Luly

Day 1
In my first post of the live blog I asked questions about what to do about getting refunded for dining reservations for D4 that should’ve been free since she’s under 5. I never did find a good answer online after months of searching. So first I went to guest services who directed me to the my time dining desk who directed me to Chops. At Chops they struggled a little and just asked to comp me with some wine instead. I said no thank you I don’t drink alcohol. I told them I don’t need a refund, OBC will do and they were able to figure it out. What’s strange is that I was only charged for her at Izumi and Chops, but not for Giovanni’s. 
I’ve been trying lots of mocktails today (we don’t drink alcohol). I’ve had the strawberry limeade (which I’m pretty sure he made wrong) a watermelon mint lemonade (also made wrong, I’m pretty sure he used blueberry syrup like a blueberry nojito but with lemonade instead of club soda). My kids have all enjoyed daiquiris, my favorite being the mango strawberry. We couldn’t get through all of our drinks so I went to the bar and got water bottles for the remaining vouchers. 
The kids room had no complimentary Diamond water bottles, but hubby and I got ours. I asked the stateroom attendant about it and he wasn’t helpful so I’ll go to the Diamond concierge tomorrow. Also no Diamond pins in our rooms. I know there’s lots of discussion about who and why anyone would wear the pins but my kids were sure disappointed. 
For dinner we went to Izumi. I reserved on a Black Friday deal. My total for 6 of us (after the above mentioned refund) was $109. As mentioned before this was the kids first time dining in a specialty restaurant.
I ordered the She’s a Geisha drink (virgin) and really enjoyed it. Everyone else ordered Japanese Strawberry (also virgin). Hubby got 2 of those and S7 got 3! The waitress brought him the third and whispered to him “this one’s on me.” Super sweet and I checked later that she did in fact provide that one for free. 
For small plates the kids gobbled up the edamame, we probably should’ve asked for more because I got one single pod. Mom sacrifices. Nobody particularly enjoyed the Miso soup, it just tastes like liquid seaweed which is just not our thing. D16 ordered the crispy chicken. Everyone liked it, especially the kids because it’s basically just chicken nuggets. Very yummy with the sauce, which the kids wouldn’t try. S12 ordered the shrimp and veggie tempura. I wasn’t sitting by him or else I would’ve warned him it was just a big plate of fried food. He didn’t enjoy it. Hubby ordered the crispy rice spicy tuna and I ordered the dumplings. Both were absolutely delicious. 
On to the main dishes. All the kids had ramen and enjoyed it. Between Hubby and I we ordered lots of stuff so we could share. We got the baked snow crab and salmon dynamite roll, champagne lobster roll, seared tuna tataki roll, and the udon noodles. The dynamite roll was dynamite. I’d go back and order that to go. The udon was good, but the steak on top of it was especially delicious. 
For dessert hubby and I got molten lava cake. I really need to stop ordering that on cruises. It’s never molten lava and my homemade recipe is a thousand times better. The kids all got mochi and completely consumed all of it.
I’m not sure I would book this again for the whole family. It’s just a little too authentic for my kids and just so much food ended up wasted because they just don’t eat that much. I think I would book for hubby and I again. 
After dinner D16 and S12 went to the teen club then quickly went back to the room. They didn’t end up going to any of the activities because they wanted to go to the comedian at 9:30 and then were too tired. The comedian was Nate Weatherup. His show was so family friendly, S7 was just cackling and I never felt uncomfortable with my kids being there. No bad language or inappropriate jokes, highly recommend. 
A couple stray observations:
Of all 24 drinks ordered today we never received a receipt stating our Diamond drink balance. However, the app does show each drink, which I had never read about happening anywhere on the blog so that will be helpful.
My TA originally booked us 4572/4574. After seeing how close to the centrum they were I asked her to move us elsewhere. I am SO glad we did!! The centrum is not a quiet place. At 10:30 it was still hoping with live very loud music. I don’t know how anyone in those rooms could sleep or put young kids to bed. There is a small door to mute the noise from the centrum down the hallway but then you’re also dealing with a constantly slamming door and constant steam of people loudly walking by in addition to the music. 
Tomorrow is a sea day. I’m most excited about signing up for the egg drop challenge. I always tell myself I’ll go to various activities like jogging around the track with the cruise director and water aerobics but I’m so introverted that I never end up going. I’m challenging myself this cruise to attend/do something that might make me uncomfortable but that I know I’ll enjoy. 

Wifi is being super finicky and it took me about 10 attempts to upload images. Never had a room with Pullman beds. We usually sleep 3 and 3 with sofa beds. Kids seem happy. 

 

