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Following, as we will be there next summer! Jane

Love your brother relationship with food and smile. I am loving the food pictures.

Just wondering what you found. We have a late afternoon flight and are debating what to do. If we don’t do the excursion, I’d love to hear where you stored luggage. Thanks! Jane

This is such a good idea. I end up dividing everything and trying to figure it out! Or write it down somewhere and then forget where I wrote it! Jane

Other than just doing the math (gratuities add 18%) no. I keep a spreadsheet and write down the base price that I pay for everything on the Cruise Planner so that I can tell when there's a price change. #nerdalert

Have you been on icon? We’ve sailed oasis class twice with our kids during spring break and icon is spring break on steroids. No desire to go back.

I need to make one more casino run and I will write about my mother's shenanigans.

This is EXACTLY why Icon is one and done for us. April 20 sailing we had 2300 kids. Groups of girls trying to fight each other, boys doing damage to the teen club. Pools constantly closed. No desire to sail this class again until Royal grows a set of balls and cracks down on this

Embarkation day continues. The casino has a ton of new machines, none of my favorites are on her anymore. I couldn't find a machine to get a good groove on. My brother played eight cents a spin on dancing drums and won $40. He is rich and will play that for the rest of the 10 nights, also that was only part of his freeplay. . They did make an announcement about people smoking in the non-smoking section. A side note, it doesn't feel full, the pool deck is always popping but I haven't waited for much. The casino bar needs more or better bartenders, service was abysmal. They are super strict about traditional dining. 8:30-8:45 is the set time, not before or after. I request we only be sat together and it was honored. A nice 4-top across from windows. The tables are close. We had basic welcome aboard dinner. With the exception of the steak, my brother ate everything else. My mother and I split the steak. She tried the chicken and fish and wasn't happy. Food was hot, but somewhat salty.

We were on April 20. 6500 passengers, 2300 were kids. Never felt crowded below Sun/pool decks.

New section 1770(a)(29)(A) to the Civil Code will forbid, as of July 1, 2024, "Advertising, displaying or offering a price for a good or service that does not include all mandatory fees or charges" other than government-imposed taxes or fees, and postage and shipping fees. Upon reading that, RC isn't doing anything wrong since they show the total price since it doesn't currently include "government-imposed taxes or fees"

We have several times brought a few WJ items in Ziploc bags off ship. Doughnuts, cookies for the kids etc. don't think you're supposed to, but when traveling with you kids you do what you have to do. Now, your talking about taking off a full picnic lunch, that may get someone's attention, or not. I would stay away from fruits and veggies as they are most likely to contain bugs of some sort. I would think breads, cookies and the like are ok. Don't try to bring left overs back on though.

This doesn’t affect my cruise analysis as the taxes and port fees were always apparent but hopefully this new law was aimed at the lodging industry with the hidden “resort fees” which are often very difficult to find.

Does anyone know what kind of refurbishment to expect on Allure? Considering booking a sailing on Allure from Barcelona in May of 2025. Do they update the mattresses and bedding for example? The rooms? Or, is it more like refurbishing shared guest areas? Both?

Is there a way to see what you bought it at the per day price? As an example, when I check my order history, it says I purchased two packages for $1434.72 CAD. Is there a way to see what my daily amount was? I think they also add in gratuities into that total price. Would make it easier to track the pricing to reprice it.

We had a JS on Wonder this month. It's good to look up the sea class benefits. From what I recall, we were able to use the suites pre-boarding waiting area and board with suites, pinnacles and The Key. We had to pay for internet/beverage packages. There's a ton of storage space including a big walk-in closet, a tub (with a weird shower glass half door setup), and an overall feeling of more space in the room and the balcony. You can use your cabin's phone to call and request a reservation for Coastal Kitchen, but it depends on availability. The menu is smaller than the MDR but the same setup with the new selections and the classic ones at the bottom. It's much smaller then the MDR, but the service and views are nice. Our cabin attendant made up the room twice a day, and we were delighted with Ikadek's service and smiles.

we are united in this. WHY ARE PEOPLE SKIPPING UNDIES????? oh my gOSH. IMAGINE THINKING CERTAIN BRANDS ARE EXEMPT????? good GRIEF. but also. $500+ loss of products is upsetting. ah yes. the lovvvvvvve connection on flights. cmon folks. catch flights, not feelings!!!!!!! EXPRESS IS THE BEST. i am so glad you got it AND you’re safely on board and your cabin is nice and clean. you will sleep well tonight

For instance, let's say my cruise costs $2000. I pay and extra $200 to make it a refundable cruise. A week before final payment is due, I want to ask for the $200 back and make the cruise nonrefundable. Can something like this happen?

Just booked Freedom again for next May so I am so happy to read a full @Ampurp85 blog in preparation! Do I hope the shenanigans are kept to a minimum or not I can’t decide!!

We have done 3 or 4 of these. Thats usually the way it works. Sometimes we have been on smaller buses and the driver will drop you off at a stop and stay with the bus so you can leave small bags on your seat or overhead.

1) The smoke smell from the casino wafting into the front of the MDR is unappetizing at best. If Celebrity makes bank in their smoke-free casinos, make all RC casinos smoke free. Make the smoking sections far away from the pools. One section at one of the the top floor's aft section, far away from other venues and ventilated to the outdoors. 2) Make chair hogging financially painful- and make a big example out of some egregious chair hog behavior. $100 per hour of the "reserved" chair being unoccupied- and spell this out everywhere. Pay some crew to be chair "meter maids", and enforce the rules. The cameras/facial recognition can show who the jerks were that set up towels at 6AM and didn't show up until noon. 3) Part of the appeal of Virgin Voyages (who are very likely grabbing RC revenue) is the ability to enjoy a nice dinner without a screaming child at the next table. Set up the seating arrangements so that families traveling with kids can use the port side or the 3rd floor of every MDR, and people traveling without kids/ couples who are enjoying their honeymoon/1st trip without the kids/anniversary can use the other area. Adventure Ocean could be expanded to include a nightly "Chucky Cheese" type (or multiple TV's like sports bars but they would play cartoons, plus McDonalds playground type venue) entertaining dinner for kiddos. We had an MDR experience on Wonder where a 3 year old with a very high pitched/shrill "outside voice" screamed through the entire meal, crawled on the table, banged on the window etc, and his family didn't seem to pay attention to his antics. The next night, a family in Chops looked stressed when Mom & Dad were taking turns walking their toddler son around in Central Park, returning him to the table then repeating the cycle after he's start fussing again for 9 more times. 4) Yes, bring back the old MDR menus. Not everyone is a foodie or wants to have imaginative food. 5) End the hard sell approach to the spa. I adore a good spa experience, but I avoid the spa on ships because I'd rather not feel like I'm in a time share presentation after paying for a relaxing massage.

Hi! First time cruisers here. Hoping to meet people for this cruise. F 44 M 45. We are so excited! Looking forward to meeting.

I've been watching the Hideaway prices and they do seem to be edging slightly down. I haven't seen any $19.99 lately but I think the price for our June 6 Indy cruise is under $30. Yep.

Your brother's smile always makes me so happy. No exception today. What a cutie !

We are excited about going on this cruise. We are coming from South Carolina.