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Look what my Grands gave us for Christmas. We can't wait to use it!!

What makes me laugh is that the exact same people who are likely to make that complaint are the exact same ones who will complain about "entitled millennials" in the same breath.

“Into the Unknown” … Independence OTS (Holiday sailing) – 12/29/2018-1/3/2019 Let me start by explaining this quote. Stepping outside my comfort zone…this is the theme surrounding this cruise… The Backstory One evening, near the end of September, Hubby, the girls, and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating a bland dinner. Tired and weary from lack of sleep, and the usual craziness of September (I’m a teacher), we looked at each other in silence. Out of nowhere, Hubby tells us that he really wished we were eating at La Bamba, our favourite pre-cruise restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. To the cruise junkie in me, that only meant one thing…YOLO moment! I half jokingly mentioned to him that we could eat there sooner if we went on a cruise out of Port Everglades. Wait a minute…we are cruising out of Port Everglades…in March 2019! That 6-month wait from Sept-March seemed almost unbearable at the time, so I gently proposed the idea of taking a cruise on my next available break, which is New Years. We tossed around the idea of a short sailing over the holidays and it just so happen that Indy fit the bill. Never sailed her before, so good for Hubby. Kids loved the newly amped Mariner, so Indy should be similar. And for myself, I’ll take any cruise, so Indy looked great! Still not totally serious yet, I sent a quick email to my TA “just to price it out”. First shocker…expensive! Second shocker…. Suites…Sold Out. I have never paid attention to holiday sailings in the past so this was new to me. I have never priced out a cruise so close to sailing either. We are usually the “book when itineraries get released” type. Our choices for cabins (for 2 adults; 2 kids) were: Interior, Oceanview, Balcony, no connecting rooms available. At that point, I told Hubby, “forget it”. I even polled the Insiders and asked if they would cram 4 people in one of those cabins. The suite snob in me was cringing at the thought, the kids were saying book it, and Hubby looked on in half amusement and half in fear for his bank account. I tried to explain to them what sailing in one of those cabins would mean…one small washroom for all 4 of us, you can likely reach the sink while sitting on the toilet, telephone booth shower, must share a bed, small space. All outside of our (my) comfort zone! Here is where things took a surprising turn…Hubby was the one who said YOLO, we should book it. Wait? What?! Those of you reading this who are rolling your eyes at this point should probably stop reading and stop following this blog. It’s about to get worse. Those of you who know me well and are not taking my slightly sarcastic, embrace the suite snob tone too seriously, or are curious or are amused, read on. Here was Hubby’s rationale for booking it: a) We have never done a holiday sailing or sailed Freedom class. Hubby is all for doing things that are new. b) He could tell that we, me especially, needed a getaway sooner rather than later. If you read my previous blog, I mentioned that I am “Blessed by God and Spoiled by my Husband”. This still holds true. c) The most ridiculous and logical reason…we are sailing Star Class on Harmony in 74 days. Our kids have never sailed without a balcony in anything less than 300 square feet with at least 1 ½ bath. It was time to “rough it” and “teach them a lesson” so that they could appreciate Star Class more when March rolls around. I’m still laughing at this one! d) The most important (according to Hubby) and comical reason (according to me), and the reason for the quote choice above: It has been so long since we have sailed in a regular cabin. Hubby hopes that we (he means me) might like it and we will no longer need to book suites in the future. In turn, that will save him money. If this is what Hubby needs to say, “YOLO and Book It!”, then so be it. So, with that, we said YOLO, and booked ourselves on Indy for New Years. In what? Read on.

Those who raised a stink about this simple gesture should have their C&A accounts flagged as individuals to be up-charged on every future booking. Does that suggestion sound petty enough to match the complainers?

Not intentionally. But I’ll be the first to admit that my memory is often as secure as a steel sieve. ? And seeing as it’s now after Christmas dinner and I’ve had a few glasses of wine, I’ll have to chalk it up to lousy memory.

