MO & LO on the go!

We can't speak for south beach since we didn't go there but we were on chill island and loved it!  We had a cabana there and not the bed you speak of but as for location Chill Island is great! 

This should answer all your questions.  We did this in May and recorded the entire thing!  The only thing we did not record was the safety briefing on land.  Let me know if you have any more questions about it!

On 1/13/2020 at 9:05 PM, Firefly said:

Following. We are sailing Explorer on the same itinerary in December...way too far away! Have a great cruise!

That's awesome!  Thanks!

8 hours ago, Guy Gadwa said:

Following!!! 

Awesome! Thanks!

3 hours ago, Mike P said:

Looking forward to pics!  I'm doing ABC's (I wish it included Labadee!) on Adventure on 2/29 so I'm starting to get excited!

Can't wait to be there to take them!  We will try to get lots of them!  Hopefully this live blog will get you even more excited seeing it right before you leave!

2 hours ago, Lovestotravel said:

Can't wait to follow along!  We are doing the ABC's plus St. Marteen in May on Freedom! 

That should be an awesome trip!

Internet:

We originally booked 1 device Voom Surf and Stream at $12.99 and thought that was a good deal........well we checked again, like we always do on things we book, and found it went down to $11.99!!!  We called Royal and got the $9 adjustment (Hey $9 is $9! )

Excursions:

So far we have 2 excursions booked.  We booked the highly recommended Trikes in Aruba.  We normally don't book non RCCL excursions but since we are in port until 9pm we should be safe. 

And the second one we booked was a RCCL excursion in Bonaire.  We booked the Land and Sea Adventure.  This excursion has a 4x4 ride, sailboat, and snorkel and says it is all day.  This covered several things we like to do and thought we would get a good overview of the island combining several different types of adventures. 

As far as Labadee we just plan to hang out on the beach and chill (not Minnesota chill)!  Maybe we will find something that interests us but for now its just fun in the sun!!!

We are still doing research for Curacao but are considering a tour (based on recommendations) or just walking around on our own.  We haven't decided yet...

Final thoughts for this post:

We have a pretty busy couple weeks coming up before we leave with a 5 day trip to Arizona to see family and some overtime at work.  We will continue to update any new info but are looking forward to this 2 week adventure in sun and warmth!!!!!!!  We are looking forward to bringing everyone along!

........until the next post 

So with the holidays and some big changes at work we have not been very active on the blog lately and haven't kept up with the pre-cruise info here.  So here is a little update!

26 days to board but 25 until we leave sunny, warm Minnesota...................but who's counting........

Of course we did our check in the first day it was available and have our set sail passes already!  One thing to note on this cruise, we can not use the Royal Caribbean app because it is not available on this sailing so paper and a folder it is!

I have noticed that some people pack weeks before they leave, this is not us!  We won't pack until the night before, but will start making sure we have the little things needed about 1 week prior.

.....continued on next post..... 

In Antigua we did the zipline.  That was lots of fun!  We had from 19 year olds to 70 year olds.  

We did a cave tube several years ago in Belize.  Not sure if this is the exact same one but I am sure they are fairly similar.  We enjoyed it!

For us the shorter cruises (3-5 nights) is less dressy.  Maybe nice shirt and slacks for me and sun dress for her.  Longer cruises (7+ nights) Ill do a suit or sport coat with a tie and she does a more fancy dress.  We get the vibe that the shorter the cruise, the less formal and fancy things tend to be.  

We just repriced our January 2021 cruise and saved $26 per room!  Woohoo!  We did not have OBC to worry about with the pricing game.  Everything else stays the same.  We do this at least 3-4 times per cruise.  This was our 3rd or 4th time on this particular sailing!

40 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I don’t think there’s really a “policy” except the items should be unopened when you bring them onboard.  I don’t know how fully they enforce that “rule”.

Some of our stuff was opened and we had no issues.  Maybe we got lucky!

Keep checking the "sales".  They constantly change and you might be able to get some OBC and/or cheaper price.  We just went on a 4 night cruise and had OBC so it really depends on the "sale".

We have brought popcorn, trail mix, dried fruits.  No problems.  From our experience you won't find "snack" type foods like these anywhere for free.  You can buy them onboard though......better clear out the bank account to afford them .  You could also buy them in shops at ports too.

I miss the old website!!!

Check out the fort!  That was pretty neat and FREE!

On 11/11/2019 at 2:50 PM, micahd said:

We did a similar itinerary on  Navigator earlier this year. It was our ten-year anniversary and an incredible experience.

In Aruba we rented a jeep and went all over the island, Conchi, the lighthouse, two or three different beaches, the house of cake and the flying fishbone restaurant.

