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Well you got me reeled in. I do find it very fitting that this journey begins on Friday the 13th.

Since a ship has several thousand guests there are always last minute changes going on. RoyalUp is also around to manage last minute inventory that becomes available so it doesn't go to waste or given away for free to a Pinnacle or Diamond Plus member. With folks like yourself submitting bids that's all in place and ready to go in the event someone cancels at the last minute. Life happens. Guests have unexpected events in their life or in a family member's life were all of a sudden a cruise vacation just isn't that important compared to something that just occured out of the blue. I had a real estate deal falling apart. Had I not missed my cruise I would have lost the deal. Only because I chose to make the real estate transaction more important did the deal go through. It was hard walking away from a couple thousand dollar cruise but I had a good real estate deal lined up that saved me much more than that. A child had an unexpected change in their bootcamp graduation date. That was more important than a cruise so I walked away from the cruise. What was I going to do? Miss the graduation? Nope. What happened to my cabin on those cruises? I'll never know. When there are three, four, five, six thousand or more guests on a ship there will always be a handful of people who have last minute changes impact their ability to cruise.

Gotta give you credit, in your situation I would have given up the role of family travel agent a long time ago. I also would have insisted everyone pays a deposit right at the start. You find out very quickly who is really serious when they have some skin in the game.

This may a TLDR situation, but I am going to mention it all!!! This is a group cruise, in regard to planning it has been the group cruise from hell. Planning for the group is always a mess because apparently nobody has any money, but they do have money, they would rather just waste/spend my money. I communicate with everyone by an email chain. I found out that only my brother, the new vintage, and my mother's bff actually reads them. Whenever I send one, I eventually get a call from everyone else asking me to explain things. It is frustrating because now I know why there are issues. Last year we went on Odyssey, and it was six of us and a bit of a mess. Still fun, but a mess. While on Odyssey everyone, not me, decided they wanted to sail Allure again because that first group cruise was the best. The reason was because it was a longer vacation since we did WDW/Universal and a cruise. Allure was sailing out of Texas and everyone, not me, thought it would be great to do a road trip there and extend the vacation. It was off to Next Cruise to secure 3 aft balconies and a little bit of OBC. We got of Odyssey the week before thanksgiving, so I waited until Dec to start looking for the best way to do this road trip. My brother suggested getting a luxury RV, that way we could take the hotel stays off the docket. We found a really nice 2020 Fleetwood Bounder that slept 8 people. I emailed the owner and asked about pricing and details. He agreed to rent it to us for 15 (two weeks or more gets a discounted day rate) days at $185/day, a $500 deposit and the cost of insurance and all the incidentals. Which would include gas, water, propane, and Wi-Fi to name a few. I put the deposit down at that price. In Jan after I came back from cruising, I emailed the guy to see about adding on 2 more days, the vintages wanted it. He stated that would be fine and then sent a doctored email that said I had agreed to $320/day and a $1000 deposit. It went from being $3,275 plus insurance to $5,800 plus insurance. It was literally an email that he went into the thread and changed the amounts, as if I didn't have the original email. I was shocked because that wasn't what we agreed to, and I told him that. He said he raised the prices because he was renting the RVs more and if I didn't want to pay that, he would return my deposit and rent it to someone else for $500/day. I cancelled. At this point it was too late to try to rent anything at a decent price. I wasn't too keen on doing a road trip with four vintage women anyway. But a lot of them were disappointed. They wanted to just take cars and do the road trip, which I told them to do but I wasn't going to plan it because I could no longer get the time for it off. I heard a lot and dealt with lots of mood swings and such. My bff was very disappointed because he was amped for the road trip, and he really hates flying. So, he asked if we could catch the train or something. I looked into catching the train to Texas and........sure enough Amtrak goes. I would have preferred to fly but it was looking to be $600+ each plus the high Lyft/Uber cost from IAH. The train ride would be a full 24hrs and that seems like a lot but I asked around and everyone was excited. I was actually able to score a group rate of $150, each, round-trip on the Texas Eagle. We take the train to Longview and then a bus takes us to Galveston. The train normally leaves on time, but my brother and I are on the fence when it comes to the bus. We decided as a precaution we would rent two vehicles in Longview to complete the drive just in case we miss the bus. We would rather eat the cancellation fee, than to worry about trying to get a