Bowen

I was going to ask about the train, so thank you! How difficult was it to navigate the train? I see that some you have to make a few train changes, that makes me nervous, lol. Also, did you have your luggage, how was it traveling via train with luggage?

Thank you so much! Man, what a lot to think about. I was thinking the Ravenna one was close to Venice, so that was swaying me for sure. But if it's very far away then it might make more sense to go out of Rome. We would love to see the Vatican and the Colosseum. As for other ports I think we would be happy with just about anything, the beautiful water is a huge draw. I was going in to this thinking Greece, but if we want to see Rome then I might need to change that and instead think Italy? We would definitely book all day tours, we'd want to see everything.

For those of you who have been to Greece, Turkey, Italy, Crete, etc. Do you have a recommendation of best ports? There are quite a few offerings for June-Oct of 2026 and I'm not sure which to choose. We could focus on Greece, see a little bit of both Greece and Turkey, or go one way to Italy and also see Crete. This will likely be the only time we go, kind of a bucket list thing for my mom. I really appreciate your help! ETA: How far is the Venice airport from the Venice cruise port?

It can stay Panama, you just have to scream it like the song, PANAMA, PA NA MA AH AH AH AH AH!

Great! Thanks!

Is the atmosphere more "party", louder, more unruly? I've only done 7 days or longer, so I'm kind of wondering what to expect.

Somehow I managed to get enough points to get some offers through the casino. I'm considering a B2B, both of which are offered on the itinerary the casino sent me. Can you book through the casino if it will be four people in a room instead of only one or two? Can you choose your room, or does it have to be a GTY? Can I book B2B, or can I only use one offer on the itinerary? Is it best to call them in this case, or can I submit both offers online? Is the casino price always better than booking online, or does that vary and I need to compare the two? I've never done it before, so thanks very much!

Nope! They’re all homeschooled. Some will do school work on the trip, others will work ahead and enjoy the vacation.

We're on this one as well, big group, got some teens, ready for fun!

Dang it! I was thinking you'd be on this cruise! I was excited to hopefully meet you! Anyhow, I'm sad you won't be there, but the one you are on next year sounds amazing!

Does anyone know if you can use your NextCruise certificate while booking online? I have one to use, but when I call in I am not getting the same price as what I am getting online. Can I simply enter my NC certificate number somewhere in my initial booking to get that OBC? Thanks!

We've done this a few times. We've never had any need to do anything special as long as one parent is on board. My mother has taken my minor kids off the ship without me, etc. The one time we did need to do something was when we were traveling with other minor children whose parents were not on board. In that case we followed RC's protocol, downloaded the letter from their site, filled it in for the kids traveling without parents, and kept it on us at all times.

We were just notified yesterday of our bid acceptance for a sailing in two weeks.

I always wonder why this is. We bought during COVID when it tanked, and we also bought Carnival during their $8 release (or whatever it was), RC has done great, Carnival is struggling.

I am so glad you posted this.

We've stayed in the 2BR AS on Harmony, it was really nice, great view of the ocean, great view of the aqua theater, enormous balcony. There are even binoculars on the balcony on their own stand so you can go out and look at things whenever, it's a cool feature. The only downside for us what was that my kids were younger and still needed naps, but the Aqua show has to practice and it is very loud in the suite when they do, which is typically mid day. If you're not a napper, it won't even be a thing. Have fun!

Thanks! We're mainly thinking of Granville Island, so we'll be staying on that main drag.

The curtain is such a great tip! I loved that Disney had this as part of their room set up, and it is so easy to duplicate on any ship if you bring your own stuff. Sorry, quoted the wrong post!

Such a great tip regarding dinner, absolutely. My kids didn't sit through dinner, it was too much to ask when they were young, so we just ate in the WJ every night. We did it for years until we knew they'd sit through dinner. Way less stressful for everyone.

We're coming in to Vancouver with time to spare before we can board, so we're looking to spend 5-6 hours doing something around town. Is Vancouver pretty walkable as far as safety? We're two older ladies on our own. It would be daylight hours. We we're thinking of walking to Granville and some of the stuff out that way. Thanks!

Is the raptor center walkable from the shuttle stop, like within 10-15 minutes?

A couple of things. First, if it was in the safe when I left, and then I called and it was no longer in the safe, I'd be livid. There are a whole lot of places I could imagine accidentally leaving something where I wouldn't expect it to be when I called back in an hour, the safe isn't one of them. So if it wasn't in the safe then it was taken by an RC employee, and that's a whole bunch of garbage. Second, no way you got off the ship and through customs with just your ship ID, zero chance that happened. So you either had some other identifying document or you used facial recognition, but there's absolutely no way one of those two things didn't occur. Not that this really matters, except that in the context of what you are saying happened it makes the entire story less credible when you are saying you got off the ship in a way that everyone on this board knows cannot happen. I don't at all get the people dragging you for leaving something in the safe. It happens, and as far as leaving things on the ship, that would be just about the only place I would 100% expect it to still be when I remembered and went to retrieve it. I travel with someone who always uses the safe, that person has left their things in the safe after we left (not on a cruise, but at a major theme park resort) and when they called after figuring it out a couple of hours later, the stuff was there and was mailed immediately, minus the cash because they said they were not able to mail cash. There's no excuse at all for something to not be in that safe when you called back. And there's no excuse at all for that stuff not to be immediately taken to lost and found and mailed right back to you. It's not as though your address wasn't readily available. I'm sorry you're dealing with it, it sounds frustrating as heck.

I have tried this exact thing, my hot spot toggle was greyed out, I wasn’t able to use it at all. I can’t help with CocoCay, sorry.

Minecraft almost certainly.

I was wondering if it was something like this.