Kim&N8

BYE @twangster
 
 

BYE @twangster
 
 

Going to hijack this blog to ask a question...if anyone would know, it's going to be @twangster.  I noticed during your scopes and pics today that the ships were facing the other direction (towards Miami).  Last week when we were there, Mariner and Empress were facing the open waters.  What dictates which way they dock on embarkation day?  Is it something that is just left up to the Captain?

I'm with you on that one!

BYE @twangster
 
 

I'll see your Chicago June 21 and raise you a New Jersey June 27.
No, I'm not kidding. ?

The bus ride down to Miami flew by quickly - on account of me sleeping most of the way.  I did wake up in time to catch our first glimpse of Empress and Mariner.  
It makes you appreciate just how much bigger (or just how small) some ships are compared to others.  Picture was taken just before we entered the tunnel to make our way onto Dodge Island where the port is.

I know that people often poo-poo the cruiseship transfers but I really find them to be worth their [few] detractions for the most part.  #1, they are "guaranteed" to get you to the ship on time, which is a nerve soother.  #2, they're easy to find and you don't have to "order" them on your phone and hope someone shows up.  If you are in a hurry to get where you're going then they may not be the best option b/c you do have to wait for the bus to fill up before it will leave but I have never found this to be that big a deal.  Especially in the Twangbot's situation (arriving at one airport and transferring to a different port and vice versa) I find it reassuring to know that your ride WILL be there will get you to the ship on time.
Also, there is a little excitement factor when you walk off the plane and see that "Royal Caribbean/Celebrity" kiosk waiting for you !  When the rest of the people see you going to the cruise kiosk, you KNOW they are envious !

IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!!!
I've arrived in Florida, in Fort Lauderdale using the 'FLL' airport.  This was several hundred cheaper than the Miami airport for my days of travel.
Our approach to the airport was from the West and took us over the Everglades with I-75 in the distance, also known as The Everglades Parkway, also known as Alligator Alley.
The Everglades don't look like much in this picture but that's because the whole area is shallow water with I-75 marking a distinct line across the Everglades.   It's very swampy but a very unique eco-system that is part of the larger Florida water system that starts much farther North in the state.

I didn't check any bags so upon deplaning I made my way to the baggage claim area where I knew the Royal Caribbean ship transfer kiosk would be found.  Carnival had their kiosk setup near one exit at one end of the baggage claim area and RCCL had their joint Royal/Celebrity kiosk at the other end.  In Terminal two that Delta uses this was directly across from baggage carousel three.

 First bus to Miami is around 10:45am.  Having landed at 8:46am I've got some time to kill.  Fortunately the FLL airport has free wifi.
Since I'm here at the tail of morning rush hour I thought I'd look to see what prices are like for two popular ride sharing services, Uber and Lyft:


 
It looks like Uber has a slight edge today.  It's always best to check both because often this is reversed with Lyft being slightly cheaper.  It's morning rush hour so I'd expect these to be lower at other times of the day.
Since I'm solo a regular Lyft or UberX would suffice.  The Royal transfer at $60 round trip is still the best deal for me as a solo but it does mean waiting here in the airport and likely not being at the port when boarding (hopefully) begins.
For larger groups with more luggage an UberXL or LyftXL would be a better choice.  For two people the Royal transfer still looks like it's the cheapest way to go but if there are more people in your party this quickly changes.  
For example, with a party of four, Royal would cost 4 x $60 or $240 round trip.  The ride sharing services above are one way but even with 2 x $72 that's $144, nearly $100 less.  Squeezing 4 people with baggage into a standard Uber/Lyft can be a challenge so I used the XL version for this price comparison.
Traveling solo I'm saving around $14 by using the Royal transfer at the expense of convenience and just being able to jump into the next available car.
This has killed the first hour,  only 60 minutes to go until my bus should depart.  

Hello fellow cruisers! We just returned from our vacation on the Mariner of the Seas. I wanted to do a review, and hopefully answer any questions you guys have about the cruise. I will include information regarding restrictions for age/height for the on-board activities, since I did not find many answers to these questions before our cruise.

About us: Me (the mom, and planner of all family vacations!) My husband, (the dad, and the one that does not want to know a thing about the vacation until it's time to pack!) We have two sons - our oldest, who I will call RS, is 9 years old, and our youngest, who I will call DS, is 4.

