JLMoran

I laughed out loud when I read this. I'm a current IT guy and my day job is making well-designed and useful web applications, so I seriously feel your pain! :D

I was experiencing the same frustration not long ago, and my cruise is even further out than yours! (March 31, 2018) I even posted about it here, just like you, only a few weeks ago. And magically, a day or two after posting, I was able to start booking excursions and spa treatments. Still can't book beverage packages, internet, dining plans, or other on-ship things besides the spa, I guess they don't unlock until more like 3-6 months out from sail date. But at least the doors cracked open a little. ;) I don't know if it's a matter of their system needing a certain amount of time to work your account info through their systems, or each cruise has its own timetable of what opens up when, but I can say that it will happen eventually. And I also booked through a TA, so that definitely doesn't play any role.

Assuming you live in NJ like me, I shudder to think what that one-way airfare to Newark from Galveston must cost. :blink:

One other comment on my disinclination for a Virtual Balcony -- if any of you are fans of the TV series "Black Mirror", watch the episode "15,000,000 Merits". I feel like I'll be reminded of that every time I wake up in my little darkened box and look at the virtual balcony. ;)

This post describes the virtual balcony rooms and also lists the ships that offer them: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/08/14/royal-caribbean-virtual-balcony-everything-you-wanted-know From the post: Ships that offer a virtual balconyThe following Royal Caribbean ships have a virtual balcony stateroom Navigator of the Seas Quantum of the Seas Anthem of the Seas Ovation of the Seas Harmony of the Seas Voyager of the Seas Explorer of the Seas I really feel like calling it a "virtual balcony" is a misnomer. It's really a "virtual ocean view", as there's no balcony space to step out on and the 4k LED TV just acts like a virtual window. A real balcony just can't be beat for me, as long as it's a cruise where the weather and scenery make it worthwhile. I can have breakfast there each morning, watch the scenery from it and not be limited by the boundaries of a window or obstructing wall, take photos without worrying about reflections off glass (and not feel like I have to race to the helipad or other open area to get such a shot), leave that door open so I get the breeze and salt air while I'm sleeping; the list goes on! But as I said before, on other cruises where the climate is less accommodating or there just isn't as much scenery to watch, I'd likely be OK with a panoramic ocean view or maybe even that virtual ocean view, mainly for the natural sunlight. Chalk it up to working in an office building all day every work day. I want to get away from fluorescent lighting and back to the natural stuff! ;)

Actually, unless your Blackberry supports Flash in its web browser (my recollection is that none of those old models do, but I could well be wrong), you won't be able to play the game on it even through the Facebook site.

OK, there's been the whole discussion here about everyone's favorite ship, and the recent discussion about the upcoming 2019 Caribbean bookings got me wondering -- what is everyone's preferred cabin type, and why? Kind of an "it depends" question, I know, but for most of your cruises, what do you typically get? I know Matt loves his inside rooms, not only for price but also for the dark that lets him and his family sleep as long as they want / need. I gather that Kris also prefers inside rooms, at least on the port-heavy trips that don't offer a lot of scenery. Myself, I can't imagine not having at least a window to look out and give some natural light and a sense of day vs. night. So I'd say my own minimum is an Ocean View, or on an Oasis class ship a Park View. I might be able to tolerate a virtual balcony room if the monitor used for the fake window is really high quality and doesn't look like a giant TV turned on its side, but I think I'd have to see one in person as part of a tour before taking a gamble like that. Especially since the space in those rooms is really tight, and at 6' 3" and slightly klutzy I need maneuvering room. ;) Certainly for trips like Alaska or the Mediterranean, I'd prefer a true balcony that I can go out on and enjoy the view as well as the ocean smell and feel of the wind. But even on less scenic or climate-friendly trips, that window really matters.

