Lovetocruise2002

Yes most definitely. Also for the entire week if you wish.

@12thman, I just thought of something else. When we cruised Anthem last year, I took quite a few pics of the food at Coastal Kitchen. It is documented in this blog. I have pics from every night except night 7 (that is my least favourite menu of all the night so we went to Jamie's). Maybe the pics will help in your decision too. Disclaimer: They are not @twangster quality photos.

Ah...I am showing this to Hubby!!! ? Very sweet.....

We usually do this and it's not a problem. They can reserve the whole week.

We are doing this in July for Symphony. Our return flight from Fort Lauderdale is 11:30am. I probably would not be comfortable before this. We plan to get off the ship around 7:30am. We've done this before and it's worth the savings in airfare.

+1 on hearing this about Samba. I have also heard in addition to this that the smell of chlorine from the Solarium (Samba is Solarium Bistro) is bothersome to some while the are dining.

We are in a CL on Symphony this July, doing CK exclusively. If this is your first cruise on RCI I would try CK this time around and save specialty for another time.

In Coco Cay? or did you mean Labadee? Quite a few SC cruisers have reported no Genie magic on Coco Cay.

Yes, it was just recently verified by @MamaShark who sailed Star Class this past week and Sky class the week before that Coco Cay Cabanas are not held back for any class of guests. It is first come first reserve. However, @MamaShark did share that if you managed to reserve it through your cruise planner then the Genie can secure the Cabana number for you.

That is a "Do Not Pass It Up"! Following along as usual. Enjoy Harmony!

Definitely have a look then. It's the same menu. They just rotate it on different nights. So for example, Night 1 menu on most ships is Night 4 on Allure. Not sure why they do that?

Are you ready to book November 4, 2020 yet? ?

They rotate through a 7 night menu in Coastal Kitchen. What ship are you sailing? As mentioned by @spiralqueen in a recent live blog, Allure seems to run the rotation in a different order than the rest of the fleet but it's still the same 7 night menu. I posted copies of the 7 night menu in this thread: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/12970-menus-only/

Like others have already mentioned, all balconies have at least a small table and 2 chairs. Some of the suite balconies have a bit more furniture (dining table, loungers, etc.). If you can find balconies on the "hump" (look on the deck plans where the side of the ship comes out a bit) they have a bit more square footage. In addition, I cannot remember the cabin number, but there is a Central Park balcony cabin that is unusually large because of the location of it. @Matt might be able to help because he has had this cabin before. I also thought of another quiet area on the ship...the scenery is not as nice but it is a space that does not see a whole lot of traffic. On Deck 5 there is a jogging track. IIRC, there are some small areas and chairs set up for seating there. You are also quite close to the water in that location.

This is the exact reason why we purchased VOOM for 3 devices this time for our Anthem Group Cruise. I expect that I will ditch my kids once in a while to hang with @Matt and the gang and I have to be able to keep tabs on where my daughters will be. That means we all need a code.

No rules. I was just kidding with @Skid.

Old news..he's a bot. ?

How dare you?! That is a mandatory post for live blogs! ?

I can even hear the ocean from the 17th deck so I think you'll be good on any deck under that.

I am of the mindset that Coastal Kitchen rivals any specialty. In fact, there are some dishes that are even better. In addition, some specialty restaurant favourites are also available in Coastal Kitchen. The only specialty that CK cannot match is Izumi, maybe Playmakers? We had the UDP booked too for SY in July. As soon we upgraded to Sky Class, we cancelled the UDP. It was a no brainer for us. Yes if you are Star Class. Not that I know of for Sky class.

+1 on the balcony and Central Park (day or night). If you have access to the suite sundeck, that place is also very calm and quiet. Oasis class ships disperse crowds really well. I have yet to feel crowded on one (except during embarkation and when shows let out). @Skid recently blogged from his first time on Oasis class and in his final thoughts, he makes comments on how well the crowds are handled. Have a read through that one too.

We had port side with that itinerary last year. Loved that while in Cape Liberty, you see the NY skyline and in Nassau you can see Atlantis. No view of anything interesting in PC. And we did not tender at Coco Cay so cannot comment on that. We have port side booked again this July for the Group Cruise on Anthem.

^^^ +1 Somewhat similar story...First cruise. No RCBlog to help. It was our honeymoon. 7am direct flight to San Juan from DTW. We had to drive over from Canada (which we had done many times before). Left the house at 3am (thinking there is plenty of time). Who would have thought the the bridge to the US would be backed up all the way into Canada at 3am???! To make a long story short, we got to the ticket counter at 6:30am! The lady who checked our bags told us we better run to the gate. Literally. It was like something out of the movies lol. We got to the gate just as they were closing the door. After that experience, we always fly the day before. That doesn't take away the risk of border traffic but at least if we miss our flight, there is more time to get there.

Yes. It pretty much is as easy as that. The most important thing there is to put your phone in airplane mode. When we cruise with our two girls, we usually get VOOM for 2 devices and share it. However, now the girls are getting older and going off on their own more often. If you anticipate that separation with your 15 year old, then I would suggest getting a 3 device plan. This is what we have decided to do for our next cruise on Anthem. VOOM Surf & Stream will allow you to do all that you listed above. When we don't travel with our kids, we use VOOM to call and message them over wifi. Works fine, even on non-Oasis class ships (YMMV). As @Mr. Candyman mentioned, the app also has a chat feature now but I am not sure how reliable it is. My experience with it is that it is not very reliable. Again, YMMV here. If it were me, I would go with VOOM for 2-3 devices.

@2Beeze I simply meant that if OP or anyone else is unhappy with a cruise line, RCCL or any other line, they should consider looking at another cruise line. As far as this thread goes, OP seems to have posted once and not come back and we have encountered posts like this before. I will just leave it at that.