Day 4 - At Sea The WiFi has become absolutely terrible, so I’m unable to upload any pictures. I’ll add them when we get back to the US. Because of the time change last night, I slept in once again. I wasn’t up until 10:15 and since my family had already eaten, I went to the Windjammer by myself. Breakfast was good again. After breakfast, I headed down to the arcade to meet some friends and we played air hockey for about an hour. Air hockey was fun, but I think it’s safe to say that I’ll never become a professional air hockey player lol. After air hockey, since I had been having good experiences at the Windjammer, I headed back down there for lunch. It wasn’t bad, but I definitely still prefer the MDR. It was nice they had veggie burgers, though. Then when I finished eating, I headed down to Studio B to meet back up with my family for the ice skating show, Ice Dancin’. It was spectacular as always. Finding a seat was a bit hard though since it was first come first serve, but I was lucky enough to find a great seat on the second row by myself. When the show was finished, I met back up with my friends and we hung out around the ship until 5 when I headed back to my room to get ready for dinner. We were running a bit late and didn’t get to dinner until 5:40. Since it was Christmas Eve, they had the special holiday menu. I got the same appetizer as last night - just kids vegetables. My mom got the French onion soup again (she really likes it lol), my grandmother’s friend got the ceaser salad again, and my grandmother got the shrimp cocktail again. My dad was the only one to change it up and got the fried brie which he thought was good. For our main dish, I got the Tagliatelle which I thought was awesome. It was a huge portion, though so I wasn’t able to finish it. My dad got the turkey and my mom, grandmother, and her friend got the beef Wellington. They all enjoyed their meals. For desert I went back to the royal chocolate cake from the first night, and it was just okay. I’m never a huge fan of deserts on cruise ships, though. I love desert normally, but for some reason the ones on cruise ships have never been great to me. My mom got the spice cake which she wasn’t a huge fan of, but she’s picky about deserts. My dad got the cheesecake and thought it was pretty good and my grandmother’s friend got the buche de Noel which she also liked. My grandmother got the apple pie again. We also got to see the dancing waiters tonight. It’s always so much fun and it’s nice to have the opportunity to thank the chefs and wait staff for the great job they do. Since we had the dancing waiters, dinner went a little longer than usual and we missed the 7:00 show. We still went to the 9:00 show to see Aaron Bonk who’s a juggler. I thought he was pretty good. His show was definitely made for children, but he had little bits of adult humor thrown in that were pretty funny. It was also pretty cool to watch. He juggled clubs, knives, and whips. After the show I met my friends at the hot tub, and stayed there until it was time to head back to the room.

Or your panties!?

Wait, what?...people are seriously complaining that there was something given to non-suite guests for "free?" a) What has this world come to? b) How would they know...much less care? I assume they had something of greater or equal value served to them up in Shangri-La c) Seriously.....what?

If people are wigged out about the "lower class" getting a few pieces of coffee cake on Christmas Day, they really need to get their priorities straight. Merry Christmas to you!

