MDIAZ72

Hi everybody!
during our Perfect Day at Cococay (Last July), my two sons (14 and 10 year old) wear water t-shirts for two reasons: sun protection and to avoid injuries in waterslides.
Hi everybody! during our Perfect Day at Cococay (Last July), my two sons (14 and 10 years old) wore water t-shirts for two reasons: sun protection and to avoid injuries in waterslides. Well, both of them were told that they should take off their shirts to go down the slides. This restriction was not applied to women and I wonder why it is so. My oldest son, when he launched himself on Daredevil's tower, was injured in the back with a bleeding wound about four inches long produced on the slide. I think that T-shirts should not be banned and less with discrimination between men and women. Anyone else has happened?    

Hi everybody!
during our Perfect Day at Cococay (Last July), my two sons (14 and 10 year old) wear water t-shirts for two reasons: sun protection and to avoid injuries in waterslides.
Hi everybody! during our Perfect Day at Cococay (Last July), my two sons (14 and 10 years old) wore water t-shirts for two reasons: sun protection and to avoid injuries in waterslides. Well, both of them were told that they should take off their shirts to go down the slides. This restriction was not applied to women and I wonder why it is so. My oldest son, when he launched himself on Daredevil's tower, was injured in the back with a bleeding wound about four inches long produced on the slide. I think that T-shirts should not be banned and less with discrimination between men and women. Anyone else has happened?    

Hi MoomooTravels!
My experience is the following:
I have never taken the express train in Civitavecchia but a couple of times I have taken the normal train. The express takes between 35-50 minutes and the normal between 40 and 60 minutes. The price of the normal train is 4.60 euros each way. In addition, if you are going to make a route on your own, the express for the return can only be taken in Rome Ostiense, while we have always done the following route:
Civitavecchia - Rome San Pietro - city route - Rome Termini - Civitavecchia
We have never had any problems with the normal train and we have always found available train tickets, although you can also buy the tickets online (calculating the arrival time of the boat and the journey to the station that is a bit far from the port).

If you need more information, you can write me here or by message.

Regards.

From my understanding it's a US Customs Border Protection issue that keeps it from being offered on US sailings.
It is considered a Shore Excursion, so if it's available on a sailing that is where it will appear.
Copy pasta from the excursion description:
Not quite ready to say goodbye? Neither are we. With our new Stay Awhile program, you can extend the last day of your cruise – remain onboard and continue to enjoy everything the ship has to offer before your later departure. We’ll handle your luggage while you enjoy a late breakfast or lunch at Windjammer café; pamper yourself at the spa; relax on the pool deck – the ship is yours. So relax, kick back, and stay awhile.

Highlights:
• Stay Awhile program:  Relax, get a bite to eat and take your time on departure day.

What to Bring:
• Small bag with personal belongings
• Medication
• Credit Cards

What to Wear:
• Comfortable Clothing
• Swimsuit (if planning to use pool)

Important Notes:
• Guests cannot remain in their staterooms after 8:30 a.m.   
• Guests will have access to all public lounges and the pool deck. 
• Guests who have previously purchased a beverage package will have the Royal Refreshment soda package on departure day. 
• Guests who have previously purchased an internet package will continue to have access on departure day.
• Please note that no exit and re-entry to the ship will be permitted on departure day.
• For your convenience, personal credit cards will be accepted for onboard purchases throughout the day.
• Luggage will be given a special tag and will be handled by the staff onboard; guests should only keep small bag with personal belongings.
• Private and group transportation is available.
• Guests who have booked transfers through Royal Caribbean will have the option to request a later transfer upon signing-up for the Stay Awhile Program.

We need to get @Matt to fly overseas and get him on a European cruise! 

Our My Time Dining experience was the same as @bokx2 and @MDIAZ72 .  Have a great cruise!

