Alaska06

Congrats on Diamond.
We were in a similar situation. We have a 7 day cruise coming in February. We are one day from Emerald (I know, not much of an upgrade). We booked a three day to Bahamas for $500 out of Port Canaveral to get the extra day - and three days closer to Diamond. This was an inside GTY, our first time in an inside cabin.
We are seven easy hours from Port Canaveral. This will be a nice weekend trip for less money than it would cost to do a weekend in Savannah or Charleston. If you are only a day or so away, you can do a search sorted by price and look for an inexpensive cruise to get the nights. If you are very flexible with days and ports, I think I saw five nights for ~$500 per couple out of Miami or Ft Lauderdale if you can cruise during the week. 

Are the water slides open at CocoCay?
If not, projections on opening?

We were able to purchase the excursion for the all day pass for $29 per person for our first week of May sailing, but we are not sure if we it will be cancelled.

Answering because no one else with more knowledge has.
FWIU, there is a tram and they will drop you whereever you would like. I also understand that one needs to know where he or she is going and they won't just take people around on a tour.

Old guy lament:
I miss the days when this was the "go to" place for info on cruising. Forums are so much easier than looking for an answer on the other social media venues. 

There is a site that watches cruise prices and will email you of price drops - CruiseWatch, I believe.

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We toured with Joyce several years ago. It was great.

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I wear a tux. It makes me feel like James Bond and I'm out with one of the Bond girls.

We cruise for several reasons:

It's a great value.

Fewer decisions

Less work

I can put my phone in the safe and have a great reason why I didn't answer calls on vacation.

No Facebook or Twitter - see above - After our last cruise, I don't even go on those platforms anymore. Cruise Critic and other forums is what I am back to - what we used before Facebook.

Great service (For those who complain about the service, "Where is it better? I have had much worse service in hotels and restaurants.)

Great food - see above - and I live just outside Charleston, SC, one of the high end restaurant areas of the country that is consistently rated #! in the world for tourism. If people think the food is that much better in high end restaurants than on the ship, more power to them. I don't. I have had excellent and poor meals in both. We eat most dinners in the MDR and love it.

Unpacking once for several locations

It's simple and easy.

Pay one price

We learn something on every cruise about how to make it even better.

Is the Solarium ages 16+ on the Allure?

Hoping so. We used it all of the time on the Oasis and it was a nice quiet place to enjoy breakfast or just a chair in the sun.

We were on the Oasis in early March on itinerary #1. Jamaica is great, if you get a tour. We went with Marvyn's Paradise Tours to Dunn's River Falls and Blue Hole. I would recommend it.

Cozumel is fun too. We took a taxi to a park/beach and did some snorkeling in the rain. They have a sea lion show and dolphin show as well: all included in the admission ($21). It was our third time to Cozumel and it is one of my favorite ports.

We are going on the Allure in December.

I have a question about the dress attire for formal nights. Do people bring suits (for men) or would my husband be ok in pants, a dress shirt and tie? We are taking an Alaskan cruise.

I bring a tux but we drive to the terminal. I rented one when we went on an Alaska cruise, but that was in 2006. The Alaska cruise was much dressier overall than Caribbean cruises we have been on.

He will be fine in a shirt and tie, a tie isn't even mandatory. Is he totally against a sport coat? I was very cold on our Alaska trip.

What percentage of the crew is prone to seasickness?

What measures do they take to prevent it?

I ask because I am fairly prone to motion sickness and take a Bonine before bed every night on a cruise. I wonder if there are other measures to take.

I would take the onbard credit. We have never spent more than $10 on beverages on a ship; except our first cruise when we bought the soda package and realized that we could have done without it.

Actually, don't use this card anymore but I have points on it. I use an Mlife card for free play at casinos!

Be sure to watch those points. They fall off after a while. I used the card and thought I was building up points for five years. It turns out, I was losing points faster than I was earning them. I quit using the card.

There are some great tips on this board.

There were several mentions of clocks and alarm clocks early on. While this might be necessary for some folks, on many ships the phone has a clock and there is wake up service. We also use room service as a wake up call. We order coffee and tea every morning and they call before they come. There is no charge (except what you choose to tip) for this service on RCI. Many watches have alarms too.

