JLMoran

Hub teases me about my wanderlust and wanting to travel.  He says if I could I'd say "I wanna go to the bahaaaaaamaaaaaas"  Now he's never been on a cruise (I told him being on an aircraft carrier doesnt count as a cruise vacation) so over the past several years I've been trying to convince him to vacation with me, and I brought up a cruise again.   Now most of our cruise discussions had been 20 minutes or so mulling over how nice it would be and my answering all of his cruise related questions.   Well this time the conversation lasted 2 hours and I was given the go ahead to book the cruise.   My parents both have been cruising a lot and I was at my boiling point to finally book the cruise.  I found the 5 night Bermuda cruise and the price was definitely right for a suite.  I figured to go suite to give him the best experience he could have on a cruise since I knew that the smaller sizes of an interior or even ocean view cabin would immediately turn him off.  Then on black friday the price went down even more and I said that there'd be no way the suite I wanted would be much lower, so I booked.  I had that initial "omg I just spent a ton of money" fear, but then I ran in to him and told him we're going on a cruise and he legit looked happy!  A bit of a fairy tale story, but it just all worked out for us.

We were having a very bland dinner one night and Hubby mentioned he was craving La Bamba (our favourite pre-cruise restaurant in Fort Lauderdale).  Jokingly (sort of lol), I told him we should book a cruise and then we can eat there. 2 days later we had a cruise booked out of FLL. ?

I think Freedom is an awesome ship for a first-time cruiser to experience. She was mine and my family's first ship, and my wife and I thought she was great!

Thanks for a fun and very entertaining blog, @Ray! I was sipping my stout when I read about the woman at the Schooner Bar; had to fight back a spit take! ? Guess the full moon came a little earlier than usual?
Awesome to hear how much your wife enjoyed it and that you'll be having more adventures in the coming years!

Well made it home from the Big Apple with my Bank Account still having some money in it  ?
As a first time cruiser reading these threads or listening to Matts podcasts helps but in no way can it prepare you fully for your maiden voyage. 
So here's my own conclusions on everything from start to finish in order of my experience
(1) Sleeping In JFK Airport - NEVER AGAIN!! Now offically No1 in worst Airports i have visited, only one dunkin Donut stall to cater for 6 terminals during the night. Lesson Learned Next time i will ensure flight times are better and book a hotel
(2) Peurto Rico - Fantastic Island, Having stayed at The Courtyard by marriott beach resort in Isla Verde this time, if i was to cruise from San Juan again next time i would look at Old San Juan. Reason for this is simple, the beach is good, relaxing and peacfull but you are only there for a day or two and there is so much to see and do in old San Juan. 
Uber is a great cheap way to get about
(3) Freedom Of The Seas - For a first time cruiser i believe i made the correct choice, not to big not to small. Sure it doesnt have waterslides or Broadway shows but for a first cruise when you are still finding your bearings and sealegs its great. There's not a second you will be bored or tryng to find something to do. 
Room - Outside Oceanview was spacious and in good condition
Staff - cant fault any of them
Entertainment - Overall good, a few minor issue's with regards Entertainment staff. CD ( Drew ) and AM ( dont know hisname) only really saw them on the TV, and when they did appear it wasnt for long. The real stars of the Entertainment crew were Rhaiann and some mexican guy who was just naturally funny, anyone can be funny by telling a joke but this guys quick one liners without thinking were hilarious. At the finish the lyric quiz, a contestant looked at card  to see answer, after a retake the next contestant came up and was quickly informed NOT to peep at card by mexican guy who knew exactly what he was saying!  after everyone had stopped laughing the contestant who had white stick in hand and needed a guide onto stage was allowed to continue. 
Food - My expanded wasteline says it was good ? ( even the Pizza ) We ordered room service breakfast at no additional cost each day to save time
Ports of Call - Here's where i let myself down! In Hindsight i should have booked more excursions even if only to a beach for 4hrs. The area's around every port are built the same, same shops, bars etc. Yeah it's good to hang out and do nothing but next time i will book excursion for mornings then walk around cruiseship port before rebaording ship. Noticed that Duty free was cheaper in St Kitts, Antiigua and St Lucia  than Peurta Rico, Barbados and St Maarten. eg: Carton of Malbora $20 - $24 in first 3 ports $34 in others and $45+ in Peurta Rico ( JFK $49) 
AWARD FOR FUNNIEST MOMENT ONBOARD
Each Night after our evening meal my wife and myself would go to the Schooner Bar for an hour or so ( sitting at bar not on sofa's) to have a drink and watch the guy play the piano singing songs by Elton John, Billy Joel etc, every night there was an American couple sitting on sofas ( the woman was from Philly) this couple were obviously seasoned cruisers and were enjoying themselves as much as anyone else. On the first night every song played was met with shreiks of delight by the slightly intoxicated female, the second night was the same as the first, HOWEVER on the third night while signing along to Lionel Ritchie the intoxicated woman who was unaware that we were sitting behind them leant forward lifted herself up, removed her underwear and tucked them into her husbands breast pocket of jacket. If said person is reading this you were seen and thank you making my night, havent laughed so much in ages ?
Embarking - Easy 
Note for anyone Embarking from San Juan, we left hotel for port which is a10 min drive away at 10:20 am and took over an hour due to there being two ships leaving that day so traffic in and out was busy. 
Disembarking -  Recieved a time to disembark of 10:30am went off at 9am, luggage was waiting, had arranged RC transfer to airport, was concerned about luggage as you dont take it with you, you go on bus luggage is in a truck. Luggage arrived at airport about 20 mins after we did. 
Delta Airlines - Upgraded from Comfort to Comfort+ for flight down to SJU, never again. COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY. legroom is ample in comfort, priority boarding want an issue as your only one group in front of everyone else and the added free alcohol is 1 drink during flight due to cabin crew vanashing for basically whole flight. Snacks i received more on the lesser grade flight than than the upgraded one. 
New York was good, shopping during the sales is always an advatage, my wife ticked off ice skating in new york from her bucket list and the John Legend Concert was great, all i can say is if you ever get the chance to see him do so, his concerts are not just him sitting at a piano and should come with an 18 rating ?
i left Aberdeen on the 22nd of Nov believing this would be my one and only cruise due to my wife's dislike of water, at JFK while waiting on our flight home, my wife used the free internet to catch up with facebook while i on the instruction of my wife searched the RC website to look for our NEXT cruise. 
Hopefully any new cruisers will find this helpfull 
 