Out of curiosity, why an inside triple (sleeps 3, I assume), rather than two inside doubles (one for you and your wife, one for your son)? Given Matt's comments about how much better it is to have the child(ren) in a separate cabin for both space and privacy / sleep schedule reasons, it would be interesting to hear the opposing viewpoint. :)

Just to add on to Buzzard's reply, it's important to log in via Facebook when you first start using the mobile app. Otherwise, I believe any loyalty you build up in the app before then will get thrown away and NOT merged into your Facebook account.

I seem to recall reading that if you redeem the OBC, you cannot use that in combination with ANY other promotion from Royal Caribbean. I would assume that extends to rebookings down the road if some other promotion comes along that would make rebooking financially worthwhile. So my own take is that I'm just going to build up loyalty points until I have the 750k needed for an actual cruise, and just go from there. As to how to redeem the points, I believe that you first use the Rewards option within the game to get a voucher, and then you redeem that voucher with Royal Caribbean. Not sure if that last part is when you book the cruise or any point in time, but I do know that the voucher has to be redeemed within 30 days of getting it.

I recently found this pair, considering it for myself. I have some special requirements due to mobility issues, so this could be overkill for you, but figured I'd pass it along: Merrell Men's All Out Blaze Sieve Water Shoe, Black/Wild Dove

There's definitely a case of "fit" when it comes to working with a TA, so don't be discouraged by the earlier experience. Also, was the TA you worked with the first time a dedicated cruise agent, or a general TA? Cruise agents have a LOT more training in and experience around the nuances of cruising vs. "regular" travel, especially the ones with a CLIA certification. They've also typically gone on several cruises across several lines so they can recommend particular ones over others based on your circumstances and preferences. If the recommendations of the folks here for MEI don't float your boat, you can search for cruise agents in your area on CLIA's web site: https://www.cruising.org/cruise-vacationer/cruise-travel-guide/clia-agent-finder

Also should note that Heather will be taking care of our flight and hotel booking as we get closer to the cruise date and flights become available. Said she has a good hotel for the FLL / Port Everglades area that she uses all the time, so saves us trying to find that as well.

I can say for a fact that TA's are fine with you making just the deposit up front, and then making payments over time. I'm doing that right now through my agent Heather at MEI Travel. Just put $400 towards our cruise this week, and she said just email her whenever I want to make another payment. Don't know about the "little extras" (yet), but Heather did make a point of putting notes in all caps on our reservations that my wife and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary, and that our older daughter is graduating high school (plus a comment that all of us are first-time cruisers). Will see if that brings us anything after we're on board. ;)

Targeted to first-time cruisers, but I think it sums up a lot of the reasons that keep getting cited here on the boards: Why first-time cruisers should use a Royal Caribbean travel agent Main advantage is that the agent does the work of tracking new promotions, figuring out if they'll actually save you any money over prior booking, and then waiting on hold to re-book and get you those savings. They're also great for when something goes wrong, and now they get to sit on hold and rail at the customer support people over their mistake instead of you losing work time or weekend time or whatever. That happened to me right when I booked through my TA -- she was told by RCI that they reserved two connecting cabins as requested, she relayed the cabin numbers to me, and when I checked online I saw they weren't connecting at all! Emailed her, and she took care of straightening it out while I continued to work on my current project.

Well, you will. But not until the Icon class ships are out there with their fuel-cell and LNG-based propulsion. :)

How did you like the Divina? We had been looking at that and its successor Seaside prior to booking Freedom in 2018. Already know it's not much of a cruise line for families, but curious about your experience with the crew, what the food and entertainment were like, and how they compared for excursions and overall service. Others here are sailing on the Seaside later this year, so will be interesting to compare and contrast! :)