car the day of. Our train leaves on Friday the 13th and we are scheduled to arrive on Saturday the 14th at 2pm. The bus stop is pretty central to the port so that is a good thing. Our hotel is also not that far from the port. Now on to the tomfoolery of planning with vintages and wishy-washy Bffs. I booked the rooms with a reduced deposit at NC. It was supposed to be six of us going but my mother's bff wanted her bff to come, so I put a random name on my mother's room to account for her and so they could have a 3+ room in case she did come. Nobody but my brother gave me their deposit money. They complained about the MDR the entire Odyssey sailing and regretted saying no to the UDP. They all said they wanted the UDP, internet, and some sort of beverage package for this cruise. I got the UDP during the BF sale for myself, my brother and mother. Then my mother's bff finally told me she was bringing her bff and she gave me the deposit and UDP money for them both. Right after vintage number 4 confirmed my mother informed me that she had invited a stranger along. Said stranger was a guy she met online a little over a decade ago. She Skypes with him and tells him all about our vacations and he always wanted to cruise. She volunteered me to book his cruise and all of the other stuff. The group went from 6 to 8. This guy is legally blind and lives in New York. I helped him pay for his room and UDP through Royal and I just linked him with all of the rest of us. My mother thought we should just let him fly to Texas and then one of us go to the airport and pick him up. I had to explain to her why that was a dumb idea. I had to explain we were taking the train. There was no telling when we would get in. So, yes, let's just leave a legally blind vintage at the airport without any assistant for who knows however long. Plus we were looking at $90+ each way in rideshare cost. They don't ever want to spend no money, but you want to tack on two rideshare cost each way? After a bit of back and forth he will fly to Chicago the night before and ride the train with us. I let everyone know FP was in July and if I had to make FP, I was going to charge them all interest because as it was, I was on the hook for all purchases in total for 4 people. Now I talk to my Bff quite often but somehow, he waited until June to say he and his mother couldn't go. I was pissed. I asked him several times if he was sure, and he said yes. I had to call and configure the rooms. The cost of the cruise had doubled, and I didn't want to trigger a reprice, so I swapped out names, so the two of them would be on the same reservation that would cancel once I didn't make payment. I was later told that my bff was mad because they assumed I would pay for them to go and allow them to pay me later. I did this the first and second cruise/vacation and wasn't doing it again. I informed everyone we would now be six. I normally make FP two-weeks before it was due but decided to wait until it was a week away. This was just in case they changed their mind and sure enough I heard from them 10 days before FP. My mother speculated that they tried to book something on their own and realized all the deals I got them and called to ask if it was completely cancelled. I said no but the consequences were they would have to share a room. My bff doesn't like sharing a room with his mother......at all. They made FP and the trip was on.

It’s cruise day again. This will be our first cruise from Galveston. We didn’t want to fly this time so we arrived yesterday in Galveston after driving for two days. We are getting ready to leave the hotel soon. I’ll be back on the blog after boarding and get this blog rolling. I’m happy happy happy .Oh yes forgot to say it’s just hubby and I this cruise.

Sail away

We are on board. This was the best checkin ever from car to in room we were zoomed through everything. Pictures below of star loft . It also includes one picture of when we first walked into the terminal.

Who else went back and actually counted the peas after @WAAAYTOOO's comment?

Been awhile since I've been around, but I wanted to share some thoughts. In October of last year I took a spur of the moment (get away from real life) last minute cruise on my own. Was a three night simple trip on Independence, only plans were for an inside cabin room and the deluxe beverage package, no excursions were planned or other frills. And I wanted to come here and say that I LOVED every moment of this trip! It was liberating and exactly what I needed to get away from some stress. I had more fun on this trip than the six nighter that I just went on that July when I was with someone. I got to meet so many more people, have a bunch of fun and random conversations with strangers, ALL of them friendly and having a great time. I'm not the most outgoing person and this was still very easy to do. While sharing a trip with someone and making memories is a great thing, I did enjoy my time alone not having to worry about what another person wanted to do. The only time it felt a little odd was when it was time to eat, but even then, if you wanted to strike up a conversation in the main dining room, or at a place like Playmakers, it was super easy. So if you are on the fence about traveling alone on a cruise, be brave and go for it! You only live once, so why not be adventurous

So as I was planning this cruise I found this….any guesses to what this means?

