JLMoran

I'd also say to judge that based on the size of the excursion group. If it's a real small group, like 10-15 people, I'd book as soon as possible. (provided the cancellation policy is good, as DocLC said) Larger group sizes mean you can probably wait longer to pull the trigger, but I'd still be careful not to get too close to departure.

What her new husband is learning to say at the end of every discussion.

Had this link show up in my Pinterest feed today: Tips for Cruising from a Former Cruise Ship Employee The first comment about the water made me blink, because I don't recall seeing anyone here comment on the water tasting bad or drying out their skin when they shower. I see how that second one might be the case if the ship is using desalinated ocean water for showers and such, but it seems a stretch when most / all of the salt is pulled out. And I've drunk desalinated ocean water when I went to Club Med in the Turks & Caicos islands over 20 years ago, and found it totally fine (basically a good mineral water). I'm also curious about the comment on the food all being previously frozen. Seems a stretch here, too, at least as far as the flavor and such given everyone's near-constant raves about the food on Royal's MDRs and specialty restaurants. I could see that maybe being something the crew has to deal with, as they save the "good stuff" for the passengers, but it still strikes me as odd. Finally, the comment about still bringing something warmer to wear outside on the sea days. This also seems dubious to me when you're sailing in the Caribbean out of Florida and the temperature is always in the 80s, but that's why I'm asking you experienced cruisers for confirmation. :) The article's publication date is from 2010; I'm guessing that while it may have been more accurate back then, improvements in cruise ship tech have made those comments about the water and food less so in recent years. And while it's not said, I think that maybe the author was on a Mediterranean line; is it possible the ship she worked on simply wasn't as up to date as more modern ships or ones that have been refurbished, and she's overgeneralizing?

Ditto! I'm actually in the port-side cabin exactly 1 floor down from Wilson. :D

Not both at once. ? Seriously, though, as the parent of a 13-year old and 16-year old, it's not necessarily (depending on overall rowdiness) the kind of behavior I want them seeing. @Ocalarnd said he also has kids but not their ages, so I mentioned in case it might also be a concern for him.

It'll be 19 years since my own wedding thirteen days from now, and I still remember the panicked rush to get things wrapped up at the end. One word of caution -- if you're taking a limo anywhere the morning after your wedding to get to the airport / cruise terminal / whatever, call them the week before to confirm everything is recorded correctly for where to pick you up and what time. Then call them the day before to confirm it again. Our limo went to our apartment instead of the hotel we were staying at, forcing us to desperately find a last-minute taxi and race down the roads to the airport to make our flight to Hawaii. I tipped that taxi driver enormously when he actually got us there in time and without ever getting picked up by a speed trap!

Brand new to cruising, but this has been my strategy so far in booking my first two cruises. Choose where I want to go (general region), then see which cruise lines and ships go there and which offer the longest itineraries with the best port options. Then I look at what the different ships offer for all the family members who will be going. Finally, I look at the price and figure out whether it works with the rough budget idea I had.

I haven't been, but based on what I see on Trip Advisor's reviews of this excursion, it's lacking in the snorkeling department. I also saw some complaints about lack of safety from people who were self-admitted weak swimmers; one got pulled off the back of the boat by a strong wave and her cries for help were being ignored. It's ranked #25 out of 37 boat tours. If this is the boat I'm thinking of, I had looked this one up on YouTube when I was looking for my own excursion to book, and confirmed it's basically a party boat more than anything else. Lots of clips of folks in their 20's drinking and jumping off the ship and swimming around it. Basically, when in doubt, check Trip Advisor and see what reviews come up. Then look on YouTube, as you're guaranteed to find at least a couple of relevant videos. On a side note, it does seem from the research I've done that the water excursions available through the cruise line (at least for St. Maarten) don't really measure up to what you can find through independent third parties.

I'll chime in and suggest going on Navigator. Not only for the longer itinerary, but also for a chance to maybe upgrade from that promenade room to a full balcony looking over the ocean, hopefully for not much more money than the difference with Oasis. But it's your honeymoon, not mine. ? Do whichever option will make it the most memorable for the two of you, even if it ends up blowing the budget a bit.

Haven't been on a cruise, but was on a two week break from work followed by a few days of getting caught back up. ;) Newark / Cape Liberty is about 45 minutes from where I live, so I can't really recommend any hotels to you from that area. However, when I was researching a Bermuda trip on Anthem I found this cruise review where the reviewers stayed at a Westin in the area (the Westin Jersey City). That hotel appears to be very close to the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway and, I'm guessing from the review, has convenient access to Hoboken (a city that I can say has some awesome dining options along its main drag, having gone to grad school at Stevens Institute of Technology there). The reviewers did have to drive from the hotel to the port, about 20 minutes by their account (mainly city traffic from what I remember of that area). But if that works for you or you can book a Lyft, I'd say go for it. The Westin hotel line is pretty good, better in my experience than Hiltons in this area that I've been to.

