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My kids claim they can happily sail in a regular cabin. In fact, they keep telling me they look forward to it. They say that I am the only suite snob in the family. We shall see

I feel for any future friends or partners later in life that ever make the mistake of saying to your future grown up kids "Let's go on a cruise!". They have no idea the expectations that await them.

My first Oasis Class cruise was on the Oasis, it was also my first Royal cruise. After being loyal to Brand X for many years and some major disappointments with them, we decided to move on and try something different. Up until then, the largest ship we have been on was, I believe, the Freedom or Dream of Brand X. Well, we walked on Oasis into the Promenade and just couldn't believe our eyes. I just couldn't believe how big it was, massive and the décor, lighting and ambiance was fantastic. It really didn't hit home, how big it was until we had to walk from our suite, Aqua Theater Suite, which is at the very very aft of the ship, to the theater, which is at the very forward of the ship. It seemed like I should have called for a Uber. Now, none of this is negative, just the opposite. I truly love Oasis Class ships. I was just looking at some of my videos of my whole family entering the Oasis and the looks of my daughter, her husband, and our Grandkids was absolutely amazing and a treat to watch how happy they were. Their eyes just got so big, their mouths dropped, their faces just glowed with joy and anticipated excitement. I just wish I was a better word smith to express how it made me feel. This is why I'm so loyal to Royal. Yes, there are issues. But, trivial compared to the joy we all experience while ON THE SHIPS.

We just settled into our hotel room. Kids: “Where is the cutlery in this room so that we can have a snack?” Me: Um, this is not star class. Remember in regular hotels there usually is not cutlery waiting for you. Lol

That's b/c you leave their a$$es at home when you don't cruise in SC ! LOL [just kidding !]

Relaxing comfortably at the Sofitel Heathrow right now. We are camping out here until tomorrow morning. Then we fly home. I had 1 Accor suite night upgrade left to use. That is why we are here. Otherwise I would be staying in one of the T3 hotels instead. We have the Prestige Suite. It has one main bedroom, a living area with a fold out couch, one master bath with shower and tub, and a separate half bath with toilet/sink. Lots of space for the 4 of us.

Goodnight all! Hubby

A gorgeous sunset to cap off a beautiful vacation. Hubby We feel incredibly blessed. There were a lot of hurdles to clear to take this trip and everything went so smoothly, right down to perfect weather even on days that we forecasted to be not great. Someone was definitely watching over us. Over the last two weeks, we have experienced so much as a family, it’s going to take us a few days to get home and really digest and soak in what we saw. Meeting @GregD and his family has been a real treat! It is always great to meet and sail with people you have gotten to know over the years. Our cruising community is small, goodbyes are just a “so long for now”.

The price of a cruise is not a fixed amount. Each category of cabin can vary in price daily or sometimes the rate stays the same for a while. It all depends on booking trends. The actual sale promos can induce price changes but that is often specific to a party and qualifiers like age, state, service history, etc. In many cases a new sales promo doesn't change anything for everyone but that doesn't mean that someone else didn't benefit. Bottom line book when the price works for you and then monitor for price drops or better yet use a travel agency that does that for you like MEI Travel.

Anecdotally, it seems as if they either have the cruise itself OR the Cruise Planner items on "sale" (not really) at any given time but almost never both of them at the same time. I guess they think that people who book a cruise (at some presumed discount) will automatically purchase CP items at the same time....but we're too smart for them, right ?

Tomorrow we are going to push disembarkation as late as we can (eye roll here, yes, we are going to be “those people” this one time) because we are spending one extra day in the UK before flying home on Saturday. The rationale here was that we did not want to face a long flight home on debarkation day. Staying an extra day gives us a chance to rest and reset before flying home. As we were packing up today, Hubby said to me, “We aren’t staying in some fancy hotel tomorrow, are we?” Well, I wonder if after almost 20 years of marriage he really knows me lol. I am also willing to bet he doesn’t know we had 5 Accor Suite Night upgrades and not 4.

