rjweber3

Just booked a 15 night Panama Canal cruise for May 2018. This is a bucket list cruise that Royal seldom offers. 

We booked a Sky suite for the perks and Luminae. How is Michael's lounge? 

We have cruised Eastern several times in February. The weather has always been wonderful. Highs in the mid-80s and lows in the low to mid-70s.

We prefer the spring because the Carribean becomes too hot for us in late April. I say go for it.

We are D+ and have booked many through NextCruise. But that stops now. There seems to be no incentive left to book while at sea. 

RCCL is making its economic decisions. Soon, I think we will have to make ours.

Boy, this is going to make NextCruise a MUCH harder sell for me. For a relative pittance in OBC that is offset by the $100 change charge, I see no reason to book before the new itineraries become available. As D+, we are looking for new experiences. The NextCruise folks point to the possibility of those in the future. I think I am DONE with NextCruise.

We are booked also in February. I suppose we'll have to rely on internet cafe' and working offline. Streaming seeems like an exercise in frustration.

FWIW, the satellite situation in the Southern Caribbean is surely poor. Which may contribute to the problem. I have seen comments that, during transATL and transPac cruises, connectivity gets spotty. I don't know if this applies here. 

I still plan to have a great time.

We recently stayed at the Embassy Suites on 17th. Nice place if a little dated. 

They offered and Stay and Cruise  package of a hotel on each end of the cruise for one night and transportation to and from the port. We paid about $300/night in October. Seems high but the lack of concern about airline delays and such was useful to us. We could just concentrate on vacationing.

We are planning the same in Miami in February. Arrive a day early and stay a day after. Less stress and more fun. Worth the money to us.