tigergrl0204

Thank you!

Hello All,

    This may be a dumb question, but we want to book Icon once it's open for booking. We've previously cruised with Royal, so we have a Crown and Anchor number. I know they stated C&A can book on the 24th, so will we be able to call in on the 24th? If so, is there a time that they start bookings? ( i.e. midnight eastern time zone) Thank you!

We booked two cruises in November (RC booked us the wrong room category on one of them) I cancelled them both early April and received our deposit for one of them this morning!!!!

4 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Oasis and Allure are unique in that they have regular balcony rooms that do accommodate 5 guests.  Harmony and Symphony do not.

 

On Harmony or Symphony you would  need to get a family room or suite that can accommodate 5 or as Biker suggested look at getting 2 rooms which can sometimes be cheaper. 

Thank you! This is the info I needed! I haven’t had luck pricing out two rooms that has been inexpensive, but I’ll keep checking. 
We are hardly in the room, and even when in the room, I’m on the balcony, so having a smaller space, though cramped, wouldn’t bother me too much. Thank you all for the advice! 

Hello all!  I was hoping you all would have knowledge on this. We went on our first RC cruise in May of 2019 and LOVED it. While onboard, we booked for March 2021. We are a family of 5 and were led to believe we'd have to do an ultra-spacious room or Jr. Suite to accommodate the 5 of us. I went through an online website to book a cruise for Nov 2020, and the agent was able to book me an ocean view balcony room for the 5 of us on Allure. We are looking to switch to Harmony, but I'm curious if they have ocean view balcony rooms for the 5 of us. I know it will be cramped, we LOVED the amount of space in the ultra-spacious room, but we'd like to save the money. Thank you.

2 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

 

Oops!!!  I posted my comment on the wrong thread!  My comments were about the Love Bug infestation on people boarding the ships in Canaveral today.

 

Sorry....😳😳

Well that sounds awful!  Thanks for letting me know.  Now I need to go look at that thread!!!!!!

1 minute ago, GTO-Girl said:

We have friends who boarded the Mariner today and she said they are horrible!!

that stinks! The one other review I saw said they weren't great either.  Ugh! Wish we had just booked the cabana a year ago!!

Symphony of the Seas May 18, Eastern Caribbean.

We will be on SOS in just under 2 weeks...EEEEEKKK!!!  Can someone confirm that the bungalows on South Beach are pretty far from everything else? No one seems to have a lot of information on them lately, but with 2 kids that will be at the waterpark with their dad and me with a 3 yr old at the bungalow, I'm trying to decide if staying near the little kid splash area would be better. Also, do they give us wristbands for the bungalow? Does my 3 yr old count as one person?  Now, if I cancel the bungalow, is there any chance a cabana may be available if I call RC or ask on board?  I'm assuming it's unlikely, but figured I'd ask.  I like plastic straws, do I need them for the cup that comes with our drink package? I'll mainly be drinking fruity alcoholic beverages, so normal size straws should be okay, correct?  I would like a few family photos, how soon before early dining do they setup the photo areas? Thanks.

Just now, Host CJSKIDS said:

 

Lots of restaurants and a beautiful high end mall very close by called Brickell  Citi Centre. 

Did you not just read that we're staying at the Hampton Inn....High End is not in our vocabulary! hahaha  I actually did look at that mall because they have a salon for kids there that has great reviews.  My husband would love to try a good Cuban place, so if you know of any, that'd be great. We really try to eat at mom and pop places when we travel and are open to most types of food, so if you have any suggestions, i'd love to hear them! I may try to get out for a date night dinner with just him and I, but most likely we'll have our 3 kiddos. We're bound to forget a lot of stuff, so that's wonderful news that there's a few places close by to grab things! Maybe a weird question, but what time do bars/restaurants typically close out there? 

3 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

 

Not sure which hotel you are staying at in Brickell but they are probably both about the same Uber wise depending on which beach you choose on Key Biscayne. 

Traffic over to the SouthBeach area has been a killer lately due to construction on one of the bridges, so depending on when you come, Key Biscayne May be much easier. 

 

 

 

YOU ARE AMAZING! Thank you so much for taking time out of your day/night to give me such a detailed response. We're staying at the Hampton Inn. I will start looking at Key Biscayne.  

16 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

As someone who lives in Brickell and gets mani/pedis all the time, I can tell you that I have never seen any salon here that has kids chairs.  There are quite a few nail salons here in the area and I've been in just about all of them and that's not something that I have ever seen.  

I've also never seen kids getting pedicure, just a manicure.

 

Sorry, I couldn't help with that info.  

 

If you have some salons in mind, I can tell you if they are clean or nice.  Prices for pedicures start at  $45 and up around here.

