UDcc123

When reading reviews, it's best to be picky on which ones to focus on. Pay attention to how many prior cruises they've been on, what types of ships they've travelled before, and what their situation is like (families, young, old, etc).

All reviews are valuable to some people but some reviews are not valuable to all people (people who haven't cruised before get value from people's "1st cruise" review, but 1st timers reviews of "crowding" may just be "normal" for multi-cruisers).

Maybe the best advice is this: If she's ordering it for herself because she wants a shake and then wants to let her kids share, then use Cheers. If she's ordering it for her kids because they want a shake and she wants to taste it, then pay for it. ie: Would she get the shake if her kids weren't there. If not, then don't use Cheers.

Thanks all for the responses...I think it's helped me choose. For $300 more than one standard balcony we can get an aft-view balcony + inside stateroom. That seems like the way to go!

Thanks...and to be clear...I'm not planning on using her Cheers card for me...if I want a drink I'll buy it. I can see her getting 4-5 fancy martinis + fancy coffee each day. I'll have my 1 bud/miller light a day that I'll pay for and free coffee.

(OP here) Thanks...we wouldn't put the kids together...wife would take one and I'd take the other. We're most likely going to pay $200 and get the Balcony + interior. We may only use the interior for sleeping & extra showers, but it's worth $200 to not have the sofa bed out all the time so the room feels less cramped...cheaper than any other upgrade for a room type:)

Quick question...if we do get two rooms, does that mean my wife can get the Cheers package and I don't have to? That would be savings in and of itself since she drinks more than I do.

If you're in the mood for a milkshake and order one, then realize it's too much for you and only drink 1/3 of it and discard the rest; what's the difference with sharing the other 2/3 with your kids? You're buying yourself 1 drink and then sharing it with your kids, which is different than sharing your drink package with your kids. I wouldn't think twice about it.

OP here. The deck plans show very few interior connecting rooms for the Magic...for those that have done it, any issues with continually going out into the hall to get to the room next door?

I priced everything out based on your suggestions and it roughly goes:

1 interior = base price

2nd interior next door w/o connecting inside = $200 over base

1 balcony = $600 over base

2 deluxe oceanviews w/connecting inside = $700 over base

2 balconies = $1,400 over base (sadly we didn't get only $350 more like a prior poster)

Deluxe Oceanviews only sleep up to 3 on the site (at least those still available)

So based on that...

- We've never been on deck 1 before (deluxe oceanview)...anything to know about?

- Do you get the same convenience with adjoining interiors when there's no inside door between them?

- Assuming my wife won't go for just 1 interior, recommend two deluxe oceanviews on deck 1 or one balcony on deck 6/9?

Thanks!

Looking for room advice for a future Magic cruise for our family of 4 (8 & 10 year old daughters). We took a RC trip on the Oasis last year with an inside balcony. The only time it felt cramped was at shower time...when I would conveniently wait outside on the balcony:-).

The debate is that it's ~$500 cheaper for 2 connecting interior rooms compared to 1 outside balcony room. My wife enjoys the thought of the balcony, but she never used it on the Oasis (granted an inside Boardwalk vs outside ocean balcony is different). Do you think we'd appreciate the two bathrooms and extra space more or less than the view and light coming from an outside cabin?

We have a 7 & 8 year old and may elect to stay on the ship for one or two ports. I know we can get off the ship and walk around town, and we may do that. But on the ship, what is there to do on the Oasis to fill the day with the kids? I know pools will take up a couple hours, but what else is open? Rock Climbing? Ice Skating? Scheduled Activities?

Thanks.

Gives me piece of mind and I know my daughter will love her daddy date at the Italian restaurant. Thanks for all the quick responses!

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Our family of 4 is splitting up for one night of specialty dining on our upcoming Oasis of the Seas cruise. While the other half is going to Izumi, my youngest isn't a fan of hibachi food (doesn't like rice & doesn't like a lot of seasoning). She does like Italian food though. My only concern with Giovanni's is the whole family style aspect. How does that work for only one adult and one child?

More concerned with if she does eat off a potential kids menu, how in the world do I eat a family style meal by myself (I'm not that gluttonous)? Or is it that we'd share the appetizer & pasta, but she'd get a kids entrée?

Thanks...along the same lines, for the ones without limits, which are less busy?

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Looking for a Cozumel beach club that limits attendance since there will be 5 ships in port on the day we arrive.

It's the 4 of us (me, wife, 8 & 7 yr old daughters) and we're not heavy drinkers or big eaters, so it doesn't need to be all-inclusive. We'd normally head to Paradise Beach and have a great time. I'd get fun passes for my daughters & I while my wife relaxed in her beach chair. BUT, I'm guessing it'll get over-crowded with 5 ships in port that day and my daughters will get intimidated if they see a bunch of people out on the inflatables.

Thoughts? My girls & I will need "entertainment"...just laying on the beach and quietly playing in the sand for 4-6 hours would drive us nuts.