Jane, I just re-checked and we're exactly 336 days to go as of today. So definitely the one after yours. We'll have to wave as we pass by in the terminal!

I hope there's room in that case for Symphony when her model becomes available.

As of today, I can (finally?) book dining on the Cruise Planner, but beverage packages for my Eastern Caribbean outing on Freedom next year are still unavailable. Which is kind of nuts since beverage packages are now the only category not opened up, even though I'm still 330-ish days from that cruise. I can buy excursions, dining, spa treatments, and internet, but no beverage packages! I'm not counting Entertainment as "missing", since there's no reserving shows on Freedom.

For St. Maarten, take a look at Soualiga Destinations all-day speedboat tour, with Captain Bob. Just booked this for our cruise on Freedom next March/April. it's the #1 excursion in St. Maarten and very reasonably priced compared to the other snorkeling options. The only caveat with this outing is that they return by 4 PM, so it's geared to ships departing at 5, where the "all aboard" time is 4:30. But you get 3 snorkeling stops, lunch in a cafe, and a full circuit of the island. And the dock is a 15-20 minute walk from the ship. Soualiga Destinations - Most Popular Tour If that doesn't work with the time your ship is in port, I also got this suggestion for Random Wind from @bcarney. Only one snorkeling stop (in one of the same areas that Capt. Bob goes to); but it's an actual sailing ship rather than a speedboat, with a full meal cooked on board and a trapeze swing off the ship into the water at the second stop. They're a bit further away and will require taking a cab there and back. Random Wind - Paradise Day Sail - a sailing excursion along the coast of Sint Maarten - Saint Martin

Must be a regional thing. "Baked" for me has always equated to smoking mother nature, not drinking.

@jticarruthers, that's definitely a more detailed story than I've heard elsewhere. I suppose it's possible that, while the dry dock wasn't actually damaged in any meaningful way, the hurricane did still interfere with delivering all the supplies on time. But I agree that you'd think they have contingency plans in place for that so an alternate delivery date could be managed without any major hassle. If the hurricane somehow damaged any required landing strips or cargo ship ports in the area and that was a factor, you'd think they'd have specifically mentioned that rather than dry dock damage. I also agree that if the timing of the hurricane interfered with the delivery of the supplies that they'd have a secondary date, and they'd just rework the schedule to move things around and do what could be done with what was on hand first.

My wife is a huge Abba fan and I had to sit through the movie version of Mamma Mia. While it certainly hasn't made me any more of a fan of Abba (I can still only handle them in micro-doses), I actually kind of enjoyed the movie (apart from hearing Pierce Brosnan sing "SOS", which was just painful). Casting was definitely key there, I'd hope the casting on Oasis was also carefully done to make that show equally entertaining. I'd say give it a go, might be surprising.

I'd like to see this, too. Although from what I remember reading earlier, the problem with smaller ships when it comes to the shows is that there isn't enough space for full-time performers along with the regular staff, so you end up with crew members doing double-duty as performers and some other function (e.g., serving staff in the dining areas, bartenders, etc.). if that held, would make it very difficult to get a production like Grease or Chicago. I'd also guess that a smaller ship makes it more difficult to get the advanced theater stages they have on Oasis / Quantum / Freedom class, where they have the fancy sliding rigs and the lifts / hoists below and above the stage. Not to mention harder to get all the lighting, sound systems, computer controls, etc. I've kind of decided that I'll not be setting foot on an Oasis class at any time, but if I find out that one of them has gotten Hamilton as its show, we'll be booking in a heartbeat. ;)

At the risk of dredging up painful memories for you, could you share some of those details? All I've ever seen here (this thread and others) was that the original dry dock could only be partially completed due to a hurricane striking the area or otherwise impacting the ability to get the work done. If that was truly the root of it, saying that RCI "screwed up" does seem like an overly harsh statement, as it's an act of God and totally beyond anyone's control. But if there were other factors that could have been managed by RCI to ensure things were done on time even with the hurricane, like failing to have all parts / furniture / supplies delivered far enough in advance, then that could certainly be a "screw up" that RCI deserves blame for. I just don't know as I'm too new here. :)

Adventure is moving to Newark, NJ, I thought? It's taking over all of the New England / Canada itineraries. Is it going to be in Ft. Lauderdale only for the winter months or something?

