JLMoran

If you’re staying in Fort Lauderdale, see if you are near one of the trolley bus routes. They’re more like taxis than buses, in that you can pretty much hail one or he off one from any point along their route, not just at designated stopping points like the Publix Mall on 17th Street. And they’re a great way to get to the nearby beaches, Galleria Mall, and other points of interest. $1 per person to get on and go to any point along the way, or Pay $3 each and have all-day access. Thats really all we did during our couple of days there; hop on the Beach Line trolley, go to the beach or mall, and otherwise wander within walking distance of our hotel. Can’t really recommend any specific places as we were mostly chilling. But isn’t that the best way to start a vacation? I will definitely second the recommendation for La Bamba. Had two great dinners there, with two equally great Perfect Margaritas.

And to make it more confusing yet, the on-board pricing can vary on the same ship, depending on sail date. Not as common, but I do think this was the case for my sailing on Freedom that spanned Spring Break week, as I was not seeing nearly as low drink package prices as others on the same ship and itinerary but earlier / later sailings than mine. Best I ever saw was $43 per night for Deluxe, and others were seeing as low as $39 for their own Freedom sailings.

Just my iPhone 6s Plus. Not even a Moment lens attached. Then just a quick run through the Magic Wand in Photos along with some cropping. Overheard circa early 2014: Apple – "Right, seems everyone has started to Instagram their food nowadays. Give us a camera system that can make any food pic look good." Sony – "You want glamorous, appetizing, or mouthwatering?" Apple – "How about all three?" Sony – "Right, no problem."

Awesome blog as always, @twangster. ??? Looks like the Moment lenses worked out pretty well for you, a lot of those shots were spectacular!

Thanks, @Matt! Are you hungry now? ?

Yup, they did! What a strange contraption that was, never seen anything like it.

Hi JKeila, welcome to the forums! General information about formal night, including which nights it's typically held, can be found here. In addition, the YouTube video below covers all of Royal's different dress styles (casual, smart casual, and formal), and even gives some good examples of the different styles for kids and adults. Smart Casual is basically the same as business casual, and makes up most of the dinner nights on a cruise. First night is usually casual, due to not everyone having their luggage delivered before dinner, and there may be one or two other fully casual dinner nights towards the end of the trip. The rest of the nights will be smart casual, except for the designated formal nights.

No banner for me, but I got an email notifying me it was taking place. Matt also posted about it in the main blog feed. Only thing I'm seeing truly lower prices on is the drink packages -- $42 pp pd for the Deluxe Package, and $18 pp pd for the Refreshment Package, which is really good. As for the other categories: Dining is unchanged from when I last checked a few days ago Internet Package prices are also unchanged, with $15 per night for one device and $28.49 for two Interestingly, the Deluxe Beverage + 1 Device VOOM package is actually more per day for the device portion after factoring in the current reduced price on the Deluxe Package by itself. Before the sale, the price was $56 per night ($45 for drinks, $11 for one device; 27% savings vs. buying 1-device VOOM directly) With the sale, the price is $54.50 per day ($42 per night for drinks, $12.50 per night for one device, only a 17% savings vs. buying VOOM directly) So yes, the final price on this combined package is a smidge lower than pre-sale, but it's not as good of a deal all around since you're saving less on the VOOM part Excursions... Well, they're supposedly part of the sale, but like the OP I wasn't tracking prices on those as much; mostly because we weren't really planning to buy any. That said, we've since changed our minds, mainly on the advice of @coneyraven, who strongly recommended taking a sponsored excursion to Crystal Caves since we wanted to go there on day 2 in Bermuda. So we'll see what we find and figure out if it's a good price, and if not we'll wait for another sale.

Please! Make it go away... It keeps on telling me to do strange things... I'm tellin' ya! SLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAPPY! "Don't make me go back in the book!!!"

