Matt

Thanks for sharing your experience. Your MDR experience is far from what I have encountered. If service is unsatisfactory, one should speak to the head waiter to get it fixed. Moving tables to different wait staff is usually a common recourse.

You will receive tickets that will be waiting in your stateroom. The tickets will indicate where and when to meet. In most cases, you disembark the ship and there will be an area near the gangway where tours are meeting. Look for a crew member holding a sign with the name of your excursion.

Labadee is a beach, so nothing special to do per se. In St Thomas, Emerald Beach is fairly close. Not walkable, but short taxi ride: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/01/09/excursion-focus-emerald-beach-st-thomas In St. Maarten, walk to town (or take water taxi) and there is a free beach in Phillipsburg along the boardwalk.

That was my thinking too. I get we may not see uber-small brews offered, but we can at least get the fake stuff!

Following that strategy, there are other credit cards that offer arguably better sign up bonuses too. All depends what is important to you.

Good call. That or Park Cafe are great alternatives. MDR too, if you have time to burn.

Knowing how companies work, obviously there is a distributor they have to deal with, but I don't see why they couldn't have at least a limited stock of craft beet available at one bar for those that are interested to enjoy.

Did you eat somewhere else? Or stay in line?

I hate those fake prank videos. I do like when they have those screensaver-esque views during the day.

And you got to sit at the "cool table"!

I think this blog post is exactly what you're asking about: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/08/20/first-time-cruisers-the-most-important-things-pack-your-royal-caribbean-cruise

Love the Trellis Bar!

Thank you for sharing all the menus. I see the Diamond drink menu has been updated mostly to educate which liquor is what kind.

I agree. It would be a big upgrade

How busy was 150 CP on the first night?

Oddly, written proof of drink package discounts has proven to be quite elusive. I have yet to find the exact discount in written form.

First, you should stop reading the reviews. As Billy said, there are some great and helpful resources on CC, but their reader reviews are anything but objective. I feel the reviews there tend to slanted in a certain direction. Also, if you like, I can find you negative reviews of Star Wars, chocolate and baby kittens. Doesn't mean much, really. My advice is go in with a positive attitude, be prepared with your plans and I think you will have a great time!

Can you share a photo of this discount written down somewhere?

It can, depending on your phone and carrier. This blog post should be helpful in understanding how it all works: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/08/25/using-your-cell-phone-royal-caribbean-cruise

I encountered it on Navigator of the Seas when she sailed from Galveston, back in 2014. I shared what it was like here: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2014/02/09/navigator-of-the-seas-live-blog-day-1-embarkation-day In our case, the ship made it in late (we boarded around 6pm). RC did provide everyone with an onboard credit to offset the cost of lunch. I was just happy to get onboard the ship. Despite the fact we spent the first night in Galveston, we were able to leave port the next morning and still make our scheduled stops.

What do you think about the hotel?

Based on the Cruise Compass above, it will likely be 6pm. Keep in mind if you discover it's 5:30, you can always speak to head waiter about changing to MTD.

Yes, he will be fine with that approach. Tie is definitely not required.

RC used to cruise from Norfolk a long time ago (back in 2010).

I tend to agree