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Hub teases me about my wanderlust and wanting to travel. He says if I could I'd say "I wanna go to the bahaaaaaamaaaaaas" Now he's never been on a cruise (I told him being on an aircraft carrier doesnt count as a cruise vacation) so over the past several years I've been trying to convince him to vacation with me, and I brought up a cruise again. Now most of our cruise discussions had been 20 minutes or so mulling over how nice it would be and my answering all of his cruise related questions. Well this time the conversation lasted 2 hours and I was given the go ahead to book the cruise. My parents both have been cruising a lot and I was at my boiling point to finally book the cruise. I found the 5 night Bermuda cruise and the price was definitely right for a suite. I figured to go suite to give him the best experience he could have on a cruise since I knew that the smaller sizes of an interior or even ocean view cabin would immediately turn him off. Then on black friday the price went down even more and I said that there'd be no way the suite I wanted would be much lower, so I booked. I had that initial "omg I just spent a ton of money" fear, but then I ran in to him and told him we're going on a cruise and he legit looked happy! A bit of a fairy tale story, but it just all worked out for us.

Good morning everyone! After following a ton of great live blogs, reviews on this site, I have decided to document my time aboard Adventure of the Seas commencing tomorrow ? I had intended to write a pre-cruise post yesterday, but, as it turns out, my day was completely crazy (thankfully booked a day off of work to complete my tasks and finish packing!). Currently writing this from Toronto Pearson airport with much needed coffee, flight to Fort Lauderdale has been delayed, so I have some time to start this after all ? A little bit about me: I’m in my early 40s, single, and cruising solo (actually love to travel on my own). My last cruise with Royal Caribbean was back in February 2008 aboard Sovereign of the Seas, but my family has actually taken quite a few cruises since then with other lines (most recently DCL aboard the Magic in March 2017). As I recalled having a blast on my first cruise, there was no doubt in my mind which cruise line I would take my next vacation with! Pre-cruise thoughts: I booked this cruise, an eight night Eastern Caribbean itinerary on Adventure, last August, a little over 16 months ago, and am booked in a studio interior stateroom in the basement on Deck Two. Why so far ahead in advance do you ask? Well, I actually scored a great price and the few remaining rooms sold out quickly. (Let’s hear it for listening to @Matt!) Anything else? I prepurchased the sofa plus Voom (physically cannot drink as much booze as you guys can lmao) as well as gratuities. My objectives for this cruise are a) not losing money to the casino (???this will NOT happen, trust me, but a girl can only dream) and b) to leave the ship with as minimal balance as possible. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to the itinerary, all new ports for me, which leads me to my next topic... Itinerary: Friday, December 7th: arrive at Fort Lauderdale, stay overnight at AirBnB off Las Olas (scored great deal on both). Meeting up with a mod of one of the subreddits we moderate together for dinner at Rocco’s on Las Olas. Will pick up wine (let me know if you have any wine or store recs) and any last minute incidentals tonight before retiring to bed. Saturday, December 8th: embarkation day! Sunday, December 9th: sea day Monday, December 10th: Labadee - nothing planned Tuesday, December 11th: San Juan - self-guided walking tour Wednesday, December 12th: St. Maarten - SXM Island Tour I through Bernards Tours Thursday, December 13th: St. Kitts - Grand Tour of St. Kitts through Thenford Grey Friday, December 14th: sea day Saturday, December 15th: sea day (dining at Giovanni’s for lunch on one of these two sea days) Sunday, December 16th: in which Christine is kicked off the ship disembarkation day. Late flight home (9 pm), planning to store luggage at FLL airport until 5:30 pm cut-off. Guess whatever I didn’t get a chance to see today, I’ll be able to do that on my last day. As I wrap this up for now, just wanted to add that there are quite a few firsts for me on this trip: First cruise on Royal since 2008 (feel like a newbie again LOL) First cruise SOLO First visit to all of the port of calls mentioned Let me know if you have any questions! Christine

