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Cabin Another story here…. After our Anthem of the Seas cruise in 2018, my wife, now unashamedly, is a suite snob. Frankly, I whole heartedly support this as well. So, when we booked this cruise, we booked a grand suite. The price was decent, done. The Owners suites were more than what we wanted to spend, and the 1 Royal Suite was WAY more. After the cruise was booked, I kept an eye on prices, made some adjustments here or there and the waiting game began. We thought, who knows, maybe we can try to see what could happen with a Royal Up bid A few months ago, while doing a routine price check, I see a 2br grand suite is now available. A quick phone call to Royal, and we are now sailing in a 2br grand suite for about the same price as what we booked the cruise for originally. A few weeks ago, we did get the Royal Up email. We had the option for an Owners Suite or the Royal Suite. We bid on the Royal Suite, but I’m not going to hold my breath since looking now, all the suites are sold out. Pre-Cruise Like I said, we are flying in a few days early. Friday 9/20 we are flying into FLL. Southwest flights were much cheaper and had more convenient times than flying to MIA. So, the plan is we will rent a car to use for the couple days prior to be able to explore around etc without a ton of Uber/Lyft charges. Embarkation day I will drop the family off at the port around 10, bring the car back to MIA and take the enterprise shuttle back to the port. I looked at dropping off at other locations near the port, but this was the most cost effective. We are staying at the Gates Hotel South Beach. We picked this hotel due to its proximity to south beach and Heather wanted direct beach access without having to pay a super-premium price. She is a Hilton member through her job, so that also narrows the choices. This hotel also includes its own area for chairs and other activities too on the beach. Post Cruise This is where it also gets fun. After disembarkation, we will be taking the shuttle to MIA for another rental car which we will drive to Orlando with. Friday evening, we have tickets to Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s No So Spooky Halloween Party. Heather is a huge Disney fan and is really looking forward to this. Much to my dismay, she has us all wearing Hocus Pocus themed shirts for that night….yay… Saturday, we have tickets to Universal Studios. Gotta check out the new Hagrid Ride…. And again, we have matching themed shirts. At least this time, they are Hogwarts/Harry Potter ones. Sunday, we head home. The Surprise Like I said earlier, this whole trip will be a surprise for the kids. The plan to make this work is that we will be packing in secret. We will drop the kids off at school on Friday, then load up the car. We will pick the kids up at dismissal at school and go straight to the airport. At this point, We will let them in on a little bit of the surprise, which will be we are just going to Florida and will be on the beach. On cruise day, we will pack up the car and say we are headed to another hotel, but not tell them that the hotel is the cruise ship. This is going to be so much fun. I plan on writing about our experiences at Disney and Universal as well so grab the popcorn and wine, its going to be a wild ride and thanks for following along!

We Made It!! With That Said Let The Cruise Begin!

I grew up poor, so I'm used to sleeping on bamboo beds without mattresses. Whatever mattresses Royal gives me will definitely be an upgrade from that.

I always sleep really well....but maybe the Deluxe Drink Package helps with that! LOL

We are now just about one week out from the cruise, so it is about time to get this party started. This will be my first attempt at a live blog so we shall see how this goes. I think we can title this blog Navigating around the hurricanes. 4 night Navigator Cruise 9/23-9/27 Who’s Going? For this trip, it will be the whole family. I’m Greg, the primary planner, my wife Heather who is the “bad influence” on the planner, and our daughter Lydia (9) and son Johnny (6). This whole trip is a surprise to the kids. They have no idea that we are going.

I was told that everyone was nice. That it was a fun place to be. And so far you all have lived up to the hype. Thank you all for being as advertised.

