FionaMG

We booked the trikes!  Cant wait to get some great video from that experience!  Thanks for the info!  Now still checking on Curacao options...

That's a genius tip!
I've never lost my phone, but I have lost my dignity on the FlowRider a couple of times.

I’ve been trying to write this recap/review for the past two hours and have been pulled away with laundry, dishes and all the other things returning home brings. But honestly, putting this trip into words is probably the most difficult part. 
 
When I booked this trip back in April 2018, I had no idea if my BF even liked cruising, I booked this trip as a hopeful vacation for us. I booked it because I had never been to any of the four ports and had never cruised longer than 4 days. 
 
I planned and planned and planned and honestly, nothing could have prepared me for how incredible of a trip this was. The people, the places, the memories, very few things I would change (more on that later). 
 
Let’s start from the beginning since that’s where all great stories begin…
 
Day 1: As I mentioned before, I worked until 3:30am the morning we left. I got off on time, thankfully. Rushed home, showered and off we were to the Orlando Airport. Easy peasy check-in, through security (I have TSA Pre-Check and it was 5 mins for me, 12 through normal security.) Our plane was at the gate from the night before so we started boarding on time and left on time. I was not able to sleep on the flight other than just keeping my eyes closed, but also because the flight was only about 40 minutes long. There was no beverage service, we went up and came right back down. I found out on our return flight that the trip only takes 35 minutes, but Southwest Airlines budgets 1 hour and 9 minutes for the flight which I found interesting. We landed and were off the plane to get our luggage by 8:15am. We realized it was WAY to early to go to the terminal so we found a place near the terminal called Joes Café to have breakfast. Not that the food was bad, but we probably would skip that in the future. I hadn’t eaten in about 12 hours by the time we got there so I was ravenous but that meant when we boarded I wasn’t hungry. Joes was right next to La Bamba in Fort Lauderdale and was about a 5 minute ride to the port. A lot of people at Joes had just left their ships and were killing time before going to the airport. We left Joes and went straight to Terminal 29 at Port Everglades.
 
Honestly, I felt like I had been transported to the early 2000s when my mom cruised for the first time. I know it is a cargo port but I feel like they really could modernize it and make it nice. On top of it being essentially a warehouse, the boarding process wasn’t great. We came in and were told to go through the switchbacks, as we went through them the women directing people through security, opened up  a shortcut and let all 30 people behind us through and then was laughing and joking about it without apologizing, we were pissed to put it lightly. The whole check in process was fine but for some reason, when we got to the area where we would get on, they weren’t boarding yet and this was 11am.  They finally started boarding (or so we thought) and were finally called before we were directed to another holding corral. This just seemed very inefficient and also seemed that no one knew what was actually going on. We finally got on board at 11:45-12pm.
Once we were on board all our troubles went away. We went to Café Promenade to utilize our drink packages with COFFEE. It was much needed and I ended up getting specialty coffee every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. We walked around and tried to get food at the Windjammer… It was packed and at that point realized that we weren’t hungry yet. At that point we video chatted with the BF’s nieces who had never seen the ocean before as they are landlocked in Missouri. They were awestruck by the concept of a cruise ship and the ocean it was adorable. Then off to a bar, a lot of the bars were packed since it was sail away but we found a the Champagne Bar on Deck 5 and stopped there for the drink of the day (DOD) a Margarita Azul. The two bartenders Jeinrick and Nino were amazing and honestly this became our bar. We were there every single day, multiple times a day and by the end of the trip we had such a bond with these bartenders and bar patrons that it was so hard to leave. We have now named it Cheers, since it’s where everyone knows your name.
After 2 drinks our rooms were ready… Thank heavens, I was DEAD. We got in, unpacked our carry on, took some photos, our luggage arrived, we unpacked and napped until a hour before Muster. I needed that nap so much, it’s the only thing that kept me going until the end of the day. After muster, we went straight to our 5:30pm dinner (last year we had early dining and it was at 6pm, this time 5:30pm, I’m curious as to why the half hour change).
We had tablemates this time. They weren’t bad tablemates but the BF and I rarely have time to dine together on our own so it wasn’t ideal setup. After that straight to the bar, where we met people and basically hung out there until the 10:15 Adult Comedy show… I’m not even sure the name of the comedian, but uh, it wasn’t adult. He literally made fun of the fact that he changed a word from Poop to S**t and there was the “adult”. After the show off to bed. 
I'm going to break this into sections since as we can tell, I'm a chatty Cathy, I plan on doing a review at the end since I'm still gathering my thoughts on a conclusion.

What a mess. And how worrying for everyone booked on those cruises. I would be frantic. 
I have absolutely everything - fingers, legs, eyes, toe nails, even - crossed that you all get your cruises as booked.

What a mess. And how worrying for everyone booked on those cruises. I would be frantic. 
I have absolutely everything - fingers, legs, eyes, toe nails, even - crossed that you all get your cruises as booked.

Stuff like this:
 

Thanks for the suggestions!  We have been to most Caribbean ports EXCEPT these 3 so we are very excited!  Everywhere I research aruba the trikes are mentioned......must be very fun and popular.  We will check out all these suggestions!
 
Thanks!  We are thinking a beach day also at one port to just chill and enjoy the sun!  Checking these suggestions out also!  Looking forward to hearing what you thought of these!
 
Whatever we pick we are going to make sure we record/vlog so everyone can "experience" it and have a better idea of what its like!

