melski94

The MTD reservations have probably been open for 9+ months. Go first thing to the desk to make reservations on board and there are several desks open for MTD reservations. Hopefully they some earlier reservations that they have held back. Just an FYI, there are typically no 7 pm reservations. I typically have not seen reservations between 6:45-7:15 due to table cleaning/turnover.

Yes, I love the small ones. Great for stuff like that or just underwear and bathing suits. The medium and large packing cubes are the ones I haven't figured out how to masterfully use.

Boarding typically begins around 10:30. It is a matter of making sure all the guests from the previous cruise get off and that assumes no customs/coast guard inspections.

I'm following along. I love the idea of packing cubes and own so many of them of all shapes and sizes. However, except the very small ones, I never use them. I just don't think they pack quite right in my suitcases. I feel I can get more stuff in by rolling my clothes and placing in my suitcase rather than using my packing cubes.

There are typically 2 formal nights for a 7 day cruise. The nights could be changed based on your itinerary (ie it is possible to be nights 2 and 5 for you). You may want to look at previous cruise compasses to see what was done in the past.

We still bring our passports off the ship even though we won't be in physical possession of them. In my opinion, a boat snorkeling excursion would be the most likely reason we could miss the ship which is why we bring them. I feel that way because I'm not in control of the time on when we return however I do enough research to feel comfortable with the risk. We put them in a ziplock bag and put it towards the bottom of our bag. The crew is reasonable trustworthy and would lose business and their livelihood if you wrote about theft. For snorkeling excursions on shore, many times there are lockers that I will rent to lock up our passports, cash, etc.

We're on the June 26th cruise. Right now I'm really leaning towards putting a deposit down on Princess. It goes Southbound and to Glacier Bay. I will probably keep my Royal deposit too and possible allow airfare to determine the actual route. It seems like a miss on their marketing team to not start marketing towards Glacier Bay.

This past cruise, I forgot my luggage tag holders, lanyard holders and towel clips. Nothing super important which was amazing as I started packing at 4pm the night before an 8am flight. I just forgot to go up to my vacation bin thinking I didn't really need anything since it was a 3 night cruise.

Has anyone seen 2020 itineraries with Glacier Bay National Park as a stop? I know that RC can start traveling to Glacier Bay beginning October 2019. I'm sailing on Radiance northbound in June 2020 and wondering if it is a possibility that RC will add Glacier Bay to the itinerary. I believe that there is a limit of visits to the park so wondering if my ship isn't one of the lucky ones to go or if RC hasn't released a schedule yet. I'm debating on keeping my original cruise or switching to another line (Princess or Celebrity). Coral Princess which already has the park listed and is a Southbound cruise. Also considering switching to Celebrity Millennium southbound which is actually slightly cheaper than Radiance but the park isn't listed (similar ports to Radiance just SB). My dates are not flexible and I only depart at the end of June. Any insight is appreciated on if RC will add Glacier Bay soon?

We are a family of 6 so completely full on the cabana. Even with all 6 of us, full day waterpark passes would save us $275 (waterpark prices are now up). My husband doesn't think we'll use the cabana as much as if we were on the beach. Then again we might need a break from all the stairs!

I wouldn't recommend chichen Itza ruins as that is a ferry ride to the mainland plus a long bus ride. Travel time is several hours each way. At the very least make sure it is a RC excursion. Personally, I'd wait for a trip to the mainland to do the ruins. For an excursion for all ages including kids, I'd look at Paradise Beach or Mr. Sanchos. You can do those on your own and save money over an RC excursion as both are an easy taxi ride from the pier.

We buy Voom for everyone with a cell phone so for us that means a 4 device plan. There are too many instances where we separate for a bit only to text "where r u?" You can price out the difference between a 2 and 3 device plan but a 3 device plan is usually only a few dollars more a day over 2 devices.

Have you looked to see if your cruise has a roll call on Cruise Critic or a Facebook page?

