FionaMG

10th of February 2024, Symphony 8 night Southern with Aruba, Curacao and Labadee.
It's my birthday and also apparently Super Bowl which I found out by chance after I booked. The only thing I know about Super Bowl is that it's a big deal Stateside 😂. So I guess it's likely to be a busy cruise!

i would do this in a heartbeat

Made me nervous as well...but we sail on the 27th and once we did the online checkin we were able to see our cabin when we put our set sail pass in our Iphone wallet...it's in the barcode at the bottom. We now have our cabin showing up in our online login as well. So, basically it was assigned 45 days from the cruise on our set sail pass. 

As well as the two mentioned above, my Symphony sailing next month lists a moet&chandon champagne tasting experience. They are not showing on my others, which are farther ahead.

If only Matt would allow use of the RCLBlog private jet to take everyone to Southampton.

21st of June 2025. Details are in the events section.

I've seen the Women of Wine Tasting one before but I'm not sure if it showed up on the cruise planner pre-cruise or only on board. I don't remember seeing the Caribbean one before.
DD went to a cocktail-making class that she enjoyed. That definitely wasn't on the cruise planner. It was booked and paid for on board.

I've seen the Women of Wine Tasting one before but I'm not sure if it showed up on the cruise planner pre-cruise or only on board. I don't remember seeing the Caribbean one before.
DD went to a cocktail-making class that she enjoyed. That definitely wasn't on the cruise planner. It was booked and paid for on board.

@MoonMan81, it is absolutely NOT a common thing and you should not have any worries whatsoever about your GTY booking. When you consider the huge numbers of cruisers out there who are making gty bookings, the issue with bumping is infinitesimal. As with everything else, the bad stuff gets reported and blown up out of all proportion, while nobody bothers to mention that the vast majority of gty bookings go off without a hitch.
The only way to sort of prevent it would be to book a specific cabin number but that will probably be more expensive and even then doesn't give you a 100% guarantee because stuff happens that can mean a cabin needs to be taken out of inventory and if the cabin in question happens to be the one you booked...

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply, appreciate your feedback. Looks like I have become a sucker to fake-fear mongering. 
 
Thanks, Hopefully all goes well
 

Unfortunately, for me, having the long flight first on a transatlantic means having 6 23-hour days. 😕
We've only done one so far and was westbound resulting in a veeery long homeward flight from Brazil.  One day we'll try it the other way.

@MoonMan81, it is absolutely NOT a common thing and you should not have any worries whatsoever about your GTY booking. When you consider the huge numbers of cruisers out there who are making gty bookings, the issue with bumping is infinitesimal. As with everything else, the bad stuff gets reported and blown up out of all proportion, while nobody bothers to mention that the vast majority of gty bookings go off without a hitch.
The only way to sort of prevent it would be to book a specific cabin number but that will probably be more expensive and even then doesn't give you a 100% guarantee because stuff happens that can mean a cabin needs to be taken out of inventory and if the cabin in question happens to be the one you booked...

@MoonMan81, it is absolutely NOT a common thing and you should not have any worries whatsoever about your GTY booking. When you consider the huge numbers of cruisers out there who are making gty bookings, the issue with bumping is infinitesimal. As with everything else, the bad stuff gets reported and blown up out of all proportion, while nobody bothers to mention that the vast majority of gty bookings go off without a hitch.
The only way to sort of prevent it would be to book a specific cabin number but that will probably be more expensive and even then doesn't give you a 100% guarantee because stuff happens that can mean a cabin needs to be taken out of inventory and if the cabin in question happens to be the one you booked...

@MoonMan81, it is absolutely NOT a common thing and you should not have any worries whatsoever about your GTY booking. When you consider the huge numbers of cruisers out there who are making gty bookings, the issue with bumping is infinitesimal. As with everything else, the bad stuff gets reported and blown up out of all proportion, while nobody bothers to mention that the vast majority of gty bookings go off without a hitch.
The only way to sort of prevent it would be to book a specific cabin number but that will probably be more expensive and even then doesn't give you a 100% guarantee because stuff happens that can mean a cabin needs to be taken out of inventory and if the cabin in question happens to be the one you booked...

Not really.  Both are memorable.  
I'd more likely consider the departure and arrival ports as it relates to flights and hotel stays versus doing the canal in a specific direction.

I'm with @FionaMG. They are probably thinking they would have 3 23-hour days. 
I'm also with you, @Daniel5390. I want the long haul flight over at the beginning of the cruise, so we too have an Eastbound Panama Canal booked from LA to Miami. The loss of 3 hours is washed out by having a 2.5/3 hour flight home v. 5.5/6 hour flight home. You have a wonderful 16 night cruise; losing 3 hours is nothing for a more convenient return flight. Plus, with Radiance, you might get to go through the old locks?
Now, if you're talking about Transatlantics, we will only do Westbounds because 6 25-hour days is awesome but 6 23-hour days is a bit too much. 😍

Maybe they're referring to the fact that you lose a couple of hours sailing west to east as opposed to gaining when you go the other way? 🤔
Anyway it looks like a great itinerary to me. An ocean to ocean Panama Canal cruise is way up at the top of my bucket list. I'd just prefer Miami/Fort Lauderdale over Tampa but that's purely because, for us, Tampa is much more difficult travel-wise.

If the ship is going through the canal in reverse the entire way I want to go on that cruise.  I have only seen ships going through the canal going forward.

It's happened to us a couple of times too. Once, on Harmony, the replacement performance was cancelled too! Luckily, the new replacement on the last night of the cruise went off without a hitch. For this February 10th sailing, it's offered on nights 1, 3 and 4, so of course I've booked it for night 1! 😂
We did miss an ice skating show once because we'd booked the last performance of the cruise, which was right after lunch... No sooner had we sat down than the post-lunch snoozles caught up with us and we didn't wake up till it was all over! 🙄

Entertainment has just opened up to book in the Cruise Planner, if you all want to make your bookings.
If any of you are new to this class of ship and/or the need to pre-book your entertainment, the stand-up comedy shows are the ones that "sell out" fastest partly because they are in high demand and partly because the venue is small.
It's also a good idea to book the diving show (Hiro) early on in the cruise because it may get cancelled if the weather is unsuitable. If this happens the entertainment team will usually try to schedule a replacement performance later in the cruise but there's never a guarantee that they will be able to, so the earlier in the cruise you are booked the better your chance of seeing it later on if your chosen time/date get cancelled.

Finally opened up and I managed to get what I wanted. 😁

Finally opened up and I managed to get what I wanted. 😁

Finally opened up and I managed to get what I wanted. 😁

Finally opened up and I managed to get what I wanted. 😁

Finally opened up and I managed to get what I wanted. 😁