hschlink

Hello all,

I would like to plan a cruise of Voyager of the Seas with myself, husband, and 4 teenagers. I would prefer connecting rooms so that the teens can have their own space. Additionally, I would love a balcony for at least the adults. Can someone explain the room categories (I find it overwhelming!)?  How can I be certain that a cabin can accommodate 4 teens?  I would prefer 4 beds in the cabin so none of them are sharing. 

Thanks in advance! 

Our friends that are cruising with us for the first time are newlyweds and I’d like to order them some room décor as a surprise…How do I do that?

My husband and I are scheduled to leave on a closed loop cruise out of Tampa going to Key West and Cozumel in a few weeks.  We both have passports that have expired.  We also have our birth certificates and the enhanced driver’s licenses.

I don’t think I have any time to renew our passports before we leave on March 4^th.  As long as I have a birth certificate and the drivers license I know I’ll be fine getting on the boat.  Will I also be fine when I leave/return to the boat in Key West and Cozumel?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Holly 

Hi All,

This will be my first cruise with Royal Caribbean...I just booked the March 4th 2019 cruise out of Tampa on the Brilliance of the Seas! I've experienced Carnival a few times and 1 Disney cruise many years ago.

My question is about RC website. I originally booked on their website a couple of weeks ago and every time I log in and go to my "Cruise Planner" to try to book anything (dining, beverage package, activities and such) I get a message that says "Sorry, we cannot reserve this now". Is there a certain time frame when I can start booking and planning?

Thanks in advance,

How much was the behind the fun tour??

 

 

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I believe it was $90-$95 per person.

Friday – Last day at sea

When we boarded the ship the first day we knew we had to sign up for the “Behind the Fun” tour or we’d miss out. So as soon as we walked onto the Magic we headed to the excursion desk and signed up! We had never done anything like this before and thought the kids would find it interesting. I had gone back and forth during the days leading up to the cruise. It’s a hefty price tag for a family of four! We ultimately decided to do it because we weren’t sure if we would have another opportunity in the future and this was more of a vacation for the kiddos…so here, take my money.

Carnival’s ‘Behind the Fun’ Tour

For those who want to get an insider’s look at the inner-workings of a Carnival ‘Fun Ship’, Carnival has created ‘Behind the Fun’,a guided tour that provides guests with a unique insight into the company’s shipboard operations.

‘Behind the Fun’ is offered fleet wide. The informative tour offers participants a behind-the-scenes look at a wide range of ship board venues that are normally off limits to guests. During the tour, key ship board personnel, including the captain, chief engineer, chef de cuisine and other department heads, share their vast knowledge in their particular area of expertise.

‘Behind the Fun’ begins with a stop backstage in the main show lounge where participants can see exactly what goes into creating Carnival’s award-winning revues. The tour then moves on to normally restricted areas such as the laundry room, crew galley and dining room, crew gym and crew training center.

Next it’s on to the expansive main galley where talented culinary artists prepare upwards of 12,000 meals and snacks a day for Carnival’s guests. The tour also includes a visit to the ship’s bridge and engine control room and informative Q&A sessions with the captain and chief engineer, respectively.

In addition to a comprehensive overview of Carnival’s shipboard operations, ‘Behind the Fun’participants receive a number of commemorative gifts, including a custom-made‘Behind the Fun’ baseball cap and lanyard and even complimentary photos with the captain on the bridge.

We met everyone in the steakhouse at 8:30am. They had beverages and assorted breakfast pastries for everyone.

Audi was our tour guide and he happened to be on his last week of his contract before going home to India. He was extremely nice and informative. My kids would ask me to repeat what he said every once in a while because they sometimes had a hard time understanding him with his accent. Also, they had difficulties with other staff members as well but I think they got the gist of everything.

I don’t want too much detail here because surprises are nice. After it was all said and done we got to see the kitchen, engine control room, entertainment staff’s dressing room, crew dining room and training center, laundry room, and the bridge. They do not allow you to see the crew cabins. Of course the bridge was the best part. The captain actually let my daughter push the button that blows the ships horn.

