FionaMG

Be aware that once you do connect to ship's WiFi, some activities may change or disappear while others may be added, so what you're seeing now is not set in stone. Still, it's handy as it gives you a heads-up for planning your days.

If you decide to go with it, take a screenshot of the description just in case.

Oasis class distances (taken on Symphony). Soooo much better than on the teeny tiny ships.

Yes, you can cancel any cruise planner purchase up until the cruise planner closes, which is usually about 3 days before your cruise. You'll find the exact cut-off date for your particular cruise by scrolling down to the bottom of the page. The money will be refunded to your original form of payment, which may take a few days, depending on your bank. If you want to repurchase because you saw the item at a cheaper price you do have to pay for it a second time round, so you'll be out the additional cost until the refund hits your account.

The percentage discounts are largely meaningless. If you monitor the cruise planner prices regularly you will often see that the final price with a 30% discount is cheaper than with a 50% discount! The only number that matters is the one on the bottom line! The best strategy is to buy when you see a price you can live with and then keep checking. If the prices goes down later on, you can cancel and rebook.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. The markings I was referring to are on the dedicated track on deck 5 of Oasis class ships, so you wouldn't see them on Anthem, where the track is up top. I honestly couldn't say if there's any prescribed walker/runner use on Anthem or other non-Oasis class. Maybe it's just a case of one person starting on a particular side and others following suit. One thing I did notice on my recent cruise on Symphony was that the loungers and deck chairs on the top deck were all roped together so they couldn't be moved around. That is a huge improvement for anyone wanting to walk or run up top because, in the past, you'd often be having to dodge around loungers that folks had moved to better catch the sun! I absolutely agree with you that the treadmills are deadly dull in comparison to the gorgeous views you get going around the deck. I only use them because it's the only way to get in a decent session. At least they usually have a nice view out of the window!

I wish everyone was like you. As a serious runner, I only ever use the track on Oasis class ships (on other ships I use the treadmills in the gym) and it's clearly marked that walkers should keep left and runners keep right. I've lost count of the number of times this is ignored by groups of several people who spread themselves across the whole track and don't listen out for runners. Sometimes they don't move even when I yell at them that I'm coming through and I end up having to try and dodge around them. On a couple of occasions it hasn't been possible to avoid them and I've bumped into them.

Another quiet time is from 4.30 pm onwards as it starts to cool down and folks begin drifting away from the top deck to get ready for their evening activities. I'm not sure that timing would work for you though, with the little one.

I think it must be. I went from having a bunch of options to exactly what you're seeing.

I do understand that and you're absolutely right to be proud. We're not far behind you, at 36 years. The thing with the game show though is that, as I understand it at least, when they ask if there's anyone there who's been married x-number of years, they're essentially auditioning for participants, so that's why I don't know why you'd say something if you weren't interested in participating. And, in fact, I do agree with you that I don't know why anyone would want to participate in it, but there always seem to be plenty who do.

Departure times on our Symphony cruise. I don't know if they started exactly on time. We had an excursion and were off the ship by about 8 am.

What sailing is that? Sounds interesting. With the disappointing lack of longer cruises out of FL on Royal, might need to start testing celebrity waters.

Day Seven - Cruise Day Four - Aruba (continued) As I mentioned in part one of today's adventures, we were due to eat at 150 Central Park tonight. I booked this during that sale they had with special prices for C&A. Without knowing at that time what menus they would be having in the MDR on which nights I used an educated guess to pick a night that I reckoned would be one we didn't like. Super Bowl skewed that and I ended up switching this booking from night three to night four. To change it, I had to go to the actual restaurant. The guys at the kiosk in the promenade tried in vain to do it for me and it was only when they called a manager over because the line behind us was getting bigger and bigger and bigger that they realised they couldn't change a cruise planner booking. Anyway we got it changed to night four without any issues while still holding on to our special price. The MDR menu that we skipped for this was the Mexican menu. Also, tonight was "white night" attire-wise. This was hands down the best meal of the cruise (although Hooked, later on, would be a very close second). I would happily have eaten here every night if it weren't for the upcharge. I know, dream on. The bread was very good. For starters, DH had the pumpkin soup. His face was a picture when the server brought the bowl with just the bits in. Where's my soup???? He was very bemused to see it being poured in from a jug. He thought it was nice but a bit on the sweet side. I had the roasted organic beet salad. I absolutely loved this. So good! We both had the lobster thermidor for the main course. It was very tasty. And we both had their signature dessert, the fried cheesecake. DH thought it was wonderful; I thought it was nice but no more than that, being that I am not a big cheesecake fan. The portion sizes were nice. We were pleasantly full when we were finished but not stuffed to the point of feeling uncomfortable. However, bearing in mind the amount we ate, it really wasn't worth the upcharge, even at the reduced rate. People around us were eating far more than we were for the same price. This is the main reason why we only very rarely book specialty dining. I really wish they had à la carte pricing at all of the specialty dining places or a lower-priced option for folks who don't eat much. After dinner we went to see the aqua show, Hiro. Usually I would have booked this for the very first night it was offered (which was actually day one on this sailing) but taking the itinerary into consideration, I reckoned there would be a better chance of it not being cancelled on night four when we would be sailing very slowly between Aruba and Curaçao. And also I reckoned it would be warmer and so more enjoyable sitting in the open air. There were a lot of people in the standby line tonight. We reckoned many of them would have been folks who had had bookings for the previous night's cancelled show. I don't know if they all got in, but the replacement show for them, on night five, did go ahead, so hopefully everyone did get a chance to see it. Having seen these shows before on Oasis and Harmony, our expectations were high and we weren't disappointed. This was one of the highlights of the cruise. Again; i was too busy watching it to get much in the way of pics. Definitely a do not miss!

