4ensic

Depending on the ship, hole punching may not be an option.  If you are one of the newer ships (Harmony, Symphony, and Quantum class) the cards are RFID cards and you have to take them out to be scanned.  If you're on an older ship, hole-punching works great as @jurrjurr mentioned above.

Coming to us soon....@twangster vs. @4ensic photography showdown...October 2018 Symphony TA! ?

But in a good way ...  There are a lot of choices: cruise line, ship, itinerary, cabin type, excursions, entertainment, dining, drinking, lounging and more.  There aren't a lot of set rules and you may find something you'd do differently next time, though there are almost no bad choices.  Welcome to the club!  With experience comes wisdom.  Read the boards here, quite a few questions have been answered or at least debated even before you ask ("Is the drink/dining package worthwhile?,  "What does cabin # XXX on ship YYY look like?" are frequently asked)  and welcome to the waves.  Cruising is a lot like life in general but with a cheat sheet to assist. 
Friends gave me a nudge 9 years ago toward attending the production shows, which I thought I wouldn't like.  "You can bring your camera" (no flash, no video) were the magic words.  And 7 years later I'm a stage photographer. 

You are going to love it! Just be prepared, you may find yourself in that NextCruise office booking another one before you realize what's happening. This vacation style is addictive! ?

Welcome to the message boards!
I suspect your friends have sailed Carnival out of Galveston.  Carnival sells their alcohol package, called Cheers!, starting on day 2 out of Texas and New York.  On day 1 all drinks on Carnival cruises leaving from these two states are paid by the drink (including soda, water, etc).  This is from the Carnival website:
"Due to state laws, we cannot sell CHEERS! until the second day of the cruise (starting at 6:00am) for voyages departing from our Texas and New York home ports. Drinks purchased on the first day of the cruise will be charged to the guest's Sail & Sign card in the usual manner. "
Royal always starts their drink packages on boarding day.  On Royal the drink package starts the very moment you step on board (no need to wait until you are in international waters).

Our family did the BOGO package.  For $30 per person for two dinners, we thought it was worth it.  We loved the main dining room.  The only complaint anyone had was that the lobster was a bit tough and flavorless.  I had nothing but great food in the MDR.  in fact, we were offered a great deal on a third night ($10 per person) but decided we'd rather stick with the MDR. We did really like Chops Grille and Giovannis, but not that much more than the MDR.  

Thank you all so much!  You just saved us $150!!

That sentiment is perfectly me on two levels. First, paying twice would be hard to do, and more importantly, I am not a big foodie so food is just a necessity not a vice. After many years within the Army system of chow, I have come to not be too picky in what fills the stomach, it just has to do the job ?.

Food is very personal but I often sail with no extra dining purchased.  Specialty dining is more of an exception for me.  Something about $45 per person for a meal when I've already paid my cruise fare that includes dinner doesn't sit well with me.
I am typically quite happy in the MDR and occasionally will do dinner in the Windjammer which can be surprisingly good.  

Have you looked at the Main Dining room menus or any recent trip reports? In April we were on Anthem. We ate in the MDR 6 out of 7 nights. I prefer steak or seafood for dinner and Si was perfectly happy with the choices. I also ate in the MDR for breakfast and lunch on multiple days.

I guess it's a cruise for anyone over 70??  ?

Do they have six or eight legs?

Do they have six or eight legs?

How a rock could be detected by a METAL detector if you bring it onboard?
And how is it that a rock poses a threat to a ship security? ?

There must be an international shortage of red velvet... ?   You must recall when the snail population was decimated years ago, leading to the dropping of escargot from the MDR menu.  But with quick and decisive actions (and believe me, snails are anything but quick and decisive), the snail population recovered and the little buggers, sans shell, are now back on the menu.  And what about the world wide shortage of banana daquiri mix the occurred about 2 years ago?  Once RCI found out the Amazon.Com had tons of the stuff for only $8.95 per barrel (and like crude oil, there is about 55 gallons per barrel), then banana daquiris were back on the bar menu.  So maybe the world wide shortage of red velvet is just temporary...