Personally, I have 4 kids and would never get the refreshment package. Only 2 of my kids drink soda, so they get the soda package. First for one who enjoys sports drinks, powerade is in the freestyle machines which is covered by the soda package. Just note that Starbucks is not included in the refreshment package. It is about $3 for specialty coffee at the cafe promenade and $6 for a smoothie in the vitality spa. Just make sure that makes sense for you as you are paying for it even on port days. Don't forget you can bring on 2 bottles of wine per stateroom and 12 17 oz bottles of another non alcoholic beverage (sports drinks) per stateroom. Also, to save money have you looked at non-RC sponsored excursions? I've never snorkeled with RC as I don't like the "herding cats" mentality plus my youngest who is a great swimmer doesn't meet RC age requirements. Check out Trip Advisor for reviews. There is a nice beach walking distance to the pier (or take the water taxi over for about $7 rt). Rent some beach chairs for about $20 for 2 chairs. If you are Star Wars fans, check out the Yoda Guy which is walking distance from the beach.

If you want a ship day then you should do a ship day. Everywhere that tourists go, there are businesses that cater to tourists and so technically a tourist trap. We've done some of these islands several times and always find something new to try. Personally, my family loves to snorkel so we try to do at least one snorkeling tour each cruise. St. Maarten has cool snorkeling tours as they will take you to snorkel plus see the mega yachts, airplanes land at Maho beach, etc. Touristy yes but it is a great way to explore a new place. I'd suggest you look at Billy Bones Charter or Soualiga Destinations if interested.

We had a 9:45 flight out of FLL after Symphony in Miami. We arrived at FLL by 7:45! If you have TSA pre-check, you should be fine. However, there are always the possibilities that something could happen so just have a plan b in mind just in case arrives late.

If noise is a factor to you then I wouldn't go with a Central Park balcony and its the same with an ocean balcony. My kids CP balcony was loud from the pool music especially the band during the day and we were on deck 10 which is the lowest balcony you could get. If you are really sensitive to noise, you may just want to avoid being outside during times the band plays. Personally I loved being on deck 10 on Symphony (better than deck 12 on Harmony). Deck 10 splits the difference between the Promenade and the pool.

I have booked a cabana at the Thrill Waterpark for our July sailing. However after just visiting Coco Cay on Symphony, there were plenty of chairs available everywhere. My husband thinks I should cancel the cabana as we will mostly be riding the rides and too busy to really enjoy the cabana. We do enjoy the bungalows on the beach in Labadee but we feel that the waterpark will be a different experience. If we take a break, we can easily just use our chairs. I believe there will be 2 ships in port that day (Grandeur and Navigator). So would you cancel the cabana and save $300?

No towel stations. You need to get them from the ship and bring them with you. There were life vests at the oasis lagoon. I don’t know where there are other places.

We are on symphony now and we bought the 4 device package for my kids who have phones which my 12 yo does. I highly suggest it for the piece of mind. I am assuming since he is so worried that the 10 yo won’t be allowed to wander on their own. However the 13 yo could and hopefully has a cell phone or iPod to use to connect. The 13 yo will be on the teen club if he wants and the 10 yo in adventure ocean. For the 10 yo, the parents can decide who can sign him out of the club and allow him to be a self signer. For the most part during the day we stick together as a family. Night time is when things get tricky if the kids don’t want to see the shows. Every family is different and your brother will set whatever boundaries, he feels are appropriate. I would still highly suggest a Voom package as you can find a 4 device package on sale for about $26 a day. The number of ‘where r u?’ texts I send and receive on the cruise is very high!

I had my kids come and watch. They were able to eat from my plate but we didn’t have leftovers so I’m not sure. For my class, we didn’t eat anything truly raw. We made a shrimp nigiri (not raw), a shrimp tempura roll and a California roll.

The extra key is blank and for room access only. I highly suggest a lanyard to help keep track of the sea pass card.

Yes I can confirm. We had 3 adjoining rooms on Harmony and we had the balcony dividers open.

This is why I never book RC excursions. We were at a beach resort in Cozumel a full hour before the RC excursion showed up and they left 45 minutes before us. We were still back on the ship 2 hours before all aboard time and paid significantly less.

If you had to choose 3 restaurants for dinner, which would you chose? We have a 3 night package for a 3 night cruise this weekend. I'm thinking Wonderland, 150 CP and debating on the 3rd. I love fish but Hooked doesn't interest me. I love sushi but I'm a sushi snob so no Izumi. I am debating on Jamie's and Chops. Any recommendations?