Crazy planning mom

George C gave you some great advice- arrive to Barcelona a couple days early, join your roll call. What is different on a Med cruise rather than a Caribbean cruise is that its more port focused with less sea days. Try to enjoy some local cuisine. There are some evenings that you will be tired-just hit the buffet and relax.

I've sailed both lines. What I like about NCL - O'Sheehan's/ Local, the thermal spa, interesting itineraries, NCL allows you to make advance dining reservations with a dining package which Royal hasnt. I love Royal Oasis class ships including the entertainment. Our next cruise is on the Symphony. We will be going to CoCo Cay which has a dock. Great Stirrup Cay does not have a dock. Also, Royal's drink packages work on CoCo Cay whereas Norwegian's doesn't work on Harvest Caye. Bottom line, they both have pros and cons and variety is of the spice of life.

The $250 offered by Royal is not sufficient and pretty cheap on their part.

We have done some great bucket list itineraries with NCL. With their recent frequent itinerary changes, I probably only would book them if I was only interested in the ship and didn't care about the itinerary so much.

We went to Cayo Caribe in February and we found it to be tasty. It's nothing fancy but we enjoyed.

We did the Avocado Guacamole Class a few years ago on Harmony and enjoyed it.

Palma Majorca also had a very nice aquarium. We did the aquarium and then went across the street to the beach.

The NCL Gem and Jewel also do Panama Canal cruises. Those ships are better if you don't like crowds or big attractions. We sailed the Jade which is a sister to the Gem and Jewel. It was renovated, perfect for us and didn't require any reservations. The Joy is a big ship where you do need reservations for shows.

Hope you have a wonderful trip on the Apex!

The entrance fee was included. I don't think loungers were but we didn't try to get one . We just put our towels down. My husband did bring his backpack on the Skyride. We enjoyed the excursion. When you get to Magen's Bay, go left and walk down aways to avoid crowds. Definitely, get a bushwacker. Yum.

We were on the Apex which is a newer, popular ship and there was maybe 5 kids tops on the whole ship. Just sail when school is in session.

I would book any must do excursions as soon as possible. Check your cruise planner.

Royal Caribbean has some itineraries advertised as Cabo overnight. How long is the tender ride? The boat would be in Cabo from 1pm to 1pm the next day. Would it be worth it to tender the morning you are only there until 1pm?

Go to the first page of the NCL message board and collect down.

Here is the link