KathyC

Yeah, Cathy said that she'd deal with an OV or inside if the premium on balcony was so high that it put a squeeze on us. We have the Med cruise next year to pay for, so she doesn't want us to get into a hole. Have to see (a) if they are in fact selling OV and/or Inside cabins, and (b) what the balcony premium really is.
As for the available dates, I'd assume June, July, and August will be on the table. If it's fair to assume that the cruises will always depart on a Saturday, we're locked into either July 17th or 24th and nothing else. If they depart on a Monday, we'll be limited to the 12th, 19th, or 26th.

UGH!!! I wish Southwest flew to Bermuda ..... we have a ton of credits from our canceled cruise out of SJ.

Spoke to the missus, her response was a very firm, "YES!" Well, as far as getting a hold on a cabin and seeing what the prices come out to.
We're really constrained on what dates we can sail. Basically a 2-week window between when our younger daughter leaves for Japan and comes back home, right in mid/late July. So it's probably gonna be expensive. But after such a long vacation drought I'm hoping we can just say, "YOLO!!!! YOLO!!!! A thousand times, YOLO!!!"
Email sent to our TA requesting a hold on a 2B / 4B balcony cabin. Yeah, that's probably gonna have a premium with balconies in such short supply, but I want that sea air and cobalt blue water up for view.

You and I are in the same boat (pun intended) --- keep me in the loop on this one.  Perhaps we can both swing this one.

OK, remember how I said I had a bunch of expenses to deal with and didn't think I could swing a Caribbean sailing on Adventure? Well, this might change that equation. Vision may be the smallest, oldest, and least-equipped ship in the fleet after Empress; but if the price is more reasonable this could be a lot more workable. A flight from EWR to Bermuda should be cheap!
And because it's Bermuda, my wife is no longer guaranteed to say "NO!" the second I say, "new cruise itinerary to..." ?

IMO, the Adventure itinerary is more about the ship while the Vision itinerary is more about the destinations. Bermuda and Coco Cay is a great pairing, especially with an overnight in both; but Vision as a ship is definitely more-limited in what it has to offer (though hardly a slouch).
So I'd suggest to pick which is more important to you and go from there.

That's fine as long as it doesn't interrupt my TA from booking Milllennium on any one of the sailings in June.? If you're thinking on booking Millennium as an RCL loylaist never having sailed Celebrity,  here are some thoughts. I've sailed Millenium 4x, the most recent was in Asia for a month B2B. I'm a smaller ship enthusiast so, Celebrity's Millennium Class ships are my cup of tea. I've sailed Jewel, a Radiance Class ship, once on a repositioning cruise - loved it. The two classes, as has been mentioned, are similar in size and flay-out.
When one speak's of "older' ships, Celebrity's maintenance standards almost make that term irrelevant. You might find a nick or two in a chair or cabinetry but for the most parts I've always found Celebrity's ships, no matter the class or age, spotless and everything I use regularly, functional.  If you find something amiss in your cabin, it will get fixed right away. The layout is easy to navigate - straight access fore and aft on most decks. Cabin size is average with a larger deck on what are called "hump cabins. If you can snag one of those, do it. Aft cabins also have a larger deck, forward facing cabins are a bit larger. I just don't like either of these cabins, have tried both and that's just me. 
Celebrity has pushed these "refrubishments" and cabin upgrades converting the Millennium class ships to offer more exclusivity. I'm not really in to paying a premium fares for special soaps and a shower head or being able to dine in an exclusive restaurant with, aside from maybe a specialty or two, the same food that's served in the main dining rooms. So, my advice is to skip these premium fares. Book an "obstructed" Veranda at the lowest price you can get. Obstructed is a misnomer. The only thing you'll find obstructed is looking straight down. Worst case you'll have the top 10th of a lifeboat in your view. No big deal. This advice varies but skip Tuscan Grill and whatever they are calling the others now (specialty dining venue names change regularly) but book Murano. It really is 5 star dining - or at least it has been for us on past sailings. Tuscan is OK, not great as one of the only 3 or 4 specialty dining options and I'm thinking these might be limited on start-up cruises.
If you favor what I call the glitz of the mega-ships, amusement park level activities and more dining options than you can take part on in a 7n cruise, Millennium will disappoint you. If you just want to sail, Celebrity cruise line is an excellent choice and Millennium a solid cruise ship. Before RCG acquired Celebirty, it was an independent luxury line. The X on the stacks of it's ships signified excellence. It's changed a bit in the 20y we've been cruising that line, almost exclusively, but not much.

@Aiden ParkerThis is a great idea.  During my home time the past year, I found a photo album I had picked up on a cruise at some point that I forgot I had.  Still new in wrapper!  So I went back to my first cruise on 1992 and printed out pictures from every sailing.  I printed out a picture of the ship to start each section, looked up sail dates and itineraries, and made a album full of memories that now span almost 30 years.  Having notes from the past really helped me fill in some of those blanks.  I had to do some digging through old scrapbooks & external hard drives for details; I wish I had started a log once we fell in love with cruising and knew we'd be life-long cruisers. 

Some do and some don't.  MEI is one of those that take the initiative on their own when sales are announced and will check their client's bookings.  Another agent I used to use would happily re-price, but only after I did the price check on my own every time there was a sale; "too busy with too many clients to check every one every time".  I've had others in the past that wanted nothing to do with a re-price, as that meant extra work for them to receive a lower commission, or would charge a small fee for the bother. 

That is a valid question to ask any agent, so you know up front what their practice is. 

