SG65CB

The workaround is to book for two with a made-up second person who is a no-show at the pier.

What is the virtual Cruise Compass? Is that the display boards they have near the elevator lobbies?

Maybe not hyperbole, but definitely oxymoron.

This depends on what type of coverage you want. You can book your insurance any time, right up until the day you leave. Obviously you wouldn't be covered for anything that happens prior to booking, but if you are mainly seeking coverage for medical expenses incurred during the trip this is fine. If you want to include "Cancel for any Reason", or insure against pre-existing conditions, the policy has a stated time limit. Sometimes it is within a small number of days after you make the INITIAL deposit.

The listed hours are always ship time. Sometimes the ship stays on the time of the departure port, sometimes they adjust to match the time zone of the ship's current location. It is up to the captain, experiences reported here say that it is consistently inconsistent, even with the same captain and itinerary from one week to the next.

Spencer Ambrose Land Sea and Beach Adventure is mostly what you want - they pick you up at the cruise dock by boat and take you to Soufriere, and from there by land to the waterfall and mud bath. This avoids driving on the winding roads from the ship to Soufriere. But it does also include beach time at Sugar Beach. Maybe that's why you are looking for a private tour? I am planning to take this excursion next month (March).

An interesting perk I rarely see mentioned is the invitation to an event for suite guests hosted by the concierge and senior ship crew. It takes different forms, sometimes a reception or lunch on sea day, sometimes a sailaway reception at the end of a port call. One time we had lunch in Chops served by senior officers. Another time it was a sailaway party on the helicopter pad, and once was a pre-lunch reception in Olive-or-Twist. These events always include food and drinks. The captain rarely attends, but usually the hotel director, food director, bar director, IT director, etc. are in attendance, along with other people who work on their staff. It's a great way to meet them and ask all the questions you've been wanting to know, or bring up complaints or compliments. All those things you see people speculating about on these message boards you can get answers straight from the source. Watch for the invitation, it will be delivered to your stateroom. Caveat - on our first post-COVID cruise they didn't have this event, probably didn't want unnecessary exposure for the officers, not sure if it has been resumed.

Voyager 3/5. Until a week ago the app was showing the old menu for the Main Dining Room. Now there is no menu, it says "Sorry, menu unavailable, ask your server for assistance at the restaurant." I'm guessing the new menu will pop up any day now...

I'm boarding Voyager in three weeks! You can tell me how your cruise was on your way out / my way in. I did the online check-in when it opened, 45 days before the cruise. Check-in started at 12:01 AM and I was done by 12:03 AM. I had access to every possible arrival time and the earliest was 12:00 noon. The ship doesn't sail until 8:30 PM, some people drop off their bags at the ship then head to Old San Juan for the afternoon, come back later to check in.

These are two different things. Look for the following terminology in your policy details: Medical Evacuation will transport you to the nearest hospital capable of treating your condition. Medical Repatriation will transport you home or to the hospital of your choice near your home. Make sure your policy specifies both. If you need to fly home in an air ambulance or with a medical escort this would be covered under Medical Repatriation. If you just need a commercial flight home this could be covered under Medical Repatriation, or under the Trip Interruption portion of your policy. If a traveling companion stays with you while you are in the hospital, their transportation home would be covered under their trip interruption coverage - as long as the illness or injury of a traveling companion is a covered event (it usually is). Some policies also cover their hotel expense.

On sea days: Adventure of the Seas has a seating area at the pool reserved for suite guests. Be sure everyone brings their Sea Pass card, sometimes they come around and check to make sure you are allowed to be sitting there, and kick out the people who shouldn't be there. On Adventure of the Seas the reserved seating is in the tiered area between the Pool Bar and the Sky Bar, with a great view of the bandstand.

The flyer says it has to be consumed in the lounge, but every single time we were allowed to order a drink and take it to dinner. After dinner we stopped back at the lounge for extra desserts and drinks, and carried out a drink to take to the evening show.