Final thoughts of Star Class on Anthem: - SC definitely paid off for activities. We had zero stress getting to the bumper cars, North Star, iFly. - Specialty food options are lacking a bit on Quantum class, compared to Oasis. We repeated most of the specialty restaurants, they were all good, but compared to our other star sailings, this one lacked variety a bit. - At the end of our 3rd cruise now on Anthem, I can definitely say that they have the best CK staff. On all our sailings on this ship, from March 2018-now, this CK remains beyond excellent compared to other CK crews. There is just something extra about them. - Leroy, our Genie is fantastic! He is so well organized, kind, great with little kids, and pay attention to small little details. Every day he sends an overview of the day, reminders along the way, follows up on orders to the room, he is beyond thorough. Every dinner he showed up to walk us in (they don’t all do that), and no request was too much for him to handle. He is very dedicated to this job and it shows in his actions each day. He is headed back home soon for vacation but if anyone gets him in the future, they are lucky and in good hands.

Final thoughts on our Grand Loft Suite. I will admit, I did not set many expectations for this suite only because I am #teamDeck17 at heart. Several things did not surprise me about this room: - It is most definitely a long walk to/from the suite. - There is quite a bit of motion back here. - The missing vanity downstairs (compared to the star loft) was missed by the two teenage girls. It made getting ready a tad slower. A few things that did surprise me about this suite: - Aside from the long trek to/from the room, I liked the room a lot. It is not as “open” as the star loft but I did not mind it. - The master bathroom layout in this room is way better than the star loft on the older OA/AL, and the newer HM. It is more open and there is more counter space. This one wins for sure. - The view from this suite is the best. Hands down. No contest. On OA class ships, with all your Deck 17 rooms, there is either some obstruction from the back deck (flow rider, basketball court, mini golf, etc.) in your line of sight. The ocean facing ones are one sided. The ATS has the Aqua Theater in the line of sight. This room gives you a totally central view of the wake with nothing but the wake in your line of sight. No other room can do that. We have taken so many balcony pics this cruise compared to other cruises. Would I hesitate to book this room again? Definitely not.

We booked a JS on Adventure OTS in august for the 4day itinerary from Cape Liberty to Halifax. Out of desperation with two kids with us, I bid to all higher suite categories, 3 out of 4 (with low bids though) were declined. Last night, on T-25, my CC was charged and the eMail said, we got an Owners suite. Wow Perfect for our family, large suite, low bid (160€ pp ) Maybe you could help me with these questions: - is there a room divider between the seating area and the queen bed? - is the concierge club been crowded during happy hour in your experience? - what about MDR food and room service? Would you recommend it? - which specialty restaurant is serving breakfast - giovannis? - what is the departure feature about? Thanks, Caro

I cruised many years ago with my family and loved it. When I moved back to SWFL with my wife I tried to get her to try a cruise but she is/was very afraid of being on the water. It took 6 years to convince her to try a cruise. I had a coworker who had been cruising Royal for a while and I looked into them and decided on going on the Allure as a 1st cruise for my wife. After that 1st cruise we did a 4 day on Indy and she said that the 4 day was to short so ...ta da... now I can book anything I want and she is ready to go right there by my side. She went from "no way" - to "where are we going next!". Oh and having a smiling crew member always asking "is there anything else we can do or get for you" that does not hurt at all!!...LOL

Worst day ever

Cruise Day 6 - Ketchikan Our excursion in Ketchikan was not until the afternoon. DD and I got off the ship in the morning in search of souvenirs - lots of shops close to the dock. After lunch, we went to the Lumberjack Show and Saxon Native Totems. There is no transportation to the lumberjack show, and you walk through town to get there which took about 15 minutes. It would be nice if this was mentioned in the excursion description, as we overheard a family with mobility issues trying to figure out how they were going to get grandma over there. The narration was a little silly at times, but the kids really enjoyed the show. DS said it was one of his favorite excursions. A bus took us from the lumberjack show to the Saxman totem poles. This is a small park on the side of the road - you could easily Uber there from the ship. We were given 15 minutes at the park, which was a little short, to really take in the totems. There were a couple of buildings, information centers?, but we didn't have time to explore them. It was not a big park by any means, but it would have been nice to have half an hour or so. We got back to the ship for our second formal night where we all enjoyed lobster and steak. After our meal, we were met by Dracula Jr. and Dracula Jr.'s Dinner. DH and I went to the Piano Man, one of the production shows. You could tell the cast had not been performing together long, and one of the singers was consistently flat. Overall, it was just an OK show, and we'll probably skip it in the future if we're on a ship that offers it again. We did get to see another gorgeous sunset though!

