JLMoran

I've had CK visible in the Dining section of Cruise Planner for a long time now, but every time I attempt to make a reservation I'm told it's not available. I thought this was actually correct since I'm in a JS and those supposedly cannot book online, only after boarding. But if you're saying even JS guests can make reservations online then I'll keep trying every week or two. Maybe I just need to be inside a 90-day or 45-day window or something...

As with @Matt and @melski94, our attendant was very attentive and checked in on us regularly. When he wasn't checking on drink orders or clearing away the plates from our lunch, he would be found down at the far end of our row of cabanas (ours was second furthest out on the water, he would be back at the beach-side end of the row), keeping an eye on things and I assume making sure that non-cabana guests didn't wander into the area. The only time I actively had to go looking for him was early in the morning to get a golf cart called, and that only because I didn't realize he would be most of the way down at the end of the row. If I had to guess, I'd say he checked in on us about every half hour, 45 minutes tops during the time I was there for a good long stretch. And whenever we requested something, he got it lickety split. Probably helped with the drink orders that the cabanas on Nellie's Beach are maybe 20 feet away from the bar for that area. Honestly, I waited longer for golf carts to show up than for our attendant to get anything done. Our attendant actually got kind of PO'd the first time I requested a cart and made a second call, and even though my French is pretty bad I could still get the gist that he was telling the driver he had a cabana guest who'd been waiting over 15 minutes for the guy to show up and to get there pronto.

Thanks for this time range, @Lovetocruise2002! I've been checking pretty much weekly for a while now, and still nothing with 137 days to go. Guess I better start checking daily now! ? Do the reservations for Northstar and iFly show up under "Excursions" or "Entertainment & Activities"? I actually saw a new excursion for PADI re-certification pop up on our first sea day in the Excursions section, and I don't recall ever seeing excursions for sea days before now.

@Matt, I think the larger issue that I'm seeing reported here is that the Facebook / Instagram notifications appear on people's screens, but not with any accompanying sound (or vibration if the device is in silent mode), and as a result people miss those broadcasts. Whereas Periscope notifications display on screen and play a distinctive sound / vibrate when muted, so that it's much harder to miss if you don't have your phone out where you can see the notification appear.

You'll have one specific attendant assigned to your bungalow, assuming it operates the same as the cabanas. As with @Matt and @melski94, I tipped at the end.

Welcome to the boards, @DirktheCat! Not only will you find plenty of friendly Canadians here, but also a good number of friendly fellow black cat owners / lovers! ?

They were in the closet of our cabins on Freedom, but I think they also had extras in the muster stations, for the reason @twangster noted above.

That jibes with what I had as well. And here’s my photo showing the cup a little more in close up: I’ve got long-fingered hands and still couldn’t have wrapped them around that cup if I wanted to.

Thanks for the great review. Really happy that you had a great time on Capt. Bob’s! And that was a fantastic rate you got for the drink package, better than just about anything I’ve seen quoted here. Also glad the kids and grandparents had fun. Did they take large part in the snorkeling and beach time with Capt. Bob’s, or mostly stayed on the boat? Which dining time did you have, traditional or my time dining? Given the complaints that have been voiced here about staff service at dinner time vs your positive review, I’m curious to see where your data point lies.

Our sailing on Freedom had muster in Studio B for our section of the ship. We were deck 8, cabins 8234 and 8232.

Sounds like a good reason to arrive for checkin at 10:00 and head straight to Guest Services as soon as you’ve boarded. Secure the rollaway, then lounge by the pool for a few hours, secure in the knowledge you beat out the slowpokes and late arrivers. ?

That's odd. On Labadee I was able to get a Labadoozie or any other frozen drink in a 16-oz regular plastic cup with straw. Might have been "only" 12-oz, but most definitely not a mere 6 ounces! I don't know if this was part of having a cabana rented and so my attendant was able to get larger containers for us, but that really stinks if you can only get tiny containers on Coco Cay if you don't spring for the souvenir mug.

Hey, I resemble that remark! Never flown out of any terminal but C as far as I can remember. I will say that the last time I was there for this cruise back in March/April, the terminal had undergone a lot of refurbishment since the last time I'd been there, with a lot of new dining venues and beverage establishments I'd never seen before. But parking was still a mess, getting through security when already late was harrowing, and the terminal gates were just as crowded as I always remembered.

