WannaCruise

I tend to wear a waterproof pouch as I carry more than my sea pass around. The pouch lets me hold onto the cruise compass, small digital camera, eye glass strap, sunscreen plus sea pass.

Would love to hear recent experiences too. We purchased half day passes for our Anthem cruise awhile back. It still shows in my calendar, but cannot be purchased (and if I select the item in order history, no price shows). The Full Day has come down a lot in price from original ($105 to $89 CAD) , which is only $10 more than what we bought the half day at.

At least the shower capsules are bigger on the newer ships like Symphony. I don't mind them (and like that they are enclosed with a door) but totally get what OP is saying. I am a small person like OP and they just fit me.

Everything looks really good!

Amazing review. Thank you for taking us along. Can't wait for Anthem next year. Sounds like you all had a wonderful time (despite a long day for your return). Your kids seemed to have a blast meeting new friends (even if you didn't get to see them as much). The age of teenagers and pre-teens! And everything seemed great on your side. We won't have a genie (in our measly virtual balcony rooms...lol) but good tip about booking things early in case you want to go again. I'm the same too, and even with one, would have wanted to book those myself. Glad to hear though that the shows were so good. And your Chef's Table sounds great too with meeting new people and good wine, plus you really seemed to enjoy CK. Bet you can't wait for Harmony.

Definitely me as I'm cruised obsessed (or Disney obsessed if planning that kind of holiday). But at least since our Mariner cruise last summer, DH caught the cruise bug too. It's almost funny as he'll come home from work and ask "What's new in the cruise world?" as he knows I'm on here and researching something.

Definitely. I have 5 cruises booked between Aug and Mar 2021 and each price is different. Our Adventure seems to be the cheapest varying from $62-65 CAD depending if a "sale" that day (which I guess is $46-48 USD) and Anthem Mar 2020 is most expensive about $10 more. (Mar 2021 not released yet).

Hope the rocking eases for you and you are not affected. We are on Adventure later this year. Wondering if you notice any drink cards (which won't come out until later in your cruise) or if any discounts on specialty dining, specifically Chef's Table Hope you're having a great cruise.

Love the photo above with the 3 of you on the same outfit. Excited for you. Enjoy your cruise.

Congrats on your wedding anniversary and a 50th bday celebration! Wonderful reasons to celebrate. Looking forward to hearing about the ship and your holiday.

Sorry..should say that I'm not sure if Boardwalk View has the window seat. The other two do.

OMG...just noticed the picture of your son in his little tux and enjoying the dessert. So cute!

The sites are often messed up. We have the opposite where when going through the booking process on our Harmony cruise, the category shows Boardwalk View Interior, but our room is actually a Central Park View Interior (and this is from Royal's actual site). The Central Park View, Boardwalk View and Promenade rooms all have that extra window seat which is nice, and is a little bigger than standard balcony or interior. But I've never tried Boardwalk View Interior so can't comment personally. (Did really enjoy Boardwalk balcony though)

Love We Will Rock You so this is my plan. Have seen it 5 tines to date when it was in my city a few years ago. Glad to hear the ship's performance is so good.

Independence is a great ship and perfect for your kids ..waterslides, laser tag, rock wall, ice rink, amazing shows, great size. As others have said, it depends on how important it is to travel with your family vs going on your own. Only you can answer that. But yes you are travelling at premium time . Even if you got ok price on cruise flights will be super expensive. On the flip side, a cruise would be a wonderful place to celebrate the holidays. We travel at our March break so kids don't miss school but not sure we'd do xmas as everything is raised in price But only you can decide your travel plans and budget.

Thanks so much. That sounds like a perfect meal and not restricted.

Chef's Table is still a good option if you don't eat chicken or beef BUT do eat fish and seafood, right? From the menu, it seems like they have a lot of fish items.

A dream....for someday in the far far future. ? I'm OP and DH and I did upgrade us to a JS for the first time on our Adventure cruise. It actually came down to a nice cost for that category room. Really looking forward to trying it. Having said that, we usually cruise with our kids (when we could actually use the space) but we travel in all different cabin choices which includes promenades, interior virtual balcony, boardwalk balcony, regular balcony. Next cruise, which is before our Adventure cruise, we are actually trying 2 connecting (promenade) rooms for the first time. I think they'll get a kick out of having their own room. With our other cruises, we have another one with connecting rooms, a spacious balcony (but JS size as i'ts one of those corner aft ones) and on Harmony which is 2021 we're back to 4 of us sharing an interior Central Park view room. Would love to book a JS with all of us (never mind about the real suites with the perks), but on Harmony it would be $9500 just for the JS. We need flights too, so for us, it's hard to justify...esp as we tend to cruise more often now. Next goal though is to reach Diamond...which won't be so far off after our booked cruises (which the Adventure JS helps).

Great to know. We would have just gone and waited for our C&A level to be called. We always go to the port early and wait for boarding to start to maximize our time on the ship. (I know in the end, it may just boost us by 5-10 minutes but every minute counts...lol)

What is the overall boarding order? e.g. For us, we are just Platinum and have booked a JS. Are JS bookings called before Platinum C&A level?

Yes sorry...I agree with you. Didn't mean to be misleading. I eat fish so was thinking of more options ontop of the daily item. But after I posted, I did look at the menus above and did see just one straight vegetarian (and surprised one night had nothing - although I'm sure you can always request something). Overall around the ship you can find, but true...MDR mostly offers beef, chicken and fish items.

I don't eat beef or chicken and was always surprised not seeing a veggie burger being offered with current times (although the above poster says otherwise so maybe I just missed it). Having said that, there are tons of veggie options in the Windjammer, MDR, and also places like Park Cafe, Cafe Promenade (usually has some kind of Mediterranean or egg sandwich), El Loco Fresh (best cheese quesadillas) and you can also get a yummy pasta as say Jamies (didn't try 150 Central Park so not sure about there....and Chops probably isn't best pick if you don't eat fish). Didn't have lunch or dinner at Solarium BIstro but would imagine they would have lots of options. Breakfast also has tons of options at Windjammer and Solarium (which are similar buffets)

Haven't stayed in JS yet (trying it on Adventure for first time as from my post ? )...but on Oasis class, you also get access to Coastal Kitchen for dinner if room is available. The rooms and balcony too seem spacious (and nice size compared with other ships). Others can comment that have stayed in one .

Yah, that's awesome! On Allure, the benefits are even better for a JS...so wonderful news!

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.