ama537621

I would not bother with a Roku, you should never be in your room except to shower and sleep. Some things stream ok

 I am on HOS now and had to wait 15 minutes for a 6 minute video to buffer. 

We just left San Juan today. No shore excursion needed we just wandered uphill till we hit the fort then took a different route back to the ship. A beautiful Port. The pull out is truly amazing as you pass by the old forts at eye level.  

They let my daughter move up a group she is a month shy of 6. If she would of had any issues they would of moved her down to the younger age group

I found 2 little hideaway area this morning off of the running track towards the bow. 

10 magnetic hooks are not enough, my wife threw a fit when I bought them now she wants more. 

MTD with a reservation seem to be a bit hectic. Dinner took about an hour and a half. I ended up changing our reservations from 5:45 to 5:15 for the duration of the cruise. 

Wow bands, I thought they would be useless I changed my mind and went down to guest services on the first night. Our set sail passes are now in the safe with our passports. I will only take them out on shore days.

I put a few pictures of some of the kids areas. And the movie theater. Kinda stupid hours for showing movies 5PM on Sea days.

Time to put the DD to bed.

Magnetic hooks are better than I thought they would be. 

AVOID WINDJAMMER the first day. It's a madhouse in here. I suggest park cafe instead. 

Arrived at the hotel 3.5 hours later than we anticipated. Arranged shuttle transfer for $8 per person. We have a 10:30am departure time to the Port. Time to check out the holiday in express breakfast bleh. 

It pays to be cute

Well,

As I write this I am sitting in the United Club in Newark waiting on my delayed flight to FLL.  Yet another example of why you should NEVER fly to your cruise port the day of the cruise.  On the plus side the food and drinks are free. 

Search RQ website FAQ section, there is a  nice list under are their restrictions for onboard activities like rock climbing and ultimately abyss. Also search are their restrictions for pools, waterslides and flowrider

4 minutes ago, NJCruisers said:

True, but since we have to fly to San Juan I would have to forgo one of our suitcases for a garment bag in order to bring it & his dress shoes.  Also, it's our 25th Anniversary, hence 25 years since he's had to wear one, lol. 

I would get the rental then,  I gently laid my suit coat as the last item in my suitcase. Who knows what it will look like when I take it out on the boat. 

I will be trying to  BLOG our upcoming cruise this weekend.  I am attempting to do the cruise on a budget but still get a few additional items.  

I will start with the ways that I saved money when booking the  cruise and hotels and airfare.  The cruise was purchased with the full cost first ticket,  My wife was at a 60% discount and my daughter was free with the child sale free promo.  Total cost for interior GTY for 3 people including gratuities, taxes,  and port fees $2073.72 With $50 OBC

Airfare cost $25.00 per person.  I used airline miles to get us the tickets for almost free. I do love the airline miles credit cards (tip buy everything on it and the miles add up fast.   There is a down side to this, we have a 5 hour layover on the way down and a 7 hour layover on the way back and we need to stay in MIA 1 night after the cruise.  I might be able to get our flights changed the day before we fly.  I will advise if I have to pay a change fee or not.

We will have 3 hotel stays associated with this trip.  First I had to pay for but it includes a park and fly option $176 dollars.  Cost to park at the airport for our cruise would of been $100. so hotel is really only costing us $76.00. The alternative would be to drive to the airport around 4AM to catch our flight.  Our hotel before the cruise I used IHG rewards points for a free stay.  For our Post cruise hotel I am using my 1 free  Marriott stay per year that comes as a credit card reward. 

Now for the little extras that I decided would help us enjoy the cruise a little more.  I did try for a Royal Up and was successful in getting a Balcony room upgrade cost $600.00. In addition to the Royal UP I did get the unlimited pictures on a Thumb drive for $249.99 ( I think its been changed to a digital download instead).   I also purchased the VOOM surf and stream, as my Wife and I will have some work that we must do while on the cruise, I purchased the 2 device plan when it was on sale for $20.99 a day. 

Since we will not be getting any drink package I bought the 12 1 liter water bottle package using our OBC for $46.02 with the service charge included.  

As far as Shore excursions go we only booked 1 thru RC the Arawak aqua park and Dragon's Tail Coaster single ride Combo for $33.00 each total cost 99.00  I booked a Bernard SXM Island tour 1 for our port call in St Maarten for $100 total. $40 per adult and $20 for my daughter.  

If I can get our flight changed on the way to FLL I will look into booking a Jungle Queen river cruise in FLL so my wife can get some nice pictures along the river and canals. 

More to follow...

I can bring a suit along instead of paying that much money. I could see getting it for a very special occasion. 

I have not decided to get one for our cruise on Sunday or not. If I get one it will be for my daughter to use she is 5 and would be excited too be able to open the cabin door with it.  

A good rule is to kick someone in the knee themn run. 

bad bad idea. Unless you like to take pictures of the cruise ship leaving without you. 

Ouch

Mine just started showing up a few days ago for my April 29 th cruise.  Along with my show choices and MTD reservations. 

We are staying in Miami after our cruise on the 28th. We are going to visit the above museum the day out cruise is over. Tickets are available online at a discount and it is pretty close to the Port. 

Look into one of these Mifold Grab and go car booster seat, on Amazon. It will make getting an Uber or Lyft possible without lugging a large car seat around. 

My rule is half a normal suitcase for me, the other half for my daughter who is 5. My wife will have a full suitcase for all her crap (I have learned not to question anything she packs). I just make sure it weighs under the airline limit.  We will each have a carry on In case luggage is lost. 

For our Cruse on the 28th we fly into FLL and return out of MIA. We are sailing out of Port Everglades. In reality either airport is no big deal for us. We have to drive 1.5 hours to get to any airport from.home. 

Pro . Beautiful scenery pulling out of the Port. It is spectacular.

Con we were the last stop in the bus last cruise. Spent an hour watching everyone else get off. 

I will have to do some work while on the cruise. It's no big deal daughter will at at the kiddies water park and I can sit on a lounger and work on reports. 

I am not sure but with a cash account you might have to stand in the LONG line the last night of the cruise to settle your account.