Ray 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hey, if we're going with that vibe, then there has to be a stuffed ostrich you sit on while strapped to the bungee cords! ?

Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

Day 4
Falmouth Jamaica 
12/5
 
Day 4 started off on a sour note. Only the American Icon was open for breakfast, and with that came a 20 minute wait. Only having the lowest portion of the dining room seems easy to correct when it gets busy, just open up another area. We decided to give Johnny Rockets a try and there was no wait to be found. By halfway through the meal a long line had developed. 
Our server seemed like she was very rushed throughout the meal. The meal overall was what we call a Sysco meal. Everything tasted like it came out a box and was just “meh” overall. 
 
When we got back to the room our room steward informed us that the towel washing machine was out of order and that they were flying someone from Miami to meet us in Cozumel and that wasn’t for another two days. 
 
 
Nikki’s spa day
As it was Nikki’s birthday yesterday she went off for a spa treatment today. As usual it’s a much better deal to do it on a port day rather than a sea day. Today’s special was mini-facial and a 50 minute massage for 169 plus 18% gratuity. Nikki rated it average, but she’s been spoiled by the Spa at Aria in Las Vegas. The one thing that did bother her was the pushy sales pitch at the end to buy overpriced lotions. At one point the person said “what you on cruise and have no money” what I said Nikki should have said back is “let me just check Amazon really quick.”
Addie went back over to the Flowrider when they opened and I’m pretty sure I created a monster by suggesting it. She went three times today and got the hang enough to get her knees up on the board. 
Before dinner there was time to stop in on one of the Dreamworks character meet and greet with the characters from Trolls. 

 
We went up around 5:30 to see if we could get into Coastal Kitchen, as junior suites can’t make reservations in advance. We walked into an empty restaurant but a thirty minute wait. That would have run past our reservation time for standard dining so we killed some time and then made our way to Silk for our 6:00 reservation. 
Service while very friendly was spotty at best but even that outshone the food by leaps and bounds. Perhaps we got spoiled on the first three nights but the food was borderline bad. Not just average but bad. 
Between the three of us we ordered and tried the following
Shrimp Cocktail- were almost salad sized shrimp and I wish I had gotten pictures post cocktail sauce as the sauce was runny and had zero horseradish flavor
Caesar salad- Addie didn’t mind this one. 
Spaghetti Bolognese- if the spaghetti at Jamie’s earlier in the week was a good burger at a nice restaurant, this was McDonalds. 
Garlic Tiger Shrimp- this was the most boring bland dish I’ve had all week, and that includes food at the Windjammer. It was flavorless and the shrimp which had been bisected to resemble a lobster shell just stuck to the shell. 
 
