Orange Crush

That's me too !  It's staggering how I can ALWAYS choose the slowest line.  I always warn people behind me not to get into the line with me.  I guess I'm just lucky that way !

A frequent Carnival experience that used to drive me crazy (before I switched away from the dark side) was in the omelet line.  They have two lines right beside each other.  You might see 3 people in one and 5 people in the other.  Go in the line with 3 people right?  Then the person in front orders 14 omelets for his family and 10 strangers he just met.  This happened time and again.  
25 mins later when it was my turn I ordered 20 omelets... just because.  OK I didn't do that but it played out pretty nicely in my head...

And I'd bet money that the rudest of these people regularly complain about how rude and entitled millenials/younger folks are.  And rude millenials invariably complain about rude older people.  People seldom recognize their own bad behavior, it's always those other people causing the problems.
I live in the theme park capital of the world, so I see it all the time.  People just develop this sense of "I paid good money/took time off work/etc. to get here and this is my special trip, etc." with no regard for the fact that most of the other people around them paid good money and took time off work just the same and everybody's going to have a nicer time if we're all just polite to one another.

Book it now. I've canceled and rebooked some of my purchases 2 or even 3 times now as the sales have come and gone and prices improved, and it's really easy to do. Only issue I've had has been with the web site refusing my card for unknown reasons a few times, and I've had to fall back to calling Royal to do the re-purchase.

From Celebrity:


Your point balances remain separate between Royal and Celebrity.  If you're Emerald or Platinum on Royal you get the Captain's Club Select benefits (Elite if you're Diamond or higher) from the start on Celebrity, but you're still starting with zero points.  If you never sail Royal again, you'll need 300 points on Celebrity to get to Elite status.
 

There's no casino at Hard Rock Universal, Renting a car and driving to Tampa's pretty much your only option.  Now, if you happen to be at Port Canaveral on a Sunday and the ship arrives a little before noon, you might *just* be able to catch the Victory Casino Cruise, but the timing is going to be pretty tight.  They leave at noon and want you aboard 30 minutes prior to sailing, so the stars would have to align to make that feasible.

If you're talking about the casino in Tampa, that would be a maybe (I assume you didn't mean the one in Universal, don't thing they have a casino).  Its about 2 hours from the port.  So if you want to spend half the time getting there and back, give it a try. But you'll have to rent a car and hope the orlando and tampa traffic is moving, only take one person with a flat tire to stop I4 in both directions.

Watch for combos.  I found an Ultimate Dining + Deluxe Drinks package deal on my March 2018 Allure sailing for $65/night.

Doing some math . . .
X gives different points by room class, anywhere from 2 to 18 points per night.  Royal gives 2 points for suites and 1 point for everything else.  So to get Diamond/Elite, you need to sail:
80 nights on Royal in Interior, Ocean View or Balcony staterooms 40 nights on Royal in Junior Suites & up (or some combination) or
150 nights on X in Interior or Ocean view 100 nights on X in Veranda/Infinite Veranda (normal Balconies) 60 nights on X in Concierge/Aqua class (superior Balconies) 38 nights on X in Sky Suites (Junior Suite-ish) 25 nights on X in Celeb/Signature/Royal/Edge suites (Midrange Suites) 17 nights on X in Penthouse/Reflection/Iconic suites (Max Suites) Looks like in most cases, you'll level-up faster through Royal unless you mostly book superior balconies and suites, and that's before considering any points you already have on Royal.
 
 

Just read this in the Port Canaveral 2017/2018 Directory.
"Cruise Terminal 3, one of the Port's oldest cruise terminals currently being used for single-day port-of-call vessels, will be replaced by a state-of-the-art facility able to serve cruise vessels with up to 8,000 passengers calling on the Port.  The Port will invest $150 million for the new terminal, targeted for completion in 2019, which will support an estimated nearly 4,000 permanent jobs."
No idea how new this news is, but it's the first I've heard of it.

Doing some math . . .
X gives different points by room class, anywhere from 2 to 18 points per night.  Royal gives 2 points for suites and 1 point for everything else.  So to get Diamond/Elite, you need to sail:
80 nights on Royal in Interior, Ocean View or Balcony staterooms 40 nights on Royal in Junior Suites & up (or some combination) or
150 nights on X in Interior or Ocean view 100 nights on X in Veranda/Infinite Veranda (normal Balconies) 60 nights on X in Concierge/Aqua class (superior Balconies) 38 nights on X in Sky Suites (Junior Suite-ish) 25 nights on X in Celeb/Signature/Royal/Edge suites (Midrange Suites) 17 nights on X in Penthouse/Reflection/Iconic suites (Max Suites) Looks like in most cases, you'll level-up faster through Royal unless you mostly book superior balconies and suites, and that's before considering any points you already have on Royal.
 
 

@monctonguy, I'm telling you man, book that Bermuda trip for 5 nights instead and get those perks! 

