mom2mybugs

Ok loving your blog!   And loving that  you are loving your cruise!   Hope Tuesday was as awesome as Monday!  Jane

HA!! The return on investment for that is not worth it. They will forget about the trip we just went on and go back to being 9 and 11 year olds right after we get off the ship... 

I'm hoping for that black Friday or cyber Monday sale!   And hey, I keep hoping for my Detroit lions not to embarrass themselves on thanksgiving!   Jane

I would love for you to share your cruise compass... is this the eastern 6 day to cozumel, Costa Maya and grand Cayman?   I will be on that cruise in March.   I bought the pkg last week for 45 a day plus gratuities and saved about 70 dollars off full price.   Jane

I've got at least 12 years before I can think about retiring (and that would be "early", age 59 1/2). Two kids to get through college, younger won't be done until I'm 54 at the earliest, and that's assuming she doesn't take a gap year like her sister is planning to do.
Those of you who've reached that milestone and are enjoying the fruits of your labor, my hat's off to you!

Yep...i mentioned that...i think they somehow are trying to make you feel grateful for the money you save buying the 2nd pkg!  In our case though, dropping that 10 really did make it make sense for my husband, so total win for us! Jane

My teens didn't have any issues with the pullmans... and my son was about 5'9" at the time.   They never complained about comfort and I like dock liked the space it freed up.  Jane

I was on vision for my very first cruise and I didn't have any trouble getting a chair.  I like the sky deck (so one up from the pool) and I did get up early.  I think I was at my chair about 9 but there were lots of them.   You can go on the deck chairs anytime.   Have a great cruise! Jane

Also going to ditto that. Checked four days in a row, and only this morning did I finally see a price drop (also to $43). Bought my Deluxe Package today, at the "cost" of also having to buy my wife her Refreshment Package that she wanted at the same time, instead of doing that on next month's billing cycle; the rep at Royal's cruise planner number said this was what I'd have to do, even with a note that she cannot drink, for me to purchase the Deluxe Package for myself.
I know Matt's earlier blog posting about this did clearly show that with an exception, no additional purchase needs to be made. But since my wife did want that package, I didn't really feel like arguing the point and then having to argue it again next month on the new billing cycle.

Ditto on that!  I am on Harmony in February, and have been checking once a week or so on drink packages.  Was at $55 for ever, then after their policy change it dropped to $46.  Now I checked today after reading the above posts and it is at $43.  I have never seen it that low, even on black friday sales.  They must be lowering the price a little now that they are requiring all adults to purchase it (if one does).  With the gratuity that amounts to about $50 a day, which is pretty easy to get to.

I really really love this site!   I have been checking for days and at every cruise planet sale and the drink price for the deluxe has always been 55/ day for my March freedom cruise.   I looked at sabrinas post and decided,  ok I will look... won't be different but....   Well, it was down to $45/day for no reason so I hopped to buy.  If I get 30% on black Friday I will cancel and re book, but that saved me 75 dollars a person!   At 45 a day,  that is 3 cocktails, a coffee and a bottled water... even my husband would do that (he drinks a Lot less than I do) so I can justify the 2 adult pkg.  Wondering if pkg purchases were down with the 2 adult thing...but it's a long time till March.  Nothing else was on sale.    Thanks for posting...i never would have gone on today!  Jane 

I really really love this site!   I have been checking for days and at every cruise planet sale and the drink price for the deluxe has always been 55/ day for my March freedom cruise.   I looked at sabrinas post and decided,  ok I will look... won't be different but....   Well, it was down to $45/day for no reason so I hopped to buy.  If I get 30% on black Friday I will cancel and re book, but that saved me 75 dollars a person!   At 45 a day,  that is 3 cocktails, a coffee and a bottled water... even my husband would do that (he drinks a Lot less than I do) so I can justify the 2 adult pkg.  Wondering if pkg purchases were down with the 2 adult thing...but it's a long time till March.  Nothing else was on sale.    Thanks for posting...i never would have gone on today!  Jane 

I really really love this site!   I have been checking for days and at every cruise planet sale and the drink price for the deluxe has always been 55/ day for my March freedom cruise.   I looked at sabrinas post and decided,  ok I will look... won't be different but....   Well, it was down to $45/day for no reason so I hopped to buy.  If I get 30% on black Friday I will cancel and re book, but that saved me 75 dollars a person!   At 45 a day,  that is 3 cocktails, a coffee and a bottled water... even my husband would do that (he drinks a Lot less than I do) so I can justify the 2 adult pkg.  Wondering if pkg purchases were down with the 2 adult thing...but it's a long time till March.  Nothing else was on sale.    Thanks for posting...i never would have gone on today!  Jane 

