WannaCruise

I sense a burgeoning suites snob....  
 
?

Our Room (JS)
This cruise was just DH and I, but even when we book with our kids, we tend to book a promenade room (all of us in one room, or we had 2 connecting ones on Navigator), or a balcony room (regular/spacious or boardwalk), and we have 2 connecting virtual balcony rooms on our next cruise.  But we've never booked anything above a balcony.
For this cruise, we started with a balcony, but then prices really dropped and we upgraded to a Junior Suite for the first time for only $100 more than we originally booked our balcony.  We know that the JS doesn't have the full suite privileges, but the room was still a big deal for us and we were excited for a bigger room (and we'll take the double points).
Our room was 1640  (deck 10, a few rooms down from the aft elevators on port side).
Location was perfect as it was only 1 deck away from Windjammer and pool deck.  It was also just 5 decks away from MDR (but correct side of the ship).  Very convenient and strangely, we don't typically book so high up, but may consider this going forward.  
Room size for us, was great.  Wow, all that space and we didn't have to squeeze by each other.  And shelving...OMG...so much; especially with the walk in closet.  My only regret was I didn't bring more clothes as we had extra shelves (that I used to place extra compasses that I wanted to keep)...lol.  And it had a great large balcony.  Nice! 

 


And walk in closet

The bathroom includes a tub with the shower, and the sink area has 2 mirrored shelves (can't remember if other rooms have one or two).  It also came with shampoo and conditioner (I bring my own anyways, but DH used the provided ones) and shower gel.  The provided shampoo, etc, wasn't the octaine brand (spelling?) but it seemed nice enough.

A few negatives
Our room was categorized as aft, but it really wasn't that far aft.  Thus, one thing we were surprised with is that we felt the vibrations of the engine (which was really only noticed when you lie down to go to bed).  And we were surprised since we expect this at the full aft rooms but not this location.  It wasn't that bad, and by bed you are so tired, that it didn't keep us up, but was noticeable. 
Just bad luck:
We had 2 technical issues with our room:
Toilet wouldn't flush at one point  After a shower and I turned off the water and I noticed that the water was pouring out of the drain that was on the outside of the tub.  And it wasn't stopping.  Ummm...that didn't look right But both issues they resolved fairly quickly.  The shower one must have been a bit of a bigger issue.  The water did eventually stop pouring, but the next morning we returned to our room after breakfast and there was a worker lying on the floor (at eye level to the drain) and had taken off the whole side of the tub/panel.  But they fixed it and no issue going forward.  
Room verdict
We loved the room.  Only issue?  How do we go back to a small one again?  Not world problems and we'll manage, but I'm sure we'll notice the difference. ?

Following!! ?

Our Room (JS)
This cruise was just DH and I, but even when we book with our kids, we tend to book a promenade room (all of us in one room, or we had 2 connecting ones on Navigator), or a balcony room (regular/spacious or boardwalk), and we have 2 connecting virtual balcony rooms on our next cruise.  But we've never booked anything above a balcony.
For this cruise, we started with a balcony, but then prices really dropped and we upgraded to a Junior Suite for the first time for only $100 more than we originally booked our balcony.  We know that the JS doesn't have the full suite privileges, but the room was still a big deal for us and we were excited for a bigger room (and we'll take the double points).
Our room was 1640  (deck 10, a few rooms down from the aft elevators on port side).
Location was perfect as it was only 1 deck away from Windjammer and pool deck.  It was also just 5 decks away from MDR (but correct side of the ship).  Very convenient and strangely, we don't typically book so high up, but may consider this going forward.  
Room size for us, was great.  Wow, all that space and we didn't have to squeeze by each other.  And shelving...OMG...so much; especially with the walk in closet.  My only regret was I didn't bring more clothes as we had extra shelves (that I used to place extra compasses that I wanted to keep)...lol.  And it had a great large balcony.  Nice! 

 


And walk in closet

The bathroom includes a tub with the shower, and the sink area has 2 mirrored shelves (can't remember if other rooms have one or two).  It also came with shampoo and conditioner (I bring my own anyways, but DH used the provided ones) and shower gel.  The provided shampoo, etc, wasn't the octaine brand (spelling?) but it seemed nice enough.

