DunkelBierJay

Without looking at the cost of goods in the UK vs elsewhere, it's a difficult question to answer. If it is only looked at from an exchange rate perspective, I can see how that thought can come about. If the revenue managers on board are held to a standard other than percentage of cost to revenues, I think maybe is the assumption. I doubt that's the case, though. I think the number "25" has a marketing appeal. I also think there could have been a simple error in the editing of the item on the website.

Your daughter might like the water slides aft as well...one deck up from the pool deck and walk aft through Johnny Rockets. Since the Key lunch is in the MDR, I recommend wearing swimsuits under clothes and not getting in a hurry to do everything.

Adding this for a perspective on this nutty pricing and their glitchy website Adventure of the Seas May 4 sailing for 6 nights -- the RC site shows $1,612 base pricing double occupancy in an interior. A dummy booking brings the total cost for the booking to $1,860 with the fake discounts. I wouldn't pay this for this ship on this itinerary and can't believe people are actually paying it right now.

If you stay in Port Canaveral/Coco Beach -- Uber/Lyft or one-way car rental (unfortunately, the Hertz office is closed, and I think Enterprise is the best option. (That may have changed recently) If you stay in Orlando, the GoPort/Hotel package is a good deal and very convenient.

I have used an RC excursion to dive in Cozumel and Roatan. I have used third party in Cozumel and Costa Maya (I walked in a dive shop at Jamie's Blue Reef a couple times). I am comfortable doing third party in Cozumel and Mahahual...no problem. At a port like Roatan where there is a good bit of travel to the dive shop and maybe to the site, I personally lean toward the RC excursion, although I felt quite rushed the time I did it. The dive experience was really good...it was a mild drift dive each time. When I used RC to dive in Cozumel, it was a freaking cattle call and an overcrowded dive boat. The first dive was ok. The second dive was a drift dive in the fastest current I ever experienced. It took a while to get comfortable. When I've done third party in Coz, it was much more civilized, and I felt better about the whole experience top to bottom. My signature line has some additional information. I dove Coco Cay one time. That will be it. The staff was great, but the quality of the dive sucked...we entered from the beach and were pulled by jetskis to the entry point. There wasn't a lot to see except some gimmicky stuff...I do remember seeing some turtles and rays though. I would not do it again.

I'm interested in parking options too. We are driving through Alabama and Mississippi and will spend the night in Hattiesburg the night before our February 1, '25 sailing. The only thing I really care about in NO is a nice breakfast at Cafe du Monde before boarding. The parking I found is called "Best of New Orleans" right by the terminal.

I thought my favorite perk was going to be Diamond drinks...and they ended up going under utilized. I just don't drink all that much any more. If I had two drinks a day, that was a lot. My favorite perk ended up being the coffee machine in the Crown Lounge and the overall quiet of the space along with the food they had out at most times of the day. Occasionally, I would bring work or a book there and enjoyed it very much.

If the sushi making class is enjoyable, I would recommend the sushi and sake pairing. I did it on Serenade and on Mariner and had a blast on both. They were a little different on each ship...and I developed a taste for good sake, and not that heated up stuff.

Orlando to West Palm is $49 for Smart Class. First Class is $109. The fare to Cocoa Beach is probably comparable. I used the service from Miami to Fort Lauderdale and can't speak highly enough of it. Personally, I prefer this to Uber/Lyft the whole way even though you have to use Rideshare to/from FLL and to/from PortMiami.

I watched the whole series, but I think I recall it was his last video because he was nearing the end of his content. I may be wrong. He seemed pretty bummed about it.

I think that Hampton Inn is fairly new, so I looked at Google Maps. It brings it up just north of the Homewood Suites, so if this is correct, you're definitely within a 15 minute walk and you're on the right side of Astronaut Blvd to get the sidewalk to the little industrial area a couple of blocks below the port area. You would have to go around a small retention pond to avoid walking in the street to the port (all sidewalk/walking path). You may want to scout it out by going to dinner the night before at one of the three or four restaurants right next to the terminal, just to the west or left as you're walking up. I've been to Fishlips and Grills. I haven't been to the others. I like Grills a little better...in fact the bar is a great pace for breakfast and you're right next to the ship that you will be boarding. I highly recommend looking at the satellite view on Google Maps to get familiar with the turns. Note that the satellite view is not up to date as the terminal isn't in the pic, but it's there. I circled it in red below. The Map View shows it however and the current state is much more developed than this pic shows. If you're on an upper floor of your hotel with a north view, you will see the terminal and parking garage, and in the morning, you will see the ship on the other side after docking. Late May will be pretty hot and humid, so that would be a consideration. You may not have to exert yourself to break a sweat. If you're ok with that, it's very doable. I hope you have wheels on your luggage. Personally, I wouldn't do it otherwise. Walking Directions <-- link

Brightline has been pretty good at cutting through the red tape...how they do it, only they and the bureaucrat$ know...I bet it happens fairly quickly from land acquisition if they don't already have it to the time needed for construction. The line is already there, and that was the biggest hurdle. Looking further in the future, I would love to see hotel/train packages like GoPort offers....it would be great to have more hotel options pop up in Port Canaveral, or even a hotel attached to the Brightline station at MCO, which is another discussion. There are 5-6 hotels that are walkable to Terminal 1, but I'd love to see a couple more that are closer. The only drawback is how long you have to sweat. I've made the walk from the Residence Inn in 15 minutes and was soaking wet, so I dry off at the bar at Grills prior to boarding.

MSC is having a bad day....they banned the Youtube channel Cruising with Ben and David from filming video on their ships and the word is spreading. I have my popcorn out.

I may have missed something, but the videos I saw were of Serenade on its world cruise during some weather in the South Atlantic. Water from a storm penetrated through doors on the upper decks and soaked some carpets. I am not aware of anything like that on Voyager. You really don't have anything to worry about, however, because the deck crews on all ships are professional and efficient. If/when there is water damage, they mitigate it quickly, and that fresh clean Royal Caribbean smell is always present. Videos that make the internet are rare, but become viral easily because of the sensationalism. I have not been on Voyager yet, but I have been on two of her sister ships, and can attest that the experience will be wonderful, and yes, the ship is very safe, as are all RC ships. Matt has a tour of Voyager on YouTube at this link in case you want to envision being on board.

A visit to Labadee is perfectly fine. To get a picture of the travel from Port au Prince to the north, a Youtuber, Indigo Traveller attempted to make the trip to Cape Hatien with a guide and was unsuccessful because of the quality of the road and demonstrations along the way. The odds of unrest moving as far as Labadee are pretty much nil because even without people on the road, the quality of it would make the trip much longer than six hours. Cape Hatien, is close to Labadee on the north coast and is known to be much much safer than Port au Prince which is currently in a state of virtual anarchy. Since 2015, I can only recall one instance that Royal suspended stops there, and I believe some striking workers were demonstrating outside the gate to the peninsula. I would have zero issues going to Labadee. The only thing to consider is that some travel insurance policies may not allow for medical claims to be made if the traveler is from a European country and they stopped at Labadee, but always check with the company first.