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"I want to modify my reservation on booking number 12345678." NEVER use the word "cancel" at any point in the conversation.

I was on Anthem transatlantic last October when the did an auction for Miracle of the Seas? ((The make a wish program) various auction items, private pickleball lessons, engine room tour for 4, private tour of the bridge and more. I think they should auction the unused cabanas so that the $ can go to charity as opposed to the cabanas going empty.

I also finally caught a sunset!

Assuming you reach 175 points on the first cruise, you can get the D+ benefits on the second. However, you might have to visit the loyalty ambassador for this to happen.

I finally met Mr and Mrs @Snotarni What a treat

Thanks ! We are already onboard and having a margarita at the Pesky Parrot. This place is soooooo much better than that stupid bionic bar ! Spoiler alert - Brian, the Pesky Parrot is a FAKE ! Are you on this sailing ? We WERE here early (but not 7:41) b/c we got dropped off early (long, sad story)….but we were on early too, so….

Labadee was never unsafe. As has been the case for years in Haiti, Port Au Prince is a mess, but is very far away from Labadee. Now you have Kenyan and Jamaican police forces helping out and the US is trying to get a UN task force sent there, too.

When we had the boardwalk balcony I would sit out there and just watched people zip across, it was almost relaxing. Thanks for the blog, sounds like, besides the constant rain, it was a pretty good trip. I have learned some tricks to hoarding food and that as much as I liked Liberty, your pics and posts definitely made me realize that I LOVE the Oasis class ships and can't wait to get back on. Hope the flight and rest of the journey home go smoothly!!

Last breakfast and walk through of the ship. It's so rude that they kick me off...

Forgot to say - I went to the Blades ice skating show last night, and it was just as good as it was when I saw it last summer. The hula hoop girl was actually joined by the cube man this time, but other than that, it was the same. Definitely recommended. However, if you decide to come in 15 minutes late, don't take the empty state beside me, take calls on your cell phone, talk loudly, bump into me constantly because you can't get comfortable, and then leave with 10 minutes left in the show. That lady was extra.

You can also try asking the captain once on board to reroute the ship to the port you would rather visit.

Observations: I see that there is a schedule for the rising tides bar on Deck 8 in Central Park, but it doesn't seem to be followed at all. I can't figure out if it's a 15-minute cycle or a 30 minute cycle. I've seen both? Very weird. I was accidentally in the schooner bar this morning when they did their veterans salute on the promenade. It was very well done, but I feel that the cruise director didn't really know how to read his script well. My guess is that he's not as familiar with the armed forces in the USA as he is in other places. Virgin tropic rye + Coke zero = bliss I was up on the pool deck around 11:00 a.m.. Since it's a Sea Day, I expected it would be full. However, at that time, you could still get a decent seat near the pool, you just wouldn't be able to do it with another person. There were plenty of stray seats all over the place. That said, the rock wall and the zip line had huge lines at that point. Walked around the ship a little bit to look at the artwork again and be reminded of some of the ones that I had seen last summer. This one was new to me and my favorite during this trip. Saw the Captain! He's the guy with his arm extended. I actually managed to not be panic packing this evening. I started in the afternoon, and actually finished around 8:30. Perfect. And tomorrow they kick us off the ship. Travel day. I'm hoping that Hurricane Francine didn't do too much damage in New Orleans as I have to go through there on my way back home. I'll have a summary of everything in the next few days.

