Crown&AnchorEsq

For the MDRL: definitely yes to the vegetables. Not sure about the meat but I would be surprised if the answer was no. Only one that might be a little tricky would be the mashed potatoes. since that is prepared in advance. Just ask your waiter and they will let you know what they can do. Even better if you email dining or talk to them ahead of time on the first day. Windjammer/other locations should also be able to accommodate but might be a touch trickier and will almost always be a wait.

Unifying the point system (though hopefully not adjusting the goalposts, though that is obviously a concern) has some value to certain cruisers. We like RCL because it is family friendly but if the Mrs. and I were to take a trip on our own without the little ones we might consider expanding to X or Silversea so we know that we will still be working towards greater benefits on RCL for us and the kids in the future. Is it a huge issue? no. But I do like to keep pumping up my points so we can get to D+ some day.

All locations are hit and miss, it will depend on how much they are paying attention and how much they care. I never intentionally bring things on board but with the kids and diaper bags sometimes we miss stuff or find out that something we thought one of the kids had eaten was in fact stuffed somewhere else. At FLL we were told to toss a box of raisins because they were not sealed but we had a cut up banana in a sandwich bag that they did not say anything about (I assume they missed it). In Bayonne we had homemade sandwiches and yogurt (sealed but perishable) and were only told to toss an apple. Miami we had a couple open snacks in our diaper bag but everything was allowed through.

Small thing I have found makes a big difference: take the stairs, always. Someone told me years ago and I always had until our last cruise when the two kids were too big to be carried. I never realized how much a difference it made until I did not do it...5lb later Plus, the stairs usually end up being quicker during busy times.

We've really enjoyed thrill island when we've been on the island. Though the dynamic pricing can make it tricky, we paid way too much one time. If you're the type of person who is able to make it to other waterparks throughout your year it would probably be a pass but for my family and I it was a no brainer because we rarely have the time to make it between weather and our schedules. Coco Beach club is probably the most "elevated" experience on the island and I am sure you will enjoy it but those costs have trended towards astronomical. Traveling with a big group gives you some advantage because you could theoretically split a Coco Beach or Thrill island cabana and may be able to save on the actual pass admission though the pricing has sort of phased that out as well. There's no wrong choice, except possibly hideaway beach since we do not actually know what it will be like but it will presumably be a fine choice, it is really more a matter of how much you want to spend. I always suggest setting a hard budget for your cruise and then see how spending $300+ on coco cay might effect your ability to do whatever else you might want to do. As long as you stay on budget you will never regret spending the money on something, but you very well could regret missing out on something else. With all that said, definitely book sooner rather than later, prices often go up, rarely go down and you can cancel and rebook regardless.

Anything available can be a little confusing, I believe there is technically a list of the labels included and that is usually stocked in the SL. If that's what you mean by available, then, yes 100% correct. If you ask for something specific, say a neat single malt that's not on the menu I think you are venturing into ymmv territory and could be one possible explanation for the charge here. Other possibility is that perhaps OP was outside the happy hour window? "evening drinks" is a set time (I believe usually 5-8 on most ships)

+1 Once your in the lounge I have rarely, if ever, seen them ask for a seapass or room number. Use your diamond vouchers earlier/later in the day and maximize that suite benefit in the lounge. If you're on Oasis class the CK/SL staff are generally happy to get drinks to your table when dining in coastal kitchen as well.

Bigger (in terms of gross tonnage) will generally have less motion in like circumstances as it requires more force to move the mass. Length and beam (width) will effect the nature and type of motion. The Oasis class ships are some of the widest and therefore roll the least but when they do roll a lot of people describe the motion as being more "snappy" or "sudden." Hull design will also factor into the equation. Almost all of Royal's ships are true "cruise ships" focused on maximum stability and maneuverability for the environments that they are targeted for which is primarily island-to-island and less true "open ocean." As a result, they perform somewhat differently (though not necessarily poorly) in open ocean. The most constant motion I have felt have been NY-based cruises, particularly down to Bermuda. Southampton to Canaries would likely be similar type sailings. The reality is that the cruise ships are not really designed as much for the TA/TP sailings. I am sure there are others but the only "Ocean Liner" I am currently aware of is the Cunard QM2. Of course the biggest factor by far is the simple matter of sea conditions. The worst seas I ever felt was on Mariner on our way out of Orlando to the W. Carib (I believe Labadee). Crew were getting sick, I thought the theater sets were going to rip out of their anchors and its the only time I remember obvious mistakes by the RCL singers/dancers in a performance.

Definitely not required but if you let your head waiter know that you will not be there on a certain day they tend to appreciate it so that they can use the table for MTD.

My frame of reference is for 11-12 month olds (twice) so it should be close but might not be perfect. To do today: Make sure you have a crib reserved for your stateroom unless you are bringing your own. Depending on the ship these may be mini-cribs or may be pack-n-plays. If you are particularly concerned about perfectly flat sheets and whatnot I would recommend bringing a pack and play sheet as the stewards frequently just use a regular flat sheet folded a few times, its not perfect if they toss and turn. For flying: You are allotted a car seat, stroller and diaper bag for the infant regardless of whether the infant has a seat. I recommend utilizing all three, you will probably need to gate check the stroller and the car seat but once you get to Miami you can pretty much use any transportation you want. We usually book a hotel with a free airport shuttle and then uber/livery service to the port. Order diapers and have them shipped to your hotel. I usually check with the hotel and ask if they would let us send them a day or two early and how they should be addressed to make sure they end up in the right spot. Most will work with you. If something goes wrong you still have 12-24 hours to make an emergency run to a local store to grab something if needed. Freedom has a baby splash pad so dont forget swim diapers. Once on board register at AO as soon as possible and sign up for your nursery slots you are limited to a certain amount (usually somewhere between 8 and 24 hours) depending upon how many other infants are on the cruise. Pick times you know you definitely want/need prioritizing earlier in the week. After the first couple days they usually remove the hour limit and you can add more times. Everything else is more or less the same, just be mindful that you will probably be doing less due to nap schedules and limited infant/toddler energy.

