sleepy425

Kids Sail Free doesn’t seem to be working. I sort by eligible sailings, but it’s only coming up as 60% off for guests 3 and 4 no matter if I put it as 2 kids 2 adults or 4 adults - same price. Anyone finding a cruise it’s actually working on for the new releases?

It was showing that for me around 11:30pm for Xmas or NYE, I forget which sailing I was checking.

Good times, when I try to book it switches one room to Interior instead of balcony, but the price doesn't change (I am trying to do one balcony one interior. Everything looks good, right pricing until I get to entering names then it changes it to interior). Guess I'm just going to bed. ETA: put a hold for one room on a 4 night Canada, maybe we will take 2 kids on that one and then the other 3 on another one.

I'm regretting my NextCruise certificates. These prices are a complete bummer. For $8k+ I think the kids would have rather checked out Universal. And I really didn't think it through - the cheaper room options are all Guarantee these days, so if I want to use all 3 certificates I need to convince my parents to go and put their name on a room and hope we end up at least somewhat close to one room for my younger 2, or pay even more to choose. Or just have my parents take a kid in their room...my brain hurts...

Guilty! NextCruise told me it was scheduled for Feb 14 at 11am. But I take anything they say with a grain of salt and will be stalking the website. I already warned work to expect me to be useless Wednesday because I have vacations to plan. Tomorrow is my day off and I'll probably be stuck home in a snow storm so it would be amazing if they managed to do it then.

I bought 3 Next Cruise Certificates while on my Xmas cruise. It's been torture waiting for the release of Jersey so I can book. Will it be three cruises and only bring a couple kids each time (we have 5 kids)? Will it be one cruise with 3 rooms? Will we go North? Will we go South? I just want to know already!!!

I paid $480 for Christmas 2023 9booked as soon as the cruise was released), and $520 for this coming NYE. They sold out within a few months of the cruises being released - I just looked and I booked the bungalow in March 2023 for Dec 2024 and it sold out right after I booked! We were REALLY hoping we hate the bungalow and found it a waste of money so I could cancel for the next cruise. But it was fantastic. I hate water/sand/sun (I'm a big fan of staying on the ship in the air conditioning, and my family is quite happy to leave me behind. They did two port days without me, so this was my compromise to actually spend a beach day with them and not stick my husband with all 5 kids again). It was fabulous having my Best Friend for the Day Oneil doing my drink runs for me! And it was close enough we could see the kids on the Aqua Park - my husband checked them in and told them to just meet us back at the bungalow. If it was only $150 I would have booked myself and my husband one and one more for the kids! To answer the original question - avoid the markets on Labadee. You really can't prepare yourself for the level of subtle/sometimes not so subtle aggressiveness they have. It is nothing like going through the big market building in Nassau! My new foster son (he's never been anywhere like this, and hasn't even experienced Nassau to at least give him some taste to what these markets can be like) is 17 and is a typical teenage know it all. I warned him to wait for us to go to the market, or even better just don't go at all. He insisted he knew what he was doing. 15 minutes later he was back and had blown all $100 he had on him, with some bracelets and a picture to show for it. I'm really hoping he learned his lesson and doesn't do it again this year!

My Junior Suite on Navigator had a closet big enough that if I had my kids with me, one in particular would have been thrilled to sleep in it (he's a petite 11 year old that loves to sleep random places, he's weird). So that is definitely a huge perk. This coming NYE on Adventure we booked a junior suite so that we can better organize the clothes for our 4 kids - we plan on keep most of the clothes in our room and having the kids share the oceanview a few doors down. I know a huge closet isn't the perk you were looking for - but we did Xmas on Adventure in two balcony rooms and there were clothes everywhere for all the kids. I was losing my mind trying to keep it organized. That closet is going to be worth every penny I paid for the JS! Plus being able to walk around the room without bumping my poor shins into a something is a big plus.

I took my boys in June on Liberty and figured my standard 30 minutes early would be fine - it was PACKED. Thankfully someone saw us looking for seats - he was alone and had an empty seat on either side of him so he let us take those 3 seats and moved to another empty seat. I was shocked, I've never seen the theater so full so early. For the ice rink we all got there super early so they would know where I was sitting, then I would read a book while they ran to Johnny Rockets for a milkshake.