We did the ABC islands last year so although we are not adventurous ourselves we did uncover quite a lot of stuff that might be of interest to you during our research. 
In Aruba, you could look at the trikes tour https://trikes-aruba.com/ or one of the ATV tours https://actiontoursaruba.com/
In Curação, you could look at Irie Tours all west beach hopping tour https://irietours.com/all-west-beach-hopping
And in Bonaire, if you enjoy snorkeling you don't need to book a tour; you can just get the water taxi over to Klein Bonaire https://www.watertaxikleinbonaire.com/ where the snorkeling is supposed to be fantastic. Our table mates raved about it. Alternatively, another very popular option for Bonaire is to rent a golf cart and drive around the island at your own pace http://www.bonairecruisers.com/
Hope this helps. It's a great itinerary so you're going to have an amazing time. 

Newark is not only the best airport for the port, it's often the best airport for Manhattan as well. Keep in mind, all three area NYC airports are trash...but Newark is pretty much the least trash. 
If you're staying in Manhattan, I usually still would pick Newark. If you're staying east (Brooklyn/Queens/Long Island City), JFK might be better. 
You could always take a different airline and fly in to EWR. Even if you like Southwest, the pain of flying in to LGA and having to get all the way across the city to the port must simply be worse than just flying a different airline for a couple hours from wherever you are in Illinois...

You need to contact your travel agent asap. It may depend on whether they sold you a package put together by the cruise line or whether they bundled the various components of your trip, i.e. booked the different parts from different suppliers and bundled them into a package which they created for you.
Your travel insurance may also help if you have some kind of cruise cover included.

In addition to the suggestions on the previous discussion that you posted, Royal's UK website (.co.uk) generally shows full availability. 

RCCL Explorer if the Seas is scheduled to cruise Atlantic from Southampton  5th Nov 19.  Just had an Email advising of adverse weather conditions in the Atlantic ,the cruise will now start 9th , there fore cutting short cruise and missing 3 out of 4 ports of call in the Caribbean.  We are told we can cancel and take a refund voucher for a future cruise,  but, although booked as a package with Travel Agent, very unsure if we would get a refund for flights and accommodation..  Does anyone have any guidance please?

So I booked this cruise over a year and a half ago and have been following the ship closely this week. last night I got the dreaded news that we will lose 4 great port stops and just go St Maarten.
Very disappointed but there's nothing I or anyone else can do. I often see people in this situation and don't know what they are feeling but now I know :(
Any thoughts on the compensation etc? I don't think its too bad personally?

Oh no! The fact of that being the first cruise after dry dock was one of the main reasons why we opted for Adventure over Oasis that weekend even though Oasis was cheaper. I remembered reading about the cancelled Navigator sailing last year after dry dock and didn't want to risk it.
I really hope it works out for you.

Yes that's right. They actually shut down your seapass card when you reach the limit so you literally can't spend another dime after that! It's worth keeping tabs on your spending either by using the interactive TV in your stateroom or on the app, if the ship you are sailing on has it. That way, when you see you're getting close to the limit, you can pick a time to go to Guest Services that's not so busy, rather than waiting till the very last moment and perhaps encountering a long line.
Also, expect to receive almost daily printed reminders in your stateroom and messages on your interactive TV, but you can basically ignore them. 

I don't know the answer to your specific question,  but if it's any help you don't actually have to deposit anything at check-in. You get $300 credit on cash accounts on short cruises and $500 on cruises of 7 or more nights before you have to pay anything. Payments on board would be made at Guest Services.

Honestly, you don't need the day bed. Go to Columbus Cove. There is plenty of shade there under the trees and the employees will set you up with loungers in the shady spot of your choosing. Obviously, the earlier you get there the better choice of spots you will have. The beach at Columbus Cove is nice and sandy, so it will be perfect for your little one to play in the water.

We did the ABC islands last year so although we are not adventurous ourselves we did uncover quite a lot of stuff that might be of interest to you during our research. 
In Aruba, you could look at the trikes tour https://trikes-aruba.com/ or one of the ATV tours https://actiontoursaruba.com/
In Curação, you could look at Irie Tours all west beach hopping tour https://irietours.com/all-west-beach-hopping
And in Bonaire, if you enjoy snorkeling you don't need to book a tour; you can just get the water taxi over to Klein Bonaire https://www.watertaxikleinbonaire.com/ where the snorkeling is supposed to be fantastic. Our table mates raved about it. Alternatively, another very popular option for Bonaire is to rent a golf cart and drive around the island at your own pace http://www.bonairecruisers.com/
Hope this helps. It's a great itinerary so you're going to have an amazing time. 

Honestly, you don't need the day bed. Go to Columbus Cove. There is plenty of shade there under the trees and the employees will set you up with loungers in the shady spot of your choosing. Obviously, the earlier you get there the better choice of spots you will have. The beach at Columbus Cove is nice and sandy, so it will be perfect for your little one to play in the water.

Honestly, you don't need the day bed. Go to Columbus Cove. There is plenty of shade there under the trees and the employees will set you up with loungers in the shady spot of your choosing. Obviously, the earlier you get there the better choice of spots you will have. The beach at Columbus Cove is nice and sandy, so it will be perfect for your little one to play in the water.

You can. You don't even have to deposit any money with them to begin with. You can spend up to $300 on shorter cruises and up to $500 on cruises of 7 nights or more before they shut off your sea pass card. And if you try and get off the ship at the end of cruise with money owing on your account you will be stopped at the final ding and detained until you pay up.

Actually pack, usually the day before. But I already have mine totally done in my mind and we don't sail for another 5 weeks. ??

Anything in orange sauce is a no-go for me.

If I remember right I sailed on Serenade just a couple of cruises after she returned from refurbishments; that was early December 2017.

Nope.