leaveitallbehind

One suggestion. As soon as you can check into your room, do so and leave any carryon luggage there. Then go explore the ship. Grab a beverage of choice and find your way around to locate the dining rooms, theater, bars, and other venues you would be frequenting. Confirm your dining arrangements with the maitre d to be sure they are as expected. Periodically check your stateroom and when your luggage arrives, unpack. Place the empty suitcases under your bed for storage. (We also place our dirty laundry each night in them to keep that out of the way and to have us 90% packed by the last night). Make sure you follow any instructions regarding the muster drill and complete that as soon as possible, or by the ship's schedule. Do not put this off as delaying it can delay your ship's sailing. As a first time cruiser you will likely want to do everything offered on the ship so as not to miss anything. I would suggest prioritizing as, IMO, one important aspect of the cruise experience is to also relax and enjoy the experience. You will likely find that your first cruise will not be your last, and if you are enjoying the cruise line you are on, you may want to look at booking your next while on board. Often times reduced deposits, on board credits, and other incentives are offered with on board bookings. But most of all enjoy your cruise! We have been fortunate in being able to do so for 32 years - and still booking new ones!

Typically the cruise lines will provide transfers that you can sign up for to the airports that would normally serve that port. They would likely be generic to the airport and not tied to a specific airline. The shuttle would then stop at the different airlines departure terminals. The other option would be Uber, taxi, or other private transporter that you could arrange direct transfer to the airport and airline departure terminal. There is no one set method - it really is up to you. But as your travel agent has arranged the departure transfers, they likely can also arrange the return transfers as well. Maybe contact them with this. If your return port is Fort Lauderdale, the airport is only 2 miles / ten minutes from the port and is very easy for which to arrange transportation.

As CruiserBruce indicates, you aren't providing much information to go on, so I will answer it this way - most cruise lines will offer adult oriented areas on board. But in terms of cruise lines that cater mainly to adults, Virgin is adults only, but caters primarily to a younger to mid age adult demographic. Of the main stream lines, Celebrity is primarily an adult focus more to the mid to older adults, with little on board for children, and HAL is primarily an adult focus more to the older adults. There are also a number of premium lines such as Viking, Crystal, Seabourn Regent Seven Seas, Silver Sea, Oceana, etc., that have mainly and adult focus. You really need to provide more input as to your preferences, itineraries, budget, etc. to get a better idea of different cruise lines that may appeal to you. But my suggestion would be to contact a travel agent and work with them on your selection. They would be able to best match a cruise line that would suite your preferences.

I don't have any direct recommendations but would suggest that maybe you talk with your doctor or pharmacist for advice and specific options. They may know best what would be good for you.

If you have no preference on cruise lines and the price is not an issue I would always choose a 7-night over a 4-night itinerary.

Pack less and bring more cash.

NCL has similar promotions. Most lines that offer that are as limited promo's and not their standard pricing.

Better to have something and not need it then need it and not have it. Great minds think alike LOL - my motto as well as mentioned before. Always good advice!

I was referring, as example, to certain prescription pain medications, which commonly would be a narcotic - and as such as a controlled substance. The other medications as your referenced such as statins, steroids, or diabetes pills, etc., are not in that classification. I am also pretty sure your doctor would make you aware of any medication that was a narcotic that was being prescribed to you as they can be addictive. And I took no inference of you arguing - just that you were asking a question.

It's not a "must", but a recommendation. Even giving that suggestion I as well have brought some of my meds in a non-descript container. IMO any prescribed narcotics should be in the original container.

Obviously you need to take any prescription medications (in their original bottles) with you. But all the other items you mention for day to day occurrences would be good. Often port of call medicines are not the same composition or strength and may be more expensive. No reason to rely on purchasing those items in port - or on the ship - when it would be easiest and likely less costly just to take them with you as they won't take up much space. Better to have something and not need it then need it and not have it.

I have done that itinerary a number of years ago (Bayonne, NJ / Bermuda / Caribbean) - although it was in the summer months - and the waters between Bermuda and the Caribbean were fine and not noticeably rougher than the transit to Bermuda or the Island hopping in the Caribbean. This was our experience and yours can certainly vary. We also did the 5-day transit from Hawaii to Vancouver during April and a couple of days were very smooth and a couple were more noticeably choppy. While there are certain specific areas of the world where seas are more regularly defined caused by conditions in the region, I don't think there generally is any "typical when it comes to sea conditions - there is no pattern or firm prediction.