Cruising in November on Enchantment. We have nightly my time dining reservations.  Only my second RCC cruise and we didn't do my time for some reason last time.  Anyway, my question is will we be at a table ourselves (family of 4) or will they still seat us at a group table of people who made the same time reservation as us? I don't really care either way, just curious how this works. Also, is there any benefit to showing up a little early before your reservation, or no?

hahaha the excitement is killing me - at least if I post here, I don't annoy the people who are going with me so much that they won't want to come lol 

Hi all,
I’m clearing out some old stuff and I’ve found this figure of Allure of the Seas (attached are pics). Just thought I’d post here and see if anyone was interested in having it for free? I’m in Newcastle, Australia and happy to post if you cover the postage costs.
It’s about 40cm long (1’ 4”) and 12cm high (5”)


 

Check out https://www.boddentours.com/ for stuff to do in Roatan. We will be using them on our upcoming LOS cruise. We have a private tour with a trip to an animal park where we can hug a sloth, then horseback riding, and then beach trip all for $95pp for the whole day.  They have whole customizable itineraries that you can do, so you can decide how much or little you want to do. There is no need to pay up front. THey prefer US dollars in cash upon arrival. Reviews for them are all positive. Its easy to reserve what you want. Its all done through email, and they answer very promptly. Their communication has been great. 

For something adventurous and fun at Cozumel, try the Amazing Secret River in Playa del Carmen.  You will need to take the ferry to the mainland, then a bus ride to the underground caverns.  You will swim, walk and once or twice crawl through openings in the cavern.  You will get wet, but it's fun.  It isn't good if you have a bad back or difficulty walking.  You are up close and personal with stalactites and stalagmites.  There are showers, changing rooms, and lockers at the base camp. Whatever you choose, have a great cruise!  (We will actually be on your itinerary in Sept.)
We used Viator in Australia, so I like the suggestion by @MDIAZ72 .

This will be a 30th wedding anniversary trip for my husband and I. He’s a bit more adventurous than I am so nothing too wild. We definitely want a beach day. I’ve bern on 2 Disney cruises- did a dolphin encounter in Cozumel and  a beach encounter in Grand Cayman. 

It would help to know a bit about you.  What do you like and if you have any kids?  
We are doing that exact itinerary in March.  I have 4 kids ages, 19, 16, 12 and 8 now.  We've been to Roatan before and loved the snorkeling there.  It was probably the best we've seen. We'll do it again with a 3rd party.  Coco Cay can be a beach/pool day for free or you can pay for the Waterpark.  We've done and enjoyed both but because Cozumel will be a beach day for us, we'll probably do the waterpark again.   In Cozumel, we'll get a taxi and either go to Mr. Sanchos or Paradise Beach.  We haven't been to Costa Maya and not sure what we'll do there.  

We did the same itinerary on Symphony Of The Seas early July. We are a family with two boys (10 & 14 years old) and obviously our excursion preferences had to take into account their age and ability.
In Roatan we booked a third-party excursion with Viator. The name of the excursion was Roatan VIP Free-Style Private Tour, with Roatan Henry Tour. We spent about 5 hours looking for some nice views of the island, know more about the culture and traditions on the island. We were all four in an air-conditioned van accompanied by a guide. The guide was giving us options (meeting with monkeys, parrots and sloths, restaurants to eat iguana and other local food, etc.) But my children are allergic to some animals and we didn't want to eat anything outside the ship to avoid stomach problems.
Our guide recommended a boat ride through the mangroves and it was fantastic to discover the wild nature of Roatan. Then we were on a couple of beaches and in the last of them in West Bay we swam and sunbathed while we drank something before going back to the port. We enjoyed the beautiful views of the island and we choose this kind of excursion because no one in the RC excursions list checked with our preferences.
There is an important thing that you have to take into account: the local time in Roatan doesn't match with the Ship's time. It's important when you booked an activity out of the RC list. You could lost the ship.
In Costa Maya, we did Dolphin Encounter excursion and after that we went by our own to a small town 5 minutes away from the port called Mahahual where we stayed on the beach swimming, snorkeling and relaxing.
In Cozumel, we did the Starfish Sanctuary and Palancar Reef Snorkeling excursion. Beautiful and very well organized, enjoying the reefs, the starfishes... Very nice.
In Cococay we booked the full day Thrill Waterpark pass to be with our boys and relaxing after that in a lot of places to do it in the island.
It is difficult to choose the right excursion but I think we were lucky with the ones we chose because they were perfect.
Have a nice cruise

