mandyleighflies

We will be booking through our new TA friend for sure as he can usually get us great rates and OBC. It's still crazy how inflated the prices are getting though and our TA sent out an email warning his clients of this trend. Let's hope people stop paying the overly inflated prices (doubtful) and things level out again.

We noticed the same the other day! My son wants to take a California/Mexico cruise for his senior trip in Spring 2025. We usually cruise in a GS with the kids as it comfortably sleeps 4 people (myself, husband and both kids) and the two sinks in the bathroom is a lifesaver. However, we are probably just booking two connecting balcony staterooms. The JS on this cruise would be $14k with my Emerald discount while two balcony staterooms would be $5k. I will be diamond by this sailing so we will have the perks of diamond boarding and diamond lounge so suite benefits at this point for us are really just the use of suite lounge and the gold sail and sign card (ladeedaaaa LOL). None of those are worth an extra $9k BEFORE drink packages, shore excursions, airfare and before/after sailing arrangements. I think $20k+ is entirely too much for a week vacation in Mexico.

We sailed on Lady G back in April and loved her! My husband and I are sailing on Allure in December!!

Awesome thanks y'all for the help!! I will let them know!

Hi Y'all!! I am a loyal Royal Caribbean gal but my parents are sailing NCL in February to the Caribbean and asked me the following question... "If we purchased the drink package, does that include NA beer (Heineken 0.0)?" My Dad likes to slow his evenings down with NA Beer so he can get quality sleep on vacation. On RCL when you purchase the refreshment beverage package it includes all NA beverages EXCEPT Heineken 0.0 because it "has trace amounts of alcohol" even though most foods have the same trace amounts, but whatever. NCL cruisers....does anyone know what NA options (mocktails/beers) are available on NCL and if they are included in the beverage package? TIA!

We were just in Labadee in April and it felt very safe, all the staff members were so nice and accommodating. Beautiful island, truly loved it!! We rented an overwater bungalow and it was spectacular!!

Don't forget the jellyfish too!! 😄

Loving your review Sue!! We sail on Allure in December and can't wait! It will be my husband's first cruise in about 2 years (damn work keeps getting in his way 😂). The CLS looks amazing, we are in a JS on our December sailing as it's a quick 3 day cruise, but still appreciate the extra space. A co-worker of mine was just telling me the multiple benefits of the casino program. I am not a casino person typically but could be for the perks.

We love GS and that's become basically our go to cabin for cruises with my kids (14 and 16). In addition to the benefits other's have mentioned (suite lounge access, breakfast at chops/ck, priority embarkation and debarkation) you also have priority seating at shows and for tender's (if you need to tender into a port). IMO the space in the suite is worth the extra cost. Tons of storage space, huge bathroom with two sinks and more storage space. The balcony is a generous size with table/chairs and loungers. We have had GS on Navigator and on Grandeur, JS on Adventure, honestly enjoy them both, the extra full suite perks of GS make it our preferred but if it's just my husband and I on a short sailing we will book JS.

I would love to make it a longer trip however, I will be sailing on Allure 8-11th with just my husband so I will have to work between cruises. Great idea though!!

I WISH I was that crafty!! I use a shop on Etsy for all our door signs! CynthiaYoungDesigns She makes quality signs with strong magnets! Seeing as you need so many, I would message her on Etsy and see if she can give you a discount on bulk/multi purchase items.

Hi! Fellow airline employee here! Where did you find the airline employee rate?! We are always looking for cheap and fun random getaways!

It's only a 3 day cruise so they can pack pretty quickly for that event. I will be sure to do their laundry ahead of time so I know everything is clean and ready to go. We travel several times a year so my kids can pack pretty quickly.

My kids are airline kids so they are used to "on the whim" trips and love the excitement of the unknown. In February 2021 we surprised them with a quick trip to Disney. Literally woke them up at 5am to get on an 8am flight to Orlando. I had previously "pre packed" clothes for them so no stress there. They are older now and my teenage daughter will want to pack for herself. Knowing we are going, mom and I will buy them new clothes or beach stuff in anticipation. We will spend that evening before looking at YouTube of the room for sure.