Who’s Going? The usual crew: Hubby, our 2 girls, D10, D12, and myself. Flight Our plan is to fly from DTW to FLL the day before. We booked through Air2Sea this time as it was about $140 cheaper (total) to do so. In the end, I don’t think I will use Air2Sea again unless it is for a cruise outside of North America or unless I don’t plan on ever upgrading. More on why later. Pre-Cruise Stay Once again, La Bamba dictates where we stay, so it’s back on 17th Street again. Our usual, with kids, is Hyatt Place Convention Center but since we booked so late and it’s a holiday, that property was already sold out! We grabbed a room at the Holiday Inn Express on 17th Street (red flag…2 star…out of comfort zone again) and the only thing that was left was a King bed room with a sofa bed. We figured we’re already “roughing it” for the cruise so might as well “rough it” for the hotel as well. This hotel recently underwent major renovations and a new addition was added to the hotel. To our surprise, the week of Black Friday, they opened bookings for the new section, which included suites, and we were able to grab a suite for more space and more beds and at a lower price than we initially booked for. Win-win. Love those scenarios. The suite snob in me was now a little less tense. Fast forward to a week ago, I called to confirm my reservation, only to be told that while we still have a room, the suite section is not yet ready. So back to roughing it. They confirmed that I have at least 2 beds and they can throw in a cot. Oh well, I am so desperate for a getaway at this point to really care. Itinerary This 5-night sailing brings us to Labadee, Haiti and Falmouth, Jamaica. The ship is the destination for us, so we are likely staying on board the entire time. We might take a walk around Labadee since D10 loves the beach, but we are also visiting these exact ports again in March so not too worried that we will miss much. Cabin We are booked in…gasp…an Oceanview cabin! Booking this cruise 3 months out left us with little selection and crazy high prices. Just to give you an idea how high, we booked Indy for next NYE too and the cost we are paying for our Panoramic suite (VP-full suite benefits) next year, is less than the cost of this year’s Oceanview. Lesson learned here…. book early for holiday sailings. Another thing I learned about holiday sailings is that the usual price drop after final payment doesn’t happen. I’ve tracked the price on this sailing right up until this week and it has done nothing but increase over time, even after final payment. Cabins also didn’t open after final payment either, meaning people are not changing their minds about their holiday sailings. So, the wise @twangster and fellow Insiders were correct again, holiday sailings are an anomaly. Pre-Cruise thoughts - This is our first time without a balcony since 2003! The suite snob in me still has not come to terms with that. - This is our first time sailing Freedom class. I have heard so many good things about this class of ship from so many of you that I am very excited to check it out for myself. - We are #TeamNoDrinkPackage on this one because we have kids with us, and because this is our first cruise as Diamond members with Diamond benefits. We will see how this works out. - We have purchased our usual VOOM 2 Device plan again. - Dining mainly in the MDR again. I did not love it on Mariner but for a short sailing it will be fine. Anything is better cooking on my own. We are trying Giovanni’s for one night. - This is our first time sailing over the holidays. I’ve always been hesitant to travel over the holidays for various reasons so I’m outside my comfort zone on this one too. - Once again, in the spirit of a live blog, please do not hesitate to ask any questions. I will do my best to find out whatever I can for you. - When responding to a post with a series of pictures, please do not include the pictures in your reply. It just makes for easier scrolling. - Lastly, I will do my best to bring the cruise to you LIVE through Periscope – you can follow me @LoveToCruise2002.

To be honest, if I was in a suite for this sailing, my reaction would be "Fine! Let them eat cake." But only after I confirmed with the Captain that there was no guillotine on board... ?

I consider it to be a lovely gesture, nothing more ..... and for those that got their panties all in a bunch, GET OVER IT!!! The world does NOT revolve around YOU!!

As the Grandeur Poo-Bah, I can honestly say, @JLMoran did NOT make that up ....

While it is disappointing to say the least, the comments and reactions on the GoS fan page were rather "interesting", if not funny (rolling my eyes) .. One guy was like, "the shits gonna hit the fan" --- "I'm a D+" (if you knew the guy, you'd know that stating his status is part of every sentence) --- you know what? I don't care. In fact, repeatedly bringing it up is a turn-OFF to most people. Although, in his defense, this cruise was to replace one that was canceled in March, so, I def. understand the frustration and disappointment ---- but it's how you handle it that can/may determine the outcome. I learned long ago, when dealing with a situation, handling it with kindness and understanding will always get you further ..... copping an attitude, like this guy, acting like his status makes him better than everyone else (pinky finger extended), will get you No Where, even if you are way up the C & A ladder.

This is going to sound REEEEEEEEEEEEEALLY cynical... but is it really all that surprising? Projects at that scale are almost always delayed. Either way, still a cruise, still a good day!

It sounds to me as if you tried to get Traditional dining but couldn't and so you were placed in My Time Dining. Did you make reservations for My Time Dining? It doesn't sound like it and you could have done it in the cruise planner 6+ months ago. I have made reservations for a large group for MTD that way. Just think that if you went to a land based restaurant with your party of 12 and tried to be seated right away as it is no different on a cruise ship. It can be challenging with such a large group and I'm sure there are many large extended family groups on this cruise. I'm sorry this isn't working out like you hoped. To make the best of it, make reservations for small groups for most nights with the time you want and choose 1 or 2 nights with a late dining time of around 8:30 to eat together. They probably could accommodate everyone later in the evening. Everyone could have a hearty snack pre dinner at 5ish. If that won't work then chose Windjammer for dinner. You need to decide if the time, place or being all together is the most important and work towards that. Good luck and I hope that you don't allow this to ruin your cruise.

