BrianAlt

Very campy, but pretty fun. If you're interested, do it.

If they want to go early, let them go.

The regular bars all have ONLY lagers and Blue Moon (Coors Wheat Ale). Very disappointing. They used to at least have Sierra Nevada Pale Ale at the regular bars. No longer. Also, the pub choices, while decent, have actually gone downhill.

Cruise Critic is worthwhile for the Roll Calls, but I stay off the general boards.

I see the back of my head.

Wow. This wasn't reported to me.

The weather can vary. We took the Harmony across the Atlantic in October/November. It was low 70s in the first half of the cruise (other than 1 rainy day) and it was upper 70s the second half and low 80s as we approached Florida. We had unbelievably nice weather. But it can't always be expected.

I recommend Bernard's Tours in St. Maarten. Of course I'm not sure of the condition of the island at the time of your sailing. http://www.bernardstours.com/

No. I haven't noticed the difference on any ships with the connecting door. It's in a place not utilized by furniture.

I recommend that you DO NOT visit Universal or Disney for the day. The cost is enormous and you'll be lucky to get 5 hours there. Do the bumper cars as soon as you board. They'll be open at noon on embarkation day. Schedule you North Star ride and all of the shows. Eat breakfast and lunch at Cafe 270º and enjoy the views. Midday there will be shows by the robo screens. Cool to watch.

Not really new, but I realized I never introduced myself properly... My name is Brian and I'm a cruise addict... Okay, got that out of the way. So a bit about me... I love cruising (duh!), craft beer (I've tried over 4000 unique beers since February, 2011), I enjoy reality TV, especially Survivor. I listen to podcasts every day during my commute in and out of NYC and the podcasts I listen to are related to all of my interests. I live in Northern New Jersey. I'm a fan of the NY Giants, the NY Mets and the Syracuse Orange. My avatar is Otto, the Syracuse University mascot. I have been on 22 cruises as follows: Song of Norway-Nov 1991 * Majesty of the Seas-Sept 1994 * Diamond Princess-April 2004 * Mariner of the Seas-April 2006 * Carnival Valor-March 2007 * Explorer of the Seas-April 2008 * Explorer of the Seas-July 2009 * Oasis of the Seas-July 2010 * Carnival Glory-July 2011 * Enchantment of the Seas-Oct 2011 * Enchantment of the Seas-Oct 2011 * Allure of the Seas-April 2012 * Brilliance of the Seas-Nov 2012 * Celebrity Equinox-July 2013 * Celebrity Summit-July 2014 * Quantum of the Seas-Nov 2014 * Quantum of the Seas-Dec 2014 * Liberty of the Seas-July 2015 * Celebrity Summit-Oct 2015 * Anthem of the Seas-Mar 2016 * Harmony of the Seas-Oct 2016 * Independence of the Seas-July 2017 That's 16 on Royal Caribbean, 3 on Celebrity, 2 on Carnival and 1 on Princess. I have the following cruises currently booked: Harmony of the Seas-Sept 2017 * Celebrity Millennium-June 2018 * Symphony of the Seas-Oct 2018 * Symphony of the Seas-Feb 2019 * Celebrity Edge-March 2019 After the Harmony group cruise, I'll be 3 7-night cruises from Diamond Plus. I'm glad to be here and hope to help as much as I can! Brian

If the port is open, and there is damage to island, generally speaking the ship will call on that port. It only varies what you can do on the island itself.

Too early to tell.

Yes. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/08/26/royal-caribbean-makes-changes-quantum-of-the-seas-the-chinese-cruise-market

Barbuda. Horribly incredible.

Maho Beach cam up until it was destroyed. Truly horrifying. Most have probably seen this via other sources, but worth sharing.

This is correct. It was announced with the other changes when the ship was moving to China that the casino would be expanded into the Music Hall.

Know them well. Their beers are good, but I honestly know some that are better.

If cost isn't an issue, go with a suite!!!

Great stuff! Thanks!

This definitely used to be the case. However, I remember hearing about a change that nullified that. You should look into that possibility further.

At least half of my cruises have been during hurricane season as we usually cruise to celebrate our anniversary (October). I've never had a problem.

Best and cheapest (versus a suite) is two cabins with an adjoining door between them.

No news, but some are starting to wonder if it will get back to port on time. It's a legitimate concern. All you can do is watch for now. Plus we have Jose pulling up the rear. Expected to turn into a hurricane in the next 48 hours. Although it looks more likely to head north in the Atlantic. Only time will tell!

The Storm King is localish. DFH also. And Brooklyn. But NJ has a bunch of great up and coming breweries. It depends on who they are using for distribution. And they probably want to be a little bit mainstream and stick with the "large" craft brewers.