AshleyDillo

I like a lot of them..sadly my leave time does not.

Jewel of the Seas an option for you?

Her TA may be non-REV as she's going into drydock before starting her Europe itineraries.

It's the same way for me.

Looks like a pretty decent variety..tons of options. If they do smoke onboard (likely electric smokers) it's definitely a place you want to hit up early on in the day so they don't run out on you!

All charges are lumped together for your ending balance. Then they apply the non-refundable OBC as a credit first. But yes, you can take out non-refundable OBC through the casino because of the way they process it.

Orlando is easy to navigate and you will be able to walk between the two terminals.

Definitely! Kicking myself for not doing it sooner as I've had some travel mishaps that I could have benefited from by having the annual policy. Not that I don't have the means to fly by the seat of my pants if needed because of travel issues, but it's nice to know that you'll recoup some of the money! I will have to say that the policies are very well written to where you may assume you have coverage for something when you really don't. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that your trip doesn't start until you leave your house, and therefore no coverage for travel delay or interruption is in effect. And trip cancellation coverage is only effective until you leave for the trip..so if you have a cruise preemptively affected because of weather, you don't really have any coverage until you leave for the trip. If you decide to cancel a cruise because it got shortened due to weather, that's not one of the reasons that trip cancellation insurance typically covers. A lot of folks get caught off guard by this.

We've done it before..can't remember which insurance company it was through, but it was a third-party. We had no issues with our claim but it's all about documentation. I want to say I ended up submitting a 72-page document for effectively a travel delay claim (hurricane closed down the airport we were to fly home into). Understanding the difference between trip cancellation, trip interruption, and trip delay coverage is important as they cover different things for different reasons and that can trip you up when filing. But those coverages are secondary for me as the biggest financial loss would be due to medical issues. I just got an annual policy through Allianz to help with that as I have a lot of traveling coming up and it was much more cost effective than paying per trip.

Definitely looks promising for WOW bands on Oasis!

And again..this is inconsistent from ship to ship. Some Star Class folks get charged at Chef's Table because of the wine pairing aspect and others don't.

Embassy Suites 17th Street is a decent hotel in a good location. Embassy Suites have free breakfast in the morning with made to order omelets and an evening complimentary happy hour. Plus it's consistent so I always know what to expect from a room there..they easily accommodate families. Hyatt Place was also reasonable and comfortable. There's several restaurants immediately walkable and it's super close to the port which makes it a cheap Uber/Lyft ride the next morning. There are several hotels in that area which tend to be the same quality/amenities. Just spends on if you have a particular preference or brand loyalty. @Lovetocruise2002 is always going to recommend LaBamba which is in a shopping center right there by those hotels. It's a mexican/spanish chain and they have several locations in the area. I ordered the carnitas and was pleasantly surprised! There's also Publix and Total Wine in that shopping center which is great for picking up last minute items you may need for the cruise.

Yes. And you have 14 days from when you redeem your prize to get it applied to your sailing before it expires. They want to encourage new bookings by dangling the OBC before you..hence the 30-day booking window requirement for redemption.

You can still book two adjoining rooms without selecting the connecting rooms option and going by the deck plans and choosing two rooms next to each other with the bi-directional arrow. No price increase because of that when I did it that way.

Not yet. Been keeping an eye out!

Nice! I had heard they did this when there were several S2S cruisers that needed to go between different terminals within Miami, but I haven't seen them offer the port transfer in a while! Let us know how many folks take advantage of this; I am definitely curious how many people are doing a S2S.

Our Genie preferred to use Facebook messenger or email. Since we had free VOOM it was never an issue for us to shoot off an email outlining a breakfast order for the next morning or shoot her a quick Facebook message letting her know we were on the way to the theater, etc. You can establish the best way to communicate with your Genie that works for your party and the Genie.

Those aft balconies are pretty coveted. If you really wanted to stay in the same stateroom is seems you would need to downgrade to an oceanview for the first sailing and then upgrade from the inside on the second to that same oceanview. I personally wouldn't give up the aft balcony and would just deal with the slight inconvenience of moving for the second leg.

I really enjoyed Icy Strait Point which you are only going to get on the one-way North/Southbound Radiance sailings or the single 9-day RT Radiance sailing out of Vancouver. I also liked taking the Alaskan Railroad Anchorage to Seward the morning of embarkation for the southbound sailing. The views from the train are very scenic and it's an enjoyable way to be able to spend the night in Anchorage (which is easier to find hotel accommodations) and then transfer to the cruise in the morning. I'm also trying to make a decision with a group who have never been before. If it was just me going then it's a toss-up between that 9-night Radiance sailing or the 7-night Serenade sailing that visits Sitka (since that's one Alaska cruiseport I haven't visited).

First trip? Once in a lifetime trip? Starter trip to explore with the intent to come back? Serenade is a smaller ship that does the RT from Vancouver. RT tends to make flight logistics easier. As it is smaller it can visit smaller ports such at Sitka that you won't see on the Ovation itineraries. Radiance does the one-way trips. Same smaller ship, but being one-way it can visit more ports in a 7-day span than the RT cruises. These are also the cruises that link with the optional land tour components (which I highly recommend if you have the time/$ and it's the bucket list/once in a lifetime trip). Ovation is the newer ship with much more to do onboard (bumper cars, flowrider, iFly, NorthStar). It does the RT itineraries from Seattle, so it's only a couple of Alaska port stops plus Victoria to comply with the necessity for a foreign port stop. Again being RT from Seattle, that means flights are usually easier to figure out.

Yes. You just indicate that you want to set a cash account up when you check in for the cruise. You will be required to visit guest services to pay off your balance once it reaches $300 or $500 (depending on cruise length) in order to charge anything further to your onboard account. Then you will need to settle up at the end of the cruise at Guest Services or you will not be allowed to disembark. At that point you can pay off your balance with a card or with cash.

Yes! You can even visit the pool area and walk around but you can't get into the pool. I believe you've stated that you weren't interested in being responsible for driving, but I think it would be an economical and flexible option for your family. Rent a car at PC and drive to Orlando. Do what you want to do and see and drive back. I've been to Orlando plenty of times and not gone into the parks at all. You can ride the monorail around from the TTC to Epcot and all the monorail resorts, take the ferry from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom all for free..grab a Dole Whip at the Polynesian. Take a boat over to Fort Wilderness and explore the campgrounds and Wilderness Lodge. Drive over to the Animal Kingdom resorts, park and walk around and see the animals that may be out at the resorts..drive over to the EPCOT resorts, etc. If you're visiting close to Easter I know they've done some nice displays at the resorts where the employees get to decorate Easter eggs for a contest and they are incredible!

It has been an extra charge (ala carte) option from the start. Only a few more weeks to wait until hopefully a menu and prices are revealed!

NextCruise (the on-ship venue for making new bookings) doesn't really give discounts. They use the same pricing anyone can pull up on Royal's site and all of the current sales are whatever is being offered. The benefit with NextCruise is that you can sometimes get a little bit of onboard credit when you make a booking through them. They used to offer reduced deposits as well but that is becoming more and more rare. http://www.royalonboardsales.com/#seeoffer is where you can check the current offer before you sail, along with all the tiny print with the terms and conditions. If you do use them, just make sure you fully understand what you are booking and have it clarified whether it's refundable or non-refundable, etc.

It's up to the taxi or rideshare driver whether they will take the kids if you don't have the proper seats for them. Florida's rules are boosters up to age 5, I believe. Limos, buses, and chauffeured rides like that are exempt. You may want to look into some of the ultra portable options out there such as mifold.