My kids are 14 and 16 and the holiday's are just different than when they were younger. Gifts are no longer a "big deal" and they have been asking for experiences more than physical things. Therefore, my mom and I decided to book a surprise Christmas cruise the week before Christmas to surprise them for the holiday. We will be sailing on Freedom OTS Dec 18-21 to CocoCay and Nassau!! We will be sharing a 2 bedroom suite with my mom and have a "good old fashioned family christmas". 😂 We would have sailed over the actual Christmas holidays except for the following, they go to their dad the day after Christmas (co-parenting), I will most likely be working over Christmas (Flight Attendant) and the CROWDS are not our thing. I plan on having t-shirts made and a door sign. Then on the evening of December 16th, I will have the kids open their "presents" and it will be a luggage tag, the t-shirt and a note of SURPRISE...we leave TOMORROW!! I think this will be the best holiday present and one they won't forget for sure. Hubby and I are sailing on Allure a week prior for our wedding anniversary, so I will basically be on back to back's 🙈

I have the answer to this from a recent experience!! My dad loves to have his afternoon beers while he reads on their stateroom balcony and usually keeps a few in the fridge for after dinner balcony beers. Previously, he was able to order the bucket of beers and take them to his room. This was NOT the case on our most recent cruise. He had the drink package and with that package they are not supposed to give more than one drink to a person at a time. You have to wait 15 minutes between beverages. HOWEVER if you DO NOT have the drink package, you can still purchase the old bucket of beer. My mom does not drink and only purchases the refreshment package so she was able to purchase the bucket of beer. Long story short, you can but there are parameters. Also, to the person judging what they "think" to be alcoholic behavior, I hope no one has ever judged any of your own behaviors. Let people live their lives as they see fit living them, if someone on vacation wants to have a breakfast beer, it doesn't hurt you. I no longer drink as alcohol doesn't agree with my system any longer, but I don't care if others have an early morning mimosa or bloody Mary. Heck, I get virgin Mary's all the time on vacation....with EXTRA olives...as the breakfast portion...

Ship - Grandeur OTS Deck - 8 Stateroom # - 8512 Stateroom Category – GS Starboard or Port Side - Starboard Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – The stateroom itself is quiet, I never heard my neighbors but all the suites in this area are directly below Windjammer and the pool deck. It can be noisy later at night or when that area is busy. It did not keep me up at night but in the mornings I did hear deck chairs scrapping across the deck above us. Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – Awesome. No obstructions at all. Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal for class. We had plenty of room. Was wind a problem? - No If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? - NA Any specific problems with this cabin? - Aside from the Windjammer noise it’s a great cabin. Awesome location for accessibility to the rest of the ship as it is near the forward stairs and elevators. Any other comments? - Love the GS room layout. Two sinks and the size of the bathroom is ideal for more than 2 people traveling. Lots and Lots of storage. ONLY 2 OUTLETS. Bring European adaptors. When bed is split into two twins there is still not much space between them so if you’re traveling with others, ensure you can stand basically sleeping with the other person. My daughter and I smacked each other in our sleep changing sides and we had the beds apart. LOL

I vote for Odyssey here! Two private island stops and beautiful ship. I was just telling my family I wish RCCL had a cruise that was just the private islands 😆

We just got off Grandeur and the food was awesome!! The pizza was so good even my daughter, who doesn't like pizza, had it every night. Steaks were done perfectly, the mushroom soup is incredible. I will say desserts were a lacking department....I actually skipped dessert most nights for once. I do have to agree it's based on who's cooking, we loved our meals for the most part.