Well made it home from the Big Apple with my Bank Account still having some money in it ? As a first time cruiser reading these threads or listening to Matts podcasts helps but in no way can it prepare you fully for your maiden voyage. So here's my own conclusions on everything from start to finish in order of my experience (1) Sleeping In JFK Airport - NEVER AGAIN!! Now offically No1 in worst Airports i have visited, only one dunkin Donut stall to cater for 6 terminals during the night. Lesson Learned Next time i will ensure flight times are better and book a hotel (2) Peurto Rico - Fantastic Island, Having stayed at The Courtyard by marriott beach resort in Isla Verde this time, if i was to cruise from San Juan again next time i would look at Old San Juan. Reason for this is simple, the beach is good, relaxing and peacfull but you are only there for a day or two and there is so much to see and do in old San Juan. Uber is a great cheap way to get about (3) Freedom Of The Seas - For a first time cruiser i believe i made the correct choice, not to big not to small. Sure it doesnt have waterslides or Broadway shows but for a first cruise when you are still finding your bearings and sealegs its great. There's not a second you will be bored or tryng to find something to do. Room - Outside Oceanview was spacious and in good condition Staff - cant fault any of them Entertainment - Overall good, a few minor issue's with regards Entertainment staff. CD ( Drew ) and AM ( dont know hisname) only really saw them on the TV, and when they did appear it wasnt for long. The real stars of the Entertainment crew were Rhaiann and some mexican guy who was just naturally funny, anyone can be funny by telling a joke but this guys quick one liners without thinking were hilarious. At the finish the lyric quiz, a contestant looked at card to see answer, after a retake the next contestant came up and was quickly informed NOT to peep at card by mexican guy who knew exactly what he was saying! after everyone had stopped laughing the contestant who had white stick in hand and needed a guide onto stage was allowed to continue. Food - My expanded wasteline says it was good ? ( even the Pizza ) We ordered room service breakfast at no additional cost each day to save time Ports of Call - Here's where i let myself down! In Hindsight i should have booked more excursions even if only to a beach for 4hrs. The area's around every port are built the same, same shops, bars etc. Yeah it's good to hang out and do nothing but next time i will book excursion for mornings then walk around cruiseship port before rebaording ship. Noticed that Duty free was cheaper in St Kitts, Antiigua and St Lucia than Peurta Rico, Barbados and St Maarten. eg: Carton of Malbora $20 - $24 in first 3 ports $34 in others and $45+ in Peurta Rico ( JFK $49) AWARD FOR FUNNIEST MOMENT ONBOARD Each Night after our evening meal my wife and myself would go to the Schooner Bar for an hour or so ( sitting at bar not on sofa's) to have a drink and watch the guy play the piano singing songs by Elton John, Billy Joel etc, every night there was an American couple sitting on sofas ( the woman was from Philly) this couple were obviously seasoned cruisers and were enjoying themselves as much as anyone else. On the first night every song played was met with shreiks of delight by the slightly intoxicated female, the second night was the same as the first, HOWEVER on the third night while signing along to Lionel Ritchie the intoxicated woman who was unaware that we were sitting behind them leant forward lifted herself up, removed her underwear and tucked them into her husbands breast pocket of jacket. If said person is reading this you were seen and thank you making my night, havent laughed so much in ages ? Embarking - Easy Note for anyone Embarking from San Juan, we left hotel for port which is a10 min drive away at 10:20 am and took over an hour due to there being two ships leaving that day so traffic in and out was busy. Disembarking - Recieved a time to disembark of 10:30am went off at 9am, luggage was waiting, had arranged RC transfer to airport, was concerned about luggage as you dont take it with you, you go on bus luggage is in a truck. Luggage arrived at airport about 20 mins after we did. Delta Airlines - Upgraded from Comfort to Comfort+ for flight down to SJU, never again. COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY. legroom is ample in comfort, priority boarding want an issue as your only one group in front of everyone else and the added free alcohol is 1 drink during flight due to cabin crew vanashing for basically whole flight. Snacks i received more on the lesser grade flight than than the upgraded one. New York was good, shopping during the sales is always an advatage, my wife ticked off ice skating in new york from her bucket list and the John Legend Concert was great, all i can say is if you ever get the chance to see him do so, his concerts are not just him sitting at a piano and should come with an 18 rating ? i left Aberdeen on the 22nd of Nov believing this would be my one and only cruise due to my wife's dislike of water, at JFK while waiting on our flight home, my wife used the free internet to catch up with facebook while i on the instruction of my wife searched the RC website to look for our NEXT cruise. Hopefully any new cruisers will find this helpfull Ray