Doesn't the food at Labadee come from the ship? What about Coco Cay? I had a cabana at Barefoot Beach about 5 years ago when prices were "reasonable" and they did not have lobster at the buffet. What kind of price are you looking at today? Maybe since there's low demand the price is lower than usual.

Shouldn't be. A guarantee cabin can be assigned as late as the sailing date, and you need to check in before that.

I signed in to my RC account, searched, clicked on Watchlist, and it tells me I need to sign in. Repeat, same results. Can you specify what type of cabin you want to watch? For example if you want a balcony cabin and don't want alerts for an inside cabin price change. Or maybe all the prices change whenever one changes?

A scopolamine patch is the one thing that worked for my wife. At first she was using a whole patch, later she only needed half a patch, but recently she has not been seasick and hasn't used it at all. There are side effects but they mostly disappear after a day or so, and are less apparent with half a patch. I don't know if kids can use this, maybe it's just for adults. You'll see people with a small round sticker behind their ear.

Dining options and times were much different on your cruise. $5,100 for three people in a balcony, four nights, is extremely high compared to a non-charter cruise. Were you able to purchase a drink package, or were drinks included in the price? You didn't receive Crown and Anchor points, did you?

There are monetary perks including OBC for your next cruise. 6-9 night cruise gets $50 interior, $100 balcony or JS, $300 suite. Other perks - sometimes they give out bottles of champagne or have a raffle for people who book a cruise in the first couple of days - I was the big winner once and won a bunch of OBC for the current cruise. There are also conveniences because you are sitting down in front of a person who has direct access to RC booking systems. They can handle things that normally would require a phone call and waiting on hold. For example, booking a cabin for more than four people cannot be done online and requires a phone call. NextCruise handled it easily. They can also handle things like booking adults in a balcony cabin and kids in an interior across the hall. You can't do that online. Another convenience is they will take all the names, ages, etc. of your current passengers and assign it all to the new booking unless you don't want them to. They will assign the booking to the same travel agent as your current cruise, unless you don't want them to. I always go in knowing what cruise I want to book and what the price should be, but they will help you explore options and compare prices. Sometimes NextCruise gets crowded and you have to make an appointment. I have seen the NextCruise agents bring a laptop computer to the suite lounge during happy hour to meet with people there by pre-arrangement. Avoid the crowds.

Book cruises out of Puerto Rico and visit a lot of islands not visited from Florida or Galveston. One nice thing about Coco Cay is you can have a very nice day there without spending any money. As a bonus, the drink package and diamond drinks are available.

Too old for the kids' clubs, too young for the bars. Drinking age on the ship is the same as the drinking age at the port from which the cruise departs.

There are two different balcony guarantee classes on Oasis. If you booked a neighborhood balcony guarantee you will get a neighborhood balcony. If you booked an oceanview balcony guarantee you will get an oceanview balcony.

The prices for add-ons at Coco Cay and Labadee have become ridiculous, but if people are paying those prices they will stay ridiculous.

The itineraries from Puerto Rico go to islands you just can't get to from the mainland on a 7 night cruise. The itineraries are port-intensive, the Jewel in winter 2024 has only one sea day, so the ship might be less important for daytime activities for kids since you'll be on excursions most days. This year Voyager of the Seas is sailing from Puerto Rico with six ports and no sea days at all. If you want to see Barbados, St Lucia, Dominica, St Kitts, Virgin Islands, St Maarten, etc. then sail from Puerto Rico. The ABC islands are also accessible on a 7-night cruise. The trip is more about the ports and less about the ship.

The Miami cruise on Harmony is less expensive and the port in MIami has easier/faster/less expensive access to/from the airport. If you haven't been on an Oasis-class ship either one would be great so I would go with Harmony. Especially if it's the same itinerary.

I'd be interested to know if that is a publicly available stairwell. If so, does it end before the MDR or descend into the MDR?