DocLC

There's no direct way to enforce it, but they do scan your card every time you get a drink even with the package. Therefore, they would know if you received a drink at one bar and then went to another. The bigger concern would be that "sharing" could drive up the price for others and/or result in a change in policy back to the original where all adults in the cabin had to buy the package.

I've had good experience at Cambria Suites in both Miami and DC. They're a newer chain with new hotels and are fully suites or mini suites depending on the room booked. The only downside is that their laundry room is a single washer and dryer. I also don't know if the FLL location offers any type of shuttle service.

This is great news.

We did something similar to the Royal Replenish package on Celebrity. While we thought we'd only break even and did it out of convenience, we really found the value in it even on a port intensive cruise (no sea days). The early morning specialty coffees and teas helped extend the value as did the fresh squeezed juice. Thus, I could the benefit of the alcohol package if I drank more alcohol.

Thanks, Matt. Just learned last night that a coworker will be onboard the Quantum during the group cruise. I pointed her to the site.

It seems to be the fault of the booking system since it had to be redone as a new reservation. It seems to me that it would have made more sense just to override the price. The price reduction, though, was worth the hassle. Unfortunately, my TA had to work extra hard for it and spent a lot of time on the phone with Royal to get it done.

I'm Kris and talked with Matt on Episode 53 of the podcast about my expectations regarding my families upcoming Jewel cruise. This will be our first time on Royal since our Legend cruise on 12/31/2005 and the cruise that bumps us from Platinum to Emerald. This will also be my son's first time on Royal, although he's been on 11 other cruises previously. It seems that we're "all in" with Royal as we've also booked the Brilliance for July 2015 out of England for the Norwegian Fjords/Iceland route and the Liberty out of Texas in January 2016. I'm a huge fan of cruising, as is my son. My wife is less of a fan, but appreciates the convenience of cruising and has "come around" with better itineraries. She and our son also missed the kids clubs on our last land vacation, which is another plus of cruising. :) In addition, the overall value can't be beat when comparing land and/or Disney vacations with cruise vacations. I just wish we had more options out of California.

Great advice, Michelle. I forgot that the cruise lines have gatherings for singles. My brother takes advantage of these when he cruises with us. I guess being with a 40-something family with a 7 year old doesn't provide much of a singles scene for him. :)

My TA did warn me about the cancellation and the consequences; sorry if I implied otherwise. She did go to bat to simply adjust the rate. However, it was some type of weekend or residential rate that put the balconies below the price of the oceanviews and interiors. It was worth the hassle given the $300+ that we saved, but just annoying in the end. Fortunately, we were able to get back into the same cabin, although there was a slight risk of losing that as well. It would have just been more convenient had the rate been changed as I wouldn't have to repurchase everything and reenter all of our information. Royal lost in the end as I reconsidered a couple of excursions in the process and opted not to rebook those with Royal and instead doing something independently.

Received a price drop yesterday for my Jewel cruise in January and could have even bumped up to a D1 from an E1; that parts all good. Unfortunately, Royal made us cancel the cruise and rebook, stating they couldn't adjust the price any other way. As a result, all of our prebookings were lost, resulting in a slight increase in cost of the Royal Replenish package and the need to rebook excursions and redo all of the online booking information. TA spoke to several different people at Royal and they all insisted this was the only way to make the adjustment. Is this normal for Royal or was I an unusual case? We have a couple of other cruises booked; is this something I should suspect in the future if there's a price decrease? Kris

Book fixed dining and request a large table. I'd also suggest going to a site like Cruise Critic and joining a roll call so that you can meet some people in advance and perhaps share an excursion with them.

I've also found them outside the medical center in a dispenser on some cruises. I also heard about Motioneaze today and might give that a try for my wife in case she needs it.

When we went on the Legend years ago out of Tampa, the DoubleTree offered a shuttle to/from the airport and to/from the port. I'm on the Jewel this January and have read there are Freestyle machines onboard.

Just booked Liberty of the Seas for 1/03/16 out of Galveston.

I've never had any issue on any cruise line with flexible dining to get a table for two or three even without a reservation. Even with fixed dining, we've been able to get tables by ourselves without much of a problem with an advanced request.

So wish I could join you guys on the Quantum. It's during my Soring Break, but not my sons, and I'm pretty sure my wife wouldn't be happy with me going solo.

I personally love the Saturday to Saturday cruises as it gives me an extra day at home before having to return to work. I've also done 8-night cruises that are Saturday to Sunday, which are nice because you get an extra day of cruising without having to take an extra day off of work. Those ships usually alternate with a 6-night sailing that follows.

The ship was the most important thing for me early on after my first cruise. Lately, it's been Itinetary that's mattered more. In 2016, I plan on placing ship choice first since I haven't yet sailed the Voyager, Freedom, or Oasis class ships.

January 3, 2015, Jewel - Southern Caribbean July 29, 2015, Brilliance - Norwegian Fjords & Iceland

I was able to book my specialty dining for the Jewel about 100 days out. However, I noticed that the only times available for Portofino or Chops were 6, 8, and 8:30. Is this normal? Doesn't seem like a lot of flexibility in the dining times and similar to fixed dining times. Also, when I booked Portofino and included my son on the reservation, I had to pay as if I was reserving for three adults in spite of RCI stating that children eat for less ($8 according to the email I received). Is the difference refunded onboard or do I need to call to have an adjustment made? Thanks for your advice.

We pretty consistently do the specialty dining, regardless of the cruise line, on the first and last nights; that way, we avoid any conflicts with entertainment, formal night menus, etc. the first night is usually an Italian specialty restaurant as they're less formal restaurants which works well with my 7 year old since the kids programming isn't in full swing yet. We save the steak house for the last night to cap off the end of the cruise.

I'd argue that it's not a reason to use that travel agent. When you find a good one, s/he is worth her/his weight in gold. When I ended up in the hospital 12 hours before my flight to Disneyworld and our cruise, having only one person to call instead of the airlines, Disney, hotel, and the cruise line was a blessing.

Royal is offering a percentage off on my Jewel cruise if you book three or more nights in specialty restaurants.

We had a similar conversation in my family after sailing the Disney Fantasy and Carnival Breeze, which are both the biggest ships for their respective lines. With all of the added features, poolside movies, water parks, etc., we said we'd never cruise a smaller ship. However, we then ended up on the Celebrity Century, a much smaller, 20 year old ship because of the itinerary. Because the itinerary was so great, we really ended up not caring because we didn't have any sea days. We had a similar conversation regarding Europe as Allure will be there next summer. However, we opted to save Allure for a less boring itinerary so that we'd have more time to enjoy the ship.

It's been nearly 10 years since my last RCI cruise, but it have two upcoming and am looking most forward to trying: 1) Chops Grille 2) Giovanni's Table 3) Portofino 4) Seaview Cafe 5) Izumi I've also heard amazing things about the roast beef sandwiches at Park Cafe, so I'll need to try those, too.