Skid

I always wonder...are the bartenders good with knowing drinks you tell them (if you only know the name)?  Also...im pretty sure this is the case...i can get an r bar menu drink at any bar (say schooner bar)? Jane

Ending off the night with some thoughts about We Will Rock You.
We have now seen Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Grease, and now We Will Rock You on Royal Caribbean Ships.  All the shows have been good caliber, Broadway style shows.  If we had one complaint up until now, it would be the fact the the vocals (especially the leads) aren't as strong as one would hear on Broadway.  That changed tonight.  This was most definitely our most favourite show on any RC ship.  The musicians were amazing, so talented.  The entire cast had strong, vibrant voices.  Definitely a must see if you sail Anthem.  We are even thinking about seeing it again.  A warning to parents of young children.  There is some language in this show.  The cruise compass even says "Parental Guidance Advised".  Really, it's nothing school age children don't already hear on the playground.  I teach kids, I've been out there daily, I know.  A short conversation with your kids before or after is a good idea though.
The Quest is tonight.  That makes me sad.  It means our cruise is coming to an end soon.  Sailing back to NJ now....at sea for the next two days...
Goodnight all.

Sabrina, I think it would be impossible for anyone to hate you. You are absolutely one of the nicest people I have never met!! I am certainly not alone in loving your review. Enjoy the rest of your cruise---and the We Will Rock You show.

Sabrina, I think it would be impossible for anyone to hate you. You are absolutely one of the nicest people I have never met!! I am certainly not alone in loving your review. Enjoy the rest of your cruise---and the We Will Rock You show.

CK Night 4 Menu:
I forgot to mention in previous dinner posts that the classics menu (left side) is the same every night. The menu that changes nightly is the one that I am posting. For the classics menu, see the first dinner post. 
We were all super tired from today's activities so the plan was just to eat quickly and relax the rest of the night. 

Hubby, D1, and I all started with the Caesar Salad. No pic as I already posted that in another post. D2 had her usual tomatoes in a martini glass. We didn't even have to ask for it tonight. At CK on Anthem, they sit you with the same server each night. I like that way better as they know you well by now and it makes tipping easier at the end.  He has also been very accommodating with D2 as she is ridiculously picky. More than once now, he has taken items from the adult menu and modified it to her liking. For example, for dinner tonight, she had the roasted chicken but it was completely plain (zero sauces and garnishes) and her side item was fries. 
Cheese Tortellini: Flavour was light and not too strong. Hubby and D1 liked this a lot. I liked it too but I could only eat about 1/3 of it as I find tortellini sits heavy in your stomach and fills you up quickly.  Rating: A

Grilled Barramundi:  The plan was for Hubby and I to share this. In the end, we each took a few bites and left it. It was really salty and the texture was very stiff. It was fresh, just not to our personal liking. I want to say rating is a B- but that is highly subjective. 

Vegetable dish. Sorry, in putting this post together I just realized that my menu pic has the last entree cut off. I also cannot remember the name of it. Whatever it was called, this dish is good! It contains beans, chick peas, and grilled vegetables. The white stuff was a yogurt dressing. Flavouring played a big part in making this dish delicious!  Rating: A

Dessert!
Proof as to how tired my kids were by this point, they skipped dessert. Totally unheard of!  Hubby and I still found the strength ?

Creme Brûlée, my usual favourite.  
Rating: A

Chocolate and Olive cake. This did not sound appealing at all but our waiter insisted that I try it. I am so glad I listened because this was yummy! It was dense and rich but melted in your mouth.
Rating: A

New York Cheesecake with Strawberry topping, Hubby's usual favourite.  Rating: A

After dinner we called it a night. Back to the stateroom for PJs and family time. Everyone, but me, is now fast asleep ? 
Goodnight all!
 

Thank you. Any day that I don't have to cook or worry about dinner is a great time!
And no worries, that's what RC Blog is all about, helping each other, learning from each other. So ask away! ?

