Michel

You can book refundable when Canadian funds.  Go through the mock booking and enter in the details for the passengers.  A refundable check box shows on the same page where you add gratuities.
Also as a note, I've had a few bookings where my stateroom was only offered as refundable.  You can check if this is your scenarios by selecting the 'view cancellation policy' hyperlink with the pricing.  The pop up window will show if it is "Non-Refundable Deposit" or "Refundable Deposit".

Thank you! 
I must admit that I never went that far in my mock booking "price checking" search since I always use a TA 
I think you just found the answer to my question 🙂
But it's sad they don't offer that choice at the very beginning of the search.  

We are also flying to Miami in early April on SWA for our cruise.  We booked Comfort Inn & Suites Downtown Brickell this time as it has close proximity to the port as well as Bayside Marketplace (loved this place when we were there in November).  In November we stayed at Holiday Inn Port Miami...absolutely loved the location but the hotel itself is old and totally needs updating.  If I were staying there for more than one night I probably would have looked for another hotel!  Hoping the Comfort Inn will be a better choice for our one night stay.
Oh...and we took UBER both from airport to hotel and then next morning from hotel to port.

I was on Independence with that happened with a tour in Jamaica. News spread fast on the ship and it was quite a somber evening to say the least. You could feel it all over the ship. And it wasn't as big or as many affected as this one. Cant imagine.

I can't seem to find the Windjammer when I need it, at home that is! ?

I love reading that kind of post ! Remind me of myself on early january 2016 when I was 4 days away from my cruise on the Allure. 
I to would like to thank the administrators of this blog (and the rest of the members)  for helping us newbie, plan what would become a vacation of a lifetime ! 

I am so glad to hear you both found the blog useful.  I can't wait to hear about your experiences when you return...and which cruise you booked next!

I couldn't agree more ....... The Blog Family has assisted many of us in feeding our newly found addiction, and, helping to make sure we all are prepared to have a fantastic time.

I love reading that kind of post ! Remind me of myself on early january 2016 when I was 4 days away from my cruise on the Allure. 
I to would like to thank the administrators of this blog (and the rest of the members)  for helping us newbie, plan what would become a vacation of a lifetime ! 

I love reading that kind of post ! Remind me of myself on early january 2016 when I was 4 days away from my cruise on the Allure. 
I to would like to thank the administrators of this blog (and the rest of the members)  for helping us newbie, plan what would become a vacation of a lifetime ! 

I would love to take a look at those sites, any recommandation ? 

I can easily relate to the "were all set" feeling you are describing. I felt exactly the same way one year ago for my Allure cruise in Port Everglade. 

It's getting real folks!  Flights are booked (got to use Skymiles for everyone), Pre-cruise hotels booked, rental car booked from airport to hotel/port and from port to airport.  Our first night pre-cruise hotel is the night before our flight and we can keep our vehicles there and they will shuttle us to airport and then the other hotel will be in Orlando and we booked two 2-bedroom suites using my son-n-law's points.  There are 9 of us going so it takes some planning to get everything organized.  Needless to say, we are all getting super excited.  This will be the first cruise for my four Grands, and it will be the first airplane ride for 2 of them. 
 
Now we just need to start looking at all the excursions.... :)

This is a great find, but it always helps to do some dummy bookings to determine. Every situation is different, however, and the comparison below may not fit them all.
 
Example: Arrive at MCO 12/10 and transfer to the Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center is $217 ( I assume taxes are added on at the end) -- I chose this hotel randomly...I have never stayed there or read the reviews:
 
4 People Orlando Airport MCO
Fly Snooze Cruise Hotel Package includes it all:
 Orlando Airport MCO to Hotel Transportation  Hotel Accommodations for 1 Night / 1 Room  Hotel to Port Canaveral Cruise Ship Transfer  Cruise Ship to Orlando Airport MCO Transportation  Breakfast Included: Hot Buffet  
a la carte:
 
MCO to Hotel in one way car rental in intermediate car with Hertz (closest to port) day before embarkation includes free shuttle provided by car rental company -- $80.07 
Quality Inn price on Kayak $82 -- Hotwire $70
Port to MCO on December 18 in intermediate car also $80.07 and including free shuttle from port to rental office
Total -- $230.14 
 
In this case, you would save money and the hassle booking things separately. I will consider this service as an option for cruises out of Port Canaveral.

