Cutigerlady

We always request a table by the window and the same servers the whole cruise for MTD.  I’ve never had an issue with our request. One time we had to wait for the table to be available, but we didn’t mind waiting.  I’ve emailed them in dance when I had trouble making reservations online and I’ve gone to the dining room the first day to make my request when it wasn’t as busy. They always seem happy to help us. 

There is a play/splash area for kids, pool, beach, volleyball, ping pong, corn hole, basketball, and  beach.  Everywhere they have tons of chairs with umbrellas for free.  We bring our own snorkel gear and a ball to throw at the beach.  There is a snack shack with great burgers/chicken, salads, mozzarella sticks, fries, funnel cakes, and cookies or a full buffet area with other options like tacos, fresh fruit, other sandwiches, etc.  If you have the drink or wifi packages, both of those work on the island.  My kids do enjoy using the floating mats, which are fairly reasonable to rent.

We were on deck 14 on the Harmony right below the walkway between mini golf and a ping pong table. They close the sports activities at 8 or 9 I think, which stops most of the foot traffic.  

We would here kids running around before then and moving of chairs occasionally. It wasn’t loud enough that I would avoid staying there again.

I’m on a 5 night holiday sailing and it was $77 per day for our cruise. When we did a holiday sailing before COVID, Black Friday sales didn’t make our package any cheaper. In fact from the final payment date to our cruise, the price just went up. 

Yes, you can order the shakes without getting a meal. I’ve ordered them from the hostess stand or they direct you inside to the bar to place your order. For ships that are open for breakfast at JR, the only shake you can get in the morning is the bacon maple one. Yes, my teen wanted a shake at 8 am!  

I'm glad my kids are over going to the water park!  The water park cabana is for up to 6 people.  If you are going during the cooler months, the water inside the park is freezing.  

In my experience in eating at a speciality restaurant with a tween, he ordered off the adult menu and I prepaid the kid’s price. This was at multiple places on multiple ships. In fact at chops they didn’t want to even bring him the kids menu and they created a custom meal for him because he can be picky. 

We requested a fruit cup for our kids when we sat down (after first night it was at the table when we arrived) and they brought the kids meals earlier so they didn’t get hangry. My kids are teenagers now and they ask for the cheese plate and an extra basket of rolls when we sit down!
 

My kids never wanted to go to the kids club, so I can’t help there!  We didn’t make my boys wear formal attire, but they were required to wear church clothes (dress pants/button-up or dress shorts/polo).  We usually do MTD, which allows us to tell the servers if we need to be out quickly or if we were taking our time. 

For the age of your kids, I would not pay for the water park. Some slides have height restrictions, so you won’t get the full value. I’m glad my kids are older and can go on the slides without me (I hate enclosed tubes). We brought our own snorkeling gear, but the water was cloudy and couldn’t see much. 

You will not be able to use your phone for calling, unless you buy internet and setup wifi calling in advance.  AT&T will shut off your phone if you exceed maximum charge limit for satellite phone charges (speaking from personal experience for turning off cellular, but not realizing I was hitting satellites).  Fortunately, in my case I had an international plan through my work I didn't even know about, so my $900 bill turned into $9, but I couldn't get my phone reactivated until I got home.  Now we make sure everyone is in airplane mode!  

We pay for internet for everyone so that we can keep in touch. If we aren’t going to be together in port, we use Verizon’s travel pass to communicate. We also drop in our our kids to make sure they are where they told us and behaving appropriately. They do the same to us!  
 

I’ve heard mixed success with the texting feature of the Royal app which is $1.99 per device per day. 

It is possible to book with a refundable deposit online or over the phone.  After you enter all of the names, there is a radial button to select for refundable deposit (near the pre-paid gratuity and vacation protection) or on the phone you have to specifically ask for it.  My family's plans always change, so I pay the extra fee to guarantee that I can get my money back if needed.  On my most recent cruise, it was $116 per room more.

