RainyJ

Thanks all! We'll try the phone number--I'll update if we get it back. I agree the meds and supplements will be useless, but my son will at least get his FBI lunch bag back ;)

I can't believe we did this, but we left behind a small, insulated lunch box packed with medication in our cabin refrigerator. We realized it when we were on the shuttle back to the airport! Is there any hope of getting it mailed back to us? An email or phone number we could try? Fortunately, it's okay if we're out of luck--most was used and we have enough of what's needed at home. I just can't believe after checking the room a few times neither one of us checked the fridge. :rolleyes::o

One additional comment. If you aren't doing "self debarkation," and get a departure time that you feel is too late, simply ask your cabin steward or go to Guest Services and request and earlier time.

Thank you, I'll remember that. We have never done that and always just went with the assigned debarkation time.

Thanks, everyone! I changed it to 12:30 pm and everything went through just fine.

I like to plan up to a certain point, and I like hearing everyone's tips and tricks. But when it comes to reviewing past Cruise Compasses I draw the line. Things like on-board activities I prefer to wait and see and play it by ear that day. And I only look over menus in order to decide if I want to try a specialty restaurant.

Ps. You did not identify ship & port.

Oasis out of Port Canaveral

Going through the online check-in, I can't get past the travel plans section. The reason is our departing flight--it leaves at 12:15 pm. When I try to save and continue it tells me that I should plan to depart 12:30 pm or later. Well, I'm not changing my flight for 15 minutes. Do I leave the departing flight info blank? Do I change the departure time to 12:30 so it will save the rest of the flight info?

Thanks for the responses! I will make a point to get over there to talk to them shortly after we board.

I have two boys, ages 9 & 12 at time of sailing. Here's the deal--my older son is on the autism spectrum. He is high functioning and can communicate just fine, but he is very immature for his age. He will turn 12 three weeks before the cruise. Do you think the Adventure Ocean staff would allow him to participate in the Voyagers group (9-11) with his younger brother? There is no way he would fit in with the 12-14 age group.

I'm happy to have found this topic. I was looking for tips on how to stay on track while on a cruise, so I've picked up a few ideas.

I started WW mid-January and as of my weigh-in today I'm down 41 lbs :) Still have about 30 lbs to go, but I'm very happy with my progress. However, I am a little worried about gaining weight on the cruise. I'm just going to try to make good choices and work out every day and hope for the best!

Would you send to me, too? raneejo@sbcglobal.net

Thanks!

1). Look at Parsipanny. Hotwire has good prices. After a long drive from Pittsburgh you probably don't want to deal with the traffic and roads around Newark Airport.

 

2). I'm sailing next Sat and plan to be at the port by 11 am.

 

3). Drive to Exchange Place in Jersey City and pay to park ($25 range). Take PATH to World Trade and walk to Battery Park/South Ferry for the SOL (consider buying tickets ahead. Walk back to World Trade and see the 911 memorial. Take PATH back to Exchange Place to your car.

 

4). Deck 13 above the Sky Bar.

Thank you so much :D

Last week I booked a cruise for DH and me--very last minute. We'll be on Liberty sailing 6/27. So now I am quickly trying to make our travel plans and I'm trying to research as much as I can. I've browsed through this thread some, but now I'm a bit overwhelmed by all of the information. Hope to get help with a few things:

1. We're dropping the kids off with my parents in Pittsburgh, so we'll drive from there on Friday. Would like to stay Fri. night at a decent hotel in a decent area. Will most likely drive to the port and park there. As I understand it is $19/day. Where is best place to stay Friday night? I've read a few posts about hotels in Elizabeth/Glimcher Realty Way and some about Parsippany--what is best option?

2. What time should we plan to arrive at the port? On our cruises out of FL we usually arrive around 11:00 or so and get on the ship quickly. Should I expect the same in Cape Liberty?

3. I'm playing around with the idea of sightseeing when we return on 7/2. Not sure how crowded things will be heading into the holiday weekend. I'm not even sure where to go, but thinking I'd like to see the Statue of Liberty and the 9/11 memorials. What is the best option to get to these places or NYC in general? We'll have our car, but I'm not sure about driving around the city and trying to find parking. Is there a good place to park and take public transportation?

4. Thinking about sail away--port or starboard for the best views of the city?

Thanks!

Ranee

I just found out about the cruise this morning when I checked my personal email--I get Steelers email occasionally. Was so excited until I looked at the pricing and saw that final payment was due in September for a March 2014 cruise :( I can't swing it this summer when we're trying to sell and buy a house.

There is a link on the cruise site to the cruise Twitter. On June 21 they tweeted that there are only 2 JS category rooms left, and they sold the Royal Suite! So even with these prices the cabins are going. No doubt they will sell out.

I'd love to see pictures of the room and the view from the balcony!

Our table is the one that looks like it's almost touching the chandelier on the left side. Jeff has a theory that I find interesting. He said he thinks the FIRST cruise on any line, and they try to give you a really good table to lure you in. It happened to us on Disney, and it happened here. Then your second table you are probably under one of the balconies, or tucked in a corner. Then once you move up in Crown and Anchor status (or Castaway Club status on DCL), you get better tables. I wonder if there's any validity to this theory?

My theory is that the earlier you book, the better table/location. All of our cruises have been fairly last minute, booking about 2 months before sailing. On Freedom we ended up in the dining room on deck 5, and our table mates were also recent bookings. Also had a lot of MTD people. Our Disney Magic cruise we were generally seated in the back of the dining rooms. On our Dream cruise, in the one dining room, we were right next to the serving station and right outside the kitchen doors! The only good thing that happened to us was that Crush talked to my son in Animator's Palatte! But my little one was so shy that I did most of the talking :)

Subscribing! We cruised DCL twice last year, and I read your reviews on the other board. We had cruised Freedom (just the two of us) before Disney (with the kids). Disney was great, but I think we'll stick with Royal from now on due to price. Looking forward to the rest of the review!

I witnessed a large family get into the mickey mouse pool and consumed the whole side of it which made it pretty hard for the little ones to play around. NO, they didn't have a small child in there they were watching, they just chose to sit there. One was an extremely large man who sprawled out all over the pool. Couldn't quite understand it, but to each his own, and as some of you would say, he paid for the cruise he can do what he wants right? Our grandchildren went into the Nemo's reef and played in the water there all the time. What a great place for all the little ones and the water was sooo warm. We did enjoy the Aqua Duck and went down it a few times with little waiting.

I'm surprised no one booted the adults out of the Mickey pool. On the Magic, every once in a while a parent would walk in with their child, and the CM's were very quick to tell the adults they can't be in the Mickey pool.