mom2mybugs

The key word in the title of this thread is “unofficially”.
Like many in this thread have noted, myself included, it seems to vary by ship/port. That is why I came back to document my experience with the earliest check in time for the ship that I am sailing, and the port that I am sailing out of, and others are doing the same. 

What @Ampurp85 stated initially is her experience, on that ship. She never once stated that this is the case for all ships in the fleet. Hence the key word in the title, “unofficially”.

I wanted to come back to add to this thread. Last night I stayed up until midnight to do my online check in for Odyssey 12/31/23 leaving from Port Everglades. The earliest time available at midnight was 11:30am. All others in the FB roll call group who checked in at midnight noticed the same thing.

Last night was the first time the passport scan worked for me! It's never worked and always had me input the digits so I usually skip that piece as well. However it was easy peasy since it scanned quickly. We always take our headshots too, a couple days after check-in, but every.single.time. the gate agents rescan us. I'm like helloo.....that was a fabulous kitchen picture of myself 😭 Instead they make me take off my baseball cap and it's #cruisehairdontcare

Click on naturalization papers and skip the passports.  Once the app works you can edit the document to the passport.  If you forget😬the gate agent will scan the passport for you.

Checked in online early this morning for our 12-8-24 Freedom sailing (~3:00 AM so not as soon as it opened for check-in) and the earliest was 11:30.  Not sure if earlier times had been available but I really doubt it.  Also, another bad experience with the app.  As always seems to happen lately, the app would not work AT ALL.  I ended up having to go online and do the full check-in with passports, etc.  How much do I hate the app......

The pier at the port? We had that same issue last month- he could not dock this boat. We slammed into the dock about 3 times, THEN he backed out and swung it into another slip, but still slammed the dock while doing it. We thought it was just a tide or current issue. 

This is the same boat we were on that impacted the concrete pier in March while on the same tour. There were several people who ended up with cuts and bruises. 

I tried to book Empire but they wouldn't let me. For some reason you have to have a cabin booked in Icon first. What killjoys.

I bet Icon has a really nice WJ. Just a thought. 😜

Hi everyone.  We are planning on staying one night in old Town San Juan before getting onto Rhapsody in June 2024!  So excited to have that and Alaska 2025 booked!  We want to simply walk around old Town, relax and have dinner (flying overnight the night before from Chicago).  We have narrowed down to la terreza de San Juan or Sheraton old San Juan, I think.  Anyone really like one of these? Or have something that isn't too run down in old Town?  Thanks! Jane

25 years from now, I'll still watch 3 elevators in the bank go past my floor while the elevator one floor away just sits there.
 
 

Onboard with a beer in hand by 10:15am. This is a record for us. 

My daughter is on allure tight now and getting off tomorrow!  She had only amazing things to say about embarkation.  She had an 11 am boarding time, and was in the cruise terminal only a second.  They boarded her at 1030.  She said luggage and everything was great!  It was taken by the porters immediately and was already in her room at 1pm.  She has had an amazing honeymoon cruise…have a great trip!  Her favorite bartenders were at trellis bar! Jane

My daughter is on allure tight now and getting off tomorrow!  She had only amazing things to say about embarkation.  She had an 11 am boarding time, and was in the cruise terminal only a second.  They boarded her at 1030.  She said luggage and everything was great!  It was taken by the porters immediately and was already in her room at 1pm.  She has had an amazing honeymoon cruise…have a great trip!  Her favorite bartenders were at trellis bar! Jane

I was on @Ryan79 cruise as well.  Frankly, it was a hectic meal trying to do sail away and then get to mdr.  It wasn’t officially dress your best but many people did dress up.  There were New Year’s Eve hats at the tables, and the food was good and significantly cheaper than the inflated specialty prices for that night! It was before the menu streamline, and I’m not sure how that impacts.  I wish I could remember what I ate…I think there was a special desert I didn’t see the rest of the cruise.  Jane

On that cruise, there weren't 300 people that got kicked off, but 300 people that voluntarily jumped overboard.

I don't have a habit of giving out bad or incorrect information. And if my information is incorrect, I stand corrected and apologize.

