melski94

Happy cruise day! We flew in on Jet Blue last night. I was nervous as we’ve never flown on Jet Blue and we have no status but was pleasantly surprised. Nice leg room, TVs, friendly flight attendants, full size soda cans and chips. We were delayed about 40 minutes but the desk kept making announcements keeping us informed. It’s the little things. We are staying at the Springhill Suites in 2 rooms, both are 2 queens with a pull out couch. The hotel has a free shuttle from the airport. We arrived at the hotel around 8:40pm and quickly walked to Chipotle. There’s several fast food options and BJs is right across the street for wine...you can use your hotel key as a membership card. This hotel is packed with cruisers and offers a shuttle for a fee.

There is a variety and even my very picky 6 year old eats there...everything from chicken nuggets to nachos to fish. I don't remember exactly as we didn't eat the buffet the last time we were there. Quality is not great but its fine. I think it is better if you get there early rather than waiting until later.

First, I’ll introduce myself, I’m Mel and traveling with my DH, DD18, DS14, DS11, DD6 and MIL (MIL first mass cruise ship). Staterooms This trip we have 3 Spacious Oceanview Balconies on Deck 12 (category D3 and D5). DD18 and MIL in one, next to ours with our room connecting to the 3 younger kids. All 3 in a row and hopefully we can open all the balcony dividers. Why we booked: This is our fourth family cruise all on RC. We’ve only cruised during Spring Break as that is a good week for vacations for us. DD18 just had a birthday and will graduate high school in May, MIL celebrated 70 last summer and we were not able to go on a trip with her then, and DS14 will celebrate a birthday on this cruise. DH loves the fact it is a Sat-Sat cruise. He hates going to work the day after we get back. I appreciate that we can get back on Saturday and still celebrate Easter as last year we were home very late on Easter. Our schedule: Day 1: Embark at Fort Lauderdale Day 2: Sea Day Day 3: Sea Day Day 4: St. Maarten (private island tour) Day 5: San Juan (walk around forts) Day 6: Labadee (Beach bungalow and zip line) Day 7: Sea Day Day 8: Back to FLL What we are looking forward to: *Large ship – first time on an Oasis class ship *Different entertainment (AquaTheater and Grease) *New things to do (Ultimate Abyss) *Zip lining *Large outdoor track *DD6 should be tall enough for the big water slides Concerns: *DD18 just turned 18 a few weeks ago and worried about meeting other young adults without teen club. *Is the ship just too big? *Will the staterooms be too small? They will be the smallest (square footage) we’ve stayed in. *Is it worth the extra “surcharge” for this class ship? The price per person per night is significantly more than other cruises...even staying in a JS on Liberty last year the week before Easter. We’ll see if we feel it is worth the extra cost. Even with those concerns, we are easy going and we always have a great time. I’m sure there will be things we love and things we don’t but usually the good outweighs any bad. After all we’ll be on a cruise and we can’t wait. Right now, I do not have any specialty dining planned. I did buy the drink package during the Black Friday sale. This will be my first time with the drink package but I didn’t want to deal with buying wine in FL when we get in late Friday. I am hoping to take a break in the afternoon from the family to come back to this page so feel free to ask questions.

@rjac I'm trying to make sure I'm not missing anything...any medical, anxiety, other issues? Are you talking about keeping them there until 10 or the late night party? I'd address the AO staff with the concerns during registration and see what they can do as the AO staff have always been very good to my kids. A few other suggestions, have 12 yo check on 8 yo once a night and text parents status. Or the parents can call up to AO and check on the child. Also, the child can use the AO phone to leave a message on the stateroom phone and parents check that phone every once in a while. @tiny260 My biggest suggestion is for the 12 yo to go the first night to the teen club. The staff does a really good job with the meet and greet and encourage new friendships.

While I can't speak to this excursion, I am in your situation as there is an 11 year difference between my oldest and youngest. There are very few RC excursions that allow my youngest...I think RC insurance is behind it for liability reasons. So I we basically do the same RC excursions but purchase directly through the vendor and use taxis, etc. The advantage is that you can use Trip Advisor reviews to pick the same or similar excursion which may or may not be better than what is offered by RC. It is almost always cheaper to purchase on our own and since there are 6 of us it all adds up. A place like Cozumel has a ton of taxis to go back and forth to the beach resorts and excursions and it is one of the easier places to get a taxi. I've always found many taxis waiting for people to leave too. That being said we always leave with plenty of time to spare to get back to the ship...even if you want to be extra cautious you could leave at the same time as the bus.

And they measure for anything that has height restrictions...flowrider, slides, etc. One of my kids was just slightly under and not allowed.

They are very strict on height rules. It is a liability thing. Sorry!

Its not there! I think we have to do in onboard which seems really silly to me! I can tell you next week.

Yes, a full breakfast is available but it is over earlier than the other days...I think 8:30 but that may depend on the ship. The hours will be in the cruise compass. Click on cruise compass in the main menu above and look for your ship to get an idea for the specific hours and venues.

