WAAAYTOOO

Buzzed from the soup.  What a hoot !

Yes, they will book your first night reservation for you but if you would prefer a different restaurant than the one they booked you in, you can change it to the restaurant of your choice once you are on board.  You should be able to get whichever restaurant you choose.

GREAT live blog !  Keep ‘me comin’.

Personally, unless your children are VERY low energy,  and have a very high adventure threshold, I would not take them to Wonderland.

Full disclosure:  I am NOT a fan of Wonderland in any way.  I found the food to be way too weird but I DID think the service and novelty of the decor and presentation to be of some, limited value.  But for children under the age of maybe 10 or 12.  Nope.  The meal is VERY long and I think they would be, not only bored, but not thrilled with the food unless they REALLY love weird.  Even if there is a children's menu, I would hate for you to pay to have them ruin YOUR meal out of boredom.

Hotel shuttle (assuming you're staying in the Canaveral area).

Like others, I have heard issues of noise from connecting rooms but never had that kind of issue, myself.

The biggest drawback to having a connecting room (of any kind) is the fact that they often replace a full sized couch with a loveseat sized couch or even a single chair b/c the wall where the couch would normally go now has a door on it and the room can no longer accommodate a full sized couch.

This is my real objection to having a room with a connecting door.

ahhhhhh,,,,kidney was so much more fun !!

I recommend you rent a van/SUV (one way) from Hertz at the Orlando airport.  Drive to Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach and stay at the Residence Inn on Astronaut Blvd (8959 Astronaut Blvd).  The hotel and the Hertz rental office share a parking lot so when you are ready to turn in the van all you have to do is park it, drop the keys in the drop box and walk 50 steps to the hotel.  There is a shuttle to take you to the port the next morning.

The nice thing is, you get to use the van all day and as long as you want into the evening.  You can go see the sites, visit the Cape, have some dinner at one of the GREAT seafood restaurants down near the port or do whatever you want and turn in the car after the Hertz office closes.

Returning, we usually just take the royal bus service from the port to the airport.  I know a lot of people don't like the bus service but we find it to work fine and it seems a reasonable price.

Speaking of price, the hotel will run you about $300 for the night.  We paid this price for a 2 BR, 2 bathroom suite so I'm sure you wouldn't need anything more than that.  The 1 way car rental was $118 plus some taxes, I'm sure.  I can't remember whether there was a charge for the hotel shuttle to the port but I assume there was.  Probably $10-$15.  I think the bus shuttle from the port to the airport is $75/pp.  Maybe doing a 1 way car rental back the other way may work better for you.

Good luck !!

Congratulations Matt !  Doc please explain the kidney.  What have I missed ?

??

I think we get 3 gold coins each to use in the special casino machine.  I’ve never won more than a key chain (which I no longer take since I could start my own key chain store if there was a market ) but Dan seems to do better than me most of the time.  On the last 2 cruises he has gotten a raffle ticket for a drawing on the last night.  Of course, that’s where the good luck ends. No prize at the drawing but at least there is some anticipation.  

I don’t think it’s $5 though...

No, I do not think that those freebies can be traded

To be honest, I’m not sure they would bring you a complicated entree from a different specialty restaurant (I’ve never asked for anything more than a simple appetizer) but it certainly does work for something simple like soup.

i guess I have to take that back.  Once, in the Coastal Kitchen, I asked for a lobster from Chops and they got that for me so I’m not sure what the limits are. I’m sure that there must be a limit but I haven’t pushed it yet !

Looks great !

You’re definitely not in the minority. Dan and I always get a table for 2 but as was indicated earlier, sometimes their tables for 2 are so close together you might as well be at a group table, so I highly recommend that you try and pre-reserve a truly segregated table for 2 (if that’s what you want) by going early on day 1, finding a table that you want and having it assigned to you before dinner ever gets started.  

Yeah that whole, "not-gettin-paid" part is not cool !

So happy that you enjoyed it.  I've enjoyed the journey with you from joining the blog group to your discovery of so many new and exciting things and now to share your first ever cruise with us.  I'm so pleased.  Serenade is a beautiful ship.  If you think Anthem was big wait until you see one of the Oasis class ships !  YIKES !

Welcome to being a cruise veteran !

Joe, you're next !

They probably taste dry and old.  

