Adam P.

Are you a C&A member? I believe it is buy one get one shakes for members? At least platinum and up. Don't remember if it was when I was gold back when.

Wow thats weird.. First night in port. Let us know if you figure that out!! Interesting.

Are the seapass cards still silver colored for JS rooms? That was forever ago that I remember that but just curious...

I can answer one of those... Number 2. There are FAR better deals out there to be had with RCCL. Not so much on any of the Quantum Class ships such as Anthem. They are the latest and greatest of any ships in the world, and therefore the prices are priced as such. You will definitely NOT be disappointed with that ship in any aspect. My suggestion, though, would be to look at the freedom class of ships. Freedom, Liberty, and Independence. Still amazing ships with a ton of stuff to offer an entire family including child care, but with prices drastically cheaper than on Anthem. There are also family staterooms that can accommodate 5 people easily. http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/01/30/photo-tour-of-royal-caribbean-larger-panoramic-ocean-view-stateroom-freedom-of-the-seas Here is a link of a recent blog post about some larger amazing rooms that could be found on Freedom or Liberty. There are a few different categories but if you called RCCL they could get you into the right one. I believe they are called family panoramic ocean view on that class ship. Stateroom category PF. The blog review was of a "large" panoramic ocean view which is similar but not quite. The family one has a set of bunk beds in a closet type room and a second half bath. Stateroom 1804 is one of family cabins on deck 12. It would involve flying though, instead of driving obviously, which you could do if you sailed on anthem. Or the long drive to FL that you mentioned. Extra cost, but if I had to guess, it would still be much cheaper than sailing on Anthem haha. Hope this was at least a slight help.

LOL!! Restricted.... about sums it up yep.

Haahahahahah.... I guess it depends on what you may be going to the naughty room for. I have only experienced it once, and that was back in 2008 for my honeymoon cruise. Which was also my first cruise. I apparently did not read the list of restricted items close enough. I will repeat that this was my honeymoon.... :blink: Luggage was not to our room by the late seating for dinner. Afterwards called GS and was informed I had to go to the 'Naughty Room" to retrieve my luggage. Went to GS where of course I was escorted to the "sassy rejected luggage place" by a beautiful girl who was about my age at that time, 23... Who then instructed me to remove said restricted item from my suitcase while she watched.. SOOOOO embarrassing let me tell you haha. BUT.... If I was to be going there to claim my case of bottled water, probably would not be any sort of big deal at all. Easy peasey. :D

Sorry for the slow response. Looks like you already figured it out haha!! :D

I've sailed with the Premium Package on my last five cruises..... definitely includes bottled water. As you can see by the screen shot I just took in cruise planner, there is even a bottle of water in the picture advertising it.

Ultimate, premium, select, and royal replenish all include bottled water. (not evion) Could be wrong about select, but I think it does. The only one that does not is royal refreshment... I thought when you replied to Doc with "that may be our way to go"... you were all set haha. Replenish

Sorry double post... edit'd it out.

Beverage packages released today!! WOOT :P Time to get my PP for some good times onboard.

Just thought I would let anyone know who is interested or has Empress of the Seas booked, that Chops has been released on cruise planner as available to book finally! Still no beverage packages, and shore excursions are still all screwed up, but hey it's a start haha! :P Cant wait for that bacon appetizer... Yummmmmm

Sadly I won't be able to over-tip until April on the Empress. :( I'm not sure that would be 100% scientific though, as it is a lil baby ship, so who knows of that would change things as far as how they get bags to your rooms ect. Much less passengers= much less bags. BUT.... also much smaller crew. Should be interesting... still skeptical about such a small ship. Voyager is my previous smallest. I will let you know my purely scientific research when we get back haha. :P

Yeah that's sad face material as we had Navigator booked on the 9 night southern caribbean for April14th, 2017 prior to the group cruise announcement. Thought about switching but the DEAL we got was insane and it just wouldn't be cost affective to do so. Priced 3 times higher now than what we paid. I guess there is always 2018 haha!