@Lovetocruise2002 and @GregD Thanks to you both for taking us along. You are beautiful people with beautiful families. Every evening I would look forward to your pictures and commentary. Last night hubby put in a DVD for a movie we wanted to enjoy, he was like "I'm ready!" I responded "I'm not, still catching up with Sabrina and crew!" He laughed and did something else until I was finished. Then he said didn't she go to Norway? So we revisited all of the photos from page 1! The content was amazing, you guys did great, I felt like I was there with you. I felt the cold, I felt the food coma (with zero calories) but most of all I felt the joy! Happy Birthday D16 and Happy Anniversary Greg D family. I enjoyed your journey and personally feel like I visited myself, thinking of checking this one off my bucket list, I even stayed Star Class! Safe travels all, be well and until next time...

For anyone interested/concerned, as expected, no issues whatsoever at the port. They only look for name, date of test, & “negative.” Got to PC around 10am with a 10:30 check-in time & sitting in the terminal in less than 15 minutes.

That is true lol. We hopefully have another cruise coming up in 10 days on FR and they are not going on that one. Hubby might be in for a bit of a shock though lol

Again....very nice size for Europe ! Well done.

Disembarkation: Room to curb 15 mins. No customs to pass through

Dinner at Chops tonight and Leroy had some nice things for us. It was a great way to end this cruise. What The Boss didn’t know was that Leroy reached out to me and asked for pictures of the two of us together and this was the result. For dinner, The Boss had shrimp cocktail and the goat cheese salad. The camera forgot it’s bite there. I had the wild mushroom soup that everyone apparently loves. For me it was just okay. We both had the petit fillet, and I added the lobster. I was informed that they didn’t have the full lobsters and just had the tails. No big deal for me!

Yeppers...Michelle from MEI is my TA. Could not be more satisfied.

Cruise Day 7 and Disembarkation Day 7 was a sea day, and the requirement to test to fly back to the US had dropped. We had planned on getting Surf and Stream just on this last day so we could use our emed tests. Instead we just used our free day of Surf diamond benefit to look for potential next cruises. We stopped by the Next Cruise desk and booked 2. We're not sure if we're going to make that 2 separate cruises or finally try sailing in 2 balconies instead of the 2 bedroom suite. We have Allure/star class in April '23, a b2b on Liberty in Oct and Nov '23, so maybe something in January or April of '24 (or both!). We're still considering our options. The rest of the day was spent napping, packing, buying our photos, losing in the casino, and watching some harbor porpoises play in our wake. I don't think I mentioned the photos yet. We always get a digital photo package because I make photo books when we get back home. No digital package was ever available in the Cruise Planner - all the packages specifically stated they were for prints with no mention of digital anywhere. I asked when we got onboard and was told that this ship does not do any digital photo options. Everything is print only on Radiance. We wound up buying several that I'll scan in for our books. Also, they didn't have the photo set up like they do at every port stop in the Caribbean. You know, the one with the sign that says which port you're in. They only had it out for a couple. Or maybe, because we had so many early excursions, we were getting off the ship before they set it out. About half way through the cruise we had Ilona add transfers to the Vancouver airport for us. They were $23.95 each. Our flight was at 12:45pm and DH didn't want to risk having issues finding an UberXL for us and all our luggage. Public transportation is available, but wasn't a good option for us with the kids and all the luggage too. Be aware that more than one cruise line can use the terminal at once, so you have to get to the correct luggage area for your ship. We were put on a bus at the terminal, and took the 20-30 minute ride across town. The wait to get checked in at the airport took well over an hour and there were only a few families in front of us in line. We made it to our gate and had about 30 minutes before boarding and had a smooth flight home.

I track the price of selected cruises on a spreadsheet. Sometimes the price is indeed lower, by a small amount, but not 30%, more like 10% max. Cruise prices are probably more dependent on the amount of bookings made, the spot price of fuel, the number of COVID cases, the time of year, the amount of time before sailing, and more factors than an actual sale price. Supply and demand and all that.

We are doing Odyssey in Nov out of Ft Lauderdale and my family originally booked the Ramada, I did research and no. I know it cheap but there is a reason why. We booked the Fairfield Inn & Suites Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port instead as it is safer and better quality. That place is worse than a motel.

