Jedi Jason

I was in a deck 12 central park balcony room and did not have any issues during sleeping hours. We did have one evening there was some music that seemed to be mistakenly broadcast over some loudspeakers from the pool deck for an hour or two one night that was on the loud side but it ended before we called it a night. We had considered a deck 14 room but played it safe due to pool deck noise concerns. Pool deck noise was very minimal especially in our room with the balcony door shut.

If as you say Harmony and Symphony are significantly more than I would go on Oasis or Allure instead. Oasis is a great ship. It does not have some of the slides/water slides that are on Harmony and Symphony but is quite similar otherwise. I have been on it and I would recommend it. It may get some of those new added features by the time you cruise anyway.

Keep checking as they may have accepted your offer since you should be within the final payment deadline or will be soon. So, they might not wait long to accept an offer if there is a lot of availability for the room category.

I would second most of the recommendations including the travel agent to advise you on your cruise plans. A 5 night, a week long or longer cruise, or even some back to back cruises are recommended since you are investing in airfare. The kids sail free promotion would probably not apply for a summer cruise so booking two adjoining rooms is a great idea to have the kids nearby but have some separation all the same time. I would expect the kids would really enjoy the adventure ocean supervised kids program to give the two of you some adult time. A Caribbean cruise with kid friendly excursions or trips to beaches would be ideal. Save Alaska for when they are a little older and will be able to appreciate it and remember it. I would recommend a refurbished Freedom class or Voyager class ship and also any Oasis class ship. Enjoy planning your cruise.

@Boston Babe I am curious about your Celebrity Equinox cruise. Have you been before and is your cruise pre or post refurbishment. My wife and I have a 5 night January cruise on her and we have only done a 3 night preview cruise on Edge and loved it. If you haven't been on Edge before I think you will love it's modern resort design with lots of views of the ocean.

Thanks for the excellent live blog. I especially enjoyed the food pictures and menus of the specialty dining. I have been on only one Celebrity cruise but it was on the Edge. I had an onboard credit so we tried the French restaurant for Lunch and the garden grill for a Lunch. We managed to try three different main dining rooms for dinner on our 3 night preview cruise. I might have to consider a suite next time on Edge or one of its sister ships that will be arriving in the future. I was in an infinite verandah on my Edge cruise. My wife and I are booked in a balcony in concierge class on the Equinox post refurbishment. It was only $100 more than regular non obstructed balcony.

I would love a photo of the bar at the aft of the ship. It was one of my favorites. I think it was the sunset bar. You can watch the wake from the ship as your are sailing along and it's just around the corner from the rooftop garden.

The best was the blinds or black out shade for the balcony, being able to raise or lower that from the comfort of your bed via the app.

They are building four other sister ships so maybe one of them will eventually sail in the summer in the Caribbean.

I always forgot about the pizza station in the Ocean view café since it is in the aft of the dining area separated from everything else. I never got around to trying it.

My wife and I really enjoyed our 3 night Bahamas preview sailing in December. So, I will definitely will be following. We need a longer cruise on Edge.

There were a lot of things my wife and I liked about our 3 night Ede Bahamas preview sailing back in December. I haven't been on a quantum class ship but I see a lot of features from there and Oasis class ships along with some new features and the best of Celebrity cruise ship features. While we didn't care too much for the entertainment including the Eden area of the ship because it was a little too artsy and without a clear direction or purpose. The ship did not feel crowded and we did like the multiple main dining rooms despite having different servers in each of them. The ship was like a modern resort with lots of spaces with ocean views. It was definitely non traditional with the added element of technology with the app and the infinite verandas were unique, we were fans of them overall. The ship was fairly easy to navigate and had plenty of design features they were unique like not having a large desk at guest relations but a series of small counters instead. We would love to go on more Edge class ships when our kids aren't with us. However, Edge only sails the Caribbean in the winter months and it is expensive since it is the only ship in its class for now. We are looking forward to having more options including one that might sail the Caribbean year round. Definitely recommend it @SpeedNoodles

I thought about this too. I am curious if the al a carte options would be included. Hopefully we will know soon from Royal or based on someone's personal experience.

