ChessE4

The ships with my desired itinerary! Loved Brilliance, Radiance, Voyager, Mariner, Harmony. Want to try Quantum class.

Ditto other posts. One of the biggest crowds I saw was on the small Grandeur trying to get chocolate on New Years. I gave up...

Believe they are metal frames with rubber-plastic straps. Fairly durable.

Thanks for the update. As you noted later, thin cuts are easily overcooked. Your information is useful.

That is welcome news! Over the years we've always had the odd dish we wouldn't order again but liked the food enough to dress up for it. MTD has been the real disappointment, so we stick to traditional dining when we can.

In Corsica we took a Royal tour that involved bus and walking. The guide talked way too much at each stop, and about the time we returned to the city center the local market was closed for the day. Had we gone on our own, we would have seen most of the same sights and enjoyed the market.

There might have been other issues like wind or even pilot availability. I agree that 5 days out is early unless a named storm is the issue. By the way, we've never been compensated for a missed port other than port fees on occasion

We received just one of two back-ordered blocks. Doubtful we'll get the second. Truthfully, one is enough.

We avoid open food containers, but we tend to follow rules.

I'd skip the pricey stuff and visit Chill Island and/or the pool. Go early and snag your spots. Enjoy the water at your leisure. Yes, the island can be crowded. What counts is that you have fun. Save $ for ports with interesting excursions. I see pricing on some stuff just unrealistic, but I could be in the minority.

Yes, as in when you go to the bar or talk to the waiter, you just state you want to use your vouchers. I do this with my wife. If I want to keep them separate, I present both SeaPass cards.

Exactly! We'd rather book when the calendars are first announced, not necessarily when we are on the ship.

I guess the point is that the Cruise Planner might be improved to include a waiting list so that in anticipation of future cancellations one could get into a queue. Perhaps a down-the-road change....

Scrubs are my fancy dress for Halloween. I just add my wife's stethoscope. But I can see additional theme meals, PJ breakfast, health care lunch....

It is likely an issue with provider's insurance. I was chagrined to learn I couldn't snorkel at one port when I turned 65. However, I could take the beach excursion and snorkel with my own equipment off the beach. Different providers have different restrictions.

We have never seen a significant price decrease but we book early and pick our location. So don't assume price will go down, but check to see if it does and use a good Travel Agent.

We take a binder with paper backup on everything. It's not just set sail pass, but phone numbers, receipts, etc. Our son just uses his phone.

When we exercise this option we find it useful to start at noon one day so the 24 hour period carries over to the next day.

Remembering what we paid in 2015 to travel to Europe, any fare near 1700 today from East Coast seems reasonable after adjusting for inflation.

I noticed that my most recent travel insurance policies have coverage for missed ports.

Agree. Some folks don't dress appropriately. But the other comments show tolerance is important. You can tolerate others silently without approving the behavior. We all need to get along. But I'd bet that even those who don't judge notice what others are doing.

Last year we sailed to the ABCs. So there is some variety, and I don''t live in Florida, but we are a day's drive away.

If you want to see both sides of St. Maarten, I'd recommend an excursion.

While your food aversions are understandable -- they can result from one-trial learning -- the whole point to international travel is learning about other cultures and foods. I'd be careful of letting a food aversion color your view of the culture. Smells, sights, sounds, people -- they will be different. Thus, if you are truly inflexible, maybe limit the types of international travel you book.

I pulled my records and it looks like Hyatt Place 4811 Main Street near airport.