This.

Oh I agree in general, spent most of my life overseas so its definitely not a "travel is bad thing". Just not something I am willing to deal with when the rules dont stay in place long enough to plan for, I have better ways to relax than trying to figure out which papers i need, to prove what, today.

Test day!

Check out the Riverside Hotel on Las Olas which might be perfect for you. Anywhere in DT Fort Lauderdale is basically 15 min or less to the port. I am local so please let me know if you have any other questions regarding dining suggestions exc.

Booked a 10 night S. Caribbean cruise in April 2024 on Silhouette (I now can spell it correctly ) in an aft facing Retreat suite. Our biggest surprise so far is the $800 combined OBC we received.

Fingers crossed for you (good luck).

Cruise Day 5 - Icy Strait Point We started the day with another early excursion, whale watching! We stepped onto the dock and the boats were waiting for us. No bus ride involved. We took off and, after a few minutes, we were greeted by a bear on the shore. We soon came upon the main attraction. There was a single adult and a momma and calf that we followed for about an hour. At one point they popped up right next to our boat. Double whale tail. On our way back to the ship, we stopped by a buoy that some sea lions like to hang out on. The males didn't want to share their out of water oasis. We were told the females, those in the water, would try to rock the buoy so the males would fall off, then the girls would all scramble on. The males weren't happy about that. Back to the ship for an afternoon of AO for the kids. We could see eagles in the trees from our balcony all afternoon. The Top Tier Event was this afternoon. 1740 total guests (about 70% capacity I believe), 148 Platinum, 45 Emerald, 118 Diamond, 80 Diamond Plus, and 12 Pinnacles. We had some time before our Chops reservation, and I decided to head out to the helipad for sail away. I am so glad I did as we were treated to an eagle catching a fish and landing on one of the mooring pylons to which we were tied. He took his time with his meal, and the dock workers patiently waited for him finish before casting off the mooring lines. Then as we pushed away another eagle swooped in to have his try, but he came up empty handed. We went to Chops and DD had a ribeye bigger than her head. DS had the lamb chops, which in hindsight I wish I had also ordered as lamb was not available in the MDR - guess they were in in the same shipment as the duck. Then we went to the show for the evening. Bill Cook is a magician who was on Penn and Teller's TV show, and he was able to fool them with his trick. We loved this show, and not just because a special guest was called up on stage. The magician was funny without feeling forced, and we all agree that we would pay to see him again. We were a little worried the magician was going to be replaced with "The Caleb Show" as DS is a hilarious kid and loves attention. I was laughing so hard I was crying. He eventually made his way back to our seats though and was recognized as the kid on stage every single time we got in the elevator for the rest of the cruise. The clouds finally parted for the first time since we left Seward, and because we had been so far north previously, we finally got to see our first Alaskan sunset. It was a good end to a full day.

Happy Anniversary @GregD and Heather!

@WAAAYTOOO, Lydia got the apple pie….sorry to report……… it had raisins……

Hello out there I am planning to sail on Harmony this Sunday with two teens in a loft suite… it feels like there are still so many steps before that happens, but I’m feeling optimistic this morning over coffee as I continue packing and spending time writing this instead of getting work done - so this is the official start of my trip blog ! If the three of us can arrive to Port Canaveral in the next 72 hours : with three negative Covid tests ( it’s running wild here everywhere in Colorado) with a flight that gets us from Denver to Orlando with checked baggage ( teenage girl doesn’t do TSA approved size products ) then it should be smooth sailing ! This cruise has been sold out minus a couple rooms popping in and out of inventory in the 6 weeks leading up to sailing, so I am ready for a packed ship and will be happy to report out on the experience and would love any advice on must do Oasis class things, this is our first time on the larger ships and first time in a suite. Planning has been super simple - I haven’t had any issues with either the app, or cruise planner online except that one day about a month ago when the whole system was down. We got a good deal on the unlimited dining package back during a sale a few months ago, although no one shoreside seems to be able to help me purchase the full dining plan for my 12 year old who doesn’t want to eat from the kids menu and I am told I can do that on board ? Maybe someone out there can steer me in the right direction, not sure if that’s a suite concierge/ guest service/ or dining manager thing - but any direction would be great to have that sorted before our first dinner . I got the email from the Harmony concierge on Monday which indicates that our concierges for this sailing are Junior and Lien. I was able to request our dining reservations at the restaurants we wanted at the time we needed with no problem, including the Izumi hibachi - so far so good on that, and I was pleased since I have been reading about limited availability. we are looking forward to sailing and I’ll jump back on later with some more background and answer any questions you might have !

