RCVoyager

Maybe it's not my business, and maybe that hotel is nice.  I've heard it called the "Nothing to Do Sheraton".  The Sheraton Old San Juan is exactly what it is called.  A 500 year old city with walls, forts, churches, and restaurants right out side the door.  It's a cool experience.  Just sayin'.

I've been to Provo on a land vacation and Grand Turk on a Carnival ship.  RCCL is missing out.  Nice place.  Not to commercialized like so many others.

We took my daughter on her first cruise when she was about 3 years old.  The waiter asked her what she wanted on the first night.  she said "strawberries" which were not on the menu.  He came back with strawberries and did so every time she asked for them.  She's now in college and rarely eats them, but she sure loved them then.

We took my daughter on her first cruise when she was about 3 years old.  The waiter asked her what she wanted on the first night.  she said "strawberries" which were not on the menu.  He came back with strawberries and did so every time she asked for them.  She's now in college and rarely eats them, but she sure loved them then.

I've been there pal.  I don't know if your divorce was unwanted, but I can tell you, and everyone reading this, that an unwanted divorce is in some ways worse than death.  But, things do get better, as it sound like it has for you.  
 
My divorce was in 2006, and if you look at my tag line, you'll see that many of my cruises have been in the past 10 years.  I think that Barenaked Ladies Cruise in January of 2007 was where my healing began.  For me, there's something about being on a ship that is magical.  To me, it's great for the soul.
 
It sounds like you're down the path your new life.  I hope you, your parents, and your children have a great trip(s).

I've been there pal.  I don't know if your divorce was unwanted, but I can tell you, and everyone reading this, that an unwanted divorce is in some ways worse than death.  But, things do get better, as it sound like it has for you.  
 
My divorce was in 2006, and if you look at my tag line, you'll see that many of my cruises have been in the past 10 years.  I think that Barenaked Ladies Cruise in January of 2007 was where my healing began.  For me, there's something about being on a ship that is magical.  To me, it's great for the soul.
 
It sounds like you're down the path your new life.  I hope you, your parents, and your children have a great trip(s).

I would think if you didn't do multiple cruise lines, the food would get old pretty fast.  If I were to do something like that, I'd try many different lines.

There is a white out night on the Adventure of the Seas.  It's not a big deal.  RCCL never puts anything out on it in advance.  Very few people are involved.  It happens too late at night for us.  I hope this helps.

I'm not that familiar with her schedule, is this an early return because of the hurricane?

I agree on that Matt.  What angers me is when you have to make a decision with the best information available at the time, and then you are criticized after the fact when all the important data is available.  None of the cruise lines can win in this situation.  No matter what they do, lots of people will be mad.  There are millions of hall-of-fame Monday morning quarterbacks.  Very few of them have what it takes to make a decision when the chips are down. 

I agree on that Matt.  What angers me is when you have to make a decision with the best information available at the time, and then you are criticized after the fact when all the important data is available.  None of the cruise lines can win in this situation.  No matter what they do, lots of people will be mad.  There are millions of hall-of-fame Monday morning quarterbacks.  Very few of them have what it takes to make a decision when the chips are down. 

Cancellation is unlikely.  As Raye indicated, they will more than likely delay the ship's return.  You should also know that forecasts more than 24 hours away are not good enough for the cruise line to act on.  There are a lot of moving parts, but what if they canceled and then the storm moved away?  
 
Honestly, this is a no-win situation for RC or any cruise line. Cancel, and you have some people upset. Delay, and you have some people upset. Do nothing, and you have some people upset. There is nothing they can do that wont have some folks second-guessing what RC did.

Sounds like you have a wide open field.  With that in mind, I would choose something other than NCL.  Poor main dining room forces passengers into higher end restaurants.  Just my opinion.

I'm not disagreeing with any of you.  If I had the opportunity to sign up the the Anthem in the heart of hurricane season or the dead of winter, I'd do it in a heartbeat.  If I was paying and making the decisions, I'd choose a different departure port. Both of these storms were coming from the South, which is usual in both the fall and winter.  Both times the ship was scheduled to go South.  Once they didn't change the itinerary and went through the storm.  Once they did change the itinerary, and still went through the storm.  Several years ago, my brother and sister-in-law went through the eye of a hurricane near Halifax when the port closed ahead of their arrival and the cruise line (Seabourne) had no choice but turn and face it.
 
But, when you are in New York, given the path of most of these storms, and the general direction of travel (I don't think they would change an itinerary to Nova Scotia in January), it's a matter of time until there is a problem.  As mentioned previously, my friends sailed out of New Orleans the week Hermine hit.  They were scheduled to go to Key West and the Bahamas.  That would have been trouble.  They went to Cozumel and Central America and other than plans made for ports, their trip was flawless.  You're ability to do that out of New York is clearly diminished, and as they've shown twice in the past year, problems do arise.  Not only do problems arise, but how will the public react the first time RCCL cancels a cruise out of caution?
 
That's my only point.  They have probably 20,000,000 people within driving distance of that port...maybe more.  It's probably not hard to sell that ship out every week without having to discount much at all.  In my opinion, they will continue to have dust ups and could eventually have to deal with a real situation.  Again, it's all my opinion.
 
I guess the other side of the coin is that when my family went through the hurricane (Hortense (spelling?)) nobody died, there were no major injuries, and they received a free cruise out of it.  In the end, my family did ok.  I guess RCCL will do the same when/if something like that happens.

No route is without its risks (Caribbean this time of year is ripe with them), but I do believe the media makes this seem like a MUCH bigger problem than it is.  I definitely do think Atlantic storms are a concern and should not be ignored, but there is no route that will always be sunny skies and calm seas.

