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Pulls into the pier in Cozumel. Big boats go to international pier, smaller boats to downtown pier. Depending on how many boats are in port and such.

They make these packing storage bags that you put clothes in, then use your vacuum cleaner to suck all of the air out of. Would that suck a foam pillow down enough to make it easier to pack? Work with the Steward to use their Vac to pack it for home.

Another option would be to buy a new pillow for home, and take the old one and leave it on the ship to be thrown out. I never have room coming home, but I often have full suitcases coming home.

It is another reason I like cruising from Florida where we can drive to.

In my experience, unless it's a huge storm, any subtropical climate shower rarely lasts an hour. Rain a bit, sunshine, little rain....

In Hawaii we;d wait for a rain shower and the tourists would run from the beach, and we'd then take a much better place on the sand.

I try to only worry about things I can control. I've never had a BAD cruise, but some were better than others.

Have a great time!

If you want to use OBC, you have to wait till you are onboard. We bought our drink package onboard from the bartender at the Solarium Bar. If you book it ahead of time you have to pay for it then.

I've never had trouble using my OBC by the end of the cruise.

The dining room experience is a big part of it. Animators palace and such. They can't run those shows just anytime. I also like that you go to three different places and your team goes with you. I'd try it and see if you can get it changed.

I'm sure it's possible for there to be no way to change, but I've never heard of anyone wanting to change dining times. Once onboard got to the dining room, there will be a line of people doing that as well.

Prior to boarding sending Disney a message they might be able to change it.

You really want to experience the three different dining room!

The buffet is goo, what ever is in the MDR is usually on the buffet at night, there are three meal times with a break for cleaning and resetting and such. There is also room service, and the burgers and chicken strips too.

We sailed Liberty with a Vegan in our group. Make a note of her vegan wishes on the reservation, and with the head server iwhen we ate in the MDR. The lady in our party was given several options each night, usually a rice curry things, or grilled veggies, soups and such. the dining team did a great job, very low key, always with at least two option per course.

We did traditional dining at the same table each night, so the team took care of her. Specialty dining places may not have anything directly to suit her.

Early dining is 6pm. The shows are done twice, once for early and once for late diners. Mama Mia is done two days to cover the two seatings. I'd deff make reservations for it, which ever one lines up with your dinner. We've done Chops on Allure, never Giovani's. You can also get the Chop's steak in the MDR at a cheaper price than Chops menu price.. The Aqua show is general seating.

Under the basketball court? yeah I'd try to move down a deck. We've been under the pool deck and heard kids running, and crew moving chairs at night to clean. We try to always go down to 13 or 12.

There is a lot to do on the ships. I think Dream and Fantasy have the Mid-Ship Detective Agency, depending on the age of your kids you can spend days on it. Kids clubs activities too, some people have to drag the kids out of.

We stay on the ship or close in Nassau a lot of times. A trip out to the straw market for t-shirts and such. As a backup look for excursions that rain wouldn't affect, any kind of bus tour os food tour or such.

Rain won't keep them from docking at Castaway Cay, high winds will. Many times we've pulled in there and it had rained the night before or early morning, and the clouds part, the sun comes out...

Try to keep up the positive thoughts, weather changes every day.

I tend to take peoples complaints with a grain of salt. Assume there are 4000 people on each cruise, and there are four bad reviews for each cruise, what percent is that.

Some people would NEVR be happy, hence the "I'll never cruise Disney again" posts. I think some of it depends on your expectations, and some on the cast members and some on the weather.

If your cabin steward does something not to your liking, mention it to him, and give them a chance to fix it. Same with dining team. Many people will let something simmer for days then write a scathing letter or email. I have talked with people who let something as simple as not getting a towel animal every day ruin their cruise. They steam and simmer over it when maybe your cabin person is swamped because they have a family that trashes their rooms every day.

I've learned that if you want something like towel animals every day, ask the steward if they do animals, and tip accordingly.