ISkate- after dinner it was time to head to studio B for the ISkate show. I really wish they’d just let it be what it really is, a planned, rehearsed, and choreographed show. The premise that “they always follow orders now they get to do what they want” is contrived and clearly false. It was a decent show and it was fun watching them knock over the lights on the ice several times as the space is rather small. 

 
Mo5iac- The highlight of the night came in the Royal Theater, with Headliner Showtime featuring Mo5iac. They’re a group of 5 a capella singers based in Las Vegas. They’ve crafted instruments using only their voices that rival master beatboxes from the 1980s. 

It was a very fun show with a myriad music styles ranging from jazz to pop to classic rock to Christmas music. There was a bit of crowd participation and some singing along. By far the most interesting part was an all a capella rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. 
I then found myself a seat in the casino for a couple hours more of blackjack. I’ve never witnessed a place where people make more stupid decisions while playing blackjack. Normally that is only the stuff of small limit tables, but at a $25 minimum table I witnessed people splitting tens, and a guy split 4s against a dealer 8. 
That lunacy meant I was time for bed so I strolled back up to 8 to our room.

Yeah, the packages are definitely being priced appreciably higher for 2019 than they were for 2018. $42/day seemed to be the best sale price for most 2018 cruises, but I'm not seeing anyone who's reported less than $52/day for a 2019 sailing. The good news is that it "only" translates to one more cocktail, or a couple of beers, per day if you typically drink the same amount most days; if you're like most vacationers and do most of your "celebratory imbibing" on embarkation day, you may find that it's enough to make the Chefs Table day and port days more manageable. Here's a quick, rough example of a way to easily hit $52 on a sea day:
Grande cappuccino / latte / espresso with breakfast, and one more in the afternoon: $8 1 "lighter" cocktail (e.g., mojito or one of the sake-based drinks in Izumi, where the alcohol / calorie content isn't crazy) around lunch time, or a sail-away beverage on port days: $13 2 glasses of wine with dinner: $26 (bearing in mind that most decent / good wines will have you going over the $13 per-drink limit by a few bucks) 1 beer at the pub while watching the evening entertainer: $6-7 Total for the above is $53-54, and in my view not an unreasonable or difficult "target" on a daily basis. Throw in a fresh-squeezed OJ with breakfast, and there's another couple of bucks shaved off, which would let you replace a cocktail with a more-manageable beer or two.
You definitely don't have to drink like a frat boy on hazing night to break even or keep up.

Hi everyone,
   I have been mostly absent/lurking the last few months.  To make a long story short, we were forced to cut short our August French river cruise trip.  In post vacation depression, I booked us on Allure of the Seas for spring break March 2019.   Allianz ended up not paying on our insurance claim (long story but keep in mind insurance doesn't cover all unexpected emergencies such as a minor child's major health issue) and I planned on canceling the trip.  Especially planned on canceling as airfare to Florida was attrocious.  As a result, I didn't do any research or make any black friday purchases for this cruise (though I got a few deals on our August europe cruise).  Fast forward to today after a horrendous day at work to discover $360 frontier airline flights (which did turn into 470 by the time bags, seats etc were purchased!) and I have decided that debt is ok if it saves my sanity.  So now we are definitely keeping the allure cruise and I'm overwhelmed by everything.  Show reservations, restaurant bookings and the dreaded do I spend 950 on two people drink pkg.  What advice can people give me in terms of booking restaurants or shows first?  I really want to do 150 and the izumi hibachi...and the hibachi isn't covered with any of the 3-5 night pkgs, so i was considering the ultimate dining, but i'm worried about food and drink fatigue and we'd lose a ton of money on my 16 year old.  I'm rambling but the biggest ship I've been on is Freedom and I am just overwhelmed by everything!  
   I also need major advice on good hotels in Miami.  Part of the great frontier deal was that we are flying in at 530 am and will really have all day in Miami.  I've never been there and I'm not sure even what areas to consider.  I'm not feeling we have to do the beach but I'd love to have a hotel with either beach closeness or a good pool.  What else is there to do in Miami for one day (with a 16 year old) that doesn't break the bank...since I'm actually considering the freaking ship drink pkg!  
   I will definitely head to the cruise compasses when I stop hyperventilating, but for now I'd love to hear opinions on what not to miss on allure!!  Jane

June 2020 on Mariner for 4 nights!
Now to plot for the big reveal!

