numtini

We flew into FLL last week. It was very easy and honestly a very pleasant airport to deal with, particularly compared to MCO. Uber from our FLL hotel to port was 32. I guess it was surge pricing, but it was 51 from port to airport. Trip was about a half an hour. Shuttle prices are around 15/person so if you are 2 or 3 people, an uber is generally cheaper. No wait at all for a car.

There are a couple of shuttle services or you can just get an uber. Next month, we're flying in the afternoon before, staying near FLL, then grabbing an uber to/from port.

It's one of the things that does tend to sell out online. There were no spots when we booked at the 75 day mark for a 7 day. However, all is not lost. Start haunting the DCL website about 4 weeks from sailing. People solidify plans and cancel. Also, don't be afraid to book for part of your party to get your foot in the door. About four weeks out, I was able to book for myself and my daughter. Then a week later, I was able to find a single slot for my partner.

If that doesn't work, see guest services when you get on board. 

Also, haunt the balcony above the atrium and that's where the secret entrance to Character Land seems to be. We had some incredible extended time alone with several characters, including my daughter doing the standard ballet poses with Goofy and a long one on one with Arial.

You can do two placeholders per cabin at $250 each. There are cards that you fill out and drop in a box, so it's really painless. If you are using a TA, you need to name them on the card. That gets you a small on board credit and 10% off the cruise price. You need to set sail within 2 years of getting the placeholder. Not book, but sail, and not the date of the cruise you buy it on, but the actual date you buy it on, so drop the card the last night.

Booking 38 days out, I think it's doubtful that you will get an early dining time. Keep in mind that the vast majority of DCL cruisers are familys and most prefer the earlier dining time. 

Eating with others is the standard with DCL. They seem to be pretty in-depth on matching, so it may not be as dire as you're thinking. Not only were we matched with another 3 person family with a 7yo girl, but they were also older parents like us. There were no problems, but I think all of us were introverts waiting for someone else to start the conversation. FWIW, we requested a private table three or four months from sailing and didn't get one. I've heard it's somewhat easier if you're a straight up 4 top or 6 top (we were 3) and if you have late dining. You won't know if you have a private or shared table until you get to it afaik.

You can always do a second request about this when you board, but if this is a "deal breaker" then I'm not sure what to tell you because booking this late, I think you're going to be at a late dining shared table at least until you get on board.

Ginger is the one that's 50/50. And on ginger ale, I can attest that it settles the stomach even when I know it's cheap ginger ale that probably has zero actual ginger in it. I suspect it's more drinking something cool and soothing. The sea bands are complete hokum, proven in several studies to have no effect.

The classic is slightly flat ginger ale, which has the ginger as well as a sugary liquid. Good to calm the stomach. My guess is that some kind of ginger candy would work better than a capsule of pure ginger. On ginger as a whole, there's been some studies and they've been inconclusive. Studies on snake oil and magic bracelets, on the other hand, have conclusively proven they have no effect.

I don't think they ever anticipated the number of long term regular cruisers they have, but it would be nice to have more diversity. It's not like the other ships have menus that are all that different either. 

Yes. There's some of the older movies in the theatre and there's ticketed meet and greets on other days, but that's it.

It's always the Fantasy, but you won't know what cruises are SWDAS and which aren't until later in the year--about 1 in 3 aren't.

Also, last year it was Jan-April, but 2019 looks like just Jan-March.

I really wish you could use the app for more before the cruise...

3 hours ago, Winston Wolf said:

Since when?  Is this new?  I've never been able to do that.  We sail again in January so this would be a welcome change!

Our cruise was in April on the Fantasy. You need to be fully signed in, which required the stateroom number and birthdate of the booking passenger. I can't remember how you get to it, but I do remember it not being immediately obvious. I found it a couple of days in. But it was also our first cruise and the first few days I was more in the "wow, this is amazing....what's going on?" mode.

You can pull it up anytime on the App as well, provided you're the one who did the booking, but like everything else on the app, it goes poof when the cruise is over.

My experience would be the opposite, they almost always have a microSD, but not a full SD.

I guess you could connect a USB SD Card reader and then copy to the microSD? It's probably not the most optimal device for backup due to the small primary SSD--you'd be constantly juggling SD/microSD cards.

I recently upgraded to a body with wifi (Fuji X-E1 to X-E2) and after spending a morning arguing with it without getting it to work, I realized I could have popped the card out for the rest of my life and spent less time than I'd already invested. I really wouldn't worry about it.

Given that this is for a safari (jealous BTW), you're going to want a lens that goes out to at least 300mm for wildlife and another that goes down to at least 18mm for landscape shots, so the Costco bundle above would get the job done nicely. If you go for something else, make sure there's a lens that range that doesn't cost an arm or leg--which it would for my Fuji. I'd consider grabbing another SD card and second battery--though the picture on the costco site seems to show two batteries. The other thing is to learn how to use it. I really liked the free reddit photo course as an introduction. 

We just cruised last week. We got the band when we did checkin along with our kttw cards (ie, no separate kids line), then while we were waiting for boarding, someone from the kids club was going around and "locking" them onto kids or you could do that when they were first dropped off at the club.

I have consistent problems with the Royal site using Chrome.