Todd W

It's more about the party and the willingness to participate and have some fun for our group. being 50 now, i have a very diverse attitude when it comes to music these days. Grew up on 80's Punk and Metal myself but listen to it all dependent on my mood. There's a huge German Wurstfest festival here in New Braunfels, TX each November. I break out my lederhosen and alpine hat, drink lots of beer and dance to polka musik. With age comes a stronger attitude of not giving a damn and living in the moment. If the ships had a disco-sucks party, i'd participate in that as well. ?

You can order bottled water to be delivered to your room from the main website under Royal Gifts. its pricey though - $47.00 for a 12pk of Evian plastic bottles.

will certainly get in trouble if my wife reads this since she lived in Corpus for awhile but i don't see a strong viability for Port A or Corpus being a port stop for a ship. Corpus costal area is pretty dilapidated and maybe a few close by attractions of interest being the Texas Aquarium (meh) and the USS Lexington which is super cool but other than that, cruisers would need to go further in land for most anything else. We love visiting but given other US port options, i don't see either of these as being competitive or enticing enough for more than a one-and-done type stop. Just my opinion.

I like the way you think. These are the shoes for my outfit. Have a vintage (ugly) polyester shirt and brown bells to go with it. Wifey is still trying to finalize hers. i have no doubt i'll break something wearing these things but hey, thats the cost of having fun! We're on the 4/26 sailing, you too?

Do people participate in this party any more? I've got a group of 8 for our April LOS cruise and we want to ham it up but will we be the only fools dressed up for it? Me, I could give zero F's about what people think but the rest in the group are a little more 'guarded' lol

a most excellent idea. Thanks @twangster !!

So i discovered this over the weekend. while it's way to sweet for me on it's own, both my wife and I LOVED this in our iced tea. Just curious if anyone has seen this on board? Would make her day if they do. seriously, for a great drink out on the porch , this stuff is deadly. goes down very very easy Our 17yr old had his new girlfriend stop by the house to meet us for the first time so i had to really pump the breaks after 2 of these. LOL

I second @michelle, she's had my first reservation with MEI for almost two years now (leaving in 41 days) and has my second which i booked with her about a year ago, leaving April 2020. I've in the works on a few more which she will definitely handle for me as well. Very personable and has been able to rebook my reservations to save me money and/or get me more OBC. Many folks here on the blog us her along with others at MEI. While I'm biased since she's the only one i've used, I would venture to say you can't go wrong with anyone at MEI

LOL I just turned 50 in November, old skater punk from back in the 80's. As my wife always tells me, i'm a kid at heart and never act my age. Thats a good thing right? ?

you can build a pair directly from Vans website, selecting which particular model of shoe and then either use Vans preset design patterns or upload any design and/or picture of your own for the sides of the shoe as long as it isn't copyrighted. I created my design from a photo i took of a pineapple. There are about 10-12 different variables of the many parts of the shoe that you can choose to "design" (color of laces, eye stay, vamping, tongue etc) in the creation process. this pair cost me right at $100 including shipping and took about 5 weeks to get them but well worth it knowing they are one of a kind.

thanks, these were for me but my wife really loved them which means i'll end up having to get a pair made for her now as well. ?

i just had these custom vans designed for our upcoming April cruise, does that count? ?

these look great (and potentially hilarious) thanks @Traveler !

i'm in the majority. with current demographics of Royal's marketing push, i would venture to say it would be a challenge for them to fill up an Oasis sized ship with a more adult themed group. that being said, Carnival is doing an adults only cruise this summer so maybe thats what they are testing. however, the undertaking to revamp a complete ship to make it 100% adult oriented going forward would be a huge cost with a high risk on returns if it concept fails. With Virgin hitting next year, that will be the bench mark. suprisingly, their rates aren't horrible but for me, its not worth the cost of a flight to Florida for a 4-5 day cruise What next? Disney doing an adult cruise? nah

thanks everyone! i may just suggest he either keeps a log on his phone or asks for the receipts from the bartenders. hadn't even thought of that.

Oh he doesn't want to limit his consumption by any means. he is a brainiac techy guy who's nearly 60 yrs old an is just an oddball but i love him to death. Since he's never had the deluxe package he was just looking for an easy way for him to see what all he gets during the cruise, nothing short of keeping it in notes on his phone. i mentioned his ship invoice tracks everything scanned on the card but wasn't sure if that gave him the detailed info he wanted.

My brother in law wants to track his consumption of drinks since it will be his first time having the deluxe package. I know everything should get scanned and tracked on his account but will it be itemized or just show the "purchase" of a drink with a zero cost and the location he got it? For the life of me i can't find my past invoice to clarify this.

same for me also. I was an extreme planner and was very hesitant to give up control. I still do a lot of my research on lower prices but i'm very confident in knowing our TA (Michelle @MEI) is also keeping an eye out for us as well. With all the challenges that Royal customer care has had lately, i'd rather let a professional handle any issues that may come up. If you can find a reliable TA (again MEI is awesome) there honestly isn't ANY reason not to use them that i've been able to figure out. If i screw something up without a TA, its a crap shoot if it will get resolved. If MEI has any issues, 99% of the time they can and will make it right (within reason of course).

ok thats what i was thinking but didn't want anyone new jumping in on this and get the impression you were referring to MEI. Thanks for the clarification sir!

@Jolly Ogre just to be clear, are you referring to AAA?

Another awesome @twangster blog. Thanks again for allowing us to share in your trip. This has me looking for "amped up" options for my next booking. Bamboo Room alone did it for me lol

Will specialty restaurants allow one person to purchase a meal to take back to their room and then the 2 of you could split it? Possibly an option for you.

+3, 4, 5...i lost count but I use @michelle as well. ironically had some correspondence with her about 20 min ago! Awesome to work with as always!

@tiny260 John I don't know a thing about you personally but your affinity for cigars is all I need to know man. Hopefully one day in the future we can ponder the meaning of cruise life over a couple of cigars and spirit while at sea!