AshleyDillo

Maybe they figured Symphony has Hooked, so if you want your seafood fix you would just go there.

March 15-18 Mariner of the Seas...I'm going on the first dip of the Double Dip to CocoCay group cruise..woooo.

I was not impressed with 150 at all. Never been before and really had zero interest from looking at the menu..but not my $, not my decision. The bread was the best part. One of the group cruisers said he walked in and asked for the bread to go and they gave it to him to at no charge. I loved Jamie's on both Anthem and Symphony and that's probably my favorite of the specialty restaurants. I like the casual atmosphere and I will never turn down a plate of meat and cheese. I would do Wonderland once a cruise if it was included because I like that it's different and it's an experience. Chops is meh to me..there isn't anything different or unique there. We did do that on our balcony one evening on Symphony. The food was lukewarm as it gets delivered all at once, but it was passable. It seems like SO MUCH FOOD when all the food comes at once too. It took up the entire six-person balcony table and we still didn't have room for the dessert. Never impressed by Hibachi as you can get it on land and it's usually better. It almost felt like a must do in Star Class as it's such a difficult reservation to get, but I could have cared less. The sushi bar never had a wait and I would eat there all day, every day. I kind of wish I would have requested that the Genie have the MDR/WJ chef make us some Indian food every day. I loooove Indian food. However, I don't think I'd want it delivered to the room and sitting and waiting for us. I'm also the weirdo that doesn't like lobster, crab or scallops but pretty much anything else goes.

Ask your Genie about getting those dishes delivered to your room on the nights they are offered. It may be food overkill, but I'm sure it can be arranged! They made a dish from a different night's menu for us when we only had one night at CK on Symphony.

Love Southwest for this reason. They make it really easy to rebook and use the travel credits without having to speak to ANYONE. Plus you can usually buy discounted Southwest gift cards at Sams or BJs online. And if you don't care about Rapid Rewards points and being in charge of your own booking, there's even a secret shopper program if you're willing to do the work in exchange for a 50% refund.

We weren't sure if they read the pre-cruise survey, but it is just another tool for them to get a glean of preferences and add a little Genie magic is possible. They also have access to your onboard account. One of our Genie gifts was a set of whiskey rocks which was cute as one member in our party @CGTLH tends to order Gentleman Jack and she probably noticed a trend there. The gifts go both ways...our Genie mentioned that she burned herself when she sat on her straightening iron ? My mother had a silicone sleeve that she uses for hers, so she gave that to the Genie and we all had a laugh about that.

Oooh..this will be an interesting blog/report to follow. I went on one music charter and I wish I had taken the time to do a blog or a review just to note all the differences from a typical cruise. It's really different experience but familiar, if that makes sense. I absolutely loved it and would prefer that all music festivals I attended were at sea!

A taxi or car service is likely the most convenient way from Manhattan and it is going to run around that price. The absolute cheapest way would be to navigate the PATH from NYC to NJ and switch to the light rail to Bayonne and then Uber to the port. But that's definitely not easy, convenient, especially with luggage.

Can't help you with dinner suggestions, but I have heard great things about Rosetta Bakery which looks to have a location close to the Hampton Inn. Might be decent to grab a light lunch or some breakfast if the free Hampton breakfast doesn't do it for you.

Didn't you know? You've been switched to cruise on the Mein Schiff! ?

When you make show reservations you aren't reserving seats you are just guaranteeing your entrance to that show. The Key will have a reserved section that you will have access to once you get into the theater.

If you are going to rent a car from Miami to Orlando, look for the rental car companies that have a free shuttle from the Port of Miami to the airport. I rented from National/Enterprise when I was on Symphony. Walked off the ship at 645am and was at the airport rental car terminal by 710am. Most of the big name car rental agencies use the same shuttle. Just need proof of the reservation to board the shuttle. If you can get a later flight out of Orlando without any fee to change I would do that just to give yourself some extra time. One traffic jam at any point on the route between Miami and Orlando and you could miss your flight.

They are waterproof. They do not have time on them, so you would still need a way to tell time. Roaming waiters will need to take the band if they're going to be delivering you a drink. Some of the bars and stores will have the scanner accessible where you can reach it and not have to take it off, but a lot of them do not. You can use the Wow band to pay anywhere you would use your SeaPass card to pay IF they have a scanner. I never used mine when I had access to them. They just weren't comfortable for me. It was easier for me to use a lanyard with my SeaPass card that I could easily snap off and hand over as needed. I could see the benefit in the Wow bands for kids to be able to get into their rooms and not have to worry about losing their cards..but even then I think a lanyard works better (outside of being in/out of pools all day).