Day 1
In my first post of the live blog I asked questions about what to do about getting refunded for dining reservations for D4 that should’ve been free since she’s under 5. I never did find a good answer online after months of searching. So first I went to guest services who directed me to the my time dining desk who directed me to Chops. At Chops they struggled a little and just asked to comp me with some wine instead. I said no thank you I don’t drink alcohol. I told them I don’t need a refund, OBC will do and they were able to figure it out. What’s strange is that I was only charged for her at Izumi and Chops, but not for Giovanni’s. 
I’ve been trying lots of mocktails today (we don’t drink alcohol). I’ve had the strawberry limeade (which I’m pretty sure he made wrong) a watermelon mint lemonade (also made wrong, I’m pretty sure he used blueberry syrup like a blueberry nojito but with lemonade instead of club soda). My kids have all enjoyed daiquiris, my favorite being the mango strawberry. We couldn’t get through all of our drinks so I went to the bar and got water bottles for the remaining vouchers. 
The kids room had no complimentary Diamond water bottles, but hubby and I got ours. I asked the stateroom attendant about it and he wasn’t helpful so I’ll go to the Diamond concierge tomorrow. Also no Diamond pins in our rooms. I know there’s lots of discussion about who and why anyone would wear the pins but my kids were sure disappointed. 
For dinner we went to Izumi. I reserved on a Black Friday deal. My total for 6 of us (after the above mentioned refund) was $109. As mentioned before this was the kids first time dining in a specialty restaurant.
I ordered the She’s a Geisha drink (virgin) and really enjoyed it. Everyone else ordered Japanese Strawberry (also virgin). Hubby got 2 of those and S7 got 3! The waitress brought him the third and whispered to him “this one’s on me.” Super sweet and I checked later that she did in fact provide that one for free. 
For small plates the kids gobbled up the edamame, we probably should’ve asked for more because I got one single pod. Mom sacrifices. Nobody particularly enjoyed the Miso soup, it just tastes like liquid seaweed which is just not our thing. D16 ordered the crispy chicken. Everyone liked it, especially the kids because it’s basically just chicken nuggets. Very yummy with the sauce, which the kids wouldn’t try. S12 ordered the shrimp and veggie tempura. I wasn’t sitting by him or else I would’ve warned him it was just a big plate of fried food. He didn’t enjoy it. Hubby ordered the crispy rice spicy tuna and I ordered the dumplings. Both were absolutely delicious. 
On to the main dishes. All the kids had ramen and enjoyed it. Between Hubby and I we ordered lots of stuff so we could share. We got the baked snow crab and salmon dynamite roll, champagne lobster roll, seared tuna tataki roll, and the udon noodles. The dynamite roll was dynamite. I’d go back and order that to go. The udon was good, but the steak on top of it was especially delicious. 
For dessert hubby and I got molten lava cake. I really need to stop ordering that on cruises. It’s never molten lava and my homemade recipe is a thousand times better. The kids all got mochi and completely consumed all of it.
I’m not sure I would book this again for the whole family. It’s just a little too authentic for my kids and just so much food ended up wasted because they just don’t eat that much. I think I would book for hubby and I again. 
After dinner D16 and S12 went to the teen club then quickly went back to the room. They didn’t end up going to any of the activities because they wanted to go to the comedian at 9:30 and then were too tired. The comedian was Nate Weatherup. His show was so family friendly, S7 was just cackling and I never felt uncomfortable with my kids being there. No bad language or inappropriate jokes, highly recommend. 
A couple stray observations:
Of all 24 drinks ordered today we never received a receipt stating our Diamond drink balance. However, the app does show each drink, which I had never read about happening anywhere on the blog so that will be helpful.
My TA originally booked us 4572/4574. After seeing how close to the centrum they were I asked her to move us elsewhere. I am SO glad we did!! The centrum is not a quiet place. At 10:30 it was still hoping with live very loud music. I don’t know how anyone in those rooms could sleep or put young kids to bed. There is a small door to mute the noise from the centrum down the hallway but then you’re also dealing with a constantly slamming door and constant steam of people loudly walking by in addition to the music. 
Tomorrow is a sea day. I’m most excited about signing up for the egg drop challenge. I always tell myself I’ll go to various activities like jogging around the track with the cruise director and water aerobics but I’m so introverted that I never end up going. I’m challenging myself this cruise to attend/do something that might make me uncomfortable but that I know I’ll enjoy. 