I was waiting for the bot to mess up with that first contract opposed to FIRST CONTACT! ?

If it's addressed to 'twangster' you got my email... I never get them even though I'm signed up and check all the spam filters.

Sample menus are cool, but simplified to cover all ships in the fleet.  Here are Oasis menus from last week that may be closer to what Allure offers.
Chops Grille

150 CP

Note - they were able to convert the "Tenderloin for Two" into a single serving for just me.  
Giovanni's Table

If you want a really, really, really good filet -- then you will absolutely want to do Chef's Table, and kill two birds with one stone. I didn't have it, but @ellcee did when she went to CT on Anthem; she said it was the best filet ever, and even better than Chops (which she'd had just the day before). The rest of the food is equally awesome, IMO, and you're getting some really good wines with the meal. It's also very much a social experience, between talking with your table-mates, learning about the meal first-hand from the chef, and learning about the wines from your sommelier.
Yes, Chef's Table is pricey when you buy it on the Cruise Planner, but if you're OK with going to it on day 1 and not buying the seat for it until you're on board, you should likely score a discount for that night from the specialty dining folks who will be hawking specials the whole day. That said, I paid full price as I didn't want to miss MDR and meeting our table-mates on night 1, and I felt the meal and wines were worth every penny I'd paid and then some. If I'd gone to NYC for that meal I'd have been out more than double what I'd paid in the Cruise Planner. If I'd gone to a restaurant in Morristown or Montclair that was on par with NYC, I'd still have paid a lot more.
And keep in mind that if you pay full price, you can expect to be able to have as many glasses of wine as you like; from what I've read here, you do not get that perk if you buy the meal at a discount on Day 1. So while it says you get 5 glasses of wine in the description, you can easily have several more than that. I want to say I had more like 8 or 9 glasses by the time it was all said and done, and they don't do light pours either. If five glasses of wine is your limit, then no reason not to grab a discount if it's offered.
 
The only other specialty dining venue I've been to so far is Wonderland. I happened to like it, but it wasn't a blow-my-socks-off experience the way Chef's Table was. You definitely need to be a seafood lover, given how many of the appetizers are seafood-based. It's good for a one-time experience, but after that I'd spend my money on other specialty dining venues.

BEST DAY EVER!!!

 

After a quick shower we went up to Wonderland for Nikki’s birthday dinner. 
Walking in your supposed to be teleported to the land of Alice in Wondeland down to the uniforms of the service staff. 
Adventurous eater and Andrew have never gone together in a sentence before, so take everything I say with numerous grains of rice. 
Once seated it took quite a while to get menus and about 15 minutes to even get water as the restaurant was quite busy. 
Our server Pedro made it up to us throughout the meal with friendly and informative service, which is a must when nothing looks as it seems. 
Pedro went through the formalities of allergies and then asked that we “trust him” and all we had to choose was our main courses, which we went with all of the Earth options (Short Ribs, Pork Belly, and Chicken.)
Appetizers started coming out shortly thereafter which were perhaps a little bit too whimsical for me.
Liquid Lobster with caviar
Tuna Tartare with Lime sorbet
Barbecue chicken eggs
Shrimp Katafi
 
 
For entrees we had
Terroir Beef
Roasted Chicken 
Berkshire Pork Belly

The short ribs and chicken were both delicious. The pork belly was too fatty for us when you add in that it’s battered and deep fried. Pedro came back around and asked if there was anything else we’d like to try (some tables ordered tons more) and we ordered the Vegetable Garden as Addison was dying to try it. The “dirt” that was there before has now been replaced with Avocado purée. 

 
We were all stuffed by then but the entire reason for coming to Wonderland was the dessert course. We again left it in Pedro’s hands and trusted him. He brought out enough dessert to feed half the ship, including a special poison apple for Nikki’s birthday. The deserts were all delicious with the exception of the meringue and bourbon sorbet dish which didn’t work for us. The presentation of “The World” is all very over the top and frivolous. 

