shaydav19

Oasis and CocoCay! Wait until the fall to do the Canada/New England cruise- much better views and colors, not to mention autumn activities. Adventure is a good size for first time cruisers, but Oasis is practically a beast compared to it. There's a lot more do on Oasis Class ships on cruising days as well. But, because you're a first time cruiser, this ultimately depends on you and what your family is looking for. Traveling with kids/teens I'd say Oasis is better, but if it's just you and your SO either would be comfortable. 
Pros/Cons Oasis Class:
Pros- larger, more to do, tropical cruises are always a blast (cococay is great for relaxing), more options for food/activities/pools
Cons- Larger ship=more people at destinations, can sometimes get noisy. Because of it's size it can be harder to navigate and more time consuming to go from one area of the ship to other
 
Pros/Cons for Voyager Class:
Pros- Can get to smaller ports because of size, easier to Navigate since everything is closer together, a less crowded cruise=less people at destinations. 
Cons- some people don't like the smaller/older ships (I think AoS is a great size though), not as much to do on cruising days and less options for food (specialty, not MTD)
 
 

Hi! So when my girls were 13 & 5 I took them on a cruise on NCL Gem to Canada/New England. My husband wasn't able to go so it gave me some comfort being relatively "close" to home. They had a great time on the cruise, and while we enjoyed sight-seeing they were honestly a little bored off the ship. Last year we cruised on Adventure to Coco Cay and we had a blast (husband went too). Ship was great and we all loved the island, so much so that we booked another cruise on Oasis to Coco Cay. For me, I don't care where the ship goes, I just love cruising. But for your kids, I really think Coco Cay is the way to go. Either way, happy cruising!

When I do any non-RC excursion, I always plan to be back onboard at least 2 hours before all aboard.
Granted, getting back from Atlantis is a mere formality since there's plenty of taxis.

i just noticed that myself while shopping for late 11/2020-2021 cruises on Independence, Oasis and Odyssey?  No idea why.  I will say that when I booked Independence for this 08/22/2020 cruise my balcony suite was cheaper than the oceanview,  and when I called to have a hold placed it mystified the agent.  I'm glad I booked it because the price just went down again on my suite so i saved another $223.00.  I will accept any RCCL glitch I can find!  

Make sure that your TA does repricing. Reading some of the posts here involving repricing, it seems that not all TA's offer that service. My TA Danette with MEI, has already repriced my Greek Isle Jr Suite for next Oct, twice and saved us $1400! Although I follow the prices religiously, she sent me an email notifying me of the savings before I even knew there was a price drop. Now that's what I call service! 

With the past savings, I only have $250 left for our cruise. I told my TA to leave it until last payment is due in July, for the same reason. You never know if the price will continue to drop.

We booked for the same reason. Excited to try both private islands!

this is why although I don't use a travel agent ( i used to be one, a century ago) I always leave at least $200 dollars of my  balance until the last possible day to pay.  I check prices daily by checking the website and i go through my cruise planner as well.  Don't give up on Royal, you will end up loyal!  Enjoy yourself and call the Crown & Anchor desk and I would call customer service again and ask for a supervisor to see if they can do anything.  Bon Voyage!

Thanks Matt. I thought I missed the "boat" on booking a choice cabin.

I haven't done Oasis yet, but have done Allure and Symphony (which are Oasis class), and we've been on Adventure.
I'll start with both ships are great, but ship for ship, I'd vote Oasis.
On Adventure, you'll have the waterslides, Flowrider, sports court, rock wall, pool, mini golf, plus all the activities and teen clubs if they attend.  We had great headliners (which changes cruise to cruise), but main stage show and ice show were just ok.  (We only saw one production show...I think there is another that you would see on a 9 nighter).
On Oasis, you have waterslides, Flowrider, sports court, rock wall, pool, mini golf, plus Abyss, zipline, laser tag, plus activities and teen club.  Many more food options and neighborhoods.  Can't talk specific for Oasis (and many complain of the Broadway show Cats), but the Oasis class shows are amazing....Aqua show, ice show, another production show, plus the broadway.
Having said that, I see your dilemma as you get 2 additional nights for $550 cheaper.  Also I personally love the bigger ships but they aren't for everyone. DH for example, prefers the Voyager class as it's easier to get around.

