lajbec

Please, if you are not being affected by hurricane Harvey like we are do not spread rumors. There have been no shooting of rescue workers. Everyone is helping each other like we have never seem before. Our neighborhood is under mandatory evacuation so we went to our daughters house. If her house floods at least we are with her & our 3 grandchildren. The pictures below are real pictures.

 

 

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The first picture has been identified as being photoshopped. It is a mock up of the effects of climate change for Laguardia.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4830676/Photo-planes-flooded-Houstin-airport-fake.html

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Do the passengers come back Friday with liberty

Or do they disembark in Miami?

As, we ALL know they can not fly into Houston

As, I read another thread, without a passport book you can't disembark from the ship except where you embarked?

As, we only have the card

See the info from border patrol:

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/western-hemisphere-travel-initiative

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What I don't understand, is if they decision was made, now over an hour ago, to head for Miami, why is the Liberty of the Seas still just sitting, dead in the water, outside of Galveston?

 

Rick

There are 3 medical emergencies on board. They are tryingg to get these passengers off loaded some how.

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Can anyone please tell me how much the video games cost.

The games are 50 cents to $2 each. The arcades are extremely small on any of the ships unless they are voyager class or larger. If you are crown and anchor, your kids should get an arcade bonus. You can purchase some arcade credits on the cruise planner ahead of time at a discount. I usually left our daughter spend 40 - 50 for a week in the arcade. She's not much on the traditional video games and tends to do the ones that spit out tickets to redeem for prizes. There have been a few ships where she d8dnt even go into the arcade as it was so small.

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My grandchildren , ages 10 and 11, will be going on Vision for the Thanksgiving cruise. This will be their first time in a Vision class ship. They are experienced cruisers having been on Radiance, Voyager, Freedom and Oasis class ships. They love Adventure Ocean and I expect they'll have a great time in AO on Vision as the activities in AO will be the same plus they'll have the rock climbing wall and pool!

 

 

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We were on vision the week of thanksgiving a few years ago with my 9 year old. The number if children was in insane! We found Vision to be our least favorite ship. It had very few activities and we spent a lot of time in our cabin. Granted, we ended up with 3 sea days as one of our ports was cancelled due to high seas. If this is port intensive, you will be good to go. Just keep that in mind for packing (DVD player, cards)

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I use the forums app and I rarely even see an ad...

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Is there anyway to check your in storeroom phone messages remotely? I've never seen a way to set a password or pin. Wouldn't that be a nice feature??

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Email special_needs@rccl.com and let them know that your husband has a CPAP and needs an extension cord and distilled water. They will be in your cabin. This address has been really great at responding to our needs.

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Again the key is to prevent seasicknesd before it happens. If you wait until you are feeling it, it us too late. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. I have done my fair share of hugging the porcelain throne due to seasicknesd because I didn't take Bonine the night before. If I take it every evening, I'm good to go and everyone around me is green.

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I take Bonine every night and start a couple of days before embarking. This gives you time to adjust to it and sleep off the biggest part of it. As long as I do that, I'm good to go. When I've not taken it, I'm miserable. A generic version is incredible cheap on Amazon.

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We drove from charlotte, nc to ft Lauderdale. We stopped in Savannah on the way down for the night and then drove the next day to have a leisurely hotel check in and dinner. I95 is a bear! We drove straight home (stopped in Savannah to drop my brother and his kids at their car for them to head to TN) and we headed in to charlotte before dinner. We did self disembark at 630am.

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We stayed at Hotel Traiano. They even picked us up at the airport! Nothing fancy but we had a 3 room apartment and breakfast in The morning with a shuttle to the port. That was back in 2013.

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I too am very fair skinned. I have found that applying a thorough coat of 50+ sunscreen at least 30 minutes before exposure helps. I gave seen people spaying themselves once they ate ashore! Too late. I wear a hate and a rash guard (lands end , thank you). And of course, stay in the shade when possible. I have done 13+ cruises and only gotten the back of my hand burned. Have fun!!

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We've done playa mia both through RCCL and on our own. We preferred on our own. It was 1. Cheaper 2. We got there earlier on our own as we didn't have to wait on the 100 other guests to be wrangled and seated on the buses 3. We got to leave when we wanted to (ie got to stay later) 4. Got to purchase the entrance fee that we wanted. We don't drink booze so we could do the cheaper tix.

