Traveling Mike

This is the view from the Symphony Deck 10 very aft cabin. The view is better than what it look like. You can see the show well from the last aft cabin.

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You will not be able to see much of the Aqua theater from any of those because the slide will be in the way. I would pick one in the middle where you have good view of the entire boardwalk. If you are wanting to people watch, you do not want to go anything above deck 10. The other thing you need to know that I had trouble remembering. At night if you have your light on people can see in your room. I would forget and walk out after a shower with the curtains open. Note: I just got off the Symphony and had cabin 10329 Here are pictures from 10329

If all else fails, they will put the luggage tags on when you drop your luggage off at the port.

I use the internet for work while on my cruises and noticed in the last 2 months the price for internet has went through the ceiling. The price on all of my cruise is $20 a day or more. Anyone have an opinion of Why?

I have been invited to a few of parties in the big suites. I am nobody and book the most cost-effective cabin. I have been invited because I run Slot Pulls, Cabin Crawls and Poker Pub Crawls for people on the Cruise Critic or Facebook groups for our cruise. Most of the time it is people rewarding me for my extra work or they are wanting to know more about the person that has done something for them. Join your Cruise Critic and/or Facebook groups for your cruise. You will see people that you want to meet them in person.

Even with the FreeStyle machine you can get soda at any of those places. On the Symphony I went 1/2 of the cruise before I got my cup to use on the FreeStyle machine.

You cannot both log in the same time. You are both going into the same reservation. It is the same when you call RCL or your travel agent and they go into your account to edit it. It locks the record for the reservation.

On your check in day it starts at 12:01 am EST. If you live on the west coast of United States you can check in at 9:01 pm. Have your passport and vaccine card handy so there is no issues checking in. I have also switched between my phone and computer to get completely signed in.

I do a lot of GTY cabins when I can save a decent amount of money. They normally get assigned about the time you can do your check in. With this being your first cruise it will be the best cabin you have ever had. GTY cabins are good for people that do not care where they stay. I do not spend much time in the cabin except to sleep and cleanup. I also sleep with a TV on so location does not bother me. Going forward you just need to decide what is important to you and what type of person you are.

I cruised on Disney with my son from 2005 to 2013. That is when Disney priced me out of the market. If I had an unlimited budget I would cruise Disney all the time. But because I am on a limited budget I have not done a Disney Cruise in 9 years. The two things that you need to keep in mind and remind your kids is; If you want sodas you need to do a soda package. The second is there are many places to eat that are an extra cost. Other than those two things the things that you pay for and get free are the same. The staff will be quite different but you will also have more things to do with your kids, wave riders, rock walls, zip lines ... Keep in mind that you will get lots of responses from a lot of people that do not like Disney or have not been on the ship, so read your responses with a filter on.

I agree that a designer has some humor: I noticed the lights are Red and Green. Green is going up and Red is going down. Does that have something to do with Heaven and Hell? I do not know about the rest of RCL ships, but I had an issue going the bathroom on the Symphony with an old lady watching me every time.

That has happened to most of the Trans-Atlantic cruises. I do not think the ship is full, but it is at the complicity that they want.

A lot of the test centers in Copenhagen are shutting down. It is my understanding the airport is still doing quick test to get you back home.

In February they were keeping people separate. I did eat at a large table one night, but we booked it as a group. It was people I meet on the cruise and we booked a dinner reservation togather.

I spent 10 years cruising with my son from age 8 to 18 on 5 different cruise lines. The answer is maybe. It is different on each ship and each cruise. If the cruise only has a few kids, they will not separate them. If the cruise is loaded with kids, they will separate them very tightly. The purpose of separating them is to not get teenagers mixing with tweens; little kids mixing with tweens; etc. My experience is they will work with you. If the people in the kid's area will not work with you just go up. Everyone on the ship has a boss except for the captain.

If you have full legal and physical just take that paperwork with you. I never put my sons name on anything and if the cruise line got pushy I just brought out the divorce papers. That is also how I got the passport.

My best advice is take everything people tell you with a grain of salt. What is good for other people may not be good for you. I just got off two cruises and my onboard account was $45 for the first and $20 for the second. I am not a shopper and I pre-payed everything. Other people I have seen had onboard accounts for 7 days was over $8,000. The drinks on the ships are about $9 to $15 a alcohol drink. The question you have to ask is how much are you going to drink. No matter what you decide just keep track of your onboard account each day. You can see it on the phone app or the TV in your stateroom. And the last advice, relax and do your thing....

Single Parent Cruise Advice: Your Questions Answered (cruisecritic.com) Consent Form For Minor Children to Travel Without Parent/Legal (royalcaribbean.com) My advice: I am a single parent and cruised a lot with my son starting at the age of 8. On about 1/2 of the cruises I got people asking for a release form from his mother. I would tell them there was not a mother and they could not understand and try to tell me I needed a release form. I would ask for a supervisor and things would be OK with me and my son having a passport. What this story tells you is they will ask for things you do not need. The birth certificate will be fine as long as there is at least one parent there. I would also have the form above signed by the other parent even though you should not need it but it would be safe. Then when it is convenient for you I would recommend your boys getting a passport, my son has had one and it comes in handy for both travels and additional for of ID.

The mirror in my cabin

I just came thought Port Everglades last month and clearing customs was fast. We smiled at the camera, and they said goodby. Where the GE Card came in handy was at the airport. When I was going through the TSA Precheck security, they started to pull me out for extra security check until I handed him my GE Card; then he just told me to have a good day and grabbed the people behind me that just had Precheck.

Our April Trans-Atlantic Cruise has been removed for a couple of months. It was not full, but we guess it was at the compacity that RCL wanted. Everyone was afraid it would be or was canceled but they let us sign in today and I have all my excursions and dinners booked.

I always run the price with one person then with 2 people and compare the prices. You just pretend you are booking the cruise and go to the point they give you the price of the cruise. Look at the final price and remove 1/2 of the port fees and taxes. It is easy to see the solo is twice the price. If I see the double is less than the solo price I can call and get the double price as a solo.

I currently have 5 cruises booked and 3 of them are booked GTY. I am saving a lot of money and I do not care where I sleep. I am one of the people that do not care if I am inside or balcony. I book based on price. If I can save decent money, I will let the cruise line put me anywhere they want. If there is not much of a price difference, I will pick my room to make sure I am not on a connecting room or next to a bad location. I do the same for type of room. If I can move from inside to Oceanview or Balcony for a couple hundred dollars I will move but if it is $400 or more, I save the money and spend it on something else. The way I look at my cabins is, it's a place to sleep and take a shower. If I can save $400 or more, I am closer to paying for my next cruise or I can get the unlimited dining package with that money.

Trans-Atlantic Cruise Sailing April 29th from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona. Can you send me a message if you find a better place? I am also trying to find a contact email for someone on the ship, like Activities Director or Bar Manager.