tonyfsu21

We are sailing over the Holidays and into New Years on Oasis and just wondering what the status of the kids program is going to be? When we sailed for Thanksgiving on Harmony the ship was at 75% capacity and the kids program was still reduced capacity which really put a damper on our plans. Reservations were required and you could only book 1 day at a time of I recall correctly. With a presumed ramp up, what’s going to happen when everyone wants to book the kids for New Year’s Eve? I really hope RC sorts this out because there will be a lot of angry parents with a full ship and nowhere to put the kids for a couple hours in the evening.

Carnival (newer ships only) are great for kids. I wouldn’t personally recommend short voyages because it attracts more of a party crowd. They have a great kids program which is as good or better then RC. I’m not a huge fan of Carnival but based on the last couple sailings on the newer ship to the Southern Caribbean it was very much a positive experience.

I wouldn’t lower your bid if you want a better chance at an upgrade. RC is ramping up capacity so not sure 50-60% is accurate. I heard late December sailing as at full capacity.

Yes, we were getting doorbell rings all the time in 1708 on the Thanksgiving Harmony sailing! Apparently they got us all!

It’s all about the location. Deck 17 is where it’s at.

I’ve bid Suites with much success (with the exception of 1 unfortunate loss on my record so far). At one point I thought the formula was as simple as just bid a very high bid (max in most cases) for the suite you really want and then put in some “Hail Mary” bids on the suites that are better then what you have currently booked but don’t really mind win or lose. Until recently I’ve bid max and won every single time but I’ve been bidding from a sky class to sky class (example grand suite to CLS). Now that the ships are ramping up I think chances are slim especially to Star class. I will let someone else elaborate as to how this 3rd party auction system actually works but I do know it’s a complicated system with many moving parts. My next 3 sailings are all Holiday sailings which further complicate things but it will be my first attempt at upgrading from balcony rooms to sky class and I have little to no confidence in winning even with all max bids.

End game here for Royal Caribbean is to make money. Obviously they preach safety to the extent they need to by law and In some instances even beyond which is fine. In order to keep these ships floating and the shareholders happy there needs to be people on these ships. It should be as cut and dry as a negative test = enjoy your cruise.

Presumably they wouldn’t be able to determine someone contracted Covid until tested onboard (children under 12 only) at the tail end of the cruise. Wouldn’t RC just quarantine them until they are back to home port the following day? On Harmony the kids didn’t get tested until we were on the last day of our voyage in coco cay. I can’t imagine if the test results were positive they we would have been stranded in coco cay waving goodbye to the Harmony.

I experienced the exact opposite. Nobody at all waiting in line at guest services on Harmony during holiday sailing.

Perhaps not but using your phone has been made the clearly preferred method by RC moving forward.

RC has made it difficult to go w/o your phone. It’s possible but your going to lose out on many things that require last minute booking or rescheduling. Waiting in line at guest services is no longer a thing. I would bet the ranch that the space that occupies guest services, next cruise and the shore excursion desk will be phased out and turn into another bar or restaurant in future dry dock/new ships.

Always Miami or Port Everglades. October is beautiful in the Caribbean. Don’t let Hurricane season deter you.

Hilton Marina has a parking garage and there’s generally no issue parking there. Request a high floor looking South and you will be staring at the ships. Embassy suites has a large parking lot to the West of the property. Same thing regarding views, high floor facing South. Nothing stressful about East Fort Lauderdale and Port Everglades, we have this cruise stuff executed pretty much to perfection.

The Diamond as well as suite program (lounges specifically) are all over the place with the drink rules. You can basically go sans drink package and bounce between lounges and never pay for a drink. It’s pretty spectacular actually. On Harmony while in the casino over Thanksgiving week I was comped every drink I ordered (including wife, brother and his wife) w/o question. They literally didn’t even give me a chance to pay for all the drinks, the second they saw “Prime” on my card they just passed it back and we all took our drinks and walked away. I did tip the bartenders well which may have helped.

This will certainly be a “no go”. If your daughter is 12 or older maybe take the antigen test & not the PCR test. Disclaimer: I’m not a medical doctor………

Done it & it was fantastic! Not sure if I can recall which one we went on but it was a great experience.

I would fill up on lobster & steak if I were you. That sandwich looks horrific and nobody even took into consideration the fact that the mozzarella sticks somehow find a way to come out of the fryer cold at Coco Cay. I can’t imagine anyone smiles after taking a bite of that sandwich.

I would say it’s much less exciting then the former version (Michael Schwartz concept). They still have the cucumber martinis that my wife really likes though. As for the Lobster Thermidor it’s EXCELLENT! My brother in law ate the first one and the server asked him if he wanted another (no ultimate dining package) so I don’t think they are very strict regarding multiple orders/items. With that being said, every rule on Harmony changed from one deck to the next it was very inconsistent regarding rules across the board. I hope Symphony is more organized, although most of the time the disorganization worked out in our favor.

There’s a 3rd, room service wings! They are decent and hit the spot.

I believe they still do “cigars under the stars” on Indy which is probably as close as you can get to relaxing and smoking a cigar these days on a cruise ship. We just got off Harmony and ended up smoking a few cigars on the pool deck in the designated smoking area which was unfortunately the only decent option. It was still relaxing, especially if you smoke on a port day while most are off the ship and you get a nice chair positioned next to one of the windows overlooking the water. Long gone are the days of enjoying a cigar on your balcony and I will personally really miss this. Enjoy your cigar!

1850 Eller Dr. Please use Uber/Lyft and help us rid Fort Lauderdale of the dirty cab services.

Starbucks on 17th street. Sit & enjoy some coffee and then Uber 1/4 mile to the terminal.

Some things never change….

Anyone know what time Harmony sets sail tomorrow from the Cape? I can’t locate a time on the app. I do recall the ships leaving much later then normal due to the more extensive protocols slowing down the embarkation process.

I think it’s safe to assume it’s too late for an upgrade for tomorrows sailing. Both of my bids are still showing “pending”. One thing is for sure, this family is excited to board Harmony tomorrow afternoon and enjoy a week on deck 17!