Biff215

There are a bunch of options, but goport.com is one of the biggest. They’ll pick you up at your resort and may stop at other resorts before taking you to the Port. It’s reasonable and gets you there fairly quickly. My preference is to rent a car so I can make a quick stop for bottled water and wine. Depending on how many people there are in your party, the cost can be close. Alamo is on Disney property and very close to the port.

Can anyone confirm that the sunken plane is still there? I’ve heard it was removed and it doesn’t seem to appear on maps anymore. We enjoyed snorkeling around the jetty at Chill Beach back in August where we saw some small fish and a ray. Last month the surf was rough and we weren’t allowed past the jetty making snorkeling impossible If there’s a better place to snorkel I’d love to hear about it.

We also love breakfast on the balcony at least once or twice per cruise. It’s one of our kids’ favorite things to do. We were a little lost on our last cruise when we had an interior, it just wasn’t the same!

Jumped on my April Harmony sailing as well, was in the $80 range before it opened this past weekend I’d be tempted around $50 but I’m okay without it too. I’ll drink a few Coco Locos and eat several Snack Shack chicken sandwiches instead. ?

I understand what you’re saying and you’re right, we’ll have to see what happens if Royal tries two (fully booked) Oasis class ships or even 3+ ships. But I think the concern is valid. Even your least developed island has more excursion options than CocoCay to spread guests out. As great a job as they’ve done with the island, it’s still primarily a beach port and there are a finite number of chairs available, particularly as more cabanas and beach beds are added. While the capacity may be higher than they’ve attempted yet, many fear that the experience will change significantly with more guests. Only time will tell if it’s an issue or not. From my own experience I felt the difference was obvious between a day on Harmony and a day with Mariner and Navigator in port. We still managed to have a great day, but I’d argue a few thousand more guests might affect that opinion. Of course Royal says this is only Phase 1 for the island, so maybe we’ll see even more capacity added down the line to facilitate more (and bigger) ships in port on the same day. As others have said, today’s charters aren’t a great indication and who knows, maybe that’s the only time it will even happen. I’m sure it was a fun day!

It sounds like they might be, although I would keep checking back as it can change. Either way, you can also check once on board and there is always a standby line. We never had an issue getting into shows last August on Harmony, just had to get there early and understand we might not get the “best” seats sometimes.

I don’t think you have to worry much on board and at CocoCay. Royal attempts to sell out every sailing so it’s not really any busier than normal just because it’s peak season. To me that’s the beauty of cruising compared to say Disney, where crowds will be insane. You just typically pay more for peak season cruises. As was shared above, you can avoid crowds on board by eating at different venues or off peak times. We also find it best to experience the activities on board early in the week as everyone is trying to pack in all they missed during the last couple of days.

We sailed on Indy for two 5 night cruises to Mexico before the amplification. We really enjoyed both and it worked well since we only had the six days to be away. Sailed Harmony this past August to the Eastern Caribbean. Incredible ship unmatched by any others and the perfect amount of time. We enjoyed it so much we’re returning to her in April for the Western Caribbean. If you can swing it I would certainly recommend Harmony over the others, but we’d also do 5 nights on Indy again if we didn’t have the 7 nights to give. Did 3 nights on Mariner last month since it was all that would work. Had fun but would stick to a minimum of 4-5 nights going forward.

It’s unlikely they’ll do much in the staterooms based on all of the other amplifications. While what they have done to each ship is amazing, it is a shame that the staterooms are ignored, especially on the Voyager class ships that are approaching 20+ years old. We were on Mariner a few weeks ago. the ship was beautiful and felt new everywhere but the room. We honeymooned on her in 2004 and nothing had changed. The room was clean overall but felt dated and tired which we noted in the post cruise survey. Most resorts on land will refresh their rooms every 5-10 years, I’d argue Royal should do the same. It’s especially noticeable since some of the newer ships have debuted a more modern look.

Welcome! I have never been on Carnival and won’t trash them, but all you have to do is pull up next to one of their ships in port to start seeing the differences. Royal just does it right in my opinion. You have lots of options out of Florida. You could do a shorter 3-4 night cruise on Navigator (Miami) or Mariner (Port Canaveral) to get a taste of it. Or you could opt for a longer cruise so you don’t blink and it’s over. I’d suggest either Harmony or Symphony for the best of what Royal has to offer. I don’t think you can go wrong there. Good luck and have fun planning!

No, that’s included in the beach club pass.

Yes, the Cruise Compass is referencing the MDR attire for the night. On these shorter cruises, it tends to be more casual. You can feel comfortable wearing jeans pretty much every night, just no shorts (that’s what they will say but you’ll still see them). Specialty dining is listed as smart casual.