L454S, those were nice photos! Looks like they're from two different aft cabins? One balcony seems long but kind of narrow (the two loungers and two regular chairs look kind of tightly packed in there), but that other balcony!! A hammock as well as the chairs and table?!? Is the motion much more noticeable all the way at the back like that? Also, why is the ship's wake a draw? Do dolphins or whales get attracted to it and play around, or something else to catch the eye? Maybe I just have to see it / experience it, but I don't get the draw of just watching a trail of churned water that you're leaving behind. :) I also have to issue a correction. My cabins are not aft at all. They're actually very far forward, only 10 cabins back from the front-most part of deck 8 (cabins 8234 and 8236; I originally thought I was in 8380 and 8382, as those are what I'd looked at before booking with MEI). Pretty close to the stairs and elevators, too, but I'm thinking it won't bother me that much and, given my mobility challenges, I'm sure I'll have at least one night where I'm glad I don't have a long walk to the elevator. Although I'll have almost as long a walk as you can get to reach the MDR each night!

Kris, I listened to that podcast episode and the trip sounds fantastic! Given they only offer it once a year and it's expensive as a result, I'll probably have to wait on trying to book that until both kids are in / done with college and old enough to take care of themselves for two weeks. ;) From your comments in that episode, it sounds like you'd advise getting at most an ocean view room without balcony, due to the cooler / cold weather there. And then only if you're able to get it for a good rate, otherwise stick with an inside cabin. Do you have a live blog or other write-up of the trip? I hate to say, but the podcast was just too short and I was really hoping to hear more about the different ports and what was seen / done. I realize the on-ship experience is just as important on a long trip like that where you're going overseas, and it was good to hear about it, but I kind of wish Matt had either skipped the email segment on that show to give you another 15 or 20 minutes to talk more about the ports, or let that episode run to an hour instead of the usual 35-40 minutes.

So I've seen a few posts here now where people commented on the desirability of an aft cabin. I had read earlier (on other sites) that getting a mid-ship cabin (especially on the "hump") was ideal. Partly because of the larger balconies / better view in a "hump" room, but also because mid-ship had the least movement. So what is it about an aft cabin that you all find makes it more desirable than mid-ship? Genuinely curious, especially since my own pair of connecting balcony cabins on Freedom for our 2018 sailing is more aft than mid-ship (a little more than halfway from the aft end of the hump to the aft-most cabins).

I've seen the "around the world" cruises they offer that pretty much hit every major port on the planet. That could be an absolutely awesome bucket list sort of thing, I'm just not sure I could stand over 50 days on a single ship, with the same entertainment over... and over... and over again. If the ports weren't regularly changing and giving me new scenery, I'd be convinced I was transported to the movie Groundhog Day. ;) Seriously, how do they keep the ship provisioned with a good variety of meals over that long a span, and the entertainment on a good enough rotation to avoid boredom? I'd imagine they must have to plan out several different shows, maybe with cast changes every few ports when they also load up new food supplies.

I'd love a cruise that started in Italy, then made its way north and west to Spain and Portugal, then went up through Northwestern Europe and Scandinavia -- Northern France, England / Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. If there was a way to expand that to start more in the Mediterranean and also include Croatia and Greece, so much the better! Cover all my bucket list destinations in one fell swoop!

What's the sound quality like at these performances? I haven't been to many "small venue" shows apart from a couple when I was in college (Spin Doctors, The Fabulous Thunderbirds), but at least with those the sound was atrocious due to a bad mix of poor acoustics in the place they performed, plus speakers / sound gear that just didn't seem set up right for the environment (too loud / boomy). I'd hope that on a ship where they regularly have live performers in the pubs and whatnot, that they'd take the time to set up good spaces apart from the main theater that sounded good for the audience.

I can also say that Heather Coursen from MEI is really good as well. Really on the ball, already saved me a bunch of money on my current cruise, and very patient when getting lots of questions from a newbie cruiser who hadn't yet discovered the message boards here! ;)

It's begun! Finally on a new billing cycle, and I just purchased a Nellie's Beach over-the-water cabana and also four all-day passes for the alpine coaster. Will make new purchases each month as we go along to spread those expenses out! And will also keep an eye out for any excursion sales to see if I can save some money down the road. But at least that hard-to-acquire cabana is taken care of!