Newbie: 0 posts Member: 10 posts Advanced Member: 30 posts As you can tell, I have not expanded this system terribly yet. I probably should copy C&A statuses!

From experience I can tell you that it’s a fool’s errand to try and coordinate a big group for dinner. Traditional dining is the best bet so it’s a shame you weren’t able to get that scheduled. Since that didn’t happen I would just show up with whatever group is there and get as many seated together as you can. You may have to wait a bit for a big table but I have learned to just let everyone do their own thing. It’s a nightmare trying to coordinate everyone. I never do it anymore.

How dare RCL treat those of us in steerage as equals! ? steer·age /ˈstirij/ noun 1. HISTORICAL the part of a ship providing accommodations for passengers with the cheapest tickets.

It’s very difficult to have 12 people together for My Time Dining. I don’t know what happened when you tried to make reservations ahead of time. May I suggest you get two tables of 6 next to each other and maybe rotate the people around. Try to enjoy your cruise and not stress. Even if you aren’t all together at a table at least you are on vacation together

Perhaps some of the people in suites think enjoyment of the cruise is a zero sum game....and they can't have full enjoyment if the staff is sharing extras with people ;). I'm not like that.....then again....the concierge is always like "How come you don't come up to the lounge" when I am on board ship ? and I'm always like "ohh too busy" but the real reason is that it is often filled with people who complain about free bread on a cruise ?

How would I take that? With coffee and perhaps a little more marzipan in that stollen! Merry and Happy Christmas! Bah Humbug to the complainers!

I think you have Newbie rank until you've made around 50 posts. Then you get rank 2 (I forget that's called) until around 250 or maybe 500 posts, at which point you hit the top rank (Master?). Any unusual titles you see, like "Oasis Class Denier", "Stubborn Canadian Scorpio", "Kraken Absconder", "Grandeur Poobah", or "Wants to be the Next Michael Poole" are all honorary titles given by @Matt to frequent posters who've become well known here. (and got on his very good side ?)

I agree. I would add the cynic in me sees it differently though. I think this more about showing who owns the cards when it comes to the Bahamas and cruise lines. If memory serves me correctly only a few months ago the Bahama's govt came out and upped the cost of the ports, basically insinuating that the cruises are taking advantage of the low cost and they are not reaping enough in revenue for the amount of people that come on land when at port. By leaving this letter in every cabin, many that did not have an excursion will stay on the ship instead of just walking around Nassau and maybe buying some trinkets. In essence, it is a win win for RCCL. If they stay on the ship, many may spend money at the spa, at bingo or buy a drink or two to lounge at the pool, ($$$ if they don't have the DBP), maybe even have lunch at a specialty restaurant, more money in the RCCL pocket. WIN #1. WIN #2 is the fewer that get off due to fear from this letter, the Bahamain govt gets to see even less revenue, and that by rising the costs to port in Nassau they lost money bc now we played the fear card with our passengers that had no excursions, but intended to just walk around just by placing this letter in every stateroom. They never said don't get off, just insinuated you may want to be weary of getting off. ~ I have seen this in my life. My DH served in the AF during the 90's when they were closing military bases left and right. The mayor of the town where the base was located went to the Base Commander and told him they were going to tell the Congressman and Senators they would like the base to close because in their eyes, they only brought noise to the town (airplanes), and nothing else. Every base has a bank on the base. The Commander ordered that bank to only give every airmen $2 bills if they were getting cash that payday weekend. On Monday the mayor called the Commander and said I give. The town had been flooded with $2 bills everywhere. He saw and heard from business, including the banks in town why on earth are we getting all of these $2 bills? He saw that the AF base with the noise of airplanes taking off equated to pumping in a lot of money into that town. Hence, why I see RCCL doing that letter. It is to illustrate to the govt that you don't realize how much money our passengers spend on shore. I also bet that RCCL is not the only cruise line placing these letters in the staterooms. On the day we arrived in Nassau, Carnival,, NCL and Disney all arrived in port that day. I bet those cruise lines too placed a letter like in RCCL. Old adage the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Hence, all cruise lines will band together to prove a point to the govt in Bahamas.

