Itchy&Scratchy

OP is asking about Any time dining in MDR, not about specialty dining.

you don't need to. We enjoy ATD because we don't want to have dinner at either 5:30 pm or 8:30 pm. Our ideal time is around 6:20 which is what I made the reservation for, but I am told it doesn't matter and everyone waits in the same line and gets the same buzzer if it's a very busy time.

I used to bloat pretty badly on cruises (all that salt, I guess), but since I started taking extra magnesium, the bloat stopped. Oh, and since back at home we are not eating quadruple appetizers and desserts and triple entrees for dinner, the 3-4 lbs I usually gain on top of my already heavy body usually comes off very quickly. I wish these 3-4 lbs would take some friends with them when they leave, but they don't.... Back to reading. 🙂

my kid is very low key and loves Princess cruises. He doesn't do kid's club, he is not interested in making friends on a cruise (I keep hoping that will change), and he just loves to chill. I've stopped wasting my money on RCL when DS stopped doing all the fun things on their ships. We are going to try out Celebrity for his spring break this year, and I believe we are going to like it, so I took advantage of the 3rd and 4th person free sale and booked 2 more X cruises in 2025. Newer ships too, so even more fun to be had. P.S. My kid is about to turn 13 right before our first X cruise.

oh... we booked 8107, sort of right above 7101, but perpendicular....

well, if Celebrity couldn't do Retreat CS right, then people wouldn't pay thousands of dollars for it and then rave about it. Right?

we always cruise with our school aged kid during school breaks, and we've never encountered pre-teens and teens running around all hours of the night. Seriously. The only unpleasant kid related experience we had was when we sailed in a guarantee inside connecting cabin next to some people with a young kid who screamed bloody murder every evening for about an hour before falling asleep. Since the cabin was connecting (as in - with a door between the cabins for those traveling for the first time), the sound was much louder than it would have been if the cabins were not connected.

and since we talked about ice cream and gelato at length, I felt compelled to post this meme:

🙂 🙂🙂 🙂 I went to school there!!!! Eons ago, but still. 🙂 The other day I saw some random dude wearing an MU sweatshirt here, and I got so excited!

Spirit only limited our luggage drop off to 4 hours or less during the very high season. We came back on Thanksgiving Sat on our last cruise and I was very worried, but the Spirit person told us that they will limit it to 4 hours on Sunday because it was the busiest day. Spirit also limited our luggage drop off to 4 hours or less on Easter weekend out of MCO in 2021. But we were never limited to 2 hours. But, of course, my experience is limited to Spirit.... We sometimes score a flight with a different airline to MIA/MCO/FLL, but it seems that it's only Spirit on the way back. 🙂

just get an uber/lyft/taxi. It's not far or expensive.

what guard? No guard ever asked us anything, and we always get to FLL airport a good 4-8 hours before the flight...

oh, Charla, this made me cry.... What a wonderful husband. I hope you enjoy your cruise for both of you. P.S. The petsitter cancelling at the last moment happened to us a couple of years ago as well, but thankfully, the backup petsitter was available. Thank you for rescuing so many!!!!!! We only have 2 rescue dogs, but also cannot board them because it's extremely traumatic for them. We now use rover.com to find good sitters. Thankfully, we live in a major metro area, so finding them isn't usually a problem, but the last minute cancellation was done a couple of days before our Thanksgiving cruise, and everybody and their brother was booked long in advance.

FLL has free wifi and an electronic library with free access for passengers. We usually bring our stuff (books, tablet, nintendo switch), but it's nice to have a backup plan. We usually have a late afternoon or early eve flight, since Spirit has discontinued 12 and 2 pm flights from FLL to ATL. So, we disembark as late as possible, get to the airport by 10 - 11 am, drop off luggage (if it's not Thanksgiving Sunday, they usually let you check the luggage in before 4 hours before the flight), go through security, and then chill at the gate. Since we usually have our heavy backpacks with us, we don't all go walking around at the same time. First, DH and DS go around and buy a bottled drink or two, visit the Lego store, etc. Then DS and I walk over to the food court through the very nice walkway with art displays and get something for the family. For the rest of the time I read, DS plays on the Switch, DH browses reddit and listens to music.

they weren't at the time that guy made his reservation and even received a res number. Also, when I looked at the dates way before, Jan-Mar was available, but it isn't now.

they left us and another family at the airport last year, so we won't be using them.

if you check the original post, you will see that there are now issues with the blackout dates.

I got my second confirmation 2 days ago, so Jan 9 booking to Feb 2 confirmation. ETA: checked online on hotel website, and both reservations are accounted for. My name is misspelled though, and both reservations indicate only 1 guest on them, instead of 2 and 3 people.

we usually take a very late afternoon return flight and spend the entire time at the airport. We leave the ship as late as possible and then go to the airport. Most of the time we can drop the luggage off right away, and then we just chill out. There is a virtual library available at the airport if you didn't bring your own materials. We bring our own - I read, DS usually plays on his Switch, and DH just browses the internet and plays games on his phone.

did you get home ok?

Princess and Celebrity have that too, but you never know which cabin you'll end up having. You only bid on a category update.

interesting. We sailed on Oasis in April 2023 (regular inside) and had the most wonderful cruise.

we absolutely loved her last year. Thank you for taking us on the journey with you!

I have just booked 2 cruises in a DPV for next year. I like traditional balconies and I spend a lot of time on them.