tonyfsu21

Fort Lauderdale is an amazing city. I commute daily to Miami and cant understand why anyone would want to spend time there. I’ve been in bumper to bumper traffic on the 826 more times than I care to talk about.

Excellent ship. We have sailed her 5+ times since delivery. If you can manage to book a Southern Caribbean route it’s even better! Enjoy

I rarely wait on a server while gambling, it’s a waste of time. It’s easier to just go to the bar. If they were trying to push gamblers to the slots then they would have already removed the tables and replaced that valuable real estate with machines. Pissing away $100 at the table is no different than sticking it in the machine. Gambling either way.

I heard the same thing but never really bothered to check. We have always booked through RC.

I have had the same experience across the board from suites to balconies. I would say it’s just good luck but we are D+ cruisers and have many cruises under our belts with the same results. I will test this again with Freedom over Memorial Day weekend. Perhaps I jinxed it?

I must have really good luck then. The casino says “hold my beer”…

I’m just going to continue tipping the porter well and getting my luggage on that magic cart because it seems to be working. Even the RCBlog boss himself is not getting luggage at 1pm sharp.

Haha. Well there goes my theory.

True. That might be a better reason we get the luggage so quickly. It’s hard to imagine the $20 tip carries much weight once the porter tosses the bags into the carrier (unless there is a magic carrier for the generous tips?).

I can’t confirm the impact on luggage delivery point to point but in my experiences a generous tip to the porter might be the trick. I always have my luggage waiting for me in the hallway by 1:00pm (suite or no suite). Believe it or not, a $20 bill gets the porters attention.

Yep, I think at this point there’s no amount of free play that could get me to go to California.

Trust me, the taxi line is a walk in the park in comparison to waiting on one of those “free” shuttles. The small amount of money for ride share is well spent.

FYI- This Avis car rental facility is located steps from the Port Entry. It’s easier to just get in a taxi or Uber and not wait for the shuttle service. The $15 price is worth avoiding a potential delay waiting on a shuttle (or people to fill up a shuttle).

Just insert your seapass card into the machine and make sure it recognizes you. After that, insert money, money and more money until you reach desired point level (hopefully you win some along the way).

Maya Key is a day well spent IMO. I’ve snorkeled on the Jolly Roger with some positive and negative experiences (human feces in the water: obvious sewage dump). I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend a day spent on the ship relaxing by the pool with a Kraken Colada (or two).

So it has been reported that the dining line up for Star is identical to Icon with the exception of the supper club. I was hoping for some different concepts on the newest ship. I recall hearing pier 7 was going to be replaced with a different venue but it does not look like that’s the case.

Normally we book the Blue Bay Resort through RC as an excursion. I have never taken a cab to this place.

Curaçao we always go to blue bay beach resort which is a nice beach day. We have also walked ancross the swing bridge and did some shopping downtown (lots of European style cafes). Aruba we almost always do a sunset catamaran which is excellent. Aruba is a great spot to explore around the port area as it’s safe and walkable. There’s many bars and restaurants along the waterfront.

For sure. Day 2 another best kept is park cafe or solarium bistro because the newbies haven’t figured out the breakfast spots yet.

A good starting point for some unbiased information would be Grok. I use the AI to plan entire vacations so this question should be easy for it to tell you everything you need to know.

We are headed to Milan>Venice>Rome and then Odyssey in June and the best source (other than responses from the blog) has been Grok. We used it to give us a 1 week plan for high speed train travel, hotels and excursions. Technology is awesome in 2025.

At least the cartels don’t seem to care about Cozumel because it’s effectively worthless from a trafficking perspective.

The Tonyfsu21’s and friends: Freedom 5/23 - 5/26

Oasis of the seas! Front row seats. Show center is Sunrise Blvd but the show will still be seen from the ship.

Enjoy the Fort Lauderdale Air Show 2025 featuring Blue Angels from your balcony today and tomorrow. Show starts 11:45am - ~3pm. I will be right offshore enjoying the show from my boat!