MomOnTheRun

There is nothing quite like settling down in the solarium with a book then 10 minute later that little voice repeating...
"Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  ... "
 

Midnight and/or midnight chocolate buffet (with ice sculptures).  Not that I care about chocolate, but the spread was visually impressive.

June is too close to sailing for me, I'd be flipping out. I hope it clears up for you. 

I'm glad it's not just me!   I booked several cabins this cruise, and when I open my app it has one of my kids cabin info instead of me.  Tried all the suggestions - still wrong.  Think it will fix itself before cruise date in June?  
 

Correct

IIRC, one 8x10 photo is $20. I want to say that's the standard price across the fleet.

The only tea I drink is a Long Island Iced Tea. But, I don't think Bailey's would be very good in it.

Amazing!  I feel like I'm there!  We are taking this same cruise in August and I'm more excited than I already was!  As for the biking down - a coworker did it last year and said it was a blast.  

In Skagway our excursion did not leave for about 5 hours after the ship docked so we took a hike around Yukatania Point and Smugglers Cove. I definately recommend it. It is walkable from the pier and a really beautiful little hike. We still had plenty of time to check out the shops in town and stop by the ship.

There should be Canadian kids! Most schools here return the Tuesday after Labour day.

Our first cruise was on the Monarch of the Seas in 2005.  It was a 4 night cruise from Long Beach, CA to Baja, Mexico.  We had driven from San Diego to Las Vegas to drop our youngest child off with family and were heading to the Long Beach port the day of the cruise.  We got lost and were cutting it super close to time of departure.  When we finally got there, the rep checking us in, asked where my husbands birth certificate was.  I had grabbed our youngest child's birth certificate instead of my husbands. (the child we dropped off in Las Vegas)  The rep was awesome, asked some questions, and my husband was able to use his military id instead of the birth certificate. 
First thing I did once on board... had a drink!
We had a great time!  Our two older kids (10 & 14) loved it and ditched us quickly.  On the last night the party was on the pool deck - one of our favorite memories is dancing under the stars!  
 
 

@Wilson...I usually don't like to link to this but you can find a recent one here. It's from a few weeks ago. Came across it this afternoon. 
 

I did make reservations for all of us together, and when I look at the reservation now it does list all of us.   I do think you have the right idea and I'll drop by the restaurant just to check in.  Given how many issues I had, a little human interaction might be a good thing.  Thanks for the feedback!

When you made the MTD reservations did you make them for all 7 of you (linked reservations) ?  If so, then you're good and don't need to do anything except perhaps mention it to the maitre'd on the night before the first group meal.  If you did NOT make the reservation for everyone then you will definitely need to speak with the restaurant at some point BEFORE everyone shows up to eat to make sure that they are expecting all of you.  It never hurts just to pop by the restaurant early in the cruise and make sure that they have the reservations booked to your satisfaction.  7 is not a huge group and eventually they would get a table prepared for everyone but it will be much easier (and quicker) for everyone if they are expecting your group and have made arrangements beforehand.

i have done that before as well.   i really didn't want anything on the menu one night, so i asked the waiter if the employee cafeteria had chicken tikka masala.  he said they didn't that night, but he had some made for me.   so, if they can do that, they can make almost anything for you, even vegetarian dishes.

I lived in Minneapolis and worked at Pillsbury years ago. Welcome!!! My favorite place was Russell's for bbq and Leeann Chin.

Hi!  I'm Lori, and live in MN.   So much good information here!  Our first cruise was on RCI Monarch back in 2005.  It was a trial run to see what we thought.  We all had a blast, the kids were ready to get back on and never leave!  We have also cruised NCL around the Hawaiian Islands - loved the ports, but the ship wasn't as much fun as the Monarch, although our kids thought it was amazing.  Then life got in the way, and finally 11 years later we are cruising again.   We are heading to Alaska in August on the Explorer!  It's a big family vacation with our two (now adult kids) plus their SO's and of course our teenager.  Great way to kick off cruising again!  

Rarely does it take the whole time allocation to eat.  It depends a lot on the time that you are eating and obviously, how taxed the servers are.  We always eat early - as soon as they open the MDR, usually 5:30.  There is a very light crowd at that time and our results have been very good with getting prompt service and finishing up in a reasonable amount of time.  We often skip dessert too so that makes it even quicker.  If you are eating between 6 - 7:30 it will be much more crowded and that slows things down a lot.
There is always a vegetarian option but I think they will work with you to offer other options if they know ahead of time that there are vegetarians coming.  So I recommend that you alert the dining room of when you are dining so that they can be prepared.  It's a fairly common request these days so I don't think it 's a big deal to have some additional food options on hand.
 
 

Night 1 takes longer than most nights, but rest of the nights it's right around 1 hour.  They schedule 2 to be on the safe side.
Both. There will be vegetarian options, but you can make other requests. As an example, I always order a vegetarian Indian curry dish.  I'm not vegetarian, but love curry!
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On the contrary - I prepare for the increased opportunities to eat by upping my caloric intake leading up to the trip. Stretch the stomach a little ahead of time so that it doesn't rebel at the sudden significant increase in volume.

Hi!  I'm Lori, and live in MN.   So much good information here!  Our first cruise was on RCI Monarch back in 2005.  It was a trial run to see what we thought.  We all had a blast, the kids were ready to get back on and never leave!  We have also cruised NCL around the Hawaiian Islands - loved the ports, but the ship wasn't as much fun as the Monarch, although our kids thought it was amazing.  Then life got in the way, and finally 11 years later we are cruising again.   We are heading to Alaska in August on the Explorer!  It's a big family vacation with our two (now adult kids) plus their SO's and of course our teenager.  Great way to kick off cruising again!  

Hi!  I'm Lori, and live in MN.   So much good information here!  Our first cruise was on RCI Monarch back in 2005.  It was a trial run to see what we thought.  We all had a blast, the kids were ready to get back on and never leave!  We have also cruised NCL around the Hawaiian Islands - loved the ports, but the ship wasn't as much fun as the Monarch, although our kids thought it was amazing.  Then life got in the way, and finally 11 years later we are cruising again.   We are heading to Alaska in August on the Explorer!  It's a big family vacation with our two (now adult kids) plus their SO's and of course our teenager.  Great way to kick off cruising again!  

Fantastic pictures and so much info!  I'm heading to Alaska in August and I was excited before - now I can't wait.  Plus you answered a few of my questions along the way.