lmp29

We are sailing on Royal Caribbean in September 2024 and would like to do a dolphin encounter while in Nassau.  I will be traveling with several of my grandchildren and am interested in knowing if any of the excursions, either through the ship or self-guided, would allow for my grandchildren, ages 8, 5, and almost-4 to participate.  

Based on the ship excursion details, I am left not being sure.  The most expensive of the encounters mentions "lunch not being provided for children 0-3", which leads me to believe that they can participate/go along, which leads me to wonder if other excursions would permit the younger ones even though it isn't stated.

thanks for any information you can provide.

Our family has created scavenger hunt lists for cruises also!

funny, I would have thought the computer programmer that entered the drink package price as $18 per day was surely fired over that blunder, but it looks as if he was reassigned to this type of data entry and entered 11:00 a.m. instead of 1:00 p.m..... 

We have been on the Anthem multiple times and though I do think we have boarded the ship earlier than some of the others, the rooms have not ever been ready before 1:00 p.m. in our experience.

I don't know that you have provided enough information for my response to be completely accurate, but there are several things that could be happening.  The most likely, however, is one that is very aggravating to many.  The cost of a room that has two occupants is different than the cost of a room that can permit 3-4+ occupants.  The advertised price is most likely the cheapest that two can sail on a particular date, but you needed accommodations for more than two, flipping you into a higher-priced category.  

Before you say it, I agree that it is extremely misleading, and frustrating.

I have no suggestions on how to sail cheaper with a family.  Right now they seem to be offering the kids sail free on a lot of dates and that is a really good deal.

Thank you for your replies!

June sailing with friends. 13 yo daughter of friend loves sushi so I would like to sign her up for the class at Izumi; I hate seafood so I don't want to participate, I just want to attend so that she isn't alone.  Anyone have any experience to know if this is possible?  thanks much.

I have to disagree with those saying it is a hard no, based on our experience.  We sailed on the Harmony in May with my granddaughter who was not yet three and asked about moving her up to the next level because she had been completely potty-trained for around six months and is in the "older kids" group at her daycare.  They were overwhelmed with the number of children sailing that were nursery-aged so they allowed her to move up.  Note:  child must be able to go to restroom alone, without assistance 

After multiple cruises on the Anthem that has a Bionic Bar, I would have agreed with everyone that says that is a gimmick and a waste of space, but then on the Harmony this year in May I was surprised to find the Bionic Bar filled practically every night!  It must depend on the cruisers, though I wondered if the location onto the main promenade also made a difference.

I have a set from a 5-day cruise to Bermuda on the Anthem for the week of September 6-12.  If you don't find more recent ones than mine, let me know and I will upload them for you.

If you prefer to go without straws, good for you; if you want to help save the environment, even better, for you and for all of us; but it's hard to "buy into" that mentality when, as mentioned by a couple people, everyone looks the other way with regard to the hundreds of plastic bottles and other single-use plastic or Styrofoam items.  I will continue to take my individually-wrapped, plastic straws with me on every cruise.  (And I have made several friends at the bars because i have shared with others!)

On the Anthem, the Music Hall also has pool tables on the upper floor, with television monitors to watch the fun happening in the stage area.

I recommend going to the designated location once you board to make your changes.  I have read multiple places that MTD is not "open" until a time like 6:00 or 6:30, but we were able to change our MTD reservations after we boarded to much earlier than the supposed opening time.  

I always take a "foldable" water lounger (spring float) on our vacations and we were told that it was NOT allowed in the pool on Coco Cay on May 27th.    

I sailed on the Harmony May 19th-26th with MTD dining each night. 

Originally our party of 13 had scheduled through website for 6:30 every evening at two different tables, but on the first afternoon we stopped by the dining room just to verify our reservations and check out our seating, and though i had the confirmation emails, they insisted that we were not in the system.  As they were assisting in providing us with reservations, they booked us at 5:15 every evening, and sat all 13 of our group at the same table (which is very unusual.  We typically sail with 12-25 people and tables usually max out at 10 seats.)    It was wonderful.  The 5:15 seating worked out well.  (A little early on the night we were in San Juan, but we knew we had the choice to go elsewhere if we chose to stay on the island.)  Side note, somewhere something in the system was messed up because my phone app showed two different dining reservations every night of the cruise.

