kirby

8th deck was great location for us. We certainly liked being close to Central Park (although our cabins were overlooking Boardwalk) as it was easy access to Park Cafe which had great options for breakfast and lunch and there's a quick access bar there too for us to get drinks on long treks throughout the ship (LOL). Having spare key to other room is helpful. We did that on a prior ship where kids were in own cabin and it worked out great. I'd suggest something simple too like brining sticky notes to post messages for each cabin if needed. Enjoy your cruise!

We had multiple cabins on Radiance for Alaska cruise with kids in own room. We ended up getting a spare key for the kids' cabin which worked out great as the room was not adjoining. On Allure to E Caribbean, we had balcony cabins overlooking Boardwalk. Rooms were next to each other but not adjoining. We had the cabin steward unlock/open the balcony wall between our two balconies and we were able to go back-n-forth between the two rooms easily. No spare keys needed for front door.

I was on Allure last week and I did repurchase the Premium. I was having same debate and went through the online screens to figure out if the price did or did not include gratuity as it was not easily identified. Only found out AFTER I completed the purchase that the price at that time did include gratuities. I ended up paying $49/day plus the 18% gratuities for 7 days, so $404 total. A week later, we board the ship, go to first bar to get drink and worked out great for me. However, my sister-in-law still needed to purchase her plan, and in doing so was charged either $467 or $477 (forget actual amount) but it was definitely more than me. Frustrating that RC continually plays around with their pricing. It should not be that complicated.

Pick your entertainment and then make MTD reservations best you can. It's very difficult to find anything between 6-8:30, so if that's what you are looking for and it's available, grab the reservation now. It seems they hold those time slots for walk-ins (those that don't make reservations) and they do seem to have to wait to be seated, especially during those busy times. Also, show times can change from when you book online to the week of your cruise. We had a few that shifted slightly by 15 minutes. Not a big deal for dining. We never did show up late but there were several nights where we showed up earlier than our reservations and were seated pretty quickly thereafter. The staff was quite accommodating. One thing to note which we didn't realize before our cruise, if you find a table, section, server, etc that you like, you can request that for other nights of dining. We did that with the hostess on our way out one evening after dinner.

We parked at the port last week for our cruise and it could not have worked out better! We knew we wanted to board early so we timed it to get there just after majority of passengers would have disembarked from their cruise so there were PLENTY of parking spaces. I was amazed to see how close it was to the terminal. We arrived around 11am. Pulled car into "circular" drive and dropped our luggage off with a porter. Three people stayed with the luggage to make sure it got where it needed to be while me and another person in my party parked the car. We were back with the others and walking into the terminal to check-in within minutes. Upon disembarkation, we chose to walk off with our luggage and we were at our car within minutes as well. No crowds. No waiting. Yes, it costs a bit more than remote lots but the convenience was so worth it for us! Unfortunately we then had a 12hr drive home which was awful... Welcome back!

Following up on this thread post cruise (was on a week ago). I did repurchase the Premium package and it was $404 including gratuities ($49/day or $343 for week plus $64 for 18% gratuities). My sister-in-law waited because she wanted to apply her onboard credit towards this purchase but she unfortunately was charged either $467 or $477 (honestly I forgot) but it was definitely more. At first we thought it was because she was in port and they were including a special tax (we had read somewhere that someone was charged a Florida resort tax or something like that) while in port. So she decided to wait and purchase later in the evening after we left port and it was still the same price. It wasn't advertised very well but it looks like there had been a sale and luckily I was able to take advantage of it. Personally, if the price is okay and you don't plan to use your onboard credit toward drink packages, I'd prepurchase before cruise. Makes life simpler. I did wait, though, to purchase my daughter's Royal Refreshment (soda) package until we got onboard so she could have access to the soda cup immediately and not have to wait until we were able to get into our cabin. My cup was in the cabin waiting for me, but I didn't need it for my beverages. :-)