A few negatives
Our room was categorized as aft, but it really wasn't that far aft.  Thus, one thing we were surprised with is that we felt the vibrations of the engine (which was really only noticed when you lie down to go to bed).  And we were surprised since we expect this at the full aft rooms but not this location.  It wasn't that bad, and by bed you are so tired, that it didn't keep us up, but was noticeable. 
Just bad luck:
We had 2 technical issues with our room:
Toilet wouldn't flush at one point  After a shower and I turned off the water and I noticed that the water was pouring out of the drain that was on the outside of the tub.  And it wasn't stopping.  Ummm...that didn't look right But both issues they resolved fairly quickly.  The shower one must have been a bit of a bigger issue.  The water did eventually stop pouring, but the next morning we returned to our room after breakfast and there was a worker lying on the floor (at eye level to the drain) and had taken off the whole side of the tub/panel.  But they fixed it and no issue going forward.  
Room verdict
We loved the room.  Only issue?  How do we go back to a small one again?  Not world problems and we'll manage, but I'm sure we'll notice the difference. ?

Embarkation
Adventure was parked at terminal 29 at Port Everglades.  We passed the lovely Allure on the way, but still felt the "wow" feeling when we we saw Adventure....that feeling when you see the ship waiting for you for the first time.  Our last two cruises were at the new terminal at Miami and this one was much more plain looking, but everything was still pretty quick and smooth.  Even though we had a suite booked, they told us to wait in our C&A section.  But then they started boarding at 10:30am and so we were one of the first groups called and we were on the ship by 10:40am.  Not bad!

Pre Cruise Hotel
We originally booked Courtyard Marriott in Plantation as it was a decent hotel for a decent price and it looked like there were enough shops and restaurateurs in the area to keep us busy for the afternoon.  But then, DH saw that Holiday Inn Express had an ok price and it is by the port, so we switched our booking. It is a 5 min walk to the 17th street shops and restaurants so handy area as well.
I recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a place.  The room was a good size with a nice bathroom.  We had dinner at Duffys (really yummy mahi mahi sandwiches if anyone likes that kind of thing). 
Breakfast is included with the hotel booking.  It was just ok (basic breakfast buffet), but we were getting on a cruise a few hours later so it didn't matter that it wasn't first class. This hotel is pretty close to the port, which is nice.
 

DH and I just returned from a 6 night cruise on Adventure with stops at  George Town in Grand Cayman, Costa Maya and Cozumel in Mexico (and 2 sea days).  
This won't be a full blog as I don't want to put everyone to sleep (it was pretty low key without our kids), but I thought I'd give a short review and some thoughts.
To date, I've been on Grandeur, Voyager...many years ago, and in more recent years Allure, Mariner, Independence, Symphony, Navigator, and now Adventure.  Thus, I can give some comparisons, and we've almost done all of the Voyager class ships.

Embarkation
Adventure was parked at terminal 29 at Port Everglades.  We passed the lovely Allure on the way, but still felt the "wow" feeling when we we saw Adventure....that feeling when you see the ship waiting for you for the first time.  Our last two cruises were at the new terminal at Miami and this one was much more plain looking, but everything was still pretty quick and smooth.  Even though we had a suite booked, they told us to wait in our C&A section.  But then they started boarding at 10:30am and so we were one of the first groups called and we were on the ship by 10:40am.  Not bad!

Embarkation
Adventure was parked at terminal 29 at Port Everglades.  We passed the lovely Allure on the way, but still felt the "wow" feeling when we we saw Adventure....that feeling when you see the ship waiting for you for the first time.  Our last two cruises were at the new terminal at Miami and this one was much more plain looking, but everything was still pretty quick and smooth.  Even though we had a suite booked, they told us to wait in our C&A section.  But then they started boarding at 10:30am and so we were one of the first groups called and we were on the ship by 10:40am.  Not bad!

