Bob_KY

My husband and credit cards might not survive this march towards diamond lol!  Jane

That’s not actually true. I just booked the escape room for our nov cruise. It popped up under activities 2 days after the entertainment was released in our case 

Ref.  Escape Room.  Agree with AshleyDillo.  We want to book it also.  Always depends on ship, but it appears it may become visible in "activities" about 45 days out.  Also, it sells out really quick.

Day 3 -- At Sea!  Two fun, but exhausting days under our belt.  Now, a  fantastic sea day!  We spent some time reading and relaxing on our deck.  We also played mini-golf several times, got caught up in a table tennis tournament, climbed the rock wall several times (my husband and son love climbing, and they drag me along), took several turns on the flowrider, and just enjoyed the day.
Son and husband took a flowrider lesson, and both progressed toward standing up.  I, however, stuck to my stomach.  In a perfect world, I would stay off that particular machine, but I always end up giving into family peer pressure and taking a couple of turns.
Now, this is where the SC becomes somewhat odd.  On sea days, SC can "cut" the flowrider, climbing wall, and zip line lines.  On flowrider, they put SC people in the corner of the flowrider area to wait, and generally you only wait a couple of people before they call you out.  My husband and I simply cannot handle the not waiting in line part, so we either wait like everyone else or watch.  Our son, however, got the hang of standing on the side and taking his turn about every 4 people or so.  The rock wall and zip line are not quite so obvious or uncomfortable.  On the rock wall, the SC people only go to the front of the line once, and then wait with everyone else for the next turn.  And the zip line often does not have a line.  In any event, my mind is torn on this benefit.  On one hand, it is part of the price.  On the other, it just seems wrong.  But, our son had an awful lot of fun, so it was all worth it.
Our son also spent a good deal of time at the teen club, allowing us time to just chill on our private deck (with our own hot tub -- what a treat)!  Our son really enjoys getting away from us and going to the teen club, primarily (I think) because he would spend all of his time gaming if we allowed it.  But, based on his comments, he games during free time, but does participate in and enjoy the planned activities as well.  Certainly, as a younger teen, there were times he felt uncomfortable with some of the older boys.  But, in general, on each cruise, he develops a peer group of kids his age who he enjoys spending time with.  We do make sure that he always attends the open house on the first night.  I think that whether a kid will enjoy the teen activities really depends on the kid.  Gamers will have fun, as there is always a group of gamers.  And, gaming creates immediate connection amount the players.  In short, our teen always looks forward to spending time in the teen club, and we generally need to limit how much time he spends there so that he engages with us!

 

More suite pictures (I hope).  The suite was great -- no noise at all from CK!  The only tiny little downside is that anyone can see into the room if you have the lights on and the shades open from the pool deck.  We do not care too much about such things, but it is something to keep in mind!  The shads and curtains close and open with a button, so it is very easy.  But, you need to remember to do so!!
We really enjoyed being so close to CK -- we could just pop in anytime for a drink, coffee, or whatever else.

 

The envelope can be used to designate an extra tip to anyone you’ve encountered along the way. It’s a standard process that they leave an envelope in every room. 
I prefer to hand deliver anything extra I give directly to the person

Tipping the room steward and bartender on the first day has always paid off handsomely for us.  We have done this on every cruise. At first the kids and wife thought I was crazy to do that.   They are so underpaid and work hours longer than most farmers.   Bring 2 bottles of wine on board if you like wine. The daily drink specials are also good.  Don`t buy merchandise on the ship.  All purchases go on your sea pass.  You can run up a huge tab in no time.  Use your camera and have someone take your picture.  We do that a lot and take other peoples pictures all the time.  We do a lot of non ship excursions and find them to be smaller in group size and cheaper.  But if you miss the ship its your dime. Or no excursion and do our own wandering.   

+1 for JW Marriott Marquis (used reward points, but it can be expensive).  Farfalle - Fine Italian Restaurant is within walking distance.  BEST TIRAMISU I have ever had.  

I book a King Suite at the Downtown Hilton ($159.00ish) they have a view of the port with floor to ceiling windows!

That was the decision I made.   Actually due to the Cuba cancellation and an incredibly good deal on a GS for the same week, I actually have have 2 GS cruises coming up.   One in August with a friend (Cuba replacement) and one in March 2020 with my husband that I booked several months ago.  He dislikes being inconvenienced so I thought a suite would help with that-particularly reserved seats at shows.   Thanks for the advice.   This site is awesome with great people

If I book a cruise well in advance (12+ months), I usually do not do much planning for it until closer to sailing.  Price changes are part of what I check, but my MEI agent has been quite helpful in doing that for me.