As someone else said, this is how Disney does it. We did one cruise last year on the Dream, and our kids (6 and 10 at the time) were not fans. While DCL had a great interactive area, it was simply too many kids and too big an age range for them to make friends and enjoy themselves like they do at AO. The Disney staff had very little interaction with the kids, they were mostly there to handle pickup/dropoff and general crowd control. Shocking to us our kids were one and done with DCL and (fortunately for us) they choose Royal every time now. I teach all grades in a K-6 elementary school so I see these age ranges on a daily basis. The students love when they get to work together with higher or lower grades, but most of the time they are obviously separated and for good reason. My 12 year olds are ready to be middle schoolers while my kindergartners are just learning to be students. Would the fear of something bad happening stop me from letting my kids go? No, as that can happen anywhere, even in age restricted groups. Do I think this is the best way to group them? No, and I think my kids would likely opt out like they did on Disney. This would be a shame as AO is one of the things they look forward to most on a cruise (as do we). This is likely in response to the many parents who won't split their kids up, as well as the kids who won't go alone without a sibling. We were on Mariner a few weeks ago and there weren't enough 9-11 year olds so they combined with 6-8. It worked okay but our 11 year old didn't enjoy it nearly as much as she had in the past. There's just something special about them having their own group and counselors. Count me as one hoping this doesn't get expanded fleet-wide.

We enjoyed deck six aft on Harmony. Walked right out to the Boardwalk, two flights of stairs up to Central Park, one flight down to traditional dining and the Promenade. Only used the elevators to go up to anything on the top decks.

We were just on Mariner and loved all the new options (first sailed her back in 2004). We also debated between the two ships as the itineraries were Identical. We decided on Mariner mostly due to having more options flying into Orlando and being familiar with Port Canaveral. Navigator definitely got the better slides and pool area but Mariner got Sky Pad which was a lot of fun. Our only knock on Mariner would be the room which you could tell hasn’t been touched much through the years, but I imagine Navigator is very similar in that regard. As others have said, you can’t really go wrong with this one.

Wow, you’re right. Maybe it’s due to construction and will be dug back out? Otherwise it won’t leave much space to do anything in the water.

For Oasis and Quantum ships, use the Cruise Planner site somewhere between 60-90 days out. Look for entertainment. For other ships, it can’t be booked in advance and is typically first come, first served.

We booked an interior guarantee on Mariner on December 14 for the January 10 sailing. Received an interior assignment on December 27, two weeks out. Booked an ocean view balcony guarantee on Harmony for April 12, still not assigned, 80 days out today. I’ll update once we hear. We saved hundreds on both so totally worth it to us. If it were closer in price I’d prefer to choose my room location, but as others have said, it’s fun to roll the dice and see what you get too!

This was always our experience as well until two weeks ago on Mariner at Port Canaveral. We first had to enter the customs line. Once we were through that we could grab our luggage and walk straight out. I really preferred this as it can be tough to navigate your luggage through the line, particularly with kids. I imagine the porters don’t like it that much though, as it takes away the advantage of using their “special” line.

Pretty sure the tide was going out at this point so you likely don’t see it at high tide. Just my guess. I was also thinking it looked strange, particularly at the most exclusive area of the island. It’s probably deceiving from this distance.

To my knowledge it hasn’t happened yet, so it’s tough to predict. My best advice no matter what happens is to get off the ship early and grab a spot where you want to spend most of the day. The best news is that Oasis will likely get to dock as they wouldn’t want to tender that many people. That will give you a clear advantage. Nothing else you can control so just try not to worry and have a great cruise!

There’s almost always someone there, but you’ll want to do this as soon as you board and before the drill. We did this on Harmony last August and had no problem getting moved to the earlier seating. We were on Mariner the weekend before last. We booked late so MTD was the only option. We were concerned about having the same wait staff and the possibility of not being able to change our time so we opted for the Unlimited Dining Package. We had three great meals at the specialty restaurants (well Jamie’s was just okay) so now I’m thinking we made the right choice. We also skipped the production show as the time was terrible (10:00 I think). After Harmony’s incredible entertainment we had majorly lowered our expectations for Mariner but enjoyed everything else (and even like the ice show more).

My cruise planner for April on Harmony is currently showing $35/adult, $20/child. We bought our own snorkels for less and brought them. It’s not great snorkeling there but still fun. We get off the ship early and grab a good spot at Chill Beach. It’s a short walk to Chill Grill and Snack Shack. Then we spend our last hour or so at the pool. Might stop at the kids’ areas and shopping on the way back to the ship. We've had two “perfect days” without spending any money outside of a couple Coco Locos which I wouldn’t miss either.

We’ve been to the island twice since its upgrades. Both days we got great spots on the beach and brought our own snorkels and rafts. Spent an hour or so at the pool. Ate great food until we were stuffed. Didn’t get back on the ship until the last few minutes before setting sail. Had the “perfect day” without needing to spend a single dollar. I agree with you that all the “upcharge” options seem crazy to me, but to each their own. Some of those (water park, balloon, excursions) are actually improving my experience as they spread out the crowds. So if someone wants to drop hundreds (or thousands) on a cabana, good for them. That money is why the island got its upgrades in the first place.

Yep, it appears that it’s only this week that’s affected. Doesn’t really make a huge difference to me, just want to get everything booked correctly. I did notice that Symphony and Harmony would be two of the six ships in Cozumel that day, so maybe it’s to avoid that during Easter week?