jticarruthers

The special buffets are not around any longer that I know of. There are occasionally "poolside" buffets during the day but no midnight dessert ones that I have seen. Havent been on Navigator in a while but IIRC there is a Sorrentos Pizza and a Promenade Café down on the Promenade (Deck 5?) that have snacky type foods.

And another one in the Windjammer if you need to get "seconds" :)

Not that I know of, I have done black and white with no issues in the past.

Rumors keep sparking up and then dying down the on the Freedom/Voyager class, haven't heard any serious suggestions on Radiance/Vision getting it.

I basically agree with the prior posters points. On the drink package I am generally fine with the complimentary drinks - Juice from concentrate Iced Tea, Lemonade, Water (flavored water on some ships) so I would not do the beverage package. However, if you enjoy the flavored coffees and fresh OJ then its not a bad deal, really depends on whether you would be happy with the included options or feel like you wanted to buy the upcharge items anyway. The bottled water is a nice feature, depends on how many port days, etc. though as to the value. You didn't ask about alcohol package but I assume you know about them (since you mentioned the non-alcoholic package) and already made a decision on that. If you have never cruised before I would strongly recommend sticking with ship excursions until you get a feel for how everything works. The worst thing that can happen on a cruise (pretty much) is to end up on land watching your boat leave without you :) Once you have some experience with the ports, the process, how long things really take, etc. there is nothing wrong with striking out on your own, but for your first cruise I don't think you want to add that stress to your trip. Specialty restaurants are very much a personal decision, some people love them and book them heavily others find the main dining room itself to be a novel environment and don't feel the need. We have done Chops (Steakhouse) several times and generally like it, not sure which other options are on Grandeur. In general for a first time cruise I would recommend trying out the Main Dining Room concept first and see how that feels before going crazy on spending extra, we are on about cruise 15 and still spend most of our nights in the MDR. Maybe book one specialty for the second or third night and see how it feels in comparison. Open (MTD) dining vs assigned early dining is also a personal decision, many people enjoy the flexibility of open dining and being able to eat when you are ready rather than at a certain time, others (me) prefer to have a set time and place so I don't have to think about it. Dinner will be there, my table will be ready, etc., less to think about :) If your concern is around making show times you can generally try and get "early" reservations in the open dining system that simulate the same experience as the early assigned dining time, my advice would be to do whatever sounds easier/less stressful for you. Packing can be a real adventure. As bcarney said you almost always end up with leftover clothing, so try and pack a little lighter than you think you need to. The days of tuxedos required for formal night onboard have passed us by, which doesn't mean you can dress up all the way if you want to but does mean that if packing light is more important to you than looking awesome you can get away with slacks. Personally my first couple of cruises found me lugging a suit back and forth, at this point my pictures seem to show a dress shirt and slacks, no jackets, no ties. For the 2nd formal night usually the same pair of slacks with a different shirt. Hope that helps, enjoy the cruise !

Yep, no plans to try DD anytime soon (hoping I really did dodge a bullet on Freedom next year and don't get caught in an RCI "oops we said it but we didn't mean it" incident). We have enough arguments at home over where and when to eat dinner, that's one of the things I love about cruising is not having to think about it.

I have bookings in place going out to April 2016 at the moment, my philosophy is to put down a deposit on a cruise if I think it looks interesting and the price is reasonable (based on my experience). Then I watch the price and rebook if it drops. I have a balcony for three on Freedom next Thanksgiving for example, originally booked it at about $3000 as that was "in-line" with prior years, subsequently rebooked it down to about $2700 during the BOGO/KSF sales when they first started. At that price I am happy with it, I keep checking to make sure it doesn't get cheaper but will be happy even if it doesn't. In my experience the best prices are 1) As early as you can book, 2) As late as you can book, 3)Sometimes during a sale that just happens to work right for you. By booking early, I can take advantage of 1) and 3) and not have to play the game of chicken on 2). I have been using the same TA primarily for the OBC that takes another 5-8% off the price.

