Jill

Something you never think about happening on your vacation. Terrifying and incredibly sad. 🙏

Chocolate Martini in Central Park

With the new private beach club, I don’t see where they would put a suite only area. Every inch of beach has been developed once the beach club/over water cabanas opens. I was there in October on Mariner and the beach club hadn’t even been started. I just bought it for our symphony cruise in May. Got it for $50.99 (Down from 69.99) on Black Friday. Have no idea how crowded it’ll be with an oasis class. Daughter was there 2 weeks ago on Symphony and said it wasn’t all that crowded. Oh well, bought it anyway! Lol

We did this over 20 years ago on our Monarch of the Seas as an after cruise excursion since we had a late flight. It was awful. 😂 We were exhausted and riding on a bus for hours was not fun. We all agreed we should’ve just sat in the airport.

I was looking at that same Odyssey cruise and then my daughter got engaged and wedding will be spring of 2021 so I’ve decided to wait until Odyssey goes to the Mediterranean that summer and book then. You are among friends here who are great enablers. We will never talk you down off the ledge. 😀

Debating the April 9, 2021 Odyssey to Aruba, Curaçao, Grand Cayman or save the $$ and wait to get her in the Mediterranean. We have a wedding to pay for spring of 2021 but I REALLY need to cruise! Lol

We’re Diamond and have never gotten any pins. Our friend was HD on Oasis up until last year. I would have been happy to act on your behalf if he was still there.

Different ships have different prices. You’ll always pay significantly more on an oasis class. Our Mariner cruise was more than half off of oasis class.

Glad I got my southern Caribbean out of San Juan last March. I don’t see this coming to fruition. PR is in dire financial straights. Some sort of agreement will be made. May take some cruises/ports being cancelled to realize the loss.

Lol I think he is my least favorite CD! To each his own. He wasn’t horrible but definitely not a favorite of mine.

We did our first RC cruise way back in 1990 (maybe 1989) on Song of America when we were in our early 20’s. Did 3 more right after that. Had 2 kids and bought a farm. Took a loooong 16 year break. Fast forward to now, 9 cruises later with #10 in May and getting ready to book #11 with 12 and 13 shortly after. Empty nesters now, only 2 horses left on the farm and we are on the go! All with Royal. We are now Diamond so I see no need to switch now! Glad you’re hooked!

All my best to you too!

@TJ! if I were you.....I’d get a credit card that has airline miles. Go to Clark Howard.com and see what he suggests as the best card for miles. He’s a former travel agent who is now a multimillionaire that has a radio show for consumers. Id also consider doing b2b out of Florida to get a good bang for your buck. Catch a ship that is changing itinerary so you get 2 different itineraries on one ship (eastern Caribbean first week/western second week). Also if you book a suite, you get double points for Crown and Anchor so if you book super early in a Junior Suite, you’ll get double points and move up more quickly. We’ve never done a suite, but just upgraded our May Symphony to a Junior Suite for about $900. That now gives us access to Coastal Kitchen for dinner which is like specialty dining. So book early and get a credit card for miles. Which Symphony are you on? We’re May 2.

We took 4 cruises before we had kids (1989-1993) when we were in our 20’s. All were RCI. (I took 2 booze cruise type cruises for college spring breaks on an old military supply ship turned cruise ship lol) We took a very long break while our kids were young plus we live on a horse farm and it’s not easy (or cheap) to find farm sitters. In 2011 we came back with our kids and did Oasis. Super fun! We wouldn’t cruise again until 2017. I was diagnosed with stage 4b cancer in 2015 and that cruise in 2017 (again on Oasis) was to celebrate 6 months of NED (no evidence of disease) and my 50th birthday. Since then we sailed Oasis a third time in 2018, Freedom in 2019, Mariner 3 weeks ago and have Symphony booked for May 2020. After our Freedom cruise, we achieved Diamond status. I’m now down to 2 horses. Our oldest is 26 and engaged and out on her own. Our youngest is sophomore in college. Hubby sold our business back in 2012 and now is semi retired. I have learned the hard way that life can be taken very quickly. I’m not as picky about farm sitters and have let go of my anal retentiveness when it comes to my animals. They are still alive when I get home! Lol Getting ready to book 2 cruises (another quick Mariner next October and a Mediterranean probably for 2021) over Black Friday. We have a wedding now to pay for so the Mediterranean may have to be pushed to 2022. Paying off my car this month and youngest daughter’s last month freed up a nice sum that we are putting some towards wedding and some towards us. I also may take in an additional boarded horse to help fund the addiction. Through my cancer journey I also found out I have a hereditary cancer gene (Lynch Syndrome) and have an 80% chance of developing another cancer so we are YOLO’ing as much as we can. **edited to add that we do live in Florida and can drive to ports although Miami is a bit far. (5 hours). When we flew to San Juan for our Freedom cruise we drove 2 hours to Orlando and flew Southwest. About $650 total.

We were the first group out of 8 that finished under the hour mark. Took us 56 minutes on Mariner last weekend.