I was going to reply that those prices may have gone down a lot (or it varies by ship and sailing); but I just checked on the Cruise Planner, and while the bungalow is $225 instead of $250, the cabana is indeed $495. Which is bizarre, because when I made my rental booking on Feb 11 (I see that in the Cruise Planner page, I rented the cabana and also bought four all-day passes to the Dragon's Tail coaster, and the whole thing was $398.75. I must have gotten some unpublished discount or early-bird rate, because there was absolutely nothing displayed on the site that day. I'm pretty sure the cabana was only $299 and the coaster tix were $24.95 each (vs current price of $35.75). That just about works out as far as the total I paid, but would mean I got something like a 40% discount on the cabana (???) and a 30% discount on the coaster! I'm certainly not complaining! Just wish I could have told you the prices truly dropped and given you a reason to reconsider getting the cabana instead of the bungalow!

On the flip side to Toodle's reply, the outfits that handle the cruise-booked excursions tend to be more crowded. For things like snorkeling excursions or other outings that go to some location, they also seem to go to the same spot as all the excursions for the other cruise ships in port that day. So you could be expecting to swim with a group of 20 or 30 and instead find over a hundred people all jockeying to see the same small patch of fish. This was by far the most common complaint about almost every snorkeling expedition review I've read on TripAdvisor that was booked through a cruise. The third-party outfits that only book privately all had better ratings for going to more secluded areas and/or more scenic spots since they're carrying a smaller group, and I didn't find any negative reviews about missing or nearly missing their departure. Also, Matt has pointed out in the past that the outside third party shops all have a vested interest in getting you back on time, or their reputation suffers (and depending on their policy, they could be on the hook to get you back to your ship). So as long as things all go normally, you'll be fine. BUT, you'll definitely be in trouble if something like a traffic jam or mechanical breakdown leaves you late and the outfit you booked with doesn't have a policy covering getting you back to your ship, so read the fine print carefully. If you'd rather book through Royal for the safety of them waiting for you, but want to have more freedom on where you go / what you do, check out the new Private Journeys option they've recently set up. Matt just did a whole podcast episode about it last week, well as writing a blog post: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/podcast/episode-194-private-journeys-shore-excursion https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/04/19/private-journeys-royal-caribbean-blog-podcast https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/02/28/review-royal-caribbeans-private-journeys-shore-excursion-curacao

Haven't rented one, but I can answer the question about location. According to this article on the site, the bungalows are on Columbus Cove beach, which is close to Nellie's Beach (where the cabanas are located) and also the aqua park and other activities. IIRC, Matt has said (in his opinion) the Cabanas are a better value as they're not that much more than the bungalows and give a bit more for your dollar (personal attendant, private entry to the water, golf cart transport to anywhere on Labadee, etc). I personally have rented an on-the-water cabana for our trip next year, as Labadee is our last port and we wanted to Go out with a bang. ?

Take a look at this Kickstarter campaign for the Rigiet (ree-jee-et) camera stabilizer – This is NOT your typical Kickstarter campaign. The device already exists and the campaign is purely to get the initial set of orders made with the manufacturer. There are real devices in the hands of tech reviewers (I found out about it via Apple World Today). So this is not your typical Kickstarter with major risk of never seeing a product. The campaign ends May 30, and there are limited "super early bird" slots to get one at a really steep discount (regular backers still get a discount, just not as big). Im definitely getting one, especially since my card isn't charged until the funding completion date is reached next month and I'll be on a new billing cycle. This device, plus a Joby Gorillapod (magnetic variety), means it should actually be possible to take long-exposure star photos while at sea! Even if that doesn't pan out, it'll make for way better video while on the move than I can take today with my gimp and fairly stiff walking.

So I talked it over with the family, and while we all liked the size of the Random Wind sailing ship (and my kids LOVED the idea of the trapeze swing), we've booked the all-day snorkel trip with Capt. Bob / Soualiga Destinations. We all agreed that three snorkeling spots instead of just one, having lunch with 3 options on shore instead of one option on ship, and getting a full circuit of the island was going to be a better experience for all of us. A speedboat isn't exactly my preferred way to travel, but it's one con in a big list of pros. And I was assured they can help me out with getting on and off the boat with my mobility limits, so maybe I'll even be able to go snorkeling with the rest of the family! The owner has a US business address and takes payment via PayPal, so no worries about the charge throwing a red flag on my card. For anyone else considering this trip, he normally charges 25% of the total fare plus 5% sales tax, and then takes the balance in cash (ONLY cash) when you arrive at the dock. However, he was fine with me paying in full up front, long as I was OK with paying the sales tax on the full amount. Was small enough that I was fine with it. Really looking forward to this trip!