Although I still haven't packed yet, my daughter helped me try on a ton of dresses and I am sorta prepared with what I think I'm packing!  Today I'm doing nails, going to the used bookstore and maybe digging out my suitcase!  
   Won't be needing the warm Christmas jammies in a few days!!!! Jane

This is true especially if you don't go in together to check in.  They aren't particularly checking room numbers and keeping track of water, soda or wine.  Jane

I've been twice, and I just can't find stuff to do.  I'm sure the resorts are beautiful, but I can do the same type relaxing on the ship with my drink pkg so we aren't getting off the ship.  I'm hoping everyone else gets off so I can have less crowds on the pool deck!  Jane

I wasn't planning on trying to live blog this trip, but when you have pretty much not stopped planning for a month, are under 26 days to leave, AND you can't sleep because your plumbing decided it was done working and we have no bathrooms until Monday morning....it was time to blog!  
   This cruise was purchased this past summer.  Our last cruise was our amazing 12 days in the Mediterranean on Vision of the Seas in 2019 (on the heels of a Majesty cruise in June for a mom/daughters college graduation where we didn't get to go to Cuba).  We booked a super cheap spring break cruise for March 2020 out of Tampa, but I was feeling like the piggy bank was empty and was ready for a bigger ship, so we cancelled at final payment.  It was fortunate we did, because covid hit 2020 and our sailing would have been cancelled.  We'd have had a great deal if we'd only kept it, but I would never have survived the stress.  So we waited to cruise, put another kid through 2 more years of college, got the 3rd kid through her first year of college (dang kids keep taking my travel money, though I did get to spend 8 days at Disney with said 3rd kid for a covid graduation trip 2021!!!  I could have paid another year of college or started trying suite life for that cost!). 
   Anyway..... It had been a very long 3 years and I missed my drink pkgs, the sun deck and... Did I mention the drink pkg and sun deck? (You might be getting a sense of why this will be a very boring blog lol).  So I decided to book, and spent agonizing weeks trying to decide Odyssey vs oasis class, and which oasis class, and if the 19 year old was gracing us with her presence or not.  Finally after the price went up a few hundred more, she decided she would rather hang with her friends, and it turned into an empty nest cruise. 
   We chose Harmony of the seas, but it was tough.  Odyssey had a much better southern Caribbean itinerary (Curacao is such a cool port) but we are both teachers and my husband has to be back Monday and that gave us a buffer travel day. In retrospect of various health issues we have dealt with, he has occasionally taken one of his 400 sick days he has accrued (he NEVER takes days off) and has now figured it won't actually kill him.  But too late!  We are booked :). As I implied, the itinerary doesn't wow me except for CocoCay.  I've never been there (our Freedom cruise couldn't tender due to nonstop pouring rain that day) so I'm beyond excited for that.  I loved labadee so I know I will love CocoCay.  We will be doing that port, 2 sea days, Naussau, Cozumel and Costa Maya.  We have done all of the other ports and we will likely not even get off the ship.  Naussau I just don't love, I've done the dolphins at Cozumel and the ruins are just too far away, and we have done the ruins closer to Costa Maya.  We might explore the port areas in Mexico a little, but it's hard to justify drinking in Port with the amount we paid for the drink pkg, and with the amount of stuff we now have from sadly emptying my in-laws house after they passed this past year, I do not need to do any more shopping.  
   All of this explains why this might be the most boring blog ever.  We splurged and got an guaranty ocean view balcony, which was confirmed this week to be 11560.  I've never been on that high of a floor (I think the highest was 😎 and I'm excited to wake up and see some amazing views!  I have only had a balcony 2 other times and I think I've spent about an hour a cruise on them since they can be pretty shady.  This trip however I'm planning on starting my days out there since I'm totally flipping how I do things.  Usually we have excursions, and I'm the person on sea days on my chair at 8am because I want to spend ALL day in the sun and you have to go early to avoid the evil nasty chair hogs 😈.  However, if we aren't doing the ports, that means a lot more time on the ship, hopefully when people aren't on them, and so my plan is to sun worship on those days and actually do things on sea days. 
   I have been on one Oasis class ship before (Allure) and have never done the zip lines, the water slides, the ultimate abyss.  Never played bingo on the ship, never done a towel folding class, and never set foot in the spa or fitness room.  That's gonna change lol!  I plan on working out and actually USING the fitness clothes I pack every time and never remove from their packing cube!  I want to tour the spa and see about getting a thermal spa pass (although I still haven't actually seen pictures that Harmony does have a thermal spa).  Notice I didn't say I would be trying the flow Rider or the rock climbing wall... I would like to get my 54 year old self back home!  Oh yeah, and I also plan to watch my Michigan wolverines play in a bowl game and hope they look better than their horrible performance last New Years Eve! 