My wife and children have very limited dietary options but we've still had good experience with #10 in the past. Not to say that we did not have bad waiters in the past, which it sounds may have been one of the culprits here. You indicated it got "marginally better" after you spoke with the head waiter. If that was acceptable, great, if not, definitely reach out to your head waiter again next time. They will usually have business cards they will hand out or even have near the host stand in the MDR. RC wants to satisfy you, but sometimes you need to let them know (nicely) when things arent meeting your expectations so they can address it.

+1 to @twangster Check your current coverage or how much it would cost to get data coverage for your port days. St. Thomas, Mexico and Canada are covered by most at&t, tmobile and sprint plans (check your contract/plan before going nuts though) Almost everyone, including verizon has a $5-10/per day pass/plan that you can buy that will get you coverage just about everywhere else (on land).That really just leaves your sea days. If you can share a device with your wife that probably means you have maybe 0-2 days where you may not have any internet. If you have back to back sea-days you can soften that a bit further by starting your 24 hour diamond clock mid-day so it carries part way through the next.

You can now apply for the visa card through the app. I do not have one but I assume they also integrated the card to let you spend your points through the app as well.

We travelled during football season last year and watched most of the primetime games without issue and without ordering food. We waited until it was relatively quiet and and there were open tables but I am not sure how much they would have cared either way. We were ordering drinks so that might have made a difference. This was on Oasis and it was relatively quiet by 830-9.

Put them in your carry-on, leave one bag on top in clear sight and bury the others. We have had items taken out of our diaper bag only to find stuff in other pockets that was missed (by us and security). I usually try to toss most of the stuff we are not supposed to bring but half the time we miss a bunch of stuff. Stroller pockets are notorious for half-finished snacks that we find 2-3 days into the cruise.

Interesting that they released the fleet guide without the ship upgrade/amplification schedule as had been foreshadowed in the recent earnings call. Perhaps the upgrade investment is not as close on the horizon as we had thought (hoped?)

I stand corrected. Flowers for the porters it is.

Google-fu makes me think I just need to visit the LA next time around to get the kids linked to my C&A. I had been trying to get them signed up online and kept getting the under-12 kickback.

I did not. They are under-12 so they don't have C&A numbers (or my understanding is that we more accurately do not know the C&A numbers yet) are do not show up as "diamond" yet on set sail/Sea pass cards. When we were in a non-site cabin in May 22 I asked the diamond concierge and he just said that "only people with Diamond Sea Pass Cards" get the vouchers. However, he was swamped and may have misunderstood what I was asking. We rarely used all the vouchers anyways so it never occurred to me to check again. Probably still would not make a ton of difference anyways since the Mrs. does not like the kids getting a ton of sugar.

From experience, diamond vouchers + Suite lounge is more than sufficient to replace a drink package on Oasis class ships. Even if you want to Irish up your coffee first thing and grab a mid-morning margarita before switching to some afternoon beer/wine/seltzer/cider you can still grab your happy hour cocktails and some wine with/after dinner and still have 2 vouchers left over for your post-11pm night caps. In reality, we usually ended up spending most of our vouchers on strawberry daiquiris for the kids (which you can also get at the Suite lounge happy hour if they are well-enough behaved)

I think this is going to be a YMMW situation. I have not tried personally and I would really expect that you cannot because of the fruit/veggie/agricultural limitations. With that said I have definitely seen people board on embarkation day and not be stopped. Probably worth a try and the worst that happens is that you can give a nice bundle of flowers to a porter/port agent. If its super important you can also order from RCL, overpriced but what isnt these days.

We tend to tip at the end of the week. We left something for the CK manager because we found he was the one that mostly went out of his way (and also arranged for the special MDR meals to be delivered). We also tipped two of the CK waiters that we had that stood out. One was serving us the last night so that was easy enough, the other I went and grabbed a drink in the suite lounge until I saw him, grabbed his attention, said thank you. and slipped him something.

For suites, yes, but sometimes you need to ask. For C&A platinum and up, yes but you will almost definitely need to ask. For everyone else...can't hurt to ask, they have them on board. Maybe slide your stateroom attendant a tip on night one and ask nicely early in day 2?

You will need to wait until the day before to be absolutely sure but there are a couple of ways to make a better-than educated guess. Best bet is to see if you can find a cruise compass for your itinerary on Serenade, it will likely be the same night on every cruise. As a backup, look at the MDR menu and your itinerary. Dress to impress night will usually be a sea day and the "royal night" (lobster tail night) on the menu.

I suspect that some of this is mining for more spending options as others have said, but I also suspect this is a response to everyone reporting that sorrentos is...not great... in their post-cruise surveys. Sorrentos is free and at times (embarkation, late night) absolutely packed. They have to be able to churn and burn the pizzas. As a result, you get a slightly-better than frozen pizza. My guess is that they are really looking at making a better product (read: true hand-stretched, wood-fired, NY style etc etc) but limiting the demand by charging a fee. I'm only guessing, but the sorrentos issues might have well been one question: "would you prefer to pay more for a better product or are you ok with the so-so (but free!...well included anyways) product." I don't see how they can get rid of the only real late-night option (cafe promenade barely counts these days) We also got the suite questions, certainly looks like they are finding ways to change the inclusions there.