Day 1
In my first post of the live blog I asked questions about what to do about getting refunded for dining reservations for D4 that should’ve been free since she’s under 5. I never did find a good answer online after months of searching. So first I went to guest services who directed me to the my time dining desk who directed me to Chops. At Chops they struggled a little and just asked to comp me with some wine instead. I said no thank you I don’t drink alcohol. I told them I don’t need a refund, OBC will do and they were able to figure it out. What’s strange is that I was only charged for her at Izumi and Chops, but not for Giovanni’s. 
I’ve been trying lots of mocktails today (we don’t drink alcohol). I’ve had the strawberry limeade (which I’m pretty sure he made wrong) a watermelon mint lemonade (also made wrong, I’m pretty sure he used blueberry syrup like a blueberry nojito but with lemonade instead of club soda). My kids have all enjoyed daiquiris, my favorite being the mango strawberry. We couldn’t get through all of our drinks so I went to the bar and got water bottles for the remaining vouchers. 
The kids room had no complimentary Diamond water bottles, but hubby and I got ours. I asked the stateroom attendant about it and he wasn’t helpful so I’ll go to the Diamond concierge tomorrow. Also no Diamond pins in our rooms. I know there’s lots of discussion about who and why anyone would wear the pins but my kids were sure disappointed. 
For dinner we went to Izumi. I reserved on a Black Friday deal. My total for 6 of us (after the above mentioned refund) was $109. As mentioned before this was the kids first time dining in a specialty restaurant.
I ordered the She’s a Geisha drink (virgin) and really enjoyed it. Everyone else ordered Japanese Strawberry (also virgin). Hubby got 2 of those and S7 got 3! The waitress brought him the third and whispered to him “this one’s on me.” Super sweet and I checked later that she did in fact provide that one for free. 
For small plates the kids gobbled up the edamame, we probably should’ve asked for more because I got one single pod. Mom sacrifices. Nobody particularly enjoyed the Miso soup, it just tastes like liquid seaweed which is just not our thing. D16 ordered the crispy chicken. Everyone liked it, especially the kids because it’s basically just chicken nuggets. Very yummy with the sauce, which the kids wouldn’t try. S12 ordered the shrimp and veggie tempura. I wasn’t sitting by him or else I would’ve warned him it was just a big plate of fried food. He didn’t enjoy it. Hubby ordered the crispy rice spicy tuna and I ordered the dumplings. Both were absolutely delicious. 
On to the main dishes. All the kids had ramen and enjoyed it. Between Hubby and I we ordered lots of stuff so we could share. We got the baked snow crab and salmon dynamite roll, champagne lobster roll, seared tuna tataki roll, and the udon noodles. The dynamite roll was dynamite. I’d go back and order that to go. The udon was good, but the steak on top of it was especially delicious. 
For dessert hubby and I got molten lava cake. I really need to stop ordering that on cruises. It’s never molten lava and my homemade recipe is a thousand times better. The kids all got mochi and completely consumed all of it.
I’m not sure I would book this again for the whole family. It’s just a little too authentic for my kids and just so much food ended up wasted because they just don’t eat that much. I think I would book for hubby and I again. 
After dinner D16 and S12 went to the teen club then quickly went back to the room. They didn’t end up going to any of the activities because they wanted to go to the comedian at 9:30 and then were too tired. The comedian was Nate Weatherup. His show was so family friendly, S7 was just cackling and I never felt uncomfortable with my kids being there. No bad language or inappropriate jokes, highly recommend. 
A couple stray observations:
Of all 24 drinks ordered today we never received a receipt stating our Diamond drink balance. However, the app does show each drink, which I had never read about happening anywhere on the blog so that will be helpful.
My TA originally booked us 4572/4574. After seeing how close to the centrum they were I asked her to move us elsewhere. I am SO glad we did!! The centrum is not a quiet place. At 10:30 it was still hoping with live very loud music. I don’t know how anyone in those rooms could sleep or put young kids to bed. There is a small door to mute the noise from the centrum down the hallway but then you’re also dealing with a constantly slamming door and constant steam of people loudly walking by in addition to the music. 
Tomorrow is a sea day. I’m most excited about signing up for the egg drop challenge. I always tell myself I’ll go to various activities like jogging around the track with the cruise director and water aerobics but I’m so introverted that I never end up going. I’m challenging myself this cruise to attend/do something that might make me uncomfortable but that I know I’ll enjoy. 

Wifi is being super finicky and it took me about 10 attempts to upload images. Never had a room with Pullman beds. We usually sleep 3 and 3 with sofa beds. Kids seem happy. 

 

Wifi is being super finicky and it took me about 10 attempts to upload images. Never had a room with Pullman beds. We usually sleep 3 and 3 with sofa beds. Kids seem happy. 

 

We’re on board! Boarding was a breeze. Kids are content with the quality of pizza in Park Cafe and have already consumed an ice cream cone each and their very first free Diamond drinks ever and really their first drinks onboard. I never buy them. D16 is shockingly planning her evening around the teen club activities. She has never in all our cruises been inside the teen club. Having extroverted S12 in there with her helps. S7 and D4 are enjoying some pool time until the rooms open up. The first night’s menu didn’t seem to change much with the menu changes and has never been one I particularly enjoy. So we have reservations at Izumi for dinner, again a first time experience for all of us. With how cheap the cruise fare was I made up for it splurging on a few things we don’t usually do.

We’re on board! Boarding was a breeze. Kids are content with the quality of pizza in Park Cafe and have already consumed an ice cream cone each and their very first free Diamond drinks ever and really their first drinks onboard. I never buy them. D16 is shockingly planning her evening around the teen club activities. She has never in all our cruises been inside the teen club. Having extroverted S12 in there with her helps. S7 and D4 are enjoying some pool time until the rooms open up. The first night’s menu didn’t seem to change much with the menu changes and has never been one I particularly enjoy. So we have reservations at Izumi for dinner, again a first time experience for all of us. With how cheap the cruise fare was I made up for it splurging on a few things we don’t usually do.

We’re on board! Boarding was a breeze. Kids are content with the quality of pizza in Park Cafe and have already consumed an ice cream cone each and their very first free Diamond drinks ever and really their first drinks onboard. I never buy them. D16 is shockingly planning her evening around the teen club activities. She has never in all our cruises been inside the teen club. Having extroverted S12 in there with her helps. S7 and D4 are enjoying some pool time until the rooms open up. The first night’s menu didn’t seem to change much with the menu changes and has never been one I particularly enjoy. So we have reservations at Izumi for dinner, again a first time experience for all of us. With how cheap the cruise fare was I made up for it splurging on a few things we don’t usually do.

We’re on board! Boarding was a breeze. Kids are content with the quality of pizza in Park Cafe and have already consumed an ice cream cone each and their very first free Diamond drinks ever and really their first drinks onboard. I never buy them. D16 is shockingly planning her evening around the teen club activities. She has never in all our cruises been inside the teen club. Having extroverted S12 in there with her helps. S7 and D4 are enjoying some pool time until the rooms open up. The first night’s menu didn’t seem to change much with the menu changes and has never been one I particularly enjoy. So we have reservations at Izumi for dinner, again a first time experience for all of us. With how cheap the cruise fare was I made up for it splurging on a few things we don’t usually do.

We’re on board! Boarding was a breeze. Kids are content with the quality of pizza in Park Cafe and have already consumed an ice cream cone each and their very first free Diamond drinks ever and really their first drinks onboard. I never buy them. D16 is shockingly planning her evening around the teen club activities. She has never in all our cruises been inside the teen club. Having extroverted S12 in there with her helps. S7 and D4 are enjoying some pool time until the rooms open up. The first night’s menu didn’t seem to change much with the menu changes and has never been one I particularly enjoy. So we have reservations at Izumi for dinner, again a first time experience for all of us. With how cheap the cruise fare was I made up for it splurging on a few things we don’t usually do.

