minniemouse427

Sailed on the Eclipse in July, will be on the Equinox in February, and will sail on the Silhouette in April. All three were/will be in balcony cabins. Can give you a full comparison in May. 🙂

I would use a car seat for your 1yo on the flight to Orlando, then use it for the local transportation you need. We traveled often (including cruises) with our now much older children when they were toddlers and using the seat on the plane actually helped them sleep (one of them would zonk out before the plane even took off, the engine hum put her right out!) and kept them snug. It was also super helpful to have for any of the shuttles once we landed. When we were on board, the seat easily fit in the bottom of the closet and we just left it there until disembarkation on the last morning.

This is the excursion that my husband and daughter have agreed on for our day in Bonaire. SO happy to see your positive review. We will be sailing on the Silhouette's repositioning next April/May (218 days!!) and we can't wait to experience the ABC's for the first time! 🙂 Thank you for sharing about how you stayed on board while others snorkeled. That is what my husband is planning on doing and he has been slightly worried about how common that was. Can you share how long your excursion was and about what time you all arrived back at the Beyond?

We did a tour w/ Spencer Ambrose in January and it was one of our favorite parts of our entire trip. It was a speedboat w/ about 10 people. We left from the dock near the ship and had a lovely boat ride up the coast w/ a few stops for interesting sites as well as information about the coast and St. Lucia. There were a couple of tours on our speedboat. We stopped at one port along the way where some people got off to take a bus to the mud baths and waterfalls (I think). The rest of us traveled on to the pitons where we docked and spent the afternoon on the beach between the two pitons. There were some rocks (the pitons are volcanoes) in the water that would be fine w/ water shoes but the beach itself was sandy. The others met us there and we had a lovely lunch on the beach. Soft drinks, beer, and rum punch were available all day. This tour was wonderful and I would take it again in a heartbeat!

When we sailed in July, there was only one person taking care of both Concierge and Captain's Club ...and they needed two. My husband was third in line, first person was taken care of quickly but the second person took far longer. He gave up after 45 minutes and just went to the regular customer service area. It was a much shorter wait there.

My phone closed the video before it ended. I am going to go back and rewatch it, unless that isn't allowed?

We have some heavier load standard hooks specifically to hang the over the door shoe organizer on the wall Easier than trying to have the over the door hooks on the bathroom door. Also have some lower load standard hooks for hats, lanyards, swimsuits, etc.

FWIW, a couple of decades ago on our very first cruise (group of 20 across 11 cabins) our TA insisted we weren't entitled to any group discounts or rates. I kept doing more research and it consistently said that for every 8 berths we would get one berth "free" (this was 24 years ago, today it appears that it is for every 8 cabins). I kept asking and they kept saying there weren't any discounts for our group. So I finally got fed up and called Celebrity. At first Celebrity sent me back to the TA, but I insisted that the TA wasn't doing something correctly so they ended up getting me, the TA, and them on a three way conference call. Magically, the TA was able to share that yes ...we were entitled to two "free" berths and they would have no trouble taking care of that for us. Once the call ended, they called me directly and chided me for contacting the cruise line for "no reason" and "we could have worked it out." No, I asked you about 10x and you kept giving me the run around. To be clear. The TA didn't have an existing group on our sailing until we booked and then they decided to also cruise that sailing w/ their family. They were planning on using the two "free" berths from our group to have more of their family members sail w/ them. We were a group of first time cruisers and they thought that they could take advantage of us "not knowing better." That was the first time I had ever used a TA and I learned a lot. Mostly to do my homework and make sure they are doing their job.

Same We have an excellent TA that is responsive and does a great job all around ...and for multiple cruise lines. You can find someone that is a good fit for you, it just takes some time and effort. I have had lots of stumbles in my search for good TAs (both land and sea) but have great ones now and use them even when I really don't have to. The benefits are many and I really don't miss sitting on the phone w/ a cruise line or WDW when I don't have to!

I will always use a trusted TA For our first cruise 24 years ago we had a less than optimal experience with our TA. I will skip the details, but she didn't have the skills to handle our group of 20 and she pulled a few unethical things that I only had corrected by reporting her to the cruise line. Even after that experience, I still use a TA ...but I do a lot of research before booking w/ a new one and start with smaller "test" trips with them to ensure they are a good fit for us. That all said, I compare it to booking a WDW trip directly with Disney or using a TA. I have over 20 trips to WDW under my belt and could easily plan and manage our trips. I still do my legwork and plan the main parts of the trip...but then hand it all over to a really great TA that executes it all, stays on top of pricing changes, and is there in case of emergencies. When it comes to a cruise or WDW, I could easily do either by myself but I find using a TA gives me another pair of eyes in managing the trip and they have my back in case a Nor'easter hits the east coast and shuts down the eastern seaboard (true story). In the end it is whatever makes you happy and comfortable about your trip. I find that the small about of "control" I hand over isn't that big of a deal, especially since I trust my TA. I will note that I would never use a travel clearinghouse as a TA. I prefer TAs that specialize (different ones for cruises and WDW) and are personally accessible.

While we are arriving mid-evening the night before our cruise out of PC, the hotels in PC and Cocoa Beach are ludicrously high ($300-$400/night). I took a look just north of the airport and we can grab a decent space for $175-$225/night. We will either use a shuttle or rent a car (and share w/ another couple) to travel to the port the morning of embarkation.