Cozumel is very doable on your own. Going through the line the first time was okay but I needed the insurance/assurance of what I was getting. I haven't tried the other places mentioned but have been tempted. Our daughter loves the pools and water games at playa mia. The buffet is okay there nothing special. We were going to do a la carte the next time to see how we make out.

Gave fun!

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I don't think there is a fee to drop off. You could just drop luggage and then check-in once you've turned in your rental if they charge for parking.

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We did a Toyota Sienna with 6(3 adults and 3 tweens). We might have been able to get one more body (skinny) in the back row but had no room for more luggage without using a hood box or a tailgate box. We had 3 28", 2 carryons, a rolling duffel, and all means of "personal items and pillows". We were like the Clamped heading for Florida. An Excursion/expedition size might be big enough for you.

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If you want an all inclusive beach, we would recommend Maya Chan. You can find them on TripAdvisor. Relaxing day on their small beach. Awesome food, great service and off the beaten path. Has beach activities

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The dress code is only at night. Although all venues at all times - no swimsuits.

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We stayed at Hyatt Place. We could see our ship at Pan Am pier. We walked to Miramar for dinner. There is a Hyatt House across the road and there is a Sheraton on the same side as Pan Am pier.

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We went a few years ago. Rented a car and visited NASA and tolled around. Drove to Galveston and parked it in an off site lot right off the expressway. We were picked up upon disembarking by the lot , grabbed our rental car, and we we on our way back to Hobby. I think I priced it at the time and it was only slightly more than transfers from hobby to hotel to galveston and back. We liked the freedom of being able to leave when we were ready and having to wait to any of the shuttles/buses to fill up. I will warn you. We had the longest wait in customs that we've ever experienced. Be prepared. (We did self assist)

We rented a car at Hobby and kept it for the week. It was cheaper for us do pay the rental and parking (place right off the expressway in galveston) and drive back to Hobby for the return. The transfers from Houston to porr of Galveston were outrageous and we had the freedom to come and go as we pleased.

You can sign up with Adventure Ocean for the pick up from the MDR. It is only available for early seating in MDR. Our daughter used to love it as she would eat her fruit course and a roll and then be whisked away to play and not have to sit through a two hour dinner. Make your first stop once you board for dining.

If you have MTD you can make the reservation for everyone if you have their booking number and last name. Just did mine for 2 cabins in my name and one in my brother's.

Would love to hear experiences with the Kids Clubs. My kids are 9 and 7. A few questions:

 

1) Do you register them prior to embarking? For Disney, we registered them online adn they got bracelets during onboarding activities. Is Royal the same?

2) What activities are there for this age group?

3) I heard something about the staff coming to gather kids at the MDR and taking them back to the kids club. Is that offered on Freedom?

4) Please share any experiences!

 

Thx!

Welcome to RCCL. My daughter who is now 10 loves Adventure Ocean. She started participating at age 6 on various ships. We traveled on Independence a couple years ago. It is Freedom's sister ship. To answer your questions,

You can't register in advance. There will be an open house on day one where your kids can view the club and you can get them registered.

Kids this age have so much fun! They do arts and crafts, play games in large and small groups, sing songs, and practice for the talent show (if they wish to participate). My daughter used to cry when we would pick her up. She didn't want to leave.

To do the pick up from MDR, you need to be signed up for family dining time. Some ships offer it and some don't. The first night your kids order and eat with you. The following nights, your server will already have your kids starter at their place (my daughter always has the fruit cup). The server will also take their order first to bring theirs to them quickly. This will allow you to escort your kids to the assigned door at the MDR. They will escort your kids to the club and entertain them for the rest of the evening.

The club staff are awesome and very helpful. Your kids might be in different groups due to their ages. They will combine the groups if the sizes are small.

Have fun!

The ft Lauderdale airport is not far from the port and hotels close to the port. Take a taxi and save yourself the hassle of dealing with luggage. You can get a porter in baggage claim to assist you with your bags to the cab. At the port, the taxi can leave your bags with the porter. Put a tag on your car seat and it will be delivered to your cabin.

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We did Costa Maya and Coz. In November. We did Playa Maya in coz. Our 9 year old loved it. The pools were awesome. Bus ride was 10 to 15 minutes and food was included (not awesome but palatable).

For Costa Maya we did the jungle beach break. It was fun (ocean wipe out, beach, playground, kayaks). The bus ride is about 30 minutes each way. And food is not included.

We booked through royal for the convenience and assurance. They were also running a promo at the time that age us 25 off of our third excursion so it was worth just going through the ship.

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