lmp29

Group Bookings

If you are a group of people booking several rooms, definitely look at doing a group booking. You qualify when you have 8 rooms, and then for every 16 people making a reservation, there is a conductor credit given to the group. It is some formula calculated on the average fare being paid by the members of your party. For us, we split up the conductor credit and gave it to everyone and it decreased the cruise price by around $40 per person. (Not a lot of money, granted, but I was happy to have it to put towards my booze package or a couple of pictures.)

There is also an additional on-board credit given to groups. The OBC is a flat amount given to each room. We were not able to receive the $25 for the Bring a Friend promotion for the three new cruisers sailing with us this time (they were all in separate rooms which meant we could have qualified on each of them!!); it didn’t, however, make us ineligible for the $100 OBC that we earned because we had booked a future cruise while on our last cruise so we did get that.

One additional note to mention regarding group bookings – we got an email in late April from Royal Caribbean about our group:

Good day,

We need to adequately prepare our ships for potential difficulties on groups that fall just outside our current SUM group process. In an effort to do this, we are reviewing all groups which consists of 40% or more guests that are between the ages of 21 and 24.

47% of guests on group 4305300 are between the ages of 21 and 24.

• Please contact the agency and make sure their guest are aware of Guest Conduct Policy.

• Please ensure there is an adult in every stateroom

• Please be sure a group leader is assigned.

• Please advise the travel partner to encourage their guests to utilize the Online Check-in and complete their Set Sail Pass.

• Email me back to advise this has been completed***

NOTE: If anyone has falsified their age for booking purposes, those guests will be denied boarding at the pier. Utilizing Online Check-in and completing their Set Sail Pass will give guests the pre-sailing opportunity to correct any stateroom assignment to ensure a guest in each room is really 21 or older. Please advise once you have spoken with the travel agency.

Little surprised that we would get that email. Our reservation for 19 people consisted of only six different last names, and one of the last names was in five of our eight rooms, so we were obviously a family traveling together. It’s quite possible, however, that our reservation was spit out by some program that didn’t look at anything besides the ages.

It appears that maybe Spring Break may be a little rough for them.

So the reservation was in order, and that meant moving to the preparations….. 

Groundwork

With so many family members having opinions and questions, we like to get together to talk about the cruise and organize our plans. We typically hold at least two cruise “meetings” where we have a big meal, hang-out, and go over any questions that anyone may have/review any information that we know the others may need. At that first meeting we discuss things we may like to do on the islands in order for me to do more research, find prices, and so forth. We also decide things like the color we all plan to wear to have a group family picture (once we all wore blues and greens, another year we all wore shades of purple). This time the decision was to wear red, white and blue in honor of sailing on the Independence. (We used that theme throughout.)

The second meeting for this trip was only seven weeks prior to the cruise (which is cutting it way too close, actually, if we wanted to book excursions), but we had trouble coordinating schedules for the meeting.

For all the family members I usually create a binder for each stateroom and also have handouts for the meeting. (My binder has a few more tabs than those I make for the rest of the family.)

Binder tabs:

• Itinerary

• Deck plans

• Beverage packages

• Drink menus

• A tab for each port of call

• Dining (room service menu, main dining menu, specialty restaurant menus)

• Spa (list of services with pricing)

• Laundry (pricing)

• Flights (with a pocket for tickets)

• Invoice

• Passports, etc (copies in binder, passport in pocket) My personal binder also includes copies of documents showing evidence of my relationship to my sons since we no longer have the same last name. (I used to take along the custody agreement and release given by their bio-father for them to cruise even though the custody agreement awarding them to me should have been sufficient.)

• Cruise contract (Set Sail paperwork)

• Hotel reservation documentation, etc.

• Car rental confirmation

The handouts are for any topic that still needs reviewed (and not yet in the binder). For example, at the time of this meeting we had no idea what we were doing while at St. Kitts. I had prepared information related to various excursions, landmarks, information on beaches, etc.

The meeting had this agenda:

Yes, we seriously do review all the items listed on the agenda and hammer out any missing details. Pretty chaotic at times with so many of us, but on one of the earlier cruises we went with the attitude to wing-it and then spent one of our port days sitting around for almost two hours in the morning after the ship had docked trying to firm up plans, and then an additional hour trying to get things to fall into place. Having at least an idea of what we are doing is far more efficient, and I honestly think that everyone feels better about having concrete (though flexible) plans. Or maybe it’s just OCD me that feels better….LOL

Our itinerary is a Sunday-to-Sunday, Eastern Caribbean cruise, consisting of the ports of San Juan, St. Maarten, and St. Kitts.

