silentbob007

Standard Junior suites can only eat at CK for dinner and only then when there is availability. Full suite guests (including Sky Jr) get first opportunity to book reservations for CK for dinner and can also go there for open seating breakfast and lunch. A standard jr suite will also not be granted access to the suite neighborhood (buffet, pool, loungers, etc). Basically a standard Jr Suite is generally a bigger cabin and a coffee machine that earns double points but doesn't come with much else guaranteed.

In Galveston I had to do the same thing ... cruiseline shuttle because I didn't want to lug around the carseat. There are usually enough people you just queue, they fill the bus, then you go. Your bags will get early tags. I have found this less stressful than arranging a set-time shuttle and then trying to time getting off the ship.

I had a discussion with my 16-yr old niece when we took her on her first cruise ... I pointed out all of the cameras and told her that there were eyes everywhere in public spaces and that she would be held accountable not just for her actions but anything that happened if she found a group of kids that started acting like ... well ... a group of kids.

Yes ... any of the specialty coffee or tea drinks that don't include alcohol excluding anything purchased from a stand-alone branded Starbucks counter if your ship has that. I've had many iced Americanos, iced Chai Lattes, etc.

I was thinking in the past, the price had auto-adjusted for me as the system knew the age of the people being added.

I still love the idea of full shows on the ships. I can't believe however that they would pay the licensing money and the cost to mount a full production on a ship doing 3/4 night cruises where they want people out drinking and gambling, not sitting in a show for 2-hours when time is so limited. Would be glad to be wrong, however ....

We are interested in this but it’s really going to depend on price. I have a feeling cost will be higher than I want to pay if it’s more like a dinner theater.

As another note, reservations are only for dinner. Breakfast and lunch (assuming you are in a full suite) have on demand seating. As others have noted, if you are in a full suite, you should hear from the concierge a week out from the cruise and you get first dibs on reservations for the whole cruise. Junior suites on the other hand must wait until onboard and, from my limited experience, must go one night at a time as space allows.

Yes Quantum had Mama Mia for its inaugural sailings.

Unique itineraries tend to have earlier booking. There will surely be some who drop out when final payment comes, but if you really want that sailing you might want to book now and, depending if you are able, make future changes to your reservation if a specific cabin comes up that you want.

My son is potty trained but also loved playing in the splash pool. The Harmony staff tossed him out and told us it was for non-potty trained only.

On Harmony at end of January I waited until CK opened for lunch and then went in to make the reservation. We already had plans for night one so didn't need one until the second night. Was told to finish my meal then come up and see about availability for the next desired night. Only one night I wanted could not be accommodated at a reasonable time (with child in tow), but it magically appeared a few hours later in my account. Basically I went in with an attitude I would be appreciative about anything we were able to get and was happy to get 5 nights. It was a much better experience having a full suite (of course), but we enjoy the service and food at CK when compared to MDR.

As others have noted, it definitely takes some planning to make the logistics work out. Uber/Lyft have not been an option for us because we were traveling with our young son and didn't want to bring the full car seat. This meant taxis or shuttles. We generally take the cruise line bus back to the airport after the cruise so we don't have to worry about getting off the ship by a certain time. In January we stayed one night at Tremont. My wife loved the hotel but we did not have anything arranged to get to the ship the next day and most we talked to agreed that taxis in Galveston did not have a great reputation for reliability. Ended up vastly overpaying for the Tremont shuttle to take us a few miles but at least we knew we were taken care of

I bought one for my 3 year old. There are no beads or small hard pieces to come off.

You will only get a cabin with the proper occupancy, which may mean a sofa that converts into a bed. There are not rollaways.

I have cruised out of Galveston twice in the past year and it is definitely a bit of an extra pain to get from the airport to the cruise port. Port Canaveral has much more competition, especially when the rental car companies are in the game (unfortunately they are closed on Sunday in Galveston, which is when Harmony leaves and I'm not paying to leave it another day unsecured and hoping it is checked in in the condition I left it). I've taken an Uber/Lyft from a Hobby hotel to the port and I've taken Galveston Express from Hobby (after we dropped the rental car at Hobby). The Uber was easiest though we couldn't normally choose that option because our son needs a car seat. The shuttle was just what you'd expect from a shared-ride shuttle. It picks up at Bush first so we had whatever seats were left by the time it got to Hobby and then we had the tour of Galveston as everyone went to different places the night before the cruise. Both times we've just taken the cruiseline transfer back to the airport so I didn't have to worry about meeting a shuttle at a certain time and hoping the process of going through customs and claiming bags goes as expected.

On my most recent trip on Harmony we were in a JS. I was allowed to make one reservation at a time in Coastal Kitchen and then I could try to make another one once the meal was finished. The other benefits of the JS were nice in terms of larger room, Lavazza coffee maker, and huge closet. It's a lot of money for those things but my wife thought it was worth it.

Ones I've used in the past from TAs have been any standard specialty (no chef's table, etc) and they have been able to see them when I've gone to book once I've gotten on the ship.

It really becomes a different ship with sky class and above suites. Suite Lounge and Coastal Kitchen are game changers for me when I don't like buffets or fighting crowds for food, especially on sea days.

We did a Suite GTY on Harmony last month and ended up in 6242 which worked out well for us as our son loved Boardwalk and the carousel.

Great question. We did bring a stroller which was helpful when going through security and keeping our little one a bit reigned in. We thought we would use it in ports but did not this time. However, the dock in Costa Maya is LONG and I ended up carrying him on my shoulders to get to our excursion on time. I really didn't want to mess with it when getting into transportation (there wouldn't have been room in the van for our Honduras excursion) though it probably would have been OK with the taxi in Cozumel.

They should open a month or two before the cruise. If you miss out you can also book on the ship though I personally like that option less as other things like dinner plans are harder to plan/coordinate.

It was Sydney to Seattle on Explorer. It was a long string of sea days from Hawaii to Seattle for sure. It was a little bit of everything for me on that cruise. A little noro. A gout flare. Then ending with a sinus infection. You definitely realize his far you are from anything when your closest port is four days away and that is the place you just left. Beautiful stops though.

Done both TA and TP. The TP was 23 days and I was ready to get off at the end (getting sick didn’t help). Trivia is always a big deal if you enjoy that. Otherwise it’s a great time to just do what you want.

On Harmony a few weeks ago they had a binder with the scheduled activities for each day that they suggested I look through/take pictures of (in the aquanauts group). Since our son was 3 they also gave us a form to fill out so they could check out a ship phone to us in case they needed to call us for an accident, etc. The open houses should be listed in the daily planner. They will individually go through with you the rules, expectations, what included, what is charged, etc.