FloatMe

All of them are beautiful. If you are a SCUBA diver, Baonaire is Mecca. Curaçao is my favorite Caribbean island. They all have a heavy Dutch influence so the architecture is ver quaint. No pushy vendors. Warm and friendly residents. Laid back and easy-going.

We loved curacao. Beautiful, not as touristy as st maarten but same dutch caribbean vibe. Our favorite caribbean island so far. Aruba was nice flat and dry. Great beaches and snorkeling.

Matt what are the perks of junior suite ?

Take a peek at this thread.

 

http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php/topic/1296-junior-suite-questions/

I forgot........ SPACE and MORE  SPACE!

 

We have only stayed in a Grand Suite once. We were married on the cruise, so we splurged. The extra space is amazing! That said, we didn't use any of the extra services so it isn't worth the extra expense for us to do any time in the near future. We love the Junior Suites. The extra space and double C&A points justify the cost for us.

Junior suite guests get:

 

Priority boarding in the suite line

Double crown & anchor points

Bath robes

Upgraded bathroom products

Tea and coffee in cabin

Silver SeaPass card

 

Real suite

 

I think the biggest thing is access to the consierge services and lounge. Free hors d'oeuvre and free drinks every night before dinner and help planning excursions, dinner reservations, show reservations, etc. If we have missed something or gotten closed out of an excursion or show, the consierge can usually make it happen for suite guests.

 

Also dedicated pool deck seating on some ships

Free pressing of clothing for first formal night.

Nightly free something in your state room. Cookies, strawberries, etc

Fruit basket the first day

 

Here is the link 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/enhanced-program-for-suites-guests-v7.pdf

Did anyone out there go on the 12/6/15 sailing on Navigator out of Fort Lauderdale? I am hoping to see copies of the Cruise Compass.

Thanks.

I must be the only one who doesn't want to see the cruise compass and dinner menus be for our cruises. We look forward to getting back to the cabin after the night's activities and seeing the compass on the bed, going out on the balcony with highlighter in hand and reading it over. 

I will be☺ in october @m_swisshelm

Sorry, I should have mentioned that it was airfare to San Juan, not any of the Florida ports.

That would still be rough. We just did Adventure in April and our flights were in pretty reasonable. We would certainly think about driving a bit to get cheaper fares.

Another tip: check out all the airports within an acceptable driving distance from you.  For example, my "local" major airport is DTW (Detroit).  On our last cruise, when I priced airfare from there it was in the $800-$900 range, and with 4 of us the cost approached the same amount as the cruise.  I wound up locating a tiny airport (MBS) about the same distance drive away with airfare around $450, plus significant savings in parking fees (and the bonus of being able to park within a 2 minute walk of the front door of the airport!).  Security was a breeze - with only 24 or so people on the flight, you basically "high fived" the TSA agent as you got on the plane, LOL.

 

For our upcoming cruise, pricing out of DTW was insane, so I checked out all the other major/minor airports within 3.5 hours drive - Chicago, Indy, Cleveland.  We wound up saving enough flying from Cleveland that we'll be able to drive down the evening before and check out the town, sleep at the hotel, and take a leisurely flight to Tampa - and still have extra money saved vs. DTW.

 

$800 - $900 would probably keep us taking the cruise. Wow. I may regret booking this early but I couldn't pass up the certainty of a decent price. I also knew the the international boat show is the following week in Ft. Lauderdale, which I'm inclined to think won't help air fares? Upgraded to comfort + for $350. I did look at flights from cleveland and Cincinnati, I think we are pretty fortunate here in Columbus. We seem to have reasonable fares.

Thanks, All great food for thought.

" " that I just checked flights for our Halloween cruise next year.... oye!

Off topic I know, but most of you folks have traveled more than us. For lack of anything better to do (at least that I wanted to do), I just checked fares from columbus, oh to Ft. Lauderdale for the 1st week of November, 2016. I know the rule of thumb is 45 to 90 days out for the best fares, but I found perfect flight times for $335 RT. That seems pretty good. Pull the trigger? Or practice patience?

Taditional MDR is a huge part of our cruising experience. The wife and I get added to as large as table as possible (usually 8, sometimes 12). We enjoy getting to know our table mates and wait staff throughout the week and listening to everyone's daily adventures. For those reasons, we never do Specialty restaurants on the first or last day. And we will only do one during the week for dinner.

How many phones are available to rent on Oasis of The Seas....and where on ship do you rent?

