Momof4crazytocruise

I concur with the take the stairs and walk the long way strategies. I also don't really change my normal eating habits all that much on a cruise (i.e. I am not eating more or worse than I normally do, or eating things I wouldn't really eat normally - but I do enjoy the daily cream puff at the coffee shop). I prefer sit down over the buffet to keep consistent portion sizes, and I only eat when I am hungry. Lots of water throughout the day (in addition to plenty of cocktails - my drinking habits DO change with that drink package). I get up in the morning and walk the track while listening to an audio book. I always end the day with around 20,000 steps because we move around a lot! I do recommend doing the line dancing rather than fitness classes, way more fun and you still get cardio. Do I gain a few pounds? probably - but I am certainly not obsessing over it - I just manage it when I get home by getting back to my regular exercising, eating and drinking habits and it all settles out. I choose not to let the threat of a few extra pounds control my whole vacation.

I don't know why you would want to? But I guess technically you can take bottled drinks off this ship. I had an extra little bottle of Pellegrino that I had from the night before when they preemptively brought me a refill I didn't ask for, so I tossed in my bag and drank it in the Uber to the airport... but could you take 50 cans of red bull home? why? I think it's technically a no, since the package is for drinks you consume on the ship it self. 

On some ships they set up toys in the teen club in the mornings for the littles to play with. 

I clicked on this thinking it might be Indy, and describing the trashy behavior we saw on our last cruise on her, which convinced us we're never taking less than 5 night cruises and never from Port Canaveral again... alas, it was about Indy, but not about drunk topless lap dances in the hot tubs while kiddies are watching a movie by the pool in the early evening. Sigh. 

My kids don't really drink soda, so I bring along the little bottles of flavoring you can get in the grocery store and just a little squirt goes a long way. I bring a few different options for the kiddies - even Koolaid has a version now and it's sugar free, and they are perfectly happy choosing a flavor for their water bottle. Costs me about $12 for 3-4 of those, and that's enough for the whole cruise for 4 kids. I also bring along the little powder packets of Gatorade and such. Much better options than unlimited lemonade and soda sugar intake-wise for the kiddies, and they still have options AND I don't pay for the packages. We do let them get a few smoothies or whatever and we just pay ala carte for those. 

Some things I felt very helpful.

1) Don't bring the giant stroller. There is not a lot of room in the cabin, and it take up a lot of space. Invest in a compact folding stroller. We had one that folded up the size of a carry on suit case and we could store it in the closet. Bring the baby carrier. You really won't want to fight the stroller everywhere and wait for elevators all the time. We used the stroller in port and in the Windjammer so baby could sit while we ate. 

2) Call and request a pack and play be in the room when you arrive.  The room steward will set it and a make it up each evening just like a bed, and then you don't have to bring one.

3) Bring WAY more diapers than you think you will need. If you can get in town early enough, plan a trip to Walmart or somewhere and buy a big box and just check that at the port like you would a suit case (pack 10 more than you think you will use in the diaper bag for boarding day). Or have some shipped to the hotel, but check with them first. Bring bags to put dirty diapers in and take them to the hallway or public bathroom trashcans. Those get emptied frequently and your cabin won't be stinky by diapers sitting all day.

4) We found that on some ships you could check out toys, or during the day they would set up the teen club for a few hours with toys for the babies and toddlers.

5) When you get on the ship, do not pass go, do not collect $200, go DIRECTLY to the nursery to fill out paperwork and get your reservations. The nursery fills up very quickly and you will find that it is harder to get a dinner break than you realized. 

6) if you are nursing and planning to pump - request a medical refrigerator. The ones in the room are coolers and the milk will not keep. I found using the key words "nursing mother or breastfeeding mother' got me almost anything I needed with little to no argument. 

7) visit the dining room after boarding and ask them to add a highchair to your reservation. That way it's already set up when you arrive. 

8. For flying - pack WAY more diapers than you think you will need and 3 more outfits than usual. My kids were guaranteed to have a massive blowout somewhere in the process. 

If you want to avoid the Windjammer crowds, I recommend booking Chops for lunch on embarkation day, or for an included option, the little cafe in the Solarium was not crowded at all. 

Uber or rental car. Port Canaveral has a car rental return right in the port with shuttles to your terminal.  We got a great rate on a car and it was more cost efficient than uber at the time. We were not charged extra for a one way rental, I assume because this is a standard practice between the port and the airport in Orlando.

Not sure why you would want to bring air mattresses, but in addition the cabins are not like hotel rooms, they are much smaller. Interior cabins especially. A twin sized air mattress would like take up all available floor space in the cabin. If you booked a cabin for 4, there will be 4 beds. 

Sounds like an issue on your travel agent's end. To be clear, you booked and paid for the packages through the travel agent? Why are they not working this with Royal? And in the future, I highly recommend letting your travel agent manage the cruise itself, but all other purchases and excursions through the cruise planner. 

