atmuma

We are currently on Anthem and when my daughter went to teen roller skating (ages 15-17) they had a list at the Seaplex desk of all kids who fit that age range and asked for her sea pass card to prove who she was before giving her a wristband. So on this instance it was enforced. 

We are currently on Anthem and when my daughter went to teen roller skating (ages 15-17) they had a list at the Seaplex desk of all kids who fit that age range and asked for her sea pass card to prove who she was before giving her a wristband. So on this instance it was enforced. 

I love Labadee.  It's a beach day but they've done a nice job on their little secluded area.
Royal employees nearly 500 locals so it's good for locals of this very poor nation.  Some local artisans are allowed to sell their wares in a straw market.  They can be aggressive in their tactics but understand they are very poor and only trying to support their family so I cut them some slack.  They must remain in the market area so if that puts you off, simply avoid that area and you'll be fine.

Yes it does. When you buy the drink card, you will be charged a service charge (just like a drink package) and gratuity will be included with the drinks you order with the card.

5 of us include 6 years old sailed on Anthem during Thanksgiving and a lot of kids on the ship. We did 6-7 times bumper cars, 3 times Northstars and 1-time I-Fly. Bumper cars line sometimes long but not that bad. These activities did without the key. No problem with the show either plenty of room to sit. Just to give you some info from my past cruise.

I completely understand the suggestion of not having a flight home too early in case your ship is late, you get caught up in customs, or whatnot. That being said, if time is our main concern, would the quickest way from the port to the airport be a cab? I know Uber or Lyft might be cheaper, an usually that is the way I go, but with time being more important this time around I am thinking there is a quicker way. Is there a line of cabs at the port waiting to take people? We will self-debark, handling our own luggage so we can get off the ship asap. We'll be at Port Everglades, flying out of the Fort Lauderdale airport. Thanks!!

Awesome, thanks guys. Boardwalk balcony was only $51 more than my inside stateroom and includes the Johnny Rocket meal and soda pkg. So I figured why not. My TA hooked me up and I'm good to go. Thanks for the input!

Awesome, thanks guys. Boardwalk balcony was only $51 more than my inside stateroom and includes the Johnny Rocket meal and soda pkg. So I figured why not. My TA hooked me up and I'm good to go. Thanks for the input!

Thanks for the input. My daughter picked BW over CP so that's fine with me. Good point about the noise if on deck 14. I scooped up a deck 11 room. Super stoked. 😊

Awesome, thanks guys. Boardwalk balcony was only $51 more than my inside stateroom and includes the Johnny Rocket meal and soda pkg. So I figured why not. My TA hooked me up and I'm good to go. Thanks for the input!

I noticed this in my Cruise Planner and thought something goofy was going on.  Came over here to check it out because I knew someone on the boards would have seen it too!  Glad I say this post, saved me $31!  Woot!!

No problem for the help!
 
And I always do the self-disembark now....so I just wait till the airport or wherever I am headed to grab some breakfast. I don't like to end my cruise on such a stressful maddening experience in the windjammer for breakfast..lol.

Great, thanks! And thanks for all the answers you've given me over the past month or so on all my questions. Greatly appreciated!

That's a really good point! In the past we got boxes of cereal from the buffet the 2nd to last morning and just ate in our room because our assigned time on that last morning was so early. Sounds like that might be the way to go again. Thanks!

We loved Victoria.  Amazingly beautiful place.
 
When you get off the ship you'll find about a 5 min walk (maybe less) to get onto the road.  You'll be at a giant sundial (Ogden Point).  To your right is a neat rocky beach/cove which is very picturesque in the morning.  If you walk left (north) and stay on the road, you'll be walking past some residences and after about 1km (2/3 mile) see Fisherman's Wharf.  It's hard to miss, but if you have any doubt you'll find many locals walking docs and such - everyone is incredibly friendly.  I'm sure you could get a car for this walk, but it's an easy and very pretty walk through a not at all touristy area, so we liked it.
 
Once at Fisherman's Wharf, walk around, as it's full of houseboats turned B&Bs, restaurants, etc.  Just a neat little area.  From there, you can take a water taxi to the harbor for around $5/pp (the area with the Empress hotel, visitors bureau, many shops and restaurants, etc).  This is likely where you'll want to spend much of your day.  The visitor's center is awesome, and they'll help you get to the gardens, or anything else you're looking for.  Plenty to do there, and I'd also recommend a place we check out, Vista-18 atop Chateau Victoria.  Great views, drinks, and snacks.
 
I could go on about Victoria for some time, it's really a great place.  Let me know if you have any other questions.