We got the refreshment package during one of the sales, and I thought it was totally worth it.

We had an inside cabin, #6223, which we loved. It was quiet, and was just a staircase away from the Royal Promenade. We loved having the pizza and specialty coffee just a floor away. FYI for parents sharing the room with their kids, they must be 6 years old to use the Pullman bed (and yes, there's a sticker on it that tells you that!) RS slept on the Pullman, and DS slept on the king bed with my husband and I.

We live in Miami, so my mom dropped us off at the port on Monday. We arrived at the port at 11:15, and were on the ship around 11:35. Super easy check in and boarding process. Once on board, we headed straight to the Windjammer for lunch. It was not crowded at all, and we had no problem finding a table.

Sky Pad - RS was really excited to try this, so we headed straight there after lunch. Age restriction: must be at least 5 years old to use the Sky Pad (needless to say we had a very disappointed 4 year old)! We waited around 40 minutes since only two of the trampolines were in use. RS used the VR glasses and really enjoyed it.

Laser Tag - Must be at least 5 years old and 40 inches in height. RS and my husband said it was really fun to do.

Slides - Must be 48 inches to use the slides. They would close the slides at 7 PM. RS went on the slides on the day we were in Nassau, from about 5:45 to 7:00. This was a great time to do it. The most he had in line in front of him was 2 people. He literally would exit the slide, go back up the stairs, and ride it again! He also rode them again on sea day around 6:15, and again there was hardly a line to use them.

Ice skating - This was the one activity DS was really looking forward to, since it was one of the few things he could do. No age/height restriction. He lasted about five minutes on the ice, then told me he was too tired to continue. Gotta love four year olds!! We did not get to see the ice skating show, as they only did it the first and second day of the cruise. The ice skating and laser tag share the same venue, so in order to have one set up, they cannot do the other.

Pools - We tended to use the pools in the late afternoon, after 5 PM, when they weren't so crowded. They are small, and pretty deep (5'3"). RS is pretty tall and he couldn't reach the bottom. They provide life vests, which DS loved to use because he could swim around the pool without having to hold on to me.

Kids club - Both of the kids used the kids club for about an hour a day. They both really enjoyed it. For those of you wondering, yes, you can step down in age group if that's what your child would like. RS just turned 9 on the 4th of July, and he was a little worried about being in the 9-11 age group. They allowed him to be in the 6-8 group, with no problems. They leave a kids club cruise compass every day in the room, with the hours and activities scheduled.

Cocoa Cay - It was a lazy beach day. We got to the island around 11:30, and stayed until about 3:30.

Nassau - We did not have any excursions planned, so we got off the ship around 3:00. We walked to Junkanoo Beach. It's about a 15 minute walk, and is very safe because you are walking down streets crowded with tourists. The water was absolutely beautiful, crystal clear and warm. The sand, not so much! There were a lot of rocks, but they were spaced out. So, it's not as if you were constantly stepping on rocks when you were in the water. The water was so clear, that it was easy to see if you were going to step on one.

Food - We ate at the buffet for all meals. Food was pretty good, although a bit repetitive. They did have themes (Mexican, Caribbean, etc.), but that was just one small section of the buffet. Breakfast did get very crowded on Nassau day and sea day. On Nassau day, we could not get a table and they ended up opening Jamie's Restaurant for people to sit. Otherwise, we never had a problem finding a table to sit at. We ate A LOT of pizza!!! Since it was literally just a staircase away, it was an easy mid-day/late night snack. I thought it was pretty good, and it was always fresh and hot out of the oven.

I hope anyone going on Mariner finds the review helpful. She is a beautiful ship, and they did a great job with the refurbishment. I'm happy to answer any questions my fellow cruisers may have!

Black Friday was my lowest price from August '17 to July '18. It doesn't mean it'll definitely be the lowest on that date but that was my experience.

Eitherway.  Atlantis is best known for three things: beach, casino, and water park. Depending on which you buy access to, that will dictate if it's more adult or kid oriented.

It is. We'll still.be getting a taxi to the port in the morning though because
a) it's included in the cost of our deal
and
b) husband says there's no way he's hauling 'all my luggage' on foot! ?
 