We have let a 9 yo go with his 14 yo brother to do things like play ping pong, get pizza/drink, play basketball, play mini golf, etc.  We also let him go back to the room to go to sleep.  My child is very black and white though, he follows rules to the T and does exactly what we ask of him.  We left a 15 yo on the ship while we got off to have lunch in Jamaica.  He slept the majority of the time and then went to get a smoothie and lunch.

We do pay for internet for every member of our family, so we can communicate with our phones at all times.  My kids know that they need to text us when they move to a different location.  We also have dropped in on them at various places to make sure they were behaving and that they were in the location they told us.  

We stayed at the Home2Suites which is connected to the Hampton Inn.  They do offer a package to park there and a shuttle to the port, however we found it cheaper to just park at the port.  There is also a Homewood Suites that offers the package.  

Have you been on another vacation since COVID that has met your expectations?  Everywhere is struggling and I don’t think you can compare experiences now to those before COVID.  
 

I just got back from a resort on land and it suffered from many of these exact same things - obvious maintenance delays and the resort trying to get on its feet, closed venues, short staff, missing food items, activities not available, etc.  The thing is I loved this place and I want it to make it, so I’ll spend my precious vacation dollars with them to give them a fighting chance. I’m also packing my patience because the people working are killing themselves and it’s not their fault. 
 

I honestly don’t know if travel/leisure vacations will ever be the same. I’m grateful I get the opportunity to go at all and I appreciate the good moments more than ever. 

I think the iced Americano I got was $4.75. You could get it in the Promenade Cafe or Spa (i usually got it here because not a long line early in the morning). 

My kids love the Harmony. They were 13&9 the first time we sailed on her and it had more than enough to keep them busy.  I gave them the option of the Odyssey for 6 nights or Harmony for 7 nights and we went back on the Harmony at spring break. I booked rooms next to each other but not adjoining to save some $. But my kids are now 15&11. We were able to take out the divider between the balconies which worked out perfect. We still haven’t done everything after 2 cruises. 

Yes, I got an email about it yesterday.  It looks like the regular "Cruise Favorites" sale, nothing different for my cruise than was on sale a few weeks ago.  I'm not holding my breath for the Black Friday sale this year!

The Mariner has them.  It had a curtain at the end of the sofa closest to the bed too.  

Yes, they can separate the beds. We ask when the room steward stops by the first time. You can ask ask if the divider between the balconies can be removed (not all can). It makes it easier to get into the other room to wake the sleeping teen!

We cruised with Disney first and it wasn’t for my family (9 & 5).  My kids were not a fan of the kids club, said it’s loud and very chaotic. There are kids screaming everywhere you turn and long lines for the characters.  We thought the shows were comparable, as well as the service.  We felt that everywhere we turned someone was trying to sell us something - a drink, souvenir bag, etc. 

We prefer Coco Cay over their island.  They were selling a bag of water for $30 and that instantly made my kids thirsty and no where could we find free water!  My husband walked back to the 5k course to get them a drink. 
 

I had to do a lot of selling to get my husband back on a cruise ship. We’ve been on 3 with Royal and have a 4th booked.  My family had annual passes to Disney and we went all the time, but the cruise just wasn’t for us. 

Someone shared rcldining@rcci.com on here as a way to make requests in advance of boarding.  I emailed them my reservation #, ship, date and request and they got back to me within 48 hours with a response.  I was trying to move up my MTD reservation time and they were able to take care of it for me and I had asked to have the same table every night, which we got with a beautiful water view.  I hope that helps!

Usually they have someone checking them out as you get off(depending on which floor you exit on).  There is a towel swap station inside the water park. 

We have done this twice and the decorations were setup when we first arrived.  The first time, the strawberries and cake were there too.  The second time, I believe we got the strawberries right away, but the cake came later.  They bring you plates, silverware and napkins too.  I thought the cake was very good.  It tastes just like the cake you get in WJ.  

It’s $10 per day and only works in ports. I got a text message that my husband was using one of my travel passes when he took his phone out of airplane mode while we were in Jamaica. However, he meant to use the free wifi while we were at Margaritaville. You probably can find spots that include wifi in most ports.