melski94

1. Bring small bills for porters, airline bags and tips in port for drivers, tour guides, etc. Unless you do room service you don't have to tip anyone else assuming you prepaid tips. 2. I have long hair and I hate the all in 1 shampoo. So if you have any females in your group, you may want to bring your own. 3. Our first cruise was on Brilliance and we didn't pay for it and with the ship being so small we didn't needed it. We just did the note thing and it wasn't hard. I was really clear about turning the phone off so I didn't get any extra surprises on the cell phone bill and for only 4 days you probably will be fine. It was pretty easy to find them on Brilliance but after one day on Liberty, we broke down and bought it. The ship was that much bigger and so much harder to find one another. We've bought it every larger ship since then and will buy it again for Harmony.

My time dining typically has you sit at your own table. They won't push you to sit with other guests.

You can refill a water bottle with water or I bring my own water bottle and refill it. You have to use cups to refill the bottles...it is unsanitary to refill the bottle directly.

I have 2 kids that would need to go to AO while we do the zip line in Labadee. What time would you recommend booking Dragon's Flight? I'm thinking either first thing at 10 or last thing at 4. If it helps, we tend to get up earlier in the morning and would normally pack up from the beach around 3 or 4. I'm thinking of booking it around 3 or 4 (and taking them back to the ship then) but I've seen recommendations to do the zip line first thing but not sure why.

Also if you are looking to try specialty restaurants cheaper, your cruise planner will have a BOGO specialty restaurants but the catch is that you have to use it the first 2 nights of the cruise. For my Harmony cruise in March the BOGO is $30 (thats 2 restaurants for $30). A regular dinner at Chops is $49.

I'd love to see if this works over Spring Break and if you can get decent flights at good hours. I looked for our Spring Break trip in June a week after Southwest released their fares and all the "wanna get away" fares were sold out to both FLL and Orlando. I finally found a Jet Blue flight that is cheaper than what Southwest would have been and non stop. Most other airlines have layovers from my city. As we typically travel over prime dates (Spring break, thanksgiving, etc) and I need 6 tickets I'm not sure if the 3 month window would work for us but would love to know if it does for you. I do have a Southwest card. They were offering 60,000 points when you opened. That it enough for 1 free ticket at least. I do use it for most of our purchases and then pay it off at the end of the month. Trying to save enough points to get a few tickets on points for our possible summer break.

I could be wrong but that doesn't sound right. Depending on where you go the international charges come using the cell tower at the location present. Once again, texts are cheaper than phone calls. The packages or features are their specific international calling plans. If you click on the below link, you'll see that they charge $2.50 a minute for a phone call on a cruise ship, $3.00 a minute in many places of the world. Also each phone would be charged (incoming and outgoing calls). Data charges can also a huge surprise that people aren't aware of so its highly recommended to turn off cellular data when overseas. Here is what I found on ATT's site: Note: If you call, text or use data on your device while outside of the U.S. and you don’t have an AT&T package or feature, you will be charged pay-per-use rates. International pay-per-use rates can be found at att.com/intlppurates. Here is the ATT FAQ https://www.att.com/offers/international-plans/faq.html

I go through USAA but you have to be a member. I've heard of many use Insuremytrip.com but I haven't used them (I think I priced it out and USAA had slightly better rates). I also used the cruise line insurance and found it is more expensive for us than other sites. The one thing is for it to cover pre-existing medical reasons the plan needs to be purchased within 30 days of deposit. We are traveling with my MIL on our next trip so really wanted to make sure of this as it wasn't something I ever thought of before for us. Trip insurance shouldn't be thought of as only cruise insurance but also consider it for all-inclusive vacations and other expensive trips where there is upfront costs. OP, sorry to have this happen to you. I really hope that in the next month you can make some progress on your insurance and house where you feel comfortable enough to go and get away from it all.

Love Blue Hole. That is my family's second favorite excursion (first being snorkeling off of Roatan...except for the youngest who prefers Blue Hole). We hired a private driver (Tour Jamaica Today) who arranged a Blue Hole guide for us. I didn't think it took 1.5 hours...a bit over an hour and our driver was slow and cautious...constantly was passed by others. It sounds crazy but my younger children even did it. My kids were 15, 12, 8 and 4 at the time. A preschool friend had just spent a week in Jamaica and highly recommended it and I trusted her when she said even her youngest had done it. All my kids were good swimmers but the youngest 2 were still in life jackets (I brought our own for the youngest as I want to make sure the size is right) and they were carried many times in faster water by our guide. They didn't do the highest jumps (and neither did I) but plenty of medium size jumps. Older kids and DH had a blast with the big jumps. One of the best parts about it is that there are jumps for everyone and the guides were amazing. Its a beautiful area and so much fun. Just bring your water shoes.

We are on Harmony in late March 2018 and I booked dining. I haven't booked any specialty but all the packages are there. No shows yet.

The best info comes from RC itself, we really can only speculate. They have an updated itinerary on their website, however, it doesn't seem too up to date for October sailings. The big impact for San Juan will be the airport. The only thing I've read that is different than the RC website is St. Maarten won't open to ships until November so that port will likely be replaced. I don't think any of those other ports were affected. Now that attention is being brought to San Juan, they will hopefully move past survival to clean up mode soon. It will be an eye opening experience for both you and your children. Besides your tourist dollars, hopefully you can bring some type of donation to help in your own little way.

I don't have a teen compass. There will be teen only flowrider, rock climbing, basketball games, scavenger hunts, trivia, etc. The biggest thing for the teens is to be there the first night. They will do get to know you games and from there the teens sort themselves into groups. My teens rarely did any of the teen sponsored activities but used the teen club as a meeting place for their new friends. We've always cruised during Spring Break in March and there are a ton of other teens for them to meet.

