Ryan79

Passports are not required for closed loop US based cruises, unless if you have a port that specifically requires one.

It is almost always open on Day 1. However the CP is wonky in that it doesn’t let you make Day 1 reservations until you are much closer to embarking sometimes. I have/had a few upcoming ones where I can make lunch and dinner reservations for everyday except Day 1. When I got to roughly the 120 day mark, then they opened up. This hasn’t been the case for all sailings, but a good number of them.

Random sales have been much better than holiday sales, especially the past few years. I wouldn’t hold your breath for anything spectacular. You are much more likely to find better deals on a random Tuesday unadvertised 24 hour sale than a 4th of July or a Labor Day sale anymore. Even Black Friday hasn’t been as good the past two years as the random unadvertised sales

I did this in January. The first part of the hike was an asskicker, and almost made me regret booking the excursion. However once the first major hill was conquered, the rest of the hike wasn’t all that bad. Absolutely pack water and some good traction shoes. The beach is an afterthought and it’s the beach that is right next to ship that is quasi-public. No one in my group stayed for that portion as we all did our own thing after the hike. The beach was used more as a place to store your stuff while you are on the hike.

I cannot for the life of me think of anything that would be worth just viewing from a roadside on a driving tour at Cozumel or even on the mainland. Cozumel is a beach, shopping, cenote, and Mayan ruin port and none of those would be any fun via a driving tour, if even possible.

I got this card as well and I’m a lucky one in that I won’t get hit with the higher renewal fee for about a year due to my renewal date, so I will have about 9 months to take these new “benefits” out for a test drive before making a decision to keep the card or not. I’ve already started giving the Venture X a look or downgrading to the Preferred. It’s a shame that they just might have butchered this card because it really was a great one that has really paid off for me.

@ChessE4 Adventure isn’t an oasis class, so you have nothing to worry about. Adventure is Voyager class which is easily able to dock in San Juan.

@Nathan adams Only Oasis class ships are affected by the pier issue. Brilliance is one of the smaller ships in the RC fleet so you aren’t impacted in the least. You will be just fine.

Same experience as @WAYNO. I’ve always booked private transportation from the airport, but booked RC transfers to the airport. Pretty sure I even used the same shuttle service and they were fantastic.

It is amazing to think of an Oasis class ship as a downgrade. There is a ton to do for your family and I doubt that they will be bored for one second. While not as new with the bells and whistles as Icon, it is still a fabulous and fantastic class ship for families and is second in the world only to Icon. So while it may appear to be a downgrade on paper, it will in no way be a disappointment. Oasis is a great ship and don’t overthink this and psyche yourself out to think anything non-Icon is a sub par ship.

Just call them up and they will be more than happy to charge for an upgrade at the current and higher price! It’s super easy.

While not an outright requirement, the younger the child is the safer it will be to have a consent form. There is no formal document, you just need the other parent to have a notarized letter saying that they are aware that you are taking the child on the trip. The letter should state the name of the ship, port of departure and the dates. It’s a better safe than sorry thing to have. My stepson is a teenager and we have never been asked for any kind of form, but he was younger we for sure would have gotten one.

Midnight PST

Yes it goes on sale periodically and yes it sells out sometimes.

“Aggressive Vendor Dodging”. This isn’t a good port at all for walking/wandering around. If you aren’t doing an excursion, staying on the ship is my best advice.

No, but I’m doing the Apex fjords next June so you will have to tell me how it was. This cruise is a 12 day British Isles going to Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and France.

I’ll wave to you since we will both be in Southampton! LOL

If it was sold out, it would show up still but say “Sold Out”. Since your cruise is still a ways out, it is unlikely that all your excursions have populated in your CP. That usually happens about 6 months out. With that said, it is impossible to know at this point if it will be offered on your specific cruise or not. Symphony is actually at Nassau today and I don’t see Baha Bay on the excursion list.

12:15 means that you will gather at the theater (usually) prior to the gangway going down and you will go down as a group once the ship is docked and cleared. Since this is a RC booked tour, of course they are going to wait. Otherwise there will likely be no or very few people on the tour! LOL

No.

While this doesn’t answer most of your questions, in Europe you only really tip on tours if it’s a private tour. You can always tip, but it’s not really a thing there. It’s very different there than in the West. The locals will tell you to leave US tipping culture in the US. They want no part of it. If you were to tip a tour, it’s Euros.

The app has all that info pretty readily available without much effort.

At least you tried! Most people won’t even do that much because it takes effort. Now you have your answer and you can put the issue to rest and think about other aspects of your trip!

Your room can be assigned anytime between the time you book until pretty much the time you step on the ship. Usually you know within 48 hours of embarking, but that’s not a hard rule.