For Christmas we prefer to give our kids experiences instead of random gifts. Either we're on a cruise on Christmas or we give them a trip as their gift. This year they got a Quantum Vision of a Christmas gift: TWO cruises, Southern Caribbean on Vision and Alaska on Quantum May 31-June 5, hence this is Part 1. I'll start to post Part 2 in May as we get closer to Alaska. We're staying in adjoining OV rooms on Vision on deck 3. This will be our first time not in balconies, but with the limited balconies on Vision they were way too expensive. This sailing was a shocking $4k for all 6 of us for 10 nights. I could not pass up that price. It's over Spring Break locally, so my kids wont miss much school, just 3 days. Flights to Florida from SLC are in the $550, or 60,000 skymiles range so I watched them like a hawk for months and was able to get them for I think 34,000 miles. I booked refundable deposits for the cruise; if we hadn't found reasonable flights I would have cancelled this trip as flights would have cost as much as the cruise. This is my first time booking through a TA, and of course I used MEI (thanks Kelley!).
Who's sailing:
Hubby and I and our 4 kids: D16, S12, S7, D4. D16 has minimal time to enjoy Diamond benefits as she'll be relegated to Emerald when she turns 18 next summer, as I understand it. 
This is our first Diamond sailing. We never buy drink nor dining packages. This time around we will be eating in every specialty restaurant (Chops, Izumi, Giovannis), mostly for lunch, due to Black Friday deals and the fact that I really enjoy the MDR. However, maybe someone can help me with a dilemma. Kids 5 and under eat free, but the site made me pay for D4 when I booked. Do I go to customer service once on board and ask for a refund/OBC for her meals? If so, do I need to bring the email to show I paid for her? I had read the other option was to book the 5 of us and let them know it would be a 6 top when we arrive, but I already booked it and can't cancel just her reservation. I also read it'll be auto refunded once on board, but definitely don't trust that.
Excited for 4 free drinks a day! In all of my sailings I've only bought 1 virgin daiquiri, 1 blueberry nojito, and 1 Johnny Rockets shake. I'm a bit of a cheapo when it comes to these things and stick with water and tea. We don't drink alcohol but I have a list on my phone of every mocktail and virgin daquiri/concoction I've read about on the blog and on other forums. 
Minor Concerns:
D16 and S12 are concerned about the lack of activities. The teen lounge is only open 8pm-12am which I find quite bizarre for sea days. As far as I can tell from reading Cruise Compasses the only organized teen activity is teen only rock climbing. D16 is incredibly shy and introverted and has never set foot in the teen area on any ship. S12 is extroverted and makes a bunch of friends to run around with and play card games in the Library. Hopefully now that S12 can join D16 in the teen area he'll help her make friends, though he is sad to not be able to play gaga ball in AO. Overall though, I realize this is a small ship and we have minimal sea days so I'm not too worried about the lack of activities since we'll have plenty to do in port and can look forward to all the activities on Quantum in a couple months.
D4's favorite meal on board is spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese, though I've heard one anecdote that with the new menus the MDR staff aren't as willing to do "custom" orders like this. Anyone had experience getting a custom meal like this with the new menu? Seems like it shouldn't be all that complicated.
Itinerary:
Day 1 At Sea
Day 2 Labadee
Day 3 San Juan
Day 4 St. Maarten
Day 5 St. Kitts
Day 6 St. Lucia
Day 7 Antigua.
Day 8 At Sea 
Day 9 At Sea
We have been to Labadee on Anthem Christmas 2019 and Hubby and I have been to St. Maarten. We have third party excursions reserved everywhere except San Juan where I have Old Town walking tour maps on my phone for us to do on our own. Labadee I've reserved a Bungalow (shhh don't tell the kids, it's a surprise). I'll go into the details of each excursion when I post about them on the trip. In St. Maarten S12's best friend will also be docking on Harmony so his family will be joining us on our excursion. The boys are nearly inseparable so we were thrilled to make this discovery a couple of weeks ago. 
We fly out in 16 days and on board in 18! My kids have a light up countdown board that D7 updates before he goes to bed and D4 is already trying to give me some of her favorite clothing items to pack.
This is my first live blog and I've never put a picture in a post so I'm a little nervous but going to give it a whirl! Any questions/advice/critique is welcome.