NEW CRUISE VLOG! This is the latest update I have with my upcoming assignment on Icon Of The Seas.

If I try to catch up from where I left off we’ll be off the ship before I even post any photos of the room, so here are some views from the UFS on our sea day today.

Day 44 I was able to stay up the night before and get the earliest check-in time of 11am. By 11am the same day only 12pm and on was left. I had read that for some reason 11am is listed as the earliest time out of Galveston but they eventually update and move the 11am to 10:30. As it stands, I shall be actively looking for the earliest time for me so I can board early book our UDP dining times. Itenirary: Friday the 13th: train ride Texas Eagle 22 Saturday the 14th: La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Galveston North at I-45 Sunday the 15th-22nd Allure of the Seas, Western Caribbean GALVESTON, TEXAS ROATAN, HONDURAS PUERTO COSTA MAYA, MEXICO COZUMEL, MEXICO Sunday the 22nd: train ride Texas Eagle 422 Rooms: 3 Aft OV balconies #12688, 12690, and 12674 1 Aft interior #11275 Excursions/amenities: Beach Snorkel in Costa Maya x3 UDP x8 Voom 3-device plans x2 Water package 24 x 3, 12x1 Premier Pass fiasco x 4 This cruise is one of the Premier Pass Fiasco's, so everyone ended up with some OBC. When I changed the names around, they removed the OBC and had everyone's C&A status wrong. It got fixed and they added in extra OBC for the troubles. I want to point out that I got this entire vacation for $1474pp. That is the cost for the cabin fare, grats, the UDP, internet, hotel, water package and train tickets. It is currently $1800 just for a balcony alone. I paid the old price of $267 for the UDP, got the water package for only $16 and $9. The hotel was half price on a BF deal meaning at two to a room, we paid $68/night. As I mention I got the train tickets on a group rate that helped us save 60% each ticket. I brought the multi device package for Voom, we have used it, and it works for us. The train allows two of each bag: checked, carry-on, and personal. But you don't have to worry about liquid sized. We are bringing wine from home. This is the first D+ sailing and I have decided to forego even the soda package as I am also prime. Speaking of....... my brother has the cruising bug and so I will spend this cruise making him prime. I like to gamble, I'm already prime for this and next year, so........ We have lots of new travel accessories as the train ride requires lots of snacks and meal planning. I will post our new finds.

OMG. There will be a movie made about this trip. I can feel it.

Well @CHRIS WONG, you know what they say: every cloud has a silver lining. And a stop-over in Portugal is a solid gold silver lining. Hopefully you will get the chance to have some really nice food during your flying visit to Europe's westernmost country. The food here in Portugal is nowhere near as well-known as, say, French or Italian cuisine but I promise you it is every bit as good!

They don't differentiate between the free one and the purchased one. Excluded means excluded. Having said that every ship does their own twist on the D+ BOGO so it never hurts to ask.

I feel your pain. I am the family planner for our 12. My family and my sister and her family. No vintages Started a google doc which no one reads. Have to travel to venice , get to our hotel, spend 2 days in Venice,get to the bus station for the 2 hour shuttle ride to Ravenna,board the ship, find excurions in 4 ports and then get back to the airport. Check in opened and 1 person did it. So they can sit out and wait for their time while I am onboard enjoying the flowrider and drinks!

I would pick Freedom for reasons already mentioned. But I wouldn't hesitate to book Adventure, either.

@Rags1 Ms Luci is on board,she is looking forward to seeing you next week.

Afternoon snacks

We’ll be in 1740 next week. Looking forward to following your blog. We also plan to have lunch at Sabor on boarding day. Enjoy the week!