I just had another thought. Wouldn’t it be cool if maybe they brought a Celebrity ship to Galveston? At least maybe part time. Just a thought. I have no news or inside info. But I would to love to start cruising Celebrity more once my wife and are done raising the kids and travel more.

We were having a very bland dinner one night and Hubby mentioned he was craving La Bamba (our favourite pre-cruise restaurant in Fort Lauderdale). Jokingly (sort of lol), I told him we should book a cruise and then we can eat there. 2 days later we had a cruise booked out of FLL. ?

Never posted here before, but I find this incredibly funny, so thought I would share. My upcoming cruise got "upgraded." :D

I look for any and all excuses to book a cruise!

Oh yes. Not home from Bermuda even two weeks, my wife asks if there are any cruises that go to Bermuda during Teachers Convention week, "so we could at least bring our younger daughter with us." This was after *I* was the one saying we kind of needed to think about being in dry dock for 2019! Well, nothing available during that week (at least not on Royal; NCL had a sailing there, but I've heard enough negatives about NCL in general plus recent reviews of that ship in particular that we decided not to try them, at least this time). We kindly offered an alternative cruise option for that week to our younger daugther, and after she declined we basically said, "Ah, the heck with it. Let's just go back to Bermuda again in October next year! The kids got by fine on their own last time, they can do it again." ?

Bermuda will do that to you --- she has a certain "draw" that can't be denied --- @JLMoran will understand that. We had just gotten back from our first trip to Bermuda (Sept. 2016) --- and -- while we were sitting up around the bonfire (and drinking beers) a couple of weeks later -- we booked it again for 2017 -- turned out to be the fun filled Hurricane Jose Cruise.......we still had a blast --- Bermuda is just one of those places that you just instantly fall in love with (and the proximity for us in Maryland is an added bonus)

Beautiful morning for a flight!

Distinct possiblity with Celebrity also growing it's fleet.

Scott, I am so sorry you have gone thru all this! I have been involved with John trying to fight the silly system that Royal presents us with every once in awhile. I am so glad that they were able to put you back in the room you had originally. It was crazy that they would not let you stay there. I know this has been stressful and while the extra OBC might not make up for that stress, it is at least something from Royal to try and say "oops, we screwed up". Hope you can move past all this and enjoy your cruise!

There is a glass blowing shop at Dockyard in Bermuda. My wife bought some earrings there a few years ago, when we were on a cruise. Unfortunately one broke on Thanksgiving day. We were both kinda bummed out, since they were nice earrings and they always reminded us of the first cruise (and only) we went on together without our children. Normally I have a few vacations planned ahead, but I hadn't booked anything for 2019 yet. I had been mulling over a few options for spring break, including a few cruises. That evening I emailed my Travel Agent to see if there were any connecting balcony cabins still available for the week our kids are off for Spring Break. I figured if there was anything available, it was meant to be. A few minutes later I got an email back letting me know that 2 connecting balcony cabins were indeed available. So, of course, I told her to book it immediately! Anyone else ever come up with tenuous reasons for booking cruise vacations?

I had one for our October cruise. Thanks to this site I knew to only book one "person". Royal still put a mailer in my room on the first day letting me know if I had accidently booked more than one I could go to guest service to get a refund.

