bcarney

It's obvious… they want a "hot spare" to replace any ships with mechanical problems. :)

We've been on St. Thomas 7 or 8 times so we've (me, wife, 7 and 5 year old kids) are taking the "Destination St. John: Coastal Cruise of National Park Beaches" excursion while in port since we've never been to St. John's. The ferry takes us over to St. John, gives us a 'coastal tour' of the beaches, and then drops us off in town for a few hours on our own before returning to the ship. Are there any "must do" type activities while on St. John for a family of four?

Exactly one week from … exactly right now, I'll be wandering up to deck 14 forward, left side door (thanks Tylor!) to scope out a good location for sail-away on Oasis!

For follow up - my wife and I decided to cancel the excursion. $228 for the four of us was just too much for a couple hours of beach time & a burger. They'll probably stay on board while I wander the port area exploring a bit (and trying to avoid being mugged).

Checking out pricing on the Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise, and looked at an outside room. I'm curious why RCCL's ad department selected a Kardashian-channelling midget that has the ability to levitate two inches above the bed… That's just weird looking.

Most people didn't wake up one morning and exclaim "hey, I want to take a cruise!". How did you first become interested in taking a cruise? My then fiancee and I were doing wedding planning and I was thinking of a week in Tahiti for a honeymoon. But damn.. that was expensive...did I want to go into that much debt for a honeymoon? Memorable, yes, each time the credit card bill would come it would be a reminder... A local franchisee of a major cruise chain would scour the local paper's wedding license announcements and sent people a brochure about cruising. She sent us a copy, and since she was just a few blocks from my place we made an appointment and met with her. She talked about cruising and we priced out a few cruises and decided to book one right then and there. It was 1/3rd the cost of the Tahiti trip (which appealed to me, being as frugal as I am), and actually sounded more interesting than going to a single resort in Tahiti. What really hooked me was a photo that showed the size of of some Princess ship behind the US Capitol Building - and the ship was larger! (this was 1999, well before the Oasis class ships!). We took the cruise (Carnival Fascination)...and I was hooked. I think the pivotal moment was our last port day, when on an excursion on a Tiami catamaran cruise in Barbados a very drunk man from Arkansas came up to me and said "you're newlyweds? Well, let me give you some advice, because I've been married FIVE times...." We came back from the honeymoon, and my mind immediately went to trying to figure out how to take another cruise... and here I am, 13 years later and just a few days from our 11th cruise. And apparently my love of cruising has rubbed off on my siblings. We came from very humble beginnings (where a vacation out of state might as well have been a trip to the moon), and we are all now avid cruisers.

I'm a malt man myself; give me a chocolate malt and I'm there.

I've only eaten there onboard once; I didn't find it particularly memorable so I guess my reaction is one of vast indifference. :)

Being from Michigan our water is currently in a solid state, so 75+ is acceptable. Thanks for the intel.

I'll keep an eye out for that shirt and say hello! -Fellow April 5 Oasis cruiser

I just reserved a beach excursion "Blue Lagoon Island Deluxe Beach Break" for our April 5 Oasis cruise. I was wondering if anyone has been there that time of year - is the ocean water warm enough to swim in? Atlantis is out of our price range, so it's this or wander around Nassau… any thoughts for a couple with a 7 and 5 year old?

The drinks packages don't cover cocktails over $10, or wine over $12 unfortunately. http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/royal-caribbean-beverage-packages

I keep clicking my heels together and saying "there is no snow in the Bahamas…there is no snow in St. Thomas… there is no snow in St. Maarten…" LOL On a past visit to St. Maarten we were docked next to a HAL ship, and an elderly lady (had to be in her 90s from the look of her) in a wheelchair came off the ship wearing an oxygen mask, being pushed by her butler/assistant that appeared to be in his 60s. He was completely in uniform, black outfit and everything. They got off the ship, paused for a moment, she waved her hand in the air, and they returned to the ship. It was at that point I decided it would be four or five decades before I sail on HAL...

Just run the numbers - let's say you have a preference for a certain $8.50 drink. $385 divided by $8.50 = 45.25 drinks. That's six and a half drinks per day, each day, for the week… drink up.