Day 3 - Labadee After only having 5 hours of sleep the day before I took the liberty of sleeping in, so I wasn’t up and moving until 10. I was out of the room and down to the Windjammer to eat breakfast by 10:15. My mom was the only one there because my grandmother and dad had already eaten and my grandmother’s friend doesn’t eat breakfast. I actually enjoyed breakfast in the Windjammer more than I thought I would. I tend to stay away from the Windjammer if at all possible, but my two experiences there so far on this cruise have been great. They had an awesome topping bar for the pancakes which I really enjoyed. Then after breakfast, at 11:30, we all met back up and got off the ship to go to Labadee. We took the tram straight to Adrenaline beach (the last stop) and got a table there right on the edge of the beach. It was 75 and windy so the weather was very pleasant. I took the liberty to catch up on some more sleep, and took a nap on one of the loungers out on the sand. I woke up at 1 and went to grab some food before the buffet closed. There wasn’t a ton of selection for a vegetarian, but the red beans and rice were good. When I got back to the table, only my parents were there and they told me that my grandmother and her friend had already gone back to the ship. We decided to do the same since it looked like it was about to rain. Before getting back on the ship I took a few last pictures. Once back on the ship, I took a quick shower and my parents took a nap. Then my dad and I went to the 3:00 trivia. We got there right at 3 and they were already 4 questions in, so it wasn’t worth participating. It was a bit frustrating that they started early, but we were fine to just sit and listen. We would’ve missed most of the questions anyways lol. After trivia I went to find my friends and hung out with them until 5. Then I went back to my room to get ready for dinner. Since we had a little time before dinner, we finally got around to putting our Christmas decorations up. Tonight at dinner we were finally able to find a dish that pleased my grandmother. I don’t know how our waiter managed to do it, but he convinced her to get the crab cakes for an appetizer and she loved them. Everyone else, except for my mom, also got the crab cakes and really liked them. They said they were different but very good. My mom got the burrata salad for her appetizer and said it was one of the best salads she had ever gotten. I stuck with my kids meal and just got carrots with ranch. For the main course, I finally ventured away from the kids menu and got the ravioli. It was delicious. My mom got the roasted beef loin, my dad got the jerk chicken, and my grandmother and her friend got the roasted pork loin. They all thought their meals were good also. Then for desert I went back to the kids menu and got the dark chocolate brownie again. It wasn’t as good as last night, but it was still fine. My mom, grandmother, and her friend all got the apple pie again which they enjoyed. My mom also got the soufflé, but she wasn’t a fan. My dad got the no sugar added desert again, so tonight, that was the strawberry trifle. He thought it was pretty good. Here’s the menu: After dinner we rushed to go see the show at 7. My dad was right; the Absolute Journey tribute band was spectacular. The lead singer looked just like Steve Perry (I know Gregg Rolie came first, but I still consider Steve the lead singer) and they sounded just like Journey. After the show, I stuck with my normal routine of just hanging out with friends until 1. Some other notes: •The WiFi was great the first two days, but it’s become awful today, so I apologize for the lack of pictures. I’ll edit the post when I get back home and add the rest of them. •I got to see the iconic I-95 today. •I finally got around to taking some pictures of the decorations on the ship tonight. Although the ship is a bit worn, the decorations are still beautiful. (I’ll post pictures of them when I get better WiFi) •The time is going one hour forward tonight. Little disappointed that that means one last hour of sleep lol. •Labadee has some really nice Christmas decorations. It was the most it’s felt like Christmas time since I’ve been on the ship.