So backing up a little . We have Federico as our Genie. He is what we call a baby genie …. New… trained by Alan on Allure. I think we will be in great hands.

We have had lunch at Sabor.

Too fast. Our oldest turned 32 last week. My wife and I can’t possibly understand how we have a 32 year old.

I left off in Naples, Day 6 of Week 1. Picking up with day 7, it was a sea day and our last day in the balcony rooms before our upgrade. The mood was super upbeat as we were able to take advantage of all of the sea day activities with no dread of imminent departure hanging over our heads. We started the saying spending an arm and a leg buying photos (2 prints and 20 digital photos was something like $325). Then we watched the parade from the photo gallery area. This wasn’t the best viewing spot because the stairway blocked most of the action. Probably better to be in front of the pub area. I lost at bingo with M while husband and A took at nap. M and I also went ice skating, which I’d booked on the app a few days prior. You need to book 30 min windows for ice skating and laser tag via the app. There didn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to when the booking windows opened for that. Ice skating was well organised but because there were no skating aids a long of people held along to the side the whole time, M included, which was a but limiting. After a few falls M had enough and we headed out. Dinner was in the MDR again where we said goodbye to our servers since we planned all specialty dining for week 2. The vegetable portion was measly again, but besides that and some of the kinks in the first night, we enjoyed having dinner in the MDR each night for the first week and really liked our servers. In the evening we went to the 60 seconds or less and Friendly Feud game shows in On Air, then went back to the room to pack up all of our stuff in order to be ready to leave the room around 8 am the next morning.

Well, happy to report that we have landed (early too) and we’re almost home. Uneventful; but that is a good thing

I read every word twice! Because you've just listed reasons 8,472 - 8,639 why we only cruise with just the 2 of us! (Seriously, I'm pretty sure I'm going to burn in hell for all the times we've hidden cruises from family who want to sail with us. In our defense, the 2 times we've relented .... i would be authoring your story.) I can't wait for these adventures to unfold. I feel some National Lampoon movie vibes here!

Freedom is a Freedom Class, while Adventure is a Voyager Class. That means Freedom is a bit larger, and also has been upgraded in 2020. Adventure did not receive similar updates (she was last updated in 2016 and 2018). Both are good ships for different reasons.

80th Birthday today, will celebrate with two solo cruises in October. Family doesnt like cruising and friends would rather stay home and watch TV LOL!

We bring about 100 bucks in 1's just to tip bartenders and drink runners on the decks or wherever. If we decide right away that we are probably gonna be at the same bar most of the week (this past cruise we made a nightly stop at the upstairs bar of Music hall) we leave them a 20 the first night and man are they happy to see us for the rest of the week, I don't drink alcohol, and once they knew that- every time I'd step foot in that room, they'd start making me a different virgin drink every time. It absolutely helps. Also, my wife was a bartender for 25 years, she would feel so weird if she wasn't leaving a cash tip on the bar.

Hello! My husband and I (empty-nesters) booked this cruise in April - looks like we are sailing full! This is our first time sailing on Wonder and we are really looking forward to it. Our travel-loving friends are also joining us and this will be their first RCI cruise. 11 weeks from today!

I'm sure some people do this...but it's still a much smaller percentage overall. There are definitely not many people sliding cash to the bartender,overall. I don't wave it..but I do throw it on the bar when I grab my drink. It's not illegal, no reason to sneak it

You'll get the luggage tags right at 30 days out. When you log in to your account on the website, right above where it says "plan my cruise" it will say "view more details" you click on that and you'll see your cruise documents which includes the luggage tags

That would make sense, sadly. Hopefully someone with more recent intel can chime in!

This is very helpful, thank you! I think we will stick to the VIP excursion we already have booked and hope for the best. The cost of the Villa doesn’t make sense for only 4 hours. We haven’t had the best of luck with transportation on any of our eastern Caribbean cruises so we will go into this with low expectations!

Thanks everyone. Worked as you said. Saved $57. OBC reapplied immediately.