Well, after a 7-year hiatus, I'm finally back into cruising .....
 
Here are my take-aways ...
 
1)  My wife now understands, it's not just the destination, it's the entire cruise experience.  So much so, we have another one booked (also Vision Class)  and an additional one in the wheelhouse, just working out the details....
 
2)  I LOVE GRANDEUR OF THE SEAS!!!!  I couldn't even think of a negative.... the crew, the food, the fellow passengers... all one big happy family...
 
3) The thrill (the optical illusion) of going under the Key Bridge and the Bay Bridge ..... you just need to see it to believe it.
 
4) The Calypso music ...... there's just something magical about a steel drum on the pool deck.
 
5)  Bermuda is incredible ..... especially the crazy pink buses.  Getting around the island is very easy once you understand the concept of how it's planned out.
 
6)  And here's the biggest take-away .... which you could never purchase, but is priceless --- The ability to decompress from the world, even when you don't even realize you need to decompress.  It was truly a medicinal experience ....
Plus, the removal of all the hate, politics, Clinton, Trump, Media and all the other negatives that fill the airwaves.  It wasn't until we got off the ship that we were able to grasp how important that was.... We were all one big happy family, regardless of where we all came from, for one brief moment, we were all together..... and I, for one, will be eternally grateful.
 
For a 5-day period, we were off the grid for the most part ...... and it was fantastic.
 
Mark
 
 

At the very least, you want to carry your valuables in your ship carry on. Such as jewelry, electronics, important meds, Some folks add bathing suits and the evenings clothes in case their bags don't get there before dinner.

This is what I generally spend in cash once we leave our pre-cruise hotel. I welcome comments; cheapskate, reasonable or overboard?
 
Porters at the pier $2.50/bag ×4 bags twice = $20
Excursion guide $5.00/person × 3excursions = $30
Excursion bus driver $2.50/person × 3excursions = $15
Cab driver to and from pier $2.50/bag ×4 bags twice = $10
Cab driver at port of call $5.00 × ? To and from = $10
Room service $5.00 twice per cruise = $10
Extra for room attendant assuming fabulous friendly service $20
 
Total $115
 
Casino $yikes

You are correct ! 
If you buy a 3 device package, you will be given 3 different password. So at any time, 3 out of your 4 phone (or tablet, or laptop) will be able to signed in simultaneously. 

No does not, but there is a "master" switch (On Allure) that controls everything, be carefull not turning this one off when you leave the cabin. 
Ask your room attendent on the first day. 

Nicole, you are truly an angel for taking on that kind of responsibility.  I know it's out of pure love.  That love will all come back to you, no doubt.
 
Some of those who have small children (Matt ??) can probably help you with the Adventure Ocean questions.  That is a perfect age to be able to fully enjoy the programs at Adventure Ocean.  They will never want to go home !
 
...and your niece will be the perfect companion for you for the more "adult" adventures.
 
I'm excited for you !

Guys thank you for your kind comments. I will let you know the outcome.

I'm so sorry for you, best wishes for your wife's father

I am not one to produce lengthy cruise reviews but there are a couple of things from my cruise last week on Freedom that are worth passing on.
 
My streak is in tact !  I still have never had a bad cruise !  WHEW !
 
1.  Diamond Plus members are no longer invited to the reserved section of seats at the ice shows.  We had no problem at all finding a good seat but I was surprised that the reserved seating no longer includes D+ - Gold card holders only.
 
2.  D+ were welcome in both the D Lounge and the Concierge Lounge although all of our voice messages came from the Diamond Lounge Concierge.  We did not receive any voice or written correspondence whatsoever from the Concierge Club Concierge.
 
