Ala_Paul

This is exactly how I feel too.  We love sea days and as you say, there will be less activities going on the ship, even if we don't get off the ship on the second CoCO Cay day.  Plus, I really enjoy when the ship is moving and just watching the waves go by.  So won't be the same.  Not complaining too much as it's still a cruise, and we have others booked, but if this was our only one, then we may have cancelled and booked another one in its place.

That would not surprise me if eventually it went to that.  Other than Anthem, all other JS guests on Oasis class ships have had trouble sometimes getting into CK every night.  In fact, I have heard on most OA class ships, they will only take JS reservations by the day, upon availability. I've heard/read many reports over the past year of people in JS not being able to get all 7 days, sometimes just one or two nights.  In fact, that is what drove me to get out of our JS booking on Symphony last month.

Recently added Explorer 9 night southern Caribbean over Thanksgiving.  November 20, 2020.  First southern Caribbean cruise and I don't have to fly to San Juan.  Visiting the ABC islands and Labadee.  @Lovetocruise2002 suite life influenced us to book a junior suite.  We have a aft facing room on deck 10.  We might not be able to go back after previous balcony experiences.

Anthem Sept 26, 2019
Anthem Oct 5, 2019 (b2b)
Allure Oct 20, 2019
Anthem Nov 2, 2019
Anthem Dec 8, 2019
Anthem Jan 27, 2020
Anthem Feb 15, 2020
Anthem Feb 23, 2020 (b2b)
Anthem Mar 22, 2020
Adventure Apr 5, 2020
Oasis May 17, 2020
Adventure Sept 10, 2020
Adventure Sept 19, 2020 (b2b)
Oasis Oct 4, 2020
Thank you!
 

I do remember Mr. Peabody, along with Rocky & Bullwinkle. And +1 for Jonny Quest and Speed Racer. But my personal childhood favorites were:
Battle of the Planets Star Blazers Dr. Who (the OG Doctors in my book -- Pertwee and Tom Baker!) on Sunday mornings, on PBS when I woke up early enough Yeah, my nerd credentials were stamped, sealed, and gilded when I was six! ?
 

No you're not. 
Jonny Quest, Speed Racer and Underdog ring a bell?

The glass is tinted like car window tint.  You will not be full on sun, but if you have fair skin or plan on a long visit I would recommend sunscreen.

We had an aft suite on Navigator back in May and loved it. It was on Deck 10, was quiet and had great views, especially of a CocoCay when we docked. 

We end up doing a Pub Crawl, Poker Run ...... All participants put in $5. At every bar, not only do you have a drink, you draw a card ...... at the last bar, you find out who has the best poker hand - that person wins the cash ..... I was fortunate enough to win two years ago w/ 3 Kings ... Nice .

Sailing on Harmony OTS for the Sept. 22nd sailing in 31 days. Wanted to see about doing a 'Bar Crawl' with my group and anyone else that we happen to meet up with on the ship. But, like the old saying goes....'you cant say you've been drinking all day, unless you start in the morning'. So, with that....  where is the earliest place to get a drink on the ship?
It appears that most of the 'bars' open around 1030 AM. But... if you're an early riser... can you get a bloody Mary, mimosa, or an 'Irish breakfast' from somewhere before that?
Any thoughts on this or advice about getting a bar crawl organized is greatly appreciated. 
~Cheers

I typically start at the coffee bar for a little baileys ?
You can also get mimosas in the WIndjammer 

6 days into our first ever cruise and we have booked our next with plans for 2 more before we go on that one. 
 
Addicted!!
 
Thanks to everybody for helping us make this leap!
 
Nikkoo

repeat on what @Matt said.
 
Same with Friends of Dorothy.

Bill W. was the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

If you go in to the web site and do a mock booking for 2020 you will see March and April are blacked out, that is a good indication of when the AMPED will be.

We definitely used to leave our then-3 year olds past 10pm. They would have a GREAT time with the staff, watching movies, etc. Potty training aside, they loved it.
We prefer to feed our kids at the Windjammer at 6pm and then drop them off at AO at 7pm, and then enjoy dinner in MDR at 8pm.
Nothing wrong with dining with your kids in MDR at all, just our personal preference.

July and August are blacked out for the reduced single supplement once you are over 340 points.  Combined with it being the summer peak season that makes it very expensive for us solo cruisers.
I'm only cruising this July and August because Empress and Majesty had reduced single supplement in the wake of the Cuba changes.  The summer is normally dry dock season for me.

Tonight in the theater was the Royal Caribbean production called on board simply "Three".  
That's short for Three Sequins and Feathers.
It's not to be missed especially on this night when it's the last performance of the current cast before they leave the ship tomorrow. 
Next cruise "Three" will continue but it will be performed by a new cast who have been on board for several weeks getting ready. 
I have some photos in my last Empress thread.  It's a really good show, quite high on my list of ship shows.  At the end CC our Cruise Director brought out many of the crew who have made this cruise such a great experience.

The crispy goat cheese salad is my all time favorite dish at Chops.
 

