CruzOnBye

The saying "I'd love to be a fly on the wall" never rang truer....here we are, paying for cruise fare, port fees and passports, and meanwhile, these little jokers hopping a ride on an incoming carton of limes...for the free. We were on a ship during Love Bug season in FL, and lovebugs were virtually everywhere! Staterooms, halls, dining area, pool deck was covered, it was the wildest thing. The crews were washing the decks and vacuuming inside everywhere to get them up. They hitched rides on everyone's clothes and flew in the doors, and then the checked bags were in our rooms after sitting at the port for x hours, so obviously they brought them into the room too. It was the craziest scene. But RCCL crew took care of it and by SailAWay you had no clue the massacres that took place.

2016! First cruise on Majesty of the Seas and we visit Cococay before her renovations, and we loved her natural charm! We've been hooked on cruising ever since.

Me, hubby and our kiddo will be venturing on this ship for the first time. Kiddo had his first (surprise) experience on Independence of the Seas this past March and he was mindblown! So I can only imagine his reaction to this one. He doesn't know about it, or any of the next 3 we have booked . We have a stop in Nassau, we will be staying on board and enjoying the activities! But it's game on at PDCC! No special purchases this go around-basic interior room, no dining package, but we will have the DBP! It's paid for but hoping to get a deal on Black Friday and get some cash back. For a 3 nighter I think we have plenty of free foodie options available on this ship.

Living in FL my entire life, I wouldn't call it picturesque driving to Port Everglades from Orlando unless you are coming from the deserts of Nevada and tired of sand and cacti. It's very flat, straight, with several drive bys of cows and trees and wondering when the next rest stop is. As others have suggested I would try to fly in to Ft Lauderdale Or Miami, Miami will be more of something "to see" on your way to the port. If you can't, then I would rent a car. I wouldn't want to be in rideshare for 4 hours with a chatty driver, both ways, but that's just me Hope you enjoy your trip regardless!! Once you get to the port, you won't care how you got there.

And we will be getting off when YOU board wow this is depressing...

My December Allure cruise has 30% off DBP finally so I jumped on that, bringing it to $72.99pp. But my May 2024 on Wonder was BOGO 50% (I'll hold off till Black Friday), and zero sale for Labor Day 2024 on Utopia, it was $115pp. Ew.

Also, just for kicks and giggles I looked ahead at the DBP for my 4 night Sept 2025 Utopia sailing. $115.99 pp. I'm crying over my 3 night in December on Allure costing me $74.99pp so I am thinking Black Friday this year, I am gonna buy DBP for the next 3 cruises I have booked...

I think a Jr Sky Suite makes up for it hahaha!

We are booked on a 4 nighter during Sept! Snagged a 10th deck, corner Boardwalk Balcony, near the Aquatheater. This is our first balcony! I'm very excited. Also, $1500 for 2 adults, 1 child is the rate we got.

How I imagine the entire RCCL staff is right now

I watched the website countdown like a hawk, but it looks like only an overview of the ship was released. I thought bookings would be released but I don't see them available yet

We were on Independence in March and they had a silent disco in the Viking Crown Lounge for families. We took our 7 year old, we didn't stay long. He said "OK, these people are crazy, let's get away from this place" I'm sure by "these people" he was referring to me and his Nana who were jamming out to the music. He wasn't impressed. There were a couple young kids in there with their parents, but mainly teenagers in large groups. It's worth checking out even just to people watch for a moment lol.

We took our 7 yo son in March on Independence. It was his first cruise and he's had nothing to compare it to, but we could not get him away from Splashaway Bay! They did a GREAT job on that whole area, as echoed by others here. And he actually enjoyed the shows- specifically the juggler and family friendly comedy, he now wants to do magic tricks and tell jokes 24/7 LOL. The highlight was the ability to eat pizza and icecream cones whenever, he was living his best life. We booked Allure in Dec and Wonder next May so I'm sure he will be mind blown as I'm sure my hubby and I will be. We didn't do AO, our kiddo wanted to hang with us (duh, we're cool....and we will soak that up until he decides to think otherwise LOL). Your kiddo will enjoy every moment because you are giving them the best vacay and having them be part of it all. Have fun!!

From what I hear other people on the boards say, and folks we've met during our cruises, the ziplines are usually sold out in advance. When we booked ours, it sold out about a month before we set sail, but it happened during a Black Friday deal. I would just keep checking for openings, and then you can always visit the excursions desk while on board and see if anything came available due to cancellations. Hope it works out for you!