3.  D+ are still included in the reserved seating area of the main theater.
 
4.  Even though we were only in a Junior Suite, we were allowed to go to the express disembark line for Suites.  I was very surprised at this.  It has been my experience in the past that the express line for Suites only included Gold card suites but it was a very welcome and unexpected benefit as the disembark line was endless by the time we got downstairs.  This was our own fault.  We had a disembark number of 3....but chose to wait until later to disembark since we had a later flight.  What a mistake that turned out to be - until they moved us from that endless line into the express line where NOBODY was.  We were very fortunate.
 
5.  The seas were some of the calmest we have ever experienced.  We almost NEVER cruise in the summer but since we were repeat victims of Empress Gate this was what we got.  Cruising during the summer can be very risky but we got lucky.  The seas were like glass.
 
6.  While on Grand Cayman, we heard from some locals that they are going to be building a pier next year !  Finally !  I know that they had resisted building any kind of dock or pier b/c of the unavoidable damage to the reef.  I guess finances finally overcame the environmental concerns.  While I heard that this construction had been approved, there is still significant resistance to the plan - primarily from environmentalists and those financially impacted (primarily those that operate the tenders, I am guessing).
 
7.   While snorkeling on GC, Dan saw an (approx.) 8' Nurse Shark.  He was so tickled.  Of course, rather than being afraid, he followed the thing as far as he could.  When he returned to shore, the locals (same ones who told us about the pier) said that it was a very, very rare occurrence.  This young man had lived in GC all of his life and said that he could count the number of times he had seen a Nurse shark on 1 hand.
 
8.  The casino gods were not favorable to me. 

The last time we cruised out of Port Canaveral and went down a day early, we rented a car for the day and drove one way - then took the Royal Caribbean shuttle back to the airport at the end of the cruise. It was not prohibitively expensive to do a one-way car rental.
 
We picked up the car from Hertz at the Orlando airport. Because we wanted to visit the Cape for the day, we stayed in Cocoa Beach. If you book at the Residence Inn, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach (321-323-1100) the car rental office and the hotel are connected by a parking lot, so dropping off the car when you are done is VERY easy. It's no more than 100 steps from the Hertz office to the hotel. VERY convenient and you can keep the car as long as you want on Saturday. The car rental place closes (4:00, I think) but they have a drop box where you just leave the keys. They have no idea what time you drop it off. We arrived in Orlando (9:16 AM), rented the car, toured the Cape, ate dinner and dropped the car at the Hertz lot around 8:00 PM, then walked over to the hotel and had a very restful night's sleep before getting up the next morning and going to the ship.
 
The Residence Inn is very convenient to the port and they shuttled us over to the ship on Sunday morning. The new pier at Port Canaveral is very nice - lots of nice restaurants right there. It was all very, very convenient.
 
Unfortunately I don't have the receipts for the car rental but I recall that it was very reasonable to pick up the car at the airport and drop it off at the Cape. The Residence Inn cost $217.43 including taxes and everything, which isn't bad for a single night at the Cape on a Saturday night (that's the most expensive single night to stay in a hotel, in nearly all cases).
 
So it really depends on what you want to do in central Florida. If you aren't going to one of the amusement parks, I recommend going on to the coast the day before and spending the night nearer the port. Obviously if you are going to do something closer to Orlando you would probably want to stay in Orlando for the night and go to the port the next day...but I am such a worry wart...I always want to get to where I am going as quickly as possible to avoid last minute commuting delays...but that's just me.
 
I would highly recommend the Hertz-Residence Inn connection though. It worked out very well and the hotel got us to the ship so there was nothing to worry about once you dropped the car off.

That would be pretty nice !!! But no, you can't. 
Also, you don't have to buy it on the first day of your cruise, Has todd says, you can wait until a few days into your cruise to buy it. 
But us cruisers tend to drink a bit more at the beginning of our cruise, because of all the excetiments.  
Remember that NOT all the people in the same stateroom has to buy it. That was the case a few years ago.