You get a treat from the chef when you return to your room and a picture of yourself with the captain to keep later that same night.

After our tour we headed to Guys Burgers (the French fries are amazing) and the Tandoor for lunch. Tandoor is an Indian food buffet tucked away at the back of the ship. This buffet was rarely busy and had some of my favorite food on the ship. Tip: Make sure to stop at the Tandoor for lunch at least once while on the Magic, you won’t regret it.

Dad took the kids to a magic show while I took a nap and then we had more WaterWorks/Pool time before dinner. We weren’t able to sit in Joel’s section tonight because we didn’t want to wait. Dinner took forever and we missed Joel the whole time.

After dinner we rushed to the America Rocks production…it was really good, I’d recommend it! Afterwards we stopped at the Redfrog Pub. The Redfrog Pub had some of my favorite drinks from the cruise:

The Ting-A-Ling (I also really liked Red's Painkiller!)

Then it was time to go back to the room and pack :loudcry:

Thursday – Continued

We headed to dinner after we were back on board and askedfor the same wait staff…they were just as good as the previous night.

Thursday – Grand Turk

We received an announcement early this morning from the captain that there was a boat in distress and that maritime law requires that the closest ship come to its aid. He explained that this would delay our arrival time to Grand Turk. I got up, headed to see my favorite person and relaxed a bit on the balcony. This was probably the port I was most excited to see. After breakfast we heard from the cruise director…we were back on track to Grand Turk and would only be about 45 minutes late. They decided to extend our time atport to make up for it. By the time we arrived there was already a Carnival ship docked and the place was crazy busy. I really don’t know how they were going to fit everyone on the same island!

We scheduled another Carnival excursion for today:

Rays, Conch & Reef Snorkel

This tour takes you on a guided snorkel tour of the beautiful Caribbean reef experiencing first-hand the beauty of Grand Turk’s underwater world. With a myriad of colors on display, you will see an abundanceof tropical fish and vibrant coral as you snorkel the clear, turquoise waters. Your experienced tour guide will introduce you to some of the exciting marine life around Grand Turk such as sharks, rays and turtles. With the help of your tour guide snorkel for Conch Shells that will after be prepared into a fresh Conch Salad. Before boarding your boat to enjoy this local delicacy you will have time at Gibbs Cay to swim and play with the friendly rays.

When we arrived we had about an hour or so to do some shopping before meeting for our excursion. After everyone was accounted for they marched us down the beach to awaiting catamaran type boat and off we went. Our first stop was intended to look for conch shells which, IMHO, was acomplete waste of time. There really was nothing to see or do. After about 15 minutes of floating looking at sand they gathered us back on the boat and went to a coral reef. This was 100% better and I wish we would have had more time here. After only about 20 more minutes of snorkeling it was time to get back on the boat and we headed to Gibbs Cay.

It was obvious that the sting rays were used to people and they were all over the place. Our guidewas able to hold one so everyone could get a look and he asked for all the children first…which I appreciated!

While everyone was checking out the sting rays the other guides were busy on the shore preparing our Conch salad and explaining to everyone how it’s made.

Back on the boat! On our way back to the ship everyone helped themselves to rum punch, water, and Conch salad. After it was all said and done I would have preferred more snorkeling…especially for the high pricetag. I am thankful that I wasn’t one of the folks from our boat that had to try and find an empty beach chair…because…goodluck!

Beach was packed!

The boat:

Wednesday – San Juan (continued)

After lunch we discovered that the WaterWorks works! So the kids spent lots of time playing there before we got ready for another elegant night. I’m thankful that Carnival wasable to make the repairs in time for my kids to use all that Waterworks has to offer. It was one of the reasons I decided on the Magic after all!

We made sure to go to dinner earlier (5:45pm) than the last elegant night to hopefully miss out on the 45-minute wait like the last time! We were able to make it right in with no wait at all. It was tonight that we met our favorite wait staff. They did a FANTASTIC job. Here they are…

Food for tonight:

After dinner we caught the Dine-In Movie: Hidden Figures. It was a great movie! Tip: When you are ready for the movie don’t forget to grab yourself a blanket. They hand them out by the towel hut.