I would recommend the Refreshment Package if you enjoy the virgin drinks, especially if you can catch it on sale for $18 per person per night. Very easy to "break even" or come out ahead after having just a few mocktails a day.

Fantastic blog and stunning photos! Thanks so much for sharing! Do consider the late traditional dining slot (8 or 8:30, depending on ship). Having done it myself, I can say that there wasn't one time when I went there feeling ravenous or wishing our dining slot was just a little bit earlier. And since we usually saw a show or did some other activity afterward, it wasn't like we were eating and going to bed right after. Service was great every night, and I think the staff wasn't feeling nearly as rushed or pressured as they might have with an earlier seating. We normally eat at 6:30 when at home, so I attribute the lack of major hunger at 8:30 to the ready supply of snacking items you can get for free on board. Well, that and probably the sail-away margaritas I had most days!

I find it interesting you dislike the FLL airport so much. Having mostly flown out of EWR and knowing the experience there, my family and I all thought that FLL airport was much nicer and more pleasant to deal with than EWR. Kind of makes me wonder what your reaction will be to EWR when you finally get a chance to sail out of Bayonne. ?

This. I've never seen such tight slots as the ones I played on Freedom last April. I might as well have thrown the money overboard while a casino watched and counted the bills. I would have set it on fire and tossed it in the rubbish bin, but they have rules about that on board. ?

Hi @Vee2525, welcome to the RCBlog boards! I haven't been to Coco Cay yet, but based on what I have read here from others and what I know is planned for Coco Cay over the next couple of years with the "Perfect Day" effort, I would say that Labadee is maybe a step past where Coco Cay is now, but not nearly the level they are planning for Coco Cay. What I mean by this is that while you have some "attractions" at Labadee like the Dragon's Breath zip line and Dragon's Tail alpine coaster, plus the small water park area, it is in no way be the extravaganza Royal seems to be planning to turn Coco Cay into. The cabana experience should be the same as Coco Cay, where you will have a personal attendant to take care of you and you will be given some extra amenities like nicer towels than you can take off the ship and a cooler of water. You'll also have access to a "golf cart" transport to get you to all the different spots around the area. My family and I took big advantage of this for getting to places like the alpine coaster and the barbecue lunch, as well as back to the ship at the end of the day. The alpine coaster is a lot of fun if you're into that kind of coaster, and I would recommend that you (a) get the all-day pass if you at all plan to ride more than once, and (b) ride it early in the day, when I found the lines to be minimal or non-existent. My family did the zip line and said it was also a ton of fun, and not nearly as scary as they thought it was going to be. Apart from doing those two activities, our day was pretty much a beach day spent lounging in the cabana or lazing in the lagoon. My kids went to the market area and learned the hard way the importance of good haggling skills when buying anything there; if you're not into haggling, skip that area and save yourself some agita. Hope this helps!

I’m afraid Port Everglades isn’t any better, at least in Terminal 29 where I disembarked from FotS this past April. Big warehouse-like area that all the luggage is brought to, grouped by the number you were given on your next to last night. Still have to search through your assigned pile to find your stuff. At least it’s in discrete smaller piles.

As @rjac said, you’re fine wearing prescription glasses if you need them, and this is true at the port as well (just sailed out of Florida in March and kept mine on for my pic). But no sunglasses, and no sun hats / baseball caps / other head covering.

Since that train is not arranged with Royal, they will not pick up your luggage and you'll have to bring it to the ship PRO: Luggage will be taken by Royal before you board the train, and will be on the ship by the time the train arrives

20% discount is definitely a good deal! Of course, Royal will say it's more than that because they calculate off of on-board prices (whatever number that might be on a random Friday). ?

Out of curiosity, was was the going price before the current sale? Most recent article about the bungalows that Matt posted was from August 2016, and it was $250 at that time. Given how much the price of cabanas has shot up over the last year, wouldn't surprise me to hear the bungalows are going for $300+ without a sale.

Did I just get dropped into the vacationer's version of Monty Python's "Four Yorkshiremen" skit? ?

OK, then! Guess that means we're going to the port at 7:15, as soon as we've dropped off the younger one at high school! ?