I really really love this site!   I have been checking for days and at every cruise planet sale and the drink price for the deluxe has always been 55/ day for my March freedom cruise.   I looked at sabrinas post and decided,  ok I will look... won't be different but....   Well, it was down to $45/day for no reason so I hopped to buy.  If I get 30% on black Friday I will cancel and re book, but that saved me 75 dollars a person!   At 45 a day,  that is 3 cocktails, a coffee and a bottled water... even my husband would do that (he drinks a Lot less than I do) so I can justify the 2 adult pkg.  Wondering if pkg purchases were down with the 2 adult thing...but it's a long time till March.  Nothing else was on sale.    Thanks for posting...i never would have gone on today!  Jane 

I really really love this site!   I have been checking for days and at every cruise planet sale and the drink price for the deluxe has always been 55/ day for my March freedom cruise.   I looked at sabrinas post and decided,  ok I will look... won't be different but....   Well, it was down to $45/day for no reason so I hopped to buy.  If I get 30% on black Friday I will cancel and re book, but that saved me 75 dollars a person!   At 45 a day,  that is 3 cocktails, a coffee and a bottled water... even my husband would do that (he drinks a Lot less than I do) so I can justify the 2 adult pkg.  Wondering if pkg purchases were down with the 2 adult thing...but it's a long time till March.  Nothing else was on sale.    Thanks for posting...i never would have gone on today!  Jane 

I really really love this site!   I have been checking for days and at every cruise planet sale and the drink price for the deluxe has always been 55/ day for my March freedom cruise.   I looked at sabrinas post and decided,  ok I will look... won't be different but....   Well, it was down to $45/day for no reason so I hopped to buy.  If I get 30% on black Friday I will cancel and re book, but that saved me 75 dollars a person!   At 45 a day,  that is 3 cocktails, a coffee and a bottled water... even my husband would do that (he drinks a Lot less than I do) so I can justify the 2 adult pkg.  Wondering if pkg purchases were down with the 2 adult thing...but it's a long time till March.  Nothing else was on sale.    Thanks for posting...i never would have gone on today!  Jane 

Thanks for the heads-up on this! I re-checked this morning and mine has dropped overnight to $43/day! Timing is perfect, as I just started a new billing cycle today. Will be calling up Royal as soon as their service desk is open and I'm clear of my morning work calls.
The Sip 'N Stream package is also discounted, but the internet part is only discounted by a dollar a day. Given that I need to buy a 4-device package anyway, and another post here noted the poster couldn't get that package for himself without also buying for his wife, I'll just get the Deluxe package for now and buy the internet another month.

Air fare is killer but even during March spring break I have paid at most 550 round trip out of Chicago to south Florida.   Have you tried looking at mayrix.itasoftware.com?  It will give you all the combinations and prices to check.   Also try checking into orlando...port Canaveral is an easy shuttle from there.   I handle my own airfare...i haven't found the travel agents where I was to be helpful on that.   I have just switched to mei travel (who sponsor this site)  and sharla has been great so far.   
In terms of ships and rooms,  there are people with way more experience.  I can definitely say you will get more bang for your buck and more cabin for  your money if you go on an older or smaller ship.   I know freedom was a steal for next spring break.  I personally would rather cruise 2x on a smaller cabin than 1x with a huge suite but I'd love to try one someday!   
   Goodluck...i know people here will give you tons of advice but i would definitely search cheaper airfare... it's out there!  Jane 

Really enjoying your journey! Jane

Day 1 - Embarkation day  
Usually this day is simple although tense, we wake up eat quick breakfast and take a shuttle/taxi to the port around 10:30 AM .
This time its different as the check in to the boast will be only at 5 to 7  PM while the sail hour is midnight (not sure why it still called 10 days cruise … where is the missing a day ? to the finders I promise reward)
So we had to find out how to spend the full day before going to the port, to add to the complexity today we also had Hon Kong cycling competition which brought to many road blocks , we found out that the start/finish  point of the race is just across from our hotel.
To reduce the risk of finding taxi that will take us to the port I reserved  a car from the hotel guessing they will  have better chance to know how to avoid the road blocks and the extra traffic associate with it, so yes I paid twice what I would pay for the taxi but at least I knew its safer.
The good thing was that the hotel let us keep the room until 3 PM .
We went again to the same place to eat breakfast, after all you don’t replace a wining horse or  a wining sandwich.
We watch the bicycle race for a while, preparing our self for the cycling tour we booked in Vietnam which his almost the same  then went to take our free drinks at the hotel lobby waiting for our car (watching the race was quite an effort and was enough practice for today)..