To me, the Voyager Class (includes the navigator) is the sweet spot of cruise ships.  It's big enough to have lots to do, but small enough to that the crowds are not huge.  
 
Try to arrive a day early (for safety of flight delays) and pack you medicines and other important things in your carry on.  
 
As mentioned above, if you have a glass half full view of life, you will love this ship.  If your glass is half empty....

To me, the Voyager Class (includes the navigator) is the sweet spot of cruise ships.  It's big enough to have lots to do, but small enough to that the crowds are not huge.  
 
Try to arrive a day early (for safety of flight delays) and pack you medicines and other important things in your carry on.  
 
As mentioned above, if you have a glass half full view of life, you will love this ship.  If your glass is half empty....

You will dock...probably at the Pan American pier which is across the channel from Old San Juan.  It's about a $15 cab ride to see a 500 year old walled city with two major forts.  If you have any sense of history and do your homework, you will find that place to be a treasure.
 
In my opinion, the best way to enter OSJ is to do so the way the sailors did for hundreds of years.  That is to walk around the wall on the south and enter the old city through the city gate.  It's straight up the street to the beautiful San Juan Cathedral.

I think the extra ports are an advantage.  If you want to enjoy the ship, what better way than when 80% of the passengers are in port?  Sure a few things are closed, but there is tons to do and nobody to wait in line after.  A huge advantage in my book.

I was trying to stay quiet on the topic, but guess it's not going to happen... 
 
First off, tip your people, especially if you have kids.. These folks bend over backwards to make sure that you and your family are taken care of. I've cruised as a kid with my parents, on spring break with just friends, as an adult no kids, and now with my young children and I will tell you never once have I doubted tipping anyone. Frankly, I generally give my room attendant an extra $20 at a min every trip. Not because I have to, but because I see how hard they are working for me. 
 
I will by no means say that myself and my family are messy people, but when you have 4 people living in a 200 sqft space for 7-9 nights as we have done, things can get disastrous quickly. There are toys, clothes, diapers, bottles, clothes, toys, clothes, strollers... you get the point i think... The space gets pretty small, and pretty tight.. And every morning when we leave the room, we think about how we should clean it up before we grab breakfast, because as those of you know who have kids, standing in the way of a 2-4 yo and their breakfast can be a fatal mistake. But I will tell you this, that room is always impeccably clean when we get back to it.. Often times we find the kids toys are set up in little scenes, like Toy Story is coming to life in our room.
 
Another great example is things like diaper changes... Royal unfortunately does a TERRIBLE job with diaper changing stations in public restrooms throughout the ship.. Generally the only ones are up by the pool deck.. God forbid that the kid needs a new one during dinner service, you have to make the long haul back to the room to take care of it.. But I will tell you what.. I think i can count the amount of times on one hand that we've come back to the room to find a stinky diaper in there.. It's like they know that you've come in for that purpose and they sweep in and take care of getting it out.. I've always thought they had ninja skills in so many ways, this has always furthered that notion. 
 
And the dining staff, I could go on and on about how they are with the kids.. From making sure their drinks are there when the arrive, to having snacks on the table to the napkin art and the list goes on and on.. The majority of these people are their family behind, many with small kids of their own.. They so much enjoy taking care of the kids on board and will do just about anything.. One last side note, and I can go on and on and on and on about these little experiences, we've even had wait staff take our children on walks if they were done and not enjoying the sitting, just so we can enjoy our meal.. They take them for tours, yes my daughters have seen more kitchens on ships than most will ever see in their lives, and give them the attention so we can have an enjoyable experience... 
 
 
Tip the staff.. and hell, give a little bit extra at the beginning and see how wonderful of an experience you have.. Let them know you value their service, cause I'll tell you, if you get a bad egg it can turn your whole trip into a bust. 
 
And one last side, side note... Advice I always give people before they take their first trip... Talk to the staff.. Get to know them... They have some amazing stories and love to share!

I took my daughter on her first cruise when she was 3.  On the first night, the MDR server asked her what her favorite food was.  She said 'strawberries'.  He asked her if she would eat a bowl of strawberries every night.  She said 'yes'.  He asked us if we minded if he brought her a bowl of strawberries every night.  We said 'yes'.  And so, even though strawberries never appeared on the menu during the course of the week, the server went out of his way to provide them to my daughter.  This is an example of a child eating much less than an adult, but actually being much, much more service intensive.  This was November of 2000 on Celebrity in a time before 'automatic gratuities'.  We tipped extra because of this attention to detail.
 
Here is another example.  My nephew is now an adult, and a truly fine person.  When he was a kid, he was both very picky and extremely messy when he ate.  So here again is an example of a kid who ate much less than an adult, but was also much more service intensive.  
 
I don't think my family is that much different than any of your's.  Kids require more service, clean up, and waste much more than adults.  I think we should actually tip more for a kid than an adult... assuming the kid gets really nice service.
 
Just my opinion.

We were just on in June.  The ice show happened twice during the week.  I didn't go this time.  My wife said it was the same show as last year.

I've never been on the Jewel.  If you look at my past cruises, you will see my vote.  For me, the Voyager Class is the perfect ship.

I was just there on Sunday last month.  In the morning a few stores were open.  By noon or 1:00 pretty much everything was open.

I'm just reporting what actually happens...   I used to be against shorts in the MDR.  But now I'm all for it.  Makes packing much easier.  With only 1 pair of slacks and no suit jacket I was able to carry on my luggage for this past trip.  My wife still had a checked back, but I did not.
 
I used to be a tux guy for formal nights.  Now in the Caribbean, not so much.  Maybe on a more formal cruise or a colder climate.