I have experimented with this.... The results of what I found were either quite astounding or pure coincidence. I will go with that it was not coincidence. I do believe that the porters have full control of where they place your bag which will also determine how fast it gets on the ship and therefore how fast it at your room. I have given the standard 5-10$ many times in the past, and had my bags delivered at what I thought was a reasonable time. Nothing special but not after dinner or anything. On my last 3 cruises I have given 25$. 10$ for each suitcase and $5 for the garment sky roll. Guess what.... each time... bags were already not only delivered when the staterooms were released, but put right inside the room! You can't tell me that is coincidence! Or maybe i'm just crazy haha. But yeah.... I'm in the mindset of tipping a bit more gets your bags extra attention.

SO jealous.... although we are experiencing a heat wave at the moment. 19 currently! Time to whip out the shorts!. JKJK. Man I hate winter! Thankful for my countdown to cruise in My Cruises. What gets us through it haha. 75 days.... tick tock tick tock.....Time goes so slowly. Until you are on the ship of course! Thank you for the info.. I have used uber many times in chicago. Great service. Believe it or not we have it here in Green Bay too. Snowmobiles. Again.. jk Any idea how much it would be from Port to FLL?

Correct and correct.... but you could use the onboard wifi as your data source. Not sure if that's what your were referring to or actual data from your phone provider.

Another quick point.... I'm not sure if you guys have or use apple products such as an iPhone or iPad??? But if you do, just having an internet package would allow you to be able to send and receive iMessages which are basically like the exact same things as text messages but between iPad and iPhones ect. Only data is required to do this.... no texting or voice coverage required then.. Just something to think about!

Galveston limosine is the service I have booked previously when sailing out of this port. You don't have to book an entire mini bus like Marc described. We always just used them with two people and it was pretty reasonable price wise if i remember correctly. We were on a coach bus. The ride was definitely not 2.5 hours each time we did it... More along the lines of an hour and 15 if memory serves me correctly. http://www.galvestonlimo.com Good luck!

Awesome, thank you for that info!

mmmmm.. labadoozie.... so so good

Well said.... I have also had my heart skip a few beats wondering about if they will follow through with the Empress refurb now... I'm on that same cruise April 11th but will also be on the April 7th sailing so my final payment date is even a bit sooner..... This all makes me nervous, which is sad that us, as their most loyal clients, have to be worried about such things. BIG fail RCI!

Somewhat more or less what I was thinking.... Staying in FT Lauderdale might be less stressful. I would assume we would be headed down there In the morning but around 10am maybe? Is the morning rush hour over by then? I was also hoping to find some sort of transfer that would take us from the hotel to the port and then back to FLL after the cruise. Any thoughts on anything besides cabs? I have used KSA before with no issues but that was never to Miami. And they seem to have more bad reviews than anything haha.... Anyways, i really appreciate your input as it appears you live in the area. So lucky! It is -6 here. Is it April yet?? lol

HI... Great pics thanks!! I will be in a JS coming up in April here. I realize it was quite some time ago that you were on the ship but I was wondering if you would be able to tell me if the JS room had a tub in the bathroom as most of the other RC ships do? The website description says that they do indeed but I have been trying and trying to find out and have been researching and my general consensus seems to be that they do not. Is this correct haha? They also claim the rooms are 225 sq ft which i'm not sure is accurate either. Anyways, any info you could help me with id greatly appreciate thanks!! :)

From my experience with MTD, it is not necessary to pre reserve a time. In some cases it is actually faster to get in the dining room without one and not have to wait in the "reservation line". You can always reserve a time on a daily basis depending on how you feel and the things going on around the ship that day. Either way is not a bad option and the wait is usually minimal. As far as chops.. I ALWAYS try and eat there at least twice per cruise as it is never disappointing. Far better than the main dining room, but comes at a premium price as well. Worth it for us though. If you reserve three meals in specialty restaurants ahead of time on cruise planner, you will receive a discount as an onboard credit one you get aboard. I believe it is 20 or 30% off. I agree with Doc, the filet is the way to go. You can get as many appetizers and side dishes as you want so don't be shy if you want several as they are all great. The thick bacon is my favorite amongst those..... oh and the corn. The sides are served family style. Enjoy your first cruise as you will never forget your first! :)