Please, please don't walk on the ship with bad expectations, and don't let others bad times affect YOUR vacation.

We do self assist disembark anytime we drive to the port. Technically you don't sign up for it you just do it. On Brilliance in December there was a notice that you were to meet in the auditorium, that you would have to be able to take your own luggage down steps with no elevator. We've seen people with a stupid amount of luggage try to do it, we usually have one suitcase and a carry on each and can take our own.

Self assist is also the earliest off the ship, so not to slow people down later. If people were hauling their own suitcases later during general disembark they were late, and they were causing the problems not RCL.

Behind the scene tour is the last sea day, at 2pm or so. I did it on Liberty last year and enjoyed it. We got a goodie bag of things from the ship. Don't know that kids would get as much from it, but I enjoyed it.

We typical park at the port just so we can walk off the ship at PC and into our car and go.

Try the departure port section for Florida and you'll find a lot of info about other places.

We love Port Canaveral, we go a day early, stay in Titusville, and eat at Dixe Crossroads Seafood.

I like them both. Allure has Mama Mia, Epic has Cirque and other stuff. Epic has 2 bowling alleys. If the prices are about the same, it would boil down to itinerary.

Epic has a wider variety of places to eat, and for a nominal $5 to $15. Allure has central park, boardwalk, and water shows.

I'm looking at a Epic cruise before Christmas 2016, it will be in Port Canaveral which is our favorite.

In the US, go to Harbor Freight, they have a huge selection of magnets, I take dozens to put things on the wall such as exclusion tickets and such. We have some with hooks to hang jackets, swimsuits and such to dry. We pick a wall and put up several magnetic hooks to make a coat rack of sorts.Outside the US check your local hardware stores.

I have a magnetic white board 8x12 inches from Disney that has a magnetic pen and eraser, we use it to leave a note where we are, or the the Steward that we'll be off the ship till noon or whatever, I think it helps them know when to do the room.

I take hand soap as you said, liquid foam in a pump bottle, we leave it when we go.

I also take one or two rolls of toilet paper depending on how long the cruise it. If you have any issues, good toilet paper is a must. We leave what ever is left.

We pack a small roll on bag inside a larger bag as we go, so if we buy souvenirs we have room to get things home (we almost always drive to port).

I know you said except clothes, but here's a thought. Take two or three bathing suits, because nothing is worse than getting up in the morning on a sea day and putting on a cold wet bathing suit. Take gym clothes, even if you don't plan on going to the gym. For me I take a pair of bicycle shorts to ride, and several t-shirts.

My employer does cruises for us, and we will usually have a private party first night and last night of each cruise. usually it's an hour before early dinner, in one of the bars on board, with a bar, and finger foods. They put signs outside the bar saying it is closed for a private function until XXXX time.

We also have a meeting in the conference center, usually early morning second day of cruise.

We usually cruise with 60 to 70 families, we use is as a social function and to spread information regarding cruise activities.

I try to remember that a long muster drill is usually caused by our fellow cruisers. We all know when the drill is, and that EVERYONE has to attend, but there are always late people and announcements for some one from room XXXX please contact guest services. It penalizes those of us that play well with others and show up early to get it over with.

Was on Brilliance in Dec.

Prime Rib was excellent, had it with the lobster tail as well.

The Strip was very good, I had it once and two others at our table of 6 had it several times. Everybody loved it.

The short rib is good.

I usually get the Chop's Filet in the MDR at a nominal extra cost. Cheaper than going to cChops.

Yes I eat a lot of Beef!

Here's my thought after the Brilliance, since they have no alarm clocks:

http://www.brandstand.com/products/power-and-charging/cubietime

Simple alarm clock. 2 usb and 2 power outlets. They make a bluetooth version if you want to stream music. Well made, designed for hotels.