I saw a listing on monster.com. "Odyssey Captain Required, salary TBD" Just kidding. With four Quantum class ships they have eight Captains now since all Captains work on a rotational basis. Typically the same two Captains will stay with a ship for several years taking turns while the other is on vacation. I've heard they rotate every few months, two on, two off sort of thing. The Captains stay in touch by email letting each other know of note worthy events and/or maintenance conditions. At the same time there are Staff Captains that do something similar. They may move more between ships so they are exposed to different Captains and expand their knowledge in this fashion. They are fully capable of being Captain, but each ship has only one Master of the vessel at any given moment. Every ship in the fleet works on this basis. At some point a Staff Captain may be ready to become a Master. They likely would not take a Staff Captain who has never served on a Quantum class ship to be the first Odyssey captain. They'll likely take an experienced Quantum class Captain for Odyssey and backfill the vacancy on their old Quantum class ship. It doesn't have to be this way, they could take any of their Captains and move them to Odyssey. A Voyager Captain could be picked, an Oasis Captain could be picked. If that Captain has worked through a build process on another ship that experience works in their favor. The Captain and a Staff Captain will join the ship long before it is handed over to Royal however their position isn't official. The ship yard has it's own Captains who will be on board for sea trials and fulfil the role of Master until the ship is handed over because until it's handed over, the ship doesn't belong to Royal. Royal's own Captains will be on board but in an observation role. Despite that they all tend to get along and be included in meetings and operations. Looking beyond the bridge as the ship becomes an actual ship and is ready for crew to live on board Royal will begin to assemble the "float out crew" for Odyssey. They tend to pick experienced crew for all positions, from chef's to bar managers to waiters to hotel directors the entire crew will need to be selected. Several of the Symphony crew I talked to on the transatlantic have been chosen to be the float out crew for several Oasis class ships. They knew the drill, they've done it before, this is how a ship can launch and be so ready on the very first cruise. At some point as the ship is nearing completion the float out crew or many of them will start living on the ship. The bridge crew may have been for months now. They have had cabin attendants and meals served on board for a while. In this manner the ship itself is tested albeit not for the thousands it will eventually serve. At the moment of handover the crew is in place and ready to go, all experienced and hand picked from across the fleet. In conclusion they don't crew the ship with newbies off the street. They tend to staff positions from across the fleet drawing on more senior or repeat contract employees who already know their jobs and the Royal way of doing things. The vacancy they create on their old ship will see people move up within the ranks based on individual merit to do so. It works this way for bridge crews as it does for the customer facing hotel positions.

I've found the mattresses to be very soft. But I like my mattress to be like concrete. I've managed to sleep well though. A bad nights sleep on a cruise is still better than a good nights sleep at home!

They ask your room number everytime you check in there, so they can reallocate the dining room tips there. Whether they actually do or not, who knows!

I looked too..of course I don't want the drama of being an admin ever and I am lazy so I didn't create one lol. I know some genpop folks were asking about one so they might stumble upon it and be initiated into our little community!

Welcome @DebAtSea! This is the best cruising community out there!

The best thing about pre cruise is the building of excitement. You book and you are super excited, you are going back on a cruise, but usually you are still months away or a year away. It's the building ever day to the cruise that's incredible. Usually 30 days out it's bonkers time with excitement. We are 32 days from Anthem and it's really building here. We are all talking about it everyday. God cruises really are the best vacation and Royal Caribbean is the best cruise line.