Day 1 - Miami (pt. 2): At 3:00 I did a meet up when some of the teens I had set up a group chat with before the cruise. I posted on cruise critics for teens to text me and ended up with about 10 teens in the group. It was super nice to already know someone when I got on board. Then at 4:15 I headed back to the room for the 4:30 muster drill. It was quick and painless. We also had the Carnival Victory sailing away during our muster drill, so that made it much more interesting. After the muster drill we headed up to the pool deck for the sail away party where I caught some awesome pictures on the sunset. I tried to also take a time lapse video, but it was far too windy. We also caught a glimpse of the Norwegian Sky. At 5:30 we headed down to deck three for dinner. We were seated at a table for 9, but the other 4 never joined us. Our waiter was Seryeo and our assistant waiter was Shiv. So far they both seem awesome. For our appetizers, all of us got the arugula salad except for me mom. They all loved the arugula salad and although I didn’t think it was bad, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. My mom got the French onion soup which she loved. Then for the main course I got fettucini with marinara (I’m a picky vegetarian so you’ll rarely see exocric food choices from me?) and everyone else got the red snapper. My dad also got the fried chicken to try. Everyone except for my dad sent the red snapper back. They said it was thick, tough, and tasted very fishy. My mom and grandmother’s friend ordered the steak instead, and my grandmother got the shrimp cocktail. They were all happy with their second choice. My dad said the fried chicken was pretty good also. Then for the desert I got the royal chocolate cake, my dad espresso mouse, my grandmother’s friend got apple pie, and my mom and grandmother got something that had rum in it (I wasn’t there when they ordered so I have no idea what it was haha). Whatever is was, though, my mom loved it and my grandmother said she wasn’t a fan. My mom said it wasn’t very sweet which she liked. We all loved the rest of our desserts. After dinner we rushed to the 7:30 tree lighting. I still need to upload the pics from it so I’ll post them tomorrow. The tree lighting really wasn’t much though. Truly all they did was light the tree. Maybe I’m wrong, but last year on the Indy I seem to remember them singing Christmas carols and dancing up on the balcony after the tree was lit. Then after the tree lighting, we went back to the rooms and our bags were FINALLY there. At this point it was almost 8:00 which was the longest we’ve ever waited to get our bags. We unpacked for a bit then I headed to the teen club for the icebreakers. I met a couple new friends and we planned to meet back up at the hot tub after the welcome aboard show. The welcome aboard show was awesome. The band started off by playing a couple Christmas songs and we’re really great. They were followed by the singers and dancers who were also pretty good. Then came out our cruise director Rob McNalley from Liverpool, England. He came out singing Sweet Caroline and was honestly almost better than the actual singers. After singing he spouted off a few quick jokes which were very clever and witty. I can already tell it’s going to be a great cruise with him. He then introduced the officers and after their short introduction sent out the comedian, Landry. He was hilarious!! He had everyone laughing for thirty straight mintutes. When the show ended, I headed down to the hot tub to meet my friends and we just hung out around the ship the rest of the night. Some other notes: •The ship was really rocky for seemingly calm waters. One of my friends said he had heard they didn’t completely fix one of the stabilizers, though, so that could be why. •The teen club counselors are super lax on this cruise. They truly left the teen club at 11:30 and never came back. Security had to come kick us out. •Sorry for no pics of the food. I’ve always just kinda found it weird to take pics of food. •I’ll get a pic of the menu tomorrow. I had to run back to the room to put my phone on airplane mode during dinner, so my parents ordered for me and I never even saw the menu tonight.

Day 1-Miami It’s embarkation day!! We arrived at the Port of Miami at 11:30 and were sitting down and eating at the Windjammer by 12. This was by far the quickest we’ve ever made it on a ship, and I can definitely see why everyone says they love the Port of Miami so much. It was very organized which moved everyone through quickly. The tables at the Windjammer were full like they usually are on embarkation day, but we were lucky enough to grab one right as another family was leaving. About every 20 minutes during lunch, they played a message asking passengers to leave their table as soon as they were done eating, which although it was annoying to keep hearing, it was much appreciated because it’s always so frustrating to see people taking up tables when they’re not even eating. At 1:05 they told us over the intercom that our staterooms were ready so my parents went to ours and I went to go help my grandmother and her friend find their’s. They’re staying in stateroom 8614 which was just a run of the mill balcony room. It was good for them though because it was right by the elevator. Then I went down to our stateroom 7688. It’s considered an “obstructed” balcony room, but our balcony is about five times the size of my grandmother’s. And honestly I wouldn’t even consider it obstructed. There’s a panoramic picture of it, but it still doesn’t do it justice. Just to give you a better idea of the size, though there are 2 lounge chairs, 2 normals chairs with a table, another deck chair with a footrest, and even with all of that there’s still enough room for three people to lay on the ground. It’s 2:15 and we don’t have our luggage yet, so now we’re all just resting in the room. Some other notes: •I was pleasantly surprised to see on our sea pass that our dining time had been moved to 5:30. We decided kinda last minute to change to earlier dining, so we called Royal Caribbean and they said they would put us on the waitlist. We still thought it was a long shot, though. •Food at the Windjammer was a lot better than it was on our last cruise on the Indy. Not that it bad on our last cruise - it was just average. The food at the Navigator Windjammer was awesome, though. The pizza was much better too Some other pictures from today:

