michelle

great post - like it when the tour is great and you see things you don't often get too! next time...

11am out of FLL you will most likely not be able to make - Miami maybe But remember whenever you try this you have to get off the ship FIRST and have to drag/take all your own luggage with you that morning. I agree lots to do if you rent a car or look at Royal Caribbean's site and shore tours they do have tours in FLL and Miami that you can add on at the end and they take your luggage with you and drop you at the airports. Gray Line tours also does this in most cities as well.

this is a great idea

Welcome Suzy and all others Great blog to read and fun to relate to the others here

Hi All Sometimes the best days to book cruises are on the first few days the line opens them for booking - think Alaska is one of these for sure. AS with all things they are subject to change. So here is the opening days you can book cruises with RCI for future dates Week of March 9th - Summer/Fall Caribbean 2016 and Northeast and Canada Week of March 15th - Europe and Alaska 2016 Week of March 30th - Winter Caribbean 2017 and Northeast Week of April 13th - Exotics and Australia

I have also never felt "obligated" to give more tips by crew members and if it is a concern or staff does vent etc you can always voice this concern on a comment card and they do really listen to these, etc.

Really Like Embassy Suites a lot - right down from a Total Wine shop too! They have a cruise shuttle as well for about $7 per person - you can buy right on the spot There is also a Holiday Inn Express right there as well which is a less expensive choice - Hilton Marina I think is fine as a last minute hotel. If you are looking for a boutique experience, not cheap, but worth the money try THE PILLARS. sits on the inter-coastal and the owners are lovely and the food their is great!

Have not seen any yet as they were not finished when I was on 2 weeks ago - I'll try and see what I can find out for you

totally agree- Celebrity used to do great B2B deals too and now they seem to not in the US this is a common thing for Europeans though - they get deals because they often book B2B cruises. Maybe something new will come out soon!!!

So when a new offer ends, a new one begins Heard today that the newest offer will be BOGO Wild Still BOGO, and OBC offers for Ocean View and higher the WILD part is that you can decline the BOGO offer, and choose the Premium Drink package for the first 2 people in the cabin NOW - my thought here is that is a good deal Not sure of sailings yet or if it has to be a new cruise booked, or dates to book but it will hit the streets soon. Michelle ;)

Yep and this is cool and also why its harder to get Boardwalk balconies down at the END of the Deck you are on- I think lower decks would be better for this but really does not matter Also there is a hidden area - Deck 13, that if you want to the end of either side of the deck and go out the door at the end of the hallway, there is a balcony here you can watch from (above the suites) we found this out while doing a ship tour- may be closed off now but worth a walk to try and see.

Renting cars is the easiest and I usually do leave it at the hotel and go back and get it when the cruise is over - just very convenient and easy to get back to airport BUT that being said I have rented a car to get to port Canaveral, dropped it of at Hertz then taken the RCI shuttle back to the airport, just for convenience. Its more about when your flight leaves and how much running around you want to do the day you come back into the port I always suggest just sending ONE family member to pick up the car, at Hertz, then driving back over to pick up your family - less moving of people and luggage on these shuttles.

He was not saying anything about changes, and I did not hear of anything while on the ship but I think they are going to have to do something to make a change to these levels.

GOT this from webinar today with Vicki Freed - The Quantum is keeping Dynamic Dining as is - since its moving to Asia, no plans to change it at all Anthem will have both Dynamic and Classic - you should be able to select which one you want from your cruise planner soon - CLASSIC dining will rotate - your table number will be the same each place you go and your server and table guests will rotate with you each night = figured pre-paid gratuities will be added either way with these plans too No plans yet to roll to Allure or Oasis yet at all - they want to try it on the Anthem with two plans and then see the feedback so I would not hold your breath on the rolling out - Their old time classic dining people really spoke loudly on this one. Michelle

wow is all I can say - so useful, thanks

Water Taxi is an idea - cabs are about $4-5 per person so you have options for this for sure

love the bedding on RCI ships - just was on the Freedom and had the egg shaper mattress pads, so comfy

Rattle and Hum sounds great - next time for sure when in NYC = maybe its me, but there seem to be quite a few on 8th Street Midtown

I always put cash down but they will ask for a credit card as a back up - if you do not want to do this, once you get low on the cash side, then your card will not work and you will have to go back and put more cash down/credit down, to me that is a hassle, so putting a credit card down as back up is what I always do Also- you can give yourself Onboard Credit before you sail - then you will have money to spend once on the ship.

Hmm - let me try and find out this weekend while on the Freedom, I'll corner my sales rep..

You have to wait until you are on the ship and if you have shore tour, those often go off first and they give you a ticket but each ship is different - if you are not going a scheduled tour, I usually wait an hour to get off coming back same thing - get in line at least 45 min before the time scheduled to come back unless they tell you otherwise on the ship - they will announce the last tender times usually.

Yep - but not sure I would do the free drinks if the price changes and that is what they usually do

if the steamer is plastic you may get it on, but otherwise they take them a lot of times Downey Wrinkle release actually works pretty good and I use the shower, and steam up the bathroom while using them on some clothes, just an idea

agree- wine I do pack and wrap in plastic bags, then roll pants around them - sparkling I have done too but it can have an impact in the air, so agree with Matt and might want to wait on that one.

Yep they had it the days we were on, but missed it - but yes they will have it and seems like there is more space in the promenade to watch it too on this ship