Rick M

You do not get points faster, but I signed up wife and kids at same time. Sign up wife and she will get points earned on past cruise as well.

Yes, includes any alcohol like wine, liquor and beer.

As soon as you board ship, go to kiosk or any specialty restaurant and make your reservations. Most times should still be available.

I am with you, except I share one suitcase with myb2 teenage son's. The wife and all her crap is in the larger suitcase.

I would have too say the Vatican in Rome, Florence, Venice and Istanbul(Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque).

I do not think it is worth it. I have a Jr. suite booked in Aug 2020 for Alaska, but I would not pay more. However, if you have a regular suite, depending on the ship, you have access to the Concierge Club and Coastal Kitchen or some other suite only access areas. As a Jr. suite we do not have those perks. I do not think it is worth the price deference.

You have a small fridge in your cabin. Ask your room steward to bring you a cork screw and 2 wine glasses, they do this gladly. If you want to have it at dinner, they will store it for you, but they do charge a corkage fee, usually 10 or 15 dollars to open and store it. Still a lot cheaper than buying the bottle on board.

You may want to do both dining venues. The windjammer is as fast to eat at as you like. The MDR will take at least 1 and 1/2 hours to eat a complete meal, apps, main course and dessert. You can reduce the time if you forgo a course. And specialty restaurants will take up to 2 hours as well. If you like pizza, there is Sorrento's as well which is super quick.

The excursions and anything else you booked is fully refundable. If you booked cruise and have the refundable fare and it is more than 90 days away, you can just cancel. However, if you did not book a refundable cruise it cost $100 per person to make a change. This happened to me when i switched from March to July on Allure and I had a non refundable deposit. Cost me 400 for 4 of us.

My kids were is same room, right above guest services, and it was very quiet at night. We were right across hall in an ocean balcony.

Non alcoholic beverages, except for the wine. If only 1 adult is sailing, you are only allowed 1 bottle of wine plus 12 beverages.

It was just a 3 nighter. Those tend to be roadies crowds on the less expensive cruise lines, even RCCL.

Thank you

Perhaps Matt can answer this, is the tip for the included first day lunch with the key program included?

As far as onboard experience goes, My family considers food first. RC has a fair dinner menu in the MDR, although the quality could be a bit better. Their buffet is wonderful in terms of selection, quality and they change things up daily (not all things). And they have very good specialty restaurants. Carnival was much worse, especially at the buffet - it was always the same stuff. Disney, on the other hand was much better in the MDR. But for 50% more for the cruise is it worth It? Now that my boys are teens - I would say no. Celebrity and Princess are supposed to have better food, but the extra cost to cruise again begs the question - is it worth It? As far as entertainment and activities to do while on the ship, I think RC has all the others beat. There is too much to do in fact. On the quantum class and oasis class, you could literally split yourself into 4 to do stuff all over the ship. I think the storeroom attendants are helpful and kind no matter who you cruise with. I know the average storeroom is a bit bigger on Disney, but that is because most people sail with their kids in the same room. As for the bars and lounges, the are pretty much the same on any cruise line. But I do want to try the bar on Allure that goes from the promenade to central park.