This review is long over due. Once I got home, life got in the way. This review is not very detailed. As I warned before I left, I am a relax and read sort of girl on vacation. Warning, you may find this boring-I did not do much and I did not take any pictures. We met at the Orlando airport, rented a car and headed to Canaveral. We drove straight to the port area to watch the Saturday ships sail off. The upper deck at Fishlips was perfect. We were about level with the upper decks of the two ships: Carnival Breeze and Disney Fantasy. It was obvious from our vantage point that the Breeze was in need of some maintenance. Afterwards, we purchased sunscreen and checked into the Radisson at the Port. It was fine, but I would not recommend it. The rooms open onto a breezeway and the only elevator we found was very inconvenient. Our suitcases did not roll well over the uneven pavement of the breezeways. In addition, when we checked out the next morning, the lobby was jammed with people waiting for the shuttle. It did not appear to be very organized. We drove the beach looking for a place for dinner. We went to Banos-a truly amazing Italian restaurant. If you are in Cocoa Beach and want Italian, I highly recommend it. We had different dishes: chicken picatta and chicken parmesan-both were excellent. The next morning, we checked out the hotel breakfast and realized that it was really expensive. We went to the McDonald’s across the street to grab something light and some coffee. We knew that we’d be getting plenty to eat during the coming week. We returned our rental car to Alamo around 9:30. There was some confusion about the shuttle. The front desk told us we could go on the next shuttle. The driver told us that he had to leave right away and could not wait for us to turn in the keys and load our luggage. He said that company policy was to only pick up from the port until 10:30 and not to take any passengers to board the ship until that time. While he was explaining this, I was loading our luggage into the van and my friend was enlisting the aid of the front desk. We got on the shuttle and got to the port at a little before 10. Check in was quick and easy. There was no line at all for the suites check in. We were in the suites waiting area within 10 minutes of getting out of the shuttle at the port and were on board the ship by around 10:30. We had decided that we would get a drink at the first bar we saw-we planned to take full advantage of the drink package. We walked in right at the Rising Tide bar and grabbed a glass of champagne to celebrate. They were still setting up the bar area but were very kind to us. We wandered around the ship for a while, enjoying exploring, then headed up to the suites lounge and grabbed another drink there. I did use the drink package in the suites lounge because my favorite sparkling wine is only in the MDR, but I requested that they stock in the suites lounge. We had fun people watching, then had lunch in the CK. I know the general opinion is that the lunch menu is not great, but we both had a wonderful meal. I had herb encrusted chicken and my friend got salmon. We shared the margarita flat bread for an appetizer and I had something chocolate for desert. For you foodies out there, I am sorry, this is the only meal I remember what I ate. After lunch, our room was ready. We checked it out and then further explored the ship (and the bars). We got a drink at the robot bar, and both of them were so awful, we didn’t finish them. When we got back our luggage was there, so we unpacked and got ready for dinner. We ate each night in the CK. Our reservations were between 6 and 6:15 both nights. We usually headed to the lounge around 5 and had cocktails with a delightful family that we met up there the first night. I had requested a table by the window and that request was honored almost every night. The main thing we had not wanted was one of us with our back to the window, and that was never an issue. We quickly discovered our favorite servers and were in their section each night. We had either breakfast or lunch in the CK every day and dinner each night. Three meals a day there would have been too much, so we varied it. For breakfast, I loved both the French toast and the waffles. For those that are wondering, I know that Junior suite guests were able to eat in the CK at least part of the time because we met one couple in there who were in a junior suite. We saw them at least three different evenings. I will also post details in the dining section, but we were able to have desert in Wonderland one evening, even though we did not have the dining package. The ship is large. We certainly did not experience all that it has to offer. I did go to the fitness center most mornings; it was very nice and I never had an issue finding a selection of equipment to use, even on sea days. We had the drink package and managed to try out most of the bars, at least once. My only "complaint" was the heavy pours. I had to specifically tell the bar tenders to put less alcohol in my drinks. They routinely put a double shot in all mixed drinks-a single shot is plenty for me! Others may find that a positive. I had breakfast in the Vitality Cafe twice, before working out. It was a very good, light breakfast. We also had lunch in the Park Cafe one day-very good, at Mini-Bites one afternoon-less good but not terrible and Sorenttos. The pizza was much better than expected. I really liked it, although I like most anything that I don't have to cook. We also went to the MDR for lunch one day. It was good, but it was very crowded and the atmosphere was hectic. We saw Grease-very good, The Fine Line-a little odd, but we enjoyed it and both ice shows. My favorite show was I-Skate, but I enjoyed them all. We liked the suite seating for all of the shows. At the Fine Line, they tried to turn us away after scanning our sea passes because we did not have a reservation. I politely explained that we were told that we did not need them since we were sky class. He immediately pointed us in the right direction. I mention this merely to let you know that there can be a disconnect between the pass and scanning it. We did not do any excursions. We sat on the beach at Coco Cay for a while, but it was VERY hot. We then went to the pool area, which seemed more comfortable, although it was still really hot. At St. Maartens, we took the water taxi to the beach and grabbed two chairs, an umbrella and a bucket of 6 Heinekens for $20. It was more pleasant there than at Coco Cay. In San Juan, we explored both forts on our own. It was very hot, and we rested a while in the lobby of a very neat hotel across the street from a church. The hotel used to be a convent, and has a serene bar area right in the middle of the courtyard. We were tired that day-we walked over 9 miles. Other than that, we generally just sat on the suite sun deck or in the suite lounge and watched people and read. A big advantage of the suite lounge and deck is that we really got to know some of our fellow passengers, which I really enjoyed. With one or two exceptions, everyone was warm and friendly. The concierges, Jeremias and Mohammed were fabulous, as was the CK manager, Ace and our waiter, Laurence. The pools were exceptionally crowded. We never really went near them, but could see the crowds. We did enjoy the hot tub on the suite deck. We did not have any issue with crowds, perhaps because we only took the elevator once the entire week. We were on deck 7 and found that walking up to deck 17 was a good way to get hungry for the great meals we enjoyed! We might have found the crowds more intrusive had we not had access to the suite areas or if we had not been fit enough to take the stairs. The suite areas were very quiet and relaxing. For most of the trip, Central Park was too hot to really enjoy-not unexpected in August. The Boardwalk area had more of a breeze. Our balcony was pleasant when the ship was moving and it was shady. When the sun was shining our way or the ship was still, it was very hot. I know I have mentioned being hot a lot-it was August, and I expected it. I am not complaining, just sharing information for others. I am from NC, so I am very used to heat and humidity. If that bothers you, August might not be the best time for you to cruise. I have heard other people comment about the cruise director, Dennis. I did not really interact with him-I thought he was a little overboard at some of the shows, but it didn’t bother me. I did find him very offensive at the suite sail away party. I might not have mentioned here had several other passengers not also commented on it. He began speaking about how suite guests and pinnacle members are the top 1% of all cruisers and are the crème of the crop for the cruise industry. Then he asked us if we didn’t feel sorry for all of the poor people down below. I found this comment to be in exceptionally bad taste, and I was not the only one. The woman beside me asked if she had heard it correctly. The couple behind me was appalled as well. In the suite lounge later, two other people mentioned how much it bothered them. First of all, I don’t feel sorry for anyone on a cruise ship (except maybe the crew sometimes). Secondly, all of us on the ship were spending what we could afford. I would not have been in a suite had I not gotten an incredibly good deal, very close to the sail date. I did tell him that his comment bothered me because I don't think it is fair to complain about something that someone does unless you are willing to say it to them directly. He apologized. Couple of notes on sky class: beach towels are provided on the suite sun deck, but they make you scan your card at other places-a major pain. The suite lounge is awesome, and I loved having the reserved seating for the shows. All in all, we had a wonderful time! If you have any questions, I will gladly try to answer them.

