Todd W

Don't go in with the mentality that you have to see and do it all. bring a highlighter with you and once on board, go through the cruise compass and highlight those "must do" items that are top priority for you. Give yourself some room to just "wing it" while on board. Half the fun is just wondering around meeting people and seeing where you end up. The first cruise my wife and I went cruised, i tried to make sure we did as much as possible and we ran ourselves ragged. It's a vacation, relax and have fun! cheers!

Thanks! Best of luck in your decision as well. Cheers!

for another perspective, i'm also a control freak and booked my first two cruises on my own through RCL and left them that way. After hearing all the positive things about MEI, i booked through RCL a year ago for a cruise in April of 2019 and then switched it over to MEI to see how things would go. Part of that booking also included 2 more couples which i got to switch over to MEI as well. Now... During this last year, i've had zero contact from my MEI rep other than when i reached out to make a payment of nearly all the balance. During that call which was at the beginning of March , i had also told her i was interested in getting some pricing on HOTS for April 2020 for the same 6 of us from our 2019 cruise. she said she would check into things for me and nearly 2 months have passed and again, not a word from her. So, I went ahead and have been watching pricing and booked my wife and I on my own for our first HOTS / Oasis class cruise (whoo hooo!) in April 2020. will I switch this one over to MEI, no. for the $25 OBC that i would get, it's not worth it to me. particularly because of the lack of any and all communication, as well as this rep had a minimum payment amount she "preferred" me to make when i called in. I'd honestly rather have the ability to log into RCL's wonky website and chisel down my payments with as little or as large as i want to over the next two years. This isn't intended as a slam on MEI because i always hear such great things about them. in fact, now that i write this, i may very well switch over to them again but use a different rep. I just booked last week so i have some time to consider it.

Person after my own heart lol

My wife and I are Buffet fans so any time a cruise is sneaking up on us, Buffet gets more play than normal along with any other type of "Island" music. While Mariachi music may be more indigenous to your ports, im my opinion that just doesn't get me into the mood. In my long winded sort of way, anything Buffet-esque you can't go wrong with. Anything played on Radio Margaritaville (#24) on Sirius keeps me ready for the crusing mood. Kenny Chesney, Marley, Jack Johnson, Little Feat and so on. Cheers!

had a promenade room on the Mariner before she left for Asia back in 2013. Was our first time having a promenade room and my wife and I really loved it. Windows typically have a small seat you can sit in which makes for great people watching. Noise wasn't too bad during the disco party either. If the circumstances warranted it for a future cruise, we wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

ok i've made one post on this forum prior to this, but this one brought me out of hiding as i was laughing my head off. I totally agree! sounds to me like she needed something else to focus on.

Balcony is well worth the switch not to mention that Mariner is an awesome class of ship