silentbob007

Reservations Reservations for this cruise have been frustrating to say the least. Part of this is from booking late. Part is from improper assumptions about how things work post Covid. Part is sheer stupidity on the part of Royal Caribbean. We booked late enough that MTD was the only option. Since we were crossing with newbies and my wife prefers specialty dining (or really Coastal Kitchen) over the MDR, I did not immediately make MTD reservations. The shows had also not been released either (and weren’t until right after the start of March) so figuring out timing was hard. To add extra complications, we were also trying to plan some date nights with kids swaps. Long story shorter, the day shows opened up I reserved them trying to keep our family schedule in mind. What I didn’t count on was MTD not ooening until 6:30. This ended up making the shows near impossible with our son. He can’t go to a late show or late dinner and nothing before 8:30 dinner reservations remained. Even if we tried to do standby and were actually seated by 6:45, we would not make an 8:00 show and have at least decent seats. My bad … I didn’t realize how bad MTD had gotten until it was too late, remembering it used to open before early seating on some ships but definitely not an hour after. Another example of scheduling woes works be Mama Mia. On our sailing it is offered on days five and six with a matinee on day six … which would be great but it’s a port day. No shows on Day 7 at all, the last sea day. I’m sure there’s a reason for it, but it strikes me as silly on its face.

Arriving around 10:30 the traffic for us wasn’t too bad. We had to wait a few minutes for drop off spots to clear but that’s it.

The planning piece We’ve flown several times with my son. The first two times I felt more like a pack mule than a person as we tried to juggle the checked bags, the carry on bags, the stroller, the travel crib, and the car seat. Now that my son is two and a half, we ditched the crib and I was trying very hard not to take the unwieldy beast of a car seat. We also now have a Mountain Buggy stroller that folds to fit in the overhead. When my BIL decided to drive, I asked if he could bring an extra seat for the drive to the port. Since we are coming back on Easter, I just booked us on the cruise line bus to the airport (out of IAH instead of HOB on the way home). With the stroller, my wife’s large purse, my son’s small backpack, my backpack, a single roller board, and my CPAP, it was still a lot to handle (in addition to 2 large and one small checked bags). The Holliday Inn Express in Webster was a compromise with the other family members who had already booked it. Otherwise I probably would have stayed at the Doubletree near the airport with a shuttle and then gone back to the airport the next day to catch a shuttle bus to the port since we did not have a car seat.

Galveston Probably my least favorite port to cruise out of in Florida is Port Canaveral. Nothing against the facilities, but the logistics being a bit away from Orlando MCO is more annoying to me than ports like Miami or Fort Lauderdale with fairly easy transport to the ships. Generally with PC, I’m in the fly the day before, get a rental car, stay in Cocoa Beach, drop at the ship, return the car, then go back to the ship crowd. Well … that’s not how it seems to work with Galveston. There are rental car agencies in Galveston, but they all appear to be closed on Sunday (when Allure docks). There are lots of hotels, but many of them were already booked solid by the time we booked the cruise. Add in flying in the weekend of the Final Four in Houston and leaving on Easter … planning has not been fun or cheap. My before mentioned extended family members chose to drive. We, on the other hand, flew into Houston from O’Hare on Southwest with a stop but not plane change in Dallas. Very bad storms made us change our plans from staying in Chicago on Friday night and instead got up at 2 AM to make our flight and arrive at Houston at 3 PM one time zone away. It was a long day. My family chose a Holiday Inn Express about 15 minutes from Houston Hobby. We took a taxi to the hotel and crashed in our room. The next day our son rode in our family’s van (with car seat) to the port while my wife and I grabbed a Lyft. We arrived at the port at about 10:30 (we had the earliest arrival time booked at 11) and there were still quite a few people waiting for rides (evidently taxis and ride shares were in short supply). The bag drop and check in was painless. We had to wait maybe 20 minutes to board since we waited to board with our newbie cruisers rather than jumping up go to when they called D+. We were on by about 11:10 or so I think.