I would prefer to book for myself but since the TA I use is always able to give me OBC I end up getting about a 5-8% discount on every cruise by using a TA. If RCI gave me the same discount for not using a TA I would much prefer to be able to do it myself :)

Will wait for reviews before making a final decision, but very thankful it looks like Freedom wont be getting it for now and reinforces my lack of interest in Quantum and Oasis class.

As far as I know there are no hard safeguards but have had it mentioned several times that they "review activity for anything suspicious". I was originally told that there was a 15 minute between drinks requirement (Allure) but that does not seem to be the case based on anecdotal reports from others and my experience on board Vision. I think its a case of "blatant abuse" would probably be obvious/picked up on and dealt with but an occasional drink here or there is not worth the hassle of proving it.

As you can see from the above 2 posts, opinions on the value of the drink package vary widely :) I sit in the middle, for some cruises I see the value and for others I don't. Big drivers for me are the # of port days and who I am travelling with. On the Port days side, you pay for the package on the port days, if you are going to be "off" the ship for 4 or 5 days then you have a lot less time to get the value out of your package, if you have a more sea day heavy cruise (remembering that CocoCay and Labadee are included in the package so drinks are "free") then the amount of time to consume your drinks in goes up. If it is just my family then I am likely spending most of the day around my son (11) which means I am not really drinking anything except maybe a couple of beers during the afternoon/evening. If we have other families along and the grownups are likely to spend time together with the kids off doing their thing then its more likely that a couple of beers becomes a six-pack with a couple of mixed drinks and now the package is borderline. If we are travelling with the party crowd then the couple of beers becomes shots all night at the bars and the drink package is a no brainer. For me the free beverages (Water, Ice Tea, Lemonade, etc.) are fine, so specialty coffees, juices, etc. add no value. If those interest you then you want to factor in something for that as well. One other factor to consider is being able to try different drinks without worrying about wasting the money, my wife did this on Allure. We basically broke even on the package vs the cost of what she drank, however, she was much more willing to try different drinks knowing she could just get something else if she didn't like it.

We were still given the cups to use on Vision with the drink package, even though there were no freestyle machines. We were told you "had" to bring the cup to the bar to get it filled that they would not give you a plain cup with soda. Cant remember if anyone actually tested to see if that was true or not though. My beverages were not served in the freestyle cup so my memory is at times hazy :)

Havent been on board Brilliance so I cant answer specifically on the freestyle and outside eating questions but I think the answer is no on the first, yes on the second. Also have not stayed at any of the downtown hotels since I am local, but given that the port is in downtown/next to the convention center I am pretty sure there are options galore, the hyatt for example is pretty much walking distance from the terminal. Will see If I can pull up any specific recommendations when I get home.

Haven't made it to one yet, we always seem to miss the invite or have something planned at the same time, or forget about it.

The sandwiches were good, got me in trouble with the wife for prioritizing lunch ahead of unpacking our room on day one though :(

We have cruised Vision Class (Twice), Radiance Class (Once with 2 bookings to do it again), Voyager (Once), Freedom (4 with 2 bookings) and Oasis. With the Jewel of the Seas (Radiance class) we felt that although smaller it had enough activities and charm to be worth cruising again. Vision class had some charm but not enough to keep us occupied so I don't think we will do it again, I cant recall off the top of my head whether Grandeur is Vision or Radiance class. Were not impressed with Allure (Oasis class) and have gone back to Freedom/Radiance as our preferred classes of ships. Was interested in Quantum class but since I don't plan to cruise out of China, Jersey or UK that wont be an option for several years yet.

Haven't done a TA so I cant comment on that, but on a couple of occasions we have had them come up on a 4 night Caribbean a couple of times and they seem pointlessly complicated. Usually goes something like: Day 1 - Embark on Eastern Time Day 2 - Stay on Eastern Time, but switch to Central Time over night Day 3 - Now on Central Time, day in Cozumel, but switch back to Eastern over night Day 4 - Back on Eastern Day 5 - Disembark on Eastern Time I think it has to do with adjusting ship time to match Cozumel time, but after all the repeated reminders to "stay on ships time" it seems like major PITA to switch back and forth.