Sabrina-Thank you soooooo much for the great information. I am honored that you remembered my question! I'm glad you are enjoying your cruise and hope you have great weather and smooth sailing the rest of the way. You and your wonderful family deserve it!

Hi all!  Sorry for the lack of live posts today.  It has been a busy day.  We went to KSC today on a shore excursion purchased through RC.  It is called "Kennedy Space Center Guided Tour".  It is pricey but well worth it in my opinion.  We got 10% off the Cruise Planner price during the sale at Christmas time.  Here's a short summary of our day...
Instructions were to meet outside the terminal building at 8:15am.  Upon arriving outside, greeters were there to direct you.
Greeter:  "What excursion are you headed on today?"
Hubby:  "Cape Canaveral"
Greeter: ...looking puzzled
Me:  We are going on the Kennedy Space Center guided tour.
Greeter:  "Oh, ok, down to the buses on the right."
More evidence to support the fact the I am the Genie, even on vacation...Ok, moving on...
The bus left promptly at 8:30am.  It took slightly over 20min to get to KSC.  The bus ride there and back was very interactive.  Our guide gave lots of info about the area and the Space Center.  We headed straight to the Saturn V Center.  The last time we were here it was about 20 years ago.  Hubby and I both noticed throughout the day that they have added many more attractions to the place.  At the Saturn V building, we watched a video on the lift off of Apollo 8 and there was plenty of time given to walk around, take pics, and tour independently.
Photo Credit:  All Hubby



After leaving the Saturn V Center, they gave us some time to view the launch pad from the viewing stands.  That's where my pic earlier today came from.
We boarded the bus again and headed over to the Visitor Complex.  Here we watched a short video at Journey to Mars and watched an 3D IMAX movie on "Journey to Space".  Many of the attractions here reminded me of the Epcot Center.  Our kids were surprisingly engaged and we were really pleased with that.  Free time was then given for lunch.  It was raining by this point so the break was welcomed.  The food choices here are standard theme park items.
D2 was quite inspired by this time.  She created this.  It's called "Mission Chicken"  or "Chicken Rocket", she couldn't decide.

After lunch, we met back up with the group and it was time to head over to Atlantis.  Here we had time to participate in the Shuttle Launch Experience and wander through other exhibits.

All in all, it was a very worthwhile experience at KSC.  Everything mentioned above was included except lunch.  It was a busy day.  D2 lost all steam by the end of the day.  In chatting with the kids at dinner, they had time to reflect on the visit and they enjoyed it.  It was eye opening for them to see the collective effort that goes into a mission.  It was also humbling for them to see the sacrifices made by others to get to the point where we are now in space exploration.  I am really happy that we took them now (at this age) and not earlier because they are at an age where they can see beyond the "fun" of the exhibits and process the information they took in today.  This excursion also provided a really good mix of guided exploration and independent touring. 
In answer to @Skid's question from earlier, if this excursion is worthwhile as a half-day tour, I feel that the answer is it depends on several factors.  If the tour is guided and includes both the Saturn V Center and the Visitor Complex, then no.  I fear it may be very rushed.  If it only includes part of it, then yes, you can still get some good time in.  If your tour is totally independent, then it is worthwhile if you are not visiting for the first time (and you are selective) or if you have researched it and have a set plan (no wandering).  Keep in mind that travel time alone is about 50-60 min round trip.  On our way back to the ship, we had to wait on a bridge for about 10 min because there was a barge that had to pass.  Things like that can eat up time if you only have 6 hours.  Our tour was listed as 8hrs but really it was 8:15am-5pm.
After we got back, the kids were wiped.  It was a quick stop at Sorrento's pizza again (kids like it lol) and then back to the stateroom to clean up for dinner.
Going to put the kids to bed then post dinner photos...

