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THE BRAND NEW OASIS OF THE SEAS! ENJOY!

We made it to new jersey and our currently relaxing at Hyatt house near Exchange place. Here is the view from the rooftop bar!

We were fortunate to have been selected to sail on one of the inaugural sailings of Norwegian Encore, and we had a stop at Great Stirrup Cay. Since we were tendered about a mile away from Coco Cay, we were able to get a few neat shots. Some sites showed Grandeur and Anthem scheduled to be at Coco Cay on the 19th, but I can't place she ship at sunset...while I haven't yet sailed on a Quantum Class, I think it looks like there might be a Sky Pad aft (and I don't see the North Star). Mariner or Indy, possibly?

DISEMBARKATION DAY Late arrival at the Port of Miami NOTE: This does happen... DON’T BOOK FLIGHTS TOO CLOSE TO ESTIMATED DISEMBARKATION TIME. (Save yourself the post-cruise stress)

It is amazing how much realizing it’s cruise day when you wake up immediately jolts you to alertness without the possibility of going back to sleep. My (first) alarm was set at 6:30. I first woke up at 5:30am having to go to the bathroom. I was a goner after that. Lol oh well, I shall just use the extra time to double check that everything is packed and do a bit more straightening up before I leave in an hour and a half. To be fair, this little angel dropping her stick toy on my face because she wanted to play ALSO didn’t help my possibility of going back to sleep....

Celebrating my birthday ... somewhere between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean

100% +1. I was checking the price of Falmouth excursions last week. There was no Cruise Planner sale going on. However, our kayaking excursion dropped by $5 per person. Needless to say, I cancelled rebooked at that new, non sale price. Always check every few days (at minimum), even when it doesn't look like there is an announced sale going on.

Don't trust these. I check prices twice a week at least, and the alerts that I get from the website that tracks them is almost NEVER accurate. Check yourself if you care.

Last year I purchased a few things on the Cruise Planner at Black Friday prices on Thanksgiving (although the sale banner wasn't displayed until Friday). It's always just good to check - I find price drops even between published Cruise Planner sales.

Time to start playing catch-up. Our flight across the pond was uneventful and on time. We paid an extra 70 euros each for exit row seats and it made a huge difference in terms of comfort. Having plenty of space to stretch our legs out and nobody else's seat back in or faces was great. The only drawback to these seats is that it can be quite cold so I came prepared with fluffy socks and slippers to keep my feet warm. The flight was one of TAP's new Airbus Neo so we had pretty decent in-flight entertainment, with many films, TV series and games to choose from, as well as the flight map. We had screens that were housed in the armrest. There were various internet options available onboard including free text messaging. We had 2 meals during the flight; lunch, which was served about 90 minutes after takeoff and a snack about 90 minutes before landing. The lunch was just about edible; it was some sort of chicken and pasta dish and was of poorer quality than I have come to expect from TAP. However, the snack was quite good.

Honestly, this blog is fantastic, I only wish I knew about it before my first 2 cruises. Now going on our 3rd, I've learned so much from reading all these different posts. I guess the only negative is the resentment my wife has towards it because I won't shut up about our trip or all the new things I've learned about cruising ?. One question I have, as many people here have recommended the use of a TA, (I have never used one and always booked vacations, whether it's cruises or flights/hotels etc. myself), is does it matter where you live and where the TA is located? I guess what I mean is that I live in Massachusetts, and many people have recommended MEI TA's, but I have no idea where they are located. Do you just do everything over the phone or through email? The idea of using a TA for future travel is tempting but having never used one, just unsure of how it works.

Happy 50th Royal Caribbean!!!

Left this morning for Miami !!!!

Great tour, @CHRIS WONG! Thank you!