In Curaçao we rented a car and hit several beaches including Playa Grandi first thing in the morning where we swam with several wild sea turtles. That was the experience of a lifetime. We stoped at a local grocery store for lunch and hit a few beaches before we spent some time in the very colorful downtown area as well.

In Bonaire we did discover scuba diving with VIP diving. I would highly recommend it, they are not available through RC but they were incredible and they got us back on the ship with plenty of time to spare.

Thanks for the info!

29 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

My pleasure. I did too the first time I saw the post. All credit to @twangster for the hard work in compiling it.

Most definitely huge thanks to @twangster for that!  Wish I knew how to make stuff like that 

1 hour ago, FionaMG said:

Your wish is my command!  

 

Just went through and read that post!  WOW what a wealth of info!  I made a folder and downloaded all the pdfs for the different prices.  Thanks for the info!!!

4 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

According to @twangster's absolutely amazing Voom comparison, for a 9-night cruise if the cruise planner price is $15.99 you are cheaper to wait and buy on board on day 2. This is assuming you have cell coverage that you can use prior to sailing and can do without being connected for the first few hours after sail-away.

From the moment the price hits $14.99 or less you are cheaper to buy pre-cruise. If you do this you should monitor the cruise planner daily for discounts. I re-priced mine down twice to get a final price of $11.99, so I think you can fairly safely assume that yours will go down at some point.

Awesome info!  I will keep watching the planner to try and find that elusive $11.99/day!  I will have to try and find that comparison!!!  If it does not go lower we can most definitely wait a few hours of no internet!  We have sailed entire cruises without it so whats a few hours 

28 minutes ago, ChessE4 said:

All I can tell you about nonrefundable is that if it is split up among your party, each person must use his/her seapass to spend the allotted amount.  We had a guest who didn't use her seapass, and even though her stateroom had charges from another guest, her own OBC didn't get charged.  Therefore, it was wiped out at the end of the cruise.

If using the points from the Royal Credit Card make sure you select the option for redemption that says "shared" rather than "individual" and that would prevent one person from having to use the card, if the OBCs are from the credit card (they would have to have shared charging privileges with you though).  If they aren't, then make sure everyone is spending the $$$$$$ as @ChessE4  said!  Don't lose free money 

We are looking at getting the surf and stream internet for our 9 night cruise on Explorer in Feb 2020 for one device.  Since we get one free day or a discount on the internet package once onboard, is it better to wait to purchase on the ship or buy it precruise?  Current price is $15.99/day but I think it will get cheaper than that with better sales coming up.  We do not get the deluxe beverage because we don't drink that much alcohol so we can't bundle it with that.  Any other tricks to save money on the internet that I am not thinking of.  We want this so we can live blog it and upload videos/vlogs.  We have never purchased the internet, only used the 24 hours free for the Diamond level perks.    

We must be doing something wrong (or right) because we NEVER get a refund!  We even had almost $700 in OBC once and we still had to pay at the end (albeit very little)!  Refund?  What is that?!?!  

Dont have too high of expectations for being the lowest level of the loyalty program.  As with all loyalty programs, you don't really see the better benefits until you get higher in the program.  For Royal the Gold level has minimal benefits, but of course its better than NO benefits   and as stated above...you won't get any benefits until your second cruise which will be your first Gold level C&A cruise!

3 hours ago, Eric Chao said:

hi friends

i'm a newbie cruiser and planning to bring my family for a HAWAII trip next year.  On one of our PORT STOPS - MAUI, i plan to join an excursion for a SUNSET & DINNER TOUR.  But it starts at 2 pm, and will last up to 8 pm 

my concerns are:

1. what time does the TENDER return to the ship?  is there a set time for it?  how can we get aboard the tender ship IF WE HAPPEN TO RETURN later than their set time?

This will be posted the day before on the Cruise Compass and as you exit the ship.  But usually all aboard is 30 minutes prior to the ship leaving so depends on tender ride length of time (If tender is 30 minute ride then it's probably 1 hour before ship leaves).  If you miss the last tender you will get a chance to find a nice hotel and flight home from Maui.....so don't miss the last tender.  I would make sure you don't cut it close at all!!!  Not worth it!  Or book something through RCCL.  Then the ship will wait for you or make sure you get back onboard even if you are late.

2. will RCL accomodate us even if we take the excursion trip NOT thru RCL website? 

Not at all!  You are on your own! 

3. has it ever happened that guests were left at the shore overnight to fend for themselves?

All the time!  As stated by @melski94 you can watch lots of youtube videos of people yelling and crying at the boat while they stand on the pier and the boat is pulling away.

pls kindly enlighten me

MAHALO!!!

Eric