melmar02

I have a list of restaurants from Trip Advisor/Google reviews, but I'm open to suggestions.

I just received a marketing email trying to get me to book specialty dining for this cruise. It lists Izumi right between Giovanni's Table and Sabor - Royal IT at its finest or is a change happening over those three days with no one onboard? I'll be sure to report if I see evidence of the later, but I'm not holding my breath.

We stayed there on our very first cruise 14 years ago, and it seemed dated then. I'm hoping the one we are staying at this time is as nice as the pictures on Hilton's website. There are no menus or anything in the Daily Planner section of the app yet for either of our sailings. Liberty is currently completing her last New England cruise. Then she has a 3 day non revenue reposition to Florida. Our first leg, the 6 day, is a one off, and then she will do 3/4 night sailings. I'm sure that has something to do with the delay. I've uninstalled/reinstalled the app with no luck and people in the FB group have complained, so I know it's not just me. The planner in me wants to see everything, but I'm really trying to just go with the flow on this one.

This past April when we went on Allure, I thought it would be a good idea to squeeze in just one more wedding before we went on vacation, and I delivered a cake the morning that we left town. Then we got back and I had a wedding 4 days later. We tried to do all the things on the bigger ship. Not going to lie...our genie was an enabler who kept getting us access to all the things too. That whole vacation felt rushed and stressful. This time, I am doing it right. I'm done with deliveries and consultations until we get back, and the emails are under control. I am making the kids do school this week (we homeschool), but DS has worked ahead in anticipation and has a very light week. DD needs to work on her time management skills, so she still has a full week. We have our homeschool co-op on Friday, but I am only teaching two classes this semester. DD is taking a logic class that will require her to work a little bit while we are out of town, but the homework and test can be turned in online and should only take 30 minutes or so each. I already feel much more relaxed than our last trip. DH won't start to relax until we are seated on the plane - we're flying Southwest. I pre-packed the kids yesterday and once again they decided to grow since our last cruise. Today I'll be updating DS's t-shirt collection, and, thanks to DH's 6'4" genes, DD needs some longer athletic shorts. Time to start the final cycles of laundry and drag out the ironing board. The only time it makes an appearance at our house is when we pack for a cruise. I forgot to mention our other pre-cruise purchases. We all have the refreshment package and will use our D vouchers and the suite lounge happy hour for adult beverages. MTD - I made reservations for 7:15 each night. DH and I are doing Chef's Table on night 3 of the first leg. Photo packages and internet have been bought as well. I'm sure we'll hit up Johnny Rockets for lunch one day. Since we sailed star class in April, we haven't tried the new menus yet, so the plan right now is the MDR for all our other dinners. We decided to stay at the Embassy Suites in Deerfield Beach about 40 minutes north of Ft. Lauderdale. The hotel was cheaper than the Embassy Suites in FLL, and it is right on the beach. We plan to Uber/Lyft to the port the morning of the cruise.

I think some people use this thought process with the drink package as well.

This was a good find by DH. He gets all tue credit. I have mixed feelings. There are two ships there both days. We decided to just do the beach and pool when Allure is with us, and the waterpark when we are there with Adventure. Hopefully I didn't plan that backwards Thanks!

That poor couple! What a terrible way to end a vacation! Thanks for taking us along - can't wait for the next one!

Being from Dallas, we love sailing out of Galveston because it is relatively close to home – a 5 hour drive, a day in Houston at a museum or Space Center, then a short drive to port the next morning. But to say itineraries are limited is an understatement. We were looking for something a little different this time, and DH found a 6 day followed by a 4 day on Liberty sailing from Ft. Lauderdale. This was a no brainer for us as Liberty is our favorite ship, we get 10 days instead of our usual 7, and while we do go back to Cozumel and Costa Maya, which are on every Galveston sailing, we also get to visit two new ports for our family - Nassau and CocoCay…twice! It will be the usual suspects: myself, DH, DD 15, and DS 11. We are staying in our favorite cabin, the 2 bedroom Grand Suite 9708. The 2 bedroom suites face aft on the Freedom and Voyager classes of ships, so we have a partially obstructed view with the superstructure. That doesn't bother us, and the extra living room and balcony space makes up for it. We will hit 140 points on embarkation day, so we should be receiving our first crystal block. This is also our first back to back. We booked an excursion through Royal on turnaround day, so I will make sure to report how that process goes. Here are the itinerary and excursion details: Sunday 10/29 Fly from Dallas to Ft. Lauderdale Monday 10/30 Ft. Lauderdale – Beach? Surf lessons as a Flowrider warm up? Nap all day in the hotel? We haven’t decided yet. Tuesday 10/31 Embarkation – The kids have their Halloween costumes ready to go. Wednesday 11/1 Sea day Thursday 11/2 Costa Maya – No plans. Maybe the aviary to stretch our legs. Friday 11/3 Cozumel – Save a Sea Turtle Experience Saturday 11/4 Sea day Sunday 11/5 Perfect Day. No plans. Monday 11/6 Turn around day / Ft. Lauderdale – Everglades Airboat Ride Tuesday 11/7 Sea Day Wednesday 11/8 Perfect Day – Thrill Waterpark Thursday 11/9 Nassau – Queen’s Staircase, Fort Fincastle, and Pirate Museum on our own Friday 11/10 Debarkation

I'm sorry your trip is almost over. Just when you started to unwind, too. Hopefully everyone will still be worn out so the train ride back will be uneventful.

@PL8SWPR my theory is the repositioning is why nothing is showing up in the app yet too. I'm the one in our family tapping my foot in the hotel the morning of a cruise and pushing them to get to the terminal early. I'm sure I'll see you there - just look for the crazy lady with purple hair knocking on the terminal door to see if they are ready for us yet.

They put the nightstands between the beds in the second bedroom of our ATS on Allure. I can only imagine the trouble my kids would have started with each other if the bed were only technically separated like yours!

We are sailing from Port Everglades on 10/31 on Liberty which is her first cruise from the port. She is coming from NJ with no passengers and the earliest check-in time for our sailing was 11:30.

The recap is going to be so worth it though!

20 machines? They had about double that in there when it first opened. I wonder if the test isn't going as well as they had hoped?

Put all that planning and pre-travel mess behind you. Today is cruise day! May only good shenanigans follow you from here on!

We are going to Nassau for the first time in a couple weeks. We are going to do our own walking tour - Queen's Staircase, the fort that is next to the staircase, pirate museum, and then see how we feel about Junkanoo Beach or just head back to the ship.

We went to Maya Chan in May. They used taxis to get there and back. Pros - everyone says the service is amazing and it was. Several people checked on us regularly. Lunch was amazing! Capacity limits and assigned space for your group. They have a small pool. Cons - the meeting spot is behind the replica Mayan temple outside of the port. It's a long, long walk considering you also have to get down the long pier and through the port maze first. They warned us about the seaweed when we met up, showed pictures, and offered refunds, but we decided to go anyway as the kids aren't big on swimming at a beach anyway. What we weren't prepared for was the overwhelming smell. It hit you as soon as you got out of the van and only got worse as you got down to the beach. They had workers trying to clear the seaweed, but they just couldn't make a dent and it was piled up on shore. The neighbors do not bother to clear their shores at all, so rotting vegetation was the scent of the day. Because of the seaweed, only a few people got in the ocean - maybe five all day, and they were pretty full the day we were there. Again, we were warned at the meet up. The pool got really crowded as the day went on. They offered snorkeling equipment and beach toys (buckets and shovels). You take and put back whatever you want to use. This would be a pro, but there was no obvious way to sanitize the snorkels so we didn't partake. It really has the potential to be a fabulous spot, but sadly, the smell was so bad that we won't be back anytime soon.

This is the first leg of a B2B for us. It will be myself, DH, DD (15) and DS (11). Flying in from Dallas.

Me too! Me too! Liberty 10/31.

I'm envisioning nonstop chit chat during your TED talk on the train. Maybe it needs to include a "quiz at the end for prizes" so they pay some attention. The prize? Certianly nothing more than keeping the pen you pass out for them to take notes with! They have already gotten enough from you!

Their Facebook page shows they are now open again, but their website still won't let you buy a ticket.

Just to make sure I understand, he did not have a drink package on the previous cruise? Did his card have charging privileges? If there was no drink package, and you did not authorize charges on his card, then it seems the bartender would have been right. We get the refreshment package for our kids and they use it without us with no problem or push back.

I just caught up and WOW is all I can say. jbrinkm is right, you are a saint! I hope you will be able to break away and get some you time during this trip. I checked us in last night and 11:30 was the earliest time for us too (PC). I'll make a note to check back at 30 days.

GT is the code for a 2 bedroom grand suite.

I believe the Hyatt Regency is built so the river flows into their lobby. If you want touristy maybe the Buckhorn museum https://www.buckhornmuseum.com/ Natural Bridge Caverns is just north of SA and they have added additional activities beyond just walking through the caves.