I booked it. I am weak. I blame my MEI TA and just to show her, we intend to go on the first sailing and have a mind blowing good time (no time to sleep on this 4 day trip)! Please pray for us.....

Why not just use wifi calling? No fees, no roaming. No teaching someone at home about a new app and how to use it. I could never train my elderly parents on an app like that, I just call them and their phone rings with my caller id. Easy peazy.

We just booked as well. It will be our second RCCL Cruise. So excited!

InsInstall WhatsApp on both phones and use data for a voice call. Test it before you leave so both of you are clear on how it works - but this should suffice and will prevent international roaming issues/fees

We started that 2 cruises ago. ? ? ?

Arrrgh you're such a bad influence on me! But in interest of preserving the peace of the house prior to our Oct cruise, at least then I can get him in the yolo spirit rather than the spirit of "we have to save, we have to save, we have to do the responsible thing" Insert my whine of "I wanna go to the bahaaaaaaaaamas"

That kind of confusion served me well while boarding on the Ovation. At the Seattle port, I was looking for the waiting area for Platinum members. I found it all the way at the opposite end of the port from the entrance. As I was about to find my spot, boarding for Key and Pinnacle began, I was right there at the spot where these guests would go through. I just walked towards the ship, skipped the pictures (LOL), onto the gangway, and onto the ship. This Platinum cruiser boarded ahead of the other elite cruisers. Nobody stopped me. What was I to do ... go to the back of the line??? ha ha

I sleep way better on a cruise than I do at home - I cannot find a mattress that I'm comfortable on at home. Or maybe it's the pillows. All I know is that the only time I ever get quality sleep is when I'm on a cruise (so imagine that I never got a decent sleep between 2010 and 2019, when I had a break from cruising!) At least I sleep well 2-3 times a year now, lol.