Main Seating (or traditional dining) happens every day at a fixed dinner time. You have an assigned table, which you dine at every night, and also have an assigned waiter and assistant waiter. Tables are usually larger, seating 6 or more, but smaller tables can be had if you'd rather not share company. The times are generally scheduled to work around the theater performances each evening. My Time Dining has no set time each day, it's like a regular dinner out at a land restaurant. You can make reservations or just walk up, and doing the latter could mean a small wait. You'll get whatever table is available, and whichever wait staff are assigned to that section. Food is the same in both plans, it really comes down to whether you want flexibility about when you have dinner each night. More detailed info can be found at these links: First Time Cruisers: Dinner on Royal Caribbean What You Need to Know About Royal Caribbean's My Time Dining

+1 for this. First cruise ever this past March/April, and it was such a good feeling just sipping that drink (lava flow!!), feeling the breeze, and letting yourself go for just a little. It really brings that "I'm finally on vacation" feeling home. Let that settle in for a bit, and then worry about (leisurely) exploring or having lunch or whatever. You've waited a long time for this moment, so take a little while to just savor it and take it all in. The ship won't mind, it'll be there all week.

It was probably closer to an hour to actually leave the ship and clear customs, with the last 20-30 minutes just waiting outside for our Lyft to show up. Since we were in the next-to-last group to actually leave the ship, there was a huge bottleneck just getting to the point where our Sea Pass cards were scanned. We left from the main theater on deck 4, and even though we had a straight line run to the gangway, there were only two people scanning cards at the exit point. That was at least 30 minutes of waiting, plus another 10 or 15 as we wound our way down through the building to where luggage and the customs lines were. Throw in an unexpected bathroom pause, and needing a bit of time to find our luggage and for the porter to get it all stacked (I still can't believe he hauled all 8 of our bags on one small dolly!), and then another 10-15 minutes getting through the customs line, we were easily at the 1-hour mark by the time we were actually outside with the crowd waiting to be picked up by their taxi / airport van / Lyft / Uber. I will say that when we arrived at the port for embarkation day, that was also a little after 11 AM and there were still a good number people standing outside the terminal building exit, waiting for their rides. It actually threw us off, as we thought they were waiting to get into the building until I noticed they had all their luggage with them.

Yup, still there. Went to the cruise planner, then exited and reloaded, and still 16 points as my total. Need to call Royal to verify the kids and wife have their points, so maybe after I find the time to do that things will "be fixed".

Hmm, I'm not so sure it's entirely Apple's fault. I was on 11.3 during my cruise as well. While I had problems with my phone occasionally losing its connection while in our cabin, my wife's Android phone and our first-gen iPad mini (which is only on iOS 8 due to its age) had the same problem. Definitely did not have a problem with roaming around the ship and staying connected. I know iOS (and especially watchOS, for those with an Apple Watch) sometimes has trouble with WiFi networks that use a capture page to mandate a login, but I'm guessing that it's a combination of iOS and the older WiFi systems on the ships without O3b.

@monctonguy, I've read here that Air2Sea is generally useless if you're from North America and flying domestically, but has actually given some good deals for overseas flights out of NA.

I don't believe that RC can store your luggage, because you are in the port terminal and it's the port workers handling everything once the luggage is off the ship. I've read other accounts here of people being on the beach with their luggage on disembarkation day while waiting for their flights, so you wouldn't be out of place to be seen hauling your stuff around. The porters definitely won't keep your stuff in any kind of storage, their job is just to get stuff onto the ship and back off into the passengers' hands. Even if they could, you'd be hard-pressed to get back into the terminal without a valid Set Sail Pass or other document. General information on disembarkation can be found in this post from Matt. My family and I just did our own first cruise ever, also out of Port Everglades, and disembarkation was very straightforward for us. We had the next to last time slot at 9:30, and we got outside and ready for pickup around 11. The earlier you disembark, the faster it will go since the customs lines won't have built up yet. I think your group is too large for any Uber or Lyft service to help you out, so you'll definitely need a van service. It might not be a bad idea to check out something like resortforaday.com or a similar service and just make a reservation at an area hotel, have yourselves and your stuff brought there in a van (maybe the hotel's van), and ask the bellhops to store your things in the locked storage area while you enjoy your time ahead of your flight. Then you can just take the van one more time when you need to get to the airport.

Are you sure about that? Is the dummy's name SLLLLLLLLAPPY??

