rstout

We have been in inside, ocean view, balcony and connecting cabins. When traveling with kids, you will be much happier with a balcony or connecting cabins. If they are young and you will be putting them to bed before you go to sleep, you will appreciate the privacy or extra place to go. If they are bigger, you'll want the extra space. When we shared an inside cabin with our kids on the Disney Dream to save money, I was happy to escape the cabin at the end of the week (and Disney has bigger cabins than RCCL).

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Yes, you have to pay extra for the aqua park with the slides and inflatable climbing areas.

I would definitely switch. We've had promenade cabins on other ships and a boardwalk balcony on the Allure. From what I've read, the CP balconies are quieter and can be a bit warmer (less air circulation), but I'd take a balcony over just a window any day, and the CP area is very nice.

We are on the Liberty in April and our 6 PM traditional dining time is still showing up in our reservation (for now.)

There are plenty of taxis available when you get off the ship, and at the beach to return. We went with our boys last year and had a lovely time. Coral World is small, but still nice to see. We had a great time at the beach afterwards. I'm glad we chose to do it on our own - it was less expensive and we were on our own timetable.

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Based on your cruise history, you've been on big ships before (e.g. Freedom), so you will recognize a lot of the traditional Royal Caribbean ship features. There are just some fun additional features, like Central Park. It's not that intimidating once you're on the ship, and you will have a great time. The biggest change for me was booking shows in advance. I would recommend doing this. You can always change your reservation from your room (on the TV - very easy) once on the ship, but it's good to at least have a reservation in place so you're guaranteed a ticket to the main shows you want to see.

We were in connecting Boardwalk Balconies on the Allure...it was fun with the kids to be able to see what was going on on the Boardwalk. You could see the ocean from our balcony, but I would have preferred an oceanview balcony for that. We also didn't have a great angle to watch the shows (we were in 10711/10713...further back is best). If you are the type to sit out on your balcony, relax with a book, stare out at the ocean and enjoy quiet, I would go for an oceanview balcony. The B1/B2 balconies are not quiet or private.

The pretzel dogs were my go-to snack when we were out by the pool deck. They were really good. It's also a convenient place to fill your cups if you have the soda package.

Thank you for the information! Our port is Ocho Rios, so we shouldn't have to worry about the long drive time that you have from Falmouth.

Does anyone have recent information on this? I was going to try to book this through a tour guide, combined with another excursion. But I am not interested in making this our only activity for the day, and I prefer not to go through the cruise line.

Just make sure you know where the AO staff are picking up the kids and the time if you do the My Family Time Dining. The dining room on the Allure is big (multiple floors), and they only pick up at one location. We found that we wound up just letting the kids enjoy the meal and took them to AO after dinner for those nights they wanted to go (also letting them change clothes, if they wanted to).

I have sailed on the Carnival Dream and the Destiny (before she became Sunshine), as well as the RCCL Freedom of the Seas and other RCCL ships. Personally I would go with Royal Caribbean. Carnival has great slides and bigger staterooms, but Royal wins with ship layout, shows, the flow rider, pool area, promenade, etc. Food is subjective.

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Hi Gambee...I am thoroughly enjoying your review, as always. I don't think MSC is for me, but I so enjoy reading your reviews that I eagerly check in multiple times a day to check the updates. I'm glad your mom is better. I agree that my favorite part is the final rating. It's always interesting to see where each cruise stacks up. And I have to say that I thought I'd never sail Carnival again but I think I would consider the Breeze after your review. Thanks for all the work you put into the reviews and I hope you get to sail with your extra family members some day again - you seemed to have a great time with them.

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I would stick with the Indy and balcony. Your flights are booked (would you have to pay to change flights?) We had to move one of our boardwalk balcony cabins on the Allure to an inside for half the cruise and we hated it...it felt very claustrophobic.