So... My final take-aways.  First of all, I focused this blog mostly on the trip and not necessarily the ship because it's something different.  I really like vision.  The crew, the cruise director, the activities director, my stateroom attendant...I have no complaints!!  They were all amazing.  I'm not a picky cruiser and vision was totally fine, especially for a port heavy itinerary.  It truly never felt crowded except when chair hogs hit the decks.  I felt like the ship was in good condition (yes a bit of rust here and there, but hey, that's me too lol) and the shower curtain doesn't bug me.  That being said, we had some negatives as well.  The music venues are very limited, the bars were limited and the activities are limited.  For me, that was fine.  My sea days involved myself and 5 novels!  My husband, who had previously been on adventure, freedom and allure surprised me by saying he really prefers the bigger ships.  He would rather sail on a bigger ship if we can get the same itineraries and trade the price difference by staying in an interior room.  We are scheduled on rhapsody for next spring break...we got an amazing deal and great itinerary (including Belize and Roatan) but we may cancel and save up a bit... Especially if we decide to go to the UK next summer.  
   Speaking of itineraries... Europe was mostly amazing!!!  We did find that just like the Caribbean, there are better ports and that we are excursion people.  A whole day of shopping won't work for us...we need something to do.  Otherwise, you start seeing the same shops, just like in the Caribbean!!  
   Long trips:. We found that 12 days was just awesome!  But I was still sad to get off... The 2nd to last day is always gonna suck no matter how long your cruise is!
   Eating:. Unless there is lots of variety, we will probably decrease our specialty dining... It's just too much food.  Same for the dining room...we will continue to do my time because we just don't want 2 hour dining every night.  We enjoyed windjammer on those days we were tired and just wanted to relax, or had eaten big at port.
   Drink pkg:. The drink pkg even on 12 days was totally worth it.  We went through at least 3 bottles of water every day, coffee every morning, 2 glasses of wine with dinner and at least 1 cocktail a day.  Could we do without it, yes but for us it is really worth it and again, I'd be willing to go with a smaller room to afford it.  It was pricy but it worked for us absolutely.  Just FYI, the lowest price we ever saw was $48/day, and $57 with the internet 1 device each.  The drink card never showed up on our 12 day cruise so people must have been purchasing enough drinks!  
Packing:. Ok... So I definitely did better this trip, but could have done a bit better.  We managed 3 checked bags and 1 carry-on and didn't bring back a lot of souvenirs.  I could have done better... The laundry bag was amazing and my stateroom attendant made me fill enough for two bags and charged for one.  Nothing shrunk and next time I could easily pack fewer bathing suits and PJs and cover-ups.  Still would worry about my dresses, but none of Jeff's nice polos shrank!  
So that is our trip.  I'm so sad it's over...we have dreamed of this for a lifetime and planned it for almost 2 years.  But we have memories to last us forever, amazing pictures and the knowledge that we will do what we can to continue traveling.  Life is way too short not to try and travel, and for us it's a priority!  Thanks for coming along on our voyage with us!  Jane

Our perfect day in Cococay began with storms. My little son said it was a "rainy day at Cococay". Thus, when we wanted to access Thrill waterpark, they were about to close it due to bad weather. After an hour and a half the storm passed and we were able to enter the Waterpark. We enjoyed a very good day, especially my children. Cococay is perfectly prepared so that there are no problems with large crowds. In the end it was a great day, a perfect wrap to finish our cruise.

As a Spaniard I can say that what is in WJ is not "Paella" but a kind of rice cooked with a lot of ingredients, far from what a real paella is. Let me say that "Paella" is the container in which the recipe is made. It would be more correct to say "rice in paella".
Well, there are many delicious things in WJ. On this last cruise in addition to the delicious burgers with all their fixins, I really liked Indian food and everything I could find in Avocado Station with different recipes every day.
There were also a couple of days with exceptional ice cream with a lot of toppings in which both my children and I enjoyed it very much.

Hi!
I had printed the receipt for the reservation of the excursions on my last cruise and days before travelling I received a very useful email from Royal Caribbean that was a summary of all my Cruise Planner (excursions, dinners, shows, ...) There I checked that everything was correct, I printed the email and took it along with the other travel documents. On embarkation day I had no problem and I found the tickets for the booked excursions in my cabin.