+1

@princevaliantus, your link and Matt's posting from April that I linked to are one and the same. I compared the percentages and time windows and they match up exactly. Global Traveler USA is simply a bit behind in reporting this.

Love this transport tubing for getting the ball down there! Just better hope someone doesn't steal your ball while you're walking down there... ?

Matt wrote about this in April on the main blog. Not new news. I also don't see how this is really a "punishment", considering this is still for cancellations made after the final payment date; cancel before final payment and you still get 100% back (less any NRD and associated change fees). And I don't see anything (here or in Matt's original posting) indicating that you forfeit that money if you have trip insurance, which I would hope a person would invest in if they think there is any risk of having to cancel after final payment because of an emergency or other problem. To me, this is Royal taking another step to deal with the people who have gamed the system, booking a half-dozen cruises in the same short span of time and then canceling all but one or two of them a couple of months or weeks before sail date, when they have decided which ones they really want to take or which ones have the best flights or whatever. If you want to blame anyone, blame those people who collectively were probably costing Royal a fair bit of money between the last-minute cancellations and then having to fire-sale the vacant rooms so the ship would still sail full.

Great pics as always @twangster! Appreciate the cabin tour. I didn't realize that the balcony rooms had the actual balconies fully enclosed like that. So no way to open up between connecting rooms and get a larger space out of it. I did notice the balcony railing / glass is angled outward. Do you still have a good view to either side when sitting, or do you have to walk right up to the railing to have any view to the sides? Since you said you're traveling light, I'm curious if all the pics from your phone or if you had jammed your regular camera into your suitcase? If all from the phone, that's even more impressive with those night shots! And I would definitely want to know what app / settings you used, any tripod / monopod, etc. Learning time! ?

@hayley_bopp, we just followed the principle "it never hurts to ask". I don't think the group size would matter so much, since a larger group means they already have that much more money put in to cover the extra bottles needed, but you could be right if they budget a certain number of bottles per night ahead of time; in that situation, our basically half-normal size group was just getting lucky. I imagine they also regularly get guests who don't drink but are dining with spouses / significant others who do, which also leaves room in the "budget" each meal for some extra glasses to served without charge. I would guess that if they do pre-budget a certain amount, and guests then ask for additional that goes over the budget, at that point they would just start charging the normal per-glass rate to your Sea Pass card, or maybe a per-bottle rate split among the group if everyone asks for a particular wine. Denying guests additional glasses at all would probably not go over well. Oh, and I forgot to note that the entire meal was a good three hours, plus the half hour or so after dessert that we spent chatting and enjoying our extra glasses. It was 9:30 by the time we all got up to leave, so do plan on seeing only late-seating shows that evening, or just going to the pub or another of the smaller venues and watching whoever is performing live that night.