Has anyone else noticed that smell when walking onto the ship?  With only 4 cruises before this it already feels like I'm home when that smell hits me.  Great feeling.
     Dinner was in the MDR most of the week.  The first night i had the horseradish salmon.  It was delicious, and my favorite dish of the week.  For dessert I had the hazelnut chocolate cake...amazing, and the best dessert of the week.  The NY strip was really really good.  I tried the duck, and lamb, later in the week, both were so so.  The lobster bisque was pretty awful.  We had dinner in the Windjamair one night, so I was able to try the chicken curry, and sapi jamur (beef), both were delicious.  The pepperoni pizza was pretty decent for a buffet.  My wife visited the omelet station in the Windjamair every morning.
     The rock wall had weird hours all week, so I didn't get to climb as much as I wanted, but I made it to 3 sessions I think.  There was 1 route on the wall I just couldn't complete, but I got a little farther each time I tried, so I'm happy with that.  The wall was closed on day 4 due to high winds.  I had to skip the adult speed climb this time around due to formal night dinner.
     I had lunch at Izumi on day 2 (1st sea day) while the baby and wife napped.  I haven't had raw fish, so this being my first time trying sushi I started with something cooked to some extent...the crispy spicy tuna roll, and the champagne lobster roll...wow.  I absolutely loved both of them.  They organized the rolls beautifully on the plate.  It was more food than I thought it'd be, so I only ended up eating 9 of the 16 pieces, and took the rest back to my room for later.  I loved the crispy spicy tuna roll so much I got it on day 4 (2nd sea day) for lunch and took it back to my balcony.
     Cruising with a baby was not the best experience.  We enjoyed the cruise, but there just wasn't a whole lot for a 1yr old to do, which is fine, Brilliance is a wonderful ship regardless.  It was a great learning cruise I guess.  My wife said our next one will have to be on a ship with a toddler pool, so Freedom-class or above.  Our son loved the Schooner Bar (as did I), the Colony Club, climbing stairs, and the mini golf course.  But, his favorite activity was riding the elevators by the Centrum and/or ocean.  The crew loved him and would stop to say hi to him when they could.  We left him in the nursery 3 times.  The first time he did great, but the last two times he screamed as we dropped him off, so we ended up picking him up an hour early each session.  We're hoping he'll grow out of it for next time.  We took him to the open play twice and he loved it, since we were there with him.
     Our day in Grand Cayman was...interesting.  We did the Trolley Roger tour, which was nice and short for the baby (we booked it on board, on embarkation day I believe).  We walked around town afterwards and long story short I lost my phone.  I freaked out, finally settled things in my head after back tracking and searching our bags, then we got back on board.  My wife dumped the diaper bag out on the bed...there's my phone.  Hooray!  It had fallen to the bottom of the bag and I missed it each time I checked in there.  I felt like an idiot for a few hours, apologized to my wife, and we moved on with our day.
    The next day in Cozumel went much better.  There were 4 ships in port...Empress, Liberty, Brilliance, and Carnival Breeze.  We received the "dangerous ferry" letter about Cozumel, so we decided we'd better try to book an excursion in Cozumel before everyone else started rebooking due to the ferry cancellations.  We wanted somewhere our son could run around and get in the water.  I probably should've booked Nachi like I originally planned, but we decided to go into this cruise with no plans.  So, during our sail away in Grand Cayman we booked Chankanaab National Park day pass.  For us it was a good choice.  A small beach our son could walk into, a splash pad, a small playground, a pool with a swim up bar (in this case it was full of booty shaking spring breakers...I thought people only acted that way in movies/tv, lol), a sea lion show, and more.  Our pass got us all that and more, including a small buffet lunch, and open bar at 3 of the bars on property.  It was $50 per adult, the baby got in free.  We were there 3hrs, but could've stayed longer.
     Our Junior Suite was amazing.  The space in the room, and hump balcony were great.  The bathtub was perfect for our little dude.  Also, I really liked having the bath robes.  We were able to put a blow up pool on the balcony for little man to play in.
     Overall it was a good cruise.  Brilliance is a great ship.  We've been on Serenade as well, so now I can say I'm a fan of the Radiance-class.  Next time we cruise we'll have a 2 1/2, and 1yr old, so we'll be looking for that toddler pool on Freedom-class or higher, and we'll be looking into 2 connecting cabins as Matt and others have suggested.  All my wishes came true...honey stung chicken, rock climbing, sushi, and meeting Michael Poole.  I'll post some random pictures whenever I get around to it.
     Thank you to everyone on the forum, blog, and podcast for all the little tips and tricks!

