TwinMamainMN

That's Maho Beach. Really fun experience IMO and the water is gorgeous, but it will be crowded and busy. If you want calm and serene, that's not the place to go.

Make show reservations while sitting in the port holding area, if possible, otherwise I do it while we have our first cocktail on board. Check in at the Muster Station location. Eat lunch anywhere but the WJ. Go to our cabin as soon as we can get in. Unpack. Sit on the balcony and watch the port hustle and bustle. Sometimes we change to swimsuits, sometimes not. Get a couple more drinks and go to the bridge wings for sail away.

I use thisBydenwely Women's Tote Bag Small... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KWV7943?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share small tote bag. Holds a tiny zippered wallet hing for my Sea Oass card, sunscreen, sunglasses case, my Kindle, a word search book for my husband, and chapstick. We get a dry towel at the towel station and find a chair, we don’t need ack them or carry them around.

Oasis Lagoon (the huge pool area) has a swim up bar. Half of the seats are in the water, and the other half are on land. Here is a photo from above (not mine): There IS also a swim up (or wade up bar depending on the tide) at South Beach. Here's a pic of that one too (also not mine), so you can see the difference.

Good point. Harmony currently sails from Florida and Allure from Texas. If OP is looking to sail in 2024, it looks like the ships will swap home ports.

We had the option of making Comedy Show reservations on Harmony in September. I've never heard of the comedienne but we did make reservations anyway to guarantee a seat. Was it "necessary?" Maybe. The Royal Theater was packed by the time the show started.

I'm sorry that was your experience and I hope it's not that way for everyone long term, but I can understand it from a food supply and preparation standpoint. Certainly, they will have to deviate from the posted menu for those with food allergies and/or celiac disease. Our son has celiac disease and typically orders dinner for the following night before leaving the MDR.

Maybe? Which would mean once we get to the cruise terminal we could book it. Anyone know if it's wheelchair accessible? Our daughter would like to do it, but uses a wheelchair. We have some escape rooms near us that have things to climb or go through as part of the "escape" and something like that would not work for her. TIA!

My kids would love to do this, but I just looked and it's not on the cruise planner for our Oasis cruise in March. We will have to try and book it in the app once we get to the cruise terminal, or when we get onboard.

Sounds like a challenging way to plan a wedding, but it will all be worth it in the end. Looking forward to seeing a photo or two. Congratulations and best wishes for a lifetime of good health and happiness together!

That was my first cruise and it was with my parents. I don't remember much about the cruise itself, other than the wall mounted lights looked like a woman's anatomy, my dad got badly sunburned and looked like a lobster, and we couldn't dock (or maybe it was tender?) in the Bahamas due to the weather. I was really sad because I was going to swim with dolphins that day. I clearly enjoyed it enough as I have sailed several times since then.

I wear a tank style sundress or a maxi sundress when it's just hubby and me. We are cruising with the kids again for Spring Break, and we will all wear family cruise t-shirts on embarkation day. I got mine and my daughter's shirt on Harmony in September with the C&A logo and "sailin' squad." They didn't have them to fit my boys or hubby at the time, so I ordered something similar on Etsy. I will probably wear mine with a navy blue skort/tennis skirt.

@deepcmanwho pissed in your cheerios? Sheesh. That was rude. Thanks to everyone else!

Thank you. If I can get the notifications like some others mentioned, that would be better, but I still prefer free. 😉 Thank you also to those that answered nicely without rudely directing me to google.

Is the chat/messaging free in the app now? I know it typically costs $1.99/person/day to enable it. Michael Bayley indicated in Nov/Dec that it would be free after the first of the year. We cruise with teens over Spring Break, and it would be nice if it was free and worked well. 😉