Day 6: At Sea We were supposed to do the sushi class, but we opted to sleep in instead. We took the morning kind of slow and had breakfast delivered at 10am. There was a nice breeze without being too windy, so we enjoyed breakfast on the balcony. We took the kids to the pool and picked up ice cream on the way to the room. By the time we arrived to the room, we had the Johnny Rockets that we had requested waiting for us. We spent a little time enjoying the balcony trying to relish the time we had left in 10730. While I prefer the deck 8 aquatheater suites for the extra space, the proximity to the aquatheater, and being on the same deck as Central Park, I actually think the ocean view is better from Deck 10. We took the kids to Adventure Ocean and Royal Babies and Tots and headed to the Star Class Bridge Tour. It was short and sweet and allowed us to take a few picture of the bridge and with all three genies. Because it was shorter than we expected, we had time to zipline again before picking up the kids. We played a few games in the arcade, and our daily snacks were waiting for us when we arrived back to the room. After naptime, Christian and Sophia informed us that they wanted to ditch us for Adventure Ocean again, so they had dinner with Adventure Ocean while we planned to have dinner at Chops. Nyssa, of course, had other plans and decided she didn't want to sit through a long dinner. After Alan stopped in, we took our order to go. In Nyssa's defense, we had been there 45 minutes and still didn't have our entrees even though Alan had once again asked for our meal to be delivered quickly. Nyssa and Kat had mac and cheese waiting when we arrived which was great, but also was a problem since they finished before we even had our food arrive. Having their food waiting at all the other restaurants was wonderful because our food was also delivered quickly and it allowed us to get in and out before the babies got fussy. At Chops, they were a little slower taking our order when we arrived, so it took longer to receive our food. I did have time to eat Lobster Bisque and Mushroom Soup before leaving, and they were very tasty. Steven had the Wedge Salad and Black Pepper Bacon, and he agreed that it was appetizing. We skipped the seafood tower this time, and had filet, lobster, warm chocolate cake, and red velvet cake delivered to our room. It was absolutely delicious, so much so, that we canceled our Day 7 Izumi dinner plans and opted for Chops delivery. We were hoping to spend some time with the kids before going to the the Quest, but when we went to pick them up, Christian wanted to stay. We took Sophia, Nyssa, and Kat to Cups and Scoops and to ride the Carousel. After hanging out on the Boardwalk for awhile, Sophia was ready to go back to Adventure Ocean, but we made a pit stop in the room first. When we arrived, Alan had gifts waiting for us. It was a very kind gesture, and we were very happy to see it. Steven and I collect magnets, souvenir spoons, and shot glasses from the place we visit, and recently we had been throwing around the idea of collecting the ship models. Alan must have read our mind, because that was the gift we received. It was perfect for us and we are very appreciative of that and everything else he has done to make our week so unforgettable. He also left gifts for the kids which they were happy to see. After dropping the kids off, we headed to the Quest which was hilarious like always. We picked up the kids and called it a night.

In the past I've found with these kind of sites, they're sending you an update once a week and the prices, as we all know could drop one day and go back up the next. I've just become a cyber-stalker and check the website every other day or so myself.

You guys are not ready for the vlogs I am about to post! I've just finished editing my tour of Oasis, and uploading as I type this. And the crew internet on Oasis is super fast, so I should be able to post more frequently.

We just booked with MEI for the first time and Michelle is our agent. Haven't met her but I think we are only an hour away. Yay! We previously booked with one of the large cruise discounters and got very little if any service. Looking forward to the MEI experience.

FAREWELL SHOW

Yes we did! We did, @betatke1480, and 10 other families!

2-9 May 2020, Symphony, Eastern Perfect Day. 21-29 Nov 2020 Symphony, Western Perfect Day.

Zazzle.com. $9.99. Other designs available.

Unfortunately for us, someone kept writing lewd comments on our white board. It was disappointing and we finally had to just take the white board down.

As an example of how complicated the whole thing is, here's what just happened to me: I'm in a Jr Suite on an upcoming cruise. All suites of all types have been sold out for 6 months. At 58 days, RoyalUp became available and I bid the minimum for a GS. At 49 days, my bid was accepted. I can guarantee it wasn't my piddly bid money they wanted. They obviously wanted to free up my cabin, perhaps for someone who had bid the max for a Jr Suite. Or to accommodated an oversale or special passenger or something. Regardless, there is movement in inventory *all the time* Personally, I always bid the minimum. If I don't get the upgrade, no worries -- I'm in a cabin I already like. If I do, I got a steal. I'm averaging 40% success so far!

We're first time cruisers on the Allure in January. I purchased the customized magnet decorations from Etsy. The smaller ones are card stock from Amazon which I placed magnetic tape on the back. I thought it would be a fun idea to decorate our cabin door but from what I hear these might not last long. ?

Looks like they answered it at the very bottom where it states that bottles may be no larger than 750mls... Would have been nice to have it answered personally with more details though, rather than cut & pasted generically. That said, hopefully they let the cider slip on through ?

There is a current thread on Cruise Critic. Apparently Explorer had a Cruise Compass showing that the Solarium age is 18. It has not been confirmed that is true or was a typo in the CC and other ships have not shown a similar age requirement.

Great Tour Chris!! I Really Enjoyed It.

Best laugh I've had in a while. ? I'll be in the stands making noise for my team. Should be a good game, but the weather won't cooperate.