One more vote for Oasis and Coco Cay !!!

I am in agreement with the others..stick with Oasis/CocoCay.  Your kids will much, much appreciate it. 
The Canada/NE itinerary is fantastic, but for a first cruise I would definitely go with Oasis.  The Bahamian ports are nothing to be worried about.

I have done both itineraries, but... .  Did AoS to Bermuda/Bahama/Coco Cay and NE/Canada on Anthem.  
I think you need to also place into account your kids. 
 NE/Canada is a great cruise, but for kids it maybe boring.  IE if they are not into hiking, seeing nature or historic tours like the Titanic museum in Halifax it won't be fun.   Adventure is a great ship, but the pool gets crowded since there are only 2 outdoor and the Solarium.   On my cruise last July the staff on AoS was strict.  Your 16 yo will be allowed in the Solarium, but not the 12. Coco Cay is phenomenal.  Again, if your kids are like my family, than it is a no brainer.  Oasis.  We are water babies.  We love the beach.  Hubby spent most of the day snorkeling at Coco Cay.  We love Bermuda, it is one of our favorite stops. Nothing like that pink sand, although I would call it salmon color, not pink. (TEHEHE)   AoS is a nice size ship.  Think Goldilocks, not too small, not too big.  It has stuff like the flowrider, mini-golf, rock climbing wall, ice skating etc.  Promenade never feels crowded.  They have specialty restaurants, but Izumi does not have hibachi or hot rocks.  It is easy to navigate the ship, and easy to find each other.    Oasis is a great ship, but much larger. My hubby will say I am navigationally challenged.  It takes me several days to figure out which way I need to turn to get to a specific area.  That being said, it has more things to explore   My assumption is you are sailing out of Liberty.  This is a 1 season deal from what I understand regarding Oasis.  So for me, it would be Oasis.  Going under the Verrazano bridge on the Oasis is going to be OMG.  Anthem only clears the bottom of the bridge by @30 feet.  No words can describe how amazing that sail away is.
 
 

My Diamond Plus status secret is cruising solo. Getting two points per night adds up quick. I have eight cruises completed and just reached Diamond after my cruise in May. So the first time I was able to enjoy the benefits on board was this past b2b in Sept-Oct. The Diamond Lounge on the Anthem is very nice...and Federico, the concierge, helped me with some reservations. I will be Diamond Plus in two months after my December cruise.
I love cruising (obviously?) and agree that the cruise itself is the main reward. The benefits are appreciated and the C&A program is a very nice way to recognize loyalty. I’m already at the top level (over 700 points) at another cruise line and I can honestly tell you that the C&A benefits are far and away much, much better! Loyalty programs will always go through periods of tweaking and adjusting...hopefully for the better. But my goal is to enjoy my cruise...whichever one I happen to be on...and, when I’m back on land, to count the days until my next cruise. I am thankful that I’m fortunate enough to be able to do what I do. Thank you for this blog because you can never know enough, or learn enough, about cruising without friends sharing their insight and experiences.
Happy cruising!

We lost nights in the transfer, and it still kinda annoys us, especially as we get close to reaching each new level.  It seems that we end up 3 points short each time.  Why should someone who paid for a 3 night get 7 points, when I paid for a 10 night and got the same 7?   We lost 4 points total, we had an 8 night and a 10 night that each got us 7 points.  The suites can buy there way up faster, but we paid for nights and didn't get them in the switch so at the time we felt very short-changed.  But hey, it is what it is and I'm getting there the old fashioned way, one night at a time, one point at a time.  Stayed in a couple JS but only because there was 4 of us in the room and it was cheaper than 2 separate rooms.  But otherwise we're crawling up slowly...we know we're never reaching pinnacle, would love to earn a crystal block once before we die, and that's truly the real goal with Royal for us.  I'd love that block to be from the very first ship we sailed, Majesty of the Seas as that was the ship that addicted us to cruising, but by the time we get that block she may not even be in service anymore.  May have to buy one off of someone if it't not possible when the time comes.
We also know we're not planning on cruising Royal exclusively - we've already done NCL twice, Carnival twice, and Disney once.  We go on Celebrity next week.  It's more about experiencing the world than achieving status for us.  Looking forward to our first Europe sailing next year!   