For Christmas we prefer to give our kids experiences instead of random gifts. Either we're on a cruise on Christmas or we give them a trip as their gift. This year they got a Quantum Vision of a Christmas gift: TWO cruises, Southern Caribbean on Vision and Alaska on Quantum May 31-June 5, hence this is Part 1. I'll start to post Part 2 in May as we get closer to Alaska. We're staying in adjoining OV rooms on Vision on deck 3. This will be our first time not in balconies, but with the limited balconies on Vision they were way too expensive. This sailing was a shocking $4k for all 6 of us for 10 nights. I could not pass up that price. It's over Spring Break locally, so my kids wont miss much school, just 3 days. Flights to Florida from SLC are in the $550, or 60,000 skymiles range so I watched them like a hawk for months and was able to get them for I think 34,000 miles. I booked refundable deposits for the cruise; if we hadn't found reasonable flights I would have cancelled this trip as flights would have cost as much as the cruise. This is my first time booking through a TA, and of course I used MEI (thanks Kelley!).
Who's sailing:
Hubby and I and our 4 kids: D16, S12, S7, D4. D16 has minimal time to enjoy Diamond benefits as she'll be relegated to Emerald when she turns 18 next summer, as I understand it. 
This is our first Diamond sailing. We never buy drink nor dining packages. This time around we will be eating in every specialty restaurant (Chops, Izumi, Giovannis), mostly for lunch, due to Black Friday deals and the fact that I really enjoy the MDR. However, maybe someone can help me with a dilemma. Kids 5 and under eat free, but the site made me pay for D4 when I booked. Do I go to customer service once on board and ask for a refund/OBC for her meals? If so, do I need to bring the email to show I paid for her? I had read the other option was to book the 5 of us and let them know it would be a 6 top when we arrive, but I already booked it and can't cancel just her reservation. I also read it'll be auto refunded once on board, but definitely don't trust that.
Excited for 4 free drinks a day! In all of my sailings I've only bought 1 virgin daiquiri, 1 blueberry nojito, and 1 Johnny Rockets shake. I'm a bit of a cheapo when it comes to these things and stick with water and tea. We don't drink alcohol but I have a list on my phone of every mocktail and virgin daquiri/concoction I've read about on the blog and on other forums. 
Minor Concerns:
D16 and S12 are concerned about the lack of activities. The teen lounge is only open 8pm-12am which I find quite bizarre for sea days. As far as I can tell from reading Cruise Compasses the only organized teen activity is teen only rock climbing. D16 is incredibly shy and introverted and has never set foot in the teen area on any ship. S12 is extroverted and makes a bunch of friends to run around with and play card games in the Library. Hopefully now that S12 can join D16 in the teen area he'll help her make friends, though he is sad to not be able to play gaga ball in AO. Overall though, I realize this is a small ship and we have minimal sea days so I'm not too worried about the lack of activities since we'll have plenty to do in port and can look forward to all the activities on Quantum in a couple months.
D4's favorite meal on board is spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese, though I've heard one anecdote that with the new menus the MDR staff aren't as willing to do "custom" orders like this. Anyone had experience getting a custom meal like this with the new menu? Seems like it shouldn't be all that complicated.
Itinerary:
Day 1 At Sea
Day 2 Labadee
Day 3 San Juan
Day 4 St. Maarten
Day 5 St. Kitts
Day 6 St. Lucia
Day 7 Antigua.
Day 8 At Sea 
Day 9 At Sea
We have been to Labadee on Anthem Christmas 2019 and Hubby and I have been to St. Maarten. We have third party excursions reserved everywhere except San Juan where I have Old Town walking tour maps on my phone for us to do on our own. Labadee I've reserved a Bungalow (shhh don't tell the kids, it's a surprise). I'll go into the details of each excursion when I post about them on the trip. In St. Maarten S12's best friend will also be docking on Harmony so his family will be joining us on our excursion. The boys are nearly inseparable so we were thrilled to make this discovery a couple of weeks ago. 
We fly out in 16 days and on board in 18! My kids have a light up countdown board that D7 updates before he goes to bed and D4 is already trying to give me some of her favorite clothing items to pack.
This is my first live blog and I've never put a picture in a post so I'm a little nervous but going to give it a whirl! Any questions/advice/critique is welcome.

For Christmas we prefer to give our kids experiences instead of random gifts. Either we're on a cruise on Christmas or we give them a trip as their gift. This year they got a Quantum Vision of a Christmas gift: TWO cruises, Southern Caribbean on Vision and Alaska on Quantum May 31-June 5, hence this is Part 1. I'll start to post Part 2 in May as we get closer to Alaska. We're staying in adjoining OV rooms on Vision on deck 3. This will be our first time not in balconies, but with the limited balconies on Vision they were way too expensive. This sailing was a shocking $4k for all 6 of us for 10 nights. I could not pass up that price. It's over Spring Break locally, so my kids wont miss much school, just 3 days. Flights to Florida from SLC are in the $550, or 60,000 skymiles range so I watched them like a hawk for months and was able to get them for I think 34,000 miles. I booked refundable deposits for the cruise; if we hadn't found reasonable flights I would have cancelled this trip as flights would have cost as much as the cruise. This is my first time booking through a TA, and of course I used MEI (thanks Kelley!).
Who's sailing:
Hubby and I and our 4 kids: D16, S12, S7, D4. D16 has minimal time to enjoy Diamond benefits as she'll be relegated to Emerald when she turns 18 next summer, as I understand it. 
This is our first Diamond sailing. We never buy drink nor dining packages. This time around we will be eating in every specialty restaurant (Chops, Izumi, Giovannis), mostly for lunch, due to Black Friday deals and the fact that I really enjoy the MDR. However, maybe someone can help me with a dilemma. Kids 5 and under eat free, but the site made me pay for D4 when I booked. Do I go to customer service once on board and ask for a refund/OBC for her meals? If so, do I need to bring the email to show I paid for her? I had read the other option was to book the 5 of us and let them know it would be a 6 top when we arrive, but I already booked it and can't cancel just her reservation. I also read it'll be auto refunded once on board, but definitely don't trust that.
Excited for 4 free drinks a day! In all of my sailings I've only bought 1 virgin daiquiri, 1 blueberry nojito, and 1 Johnny Rockets shake. I'm a bit of a cheapo when it comes to these things and stick with water and tea. We don't drink alcohol but I have a list on my phone of every mocktail and virgin daquiri/concoction I've read about on the blog and on other forums. 
Minor Concerns:
D16 and S12 are concerned about the lack of activities. The teen lounge is only open 8pm-12am which I find quite bizarre for sea days. As far as I can tell from reading Cruise Compasses the only organized teen activity is teen only rock climbing. D16 is incredibly shy and introverted and has never set foot in the teen area on any ship. S12 is extroverted and makes a bunch of friends to run around with and play card games in the Library. Hopefully now that S12 can join D16 in the teen area he'll help her make friends, though he is sad to not be able to play gaga ball in AO. Overall though, I realize this is a small ship and we have minimal sea days so I'm not too worried about the lack of activities since we'll have plenty to do in port and can look forward to all the activities on Quantum in a couple months.
D4's favorite meal on board is spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese, though I've heard one anecdote that with the new menus the MDR staff aren't as willing to do "custom" orders like this. Anyone had experience getting a custom meal like this with the new menu? Seems like it shouldn't be all that complicated.
Itinerary:
Day 1 At Sea
Day 2 Labadee
Day 3 San Juan
Day 4 St. Maarten
Day 5 St. Kitts
Day 6 St. Lucia
Day 7 Antigua.
Day 8 At Sea 
Day 9 At Sea
We have been to Labadee on Anthem Christmas 2019 and Hubby and I have been to St. Maarten. We have third party excursions reserved everywhere except San Juan where I have Old Town walking tour maps on my phone for us to do on our own. Labadee I've reserved a Bungalow (shhh don't tell the kids, it's a surprise). I'll go into the details of each excursion when I post about them on the trip. In St. Maarten S12's best friend will also be docking on Harmony so his family will be joining us on our excursion. The boys are nearly inseparable so we were thrilled to make this discovery a couple of weeks ago. 
We fly out in 16 days and on board in 18! My kids have a light up countdown board that D7 updates before he goes to bed and D4 is already trying to give me some of her favorite clothing items to pack.
This is my first live blog and I've never put a picture in a post so I'm a little nervous but going to give it a whirl! Any questions/advice/critique is welcome.

