tekeella

We'll be joining you on board as well! We're flying out of Philadelphia at 4, my sister is flying out of Denver today and my parents are driving down from Jacksonville.

I'm super excited for this route because I've wanted to do the Eastern Caribbean for awhile. I was heartbroken to hear that the last 747 flew into Maho Beach last week since that was a big part of this trip to me. But I'm still excited for the plane spotting and other stops.

ah . . . no.

Two connecting cabins and keep the higher OBC is a pretty good deal.

Get off your pride and enjoy the cruise . . .

What does pride have to do with anything? Having a balcony is one of my absolute favorite parts of a cruise. I love going out there in the morning to watch the sunrise quietly and I just love sitting out there. Obviously you can do this elsewhere on the ship, but I love not having to get dressed in day clothes to enjoy the sea. It would not kill my cruise to be bumped down to interior but it would be removing a huge part of what I look forward to on a cruise. keeping my balcony OBC would not be enough of an apology to make up for losing that balcony.

I am just getting off the 10/12 BoS NE/Canada cruise and while everything else on our cruise was great we had a lot of trouble with MTD.

I usually love MTD and make my reservations months ahead of the cruise and have no problems sitting down within a few minutes of arrival but that is not even close to how it worked on brilliance. For starters there was no difference or enforcement of the with reservations or no reservations line split which with the long line lengths after 7 pm really seemed to frustrate a lot of people. Then they seemed to rarely have tables set up for people with reservations. We often showed up a few minutes before our reserved time and were told they had nothing for us but because I was on crutches they could give us a little table by the door that had no assigned staff and often meant a very lengthy meal. I appreciated the extra accommodation but two nights that table was occupied and they just had nothing for us and said it would be a half hour before they did!

I've seen a lot of complaints on here about MTD and I've never had an issue as long as I had reservations. But on BoS reservations seemed to mean nothing and it was extremely frustrating.

We didn't love the fees thing either but left it up to the givers to decide if it was worth it to them to give through the registry or some other means.

It showed up on the 2nd day of the cruise I believe but it doesn't matter really how long it takes to show up as long as it does show up since we linked to my credit card, meaning we made all the purchases we wanted and it would not have been charged till the last day anyways.

We booked kayaking in Labadee, ziplining in Falmouth and the Everglades air boat tour in Forty Lauderdale. We also splurged with fun drinks and other things we wouldn't have. We also picked up a couple gifts in the shop for our nephews and niece.

I used it last year, and found it worked really well. I also discovered you can request the money be transferred to your bank account so you could make reservations etc beforehand. We ended up declining to do that though, not wanting to be tempted to spend some of it in other ways and wanting to have it all for the honeymoon as the givers intended.

We were told if you don't use all of it as onboard credit, it will be refunded to your card registered on the seapass. No clue if that works or not though, we used it all :D

Also its all just regular onboard credit, except anything sent towards the casino, that came as a slip of paper in our cabin that had to be taken to the casino where they gave us credits for the machines etc or cash. My Husband used it to enter the win a cruise poker tournament and came in 3rd place winning $450!!

It really made our honeymoon extra special and I hope you guys have a fantastic time. Congrats!!!

It took about a week, came back in three installments.

I will be on the Explorer the week before you and like others have said the price fluctuates based on supply and demand. We're in a balcony cabin and when I was first looking at the cruise it was 800ish per person and one day it dropped to about 500 per person out of nowhere (so we booked!), now it's 1500 and until a couple weeks ago no balcony cabins were showing as available.

Too bad there's not a way to predict these things.

$298 for inside guarantee on the Costa Atlantica in 2009. Got upgraded to a Balcony!

It's not really a big deal, but Rick Edwards, is actually Rich Edwards. We really enjoyed him last week on Liberty!

Just got off the LOS 4 day over Thanksgiving, we had a great time!

Can't tell you about the kids programs, but I uploaded a couple shots of partial cruise compasses. Sorry I don't have them all. (apparently imgur links can't be posted? Remove the asterisks to go to the link) imgur*.*com/a/2SUun The character breakfast looked like a lot of fun for kids, make sure to not only get a reservation for that the first day but also show up early because the line got intense. Also we showed up to board at 11:30 and after 15-20 minutes were on the ship. Make sure to bring long pants and socks if you want to ice skate!