Our younger daughter will be graduating from college in May and our older daughter has been teaching middle school in London for the last 2 years.  With the prospect of having both girls working to establish their respective careers in both the US and UK, this summer seemed like the last time that we could vacation as a family in the foreseeable future.   So last summer we booked Allure out of Barcelona for a Mediterranean cruise as kind of a last hurrah.  
At the time of booking, it was evident that this would be a relatively expensive endeavor since Allure would be recently AMPed, we would need to arrange for three trans-Atlantic flights, hotels reservations in Barcelona for both pre- and post-cruise site seeing and we would be traveling at peak season in July 2020.  But bite the bullet and pay the fare.  We did.  Yesterday, I did a mock booking for our cruise and was surprised to see that current pricing was significantly below what we had paid.  In part, this was because a senior discount (yes, I'm old) and a Resident discount was available that had not been applied to our initial booking.
Bottom line, a call to RCI to inquire resulted in a re-calculation of our reservation.  Not only were the discounts applied but the current BOGO60 and several other current sale discounts were added that reduced our costs by almost $1500.00.  Excursions and drink packages, here we come.....!   ?  My lucky day!  
Barca, here we come!!

Did the waterpark on our first visit, found a table and left our "stuff" at the table (threw a towel over everything so it wasnt obvious what was there but certainly not secure).
It was a decent waterpark but i have no interest in paying to do it again.
After the waterpark, wandered over to south beach, swam out to the tiki hut bar and floated for the rest of the day.
 
2nd visit, split time between floating at Tiki hut and floating in pool
 
3rd and 4th visits Tiki hut was not optimal with construction, grabbed seats at the big pool and floated all day.
 
Side note: Floating is a technical term meaning "to bob in the water while drinking beers and watching the scenery, occasionally drifting close enough to the bar to replenish the beer".

When I was 19....I dropped out of college and took a sales job selling stereo/electronics at a primarily known for white goods retailed in the N.E.  I was really good at it and won a national sales competition on Mission Loud Speakers and was awarded an all expense paid trip for 2 to a Cancun resort for 4 days.  They had a swim up pool bar too.....I remember it vividly as my 19yr old ass (and my friend that I took) tried really really hard to give ourselves alcohol poisoning ? ? ?
I try to stay away from swim up bars because of that.   hehehehehehehehehe

Every time I go to cococay (or Labadee) I do the same thing.  I rent a cabana....spend 3 hours in the water....then sit in the cabana looking at the waves for a little while, eat lunch, and then spend another 3 hours in the water.
Then I waddle back to the ship with typical overweight American sand/salt water rash and get a shower saying "why did I spend so much time in the water?"
 
What an awesome time.....I can't wait for April now.
And on edit....probably doesn't answer your question ;).  There are lockers at cococay you can shove your stuff and storage if you rent a cabana

If you have never cruised before I would take the money and run!   You will more than likely be able to still enjoy your balcony, but imaging the dining package or spa treatments you can get with $440!   Happy Anniversary!   Make sure you let the staff and your waiters know!

26 days and it's starting to get painful!   Anthem of the Seas 03/15/2020!    
186 days and well what can you do!       Independence of the Seas 08/22/2020
 
I feel your pain ?

Exactly I just want to know how much less and she really tried to push that $75  bless her heart!

Yes, it IS a long walk.  As Twangster said, there is one tram that takes you down the pier and another tram that picks you up inside the park and drives all around the park.

I'm at that point now. Booked the cruise last April. Only have the final payment to go. Waiting to the last moment in case prices drop again. Hotel and plane reservations booked along with excursions. Not much left to do but wait 7 1/2 more months!