I loved the pictures in the Schooner Bar menu.

We have a reservation for We Will Rock You in a few nights. I will let you know about KSC.

Sabrina--Loving your blog. It is great. I think you will enjoy Spectra's Cabaret--very entertaining. Assuming they are still doing their We Will Rock You production, make sure to see that. We sailed Anthem in 2016 and that was the highlight of all entertainment. It is truly as good as a real Broadway show.
Also, a quick request please. We are sailing Adventure out of Cape Liberty in May and the first stop is Cape Canaveral. We were think of getting the Kennedy Space Center excursion also. However, ship is not scheduled to arrive until noon and according to the website KSC closes at 6. Please let us know if you agree that this will not leave enough time to make it worthwhile. Thank you so much and enjoy your cruise!!

Back from rock climbing. Hubby and kids got there at 1:30pm for a 2:00pm start. They were first in line. By 2pm when I got there the line was very long. I did not get a pic in the frenzy but the line started to the left of the wall and it was past the giraffe (not my pic...credit to google search). 
 
You are required to wear socks. They provide the shoes and harness. No helmet for this activity.
Beginners:


He's done it before:

Ever wonder what happens if you lose your  seapass card?  After rock climbing hubby could not find his. He went back to rock climbing to see if he dropped it. No luck. Went to to guest services and they basically deactivate your card and WOW band and issue you a new card. Pretty easy. Then D1 found hubby's card...location? In the slot for the lights! ?

Just a heads up regarding changes in cruise itinerary.  Nationwide Choice plan travel insurance, and possible other plans,  cover changes in itinerary, whether the changes were made pre-departure or during the actual cruise.  Our cruise last November that was altered from Eastern to Western Caribbean due to hurricane damage was eligible for a $750 per person reimbursement, even though the cruise wasn't cancelled.  Changes in itinerary made during the actual cruise were covered for a lessor amount (I don't recall exactly), but still a significant sum.  With the insurance claim, our cost for the cruise was about $500 for the two of us.
That said, the ethics of making such a claim was discussed a length on another board last year.  But you buy a policy and hold the insurer to the coverages that they offer.  Maybe by now, Nationwide has changed their coverage and has eliminated this option or raised the price, but it's worth a look when purchasing trip insurance from any company.  
Finally, I don't intend this to come across as an endorsement of Nationwide, but rather as information that some policies cover itinerary changes that result from unforeseen circumstances such as this Nor'Easter.
 
 

Absolutely nothing you can do unless you are actually handicapped.  This is the chance you take by booking a handicapped room. I have a visible handicap and I wouldn't claim that kind of room unless it was close to sail since I don't truly need it.

Welcome to the boards!
I just want to clarify what you are asking.  You are saying that you do not require an HA room but booked one?  Ok, no problem so far.  So occasionally HA rooms are booked up with people who do not require them, and then someone who does require one books and they have to reassign someone so the handicapped person can have an accessible room.  And your question is how can you stop a handicapped person from getting an accessible room, on account of you (someone who does not require an accessible room) booking it first?
I would say good luck with that, but I feel more appropriate would be "break a leg"!

The US State Department issued a warning today to avoid tourist ferries in Mexico. RC is/has cancelled all excursions involving tourist ferries. 
This was attached to our door this morning.

Casey left this week, Mercedes Lafuente took over.
 