MDR Windjammer Chops Johnny Rockets Café Promenade Never really had a bad experience in the MDR, Windjammer is always a good backup plan, loved out first Chops experience a few years ago but its gone downhill every time since then, Johnny Rockets is the best burger on board, don't go often but its good when we do, Café Promenade with the sandwiches and snacks is a good light meal option.

No upgrades on RCL(out of about 8-9 cruises), none on Carnival (out of 2) but batting .500 (1 out of 2) on Disney. Got upgraded from the interior room with the virtual porthole room that we wanted to a balcony room directly above the nightclub ..... yay ..... 10pm the music started and we floated out of our beds. By midnight Guest Services got tired of hearing from me and found us another cabin.

We did Jewel (sister of Brilliance) out of Tampa last Thanksgiving and live in Tampa so have sailed from there a few times. (Also sailed Vision a semi-sister of Enchantment and Allure so we have some common comparisons). If you have any specific questions let me know, some general thoughts though. We really liked Jewel (booked on Brilliance for Springbreak 2016), it felt much more similar to Enchantment than Allure though. Similar layout with the Centrum and then the lounges/bars going back from the Centrum towards the big lounge in the stern. Pool tables and Miniature golf were nice "extra" activities that Vision did not have (not sure if Enchantment has them since she is a little bigger than Vision). Not as much to do as Allure but still plenty to keep you occupied and for us a much more nautical and intimate feel than Allure. In regards to Tampa, the port is much smaller than Canaveral/Lauderdale so its generally fairly quick to get in and out. Just two cruise terminals if I recall correctly and they are both right across the street from the parking garage if you are driving or about 20-30 minutes from the airport. The terminal is in "downtown" and the highway from the airport to downtown has been a mess for the last few years while it gets redone. I imagine you would be arriving during the late morning or early afternoon so traffic shouldn't be awful.

IIRC Starbucks is included on all ships except Oasis and Allure, on those two the specialty coffee from the "other" coffee shops is included but not the standalone Starbucks on the promenade. Not a coffee drinker myself so I could be wrong but pretty sure that was the story on Starbucks on RCL.

For us it depends a lot on the itinerary and who we are with. On Allure we had a Western itinerary, from memory we had 3 sea days + Labadee and for Falmouth planned to stay onboard so we had 5 "drinking" days. We held off on buying the first night so we only paid for a 6 day package anyway, so basically on 5 of the 6 days had a shot at drinking enough to make it work. Basically thought we broke even on the deal but we enjoyed the ability to "try" drinks we usually wouldn't pay for. On Vision we had day one, 2 sea days and Cozumel. Ordinarily wouldn't have bought the package but we were doing a first time cruise with friends that border on alcoholic so we went ahead and bought it. Came out way ahead on the deal after spending most nights parked at a bar doing shots, etc. Will be on Indy for Thanksgiving with my family and wont even think about buying the package, different group of people, most likely to be a couple of beers a day if that so no sense forking out for it. Like I said the value of the package for us is heavily dependent on who we are with and what the itinerary is, but our default setting is "not worth it".

I think last time around RCI published a schedule, for the upcoming Freedom refurb it was noticed when the "gap" in the scheudule for January opened up (no cruises available to book). I think you can also look at the deckplans on RCI's website to see if there is a "new" plan available after a certain date, that would probably be a clue that something is going on if the deck plans are changed.

The only real difference between buy ahead and buy onboard is whether you charge your credit card now or have On Board Credit to use to offset the cost when on board. Potentially if there were a price increase/decrease between now and your sail date you might benefit/or not from todays price booked and paid vs. a higher future price but who knows.

Free options includes water, iced tea, lemonade, tea and coffee, some ships have "flavored water". Personally the ships water tastes fine to me but if you prefer/want bottled then the Royal Replenish is probably a good deal.