At Izumi the second time what is the sushi in the middle right of your picture. The huge one with the stringy things below and on top of it. We'll be at Izumi on Vision in a few weeks.

For Christmas we prefer to give our kids experiences instead of random gifts. Either we're on a cruise on Christmas or we give them a trip as their gift. This year they got a Quantum Vision of a Christmas gift: TWO cruises, Southern Caribbean on Vision and Alaska on Quantum May 31-June 5, hence this is Part 1. I'll start to post Part 2 in May as we get closer to Alaska. We're staying in adjoining OV rooms on Vision on deck 3. This will be our first time not in balconies, but with the limited balconies on Vision they were way too expensive. This sailing was a shocking $4k for all 6 of us for 10 nights. I could not pass up that price. It's over Spring Break locally, so my kids wont miss much school, just 3 days. Flights to Florida from SLC are in the $550, or 60,000 skymiles range so I watched them like a hawk for months and was able to get them for I think 34,000 miles. I booked refundable deposits for the cruise; if we hadn't found reasonable flights I would have cancelled this trip as flights would have cost as much as the cruise. This is my first time booking through a TA, and of course I used MEI (thanks Kelley!).
Who's sailing:
Hubby and I and our 4 kids: D16, S12, S7, D4. D16 has minimal time to enjoy Diamond benefits as she'll be relegated to Emerald when she turns 18 next summer, as I understand it. 
This is our first Diamond sailing. We never buy drink nor dining packages. This time around we will be eating in every specialty restaurant (Chops, Izumi, Giovannis), mostly for lunch, due to Black Friday deals and the fact that I really enjoy the MDR. However, maybe someone can help me with a dilemma. Kids 5 and under eat free, but the site made me pay for D4 when I booked. Do I go to customer service once on board and ask for a refund/OBC for her meals? If so, do I need to bring the email to show I paid for her? I had read the other option was to book the 5 of us and let them know it would be a 6 top when we arrive, but I already booked it and can't cancel just her reservation. I also read it'll be auto refunded once on board, but definitely don't trust that.
Excited for 4 free drinks a day! In all of my sailings I've only bought 1 virgin daiquiri, 1 blueberry nojito, and 1 Johnny Rockets shake. I'm a bit of a cheapo when it comes to these things and stick with water and tea. We don't drink alcohol but I have a list on my phone of every mocktail and virgin daquiri/concoction I've read about on the blog and on other forums. 
Minor Concerns:
D16 and S12 are concerned about the lack of activities. The teen lounge is only open 8pm-12am which I find quite bizarre for sea days. As far as I can tell from reading Cruise Compasses the only organized teen activity is teen only rock climbing. D16 is incredibly shy and introverted and has never set foot in the teen area on any ship. S12 is extroverted and makes a bunch of friends to run around with and play card games in the Library. Hopefully now that S12 can join D16 in the teen area he'll help her make friends, though he is sad to not be able to play gaga ball in AO. Overall though, I realize this is a small ship and we have minimal sea days so I'm not too worried about the lack of activities since we'll have plenty to do in port and can look forward to all the activities on Quantum in a couple months.
D4's favorite meal on board is spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese, though I've heard one anecdote that with the new menus the MDR staff aren't as willing to do "custom" orders like this. Anyone had experience getting a custom meal like this with the new menu? Seems like it shouldn't be all that complicated.
Itinerary:
Day 1 At Sea
Day 2 Labadee
Day 3 San Juan
Day 4 St. Maarten
Day 5 St. Kitts
Day 6 St. Lucia
Day 7 Antigua.
Day 8 At Sea 
Day 9 At Sea
We have been to Labadee on Anthem Christmas 2019 and Hubby and I have been to St. Maarten. We have third party excursions reserved everywhere except San Juan where I have Old Town walking tour maps on my phone for us to do on our own. Labadee I've reserved a Bungalow (shhh don't tell the kids, it's a surprise). I'll go into the details of each excursion when I post about them on the trip. In St. Maarten S12's best friend will also be docking on Harmony so his family will be joining us on our excursion. The boys are nearly inseparable so we were thrilled to make this discovery a couple of weeks ago. 
We fly out in 16 days and on board in 18! My kids have a light up countdown board that D7 updates before he goes to bed and D4 is already trying to give me some of her favorite clothing items to pack.
This is my first live blog and I've never put a picture in a post so I'm a little nervous but going to give it a whirl! Any questions/advice/critique is welcome.

