JLMoran

Yes, I only have the iOS apps at the moment. Sounds like I need to log into FB when I get home and get the Flash versions set up so I can build those hotels! I assume they're important for building up loyalty more quickly (or at least getting more chips to gamble with and get the loyalty that way )

For the over-the-water cabanas, I saw that there's a notice for the suite-guests-only cabanas that you have to walk through the water and then climb the stairs to enter those. But the corresponding ones on Nellie's Beach have no such warning in their description. Are the Nellie's beach ones accessible from a regular pathway, or do those also have to be entered from the water? I also saw that they no longer include snorkeling gear, only the floating loungers. Bummer, was hoping the kids and wife could snorkel a bit without spending more on an excursion.

Do you just play the blackjack or both blackjack and slots games? I've downloaded both to my phone, but it seems I earn the loyalty "chips" a lot faster in the blackjack game. Maybe because of the amount I'm betting each time? Does the bet size even make a difference? I've unlocked the strip in both games and started going through the challenges, but thus far no ability to "collect from my hotels" as you said. Is that something that only comes after completing some number of the My Strip quests? I'm making a point of getting all three levels on each quest (bronze, silver, and gold), so it's slow progress. I've managed 3,450 loyalty "chips" in about two days, and only level 12 in Blackjack / level 9 in Slots. If you have any other hints on strategy to maximize the loyalty "chip" gains each day besides the automated spins in slots, would love to hear. Given the better growth rate I see in Blackjack, I'm inclined to stick with that one more although it does take appreciably more time to play without an "automated" option.

As I recall, riding double is only an option for children under 13. There may also be height restrictions on that. But this is one where I'd suggest calling Royal Caribbean or your travel agent and asking them for confirmation, as it's a special case and they might grant an exception if your son is over any age or height limit.

Is doing an excursion in Ft. Lauderdale an option for you? Matt pointed out recently (I think on a podcast episode) that even though it's disembarkation day, there are still excursions to be done and it's a good way to fill time until your flight departure.

Well something changed in the last 4 days. All of a sudden I have both Spa Treatments and Shore Excursions fully available to me. Still no dining/beverage packages or internet options, but at least it's beginning to open up! Gotta tell the family so we can start figuring out what to reserve. My first want-to-get items -- over-the-water cabana at Nellie's Beach and all-day Dragon's Breath Coaster passes!

Hi Amber, If you go to the Royal Caribbean web site and use their Excursions page, after filtering to your cruise date and ship, you'll be given a list of all the available excursions. Below the name of each excursion you'll see one or more icons that indicate the amount of movement / exertion required (ranging from "none" for rides like a bus tour to "heavy" for an off-trail hiking trip). I believe when I was looking at the list that I also saw a wheelchair icon for those with full disabilities / accessibility requirements. For St. Maarten, there is an excursion named "Accessible St. Maarten" with code SMF6. That excursion was 3 hours long and costs $89 per person, and as I recall was one of those specifically marked with the wheelchair icon. It's on our list of possible excursion options when we're there in 2018, as I have mobility issues of my own, though not as severe as your son's. I totally understand the need to find excursions that everyone can enjoy, not just the fully ambulatory. :) How well will your son be able to operate a hand brake on the Dragon's Tail Coaster? That is the only mechanism to slow the ride, and from watching videos on YouTube, I've seen there is a spot where you are required to apply the hand brake and slow down to avoid possibly hitting and injuring people in front of you reaching the end of the ride. He'd also want to be able to apply the brake if he felt the ride was getting uncomfortably fast, as it can reach a little over 30 mph and has some slightly sharp curves.

I'll give one word of caution with booking a connecting room. After you get the booking with the room numbers, take a minute to look up the deck plan on a site like cruisedeckplans.com or royal's web site and just verify the rooms really are connecting (they'll have a double-headed arrow drawn across the rooms in the diagram). My TA did my booking for connecting rooms and had been assured by the RC staff she spoke with that the rooms were connecting; but when I looked them up on cruisedeckplans.com, I saw they weren't (no double-headed arrow). I quickly emailed her to let her know, along with the room pairs on that deck that I saw were marked as connecting rooms, and she quickly called them back and fixed the reservation to have a true connected pair that was still available on that deck. She was seriously annoyed with RC after that, considering they're supposed to know the ships inside and out! I just laughed and said, "Hey, at least the 'Murphy's Law moment' happened now and it's out of the way!" ;)

And DocLC is doing that ship's second Caribbean sailing in December of this year, so we'll have two reports to look forward to!