During the excitement of planning I decided to outline my review, which made me realize that with all of the material that I have to share, I could post all of the pre-cruise and planning phases before the cruise, and then follow-up after the cruise with what actually took place. This also would allow people to ask ahead of time about things I can find out while on board. (I can’t see myself giving up any of my sun-pool-island-event time to submit live commentary during my vacation, nor do I plan to get internet access since I don’t need it for work, but I am happy to try to find out things if I know to do it or take pictures of certain requested items/places….)

I am a periodic visitor to the Cruise Critic site to gather information, vicariously enjoy others’ cruises, and occasionally offer comments, but this is my first review. As indicated in the title, I intend to include far more information than anyone really needs, but there were so many times that minor details outside of stated facts in someone else’s story gave me insight or would spur me to look in a different direction for information, so, I hope that perhaps my giving “TMI” will be beneficial to others…

As I read posts throughout reviews (and subsequent questions), it seems to me that people are split into two categories – those that want to get to know the writer and live through the entire experience, and then those that want to simply gather facts and tips for their own vacation. (I, for one, felt like I knew Gambee throughout one of the reviews I read and loved that!)

In order to meet the needs of both groups, I am going to use headings to allow skipping past subjects that may not be of interest (like, perhaps, my life and all the details about it!). To also aid with that, I have created this document as a word document and will load it in large chunks. Also going to try to utilize an online file sharing with the documents.

Disclaimers

Another reviewer (forgive me for not remembering specific person) added a disclaimer to their review that I thought was great, so in typical fashion, here are mine:

• I typically read the reviews of those that have sailed on the same ships as my planned cruises, so I am sure that there are many other great reviewers out there, but I particularly want to thank Gambee, Kanscocoa, and Darthgrady for all their efforts and their fabulous reviews. And JimZim’s recent review was so comprehensive that I almost decided to skip this one, so any reader expecting anything of the quality of those mentioned, do us both a favor and stop reading now, as my review will NOT compare!

• I like to think that I am a live-and-let-live kind of person, but I am pretty sarcastic and opinionated, which is bound to come out even when I am trying to be neutral and objective – so I want to get it out there now that I apologize to anyone that may be inadvertently offended by my statements.

The family

I have one younger brother. Between the two of us we had six children in six years, then five years later he & his wife added another daughter, so our seven children are all very close. We all also live within fifteen miles of each other (with the exception of college addresses) so another definition of close is applicable. The two families make up our core group and we vacation together as much as possible, whether it is a cruise, a trip to Disney, or a summer beach house. Even as they are getting older, our children are bringing their significant others with us instead of choosing not to participate. (Something that makes me and my sister-in-law VERY happy!)

The parents – {me} Laura (48) & husband Shane (43); my brother Steve (45) & wife Jill (44).

Our kids – Jilissa (26), Andrew (25), Janelle (24), Anthony (23), Alec (22), Jake (21), and Jocelyn (15).

(The As are mine, the Js are my brother's.)

The rest of the “Cruise Crew”– Jilissa’s husband, Dan (27), Jilissa & Dan’s son, Wrett (9 months); Andrew’s wife, Gentri (26); Janelle’s boyfriend, Colin (22); Anthony’s girlfriend, Abby (21); Jake’s girlfriend, Kristen (22); and Alec’s girlfriend, Jessica (20).

With us for a second cruise - my father and stepmother, Steve Sr. and MaryAnne, along with my Dad’s cousin, Dave, and his wife, Jan.

From the time that my eldest niece had her son in August of 2014, she expressed concerns about taking a baby on the ship. There was a lot of trepidation and a bunch of research about whether it was safe and how others handled it; she made arrangements to leave him with her grandmother and her mother-in-law while we were to be gone because she felt it wasn’t best to take him. This isn’t to say that it isn’t a good for others to do, nor that we found anything that substantiated that it would make for a lesser experience; my niece and her husband ultimately just decided that it wasn’t what they felt right about doing. Then, right before final payment was due on the cruise, it was determined that she and her husband wouldn’t be joining us either. It was particularly disappointing, but one of those decisions to be respected even if the opinion is not shared.