I’m certain this will not be a popular opinion on this forum but I’m gonna say it. I think the Suite Lounge should be reserved for suite guests who pay a premium for something special. I think people with RC Pinnacle Status should stick to the Diamond Lounge. It would be less crowded and offer a more special experience for those of us who pay. You could make the case that they got to Pinnacle by spending money, however, it’s not difficult for a person of means & time to cruise in inside cabins to obtain status. If I’m going to pay larger sums of money for a suite then I want an experience. Sorry Pinnacle folks.

Hi There Today I Was Looking At The Oasis And Found That In The Next Two Years It Will Have Six Homeports. 1. Port Canaveral FL 2. Barcelona Spain 3. Rome (Civitavecchia) Italy 4. Miami FL 5. Cape Liberty NJ 6. Fort Lauderdale FL

Hmm...Royal reps are notorious for getting their information wrong. Maybe @Matt can get some clarification for us. According to a blog post here, you don't need reservations as of December 15th. That is the main reason why I purchased it for my upcoming Symphony sailing. I would be interested to know the actual answer on this too.

This is hysterical!

Have fun! Will be following along. I will be interested in your adjustment to the non-suite life.

+2 for Radiance. We will be doing the southbound on Radiance next July. We picked this open-jaw route so we could see and do a lot more of Alaska (given the state's enormity, that's a funny statement). We will be flying into Anchorage four days prior to embarkation for our own sightseeing and fishing excursions (Hello Rusts Flying and Guide Service!). Then we will be taking the Goldstar Service on the Alaska Railroad to Seward in the morning. Will arrive in Seward around 11:30-12:30. Will check in on the boat, eat some lunch, and then walk-off and head over to the Alaska Sealife center for a couple of hours. We will cruise for the next week, hitting many awesome ports of call with awesome views and excursions. Disembarkation will be in Vancouver. We will spend just part of the day there and then jump on the Cascades Amtrak service to Seattle (and fly out from there). Hoping the Seattle Sounders will have a game that weekend in town. We wanted to get the long flight and land part of our trip done first so we can relax (sort of) on our cruise, just as @KJ1231 mentioned. I suspect that this will not be our last Alaskan cruise, as next time, I'd like to spend more time in Vancouver! Echoing @SpeedNoodles, book as early as you can as prices will most probably only go up. Use a good TA that will monitor prices for you and rebook as necessary, however, do book as far far far in advance as you can and can afford.

I Love Indy. Have an awesome time.

I concur with @WAAAYTOOO we did MTD once with a group and it was extremely aggravating to try and get a group of 8 together at the same time, you may be able to talk with someone and schedule a time where you may be able to get all of you in at one table. My advice is next time your best bet will be traditional dining, it did make a world of difference when we made our plans. Good luck!

That's awesome!

Yes I was able to do this on Brilliance of the Seas earlier this year

I still have CocoCay listed as a stop on our Anthem sailing mid Jan. It has been reported that we will arrive a day earlier at Canaveral and spend the night. I have yet to get that message but did see it in the planner.

There's an ongoing thread on this very topic here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/9893-the-key/ Also @Matt did a blog post on this a week or two ago (courtesy of @twangster? https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/12/04/review-royal-caribbeans-the-key-vip-guest-experience

??@JLMoran did you just make that all up?! Honestly, I think it might just be Newbie and Advance Member. There definitely isn't a "Master"...I'm still laughing! I even checked @WAAAYTOOO's and @tiny260's ranking to make sure.

