KWong

Same. This also helps when I do online checkin for flights, as it saves a bit of time and hassle in opening up everyone's passports.

I believe the compass had an item about signups. Happened roughly 2 hours before the first skating session in Studio B. thanks for reading!

I think porters are great for folks who have issues lugging their bags around. For example, my dad's using a cane now and his mobility is rather compromised. Perfect time to use a porter if there's more than 2 pieces of luggage - somewhat of a rarity for my parents, but it happens. With that said, I'm fine with lugging my own stuff, and the ports I typically sail out of have Global Entry, and my NEXUS (best $50 I've ever spent wrt travel) grants me access there. But if I was sailing out of, say, Tampa, it might be worth the money.

It really is great.

Honestly it was more a timing and price thing that led to so many Allure trips, but I do love that ship. It'll likely be similar to Oasis after amplification and I won't know how I feel about that until I get a trip in.

As mentioned, Indy has a swipe/barcode card so you (or guest services) can punch a hole through it. I'm not at home, but I'll post a photo of my SeaPass later.

Harmony, like the other Oasis class ships, offers a lot to do for everyone. I like that there's no staircase to the casino, so no smoke wafting into the Promenade. The water slides and splash area were unique at first, so that was nice. I do think not having a kids area pool was a bit of a miss though. I do like Allure better but I don't know that this will be the case after the Amp. Empirical research is required.

For me, I like Harmony, don't love Port Canaveral as you need to think about transport to and from MCO or Sanford if you're flying in, whereas you might not need to sailing out of Port Everglades or Miami. Still, that transport is not going to significantly eat into your $800 savings so it might come down to the cost of flights.

I did Indy for the first time right after New Years - my trip report is in the "Live" section. i prefer 7 night sailings as well but I gotta day that I wouldn't mind another 5 night on Indy. It's a great ship and while there aren't as many amenities as the Oasis class, you will enjoy sailing on Indy should you give it a go.

They are clearly not The GOAT Ken Jennings...

On DCL I was constantly concerned about my 5yo getting trucked by a 12yo in the Oceaneers club. Never happened (in part because 8yo big sister was with her) , but still I was concerned about the fact that the age range was 3-12 Royal's new 6-12 range basically covers grades 1-6 and I'm ok with kids in this range being grouped together. It's not as well divided as the smaller groups were (IMO) but I can live with it.

I wasn't on the metal cruise itself, but from their Facebook page it looks like the stage was set up in front of the video screen. So basically the main pool area.

Just an FYI - if you need small bills you can go to guest services or the casino to exchange for ones and fives.

I bought these: https://www.amazon.ca/Mpow-Waterproof-One-Piece-Cellphone-Compatible/dp/B07T422DZ2/ref=dp_ob_title_sports The brand says MPow but I suspect that you can find similar style pouches.

Poster joined an hour ago and drops this on us.

We had 70,000 Tons of Metal right after our cruise. We saw lots of folk loading things onto the ship, but overall there were no issues getting off.

OK, fair enough. In that context, I kind of feel like it creates more complications than there needs to be, but it's something to consider.

Apparently I forgot to add this: Day 6 – Debarkation Day (aka You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here) I know people don’t like talking about this day, but I’ve always found it helpful to know how people got home, especially when you have to fly. For us, we had a 2pm flight back to Toronto, so realistically we had plenty of time to get off the ship. For this trip, we were assigned tag number 32, with an estimated debarkation time of 9:30am – about as middle of the road an assignment as one can get, I think. This gave us, in theory, plenty of time to get ready, pack up and leave. When we woke up (roughly 6:30-ish), I looked outside and discovered that we were in the process of docking, so barring any unforeseen clearance issues, we’d be getting off the ship shortly. We got dressed (in our travel clothes… le sigh), and headed up to Windjammer one final time. The buffet was actually not that busy, perhaps a testament to our going up a little later than the norm. And this worked out well for us. Not that we were going to overdo it on food, but certainly we weren’t “fighting” the masses to find a seat. After breakfast, we went back to the room to do finish packing our carry-off bags and do a final sweep of the room. After exchanging goodbyes with our attendant, we headed down to the Promenade to wait. While we were waiting, we saw some of the charter cruise workers come in with display boards for their t-shirt stands. In hindsight, I should’ve taken a picture and/or bought a shirt. Not that I’m a huge metal fan or anything, but “70,000 Tons of Metal”? You know you’d want a shirt with that on it as well. Regardless, we were called ahead of schedule, around 9:15, and dutifully made our way to the 4th deck and the exit ramp. Unlike previous Oasis class cruises, we headed straight down to the baggage area – a nice surprise, given that I was expecting a 30-60 minute wait to go down. The lines were indeed kind of long – I estimated about 45 minutes for the Suites, 60-90 for everyone – but since we have NEXUS, it was a simple matter of picking up our bags, showing the officer in the centre exit our cards, and heading through customs. Our debarkation, from ship to outside the terminal, took us under 10 minutes. With so much time before our flight, we debated going somewhere else for an hour or two, but we decided just to go to the airport. Bit of a misstep on our part, because we were at the terminal well before 10am, and the 3 hour bag drop window was still over an hour away. So that meant some waiting. Once the window opened, there was somehow only one Westjet employee at the counter helping three separate lines (special assistance, check in and bag drop). So this was… interesting, but eventually some other agents made their way to the counter to help out. This was not ideal, but since we’d checked in on the ship and had TSA Pre-Check, we had very little concern about making our flight. And indeed, we were through security around 12. A little later than I expected, but still nothing to worry about at all. We got a pre-flight meal at Shula Burger (note: onion rings look much better than they taste), and with little fanfare, got on the flight home. Once at Toronto Pearson, we went over to the NEXUS line, where there appeared to be only a few NEXUS kiosks working. Fortunately, there were several of the standard kiosks available, which we used to breeze through customs. Easy peasy, and after picking up our luggage and car, we headed home.

The helmets (which I believe were skateboard helmets) were a requirement. I don't recall there being a release waiver for the helmets. I sympathize with your daughter though - I'd not wear a helmet if I could avoid it. With that said, there were enough first timers on the rink that I took the stance that the helmet would help protect me somewhat from them. I saw a lot of wipeouts, and thankfully I didn't add to that total.

OP isn't looking to drink the vodka on the ship. Rather, they want to purchase and bring it home. 2 years ago my brother brought beer onboard at embarkation (I think he read the DCL embarkation rules or something). They took the beer, gave him a receipt, and returned it on the last night. We ended up drinking warm beer that night.

OK, here we go: