KJ1231

I'm in the process of getting an annual plan with Allianz through MEI because we have 2 cruises,a long weekend with flight and car and renting a house near Charleston, SC for a week next spring. RC wanted close to $300 (4 of us) for one cruise, $100 (2 of us) for the other cruise. The realtor for the house wants another $275. For $700 I can get the Premier annual plan for the household with $5K trip cancellation (plus medical, etc) for $700. We use the Royal Caribbean credit card to book the cruise so no insurance there.

Got the $11.99 (down from $15.99) for our Bahamas cruise on Enchantment in March. We got $15.97 for Caribbean Holiday cruise in December on Brilliance before. Today it's $17.99

Nice!

My age isn't in any of the brackets. You have 35-54 and 65+ I'm picking the lower range

We did the Southbound from Seward to Vancouver on Radiance. We flew into Anchorage on Wednesday night for a Friday sailing so we had all day Thursday to check out Anchorage and recover from the flight. Well worth it. For flights, we originally booked Philly to LA and LA to Anchorage on American. They changed the flights to Philly to Phoenix (5 hours) and Phoenix (5+ hours) to Anchorage. We flew home from Vancouver on red-eye to Chicago. Had time for breakfast at O'Hare before the flight home. We had checked the itineraries out of Seattle and preferred the Radiance. We didn't do a land tour.

12/29/18 Brilliance 5 day Western Caribbean 3/8/19 Enchantment 3 day Bahamas

I emailed Casino Royale to verify level and asked if they had a list of perks. I am Choice - which I expected - with only 35 points. Here's the link they sent me with details on levels and perks: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/content/casino/casino-rewards-table.pdf

I was able to use points for our reservation at the Marriott Waterfront. How was the walk to port? There will be 4 of us and bags to wheel so wondering if we should plan on walking, taking the trolley, or getting an Uber. Do you recall if you went to terminal 2 or 3 as one looks a bit further than the other.

Got the updated RC bill and it was actually a $196 difference. May be less if/when TA adds back some of the $75 OBC I lost in the deal ? I'm a happy camper, er cruiser!

Went for it! we only have 7 points from our first cruise. Will get 5 at New Year’s and 6 for this one for a whopping total of 18 ?

I have a spacious balcony on Enchantment next March - 3 night to Bahamas for our anniversary and wife's 60th. With the current sale I thought I could upgrade to a junior suite for less than $200. At my request MEI booked through the casino and got about 10% using an "offer code" I received in an email. Casino apparently does not go by the same rates and sales. Last week the casino gang wanted $356 to upgrade to a junior suite. Today they are saying $220. So the question is, would you upgrade from a balcony to a junior suite for $220 total on a 3-night cruise?

We'll be on Brilliance this year for New Year's and looking forward to it. Kids are a little older (17 & 20) and we have adjoining balcony rooms. One advantage is a second bathroom!

When we were in Alaska we talked to a couple that was going halibut fishing. We ran into them later that evening and the charter they were on cleaned and flash froze quite a bit of halibut and shipped it home for them. In the past we would hire a charter out of Hatteras and catch tuna and mahi and the crew would clean, filet and/or steak the fish and we would come back the day we were leaving and load the coolers to bring home. For fishing excursions it would be awesome to be able to bring back part of the catch back to the ship and have it prepared for dinner. It would be eaten so not subject to customs. The balance would have to be shipped home OR maybe sell it to offset the cost of the charter.

Well I don't do ships in port or weather patterns - everything else is spot on! Maybe we should develop an app

This is what I'm seeing. My son and I are doing things together at Grand Cayman (Stingray City and Discover Scuba) while my wife and daughter are doing Stingray City and Dolphin Encounter. I can only see my wife and I on the calendar. I have a spreadsheet where I track everything - flights, hotels, transfers, rental cars, etc. so it's not that critical. Just a nice to have when viewing the calendar on RCs website. Thanks for verifying!

We have two cabins booked for an upcoming cruise - one for my wife and I and an adjoining one for the kids. Is there a way to get all 4 of us on the same "My Calendar"? I have canceled and re-booked a couple excursions and would be great if I could see all 4 of us on the same calendar.

Tried to see if it was worth upgrading to a JS (from spacious balcony). According to MEI Casino wanted an additional $356 for a 3-nighter on Enchantment. She was going to try again today since the price difference on the site is less than $100 per person.

OK . So found better roundtrip flights with Allegiant but they fly into Sanford (SFB). Anyone have a recommendation for shuttle service from SFB to Port Canaveral?

I had checked Allegiant that flies from Allentown, PA (ABE) to SFB a couple weeks ago and fares were so-so. They are running a small sale so canceled Southwest/AA (no fee within 24 hours) for an Allegiant roundtrip and even with bags, seats cancelation (flex) was $100 cheaper. Plus my sister lives in Sanford so win/win. Just need a SFB/Port Canaveral Shuttle now..

Should have thought of that. Could have saved $140. Probably 2.5 hour ride each way and since we don't want to take time off on Thursday to get a Thursday evening flight it wouldn't have worked this time. Will definitely keep it in mind for next time!!

Feel free to delete if not appropriate for RCCL discussion.... So last month I booked a 3-nighter to the Bahamas to celebrate anniversary and birthday. We got a good deal but airfare was high. We normally fly American because Philly is a hub and I have a fair amount of points. Rather than book air I was waiting to see what Southwest fares would be but at the time they were only taking reservations through 3/6/19. We were flying to Orlando on 3/7 and returning on 3/11. Originally it said the schedule would be updated on 8/16 and when 8/16 arrived it got pushed back until 8/30. I checked the Southwest website twice a day for the last month in case they started taking reservations early. Nothing. Last night I stay up until about 1:00 AM EDT still nothing. I get up at 6 AM this morning. Nothing. Shower and get ready for work. Nothing. Check the app on my phone on my way to work. Nothing. Get to the office and use computer - Most non-stop flights are already sold out and those that aren't are about triple the low price ($118). A whole bunch of people must have been doing the same thing I was Fortunately there was a later flight (7:45 PM) Thursday night for $118 so I just took the one-way. Booked another one-way on AA for the return on 3/11 at double that. Pretty bummed about paying almost as much for airfare as I did for a 3-night cruise. Good news is the thread on the MCO --> Port Canaveral popped up this morning. I had told Michelle at MEI I would use the RCCL transfer at a cost of $150 R/T for the two of us but she need flight info to book it. Thanks to that thread this morning (and Michelle being on vacation!) I saved $70 which made the airfare pill a little easier to swallow..... Time to look at sailings from Bayonne and Baltimore!

Thanks for this link! We were planning on using the RCCL transfer @ $75 pp roundtrip. Cortrans is almost just about half of that - and will pick us up at our hotel since we fly in the night before.

Booked 2 cruises with MEI in July while they were offering free gratuities. This came to $87 on a 3-night for 2 and $290 on a 5 night for 4. Pretty good deal!

Where does one find this "BOGO"? My wife and I are doing a 3-day in March next year to celebrate an anniversary so may be looking to do "specialty" dining.