Thanks, @Orange Crush and @twangster! Even after reading the official verbiage from Royal and Celebrity I just wasn't clear how it worked after that first cruise "across the line". What you've said makes sense, and frankly is a lot clearer to me than the boilerplate semi-legalese the cruise line publishes. Now, when I eventually book a cruise on X, I'll be able to explain to my wife how this works and actually feel confident in the explanation.

From Celebrity:


Your point balances remain separate between Royal and Celebrity.  If you're Emerald or Platinum on Royal you get the Captain's Club Select benefits (Elite if you're Diamond or higher) from the start on Celebrity, but you're still starting with zero points.  If you never sail Royal again, you'll need 300 points on Celebrity to get to Elite status.
 

The Florida Mall is kinda dumpy anyway.  You're not missing anything, and certainly not for $54.
I live in the Orlando area but the problem is the Port is about an hour away from most things you'd want to do.  It's time and cost prohibitive to get anywhere good unless you know somebody in town who can come and get you.

Why would you pay $54 to go to stores that you have everywhere in the US? I don't get it. 

I think you're exactly right.  Royal knows their demographics stats, and I bet they're tracking millenials who opt for the Majesty over the Oasis.  Much easier to get the time off work for 3/4 days over a weekend than the whole week (or week and a couple days if flying) a 7-day cruise costs. 
They also know they have to up their game against Carnival, Norwegian and Disney.  All three are sailing much bigger and much newer ships on the 3/4 day loop out of Canaveral.  One of these things is not like the other:
Carnival Liberty - Launched 2005 - 2,974 Passengers - 110k Tons - 503 Balconies
Disney Dream - Launched 2010 - 2,500 Passengers - 130k Tons - 887 Balconies
Norwegian Epic - Launched 2009 - 4,100 Passengers - 155k Tons - 1951 Balconies
Majesty of the Seas - Launched 1992 - 2,744 Passengers - 74k Tons - 0 Balconies (Balconies only available on Junior Suites & up)
Majesty may have the "biggest heart in the fleet," but her cabins are tiny, only offers a handful of balconies in JS & up, and she's much much older than her peers at Canaveral.  It's not a fair fight.  I've had several travel agents tell me that as lukewarm as they are about Carnival, the Majesty just doesn't stack up against the Liberty.  Mariner will change that.

Another speculation I have is that I've heard it mentioned quite a few times that they're bringing in Mariner to attract Millennial cruisers. As someone who falls in to that group (I'm 27 and my husband is 28), I love the idea of being able to take a quick, affordable cruise with minimal vacation time off - and also why I enjoy the 3/4 day sailings.

It's not uncommon in the industry.  Disney Cruise Line's newest ship does 3 and 4 nighters out of Port Canaveral, and she's somewhere between Voyager and Freedom class in size.
Frankly, I think it's overdue.

Any idea what/where is happening to Majesty in all of this? What about Empress?
 
And I don't see any ships listed out of the port of Miami?!!

I'd spend at least a couple hours walking around.
Looks like you're there 10am-6pm.  When you get off the ship, head down Caroline Street and get something to eat:
Pepe's if you want Breakfast Schooner Wharf often has live music Half Shell if you just want to sit by the docks with some decent seafood B.Os fish wagon if you want conch fritters, onion rings, hot dogs or just about anything fried.  Don't let the appearance fool you, this place is a gem! From there, walk off the food by heading back the way you came and turning left down Duval.  There are some interesting shops and museums between the T-shirt sellers and slushy-rum-thing spots.  If you hang a right on Olivia (about a mile down) you'll walk past the Hemingway house.  I've never done the tour, but have been wanting to--time just got away from us the last few times.
You can backtrack to Duval or hang a right on Whitehead to get to Mallory square and back towards the ship (there's more stuff to see on Duval, but there are a few neat spots on Whitehead).
Overall, skip the ship-sponsored tours, I wouldn't bother with the trolley if you don't mind walking a 2 mile loop at a leisurely pace.  I also would skip the Southernmost Point, it's just a big concrete buoy with a long line of people waiting to take their picture in front of it.

Here's a look at the dining package prices with the change from Oasis of the Seas

My understanding is the price of the packages dropped $5 per person.
Regardless, when you pay the full cover charge, that cost is/was supposed to cover the additional cost of food, gratuity, and of course profit.
With the dining packages, you're often paying 30-50% less for the meal.  Regardless of cost to guest, waiter should still get full tip amount, just like if I have a coupon for a restaurant on land.

I really hope they find another island then to visit as well...this is exactly what I was hoping WOULDNT be happening at Coco Cay...wish they would have done this at Labadee.
 
Guess I better try and get back to Coco Cay one last time before it changes to Disney world....

Well, whatever RC does on Coco Cay, you can bet your butt there will be an 18% gratuity fee involved!

If the flight is delayed by even a few hours, it could cause you not to make the cruise. No way in heck I would fly in from Canada the same day in the winter for sure.
 
Take it from someone that has done it over 10x, you don't want to take that chance.
 
As for car seat if you rent a car you can add it on with most companies...as for the shuttle, probably not that I have noticed anyways.