Our cruising “history”

We go on a land-based vacation in even years, and we cruise in odd years. Some of us had taken cruises separately, with our first cruise together being with Disney in 2007. Though we originally intended to only do it once, we had such a wonderful trip that we made up our minds that it was something we really wanted to do continuously in the future. We took another cruise in 2009 and though it was also a great vacation, we realized that the kids were on the cusp of needing a little more in the way of activities (my only real criticism of Disney cruises is that they don’t do enough to provide activities for the 18-21 year olds. It’s a tough age group….). As we explored other options, we found ourselves loving what we saw and booked the Allure in May of 2011.

I imagine that in a few years (and a few more grandbabies), we may vacation with the Mouse at Sea again, but for now, Royal is the right fit and we have no real complaints (besides the rules enforced on the Flowrider).

Our planning which cruise to book

For whatever reason, we had made it a habit to start planning a future cruise while on a cruise. It’s that whole thing of everyone all together, sitting out in the sun by the pool, drinking foo-foo drinks, flipping through the Royal Caribbean cruise book, and thinking about what we want to do next.

We had several compelling issues that impacted the cruises we were reviewing for 2015:

• College schedules. (Meaning no cruises from late August-December break, or early January-May. “Spring break” is not an option for us because we have multiple colleges involved that don’t take their break at the same time.)

• Sports schedules. (That eliminates December break as an option because my nephew is a college wrestler and my husband is our high school varsity boys’ basketball coach.)

• My work schedule. (August is out because I work for a large University and August is devoted to preparing for the fall semester.)

• We have done both the standard Western and Eastern routes with each cruise line and really loved the idea of seeing some “new” islands.

• We only go for seven-day cruises for many reasons - overall costs; the fact that the kids are either in summer jobs or relatively new to their “adult” jobs; my brother owns a company with several subsidiaries that are rather demanding; and then, of much importance, I have two Golden Retrievers, King Midas and Sir Archimedes, (ages four and two) and I would not be able to bear being away from them much longer than a week.

• The desire to avoid sailing, if possible, in June or July because of weather and the increased rates. So when it comes down to it, we want to sail in a window of approximately three weeks in May.

• Flowrider. I personally had not ever heard of a flowrider prior to being on the Allure (in my sheltered little life in Central Pennsylvania), but once introduced, my sons and nephew were hooked. It was a definite must-have for our very active and athletic guys when considering on which ship to sail. (At least at the time, which was prior to the current nonsense that has been imposed.)

Based on the above, we were limited to the Freedom-class, the Oasis-class, and the not-even-built-or-named-then, Quantum-class. And itineraries weren’t out as far as we wanted to book so we were trying to project what we thought would happen based on the schedules that were current at the time. I was savvy enough to gather information from Cruise Critic, but in the beginning I was looking at the threads that were isolated to the Oasis-class ships as it was prior to combining those threads with all the others. (The way the Quantum threads are separate now.) Due to the separation of the posts (and the aforementioned habit of only really reading what I thought pertained to me), I missed so much information about the way Royal handles dry-docks, or moves ships to other parts of the globe when making up new itineraries. It would have been useful knowledge.

We were attracted to The Freedom because of the itinerary, and what sealed the deal was that we noticed that the Freedom-class ships have a set of rooms on Deck 10 along the back of the ship that include two Junior suites and six balcony rooms. We wanted those rooms in order to have the whole back “to ourselves”. Not only were the individual balconies larger, we were thrilled by the idea of all that mostly private space when opened….so though we were hesitant about the distance from the stairwells to the back of the ship, we were feeling that those rooms were definitely worth the extra walking.

I started reading what others cruisers had to say about those coveted balconies and knew it would be a challenge to get them all, so I started checking for the release of new itineraries no less than three times a day. There were times that I got up in the middle of the night with Archimedes (a brand new puppy at the time) and logged in at 3:00 a.m.! (What if the new itineraries were released automatically by the system at Midnight? LOL) That went on for several months and then between work getting busy and not having success, I wasn’t quite as diligent about checking. I had read on the boards that I shouldn’t expect anything for awhile, so I dropped back to looking a few times a week. Then one day at work I was eating lunch at my desk and happened to log into Cruise Critic, saw posts about new itineraries being available, and immediately went to the Royal Caribbean site. Filtering by just the Freedom resulted in nothing late in May. I was pretty much freaking out. Luckily I expanded my search and realized that the Independence was doing islands that were relatively new to us, so I started reserving 10 rooms. (This all sounds so much more calm than it actually was at the time…I was scrambling to make reservations, as well as trying to text and call my husband and brother and sister-in-law; after all, although we “knew” that we wanted to take the cruise, I still felt I needed confirmation from them to move forward, particularly when the ship and itinerary had changed from our predetermined plan.)