I have never personally used them, but I do not think that there is a limit on the number you can rent. I believe that they are abut $30 per phone per week. Also, one is lost or broken they will expect you to pay $1000 dollars or so. I have heard that you can pick them up at guest services or the "card room".

 

It is not a cheap alternative, but we pay for the internet package and use apps such as "whatsapp" to be able to text each other.

We never have had that problem either. Spending money never seems to be a challenge. By the time we buy internet package and pay gratuities, we have spent $400. We wait to pay for our drink packages until we get on board. Soda for me $55, soda/coffee for her $150. Add a specialty restaurant, and Johnny Rockets and I am digging in my pocket by the end of the cruise. Really, the biggest challenge for me is not prepurchasing some of these items out of sheer excitement about the cruise.

So...the only time you would need to pay for 2 people is if you wanted to be able to have 2 people be online with 2 separate devices at the same time, right ?  So they must charge not only by the number of devices that you logged on, but also by the number of login accounts that are logged in simultaneously ?  Otherwise, you could pay for 2 devices but just 1 person and both use the same login.

Biggest trick is to remember to log off when you are done. It doesn't log you off automatically. Several times my DW would be logged in on both her phone and her tablet and would forget to log off.

I am also pretty certain you can call the main 800 # and ask for "gifts & gear" or direct at 800-722-5443 and purchase OBC. I do not know about how this works in the UK, but I know a lot of people from Canada do this to take advantage of a better than average exchange rate.

Any information about the navigator please. Never been on a cruise before we are going on the 21st may 2016. Dress code, drinks, and can you use US dollars.

I believe they only accept USD for currency, but all of your on board expenses will be charged to your sea pass (room account) and then chqrged to you credit card on the last day. Shorts and sandals during the day. Slacks and collared shirt in the dining rooms in the evening. Suit or sport coat and time on "formal nights" in the dining room. EnJoY!

And to make it more difficult I believe you have to call or register/redeem you gift card prior to your cruise? It would be so much easier if they were able to be redeemed at guest services for charges against your sea pass.

Bucket list. Someday maybe I'll be willing to pay triple the fare of a lesser priced cruise, but not quite there yet. I bet it's awesome though, with all the Christmas music and decoration.

We did a new year cruise a few years ago, and as much as I love Christmas, the music got really old by the end of the week!

Although we have seen small groups such as yours or smaller on spring break cruises, we mostly see families with children of varied ages. I would think that if you want more people in their 20s you might want to look at 3, 4 and 5 night cruises out of U.S. ports. Both of our spring break cruises have been out of San Juan specifically because large groups in their 20s don't tend to pay the extra $ for airfare and 7 night itineraries. I believe Independence of the seas does 4 and 5 night itineraries out of ft. Lauderdale. In 2009 we had a large group from MIT which destroyed us in trivia all week long. Guessing your group won't be playing too much trivia?

Thanks for the all te good info and thoughts! I too wish the logo store had some semblance of quality logo merchandise. I would gladly purchase a nice oxford, golf knit, wind jacket, etc. But the 2 for $20 tee shirts look and feel like $10 shirts.

 

Some day we will eat in the windjammer for dinner. We so enjoy the MDR, the tradition, and chatting with our table mates. Very difficult for us to fore go that experience for the buffet, but everyone tells us that it is definitely worth it.

Great topic!

 

5) our cabin balcony!

 

4) deck four outide promenade on voyager & freedom class. Love standing by the railing so close to the sea!

 

3) (hat tip to whiteSox) rear facing table in the windjammer for breakfast and lunch.

 

2) Traditional MDR dinner. We really enjoy hearing about our new friends day. We always choose a large table so we meet new people.

 

1) our cabin's balcony

Not sure either, but I thought that dividers only started to open on Freedom class, maybe on the the later voyager class ships, Navigator and mariner? I know that Adventure and Voyager, they do not open.

Bronze, silver and gold. There are many other rediculously inane activities on board in which you try to earn these treasures.

Just an inquiry to learn if one exists. 

I've been on several Carnival cruises and one of the prizes for winning one of the various cruise competitions was a cheap little plastic cruise ship trophy.  It couldn't have been worth 50 cents but I simply had to have one.  Finally scored one on my last trip and now I want one from RC. 

Is there such a thing?  And if so, what must I do to get one?  I'm afraid I don't have quite enough girth for the belly flop contest - and I can't sing to save my life - but I'll do just about anything else. :D

 

DB

The winners of contests such as belly flop sexiest man table tennis receive a gloriously cheap Royal caribbean logo medal which is hung around the neck.