A few people have asked to hear about my thoughts so here it is.. although this isn’t really a live blog but we just got off the other day
 
A little background on me...  I went on my first cruise in 2004 on Navigator of the Seas, and then in 2006 it was Mariner of the Seas.  I went on these in my early 20s.  Flash forward about 10 years, now in my early (almost mid) 30s and have an 8 year old son.  I was a single mother for some time and cruising wasn’t even something that crossed my mind.  I worked my a$$ off to provide a wonderful life for my son, and 4 years ago I met a great man who is also a great father to my son.  I was now finally in a much better financial situation and in early 2016 we were ready to book our first family vacation!!!  After doing some research I was debating between Norwegian and Royal Caribbean.  Considering I took a 10 year hiatus from cruising, I felt like everything was brand new again.  We ended up booking Harmony of the Seas for November 2016.  At the time, I didn’t even know Harmony was a brand new ship and that we were booked on her first 7 day Caribbean sailing!!  Talk about a steeler cruise to reintroduce myself to cruising!! I started googling and more googling until I stumbled upon Royal Caribbean Blog!
After I had booked our Harmony sailing, but prior to actually sailing, a friend mentioned wanting to book a cruise for 2017.  I was in!!  They were celebrating their 10 year anniversary and only request was they didn’t want to visit Jamaica (bad experience on honeymoon).  Since we were sailing an eastern itinerary in 2016, and all the western itineraries I could find for the time period we were looking at and leaving out of Florida, they all had a stop in Jamaica.  My friends found an interesting itinerary on the NCL Getaway.  It came with their “perks” of the unlimited beverage package and 3 nights specialty dinning.  In the meantime, more people joined the group and I was out numbered in the vote to go RCI.  I said, what the hell, let’s do it!  You don’t know if like something until you try it, right?  Well flash forward again to November 2017... and I tried it, and know if I like it or not!
I am going to do a comparison by category comparing my Harmony sailing to my Getaway sailing.  Now, I know this isn’t exactly comparing apples to apples since Harmony was brand new, and larger.  But Getaway is only a few years old, and still holds well over 4,000 passengers I feel they close enough to form my opinions.
Pre Boarding/Cruise Planner - Prior to sailing on Harmony, Royal’s cruise planner drove me nuts.  Several different glitches, and it that it never worked properly on my phone.  I hate having to get my laptop out!  But, I was able to browse and book Shore excursions right away, they ran several different sales and everything was easy to find. 
NCL - I couldn’t even view most excursions until about 120 days out.  I am a HUGE type A personality planner and this drove me nuts!  I don’t book most excursions through the ship so this wasn’t a huge deal except for the fact that I wanted to book a Beach Villa on their brand new private island in Belize called Harvest Caye (more on this later).  So, needless to say I was checking on a weekly basis and finally around the end of July (we were sailing in November) I was finally able to book the Villa.  
I found the website lacking and a little hard to navigate, and I was unable to link our dining between our different reservations.  Because of this, and the timing of them releasing their Shore excursions, Royal wins for pre cruise planning.  RCI 1 NCL 0
Embarkation - We were lucky to be one of the first sailings on Harmony, which you entered your credit card info, uploaded your picture etc all ahead of time.  It is my understanding not all RCI ships are this way, so I’m not going to take that into account, although I definitely liked that better.  Embarkation was fairly simple on both, fast and effecient.  On NCL we were traveling with my elderly grandmother who needed wheelchair assistance, we were one of the first people on the ship!  This also happened to me on my first two sailings with Royal (my grandfather was with us), moral of the story, if anyone in your party can justify a wheelchair, take advantage! Lol. Overall embarkation is a tie with very little issues on both  RCI 2 NCL 0
First impressions on board - Royal ships are just gorgeous!!  I have not sailed on one without a Promenade and I really missed it!  That giddy feeling when you first walk on board was missing.  We boarded NCL on deck 7, and got to see the stairwell.. talk about underwhelming.  Luckily my TA had given me a heads up so at least I was prepared  RCI 3 NCL 0