Thank you so much for responding!!!! That stinks that they don't.  It's becoming a thing here in Vegas, and my girls only get them  for special occasions. Maybe we'll just get them before we leave, though I would have loved to get them while there. What are good kid friendly beaches around there? I'd like to do an easy beachy day (we have 3 kids), but have no clue about the area. We will be using Uber to get around. Thanks!

My daughters and I were going to wait to get pedicures once we're in Miami since we get there 2 days early. Does anyone know of any nail salons that have kids chairs? We're staying in the Brickell area.  I did do a Google search, but not many show photos of the salon, or mention children's pedicures. Thank you!

8 minutes ago, fdthird said:

That’s a lot of money for 4!

Yes it is, which is why I'm trying to pro-con it all. It makes it difficult being a first time RCL cruiser and not really knowing how things work in general.  I'm leaning towards cancelling it, but I haven't completed my pro-con list and discussed with the hubby (who quite frankly is not involved in any aspect of our vacations so hard to really discuss with him).  My 2 other questions are: 1) is every other place aside from MDR open for breakfast on debarkation day?  2) If I have me by myself or possibly one other kid with me to wait in line for the seats to a show, does it upset everyone in line if the rest of my family were to show up right before they open the doors for seating?  A pro to The Key was having the ability to not have to wait in line for 30-40 min to get decent seats, but that seems to be one of the few reasons to keep it.  

Thanks all!

Thank you all for the input! Our flight isn't until late in the evening, so I don't know that the debarkation aspect of The Key would be too helpful.  I really go back and forth on keeping it. The timing of The Key activities that my girls would want to do don't seem to be feasible for us (Rockwall from 4-5, we have early dinner and my girls will want to dress up), ice skating late at night...I can't guarantee i'll be awake! We have 4 devices we can use, which would be nice maybe at dinner to keep our 3 yr old occupied for those times we just want to relax or catch up, but I feel like we'll be too busy most of the other time to care about the internet. Since I booked over a year before the cruise, i'm over the planning of it. We have a non-RCI tour in St. Kitts and I think we're just winging it in St. Thomas. Our Roll Call has been fairly slow and I believe i'm the only one with younger kids.  We are a one income family, so The Key was a splurge for us, but with 3 kids, there were some nice sounding aspects to it.  I just feel as though the reviews for The Key on Symphony haven't been great, it doesn't seem as though many staff know about it/understand it.  

I totally worded my question wrong.  If we decided to drop The Key, does essentially every loyalty tier board before first time cruisers? Would we be looking at a significant wait to board compared to if we kept The Key?  Sorry about the wording of my original post.

So I understand that Royal has suites/pinnacles board first (also including a few other loyalty ranks, of which I can't remember). Since we are first time cruisers, would it take awhile before we'd be allowed to board?  We have the key, but being a family of 5 (had to pay for 4 of us) I'm not sure how much earlier we'd board before most others. The additional time on the ship and carry on drop off are one of the few perks that I'm seeing to be of value.  We are cruising on Symphony in May. Thank you!

We booked a bungalow in CocoCay for our May sailing. We have a 9,8, and 3 year old. We liked the idea of having a designated space out of the sun, but not at the cabana prices. Since the water park *should* be open when we visit, we don’t know if the location of the bungalow is now worth it since our 8 and 9 yr old will probably ride on the slides with one parent while the other is with our 3 yr old. Can anyone confirm the bungalows are still on the South beach side? We did purchase The Key but are unsure if that means we’ll have priority debarkation at CocoCay so not sure how easy it would be to get a couple loungers on the beach. 

Thank you all SO MUCH!  I appreciate you all taking the time to respond with such detail!  The food tour is family friendly and our oldest kids are willing to try new foods!! 

Our family of 5 (3 kids ages 9, 8, and 3) are doing an Eastern Caribbean cruise in May on Symphony. We're trying to plan excursions, but are getting confused. I feel as though the Ports of Call boards are slow and since most of you cruise often, you have a lot of insight that we wouldn't be able to get from the other boards.  Our cruise planner states we'll be in St. Thomas from 7 a.m.-4 p.m.  Am I correct that we're to be on board the ship by 2 p.m.?  Also, we'd like to do a food tour there, not through the cruise line, starting at 11. Is there much open at 7 a.m.?  Also, are the cabs able to hold 5 people or would we need to book excursions for all of it? Are the prices typically on the cabs?  Thank you! 

10 hours ago, charlies_mom said:

Excellent 

*unpacks clown wig*

Omg, hilarious! I hope you write a review of the cruise...while wearing the clown wig!

My daughter just checked on her phone and it was $16.25 for the XL

Thanks so much!

We did an Uber to the port when we stayed there. We needed an XL so can't help with the price but we love the Hampton Inn Brickell

Can you tell me about how much you paid? We're a family of 5 that will have luggage so i'd like an idea of how much a van/suv Uber would cost. Thanks!

Do you have to take a cab to get there? Is it family friendly? Thanks!