Nod to our wonderful waiters - Francisco and Caio.  Worth requesting, they were FANTASTIC!

I know which beds you mean, but unfortunately do not remember the details on how to rent them.  I THINK that they have signs on them; I seem to remember reading them the first day.  Our friends that we traveled with on that cruise (September 2018) all talked about renting them if we had done well in the casino (we didn't).  

Not sure how soon you need to know the information, but we are going to be cruising on the Anthem again in September and I would be happy to find out for you and relay it back if you don't get any answers by then.

sail this weekend, and will let everyone know what happens with this....

thanks for the helpful responses!

thanks for all the information!  

thank you for your responses.  I will pass along the information to my son and daughter-in-law.  There are 12 adults and my granddaughter that is in the group that is traveling so I know that we will be fine "passing her around" for the most part, but between the fact that she likes to be social as she usually go to daycare (where she is placed in the older child group since she is potty-trained), and wanting perhaps one night for the whole group to go to the comedy show together, I was hoping that Aquanauts was an option.  If not, I'm sure we can explore the option of the nursery.

thanks again!

Will my 35 month old granddaughter be able to be in the Aquanauts room since she is completely potty-trained?  I have seen postings about children that are more than 3 that aren't potty-trained and know that they are not allowed, but my granddaughter will be one-month shy of her 3rd birthday when we cruise and she will have been completely toilet-trained for 8-9 months before our trip.  has anyone experienced this?  thanks for the help.

We are scheduled for an Eastern itinerary in May on HOT and am hoping to review the compasses; the most recent copies I am able to find are from August.  Anyone have any that can be uploaded?  Thanks in advance for any help!

My family also likes to do a scavenger hunt on an at-sea day.  Just fun.  Here's our list for our cruise scheduled for May (hope none of them are on this site.... LOL)  BTW, the bonus pointsfor the mojito means they bring me drinks as I bask in the sun waiting for them....

Cruise Scavenger Hunt

·          Retrieve an item dispensed at the Medical Center                                           

·        Picture of day of the week from the elevator

·        Drink “sword” or umbrella

·         Collect receipts from as many different bars as possible (1 point for each)

·        A piece of pepperoni

·        Who is the Godmother of the Harmony of the Seas? _________________

·        What is she famous for/Why was she name the Godmother? ____________

·        Casino chip

·        What is the gross tonnage of the Harmony of the Seas? _______________

·        A menu from a restaurant or bar

·        A spoon

·        A Crayon

·        Crew member business card

·        What flavor is the cupcake Special of the Day?  ________________

·        How much bigger is the Harmony than the Allure of the Seas?

·        Any item that includes the name of a port we will visit

·        How many cabins are on the Harmony of the Seas?

·        A spa brochure

·        Mini-golf pencil

·        Picture of a team member riding the carousel

·        A cup from the Bionic Bar

·        How deep is the Aqua Theatre pool? __________

·        A piece of grass or a leaf

·        Picture of the door of cabin 9274

·        Papers with information on future cruises

·        Mayonnaise packet

·        Number of treadmills in the gym: ___________

·        Name one draft beer offered in the Boot & Bonnet Pub: ________________

Bonus points (10 each):

·        Coconut Mojito

Scavenger hunt list.docx

I just did the "mock booking" to check prices for a September sailing on the Anthem next year and our cruise fare dropped $415, with no loss of OBC (I think that is because we booked on board this September, but if we had lost it, it would have been worth it).  That $415 is going to pay for my drink package and still give me casino money!  😉 

It's worth checking!

I can think of another reason to look at menus that hasn't been mentioned  - if the order is the same on multiple sailings, then you can reasonably assume that they will be the same on your upcoming sailing, and that would permit you to determine if you like one night's menu over another particular night when deciding on what night you are booking in a specialty restaurant.  Granted, that is some anal planning, and I am guilty of such things, but don't think anyone is wrong to go into a cruise with no advance knowledge either.

thanks for the information!  

thanks, HicksRA, I didn't expect same servers.  Tables were larger than 10?  I would LOVE to be able to all sit together, they don't give that as an option in traditional dining.