mbk999

That's a good suggestion. you can check two promenade view interior rooms. What drove the Juinor Suite booking? This is a tough call overall, being that it's a cruise with family. Are they seasoned cruisers? If this is your first, it might be good to go with them and learn the ropes so to speak. If you're looking to re-book over the holidays, the price is going to be at a premium on any ship. Same with the summer when the kids are out of school. You'll get lots of opinions on ships and destinations. Our family prefers the bigger ships (Oasis-class) and with kids, it's hard to go wrong with them based on all the activities (not that the Independence is a small ship, void of activities, that's not the case either. Plenty big and plenty to do). My personal opinion is to stick with the current plan since it's a holiday trip with family. Maybe look to switch to a more affordable room(s)?

I remember a similar post about a year ago, someone had booked a 0845 flight out of FLL. If I recall correctly, there was some pre-cruise coordination to ensure they were the first ones off when the ship was cleared.

Sounds like a plan to me. Physically walking out of MCO and not hitting something Disney is a hard sell for my wife.

Be first in line for self checkout. Is there anything around 11-12 at FLL?

Guilty as charged. WHere you stay really depends on what time you arrive. If you're hitting MCO in the later in the evening, I'd stay at the Hyatt in the airport and head to Canaveral the next day, it's about an hour drive. If you're getting in fairly early, then the choice is beach time in Cocoa or Orlando parks / downtown Disney / City Walk. I'd choose Orlando activities, but that's our preference. You'll probably get an even split on the boards over renting a car and dropping it off in Cocoa or uber/lyft.

Yep, see it all the time. Once, I remember one of our MDR waiters working the Cafe Promenade overnight. I wouldn't/don't cancel the auto gratuities.

Definitely agree with that assessment. The only time I felt claustrophobic was leaving the muster drill when several stations dumped out to the same elevator bank. Venues that are busy on every ship are busy at the same time on the Allure (Windjammer) but I didn't think they were any worse. The only hiccup on the pool deck is the walkways are narrow and if there's a scooter coming it's a one way avenue. We also stopped at Labadee and I didn't think it was overrun/over whelmed with people, with the exception being the buffet area. The one caveat is that we sailed in October so I'd imagine the amount of kids on board was down a fair bit. We'll be on the Oasis next summer so it will be interesting to compare.

Not sure if it's still offered but we "swam with a Sea Lion" at Coral World in St Thomas. We had pre-arranged that and caught a cab at the port. The return cab ride turned into an island tour. It wasn't cheap but it was memorable.

This is something we saw on our Allure cruise in October. They didn't start allowing embarkation until nearly noon due to a customs backup in the terminal While you can never predict that, in general, you should be fine provided you do the self-assist off the ship. I think they started that around 0600 on our cruise. We had a 1330 flight so we were in no rush, had a 0830 departure slot and were at the airport by 0915, too early to check luggage.

You'll be fine with that.

As always, thanks for the fantastic pictures and blog. I sent this link to my non-cruising sister and brother-in-law trying to work on getting them to want to go on an Alaskan cruise with us.....

The Ellis Island portion of the Statue of Liberty/Ellis tour is great. We really liked walking around the Esplanade along Battery Park and the Colonial section at the end of Battery Park.

Avis was efficient with their shuttle service, definitely not walkable though.

I'd be curious if there's a difference in the passengers between the Navigator out of Miami and the Mariner being out of Canaveral. ie, Miami might draw more of the weekend "party boat" crowd while the Mariner might pull more families and Orlando tourists looking to combine a cruise with the parks. Or does it just vary sailing to sailing with no rhyme or reason. We're looking at a quick getaway over President's Day weekend and that's a factor I'm trying to figure out.

yeah, we had to kill 3 hours there in October. The terminal for SW gets overwhelmed with people and limited meal options.

Good to know. I was excited about the prospect of Hooked but I had my doubts on the MD crab cake and I'm not a huge lobster fan so the menu doesn't appeal to me very much. I know others love lobster so neither my wife or I partake in Lobster Night to leave at least two more lobster tails for others on the ship.

I can tell you where I wouldn't stay: Homewood Suites off Of Griffin Rd nor the Hampton Inn off of Stirling.Both are the "least" good of that chain that I've stayed in. Next time we sail and we just need a place for the night before, I'd choose the Embassy Suites.

Thumbs up.

It's been awhile, but I've only ever done a one way rental, with a repeat on the way back. It's not the most direct but it's cheaper than the shuttle and it gives you more control on your schedule. The rental car shuttle back and forth to the port is relatively seemless. Note though, on the return, if you're planning on carrying your luggage off and getting off the ship early, the rental car places may not be open yet. Side note: Good call on the Hyatt Regency hotel in the airport, particularly if you're on a late flight into MCO. It's super convenient.

@Weezie57 You might want to look at this Enchantment related thread as well: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/12822-enchantment-or-liberty-out-of-galveston/

Yes, roughly in that size range.

While it might not be unanimous, Liberty will almost certainly garner the majority of votes here. Newer, larger, more to do. There's nothing wrong with the Enchantment, but unless you're a confirmed fan of the smaller ships, she's more for the regular cruiser just looking for a quick sailing. O/V vs Balcony? Comes down to price (imo). Some are on their balcony all the time so it's a must. I like having a balcony but never use it as much as I think we would so if it's a couple of hundred $ more, I'll spring for it. If it's many hundreds of $ more, I'll take an O/V or a promenade view interior.

As someone with a shredded back, I can relate and sympathize Hope you're feeling better.

Looks empty for that hour....

As a MD native, crab cakes just aren't the same outside the Delmarva area...... Thank you for all the details about the Key.