WAAAYTOOO

Thanks, Matt !  That's the first time I've seen the whole thing !

Kat, I feel certain that they will get extra pillows for you. It is a very reasonable request. I would not lug my own unless you absolutely HAVE to have your own pillow (I have a girlfriend who always takes her own....but she's weird like that !).
 
Enjoy your cruise !

Agree with everyone ! It's funny b/c some people (I will call out the women more often here than the men) will THINK they're dressed up and really they look ridiculous. NOT that I'm judging...ok...maybe I am. So being dressed up doesn't always mean you look presentable. I guess that's why they keep some outline of a policy in place, otherwise God only knows what would come tromping through the MDR.

There's a kids' section in the WJ ? Who knew ?!

Texas residents can get a guarantee cabin (Category Z) on the Oct 30th, 2016 Liberty 7 night sailing for $636 ($808 w/tax and fees). That is TOTAL for two, not each!  

Agreeing with above - 9:30 or 10 is probably the furthest you could push that and still have a nice slow morning. We did this on Enchantment.. do recommend.
 
I strongly considered handcuffing myself to the ship and yelling, "I'M NEVER LEAVING!" ... I don't recommend this. (** Do not take KLA's advice. It's bad)

I have not sailed in a Star suite yet.  I go in Feb. 17 on Harmony.
 
I know that the questionnaire has undergone some tweaking since the program started.  I haven't seen a copy of a recent one lately.
 
I'm not sure how useful it really is.  Some of the questions seemed to be kinda "out there".  I guess they are still finding their stride with this program.  Seems like they've made some changes to the perks already.  Everyone I've heard from seems to have enjoyed it though.  Looking forward to it !
 
What ship are you on and when ?

I am on Navigator in 93 days !  Cannot wait !!!  Christmas and New Year's.  WOOHOO !
 
Your cruise will be carefree !  There are no reservations for shows so just show up 15 - 20 minutes or so before the shows start and you will be fine.
 
We love the main dining room and we like to eat early so we always do MTD at 5:30.  That leaves the entire evening open for whatever we want to do.  Some don't like eating that early but not only do you get eating "out of the way" but because you are the first to sit down, everything is ready and waiting for you.  The staff hasn't had time to get backed up or delayed for whatever reason.  NEVER any waiting.  Obviously, we have to make modifications around port days but we rarely stay off the ship very long anyway.
 
You'll love Navigator.  She's a great ship !

Thought I'd better add...JUST KIDDING !
 
 

Well, I hope you have a wonderful time.  The weather hasn't been too bad this week....for once.  Starting to cool off, especially in the evenings.  Traffic is horrible no matter when you come...too expensive, too crowded and it's....well....Washington....nothing you can do about that.  But there is more to do and see per square mile than almost anywhere else in the US...especially for free !
 
I was actually out of town last week - Seattle - on biz.  Glad to be back !

No C&A perks (including discounts) until after you have completed your first cruise...so not this time, but next time !
 
What ship are you sailing ?  You will have a GREAT time.  Everyone has to have a "first"...but then there's the next one and the next one....

We try to do one "big" vacation per year.  Have only been on 1 cruise before, it was Disney Wonder and it was great.  Since then we have done the complete Disney World experience, every park, etc.  Next year's trip we decided to do another cruise and I wanted to try one of the other Disney ships, and like others, I was shocked when I looked to see how much Disney had gone up in price since we went before.  So I started looking elsewhere, and the general consensus is that RCCL is almost on par with Disney for families with kids.  Found a great itinerary, 8 nights on Freedom, half the cost of a Disney 7 night the same week, went for it.  I am not a casino person, nor is my wife, so we don't really care about that, but we do enjoy the night life stuff, and I found it to be pretty quiet on the Disney ship.  None of the adult bars were ever close to crowded, and in a way, it affected the atmosphere.  We are lucky in that my parents insist on coming on our "big" vacations, and they are not interested in doing the bars late at night, so we get connecting rooms and at least one of them, if not both, are fine with being in the room at night, sitting on the balcony while our kids are sleeping in the connected room, so the wife and I can go out.  Another plus for RCCL (for me) is that Disney does not offer any drink packages.  My drink tab for my wife and I was like $500 on the Disney cruise for 5 nights, and most of that was me.  I was never drunk at all, but damn, they add up.  A few $12 drinks at the pool, glass of wine or two at dinner, a couple of drinks at night and well, here's your $500 tab.  So I am expecting that the drink package will work out well for me, and I will just pay for the few that my wife has.  That's not a knock against Disney, I completely understand why they don't offer drink packages or have casinos on their ships.  But taking these things into consideration, along with double the price, and I don't see the benefits anymore.  
 