We did NB Alaska Vancouver to Seward on Radiance in 2018 with our 3 kids (ages 10, 10 and 7) and my mom in her late 60s. The excursions were the highlight of the trip! Our 10 year old daughter needed wheelchair accessible excursions, and not the kind where you sit on a bus for a "city tour" as it would not interest her nor anyone else in our group except maybe my mom. We flew to Vancouver a couple of days early to explore Stanley Park and Granville Island Public Market. We used Uber to get around. In Ketchikan, we did the Bering Sea Fisherman's Tour on the F/V Alleutian Ballad to learn all about crab fishing, longlining and other ways to fish. We all enjoy watching Deadliest Catch, and this was the boat that took a huge rogue wave and capsized in 2016. Youtube has the video. They made changes to the deck and added seating. They had no problem accommodating our daughter's wheelchair and made sure she had a front row seat to everything. We also watched them feed some 20+ eagles and they parked her right in front of the railing, so her view wasn't blocked. In Icy Strait Point/Hoonah, we chartered a private boat with Glacial Wind Charters to go whale watching. It was the best and neatest thing I've ever done in my life thus far. We saw several orcas (including an orca calf!) and watched humpback whales bubble net/cooperative feed just a few yards off the bow of our boat. At one point, I felt a vibration in the hull of the boat, heard a new to me sound, realized it was the whales "calling" to feed, and saw humpback whales feed maybe 20 yards in front of our boat. Mouths wide open and hundreds of fish gulped down in a single swallow. You just can't duplicate that experience on land. Worth every penny! In Juneau, we rented a mini van and drove to Mendenhall Glacier to explore on our own. The kids were fascinated and it was beautiful. Then we drove to Eagle Point Beach to explore and have a light lunch. Sadly, we didn't see any eagles, but the beach and view were amazing. We went on a tour at the salmon hatchery back in town before returning to the ship. Despite what everyone claims is a "must do" in Skagway, we went against the grain and did not do the train to the Yukon. I knew our kids would think the train was cool for about 10 minutes and then be bored. We also knew that our daughter could not "walk" the train in her wheelchair and I had no idea how I would get her to the bathroom if necessary. We chartered a private van tour instead. We stopped at a huge suspended bridge to stretch our legs, use the restroom and have a snack. Wandered the tiny town of Carcross and had ice cream, and went to a Mushers Camp to see the sled dogs and ride a cart pulled by a team. I still can hear the dogs barking from excitement to run and our daughters giggles the whole time. Those dogs were fast!! We hired private van transportation to get us from the ship in Seward to Anchorage. We spent one night in Anchorage due to flight times, and used Uber to go out for pizza and to get us to the airport. Without these excursions, our Alaskan adventure wouldn't have been nearly as fun or as memorable. A once in a lifetime type trip and amazing memories forever.

Yes, I realize that. I still like and appreciate the new menu.

I like the new menus! I like the variety all around, and especially the posted Indian food options which I've often wanted to try, but never did. Now we can order one and share it, and if we don't enjoy it, there's no harm. We like trying new things. Youngest son is thrilled to see Baked Alaska on the menu one night too. It's been a family tradition for Christmas dinner every year since we sailed in Alaska in 2018.

Oasis on March 5th with our 3 kids ages 14, 14 and 11. They have only sailed once before (Alaska) and are very excited.

He's gotta pay for the World Cruise first. 😂 Wonder if he can keep his lovely wife out of the Effy store?

We are considering a Canada/NE cruise in 2024. Have you checked the Departures Boards for this info? I think there are separate groups for Boston, Cape Liberty/Bayonne NJ, and Baltimore. We would also be going for the itinerary and think a smaller ship would be perfect for this type of cruise. We sailed on Radiance in Alaska, which is a "sister ship" to Serenade and really enjoyed it. Lots of windows to soak in the view.

We have these and I love them! Seriously handy and don't fall off or break. No need to bring tape or a stapler or other gadgets with me or fill out a luggage tag at the pier before leaving the luggage wiht a porter. EASY! I print the luggage tags at home, cut all the excess paper off, write our last name on them, fold and insert into the tags. We only bring the tags we need along with the cable straps. We always fly out a day or more before the cruise, so when it's embarkation day we just add them to the suitcase handles and off we go.

Many of us steerage folks travel without being Diamond, Diamond Plus or Pinnacle. Somehow, we manage to enjoy our vacation despite the hardship of no access to the concierge lounge.

We did it for free while docked in Coco Cay and it was amazing! Quiet and a great view. I'd do it again in port somewhere pretty but especially in Alaska. We did NOT get weighed when we did it on Odyssey in March of 2022.

100 days since we got of Harmony and 60 days until we sail on Oasis. Harmony was just hubby and me, Oasis will be with our 3 kids.