Welcome. I am sure you will be a cruise addict like the rest of us here. This is a great place to share your experience, ask questions, etc.

I would expect that they would let people start boarding the ship between 11:00 and 12:00. Most of my experience is on Caribbean cruises but 11:00 would probably be the earliest. Have a great time.

Your Starbucks options are to detour into Merritt Island or down A1A into Cocoa Beach. Otherwise you can wait until you board if you are on Mariner. I would guess your travel time should be around an hour or slightly more even during potential rush hour. Definitely consider the toll road option and use an app that accounts for traffic for the ideal route.

You can change your bookings the ship assigns you once you are onboard. I have run into a situation where a specialty restaurant was not available due to a group event that booked the entire restaurant. I was able to get the restaurants I wanted but just not my preferred nights. If you want a very specific time or a certain restaurant on a certain night then this might not be for you but they are generally quite flexible if you go to one of the specialty restaurants to modify your reservations shortly after boarding the ship.

Thanks for all the great info here @JLMoran My wife and I started cruising on Celebrity when we were going without the kids. We still go on Royal with the family. We have taken one cruise and have a second one booked. We tend to take the shorter cruises (week or less) because we don't want someone to have to take care of our 7 and 9 year old for too long. We usually book balcony rooms in part due to the price difference not being too much due to the transferred loyalty status of Diamond and they have offered more perks for non inside rooms. We like the perks that have been offered in some of the past sales. It would be disappointing if you can't get the premium drink package which had been upgraded in our past bookings when we paid to go from two to four perks. It's definitely worth keeping an eye on the situation. We don't usually purchase these upgrades on Royal when going with family.

There is always the gift shop if you have trouble spending all of your credit but you can use credit for cruise planner purchases too. Some OBC are refundable and not use it or lose it. I had this happen one time where we had kids in a another room and their OBC credit didn't get used but we were able to get cash at the end of the cruise by going to the customer service desk.

My pool in Orlando which is screened in so slightly cooler than a non screened pool was in the low 70s the first week of March and mid to upper 70s by the end of March. It should be at least a few if not several degrees warmer in Coco Cay. For a Floridian that's colder than I prefer but tolerable especially if it is warm outside.

If you have never been to the port, I wouldn't recommend you just wing it and hope you find something you like. In St. Maarten you could wing it somewhat. Check the flight schedule and grab a taxi to see the airplanes come in over Maho Beach and you could make the rest of the day a beach day at a better beach elsewhere. Alternatively, there is a public beach, restaurants and shopping within walking distance of the ship you would just need to pay a fee to rent a chair/umbrella. St. Kitts has a couple of unique excursions that you probably won't be able to do without booking an excursion in advance. There is a train tour and also a safari tour of the island that includes a beach stop that are both really nice but could sell out.

If you do go into downtown I recommend a taxi because it is a minimal cost and further than most people care to walk.

I agree with the response and I will add on excursion in each port that is unique to that port. Cozumel: cichen itza Mayan ruins Falmouth: Dunn's River Falls Climb Grand Cayman: Stingray City

I think you have some great advice @SpeedNoodles. College spring break is usually the first week or two of March at least in Florida. Schools further north probably have later spring break. The central Florida public school counties have theirs spread out some but the one with the most kids off (Orange county where Orlando is located) is the third week of March. I find that the college spring breakers tend to stick to the shorter less expensive cruises because they need money to pay for their drink packages or just can't afford a week long cruise. BTW, I will be in your part of the world over 4th of July. I am traveling to MN for a grandmother's 100th birthday celebration.

I am doing a July 12 3 night sailing on Mariner and currently have a balcony guarantee. It looks like there are a fair amount of spacious balcony rooms left (they are a whole 5 sq ft larger but a 4 sq ft balcony smaller with a price of $50 extra per person than regular balcony) and junior suites left. I would consider a bid on a JS if the price was right. Any idea when I might get the room assigned and when I might get a bid opportunity?