Staterooms - We had a standard balcony room on Harmony.  It was my first time on a balcony and I was officially hooked!  We are a family of 3, so 2 adults and a child.  We had more than enough storage and closet space, including room for my 15 pairs of shoes (don’t judge).  NCL, because my grandmother was traveling with us, we had connecting staterooms.  One a Family Mini Suite and the other an Angled Balcony Room.  The balcony room was their standard balcony room, but our balcony was where the ship “jutted” out, giving more room.  We had planned on opening the divider for one large balcony.  Well, “they don’t allow it for safety reasons” a quote from our room steward.  My question, why was the ship built with opening dividers if it’s a safety issue and they aren’t allowed to open them?  Major disappointment number 1.  We were warned the balconies were going to be tiny, but were not cocnerned as we thought we would have one long one.  I am an average height woman at about 5’6”.  When I sat in ththere chair that was all the way back, my knees touched the glass on the standard balcony of the mini suite.  Slightly more room on the angled balcony, but because of th angle we could only look forward not aft.. without hanging over the edge with someone hanging onto you so you don’t fall.  No thank you!  Bathrooms in both balcony rooms were fairly similar in size.  The Family Mini Suite is a glorified balcony with a larger bathroom.  It is NOT similar to a Junior Suite on RCI.  It did come with a full bathtub with a double sink which was nice.  The only closet in the room is very close to the couch and you had to shimmy in sideways to get in.  I definitely did not have room for 12 pairs of shoes (I tried to pack lighter this year).  Decor was only meh.. Royal wins for staterooms hands down RCI 4 NCL 0
Food (the best part!) - I was actually disappointed with the overall food on Harmony.  I was used to the old style cruising of one specialty restaurant and set dining time with the same waiter each night.  Traditional dining was booked so we had to go with My Time Dinning.  We ate in the dining room 3 times and 4 Specialty (Chops, 150 CP, Jamie’s and Wonderland). All our specialty dining was amazing, main dining room not so much, including service.  One night the food was just disgusting.  And another night our server left much to be desired.  NCL has 3 main dining rooms, they have named theirselves “Freestyle cruising”.  At first I thought I wouldn’t like this.  I like traditional cruise dining, I enjoyed getting to know your waiter and your table mates, I enjoyed formal nights.  When else as an adult do you have an excuse to get all fancy?? We decided well in advance we would be doing our own formal night.  To our surprise, many people did the same!  You would see eveverything from evening gowns to shirts and tanks and no one judged.  I even wore shorts and sandals one night and I loved it!  The food, I didn’t have one bad meal, including complimentary.  There is a pub type place called O’Sheehans that is complimentary, we are not big buffet people so this is where we ate most lunches.  Everything was at minimum average and at best, delicious!  There is also a Margaritaville onboard (for a charge) because of the fact they had so many choices for complimentary dining and literally didn’t have one bad meal, topped with the relaxed dress code, NCL wins this one.  I’m even going to give them 1.5 points since I am combining dinning and dress code.. it really was nice being able to go casual without any glaring eyes RCI 4 NCL 1.5
Kids Club - I should start with saying, my son has slight special needs being diagnosed ADHD with ODD (oppositional defiance disorder) basically, he does whatever he wants and doesn’t care about consequences.  He was borderline on the spectrum with Aspergers, but was just under the line.  I didn’t know at the time, but RCI is endorsed by the Austism Research Institute and even has sailings Autism of the Seas.  I was so nervous about dropping him off and having behavioral issues.  He had so much fun there!!  Everything was structured and organized, what he thrives from.  He wanted to be at the kids club any moment he could.  He was just as excited to try the NCL kids club.  NCL was much smaller, but I had expected that knowing Harmonys was the newest and best with a science, art and theater room.  2 out of the first 3 days we had behavioral issues.  Now, I know more than anyone that my son can be a handful, and he defiantly did wrong, I felt the staff on RCI was just better trained to accommodate “non mainstream” children like himself, and were able to see certain behavior be triggered and able to redirect prior to meltdowns.  We took 2 days off from the club then went back for short time periods and with a track phone.  He still had fun!  RCI 5 NCL 1.5
