Drazil65

We always use insuremytrip.com and get quotes for comparison from several companies. Just make sure you know what your priorities are for travel insurance and use the filters to narrow your options to your needs.

I would actually recommend Deck 6 over Deck 7 anyway as the area around the Alchemy Bar gets congested during dinner time - it is by Farenheit 555 and Rudi's Seagrill, and that part of Deck 7 is narrower due to the open Rudi's is actually on deck 8 nearer to guest services area. We found no issues with walking from front of ship to aft on any deck but we have no issues with walking period (we only use the stairs on any cruise). We absolutely loved the Havana cabin area, our cabin allowed for so much privacy and a short walk around to the outside Havana bar area. We are not public pool or hot tub people since we have them at home so the plunge pool (small, but was being enjoyed by a few other Havana cabin people on a few days) was not of interest to us but the cabin setup with the patio and then a balcony area with lounge chairs right below our patio was great. We never saw our neighbors out while we were out and had the balcony area to ourselves (near our cabin) although we did meet a few other Havana people at the Havana outside bar. We had a great time in that area and never had to wait to order a drink at our bar. The Havana inside bar was so much fun in the evenings and so close to our cabin. Deck 8 was a great place for a cabin and homebase, one of our fav cruises in 20 yrs of cruising mostly with Carnival. Go to a site with the deck plans for MG and get an idea of where everything is in relation to your cabin etc. It's a great ship with lots to do and see, many food venues as options and a wonderful serenity area. We made another trip on her a couple of weeks ago and its a fav for sure, have a blast!

When you do your check-in you will choose a time to get on the ship. The time you choose a couple weeks before sail date is your check in time not your boarding ship time. Check in time is the time frame you can check into the terminal building with your documents etc. The boarding time onto the ship depends on what time they start boarding and they start with different priority groups like diamonds, platinum, FTTF, suites, wedding parties etc. (if you are not in one of these groups your boarding group number will be called for boarding at some point after).

Although we gravitate towards the newer, bigger ships the Sunshine is our fav "older" ship, kind of mid level in size. Great serenity area for sure and the piano bar can be loads of fun with the right group. We sail her at least once a year since it only a little over 3 hrs to port for us so we will def miss her after this year. Thank goodness we have once last cruise (for now anyway 😉) from Charleston in December to see her off. Have a blast and enjoy the ship!

We love MG and the football watching area is great! We have done it in the past on several ships (including our honeymoon on RCCL 21 yrs ago) and they typically made it like a giant tailgate for both teams playing. For us it was a lot of fun and great memories!

Whether you send out save the date cards or just make the decision and book the cruise, extend the invite and whomever can make it then that is who will be there. Just dont be upset if people cannot come for whatever reason, many people cannot do destination weddings.

No contest, the ABC islands on Horizon.

Week before Christmas on MG we boarded at 10:35 am, did muster and went straight to cabin to drop off carry ons. Our S&S cards were in mailbox and cabin door locked. Room was ready and we had our S&S cards in hand. Went to grab/find lunch about 11:00 after checking out the cabin. Pretty much same in August on Sunshine, maybe 30 mins later we boarded that day. I would say since restart our cabin and S&S cards have been ready in the majority of our cruises (I can remember only one cruise where S&S cards were not available but carry on drop off was fine).

DH enjoys some reef snorkeling and does it here (as well as other islands). Myself and DS enjoy some of beaches as well as an occasional trip to Atlantis. Back in the day (before DS) we owned a vacation condo on the island so we are well acquainted with Nassau and have our fav places to visit when we are back. Just depends on what your likes and dislikes are or if you are open to trying new things. All said, just have fun!

Cruised last week on MG, we ate at Teppanyaki. I had the chicken with grilled shrimp combo, the spicy part of the chicken was actually a spice put on only if you wanted spicy. I love spice and the chef added some red pepper flakes to mine as well. It was great, I was the only one that wanted the spicy part added to my dish.

Been on the Oasis a few years ago but not on the Venezia (no interest in sailing this ship at this point), That being said, we have sailed just about every ship class CCL has over the last 20 years with the Excel class currently our fav. Apples and oranges when it comes to the RCCL Oasis. There are a couple of other RCCL ships that would be a little easier to compare with several of the CCL ships but not this one IMHO. You may want to search (if you have not done so already) for the reviews on the Venezia as it seems like its a 50/50 mix overall. As I dont know your children likes and dislikes or how they like to be entertained, I can only say that if they loved the Oasis I am not sure how this CCL ship will stand up to their expectations (or yours).

We were on the same cruise and almost signed up for this class but it interfered with another reservation we had at the same time. So happy to hear you enjoyed it and it will probably be something we will plan on doing in the future. Thank you for the review and details, sounds like you had a blast!

