Jill

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

That’s not my experience on the Oasis class on sea days. It’s quite challenging to find chairs.

I would go to towel station and ask, “Can I remove towels from chairs that no one has been in for 30 minutes?” They will say yes. You remove towels, if person comes back you tell them towel station said to remove. Then they can take it up with the towel station.

2 weeks before but we booked the cruise 4 weeks out

Just last night there were 2 older couples dressed in “80 days around the world” type costumes. Very elaborate and it’s not a Halloween cruise. Other than that, there were jeans but didn’t see shorts at night. This was on 3 night Mariner

I’ve heard the stuff on the wall is awful ? If you’re not picky I’m sure it’s fine.

Your best bet is book as early as you can.

I was able to transfer my symphony cruise that I booked in March to MEI about a month ago. RC sent me a denial letter but my T/A (Sharla) not only got mine transferred but also the couple we’re sailing with. Got an email this morning she found a Seekers Sale and got our cabin reduced by $108. I had always booked through RC before on the phone. To check prices, I’d always just call. We’re planning a Mediterranean cruise in the next year or so and I’m not doing that myself. So I thought I’d try MEI by booking a 3 night Mariner and moving my Symphony. So far I’ve been very pleased. Looking forward to what Black Friday holds! ?

There’s a free app called Bedtime Fan and it’s great for white noise.

Thanks everyone. I did manage to get it for $40 last night for this weekend’s Mariner. I’ll probably skip it though on Symphony in May unless it gets significantly lower. $79 is the lowest I’ve seen so far.

We leave this Friday on Mariner, also in an Aft Balcony #8390 Its also our first Diamond cruise too!

I thought I read somewhere that if you wait until after 11am to purchase thrill water park on CocoCay the price is 1/2. Was I dreaming?

Ok a bit of trivia.....who remembers that before it was CocoCay it was Little Stirrup Cay (pronounced key)? I first visited Little Stirrup Cay when I was in college in 1987 aboard The Emerald Seas. Several cruise lines visited there. It was literally a beach with chairs and the sunken airplane. I returned in 1990 or 91 on my first RC cruise aboard Song of America. It was still Little Stirrup back then too and basically a beach with chairs and sunken plane. Lol I will return next weekend on Mariner as a primer for our Symphony cruise in May. Quite a transformation of that little cay. Can’t wait!

We use WhatsApp if we have a group of mixed brands: Apple/android. On our Freedom cruise last March we had a group of 4 iPhones and 4 androids so it worked great. We live on a farm and I use WhatsApp to keep in contact with my farm sitters too. I think it’s a great app. Everything is encrypted.

I’ll be on Mariner next weekend! I’ll try to stop by the Casino to say Hi!

It’s about an hour. Straight over 528 (toll road) dumps you almost at the port.

We booked our Symphony cruise 14 months out and I’ve watched and watched. The price has only gone up. Our Mariner cruise next Friday, we booked 3 weeks ago. In the 24 hours it was on hold, it dropped another $200. Added bonus (that I’m now told is like hitting the lottery) is that our GTY balcony ended up being a corner aft balcony. We made out pretty well on this cruise.

We are slooowly aging out of the party scene and now that we are empty nesters, we’re looking to grow up and experience more than just the Caribbean ? We are bright and shiny new Diamond members and looking forward to exploring Europe with RC. Our very first cruise with RC was when we were 23 and 26 years old on Song of America back in 1990. We’ve only sailed RC. I feel like I’ve grown old with them! Lol

Personally I think we Americans fall for all these stupid “sales.” Maybe y’all in the UK aren’t as gullible to the sales pitches! ? Haven’t they offered free deluxe drink packages? That’s quite a perk!

Well today the news is that Grandeur is leaving the fleet and headed to Spain to join Sovereign and Monarch at Pullmantur Cruises. RC own 49% of Pullmantur. I would imagine as these ships age with their dated systems, RC might bring in new, smaller ships? With the newest ICON technology being built it would make sense to me to begin replacing the older, smaller ships with the same technology in a smaller package. At some point these smaller ships will need to be replaced in order to keep most of the European itineraries that simply cannot handle the mega ships. I’d love to see some new smaller ships.

Us too. We just reached Diamond. We got more nights from 4 cruises prior to the switch. Now on to Diamond Plus!

For the air or the noise? You can ask your steward for a box fan. If you need it for white noise, download bedtime fan from the App Store and play white noise off your phone

8390

Well yippee then! I called my TA (Sharla at MEI) and she sent me a video of the balcony on Voyager. She had a corner aft in Alaska and loved it! So now I’m happy! Lol Thank you everyone! I’ll report back in a few weeks!

I’ll call MEI. That’s who I booked through. (First time too! Lol)