It will involve some instruction as outlined and required by PADI followed by a shallow dive in the ocean. Color drops off quickly with water depth and the best marine life and color is often in shallow water so it's a perfect match for a Discover Scuba session. Before getting my friend's daughter her full certification I took her to local PADI dive shop at home and we did a Discover Scuba session to make sure she would like it before springing for the cost of the full certification. Doing a Discover Scuba session on a cruise is a much better use of that money because a pool is a pretty boring dive.

In addition to dinner.. For example on Allure a couple months ago I had 3 sea days.. So I had 7 dinners and 4 lunches including embarkation day. I went to Chops on Embarkation day and said I have the ultimate dining package are you open for lunch and they said absolutely come on in and my bill was zero and that night I still got to eat at 150 Central Park. I am going on Harmony in 10 days and plan on trying to do the same thing so I will report back with what happens.

So, are there bars at all these pools? That would be one hell of a bar crawl, sign me up!

Day 5 - Icy Strait Point/Hoonah. There were a lot of mixed reviews of this stop. We really liked it because (a) our excursions were good and (b) it's a relatively new port and still pretty underdeveloped as far as towns go. No hospital, small population (K-12 school has 110 kids), quite a few Tlingit people there as they "own" the area (or something like that). I went birdwatching for 2 hours. Kassie took us off the beaten path to the only farm on the island where they have about 20 head of cattle. We saw lots of bald eagles and I ticked off a few birds that would never make it to the east coast. But birding in Alaska is hard with all the spruce/pine trees - they are really thick and small bird just get lost in them. Learned from Kassie that pregnant women usually leave for Juneau 3 weeks before their due date so they can deliver in a hospital. One reason why she and her husband have not started a family yet. My wife did the Wild Alaska Kitchne where she learned how to cook salmon and halibut and got a good deal on a case of canned sockeye salmon that happened to arrive today. She can't wait to make salmon burgers, dip, etc! It was an early departure for Ketchikan so we had dinner in the Cascades Dining Room which was delicious. We missed the Piano Man show...... Belted Kingisher and a pair of bald eagles on/near a nest Timber Tiger aka red squirrel 3 sitka deer runnign ahead of the car....

One possible caveat about taking a bus tour is that it will avoid the narrower roads, which in OSJ seem to the ones that are the most colorfully painted and decorated, and to me at least the most interesting to see. One of those narrower roads on the way to El Morro is where I got these two pics, and our guides told us it’s a pretty popular spot for tourists to check out: That street was barely wide enough for one car at a time to slowly go by, never mind a bus!

Most of the times, I just wait to I get to the ports in Alaska and book on the pier. I met a teacher on one of the excursions many years ago and we still correspond. I wrote a recommendation to college for one his daughter. During the excursion, we met his family. He gave us more than Royal excursion would have.

Their website really did somehow get worse, who knew it was possible. The company cruise is this weekend (finally, what a freaking nightmare organizing that was) ... so everyone is finally doing check-ins etc. I think we have about 1/3 have had somekind of issue this week ... driving me nuts. To top it off even though we booked direct with Royal's group department they decided to mark me down as the Travel Agent so they wont deal with anyone directly and make me get on the phone for every freaking call ..... oh we spelled your name wrong somehow but it was right yesterday .... yes sorry we cant fix that you need to have your travel agent get on the line with us ... How does someones name get changed randomly ????? And yes I know it did, we have screen shots showing before and after .....

Following! We board Explorer in Seattle on Friday for the Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise! I did your itinerary on Celebrity last year. It was an incredible experience. Flying to ANC I had a window seat on the right side and had great view of many glaciers as we got close to ANC. Have your camera ready. My recap blog from last year is here: This year on Explorer we get into Juneau on June 24th at noon until 9pm, then Skagway on June 25th from 7am to 8:30pm. Am I mistaken or do these ports overlap with Radiance? If so you'll need to keep an eye for the Royal Caribbean Blog team of eighty plus led by none other than @Matt!

Thanks, @Sweety! Glad you're willing to fall on that sword for me! ?

We did a self-guided tour last week. When we exited the pier, there were several tour guys looking for customers, we weren't interested but the map that he gave one of the kids was the map that we ended up using. We were planning to use the trolley for our touring. The trolley is supposed to start at 7:30 and it was running when we arrived at the first stop a little before 8:00. The signs were still missing, so there was a green metal sign post with no actual signage in it. We took the trolley to El Morro. Which we then found out didn't open until 9:00. No problem, the kids ran around the outside, we looked around, took pictures. It was already pretty hot before 9:00. After the fort opened and we toured for about 30 minutes, we walked back to the trolley stop. After waiting 20 minutes in the full sun and no trolley ever arrived, we decided to start walking. It was a fairly easy and pleasant walk, we tried to stay on the shaded sides of the streets. Did a little shopping and then made our way back to the ship before noon.

Totally get that...knowing more about what you're looking for, I would mix it up with a back-to-back possibly on different ships and different ports since it is easy to transfer between Miami and Fort Lauderdale and even Port Canaveral if you drive.

Considering Anthem is bigger than Freedom, and Freedom is considered on the larger end of "mid-size", I'm not surprised it wasn't what you expected! ? Add me to the list of those recommending Freedom class as the next to try. Even FotS herself, despite not being refurbished yet, as she is now sailing the port-intensive Southern Caribbean route; that should keep you busy enough that the lack of refurbs shouldn't be an issue. Plus we really liked our CD, and I know that's a factor for you (although he may well be on a new ship by the time you would sail her). Plenty of recent info and pics from her on the live blog I did back at the end of March through the first week of April. If you did an Alaskan itinerary, I'd definitely take the Radiance or Vision Voyager class option as it will get you into the smaller channels and other areas that Ovation just won't be able to reach due to her size.

Sounds like a reason to book a cruise today!

I don't think this has much to do with Royal Caribbean's operations. The largest single day stock market dip in history happened in February. The January 29th date you mentioned was about a week before the dip so it's not the best point of reference. I can confirm because my 401k has taken a beating so far this year. I'm also no expert when it comes to the stock market, so this should not be construed as investment advice. haha Also, as @twangster referenced it appears that the industry as a whole is not doing well in terms of stock value. This article cites rising fuel prices, travel demand, and flat prices as concerns. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/cruise-ship-stocks-are-the-worst-performers-in-sp-500.html

Yep, the view from deck 17 and 18 on Oasis just sucks...