foxgoodrich

Oh. Dear. I'm from Oklahoma and would not use that cutting board as it's kind of weirdly shaped for its purpose! When I participate in a gift exchange, I usually bring a bottle of wine from an Oklahoma winery!

I wonder if someone is confusing two different events??? Sometimes a roll call group will organize a Gift Exchange in conjunction with the Meet & Mingle. People who want to participate bring a gift that represents their state or city. There's usually a price limit and some kind of agreed upon process (like Dirty Santa) for drawing names or numbers to exchange the gifts. And sometimes people will voluntarily bring something to be donated as a door prize at the Meet & Mingle. Usually there's a Royal Caribbean rep there with some RC swag for door prizes, and whatever people bring gets added to that and given away by drawing ticket stubs. Cabin Crawls are different. It's like going to a bunch of real estate open houses during a designated time period. People volunteer to "open" their cabins for viewing, and those who want to see different types of cabins walk around the ship to view them. We've participated in many Cabin Crawls, both as a host and as participants, but none of them have really involved gifts. I've seen a candy bowl in a cabin before. Also a cookie tray. On one Mardi Gras cruise years ago, a pair of ladies handed out mardi gras beads in their cabin, but that was more like a party favor. If you volunteer to "host" your cabin for the Cabin Crawl, you stay in it during the agreed time period, prop your door open, and let the participants come visit and see it. When you participate in a Cabin Crawl, you just meet up with the group that wants to view cabins at the designated time, you are given the list of cabin numbers, and you proceed to visit the cabins that people have volunteered to open for viewing.

It's been years...but we stayed at a Hampton Inn in Metairie. We left our car there for the duration of the cruise, and I don't think there was any charge. At that time, this hotel had regular shuttles back and forth to/from the French Quarter. So we had a great time for a couple of days before the cruise and didn't have to hassle with parking. The hotel also shuttled us to the port on embarkation day. Have some beignets and coffee at Cafe Du Monde in the Quarter. If you can get in, Acme Oyster Bar is a great place for a seafood dinner. The Audubon Aquarium is right down there by the river near the Cafe. We also like Tujagues - it's one of the oldest restaurants in NOLA, and has (in our opinion) the best seafood gumbo. There is an open air market and some shops along the river near Cafe Du Monde if you enjoy shopping. Jackson Square is surrounded by shops and there are lots of street performers, and if you're interested in a cemetery tour or voo doo tour, you'll find tickets for those things near the Square. . And I love the New Orleans Museum of Art, which is easy to get to by taking a streetcar or bus up Esplanade. Wow...now I really want to go to NOLA...I should never have written about that gumbo...

You can bring 2 bottles of wine per cabin aboard, and it's best if you put them in your carry-on. You can buy liquor at the onboard store, but you can't take it back to your cabin. It will be held and delivered back to you on the last night of your cruise. You'll have access to the Suite Lounge (but the Boardwalk cabin won't be able to come with you) for free drinks during happy hour and possibly all day. (I think Symphony may have drinks available all day in the Suite Lounge, but as I haven't sailed her, I don't know for sure.) There may be a way to purchase liquor and mixers for your cabin through Gifts and Gear. You may find it in your Cruise Planner, or you can call. Maybe somebody here who has done that can post a link!

We've had connecting cabins a few times over the years, mostly when we booked late or at the last minute. We deliberately booked connecting cabins once when we wanted them to accommodate other family members next door. But other than that we deliberately avoid connecting cabins! Yes there is noise. Once, someone in the cabin next door was terribly sea sick and we heard those sounds quite a lot. We also heard the toilet flush. Another time someone next door snored loudly. You can hear coughing and sneezing and sometimes the TV if they have the volume turned up. Any conversation near the connecting door will be audible. But to me, the noise was a secondary annoyance...what I disliked more was not having a real sofa. The door changes your cabin furnishings. You will either have a small sofa (mini-loveseat) or just a chair instead of a sofa. Your cruise is far enough ahead that you should be able to change rooms and get out of the connecting cabin. Keep watching and change whenever non connecting cabins are available. Good luck!

If you can get one of the corner aft cabins on Voyager class or Freedom class ships, there's plenty of room! The photo is from 7388 on Navigator, and the balcony is actually bigger than the cabin. These corner afts require 3 to book. If you are only 2, the trick is to book one with a "phantom" child as the 3rd passenger during a kids-sail-free promotion, then cancel the kid at the last minute. (You'll be reimbursed the taxes and fees, but you won't have paid any fare for the child.)

Our experience with booking for January is to do it by early to mid summer. (like now) Prices are usually pretty decent in the summer. Then continue to check the price up until final payment - we've gotten a few price drops on Jan cruises..

We think the early and late dining times vary by ship. When they first changed early dining to 5:30 on a cruise out of Galveston years ago, an officer told us they changed the early dining to 5:30 to make it less popular and the late dining to 8:00 to make it more popular due to a consistent imbalance of requested MDR regular dining times. More people wanted early than late, and they were trying to get some of them to switch with the new times. It seems to have worked. We noticed back then that ships leaving from Florida still had 6:00 and 8:30 dining times, so it may have been a regional thing. Then MTD was introduced, and it complicates the situation. In the old days half the ship ate early and half ate late, so dining room capacity wasn't an issue. If you wanted early and it was full when you booked, your only choice was late (or buffet.) Now they have to allocate capacity for early, late, and MTD, which seems to be harder to get right. We've sailed Norwegian with their "Anytime Dining" and we laughed at the name since our experience was that it was indeed "anytime" and not the time you presented yourself at a dining room for dinner. We were never seated right away. We were given a beeper thing, and it took anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to get a table. So we didn't think they got it right either. We tried MTD once on Royal and it seemed difficult to get the times we wanted, and sometimes we had to wait. So we've stuck with late dining because there is less hassle. 8:00 is definitely better than 8:30 though!

When you buy liquor from the store on the ship, they will hold it for you and deliver it to your cabin on the last night of the cruise. You can take it home, but you won't be able to drink it on your cruise.

Yes. You will be charged the additional amount above $13, plus the gratuity percentage on that amount. For example, if you order a drink that costs $15, you will be charged $2.36 ($2.00 for the overage and 36 cents for the 18% gratuity.)

I'm pretty sure Disney is the only cruise line licensed for fireworks at sea currently. We were told (aboard Disney Dream) that Disney ships are specifically built and equipped for the launching of fireworks at sea. (And it is a great display!) We've seen it aboard Disney, but also once on a RC cruise we were close enough to a Disney ship that we saw their fireworks display from our balcony.