I would much prefer Freedom. Size difference is pretty minor but I like having more included and/or low cost food venues like Playmakers and El Loco Fresh like Freedom has from being upgraded. Not many choices on Adventure.

"Welcome aboard folks. The gangway's up and we'll be preparing to set sail from Kahului momentarily..."

This is an incredibly generous offer by Royal! With an offer like this I don’t think there is anything to claim from a travel policy. The passengers have no loss.

I made the post mostly to confirm that this is what others have experienced. Thank you for the feedback and confirm that points wise we are starting at zero. We are going to enjoy the perks of Celebrity Elite and this to me opens up all the cruise lines since we are starting at zero. I have started looking at Viking, Azamara and Seaborn because we cruise for the food and travel not the water slides and families to be the focus. I am looking forward to more adult orientated cruises. Am I finally becoming an adult ?

Oh, I forgot to add I got the RUB emails on Aug 16th, so 60 days before sailing. It was: $1260 for CLS $1120 for OS $840 for 2BR GS/1BR AS $700 for GS $350 for JS $260 for US OV Balcony and $130 for Large OV Balcony Nothing for star class but it is still some CLS. I had put in bids but cancelled because if all the rooms cannot be upgraded, then none of the rooms should. I didn't want the headache.

The Royal Caribbean Group of cruise lines is the only one that offers tier recognition between sister cruise lines. It's a wonderful benefit as the alternative which all other cruise lines do is nothing. Having sailed Carnival a dozen times when I stepped foot on Princess I had zero status. Although they are sister cruise lines, they offer no recognition between family brands. Zilch. Consequently I'm not disappointed about Celebrity points being tracked on their own because it's the perks of Captain's Club that matter. In fact it is pretty darn great that they recognize any sort of status when you have never sailed on that cruise line before.

Once in a while you may hear a report of a new Pinnacle getting something on their 700 cruise but most have to wait until the next cruise. They will recognize a new Pinnacle and take a picture with the captain but the benefits of reaching the next level don't occur until the next cruise after reaching 700. Don't get me wrong, the photo and recognition are nice, but it's the benefits of the level that matter.

Regarding whether or not a staff member actually keeps the cash tips or puts them into a combined fund...I have finally decided that it isn't my business and I don't really worry about it. I leave the tip I'm going to leave and what happens to it after it leaves my hand is irrelevant to me. Sure, I would rather have the person who provided me the service get the money, but the tip sharing policy is not something that I have any control over. The only thing I can control is whether or not I leave a tip, so I do. I follow this "rule" whether it's a bartender or a meal server. I tip at every meal whether I eat at a specialty restaurant or the Windjammer. 99% of the time I leave my tip on the table and depart the pattern. What happens to that money after I leave is, and will always remain, a mystery. It's simply none of my business.

Yes, being a generous tipper to the bartenders is not only the right thing to do but also can garner some nice perks. I could stand 4 deep at the casino bar and it’s guaranteed my red stripe beer is going to be handed to me first.

Wife and I booked this from my Prime Tier Certificate back in April. Can’t believe this trip is finally almost here. Looking forward to doing another Oasis class ship. Best part is that we will make Diamond on a B2B we booked on Navigator right before this one. Can’t wait to enjoy our 4 drinks per day.

The gas tank on an Oasis-class ship is about 5000 cubic meters. An Olympic-size swimming pool is about 2500 cubic meters. If the reactor takes up about the same space as the engines would, this might open up some possibilities for more bars and restaurants. Hooray! The LNG tanks on Icon weigh 300 tons each and are 90 feet long. Just think of what you could do with the extra space! Icon of the Seas Construction Update: LNG Fuel Tank Installation | Royal Caribbean Press Center The problem I see is the difference in lifespan between the reactor and the rest of the ship. The USS Nimitz is fifty years old. Plus:

I guess this ship has sold out of cabins? It no longer shows up as an option when searching for cruises... Oh well, maybe there will be some cancellations (hoping to RoyalUp).

My group and I will be boarding for the Western itinerary as you guys are getting off the Eastern, take good care of the ship for us, LOL.