I have sailed Alaska several times and it really depends on the excursion. I did a helicopter ride to a glacier, there was the pilot and two guides giving presentations. The guides were National Park Service Employees. To me $10 each is a lot of money, $30 for all three, so I just gave $20 to the two guides. I felt like the pilot got paid quite a bit to fly people out to the glacier. BTW, I would never do it again, I just knew my life was ending when I stepped on the helicopter.
 
I did a trolley tour in Skagway and I tipped $5 for a one hour transit of the little town. The trolley was full and I figured that if all 50 people gave $5 each, this couple got to split $250, not bad for 1 hour of work. Do three or four tours a day, you are making great tip money.
 
I think tipping is subjective. I did a Hop On Hop Off Trolley tour of San Francisco and the guide wasn't suppose to stop at all of the stops, but he did and he talked about each area, what had happened there, if we should get off or not. It was probably the most informative tour I have ever taken and I tipped him $20 just for the experience.
 
In Nassau, I took the shuttle from the pier to Atlantis and the two shuttle people actually announced they expected a tip since the ride was only $4. In other words give them the $5 bill so they had a dollar to split. What I learned is these shuttle people do approximately 50 to 100 shuttle rides a day, can you imagine how much tip money they make. They aren't loading luggage, helping you board the shuttle, they do nothing but drive you. But I also understand they don't get paid anything for their work, so a dollar wasn't going to kill me. I just don't like being told I have to tip them.
 
Candie

Thanks for all the input. Your answers are what my expectations were, but it can't hurt to ask.

The last time I played bingo on RCCL was about a year ago. I have now stopped playing, reason, the cards were $30 for three, or you could get a more expensive pack that was $50, and the mega pack was around $60, and you played for about 45 minutes. There was also a bonus game that you had to buy extra cards for and I don't remember how much that was, but I think I spent around $50 total. You played three games and a bonus game. The extra bonus game was the blackout jackpot game. It started at covering your card in 50 numbers or less and was increased every time they played Bingo. On the last day they played until the Jackpot was won. You had to get to bingo about 30 to 45 minutes early to even get a seat. The cruise director staff did a great job, but they do talk and have certain numbers that they make fun of and joke about. As I said it was fun but too expensive for me. I actually won a game but there were so many people there that it was split between three of us, so we won about $45 each. On a seven day cruise you could easily spend around $250 to $300 playing bingo.

On Freedom in April, we were watching the folks on the FR, and one man, about mid 40s, waited in line and when he got up to the ride, the assistant wouldn't allow him to get on.  He went berserk - apparently he hadn't read the rules/signed the waiver or something like that - stormed over to the clipboard rules thingie, glanced at it, and went back and just let that poor guy have it.  I was embarrassed.  But good for the assistant in not wilting and letting the dude go on.  Old guy stormed off in a major huff, embarrassed wife in tow.

Bingo usually has some "banter" and play elements but not as much as Disney.
 
From memory the cheapest to play is about $25 as stated above, which gets you something like 3 cards to play in 3 or 4 rounds of bingo.
 
There are usually a couple of more expensive packages, a mid range maybe $40 or so that gets you something like 9 cards and then the expensive option for about $60 or so that gives you the electronic machine with something like 30 cards loaded along with 3 paper cards.
 
All numbers are guesstimates and probably vary by ship but should give you an idea.
 
In my experience it is typically close to an hour for the 4 rounds of bingo.

You do need to sign a waiver and have your Seapass punched to show that the waiver has been completed, but I didn't have to sign up on the Liberty; I just was told to get in line. My guess is that they won't allow you to do the waiver or join the line just before it closes, which that line probably references.

I agree, what is acceptable or not to a 12 year old can be subjective. That said, in my experience, almost all of the entertainment is very family friendly. There is sometimes a comedian in the evening that does an "adult" show, and some of the game shows can be risqué. These are normally called out in the Cruise Compass as "adult" and the cruise director will also point out this fact when they make announcements about upcoming shows. It would be very unusual to have adult content in a Royal Caribbean entertainment event unless it was announced ahead of time.

Bingo starts at about $25 if memory holds.  It is super casual and they will even let the kids play; however, the adults have to claim the winnings.  Many games are scheduled before showtime and I don't think I've seen one last more than 30 minutes, although I'm sure others will correct me if I'm wrong.
 
The Flow Rider is available on a walk up basis and is included in your cruise fare.  The posted times will be in the Cruise Compass along with the type of "riding" (e.g., surfing or boogie boarding) that will be offered during that time.  You can also reserve private time/lessons at an additional cost if you're interested.

Ordinarily you just line up.  First come, first ride.  You can hop back in line after wiping out.
 
You can reserve time (for a cost) to have private or group lessons.  I've seen it on Cruise Planner and there is opportunity to sign up onboard.

Bingo is a lot of fun .... I can still remember the games on Navigator -- you were given electronic Bingo boards that would keep track for you and would even light up when you had one number left .... very easy to keep track of your numbers