Matt

In my experience, the complimentary food is plentiful and I've found most of the food to be somewhere between "average" to "good". There are some items that are "very good/excellent" and even fewer I'd rate as "below average". As you know, food is VERY subjective. Think of how many people hate broccoli versus others that love it. To that point, you can find plenty of folks that enjoy or dislike the food onboard. Personally, I think the complimentary food is good and I enjoy eating in the main dining room each evening. The quality and variety of food in the Windjammer (especially for dinner) is also quite impressive.

With the 3-night package, you must eat at one of the 3 restaurants on night 1 or night 2. You can go to the MDR and ask to see the menus for the nights you want to know about. Lobster night will be on the second formal night of the cruise.

You cannot stay away from Navigator! I'm jealous

Any and all Cruise Compass' I have are posted here: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass

Oh, I apologize for not reading your question more closely. I don't know if that is posted. You could do a quick lap before sailaway.

Two options jump out to me: Tulum (Mayan ruins) and Chankanaab national park

Yes, the cabanas and bungalows in Labadee both offer direct beach access.

Can you take a photo of the Pub menu? That's where we saw the notorious $15 drink prices the other week

Formal nights will be the 2nd night and either the 5th or 6th night.

I believe it is 4.5 laps = 1 mile

There are two of them: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/events

Glad to hear you had an overall great time. As a parent, I know exactly how awesome a feeling this is. Quite liberating for both you and them! So the real question is... when is your next cruise?

I've had similar experiences

There are spin classes offered. I've taken them on a couple of ships, and there is an additional cost. The exact cost depends on the ship. You will need to sign up early, because they are quite small classes and tend to fill up. You can sign up by going to the fitness center at any time and adding your name to a clipboard that will be located near the entrance. Ask a staff member if you don't see it.

Cambria Suites was quite lovely. Here's an overview of it when I stayed there: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/02/21/allure-of-the-seas-live-blog-day-1-embarkation-day

I have heard of people getting some info related to entertainment ahead of time by emailing RC for it. YMMV

The only way to really know is if 3% or more of passengers or crew reported symptoms of diarrheal disease to the ships medical staff. In that case, the cruise line is obliged to report it to the CDC.

Yes, most ships have now a movie by the pool each evening. It will be listed in the Cruise Compass. The only exceptions seem to be if there is a dance party on deck that would interfere with it.

I would check the terms and conditions of your offer. Often, the "free spa service" is simply an onboard credit that you can use towards the purchase of a spa service...or really anything else onboard. Check to see how you redeem the offer with the agency you received the offer from.

Not to make this into a Fathom thread, but I'm not sure how I view Fathom in the grand scheme of cruising. It's claim to fame was it was the first cruise line to offer cruises to Cuba. They cornered the market on that distinction for many months, angling with the voluntourism options to make it happen. I believe they went this route to ensure a first-to-market approach that would garner a tremendous amount of revenue with early interest. As you mentioned, the business model did not work because their non-Cuba itineraries did not sell well, and you can also argue their Cuba sailings may or may not have been a home run (financially) either. I think it's clear many shied away from the cruise simply because the voluntourism idea did not resonate well. That and Fathom may not have made a deep-impact in getting the attention of the average consumer. Overall, I think it was a failure in the sense Carnival launched a cruise line to serve the voluntourism sector. You can argue if that was simply a veiled attempt to get in on Cuba first or not, but if the model had worked, they would not be shutting down operations. They may have succeeded in bringing the idea of voluntourism to a more prominent place and other ancillary benefits, but Carnival launched the line to make money and clearly that was not happening.

Here is a helpful blog post: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/08/11/first-time-cruisers-what-drinks-are-included-your-royal-caribbean-cruise

The answer is likely not anytime soon. The problem is cost and profit. RC CEO Michael Bayley spoke about this subject on the recent Presidents Cruise a few months ago. First, RC does not send ships to California anymore, so there goes the primary reason for offering Panama Canal Cruises. The company is making more money by having the ships based elsewhere. Second, the cost of sending a ship through the Canal, and all the relocation expenses, combine to make it a very expensive option.

http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/royal-caribbean-drink-prices

It seems premium pricing, in general, is reserved to Oasis class ships

I know RC is in the process of re-doing their fleetwide menus and Anthem had their menu changed in late November because they got rid of Dynamic Dining