bcarney

It could be someone in the position I'm in... the way things are working out, we'll hit 140 on our next RC cruise which is an 11 day Serenade sailing. This will be our first on Serenade. I'd much rather have one from Adventure, which we've sailed on 6 times thus far (45 of my total days at sea). Unless I win the Lotto I can't book a JS for the 4 of us between now and the Serenade sailing, so it looks like I'll have to find someone willing to swap. And to make it worse, with Adventure moving to the northeast it's future itineraries hold no interest for me so it's unlikely I'll sail on her again for the 210, 280 etc. levels. :(

The web server's date settings may be based on server time, which is on UTC/GMT, so the midnight rollover is 7 or 8pm Eastern depending on the time of year.

Be careful and read the fine print for the MSC terms carefully, especially way down at the end. IIRC you have to book the cruise directly through their casino program (and not a TA) for OBC.

I usually pay in full in advance, and then consider the refund for the kids a little "self-provided onboard credit".

And this is why nations have borders. Pepperoni needs to be whole, and the thicker the better, to give you something to bite into and drag a little bit of cheese off with it. :)

I'm guessing next door to @Matt would be the best place to live in Florida from a cruise perspective. :)

FWIW I enjoyed the catamaran to Nevis so much we did it again in 2017. It was the catamaran "Fan-ta-Sea", offered through Royal Caribbean.

As a Michigan resident, I offer my apologies for DTW. It's a third-world airport, at best. I hope you're never stuck at the old terminal. My place is about 1 3/4 hours from DTW, and exactly 3 1/2 from both Cleveland and Chicago. I'm finding I'm saving several hundred per person (there's 4 of us) by driving to the other airports over DTW. I have to say that if I lived within a 12-14 hour drive from a port, I'd rather drive. By the time you monkey around with parking and security, baggage fees, getting to the airport hours early and multi-hour layovers, I'd rather be in my car with my family talking about the fun we'll have on the upcoming cruise. And binge-listening to the Royal Caribbean Blog podcast, of course.

Unfortunately it's not until April 2019, but @DocLC is sailing on MSC soon (although not on Seaside) and I'm awaiting his review. His family's "style" of cruising is very close to ours.

After 15 (soon to be 16) consecutive RC cruises I bit the bullet and reserved an MSC Seaside cruise. An interior for 4 on Rhapsody was $2767, with a $1000 deposit. No other perks. The same week on Seaside was $2365, in a BALCONY room, with two 12 drink coupons and free internet, $100 OBC, and only $96 deposit. It was a no-brainer.

I need to persuade you to take the Nov 19, 2018 Serenade cruise that I'll be on!

My Nov 2018 Serenade sailing over Thanksgiving is at $19.99/day for Surf and Stream. Nov 2016 it was just $8.99. Ouch.

Of the three the best beaches are going to be on Antigua. One beach that I've been to in St. Lucia had to have it's sand brought in, and the other was an artificial penninsula that had some resorts built on it. Very lackluster beaches. I've only been to one beach on St. Kitts (actually it was an excursion to Nevis) and while the excursion was fine, the beach was "meh".

Since you're stopping in Jamaica, look for Monymusk Special Reserve, Appleton Estate 21 or 30 year (or whatever your wallet allows; Appleton's Joy Anniversary Edition if you really want to step out). When we were in Ocho Rios a few years ago I stumbled across Mt Gay's 300 Anniversary Rum (from Barbados) for only $175, it was $300 when I looked at it in Bridgetown, Barbados, so you never know what you might find in the cruise port shopping areas. There's also a few other good distillers in Jamaica like Hampden and Worthy Park, but I don't have any personal recommendations since I've only had stuff they've created for export or blending. I'm not very knowledgeable about tequila. The Casa Noble I mentioned was a 5 year aged tequila. A store owner can probably recommend something similar. What's good: taste it. Do you like it? Then it's good. :)

You are a wise woman. The cruise experience pre-kids and post-kids are definitely two different experiences.

Belize has a company called Traveler's that makes 5 Barrel Rum that is pretty decent, and "Don Omario 15 Year Royal Edition" which is worth the effort to locate. You may need to go to the distillery on an excursion to purchase it as I didn't see it anywhere near the port. I have a bottle of the 15 Year in my collection, but I don't remember the cost. Cozumel would be a good place for tequila (even though it's no where near where they actually make the stuff); I'd get one in a fancy bottle as a momento, or a nice brand like Casa Noble. If you ever go to the Southern Caribbean from San Juan down to Barbados or Grenada, let me know... I have a whole list of places to go to and rums to purchase. :)

We did that one in 2004 at $249 a person. It's hard to justify it at $467, but man that was a memorable experience. Do it if you can.

Because for our family we'd have to buy 4 (approaching $500 IIRC), and the two for the kids are only good for 5 years.

I have to admit...I am quite tempted by that foreign lady as well. I love the ships decor, and having 2 kids of different genders the sofa that turns into a bunkbed is a great idea. It's only a matter of time until we sail MSC.

Which itinerary on Adventure - the ABC islands, or the one that goes down to Barbados? We sailed on Adventure for the 6th time over Thanksgiving....I just love that southern Caribbean run!

Well, it did make the TSA bureaucrats jobs safer...

There wasn't anything specifically marked as being for young adults; everything was all listed in one section. The golf sim is ancient history - it was removed during or prior to the last refurb in 2016 (the flow rider and big waterslides are there now), and IIRC it was non-functional during my Jan 2010 cruise.

They are - I was on her last week in 9376 and kids in connecting 9381. They had a flatscreen TVs. That said - my room was the same exact colors in the photo above, which is why I refer to the rooms as being "dated" and hope they are updated in January's refurb.

The map is out of date; Michigan has REAL ID compliant Drivers Licenses and Enhanced Drivers Licenses, assuming that's what you applied for at renewal time. http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1627_81569---,00.html

Well duh, it's because Harmony is so much bigger than Indy.