And I will counter by saying that the calmest water we ever experienced in 30 years of cruising was around Bermuda - smooth as glass. The roughest was in the Caribbean near Panama where we hit 25 foot waves - and not resulting from a storm. So anywhere can be rough - or calm. Generally no predicting.

Sea conditions are next to impossible to predict and can change rapidly from calm to rough and visa versa. Weather and other factors that would influence sea conditions are typically only accurate a week or so out, so there is no way to even begin to predict anything now. You are also asking about conditions in an area covering more than 900 miles just to reach the Caribbean. Things could change multiple times over that range. The only situation that could add impact to be considered is that November is the end of hurricane season so the conditions that are present that could favor storms developing will still be present to some extent. But even that is impossible to predict. In other words there is no way to know this answer.

We have been on 5 cruises since the restart and all were consistent in the manner in which our on board reservations were handled - which, as I described earlier, were arranged to our preferences by the maître d's at the specialty restaurants on day 1. BTW that is how it was in our experience pre-pandemic.

RCCL customer service typically only can advise what the T's & C's are per the packages offered via the planner. In practice, things are often different and the on board staff will, in our experience, be more flexible. All of our information was on the app as entered via the cruise planner once we were on board. Any maître d can help you on board, but we typically go to the one at the restaurant that was "assigned". They have always accommodated us and have booked all of our reservations together at that time for the different restaurants.

We book this (and similar packages) often and we have always been able to change our reservation (if desired) for the first night and add the additional nights as preferred once on board with the maître d. We typically visit with them at the booked restaurant on the first day after we are settled in from boarding and make the arrangements then. The first night reservation requirement is more of a placeholder when booking the package on line through the cruise planner.

Agree. It certainly does depend on the cruise line and suite category. The suite benefits are typically scaled to the category level and without a doubt the lower category "entry level" suites often offer limited benefits. Example: RCCL junior suites are only marginally larger in size than the standard balcony categories with some enhancements (bathtub, walk in closet), but virtually no full suit benefits. But obviously as you scale up in the suite categories the benefits (and price) increase dramatically.

But as mentioned before with most cruise lines the suites also include a number privileges and enhancements to the cruise experience which need to be considered with the premium price when making stateroom comparisons. It always is more than just the stateroom when considering those staterooms defined as "suites".

You should take a look at some of the higher end suites on Celebrity and RCCL - multi-room, two level over 1,600 sq ft.

In addition to the physical descriptions of the space, which typically also includes more amenities and upgrades, suites usually include a higher level of service and on board privileges which often includes personal "butlers", dedicated lounges and / or clubs, upscale restaurants, and often segregated open spaces with private pools, etc. It's not just a larger stateroom (or rooms) but a different, higher, level of service and on board experience. And always at a significantly increased price over non-suites.

You may also want to ask this on the Carnival board to get better responses. Here is the link: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/133-carnival-cruise-lines/ You can also join your Roll Call for that cruise to talk with others sailing with you. Here is the Carnival Roll Call board to search for your sailing. If a Roll Call does not yet exist you could start one. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/91-carnival-roll-calls/

You will most likely have much greater success asking this on the RCCL board here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/51-royal-caribbean-international/ Enjoy your cruise - we did the reverse Hawaii to Vancouver in April 2019. (BTW all capital letters idicates you are yelling).

As inferred there will always be differing opinions on the appropriateness of wearing them outside of your stateroom in public venues. Certainly to and from hot tubs, spas, pools, and other similar venues should - IMO - not be objectionable, and in our experience we see done all the time. Naturally there would be other obvious indoor venues where it likely should not be done. But I would ask why someone would want to wear a bathrobe there in the first place? In other words, common sense should prevail.

No - as mentioned by LHT28. Wheelchairs are very common on board. But If for any reason you would decide not to take it there are motorized and manual rental options available for wheelchairs that are intended for cruise ship use. Just google the topic to see your options and port rental locations. This may provide an option to transporting yours to and from the departure port. This link to the Disabled Cruise Travel board may also provide additional information on the subject: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/114-disabled-cruise-travel/