melski94

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.

If your cruise is April 28th, you should have made final payment and the price is set. I am sure you can add another cabin but I don't know if you can remove 2 guests from your current reservation to a new cabin. You could always ask but I wouldn't expect much. Prior to final payment, you could adjust your cabin and get a price drop.

4 kids...1 bottle of wine for each!

You can book the kids in their own cabin by calling RC directly or your TA can do it. It can't be done online. It must be the room right next door or directly across the hall. I've done it and many others say they have booked this way too. There are also connecting rooms. I usually have my TA search for those. Even with kids in another room, I always bring 4 bottles of wine. Never been questioned as I take 2 and my husband has 2.

I was just off Liberty and they were giving out several phones to the Aquanauts (3-5) parents. I think that if there is a medical reason, they can make sure you have one. I'd call Royal's special needs department to go over your specific concerns regarding the medical staff onboard.

Have 4 kids 17, 14, 10 and 5 and we cruise during their spring break...just came back from our Liberty cruise on Sunday. I can't pull my older 2 from school out for that long without a mountain of make up work. Plus, when we cruise during a school break, they get to meet other kids at the teen club/Adventure Ocean. Our last 2 cruises have been on Liberty. Liberty tends to be cheaper than other Freedom class (although still more expensive during spring break) and we can do a long drive there to save on airfare. My kids really enjoyed Liberty with the slides and kids splash park. Next spring break we'll be on Harmony which will be our first Oasis class cruise. Next year, my oldest will be 18 and no longer in the teen club and hoping that Harmony will have some meet and mingles like they had on Liberty last week for the 18-20 year olds. I've never seen that moms website. Thanks for sharing it.

For my 2 youngest kids, I put their clothes (shirt, short or dress, socks and undies) in gallon sized ziplock bags and labelled with the day of the week to wear. Sounds a bit over the top but the first cruise, I didn't supervise the outfits and they ran out of clothes as they put on 1 outfit for breakfast, changed into a bathing suit, a different outfit for lunch, changed into bathing suit and a 3rd one for dinner. This way they know which clothes to wear when. For my DD5, I'll pack a bunch of cotton dresses and she can wear a clean one to dinner and then reuses the dress the next day. Pack a battery operated tea light for the bathroom and possibly your room if the kids are scared of the dark. Have a great time!

Thanks for the replies! I think putting a smaller deposit down on a few sailings is better than waiting until Nov as it seems the price keeps going up. Follow up question, how hard is it to drop someone from the reservation? We typically get 2 connecting staterooms (2 adults in 1 and 4 kids in the other). If oldest can't go, then it drops to 3 in 2nd room. Any potential issues with changing reservation?

So I'm just curious on how people can book a cruise almost 2 years in advance? Do you guess and book several reservations or is your schedule flexible enough to make it work? Our schedule is crazy and completely up in the air over the next few years. I have 4 kids and my oldest is a JR...doesn't know where she's going to college so that puts a damper in things if we want to include her (she's also applying to a place where even summers mean I can't plan around her). If I choose to leave her out, we'd go over Spring Break but I don't know even the Spring Break for 2019 for the other kids...when we typically travel. I'd probably say I could narrow it down to 2 weeks but SB moves around for my district. Of course everything is refundable and I've had to change things around before when the school schedule actually comes out (2018-2019 will come out in November) but it'd be nice to book at a much lower rate if I could. Just curious as I'd love to book Symphony at a lower price and I can book with Next Cruise (thinking lower deposit) in about 10 days. So how to you manage it?

I'm looking to book Playa Mia directly on their website. In the past, I booked and paid a deposit online and brought cash to pay the balance when we arrived there. However, this time the website wants full payment and since there are 6 of us that's gets pretty costly especially since there are no refunds if the ship doesn't pull in according to their cancellation policy. So would you book it online now? Should I wait until we are on the ship and fairly certain we'll be going to Cozumel? Or should I just show up that day without a reservation (however my kids would be bummed to miss the water park and slides if we can't get in)? I'd probably only book the day pass if I do decide to book it and there are 4 ships in port that day. Any suggestions on what to do?

Thanks. I'd prefer to do it through Royal but their tours have a minimum age of 8 and my youngest is 5. I think depending on location, the government sets a minimum height and Royal then sets a minimum age but I did find one without a minimum age or height that I've seen reviews for. I'm not seeing any other tours that excite us in Belize but not sure if its worth the stress of making it back (not to mention the cost of 3 ports times 6 people). We may just stick to a quiet day on the ship and then do something in Cozumel. I'm looking at Clearwater Adventures for snorkeling in Roatan. They seem to get good reviews.

I've been looking at private excursions in both Roatan and Belize. We have 4 kids 17, 13, 10 and 5. BTW, all my kids are good swimmers and I'd bring my own gear from the younger 2. I've been doing some research on Roatan snorkeling and it seems that I could go to West End and try to snorkel off the beach there but it may be crowded. Now I'm looking at private snorkeling companies that would take us out in a small groups. Any companies that you'd recommend? Now for Belize, cave tubing.bz is the only one with 40"height requirement that would work for us. Any experience with this company? I worry about doing a tender port with a private company. Is the cave tubing worth the stress and long drive?

In the evening there is a staff member there to organize activities in the teen club. However, there is no parental check in or out. Teens are able to come and go as they please. Due to that freedom, its not on RC to make sure kids make it back to the parents. We typically cruise during Spring Break so very high number of kids. That week, they will split the teens between 12-14 and 15-17 groups. That being said, my kids normally go there the first night and meet a few friends. After that, they use the teen club to meet up but then they leave to get ice cream. I have shy kids and my kids always find a nice group to hang out with in the evenings. My biggest problem is enforcing a curfew as they stay out later than us. If you are worried about the freedom, I suggest getting the internet package for 2 devices and use an app like group me to communicate.

I added in my cart: 1 device = $140, 2 devices = $210, but 4 devices = $350. Clearly an error on the website, so I'll wait until I'm onboard. Just makes me wonder how many have paid an extra $70.

Thanks Matt. Liberty is a 7 night cruise so cost should be $280 (7nights) or $320 (8 days). I'm not sure if they count days or nights. I'm still wondering how RC wants to charge me $350 online on my cruise planner. Math error?

I was looking at the Liberty internet pricing for 4 devices and it says "from $40". When I add it to my cart it is charging me $350 total. So is the internet for 4 devices $40 or $50 a day? Or is the extra amount due to tax, service charge, etc? Right now, I'm waiting to book on board to get a small C&A discount. If we wait until we are onboard, can we use different credit cards? My husband wants to charge his work for his portion as he must be in contact with them. I've read that Liberty internet is slow. Is it fast enough to be able to keep in touch with my teens who will be onboard via WhatsApp? Thanks for any help.

We have 6 (2 adults and 4 kids) and every time I price it, 2 rooms comes out cheaper. Even 2 JS can come out cheaper. I would get with a TA and have them price it multiple ways. I find using a TA is very helpful in getting 2 rooms especially if you want them connecting.