mbk999

Same, though to @twangster's point, all of our price comparisons were during peak times due to school schedules. It was generally about a wash in terms of price to fly down to FL and get on another ship with a better (imo) itinerary. Being a MD resident, I keep looking at Granduer and Anthem though I also worry about crossing the gulf stream as I've heard that can get quite rocky at times and sea-sickness can hit my wife quite hard (and she's hesitant on interior cabins). Still on the radar though.

A couple of thoughts: It's not an over-reaction, i'd have been furious at their lack or response. I'd use that as a pushing point on-up. I'd hope a diamond member cancelling cruises would resonate somewhere. Must be something with that ship, the first time we were on it over 10 years ago, the toilets went down ship wide for a few hours. We had water on the bathroom floor but it hadn't gotten the carpet. I'm surprised the refurb in December didn't address the railings. I noticed that too back in '17 Melbourne isn't a bad little airport, I used to fly in there a lot when there was a direct DC-Melbourne flight. My favorite part of that airport was that they had eight gates, 1-6 and 7A and 7B. They must have run out of the letter 8 for the signage.

It's not included in the dining package and while I'm sure I'd enjoy it, my wife is not a foodie (nor does she drink) so it wouldn't be worth it for us in this case.

Looking forward to the blog. Not attempting to hijack the discussion but glad to see a post from @rjac

My wife also runs a fan every night. On our last cruise, the stateroom attendant brought one for us.

I know others are saying Uber/Lyft and that might very well be the way to go but we did the fly into FLL and sail out of Miami the last time. We rented from Enterprise (about $65) and stayed at one of the FLL area hotels. If I did it again with a rental, I'd stay at one of the MIA area hotels that way you'd be close to the rental car drop off, which had a free shuttle to the port.

Hope so too but sadly doubt it. Our daughter is at ECU and she came home yesterday. They essentially ordered everyone who could leave to go home. If it's anything like 2 years ago, she'll be home for 10 days. Direct hit or not, there's a crapload of rain coming. Stay safe

Thank you for all the great pictures and reviews.

Thanks for the tip on the location!

I must be the pseudo-odd ball: I'm okay with raisins in cereal, cookies, oatmeal, coated in chocolate... but I agree that they don't belong in apple pies

No issues on any of our sailings

yep, that's what I meant (long week). Looked at the Hagerstown options but (at least at the time) all the flights were mid-week

In case it happens again, I think AirTran still goes out of Harrisburg to MCO or Sanford but I believe the times are limited (not every day). I have family in Philly and friends in Hershey that will routinely make the trek to Baltimore as it tends to be cheaper than Philly (enough to make it worth the while).

Same itinerary, different date. We are just doing a self-guided tour of old San Juan and the forts. We are doing the RCI ATV excursion at St Martean. Playing it by ear at Labadee but I might try the snorkeling as well. There's a FOMO factor but I don't think I can fit in the Zip Line, Roller Coaster, and snorkeling.

Thanks for the review. I can live w/o the first two but if I'm spending extra $$, I want the food to be good. It's interesting that no one is saying Chops. Which is probably my fifth choice as well. It was good not great on the Enchantment but I'd imagine it can vary ship to ship.

Yeah, those are definitely our top two preferences. Since they think our anniversary is day two, I'll shoot for one of those if possible.

For our upcoming Allure sailing (celebrating 25 years), we have one specialty dining included with the reservation (dinner on port day) and we are looking to do a Bogo for the first two nights. Izumi is out since sushi is a no-go for my wife and it's more of an appetizer for me. Our last Chops experience on the Enchantment was good but not spectacular. We want to try Giovannis and since our TA marked the second night as our anniversary date, I'd like to see if I can get 150 Central on that day. So thoughts on Sabor vs Samba Grill vs Chops for the third reservation, with the caveat on Sabor that neither of us are guacamole fans (sorry Matt but I re-gifted the patreon avocado peeler to my co-worker who uses it multiple times a week). I'm was actually leaning towards Samba but I haven't seen much on it other than it can get very warm in there (sailing in Oct). Thanks!

Our first cruise was on a small Premier Cruise Line ship. We docked next to the Empress in Nassau and were in awe of the size. How times have changed....

Nassau: we just did a self guided tour but I've heard good things about the British Hilton (from Matt and others) St Thomas: we did a Sea Lion Swim at Coral World (booked outside RCI, fairly pricey) that was a lot of fun St Maarten: Ropes course at Loterie Farm was a blast. This next visit will be an ATV tour of the island.

Only if you're smart. Hate those things....

Thanks. We are in flux as to what restaurant we will be at so it sounds like it will follow Good advice You don't know how much we are both looking forward to it and need a week of escape where no one can reach us / or we can't do anything about anything!

Following along as we will be on the Allure in October for our Anniversary and my Birthday. Our TA indicated both on our reservation. Did your reservation have that noted as well. My wife will like the Happy Anniversary plate so I was wondering if you mentioned it to Chops or if they already knew about it. Oh, how crowded was the Solarium on the sea days? Thanks

We did this same thing last April, flew into FLL on Sunday, rented a car, drove to MIA on Monday AM, took the Rental shuttle to the port (and repeated the process on Friday) I think we left Lauderdale at 0915-0930 and were on-board the ship a little after 1100. Traffic was heavy and backed up in spots but it wasn't an hour long parking lot. Granted it was Easter Monday so I'm sure it was a little lighter. If I did it again? I'd probably drive down to Miami and stay by one of the MIA hotels just to be closer to the port morning of. We chose FLL as there are more flight options for us and I hate MIA, though I've heard it's improved as of late.

We stayed in one on the Freedom and we were three or four decks above the promenade. There were no issues with intrusive noise. As someone else mention, you can hear (and feel) a little from the dance party but that's 20-30 min on one night. I think the Promenade View rooms are a great option.

It was an option at the time I booked. We also went to the MDR on embarkation to verify the request.