melski94

We will sail both Symphony and Navigator for short sailings this summer. I have a feeling I know where Symphony will fall in the list. I'll be interested if I'll rank Navigator higher than Independence. Here is where I'll rank my list so far. 1. Harmony 2. Independence 3. Liberty 4. Adventure 5. Brilliance

We just leave our cards in a beach bag on our pool chair.

Yes, it is they typical hair dryer found in a hotel. If you have long or thick hair, you should bring your own. If you do a google search for flat iron, the only results that come up on my main page are for hair.

I bring a hair dryer, flat iron and curling iron every cruise and have never had it taken away.

Your March 2020 on Oasis should show up soon. MTD is available to book on my on Harmony for March 2020. March 2021 is too early. I can also book some specialty and of course CoCo Cay.

I've done MTD on 6+ cruises and all my MTD reservations have opened up 9+ months in advance. My 3/20 Harmony cruise has MTD already open. I've never had a problem getting the time I wanted.

Royal has no exact date on when entertainment opens. It is typically somewhere between 90-120 days but my next cruise on Symphony opened up 58 days before. Just keep checking.

Paris Spring Break 2013 was really tough with 4 kids ages 2-14. Looking back I can tell my now 7 year old, yes you saw Notre Dame and you cried the entire time we were there. She cried at every landmark in Paris except Disneyland Paris. That Paris Spring Break was one of the reasons I started cruising and our first family cruise was Spring Break 2014. I've been keeping our cruises easy to the Caribbean but I'm glad I have Alaska 2020 booked. I may need to look at a Med cruise or SE Asia for summer 2021. My bucket list cruises: Galapagos, Antarctica

I also think that if there was an excursion offered it would most likely be in Chinese as that is the primary market and for the most part not really needed. Most Western hotels in Beijing will arrange for a private car and driver. You can look at Trip Advisor for private guides, cars and drivers which would probably be cheaper than what the hotel can arrange. This way you can maximize your time for a great tour of exactly what you want. The day of your cruise, you can arrange with the hotel to take you back to the airport to meet the bus to take you to the port.

If you don't see them under Labadee shore excursions for a 6/1/19 sailing, then I think they could be sold out. Usually I will see something that says "not available to book online, check onboard" if it is sold out and other times I may not see them at all. If you really want one, go to the shore excursion desk first thing and ask if available and if not see if they have a wait list.

Possibly. Where did you book (North America, UK)? How did you book, refundable or non refundable? When is your cruise? Did you purchase trip insurance? In North America, you can receive a refund up final payment date (typically 90 days before sail date). If you booked NRD (non refundable deposit), you lose $100 per person to change sail date. If you booked refundable deposit, no penalty to move assuming before final payment. If you move your reservation to another sailing, you will pay the current rate for the new sailing. I hope it works out for you.

Yes and you will get double cruise points for being solo.

I would make a price comparison to what you paid. What you are looking for is for a price drop from what you paid. A 2D cabin will *probably* be higher than what you paid. That being said you could always check both and if either is less than what you paid, I'd ask for a price drop. I've never done a GTY booking but I've seen others who have received their cabins early and others right before sail date. In typical RC fashion, there is no set timing.

I think my issue with this is that MDR staff still serve other venues at breakfast and lunch (Windjammer, etc) and I'm eating somewhere on the ship where I'm getting service from these people. It isn't the wait staff's fault where I'm assigned that I chose not to eat in the MDR at night so I feel that they are getting stiffed and thats the bulk of their pay. I really wish RC would stop playing the gratuities game and just call it a service fee.

You should tip the porters as they are not included in any gratuity you have paid. If you pay your gratuities, whether pre-paid or added to your daily charge, then you don't have to pay anything extra. That being said, I also tip extra at the end of the cruise but that is completely our choice and you wouldn't be a cheapskate if you choose not to tip extra.

Here's Matt's article from a few days ago: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/04/08/royal-caribbean-temporarily-shuts-down-skypad-inspection-and-review

So glad you are doing this live blog for us. This is seriously crazy as the first agent didn't even suggest that you look at flights to the first port of call. Would Allianz have paid what I would imagine to be a very expensive last minute airline ticket to Cozumel?

1. We can walk it the whole way. I've seen a water taxi that will take you from the pier to the water park area and then walk the rest of the way, however that wasn't available on my last cruise. If we do walk, cut through Nellie's Beach towards the slide to avoid the market. I find that the shuttles when you get off have a long wait and you still may have to walk through the market. 2. Buffet is really close. We grab food and bring it back to the cabana. 3. Yes, the attendants will bring you drinks. We always tip them at the end. 4. I feel that the Labadee map isn't the best. You can google search it but I think it is more confusing. 5. There are only 8. Some people will want to be closer to the food and others closest to the water (which is very close to a wall so I don't like that one). I really don't think there is any one that is significantly better than another. We've been there 6th and still happy with the bungalow.

Last November, we were watching sailaway from Independence's helicopter pad. We grabbed a bench and enjoyed the view. There was a know-it-all lady with a large family group who was impressing her family with many "facts" about cruising. Our favorite was her showing her family the 2 bridge wings and how there was a captain on each wing to maneuver the ship. As a former Naval officer, we had many giggles about this "fact". Then again she maybe she is right with at least 2 non-RC ships crashing into piers over the last year! ?

I would love to know your opinion of NCL. I've looked at the reviews of Bliss + class and priced out a few cruises. For my cruising weeks, the price was the same if not more than Oasis class so I'm sticking with RC. However, would also love to see a comparison of the pros and cons.

Are you on the July 1st or July 5th Nav sailing? We are on the July 1st

I feel that the RC policy isn't enough for what I really want it for which is emergency medical evacuation. If you were truly in an emergency and needed to be helicoptered off, I've heard that the cost can be more (minimum $10K for a medical helicopter, minimum $25K from an island to a US hospital). I personally get coverage in the $100K range through CF (partnered through USAA) for less than RC quotes. You can get quotes from insuremytrip.com or squaremouth.com to compare several companies and quotes.

That makes sense but I would price out the cost of a one way rental from the Ft Myers airport to the Miami airport vs the cost of parking for 4 days. For rental car rates, do you have AAA or some other membership (Costco) where I find cheaper rates than directly online.

Can I ask why you need to fly out of Ft. Myers? I understand your desire to fly in to see your in laws but not to drive back to Ft Myers to fly out of there especially if you won't see your in laws on the way out. The days of cheaper round trip plane tickets are long gone. I find my cheapest air fare is one way and typically 2 different airlines, for me that is SW and Jet Blue. I often fly one down and the other back. I do check area airports (MIA, FLL and Ft Myers) and will balance the cost, time and transportation to decide on my flight. Double check that your transportation fee to Ft Myers plus plane ticket is less than the cost of a flight from MIA or FLL.

Many will say a flight after noon will be safe. It depends on what ship and port you'll be on but after noon usually works. Just realize that if you book a really late flight, you can only check your luggage in to the airline 4 hours before your flight. However, depending on the airport you may have options for that too.