Embarkation
Adventure was parked at terminal 29 at Port Everglades.  We passed the lovely Allure on the way, but still felt the "wow" feeling when we we saw Adventure....that feeling when you see the ship waiting for you for the first time.  Our last two cruises were at the new terminal at Miami and this one was much more plain looking, but everything was still pretty quick and smooth.  Even though we had a suite booked, they told us to wait in our C&A section.  But then they started boarding at 10:30am and so we were one of the first groups called and we were on the ship by 10:40am.  Not bad!

Yep....I just got off Adventure yesterday.  The ship was rocking the last day and now at home, I swear our house is swaying.

I’ve yet to hear a report of the no show fee actually being levied.  

I had the same issue when booking shows between two rooms.  Then I realized after adding the other two from our connecting room, that I didn't complete the steps.  You need to select the checkout button and the page where you enter your name and email.

Wow, beautiful photo!  Thanks for sharing.
Will go with your bytheslice's suggestion and keep the reservation, but check once on board..both at North Star reservation and Sea Plex schedule..  

Yeah ok.  I get your overall point.

I'm the wife....lol.... (can't tell from my name)
True, that would work, but don't think DH would settle for the sofa bed.  Thanks for the suggestion though.

Waiting for transport to port.  Mariner here we come!!! Will try to do a blog after we return! 

Disembarkation and a few closing notes:
Oh gosh, what a whirlwind of a trip. 4 nights is simply too short!  I originally wanted to book a longer sailing, but one of the women had never been away from her two little girls, and I totally understood.  I managed to pack up the night before in half darkness (impressed the heck out of myself, lemme tell ya!). 
We sauntered down to The Key breakfast around 8am and treated ourselves to some decadent Eggs Benedict (the ONLY time I ever allow myself the pleasure is on a cruise), and lamented our impending doom. I mean, departure. When we finally dragged ourselves away from the table, we made it to deck 4 and off the ship with nary a line.  Zip .... off.  Since we carried on at the beginning of the trip, we carried off, and were rolling past all of the other people picking up luggage within about 3 minutes (which was as long as it took us to drag our heels off of the ship). 
I was kind of cruel at this point. My friends were booking along ahead of me - apparently trying to reinforce that they did, indeed, have longer legs than I, so I hung back at my own pace.  La la la la - watching them trying to finagle their passports out of their bags. BWAHAHAHA..... there was my chance to pass on the left! Passports?? We don't need no stinking passports!! This is Terminal A, BABY!!!  I stepped through the facial recognition before they even saw me.  But it was a nice surprise for them.  "Wait, that's it? We don't need to do anything else?"  Nope!
We scoped out the RideShare area (such as it is) and checked the price for an Uber ($37.14) to MIA.  Then a man from Koala Transportation offered a shuttle direct to the airport for $10/ea. Saving money AND Koalas???? SIGN ME UP.  Our wait for the shuttle was about 5 minutes. We loaded into a large Sprinter van with 10 other people who were similarly depressed to be off the ship, and were at the airport within 15 minutes.
Where we waited. And waited.  I went through the TSA Precheck line at 9:45 am and our flight wasn't going to board until 1:30pm.  Yep, that was the first flight available.  We eventually moseyed off to the Budweiser Brew House for our last libation and another snack (because, let's face it, it had been more than 30 minutes since we'd last ate), where one of them ordered a Coors Lite.  In a Budweiser Brew House.  I thought the ceiling would come down on us - I nearly ducked under the table - between the staff and all of the customers we were nearly booed and laughed out of the airport.  I told my friends that we could wander down to the Heineken Bar if it would make them feel better (that joke was not well received, btw).
Suffice it to say that they have kind of been spoiled for cruising in the future. Getting a little extra special treatment with The Key, having a beautiful aft-facing balcony (and that room really had a lot of space!), a cabana at Coco Cay - I think their expectations for the next cruise will be high (sorry, not sorry).  They are already looking at cruises for next December (7 night Allure). I'm trying to encourage them to do it, even though I might not be able to join them.  I will be starting a new position in April, and I''m not sure that I'll get approval for a week off in October (Group Cruise), November (Odyssey), December (girl's trip?) and January again. It MIGHT be asking too much.
But then again ... YOLO.