Oh I Just Heard Now I Get To Be Sailing In A Jr. Suite. Not A Interior. Guess I Did Not Read The Paper All The Way.

How would your parents feel about adopting a 48-year old dude and his family? ??

We are having a great time on Grandeur. Today is Tuesday, we left on Saturday (4 days ago) and we still haven’t gotten to our first port yet ! Tomorrow we hit St Croix. Everything but the internet has been great. They rebooted something this morning and the internet is a bit better but it’s still very slow. We’re on our way to Chops for lunch. We’ll be at Chops again for dinner tonite. I hit a straight flush in UTH last night so I am ++$$$. Yippee !!! Merry Christmas to everyone !

Merry Christmas to everyone from the beautiful Lady G.

This is a non-issue. I take Uber/Lyft from my home about 40 mins north of FLL to MIA and PortMiami - trips that are over an hour. South Florida is dense, but not as vertical as other cities, and has no significant mass-transit options, so long drives around here aren't nearly as uncommon as in other metropolitan areas. I'd really avoid renting a car, you'll just lose a lot of time to logistics and I don't think there is anything to gain in your particular scenario. If you end up not wanting to use a ride-share service, I'd hire a car service. When you arrive at FLL you'll follow the signs to the nearest ride-share/commercial vehicle pickup area. There are two, and they're well positioned so it's never more than a minute's walk at most once you're outside. You can find pics of the signage and other Uber/Lyft tips for cruisers in S FL here: https://www.cruisehabit.com/uber-lyft-cabs-shuttles-how-get-and-your-cruise-easily-cheaply I will tell you that if you're sailing out of Terminal A, they should have made the pickup area much larger and changed when the lanes converge, so after your cruise walk all the way to the end of the pickup area before requesting a ride, and note the number of the post.

Ok, I decided that I wasn't comfortable with the original hotel I booked for Miami in February, so I got bold did a Name Your Own Price on Priceline (areas were better defined than in Seattle, still wouldn't do it there), and got an amazing hotel with spectacular reviews in a reportedly very safe neighborhood for $175 (just 8 dollars more than the hotel in the sketchy airport neighborhood). So thank you, Matt!

They have those at just about all of the bars on board the ship. Just ask for a Kraken Lava Flow, sit down, sip and enjoy!

@chalkdawg4 I am loving this blog for several reasons: Love the pics so far. Not sure if you know but I am a teacher. I teach mainly 13 year olds but over the years, the writing skills of young people have been going downhill. Quite scary at times. As I read this with my "teacher hat" on, this blog is so well written for a teenager. The style and wording is not only descriptive but there is an excellent voice coming through. Love it!

Welcome to the boards @Jason. Someone asked the same question a while back and got some good replies. You can see that thread here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/6036-favorite-virgin-drink/&tab=comments#comment-64437 Also, keep in mind that you should keep checking the price of the package. We got the refreshment package for a 2019 cruise at $17/day. If you see it lower than what you paid, you can easily cancel and rebook. The credit will take a few days to show up. Enjoy your cruise!

Reading this update to Navigator makes me feel so much better. I've cruised a couple times in the past with my parents about 10-12 years ago as a young teen. Being the only one with experience, I was tasked with leading the charge on finding a vacation for my group of friends. Most haven't been out of the country, none on a cruise before. No pressure, right? I find cruising to be a great value for cost. Got a great deal on the 5 night from April 7-12th with stops in Nassau and Labadee. Being that we are all in our mid 20s, we didn't really have the budget for one of the big, new ships in only 6 months of planning, maybe for 2020. But, I wanted them to be as impressed as I was my first cruise. Nothing better than the face of someone seeing how massive and impressive a cruise ship really is the first time pulling into port. Looks like Navigator will get a great new update just in time to set sail. 130 days out-very excited! First time on here and like I said been a decade plus since last cruise so things have changed I'm sure. Any tips/ideas from the experts would be greatly appreciated! I've done a lot of research and planning, but I'm sure there is something I haven't thought of.