Like I said, it varies from ship to ship. The key is when you go into Online Checkin, see if each passenger has a "Print" button in their SetSail Pass column. On my Freedom cruise, only my row had a button for that, whereas on this Anthem sailing I see a button in both my row and my wife's row. Here's a pair of screen shots from that Freedom sailing I had uploaded for a post when I was trying to figure this out myself. Note how there's only one "Print" button that has all four passenger names here.

 
Now here's my online checkin view for Anthem. Note how both my wife and I have separate print buttons for our SetSail Passes:

 
So just look at how many Print buttons you have, and that will be the clue. ?

Like JT said above "Tough one". We've sailed on many of the classes and enjoyed them all. I guess our favorite are the ones that don't sink! 

I voted for Voyageur but I have only done one Freedom ship, one Voyager(doing my 2nd on in Oct) one ship from Radiances, one ship from Vision and one Sovereign class ship (well 2 if you count  Monarch but she's gone now). But its a  toss up....different ships and classes have different things I enjoy.....and to be honest...quite often its the destination and the people on the cruise that make it more than the ship.....in my experiences  so far.

Here is more and less how they calculate the points (its true for most casinos).
Its all about odds and math. each points has value , we can calculate it roughly by looking on the certification  , to get a 1000 $ certification you need 4800 points to get to 4800 points in  slots game (easier to calculate) you need to play 4800*5 = 24000 $  as you get one point for each 5$ you play , remember this number I will get back to it later
Now each game has its own house edge which is the chance you will loose , in blackjack (if playing right) its around 1-2%  in slots , its rally depends on the casino but can be 5% - to 15% and even worse, craps , again depends how you play , if you play the odds it can be also around 1% while 3 card poker is more around 5%.
The way they calculate it for a table game is something like : the house edge * the average bet * number of hands you played = theoretical casino earning  which % of it will return back as perks to the gamblers 
The average bet is exactly why everyone say you need to get the host attention (or the pit boss) since the house edge and time of playing are tracked automatically but the average bet is not. so lets say you were on a 5$ minimum  blackjack table  and played for 4 hours but you played 50$ per  game , if the host/pit boss is not tracking your average the automatic calculation will be done as if you played 5$ bet only ... 
Back to the slots example , so if the edge is 10% and you need 24000 $ play to get a 1000 $ certification it means your theoretical losing for the "free cruise" will be 2400 $ (they will add to it also the free alcohol in the casino bar).
To get to the same in a black jack table or crap (lets assume 1.5$ house edge)  you will need to  spend 2400/ 0.015 = 1600000$ ...   
The average number of black jack hands per hour is around 50- 60  so in other words if you play average of 10 $ to the the 160000$ you will need to play 266 hours ...  while only 26 hours if you play 100$ per hand (which you will get if you play 4 hours  per day * 7 = 28 hours) .
The better the edge of the house in a game , the less time you will need to play . 
This not 100% accurate but it can give you a good example why you are not getting so much points playing table game,  I think the most important is to remember :
For the long run the house always wins , so play for fun , do not ever play to get certifications/other perks , 99% of the time its cheaper to pay for it directly.

Just Booked this tour ? 
Hopefully its as good as you say ? if not i will just stay on minibus and get drunk on the free rum punch then it will be a great tour lol 

