homeschoolmama

I recently sailed b2b GS on FOS. The cl was so crowded every night that I did not find an open chair until night 13. Most every chair was occupied by a pin wearer so on night 5 I creatively took one of the white drinking glass covers with the rccl insignias on it and used a black marker to write my name and "suite guest" in all capitals. I put a piece of duct tape on the back and marched myself into the lounge with my official suite nametag, hoping it would get me a chair. Well I got no chair but boy did I get glares and scowls from the pinnacle pin wearers! Bertie the conceirge had a good chuckle though so it was worth the visual chastisement.

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Oops meant Millikins

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We were just there and had a lovely dinner at Milkikins overlooking the port.

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Google what you are looking for. There are usually pics for every type of cabin. Sometimes if you google the actual cabin number you will also get results.

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PLUS roaming charges for the entire time you are at sea. If the want a bill in the thousands of dollars then keep your phone on, otherwise give family the contact number as listed above.

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You can tell it is rough! Look at how the bow is pitching forward. Glad we will be in calmer caribbean waters.......I hope.

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If you go at 10:30 I guarantee you that you will be outside waiting for several hours. These are periodic checks, totally out of the control of rccl. They are trying to manage not having 5000 people congregating outside the terminal until the ship is cleared. I have been there when rccl did not know there would be an inspection and people were fainting in the heat as we waited almost 4 hours to board......and we were a suite guest. The process may mover quicker, however if they find even one issue on inspection it could take even longer! Rccl cannot control this in any way. It is good to see they have learned from past experience and are managing this as best they can. Go when the email says you should.

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It is all inclusive. Food, drink, water sports.

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American Bear, I agree with your suggestions. One other area that has slipped is the casino host. I too have been vip for years. The casino host used to greet me within minutes of entering the first time. Now, on some ships, I have not seen the host until the 2nd or 3rd day, or I have had to search them out in order to get the benefits rolling. These experiences really disillusion me. Feeling like a vip makes one want to continue to make the "investment", but seeing a host a couple times a week tells me "who cares". If they take rebates away and/or don't grandfather in vips who have been such for years will take me out of the rccl casinos for good.

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Take trolly to El Morro fort then walk down. All downhill and lots to see from plazas to architecture to art to shops to cafes. Old San Juan is not terribly big but the streets can be congested, however even on the trolley, sitting in traffic there is much to take in. If you tire you will never be far from a trolley stop. Fun town!

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We always tip room steward at the end of the 2nd week unless he or she has been unresponsive the 1st week, then we may tip as an incentive to step it up. That has only happened once though. As far as staying in the cabin, you absolutely can sleep in, just tell room steward the night before, but be mindful there will be a time when all b2b meet in a lounge and go off the ship to have ship cleared, depending on port go through immigration, then right back on with new sea pass. This is usually 9:30 or 10. Don't be late though as one person can hold up the whole group of b2b'rs and it will be an unhappy group when you do show up. This also delays the whole ship being cleared. Once that is done, you can come and go as much as you want from your cabin. If we don't need much in the room we often tell the room steward there is no need to clean our room that day if just the towels could be replaced. I cannot tell you how much it means to them when theyhave so little time to turn alot of rooms around. Every time we have done this our room is completely done during dinner which is just fine with us.

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Best parts of b2b on day 7 is having some quiet time on the ship, being settled in your room when everyone else is just coming on, sleeping in on disembarking day, being able to come and go to your room when the other passengers are waiting for their room to be ready, and walking down the hall the last night of week one knowing you have a whole additional week to enjoy. Sometimes depending on the ship there is a special mdr lunch just for b2b cruisers which is very nice, but unfortunately not always done. Be aware that you do have to go to both muster drills. Enjoy!!!!! very hard to ever do a 7 day again!

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Can take a ferry from the pier to a great beach and the town for shopping. It is about 6 dollars per person roundtrip and is a short 5 minute trip. Ferry runs back and forth all day. You can see the ferry, beach and town from the pier where the ships dock.