 
Pedro also informed us that even though we had prepaid full fare for Addison that he had refunded it and charged her the kids price of ten dollars. We settled up the tab and then headed of to Adventure ocean to drop off Addison and we thought head to the comedy show. 
We arrived almost ten minutes before showtime for the comedy show to find a packed house and not a seat to be had. Even with reservations we would have been standing in the corner at the back of the room. So we decided to skip it and head off to the casino. 
After picking up Addison we sat in Central Park listening to soft rock covers that I’m not sure most people even picked up on. At one point it was a John Tesh-Esqe cover of Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters. After that it was time to get some rest for our Almost Sea Day at Falmouth Jamaica. 
 

Being away from the home port and off the boat we finally got a chance to get up next to the boat and get some clear pictures. 
 
 
After the Pier walk and walking through the makeshift village we wandered off to Adrenaline Beach where our beach bed was for the day. If you’re traveling with little ones or much older ones, be sure to wait for the tram as it’s a pretty long walk out there. The tram will drop you right off near the closest restaurant and restroom near adrenaline beach. 
Once we were signed in we got our choice of the available beach beds, as we didn’t rush over and took our time the first row of beds right on the beach we’re all taken (those come with two extra lounge chairs) so we wound up one row behind. 
All in All I found the beach bed to be a really good value, being able to get it at a slight discount was nice, but still would have been worth it at $175. 
It’s your own private space with is invaluable without having to shell out five to six hundred for the cabana. It comes with extra beach towels, six liters of Evian Water, two lounge floaters, and plenty of pillows to keep comfortable.
 
Once we settled in it was time to get in the water, and then it hit us that we had left the water shoes up in the room, and of course the water was full of sea weed and what seemed like exceedingly spiky rocks. 
I’ll just have to keep reminding myself that at home it’s thirty degrees and I’m relaxing in the tropics.
 
Nikki ordered a couple of Labdoozies but forgot all the lessons she’d been taught. She forgot to mention a regular cup so we of course were brought specialty cups and charged for them. 
After hanging out for the beach and one visit to the dragons tail coaster, we went back to the shuttle stop to catch the shuttle. It was quite warm so shuttling back was a very popular option. 
Boarding back on the ship is where we were hoping one of our Norwegian favorites would be there, refreshing cold towels to wipe off with before boarding the ship. Not to be found though, just another stop to scan SeaPass cards to return towels. Boarding was quite efficient, but that might be because we were a couple of hours before all aboard. 
With the ship still quiet, we went up to the pool area to take in the water slides while the lines were shorter. One plus of slides while in port is that the wind is almost non existent which can be a problem while cruising. 
Since we were early and the flowrider opened in 10 minutes we ventured over to wait in line before it opened. Be sure to bring your seapass cards the first time as you need them to be able to sign the waiver form. It was a good thing we got there first as by the time it opened the line was ten people deep. Addie and I booth did the boogie board side and it was hard work. Just trying to keep from wiping out is an effort in itself. I managed to jam my thumb on the way up at the end so that was the end of my illustrious Flowriding career for today. Addie went back twice more.
 
 
 

Day 4 - Falmouth, Jamaica
Had a little more time this morning, so hit the Windjammer and Sorrento's for breakfast.  Debarked and found our Resort for a Day (JLT) contact at the independent tours tent - transportation was included to the Hyatt Ziva resort.  The Hyatt Ziva is a beautiful resort with two huge pools, a beach area and many options for food and drinks.  They had sports equipment to check out, snorkeling gear, ping pong tables, boogie boards, kayaks, and all kinds of other things to do.  The boys loved the pools, the food was really good (jerk chicken, Jamaican patties, seafood buffet & many other options) and the drinks were plentiful.
Back on the ship, we ordered room service for a snack while we waiting for sail away.  Turns out we needed more than one sail away drink because our departure was delayed almost an hour and a half waiting for a RCI excursion coming back from Dunn's River Falls!  After we cleaned up, my husband tried to take our younger son to ice skating but the line was incredibly long and the last slot they could have gotten conflicted with our dinner reservations.  Hoping for something available the next day, they opted out.
For dinner, we got an Izumi hibachi reservation after asking the hostess if we could pay the difference between the dining package and the hibachi price.  Food and show were great!  There was no kids menu, so I had asked for the boys to share an adult hibachi chicken and my husband ordered sushi.  I think the boys were charged $10 or 15 each and our dining plan covered the rest.  The service was wonderful and I'm so glad we asked about this option even though the dining plan doesn't cover hibachi by design.
Boys hit the arcade again while my husband and I got boozy coffees at Cafe Promenade.  We all changed and went up to the pool deck to watch Ant Man and The Wasp on the big screen.  Was a bit chilly and windy so didn't watch the whole thing, but the first one was on the room TV, so finished the night with family movie night there instead.
Thoughts for Day 4:
Sorrento's breakfast offered hot sandwiches, fruit and specialty coffees (the line for Cafe Promenade was hellish long, but Sorrento's was short!) Hyatt Ziva was wonderful but perhaps a bit further from the port (20+ minutes) than I had hoped and $$$. We were on the right hand side of the ship (port? starboard? don't judge...) and this was perfect for Labadee and Falmouth port watching from our balcony. Couple at our hibachi table was on the late excursion and told us the story about this large group that was delaying the excursion at every point which made them hit traffic and the delay worse Drink package challenge... broke even today with RCI