I love the lofts and Deck 17! The only disadvantage I can think of is if you have mobility issues and cannot get up/down the stairs well.

We also did this, it was fantastic. We took a horse and buggy ride as well, so much fun.

Hahaha $47k to $99k to get four of us to Houston and back next month. I have zero resentment towards anyone who can afford that…..we live comfortably, are very content, and don’t care what others do…but that’s way out of our travel budget.

The Ramada on SR84 is a real dump. There are better options a bit farther away and much nicer if you prefer not to pay a premium. Do not let proximity to the port be your deciding factor as everything is well connected by highways and little to no traffic on the weekends. I suggest you look at the suburb of Plantation or Sunrise where they have plenty of mid tier (new hotels) at normal prices for this time of year. I would personally rather sleep in my car then at the Ramada.

The main point is whether you think the price is fair for the type of room and time of year you are sailing. On our first few cruises, we really didn't know what a "fair" fare really was, and we paid a premium for sailing in the summer when our son was out of school. Now we know we can book 1-2 years in advance and get a lower price. As for sale prices, we once panicked when our agent was on vacation and booked a "sale price" with another agent only to learn that our agent could have obtained the same price when she returned on Monday. So it's back to your decision about what you are willing to pay for your stateroom selection, port, ship, and time of year.

This way, you can be sure that your flight will go smoothly and according to the schedule. When I need to get to another state urgently, I use private planes because their flights are much more stable. I can always find out the cost of the flight, as well as view the available planes. They are more expensive, but I know I will be in the right state at the right time. https://www.flylargent.com/cost-estimator

At the interchange of Griffin Rd., and I-95 there is several popular hotels, Hilton, Marriot, a couple others, they are the "Airport Hotels. There is also a Bass Pro with a good, I've heard, we don't do much seafood, restaurant. Also, just a mile or so west on Griffin Road is Tropical Acres Steak House. This place puts Chops' Steaks to shame. Anyway, they all have transportation to the port available, not complementary the last time I checked. Disclaimer: I grew up within a mile of there. It didn't look anything like it does now. https://www.tropicalacres.com/menus/ Also, just down the street is the Rustic Inn. If you like Crab, Frog Legs, Alligator, and a bunch of other critters, this is the place: https://www.rusticinn.com/

The Canadian Government uses those super sensitive swabs and processing cards that can tell what variant you have, if you have rabies, ring worm, an over bite, the gender of your unborn baby (doesn't matter if you are the male or female), hemorrhoids, and several dozen other abnormalities/illnesses. And it can all be done in 3.5 minutes while you are in the shower at the hotel. Not to worry, they've you covered. I'm a naturalized U.S. Citizen from Montreal, Canada originally. I know their capabilities and I read it on the internet.

You may also want to consider not looking for connecting rooms and go with neighboring rooms or something like an interior across from an oceanview. I'm not sure what the maturity level of your teens are, but if there isn't a necessity to have the connecting door between the rooms, you often can find the rooms at cheaper prices. Keep in mind that cruising out of Galveston is going to have the added cost of getting from Houston to Galveston. It's 45 mins to an hour depending on which airport in Houston you are flying into. It's a much more expensive Uber ride than flying into Miami or Ft. Lauderdale or even San Juan. The San Juan itinerary is great. I think that alone is engaging enough to make up for the smaller ship. Plus leaving from San Juan is almost like having another port to explore for your pre- or post-cruise stay. That being said, you have already experienced an Oasis class ship with the Allure. It's the same ship with the same activities you had on Allure but add in slides (water slides and a dry slide) and some different dining and shows to experience.

We gotta get past this Covid neurosis at some point.

So glad you had the same Leroy experience we did. My kids talk about him still. He is an amazing genie, but he is also such a genuine and kind person. The walk back to the room didn’t bother me (though I’ve never experienced the magical deck 17 so maybe I’d change my mind!), but the motion did. The suite’s location is definitely something to keep in mind for those prone to motion sickness!

After September 30 they will just toss you overboard.