Ship Activities/Overall layout - Harmony was so easy to navigate, it didn’t matter it is the largest cruise ship in the world.  I never got lost once, things made sense.  The neighborhood concept is amazing and makes you feel comfortable and at home.  I enjoy having the promenade and almost a “central main location” the hub of the ship sort of speak.  I never had that feeling on NCL, it always felt like something was missing.  The Atrium was just not the same, I am not sure if I would feel the same on a RCI ship with an atrium instead of a promenade.  I may need to stick to Voyager Class or above!  The casino was in the middle of the main deck and we had to walk through with children to get to the main dining room and if it wasn’t for all the smoke I probably wouldn’t care.  There is no mid bank of elevators, only forward and aft.  You have to walk outside to get to ththe buffet... did I mention it was downporuing in Honduras??  I was warned ahead of time the pool was tiny, and it was.  There is only one main pool, and it’s adults only.  There is a glorified hot tub squeezed between the slides and the splash area that they called the “kids pool”.  Because it’s in th middle, there is no wherno for chairs.  Since I am one of the parents that watches their child, unless I wanted to go in I had to sit on the side.  They should have planned better and thought of parents.  The splash area looked good for small children, but did not interest my 8 year old.  We was luckily tall enough to do some sides this year which was a plus, although we only did them once.  Mini was gold was average for a ship, but the sports complex area was impressive overall.  The ropes course and plank over th edge was pretty sick, in addition to the bungee trampoline for anyone under 90lbs.  The sports complex is really the good thing I have to say about the ship RCI 6 NCL 1.5
Private Islands - I have only been to CocoCay, not Labadee but I need to make it happen.  I loved CocoCay, water was beautiful and it was so relaxing.  Loved everything was included like the ship.  Tendering is a downside although that is now changing!  I was so excited for Harvest Caye in Belize.  They just built it and it looked amazing.  As time went on I found out it wasn’t your typical private island and everything was run by locals not the ship, so nothing was included.  After some time I became ok with the idea that it wasn’t truly a private island, instead just another port stop.  There were some people on board who hadn’t done their research and were not pleased which is understandable.  It is also why you do a little research first.  The island landscaping and water was beyond beautiful.  I felt like we were on a pacific island.  We had the last villa on the beach so it was nice and private and service was amazing.  I defiantly enjoyed my day there more than CocaCay but I think the villa had something to do with that.. I will totally be looking into one for the 2019 GC.  Since to me it’s not truly a “Private Island” I’m giving NCL .5 points, making the total RCI 6 NCL 2
As you can see by the scores, it wasn’t all bad.  I found the ship not as family friendly as Royal Caribbean, and if you are traveling without children you may have a very different experience, and until the last day I was thinking I would maybe sail them again, just as an adults only cruise, until...
I was looking over my bill the last sea day and noticed a $300 charge from the Tempanyaki night.  My sons birthday was one night on board and 9 of us went to dinner there.  6 of us had the specialty dinning package and I was paying for the other 3.. I promise you it’s not $100 per person.  I went to guest services to correct and she insisted we used all the nights and that’s why we were charged.  After arguing for 20 mins and a few phone calls, she finally figured out that they not only charged me for all 9 but thwas dining was applied that night.  Now, to issue the refund she had to get the manager of that restaurant to do it, she couldn’t.  We waited abou 15 mins and he argued with us and didn’t even understand the receipt from HIS restaurant.  It clearly said “9 @ $29.95” then the service charge the and the total (around $310).  He was an asshat (can I say that on here?) and said I was “wrong” and he needed a calculator.  Needless to say I got my refund.  Did I mention I am an accountant?
The last night of the cruise we went to get our pictures.  My mother and I split a 30 print package for $250 prior to sailing.  There was a special onboard for that price plus a USB of all the images.  We asked a girl if ours had that and she said yes.  We went to order our prints and another asshat (I can say that, right?) said it was $20 extra.  He called the girl over and proceeded to argue with her, she was insisting it did and he did not.  She ended up apologizing saying she was mistaken and it doesn’t come with ours since we bought ahead of time.  So basically they penalize you for buying ahead even though the falsely advertised you were saving money booking ahead.  More importantly the horrible customer service from Jovan in the photo studio who not only argued with me but also very rudely with a coworker right in front of us.  Over a $20 USB after spending $250 on pictures!!!  I walked out of there with my free USB and someone who will only be sailing RCI from now on!!  Did I mention my son and grandmother who shared a room both left with rashes?  They decided to check for any infestation on disembarkation day
I feel like I may have rambled there at points and also probably forgot to touch on something so if you have any questions please feel free to ask! 