Once it was the time to go; the hotel send someone with our suitcase as we had to bypass the road block by claiming a bridge and navigate via a street or two to get to our car.
The ride to the port was very fast around 15 minutes so it was around 5:15 when we arrived , we gave our suitcase outside ,until now it was like any boarding day, yap until that time …
We got to the hall where we saw tons of people seating and waiting for something, there were many lines but we figured out that the biggest line was for the photo copy machine , you see , RC asked people to bring a photo copy of their first passport page , many I guess or did not read it or don’t have a printer at home …
The priority check in lines was reverse for Platinum and up  (while in Europe and US they have queues for gold also) which was not that bad as the regular line took us less than 5 minutes and hey after this cruise we will become platinum, well we are newbies J   
We did the check in and got a number for boarding, that actually explain what where all the people doing in the hall, while in many other places you do the check in and then you go via security to the waiting hall here you did the check in and waited for your number to be called to the security. I guess they don’t have place for people to wait after the security..
They  started to call all the suites and down to Platinum members to approach the security for boarding around 5:45 PM . We were called around 7 PM , if I just knew it was the first line …
The good thing was that the crew tried to maintain the order meaning they really checked the numbers that  people had  and removed them from the line if their  numbers were not called yet, I liked that system.
After the security line which went quite fast we got to the immigration line that took another 20 minutes, once we passed that I was relived, finally time to get on board , but no , just another line , this time it was a line to give the passport and a the passport copy , apparently on this route the ship is holding everyone passport as part of issuing visas to Vietnam (remember my previous post of running to the Embassy, well as I suspect it was not required , hey at least I did some walking).. This line was another 15 to 20 minutes and then finally we got to the board.
We were boarded at the fourth deck which was a surprise for me as until now we all the time boarded to the royal promenade
At least there was one good thing which was the fact that our room was already ready has the ship arrived empty from China the bad thing was that we were missing the major things which usually should be already at room like the shore excursions tickets and the internet code.

I went down to the Guest service to fix those issues   and to check what happened to our first night done right which the guest service suggested that they will book me whatever restaurant I want.
We decide to try Giovanni Table which was excellent, I will just say that for the entry we took the filet (both of us) and it was one of the best filet that I was ever eaten, very tender and taste full.


From the restaurant we went directly to the muster drill that was conducted at 10:30.
 
Tomorrow sea day

I am really hoping for a black Friday/cyber Monday sale...if we are buying 2 drink P kgs, it would really be nice if I could save 11 bucks a day!  Jane

I am really hoping for a black Friday/cyber Monday sale...if we are buying 2 drink P kgs, it would really be nice if I could save 11 bucks a day!  Jane

I hate to extend this topic but I must comment.  My wife has had hip replacement and needs a soft mattress otherwise she gets cranky the next day.  And yes, we have an air mattress we take and we have also taken a memory foam topper with us.  Most likely will take it again.  I've been married too long to argue about luggage space.  You remember the saying "If the wife ain't happy, then nobody is happy".  Consider it self preservation.  Don't tell her I said this.  I'm scared of her....   

Yup, @Matt did a great job researching that for us all! Saved me the trouble of actually booking a cruise that went to Coco Cay, taking the measurements, doing the table comparing features,...
Seriously, though, this is probably the best part of the site. The sheer wealth of actual research and reporting back to us that @Matt and others like @monorailmedic and @mpoole3 (not to mention @bcarney, @WAAAYTOOO, @RestingBirds, @KLAconQueso of course, @Sailor_to_Cruiser, and all the other veterans who chime in regularly) do for all of us. So when someone new comes along and has a question like this, chances are pretty good that someone on the site is probably going to remember reading about just that thing, be able to look it up and double-check everything, and give back the right information to help the person asking that question.
 
And with that, I submit what is officially my 500th post since joining this site 10 months ago. ?

How about a list of things NOT to bring in a carry on:
your neighbor a goldfish in a bowl an uncooked ham a sofa Anyone think of any others?