DDaley

I asked a simple yes or no question to which Matt kindly replied, however I am appalled that other members felt it was an opportunity to ridicule me. If this is the behavior that can be expected anytime I submit a question this site I want no part of it. I will take my questions directly to Royal Caribbean from now on!
 

Some of the early projections while it was under construction referenced 10k but as it was built out those grew to 12k to 13k. Looking back in hindsight Royal had already designed much of Icon around this time so they knew.  Then Hideaway Beach was added and hints that there could be more development further adding capacity.  
Capacity is a number that is not precise.  It's partly a tool used in the business models that became a marketing label thrown out in various Bayley speeches.  In other words it's a made up number.  
How many people can fit in a phone booth?  Answer: One.  Alternate answer: Twelve drunk college students.  Trick question:  No such thing as phone booths anymore (mostly).  
Celebrity ships are much smaller than Royal's.  A Celebrity ship across the pier from a Royal ship is a good thing for Royal guests.

We are going in May. I have been going back and forth on what to pack. There are 4 of us-me, DH, DD, and FIL. All of us got Merrell/Columbia shoes(sneaker like waterproof shoes). We are planning layers-t shirt, light pullover, sweatshirt and we got puffer jackets that fold into a pouch.  Everyone is taking a baseball cap and wooly hat and gloves.  Everyone also gets a very small umbrella and we got 2 binoculars to share. 
We are planning to do laundry during the week so that we can fit all this stuff in the suitcase! 
My theory is to be prepared for all eventualities and hope the weather is at least dry, temperature I can deal with!

If the forecast is looking like rain, I would also suggest a pair of waterproof pants! It rained alllll day on us in ISP and half the day in Juneau and I was very happy to have the water beading off my legs instead of soaking in to my pants as we strolled around.
I did bring hiking boots (which were perfect in the rain) but if you’re not planning on doing anything too adventurous on excursions, you’d probably get by with tennis shoes. 
Aside from that I would say just tons of layers in varying weights. If it was a sunny day it was nice to peel off layers, on the rainy days it kept the rain from soaking through (yes my REI raincoat ceases to be waterproof after 8 hours). I packed an additional poncho but left it in the cabin, oops.  I wore three(!) kinds of hats - baseball, full brim and beanies when it was chilly. We went in September so the beanie probably wouldn’t be necessary mid summer. 
I also enjoyed having a pair of binoculars on our balcony! 

If the forecast is looking like rain, I would also suggest a pair of waterproof pants! It rained alllll day on us in ISP and half the day in Juneau and I was very happy to have the water beading off my legs instead of soaking in to my pants as we strolled around.
I did bring hiking boots (which were perfect in the rain) but if you’re not planning on doing anything too adventurous on excursions, you’d probably get by with tennis shoes. 
Aside from that I would say just tons of layers in varying weights. If it was a sunny day it was nice to peel off layers, on the rainy days it kept the rain from soaking through (yes my REI raincoat ceases to be waterproof after 8 hours). I packed an additional poncho but left it in the cabin, oops.  I wore three(!) kinds of hats - baseball, full brim and beanies when it was chilly. We went in September so the beanie probably wouldn’t be necessary mid summer. 
I also enjoyed having a pair of binoculars on our balcony! 

NO cruise for YOU !!!
2 YEARS !!!

Thank you, I am really happy. And RC made me an Ambassador instead of a digruntled customer by doing this, so I am sure it will be worth it for them in the end. So I am staying in the community 😊

Hello! Just wanted to update on this.
When it got cancelled I sent them one email, and Later when I did not hear anything I sent a new one. 
About a month after cancellation i got a final NO from RC Norwegian customer service on refund for my flight, even if KLM and travel insurance said RC should refund me. I was not happy but I put it away, however 2 weeks ago the US customer service replied to my 2nd email, and confirmed that they had talked to KLM and that RC would refund me 3900kr (380$) for my flight, and today I got the refund. I must say (sorry If I am prejudiced) that I never thought US customer service would be more pro customer than the Norwegian one, taking in regard we have one of the worlds strictest customer protection acts, however they proved me wrong. And this has definitely made me view RC in a totally different light, and made me look forward to my upcoming cruise with Oasis a lot more than I did, and I am sure I will spend way more than what it cost them to refund me in the future, and ofcourse talk good of them to followers, customers etc. so It will definitely be worth it for them. So a happy ending to a sad story! 