As a Spaniard I can say that what is in WJ is not "Paella" but a kind of rice cooked with a lot of ingredients, far from what a real paella is. Let me say that "Paella" is the container in which the recipe is made. It would be more correct to say "rice in paella".
Well, there are many delicious things in WJ. On this last cruise in addition to the delicious burgers with all their fixins, I really liked Indian food and everything I could find in Avocado Station with different recipes every day.
There were also a couple of days with exceptional ice cream with a lot of toppings in which both my children and I enjoyed it very much.

In 2008 we were on a cruise by the Greek Islands departing from Bari (Italy) and the ports were Katakolon (Olympia), Santorini/Mykonos (two ports in the same day), Athens, Corfú, Dubrovnik and Venice.
In Santorini we went to Oia, a village in one of the corners of the island, and we enjoyed it very much making pictures. In Oia you will find the best views of Santorini with the typical white and coloured buildings with blue roofs. If you take a taxi, in 10 minutes you will arrive to Oia from Thira.
In Mykonos there are a lot of places to be by your own in the Mykonos city (the windmills, the Little Venice area, the white buildings and the extremely clean streets with a lot of places for shopping or enjoying the Greek food.
In Athens we arrived at 6:30 a.m., and by the 7:00 my wife and me were out of the ship in the way to Piraeus underground for going to Athens by our own. At 8:00 we were inside the Acropolis and we saw the Parthenon, Erecteion, Propilae, etc. with no more than 20 people around. We had difficult to found someone to take us a picture with the Parthenon. This allowed us to make a quiet visit of Athens without crowds (there were 28 buses outside the ship for the Athens's excursions). Don't miss the Panathinaiko Stadium (where the first Olympic Games -in modern age- took place), the Parliament with its Guard Change and the beautiful Plaka neighbourhood.
At Naples, as in the other touristic places, be careful with your valuables. There are pick pockets, but without violence, so take care and don't wear your backpack  in your back and let your purse in the front pocket of your short, trousers... Enjoy the Castel Nuovo, and the beautiful views from Castel del Uovo with the Vesubius. Try the World's best pizza at Sorbillo's (they have various places in the city) or enjoy a typical Naples dessert , the sfogiatelle (try it at Pintauro in Via Toledo). Other possibility is take the excursion to Pompeii ruins, or as you have written trying Capri. In May the weather in this area may change in few minutes, alternating between sun or some rain.
I hope that these things maybe useful for you and enjoy this wonderful cruise.

Hi!
I had printed the receipt for the reservation of the excursions on my last cruise and days before travelling I received a very useful email from Royal Caribbean that was a summary of all my Cruise Planner (excursions, dinners, shows, ...) There I checked that everything was correct, I printed the email and took it along with the other travel documents. On embarkation day I had no problem and I found the tickets for the booked excursions in my cabin.

As a Spaniard I can say that what is in WJ is not "Paella" but a kind of rice cooked with a lot of ingredients, far from what a real paella is. Let me say that "Paella" is the container in which the recipe is made. It would be more correct to say "rice in paella".
Well, there are many delicious things in WJ. On this last cruise in addition to the delicious burgers with all their fixins, I really liked Indian food and everything I could find in Avocado Station with different recipes every day.
There were also a couple of days with exceptional ice cream with a lot of toppings in which both my children and I enjoyed it very much.

As a Spaniard I can say that what is in WJ is not "Paella" but a kind of rice cooked with a lot of ingredients, far from what a real paella is. Let me say that "Paella" is the container in which the recipe is made. It would be more correct to say "rice in paella".
Well, there are many delicious things in WJ. On this last cruise in addition to the delicious burgers with all their fixins, I really liked Indian food and everything I could find in Avocado Station with different recipes every day.
There were also a couple of days with exceptional ice cream with a lot of toppings in which both my children and I enjoyed it very much.

In that case, I've seen the Windjammer do apple pie "paella" ?  They really get some good use out of that super huge pan.

Hi!
I had printed the receipt for the reservation of the excursions on my last cruise and days before travelling I received a very useful email from Royal Caribbean that was a summary of all my Cruise Planner (excursions, dinners, shows, ...) There I checked that everything was correct, I printed the email and took it along with the other travel documents. On embarkation day I had no problem and I found the tickets for the booked excursions in my cabin.