It's a boat ride directly there from the port. It was fairly long...maybe 40 minutes ( or maybe it just felt that long!). They have boats throughout the morning to take you back to the ship whenever you are ready. Blue Lagoon was fun - we bought wristbands for the aqua park. It was cold that day so we didn't stay as long as we might have otherwise. We opted to just return to the ship for lunch so I can't comment on that.

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We went on our own last year to save money over the ship's excursion. Our kids (9 and 8 at the time) enjoyed it. We also spent a bit of time at the adjacent beach afterwards, which is really beautiful.

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Quantum and Anthem were excluded from the BOGOHO sales.

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There are several highly recommended tour companies (know Jamaica, etc - check the ports of call boards) that will take you on combination tours with Dunns River, gardens, beaches and other places. I recommend this. We did one of these a few years ago and Dunns River was our least favorite part because the kids (and us) were being pushed by everyone behind us...it was way too crowded and I wouldn't do it again with kids that young (I think they were 3 and 4 at the time). However, everything else we did was great.

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If it were any other time I might say try it since your son is so set on going, but Diagon Alley will just have opened and crowds are expected to be really crazy. I personally wouldn't go near the place this July, especially with a time crunch. I would wait until you can plan a trip another time when you can really see the parks and spend more time, if that's a possibility. With a first time cruise, he will have a blast on the ship either way. Have a great time, whatever you decide!

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Not sure of the age of your kids but any kids about 8 or older will love the flow rider, and the Allure has two. There is so much to do that, although water slides would be nice, you really don't miss them too much.

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The kids immediately want to jump in the pool or go on the flow rider (we carry on bathing suits), but we make them grab some food first! On the Allure I also got a quick zip line in when we got on the ship. It was a great time to do it - no lines.

I really don't like inside cabins (they feel too claustrophobic to me) but do like deck 7 or 8 promenade cabins or perhaps an ocean view if the price is right and you don't want to upgrade to a balcony. Some really like the darkness and privacy of the insides though.

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Bermuda is amazing - you should absolutely choose this itinerary.

Hi Gambee,

You are doing a great job with your review, as always!

The last time we were in Mexico, we went to XCaret (a nature park there) and my then 8-year old son and I went swimming with nurse sharks. He LOVED it. They leave you alone and it was a really fun experience (XCaret is really fun, too.). He is begging us to go back to swim out in the ocean with whale sharks now. I highly recommend you try it - I've never regretted trying something out of my comfort zone that I've been afraid or nervous to do (for me, it's heights).

We had a similar experience as you in the MDR on our Carnival cruises - the service just wasn't that great. It seemed to get better as the cruises went on and they learned our preferences. But still, not great. We didn't really like the layout of the ships compared to RCCL either. But you actually have me considering a cruise on the Breeze in the future. It seems like a nice ship...a good upgrade from the Dream. I'll be interested to see how you rate the Breeze versus the Breakaway. :)

Thanks for all the work you do!

Spent a lot of time one hold but saved $675 on a Liberty 5 night for two connecting cabins. Thanks for the info to call! I wouldn't have thought it would have been applicable for existing reservations otherwise....

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I would strongly recommend doing the 7 night over a B2B 3/4 night. We did a 3/4 night B2B on the Dream a few years ago, only because the Fantasy wasn't out yet. You do lose a couple of hours on the turnaround day meeting to get off the ship, going through customs, and waiting to get back on the ship. Plus, the ship is just sitting in Port Canaveral that day instead of sailing the ocean or going to an island. It doesn't sit empty long before they start letting passengers on. You repeat shows, and the dynamics on the 3/4 night cruises are a bit more rushed. You personally don't have to rush around as much on the second leg, as you've seen and done a lot, but others on the ship are trying to get it all in. The 7 day sailings are overall more relaxing and they have some extra activities. Your only benefit (IMO) to the B2B is an extra day at CC (and a second cruise on your record), but you will see additional islands on the 7-day. Finally, the Fantasy has some additional features that the Dream doesn't.