Cutigerlady

I cancelled my cruise planner items on 4/14 and the credit appeared today.   The email I got the day I cancelled it said it could take up to 30 days, so I was happy with how quickly I got my money back. 

Mariner of the Seas September $52

Independence  of the Seas December $49
 

I noticed that other things dropped In price as well that haven’t budged in price for months. I haven’t seen my refund for an excursion I cancelled for the September trip last week yet. We are hoping the December trip happens, so I’ll take the gamble on purchases for that trip. Just will pay with Amex because they are great if you have a dispute. 

My payment date is not until late June. I’ve resigned to the fact we aren’t going on this cruise. Yesterday I cancelled our shore excursions. I’m going g to wait until the last possible date before PIF date to cancel in hopes I can either get my deposit back or apply it towards a new cruise. I’m ok with losing the $400. I honestly don’t know if my kids will have a Fall Break in September because one scenario I’ve heard is pushing back their start date and skipping the Fall Break. 
 

I just can’t imagine taking my kids on a cruise and dealing with quarantines or the idea I did something that put them at risk. My husband is an essential worker and who knows if he will even be able to take off time. Sometimes making adult decisions stinks!

We have one booked for mid September that I booked last September. More than likely, will be pushing it out a year because it’s for my kids fall break. I have a surprise trip booked for December, maybe that one will happen?  I’m waiting to decide right before final payment. I don’t want my $ wrapped up in a FCC, because with my kids sports schedule I don’t know how much availability we will have in the upcoming years. 

You can modify things on the menu they give you, but I think it is limited to what they have at the snack shack.  We got burgers or chicken sandwiches customized for my picky child. We also got yummy fruit kebobs at the end of the day.
 

My kids got non-alcoholic fruity drinks all day with no issue. Our attendant told us food service started at 10:30 and she brought it as soon as it was available (my kids were starving because they wouldn’t eat breakfast when they could see the waterpark). 

We have done the connecting and adjoining and not connecting with our boys. I would want connecting with the age of your boys. Mine are old enough that they have phones and we could communicate with them (all had internet packages). I would take 2 connecting ocean view or interior rooms to save money.  With a six year old I would prefer that to a balcony anyway if I wasn’t in the same room to hear them opening the balcony door. 

We found better deals on random pop-up sales over Black Friday. The best deals seemed to appear a few weeks before final payment. If you see something you really want, I would book it and watch for sales. Several things I booked at full price have increased in price since I booked them. Even the “sale” price was more than I paid for them!  

You may be able to get the Minnie Van to take you, but it's expensive!  My favorite transportation company in Orlando is Worldgate Transportation and they provide car seats for free.  They were about $70 from the airport to Disney, so maybe slightly more to the port.  I believe Minnie Van is $249! 

$119 isn’t that bad of a price for a water park. We paid $99pp  in Costa Maya and Atlantis is $199/139pp. 
 

We have paid for the waterpark at Coco Cay twice and I thought we got our money’s worth. We booked our first cruise specifically for the waterpark. There is plenty to do without going to the park. For my family I think it would have been hard to tell my kids we weren’t going on the slides though!

I know that we were given wrist bands to wear for our cabana, so it is possible if you don't have a wrist band that they won't let you stay there.  

Just an FYI, but just because the port hours begin at 7, doesn't mean the water park is open that early.  On my recent cruise, you could pay extra to get into the water park at 8 or 8:30, but it didn't officially open until 9.  I can't remember the exact cost for the early access.  I didn't see anything in our cruise planner in advance about the early access, but it was in the Daily Planner.

We were allowed into the park before 9, but I don't know if that was because the park was empty with rain threatening, so they wanted everyone to have access while the weather was better?  We also lucked out because our ship was the only one at Coco Cay that day, so it wasn't ever super crowded.  It rained and was pretty miserable for an hour or so and the vast majority of people went back to the ship.  I think the park closed 30 minutes before the last call for the ship, which I think was 3:30.  It looked like it was going to rain again, so we didn't end up staying until the very end.  My son would have stayed longer, but the parents were ready to leave by then!

We were there the day after Christmas and they were using a return card process for the big slide so you didn’t have to wait in the line very long. I didn’t use it, but my kids thought it worked well and they didn’t complain about the wait times. The other lines were pretty manageable. 

If it makes you feel better, we did a side-by-side for my 13 and 8 year old sons.  It was helpful that everyone had internet, so we could let them know if we were not going to be in our room.  My teenager sleeps in later and we would head to the gym early.  I wanted his brother to know where we were when he woke up.  I wouldn't hesitate to book these rooms again! 

My travel agent was able to book our rooms correctly, without having to go to guest services.  However, I just booked another cruise myself and online it won't let you book the rooms without someone being over 21.  It wasn't a big deal when we had to swap out the rooms in the past at GS.  

We can't ever go back to being in one room again!  The extra bathroom is a huge plus!