Did you get the previous rate?

Interesting, because I did the same thing Friday and was charged the $18 (and this was a cruise that was booked back in June 2022 when it was $14.50 - I have the original confirmation that says that amount). I had them add the gratuities when I paid the final payment.

Is All Access the only one that tours the theater (or does that one not even go there)? We are staying in a grand suite on Brilliance in July and I'd love a tour that goes to the theater.

The past two cruises (Sept 2023 on Liberty and Dec 2023 on Adventure) my girls have come back with multiple lanyards from the kids club. They kept winning them. We always bring our own but it was nice to get some extras for when they lose them between cruises! (Older ships you can have them punch a hole in the card, newer ships you need the plastic sleeve for the lanyard to store the card in)

I like the Taste of the Caribbean class, I'm glad they're putting it in the cruise planner now!

We love 270, always go straight there when we embark. Thanksgiving 2022 on embarkation day they had raffles going on. My dad won a (cheap) watch, and I won credit to gamble in the casino (I forget how much it was. $25 or $50 maybe?).

Yesterday we didn’t get to St Thomas until noon, and brunch was offered on Adventure. We enjoyed getting to sleep in a bit then eating, but I did miss the vegetable bowl I normally get.

I’m on Adventure. Last night the singers, dancers, and ice skaters put on a Christmas show on Studio B. This morning all the kids were invited to Studio B to visit Santa. We got there and they had a list of all kids on the ship - each child got a gift. All 5 of mine are 10-17 years old, and got a nice big Royal Caribbean Beach towel. Everyone has been so kind, other guests are handing out goodie bags to the kids and are making it so special.

Thanks @WAAAYTOOO, I hadn't gotten that email and I need to book a ticket for my April cruise.

We are DVC and do Disney often. I'd Uber to Disney, then Uber to the port. We are the family that prefers not to have a car in Disney, we don't mind their transportation. And when I'm just done at the end of the night, or need to get to dining at a different resort and don't want to wait for their transportation, an Uber or Lyft is cheap enough that I just pay it. Next week we are flying into MCO and ended up booking a ride service for $440 round trip. I gave in and did that because there are 7 of us on the way there and 9 on the way back, so I didn't want to waste time worrying about fitting all the luggage for a ten day vacation and getting multiple Ubers.

Thanksgiving week 2022 on Anthem I was stuck in the room with 2 sea sick kids while my husband, parents, and the other 2 kids went to eat. I gave my husband a list of what I wanted to eat and asked him to just bring it when he came back. Imagine my surprise when our assistant waiter Miluten showed up at my door with all of my food, and some things for the kids to nibble on (because "it is too much for MrSleepy to have to balance!") (I saw him June 2024 on Liberty and he remembered me - "Sleepy425 with all the kids!!!" And I know he wasn't making that up, because I didn't have all the kids with me that cruise. That guy is fantastic!) Definitely not a normal occurrence, but so appreciated. If you went to your table and just ordered a couple things and asked to take them to go I don't imagine they would give you an issue. But too many of those plates with covers would be a challenge for you to carry.

Check in day! We got 11:30.

I just checked in a couple days ago for Freedom out of Miami in Dec and 11:30 was the earliest time (and I was on right when it opened at midnight).

I booked Adventure Christmas 2023 for about $3900 for 6 people in 2 balconies. Then I got a 2 bedroom Grand Suite for Alaska over 4th of July 2024 for only $7300 for 6 people. Then NYE 2024/25 was released and the prices were the same for that, so I jumped on it. I'm eagerly awaiting the schedule extension so I can see what my next family cruise will be - whatever cruise is affordable I will make work with our schedules. But if the prices all look like Icon, I will gracefully bow out and find new adventures. Especially since as of recently we are a family of 7.

We had them once and never used them again because for the kids club you needed the SeaPass card, not the bands. Since we still have kids who use the kids club, we always need the Sea Pass card. If you don't have kids then this isn't an issue and the bands would be more useful. Also as stated above you need the SeaPass to scan off and on the ship.

For the Labor Day Liberty of the Seas that went to Canada instead of Bermuda (which was announced prior to sailing), port fees were refunded to everyone's onboard account.