@Aiden ParkerThis is a great idea.  During my home time the past year, I found a photo album I had picked up on a cruise at some point that I forgot I had.  Still new in wrapper!  So I went back to my first cruise on 1992 and printed out pictures from every sailing.  I printed out a picture of the ship to start each section, looked up sail dates and itineraries, and made a album full of memories that now span almost 30 years.  Having notes from the past really helped me fill in some of those blanks.  I had to do some digging through old scrapbooks & external hard drives for details; I wish I had started a log once we fell in love with cruising and knew we'd be life-long cruisers. 

@Aiden ParkerThis is a great idea.  During my home time the past year, I found a photo album I had picked up on a cruise at some point that I forgot I had.  Still new in wrapper!  So I went back to my first cruise on 1992 and printed out pictures from every sailing.  I printed out a picture of the ship to start each section, looked up sail dates and itineraries, and made a album full of memories that now span almost 30 years.  Having notes from the past really helped me fill in some of those blanks.  I had to do some digging through old scrapbooks & external hard drives for details; I wish I had started a log once we fell in love with cruising and knew we'd be life-long cruisers. 

@Aiden ParkerThis is a great idea.  During my home time the past year, I found a photo album I had picked up on a cruise at some point that I forgot I had.  Still new in wrapper!  So I went back to my first cruise on 1992 and printed out pictures from every sailing.  I printed out a picture of the ship to start each section, looked up sail dates and itineraries, and made a album full of memories that now span almost 30 years.  Having notes from the past really helped me fill in some of those blanks.  I had to do some digging through old scrapbooks & external hard drives for details; I wish I had started a log once we fell in love with cruising and knew we'd be life-long cruisers. 

That's great!
If you are into this sort of thing create a log of all your cruises with dates and places visited.  By the time you reach my age some of those details start to become a little foggy.   Ask your parents if they have any pictures from those cruises.  If so,  scan and save them, even if that is just taking a picture of them with a smartphone.  Years from now as cruising evolves it will be amazing to go back and look at your cruise history from those early days.

I remember going on Voyager of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, and Navigator of the Seas in the Caribbean
I went on Majesty of the Seas out of San Diego in the late 2000's to Baja California.
My most recent cruise was the very first ever revenue journey of Quantum of the seas from Southampton to Port Liberty transatlantic and we stopped for a bit in Ponta Delgada in the Azores for a medical stop. I then learned that maybe the atlantic weren't for me because i experienced motion sickness for the first time one day and had to lay down and rest for a bit. But the rest of the cruise was Uber fun and I would definitely sail on Quantum Again.
I am hoping to go on a cruise to Northern Europe with my family for my High School graduation in the summer of 2023 and can't wait for it.

Worth noting that PEV did a huge up-grade to its (primarily) Celebrity terminal to accommodate Apex class ships and their new check-in technology over a year ago. It's not like Port Everglades is getting left behind. Multiple lines cruise from there.  It appears to me that in S. FL, RCG is consolidating ships in it's brand at two ports. I haven't sailed any cruise line out of Miami for a while. I live a 10 minute Uber ride to Port Everglades and I cruise primarily aboard Celebrity ships so .......

I can promise you the lowest price in terms of what Royal direct has to offer, but I can't promise you to match a $600 discount that Costco is giving, or anything like that. But I can promise you that I will work hard for you and do my best job for you, as I would for everyone no matter what. 
*By "I" I do mean "pretty much all MEI-Travel agents."

For those of you who are on the fence about using a Travel Agency, PLEASE READ. This past weekend we decided to book a 7 day cruise on the Anthem out of Cape Liberty, NJ and bring our daughter and her family along with us over Easter week departing on April 22, 2022. I spent a couple of days searching the Anthem for a JS for my wife and I and two balcony adjoining rooms for our daughter and her family. I did find some of what I was looking for on different decks, near the elevators or on deck 13 (below the WJ) and they all were not acceptable. So, I contacted Michelle, MEI Travel (they also sponsor this blog) told her what I wanted and VIOLA! Today I booked a JS on deck 10 and two adjoining cabins also on deck 10. None of those cabins were available when I searched. Moral of the story here is don't waste your time, get ahold of Michelle at MEI and let her know what you want. She can make miracles happen! ?

I'm fairly certain the UK starting banning Americans once they heard your British accent.

The condition of being adopted is putting up with my Australian accent every day.

Hello RCB Community, we need your help.
After listening to Matt's podcast today we need to find a loving family who would love to adopt two wonderful people. We need to be adopted so we have a way of escaping fortress Australia and live in the wonderful USA, preferably Florida. We wouldn't take up too much room as most of the time will be spent on a cruise ship, starting with Adventure of the Seas, B2B2B2B2B. Willing to baby sit, garden and do dishes while at your beautiful home, happy to even simply pitch a tent in the backyard; whatever it takes so we can get ourselves onto a cruise ship. 
Matt, I recall from a past podcast when you had the water damage, you have an extra room, studio B, that will be fine. I am sure you and the family won't mind???
Please help some poor Aussie's to get back on a cruise ship ASAP.  

Just got the AZ jab, wish me luck!

@KathyC -- Quick update, I ended up downloading the "Downscope" app ---- It's been real easy to work with, and, for the most part, all of the scopes that needed saved (like my wife winning Finish the Lyrics) downloaded just fine.   For those still struggling, it may be worth a shot.

I think employees families would be the first target test cruiser.
A family member has a vested interest in ensuring a positive outcome and it doesn't need to ever become public knowledge until it has occurred.
There are way too many bloggers/vloggers/social media influencers in their own mind who would create clickbait headlines without a care in the world what it might do to the cruise line.  They just want their moment in the spotlight or ad revenue and they will lie and exaggerate to get it.  Not all bloggers are like that but the cruise line doesn't need even one of them on a test cruise.  
Start with employees and family.  That also sends a strong message.  This is safe, we even put our own families on the ship to prove it.

Celebrity Edge is showing up on a couple port Schedules in 2022 on the West Coast of the U.S. could be just a place holder for another ship.