Here is how I track price drops: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/10443-fare-reduction-for-phantom-cabin/&tab=comments#comment-98112 Like others have mentioned, I don't find the alerts reliable. I always rely on monitoring the price myself. And you can re-price as many times as you want before your final payment date (within North America).

Size of bottles... The domestics were normally 16oz while the imports were typically 12oz.

Here’s mine, it’s been on five cruises now. Should have been six but I left the first one I made on the Harmony.

The Jameson Distillery tour is in my top 5 tours of a lifetime. I don’t even like Irish Whiskey

I'm not sure about yours, but my TA has already repriced our cruise once, although it was a couple of months ago and we are still 315 days out.

Interesting ... have not been thinking much until now about re-pricing. Sailing on 24 April 2020 on the Grandeur to Bermuda. As a matter of routine I have been checking the cruise planner for pricing changes quite regularly and have made several already. I have started to re-price our cruise but it has been higher than what we have up to now. So .. Is there a website that will track an individual "booking" and alert if there is a price drop? Or is this something my TA should alert me to? Thanks

Following. I was on Adventure this past Summer.

I love your sign! what program did you use to create it?

Have a great time! We don't sail out of Miami again until APR 2021 (Symphony), but my wife is already playing Will Smith's Miami constantly on the Echo! ? Now I need to find a song for Cape Liberty/Oasis for next MAY! No, I'm not playing Sinatra (only for Yankee games)! ?

I have done Wines Around the World several times on Explorer. Sometimes it shows up on the cruise planner ahead of time, other times you just have to look at the Cruise Compass onboard. Whether it is offered or not often depends on the sommeliers onboard as well. I do always enjoy the class when I get a chance to do it!

I thought the same thing! Misery loves company ?

Yes! I'm really looking forward to unwinding after some stressful months at work. Thank you for following along! I'm really excited to get to know her as I know so many people are in love with this ship. Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed your Majesty getaway. Nice long weekend on a cruise, what is better??? Thanks for following! I really love how centrally located Baltimore is to so many different areas. I'm so used to having to fly to a port that I'm really looking forward to this change of pace.

I designed/printed this one for our birthdays on Freedom this August and no one messed with it! I think the more custom the magnets are to you, the less someone else will want to steal it for their door. Much harder to say "oh IIIII bought this at the dollar store" about something that says a name or date on it.

I also have Michelle as an agent, and I live nowhere near Michelle or Waaaytooo. But I'll get to cruise with both of them on different cruises next fall, and that'll be super fun!

Yup..it's on my list to pack for Sunday!

I just got back from Bahrain. They didn't have any wash cloths either but they do provide guests with a luffa so I guess that was good enough. Not so great for washing the ol' ears, though....

Ships galore on Grand Cayman

For my Liberty that I missed (long story) I had booked Galveston Limousine's shuttle bus. Their drivers still called me looking for me on the day even though my flights cancelled and I missed the cruise. Lyft from Hobby to the port was $50 and Uber from the port to Hobby was $53 when I cruised in 2018. Check both because when I got off the ship Lyft had crazy pricing like $153 while Uber was $52. Usually I prefer Lyft because they are normally cheaper but in this case they had some kind of surge pricing or a lack of drivers that drove the price up. The shuttle bus on Galveston Limo was $40 round trip. My travel insurance covered that since I missed the cruise so I can't comment on the actual experience but I'll likely try them next time. For two people cruising the price is closer so ride share does offer greater convenience however if saving $20 to $25 is appealing, the shuttle bus service is cheaper.

I do plan to blog, but definitely not live. Internet on X is significantly more expensive to begin with, and being so far north I'm guessing that it will be so spotty that a bucket of Tide detergent wouldn't clean it up. Plus, I'm going to be taking something like a hundred bazillion pictures, and I'll need time after I'm home to go through and edit them all (though I plan to do at least some "triage" while on board). So the blog will be another edition of "Not Even REMOTELY Live".

I think like others have said, what it's worth, or the value of The Key depends on what it's worth to you personally. We have no interest in reserved time for rock climbing and things like that on Rhapsody. So that has very little value to us, even if we were on a larger ship with Flowrider and such, those days are behind us. The other benefits seemed worth it to us when the price hit $16.99, but not before that. Since this a fairly new program, it will be interesting to see how it fairs in the future. Being that we are still 11 months from sailing, I find it interesting that the price has dropped from $24.99 at the start to it's current price of $16.99. Seems like a steep price drop so far out.

In the end, the only person to whom you need to justify your purchase of anything is you. If it makes sense to you, then you've made a good decision.