While I love the big ships, I think the Radiance class is the most elegant of all the Royal ship classes.    So much beautiful glass and a view of the ocean from nearly everywhere.  The halls are VERY narrow but that's b/c the ship itself is narrow, by design.  It's been some time since I've sailed on a Radiance class ship.  I need to get back there !

3 hours ago, Koz said:

So, if on Day 1 I approach one of the two MDR's offering My Time Dining for our 6:30 PM time as already set, can I request a particular table and to be with the same waiter/waitress for the entirety of the cruise? We don't plan on hitting any specialty restaurants.

I recommend that if you want the same table and wait staff every night and if you want to choose your table do NOT wait until 6:30 on night #1 to do that.

Go to the dining room where you will be served (the name of the restaurant and the deck # will be on your seapass card) as soon as you get on the ship and find "your" table and pre-reserve it ASAP.  If you wait until 6:30, chances are someone else will have snagged your table already.

If you enjoy your location and wait staff after night #1, just tell the maitre d that you want the same table for the rest of the cruise and as long as you are planning on dining at basically the same time each night, they will make sure you have that table reserved.  If you do NOT care for your wait staff (has only happened to us once in all of the cruises we have been on) you will have to choose a different table b/c the staff are assigned to specific tables.

Everyone has schedule changes that they do not anticipate or just don't see ahead of time so if you have a set table/time for a week and you know that you are going to be delayed or have to make alternate dinner arrangements for a night, please let the maitre d know that so that your table doesn't go unused.  Someone from the "no reservations" line can take your place for that one meal if they know you aren't coming or if they know you will be coming at a different time.

I agree with Brian.  I hear many people say that they do not prefer the Royal transfers but I basically appreciate the convenience and reliability of the shuttle.

Pros:  

• Paid for up front
• Reliable - they WILL be there to pick you up on time
• You are guaranteed to get to your destination
• Peace of mind.  Taken care of up front.  Nothing to worry about on debark
• I LOVE the excitement of arriving at the airport and seeing that lady or gentleman standing with the "Royal Caribbean" sign in their hand, just WAITING to take me somewhere fun !

Cons:

• May cost a bit more than a taxi but often doesn't
• It's a bus.  Not much glamour there
• You normally have to wait for the bus to fill up so you could have a bit of a wait at the pier (or airport, depending upon which way you're going)

Well, I say you keep going on the track you are on.  Bypass the roadblock that you have stumbled over and keep going.

Call the regular customer service number again and if you don't get an answer, ask to speak to a supervisor.  I still think that you will have plenty of room in a GS for a rollaway but you need to know for SURE that you can get one.  You cannot wait until you get onboard and then HOPE that your attendant will help you out.

The mushroom soup is the BEST !  

Most probably already know this but if you go to a specialty restaurant and want something that is offered in a different specialty restaurant you can ask the waiter to get it from the other restaurant for you.

When we were on Harmony in Sept. we went to 150 Central Park and I asked them to bring me a bowl of cream of mushroom soup from Chops (actually Dan got one, too) and they did.  When we were in the Coastal Kitchen for dinner one night we asked them for the same thing and they brought it to us so you can enjoy your mushroom soup in any of the specialty restaurants even if it is not on their menu !!!

23 minutes ago, DocLC said:

It is usually easier to be seated with just two. Note, however, that the tables for two are extremely close together, so you may end up feeling as if you're dining with others. 

I agree, Kris.  This is why I like to scout out the tables and try and find one that is somewhat isolated.  Not always easy to do but it's worth a couple of minutes the first day.

4 hours ago, L454S said:

We tend to use MTD like a personal fixed seating. Make our online reservations in MTD for the same time every day. After boarding we go to the dining room and pick out a nice table for 2 that we like and ask the hostess for that table. If we like it on the first night( service, etc.), we just ask the hostess to make it the same for the cruise.

This may be harder to do for seatings about 7PM. Generally, a lot of the early diners are still there, so a lot of the tables are occupied. I find a little flexibility helps. 

This works well for early seatings, not sure about later(8PM on)

This is exactly what we do, too.

Well that's pretty useless !  You cannot wait until you get to the ship to find out whether you will have adequate sleeping arrangements or not !

I'm surprised that they say a GS won't accommodate a rollaway bed.  I would think that there is plenty of room there (might block the balcony but it would just be during the night).

Wow.  Not sure where you go from here.