mom2mybugs

Not really on the research.. Usually I do a ton of looking up and then call Sharla say MEI and say yolo book it. I haven't found her prices to ever be better than mine... Jane

Nope... Traveling with friends who don't seem to understand my obsession with cruising! Jane

Yes...I have never been asked in the Caribbean! Just Europe. Jane

Awww... Thank you.... Lands end and zulilly are my new faces! Just like heading to Disney... Just take the breaks when you gotta and you will be fine! Also grab lots of water...I think that made our trip so much more bearable (though we got so lucky it wasn't hotter). I will cross my fingers that adventure open turns out to be the best thing ever!! Jane

And be sure that if asked, you pay on the card in the local currency. We were told that the conversion is better when your credit card does this after the transaction and not the store charging in your own currency. Jane

I will not cruise or travel outside the us without insurance. While we weren't covered with our last huge issue even with the insurance, I still trust that the insurance will cover the medical if something happens... And too much can happen! I just take the cost of insurance and consider it part of the cruise fare. Jane

Thanks! We didn't do the solarium alot on vision because frankly the chair saving made me want to strangle people! Did you find the pool deck and upper deck (does empress have a sky deck?) crazy crowded on sea days? And we survived an ocean view on majesty... are the rooms significantly smaller than that on empress? I could go look but you were just on!!! Jane

My daughter and I did this exact itinerary on vision our very first cruise, but my husband hasnt done it. I really like the idea of 4 ports for him! Jane

I never had to show an Id... Just the sea pass card. If you need a picture Id, the passport card definitely works but I don't remember showing any Id other than the sea pass card. Jane

I think freedom will be out of San Juan and those flights are incredibly high usual. Ok.... Obviously I need to organize, because some of the bigger ships are only 300 or so total more. Can someone give me a way to see exactly what ships have what? Anyone done the research already and made a spread sheet of restaurants, amped etc? I can take notes ship by ship but if this is already done it saves me the effort lol! Ok.... Editing because I'm back. Any bigger ship will cost me btw 600 and 1000 more so that just can't happen this trip. the other thing that looks intriguing is empress. It's a tiny ship, but an extra day and it's 200 cheaper on a different ship than vision class. Problem is the itinerary isn't as good (only 1 new port) and 3 sea days on the very tiny ship I will have to go back to @twangster's blog and look at more detail since I didnt read it closely (was too tired in Europe lol). I also hate to give up Tampa so I have to count that as a factor. Jane

I think just like room choice, team drink pkg etc, the key is a highly subjective and personal decision. I don't look at it as 19 per day, but at least 38 because everyone in the room has to get it. Right there I know I'd never get the value out of it if we have any kids with us. Then in addition, I know I usually end up doing specialty dinner one night at least, so the lunch isn't really something I'd normally do. I will say after my Europe trip that you might want it if you have a lot of tender ports and aren't doing royal excursions. My guess is that I will never purchase it, because we will usually share the 1 device so that makes the value go v down even further. Jane

Welcome to all the new cruiding friends! This is a great place to hang out!!! Jane

Does everyone experience the week long depression when you come back from the cruise? I couldn't even think about cruising for a week...I was so sad to be off the ship. I am still missing someone making my bed every day and grocery shopping for me. And where the heck is my deck chair and adult beverage lol??? I was reading about the royal amp on freedom (one of my favorite ships) and I'm starting to rethink spring break 2020. Here's my dilemma... We are booked on rhapsody. Pros:. Great embarkation City (Tampa), great itinerary (includes Belize and Roatan, both of which my husband hasnt done) and mostly amazing price. We booked a year ago, and with 2 sales our price was close to 1900 for 3 of us (85 a day/pp at spring break!). We won't get even close to this good a price is we book another ship. Cons:. We just sailed the same ship basically (vision) and I'm wanting to try the new amped restaurants and bars (mostly playmakers and lime and coconut since I won't do the slides most likely). Now to be fair, it's a 4 port cruise so not a ton of ship time anyway. Cost...we are thinking about going to Europe again next summer to England, Scotland and Ireland and drink pkgs and crazy airfare will hike the cheap cruise anyway, though we just did all the restaurants so wouldn't likely do any specialty dining unless we got a great deal. Ugh.... So anyway I'm mostly brainstorming. I know it's all subjective... You guys cant decide my budget etc for me lol! But if we cancel, it will likely be another 2 years... Maybe summer 2021 at earliest... Till we cruise again because my 16 year old wants Disney for her senior year spring break 2021!! I guess I raised her right but I hate having my obsessions at war!!! Anyway just wanted to post I'm alive back and that cruising is way more fun than work, toe surgery (my 16 year old) and the dentist! Happy Sunday everyone! Jane

I'm finally back Michelle... Sorry about the delay. I looked it up... The tour was Rome, the eternal City and it was through royal. It really was the best tour over done, though it may have been because the tour guide was SO amazing. Also I liked that they have us 2 people... One to guide the history, and one to keep track of the logistics and keeping us together! Jane