I just realized I'm way overdue for writing this. But that's good, it gives me a chance to remember what was easily the most amazing meal on my recent sailing on Freedom of the Seas! I booked this dining experience on the Cruise Planner, about 2 months ahead of our sail date, for $89. I got to choose from any night of our sailing, so I chose our third night (second sea day), figuring it would be better to enjoy this on a day when I wasn't completely worn out from a port day excursion. I did not receive a confirmation of this booking when we boarded. Instead, I had a paper delivered to the cabin on Night 2 noting to meet in Bolero's Lounge, where we would all be escorted to the actual table once everyone had arrived. Oddly, the invitation said to dress in Smart Casual style, where the Cruise Planner indicated Formal. I don't know if this was a glitch in the on-board system or if Royal is moving yet another dining venue to less formal wear, but I decided I was going to ignore this and dress as if it were formal night. And it was a good thing, as everyone else who showed up for the meal was also in their fancy dinner best! The experience actually started while waiting for everyone to gather, as we met the gentleman who would be our waiter, sommelier, and host. His name was Mario, and he came out dressed in a very formal charcoal gray suit and white gloves. If this wasn't an indication for everyone attending to be dressed formally, I don't know what is! That made the invitation's suggestion of Smart Casual even more inexplicable. Mario had a tray of champagne glasses waiting for us, and we were welcomed to enjoy a glass while we waited for everyone to gather. As I usually do on events like this, I showed up about 10 minutes early and ended up being the first one there. Mario and I chatted a bit, and he told me his nickname among the crew was "Super Mario" because of all the jobs he has to manage among the dining staff, including his role in the nightly Chef's Table experience. No, he's not that "Super Mario", but they actually do know each other and get along very well. The other guests arrived, and it turned out we were a small group -- only 7 total (I was the only solo guest, as I was never able to convince my younger daughter to join me). Two of the three couples were also from NJ, but much further south than me; the third couple were from Texas. We were told that normally they have between 12 and 15 guests each night, but for whatever reason this particular night had only about half that. Now the second discrepancy from the printed invitation came out – While the invitation said that we would be dining in Giovanni's Table, it turned out that our group was so small that evening that we would be dining in the MDR, on a small balcony towards the top of the staircase that's located between decks 4 and 5. This was kind of amusing, since we had the My Time dining folks on deck 5 and several of them walked down the stairs and past our table to leave; we got more than a few stares as they looked us in our finery and dining on food that was definitely not the same cut as what they had on their menus. I'm undecided if I preferred actually eating in the MDR, with the elegant decor all around us that I felt fit the theme of the night better, or if it would have been a little better to eat in Giovanni's just for a chance at fewer bystanders walking by. The view of the MDR from our private table / balcony, taken after the meal had ended Speaking of menus, we had our planned menu for the evening waiting for us at our places: We were told by Mario that the order of the menu was being adjusted slightly, so as to work better with the order in which the wines were being served. It was also explained to us that the menu was a little misleading in terms of the Entree selection, as there were really only two choices; the branzino or the filet mignon. The Truffle Tagliatelle was a Pasta course that would be served before the entrees, and have its own wine pairing. Finally, Mario pointed out the dessert – Yes, you're reading that right; we were going to be served the same dessert that is offered in Wonderland on the Quantum and Oasis class ships! All of us were super-excited when we saw this! Our scallop carpaccio was the only course served without a wine pairing, as it was intended as a palate cleanser. It was absolutely delicious, and as we ate the chef came out to tell us about the dish: what carpaccio meant (a dish of raw meat or seafood that was sliced very thinly), how the dish was prepared, and why each ingredient was chosen / how it enhanced the desired flavors; this would be repeated for each course, and I was really wishing my younger daughter was there as I know she would have absolutely loved this facet of the experience. Next up was the salad, a Maine lobster salad served with hearts of palm of and pineapple, and paired with a Chardonnay named Ausièrres Blanc. I never would have thought that pineapple and lobster would work, but it did and very well! And the Chardonnay was also very good; it's actually one of the few varieties of white wine that I like. Next was our soup course. This was a smoked tomato soup that had been in the smoker literally overnight; the soup actually smelled like barbecue sauce, the smoke flavor was so strong! It was served with a crouton, a slice of fresh parmesan, micro greens, and creme fraiche; the wine pairing was as rosé wine named Whispering Angel. All of us were quite surprised that a mildly flavored, more fruity rosé would be paired with something as bold and strongly flavored as this soup; many of us asked how the wine would not be overpowered by the soup, but Mario assured us that it would balance surprisingly well. And wouldn't you know it, he was right! I'm not a real fan of rosé wines, but this worked remarkably well and the wine itself was quite palatable for me. And the soup itself was amazing! Every one of us was gushing to Mario