Matt

The benefit of reduced deposit is you can book cruises with less obstacle. Personally, I do not pay off my cruises until final payment, so the less I have to lay out now, the better. That being said, I would not book a cruise purely because of reduced deposit. But I certainly am glad to have it.

In most cases, yes. A lot of people opt to go to specialty restaurants on formal night because you are already getting dressed up. Royal Caribbean does not post menus in advance of the cruise. You will find them on that day, but that doesn't really help you much. I will say that in many cases, I have had good luck with being able to make reservations during the cruise. Heck, I've even walked up a number of times. Of course, the benefit of booking in advance is assuring you a spot and breaking up the cost.

Congrats on booking the cruise! And thank you for supporting our sponsor!

Thank you for posting the Cruise Compass too!

Fabulous report. Thank you for taking the time to share it all with us!

It is an unbelievable stat!

Yup!

It's still a choice.

Looks like you had a fabulous time in St Maarten. It's one of my favorite ports and I think you can see why.

Agreed! Your St Lucia tour did look quite lovely. Thank you for sharing!

I was thinking the same thing.

Falmouth is still a new port, so a lot of the excursions available are actually a bus ride away in Ocho Rios (Dunns River Falls, et al). I'd search for things to do there.

I agree the shorter cruises will be more likely to find younger people. Also, I would do a google search for royal caribbean spring break cruises . Off the bat, I found this: http://www.cruisedeals.com/spring-break-party-cruise/

I think you're confusing the promos, or I am not understanding what you're saying. Let me give you this example. Let's say you want to book a 7-night cruise on Allure of the Seas in a balcony and let's say Royal Caribbean is offering $100 OBC for that to anyone booking. By booking at NextCruise, you will get that $100 OBC that anyone can get PLUS the onboard booking bonus, which is another $100. So by booking onboard, you get $200 OBC total. I don't know about you all, but I love free money!

You can find it here: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/menus/main-dining-room-menu-brilliance-of-the-seas

Love these posts! Thank you for posting all the info and photos. I've eaten at that same Ben & Jerry's in San Juan to escape the heat. Sometimes, you just need ice cream.

The Love & Marriage game show?

December 2015 6 - sulross (Liberty of the Seas) 12 - Krazykitty (Oasis of the Seas) 13 - sulross (Liberty of the Seas) 27 - tmccley1 (Anthem of the Seas) January 2016 2 - Dan (Oasis of the Seas) 3 - DocLC (Liberty of the Seas) 4 - Ludacris (Enchantment of the Seas) 10 - Michel (Allure of the Seas) 11 - monctonguy (Independence of the Seas) 11 - ian91 (Splendour of the Seas) 17 - Huntley (Freedom of the Seas) 22 - Forsyth71 (Mariner of the Seas) February 2016 7 - jlynn222 (Freedom of the Seas) 7 - Nicole (Freedom of the Seas) 7 - sulross (Liberty of the Seas) 8 - scottstein1 (Enchantment of the Seas) 14 - sulross (Liberty of the Seas) 21 - Matt (Allure of the Seas Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise!) 21 - AGSLC5 (Allure of the Seas Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise!) 21 - WAAAYTOOO (Allure of the Seas Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise!) 21 - sulross (Liberty of the Seas) 21 - Jerel (Allure of the Seas) 21 - eaglesfaninfl (Freedom of the Seas) 21 - Ludacris (Anthem of the Seas) 22 - monctonguy (Brilliance of the Seas) March 2016 4 - Dan (Anthem of the Seas) 13 - Marc (Freedom of the Seas) 13 - Cowcrazy65 (Grandeur of the Seas) 13 - Knisley96 (Navigator of the Seas) April 2016 2 - bcarney (Vision of the Seas) 3 - sulross (Liberty of the Seas) 3 - Steve (Liberty of the Seas) 10 - sulross (Liberty of the Seas) 23 - Adventure of the Seas (monctonguy) May 2016 21 - Welshrose15 (Navigator of the Seas) June 2016 11 - tmccleey1 (Anthem of the Seas) 12 - Shocked (Harmony of the Seas) 16 - MikeK (Navigator of the Seas) July 2016 4 - Cruiseman (Radiance of the Seas) 24 - DocLC (Serenade of the Seas) August 2016 7 - amejiajr8 (Allure of the Seas) 21 - Davyb33 (Jewel of the Seas) 25 - AGSLC5 (Anthem of the Seas) 28 - sulross (Liberty of the Seas) 28 - WAAAYTOOO (Liberty of the Seas) September 2016 18 - JohnK6404 (Allure of the Seas) 18 - sulross (Liberty of the Seas) October 2016 9 - Marc (Liberty of the Seas) 23 - sulross (Harmony of the Seas) November 2016 5 - WAAAYTOOO (Oasis of the Seas) 27 - Jerel (Navigator of the Seas) December 2016 4 - Steve (Liberty of the Seas) 3 - Dancing Biker (Rhapsody of the Seas) 3 - dh1ch1 (Brilliance of the Seas) 23 - WAAAYTOOO (Navigator of the Seas) January 2017 2 - DocLC (Allure of the Seas) 9 - rekkie (Ovation of the Seas) 29 - ransrider (Liberty of the Seas) 29 - Steve (Liberty of the Seas) February 2017 7 - JohnK6404 (Anthem of the Seas) 11 - WAAAYTOOO (Harmony of the Seas) 11 - AGSLC5 (Harmony of the Seas) 18 Jerel (Harmony of the Seas) March 2017 4 - Marc (Freedom of the Seas) April 2017 14 - scottstein1 (Navigator of the Seas) 22 - WAAAYTOOO (Harmony of the Seas)

Welcome to the boards! So glad to have you here!

I'd say pre-booking is a better idea in general.

I am in the process of posting the Brilliance menus to our menus section at http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/menus The MDR menu is posted in front of the MDR entrance each day. Also, guests with access to Concierge Lounge can view all the menus.

You can get $400 OBC just for booking onboard IF you book a 11-14 night cruise in a GS or higher http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2014/01/04/next-cruise-certificates-everything-you-wanted-know

I thought the same thing but I have seen a lot of Disney films recently on RC ships. Cinderella (the one from earlier this year), Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant Man and Avengers just to name a few.

As Steve said, officially you cannot bring bottled water onboard but may purchase bottled water packages. Unofficially, you can absolutely bring a case of bottled water in your carryon and have no problem taking it onboard.

I agree it's an interesting spectacle to behold seeing folks still dress that way.