I don't like to flash the badge either. On Anthem there is a sign near the entrance of the bumper cars that says Star Class line-up, but I preferred just having the Genie walk us up there. Personal attention makes me uncomfortable, but both Genies we have had were good about not pushing for more than I asked for. Of course we have one pushier one in our party, so she took up most of the attention anyways since she usually always had something she had to have ? Since it's not really my money paying for Star Class (just my inheritance ?) I just go with the flow. The biggest benefit for me is not having to make all the plans. That's the thing I enjoyed the most -- anything that I wanted to do on the ship I knew I would get to do if I asked. All the show reservations were made, dinner reservations, in-room snacks waiting on me at all times, fridge stocked and then I could walk into any bar or restaurant on the ship and get anything I wanted. As for deliveries, I just don't think we were in the room when deliveries came to notice any intrusion. I know we would come back and find things waiting for us. Our room stewards took care of replacing anything we needed and usually they waited until we left the room and then asked us on our way out if there was something we needed. I didn't find we got a lot of deliveries outside of the things we asked for. In fact, I think we got more deliveries when we were in a Grand Suite on Radiance just with the stuff that suites normally get. I didn't feel we got as many of those deliveries being in Star Class, which is good because we definitely didn't need anymore food! On Symphony our Genie had us use Facebook Messenger to communicate with her since both myself and @CGTLH are familiar with the app it made it really easy to get in touch with her at all times. On Anthem we were always trying to reach the Genie using the phone and it just wasn't as easy or immediate.

I believe @CGTLH asked for a bloody mary to come with breakfast on our last Symphony SC experience and he got it no questions asked. We had Chops on the balcony for dinner one evening and it actually was an evening that Chops was closed for a special event. We were able to order glasses of wine with the Chops order with no issue. The genie arranged some favorite menu items to be available in the Coastal Kitchen on a night they weren't normally served. We asked for a shrimp dish we had missed ordering at Hooked and less than an hour later when we returned to the room it was waiting there, one for each guest in the room. I'm not one for being waited on hand and foot all the time, so my favorite perk was being able to order Izumi sushi to-go whenever they were open.

They often have servers walking around that can take orders that would make it a little more convenient and no one has to get up.

If you do a beach day in Cozumel you may want to consider just hanging at the port in Costa Maya. They have a pool right there in the port area in the middle of all the shopping. It's not necessarily relaxing with everyone shopping and walking through the port, but it's an easy way to stay safe and enjoy some pool time. If you want to go to a beach in Costa Maya you need to get to Mahauhaul either by taking the tram ($4 per person) at the end of the port maze or a taxi (just outside the port gates). The tram will take you to a street that parallels the boardwalk which has a lot of places that will offer you beach access for a moderate price. Krazy Lobster is one of them. They seem to be a favorite as I hear recommendations for them a lot. I've only strolled the boardwalk, so never experienced it myself. I second the Paradise Beach recommendation. It's $3 per person entry and they ask that you spend $10 per person on food and drink while you are there. There's a pool, changing facilities, restrooms and a beach. When I went the water was pretty calm.

Give yourself some extra time as you can not get a taxi in the port. You have to exit the gates and walk up to the taxi line and wait for the next available one. There is a tram to Mahauhal for $4 per person that leaves right from the port. You have to buy tickets from the counter at the port (all the way through at the end) and then get in line for the tram. The taxis are allowed to bring you back to the port, they just can't pick up in there. There's no return tram, so you have to return via taxi.

As @mworkman linked for you, you see that Denali is a land tour stop. You definitely have to take the land tour to see Denali. There are so many different options for Alaska and it really depends on how much time you have. We did the combo cruise/land tour through Royal (13 nights) and now we have a good idea of what we would go back and see. We got to spend most of a day in Denali on a bus tour (included), but still didn't make it completely through the entire park. Alaska is just SO big!

Maybe consider a cruisetour that combines a cruise and a land tour? There's a lot of interior Alaska to see! The glass dome train and Denali National Park was one of my favorite parts of the trip when we went.

We did this itinerary and had two suites with large balconies on each side of the ship (same floor). We did spend time on them during the glacier day and when pulling into port. They rotate the ship 360 degrees so all sides of the ship do get to see everything. We had fun running from side to side to see things but we missed any commentary as it wasn't easily heard on our balcony. We were super bundled up as the glacier day was the coldest day we had (end of May/beginning of June). Temps were high 60s for the rest of our trip but it was probably 40 or so at the glacier. Felt like it at least to this native Floridian. My opinion if you're deadset on a balcony go with the cheapest of the ones you are looking at. I'm a cheapo, so if I was paying I'd go for bottom of the barrel inside. Fortunately, I have family that likes to bribe me to spend time with them ?

Hampton Inn & Suites in Brickell has rooms with 2 queen beds and a pull-out sofa. It could handle 6 and they have free breakfast.

I've bookmarked this page and checked it from time to time in the past: http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Multi_Dest/Special_Offers/rci_sales_event.pdf It's currently showing January 8-9, but I think it gets updated every few weeks? I can't say it's necessarily the cheapest or best deals as I don't spend much time pricing cruises out but I like being able to easily see prices laid out like this for different sailings.

There was not one when I was on Symphony in November 2018 out of Miami. I did see a posting where someone had it available in their cruise planner and was asking about it. I think it may have been a 2020 sailing, though.

I don't know if the one on Anthem is an express, but you order at the counter and pick up your food there as well. There are only a few tables inside. Also it's ala carte and no free breakfast.