breeze123

I was there in late October a few years back, we had a gorgeous day in Ephesus, warm & sunny, but of course that's no guarantee.

 

You say you have 5 sea days, I'm guessing the ship won't be hanging around Kusadasi the whole 5 days... ours combined greek isles, & it was beautiful there too.

Ditto this. We had a great cruise in late October with lot of sun and calm seas.

We just had the Coke package on Brilliance. While it was more challenging to get service at the pool bar, we did find that just walking over to the Solarium bar got us served more quickly. Windjammer also had quick service for Coke requests.

We just booked Explorer for Alaska in 2016! Can't wait! But I did laugh when the RC agent was talking about the Flowrider.:p

I have never had a problem booking excursions on board if I needed to. Even popular ones! My advice would be to go to the excursions page (without logging in to your reservation) and print off all the options. Choose what you want to do and then have a back up plan. That could be an alternative excursion or using the Ports of Call page to find a local option (taxi to your destination or direct booking once in port).

Also, I've heard mixed reviews on walkie talkies. Some say you get a ton of interference and lots of other conversations. We did purchase wifi this last time and used iMessage to keep in touch. Not sure if that's an option for you but it worked well for us.

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On our recent cruise, AO did mix all the kids from age 6-11 due to the lower number of kids on board. So you could have them all together.

I've also found that communicating with your waiter on day 1 does help with food allergies. I agree that they will probably take it to the extreme, but better safe than sorry.

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Interesting!

We just received 3 WOW cards (port check in) on our cruise on Brilliance last week. I completed them but also included the specific staff in the post cruise survey.

We are just off Brilliance and I agree completely with everything you posted. Service was painfully slow even at places like the Schooner Bar when there was only one other person waiting to be served. I, too, felt compelled to tip extra. This was also in hopes of getting better service the next time around. Didn't always work that way though.

We are just off the Brilliance and our wifi sign up clearly noted if you wanted to log on to additional devices, you had to log off one that was already accessed. They also offered a 4 device plan which I was not expecting. It was $161 with our C&A discount and worked well for us. We could keep in touch with each other and out daughter and my husband could also log on to his computer for work.

We turned our phones on to airplane mode and used the ships wifi. It worked great for texting (with no pictures) both to each other on the ship ("Where are you?") and to our families back home ("We're doing great!"). My husband used Skype for calls (required for work) and it worked beautifully.

If you get the Go Pro you can use it underwater as well. Ours came in the waterproof case. It's the Hero 4 Silver. Worked great!

Just to complicate things, you can also designate one person who lives with you to be your "buddy" and they get the same C&A level as you, even if they did not go on the same number of cruises. Just call C&A to have your accounts linked.

Not sure if this was a one off thing, but prior to our recent cruise, they made everyone in my family the same level as I am (Platinum). I called to make final payment and the RC agent did this voluntarily.

In regards to my hair, which isn't tameable, anyway: just don't. The wind and humidity will ruin anything you try to do.

 

Yes. This. Absolutely!

Also, I was told to sign up for CC before my first cruise. You still have to weed through some of the suggestions (if I packed everything suggested I would need another suitcase!) but the best idea was a power strip.

You'll pay the ship rate while at sea. You'll pay the AT&T posted rate when on land.

You can always upgrade if there are rooms available. You'll have to pay the difference in price between your cabin and the cabin you upgrade to though. No discounts.

While I'd prefer to fly down at least the day before, we have flown down the day of a cruise several times. I look for nonstop flights that leave first thing in the morning. Last spring, for instance, we were on a flight before 7 a.m. and at the port by 8:15.

Agree. Anything can happen on any day of travel no matter where you are going. Even if you fly the day before, you could get stuck and not get out until the next day. It's a risk no matter what.

how much was the aqua park/waterslide combo? would a 9 and 11 year old be able to do it on their own?

I agree with dz63 to a point. I did the Aqua Park with my daughter about 2 years ago. She was 9 then. While I wasn't concerned for her safety, some of the inflatables are difficult to get up on unless you have a lot of upper body strength. I was constantly try to help smaller/younger kids (who were out there alone) to just try to get their feet up on the ladders. Keep in mind that you are in water where you can't touch the bottom so you need to be able to haul yourself up. This is not an issue for some people but can be for others (it was for us).

Use common sense and courtesy when on board.

Don't over think anything (packing, excursions, clothing).

Have a positive attitude and you will enjoy yourself no matter what!

Shorts and t shirts are fine!

Last year we almost missed our stop in Athens due to a strike. If the workers aren't at the port, the ship cannot dock. The cruise line cannot control what happens in other countries. Anything can happen at any time. It's like picking a cruise during a hurricane. You take a chance every time you sail.

Formal Night is always enjoyable , We always Dress to Impress ! and it is always a event watching people

We never do formal night (it's not for us) but we still enjoy milling around and people watching!