For Christmas we prefer to give our kids experiences instead of random gifts. Either we're on a cruise on Christmas or we give them a trip as their gift. This year they got a Quantum Vision of a Christmas gift: TWO cruises, Southern Caribbean on Vision and Alaska on Quantum May 31-June 5, hence this is Part 1. I'll start to post Part 2 in May as we get closer to Alaska. We're staying in adjoining OV rooms on Vision on deck 3. This will be our first time not in balconies, but with the limited balconies on Vision they were way too expensive. This sailing was a shocking $4k for all 6 of us for 10 nights. I could not pass up that price. It's over Spring Break locally, so my kids wont miss much school, just 3 days. Flights to Florida from SLC are in the $550, or 60,000 skymiles range so I watched them like a hawk for months and was able to get them for I think 34,000 miles. I booked refundable deposits for the cruise; if we hadn't found reasonable flights I would have cancelled this trip as flights would have cost as much as the cruise. This is my first time booking through a TA, and of course I used MEI (thanks Kelley!).
Who's sailing:
Hubby and I and our 4 kids: D16, S12, S7, D4. D16 has minimal time to enjoy Diamond benefits as she'll be relegated to Emerald when she turns 18 next summer, as I understand it. 
This is our first Diamond sailing. We never buy drink nor dining packages. This time around we will be eating in every specialty restaurant (Chops, Izumi, Giovannis), mostly for lunch, due to Black Friday deals and the fact that I really enjoy the MDR. However, maybe someone can help me with a dilemma. Kids 5 and under eat free, but the site made me pay for D4 when I booked. Do I go to customer service once on board and ask for a refund/OBC for her meals? If so, do I need to bring the email to show I paid for her? I had read the other option was to book the 5 of us and let them know it would be a 6 top when we arrive, but I already booked it and can't cancel just her reservation. I also read it'll be auto refunded once on board, but definitely don't trust that.
Excited for 4 free drinks a day! In all of my sailings I've only bought 1 virgin daiquiri, 1 blueberry nojito, and 1 Johnny Rockets shake. I'm a bit of a cheapo when it comes to these things and stick with water and tea. We don't drink alcohol but I have a list on my phone of every mocktail and virgin daquiri/concoction I've read about on the blog and on other forums. 
Minor Concerns:
D16 and S12 are concerned about the lack of activities. The teen lounge is only open 8pm-12am which I find quite bizarre for sea days. As far as I can tell from reading Cruise Compasses the only organized teen activity is teen only rock climbing. D16 is incredibly shy and introverted and has never set foot in the teen area on any ship. S12 is extroverted and makes a bunch of friends to run around with and play card games in the Library. Hopefully now that S12 can join D16 in the teen area he'll help her make friends, though he is sad to not be able to play gaga ball in AO. Overall though, I realize this is a small ship and we have minimal sea days so I'm not too worried about the lack of activities since we'll have plenty to do in port and can look forward to all the activities on Quantum in a couple months.
D4's favorite meal on board is spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese, though I've heard one anecdote that with the new menus the MDR staff aren't as willing to do "custom" orders like this. Anyone had experience getting a custom meal like this with the new menu? Seems like it shouldn't be all that complicated.
Itinerary:
Day 1 At Sea
Day 2 Labadee
Day 3 San Juan
Day 4 St. Maarten
Day 5 St. Kitts
Day 6 St. Lucia
Day 7 Antigua.
Day 8 At Sea 
Day 9 At Sea
We have been to Labadee on Anthem Christmas 2019 and Hubby and I have been to St. Maarten. We have third party excursions reserved everywhere except San Juan where I have Old Town walking tour maps on my phone for us to do on our own. Labadee I've reserved a Bungalow (shhh don't tell the kids, it's a surprise). I'll go into the details of each excursion when I post about them on the trip. In St. Maarten S12's best friend will also be docking on Harmony so his family will be joining us on our excursion. The boys are nearly inseparable so we were thrilled to make this discovery a couple of weeks ago. 
We fly out in 16 days and on board in 18! My kids have a light up countdown board that D7 updates before he goes to bed and D4 is already trying to give me some of her favorite clothing items to pack.
This is my first live blog and I've never put a picture in a post so I'm a little nervous but going to give it a whirl! Any questions/advice/critique is welcome.

At Izumi the second time what is the sushi in the middle right of your picture. The huge one with the stringy things below and on top of it. We'll be at Izumi on Vision in a few weeks.

At Izumi the second time what is the sushi in the middle right of your picture. The huge one with the stringy things below and on top of it. We'll be at Izumi on Vision in a few weeks.