The hotel is really close by. I would run as many of the "checked" bags that will fit in the vehicle along w/ as many humans you can fit w/ them to the port and leave the bags with the porters and the humans to wind their way through security and check in. Go back to the hotel and pick up the remaining humans and baggage, drop them all off w/ the porters and then park the vehicle in the garage and then the driving can make their way into the terminal. Two notes: No one can wait inside the cruise terminal before security. Once you enter the building you need to immediately go through security. So either wait outside (if nice out) or go through security and either wait there or proceed to check-in and sit down and wait (there aren't any seats after security and before check-in). After parking the vehicle, take the parking tag and put it in a safe place in something that is going with you ...and remember where it is! When you return, you need to use it to pay for the parking at the kiosk BEFORE going to your vehicle! Enjoy your trip!

After falling in love with the original review, I went to go investigate and am disappointed that our port time won't allow us to do a similar tour (including stingrays, conch dive, & lunch) as it lists the time as 9:30am to 2:30pm and we will be tendered from 10:30am to 6:00pm. Will keep looking for a similar excursion that fits our time in Grand Cayman!

Even easier to have them empty it on embarkation day and use the fridge during the cruise. Simple enough to document the empty fridge with a time stamped photo if you feel it necessary (we didn't need it).

Super easy to request the room steward to empty out the "fridge" of all beverages upon first meeting them. Our family had two rooms our last cruise and we requested him to empty both fridges and to split the beds in the room our kids were in. Both were done within a few hours. Emptying the "fridge" on day 1 avoids any issues w/ surprise charges, allows us to store any waters or other drinks we collected as part of our drink packages, and we would only have to ask for ice if we wanted to put it into our beverages in the room. 🙂

Costs for Feb 21-22 are sky high ...anywhere close to the port is $295-$400/night. As much as I would prefer to stay close-by, we are probably going to stay near MCO and drive over in the morning for half the price!

We are sailing on the Equinox in February and it is still showing as the standard 5% off. Will continue to keep an eye on it.

The Liberty Science Museum isn't far away, but I am not sure what you could do w/ your luggage as you tour the museum. https://lsc.org/

I would expect the Silhouette would be similar to how the Eclipse is set up. Here is a picture of our two adjacent (not connected) cabins from earlier this month on the Eclipse.

No, we aren't currently planning any travel outside the US other than a couple of upcoming (US based) cruises. It was on sale for less than $20 and grabbed it just in case it would be useful. Totally not a big deal that it won't work in this instance. It is just as easy to leave it home as we have two "bricks" with multiple USB options that we have successfully used in the US outlets on previous cruises. Thank you, one less thing to pack! 🙂

We have a few "bricks" with multiple USB slots that we have used in the US outlets on our previous cruises. I came across this during the Prime days sale last week and grabbed one thinking it could be useful to utilize the "unused" outlet. It is clear in the description that it isn't a power converter. Would this work for general charging purposes (phone, watch, Kindle, etc?)? None of us use hair dryers so that consideration isn't needed. If not, I just put it away and save it for an overseas trip in the future! 🙂 https://www.amazon.com/EPICKA-Universal-Travel-Adapter-Power/dp/B078S3M2NX?pd_rd_w=9DqcO&content-id=amzn1.sym.378a0f29-5acb-4c80-bc6e-087cd6806daf&pf_rd_p=378a0f29-5acb-4c80-bc6e-087cd6806daf&pf_rd_r=63TE934VMXJJYQMHWK4E&pd_rd_wg=t4yJm&pd_rd_r=61fb9c15-aea3-450c-9c4d-5fb3ca56c069&pd_rd_i=B078S3M2NX&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_1_ec_pd_hp_d_atf_rp_1_i&th=1

I find very few drinks that contain alcohol, drinkable. I am not a fan of almost all wines and beers and will drink a few mixed drinks where I can't taste any alcohol. Champagne and prosecco are definitely not things I drink at all. For my wedding we had sparkling cider in my glass so the pictures wouldn't have me making a face! I was lucky to navigate my college years with a bunch of friends that honored my dislike of alcohol and took it on as a challenge to find something that I would drink (turns out it was one Midori Sour or Fuzzy Navel, both are too sweet to drink a lot). All that to say is I get it and I hate it when people don't honor my choices when I say I don't drink alcohol. Over the years I have peeked at the Chef's Table menus and thought the food looked amazing, but could never rationalize the cost as I don't want to pay for alcohol that I am not drinking. In your shoes, in this situation, I think I would have paired my "I don't drink alcohol" statement with a request for something else to drink (which you have since commented you should have done). I am super comfortable making these types of requests in the moment as I don't want to stand there, thirsty. It is 100% your decision how you give feedback. In the moment may have made it less of an issue and not overshadowed the rest of your experience. After the fact on board may also have helped, but you are correct that it may or may not have resolved the situation and to be honest, it may not be resolved well post cruise either ...but again your decision to handle how you are most comfortable. In the end, please make sure that they do hear the feedback. That way you know that you did your part and what they do with the information is up to them...and out of your hands. It is important for all the reasons that have already been pointed out. No one should be pressured to hold a glass of something that they don't want to or cannot drink just for a photo op!

We were on the ship two cruises ago (6/28-7/7) and there were stools on our concierge balcony.

We have sailed out of Cape Liberty three times in the last 1.5 years on RCCL and Celebrity. Once to Nassau, once to the Southern Caribbean (5 ports we had never been to before), and just last week to Bermuda. Next year we are doing the repositioning from Fort Lauderdale that does the ABCs before heading to Cape Liberty. Three different cruises to three different locations. To be fair they were in February, January, June/July, and will be in April/May ...so the only summer one was Bermuda (which we loved).

Did the Hot Glass experience on the Eclipse last week and was thrilled w/ my Whale Tail. Prepurchased before sailing and made my appointment on the embarkation day just after sail away (had my choice of days/times). Both of the gentlemen working w/ the glass were amazing and super helpful in assisting in the choice of colors to match each person's expectations. Looking forward to making another piece on the Equinox next year!