Sea Day - my favorite! 
A day to explore the parts of the ship you haven't seen yet. Or hang out in your favorite nook. Keep busy. Do nothing. I love it. 
We partied hard the night before and nobody woke up until 9am. For the first time we decided to divide and conquer. One went to the gym (guaranteed not to be me), another explored a few Bloody Marys at the pool bar. I went to watch people on the Flow Rider, then took a little nap on the deck above the Lime and Coconut. We all met up for lunch in the MDR. 
I always love looking at the Itinerary channel on the TV. The captain has to be creative when trying to stretch the short trip from Coco Cay to Miami and make it last nearly a day and a half. That, or he also had the Deluxe Beverage Package. 

We then hit the Schooner Bar for some Harry Potter Trivia (I just drank since I've neither seen nor read the stories). After a little shopping on the Promenade, we settled back into our room to enjoy the balcony for the last evening before dinner. 
Since it was a sea day and I had no sky rats, chickens, or iguanas to soothe me, I had to settle for #FakeDog. 




After dinner (I miss you already, Malcin!!!) one of the women had a slight headache and went up to the room to lay down. But the two of us left were not ready to give up yet. We headed to the Hush Party to give that a try. It was definitely amusing for a short time, although the music waa pretty monotonous, and I was done after about 15 minutes   I wanted to get to the 80s party on the Promenade! 

I couldn't remember exactly what time it was supposed to begin, so I stopped next to an elevator to check the Compass on the interactive screen.
Suddenly I hear my friend SCREAMING my name. I rush over and she dragged me into an elevator absolutely stuffed with people and the Stowaway Piano Player!!! 

I was beyond thrilled. We'd been looking out for him all week. And my friends learned this week that few things entertain me as much as the opportunity to sing out loud with fun people and fun music. It was really the funnest 20 minutes of the cruise.

The look on people's faces from outside the glass elevators, and from other elevators, was priceless. And the look when the elevator doors would open to people waiting... it varied from shock to awe. I probably would have stayed in there longer, but decided other people should be able to play, too (blah). 
It was time for Showgirls to start, so we ducked into there too check it out. The singing was good, but I was mostly impressed with the costumes. 
It ended in time for the 80s party, so I hung out there until I realized that I had not even begun to pack yet (denial was strong). It had only been 4 nights, surely it wasn't time to leave yet!!!! 

Good question.  I think it's great how Royal is making a lot of their ships more family friendly and adding slides and stuff to be more competitive with Disney , NCl and Carnival.  Maybe they want to keep some of the smaller ships more as an adult ship to be of interest for those that don't need all the amenities?  I think it's a good thing how they have variety in the fleet so there is something for everyone.  

Yeah...not expecting a lot of space but as long as we can manage. Don't spend a ton of time in the room so am not dismissing it. As mentioned, we've stayed 4 in a room, and typically do, but not in such a small one (and full enclosed interior with no window at all). Guessing there is less storage too?  I priced out 2 rooms but those also come close to 5K.  I hear you about balancing the budget...our March Break one we know is the pricier one, and so end of summer we try and keep it lower with a shorter cruise.  Having said that, our kids are older than yours and I wouldn't be as hesitant with kids your age (if a pullman is an option-but some have double sofa bed too).  
P.S. - I do love the YOLO saying on here.  So true.?

My pleasure, thanks for following. 
I did not see any mention at all of the drink card. Nor did I see any mention of the coffee card, for that matter. That is not to say 100% that they were not available but they were not advertised in the Compass, which I would have expected if they were being offered.

Our cruise is partly about culturally enriching, also! My wife is from Honduras, and the itinerary includes Roatan, Honduras.  We are trying to get family to meet us there, but its proving more difficult than we had hoped.  Our oldest has spent a week with us in Tegucigalpa, but it was as a baby, and our youngest has never been.  We recognize Roatan is far different than the mainland, but hey.....its something!!! 

My kids are still staying home, they aren’t smart enough/old enough to come up with that argument so they won’t know what they are missing yet. 
 
They will get their culturally enriching experience in a few years when we spend a few weeks with family who live in Luxembourg.
 
...........and the post high jacking has begun.......sorry...