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My husband gambles and usually qualifies for the free drinks at the casino after the first evening. We usually cruise RCCL so he wasn't aware he had to be playing in order to get a drink in the casino under this promotion. No problem, he's a regular at the casino. Last week, We were sailing on the Breeze and he gambles in the Smoke Free Casino. He loves it because it is on a separate floor away from the smoking casino. Choctaw in OK has us completely spoiled with their smoke free casino. It's huge and fabulous. Anywho. So he gambles the first evening. He awoke the second day, a sea day and the HubApp alerted him that he has free drinks. Cool. Later that morning he went to the smoke free casino bar to get a bloody mary and the bartender said he had to be actively gambling. No problem. We started gambling and after about 15 minutes a bar server came by. This was late morning around 11AM. 7 People max in casino. So the server finally makes he way to my DH and pushes the button on the machine and sees yes my DH gets a free drink. He takes the order. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes. We are looking at the bar and the bartender. No customers. It is a very slow morning. OMG! What's taking so long. So the bartender finally comes back with the drink after 30 minutes. We just could not understand why the bartender couldn't serve us. I understand they want you to gamble and we have no problem gambling, but taking 30 minutes to get a drink is kind of crazy. Especially, when we are looking at the bartender and she's twiddling her thumbs waiting on the server to bring her the drink orders. If you have been on the Breeze you know the smoke free casino is small. You can stand at the bar and see the whole casino. So we have no idea why it took so long. My husband said it was like that every day. It took 30+ minutes to get a drink in a fairly empty smoke free casino. SMH! Carnival could definitely improve in this area. The bartender should be able to swipe the card and be alerted OK to serve drink they have played for a certain amount of time. When you want a drink, you want a drink. Waiting 30+ minutes is ridiculous and a bit much. We would rather cruise RCCL where we can go to the Casino bar, order a drink and be served in a timely fashion and peruse to our next slot machine.

I'm just off the Breeze and they had the strawberry frozen yogurt.

Hopefully, your family can still go and you can leave the granddaughter behind or the GD can call in sick. I feel your pain. We had to cancel our Christmas cruise and lost our deposit. These non refundable deposit cruises can sneak up on you. We were grateful that's all we lost.

I've been waiting on this sale. I'm hoping the UDP goes down on my Quantum 7 night sailing, $326pp currently. 3 day specialty dining $131.

I would have said I need one with meat only and then mixed it with my other order.

OP you might consider booking the ultimate dining plan. We really enjoy the specialty dining restaurants over the MDR. When my husband and I cruise alone we usually book UDP. When we cruise with family and friends we stick with MDR and do a couple of nights in specialty dining. I've also learned to order whatever the waiter recommends. I usualy add what I really wanted to that order as well. What exactly are you ordering? And what about it do you not like?

Definitely park right there at Royals terminal parking lot. GAME CHANGER! You park and it's a short walk to the terminal. Hand your bags over to the porters and walk right into the terminal. So convenient!

LOL! We want to try Wonderland on the Quantum. Thanks for the heads up.

Really hoping they put our ultimate dining package on sale for our Quantum Alaska cruise . Nope, it's still $287.99. Hoping they put it on sale for Black Friday.

Where in the App did you link them? I can't find it. Thx.

I've been trying to link our reservations as well. I could have sworn somewhere on Royals website you could link friends and family cabins. We have 7 cabins that were booked differently - 2 cabins Casino Royale offers, 2 cabins booked from vacation point - timeshare, 3 cabins via RCCL.COM. I think I'm going to call Crown and Anchor to see if they will link them together so we can have late dinner together.

Are you booking suites to get the $500 OBC?

We have started booking day rooms for our late flights home. Check out resort for a day website. Also some resorts have day passes. Check the hotel websites. You don't get a room but you have somewhere to chill for the day with a shower, bathrooms and restaurants. Not to mention some of the hotels have very large lobbies to relax and unwind. Many have nooks and crannies away from the public.

Cozumel - Nachi Cocum Costa Maya - Maya Chan Belize - Butts up cave tubing

Book 2 connecting balcony cabins. Get 2 pool towels. 2 seat in chairs and 2 seat on balcony on the towels. I'm hoping the two on the towels are your kids and not adults. If adults get 2 balcony cabins.

We hired a new taxi each time. Many of the taxis are vans so your party of 6 should be ok. I don't remember the exact cost but we didn't spend more than $30 each taxi ride, there were 4 of us. Plus the taxi drivers know so much history about the island. Our taxi from the beach back to the port gave us a whole history lesson. It was great!

We just did this itinerary aboard the Liberty in September. Loved it!! Hire a taxi to take you from place to place. We purchased the 2 day bus and ferry pass. We used it half of one day and hired a taxi for the remaining part of our visit to Bermuda. Liberty is a great ship like the others have posted. We paid for the Ultimate Dining pkg. We enjoyed the specialty restaurants and getting that extra special service. We were bummed that a Playmakers wasn't aboard this ship but if we cruised again we would still get it. Chops was our favorite. We went to dinner there 3 nights.

@Banditswife thank you for the review. We board her in 25 days. We're seasoned cruisers, however We're cruising with 5 newbies in their 40s. I can't wait to see the ship thru their eyes and their experiences.

Bugs no excuse! Stop cruising on old ships or stop complaining about old ships being old. I always tell 1st time cruisers and picky people to book the shiniest newest ship available. Cheap isn't always good. I have a home port 4.5 hrs from my home but I still fly to FL to get on the latest and the greatest. Thank goodness they just built a new terminal so now we get the larger ships in Galveston. My husband is fairly new to cruising. He wants to go on an old ship. I told just told him No. 1. I don't want to hear his mouth. 2. I don't want him to hear my mouth. LOL!!!

Miss me some Trainman reviews. 😔

@Norwaylady this sounds amazing. I don't have anything to add but when I grow up I want to be like you. 😁 11 years and 8 months before I retire and can travel like that.

I just did this and with your time constraints I would recommend book thru the cruise ship if you don't want to worry about anything and your nerves are bad. Hire a taxi if you can manage your time and money isn't a problem.

This is why I enjoy cruising alone. I can take my time getting off the ship. One last long shower, leisurely stroll to breakfast and take in my last free meal. Once it has cleared out walk off the ship. However, my hubs must get off the ship ASAP. I'm always like, what's the rush to wait in an hour plus line that bobs and weaves throughout the ship. SMH! I don't get the rush. We usually drive to the port so there is absolutely no rush to get home. And when we fly into Florida we usually book a late afternoon flight.

Texas City is right before you cross the bridge to go into Galveston. It's 20-30 minutes.

Stay the night before at Holiday Inn Express Texas City. Drive into Galveston Port for an early 1030am check in time. Head straight to Guy's burgers for lunch. Make sure we're on the lido deck for the Wobble at Sail Away with a Margarita in hand.