   The only excursion we have booked is the Beach Club at CocoCay.  I booked it at $103/person on the black Friday sale and it's $200 now!  I have gone back and forth and back again and finally decided we are going to keep it.  I want to eat that amazing lunch and since it might be the only lobster I get with our other dining, I'm looking forward to it!  And the infinity pool, and the fewer people!  I do want to spend a few minutes at the oasis lagoon pool, so we will do that on our way back to the ship!
   We have the DBP and I look forward to my St. Germaine's and Champagne, my kraken lava flows and amazing wines at vintages.  We have 4 specialties booked... Wonderland (so excited!), Izumi hibachi, 150 Central Park and Jamie's Italian for lunch on one of the sea days (again... Something I could never do before and give up my deck chair!). I also have the 3 night dining pkg.  Ok, so I'm an insane planner.  My spread sheets for Disney are epic (and my family did appreciate the shorter wait times, though they still think I'm insane).  I was able to actually pre-book entertainment on this sailing, and it all fits with my dining.  I'm not sure if I will try to run to izumi (we do have an 11am boarding) and try to shift the 3 booked times to the pkg, or if I will just pay more per meal, cancel the 3 night and not stress).  I'd love advice on this on how successful people were on really full ships.  
   I've never been on a ship over a holiday and I'm excited to see how Royal does New Year's Eve.  We are usually at home so I'm looking forward to buying the glitziest dress I can find and staying up till at least 1201!  And then sleeping in in Nassau!
   Travel is always interesting in winter from Chicago to Florida.  I still have nightmares about how my 2014 flight to the Disney marathon was cancelled due to extreme cold temps and I almost didn't get to the expo to get my pkg.  Because covid has made air travel even more unreliable, we are flying in 2 days early and spending 2 nights at the Hilton Marina.  There is nothing better than waking up and seeing your ship out the window!  We will likely sleep in, lounge by the pool if it's warm and get a water taxi ticket to look at mansions and get dinner somewhere.  Because we did Travelocity for flights, I did something I said I wouldn't do and decided to fly spirit airlines back.  I had a nice 130 flight... That was cancelled.  They graciously without checking put us instead on a 6 am flight.  Yeah, that wouldn't work... still on the boat!  So the only other option? A 915 PM flight.  Ok then... since I wouldn't have my drink pkg at the airport, it was time to rethink the day.  After waiting, thinking, planning, I decided to just give up on budgeting this trip and book the Hilton fort Lauderdale resort for a day.  They had a nice expensive canopy beach bed for $350.  I figured that would give me one more beach and pool day and a "free" pitcher of cocktails, so I would book it.  I forgot it was black Friday and it amazingly dropped $140 in the cart! Yeah me for procrastinating!!!
   So that is our trip!  I will attempt to at least explore things as I'm on a reconnaissance mission too.  My oldest daughter is getting married next year and is going to be on the first 7 day on Harmony out of Galveston in November for her honeymoon.  Her trip is $1000 cheaper than ours with the time of year, so I can't wait to retire and cruise hurricane season and early May. Anyway, Morgan and I  have spent hours watching @Matt's videos of the ship and taking about things and I'm supposed to tell her everything about everything when I get back.  So since I have no memory, I can have her read this blog!  
   And now...I will figure out how to put a countdown clock on my phone!!!   Jane
 
  
 
   
 
 

These beds are amazing in the solarium.  So comfy, though this 🌞 worshipper will need to move soon.  


We weren't on the main deck for sea day so I don't know how good they were about clearing towels.  They did absolutely nothing on Deck 16.
Here comes Mariner!!!!

This morning from our balcony (through the door because this is the loudest worst door lock handle ever).  


We are in Cozumel today and plan on doing nothing! Jane

These beds are amazing in the solarium.  So comfy, though this 🌞 worshipper will need to move soon.  


We weren't on the main deck for sea day so I don't know how good they were about clearing towels.  They did absolutely nothing on Deck 16.
Here comes Mariner!!!!

These beds are amazing in the solarium.  So comfy, though this 🌞 worshipper will need to move soon.  


We weren't on the main deck for sea day so I don't know how good they were about clearing towels.  They did absolutely nothing on Deck 16.
Here comes Mariner!!!!