I thought we originally got a good deal 3 months ago for our Nov'16 cruise for our family of 4. But my wife saw this deal advertised a few days back and called and they allowed us to keep our same assigned cabin and reduced our overall cost by $200. They said we just made it, as they wouldn't adjust it once we were within 90 days of sailing.

Might be worth a call to check if you're still more than 90 days out.

Has anyone done the waterpark at Labadee (the one in the open water). Thinking of taking my 7 & 8 year old daughters with me (dad). $20 pp for an hour doesn't seem too bad.

I don't mind helping push/pull them up onto the floats (read somewhere that can be hard) since it looks like everyone gets a life jacket. My main question is more: Is it fun? Would the kids enjoy it?

Also, what do people do with their ship cards/towels/tip $$, etc while they're in the water?

Lastly, if my wife wanted to watch, would they let her walk out onto the dock to take pictures?

We're taking the 8-night Oasis cruise on November 5th. Any idea how the menus will be adjusted for an 8-night cruise?

We don't smoke, pre-paid for tips, don't drink any soda & don't drink enough alcohol to make the drink packages worth it:)

We're taking a cruise in November with our 7 & 8 year old daughters. Last time we cruised was when our youngest was 6 months, so we kind of know what the cruise is about, but have some questions...

- Our online reservation shows: "My Time Dining - no wait list". What does this mean?

- Some show reservations have an 7:30 or 9:30 option. Are shows longer than an hour? With 7 & 8 year olds, any preference between the two?

- Why the popularity for specialty restaurants? It seems like an expensive proposition for a family of 4 considering you can get a full-service dinner for free in the MDR. What am I missing?

- Is there a way to know in advance which night(s) the kids will be able to eat dinner with the kids club? If the wife & I want to have a quiet dinner one night and get reservations, how do we know which night to book?

- What should we expect in terms of how much time the kids will spend in kids club vs with us during the week?

- How hard is it to get a mid-week dinner reservation on the ship if plans change?

- Formal nights. How fancy are they (we want to be dressed like the average person)? Are sport coats and fancy dresses necessary? (Just trying to minimize packing). Are specialty restaurants also mainly jackets/fancy those nights?

- Non-formal nights, what's average dress in the MDR? I assume collared golf shirt is average...but jeans, khakis or dress shorts?

- Ice skating...how cold is it? Do we need to pack a sweater if we want to ice skate as a family?

- CATS show (Oasis)...do 7 & 8 year old girls enjoy this show? I heard it was long.

- Activity on ship during Port days. To save cost, we're probably not going to do an excursion in each port (there's 4 ports). I know we can walk around town, but if we choose to stay on the ship, is there activity occurring that we can participate in as a family (is the ice skating rink open for example?)

I realize this is a lot of questions...thank you in advance for your help.

OP here. Just want to say thanks for all the replies. We booked our inside balcony guarantee last night for the extra spill out space.

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It's more the fault of the rating system. All the surveys that ask for a scale of "1-5" or "1-10"...when management reviews the results, they only look at the % of 5s or % of 10s given. But it doesn't take into account people's grading scale. If someone does their job really well, but doesn't give you a free glass of champagne every night, some people will give them a 9 and the waiter will get dinged for not getting a 10. It'd be better if the surveys changed to a scale of 1-2 or 1-3.

Thanks...maybe from a different angle: Would you spend $500 on an inside balcony vs inside cabin, or $500 for a nice excursion for the 4 of us ($125 each)? Also, the inside balcony is a "neighborhood guarantee". It's another $600-700 to book a CP or Boardwalk balcony specifically. We're leaning towards the balcony, but just wanted to get others' advice first.

OP here...just want to say thank you to everyone for your replies. You've definitely helped steer us towards the Oasis!

We're a family of 4 (8 & 7 year old kids) looking to book a 8-night November cruise on Oasis of the Seas. It's $500 to upgrade from an interior guarantee to a neighborhood balcony guarantee ($2K+ for balcony guarantee).

Is it worth $500 for the extra 10 sq ft of room space + balcony spill over space? I've read a lot of posts about Inside Balcony vs Outside Balcony, but not many on Inside Stateroom vs Inside Balcony + Cost.

Also, any feed back on what kind of interior room you get with the guarantee? It's an extra $100 to not get the interior guarantee and reserve a specific room. Would you recommend spending $100 so we're not in the lowest corner of the ship, or does the interior guarantee usually work out better? Thanks.

6 months was perfect. Our daughter slept lost of the time and if she didn't, we just walked her around the ship in the stroller. Most ships have a baby room with a few toys for the babies that you can hang out in. Now we brought our 2.5 year old on that same cruise and it was a lot harder. She didn't like kids club and it was hard for us to keep her entertained during the day sometimes.

In Grand Cayman, best thing we did was take a private excursion instead of one through the boat. Off the tender, it was about a 5 minute walk. From there the 5 of us had a private tour of the area, we snorkeled on a boat with about 10 other people and went to stingray city in that same boat...compared to the 100+ people we saw on the cruises official excursion. Then after snorkeling they took us to see the turtles before dropping us off back at port. Cheaper and more personal and definitely recommended.