I have gotten the Voom package for my teens but not the younger kids...who don't have a cell phone anyways. My kids are not that age now but I've had them in AO at that age and will so again soon. So take this as my opinion only. If it was *my*12 year old, they have a phone and I would get VOOM. My thinking is that the 12 year old has free roaming of the ship and it is nice for them to check in. Now if it was *my* 8 year old, they don't have a phone at that age so no need for VOOM. Also, *my* 8 year old would not be able to roam the ship by themselves so I know where they are at night...which is in AO. I've never had an instance where my kids at any age needed immediate access to me. If it was a true emergency, I would think the AO staff would hunt me down but I've never asked. On Liberty there were phones to check out for the AO but they are typically reserved for the nursery and if any left for the Aquanauts. I don't know if there would be any left for your Explorer. I just tell my kids I will pick them up by 10 and to have fun...I feel like that sounds dismissive of your concerns but its not meant to be. My kids know the expectation is that in the evening they are in AO and daytime AO time is up to them...there are certain daytime activities that my kids love so we check the kids compass for them.

Traditional dining may have a wait list. If it is waitlisted, come back and we'll walk you through MTD.

As for flights, look at RC air2sea program. While not competitive within the U.S, I’ve read about people getting very good deals for overseas flights. Another option is to check out the Hopper app. It tells you if the price quoted is expected to go down and when is a good time to buy.

One thing you could do is switch the adult so both adults are in the same room. You can switch names on the reservation without forcing a reprice assuming at least 1 name on the reservation stays the same. Then the keys to the rooms are accurate and you don't have to deal with getting another key, etc. Also, it is highly unlikely that RC will move the kids since they won't be next to you. Good luck!

You have to call RC or if you used a TA then they have to change it for you assuming it is still available.

I'm not sure the age of your kids and how the staterooms were booked...2 adults in one or did they make you put 1 adult in each room? I book with the kids in 1 room and 2 adults in the other however I've seen lazy TAs who wanted to put 1 adult in each room to make things easy so they didn't have to sit on the phone with Royal. The RC rule is no guest under 21 is allowed their own stateroom unless that stateroom is connecting, adjoining or directly across from the adult (21+) stateroom. If all the kids are under 21 and in their own room, then they shouldn't be moved unless they can also move your room to meet that requirement. If 1 adult in each room then it could be a different story. In that case, do as others have said and reach out to special needs. Have you made final payment? If you have made final payment, then let the 3rd person be a no show as others have said. If you are looking for a refund, then your room may be repriced. Did you use a travel agent or are you going directly through RC? USAA travel insurance has a clause that covers military personnel deployments. Not sure if you have insurance but that might be one to look into for future vacations.

Check their website to see if anything opens up or email them rather than just showing up. They do turn people away if they are sold out and this is a really popular week.

Are you looking at it for this week? Its website is showing sold out except for Thursday and Saturday of this week.

Did Hubby set up the travel router? Work ok? Did you set it up at home first or do it all on the ship? Any tips on what to name your network? Setting this up is my DH's job today. Great job on the blog. I really enjoyed reading it and you've inspired me to try my own next week. Have a safe trip home!

Yes! I completely agree but I see that I am in the minority here. I think they are making CoCoCay just for me and my very active family. Typically our excursions are more of an "active" nature, if I just wanted a beach I could (and do) drive a few hours to be there. If I only wanted a week long quiet beach trip, I'd fly to an all inclusive resort. We want an adventure! I think RC is appealing to families like mine with their ships and now CoCoCay. My family would love this and now I want to look at cruises that will take me to CoCoCay! I know it won't be free but I don't want it crazy expensive...I do have to buy 6 of everything.

I hired a private driver, Winston, with Tour Jamaica Today to take my family of 6 to Blue Hole. I don't remember what it cost but we had him the entire day but we mostly wanted to go to Blue Hole and lunch. The best thing about Winston was that he was a safe and slow driver. We were constantly being passed by other taxis. We were able to keep our stuff in the van while we did our excursion and everything was very safe. I will use him again for our Thanksgiving cruise.

With kids, I would look at Mr. Sanchos or Playa Mia. Like I said in a previous post, we've been to Playa Mia 3 times with kids. Great time. Aqua park, snorkeling off the beach (not great snorkeling but its easy), pools, waterslides, etc. Love the grounds but not the food...not a great buffet but we go there for the stuff. It was always kept very clean. While it used to be offered as an RC excursion, we always booked directly online to pay less and took a taxi over. Good luck and have a great trip with your kids!

We've been to Playa Mia 3 times (first time my kids were 15, 11, 8 and 3). It is great for the included aqua park plus there are very nice kiddie pirate themed splash pools and larger waterslides where my then 3 yo could even go down. Also they have very basic and easy snorkeling there (we bring our gear). The downside is the food. It is buffet and I am not crazy about it but if you go to the buffet early and it would be fine. While the RC excursion goes there, I buy discounted tickets online and take a taxi over. Our last time there they wanted full payment for the first time which I wasn't crazy about. We did it and it wasn't a problem. We don't have an upcoming cruise to Cozumel but if I did I would probably try Mr. Sanchos mostly due to the food. I like the sound of Nachi for adults but looks like little to do for the kids.

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I don't really need a TA as I will usually tell the TA the exact rooms I want to book but I don't want to be on the phone with RC. The benefit to me is that I don't have to sit on the phone with RC to book, resolve a problem or deal with the RC website. Also a good TA can give you good advice about location of stateroom, ie. do you want one near your friends? Also, my TA price checks my reservation with every sale. If you chose to book now without a TA, you can transfer your reservation to a TA within 60 days or keep it and manage it yourself.

Loving the blog! Great job, not boring at all. Today looks warmer based on the number of people wearing shorts. Is it still too cold to swim? Really nice to see a different ship. I don't think I could sail out of NJ for Spring Break. Way too cold for me and I live in the South although it may snow here tonight! I need to move somewhere warmer.