We got our son's when he was 6. He is 7 now and we took him on his first cruise last month. He was so proud to hand his passport to the folks in the terminal and tell them how we "tricked" him because we told him we were just staying in a hotel, but instead we surprised him with a 3 nighter cruise. He didn't "need" his passport for the cruise we went on, but like others have mentioned, it's a peace of mind and another form of ID for his future.

Just wanted to share an update in case anyone finds themselves pondering a deck 2 OV room. We didn’t hate it. We (my husband, 7yo and me) were not in the room much to enjoy the view. We had cabin night lights with us as well so the additional window light didn’t mean much for us, but I understand that the additional natural light is a huge plus for some. It was very cool to see my son’s excitement though looking out the window, especially for his first cruise. Would I go out of my way to book OV? No. We were room 2675 if I recall correctly, it was the 3rd room in from the AFT. Other than a bit more vibration in the room, I don’t think I noticed much we were so low on the ship. Never heard neighbors or people above us. It was pretty quiet except for port day. I will say, it was by far the least kept up room we have ever stayed in. The phone didn’t work, which normally we don’t care, never use it, but we were sailing with another party and the Royal App chat feature was not working at all, so it was frustrating for 4 adults with no internet package to try to communicate. Luckily we had walkie talkies which helped alot all over the ship except when we were all in our own rooms. Anyway, we told the room attendant about it twice but unfortunately it wasn’t fixed. The cabin lights didn’t work, they flickered like a haunted mansion so we had to keep them off…my son found it humorous. I guess that was the benefit of having a window to let light in lol! And a few other odds and ends were just falling apart, it was sad to see the condition of things. We didn’t make a fuss over any of it, but we were disappointed in the overall “care”. Funny enough the room wasn’t set up for 3 people either, the Pullman didn’t get pulled down until extremely late the first night when my hubby had to hunt someone down to get it unlocked for us lol. It was just a weird experience but we laughed it off and had a great time as always! But in terms of staying on deck 2 or 3, I would do it again if it was the best bang for my buck.

Confirmed- we sailed on Independence this past weekend and Fish and Ships had several complimentary items, they were poppin’ most of the time too. It was definitely nice to have a complimentary poolside snack available...other than the delicious Icecream cones lol.

That’s awesome!! It will be nice to have another complimentary option on this ship.

On the app for my March sailing on Independence I noticed the menu changed and has a “on the house” section, where no fee is listed. And then a “Treat Yourself” section with fees listed. Is this new for them to offer fish and chips, chicken fingers and such at no cost? Or do they still charge and maybe I am misunderstanding what “on the house” means lol?

That is amazing!! Thank you for the tip! I will def try that!

That's definitely alot of walkin' on a vacation! oof! Thanks for the feedback.

Here is the scoop. We'll be sailing on Independence in March and this will be our 7yo son's first cruise! (Shh! It's a surprise!) We booked this in mid-January which was super last minute for us planners, and they were sold out of interiors already that hold more than 2 guests, so our next option was OV GTY, which we snagged (P.s., the OV rooms also now show all sold out now on this sailing-Holy smokes Batman! Are we about to be at full capacity?!) My hubby and I have only ever roomed interior- we are the couple that are never in our room unless to power nap/shower the sand outta our toes, so it never bothers us and we never choose our room, we go with the least expensive option that our TA finds-gotta save for that Drank Package. I've been excited over the thought of having an OV, especially for our kiddo's first trip (slightly jealous of my own kid since I never got such royal treatment my 1st cruise...on MAJESTY no less!), but I just read that OV is on decks 2&3. Apparently I was just born. So, I know everyone has their own preference and some loathe low decks entirely and some don't mind- all personal preference. Even though we've never really chosen our rooms, we've always been pretty high on all our ships (like no lower than deck so I'm wondering what its like in a low deck like that, if any different. What are your thoughts on being on such a low deck? Anything that I should keep in mind? I've read some folks hear and feel the engine, some get seasick from watching the waves rise and crash (close your blinds?) and you have to keep your blinds closed when at ports so not to distract the workers...but They have not issued our room# yet, it sails early March, so I imagine any day now, or in true RCCL fashion- the day of lol. I'm excited either way, a room is a room on the best vacay ever! But just wanted to hear some general feedback from anyone who has sailed on Independence, or really any ship, on a low OV deck. Learn me somethin'! Thanks!

This is also the case on Odyssey! We loved hitting up Starbucks in the WinnJammer or cafe.

Thanks Matt! Appreciate you taking the time to upload that.

Does anyone by chance have a recent cruise compass for Odyssey? We're going on a 6 nighter next month and wanted to sneak a peak of what the daily activities/show times tend to look like. I haven't seen any recent uploads in the Cruise Compass section of the blog.