Apparently the bookings had been available for four or five days at that point. Miraculously, during one of the weeks in May that we could sail, there were seven of the eight rooms we wanted (we were even more lucky because they were consecutive) so they were booked by us, as well as three additional nearby rooms. We worked with a representative through Group Bookings (shout-out to Sergio N., who is amazing!). I was upset that we didn’t have that “last” room along the back, but we were going to watch it and keep our fingers crossed that we could nab it if it was given up for any reason.

As an obsessive planner I immediately started reviewing information about IOS (I had previously only looked at Freedom information, and though the ships are the same class, I was sure there were differences to learn). About a week or two after we had booked, I read something that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up – the dividers on the back of the ship do not open up. (I’ll bet many of you were saying that to yourself paragraphs ago….) Those dividers opening was one of the reasons that we booked those rooms. Texts were flying back and forth again trying to figure out if we wanted to stay back there, or move. We have always booked near stairwells/elevators and seemed to like those spots. We also really enjoyed having the open balconies on the other cruises (though we know that it is never a guarantee that the captain will permit it). But those aft balconies seemed wonderful. It wasn’t an easy decision but we chose to move. I was too impatient to wait for Sergio to get back to me, so I was trying to figure out on my own if there were 10 rooms all together anywhere else. Once again, I was a madwoman trying to find rooms! (I know there is an alternate program or site that can be used to see all of what is available in the different categories, but I couldn’t remember the site and didn’t want to take the time to try to find it. It’s too bad that Royal Caribbean doesn’t make the availability of rooms across categories easier to see …)

It was meant to be - we got 10 rooms in a row near the aft elevators, D1 and D2 balconies, along with two Junior Suites. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have hump balconies, (which are nice but not quite the advantage as the Oasis-class hump balconies anyway), so we were pretty pleased with the whole situation. (Once again, Sergio in Group Reservations was a rock-star.) Side note – I think we made extra work for him when we did courtesy holds that had to be switched to our group reservation, and the same rooms probably would have been available anyway, so it really wasn’t the right way to handle that situation.

This is a request to anyone sailing on the Independence after it switches to a 7-night cruise in the next few weeks.

I realize that it is only a guideline at best, but hoping to get copies of the daily Cruise Compasses that are most similar to our Eastern cruise in late May.

thank you in advance!

I read on another post a drink called the Kaluha Colada, which is definitely on my list for the next cruise - it's kaluha, cream of coconut, rum and pineapple juice!

Four more weeks....

bethc1952 said many of the same things I would say as a person that has sailed with both cruise lines.

I do think that there is something about the way that Disney staff interact with people that is different. They seem to project a sincerity that they like that they are there, serving you, instead of being paid to do it...I won't say that I have had bad experiences with RCC staff, it's more of a vibe, and probably not worth mentioning at all!

I prefer the drink station option on Disney, just think that fountain soda is cheap enough that they could offer it on an unlimited-basis to passengers as part of their fare, but then the Disney fare certainly is more per person than the price of the soda package.

Ultimately, as bethc1952 mentioned, I feel the overall product isn't so much better for the differential in increased prices.

You should have a wonderful cruise and will certainly be happy with RCC!

I realized once I started to read replies that I didn't specify that I was asking about taking something back for breakfast, (I like to get up with sunrise but husband does not and I thought that perhaps I could bring him back breakfast) but the answers apply regardless.

thanks much for the information.

The responses have prompted this follow-up question - do Junior Suites also have the larger table that is being mentioned? This will be our first time in a JS.

No expert, and many other people could offer more accurate information, but my experience with the photo package has not been good.

It may be great for a family that is all traveling in one stateroom, but for our family it is too restrictive. The CD offered will only allow you to have the people in one stateroom, even if your immediate family is in multiple rooms (for example, my husband and I paid for three rooms: one room with my 19 year old son and my husband, me in one room with my 20 year old son, and a third room with my 21 year old son and his cousin.) In order to get every picture of any of the family members, three packages should be purchased.

