My husband and I are in our 40's and are the parents of a 14 year old girl. We are from Atlantic Canada. Though our family has travelled a lot, we are by no means rich. The two of us go away every year in the Fall- over the past several years we've gone to Vegas; however my hubby has had "Allure of the Seas" on his "bucket list" for a few years, so we decided to give it a try. We've cruised before (Disney Dream X 2) - both of which were only 3 days.

Before the Cruise--

I booked with Royal Caribbean directly (phone call). We booked 8 months in advance and chose a balcony room (ocean- not central park), mid ship, on the 12th floor. We received regular e-mails from RCL informing us about several things including: My Time Dining, Shore Excursions, Entertainment bookings, soda packages, water packages, wine packages, gifts etc. I thought that RCL did a great job informing us about the importance of pre-booking the shows, time for My time dining, shore excursions etc... I am a highly organized so I booked EVERYTHING in advance. Entertainment was not bookable until about 4 weeks before the cruise (check the website about 8 weeks out, and continue checking). We got the soda package (for 1), 24 water ($ 90!!!), Excursions, Wine package (X 5 bottles), and another 3 bottles from the "gift" section (these 3 bottles were waiting in the room when boarded, along with the glass for soda, the water, and the tickets for the shore excursions we booked. I had also signed the waivers and filled out all the other paperwork in advance. About 6 weeks before the cruise, my hubby checked the website to see if the cruise was sold out. In doing so, we discovered that the prices had decreased... We called and asked if we could pay the difference (another $ 300) and upgrade to a Junior Suite. We were told NO. I told the gal at RCL that it disappointed me etc. We hung up and to my surprise, she called me back 15 minutes later and said she had discussed it with her supervisor and that they would do it- so we changed from a Balcony room on the 12th floor to a Junior Suite on the 7th floor (going to a lower floor was also great, as I had heard that the higher the floor the more movement you feel). Read more