What D+ luggage tag? Is it still a thing? Can I ask the LA for one on my next cruise???

I'm pretty sure you don't get WiFi included on Radiance class ships either.

Oooh, that's frustrating. Thanks for letting us know the outcome.

Thank you!

I would love to be able to do this and wish the specialty dining places would have a la carte pricing so you could pick and choose. I did think about asking if they would let me have a dessert in exchange for a diamond drink voucher but when push came to shove I chickened out.

Yes. We did this. We took advantage of those C&A special rates that they had a while back. On day one, when I checked the app, I saw that neither of our two disliked MDR menus coincided with the days we had specialty dining booked. No extra charge. However, to change, you need to go to the actual restaurant. The staff at the kiosk can only change time slots booked on board. It took them 20 minutes of trying before they finally figured out why they couldn't do it for us.

As @Lovetocruise2002 says, a strip of space. See where the orange loungers are? That's it.

If you could make lunch work for your family, rather than dinner, it's much cheaper for exactly the same menu and you wouldn't have to worry about it being too late for the littles.

I wasn't able to find out much information at all about this excursion prior to actually doing it, so I have posted a review of it with pics on my blog here: Hope it might help anyone else thinking about doing it.

Thanks!

Day Seven - Cruise Day Four - Aruba Today was the first of our three ports of call. We were in port from 8 am until 9 pm. We had booked an excursion through Royal, called "Aruba's Hidden Gems". The amount of information in Internet Land about this particular excursion is extremely sparse, so we had little more than Royal's own description to go by and we all know how "good" those are. The excursion was initially supposed to start at 1.30 pm but in the week before the cruise it was changed to 12.30 pm. As I understand it, this excursion sometimes operates in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. The fact that this was an afternoon one meant we didn't need to be up early, which was great. I hate getting up early! The meeting point was on the pier at 12.15 so we had a leisurely breakfast and still had time for a stroll through the town to do a little bit of souvenir shopping. This would turn out to be a good call, because by the time we returned to the ship at the end of the excursion (5.30 pm ish) it was coming up to closing time for the shops in main street (6 pm). The souvenir stalls beside the port stay open until later though. Given the lack of information, I was quite surprised to discover that there were two full busloads for the excursion, which was operated by De Palm Tours. It departed on time and our driver/guide was Ray. He was very good but one thing I did not like was that he did not have a hands-free microphone, so he was essentially driving with one hand and using the other to hold the microphone. I meant to comment on this on the post-cruise questionnaire but forgot . The bus itself was comfortable and had air conditioning; it wasn't one of those open-sided ones. I did keep notes on this one, so I would be able to give a good description afterwards. Our first stop was at a place called Tourism Plaza where there is an Aruba sign and, behind it, a path to Surfside Beach, which is apparently popular with locals. It was nice enough but not a patch on Eagle Beach, which has to be one of my all-time favourite beaches anywhere. My pic of DH is far better than either of the ones he took of me, which is why you're getting him! Surfside Beach. The ship in this pic is P&O's Britannia. Ours was parked behind it so you can't see it from this vantage point. Our second stop was at Mangal Alto Beach. Mangal Alto means Tall Mangroves and the beach was hidden behind them to the extent that you couldn't see it from the road. DH did a better job with the camera this time. From here, we drove through the future art district of San Nicolaas, 19 km southeast of Oranjestad, where we saw lots of murals that reminded me of the ones we'd seen when were driving through Wynwood in Miami. Ray told us that the Aruban government is putting a lot of money into this area and that work is ongoing to build a brand new cruise port here. When it is ready, it is to be used for the larger cruise ships while the smaller ones will continue to dock in Oranjestad. The area did look very nice. Unfortunately, since the bus was moving and we didn't stop here, I didn't get any pics of the murals. Next, we stopped at the Grotto of Lourdes, a religious landmark with a roadside shrine built into the cliff that is used for Catholic worship. From here, we went to the first of the two sets of caves we would visit during the excursion. They are located in the Arikok National Park. Quadirikiri Cave. View from the mouth of the cave. Note that there are some very steep uneven steps to get up here. Inside the cave: The "heart" above us in this last one is formed by the light interacting with the minerals on the cave wall. Ray told us all exactly where to stand and kindly took pics for everyone who wanted one. The next cave was the Fontein Cave, which has ancient paintings inside it. There was no steep staircase to get into this one but you still had to take care because the ground is uneven under foot and it is dark inside the cave. The green colour on the rock is caused by the