Day 5 - sea day
Windjammer has been a little crazy and repetitive for breakfast for we hit the buffet at Playmakers so the boys could play pool too.  Perfect time to go to Guest Services and take care of some misc charges that needed to be cleaned up and photos.  We had a bit of an odd experience in the MDR for lunch, having never been before.  There was a menu to order from, but also a buffet line for hot and cold food and a salad bar.  None of this was explained and felt like it was a fend for yourself experience, especially when my husband and kids' food was served about 15min ahead of mine (all was hot food).  Strange.  Anyway, figured there was plenty of food around and didn't worry about it!  The boys really wanted to go to the belly flop competition next, which was funny and entertaining as always!
After that, the boys wanted some down time in the room (we had all had enough sun the previous two days).  We let them have that time while we went to trivia, casino and bingo - no winners.  Last sunset on the concierge deck, last water slides - still an incredibly long line for the SkyPad.  Decided on Mexican night in the Windjammer for dinner (skip the tacos/nachos and get the quesadillas and chimi's).  Time to work off dinner at the family hush disco which the boys thought was super fun!
The next morning, we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise over FL as we pulled into port.  We opted for continental breakfast in the suite lounge and walk off assist by the concierge.  There were announcements being made about long customs lines, but the concierge line was quick and efficient.  Uber back to the FLL airport for $13 plus tip.
Thoughts for Day 5/6:
Playmakers buffet was deserted, so I wonder how long they will keep that up. MDR lunch burger was decent and nice to make your own salad. Bingo - make sure you get your extra C&A options if you are eligible. Snacks in the Solarium looked really good on sea days, nice sandwiches. No drink cards on this cruise, but there was a beer special on the last day. Drink package challenge... broke even with RCI

Fourth vote for using the port parking. Used it in October, super convenient and the staff were all friendly and helpful. Plus, it's got full security / cameras / etc. so you've got peace of mind your car won't have been vandalized while you were away.

Did my daily price check in the Cruise Planner, had a nice surprise. After buying 2-device VOOM for $18.99/night on the Black Friday sale, today the same package is listed for $17.99/night. Canceled and re-bought, easy peasy. All of $5 saved, but that's almost half a sail-away margarita (or 1/3 a glass of my preferred red wines) right there!
Here's the weird part -- banner on Black Friday said the $18.99/night price was 50% off on-board pricing, and today's $17.99/night rate is listed as 40% off. ?
So check your Cruise Planners, folks! Maybe you'll also find a random drop on something. I certainly doubt I'll find 2-device VOOM for a better rate than this, but then again I thought the same thing about $18.99 just a couple of weeks ago!

Well, after 3 cabin moves and who knows how many phone calls by our TA, we are back in the original cabin we booked a year and a half ago! 
@Matt is 100% correct when he says use a travel agent, John Ames at MEI really came through on this!
Scott
 

Gotta love random % Discounts.
Today I am running a sale on a cup of coffee, its 97% off......  ONBOARD PRICE $100.00

Did my daily price check in the Cruise Planner, had a nice surprise. After buying 2-device VOOM for $18.99/night on the Black Friday sale, today the same package is listed for $17.99/night. Canceled and re-bought, easy peasy. All of $5 saved, but that's almost half a sail-away margarita (or 1/3 a glass of my preferred red wines) right there!
Here's the weird part -- banner on Black Friday said the $18.99/night price was 50% off on-board pricing, and today's $17.99/night rate is listed as 40% off. ?
So check your Cruise Planners, folks! Maybe you'll also find a random drop on something. I certainly doubt I'll find 2-device VOOM for a better rate than this, but then again I thought the same thing about $18.99 just a couple of weeks ago!