I was planning on picking up an open booking NextCruise certificate on my April 5th cruise. I'm not able to book a certain date this far out. For a $100 OBC it would have been worthwhile…for $25? I'm not going to bother.

I'm in the process of going through my online check-in for my April 5 cruise. When I got to the form where I had to select my date of birth, the oldest year that was possible to select was 1900. Why is Royal Caribbean discriminating against 114 year olds? I certainly plan on cruising when I'm that age. Looks like I'll have to find another cruise line when I'm a centenerarian-plus. Holland America (aka "God's waiting room") perhaps? :)

Derek409 - we're on the same cruise as you!!! :-) Spent last night watching every YouTube video on Oasis there is… Can't wait!!! "The Real" Bill Carney

When we first started cruising it was itinerary. I like "collecting" ports. After that it was co-ordinating flights and trying to minimize costs and travel stress. On our first two cruises with kids, finding the right staterooms was a concern. On one we booked a rear corner on Adventure that was a wider but shallower room, which worked out well for having space for the crib. On another we had a Family Suite like your recent Navigator cruise; it rocked, and we were lucky as they usually don't let those out for families of 4. On our April 5 cruise we're going to "wing it" in a standard balcony room w/pull out sofa bed on Oasis and see how it goes. Now on the Oasis cruise, the difficulty is here is excursions. Partially finding ones that appeal to both myself and the kids, and partially finding one in Bahamas that fits that weird 7am-2pm on a Sunday stop. All this said, if this is "difficulty" to suffer through, I guess I am truly blessed. :) "The Real" Bill Carney

Gosh, for $450 I think I'd just pony up the extra money and book a suite, and then ask the concierge if they could arrange having the the photographer at the right place and right time. And then you've got the suite to celebrate in! Get photos if you can - I proposed to Emily at sunset on the top of Brockway Mountain (way up at the tip of the upper peninsula). While the images are in my head, it's a bit difficult to have extra prints made for friends and family, LOL. I hope Jake doesn't peruse these message boards, otherwise the surprise will be spoiled! ;) Enjoy your proposal and treasure the moment. :)

My first was on Carnival, so no… ;) Our second was on RC's Monarch and we found it was a better "fit" and have stuck with the brand. I'm sometimes tempted by other cruise lines (with 2 kids now the 3/4 passenger rates do make a differenece) but so far, we've stuck with RCL. So far my best cruise is either my last one, or my next one, depending on where I'm at in the booking process! :)

Take a bunch of people at the mall, lock the doors, and keep them in there for a week. A similar number of people are going to get sick, only they'll call it "the flu" and just go home. Do the same on a cruise ship, and (gasp!) it's NOROVIRUS!!! (gasp again) and it's all over the news for a week or more. I think RCL did what they had to do in this bad situation. There's not really a lot of options. At least it's not a self-inflicted issue like mechanical problems due to lack of upkeep, etc...

Were either of these follows still in the crew on Enchantment? (Click the images for full size photos) This is Richard Binuha, our assistant waiter in Nov 2011. Really nice guy, always sought us out in the Windjammer and basically treated us as if he was our own personal waiter. This is Dondon Villagomez. He was an assistant waiter in a nearby section, and he took a shine to my kids, and they to him. I hope they've both been promoted; they definitely earned the WOW cards that RCL passed out and "made" the cruise for us. :)

I don't think I've heard of a nation asking a cruise ship not to stop there due to illness aboard the ship: St Maarten Health Ministry Advised Royal Caribbean Against Cruise Ship Call http://www.caribjournal.com/2014/01/27/st-maarten-health-ministry-advised-royal-caribbean-against-cruise-ship-call/

On my past two cruises (first w/kids) Royal Caribbean had a program where the children would sit with us in the main dining room and have an expedited dinner, then the Adventure Ocean staff would come and get them after 30/45 minutes and take them to AO so the parents could finish their dinner any more relaxed manner. Highly recommended by me. :)

Wow, I wish I would have investigated this more back in the past… I could have saved some serious coin. I've looked at other cruise lines and have been tempted (particularly NCL with their considerably-lower 3/4 pax rates, which would help keep costs down re: my kids), but I keep coming back to Royal. I should probably just "put a ring on her finger" and purchase the NCC on day 1 on Oasis, LOL!