Kansas Cruiser

If you make more than one offer on Royal-up and "win" one early (which we did about 30 days out), is there a chance our other bids for even better cabins might be accepted closer to the sail date, or are we out of the running for those? Thanks.

Following along - we will be on Radiance July 5 (southbound). I think you will visit some of the same ports we will be in, so looking forward to your comments! Congratulations on your anniversary!

I'm trying to figure out our upcoming trip and it appears that Radiance does not have a digital photo package option. ? Is that correct?

We used Cortrans October 2018 and highly recommend! https://www.cortrans-shuttle.com/

We are July 5 Radiance and I can help you with a couple: Juneau Fly-out Fishing is listed at $459; We have same issue with Icy Strait Point Stream Fishing ; Ketchikan Knudson Cove Salmon Fishing is listed at $210; Can anyone see Ketchikan Halibut Hunt - we also already purchased and can't see current price.

We recently paid $44 on Radiance for our July 2019 Alaska cruise. Even with that "bargain" price, we are actually considering cancelling it after re-evaluating how much time we will spend off the ship with this itinerary. Can't wait to explore all the wonders in this great state!

Wow- just did a price check on our bookings for 2 balcony rooms on July Radiance of the Seas booking - saved a total of $900 after I had my travel agent pounce on it immediately!

What travel insurance did you use? My travel agent is pushing Travel Guard - anyone have any experience with them? Thanks!

Thanks all - glad I asked! Didn't need that big surprise closer to the trip!

If you have an existing room reservation for 2 people and decide to later add a 3rd person to that same room, will RC allow you to do that with only the 3rd person additional charge? The room already has a sofa bed in it so it is designed to hold a 3rd person. We have a person due to job restrictions won't know until closer to the sail date if they can go. Thanks for sharing any experiences you have had with that scenario!

I'm having the same issue on multiple browsers, different ship.

So it's been a long time coming and our family has finally decided to take a cruise to Alaska next summer. Our growing family may have waited too long for this trip because now there is toddler in the mix! She'll be 2 1/2 at the time and since her mom and dad plan on going with all of their trusted family members, there are no real good options on leaving her behind. Some feel this is going to put a real damper on the trip. I'm interested in what everyone's honest opinion is on taking her with us. Will she be able to handle the shore excursions? I don't know if there is a kids' club for that young on Radiance so we'll likely need to take turns staying behind. I'm excited to have that bundle of joy with me anytime I can, but I don't want to be naive about her impact. Thanks for any insight or pointers!

I thank you also for the wonderful posts....we have a lot to look forward to in just 19 days! We are not late night people so I'm not sure how much of the night life we'll see.....but I'm now intrigued to at least try!

Thanks whitsmom for confirming what I remembered. I went back and found the flier. Guessing this special isn’t around any longer. ?

Has anyone on a recent cruise seen a significant digital photo special the first few days on-board? Last time we sailed it paid to wait and get the nearly $100 discount on-board during the special, but that was over a year ago on Liberty. The packages are pricey but is was certainly nice to come home with quite a few great pictures we never seem to be able to take ourselves. We sail on Oasis next month. Thanks for any news you can share!

We are on this exact itinerary departing on Oasis October 14 and loving the sneak peek you are offering. Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

Has anyone been on the RC Deep Sea Excursion in Nassau, and if so, how was the experience? Anyone have any recommendations on 3rd party charters there? My husband was disappointed in previous RC fishing excursions at other ports and is looking for other options. 27 days until we depart on Oasis!

Thanks for all of the recommendations! Glad we didn't book through RC directly!

Missing you by one week! We sail on Oct 14.

We are flying into MCO night before departure and staying at local hotel. Anyone have a shuttle recommendation to get to Oasis of the Seas? Thanks!

On our last flight leg home. Made it off of the ship by 3:30 Miami time. Customs did a great job speeding things along. We were one of the earlier ones off but speculating all who had a 7 pm flight or later booked made it just fine. As promised, RC had buses waiting to wisk us to the airports and even supplied a care package for all to have water and snack on the bus ride. Communication was great onboard the ship all day long. I didn't catch his name but I gathered he was a top RC executive - he addressed the entire ship once we arrived Miami. That was a nice touch! We saw local news crews near some of the buses as we pulled away from the port but didn't see any broadcasts on the airport tvs. Hope to hear the remainder of our fellow passengers make it safely back to Galveston sometime soon!!

Captain updated a while ago that we would be docked by approximately 1:30 Miami time and that about 2000 passengers plan to end their voyage there! (I think total passenger count was around 4400). He also told the crew they could get off of the ship.