I tend to do stuff around sales holidays.  With Europe I did a bunch early on because I wanted to make sure I had the excursion and then rebooked as the price went down several times... Only one I didn't do this for (the excursion said only available on board so even though the price went down, I left it).  Other than that I only check when I'm bored!   Jane

I'd concur.  We generally don't do much after a cruise unless we are certain about excursions we want on the next cruise.  We don't deal with any of that unless there is a sale.  We definitely don't worry much about the prices, nor have we cancelled and re-booked anything.  If we don't like the initial cruise price, we just don't book it.  Until a month ago, I'd never run across this blog or thought to check it out.  The trigger for us to really think hard is the 90 day window.  Once we check-in, we consider if there is anything we want to pre-order.  Since I am over 65, I am finding it harder to locate snorkeling excursions.  I don't understand why snorkeling off the beach would have an age restriction, but one resort does.

I can see why you might want UDP even with a GS, but why would you need the Key if you have a GS?

+1 for JW Marriott Marquis (used reward points, but it can be expensive).  Farfalle - Fine Italian Restaurant is within walking distance.  BEST TIRAMISU I have ever had.  

Isn’t Coco Cay itself an “excursion”? 

I liked following this post, but is there anyone else that feels this needs a new start?

Awesome review!  So looking forward to Chill Island!  Countdown_2_Cococay

Yesterday we were in Coco Cay and had pre booked a Chill Island Beach Cabana. Here’s the quick & dirty:
Pros:
We booked early and paid $399 for the day which turned out to be a good price. Our suite concierge said the remaining few rented last minute at $700+. 
Cabana was more then enough room for 4 adults and a few kids. There’s a nice couch, 2 plastic (but comfortable) chairs, coffee table, cooler table (stocked with comped Evian water), a ceiling fan and 2 water floats. 
Cabana attendant “Linda” was awesome and was always stopping by to see if we needed anything. I don’t believe there was ever a moment we had to wait for anything. 
Location was great. You get your own private beach area that is shared with only the Chill Island Cabana guests. Tons of small fish near the barrier rocks to look at. Nice white sand and free of the absolutely annoying sharp coral that you find on the Suite beach at Labadee. 
The complimentary cabana menu offered a very nice selection of food that could satisfy basically anyone. The food came piping hot right off the grill. 
Cons:
No option to tip the cabana attendant on your seapass card. The thought here was that I would start a tab and order alcohol, soda exc (non drink package people here) and give the attendant a nice tip when I close out the tab. This is not the case. The attendant does not run a tab and you must close out every order (meaning the tip goes to the bar personnel). I walked back to the ship and got cash. Slightly annoying but mostly my fault. I do think for the sake of the attendants tip that they make this more obvious. 
Coco Cay is huge and it’s easy to miss the chill island cabanas if you decide to walk instead of using the tram. We overshot the location by 1/2 mile and ended up taking the scenic route. Again, more my fault for not paying enough attention. I did notice the map location is deceiving and also the cabanas are not well marked. 
I noticed the showers are located in sand which makes 0 sense. I found it difficult to get the sand off of us. Very annoying. There should be a shower(s) close to the pier so 5000 people don’t track sand back to the ship. RC missed this one. Sure you could spray off your feet in the pirate ship next to the pier but there really needs to be a better solution. 
 
My overall all review is an overwhelming positive experience. We will 100% only do this island in a cabana because the experience was excellent. We spent some time in the pool and it’s simply awesome! RC did a great job on Coco Cay!

Well, I thought we had booked our bucket list cruise a few months ago when my wife said she wanted to see the Hawaiian Islands. So I made it happen for this August.
Then......friends enlisted us into a Greek Isles cruise for next June. 
Is it ok to have two buckets on your list?

Thank you. And yes, my priorities are on the Harmony. Fingers crossed that Marc is a good CD.
With regards to the list here, I'm not getting info regarding the CD's now. In addition, the CD List on CC is now totally substandard so I'm not bothering getting info from that. The AM List there was always terrible. The only info I'm getting is from any CD's that I follow on social media.

Welcome to the Boards!  Yes, prices do fluctuate.   But, it does not hurt to buy and if a sale comes along (say 4th of July), just cancel your order and then reorder at the lower price. 

If there was a MVP Blog section (MOST VALUABLE POSTER), this would be in the hall of fame.  

can't wait to work with you ladies !   patiently waiting for July 4th sale...

I’ll be happy to report back after our stop in July and let you know. I believe the South Beach area (I think it will have a new name?) is opening in December 2019, unless there is a delay in construction. Yours would also be dependent on if the bungalows and beds are going back where they were. I’m guessing, and this is total speculation, but if they work well over on Chill Island for the next 6 months I wouldn’t be surprised if they had them in both locations. More to rent, more revenue for them! 
I am thinking about my first live blog for this cruise since we have a lot of firsts. And some interesting family dynamics that could provide some entertainment. If I do, I will give you a heads up so you can read my thoughts on CocoCay and the beach beds/Chill Island! ?