Port of call: Nassau, Bahamas.  Five, yes, I said 5! ships in port today. Carnival Sensation, Norwegian Sky, Norwegian Breakaway, Carnival Pride and our beast, Anthem of the Seas. 

Skid,
Thanks very much that was a big help.

We do not have wifi calling on our phones and have successfully used an app called Voxer. You can send/receive messages in writing or in voice (kind of like a walkie-talkie but not in real time live) when connected to any wifi (which you would have by purchasing Voom. The app is free to download and use (although I think you can pay to get a "live" walkie talkie feature). We have android phones and our children have iPhones. It does work across both platforms. We used it on our last cruise on Adventure and had no issues. As others have said, make sure that your phone is in airplane mode and that wifi is turned on and test it out at home.  The website is http://www.voxer.com/
Keep looking at your Cruise Planner. From time to time, they have good deals on either just Voom or together with either the deluxe drink package or soda package. Just as a point of reference, we paid $18/day for the refreshment package and $21/day for the soda/Voom Surf and Stream package for our upcoming cruise. (we do not drink enough to make an alcohol package cost effective-we just pay as we go for those drinks). If you buy any of the packages, excursions, etc. and then see them later on for a lower price, you can cancel and rebook to take advantage of the savings.

We do not have wifi calling on our phones and have successfully used an app called Voxer. You can send/receive messages in writing or in voice (kind of like a walkie-talkie but not in real time live) when connected to any wifi (which you would have by purchasing Voom. The app is free to download and use (although I think you can pay to get a "live" walkie talkie feature). We have android phones and our children have iPhones. It does work across both platforms. We used it on our last cruise on Adventure and had no issues. As others have said, make sure that your phone is in airplane mode and that wifi is turned on and test it out at home.  The website is http://www.voxer.com/
Keep looking at your Cruise Planner. From time to time, they have good deals on either just Voom or together with either the deluxe drink package or soda package. Just as a point of reference, we paid $18/day for the refreshment package and $21/day for the soda/Voom Surf and Stream package for our upcoming cruise. (we do not drink enough to make an alcohol package cost effective-we just pay as we go for those drinks). If you buy any of the packages, excursions, etc. and then see them later on for a lower price, you can cancel and rebook to take advantage of the savings.

I thought el morro was more interesting than the other fort (which is smaller).  The views from el Morro are amazing.   Definitely consider the trolley... there might be a wait but it will take you to both forts as well as stops in old sam Juan... which you should try and walk down a couple streets in. There are hills everywhere...be careful with your knee.   We embarked from San Juan so had more time to explore but I would do these 2 things.   Matt had recommended an amazing little restaurant before in old San Juan that I can't remember the name of... it was wonderful.   That was pre hurricane though.  Love San Juan...get off and spend any time you can and spend lots to bolster the economy.  Jane

Caution:  I suspect the brochure is a listing of the POSSIBLE excursions for a given location, while what you are seeing on-line is a list of all the excursions that are AVALABLE given the dates of your sailings.  The brochure wont take into account what season you are traveling or what is sold out.