tdiedrich

Uber is unreliable in my opinion.  I had to get an uber from Long Island to Bayonne for my cruise and it took me 4 different Uber drivers before someone would take me. Not to mention it was very costly.  Prebook this with a reliable car service. 

We cruised often when my now 21yo was a toddler/pre-schooler as we had a family member that worked for a cruise line. We found it easier to bring her car seat, use it on the plane and ground transportation to/from the cruise, then stash the seat in the bottom of the closet on the ship for the duration of the cruise ...than to figure out how to to get around safely w/o the seat.

That said, if some of the young people are a bit older (5+) you can take a look at the Bubble Bum belt positioning booster. It is affordable, super easy to travel with, and inflates into a low back booster whenever you need it (deflates quickly as well). Since it is a belt positioning booster it cannot be used on the plane, but it works great for ground transportation. [We used it during trips to NYC when my kids were younger. It allowed us to jump in and out of an Uber/Lyft as needed.]

Another child restraint option is a Ride Safer Travel Vest. This works for any child that forward faces and needs a five point harness (as opposed to the belt positioning booster discussed above). This also travels well, but is a bit more expensive.

In both cases, I would practice using them before any travel. Don't want to be sitting at your destination airport reading the instructions! 🙃

I spend 12+ years volunteering as a child passenger safety technician when my kids were younger so I was probably more aware of the limited options at the time. Lots of great things for traveling now that weren't available back then!

They would love to!  Unfortunately Southwest only flies into LGA 😞

Thank you!!

We very recently used Carmel Limo https://www.carmellimo.com/
We arranged for them to pick us up at Cape Liberty and take us to our post-cruise NYC hotel and also from there back to Newark. Regret not having booked them to take us from our pre-cruise NYC hotel to the cruise port as Uber and Lyft both turned out to be more expensive.
You can opt to pay the driver in cash or by card if you prefer not to pay upfront.
I admit I don't know how they work regarding child seats as were not travelling with children.

OK, just a heads up. I know we were booking entertainment 45 days out, 30 days, and the latest was the first of the month, the month before your trip.
Well, my trip is late May and I put April 1st on the calendar to start checking in planner. Decided to play it safe and started looking multiple times a day two weeks ago. Well, today it opened up for May 21st. Days before the first day of the month, the month before. Everything was available for any day and time I wanted.
The lesson is 2 1/2 to 3 months in advance make it a ritual to check entertainment in the planner minimum twice a day. I personally checked morning, noon, evening, and bedtime. The official word on when to expect the bookings to open just isn't worth the paper Royal refuses to spend money to print on. LOL. 
Once we hit 60 days out I started checking 5 times a day and it paid off. Well worth 2 minutes here, 2 minutes there.

Ours on the Wonder sailing in a couple weeks came up maybe 45 days ahead of time? Might've been 60. 
We were more recently on Mariner and Adventure and they didn't have bookable entertainment, but Oasis definitely should. 

My January cruise on Harmony had show bookings available about 45 days out. However I would take the 30 seconds and check every 2-3 days once you get near the 60 day mark as I don’t think there is a standard timetable for this being available.

For ships that do reservations, honestly it has been really random. What RCI says on their website is technically 30 days but that doesn't seem to be the case in practice. For a while, it seemed to be in the 45-60 days ahead range, but I haven't seen that for a little while. My Allure cruise opened 28 days before. Some people say the beginning of the month before your cruise (which doesn't necessarily mean the 1st of the month - mine on Allure was on the 4th of the month before). If you really want to prebook, I'd say start looking at the beginning of the month before your cruise and keep checking until they're open. Also, don't wait for the email - our email came 2 days after booking opened. 

Don't you know better than to respond to a @mpoole3 post?

Exactly! 

Anybody else considering using the $50 OBC on a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, then telling fellow passengers it was your welcome aboard bottle from the Premier Pass package? 
Edit: The forum keeps getting rid of the crazy face 🤪 at the end of the above.

Exactly! 

Pretty excited I was able to snag this promo for my cruise on Allure next month!   Had 2 VOOM at $225, now get it at $88 and MORE! 

Since we're so far out from the very first Icon sailing, I'd imagine that you could easily cancel your Icon sailing and only lose your deposit (if you booked non-refundable deposit).  In fact, I highly encourage it.  It may be a small price to pay to alleviate your stress.

When we originally boarded Wonder in Rome about 2 weeks ago, I was surprised how small the plants still were in Central Park. After a full growing season on the ship, I expected the park to be much more lush than it actually is. It looked as if the plants had only been put in maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago.
Today, I did the guided tour in Central Park and Laszlo, RCL‘s head gardener, who started the parks on all Oasis class ships, explained that they had to pull out all the plants and replant everything only a couple of weeks ago, since most of the original plants had been chosen for the asian climate Wonder was originally supposed to go. However most of those plants would not be compatible with the Caribbean climate and worse, are considered invasive species by the USDA, so Wonder would not be allowed to dock at any US port with those plants still in.
 

Tasteless food...  isn't that a symptom of CV?  🤣

2 Bedroom Grand Suite 9394

I did, I got about 1/3 of the cost back since it is considered out of network on my insurance, but better than nothing!

NEW CRUISE VLOG!
 
My crew cabin tour from Odyssey Of The Seas is now live on YouTube! This is the type of accommodation you can expect to live in, when you work onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.