One point for Disney though, if you have young kids and they are into the characters and what not, all of them are on the ship, and they are way more accessible there than compared to the parks.  The ships have character photo sessions all throughout the day in the atrium of the ship, and you get the schedule before hand, so you can plan it out to have your kids see who they want.  15 minute wait tops to get their picture taken, unlike the sometimes hour waits in the parks.  When we went to the park, we didn't do any character meets, other than Mickey, because my kids had done them all the year before on the ship.  Anyways, super looking forward to Freedom in February.         

At least the first official blog vote was in my favor , 1-0 baby !!!

Got it.  We will be traveling with two teenage boys who will probably be logged in constantly...but my wife and I can "share" a login (so I can purchase a 3 device plan instead of 4).
 
When you say "use captive.apple.com"....do you just open Safari and go that site and the login page appears?
 
Thanks again for all the good info here.

I have only been on one Disney cruise but the reason we decided to try RCCL is for two main reasons. First, the price - RCCL is more reasonable. And second, we have heard only good things about the kids club on RCCL. We recently were talking to a different travel agent then who we booked with and she confirmed that if you have young children then RCCL or Disney is the way to go. I hope so because I am so looking forward to our first RCCL cruise in January!

Yes, This is a real offer that i took advantage of... I am going on the 4 night Dec 15th trip.. I paid $167 including a upgraded oceanview room and taxes and fees.. I live in Florida 35 min from the port so for me this is a no brainer and I am happy to have taken advantage of the offer! They seem to have fixed all the "issues" with the boat and after watching Michael Poole go twice I feel like I will have a great 4 days!

What a lovely invitation.  Be careful what you wish for....
 
:o

if you're ever back this way, stop by Annabelle's and I'll cook ya'll something special

I used to live in New Bern back in the last century.  :)
 
We were stationed at Cherry Point 3 times during that 20 year stint.  Boy, that was a lifetime ago !

"We love the main dining room and we like to eat early so we always do MTD at 5:30.  That leaves the entire evening open for whatever we want to do.  Some don't like eating that early but not only do you get eating "out of the way" but because you are the first to sit down, everything is ready and waiting for you.  The staff hasn't had time to get backed up or delayed for whatever reason.  NEVER any waiting.  Obviously, we have to make modifications around port days but we rarely stay off the ship very long anyway."
 
I used to love eating late, but the older I get, the more the early dining times make sense! #aSleepAtTen!
 

Assuming you are booking under US rules (full refund up to cancellation date) you are probably better off to book now and then wait to see if a KSF sale comes along. If it does and it actually does lower your price you can switch to the lower rate. In many/most instances if you wait for the sale you want to come along the prices will have increased so much by the time that the sale hits that you end up paying more under the sale than you would do by booking now.

No C&A perks (including discounts) until after you have completed your first cruise...so not this time, but next time !
 
What ship are you sailing ?  You will have a GREAT time.  Everyone has to have a "first"...but then there's the next one and the next one....

Hi, Heather
 
I am also sailing a Christmas (plus New Years) itinerary. We will be on Navigator 23 Dec -3 Jan. No dining reservation options for Chops or Giovanni's for 24, 25, 31 Dec or 1 Jan. There is no way it is booked up as I checked the same day the reservations opened up. My guess is they are planning on charging a premium price for these holiday nights which is completely unsat to me. If that is the case, we will be eating in the MDR those nights, which is fine with me. I'm not going to pay scalper rates just b/c they CAN charge them.
 
I believe you will thoroughly enjoy cruising during the holidays. The ship will be beautifully decorated and festive. They will [most likely] have caroling and a visit from Santa Claus.
 
W cruise nearly a very Christmas and love it. I know you will too.

Interesting.  I was not aware of this rule.  I really don't get it...but I guess I don't have to.
 
If this is a change made by the cruise line then I don't see how it's not incumbent upon them to accommodate you.  Good luck !

The statement that using a TA will cost you more money is absolutely NOT true.  The TA is paid a commission by the cruiseline and you will NOT pay more when using a TA.
 
Having said that, you should be aware that you lose some flexibility when you use a TA.  If having absolute control over your reservation is something that you want, then you might not want to use a TA.  If you find a situation where you want to make a very quick change to your reservation (either a price drop or a room becomes available that you want to change to) then you will have to wait until the TA is available to make that change for you.  If you have a very good and responsive TA then this will not be a problem but SOMEtimes you can be in a situation where the TA is not immediately available and you need to make a change immediately....and you can miss getting the room you want or take advantage of a glitch price drop.
 
I have never had this happen to me, BTW.  I have an excellent TA.  But for all of the advantages of using a TA there are a few drawbacks and giving up some control is one of them.  You will not be able to look online and find out what your cruise balance is.  All things dealing with money are removed from the website when you use a TA (the Payment tab mysteriously disappears !).
 
Some people expect miracles from their TA but even the best, most attentive TA in the world is never going to care as much about your reservation as you do.  So it's going to be up to YOU to look for price drops and up to YOU to be on the lookout for a room in a better location, etc.
 
It's a teamwork approach as are all good things !