My own 2 cents on this, since my wife and just had to make this decision with our trip on Freedom of the Seas in March, 2018: On Freedom, a Jr. Suite is 300 sq ft, which is actually smaller than getting two superior balcony rooms (398 sq ft) or deluxe balcony rooms (368 sq ft). With five people total, cramming everyone into the Jr. Suite means someone has to be in the pull-down bed over the main bed, navigating around the bed / sofa at night when someone has to use the bathroom, etc. And at least on Freedom, the cost for the two balcony rooms works out just about the same as getting the one Jr. Suite. In the case of my wife and I (with two kids) we had actually been looking at a grand suite (400 sq ft) vs. two connecting superior balcony rooms, because we felt a Jr. Suite was just too small for the four of us to be comfortable. We ended up going with the superior balconies. Saved us a lot of money, the kids have their own real beds and separate bathroom, and everyone's free to stay up late or go to bed early without bothering anyone else except their immediate roommate. Had it still been Jr. Suite vs. the balconies, we'd still have gone with the balconies for the same reasons, plus the extra space it gives. I'm assuming Anthem's rooms are similarly sized and priced, and as noted the perks of a Jr. Suite aren't that great compared to a true suite, while still costing a good bit more than a "regular" balcony room.

Here's what my TA, Heather from MEI, had to say about MSC when I asked her after booking with RC: "I think you made the perfect choice for your family. MSC is a nice line, however, they are very much a European line. That means their service, food and ships are VERY different than what we ware accustomed to here in the US. Hence the complaints [on cruisecritic.com] you have seen. If you can keep an open mind to that, then it's definitely worth a try. Though, I would wait until it's just you and your wife - they are not a line that has much to do for children. Most of the passengers are adults. They are trying to attract more families with their new ships, but it remains to be seen how many families actually go, so I would hold off." Basically, they're more "old school / old world" in their cruising style. Reviews I read indicate the shows are more cabaret than Broadway, food is definitely European, and those who buy a Yacht Club level suite (in their ship-within-a-ship design) get significantly better service than the commoners in regular rooms. Bearing in mind the earlier discussion on another thread about how reviews from CruiseCritic.com have to be taken with a healthy shaker of salt, there's definitely something to be said when even the TA is saying, "This would be a significantly different experience from what you get used to as an American cruiser."

Thanks, Matt! Looks like my error when searching was using "Cruise Planner" and not "pre-booking". Regarding this line at the end: Spa treatments: In my experience, spa treatments are almost always available for pre-booking via the web site. I can't even book those yet. Every single little panel with an option gives me the "Oops! You're booking too early!" message. :wacko: Guess I just have to wait a while, maybe until I'm within 12 months.

Six months out?? Aww, but...

I searched the site for anything on the above, but I'm coming up empty. It's frustrating that I can log in to My Cruises, go to my itinerary, and see the Cruise Planner tool, but not actually use it. Especially when the tool initially loads with a bunch of little clickable panels for Voom internet, drink packages, etc. But clicking any of those panels just shows a message that I'm trying to purchase something too far in advance of my cruise or too close. I do realize that with my cruise over a year away, I may well have to wait until I'm in some "valid time window" to use the tool. But couldn't they just let me know that right on the opening page? And give me some indication of when that valid window starts? As Matt and others have noted, it will let me spread out the total cost of my cruise over all those months. But only if it actually becomes usable a reasonable amount of time before my cruise! What I'd like to do is buy each of the following on separate months / billing cycles: internet, refreshment drink packages, deluxe drink package (me only), St. Kitts excursion, St. Maarten excursions (family may well split up that day for separate things), Labadee purchases (zip line, alpine coaster, maybe a watertop cabana?), pre-paid gratuities, possible photo package. That's 8 items, combined with monthly payments toward the cruise, so I'd certainly hope that the Cruise Planner becomes available at least that far in advance of my cruise date (more if the planner locks out a month or more ahead of departure). Related question -- My kids are in their own cabin and show up in My Cruises as a second itinerary. When I'm reserving / buying these things on Cruise Planner, do I have to do one set of purchases on the itinerary for my wife and me, and a separate set of purchases on the second itinerary? Or does the Cruise Planner have the smarts to know that both of them belong to me and consolidate it all into one planning tool?

Hi! My name is Joe. I live in northern NJ, been there my whole life (apart from the four years I spent in Maine while in college). My family and I will be taking our first cruise ever(!!) on March 31, 2018, on Freedom for an 8-night Eastern Caribbean cruise. That year has some big milestones for us: My wife and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary, our older daughter (the musician) will be about to graduate high school, while our younger one (the artist) will be about to graduate middle school. As far my background, I've spent the last 21 years as a computer programmer / software architect, focusing on web applications. Just thinking about how long I've been at this makes me feel really old. ;) Before that, I spent a couple of years out of college working for Hoffmann LaRoche, when I thought biology research was totally what I wanted to do. Funny how life can take you in directions you never really expected!