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There are plenty other things to do there. Fantastic shallow water snorkeling with parrot fish the size of a smsll child. Last year i counted upwards of 50 different species. There are bananaboat rides....quite fun. Unlimited food and drink. De palm is one of our favorite thingsto do in Aruba. The water park is more kid oriented, though my 62 year old sister did it and had fun......but it is no disney typhoon lagoon.

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A condo in fl is already on the list! 1 1/2 years until we are out if MN and becoming Florida residents!!! Counting the days.......:)

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Taps, you will see everything from tuxes/evening gowns to dressy pants and tops and suitcoats with open shirts. Pretty much anything goes these days, just do what you enjoy. Shows are good, especially the ice show. Being a bigger ship the productions tend to be a little bigger too.

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Thanks Jules. We actually only do b2b. 7 days is waaaay too short. Kind of love that last night of the first week when all the suitcases are in the hall and ours are nowhere to be found:) love turnaround day too......then have a whole week more to enjoy. I must confess though, the closer we are to retiring,the more b2b is hardly enough. This year we are staying 4 mire days in Orlando to recover from the b2b :) pretty sure next year will be b2b2b!!!!

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FOS one of our favorites. Fortunate enough to be doing b2b on her in 20 days. Thanksfor all the comments......gets me excited!

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There usually is availabilty on barefoot beach for cabanas. Because barefoot beach is for grand suites and above it usually is not too crowded so suite guests opt not to get cabanas. Every time we have been on barefoot beach at least half the cabanas were with non suite guests. No matter what beach or chair you land on Labadee is sure to become a favorite port.

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If you notify waut staff they will bring a dessert with candle or you can ask them to bring a small celebration cake. Other than that there is no specific recognition unless you purchase something before.

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Smaller rccl ships, voyager class or smaller and travelling off peak times will minimize your chances of alot of kids. 2nd or 3rd wk in Sept after school starts is good, mid to late January is good, after Christmas break but before spring breaks. The first 2 weeks in Dec after Thanksgiving cruises is perhaps the best time. Rest assured tho, even with a fair number of kids on board you can find many spots on the ship to have peace and quiet......and apart from holiday and spring break times the kids do tend to be well behaved

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GetmeoutofMN! Hello. You responded to my post and we are from MN also. As far as airfare, last year we pd about 375 per person on Delta but it was a very long 12 hr day as we had to change planes in Dallas. We went in Nov before Sun Country starts their flights. They are non stop and usually less than 500 a person, but often do not sell tickets until Nov. You could call them or check website. The only downside with sun country is they usually only fly 1 or 2 times per week which can impact connections with ships. I know fares are a bit more this year, and March is a popular time, but 700 is way more than you should have to pay. Keep searching a bit but don't wait too long as with limited flights they fill quickly. Another option is to find a cheap flight to Orlando or Miami and see if you can find a reasonable fare from there to San Juan as there are more flights available on different carriers than we have in MN. For this you may want a travel agent to search for you. Good luck! You will love AOS

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If you do b2b the rebate from the first week is paid to you in cash in the 1st couple days of the 2d week. The rebate from the 2d week is calculated after cruise ends is available to apply to a future cruise. As far as using a rebate on a cruise in 2016, I was told you must sail before the March deadline, not book it.

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Primary difference is itinerary. Really love the so. Caribbean ports so we often sail AOS. We also love leaving from Puerto Rico as we enjoy a few days prior and post. There are usually better fares also. FOS is definitely one of our favorite ships and are doing b2b in a few weeks. When we want total r & r we do Freedom, as we have been to the ports so often and they don't have much draw anymore....at least for excursion type things. When we want beach and sea activities we choose AOS. Love the warmer water and less commercialized islands. In my opinion you cannot go wrong with either. They are quite similar in many ways, as already noted. One other difference is some find the more "extravagant" shows better on FOS?

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Thanks for sharing pics. We love FOS! One of out favorite ships. Leaving in 5 wks on her for b2b. Your pics definitely got the excitement ramped up!

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