We like the R-bar for cocktails before dinner if we are dressed up a little. Mostly because they are easily accessible, but feels a little more 'fancy' than say the Schooner Bar. Mostly it's just on the way to wherever we are going. 

20 hours ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

hmmm..I know with My Time they kinda seat you when you arrive, but does anyone know if you can make window seat requests ahead of time?

actually, I have always found that if I may a My time reservation in the cruise planner, meaning I don't want early or late seating, but I want a pretty regular time, say like 6:30, we have always had the same table and the same wait staff each night. And if I request a window seat, we get the same table by the window every night. This is obviously not the case if you just show up each night whenever you feel like eating - then you get whatever is open. 

I take a stack of 1's, 5's, 10's and $20's plus a $100 bill to tip the room steward. We keep the stack in the safe and then a smaller stack in the drawer that we just draw from each time we go out of the room, so we have like $5-10 - 1's on us at a time when we go around. We tip $1-2 for drinks, $5 for breakfast or lunch or room service, and  $10 at dinner, with another $20 at the end of the cruise for both the head waiter and the assistant waiter. I will say this approach has given us an outstanding experience on board because the staff are very happy to see us coming. We are also polite, friendly and use good manners, which I also finds goes a long way with bartenders and wait staff. We also pay the mandatory gratuities, and while I think the extra tipping is nice, no one should feel obligated to do so. We prefer to having both worked our way through college in the service industry and we consider it part of the cost of cruising. 

6 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

wait...they limit slices? because we haven't experienced that....even just last week we were getting 3 or 4 at a time and we were not alone

They always did for us on both Independence and Liberty, I assumed that was the standard. And Park Cafe limited us to 2 slices each time we went up on both Grandeur and Enchantment, so I figured it was a thing. We can go back as many times as we want, but always only would give 2 slices per person. 

This idea of charging for lousy pizza is so bizarre to me! It's an area that clearly they are not seeing a lot of food waste with - they only give 2 slices at a time, and it's relatively cheap to produce - which to me means they should be pushing people TOWARDS a free pizza option. That would relieve pressure on the Windjammer and MDR which are much more resource intensive. It feels like a full on money grab rather trying to solve food cost issues. 

1 hour ago, Jkf1897 said:

Thanks all,

My other more sneaky plan is that my dad will be solo in one room, and since we share the same first and last name I'm going to "borrow" his drink package card when he's not using it. 

Please don't do this. The pass is tied to your sea pass card, and your photo will display on the screen when they scan the card. If you get caught the package could be revoked without a refund. I recommend swapping your dad and girl friend on the reservation, and then you both get the package and she won't have to if she's in a cabin by herself. 

It's possible to ask, never hurts to ask. And if you don't get the answer you want, call back and ask again. Sometimes you get different answers from different people.

If none in the room, as the room steward. Sometimes they just forget to refill the cards. 

I highly recommend Chops for lunch on boarding day! Book it ahead of time and save a few bucks, but it is SO relaxing and a great meal to kick off the trip - AND - you don't have to fight the crowds at Windjammer. And then pick a day for lunch at Giovanni's. I have never had an issue getting reservations for anywhere other than Teppanyaki, and for that one we plan ahead and pre-book before we cruise. 

Perhaps you can cruise with your birth certificate and driver's license instead of the passport? You don't say where you are cruising out of - if it is a closed loop cruise out of US port, that might be your only option.  I imagine you sent a copy of your birth certificate to the passport office, can you order another one online and pick it up? 

You have to try to fall off a cruise ship. Whether intentional or doing something stupid, no one just 'falls off' a cruise ship. 

Look, if I were to see someone wearing non-gender conforming swimwear, I would a) mind my own business or b) compliment them because they probably wear it better than me. Do what you want. There are always going to be people who think their way is the only way, no matter where you are. Most of us, however, don't care what you wear. 

The easiest, cheapest improvement Nassau could make is to put up signage pointing to the landmarks and points of interest. And to provide a city walking tour map on your way out of the port. We got frustrated because our map app wasn't working, and we couldn't track down a paper map and we had trouble finding anything at all. (partly our fault for not preparing properly - but we had planned to take an excursion, which was cancelled when they cancelled the stop at Nassau due to TS Nicole, and then added it back 2 days later with just a few hours in port - we did a quick map on our phones, but wasn't working later on). 

Simple things like signage directing tourists where you want them to go makes a big difference

They're not open all day though - only for blocks of time on sea days, and on port days they are typically open so you can leave kids to go on excursions. But no restrictions on going every time they are open. 

Only restriction is don't smoke on your balcony, otherwise up to you to use it whenever you want. I took a killer nap on the lounger in our suite last cruise.