bcarney

Just north of Grand Rapids so you can stop at Founders....and all the other Grand Rapids area breweries. Make it a weekend! Bill Carney Unofficial Beer Ambassador (and Official Beer Consumer) of Michigan

Perrin Brewing here in Michigan has a collaboration with Cigar City and will be serving Jai Lai in Michigan starting Jan 28 http://www.perrinbrewing.com/events/ I don't know if it's a permanent thing or not. I hope it is!

Just 5 for us, but one more booked for next November. We were iffy about taking the cruise after our experience last November (the ship's refurb wasn't finished so a bunch of things were closed) but decided what the heck... YOLO and all that.

So checking daily would be considered a bit excessive, eh? :)

On Adventure in November I had a very nice server in the Duck and Dog (Julia Tomas) that located DFH 90 Minute for me when I expressed an interest in craft IPAs. And she brought me one every evening as I entered the pub, without me even having to ask for it.

8:15 shouldn't be a problem - and if they want your money, I'm sure they'll wait a couple minutes for you if need be.

Pour it out?!??! I think you meant finish it. I think making someone pour out a drink violates some clause in the Geneva Convention. :)

The problem with the colored packets is that what's inside doesn't match what you would get on land. The yellow packets are traditionally Splenda on land, but shipboard it's just Sweet'n'Low in a different color package. Ruined a number of cups of coffee by forgetting that yellow is not Splenda at sea....

We were on a cruise once where the only thing they played was REO Speedwagon and the then recently released Neal Diamond best-of album...non stop, everywhere on the ship. My 6 year old kid came home knowing the lyrics to "Keep on Loving You" ... something I hadn't even heard since high school dances with my then-girlfriend. I'd rather have Caribbean themed music whist in the Caribbean.

I had the pleasure of sailing out of Baltimore on Enchantment in late Nov 2011. We drove from Michigan and it was a very enjoyable experience overall. Definitely one of our top 3 cruises.

Who wants to start the GoFundMe page?

Clear your cookies and browser cache - solves 99% of RC's idiotic website "problems".

I just treat it as if I was eating at a land-based restaurant and tip accordingly. If they get a buck or two extra out of me that way, so be it. They've usually earned it.

This is sad. I rather like the smaller ships and the itineraries they can go to. While we haven't yet done a Freedom class ship, our preferences currently are Voyager class and smaller. We did Oasis once, that was plenty enough for me. It was our least favorite cruise.

But then I'd have to sit through an art auction. And I might come home with an overpriced poster...er, "print". :)

Good grief that sounds complicated.

We did two a day for the first three days on our first cruise. It was exhausting, and we did't get to do anything on the islands other than the excursions (shopping, etc). I would recommend against it.

Could very well be; I was on the second sailing after the semi-refurb, so they've had several weeks to tweak the system.

I wouldn't rely on it for anything video related, so FaceTime is out. iMessage may work, but there was one whole day where there was no internet connectivity at all, so have a backup plan just in case.

Billy knows all. He's like the Yoda of cruising.

If you are new to cruising Royal Caribbean, for your first cruise just stick with the Main Dining Room (MDR). After a couple of meals you'll know what the food is like, then at that point you can decide if you want to try one of the upsell restaurants, and then you can book it when you are on the ship. My wife and I were completely happy with the MDR food for over ten cruises, then one cruise we tried Chops. I really liked it (loved it would be too strong a word). On another cruise we tried the now defunct Portofinos, and LOVED IT. We did Izumi for lunch, and it was...meh. Might try it for dinner some day. We keep booking Giovanni's Table, and Fate just won't let us dine there - on our last cruise, they didn't have enough room for our 2 kids to join us, and on our next cruise RC has cancelled my ENTIRE CRUISE, TWICE, for no logical reason (sorry, a little frustrated about this right now), so I stopped re-booking the reservation until RC's accounting department gets it's head out of it's backside. My point is, stick to the MDR until you get to the point where you really want something different. Then at that point, book onboard, spontaneously, and enjoy the surprise. :)

I'll correct this for you: Never eat the scrambled "eggs".

Save your cash and get an interior room, and then head up to the pool deck when they dock so you can get the full 360 degree experience. :)

Personally, I think flying to Puerto Rico and not saying in Old San Juan is like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower...

I haven't taken the tour, but I investigated it and determined it wasn't ideal for me to take while in Cozumel. From what I read elsewhere, you're the first off the boat and the last to return before sailing. 45 minutes on the ferry to the mainland, then 2 hours to the site. About an hour and a half there, then 2 hours back on the bus and the 45 minute ferry ride again. A long time ago when Empress was announced RC said they'd offer overnight stops in Cozumel - if they actually did that, then I'd consider the excursion. I think the only way to actually see the site would be to sail on one of Carnival's ships that stops in Progresso; that port is about as close to Chichen Itza as you're going to get.