We’ve done Disney and RCL and my boys (13,8) prefer RCL by a huge margin. They said it’s a lot more activities and fewer kids on the ship (September/December sailings). They prefer Oasis class, but the Mariner has enough stuff to keep them busy for 4 days. We’ve got 2 more trips planned for this year!  Coco Cay is amazing and we had to drag them back to the ship at the end of the day.  In some ports they opted to stay on the ship and enjoy the activities there over going in an excursion. 
 

In fact, they both said they prefer the cruise over going to Disney too!  

Also, once you book, know that you can cancel and rebook excursions, dining/beverage packages, internet packages, etc. if the price drops.  You can also get your fare repriced (before final payment) if the cost goes down.  Check frequently for both of these because the prices change often!

We find two connecting rooms is so much more comfortable!!  Having 2 bathrooms is a huge plus. What I didn’t know was that some of the balcony dividers come out and we had a huge balcony!  We just got back from a last minute trip with two inside rooms and we liked those just as much. 

Also don’t forget parking at the port. I glad that they collect that on the way in, so I don’t need to worry on the way home!  

We always to MTD because the early seating is too early and my kids can’t wait for the late seating. We have been successful at getting the same table/servers each night by requesting it the first night. I’ve always found that they want to make you happy and try to work with you.  I made reservations and tried to get the times at a similar time each night. We also find MTD goes faster, which the kids like.  We saw lots of big parties in MTD, so they definitely have them. 

We just got off the Mariner of the Seas today from the Christmas cruise and my family had a blast!  We watched A Christmas Story, The Grinch and the Muppets Christmas movies, went to holiday family feud, holiday trivia, and Christmas caroling  They had a midnight mass and many other holiday themed activities.  On Christmas morning, they had photos with Santa, presents for every child, hot chocolate and egg nog. Many families wore their holiday pjs to breakfast.  They had a special Christmas Eve dinner, so wouldn’t spend extra for the holiday dinner and then the regular formal night meal in Christmas Day. 
 

We were in Nassau on Christmas and they said everything would be open, but the stores were closing at 4:30. My kids decided to stay on board and they loved the empty ship!  We sat by the pool all day and participated in games. 
 

I didn’t think there were any more kids on this trip than our previous trip (when most kids were in school).  We saw so many people having a great time. Lots of people decorated their doors and/or rooms.  We were trying to figure out how to go back next year at dinner the last night!

We had the Key in September on the Harmony and I bought it for our cruise on the Mariner over Christmas because my kids really liked the lunch, priority seating, early getting off at Coco Cay and early disembarkation.  After this trip, we all agreed it’s a pass for us in the future. 
 

My son got expedited arrival and that was super fast, even faster than the Key!

The activity times were not at convenient times and we never had to wait long to use anything. 
 

There was no early off for Coco Cay, you now have to pay separately for that and access to water park before 9:00. We walked off at 8:45 and went straight to waterpark. 
 

We never found the escort off the ship, so we just got in the early departure line ourselves. 
 

My family decided we will pay for the internet and lunch on our own. Everything else wasn’t worth it. Plus they forced us to sit with another family at the lunch when they had multiple empty 4 top tables. I get it when hey were busy, but we showed up towards the end of the lunch. 

You can go to any bar and get a soda.  In order to use the Freestyle machine, you must have the cup they give you with the chip in it to activate the machine.  The cup does have a sliding top to prevent spills. 
 

The disadvantage of the bar option, is that they limit you to soda and what types they have available. Most places had 2 Liters they were using. I saw a guy ask for water, but that is not included in the soda package. You need the refreshment package for that. 

We had the Key and ate in the MDR for the lunch.  They offered anything of the kids menu for my 8 year old.  It has cheese pizza, spaghetti marinara or grilled cheese if she would eat any of those.  In  the end, my son was talked into the adult burger on the Chops menu and they left off some of the stuff to make it more kid friendly.  On the Harmony, they really tried to make my picky eater happy!  

I had this happen to me when I was on the ship and our port changed.  When I got the credit back for the excursion, it was for the wrong amount.  I had bought/cancelled and repurchased excursions a lot as the price changed.  It was an IT issue that required the Guest Services person to submit a ticket to resolve.  It helped to show exactly what days I purchased and for what amount to show them.  

We just bought the sushi by the roll. We ate 4 rolls and 2 starters between 4 people for less than $80. I think my kids split a dessert too. I wouldn’t buy the dining deal. We had no problem walking in without a reservation at lunch and they never rushed us. We were on the Harmony. 

I noticed they added the Black Friday ad this morning, but the prices I saw from last night are the same.

It says:

beverage packages up to 50% off 

dining packages up to 40% off or more

internet & more up to 35% off or more

shore excursions up to 25% off 

beverage packages look like Refreshment and soda packages, some token discount on some deluxe packages. 

Internet deals for 4 devices that was worth it. 

Shore excursions looked the same as before

Dining packages looked similar to previous “sales” with nothing special. 

I saved $3pp on Refreshment package for my kids and snagged 4 device internet for $23.99 per day.