mixplix

Today is the day! Family of four, mid forties parents with 14 year old daughter and 12 year old son.

We flew down from JFK last night - no issues. $19 can ride from airport to embassy suites.

Check in was smooth - they even gave us the room I intended to book (double queen with sofa) but somehow screwed up for the same price.

Up at 630 - my wife and I are fanatical about our workouts but probably won't bother with one this am - but I will be the one on the deck at 530/6 every morning. If you are in the ship and see a shirtless bald guy running and doing burpees, feel free to join the fun.

Plans for today - fix the packing from plane mode to get as little in carry ins as possible - hit the store for wine for the rooms (4th floor connecting view rooms) and make our way to the ship @1230.

Please feel fee to ask questions and I will try to answer.

First time ever on a Radiance Class Ship.

Have to say very impressed. Ship is beautiful. Very well maintained. Lounges are very good.

Only criticisms pool decks are a bit small although not much we can do about that & the lifeboat drill at 8:00pm on first day is a nightmare.

Windjammer particularly is so much better than previous trips.

Dominica tomorrow....great days in the sun :D...it is very hot.

Let me know any questions and I am trying to do a very short daily update on my blog

hi - we board on Sunday - looking for information on fitness and spin classes - what types, what times, what prices? thanks!

we did this cruise on adventure in April 2015 and loved it. We are doing essentially the same cruise (3 out of 5 of the same ports as our first) this April on jewel.

we loved it.

mixplix

nice review - we take the same cruise 4/9. Couple questions for you.

1) Any talk on the ship of the new room service menu issue? It is supposed to go into effect on the jewel for our cruise.

2) did you do any fitness classes or spin? if so, thoughts? good, bad or indifferent

3) what late night (after WJ closed) food options were there, what were the hours, and how was the food.

thanks,

mixplix

Yes. I was persuaded to leave my jeans outside the MDR.

hopefully you put something else on instead....:hearteyes:

not a wine drinker - think a 750 ml hard cider would get through?

we went in May many years ago, the first cruise of the season. We were warned that it would be super cold - we were in shorts drinking tropical drinks on the deck. The good part was we got to do excursions (snowshoeing on a glacier) that you couldnt do later in the season. The bad part was many animals were still hibernating.

I have used the hairdryer provided in the stateroom, and have no complaints. I mean how long does it take to dry your hair? The button is not hard to hold down at all. Everything that I DON"T have to bring with me makes life easier for me. !!!:D

I ask the same question to my wife and daughter - the answer, apparently, is hours....

family of 4, kids are 14 and 12 - for every vacation for at least the past ten years, we have gotten them a separate room, because it is no vacation with all four of us in any little room. On the cruise coming up next month, we have connecting windowed staterooms, paying @ $2600 total (1300 per room) - we were supposed to go on a cruise over christmas, where we were going to have a balcony and they were going to be in the interior room across the hall - even at their age, I didnt love the fact that they would have a balcony unsupervised.

great report,thanks - we leave for the Jewel on April 9!

we leave 4/9/17 - looking forward to your posts!

i am signed up, thanks.

thanks Bob - only second RCL cruise, so no status. will definitely need at least once device access to keep in touch with work for wife and I, but figured we could log out/log in as need be. Plus, having one device, and not giving kids PW, keeps them under our total control to allow them to periodically log in and see what's happening in their world (insert diabolical laugh here)

Leaving on the Jewel on 4/9 out of SJU. Cruise planner has one device voom for 11.99 per day - claims to be 30% of price that will be available on ship? What is best price you've seen for voom, and is it generally cheaper to purchase in advance?

thanks

mixplix

we have a 12 and 14 year old. last cruise (the then 13 year old) said ok, what time should i be back? Her first time without a parental leash. We have her a time, and the first night she blew it, and my wife freaked. I then explained to her the importance of a curfew - from that point forward, she was back to the room on time if not early. It is a little disconcerting letting them roam free, but you hope that you have taught them enough common sense to not get into a difficult situation.

My twelve year old (11 at the time) wasnt so free, but after dinner he would head to the cafe, grab some dessert and go back to the room, by himself. On occassion when they werent fighting, they would got to the arcade together.

we are going this April - i am less concerned about the older one, who is often out with friends alone now, in town, the mall, etc. The younger one lives in the clouds, so i might need to track him a bit better.

mixplix

Hi:

We will be doing the same itinerary 4/9/17. Did you use any of the fitness facilities?

I am interested in the spin and other classes - if you took them, how were they, the costs, etc.

thanks

mixplix

Hi:

We are on the Jewel out of PR on April 9, 2017. I get tired/bored/dizzy of running on the track each morning. I was wondering:

1) Spin classes -

a) how often (daily, few times a week, etc)

b) what times

c) how much per calls

d) when sign up/do they fill up

e) clip system for shoes

f) can you use the bikes when no class is in session

2) other classes

- really same questions

3) is there any schedule of classes available for review in advance?

thanks!

mixplix

Great review so far! We are on the Jewel in April 2017 - did you do any fitness classes? If so, do you know the charges for same? Do they have spin bikes? If so, do they have clip system? Can you use the spin bikes when class is not in session?

Thanks!

my son broke his arm roller blading on the AOS in April 2015. Ship's doctor examined, xrayed and splinted, and sent us to ortho in St. Lucia. No bill from ship - large bill from ortho, which was reimbursed six months later by health insurance.

As to the billing for medical services, my 10 year old fell while rollerblading on AOS April 2015. We took him to the ship's doctor the next morning as we were pulling into St. Lucia. Doctor xrayed arm, found fracture, splinted it, burned the xray onto a cd and gave us the name of an orthopedist on the island.

No charge for any of the services on the boat. We paid out of pocket for ortho on the island, and were reimbursed by medical insurance in Dec 2015.

mixplix

spin questions

1) did the bikes have clips - if so, which kind

2) what time were the spin classes

3) did they cost extra

4) could you use the bikes when there was no class in session

thanks,

mixplix

even from NYC prices are way too high - i can get tickets for 388 rt nonstop, but that's for the 7 am return trip on 4/16, which wont work - need at least 12 pm flight and that bumps price up to 458 each.

going to wait for Jet Blue to open flights and hope for drop in price.

Question - the Grande was the more formal of the dining rooms, with its own dress code, correct?

Will it still be that way? We have a party of 13 on the Christmas Anthem sailing and feel that we should go for a late traditional dining time, instead of My Timing it and waiting for them to get our big party a table each night.

However, we have five kids (ages 11-16) with us and dont want to have to deal with dressing up.

thoughts?

thanks,

mixplix

for our last cruise, kids were 10 and 12, and were in connecting room. We are doing the same for our cruise April 2017. However, we are now going away December 2016, and they, 11 and 13, are booked in an inside room across from us. I wasnt comfortable with them having their own balcony - maybe that's crazy, since we let them wander the ship with friends, etc., but somehow I pictured them sitting on the balcony or otherwise screwing around out there, and that made me more nervous than not knowing where in the ship they were until curfew.

Can't say I did. That doesn't mean the don't exist though. We bring our own drinks on board though so I don't pay attention to that sort of thing.

The "drinks" being referred to were those that I would expect would be purchased with a drink card, and not juice or water - i.e. alcoholic beverages. However, I could be wrong.

If the OP could clarify, that would be groovy.

thanks

mixplix