The weather was pretty good to us, though it rained on and off all day in Cozumel. My family went to the Money Bar in Cozumel, it was fantastic but I wouldn't recommend it for kids.

Have a great time!

Had (delicious) escargot on Liberty (11/28-12/2) on first night, not available last night of cruise.

I just had a recent experience with this. I was on a cruise last March and wrote them about a couple of issues we experienced on the cruise. I was actually writing them to tell them how I thought the cruise was great and that the staff handled our concerns well, and they gave us a couple "coupons" anyways.

In July we booked a cruise for our first anniversary in March 2014 and I follow their directions for applying the certificates and heard nothing. I waited and waited but as we approach final payment my Husband and I were waffling about the cruise, and so I emailed about the coupons being applied because if they weren't going to be we decided to cancel. The rep emailed me back a few days later with an apology for the delay, took some more money off the cruise in addition to the coupons and signed us up for champagne and strawberries to be in our cabin. I am sososo pleased!

I bring my own pillow AND blanket :eek:

I am really picky about my bedding (like custom make my pillow cases) and I pack pretty light otherwise so it has always been worth it to me (so much more comfort!) to bring my own stuff if I can. If I'm spending X amount of dollars to enjoy my vacation I want to sleep as comfortably as possible too.

It looks like they have. Carnival is saying that they will still relocate to Tampa for a short bit then return to Baltimore in 2015. Sounds like they will only be gone for 6 months at most. Last departure out of Baltimore with Pride is scheduled for November 30, 2014 and the last cruise for it scheduled in Tampa is April 26 2015.

The issue for Carnival is that they are currently not in environmental compliance for sailing in the Chesapeake Bay. Royal was issued waivers and then installed scrubbers(?) in the stacks to be able to sail through the Bay and be in compliance.

Carnival wants a guarantee they will receive the same exemptions and approvals as Royal before they invest the money in the ships. If they do, they have even teased bringing in more ships. It looks likely that Maryland will come to terms with Carnival and they will not leave the port.

I don't know why people keep commenting they'd rather have a degree than be pinnacle in reference to the 23 year old. What indication do you have this person doesn't have a degree?? Or it's a total non sequitur, like me saying I'd rather have my own yacht than be pinnacle.

Likely someone who is 23 and is on track to pinnacle does have a degree as the cost of college is more of a barrier to a degree these days than the rigors of college.

My husband played on Liberty in March ($100 buy in) made it to the final table got 3rd place and took home about $450. Once he was in the top 3 he started playing looser because we didn't want the free cruise, he is a teacher and the December 7 sail date would be extremely hard for us to sort out. When asked if it was transferable they were pretty vague and didn't seem to know for sure.

It was a great experience for him, as he had never really played live much (lots of online) and because it was our honeymoon half his entry fee was covered by gifted casino money!

I'm really not sure either. Thats what we were told. I was very upset and crying(thats what I do when I'm angry) I was embarrassed to lose it like I did, so I didn't push it like I should have. Then we had to leave to go to muster drill. When we got back they had already started bringing the roll away and everything in to make a bed. Our cabin steward San was clearly upset and concerned and just wanted to help. We then left for early dinner. Once the bed was put together we just went with it because they said they were working on moving us. I had hopes that something would open up. After two days we just dealt with it.

I'm an angry crier too, and this situation definitely would've set me off. Heck, I would've been pissed if I was supposed to sleep in that chair thing, nevermind the situtation you are describing. It's so telling of your great attitude how in every post you give credit to how nice people like your cabin steward were. I hope Royal Caribbean actually and truly makes up for this in a big way, especially with so many people here watching and waiting. I felt terrible for you before I saw the chair, after seeing it I'm angry for you.

I was also worried how people would respond to your post when I first saw it a couple days ago because there are a lot of cheerleaders on this board, and even sometimes when the person has a fair point they get jumped on. But this really goes to show what a supportive board this is and also what a seriously legitimate claim you have here. Best of Luck!

I tried to sift through the amazing amount of information in this thread and did not get very far.

What the best option for someone arriving late night the night before departure to get to a hotel and then from the hotel to the cruise port. Is there a reasonably priced hotel that will provide both? We're flying into FLL and departing on the Liberty of the Seas on March 25, 2013. It is our honeymoon trip! :)