I thought I would start a thread on cruise ship emissions.
I was just on Celebrity Edge and captain Costa had a talk. Part of the talk was how Royal Caribbean Group are trying to comply with the incoming legislations .
One thing he said which amazed me was Edge class is 17% more efficient than Solstice in fuel burn and emissions.
 
 

Wife’s favorite drink hack… asking a solarium bartender to add a banana from WJ/Park Cafe to her strawberry daiquiri. She usually winds up with a little extra b/c of it…

I’ve been to NOLA every few years since 2012 and always stay in the quarter at the Hotel Monteleone (family tradition passed down from my parents). It’s a gorgeous, historical hotel and is home to the famous carousel bar! The quarter during daylight hours is just as grimy as it’s always been but I tend to do my sightseeing by day so we only do the rounds after dinner for entertainment purposes. Frenchmen St is the best for live music! 
If you’re gonna traipse out to a plantation, make sure it’s Whitney, as it’s the only former plantation site in Louisiana that is presented from the perspective of the enslaved people, not the slave owners. May I also suggest the 1850 House Museum off of Jackson Square. I think it’s only $5 admission but the house remains set up as it would’ve been in 1850! Super cool.

I’ve been to NOLA every few years since 2012 and always stay in the quarter at the Hotel Monteleone (family tradition passed down from my parents). It’s a gorgeous, historical hotel and is home to the famous carousel bar! The quarter during daylight hours is just as grimy as it’s always been but I tend to do my sightseeing by day so we only do the rounds after dinner for entertainment purposes. Frenchmen St is the best for live music! 
If you’re gonna traipse out to a plantation, make sure it’s Whitney, as it’s the only former plantation site in Louisiana that is presented from the perspective of the enslaved people, not the slave owners. May I also suggest the 1850 House Museum off of Jackson Square. I think it’s only $5 admission but the house remains set up as it would’ve been in 1850! Super cool.

I have a feeling everything will be fine on Labadee... It is how the locals feed their families, I can't imagine they would allow bad things to happen there. The violence in Haiti is far from Labadee and the people of that region want nothing more than the ships to keep coming.

The steak at Hooked is 10x better than the one at Chops. TBH every steak from everywhere is better than the one a Chops imho. 