WAAAYTOOO, that is what our attendant did too, she said the actual toppers would not help me. I should've made that clearer on my original post, thanks! If you have issues, talk to your attendant, they are so helpful!!

Itinerary This is a long and convoluted story on how we ended up on this cruise. We were originally going on at trip to Costa Rica with some cousins who had to back out, so we decided to back out of that trip as well. Heather not wanting to miss out on a vacation during the fall put her “bad influencer” hat on, took me to lunch at my favorite watering hole, and after a few beverages, says to me, since we aren’t going to Costa Rica, what about a cruise this fall, and BOOM, out came my phone and I was in full planning mode. She often tells me I should become a travel agent! So, we quickly settled on a 4-night Navigator Cruise to Nassau and Coco Cay. We chose this one because we wanted to try out a relatively recently amped ship and wanted to check out the Coco Cay improvements. We also were at Coco Cay in 2018 with the kids, who LOVED it there. When our son saw @matt video about Perfect Day at Coco Cay, he was amazed and said we HAVE TO GO BACK!! Someday Johnny, someday……. Nassau will be Atlantis, because well, we love it there Coco Cay we have a Chill Island cabana. Here is a perfect example of where early booking is beneficial. When on Coco Cay in 2018, we had a Chill Island Cabana and really liked it. It was great having our own little section of the beach where it was easier to keep an eye on the kids, so we knew this was needed again. So back to alcohol lubricated cruise planning. As soon as the cruise was booked, and available to be found in our cruise planner we purchased the cabana for $325. A few days later they were $900. We had considered a Thrill Water park cabana, but we have slides on the ship, slides at Atlantis, and our son isn’t tall enough for all the slides. Our kids will be perfectly content with the free area slides and activities. Ten minutes later, internet and deluxe beverage packages were booked, Up Up And Away was reserved and we were set. This was a very productive day drinking lunch. We did not book specialty dining because frankly we are perfectly satisfied with the food in the MDR. This cruise vacation will also be extended both pre and post cruise. We are flying down a few days early and will be staying a few days after as well. More on that to come.

Honesty, I really do not know whether daily gratuities cover CK staff or not. Many MANY suite guests do not tip extra when dining in the CK. It is not required. We do, but many do not. We tip at each meal b/c you may or may not get the same waiters from meal-to-meal. We tip $5 for breakfast, $10 for lunch and $20 for dinner regardless of where we eat - even if we eat in the Windjammer If you do not prepay your grats, you will be charged daily. We always prepay ours. Yes, if there is a dish being served in the MDR that you want when dining in the CK, you can ask to have it brought to you in the CK. For instance, if you choose to eat in CK (or any specialty restaurant, for that matter) on the second formal night and they are serving lobster tails in the MDR, you can ask your waiter to bring you a lobster tail. Please note that when doing this, they are going out of their way to accommodate you, so please “appreciate” their effort. If you anticipate that you will do this, it is generally appreciated to give the restaurant a “heads up” the night before and let them know that tomorrow night you’re going to ask for a lobster tail. That way they can be prepared. On LIB last month when having our breakfast in Chops the morning of lobster night, our waiter asked us if we would like to have “surf & turf” for dinner that night (he knew that we were coming to Chops for dinner that night). We told him, “yes, thank you” and we get our lobster without even asking. We often make similar requests/arrangements on nights when they serve lamb shank, as that is Dans favorite but we never visit the MDR anymore.

Me too

Hasn't @Lovetocruise2002 already started hers?

We will be there too! I can't wait. I make a motion for super live blog collaboration with @Matt @Lovetocruise2002 and @twangster. All in favor

Then when you price it in USD on the U S site for a solo, no discount codes.

I would be interested in hearing experiences about MEI. My TA who is a friend of mine has booked 3 cruises for us and manages to screw something up every time. We went yesterday to pick up our cruise documents ( which I also printed out on my own but thought I would be nice to visit) and come to find out after getting home she did include the set sail passes. Now I know I have them on the Royal App but this mistake was completely avoidable. Rule number one, don't do business with friends.

I believe so, I think it opened just a few days after it passed.