Good Morning!! Laundry is almost complete and kids go back to school tomorrow! Continuing our review on Lady G with some thoughts good and bad on our vacation. Good Staff is excellent and service was usually very fast. The bar service at the main pool and Solarium bars was slow, but that’s going to happen on busy days. Lady G is showing her age in a few places. We were informed she is going into dry dock for a full refit next year. We were on Deck 8 and my dad found a massive leak from the ceiling walking from his room to ours. This was the result. I am not sure if those interior cabins were affected or if they were offered any kind of compensation but it for sure smelled “wet” in that corridor. If you look closely at the ship you’re going to find signs of aging. The places I saw it the most were in the Solarium and the outdoor spaces. There was visible rust in the solarium pool and portions of the jogging track were wearing out and previous layers of paint were visible. In our own stateroom, the bar around our bar area came loose. I was leaning on it slightly to put my heeled shoe on and the whole thing “jumped” out of its fittings. I was not hurt and upon further inspection, it had clearly been glued in place previously. I mentioned this to my room steward and Concierge and they both immediately asked about my health, they did not seem concerned with anything else, which was refreshing. It was fixed immediately. In fact, our Concierge surprised us with a 15% of this cruise value credit to use for another sailing valid for one year for our “troubles”. I thought she was handing me a bill for damages 😂. Very sweet and we will for sure book with this certificate soon, we have a gap year of sailings so far for 2024 so guess it’s time to start looking for something. Bad Other People’s Children (OPC’s as we call them) There were 600 kids on this sailing and we saw MANY examples of “freestyle” parenting. This is NOT RCL’s problem, in fact, the poor staff were doing their best to manage situations, but they are not the parents so little they can do. Since my kids are older and prefer quiet spaces to noise, we hung out in the solarium the majority of the time. My son is 16 so “legal” for the solarium but my daughter is 14 so technically breaking the rules there but all she did was sit on a lounger and read her book so I doubt it really bothered anyone. Children were running a muck on sea days, that was the only time we heard or encountered them. We saw one group of adults traveling with at least 5 children under 6 who were using Schooner Lounge and Viking Crown Lounge as their own personal Adventure Ocean. One evening, my mom and I stayed up late to listen to the live music, this group was still at Schooner Bar drinking and carrying on while their poor kids were literally sleeping on the floor below their bar tables. Awful. We knew it was Spring Break so we dealt with it and luckily had suites so we had our space to hang out away from the crowd, but my own children were even asking about Virgin Voyages LOL. We had lunch in Izumi one sea day and it took nearly 3 hours due to some kind of inspection in the kitchen? They comped our meal which was nice but it did take up a majority of our sea day afternoon and aforementioned group was using Viking Crown as Adventure Ocean so 3 hours of waiting on food and screaming children was not an ideal way to spend an afternoon. Overall we had a great spring break!! Disembarkation was a BREEZE but being a suite guest that is probably the norm. We had our last breakfast at Chops, went to the suites “lounge” and was then escorted off the ship to the front of the lines. The entire process from leaving our stateroom to waiting for the Uber took an hour. I ALWAYS strip my beds and leave the space clean when we depart. Not pictured is the bathroom where I place all our used towels into the bathtub. I like to leave the room as easy for them to flip as possible, I know how quick that turnaround is for them and how busy they are on that day. Our farewell gift as well as a thank you card and additional tip for our room steward. He was amazing. He even made us Guinea Pig towel animals, which he said we could keep. They now reside in our upstairs hallway. Happy Easter from our “bunnies” to your family and that concludes this *Live* review!! Stay tuned for my next one!! December 2023 on Allure!!

Welcome to Miami!! Glad you had an uneventful flight! We dealt with weather on both ends of our cruise on travel day. Flying in the day of would stress me out to no extent but I am also a crew member so I know ALL the things that other's are not aware of that could go wrong. 😆 I am a day before or even two days before sailing flier but once again, it's anxiety from knowing entirely too much. Can't wait to continue with you on your review!!

Following along!! We just got home from Grandeur last night! Laundry has commenced. We were just in Labadee and it was BEAUTIFUL, you'll really enjoy the beaches and maybe one or a few Lab-A-doozy's 😆 Have a great cruise!!

THIS. We just got off Grandeur OTS in GS yesterday and the difference between JS and GS on that sailing was less than $600.00 for the 3 of us. If it had been massively different, it wouldn't have been worth it.

I have sailed in both these classes of suites with my kids (teens now) and I think with a 6 year old the JS would be just fine. I agree with PP's about the benefits of GS over JS are minimal on the less than Oasis class ships. That being said, now that I have two teenagers (adult sized humans with skin care routines and hair routines) the second sink and slightly more square footage is valuable to me at this point in our lives.

Good Morning from home!! Easy flight home. All of our bags made it safely and in one piece. Two very happy Guinea Pigs greeted us with WHEEKS. I LOVE cruising but there truly is no place like home. Recovery day today. Will complete review this evening when I have more energy and less laundry. Overall we had a fantastic time, had a couple of issues but RCCL handled them as they often do, swiftly and professionally.