ElmoHongZito

We just got back from our trip. In St Thomas the gateway time to get back to the ship was 2:30pm in order to make it on time to Cococay the next morning.
We chose to do a morning excursion with these really cool underwater mopeds. It was allot of fun. Apparently it used to be an excursion offered through RCI however the company did not renew their contract with them because they would not survive on what RCI wanted to pay them. 
 
If you want to book here is there site.
https://www.bossusvi.com
 
 
 

What recommendations do you have for St Marteen and St Thomas? 
 
We enjoyed doing an all inclusive day pass as a resort at one of our port stops in cozumel. Was thinking of doing that again but wanted to see what others have to say. Thanks in advance.

specific slot machines. The newer flashier ones tend to be more volatile.  Stick to old school machines.  Play highest denomination.   Be patient, you will hit.  Avoid Lightning/dragon link,  Huff n puff.  

I don’t do royal up with connecting rooms because it only applies to one of the bookings, meaning if you successfully bid on an upgrade, you will still be stuck with one of the connecting rooms and the upgraded room. 

I would advise against using RU when you have multiple cabins unless the cabins are already miles apart from each other and you don't care about being near the other cabin.
Royal Up is outsourced to a 3rd party PlusGrade.  They also do the upgrade program for other cruise lines.   As a 3rd party they are not provided full access to the reservation system and they are unaware of parties with multiple cabins.
Each cabin upgrade is an independent transaction without any awareness of linked cabins.  As you can probably imagine this can have some undesired effects for folks with multiple cabins when it's important to stay close to each other.

OR, hear me out here, you can just pay the cruise fare........................

It’s not worth it, trust me. There’s nothing “free” in the casino. The amount of money you are going to potentially lose trying to get to prime is silly when you consider the “free” cruises are normally inside cabins on undesirable sailings and the fact that you dont drink alcohol so you can’t take advantage of the free casino drinks. 

Spring break cruising is expensive because of high demand.  During periods of high demand they may not be eager to fill the ship with casino freebies so your options may be limited.  If you can cruise during off peak season there are greater opportunities but then again cruising is cheaper off peak so that changes the math of gambling your way to lower cost cruising. 
If it was easy to get cheap cruises during peak season everyone would do it.     

I understand why it is that way and don't begrudge the businesses and locals for trying to make a living from cruise ship guests, but I also didn't enjoy my experience very much. We paid $50 each for an AI - a highly recommended one on the Mahahual! - and felt the same as you. Definitely not worth the $200 I spent on the experience for my family of 4. Our food and drinks were also really slow to arrive during that "AI" experience so we didn't even get our money's worth from the package, and the little square of ocean allotted to our site was not fun for the paddleboarding my son wanted to do. He could only go forward about one paddle stoke before stopping to not bump someone or get to the rope. The bathroom was in horrible shape inside the hotel/building associated with the beach club. I know this is a first world problem, but I would have enjoyed it more if it had been less expensive. It was the same price as AI at some of the beach clubs on Cozumel with really nice beaches. 
There used to be a really fun water park & zip line combo at that stop that was fantastic for your kids' ages but it was shut down during covid and hasn't reopened. That seemed to be the main attraction for families during pre-covid stops. 
We're there again next April and booked Maya Chan. I've heard so many good things about it and it is much further down the beach, away from the Mahahual. If we don't have a good experience there, I won't get off at this stop again unless the water park reopens.

Thanks. No suit here. I’m going in full relax mode. Maybe I throw on a sports blazer but its jeans and casual sneakers for me. 

Sadly no. Now you can try (everyone here will jump on me for this). I have. You have a 50/50 shot of them finding it when they xray your checked luggage. Then instead of your bags showing up at your cabin, you will eventually have to go to the naughty room. Open bag in front of security. They will confiscate it and you can pick it up on a table of goods when you get off. I haven't had mine found and taken yet, but it is against the rules. Fire safety at sea etc. Now I never leave my steamer unattended and always holding till it cools off. I don't get the rule cause ladies can bring irons for their hair and can start fire just as easy. But that's allowed because? Woman insist? But fire rules is what it comes down to. 