I’m so happy to see them creating different itins. The 7 night east/west big ship itins are incredibly boring. This coming from someone who could care less about a ship’s itinerary !

Greater reach. Southern Caribbean can't be done in 7 nights from Florida. Also, terminals may be used by other ships on certain days. By going 6/8 it can use the home terminals when other ships aren't there. Plus 6 nights is attractive to some because it's cheaper than 7 or 8 nights. Oasis class works best in 7 night cycles. By using 3/4, 6/8 or 5/9 cycles other ships provide alternatives that appeal to different guests or reach different destinations.

Good morning from Alaska’s inside passage! Pictures do not do it justice (at least mine anyway). But what an amazing sunrise this morning! Will catch up on the blog later tonight after a visit to the Juneau and Mendenhall Glacier.

I definitely hear you out on that and apologize if I sounded sarcastic in my responses. There are some real losers out there, and it's especially frustrating when you are on vacation for something like that to happen. It's all fun and games until you get that one person that can't handle their alcohol and turns into a raging a-hole.

We sailed on the Harmony of the Seas, the mattress for me was horrible. I do not like very firm mattress. Because of this site, thanks guys, I knew I could ask for a mattress topper. Our room attendant ended up putting two toppers and I was fine. My daughter who shared the same bed was fine.

My wife and l have been on the Grandeur twice, inside room and suite, inside no fridge, suite diffidently, very little room for personal stuff. Like the young lady said before, can't have soda without ice! Small ship, but we like it! The whole staff on the ship both times was excellent!

You should share this on the RCperiscopers group as well. There are lots from there also going. I actually looked yesterday and couldn’t find one.

Man, do I understand that brother! Today I wanted to stay home and watch a college football game. She wanted to go look at a new couch for our family room and fabric. Guess what I did! Monday I'm going to see a divorce lawyer..........just kidding. I set the dvr to record the game.

I read on another post that if you are on an Oasis class ship they have self standing Starbucks and you can use gift cards. I will be doing that on my upcoming cruise in 2 weeks on Allure I'll buy the Starbucks gift cards on land and whatever is left I can always use back home.

Your posts are making me nostalgic about Ovation. I love them. If you happen to bump into a waiter named "Jonard", please tell him "Pastor" says Hi!

Get a couple of outfits that don't wrinkle just for cruising. Or as @sk8erguy1978 said, just embrace the wrinkles. Personally I have a few tops in some sort of poly-blend fabric that I enjoy and I have no problems. Of course, I'm also #teamNoMakeup for cruising, so maybe I'm not the best one to give advice ?

Basically just adding more cabins and moving stuff around a bit.

Feb 28. Sandwiched between two Disney visits that I'm only taking because of the cruise. I blame Royal Caribbean for all of this.

To be honest, its unpleasant as a smoker to smell stale smoke in a room. I'm more than content to go to a designated smoking area. All I ask is for some shade, that its not in a dark dangerous alley, and that there's somewhere to sit. I'm rather easy to make happy with smoking. I'm not going to smoke on my balcony, I'm not going to smoke anywhere other designated areas, because we all have to exist in the same space. Smokers and nonsmokere, vegans and carnivores, rock and roll, etc.

The worst is when the ice cream machine is on the same side as the smoking-permitted area. What genius came up with THAT?

Smokers seem to adjust. They tend to start off kicking and screaming but they adjust. When states all over the country started making smoking inside illegal. Smokers cried it would drastically hurt the bar & restaurant business but it didn’t. When cruise lines banned smoking first in cabins, then balconies and most indoor areas. The smokers still cruised. If they ban smoking in casino the smokers will adjust and still gamble. Only about 15% of the US population smokes any more. Non smoking casinos are coming just a matter of when!

Oh, that would be WONDERFUL!!!

Celebrity is already smoke-free in the casino, wouldn’t surprise me if sister line Royal was contemplating it. I’m sure they have before-and-after numbers on the nightly take when they made that switch, and can make a good guess how Royal line casinos would fare in comparison.

Enjoy the upcoming cruise .

For extra fun @JLMoran has created a fun little ditty you can sing to help you pass the time im currently at 34 days till we go on the cruise 34 days till we go Sun goes down and comes back around 33 days till we go on the cruise