Reading your review and it is like a preview of our cruise on the Magic In June. Amber cove my hubby and twin boys are doing the Terracross excursion, in St. Thomas we are all going on the Trunk Bay excursion and in San Juan we plan to the forts and Old San Juan shopping. Sounds like lots of fun.

That's awesome! They will LOVE the Terracross excursion!

Thanks for the fun times. I see that when you were in St. Thomas the casino was open on the ship. Was that true or did you notice?:cool:

Never went to the casino and didn't keep track, sorry :D

Following for our August cruise. How did you get up to the forts in San Juan?

 

 

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It was a short (but uphill) walk from the pier. I had a map with me...if you Google you'll be able to find one easily. We could have taken the trolley; however, it was a little crazy near the port (2 ships disembark at the same time) so we opted to walk instead :-)

Geez, I meant goodies, not hoodies! Ack! Did your kiddos do much at camp ocean? My daughter, 10, is looking forward to it! Hoping it will be lots of fun! Thank you so much for posting fun times and kids fun times....it is so helpful to this overplanner! ;)

They each got a Drawstring Backpacks with "Sharks" on it. They both did various things at the camp. They enjoyed it each time except the scavenger hunt activity. They both said it was "lame". :cool:

Awesome and very helpful review! We sail next month! Thanks a million for posting the FT's!

 

 

On the HUB app, were you able to view the dining room menus thorough the app?

I couldn't find the dining room menus on the HUB app anywhere. They do post the night's menu outside of the dinning room but I'm not sure what time they display them. I noticed them when we walked into the dining room.

Wednesday – San Juan

We were supposed to dock at 8am but it was delayed. I’m not really sure why…because we had a balcony we watched them do a security check up and down the pier with a K9 before we were cleared to dock. We had no excursions planned for today. Our only plans were to visit one or both of the forts and do some shopping.

Once we were given approval to depart the boat (around 9am)we headed straight to Castillo de San Cristobal (closest one to the boat). After paying our entrance fee (which is good for both forts!) we explored on our own.

After exploring for about an hour we went shopping in Old San Juan. We were at the end of our shopping and I happened to walk past Barrachina…the birth place of the Pina Colada. I’ve heard and read about Barrachina before and I knew it was in Old San Juan but I had no idea I was this close! Do you think I could convince my kids to sit with me and have a snack so mom could have a Pina Colada? NO, they were too hot and crabby! Little do they know they just earned a ticket to visit grandma and grandpa the next time I go on a cruise. I left Barrachina with nothing except this photo…sad.

After that we had enough of the heat and shopping so we headed to the boat for lunch and pool time.

My wife and I loved the Magic when she was in Galveston!!! Nice review so far.

 

EDIT: Love hearing about twin parents cruising, we have identical twin boys, when we cruise in 2019, they will be 3 1/2

Glad you are enjoying it! We went on a Disney cruise then they were that age. It was the best vacation we've ever been on. I would continue to do Disney; however, they can't beat the affordability of Carnival! :cool:

Tuesday – St. Thomas (continued)

Once we were back on board the ship we took our time getting ready for dinner. If you think St.Thomas is pretty, just wait until you see it when the sun starts to set!

Dinner tonight:

Tuesday – St. Thomas

Were weren’t due in port until 11:30am so after my coffee date we took our time getting up and going to breakfast. Both my husband and I have been to St. Thomas before and loved it so I was excited that were going back. There were 2 ships in port today so it was crazy busy! To try something new this time we decided on an excursion to St. John to do some first time snorkeling for the kids. Below is the info on our excursion:

St. John Trunk Bay Beach Getaway & Snorkel

Escape to the most pristine of the U.S. Virgin Islands -beautiful St. John.