Some of you may have noticed that a restaurant (typically the Solarium Bistro) was closed for a private event for all of a recent sailing, or spotted a mention of a "Fresh Kosher Dining" package, and wondered what it was all about. My wife and I returned from the 8/18-25/24 sailing of Symphony of the Seas, our first-ever cruise, which we only took thanks to the Fresh Kosher Dining package, so I thought I would try to provide some general information about it. First, the basics: "Kosher" refers to food which is prepared and served according to Jewish religious dietary laws. For restaurants, that includes sourcing specific ingredients, cooking and serving on pots and plates not used for non-kosher food, not serving food containing both meat (or chicken) and dairy products, and having a trained supervisor present in the kitchen and serving area to ensure that all the relevant rules are being followed. (This is a *major* simplification, and different Jews may have varying standards of how they keep kosher, but this covers the essentials.) The bottom line is that, for those who only eat kosher food, a standard ship's restaurant won't work, because even if the ingredients for a particular dish could be verified as kosher, the preparation and serving could not. Until recently, kosher-keeping travelers who wanted to cruise had two choices: eating pre-prepared meals brought onboard by the ship and served in disposable containers (think airplane meals but of course much better), or choosing one of the very few cruises where an outside Jewish organization has chartered part or all of a ship and shifted kitchens into kosher compliance (involving a *lot* of cleaning and other effort). The former option was affordable but less than optimal, since eating from containers while watching fellow passengers enjoy the abundance of food is really not part of the ideal cruise experience; the latter was both infrequent and much more expensive than a typical cruise fare. Enter the (fairly) new Fresh Kosher Dining option offered directly by Royal Caribbean (and a few other lines, although Royal is the leader)--some travel agents catering to (no pun intended) the kosher consumer have specialized in promoting this option. (We booked through Sharon Leeds of Acko Travel, but you may be able to access the Fresh Kosher Option through any channel for cruise booking.) With this option, available on certain sailings (usually around vacation times and the so-called "Yeshiva Weeks" in mid-January when some Orthodox Jewish schools offer a week off instead of closing between Christmas and New Year's Eve) as part of the regular booking process, Royal works with an existing kosher supervision agency (currently Weberman Kosher Supervisors, based in Florida) to shift a single restaurant over to being fully kosher for the entire cruise. The per-day, per-passenger cost for this option (it must be purchased in advance, for the entire cruise) is around $70-100, plus gratuities; there may be discounts for young children. The Weberman staff was present at each meal (identifying themselves with WKS-logo vests), although the front-of-house and wait staff were all regular (and excellent) Royal employees. For the price, each diner gets 3 buffet meals per day (with a specified dinner seating time as is common for the Main Dining Room), with a variety of choices for each meal including standard kid-friendly foods, entrees, sides, salads, desserts, and a number of Indian dishes at least on my recent cruise (probably due to the chef involved). Breakfasts are always dairy (i.e. no meat is served), dinners are meat (no dairy), and the lunches alternate. Those with drinks packages can utilize them during meals as they would with any other included restaurant; otherwise, there were water, ice, processed juices, unsweetened iced tea and hot tea and coffee available for every meal (with non-dairy creamer substituted for milk or half-and-half during meat meals). The food was almost universally tasty, well-prepared, and of course plentiful; I don't recall a single instance where any buffet item ran out during a meal. For shore excursions, one could request a boxed lunch, and Chill Grill on Perfect Day at Coco Cay had certified kosher cheese and tuna sandwiches on request. For families like mine, the Fresh Kosher Dining package is a huge gamechanger; we never wanted to eat out of tins on a cruise, and nor did we want to spend two or three times the usual cruise fare for a specially chartered sailing. We wanted as typical a cruise experience as we could get, at as close to normal (or sale) pricing as we could find, and this new option made all the difference. We could not be more grateful to Royal Caribbean (and Weberman) for doing the work to make this happen, and we are already looking towards our likely next cruise on Odyssey from Cape Liberty in January 2026 (which will *probably* have the Fresh Kosher Dining option, given the embarkation point and scheduling; we're keeping an eye out.) If you are not someone who keeps kosher, and are/were disappointed that the Solarium Bistro is unavailable when it is dedicated to this dining option, I am sorry. You can, though, take some comfort in the fact that the Solarium itself remains fully open, and that, while you may not be able to partake of the Solarium Bistro among your other choices during that sailing, there are hundreds of people onboard with you who are finally able to enjoy the full Royal Caribbean experience as described by Matt and his colleagues here, thanks to Royal's Fresh Kosher Dining option. {Jonathan Ezor}

On Utopia of the Seas. What’s not to like with the Pesky Parrot drinks, seating on the Promenade and right next to muster stations E1 -E4!

Looking forward to Labadee becoming available and will go with no concerns. Love Labadee.

Looking forward to having some drinks here. Just 17 more days to go!

We got off this morning….what a great cruise we had! Monday we left hotel at 10:05am with Lyft. We were ONBOARD at 10:21! We had even gotten Express Boarding but didn’t need it! Lol Hope you all have a fantastic cruise! We loved…loved…loved it! Now we are back at hotel washing clothes to get ready for our cruise tomorrow on Carnival Mardi Gras!

So, Perfect Day For Those Who Pay?

Thank you so much for your fun blog, @Cactus527. I’m sorry your cruise is over. Have a safe flight back to AZ

Thanks so much, everyone!

Royal like to have stuff hang outside the profile of the ship. Lifeboats for example and often an outdoor promenade deck as another example on Voyager and Freedom class. This approach allows them to maximize internal volume for guest spaces. Unfortunately the PC has a limit on the height of any protrusion on a ship. Otherwise such stuff hanging off a ship would damage things around the lock such as light poles, handrails, etc. There is also the potential for said protrusions to be ripped off as a ship lowers in a lock. If the promenade deck on Freedom that hangs over the side of the ship around the dining room was torn off as the ship lowered in a lock, the debris would fall into the lock closing the lock until they could bring in a crane to remove it. While many people focus on the height of the ship, the design of the lower areas are equally important. If you look at Edge class or NCL Breakaway Plus class the lifeboats are stored within the side profile of the ship. The davits that hold the lifeboats also do not extend over the side profile of the ship. This allows the side profile of the ship to be clean but it means the lifeboats consume what could otherwise be internal space. Quantum class has the davits that support the lifeboats on small platforms that extend beyond the side profile of the ship. They protrude just a little but they protrude nonetheless. Gross tonnage is actually a measure of internal volume, not weight as many people think. By hanging the lifeboats so they protrude off the side of the ship Royal can maximize internal volume, gross tonnage, and claim the biggest ships but it comes at the cost of being denied access to the Panama Canal. Vision and Radiance class were built to the original Panamax standard so they are designed with all this in mind.

Just to add to what the other posters have said, be aware that if you booked with a non-refundable deposit and you cancel outright you would lose the entire deposit and not just the $100 pp change fee. For this reason, it's very important to make sure that whoever handles the switch for you fully understands that you are changing an existing booking as opposed to cancelling one and making a completely new one.

You can use the same deposit and keep the same reservation number and change to any cruise you wish. There will be a $100 per person change fee if your original cruise was booked non-refundable. If you booked refundable there won't be a change fee. The cruise itself ... as in "Mediterranean Cruise" has no bearing on the cruise you change to. You can change to a Caribbean Cruise or any other cruise. When I did this same thing, the cost of my new cruise was much less than the cost of my Mediterranean Cruise so my balance due was less. There was an additional line item on my new cruise receipt with the same reservation number that reflected the $200 change fee. I hardly noticed the $200 change fee since my balance due decreased. I did this a few years ago so things might have changed. I did it during the Covid era when policies weren't very stringent. I recently asked a NextCruise rep when I booked a TransPacific cruise to Australia for next year. She said I could still do this with the $100 pp change fee added on to whatever cruise I changed to. You can't cancel your original cruise and book a new cruise and use the money you have already paid --- it has to be "changed" and not cancelled.

Dinner at Chops. I actually had a reservation for lunch and decided I didn't want to do it, so I went to get services to cancel it. They called over to Chops and asked me if I would want to do dinner for the same price. Um, YES! $25 vs. $60 is a no brainer. So, I had my first experience there for dinner. I've had parts of the menu with The Key luncheon before, but this was so much better. My server was amazing too - when he asked me what I wanted for dessert, I told him to surprise me. He literally clapped and ran off with glee. Starter rolls - onion was better than pretzel. Riesling for wine tonight. I used to love this, but it just wasn't hitting tonight. Starters: wild mushroom soup with truffle (excellent) and goat cheese salad (OUT OF THIS WORLD I would literally sacrifice someone for the opportunity to eat this again). Main course: 6oz filet with au jus sauce (MWA loved). Truffle fries on the side were great - I like it was just barely a hint of truffle on them. Dessert: my surprise was key lime pie! That meringue is something else... Overall, very good dinner and I would do it again. I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did. I understand now why it's so popular!

Welcome, They do allow you to change cruises, but it will incur a $100pp change fee. So, you could call/have TA change the booking, and they will usually deduct this fee from the overall cost.

Taking the prices from ridiculous down to unreasonable, IMO. But for people who like to spend their money on such things, every little bit helps.

And won’t appear til the last few days of the cruise, if at all.

It shows up once in a while later in a cruise on cruises with below-expected alcohol sales. But I would not at all rely on it showing up for any given cruise as it is rare.

They are going to have an abundance of Oasis/Icon class ships if Icon V & VI get built so they better start building because one of 'em should be down under during the AU Summer season.

it’s almost time!!!!

yes this is the new staging arrangement and it is BRUTAL.

I seem to recall seeing a Diamond + discount before on certain items but today is the first time I ever recall seeing a C&A discount. Today it just seems to be on the cabanas. ...and so on. There are C&A discounts on all of the cabanas for this sailing. Frankly, still not particularly good sales....but sales, nonetheless.

Having been treated by generous family members twice when sailing with 8 of us, that totally makes sense to me. I've seen < $1200 for a beach club beach cabana, for example. Everyone values things differently but $150-$200 per person doesn't seem absurd like some of the crazy prices I used to see. I love doing PDCC for free but I did very much enjoy the food and service in the cabanas.

We're scheduled to visiting in December to Labadee, we also stay on board, the food isn't worth the effort and the vendors (don't want to deal with). Give me another sea day or CocoCay.

Since I only sail with my wife basically I will never feel the need to buy a $1,500+ cabana. If I ever cruise with several friends I'd consider it though for sure.

If there was a crew member with a mic hidden that could respond to drunk people through the bird, I would never leave the pesky parrot.

Same here.

Yes, true, I've seen it set out on the invoice like that too but the amount at the top of the screen, like in the OP's picture, has been the total, at least in my cases. Maybe different in others, of course.

That's how mine always shows up. If my TA says I have $100 OBC coming it's always $50 each for the two of us.

I have seen per person OBC, though it may have just been the way it was entered in the system for a given promo

If you don't spend the OBC pre-cruise, it automatically rolls over as a credit to be used onboard. They just want to let you know it exists and to consider using it pre-cruise.

First time I have seen it too. We booked the Hideout Cabana for next month cruise. Normally book the over the water cabanas each time but I’m not willing to spend over $2000.

Always book as early as possible to pay the best price and have the best selection.

Hotel photos

Famous Proverb: Only guest who boards ship with empty stomach may fully enjoy embarkation day. -OCSC Mike (who was quoted in a crappy online cruise food article so he must be a reliable source)

Backing up - this hotel is just fine for one night. It's Tru by Hilton - Miami West Brickell. One of the things I love is that it seems to be located more in a neighborhood versus in the city. Literally just sitting here having breakfast this morning (free/included), I just saw a school bus making its rounds. One weird thing is that there doesn't seem to be a closet in the room, just kind of a hanging hook area for the things that you would like to hang up. However, staying up near the top of this eight-story building, it was quiet as a pin last night. Caveat: I'm exhausted, so maybe an atomic bomb went off last night, but I didn't notice. I had Hilton Honors points to use, so I don't know if I would stay here again if I had to pay full price. Nonetheless, perfectly fine pre-cruise stay.

My wife will only eat Haribo. When her class parents ignore that part from her "favorite snacks" list and get another brand, they go to me of course and I really like those too. They are squishier with more flavors, IIRC.

This would be ideal. The price might not be ideal though in April (especially early April).

We just stayed here in February! Great hotel, great shopping and dining right across the street!