For Christmas we prefer to give our kids experiences instead of random gifts. Either we're on a cruise on Christmas or we give them a trip as their gift. This year they got a Quantum Vision of a Christmas gift: TWO cruises, Southern Caribbean on Vision and Alaska on Quantum May 31-June 5, hence this is Part 1. I'll start to post Part 2 in May as we get closer to Alaska. We're staying in adjoining OV rooms on Vision on deck 3. This will be our first time not in balconies, but with the limited balconies on Vision they were way too expensive. This sailing was a shocking $4k for all 6 of us for 10 nights. I could not pass up that price. It's over Spring Break locally, so my kids wont miss much school, just 3 days. Flights to Florida from SLC are in the $550, or 60,000 skymiles range so I watched them like a hawk for months and was able to get them for I think 34,000 miles. I booked refundable deposits for the cruise; if we hadn't found reasonable flights I would have cancelled this trip as flights would have cost as much as the cruise. This is my first time booking through a TA, and of course I used MEI (thanks Kelley!).
Who's sailing:
Hubby and I and our 4 kids: D16, S12, S7, D4. D16 has minimal time to enjoy Diamond benefits as she'll be relegated to Emerald when she turns 18 next summer, as I understand it. 
This is our first Diamond sailing. We never buy drink nor dining packages. This time around we will be eating in every specialty restaurant (Chops, Izumi, Giovannis), mostly for lunch, due to Black Friday deals and the fact that I really enjoy the MDR. However, maybe someone can help me with a dilemma. Kids 5 and under eat free, but the site made me pay for D4 when I booked. Do I go to customer service once on board and ask for a refund/OBC for her meals? If so, do I need to bring the email to show I paid for her? I had read the other option was to book the 5 of us and let them know it would be a 6 top when we arrive, but I already booked it and can't cancel just her reservation. I also read it'll be auto refunded once on board, but definitely don't trust that.
Excited for 4 free drinks a day! In all of my sailings I've only bought 1 virgin daiquiri, 1 blueberry nojito, and 1 Johnny Rockets shake. I'm a bit of a cheapo when it comes to these things and stick with water and tea. We don't drink alcohol but I have a list on my phone of every mocktail and virgin daquiri/concoction I've read about on the blog and on other forums. 
Minor Concerns:
D16 and S12 are concerned about the lack of activities. The teen lounge is only open 8pm-12am which I find quite bizarre for sea days. As far as I can tell from reading Cruise Compasses the only organized teen activity is teen only rock climbing. D16 is incredibly shy and introverted and has never set foot in the teen area on any ship. S12 is extroverted and makes a bunch of friends to run around with and play card games in the Library. Hopefully now that S12 can join D16 in the teen area he'll help her make friends, though he is sad to not be able to play gaga ball in AO. Overall though, I realize this is a small ship and we have minimal sea days so I'm not too worried about the lack of activities since we'll have plenty to do in port and can look forward to all the activities on Quantum in a couple months.
D4's favorite meal on board is spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese, though I've heard one anecdote that with the new menus the MDR staff aren't as willing to do "custom" orders like this. Anyone had experience getting a custom meal like this with the new menu? Seems like it shouldn't be all that complicated.
Itinerary:
Day 1 At Sea
Day 2 Labadee
Day 3 San Juan
Day 4 St. Maarten
Day 5 St. Kitts
Day 6 St. Lucia
Day 7 Antigua.
Day 8 At Sea 
Day 9 At Sea
We have been to Labadee on Anthem Christmas 2019 and Hubby and I have been to St. Maarten. We have third party excursions reserved everywhere except San Juan where I have Old Town walking tour maps on my phone for us to do on our own. Labadee I've reserved a Bungalow (shhh don't tell the kids, it's a surprise). I'll go into the details of each excursion when I post about them on the trip. In St. Maarten S12's best friend will also be docking on Harmony so his family will be joining us on our excursion. The boys are nearly inseparable so we were thrilled to make this discovery a couple of weeks ago. 
We fly out in 16 days and on board in 18! My kids have a light up countdown board that D7 updates before he goes to bed and D4 is already trying to give me some of her favorite clothing items to pack.
This is my first live blog and I've never put a picture in a post so I'm a little nervous but going to give it a whirl! Any questions/advice/critique is welcome.

Thanks for the reassurance! I think I’ll give it a go!

Weird question, is there some sort of qualification to live blog your cruise on this forum under the Live Blogs section or is it just for anyone? People always seem to be so witty and entertaining, but I am not. I mostly want to do it because I've had so many questions about sailing on Vision with little kids and there isn't a wealth of info out there about the smaller/older ships it seems nor the AO or teen activities. I want to share our experience with young kids on a longer sailing on a smaller ship. I also research for hours on end about excursions and am SO excited about the ones I've selected (one of them brings their monkey on every excursion, which is my DREAM) that I want to share my experiences with others as they do their own research. 21 days until we head out on our first Diamond cruise!

Weird question, is there some sort of qualification to live blog your cruise on this forum under the Live Blogs section or is it just for anyone? People always seem to be so witty and entertaining, but I am not. I mostly want to do it because I've had so many questions about sailing on Vision with little kids and there isn't a wealth of info out there about the smaller/older ships it seems nor the AO or teen activities. I want to share our experience with young kids on a longer sailing on a smaller ship. I also research for hours on end about excursions and am SO excited about the ones I've selected (one of them brings their monkey on every excursion, which is my DREAM) that I want to share my experiences with others as they do their own research. 21 days until we head out on our first Diamond cruise!

I think it means that if parents are gold and get 10% off a package then kids do too. Or Diamond level get one free day of internet so each minor does too. Not buy an internet package get one free for your kids. 

I think it means that if parents are gold and get 10% off a package then kids do too. Or Diamond level get one free day of internet so each minor does too. Not buy an internet package get one free for your kids.