Hi all … it has been years since I’ve contributed much but thought I’d share on our first cruise since the pandemic and our first cruise with a child. The unexpected cruise I had been whispering the word “cruise” in my wife’s ear for a while, but even this time last year, she was still worried about pandemic cruising with our son. Over the Christmas holiday, we had some family members ask us about cruising for spring break. They wanted to look at a Disney and I laughed and said I’d get back to them but that they were going to be surprised about the price, especially for the first week of April and still spring break season. I did research and most cruises on all lines were nutso bonkers expensive with one reasonable option being Allure of the Seas out of Galveston. They were interested and then suddenly my wife was too … right now she is still saying she will only cruise with a Central Park (which are the only ships she’s been on anyway) but that’s a battle for another day. We booked in January (so fairly late) and then I needed to figure out what it meant for midwesterners to cruise out of Galveston. Note: I will be wrong this in fairly short segments since I’m on my phone and it is not as easy for me to manage longer writing.

Sales are not really sales. Higher occupancy cabins are sometimes at a premium for the first two passengers.

I’ve had GS a couple of times on deck 8 and love the proximity to Park Cafe for quick drinks and food, especially in the morning.

I do miss Chicago on Allure. I suppose it’s a less “fun” option but was a great show. I have seen Mana Mia a couple of times (Quantum and Allure) but the rest like Cats were once-was-enough shows for me. I definitely sympathize with trying to find a show with broad appeal and manageable cast.

Most of my Oasis class cruises in the past were in Boardwalk balconies as I’d rather have the cash than the views. There would be some noise leakage but generally nothing to complain too much about. My wife who is new to cruising refuses to even contemplate anything but an ocean view balcony. Hey, we all have priorities. 😁

I tend to specialize in that timing. 😬

That’s a shame about JR. We are looking forward to breakfast there next week. Usually the food is hot since it is cooked to order right there.

For my upcoming cruise I booked a GTY rate for an ocean view balcony that I couldn’t see on Royal’s website which only had a balcony GTY that included neighborhoods (allure). I don’t know if the oceanview one world have been available if I had called instead of just using the website.

To clarify Sabor (Mexican on the boardwalk) and Samba (Brazilian steakhouse in the solarium). 😁

Ours for the start of April opened a couple of days into March.

Caesar’s will only match if you don’t already have an account with them. Tried to get them to match my MGM Gold in November and they refused while in Vegas and staying at a Caesar’s property.

Have done plenty of Carnival cruises though none recently. I won’t get into demographics. I like the food options available on Carnival. What bothered me the most was hearing some of the shop team talking to each other about different ships and lines they’ve worked on and how Carnival tended to not care if crew didn’t show up to mandatory safety meetings while RCI was very strict about it. Take the gossip as you will as I’m sure it is not necessarily accurate or representative

Same for Allure

I think a lot of people in this forum err on the side of caution. Do you need the letter? Probably not. Even if you need it, you may not be asked for it. BUT if you get someone shoreside who asks you to produce it, you are probably not getting on the ship. I just had an issue with my father in law and taking oxygen a plane. We did everything asked and the particular agent at the desk denied him boarding. Once that one person decided he was not boarding it wasn’t happening no matter who we complained to or showed what the website said.

I thought I had read at one point this could also happen in some people because desalinated water may contain more salt than you are used to.

When I was booking Allure last month, Royal’s website only showed a general balcony GTY however other travel websites showed XN and XB guarantees. When I called my agent, I was able to specifically book the XB. I had a cabin for 3 on hold because no GTY was offered. The day I went to confirm the reservation, an XB popped up as available for 3 at a significant savings.

Did not get an email but was able to put in some bids for my April 2 cruise. Had a hold on a specific cabin but was able to book a GTY when it came time to make payment for substantial savings (and got a decent room assignment). Any bid I make is playing with house money on the off chance one gets accepted.

Starbucks (actual branded stand, not other venues serving Starbucks coffee) is excluded from everything … drink package, vouchers, etc.

I think you have to knock on the door for entry since your card won’t open it.

They certainly save spots to be booked onboard.

Is a direct transfer to IAH bootable on board? The only thing I see in the planner now is a trip that includes a stop at NASA but it doesn't mention compatible departure times.