Not much of a reason to book a cruise just make sure you are more than tipsy that will make it easier to book another cruise. The last day on Anthem OTS on Thanksgiving's Cruise, we put the appointment on next cruise but not sure we will book. Anyway, we had too much to drink that night and both me and my husband pretty much loaded. We went to the next cruise and YOLO book it SYMPHONY OF THE SEA for October 2019. Somehow we managed to book the right days even though we really more than tipsy. We booked for the week my son will have 2 days off during parent and teacher conference so he needs to take off just 3 days not sure how we managed to get the day right that night but we did. So we will be on Symphony in Oct 2019. ???

"Hey, first robin of Spring! Lemme book an ABC island run!" ?

Im just glad they wasnt staying in a GS! Can you imagine her getting concierge to do it for her? ? I did wonder if they had an upside down pineapple on their door though.

reading this post made me smile. I live in Ft. Lauderdale and have for my whole life.. I have eaten at La Bamba for the past 25 years and I absolutely love it. I prob eat there or take out from there once a week.

Ray, We are booked on the Adventure of the Seas 4/35/2020-5/30/2020 out of Ft.Lauderdale. Itinerary is Curacao, Bonaire and Aruba. We were on those islands last year and they were GREAT! Trip includes four sea days, 2 day to Curacao and 2 days back to Ft. Lauderdale. Hope to see you on board!

2020 for sure, back to Caribbean to do the ABC Islands if possible

Well, after 3 cabin moves and who knows how many phone calls by our TA, we are back in the original cabin we booked a year and a half ago! @Matt is 100% correct when he says use a travel agent, John Ames at MEI really came through on this! Scott

Hey Everyone! We're on Celebrity Edge for a three night preview cruise ahead of our seven night sailing in January. Follow the live blog at the below link, and of course look for loads of pics on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. I'll answer questions as quickly as I can. Spoiler: This ship really lives up to the hype. Not perfect, but truly impressive. https://www.cruisehabit.com/tags/celebrity-edge-live-blog

Yes and no. Depends on the personality type. Type A/OCD, yes. Type B, no.

@OrlandoC Thanks for the pictures! If possible, I'm even more excited for my cruise in April 2019 for these bungalows!

Thank you for your blog.

This sounds amazing... Though I will probably freeze lol! Jane

Well, for sure LNG is coming to Port Canaveral. I just heard on the Cruise Radio podcast that Carnival's newest ship, which is LNG-fueled, is going to home port in PC and that they're constructing a new terminal building for it.

Thanks for a fun and very entertaining blog, @Ray! I was sipping my stout when I read about the woman at the Schooner Bar; had to fight back a spit take! ? Guess the full moon came a little earlier than usual? Awesome to hear how much your wife enjoyed it and that you'll be having more adventures in the coming years!

I've been charged, occasionally, but it's sort of random. Same thing on other cruise lines too, sometimes they charge, sometimes they don't. If they don't charge me, I just add it to the cash tip I give them at the end of the cruise. So in my case, either the cruise line gets the cash, or the wait staff does.

Thanks for sharing your first cruise with us @Ray! So happy to hear you had a wonderful time and that more cruising is in your future. Loved seeing all this through you!

@mom2mybugs , I will be on Allure next month so if you think of any questions I will try and find out. One thing that I can thing of right off is that she is leaving from Miami instead of FLL so you will get to experience the new terminal built for Symphony. Do the online check in, it is much simpler than it has been especially for Allure. Load the Royal app on your smart phone, you can check in from the app if you like. The app will track all of your activities, I've been playing with it recently but do not have a lot of experience yet. The app shows all of the venues on board, all of the dinning, shows etc.. Free texting through the new app when on Royal wifi, no Voom needed. I will try and add stuff as I remember, this will be my 3rd time on Allurem so I take for granted a lot of things other people may not know.

@Lovetocruise2002 , this is the only thing I don't remember getting on either the Liberty or Freedom, other than the Top Tier event, who knows I probably missed it... 38 days to Star class on Allure.

