SpeedNoodles

Welcome to the forums!!! Unfortunately, alcoholic beverages seized on embarkation day will not be returned. If you purchase it in a port during your cruise it will be returned to you the night before disembarkation. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-alcohol-guest-policy

I'm a fan of this strategy.

now it rings a bell. How it didn't show up on 3 end to end videos is beyond me, but there it is!

I watched 3 YouTube videos that had end-to-end walks on the Promenade and never saw a car. I also don't remember seeing one when I was on her last Feb. So maybe they skipped that one?

We are unlike other cruise forums. We are cool. ? We're glad you're here!

Welcome to the forum! 300,000 people die of influenza every year and nobody bats an eyelash. I'm keeping this all in perspective.

+3 on the entire envy issue - can't wait to follow along!

I haven't been obsessively checking and rechecking the long-term forecast at all. Nahhhhhhhh......... So far, so good.

LOL, actually he's the only one named from the movie. It just fit him - he's big, and super sweet, and sometimes not as smart as he should be. And when my husband was 5 years old, he was at a wrestling match in St. Paul, MN and Andre The Giant put his hand on his head. Or rather it enveloped his head. It made quite an impression on him. He's been a fan ever since.

Welcome to the forum!! It's too early. I wouldn't worry about San Juan - everything has been running per normal there. Congrats on coming back to the cruise world!

Thanks so much!

Since we’re officially 4 weeks away from our cruise I thought it was an appropriate time to start the blog? (No? Meh, I’m going with it anyway). I never expected to book a cruise like this with Mr SpeedNoodles. He’s more into the “culturally enriching and/or scenic” sort of cruises. He wasn’t really thrilled about booking a cruise to the Caribbean because “they’re just islands - what is there to see that’s different from the next island?”. Plus, he’s a small-ship guy. He likes being able to walk around that outside Promenade level and visiting the helipad. He likes that connection to the sea. Honestly, since I’ve never been to the Caribbean myself so I couldn’t really negate his impressions. I have no idea myself. My two, short, warm-weather cruises were to Nassau/Coco Cay. So how did we end up booking this? Well, a year and a half ago, we had our Alaskan cruise booked on Ovation for June 2019. We hadn’t taken a cruise, or any vacation that didn’t involve showing dogs, in ten years (pet sitters are hard to come by). But we finally secured one, and we had quite the trip planned. We were going to drive to Seattle, spending 2-3 days in Yellowstone (we had the historic Yellowstone Inn booked), and then we were going to spend about 4-5 days exploring the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, where we plan to retire, before we boarded Ovation for our 7-night Alaskan cruise. But things happen, and in September of 2018 my husband slipped on a wet floor at a business and tore his quadricep. He was out of work for 4 months after his surgery, which ate up a significant portion of his PTO that he had saved for the trip. We decided that we couldn’t pull off the 3-week trip, and would have to fly to Seattle if we wanted to still go (note: Mr SpeedNoodles is terrified of flying - serious druggage is necessary to accomplish a flight). So MY thought process was that we could use the money we were saving by shortening our trip to Seattle to book a winter Caribbean cruise! #speednoodleslogic. I threw the idea out there at him, expecting him to poo poo it, and to my great surprise he just said yes! HOLY CRAP! I emailed @michelle at MEI and quickly booked Symphony before he could change his mind. During the 13+ month span of time since I booked the cruise I’ve been exposing him here and there with Royal Caribbean Blog podcasts (as well as the Cruise Tips TV Unplugged podcast), live YouTube and Facebook chats, etc etc. After the Ovation cruise, he was even more excited about Symphony. Planning. Could. Begin. Itinerary Miami - Sea Day - Sea Day - St. Maarten - San Juan, PR - Sea Day - Coco Cay - Miami Pre-cruise hotel: Kimpton Epic What have we booked onboard? We went all out on our first Oasis-class ship. Unlimited Beverage Package ($18 intern special, TYVM) Unlimited Dining Package All Access Ship Tour Escape Room The Key Excursions? You betcha!!! (#OfficialMinnesotaTerminology) St. Maarten - 3rd party ATV tour San Juan - ATV tour booked through Royal Caribbean (this one should be very special to me and later I’ll tell you why!) Nothing special on Coco Key - Mr. Speednoodles’ plan is to snorkel, eat crispy chicken sandwich, snorkel, eat crispy chicken sandwich, repeat. I'll do some of the same with breaks to find the chickens and iguanas (I believe we are now on a first-name basis). This cruise is actually ending up being a sort of celebration. Immediately upon our return I’ll be starting my new job - I’ve been promoted to supervisor! I’m very excited (for many reasons, not least of which it is much easier to get PTO approved at that level!!) Ugh, the waiting is the hardest part (or so said Mr. Petty). I want to pack and go NOW!!!!! (Shameless Fezzik photo, just because).

Congratulations! So exciting!

Swimwear - Day 1 is a great time to get space at the pool or catch the water slides.

Don't ever bother looking at the % off. You'll always pay less booking it prior to your cruise - just look at the price per day - the rest is meaningless.

Depending on your status you may be eligible for discounts on certain room types, so I'd update Royal or your TA in case there's a price break.

Nobody knows because it's not open yet. But they do limit the number of people who can use it - I don't know what that limit is. There's typically plenty of room on Coco Cay.

No. Coco Cay has a great freshwater pool with swim-up bar, it also has fantastic food. Your drink package will work on Coco Cay, as will Voom, if you have it. I like Blue Lagoon, but it doesn't have great food (fair, small selection).

Yeah, I'd lose my sh*t if I saw someone treating a dog like that, and that doesn't come close to what the spouse would do. I've never been to Labadee but I've heard the local vendors are much more aggressive than on Coco Cay (I didn't find that most of them even attempted to engage me unless I was in their stall looking at something.

Given a choice of using environmentally friendly sunscreen I cannot imagine using something that’s not environmentally friendly. Even if the rules don’t change for a year, the animals are still there.

There are signs everywhere on that deck to not sit on railings. #Fail

Just contact your TA and they'll put it on your credit card on file.

LOL, I think I just got credit for something @AshleyDillo said. I'll take that as a compliment!, @Matt

The DBP is the Deluxe Beverage Package (the alcohol package) and the intern sale is what we lovingly call an EXTREME error made by someone last year when they posted the Deluxe Beverage Package for $18 per person per day (about $40 savings per person per day). A bunch of us jumped on it - Royal ended up honoring it and the joke was that some intern screwed up.

Stupid question, but what's Atlantis? I assume not the resort in Nassau?