Danizona

I was there June 17th for the Ovation. 11:30a check-in time. We were there at 11:25a. Line was crazy. We didn't get onboard until after 1:30p. I don't know what the issue was. When we finally got to security and then check-in there were no issues and all stations were fully staffed. No idea why it took so long.

There has been a New York Strip on the main dining room menu every night that I have spent on a ship. Its my husbands go-to. It comes with Herb Butter or Peppercorn sauce but you can get that on the side.

I've read that some hotels offer free (or included) parking during your cruise. Has anyone stayed at a hotel with this amenity and would you recommend the hotel? The few that I have found in my search online said that they didn't offer parking when I called them. Hotel Galvez has parking included but they are already booked for the night we'll be there. Thanks in advance!

In addition to what has already been said, I recommend linking all of your reservations together (if you didn't book all the reservations) to make it easier to book the MTD. You can do this by calling in to customer service at any time. Once you are linked together, it makes it easier to book the reservation in the cruise planner under dining. You can manually link them in the cruise planner using each party's reservation number but sometimes its glitchy and a PITA. ? We do MTD all the time and have never had an issue but yes they do fill up by the so book as soon as you can. I'm 47 days out and just booked out MTD reservations and noticed that the 7p slot was already filled up on several days and we are just a party of 2 this time.

Totally agree with the "think airport" comment above. To add on to what has been said already - For us, we like to eat in the dining room the 1st night so we bring a carry-on sized bag with a change of clothes in the event our bags are delivered after 6pm (has happened) but we go as light as possible. If we are getting on the ship early we'll arrive in shorts with swimsuits under and carry a single carry-on with us. The rest of the bags go with the porter. Then when the cabins open about 1p, we put the carry on in the cabin. Our last cruise we had an overnight flight to Miami and we literally put on swimsuits and changed clothes in the airport bathroom before heading to the cruise terminal so that we would have to carry on as little as possible with us. For the tags, put them on your bags after your flight but before you get to the cruise terminal. You can buy some plastic covers so they don't rip off (again has happened to me).