about how great it tasted; it may have smelled like barbecue sauce from the intense smoking, but the flavor was not at all overpowering, just this rich and intense flavor of the roasted tomato blending beautifully with the smokiness. We all were wishing there was some way to get some to take home and enjoy after our trip. Next we had our pasta course, a truffle tagliatelle. The pasta was freshly made, and the black truffles gave it a really distinctive flavor; not the same as truffle oil, though similar; it was much more intense and I found I much preferred it. The butter was very light, just enough to keep the pasta from sticking. And it was served with what was my favorite wine of the evening – a Tuscan red named Lucente LaVite. I ended up having 3 glasses of this! Next, our main entree was served. I chose the branzino, along with about half of the table, and it was served with a Pinot Grigio named Danzante. This white I wasn't as fond of, but the branzino was quite good. I'd never had it before, and the main reason I ordered it is because of all the seasons of Master Chef that I'd watched, where the restaurant takeover episode would have the contestants serving a branzino appetizer; I wanted to know what the heck this fish tasted like that was such a standard! ? Those who ordered the filet mignon had their entree paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon named Sequoia Grove. Each of us was allowed to try the other's wine to see how we liked it; I've never been a fan of Cab, and I found this one to be no different. I don't know what it is about that variety vs other reds, but I haven't yet found one that I don't wrinkle my mouth at after the first sip. Finally, it was time for dessert. Before we were served, Mario poured each of us a small glass of a late-harvest Sauvignon Blanc named Errazuriz. This was definitely a dessert wine, very sweet and not something to have with an earlier course. With the wine poured, each of us had a plated chocolate globe placed in front of us; not one who knew what this dessert was failed to take a "before" picture: Mario then went around the table with a gravy bowl filled with melted caramel, which was poured over the chocolate until the surprise inside was revealed. And again, not one of us who knew was this dessert was failed to have our phones out, ready to take video as our turn came to pass: We all agreed that this was one of the best desserts we'd ever had, whether we'd already gotten to enjoy it on a previous Oasis / Quantum cruise, or if it was the first time we'd had it. And the wine worked very well with this; I will have to remember to see if this wine or a similar one is offered when I sail Anthem in October, as my wife and I agreed we would like to try Wonderland during that trip. After dessert was done, we were allowed to enjoy another glass or two (or three!) of whichever wines we particularly enjoyed. Mario had multiple bottles of each one available, and we all stayed at the table for maybe another half hour while the plates were cleared and our chef came out one final time. We all thanked him heartily for one of the best meals we'd had, and each of us took our photos with him to remember the experience by. Yeah, I definitely look like I've been enjoying the La Volte Toscana by this time! Each of us was presented with a check showing a zero balance, but all of us wrote in an additional tip to cover the service and meal prep that went far above and beyond the price that we paid. I learned afterward that the tip was recorded in the final bill as a charge to Giovanni's Table, which makes sense since that was the originally planned venue. Keep this in mind should you decide to do Chef's Table yourself and also give an extra tip to your waiter and chef. Because believe me, after that meal and the wine, you may not remember doing it by the time you see your final cruise bill! ? That wraps up my review of Chef's Table. This is definitely a must-do experience at least once in your cruising life. And I have to say, the price is unbelievably reasonable considering typical on board prices for high end wines like the ones we were served. The Toscana that I enjoyed so much was over $30 a glass in Vintages, and even when I found it in my local wine store it was over $60 a bottle! Considering we were served 5 different wines, that's at least $90 in onboard pricing right there, considering that not one of the wines we were served would be an "average" wine found on the MDR menu or in the lower-priced section in Vintages; on land it would still have likely been at least $40 or $50 for the wines. And the food itself was easily a $125 affair if I had anything similar at a local land restaurant, keeping in mind that I'd likely have to travel to Manhattan or one of the more popular culinary hubs in northern NJ like Montclair, Ridgewood, or Morristown. For only $89, this meal was an absolute steal and one of the few true bargains I would argue you will find on board without buying a package of some sort. This is true fine dining and And don't feel that you can't bring your kids to this. I know I had asked about this months before my cruise and was told the same, but I want to just offer my own confirmation now. As long you have kids with an adventurous palate or who enjoy gourmet cooking, they'll be fine with this. And while they can't drink the wines offered, as I noted the meal alone is easily worth more than the price you're charged. On the other hand, it also makes for one hell of a date night with your SO if you can arrange for the kids to be left at Adventure Ocean or the nursery.

@Sweety, great news! And a little surprising -- From the time when I'd been tracking, SWA and the other low-cost carriers tended to either sell out or go way up in price inside the 90-day mark (if they aren't sold out well before then). Maybe I was just being too picky about the flight times, so I saw some artificially limited results.