I think my travel agent logged it in our account. It might also be that I bought the decorations for the room. We also had an amazing stateroom attendant who might have said something. I was very surprised though that they were ready for us even when we only went to the dining room a couple of times and had a different waiter! Jane

@berkeleykel I just did Athens and mykenos. Mykenos had a tiny close beach that was free...we did a trip out to the ancient island of delos.... In Athens we did the Acropolis. Both of these ports involved a ton of walking, much over uneven pavements. If your little one tires easily, temper expectations and don't plan on the whole day, or think about some time in adventure ocean while you explore. Let me know if you have any other specific questions...we didn't find cruising until my kids were teenagers but I'm a preschool teacher so I tend to have little ones in the back of my mind lol! Jane

Sorry answering so late! Cake or something like it has been on most if not all my sailings. Nice little touch! Jane

You need your passport to go to Europe anywhere. Once there, though, we never used it... It stayed in the safe the whole cruise. We didnt even need it to get off, since we stayed in the EU the whole cruise. Keep an eye on the Visa requirements that are coming though.... You will need to get that done depending on travel date. Jane

It's an amazing and encompassing and informative place! Highly addictive (like cruising lol). Jane

I'm telling you... The laundry bag for 25 was wonderful!!! I really could have done one suitcase. Taking fewer shoes really helped. Next time I will definitely plan on rewearing evening dinner clothes and washing the daytime stuff that gets too sweaty to just re-wear! Can't wait to hear how your trip goes! Jane

I'm so glad! It will be nice for me to look back on as now I'm in dry dock for awhile lol! Jane

Thanks for answering all my endless questions beforehand!!! You were a wonderful source of information! I'm ready to go back!!! Jane

The port evenings I have to admit we were tired! It will be harder with all the great shows and music that allure will have at night! Jane

So... My final take-aways. First of all, I focused this blog mostly on the trip and not necessarily the ship because it's something different. I really like vision. The crew, the cruise director, the activities director, my stateroom attendant...I have no complaints!! They were all amazing. I'm not a picky cruiser and vision was totally fine, especially for a port heavy itinerary. It truly never felt crowded except when chair hogs hit the decks. I felt like the ship was in good condition (yes a bit of rust here and there, but hey, that's me too lol) and the shower curtain doesn't bug me. That being said, we had some negatives as well. The music venues are very limited, the bars were limited and the activities are limited. For me, that was fine. My sea days involved myself and 5 novels! My husband, who had previously been on adventure, freedom and allure surprised me by saying he really prefers the bigger ships. He would rather sail on a bigger ship if we can get the same itineraries and trade the price difference by staying in an interior room. We are scheduled on rhapsody for next spring break...we got an amazing deal and great itinerary (including Belize and Roatan) but we may cancel and save up a bit... Especially if we decide to go to the UK next summer. Speaking of itineraries... Europe was mostly amazing!!! We did find that just like the Caribbean, there are better ports and that we are excursion people. A whole day of shopping won't work for us...we need something to do. Otherwise, you start seeing the same shops, just like in the Caribbean!! Long trips:. We found that 12 days was just awesome! But I was still sad to get off... The 2nd to last day is always gonna suck no matter how long your cruise is! Eating:. Unless there is lots of variety, we will probably decrease our specialty dining... It's just too much food. Same for the dining room...we will continue to do my time because we just don't want 2 hour dining every night. We enjoyed windjammer on those days we were tired and just wanted to relax, or had eaten big at port. Drink pkg:. The drink pkg even on 12 days was totally worth it. We went through at least 3 bottles of water every day, coffee every morning, 2 glasses of wine with dinner and at least 1 cocktail a day. Could we do without it, yes but for us it is really worth it and again, I'd be willing to go with a smaller room to afford it. It was pricy but it worked for us absolutely. Just FYI, the lowest price we ever saw was $48/day, and $57 with the internet 1 device each. The drink card never showed up on our 12 day cruise so people must have been purchasing enough drinks! Packing:. Ok... So I definitely did better this trip, but could have done a bit better. We managed 3 checked bags and 1 carry-on and didn't bring back a lot of souvenirs. I could have done better... The laundry bag was amazing and my stateroom attendant made me fill enough for two bags and charged for one. Nothing shrunk and next time I could easily pack fewer bathing suits and PJs and cover-ups. Still would worry about my dresses, but none of Jeff's nice polos shrank! So that is our trip. I'm so sad it's over...we have dreamed of this for a lifetime and planned it for almost 2 years. But we have memories to last us forever, amazing pictures and the knowledge that we will do what we can to continue traveling. Life is way too short not to try and travel, and for us it's a priority! Thanks for coming along on our voyage with us! Jane

Ok...I will have Jeff send me at least the still copy of my hair and makeup! Jane