Hoski

Linda I would say that depends. You will have a certain area to line up for the rental car shuttle and depending on how many people are a head of you it may work to send hubby on the shuttle alone to get the rental car but if you are first or second in line just go with him. I say this so he isn't fighting to get back in to pick you up through traffic and where he picks you up will be different than where someone gets the rental shuttle.

We use them all the time.

You can bring all the cigarettes on the ship that you want, no limit. Most ships have at least two places to smoke. Most having smoking in the casino and on the pool deck. Some of the ships have another small smoking area. Look at the past cruise compasses on here for your ship and they list where on each ship you can smoke. Don't forget an extra lighter.

You can bring a vape. Use it in smoking areas only. Must carry it on. No they do not sell them on the ships.

We rent a car for the day for the luggage and for us to explore. There is a Budget rental car downtown Miami that picks up at the pier and we return the car to the airport. If the kids are with us we do a hotel room for the day so the kids can chill out and watch tv or swim. If just hubby and I we will shop or find a casino. There are a couple of websites that offer hotel day rooms. Some are better than others as far as cost and what you get meaning a room verses just general hotel access and use of pool.

Thanks Matt My kids love anything Royal which scares me a little.

I see on the Symphony the shopping is more spread out with one shop on Deck 8. Can someone tell me what shops are on the Symphony? Hubby and I are going for Thanksgiving and I want to buy some Royal bling for the kids stockings as they love to cruise and aren't going with us this trip.

I wish you would send this to the Today Show or post it on their Facebook page. I used to really enjoy the Today Show but now it just makes me sick because they are making ratings off of this and they are totally wrong.

Allure of the Seas

Last week on Anthem my daughter's milk spoiled by the next day in the cooler. I should have done what I did on the Empress and added a bucket of ice inside the cooler/fridge but forgot. They were supposed to have a medical fridge for it because it is mixed with her medication but instead we got a gallon of distilled water, lol. We worked it out without asking for assistance. Wasn't worth it for a short cruise.

Yes they do and yes I got mine there last week.

Our one experience at Coastal Kitchen was not good. We plan to give it a try again next month.

Just off the Anthem with a picky eater and she would eat nothing off the specialty dining kids' menu. They got her french fries every night and never charged us for her.

I copied that directly from our Cruise Compass from the Anthem last week. There have been horror stories about the arcade and the sea pass cards. And even with cash accounts Royal allows you to go over so much before they call you down to pay the bill.

Officially 12, unofficially it depends. It depends on the port and the workers that day. Last week on Anthem people were carrying on cases and no one cared.

Gty cabins can change until the day of sailing.

We sailed an ocean view on the Empress this summer and did not have any trouble with our cabin. It was myself, my teen and my 8 year old. As long as we kept the cabin neat it was fine. We used packing cubes for our clothes and it went well. I would love to take the cruise you are talking about. The Empress has great spaces on board on the outside decks.

I cannot answer your question but wanted to share a warning had in the compass on our recent sailing. " Arcade Charges Children's SeaPass cards can be activated directly at the arcade even if those accounts have been deactivated for charging privileges. Please see Guest Services Staff for further information."

Navigator was decorated last year in December and they had gingerbread houses displayed in the Windjammer that crew had made. There was a little bit of Christmas music here and there but not a lot of Christmas activities. Santa showed up one day but we skipped it. I was disappointed that AO didn't do Christmas themed stuff with the kids.

Lucky for us we saw very few chair hogs on the Anthem last week. The one I noticed was two older gentlemen staking out the whole front row of chairs and then walking away. One thing we saw was people violating the no swim diaper rule. Mom wasn't hiding it and lifeguard wasn't doing anything about it. Yuck

We loved the Empress because it was a reminder of the old style of cruising and easy to get from point A to point B. I highly recommend the cooking class at Playa Mia in Cozumel. Hubby and I did it this spring for our anniversary and it was great. They do tend to dress nicer for dinner on the Empress compared to the newer ships.

The last two we tried to upgrade from our free interior to ocean view or balcony the cost of the upgrade through Casino Royale was way more than if we calculated through RoyalCaribbean.com. They told us it was because promotions don't apply to the casino rates and Royal was having a sale. Is this true? We are currently trying to upgrade one of our upcoming cabins.

Our invoice says the category but cruise planner says the same as yours until we got assigned. We would love to get assigned an aft balcony. Our favorite cabins. Got hooked on them years ago and now we always try to book them.

I really wish they would take PayPal. That would make life easier for us.

I sure hope they do. We sail there in January and I'd love to do the nighttime there.