As a follow up to my live blog, I wanted to give a fuller review of my experience with Bernard's Tours in St. Maarten. 
We chose tour 1 as listed on the website - http://www.bernardstours.com/
This tour runs for $40 per person with a $5 deposit paid via PayPal. Your remaining balance is due upon arrival. At this time, due to limitations as a result of Hurricane Irma, balance is due as cash. 
Once you walk off the ship, there are some instructions to help guide you towards the meeting place in the parking lot behind the reception building. Once you pass the statue, you'll turn right past the building and from there continue left until you see a large white tent. On the way, you may encounter some taxi drivers calling you out for a ride from outside the gate - if you dislike being hassled, be aware of this. 
Once you arrive at the tent, state that you are there for Bernard's Tours and one of their employees will be there to collect your balance (make sure you print your email confirmation to take with you!) and give your group a sticker indicating which tour you are on. Shortly after, a van or bus (depending on how many are booked) will pull in to the lot to collect you. 
As luck would have it, our group of 11 had a van to ourselves with "the Mailman" - nicknamed as such because people commonly mispronounce his name. He will give a brief introduction, and make you aware of the cooler stocked with sodas, water, Caribe beer,  his own homemade (very strong, very delicious) rum punch. He will also have you know his rum punch is only served in small shot like glasses due to its strength. After a quick stop by a nearby convenience store to pick up some cups, we all grabbed a beverage and we were on our way! If you have the Mailman as your tour guide - you are in for a treat. He is incredibly informative, kind, and also hilarious! 
One marked difference of the tour that I think would have been different from the past is that it seemed more like a 'hurricane tour'. There is still a significant amount of damage to the island as you get inland, and every where you go you'll see houses with blue tarps, mangled shipping containers, and piles of rubble. As I've said many times, don't let this deter you from going.You should still go, see the island, and hear their story. Our guide provided an extensive amount of information on what the people there had experienced, as well as the current states of repair in various areas of the island. 
The tour makes several stops - the first I believe being an overlook offering some great ocean views and a picture opportunity. Another stop included Orient Beach on the French side of the island, which still appears devastated. All we saw here was a few roaming vendors and the odd person offering chair rental or food. It was a strange experience looking one direction out to the incredible view and water, and then turning around to see all of the destroyed buildings. 
After a couple other photo opportunities, we had about an hour stop at Marigot for the outdoor market. Although it was Sunday and most things were closed, there were a few local vendors open for business. There is a great spice booth here offering various spice blends and hot sauces - we even saw a bit of honey and vanilla! 
We did also have the chance to stop at Maho Beach, which again, felt a lot like a tourist trap. One of those things that's fun to see once, but I wouldn't want to spend the day there. Honestly, I'd rather spend more time at Orient Beach even with the damage. 
After the tour, rather than dropping us off in Phillipsburg we were taken directly back to the port area where we started. The tour started right around 9:30, and we were back at port by around 2 PM - plenty of time before the 4:30 PM all aboard call. 
All in all, I'd very highly recommend this tour and would not hesitate to book this tour again. It is a great value and provides a vast amount of island information in a comfortable setting with the bonus of provided drinks! 

As a subscriber to Adobe's $10 per month photography plan they occasional publish guides and tips.  This plan includes Lightroom Classic CC which is one of the best software applications I've come across.  I'm not a fan of paying a recurring charge for anything in life but for this I've made an exception.
Today I received an email with a link to this tip showing how a professional photographer used Lightroom to create a dramatic image from an already pretty good photograph:
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/how-to/create-landscape-photography.html
People often ask "What kind of camera do you have?" 
The camera is just one small part of taking good pictures.  The truth is the brand of the camera isn't as important as the tools available for any photographer.  Tools such as a camera, lens and software.  
When traveling you rarely have time to set up a tripod and make a series of adjustments while capturing dozens of images so being able to take any image and make adjustments later in software is probably the biggest upgrade anyone can do to achieve better photos.  This is best achieved when capturing in RAW format compared to JPEG.
If you have or are considering Adobe Lightroom, make sure you check out all the free tutorials they offer for beginner and advanced users:
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/tutorials.html

Also, when you “land” at the end of the zip line, you are taking 2-3 running steps at a fast speed before you stop, so firm soles would be important.

Verizon's $5 Travel Pass does NOT include cruise ships.  Here is from Verizon's International Travel page.  The Travel Pass would cover many of the ports but not while on the ship nor does it cover data.  Now if you are only going to send and receive only a handful of texts, even using the pay as you go rate would be cheaper than VOOM.  The following is copied from Verizon's website.  
*************************************
 
For cruises: Use your phone on more than 400 cruise ships with pay-as-you-go plans. Visit the Trip Planner and enter your ship or destination to check availability.  
Cruise Ship Rates
You can talk and message on more than 400 cruise ships.
Cruise ship Pay as You Go pricing Voice Pricing $2.99/min Text Messaging $0.50/message sent$0.05/message received

Here's an example of what they might look like for dinner - https://eatsleepcruise.com/2016/09/new-main-dining-room-menus-on-oasis-of-the-seas-2016/
I think these reflect the newest set of menus, but lately they've been combining the app/entree/dessert all in to one menu instead of handing you a separate dessert menu at the end.