Tuesday AM Update from Liberty Over the past 24 hours the moods on board have improved significantly! Passengers have sorted themselves out for the most part in to one of two groups. Fortunately, the majority have had time to process the situation, make decisions the best they can and have moved on. However, there are still some frustrated souls who don't know what to do and want the Captain "to make this all end", as if he has any personal control over Harvey. When we went to bed last night the best ETA they had was 2 pm Miami time and were recommending passengers not book any flights out of Miami or Ft Lauderdale before 7 pm. WE rolled the dice and booked a 6:45 flight out of FLL in hopes of getting home yet tonight. We will self carry our bags off and if the RCL-provided airport transfer bus looks like it will sit awhile before full, we will catch our own cab / uber. I am happy to give a thumbs up to Southwest Airlines who rebooked us on our cancelled HOU - MCI flight to a FLL - MCI flight at no charge. I do know that the last minute fares on flights as well as Houston area airports being closed are pushing a lot of people into the next group: Passengers who are staying with the ship until it's return to Galveston will be able to leave the ship and visit the Miami area before disembarking late that night around midnight. They have even offered a shore excursion to take a bus tour of the area. That is all subject to how things are looking in Galveston area, but their preliminary ETA there is Friday morning. Everyone is going through customs in Miami so that once they do return to Galveston they will simply need to disembark. I have not heard what percentage are leaving the ship but our personal conversations indicate maybe about a third of the group will not be on board the ship tomorrow. The crew onboard continues to be fantastic. Captain and staff held a Q&A and stayed until the last question was answered - even the absolute ridiculous ones! Someone at the Q & A had talked to a personal source on land and stated that as of Monday morning the parking lots at Galveston port had not flooded, but there was no route open to get them off the island. Captain states they will not leave passengers stranded with no place to go, and they will definitely be able to stay on the ship at least through Sunday morning. He was tactful in a statement to remind all that we are not in a great situation but we are doing relatively well compared to all those who have been displaced from their homes on land. Time to start packing. This 10 day cruise will never be forgotten!

Thanks for the info on ports MikeK !

Hurricane Harvey update from Liberty of the Seas Kansas Cruiser Well it has been an eventful and stressful 36 hours on board the ship. It is early Monday morning and it is with mixed emotions that I sit in the Cafe Promenade instead of my office back home to begin the Rat Race once again. I am very happy that I am not the person or committee who has called the shots for our ship during this devastating event. They are making decisions that affect 5877 souls on board and the multi-million dollar impact this storm is having on their company. Every passenger has their own story and I am thankful that ours does not involve property in Texas. I do have a daughter in Houston and she appears to be in a safe area for now. Overall I believe Royal Caribbean has acted responsibly. They can never make decisions that will be agreeable to all. I do know that I was very disappointed Sunday morning to wake up and find that we were sitting just outside the port of Galveston. All the data and information had been indicating this was the wrong place to be and had hoped we would change course while we were sleeping. However, the decision had been made and they then had to execute Plan B. We were all surprised that Miami was our destination and not New Orleans or Tampa. Hubby ran into the Cruise Director at the bar last night who explained during an impromptu and heated Q & A session that Liberty was too big to be docked in those two ports. It will be interesting to confirm that information. So Plan B is to arrive at Miami sometime Tuesday and passengers will have the option to get off there and find their own transportation home. Or they can stay on Liberty and cruise with her back to Galveston - currently estimated to be an arrival of sometime Friday ( although in my opinion that doesn't look likely either). They continue to house, feed and entertain us at no additional cost. Since we do not have a car waiting for us in Galveston we plan to disembark in Miami and fly home to Kansas. I was very frustrated yesterday trying to book that flight since we had no firm ETA yet and the wireless service on board was extremely spotty and slow. We had a several hour delay leaving Galveston area due to reported medical emergencies involving 3 passengers. I'm sure due to HiPPA we may never know the specifics but I would not be surprised they involved heart attacks or serious anxiety attacks. A number of passengers were totally freaking out and a great more had very long faces most of Sunday. The rainy and cloudy day didn't help the mood any. Attached below are the two letters we received on board Sunday and Monday mornings, along with our current location. I'll try to update more later. I'm going to try very hard and make today a true Vacation day and enjoy the free ride! ( Trying to focus on the bright side!). Thoughts and prayers are with the people on land affected by the hurricane and their friends and family whom are my fellow passengers. Many of them are starting to wake up and I want to post this much before I start competing for wireless.