mineral content. There are porta-potties at the caves. Obviously not ideal but when needs must... Be sure to have tissues and wipes to hand. From the caves, we drove a very short distance to see a cove whose name I can't remember and, unfortunately, I did not get a pic of the sign with the name on it. To get on to the beach, you have to go down a staircase. Swimming is not allowed at this cove because the sea is too dangerous. The area around it is very barren. The roads in the national park are not paved so it was quite a bumpy ride even though Ray drove very slowly. However at least we didn't get covered in dust like the folks we saw in some jeeps. From here we headed to our last stop, the Casibari rock formation. We had been here before on a previous visit to Aruba. There is a passage through the rock that you can use to get to the top. You need to be very careful of your footing and also mindful of the very low ceiling. Alternatively, walk round to the left where there is an actual staircase. There is a good view from the top and you can see the ships off in the distance. It was a bit hazy at this time of day, but you can still see them in the pic even so. There are free toilets here but they were out of order on this occasion. They had been in use on our previous visit. However, across the road there is a small facility offering snacks, souvenirs and a proper toilet that you had to pay a dollar to use. We did not go in so I can't say what it was like. This was the last stop on the tour and from here we headed back to the ship. Given the timing of the tour - over lunchtime - and with very little in the way of food available during it, we were quite hungry so we made a beeline for Sorrento's for some pizza, although we were careful not to overindulge as we would be eating at 150 Central Park later. Overall, we enjoyed this tour as it gave us a chance to see some sights that we would not have been able to otherwise. I booked it during a sale at $49.99 each and, in fact, used up some Next Cruise OBC to pay for it. I know it did go up during non-sale periods, but I can't remember exactly how much. I have a feeling maybe another $10 on top. The description lists the tour as being "strenuous". I would have to say that's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but the stairs up into the cave could be a bit challenging for some people and it would be a definite "no" if you are not normally mobile. I would recommend wearing trainers (sneakers) or some other comfortable closed-toe footwear. Sandals and flip-flops are definitely not a good idea given the underfoot conditions. Since this has been quite a long post, I'll do a separate one for our evening activities.

Day Six - Cruise Day Three - Another Day at Sea Today was largely a repeat of yesterday, i.e. generally loafing around. It was still very windy but as we were farther south it was a bit warmer. Our Chef's Surprise (or whatever it's called) turned up in the room today. Another sign of the cutbacks. There used to be six bites on this plate; today's had only four. Not that we minded since we didn't eat them anyway. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, formal night had been shifted from day two to day three to accommodate Super Bowl, so tonight's dinner was the corresponding French menu. I don't care for any of the starters on this menu so I didn't order one, plus I was saving space for the bits that come along with the Indian main course. I think DH might have had the pumpkin soup but I have no pic to substantiate that suspicion. I love Indian food. Back home in my native Scotland we have a very large Indian community and we have some very highly rated restaurants. However, I'm the only one in the household who likes it, so I was thrilled when Royal started having a nightly Indian dish, even though they are not as fully authentic as you might get on land. I did ask Stanley about this (he is from India) and he said that, on board, they did not have access to all the spices that they would normally use on land. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the ones that I did have on board. Tonight's was lamb rogan josh: DH had the tenderloin and asked for fries with it. Luckily, fries are on the kids' menu so you can get them every night if you want. He said it was fine, again nothing to write home about but definitely better than the prime rib from the first night. The desserts were good. Warm apple cobbler: And cappuccino chocolate cake with a side of vanilla ice cream. One of the things we missed on this sailing, in comparison to the "old days", was the nightly show. Our typical routine back in those days would be dinner, show, casino, and tea & cookies before bed. At something of a loose end, we wandered onto the boardwalk where the aqua show was due to start. We had bookings for the following night but thought if we could get in on the standby line we might as well see it tonight. There didn't seem to be a huge crowd and they let us in ahead of the usual cut-off time. However, remember that wind I mentioned earlier on... well, it was so strong that the water was literally sloshing out of the pool and onto the stage in huge waves. Obvious outcome, the show that night was cancelled. So much for catching it a day early. Oh well, at least we had bookings for the next night. The cancelled show was rescheduled for 7 pm on night five. So instead we had an early night in preparation for our first port of call the next day, which would be Aruba.