We leave on Friday for our 8-night Southern Caribbean cruise. I will be very busy Thursday - Saturday of this week, so I'm starting now in hopes that it will be easier to keep up with some smaller posts as we begin our travel. 
This will be our first time on Symphony - I'm super excited to cruise on this ship! There will be six of us: me, DH, DD (just turned 17) and DS (14) plus my parents (more below).
Our itinerary is -
Day 1 Cruising from Fort Lauderdale/Port Everglades
Day 3 Labadee (I'm fairly sure we won't stop here, but haven't heard yet what we'll have instead)
Day 5 Aruba
Day 6 Curacao
I'm bummed about Labadee. The last time we were here was in 2014 (kids were 4 & 7) so we were very excited to do all of the adventure activities this year - superman zip line, coaster and jet skis - and bought them all on Black Friday special. Hopefully we'll have some sort of stop since they've had two weeks to figure it out. With an eight night, spring break (crowded) ship, I'd prefer for 3 of the days to be in port.
We're flying from Newark, which is not our home airport - it is about 2 hours away - but was half the price. We also have a mix & match flight: JetBlue to FLL on Friday night and United back from PBI on Sunday. I've prebooked a parking space at a private location.
My parents are cruising with us for the first time. The company my Dad works for used to charter ships in the 80s so they have cruised before, but nothing like what they'll experience on Symphony. They are retired so got a good flight deal by going down on Wednesday. They are renting a car and have a great price for the three nights for a room in a condo complex (offered as an add on to their Southwest flight). They will be picking up a bottle of wine, some bottled water and maybe a few other things since they'll have so much time. We don't get in until 9pm so essentially just sleeping, breakfast and an Uber to the port. We have an 11:30am check in but plan to get there around 11am. 
They originally booked a GTY ocean view, which was the same price as an interior at the time. I caught a sale and upgraded them to a GTY ocean balcony, they were assigned 6th floor really early, and then our fabulous TA moved them two doors down from us on the 8th floor.
On our last cruise, we did a Discover Scuba for the first time and loved it. So we decided to do our PADI cert over the summer and our OW dives in a quarry in October - that was not fun at all - but we're fully certified and have a dive planned for both Aruba and Curacao. We also rented a car in Aruba. We have a very late day there (9 or 10pm) so we'll dive in the morning and then plan to drive around sightseeing for the rest of the afternoon. We rented from Top Drive and added on the chairs/snorkel/cooler package so my parents will hang out at Eagle or Palm Beach while my family dives. 
On Curacao, we will dive, my parents will snorkel, we'll change and grab lunch back on the ship and then we plan to just do a self-guided walking trip to the bridge, etc. I also want to check out the artist that @FionaMG mentioned and maybe pick up a print or two. 
We have all the shows reserved, Escape room booked, specialty lunch at Giovanni's on boarding day, and a meal at Wonderland booked to celebrate my daughter's birthday. I also got the birthday package for her, with the room decorations and cake. 
Have to run, but more to come!

Might have been heat stroke. I have no  explanation.
MDR Italian night was unexpectedly good. Arancini (forgot a pic) was crispy & tasty, lasagna actually had meat & wasn’t mushy, & even my wife loved the chocolate hazelnut cake. Neither of us tasted any hazelnut. It was very similar to the molten chocolate cake which she loved on Allure. Thanks for the recommendation @FionaMG !

Apologies for the missing bites.
Waiting for Name That Tune: 80’s and trying a “Metalliquor”

Hit up water park with kids then hideaway which we got for $20. Place is incredible. Amazing. 

You’ve already been to the WJ AND ELF ?  OMG….youre going to explode before the ship leaves the dock !  😱😵😂

Empty mason jar. Also bourbon aficionados will notice Colonel Taylor and Eagle Rare. Not too shabby for a mass market cruise line 

We will be on Oasis in a few weeks.  As kids, mine were obsessed with CATS.  We had a video of a Broadway show on VHS and they would watch, dance and sing.  I must have watched that video 200 times.  They are now looking forward to the show on the ship!  I guess if you know every single word to every single song, it helps.

I think it’s great that in a matter of an hour you and Justin went from not really being pub people to doing Irish car bombs and tequila shots in the pub!  No need to break yourselves in gently…just go for it!  See you there tonight😜

I spotted my beloved chicken picatta in the Gio pix.  
So agree about Cats.  I managed to get Dan to sit through the entire production exactly ONCE.  I also feel bad for the performers.  It's not like THEY are doing a bad job...it's just a show that has come and gone and they need to make it go AWAY.  Fat chance that will happen any time soon with the penny pinching at the moment.  I guess Aqua80s makes up for Cats. 🤣

It’s definitely time for Oasis to be honored with a new show!  Seriously! 😳 Come on Royal…do something nice for your Oasis guests!

@OCSC Mike here is photo evidence that I do like tequila. But it has to be Patron. 😉
Again, apologies for the quality of the photos. We took them from videos. 
 
@recogneyes’s Hubby was warned by Andrew that he might show up on social media. He asked what we would call him. I told him we would call him @recogneyes’s Hubby 😄

Pic of adventure on sail away from our pool deck.