FloatMe

Obviously there will be families and children on all of the ships, thankfully! I love watching people of all ages enjoyingand engaging in life. As Doc mentioned, avoid summer and holidays but I would limit myself to oasis class or quantum class ships. The southern itineraries on Adventure are great and outside of school breaks, I think the extra effort and cost of flying to San juan deters families and I love the southern and eastern islands. Lots of options and you can't go wrong on Oasis.

Read about this in the news. Sounded like a drunken stunt gone horribly wrong, but they weren'tgiving many details.

The answer is yes! I have yet to sail on an Oasis class ship (next october/Allure) but I think you will immensely enjoy either. For us, the cost of Oasis class is not prohibitive, but voyager class and freedom class ships typically are less expensive and allow us to vacation more frequently. Other than cost, It would be hard not to choose Oasis, given all the additional options it allows in terms of restaurants aND activities. Both are going to have great kids and teen programs. It would also depend on the itineraries for us. We tend to prefer easternand southern routes, but our next two cruises will be western because the each have two stops that we have never been to. The tough decisions we have to make these days?

I am not certain about the exact timing, but i think the OP is correct that Adventure is supposed to drydock in 2016. I believe (several years ago) they had planned on doing the full refurbishishment in 2014, but for time and revenue purposes they split it up into two shorter periods. I believe it is still scheduled to get Flowrider, general cabin refreshing, chops, like it's sisters.

Another advantage to transferring the booking to a TA is that you will be eligible for any extras they re offering on top of what you got from RCCL for booking on board.

I haven't seen a photo of here recently but I think if they plan on using her on longer and unique itineraries like most ships her size. They may need to do some major construction such as adding balconies? It would seem odd to me to bring back a older small ship for it. Any ideas what itineraries they are planning to do?

In the spirit of keeping a dying tradition alive, I always wear my dinner attire in public areas such as theater, casino and discos. I wouldn't go to any of these places on land in denim or a tee shirt. I understand I'm in the minority.

Pictures from our GS on Adventure. BOY, we really loved the space! https://goo.gl/photos/t8WQHAW5Dbj17SDT9

We stayed in our first Grand Suite in April. It was definitely a splurge for us for our wedding cruise. We absolutely loved the extra space! It was nice to be able have our wedding party over for hors d'oeuvres and the use of the concierge to coordinate such activities. As much as we enjoyed it, we do not believe it is worth the cost for us to do again. We really don't use the concierge or the lounge that much, and although the dedicated seating in venues was nice, we inevitably are cruising with others or meet new people who are not in a suite. So we end up seated with them rather than the area reserved for suite guests. We have found that the Junior Suite gives us enought extra space and the double points. I'm sure even the cost of the JS seems a waste of money to some. All a matter of perspective.

And it gives you a reason to pull up your booking on the website, so you don't feel like a cruise nerd. Sometimes I just go to the website to make sure my bookings are still there. We are the Duke and dutchess of dorkville though. We had a few more details to take care of for our last cruise (wedding and group), but when we got to 10 months out, I picked one task to accomplish each month. One month I 2ould research and book a private excursion in one port. The next month, choose excursion for the next port, etc. Reserve dining and pay drink packages, and so on. That gave me a reason to stay excited and not get too ambitious leaving me nothing to do but WAIT.

They do make accomidations, but everyone needs to participate in muster. I would suggest contacting the special needs department well before your cruise and inform them of specific limitations. They should be able to provide you direction. Whatever you do, do not assume anything and not show up for muster. I have seen people throw off the ship for doing so. http://www.royalcaribbean.com/allaboutcruising/accessibleseas/home.do?cS=NAVBAR&pnav=1&snav=7

What a great trip for a first cruise! We sailed on Adventure from San juan for our 1st cruise in 2009. We loved it so much we chose that ship to get married on this past April. Advantage to MTD is certainly the flexibility for an active family. We are big fans of traditional dining and we request a large table so that we get to meet new people. A big part of our cruise experience is dining g with the same people and wait staff each evening. As for shore excursions, do your research in advance and book in advance either through RCCL or a private vendor.

YES.

Oh, and I still get excited (and wake up early) to see the ship pull into any port of call. It's better than Christmas, even if we've been there before.

Being from Ohio & having to fly to any embarkation port, the cost of a balcony is not much as a % of the total cost of the vacation. As has been mentioned it is a completely personal decision. We love sea days and just watching the ocean from the peace of our balcony. Coffee in the morning, naps in the afternoon. We have dear friends who will spend several hundred each in spa treatments and think we are rediculous for paying for a balcony. I will admit that my justification theory can baloon, however. We have now settled on Junior suites as our cabin of choice because of course, "as a % of the total cost of our vacation it is not that much more" ;)

From my understanding, they do have a costume party and parade in the Royal promenade. I will be interested to hear how they handle it, given your cruise sets sail on Halloween? We are going to be on Allure on Halloween next year.

I would be posting a photo from my balcony on this forum.

Any royal caribbean ship is the right ship for your first cruise. I have never been on a Quantum class ship and I have heard mixed reviews. We really enjoy traditional dining at a large table so we get to meet new people, so dynamic dining doesn't appeal to us.also, the cost for the newer ships is not prohibitive, but substantially more and for our money voyager class and freedom class ships provide everything we want for our cruise experience. That being said, I look forward to sailing on a Quantum class some day. Most of all, relax.... Enjoy!

To my knowledge with exception of quantum and Oasis class, no other ship has been upgraded to "voom" yet. Although Adventure, Indi and freedom do have pervasive wifi, they are al due for the next Gen upgrade to voom. Not that it matters to me, next cruise is not until Oct, 2016..... sigh! They will all be upgraded by then.

I just noticed that they indicated that they will adding voom to "all ships that sail in the caribbean will have voom by may of 2016". Not necessarily the entire fleet but only ships in the caribbean? ? https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Onboard_Experience/15044962_Voom_Trade_Flyer.pdf&ved=0CCcQFjAEahUKEwih0Y-88ZTIAhXCPD4KHXInAoY&usg=AFQjCNEJd1x1FKk2RHWz1gO5CCsQqHuuoQ&sig2=LOu3p5ezodvJStRImQdpHQ

Only quatum class and Oasis class ships currently have voom. Here is the article from this site. The rest to be rolled out thru mid next year. I have not seen a ship by ship schedule. http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/07/08/royal-caribbean-high-speed-voom-internet-everything-you-need-know

We are taking a chance on an old family resort called Lago Mar. It is right on the beach by the port entrance. I've read decent reviews, but I guess we'll see in 400 days (that's depressing). Has anyone else stayed there?

This is an answer I got on this question from a different forum "Voyager has port bookings in Hong Kong from May - October. Asians do not book too far in advance. Royal has released China cruises in October last 3 years."

It's last listed cruises are a repositioning cruise from Sydney to Singapore in April and then a repositioning cruise back to Sydney from Singapore in October. The only thing I can figure, is that they are having difficulty finalizing itineraries while in asia? ? That is weird.

Srry here is the options menu we got. Guessing you already have yours but if not here is something similar to what you will get. Ferretti-Swisshelm.doc