I use synthetic boxer briefs on cruises. They rinse out easy in the shower, dry overnight, and are lighter than cotton boxers. I can pack fewer and rinse textra plugs. hem or back enough for the cruise and they don't take up any room.

I don't know why people need extra plugs either (CPAP machines notwithstanding). There were three plugs in our room and the only thing that needed charging was the camera battery. We did charge our phones the night before we left, but even that only took two outlets. My wife uses a flat iron for her hair; so that too.

We used to bring the shoe bag, but most rooms have enough storage now and if we only need something once or twice, we put it in the suitcase under the bed.

We packed one carry on (mine), one garment bag for tux and dresses, and one larger suitcase (wife's) last trip; and we drove in. I am working on getting us down to two carry ons. We'll see how that works out.

Where is the spa shower on the Oasis?

My wife and I both worked out in the gym and neither of us could find it.

Check your Credit Card benefits. Some offer coverage for trip cancellation.

https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/Products/Costco-Trip-Cancellation-Interruption-Protection

Mine only covers medical reasons, but others may have other stipulations.

Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection appliesfor reasons listed below. It doesn’t provide coverageif the Covered Traveler simply choose to change plans,have a work conflict, not feeling well but still able totravel, preferred lodging isn’t available or the CoveredTraveler can reach their destination but decide notto travel. Any event/incident that occurred prior tothe Trip being booked are not covered. Please see“What’s Not Covered” for additional restrictions.

Which cruise line will allow you to bring soda on board? I've only been a royal cruiser only.

RCC will allow cases of soda and water (as well as other non perishable food/drinks) to be carried on as well as two 750 ml bottles of wine per stateroom.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/food-drink-onboard-policy

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-alcohol-guest-policy

One thing that I do is travel/board in a sport coat, my heaviest trousers, and bulkiest shoes. Then they don't take up room in luggage and my sport coat isn't wrinkled. We still use a garment bag because we like to derss for formal night. We are able to get by with a carry on, larger bag, and garment bag with tux and a dress or two. When we get tired of formal night, we'll be down to two bags.

I also use Adidas Climalite for underwear on trips. I wash it in the shower and it dries dries overnight. I can get by with four pair for a week and only wash it out a time or two.

We drive, so luggage really isn't an issue except for when we self-assist on disembarkation.

We used to bring a power strip and a hang up shoe bag (not on the list). We didn't bring either on our last couple of trips and didn't miss them. We really don't have anything to plug in except the camera batteries. There is plenty of room on most of the newer ships that the shoe bag wasn't necessary either.

One thing we forgot and really missed was a highlighter for the Cruise Compass. We won't forget that again.

I use the shampoo in the shower to rinse out my Climalite Boxer Briefs and some polyester t-shirts and I only need to back four of each instead of eight. Wicking type workout clothing washes easy in the shower and dries overnight. Running socks do the same.

Brother and SIL had same issue at MCO post cruise last weekend. Flying SW from MCO and couldn't check in until 4 hours prior. They had a 6:00 flight and arrived at MCO at noontime; two hours sitting w/ luggage.

We are going to visit for a day in June. Since there is a number of us, we have booked a private tour I contacted 3 companies and decided to use Joyce Prince Tours. We are building our own tour. We have 5 children and the rest adults. Looking fun ideas for the day. Thanks

We used Joyce in 2011. She was a great guide. We are going back this year and may use her again.

I am leaning more towards driving and staying an hour or two North of Maimi and doing the Port Parking. I think it gives me more options with fewer hassles.

Considering this same dilemma out of Charleston, SC for December. Leading toward the drive. Flights are expensive out of CHS and we just did the drive to Port Canaveral. I enjoy the drive, but need to work on Monday too.

We have heard too many stories of cancelled flights lately. I really don't want too deal with that, especially if it's a connection.

We also considered the car rental thing. It looks like around $200 and needing to mess with shuttles and rental counters. Driving to Vero, West Palm, or Palm Beach Gardens and staying the night, then going to the terminal and paying the $22per night parking gets us out right away without dealing with a shuttle and a rental counter.

I stayed at the Radisson at the Port a couple of weeks ago. I was just under $300 for one night and parking/shuttle. I really didn't like it. I much prefer the Country Inn and Suites.