Just an update after being on cruise last week and going to Aquaventure... Turns out the desk to get wristbands was open earlier than 9am and one of the slides was open earlier than 10am. Not sure if this is often the case, however it was popular Spring Break time and I'm sure they were expecting crowds. It was nice that we were there early to get a jump start especially since we were not able to stay very long. GoPros are allowed but on many of the slides they will not allow the floaty-stick. Only place I saw people using it was on the lazy river ride. Give yourself an hour to get back to the ship! The cab ride itself is not so long, but the lines to get through customs are. Then there's still an additional 10-15min walk to get to the ship... Towels are included in the BahamasDayPass package we purchased so didn't have to worry about leaving our stuff on chair. We brought minimal stuff with us, put everything in rented locker and was able to easily "borrow" towels from towel stand with our wristbands. On crowded days (when is it now crowded there) it was VERY difficult to get floats to go down Lazy River. Try to secure one early from the line by the shark tank slides and then bring over to river area.

Definitely have your travel agent add it to your reservation. On this last cruise we were able to celebrate 2 birthdays - they bring special slice of cake and sing at your table. It's nice.

Zumba was on Radiance of Seas this past summer (taught by cruise director) but was not on Allure of Seas last week... Guess it does depend on who on board is available to teach a class.

I was on Allure of Seas a week ago and finding a lounge chair by the pools was quite impossible on seas days. I even noticed one morning that majority of chairs were already spoken for with towels (not people) by 8:30am. It was ridiculous. I saw no one removing towels or placing 1-hr tags... I did mention this to an employee one day and was simply told that reserving chairs is not allowed; and that it was my right to simply remove someone's towel, place mine down and use the chair if it was unattended for 30min or more. I was hesitant to do this, though, as all towels are taken out on a person's Sea Pass card and if not returned it's a $25 fee. I don't know how people can just leave $25 just lying around!

For others' reference: I went ahead and just purchased my beverage package, which will be the "Premium" and the cost ended up being $49/day or $404.74/week including 18% gratuity. Per my notes, I expected the price to be $477.59/wk (or $57.82/day + 18% gratuity). Whether real or not, I'll tell myself that I just saved $70 - woohoo! So, either I had it wrong before, or there really is a discount. Either way, I'm locked in now. Hopefully if there is (another) discount RC will honor it when I get onboard. For now, I'm going to gamble with my daughter's soda only beverage package and get that one onboard. Hopefully I've done (and am doing) the right thing. It's only money, right???

That could be especially since the savings is 18%, the same as what gratuity would be. I had seen price increase before from when I started looking at the trip and was kicking myself for not buying when first looked into it. Never went far enough into process to see if gratuities was included in original quote or not as I had already decided to wait until got on board so the kids could have their coke cups for the machines and not have to wait until we could get into our cabins. At this point, what appears to be the savings in big enough to offset the kids having to wait an hr or two to play around with the special soda machines. Another question - if I do repurchase and there is additional savings on board will RC honor that and give me a credit on my account?

I'm on Allure next week. I just checked on Cruise Planner for my trip - there is no banner but prices ARE showing cheaper. I had written them down before so I know for sure (i.e. Royal Refreshment now $8 vs $9.44/day and Premium now $49 vs $57.82/day). When you multiply for full week and add gratuity it's a good savings - actually an 18% savings (like getting free gratuity???). I'll take it! So - my question is do I book the beverage plans now or will I see this savings on the ship as well? I was originally going to wait until boarding so I can ensure we have our replenish cups immediately (we are planning to board early) but now I'd think I'd rather lock in savings if this may go away. Didn't they just have an increase in beverage plan prices??? Maybe they were seeing drop in sales? My sister-in-law did repurchase Voom and did get notification that price was 30% cheaper. There is banner for this on the Cruise Planner. I don't know if it's an additional 30% off or she's already purchased at lowest price. Will have to confirm with her on that...

I will have to try this. I enjoy piña coladas even though I'm not much of a rum drinker. I love amaretto drinks. This sounds like a great match-up. Thanks!

Doubtful - but with my daughter one never knows! :-) But, I was trying to figure out what the break-even might be. I was gauging $10-14 for frozen drinks w/ alcohol. Wasn't sure what w/out alcohol might run. I'm still trying to figure out which package I'm getting for myself with same rationale - if I should just get the Royal Replenish package and pay extra for alcoholic drinks I may want or just splurge on Premium package. I generally don't drink enough to justify the more expensive package, however while cruising it's nice to partake. Decisions... Decisions...