Last cruise, we had 2 connecting JR Suites. This year we have 3 balcony staterooms...2 connecting. It will be hard to go back down but kids have their own bed. If only I could get my ideal set up which would be to have a suite connected to an interior (or at least balcony) room.

I understand the struggle...my kids hate sharing a bed! I think rollaways can be used in GS, not sure about a JS. However, if you are looking at something like a grand suite, you may want to price out 2 rooms with the connecting door. Typically the sofa bed is made with 1 sheet but we asked for separate blankets.

Unless something changed, AO doesn't open until 8 the first night and 7 the other nights. My kids always go the first night and as others have said, check in on the first night is a bit crazy because many didn't go and pre-register. We always eat in the MDR with my kids...sometimes it may be our only meal as a family. I have 2 teens who would check in my younger 2 early before the dessert course if they were in a hurry to meet friends. Sometimes I'd ask for dessert early for the kids if its taking too long or if they want to get it on their own at WJ.

Last year, I purchased my hubby's drink package over the Thanksgiving sale. Probably, the only thing I thought a decent sale then. Right now, I'm watching the prices and hoping our March Harmony cruise will go on sale then too.

From what I've read, it is up to the Captain if the ship changes times (most Caribbean cruises stay on port of departure time). I haven't experienced it...in fact the ship really stressed to not rely on your cell phone as ship time was different. I didn't clarify that with my Roatan tour operator and we were there an hour early. Lesson learned was at every port I double check the time before we get off the ship and have learned with private tours to check if meeting on local or ship time.

I'm looking at the Nellie's Beach cabanas $395 or the beach bungalow near Columbus Cove for $250. There will be 7 of us with 4 kids ages 6 to 18. Pros and cons to each please as this will be our first time on Labadee. Thanks.

While not FOS, we had 2 lounge chairs plus table and 2 chairs in each JR suite on Liberty. We were about midship in 1300/1302.

My kids have done 3 cruises and love them. They key for the teen club is to go the first night to meet other teens but your 19 yo won't be allowed in there. At the teen club, they form little groups and my teen (now 17) still keeps in touch with friends she met on cruises. She will be sad to not have the teen club next year although she doesn't actually do any of the teen activities. Most teens use it as a meeting place and from there they typically wander around together until curfew. Some ships will have meet and mingles for the 18-20 crowd. Kids of all ages can go to most bars and shows as long as they aren't listed as 18+ (most aren't). Your 19 yo can gamble with you in the casino. Hopefully, your 15 yo will come around. If nothing else, she can work on her tan!

This seems like another reason to buy trip insurance. On my honeymoon almost 18 years ago, we flew down the same day as cruise...wedding was night before so no choice....took a 6 am flight out which was tough but we made it.

I really don't understand this. I'm not sure if this is because you are in the UK. I thought the price when you made a deposit was the price you paid. In the US, we can take advantage of price decreases which I understand you can't in the UK. Almost always, the cruise costs more at final payment but I only have to pay the price that I agreed upon when I booked (unless I change the reservation by adding another person, in which case I have to pay current price). Who told you that you owed 700 more? Was it Royal Caribbean or a TA?

Many women's clothes don't have pockets so I use a lanyard. I don't like the idea of giving it to my DH to carry because he may run off to do something with the kids and forget to give it back to me while I'm at the pool. My kids use the AO lanyards and I usually have the AO staff punch a hole in mine at the same time.

I'm speaking as a family of 6 with various ages of kids from 17 to 6. Our first cruise 3 years ago we did Spring Break on Brilliance. Basically, I booked late (past final payment), it was cheap, we could drive and I thought that a nice 5 day out of Tampa would be good. My TA suggested Oasis but it was quite a bit more and I didn't want to pay that much. It was nice starter cruise but small. I really like that class if my DH and I would ever cruise by ourselves. I really liked eating outside on that ship. Second spring break cruise on Liberty. It had just come out of dry dock a few months before and I really liked the idea of slides and splash away bay...not to mention we could do a long drive there and save on air fare. Loved that ship so much we booked Liberty again the following spring break with the different ports and in Jr suites (loved the size). Now after 3 spring break cruises, I had booked our 2018 on Oasis but while on Liberty my kids complained about no water slides so I went to Next Cruise and booked Harmony. Both Harmony and Oasis are significantly more expensive that Liberty (even in Jr Suites) but I felt we'd be bored on Liberty for a 3rd time. My DH is wondering if Harmony will be too big and the Freedom class is the right size for us. We'll see as I have Symphony booked for 2019 and if we don't like Harmony I'll change it.

Not sure if you know this or now but you don't have to book shore excursions through RC (except Labadee). If you are willing to do a bit of research, you can find great independent operators or even the same beach club for much less. While you give up the cruise line protection, I think you spend more time at the actual location rather than in the herd of crowds where you spend a lot of time waiting for your fellow passengers. We like to give ourselves plenty of buffer time to make it back and all of the operators we've worked with know the ship schedule very well and won't chance not getting you back on time. We hired a driver in Falmouth, Wilson of Tour Jamaica Today and he was great, safe driver. We chose to go to Blue Hole and lunch but he'd take you anywhere. My kids (oldest on that trip was 16 and youngest 4) are pretty adventurous but you don't have to do any of the jumps if you don't want to. Lots of smaller jumps between the big ones. Why go to the mainland if only shopping and beaches in Cozumel? I can see it if going to the ruins but there are so many shopping/beach choices in Cozumel within a 10 minute taxi ride as opposed to spending 2 hours of your day on a ferry. Just my .02.