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Biff215

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Everything posted by Biff215

  1. 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.
  2. 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!
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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!
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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!
  13. 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).
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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?
  17. I’m still 82 days out and my balcony guarantee hasn’t come through yet so I don’t have those edocs yet, but my receipt from final payment does match what’s in Cruise Planner. Guess that’s what I should go with?
  18. Problem is Royal is contradicting themselves too. I imagine cruisetimetables.com are getting their info from the booking site, potentially making both incorrect. I just don’t want to book any outside excursions on the wrong day and find out the hard way later!
  19. We’re headed out on Harmony in April. Starting to book excursions, most likely on our own, and noticed some discrepancies in the itinerary: So between Cruise Planner, Royal’s site, and cruisetimetables.com I have Cozumel and Costa Maya in two different spots. Do I trust that the Cruise Planner is correct? i just want to make sure I’m booking everything on the correct days!
  20. We just did this a week ago and it worked great. Picked up at MCO around 9:00, stopped for wine, water, and gas at Publix, and arrived at the Alamo location around 10:30. Keep in mind this is also the location for National and Enterprise, so we found it mobbed with people and were a bit concerned. Turns out a majority of them were either returning from cruises and picking up or headed out with Disney or Carnival as we heard a shuttle driver call for Mariner and we immediately boarded and were at the terminal within minutes, all before 11:00 which was perfect. We also rented from them on the way back to MCO. Once we had our luggage we followed the signs for rental car shuttles which took us around the terminal. Finally we ended up in an area with lots of people standing around. A porter confirmed this was the rental car area but there were no signs for the companies so no one knew where to stand. We overheard some others talking about walking so we headed out knowing that it wasn’t very far and wanted to avoid the rush of people we experienced at the office on the first day. It was a 10-15 minute walk with luggage, you can cut across the park with the observation tower. We passed one shuttle on the way that would only have fit maybe 2-3 families (again it’s for all three companies) and beat everyone to the office. We were second in line when we got there, got a free upgrade to a minivan (from full size), and were on our way to Kennedy Space Center by 9:00 (we debarked around 8:30). All in all it worked out well for us both ways. We took a shuttle last time but disliked having to wait and not being able to stop for wine and water, and the cost was roughly the same for a family of four, especially because we needed a car on the last day since we weren’t flying out until the following morning. My best advice would be to consider dropping your family at the terminal with everything and then taking the shuttle or walking over from the office. Same for the way back if you rent a car, as in hindsight it made little sense for my wife and kids to have to roll luggage even that short distance. Good luck!
  21. We were on Mariner last weekend. Seas were rough going from Port Canaveral to Nassau. They had the bags hanging around the ship and it certainly wasn’t the best night sleep. With that said, we docked in Nassau and the rest of the trip was smooth sailing. Most importantly to us, we were able to dock in Coco Cay along with Navigator. It was very windy and the surf was rough but we still had a great day. A few ships (including bigger ones) missed the port in the days before us so we considered ourselves very fortunate. My best suggestion is to go into your cruise optimistic. No one can control the weather, but your captain will do everything in their power to avoid it. If they can’t dock safely or if it’s going to be a miserable day, you just have to trust them and make the best of it. Have a great cruise!
  22. I didn’t visit before August of this year so I don’t have that comparison. I definitely agree that it’s set up very well like Oasis class ships. I have zero interest in the water park and only spend brief time at the pool, but I realize the importance of those areas in my overall enjoyment of the island. This is where I think Royal bettered what Disney had created at Castaway Cay. I’m certainly still concerned about what three or four ships will do to the overall experience. You already hear complaints about the lines at the water park even on days when it’s not sold out. They may need some expansion there or ticket prices are going to have to soar over $100 to deal with demand. I also can’t imagine having to go back to tendering some ships while others walk right on. Fortunately this is all still possible to avoid and I just hope Royal will monitor the busy days closely to see if guests still are having that “perfect day” they’re trying to deliver.
  23. Fair enough, but a sports stadium is a little different when you typically have a reserved seat. Coco Cay is more like a theme park. They have theoretical capacity, but it doesn’t mean the experience is going to be pleasant when guests move from one area to another unpredictably. I can’t blame Royal for pushing it to those limits, I just don’t want to be there when they do. I love the place far too much already!
  24. For now Oasis class ships seem to almost always visit solo, with anything smaller potentially doubling (or soon tripling) up. I posted about this in the other thread, but we were there last weekend on Mariner with Navigator also visiting. It definitely felt more crowded than last August when we were on Harmony. Of course the two ships will typically carry at least slightly more passengers than one Oasis class ship. We still enjoyed both days but got off early to claim a good spot on the beach. If you get off late or do the water park first, you might be searching a bit longer and further for a good spot.
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