You don't have to carry the cups with you, unless there are freestyle machines on the ship you want to use. Show your Seapass card to any bar and they will give you a soda in a bar glass. We take the cups when we go to the pool or shows since they have a lid. The servers in the dining room will ask to see your Seapass card first night, then there are sodas on the table the rest of the cruise.

If you pre-pay for the drink package they will be in your room. But you can't get to your room till 1:30 or so. We typically don't pre-pay and go to the pool bar in the adult area and buy the package we want from him, and he'll hand you your cup.

We were on Brilliance in December, there was another RCL ship parked in sight as well. Tampa has the one official parking garage that both ships use. It was our first time out of Tampa, and we went to pier 3 where we were supposed to go. I had already put my bag tags on and asked the porter if this was Brilliance and told yes, gave him our two checked bags and a tip and got in line for security. In the "outside" line to get in the building there was a commotion, and someone loudly said "well, anyway I have to get on this ship". Commotion lasted long enough for me to get inside, I assumed it was someone without a Passport or something. As we are going through Xray an RCL employee came to the loud guy and informed him he was trying to board the wrong ship. Apparently the lady outside was trying to tell him that but he wouldn't listen. They had checked bags and immediately panicked about luggage, and the RCL person said they would take them down to retrieve their luggage and would get them to the other ship. It was still only 11am, plenty of time, but I did wonder how they would ever find the bags, since I can't imagine anyone looking at the tags until the luggage was on the ship.

We've done several cruises with no kids, and 2 with our 20+ YO daughter. We've always been seated with other childless couples, or mother/daughters in the same age group. Knock on wood, we've never had a bad set or table mates. One Dream cruise we were seated at an 8 top with three other couples, we had a blast.

Cruise more, worry less.

The Disney board here is much quieter than most of the other cruise line's boards. Disney has 4 ships and they aren't cheap, Royal has 30 or so.

It does amaze me at how many people who've never sailed Disney post here, but I think that's more changing times not just cruises. I'm a car guy and many people post on a Mercedes forum saying they'd never pay $x for a car, and they've never owned a Mercedes. Or that "all" Mercedes Diesels leak oil, but they never owned one. There are a lot of people who have too much time to spend on the internet, and with the anonymous names to hide behind people say anything, there is no consequences and responsibilities. When I read someone's post I scroll down to see what ships they've done and when. If you were on Magic 10 years ago, it doesn't look anything like Fantasy today.

When the "is it worth it" comes up, I'm biased, I really like Disney. However, I do most of my cruises through "work" and other than paying a lot of taxes, they don't cost me anything. I have done three RCL cruises on my dime, but I check several sites looking for deals and really really need a Disney cruise soon.

As far a the person who's always negative and expecting perfection I don't know that there is anything any of us can say or do. There is a mentality that I am paying for this and I deserve perfection, and unfortunately there are people who will NEVER be happy. One of the RCL people complained about an interior promenade window looking dirty because of window failure. People ranged from make them clean it, to make them replace it, to make them give you another room. Two inches of foggy window on the right side of a window ON A CRUISE SHIP isn't going to ruin my vacation, EVER.

Some people need to "Let it Go".

Hope to see all of you onboard, I'll be in the hot tub in quiet cove if you need me.

You can also wait and stick your feet in THEN decide if you want to snorkel.

On our new Years cruise to CC, the first time was cold, two days later the water was warmer, and the temps were 15 degrees warmer.

My daughter is 25 and a theatre snob. She went to Mamma Mia as they say "kicking and screaming" but loved it.

Our experience in onboard shows is that the current cast is a big part of it. The cast can change every few months, so a review that is several months old can be wrong.

We saw Saturday Night Fever twice in 6 months, the first time "Johnny was excellent, second time was just OK. First Annette was mediocre, second time was fantastic.

It's a free show on a cruise ship, Some have been better than others, but we usually go to just about every show that doesn't conflict with dinner. We almost always have first seating.

Another thought would be to take a look at the menu, and have those who skip the show order your soup/salad, and tell your staff you are in the show, I bet they know when you'll be there.