MoneyMan702

There is also all the speculation and rumors stirring about ships that were seen on the market in the last year or so, including Grandeur and Rhapsody. On another note, looking at changes even earlier than 2020, I don't recall hearing much on what the planned improvements/changes to Oasis and Allure will be from the Royal Amplified program. Hopefully some more information on exactly what changes we can expect will come out sometime around the release of 2020 deployments. I am considering booking on an Oasis Class ship again later in 2020. I find myself leaning toward Harmony or Symphony since I have been on Allure before, but I am certainly still considering Oasis or going back to Allure depending on what comes from their dry dock in in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Serenade of the Seas - March 25, 2019 (11 night Southern Caribbean) Independence of the Seas - December 14, 2019 (5 night Western Caribbean)

I check the cruise planner and cruise fares several times per week for this reason alone. Sometimes the prices are adjusted sporadically, or the price of something in the cruise planner may drop during a big sale, even when the sale isn't supposed to apply due to the sailing date range applied to the sale.

I enjoyed the Perfect Storm water slides recently on Mariner, but I only rode them a couple of rides each. We were docked next to the Disney Dream in Nassau and the rider experience on their slide, the AquaDuck, looked like it was quite a bit of fun. It also looked like it was designed for the ship, rather than retrofitted. I'm not suggesting that they install slides that wrap entirely around the upper deck of the ship like the AquaDuck, but I think that a design that is a little more unique designed for the pool deck on the Icon Class would be a good design move.

Surf will allow you to send messages and surf the web. Your speed is throttled, so streaming music and video won't work.

That is good to know. Unless we both do some serious training between now and then, I'd say we may steer away from this then. I'll look at some other reviews as you suggested. Thank you again for the input!

These are my rankings in order for Allure's specialty restaurants, based on our March sailing. 1) 150 Central Park. We loved it so much that we went 2 nights. 2) Chops. A very close second for us, and one we love very much. 3) Giovanni's. The food and service were excellent, but the top 2 are in a league of their own. I also think Giovanni's pales in comparison to Jamie's. 4) Izumi. The hibachi is great, but I personally have a hard time paying what I did at sea vs. what I normally do on land for a similar experience. However, the sushi is some of the best I have ever had. 5) Sabor. I thought this was a good meal, but it just didn't stack up as well for me when compared to the competition. Plenty of people love it though. 6) Samba. Without a doubt, this was the weakest of the 6 for me. They had a lot of meat options, but I wasn't blown away by any of them. Ultimately, if you are torn on what to try, I'd highly recommend getting the ultimate dining package and going to all of the specialty restaurants at least once. You also get free lunches on sea days. We did this on our Allure cruise and it was well worth it to try all the specialty dining on that great ship.

It looks like we will be walking or taking a short.car ride to a beach in Barbados. That was our initial plan before I came on here, and all the positive feedback is making that decision easier. St. Kitts and St. Lucia are still the toughest ones for us to pick from with all the great suggestions we have received, as well as what we have researched on our own. We looked at doing the volcanic hike. My wife and I are both hardly athletes, but I do work out most days of the week. It is still a possibility. We have done some hiking around Gatlinburg, TN during the summer months in years past, but we moved at our own pace. I'm also nor sure that summers in Gatlinburg, despite being hot and humid, compare to the climate and environment we would be in. I just checked that out based on your recommendation. I will be sure to add it to our short list. A beach day, or at least a half beach day, was our initial plan for Antigua. After a quick glance at Google Maps, it looks like it could be either of those based on the distance to and from port. As always, thank you for all your help on here and Facebook. I look forward to hearing your feedback. Thank you all very much. I appreciate all the feedback. There are just too many great things to do... I guess I'll have to book another cruise.

There are rocks that run to the right side of and behind where the cabanas are now, and the beach area is relatively smaller. We had no one problens with small rocks, shells, etc. On the regular beach or in the water than we have at any other beach in the area of the cabanas. We were just there on Mariner on August 28th and there was plenty of beach space for everybody who had rented a cabana. I'm not sure that they were at max occupancy, but several of the cabanas on the back row were filled. When we boarded Mariner, one of my first stops was the shore excursion desk. We chose cabana 11 because it had more beach space relative to many other cabanas. Maybe it was just our sailing, but the beach itself rarely had a ton of people on it, minus those walking back and forth between the cabana and water or to and from public areas. I'd get on board and choose my cabana as early as possible.

Sorry for the back to back posts, but it is also $11.99 for our December 2019 cruise on Independence.

I just checked our March 11 night sailing on Serenade and it was also $11.99 per night. My wife needs internet for some school work during our trip, so there goes most of the OBC I had for that cruise.

I went up to the bridge observation area on our sea day and we were only moving at somewhere around 2 knots.

It is cheap, but I would definitely do some more research in using a combination of Tri Rail and the other municipal rail systems via transfer to save some cash. I have never used Tri Rail or any other rail option in the area, so I'm not ultra familiar with the feasibility of this. I also know that some people aren't too keen on traveling via trains like this with luggage, which could be cumbersome. For the sake of simplicity, Lyft and Uber really do shine to me.

I agree with you on names like Emblem, Apex and Valhalla not exactly rolling off the tongue. I get the vibe from these names that each of the three could go to a different class: one for an Oasis, Quantum, and Icon Class ship. Time will tell.

While I was on Mariner a couple of weeks ago, I somehow found a magnet for Rhapsody mixed in with all of the ones for Mariner. At the time, my wife and I were considering booking at Next Cruise on Rhapsody next December. I was going to buy the magnet, particularly if we ended up booking that trip, but we ultimately decided upon booking on Independence during the same window. I wish I had bought it now and I could have sent it your way! I just really need to find one for Allure now.

We ran into the same issue you did. Flights into both PBI and FLL were going to cost us half of what it would to fly into Miami. I originally looked at taking the Tri Rail from FLL to MIA and using Uber or Lyft from there, but this only netted us about a $10 savings each way for 3 people. Ultimately, using Uber or Lyft from FLL to our hotel, the Marriot - Biscayne Bay, cost about $35-40. If I was going to fly into PBI and cruise from either Port Everglades or Miami, I'd probably look at using the Tri Rail.

All, My wife and I will be doing an 11 night Southern Caribbean itinerary on Serenade of the Seas in the beginning of next year. This will be our third cruise overall, and our first time visiting any of the six ports of call on this itinerary. I have certainly done some research on my own, but I wanted to see if any of you all had any tips for excursions or exploring on our own in our ports of call. The ports are: Ponce, PR St. Kitts & Nevis St. Lucia Grenada Barbados Antigua Any and all input is welcome! Thank you, Sam

I tend to agree with the opinion that Empress and Majesty are safe for now due to the size restrictions of Cuba. I personally believe that Royal Caribbean would sell any of the Vision Class ships for the right amount of money. As I recall seeing a while back, $300 Million was the asking price for at least 1 or 2 of the Vision Class ships through various brokers. I personally think that Royal Caribbean would be content selling off most of the fleet that is smaller than the Voyager Class, there are just too many factors that prevent them from selling off the entire older, smaller part of the fleet immediately.