Thanks. I put one together for an around the world trip I did back in March but never got back to clean it up and marry up the pictures. Didn’t want this one to get away from me.

Jane, I'm sorry to hear about your European river cruise disappointment. I can't even imagine.... Glad that you are back though...and I think the Allure will make you forget about anything else. I second Matt's advice - book the shows and entertainment first. Dining definitely has more flexibility. I also second Matt's recommendation about the dining/drinks package. I would choose one or the other. For us, trying to eat 3 big meals a day is hopeless. We just can't do it anymore. I used to be able to, but not anymore. Maybe if I was getting up at 6AM to eat breakfast....but that is never going to happen ! Maybe a 3 or 4 night plan (these don't "force" you into eating a big lunch) and then a separate Izumi Hibachi meal.

Book shows first. It's easier to plan dining around shows, rather than the other way around. Based on what you said, I think you're better off not getting a package. Book 150 and hibachi separately. Packages are nice, but if before you even go you are concerned about not getting money's worth, then I'd advise on holding off. If you want the beach, then you need to book a hotel in South Beach. I've stayed in hotels in the downtown area, but they lack any kind of beach. The pool, and hotel in general, is quite good at the Intercontinental. Generally speaking, hotels will be cheaper the further from Miami you stay. The further north you go, the better deals you may find.

Miss you @mom2mybugs. I have been on the Allure twice. I love Central Park. I spent a lot of time there with the scenery and music. Are you flying out of O'Hare? Let me know about Frontier. We were thinking about trying them. Hate that you missed your river cruise. Our spring break is in April.

@mom2mybugs glad to have you back! Sorry to hear the insurance did not work out in your favour but glad to hear that you now have a wonderful OA class ship to look forward to. You are still more than 90 days out (I'm assuming) so you're not too late to book shows. Just grab them as soon as possible. I cannot comment on Hibachi or 150 as I won't be trying that till March. @Matt did a hotel review on the blog with some suggestions. There was also a thread a few days ago too: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/10039-where-to-stay-in-miami-the-night-before-cruise/ Last but not least, you may have missed the Black Friday deals but there is still Christmas/NY cruise planner deals that might pop up.

The menu seems to be standard fleet-wide, with minor variations based on what the chef chooses to do with a given course's preparation and whether a given seating has a significant number of repeat guests -- One the live blogs on the main site, by Ric, noted how he and several others who did Chef's Table on night 1 with a discount then went back for a second time (due to an even better discount that was offered); because there were so many returning guests, the chef altered the menu so that they didn't get the exact same menu a second time. The menu does get updated every so often (annually?), but at least on my April 2018 sailing on Freedom, and @ellcee's / @Broons77's / my October 2018 sailing on Anthem, it was the same menu with slight differences in preparation and presentation. And the wine pairings for all 3 of us were fairly different, which itself made for some interesting conversations between us about the merits of the wines and whether one pairing worked better than another. Chef's Table is definitely not something that fills up, even after embarkation. Each night they can accommodate up to It think 18 or 20 guests, and I've yet to hear of a fully-booked seating. My own seating on Freedom was only 9 people (I went solo), and I think @ellcee and @Broons77 were only a few more than that on each of their times. You can most likely wait until the cutoff date with Cruise Planner (3 days before embarkation) and still have your pick of the days. Drink fatigue is real. The better a price you can get for the Deluxe package, the easier it is to "break even" across the trip and not feel like you need to be having a "party like it's 1999" day every day. If you think that bringing your allowed two bottles of wine would be enough, at least with MDR dinner drinks, to cut down the amount of drinking you'd be paying a la carte to less than the daily package cost, consider skipping the Deluxe package and just get Refreshment packages instead. Then you have all the non-alcoholic stuff covered and you can get alcohol as / when / where you want it.