I see you've already contacted them, but I'll also say that MEI is a good option. My agent, Heather, has been quick to reply to every email or phone call I've sent her during inquiry, booking, and (most importantly) post-booking. We had a small mix-up in the initial booking (RCI's people gave her bad info about what was supposed to be a pair of connecting rooms), and within an hour of me mentioning it she followed up to say the problem was fixed and we had a real pair of connecting rooms on the deck we'd requested. She's also been really patient with this new-to-cruising guy who, even with the help of the boards here, still had a fair number of questions for her at the beginning. ;)

Watched this during my lunch break. Was actually surprisingly interesting, and kind of cool to learn about the developments in mechanical / structural engineering and other systems to take us to where it's possible to make cruise ships like Independence, Oasis, or Quantum.

Well be on Freedom of the Seas (Eastrn Caribbean) on March 31, 2018

I'll add a caveat to that: If you have a smart phone, make absolutely sure you have data roaming turned off. Otherwise, since you'll have your phone's cell signalling turned on, it will continue to check for email, get notifications from your apps, etc. And that could lead to really nasty surprise in your bill, as data roaming charges are HUGE.

If you have the app 1Password, you can set up the login on one device and then enable syncing of data across devices through iCloud (only for Mac laptops/desktops, iPhones, and iPads) or Dropbox (all devices). This is the easiest approach, as 1Password includes a simple extension for accessing your login info and popping directly into the sign in form on your browser. Plus, you then have the best password manager in the world. Not that I'm biased or anything. 😉

I second this sentiment (though as an agnostic I'll be just as happy to take sympathetic thoughts in lieu of prayer). My right leg is an inch shorter than my left, and my right foot is fused at heel, ankle, and shin. While I can walk and take stairs, I'm limited in how long I can do it and there are definitely times I'm grateful for an elevator to save me a bit of pain at the end of a long day.

DocLC, am I wrong or did I just hear you talk about this upcoming cruise of yours on the most recent Cruise Dudes podcast (#95, Jan 18)? It was mentioned at the tail end of a really comprehensive and enjoyable review of Allure of the Seas, along with discussing how it was in fact possible to haggle down the price of the photo set from the dolphin excursion in Cozumel. If that was you, great job!

I have tried Breckenridge Vanilla Porter! And it is indeed amazing! And thank you for posting this, because after I finished off the six-pack I'd bought, I forgot to write down the name of it so I could buy more! By the time I was able to go back to my local store, they'd already stopped carrying it and there went any chance to remember it by way of the label.

OK, I have to chime in and throw a vote for those of us whose tastes run less to IPAs and other super-hoppy / bitter beers and more towards unfiltered wheat ales, stouts (just discovered a really good "west coast style" that gives Guinness a run for its money), or a good vanilla porter (never thought there could be a "dessert beer", but there you go ;) ). I've found some photos and other examples of the pub beer menus here, and for whatever reason these "pubs" all list mixers and cocktails and hardly any beer, which to me is what a pub is supposed to be all about!

I have to agree with this. In all honesty, before we decided on Royal Caribbean for our cruise, we were initially leaning a lot more toward MSC Cruises as it would have fit our budget a lot better and/or allowed us to get a much better room class for the same money. It also would have been on their newest ship "Seaside", which is scheduled to start sailing just a few months before our cruise window, and the ports they had were all good; we might have even been able to do a back-to-back for both eastern and western Caribbean. But I read negative review after negative review that complained about the food, the entertainment, the staff being rude, "classism" in terms of guest treatment depending on whether you were a "Yacht Club" level stateroom, etc.; ultimately we gave up on them and switched to Royal. In hindsight, I probably should have found a cruise agent first, asked them to give us a comparison of the two lines, and decided based on that rather than an internet forum. I will say that everything I read about MSC did give a pretty strong impression that they are more of a "classic" or "old world" European line, and that they aren't as Western-culture focused or have nearly as much in the way of child/teen focused activities. That could well be a source of the negativity in the reviews. I certainly don't think that we've made a bad choice in going with RCI; I think the kids will have a much better time, and that the ports of call and activities they offer are better suited for a family of four. MSC might well be an option when it's just the wife and I looking to go, but for the full (younger) family, Royal Caribbean is definitely the better choice.