DocLC

Very thorough especially with the additions noted. I saw reference to dining/entertainment reservations. What about shore excursions through Royal including possible port transfers (usually not worth the $$$ but advisable in some foreign ports).

They do tack on fees, probably $40 or more. There' a mandatory maid fee, energy fee, etc. per adult, so it does add up. Definitely double check as there might not be much savings going this route.

Kids that age would probably enjoy the Turtle Farm. My son was a bit scared, but fascinated, by the sting rays at 6.

Taxi will be best to get to the Comfort Suites as its still a walk from where the water taxi will drop you off. I've stayed there a couple of times and this will be the most efficient way. It won't be the most cost effective, but keep in mind that your time is limited.

Keri, It's Leo Brown and he's in St. Marten, not St. Thomas. Message me or Matt for his number. I recently used him as well.

It's tough, Jason. We took a cruise from Montreal to Boston, but flew round trip to Boston to precruise and then drove to Montreal. Hence, we needed the car seat and stroller. We also needed it in Canada as we did excursions on our own by rental car. Let's just say it made the cabin a bit tighter. On our cruise last year, we had the same situation as we spent time at DisneyWorld ahead of time. Again, storing the stroller and car seat was tough becaus of the space issue. In addition, the vehicle we rode in during the cruise either didn't have belts or only had lap belts that would work with a traditional car seat but not a booster seat.

It's a personal choice. However, in many ports, you may find that the taxis are either safari busses or vehicles that lack functional seat belts. If renting a car, Id say take the seats and use them, but realize they will take up a lot of space in the cabin.

I stand corrected. I just read Matt's post indicating that RCI will be implementing rotational dining similar to what Disney offers. Should be interesting to see how this works. While I haven't been on the Freedom class yet, I would suspect that unlike Disney, the complimentary restaraunts aren't all the same size, which will make coming up with a suitable schedule difficult.

I don't have an answer for you, but wanted to clarify that it's dynamic dining. Rotational dining is something Disney Cruise Line does where you rotate through each of the restaraunts, visiting a different one each night. Dynamic dining allows you to experience different restaraunts, but you need to plan/reserve which ones you want to go to each night.

Cabs are always an option, but it really depends on the ports and what you want to do. If you provide your itinerary, you'll get more advice. In St. Maarten, hiring a cab is quite easy and fairly affordable; however, it depends on what you want to do (e.g., beach, shop, etc.). On other islands, it can be extremely expensive to go this route. If I were to do St. Kitts over again, I would opt for a taxi tour, for instance.

I'm not aware of any limit imposed by the cruise lines; the limits are typically imposed by governmental agencies. Regarding onboard availability, I've typically seen cigarettes for sale, not smokeless tobacco. However, I'm not a tobacco user, so I can't say I've necessarily looked, either.

Good point regarding Disney, Matt. I know that Disney offers a much more appealing price on the park tickets, or at least has in the past, compared to what's offered to US residents.

If you're on a B2B, do not hey delivery at the end of your 1st cruise or are they savvy enough to hold it through the second cruise?

While I would agree that this is good advice to obtain more favorable terms, I wonder how long it will be before RCI bases rates on residency like they do in the US for regional specials (e.g., only those in Florida are eligible for the special rate).

I didn't notice any issues on the Jewel, but I do know that you can usually request an egg crate or mattress topper if the bed isn't to your comfort liking. I will say my wife loved the beds, but mostly because the corners were curved. She thought that was the best thing ever.

I guess the question to ask is whether the additional cost of the single supplement is worth it in terms of the benefits gained by racking up the cruise points more quickly. How many free drinks per night are you going to consume? If you're on the beverage package, then there's no value to you here. If you're going to travel in a balcony cabin in the future, then you'll get additional discounts, but does it amount to two single supplements? My guess is that the cost of getting to the upper tiers of C&A this way aren't cost effective. However, I get where your coming from as I've played the numbers, too, to find ways to jump levels.

For the Jewel, I was able book about 100 days out. However, it seems like it can vary, so I'd check about three months out or so and check back every so often until you can.

Confiscate is such a harsh word. Perhaps "store it for your convenience" (and to pad the bar tab) would be more appropriate. ;)

Or get a single cabin and do a back-to-back cruise; same cost and same number of points if you have the time.

At one point, there was a minimum amount per day you had to put down, but this may have changed. I once cruised with a friend and they wanted $50 per day, so we ended up using my credit card and he just gave me the cash that he spent. As Michelle said, you can always prepurchased OBC a or use a credit card to register and then pay it off in cash onboard.

Note that Texas may be one of many states that restricts sale of alcohol on Sundays. I believe you can be served alcohol in restaurants, but sale of alcohol (e.g., at liquor stores) may be restricted. Therefore, if your cruise leaves on a Sunday, don't plan on picking it up on the way to the port; purchase it the night before.

If you cruise solo, you'll earn double points as you're paying a single supplement fare.

By the way, you might be able to save money by buying a bucket of beers. Ask at the bars or by the pool, but most cruise lines offer something like this.

My guess is that they don't stcok them with booze since they're not locked and thus a minor would have access to the them. You can always buy a beer at a bar, ask them not to open it, and store it in the fridge yourself.

The first thing the Advenutre Ocean staff did when I signed my sun up was to punch a whole in his sea pass and put it on a lanyard that they provided. Regarding refills, there is a 15 minute limit, but it wasn't a problem on the Jewel as the fill amount was set to 32 ounces, so if you had ice in the cup, you could easily fill it twice before you had to wait 15 minutes.