Individual 8 x 10 photos were $20 each in 2013, the last time we sailed on the Oasis. Purchasing the individual pictures we liked was far more economical, though very pricey.

We did speak with the staff at the photo place as well as guest services and there was no concession with that rule.

Is it permitted to go to main dining room and request take-out in order to return to room and eat on balcony? We are sailing on the Independence.

thanks,

1. Lanyards are personal preference. They obviously can be helpful to have, particularly with children, but from my experience, lanyards are becoming as fashionable as "fanny packs". But maybe that's just the opinion of the particular posts I read.

2. I use more than one organizer. Some responders will tell you not to bother and "pack light, pack light, pack light", but I overpack, don't mind taking the extra luggage, and feel that I enjoy my cruise more by having all the just-in-case items.

3. Getting on the ship varies. I have been on as early as 11:30 a.m. (and am simply a gold level in a regular balcony room), but there is no guarantee that you can board that early. In some instances Royal Caribbean is sending emails indicating that certain decks should arrive at certain times. If I have this correct, it is a measure to help control flow of people and it is not enforced. I am someone that would arrive at Port early, happy to wait, but want to get on the ship as soon as they allow me to start enjoying my cruise!

4. Others will give great responses to this. I am the person who has three spreadsheets, one of which cross-references the items I packed with the luggage where it can be located, so I rarely forget anything. (See question #2 - I seriously overpack)

5. Best advice - enjoy!!! We don't sail until May and our group is getting anxious and excited.

I am also very interested in your plan. Our large group is thinking that we want to do a beach day, but would really like to see that fort! Will be watching for your posts after your cruise.

thanks!

I haven't yet been on the Independence (our party of 20 with 9 side-by-side rooms sail in May), but my opinion is that I would go with that ship over the AOS -

* I have three sons and a nephew with whom we always cruise and they LOVE the flowrider.

* Our family is also very close and the open balconies is wonderful.

* I am the planner in our family and can relate - with fewer port days you can plan and plan and plan for those stops.

We have also had to change ships once due to college classes for one of my nieces, and suggest that you don't wait too long if you are changing reservations as the prices increase.

Great news is that you cannot make a bad choice.;)

Great review, great format, and great information. I think the all-at-once method was great. (I also like that superlatative and didn't even notice you used it alot until you pointed it out.) ;)

i love the egg timer idea on lounge chairs!:D

When we sailed on the Oasis last May there was an inspection also. It didn't delay boarding very much at all, but it did seem as if we weren't able to get to our rooms as early as expected.

The inspection may have been a stroke of good luck for me, however; somewhere through our flights and night in the hotel prior to the cruise, all six bottles of wine brought by our family for three staterooms ended up in the luggage tagged for one room :eek:. I believe that the crew was so busy dealing with other things involved with the inspection that it prevented me from being called to the naughty room.:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark290

Great pics. Thanks for taking the time to post them.

What I don't understand is why someone who takes their 19 year old son to Senor Frogs to see how many yards and free shots they can pound in 90 minutes would question the parenting decision of someone taking their 12 year old to a PG-13 play. I don't know that I have a problem with either but if forced to let my 12 & 19 year old children go on vacation with one of those parents I would choose the one who takes the 12 year old to a play where the content is no worse than what is on free TV.

Hi Mark,

First thanks so much for the compliment on the pics and review. Both boys are in college and if I remember to my times in college, there were a few nights that I did some damage to my liver. We had a good bonding time and unlike taking a young 12 year old who may not have been exposed to such material, I am sure that my sons have gotten drunk. I was also there to make sure they did not get too carried away and got back on the ship. I guess you are correct in that it is a parental choice as what to do with a child. I would not allow my son's when there were 12 to watch violence on TV, play video games that were not PG. There is a time to learn these things...

Just my thoughts....

caneguy,

I have three boys, the youngest will be 20 this year, and since you were the recipient of the (unnecessary) criticism, I thought I would also offer my appreciation of your remarks and the candid acknowledgment of "the college scene". No sense in feigning ignorance, (as someone working in the housing area of a Big 10 University, interacting with college students on a daily basis, I am simply shocked by the intentional naivety of parents....) and I too would much rather that their island activities include me for both the interaction with them as well as the assurance that they don't get out of control.

Great review, by the way!