My husband and I are thinking of booking a cruise over Christmas.  Is there anything special we should know / take into consideration for cruising over the holiday?  Aside from the obvious air travel considerations of flying over the holidays! ?
It's been nearly a year since our last cruise and I.AM.DYING!!!  I need my Royal Fix.  Lol

This post has some pictures from a few weeks ago.
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/14213-empress-b2b-14-nights-on-the-biggest-little-ship-july-2019/&do=findComment&comment=145159
This post has all Cabanas, bungalows and daybeds illustrated on a map.
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/12079-cococay-cabanas/&do=findComment&comment=148864
 

Does anybody have any feedback on what the day beds are like at CocoCay?
I also see that they have been moved to a location on chill island. Does anyone know what the new spot is like? I heard the old location only had very shallow water and am curious if the new spot might be better/worse?
Thanks in advance for any help!

just a suggestion: 
https://www.amazon.com/Biodegradable-Compostable-Plant-Based-Eco-Friendly-Individually/dp/B078J4N5XF
still just like any other plastic straw, but safer for sea life because they break down, wont desintegrate like the paper straws... $2.50 more than regular plastic for 200, and individually wrapped...
 
or these:
https://www.amazon.com/200-Pack-100-Plant-Based-Compostable-Straws/dp/B07MZLLDZD/ref=pd_bxgy_121_img_2/140-0683482-6559335?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07MZLLDZD&pd_rd_r=b06ad743-b059-48ac-b132-1b023ab99857&pd_rd_w=3C5HA&pd_rd_wg=QoJgP&pf_rd_p=a2006322-0bc0-4db9-a08e-d168c18ce6f0&pf_rd_r=MR1GXHF0KXHV63Y4XKAW&psc=1&refRID=MR1GXHF0KXHV63Y4XKAW
$1.99 more than regular plastic straws for a 200 count, bendy, but not individually wrapped. :)

The picture of the new design is missing the coffee table, unless they decided to move it against a wall.  We only had the cabana last month so I know there is a coffee table (that is where the safe is located.
That cabana looks to be number 9.  I say that because we had #10 and the cabana behind in the picture is the farthest out.  Since we had 10 I know we were the closest to the rock area.  
Now if you also look at the old cabana vs the new, you will see that if you remove that 2nd tier deck, and look at the 4 loungers against both, they are the same size without the deck.
OBTW, RCL is assigning the cabanas now.  It is still 1st come 1st served.  It is tied to your reservation of the cabana, not when you booked the cruise.   We booked our cabana on the same day we booked the cruise.  10 months out.  We were cabana number 10.  
There is an enclosed beach/swim area for cabana only customers.  It is not big, nor is it small.  However you do get to meet a lot of them if you are like us...in the water non-stop. Think about it the most they will have in that area is 160 people (20 cabanas X  8 people)  From what I could tell by talking to many is that the 1st 10 all got their cabanas in the 400 range.  The back row ranged from 649-899 because they booked later.  
I will say we loved every second.  We had a phenomenal attendant.  10 a.m. she brought over slices of pineapple, cantelope and watermelon with our menus.  11 a.m she took our food orders. I would not suggest the Portobello sandwich, but the funnel cake was amazing, so was the greek salad.  My brother in law basically ordered 5 items (high metabolism and athletic).  He got the Portobello too, grilled chicken,, Caesar salad, can't remember the last item, and the salted caramel brownie.  The salads are huge.  We got our food around 11:30 -11:45.  @ 2:30 -3:00 she came carrying fruit kebabs.  In between during the entire day, we saw her every 15-20 mins.  They are extremely attentive.  I ordered my 1st drink and said to her, just leave it on the table bc I am going to bathroom.   Cabana 10 is the farthest out (90 second walk, 2 mins at tops).  I walk out of the bathroom and there she was drink on the tray waiting for me.  OMG?.  Later on I was on the float mat and she screams out to me...MS. Pima, do you or Mr. Pima need a drink?  I ordered one and said Mr. Pima was snorkeling, but I am sure when he comes back he will want his usual.  My drink arrived and on my float mat, I paddled to her.  At that time she saw him coming back in from snorkeling.  I thought nothing about it.  He took off his gear and came and floated with me.  30 seconds later she screamed...Mr. Pima, with his usual drink on her tray.  He looked at me, and said we can never go back to not having a cabana ever again...it is like what posters say about 1x you go to a balcony, it is hard to go to an oceanview or 1x you go to a suite it is hard to go back to a balcony.
Our attendant wasn't the only one that did this.  It was non-stop of attendants on the edge of the water.  
I will say I did have a pet peeve, but that had more to do with a certain cabana.  As I stated earlier in the post, the beach/swim area is not small, but not huge either.  There are fish in that area, and Coco Cay is known for the birds that steal food.  This one cabana decided to bring a bag of Veggie straws with them off the ship (if you don't know what they are, basically it is vegetable potato chip)   They walked in the water and started to feed the fish.  Of course the fish would jump up to get it.  They laughed...the rest of us are cringing and saying you don't know if fish can eat that.  Their response, it is vegetables! (BS if you ever read the ingredients).  Their tone was mind your own business.  The fish than began pooling around them and jumping up out of water as soon as their hand came close, so than they pulled their hand back, and guess what...the seagulls start grabbing them from his hand.  They thought this was hysterical.  Take a pic, take a pic. is all they kept saying.  Meanwhile,  anybody with common sense in their brain had to get out of the water because the gulls were swooping in from all over the place.  Their cabana attendant had to come to the edge and tell them to knock it off.  They argued with her.  She got back up from the staff.  They reluctantly came out and beaaccched the whole way back to the cabana...we were just having fun and feeding them, what was the problem?  We of course had the last laugh.  Seagulls know where the food is coming from.  As soon as they left the water. the gulls did too, only to follow them to their cabana.   Later on that night we were at Schooners, we had an amazing piano player.  They sat a table or two away from us, and were stating I would never do a cabana again.  the service was great, but later in the afternoon we were swarmed by seagulls non-stop....wonder why?

I could very well be wrong, but I believe I read that the extra cabanas as Chill Island are borrowed from South Beach. Once construction is finished there and the area opens back up (December 2019?) I would imagine those extra cabanas would migrate back over there. 
I'm sure someone else can confirm or deny this. But I hope the little bit of crowding these have is relieved when construction is done! ?