GTY cabin rates are often offered to deal with less desirable cabins. Poor locations or other circumstances. They can also be offered to 'fill the ship' in which case they are restricted to double occupancy. Basically they are offering a special rate knowing that most guests will spend money on board to make up for the discounted rate. Solo cruisers are ineligible - only one wallet to spend money on board. It's been like that for a long time. No scandal here, just like some cabins are designated for 3 or more guests and can't be booked by solo or 2 guests - they require 3 guests on the booking. You are correct but once in a while I have been able to book a GTY cabin as a solo. Generally speaking they are designed for two guests. Solo always get double for a standard cabin that accommodate two guests. Studio cabins never get double points, including studio GTY cabins which are very rare but are offered at times. I've been in situations where a 2nd guest couldn't make it on a GTY booking. Life happens. I got double points and triple points on a WS suite GTY booking when my plus one's mother had a medical issue.

I'm on the same lines as @Oliver , if they completely add another ship, leave Liberty and bring an O class then I think they can, but if they just replace Liberty (What was hinted to me when I was on Liberty in July by the concierge) with and O class I don't think they will add anything longer than a 7 night. I love cruising out of Galveston and I love the Liberty and all of the O class ships but all of the itineraries out of Galveston have a common thread, Cozumel, I love Cozumel, even went down and spent a week in 2016, but after 13-14 visit's I'm a little burned out.

I would point out that in announcing the short Caribbean intineraries that Enchantment of the Seas will be going to Key West and the Bahamas for 4 different dates in 2020 from Galveston. So you never know. Maybe they can add some Eastern Caribbean.

True, but Liberty has alternating Western routes every other week. Oasis can pretty much assume those. Plus, if they keep other ships in TX then those ships could potentially do some longer itineraries from time to time to mix things up.

Living near Houston, TX, this new Galveston terminal will be very nice. I just hope that RCL will include some new itineraries from Galveston.

Oh wow , if IT were managing the ships - here are some of the things that might happened : You will wake up at the morning and see that half of the ship is missing , they might return after few days Every day you will arrive to a random port. Your room will move every hour to another deck. The ship will look as if someone forgot to send the plan to a designer and it went directly to the shipyard for construct Every now and then you will not be able to get into your cabin and the cabin attended will advise you to go around the running track 4 times, try another shirt and clean you pockets before trying again , it might work , if not try tomorrow. Many venues that everyone liked will not be there anymore and the crew will try to convince you its better . I

Our Sea day was spent relaxing by the pool, enjoying the nice weather and taking in the poolside activities while sipping some cocktails. Unfortunately for me due to the rays from the sun and the lack of sun cream i now look like the Lava Flow cocktail i had been consuming at the time. Having never cruised before i cant comment on or compare atmospheres between cruises out of different ports, but there is no doubt peurto ricans know how to have fun and enjoy themselves. The poolside was turned into one big party atmosphere with their own band playing while sitting in hottub. Formal night corresponded with St Andrews day so the kilt was worn, must admit most made the effort, however one woman turned up in the sportswear she had worn 7hrs earlier while doing poolside zumba in 28c sunshine. Noticed her again next day still wearing same outfit, must be the only woman who packs only a toiletry bag for a vacation. Next stop St Maartan by far the best island on this cruise, we booked bernards tours after reading reports about them on here, and they Didnt dissapoint! Our driver The Mailman delivered a great tour full on facts regarding the places we visited and also kept us laughing with his stories. Forget about the damaged buildings, this island is rebuilding and deserves eveyones support For those that know the docks at st maartan the mailman made An interesting point, that being that RC are building a new pier on the land where bernards tours currently occupy for a ship to be homed there. back to San Juan and we disembark this wonderful ship very soon, Without doubt this is the first of many cruises Next stop new york

I think Freedom is an awesome ship for a first-time cruiser to experience. She was mine and my family's first ship, and my wife and I thought she was great!

A few random photos of the past 2 days

Hey, if we're going with that vibe, then there has to be a stuffed ostrich you sit on while strapped to the bungee cords! ?

Exactly ...... I don't know if anyone would remember the video game, JOUST --- it was out in the '80's. That was the image I had.

Awesome live blog! I give it a 10/10. Thanks for doing it!