VACruiser

I am not a cruise fanatic by any stretch of the imagination so I do it mainly for my wife who loves it. And, I can say I always have a good time on a cruise. I always get a balcony or above so when I get tired of the crowds I can retreat to my balcony and read a book, watch the ocean go by (look for the flying fish) or just meditate. I have been on the sister ship of Freedom, Independence of the Seas, and liked it so much I booked it again for winter 2021. Plenty to do to keep me occupied at all times. If you are the type of person that lets little things get to you then there is plenty to complain about on a cruise, or any vacation for that matter; but, if you have a pretty good disposition you will have fun. My wife can have fun anywhere; doesn't matter which itinerary, she is going to have fun. I am the one who looks at the itinerary and thinks about where I want to go and can be more of a pain about it. The mere mention of the word cruise to my wife and I get, what, cruise, when...never where. You will have fun and memorable so don't let the little things get to you - food is good - plenty of variety, and I love the shows. I didn't think I would but there are fantastic.

On my last cruise I had the Key Program out of Lauderdale. I too had a 1200 show, which I treated more like a suggestion than a rule, so I ended up at the port at 1030 and looked for the sign that showed the Key entrance...we were probably the first 10 in the line, (not really a line) and checked in within 2 minutes, my wife needed a new picture, and went up to the Key area within 5 minutes - easy-peasy. Was on the ship by 1115 and embarked just behind Pinnacles and Suites. Was at Chops by 1200 and had a very nice lunch.

Not sure where you are going out of but I was in Fort Lauderdale...Make sure you follow the signs for the Key Program at the port - they are close to the Suites area. It gets you just behind Pinnacles, Suites and then The Key for embarkation. When getting on the ship the place to take your carry on is in the theater area, 5th floor if I remember correctly. The carry on gets taken to your room. Had lunch at Chops at 1200 and by the time we were done the rooms were ready and the carry on's were sitting in my room. The VOOM code were also sitting in the room when we got there and we were up and running quickly. When on the ship you will have seats at shows ready for you indicated by a Key placard sitting on the seats. Make sure to show up 15 minutes prior to the show because they start to take up the signs and anyone can sit there. The three row of seats are center stage and are in a very good spot. There are times for rock climbing and Flowrider set aside for Key purchasers and will be in your daily events calendar. The night before departing there were Key Tags in our room to put on the luggage and the luggage was taken to an area marked by a Key Sign, close to Suites baggage, to be picked up (super easy and quick to get off the ship and customs). The last day we ate in the main dining room, 5th floor and then waited for them to call us. I was off the ship and through customs in about 5 minutes. I waited longer on the bus to go to the airport than I did for getting off the ship. I'm sure I forgot some stuff but if it is at the right price I would do it again if I am not in a Suite.

I'm about at the same point for my Oasis of the Seas Cruise in March 2020 and it isn't in the cruise planner yet. I bought it for my Independence of the Seas Cruise in May 19 and really liked it. I have a Junior Suite on the March 2020 Cruise so I am trying to figure out if it is worth it or not this time.

There is a limited number that are sold. When I was on the Independence of the Seas it was only 100 sold. I'm not sure about Oasis class.

$19.99 is the lowest I have seen it. I got it on a 20% off sale for my Independence of the Seas Cruise last month.

I feel for you. A week before my recent cruise, that I was on the a month ago, I was outside with my dogs and turned to run up a hill when it felt like someone hit me in my calf with a baseball bat. I crawled back into the house and starting thinking how in the world can I take this cruise next week, amongst all the pain I was feeling. I was lucky that I had crutches from my wife's knee surgery two years before. My calf muscle turned all kinds of cool-colors and I limped for a week but before the actual day of the trip I limped, but not too bad and I was able to make it. I had even gone so far as to ask my son if his passport was up-to-date which it was. My next cruise I am thinking of bubble wrapping myself the week before the cruise as to not get hurt. Hope it all works well for you.

I was on Independence of the Seas early May 19 and the 10 drink card came out the evening on Day 3 of a 5 day cruise. I don't drink a whole lot so I didn't do it but it seems that they were offering it at $79 or something like that. As I have read from others it seems it comes out when their bar sales are a little low on the cruise and they need to put on a sale to pump up sales.