At the dock board a ferry for a scenic cruise through Pillsbury Sound to the island of St. John. Upon arrival, you'll board an open-air safari taxi for a relaxing ride to Trunk Bay, considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Along the way, you'll have the opportunity to view and photograph spectacular sights alongside the Caribbean Sea.

Stops include the Cruz Bay overlook, Caneel Bay and Hawksnest Bay. Enjoy approximately one-and-a-half hours at beautiful Trunk Bay to swim, snorkel, sunbathe, or just relax under swaying palm trees. Afterward,you'll re-board your transport and take a short trip back to Cruz Bay for the scenic return ferry cruise to St. Thomas.

We had just a little time to do some shopping off the pier before meeting for our excursion. They loaded us up on a big ferry and we were off to St. John. Once re arrived we boarded a bus to Trunk Bay. They stopped along the way so we could get some photos.

The beach was beautiful…and very crowded. After getting our snorkel gear we had a couple of test runs with the kids before swimming out to the snorkel section(which is nicely identified with colored buoys). The water was very calm and it was easy to just float with minimal effort. There wasn’t a whole lot to see and for someone that has done numerous snorkeling excursions it was kinda boring BUT the kids thought it was cool!

After about 1.5 hrs it was time to head back. I wish we had more time here.

Sunday - First Sea Day

I just realized that I didn’t post anything about Sunday,our first day at sea. I guess I’m still getting use to post vacation brain. It was this morning that I meet my favorite Carnival employee: the woman at the coffee bar. I interacted with her more than any other employee on the ship. She started my day off right and makes an excellent latte! Tip: If you plan to drink a coffee every day,make sure to get the punch card. After 6 coffees or smoothies you get your 7th one free!

Every morning I be like:

After getting everyone else up and ready to go he had breakfast at the Lido buffet. They had all the usually breakfast items every day and you could go to the “make-your-own-omelet”station and wait in line for a made to order omelet. OR you could stop what you are doing head directly to the Blue Iguana Cantina and get yourself a huevos rancheros. I didn’t have one until the 2nd to last morning…and it ended up being one of my favorite things I had on the boat. If I would have known then were so awesome I’d would have gotten one every morning! Learn from my mistakes people! I did try their breakfast burrito…it was just meh…doesn’t even come close to the huevos rancheros! Tip: Skip the breakfast buffet and head straight to the Blue Iguana Canitna for their huevos rancheros!

After breakfast he headed to the ropes course. Both of my children have participated in ropes courses so the concept was nothing new to them; however, if you add all that extra wind it’s a different story. My son “breezed” right through the course. My daughter, who has a slight fear of heights, would grab onto the pole for dear life after each obstacle. She still said she had a good time.

Before we boarded the ship I had everyone download the Carnival HUB app on their phones and ipods (my kids don’t have phones…yet). This app was extremely helpful when I wanted to see what was going on that day AND to find my way around this ship. We also used the chat feature ($5 for each device) which was nice…when it was working. Several times during the vacation the chats wouldn’t come through and we would have to close the app down, restart it, and then it would work again….it got annoying…fast.

The other interesting fact about the HUB app is that it doesn’t have the Camp Ocean activities on it…at least not where I could find them. So if I wanted to see what the schedule was I’d have to go find my schedule I received the first day…which was usually inconveniently in the cabin and I was on the other side of the ship. Finally I just took a photo of it with my Iphone and then I could look on my phone whenever I wanted the schedule.Tip: If you think you might be looking at the Camp Ocean schedule often, take a picture with your phone so you’ll always have it with you.

I’m sure the rest of the day was filled with more pool time,pizza (or waiting in line for pizza), and Camp Ocean.

Tonight was cruise elegant so we dressed ourselves up and headed to the dining room. Tonight it was so crazy that we ended up waiting 45 minutes to even get into the dining room. It was crazy busy!

After dinner we were able to catch just the very last part of the Flick production. It was very good and I wish we would have been able to see the whole thing. If you get a chance, I recommend it!

Monday – Amber Cove

After breakfast we headed to the dining room where we were supposed to meet for our excursion for the day.