@ElmoHongZito, I found this in the Daily Planner for your sailing.  Show Reservations is at the Blaze Club on Deck 4

you can usually find a Dining representative on the Promenade deck and you can try to change your dining times with them on day one.  Then you can go through the Daily planner on the app and reserve the shows.  But I wouldn't worry about missing a show. There are plenty of seats. 

We recently went to a local waterpark and the girls had their phones in one of those sealed waterproof pouches with the lanyard that goes around your neck. Best invention ever. Just don’t get the ones from Five & Below. Not great quality.

Find a spot on the beach, make sure the kids know.  Send them to the waterpark, see them and hear their stories of fun when they return.  Spend time with your wife and enjoy the beach.

It depends on your level of comfort with letting your kids roam free. If you think they are responsible enough, you can go the route the poster above mentioned--go find a spot by the beach, make sure the kids know where you are, maybe arrange a time to meet up/check in and then send them on their way to the waterpark. 

The other option if you want to stay closer to the kids would be booking a waterpark cabana. The possible advantage there is that it includes your waterpark admission, so financially it might make sense to go that route instead of paying individually. 

I agree with @Xaaabove.  I would give them a time to meet outside the entrance to the waterpark. This is what we do with my son.
If you do not think your kids are responsible enough to be on their own, you could book the waterpark for all of you and spend the morning there and then hit one of the beaches after.

Unfortunately, this port seems to always have lots of seaweed no matter where you go…It’s been there every time we’ve been there.  Most the resorts have a small army of people constantly raking the seaweed.

Check out this article we just posted: Best shore excursion in every Caribbean cruise port

I can confirm the Costa Maya and Cozumel ones are spot on as that's what we do almost every time (just note if you want to do Maya Chan you'll need to book way in advance as they fill up very quickly).  I booked the Roatan suggestion for my next cruise after reading that post a few days ago since we have yet to find a must do there yet.
Any recommendations made by the blog have yet to fail me.

The best excursion that we ever had was one through https://www.thenativechoice.com in Costa Maya. At the time it was billed as a cultural experience (dinner with a Mayan family) plus the Chacchoben ruins, but that exact one no longer exists. A lot of their staff are current and former educators. It was just wonderful and I would highly recommend any tour that they offer. There is currently one called “Mayan Family + Seven Color Lagoon Tour” and also “Chacchoben Ruins Tour.”
We also love Jaime’s Blue Reef in Costa Maya since we have now done a lot of the tours because we’ve been to Costa Maya so much. It is in a more rural part of Mexico, but not very far from the port. It is a small, all-inclusive with super friendly staff (shout out to Digby). But, you do need a reservation. http://www.jaimesbluereef.com  (Royal Caribbean blog also recently posted its own review of Jaime’s).
In Cozumel, we have done Mr. Sanchos many times and can *no longer* recommend it. The food and drinks are now more like fast food, it is too crowded, and the service is fair to poor. Nachi Cocom is highly rated and what we have reserved for an upcoming West Carib cruise. 
 
We prefer Mexico to many of the Caribbean islands, I think you’ll enjoy it!
 
 
 

You can Goggle any of these to check them out.
Puerto Costa Maya...Maya Chan Beach Resort...All inclusive
Roatan, Honduras...Infinity Bay Beach Excursion...All inclusive
Cozumel, Mexico...Nachi Cocom...All inclusive
Coco Cay...Chill Island...No reservations required

I second the Chacchoben ruins in Costa Maya. A nice developed set of ruins than I expected. 

For Costa Maya, the Chacchoben ruins excursion is fantastic!  When I go in Feb, I'm going to Maya Chan in Costa Maya (3rd party excursion, not through RCL). 
Cozumel, I enjoyed the "clear kayak/beach snorkel" excursion after our original excursion was cancelled; in Feb I'm doing "three reef snorkel", but can't comment on how good it is yet. 
I've been told by some diver friends that Roatan has some of the best snorkeling. 

When my sailing was about 10 days away, the App showed all the activities and showtimes in the daily calendar. Even included each days "Drink of the Day".