Symphony of the Seas March 30, 2019

With Cuba on my mind and with a goal of sailing some of the older and smaller ships in the fleet I booked Empress.  With the current fleet it's hard to get any smaller.  I'm supposed to get a glass block based on my current Crown and Anchor points accumulation so as I thought which ship to 'block' on, getting a glass block from Empress seemed like a really cool idea so I booked this cruise with that other goal in mind.
It's a 5 night cruise:
Day 1 - Embark Miami
Day 2 - Key West
Day 3 - Havana
Day 4 - Sea Day
Day 5 - CocoCay
Day 6 - Debark Miami
It's been a few years since I've visited Key West but I need to get some work done so I'm not sure how far I'll venture off the ship. 
For Havana I've a booked a full day excursion through Royal.  I have an overnight cruise to Havana booked in September so I'm using this trip and excursion to discover and plan my next visit there for maximum cultural enrichment.
I have many Canadian friends who have visited Cuba.  They've been able to fly direct since, well forever.   They've given me some ideas so this full day excursion should check all the boxes for an initial Cuba experience and allow me to better plan my next visit.
I've missed a few calls on CocoCay this year so fingers crossed.
Flights were booked through Air2Sea and I'm taking a dreaded red eye flight with airport transfers to the ship by Royal.  I usually just take a ride-share but as a solo traveler the transfer isn't that bad from a cost perspective and it's for research so I know how well it works getting from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) airport to the Port of Miami and back.  I had to work this weekend so the all night flight is an "efficient" use of my time, or so I keep telling myself to justify it. 
Not sure when I might sail Empress again especially since she does mostly Cuba runs at the moment so I've splurged and booked a junior suite.  My first solo JS experience.  At the time I booked it was a reasonable price difference.
My red-eye departs at 1am local time and I haven't started packing yet.  It's only 5 nights so not a hard cruise to pack for. However I better step away from the keyboard and get started.

Now I see it.  For the life of me I couldn't figure it out, I kept seeing a face with wicked eyebrows.  I gotta stop staying up all night working...

Thank you for your kind words. The young lady had been accepted into college. One moment in time has changed her entire life. I have been teaching for over 25 years in one of the toughest high school in Chicago. One of my former student came up to the school  last week
 
We have to show them how to dream.

What's going on in our schools is a nightmare and we can't seem to wake from it.   Yesterday was another tragic day.  My prayers are with you and your school.  My prayer is for us to find solid ways to push back this tide of evil that is overtaking us.  We can't keep saying "this is not the time to talk about it."  If not now, when?  We all have to push back HARD!! 

@JLMoran I also am a safari mac users and it always works here too! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe it just depends which way the wind blows 

That rep is full of it. I only use safari, and not even in private mode. Works exactly that same as both Firefox and Chrome. 

Any MEI travel agent can book a Royal Caribbean Blog group cruise.
Annette may do all the work on an actual GC (in case you thought Matt did anything),  but she doesn't have to manage your booking to qualify.
 

Or the cleaning people unplugged the server under someone's desk that holds a script that no one knew about yet the whole website database relies on. 
I'm still trying to figure out if RCCL is one of those companies that only sees IT as a expense on a balance sheet and refuses to fund it properly.  When it comes to IT, you get what you pay for. 

Exactly.  The small charges serve to prevent everyone from finding the most expensive wine and only ordering it.  
As a frequent business traveler who has bought an occasional glass of wine in a hotel bar across the country,  Royal is cheaper than most hotel bars when it come to wine, beer and mixed drinks.  I spent a few weeks in Plainsboro, NJ.   $14 was the cheapest wine in the hotel bar and it wasn't very good.  The cost for a hotel to provide a glass of wine is much lower - they don't have to load it on a ship and haul it all around ocean with them.  They don't need to maintain very much inventory either.  When a hotel runs low they pick up the phone and more is delivered the next day.  Their cost per drink is much lower than a cruise ship.
At the same hotel my nightly room rate was higher than I pay on most cruises (and it didn't include meals or entertainment).  
So I've come to appreciate how great Royal bar prices are compared to land bar prices.  Thankfully someone else pays for my business travel.  

I suspect it's their special concoctions that are priced above the package that are not covered, just like special drinks on all ships that are not fully covered by the package and you must pay the difference.  I'm betting you can order a Kraken and Coke and it will be covered.
@Lovetocruise2002 will be on soon enough and I'm sure she will verify.  If not I'm on Mariner mid-September.

If someone can convince @Matt GC 2020 Halloween I'd consider letting my kids skip school too ?