OP, so sorry you had that experience and its not the way most people would want to spend their holiday. I would not have been happy with the cabin change either (even at your request it seems like that should have been mentioned somewhere along the way during the process?), that had to be hard with your whole family staying in a different area. We got off of MG last Saturday (a 7 day) and had a great cruise (including food although we did not eat in MDR at all this time around, it just worked out that way). There were approx. 6300 passengers onboard that week and we did not see anything even close to your experience. Of course with a bigger ship there are more places to hang out and more options to create your own cruising experience closer to your own expectations. We cruise 2 or 3 times a year easily and although we have seen our share of drunk cruisers and the like, we are lucky we have not seen any fights first hand onboard any ship so far. Children do tend to run wild when unsupervised but the parents are more to blame most of the time. Our cruising has evolved over the years and we are quite good at spending our time in areas that do not include a lot of children/teens and this cruise was no different for us. People can be rude and lacking in manners anywhere, being on vacation seems to attract such people in many cases as they are very focused on themselves. It sometimes appears that manners are on vacation as well as the people.

Just off the MG last week and the pin and fanny pack gifts were the same. Priority boarding was great in PC (this port is very well organized in MG terminal) and we stepped foot on ship at 10:35 am). Free laundry (up to 3 bags per person) is one of our fav perks as going home with clean, folded laundry is a plus for us. We typically (DS mostly) will order the chocolate delight (Choco covered strawberries for cabin) but did not get around to it last week (just call room service and they will deliver). We do attend the plat and diamond get together (we had unlimited drinks last week you just had to go back and get them as they dont seem to walk around with them like in the past) as well as use the free drink voucher on our account. You will also get a $25 free play credit for casino per person, just go to casino cage and have them add it to players account. Congrats on milestone and have a blast!

We got off MG on Saturday and our points updated as of yesterday.

Breeze...no question is you can still do it...

I tend to agree with above post regarding massages, I cannot stand to get massages but DH loves them and gets them regularly. That being said, DH has had 2 massages on ships over the years (both prior to covid) and he does not care to do it again. For him, the experience was ruined by the pressure to sell additional products (mostly towards end of session). He thought maybe just the first experience and decided to give it another chance a couple years later, but different ship same experience. Not sure what the experience is now but might be something you can mention and prepare your wife ahead of time if she has a hard time saying no.

It popped up on my cruise manager about 2 or 3 weeks (less than month) before sail date. We have consistently purchased this package throughout the years but this was first time we can remember having an offer specially regarding this package. Typically we get a general reminder about the package at some point (I believe the reminders come as emails mostly). We dont always purchase ahead and will wait until boarding but this offer caught our eye.

Just got off of MG yesterday, can tell you at least in PC last week they were turning away people in the platinum and diamond line that did not have the earliest appointment times. We had 10:00 to 10:30 and are platinum, the family in front of us had 11:00 time (platinum) on boarding passes and they asked them to return at the appropriate time. This was at 10:05 am when we went through the line (we boarded ship at 10:35 am). Might be different at Jax port but be prepared for both outcomes at this point.

Got off MG yesterday, ordered the 5 bottles presale (15% off offer) before cruise. Requested 4 of the bottles at different restaurants at dinner and 5th at a bar to bring back to cabin. They were also selling on embark day in a couple different places on ship.

3 days (for 2023)

So happy you had a great cruise and things were good on the ship (except the door thing with the guys forcing them open??? Why?). You pix are wonderful and getting me more excited to board Mardi Gras this Saturday. Always love the decorated ships at holiday time 🙂.

One of our favorite shore excursions ever was in Cozumel when we ran the Amazing Cozumel Race. It was a long time ago… LOL...haven't thought about that excursion in years! We also did it back in the day when DS was about 10 (he turned 21 this week) and it was one of the best times we ever had on a family excursion. FYI...the rockers are everywhere in NC, they are called the "Carolina Slat Rockers" made of wood. Mostly white BUT can get in other colors as well (think Carolina blue). In our town they are either white ones or green (think golf greens). Enjoying your review so far, thank you for doing it!

You're good, DH been doing it for years, likes to know he has a few cold ones in the fridge (especially if hanging out on the balcony) He will also put a couple in the collapsible cooler with ice to bring up to serenity sometimes.

Also, a cruise ship can't touch the space you have at an all inclusive. Your room will be bigger, can walk out to a large pool and large beach area. All this may be true but the AI does not take you to 3 or 4 different places (without intentionally booking something outside of the AI which in most cases will cost extra). There are pros and cons for each type of vacation. We have done several AI's over the years with our favs being in Cancun (our overall fav is Fiesta Americana Grand in Cancun) and the DR. For us the cost is apples and oranges because there is no plane fare included when we cruise as we have 6 plus cruise ports within easy driving distance that suit us just fine and go to the places we enjoy. We like both types of vacations but probably enjoy the convenience of cruising a little more so end up doing that more often.