Most of this thread is about perspective and where you have been and where you want to go. My wife and I came over from Carnival and have a whopping 5 points on RC. For the value RC has a better business model than Carnival but they do have drawbacks too. They are a for-profit-organization and that drives their many faceted decisions. They balance that with their business model to make shareholders happy as well as consumers; not an easy task. I have noticed that if you have been around for many points you have seen things come and go and your perspective can be very different than a newbie like me. Cruising is still a very good way to spend vacation dollars as it has about everything you would want and don't have to do a lot of planning once you board the ship. Some of my friends say they will never step foot on a cruise ship but they are also the ones that always ask me how it went when I come back. You guys and gals spend a lot of money on annual cruises and at some point you want to have some perks for all your efforts - I get it as well as does RC, but in the end, their decisions will always be based on profit margins and that is something that can make some people upset and threaten to go cruise somewhere else. As a newbie I will keep cruising for awhile until I get bored with it, if ever, and I will stick with RC until it doesn't make sense. I'm 57 so all these perks won't matter too me much since I started so late and only take 1 cruise a year . I have learned a lot from the members on RCBLOG and have saved myself countless time and research just based off of the groups discussions. For example - I just did a 5 day cruise on Indy out of Fort Lauderdale and the place I stayed the night before and where I went to eat (La Bamba), beaches at Costa Maya and Cozumel (Nachi Cocom) all came from conversations I have read on this Blog. Good stuff on this board!

I've been to the dolphin swim in Cozumel at Chankanaab Park in Cozumel; it was fun to a point. You are with a group of people and your actual time with the dolphin is short. Enough for them to get pictures to try and sale to you later. I think once you do a dolphin swim you pretty much have done them all as I am pretty sure I wouldn't ever do it again. It is up to want you want to do. Cozumel has a lot to do...my last trip, three weeks ago now, I went to Nachi Cocom and had a blast. A very nice beach with lots to do and I will go there again. If this trip is with children the dolphin swim would be fun for one time then do something else. I haven't been to Grand Cayman for a while so I can'y comment on that. I will be back there in 2021.

I was on Independence of the Seas early May 2019 and it was closed so reopening must have been very recent.

Hey I'm on that cruise too. Waiting for next Sunday, the 28th to come so I can catch a flight to Fort Lauderdale. Super excited!

As we say in the south - SweetPea sounds like a hoot...so I will see where your adventures take you. I'm sure the write-up will be entertaining.

You are on quite a roll lately so maybe this will not turn into a debacle for you - just maybe!

I'm retired U.S. Army and have never been given a military discount. Sure the place to put it in the booking is there but it never yields anything valuable.

I'll be there in a couple of weeks. Nice pictures.

I have three: Independence of the Seas - 29 April 19; Freedom of the Seas March 8 2020; Norwegian Joy - Feb 2021 so I can guess I fall in to the category of planning way ahead for my cruises.

well just google Tim Curry Rocky Horror Picture Show and you will get the picture - literally

So manipulation for the cruise newbies - gotcha, just get their credit card numbers from them, make sure you get the tricky three digit security code, and go to the next cruise desk while on ship, and book ya a new cruise. Just kidding!!! We all need friends

@SpeedNoodles - sounds like you need better friends

I am also on this cruise - I have never been to Port Everglades so it will be a new experience. @twangster what is the PEV App? It looks like something I may need

There are over 15 thousand stories because of this accident and I am sure there are some scenarios that I can't even imagine because of this event. Life happens and you have to be flexible but I can't envision how I would feel if I had booked this cruise 2 years ago and I was to be on the ship on Sunday, 7 April 19, and I now found myself left adrift (excuse the pun). It would be mentally difficult for a couple of hours before I collected myself and came up with a new plan and that was just a vacation (1st world issues). I am sure there are some interesting stories of what was to be - marriages for example...wow I can't even image how this affects so many people. I am on Indy the latter part of the month and this new has got me thinking what would I do if it happened. Contingency planning if you will.

That would be such a bummer if that happened. My son and DIL are coming in from Alaska for the cruise and we look forward to these outings together and a cruise makes it a logical thing to do. Praying for the best to occur and I will first one in my room after an AMP and that just makes it feel special whether it is or not.

I'm on the March 8th, 2020 FOS Cruise to the ABC Islands and St. Thomas. First one out of dry-dock which could be dangerous if there is a delay in something.

I am cruising on Independence of the Seas, INDY if you will, the end of April and bought The Key for my wife and myself so I can let you know then. I watched videos and read some blogs on it and for our 5 day cruise it made sense especially when I got it for 20% off and used my OBC to buy it down further. I shall give it a shot and see how it works out. When I was cruising on Carnival we always bought Faster-to-the-Fun which gave some perks, mainly getting on and off more quickly but was cheaper than RC.