The Outback Terracross Adventure was the first excursion we booked because I thought my kids would LOVE it and I wanted something other than a beach excursion so we wouldn’t get “beached” out. Below is the description for the excursion:

Take a thrilling countryside adventure on these 'go anywhere' Terracross buggies. You will explore countryside trails well off the beaten track. Hear snippets of cool information about the Dominican Republic and stop for a breather where you'll drink fresh coconut water pretty much straight from the tree.

Bring your swimwear and cool off "Dominican style"in a natural swimming pool. Note: Bring water shoes or sports shoes and sunglasses or goggles and a bandanna to cover your face. Bring sunscreen,insect repellent, cash for snacks, drinks and souvenirs.

Our excursion was called almost immediately so we were off the ship in no time and met Juan just off the pier where the shops were. Once everyone was accounted for they loaded us on the bus and away we went.

When we arrived we had just enough time to go to the bathroom and apply sunscreen and bug spray. They showed us to the terracross vehicles where we secured our items in the back and away we went. Tip: You don’t get lockers for your things so the only space to keep them is in the back of your terracross vehicle. You get muddy, and so do your things….plan accordingly.

It had rained a lot the night before so to say this was muddy would be an understatement…it was a hell of a mess. But it was crazy fun. I noticed that we stopped a lot along the way…I assumed that it was so others behind us could catch up. I later found out that some of the vehicles were prone to stalling. One of them was my husband/son’s. They didn’t even make it out of the Outback Adventure parking lot and needed to get a different vehicle. Several others had problems…if I were them I’d be annoyed.

We stopped about half way through at a beach. The beach was nothing special and we were only there for about 10-15 minutes before we were on our way back.

When we returned they had a big hose you could clean yourself off with if you’d like. We then sat down for lunch. I’m not going to lie…I didn’t enjoy lunch…not because it wasn’t good. It was because I was covered in Dominican mud. Oh well….

During lunch Juan gave everyone some samples of the pineapple wine and rum that are produced on the island…both were delicious. After lunch we had just a little bit of time to look at their gift shop before we were on our way back.

I was a little annoyed that I was gross and muddy but then Juan started handing out rum punch and I didn’t give a $% any more!

Back to the boat to take showers, more pool time, and dinner.

Anyone want the Fun Times? Part 2

WednesdayFT OP.pdf

ThursdayFT OP.pdf

FridayFT OP.pdf

Anyone want the Fun Times? Part 1

SaturdayFT OP.pdf

SundayFT OP.pdf

MondayFT OP.pdf

TuesdayFT OP.pdf

Anyone want the schedule for Camp Ocean Sharks (Ages 9-11)? I'll attach it below :cool:

Camp Ocean Sharks Op.pdf

CampOceanWristbands op.pdf

This is a great tip!! Where was the iron room located??

 

Thank you for this review! Its off to a great start and I look forward to the rest!!

The iron room closest to my cabin was on the 1st deck across from 1423. There are also rooms located on deck 6 across from 6360 and on deck 8 across from 8395. You don't have to iron it yourself. Carnival is happy to do it for you...at a price :cool:

I apologize for some of the pictures being the wrong orientation. Photobucket is driving me nutz!

Cabin #2306 – Cove Balcony

We decided on this room because we thought it was a good first balcony option. There are certainly pros and cons. I loved that we were very close to the water; however, being that far down also has it’s disadvantages. During our first day on the boat we had to use the stairs several times because the elevators were being used to haul luggage. The first time I had to climb 9 flights of stairs to get to the pool was funny by the 3rd time I was annoyed.

I’m not positive what the noise was; however, I would guess that it was the waves crashing against the side of the boat. While I tried to sleep I would hear a LOUD BOOM and then vibration from below. It was enough to keep me from falling asleep several of the nights. Once I finally did fall asleep it never woke me up. I enjoyed the rocking of the ship at night…I find it relaxing…and then…BOOM. Oh well…vacations aren’t for sleeping, right?? Zzzzz zzzzzzz ;p

Our Room:

The view:

My favorite:

Inside: