Matt

Congrats on the upgrade! Love the idea. In my experience, I feel like the appeal and/or benefit of Coastal Kitchen is the service. It's personalized and very attentive. Then again, I've always found the MDR to have attentive service too. It's just that CK is a bit more "intimate".

Welcome! Which ship are you on and how many nights? There will always be a formal night on the second night of the cruise.

That's right. Symphony will be getting it. Majesty has a small slide in their refurbished kids play area

Total eclipse of the heart? Niceeeeee

I think this webpage would be a good starting point: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/allaboutcruising/accessibleseas/accessibleStaterooms.do There's links to show a list of accessible features on each ship

Thanks for sharing your feedback. There is no doubt that there are a lot of ways to spend more money onboard. Drink packages, internet, excursions, etc. However, I see that as a positive because if these things were "included", the bottom line is you would be paying for it. No mass market cruise line, including Disney, includes alcoholic drinks, internet, etc in their cruise fare. The cruise lines that do include it, charge a ton for it. @JBC hits the nail on the head. Go ahead and buy it all, because I'm willing to bet it will still be hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars cheaper than trying to do it all on DCL.

Freedom and Adventure are both large ships, whereas Serenade is a smaller ship. That being said, size alone isn't the entire premise of what makes a ship great or not. Kids or no kids on this cruise? I'd also say the itinerary each ship is doing may be a big factor in picking one over the other.

Yes, this was from the Memorial Day sale last week

Yes, exactly

I believe Stephanie is referring to the debate between Traditional Dining and My Time Dining.

They usually kick you out of your cabin much earlier than the last disembarkation times. Which port are you disembarking from? Generally speaking, if you are among the first or last to disembark, you can avoid the bulk of the lines. Then again, some ports mitigate the lines at Customs better than others.

Here's a Cruise Compass from Anthem of the Seas 9-night New England & Canada cruise: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compasses/anthem-of-the-seas/thu-2016-09-08-0000 Might give you an idea of what to expect.

That is great news!

I think when the ships are no longer the focal point of TV commercials.

I agree. A TA with experience in cruises and/or Royal Caribbean can make a big difference.

FWIW, I've brought back bakery items from Cozumel. Security only seems concerned with people that bring back alcohol

Thanks for sharing the review. Sorry to hear that some of the amenities that were included in the past are no longer part of the offering.

Nope, cannot relate

FWIW, on Anthem they did

Did you book with a travel agent? Linking reservations is something they can do for you

I have not see anything about that. Even when they had the corkage fee, in my experience they actually charged me the corkage fee perhaps 50% of the time.

You will pay a premium for a new ship. We see that here with Harmony of the Seas. Nature of the beast. Also, I can find negative feedback on just about anything. Don't read into it. I think the bottom line is if you want the latest and greatest (Ovation), then you will pay a higher price than for a ship that's been around the block a few times.