mk-ultra

I stayed in Cocoa Beach at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront property.  I scheduled an extra day in Cocoa pre-cruise to buffer my trip and to just check things out like Kennedy Space Center.  Rented a car one way from MCO to Cocoa and dropped it off at the local Hertz counter.  They have a free shuttle to the port.
The Hilton was nice.  Right on the beach with a fun outdoor bar that has live music nightly.  It's a short (under 15 minute) drive from there to the car drop off in Cape Canaveral.

Out of many, many cruises I've only been subjected to two alcohol-related incidents.  One was a drunken family having a slap-the-shit-out-of-each-other disagreement poolside (which security quickly took care of -- not sure what they did after escorting them away).
The other was was just creepy.  Extremely drunk guy at a blackjack table decided to start harassing a female friend of mine that was on the same trip, but in a different cabin with her husband.  She's got purple hair in dreads and tattoos.  She's also an IT exec at a Fortune 10.
Guy starting making all sort of insinuations and sexual innuendo hinting that he'd like to, "make her straight."  He also cussed out the dealer any time he busted.  The dealer just took it -- so I went to the pit boss and said, "this guy is being an asshole to your dealer and other guests."  All they did was move him on to another table.  That kinda pissed me off.  Definitely pissed my friend off.  She told him straight to his face to shut the F up.

Out of many, many cruises I've only been subjected to two alcohol-related incidents.  One was a drunken family having a slap-the-shit-out-of-each-other disagreement poolside (which security quickly took care of -- not sure what they did after escorting them away).
The other was was just creepy.  Extremely drunk guy at a blackjack table decided to start harassing a female friend of mine that was on the same trip, but in a different cabin with her husband.  She's got purple hair in dreads and tattoos.  She's also an IT exec at a Fortune 10.
Guy starting making all sort of insinuations and sexual innuendo hinting that he'd like to, "make her straight."  He also cussed out the dealer any time he busted.  The dealer just took it -- so I went to the pit boss and said, "this guy is being an asshole to your dealer and other guests."  All they did was move him on to another table.  That kinda pissed me off.  Definitely pissed my friend off.  She told him straight to his face to shut the F up.

Out of many, many cruises I've only been subjected to two alcohol-related incidents.  One was a drunken family having a slap-the-shit-out-of-each-other disagreement poolside (which security quickly took care of -- not sure what they did after escorting them away).
The other was was just creepy.  Extremely drunk guy at a blackjack table decided to start harassing a female friend of mine that was on the same trip, but in a different cabin with her husband.  She's got purple hair in dreads and tattoos.  She's also an IT exec at a Fortune 10.
Guy starting making all sort of insinuations and sexual innuendo hinting that he'd like to, "make her straight."  He also cussed out the dealer any time he busted.  The dealer just took it -- so I went to the pit boss and said, "this guy is being an asshole to your dealer and other guests."  All they did was move him on to another table.  That kinda pissed me off.  Definitely pissed my friend off.  She told him straight to his face to shut the F up.

Thanks!

I treat the automatic 18% gratuity as a baseline.  I almost always tip pretty well in addition to that -- and (besides going to some folks who work really hard... 6 months without a day off), it never fails to get some really good service.  Massive backlog at Schooner's?  No problem.  Want a double instead of a measured pour?  No problem.  Want your favorite beverage dropped off to you at the blackjack table without even having to ask?  No problem.  Wait staff, dealers, room attendants all appreciate being shown a little extra gratitude.  I definitely feel like I get it back in being treated very well.

I emailed RCI support and described how I have been repeatedly and randomly unsubscribed fro RCI promotional emails (preferences check box magically un-checks itself).  The first reply I got was a fairly generic, "So sorry.  We've re-subscribed you."  That lasted about 3 days, so I emailed back and re-iterated that whether I check it myself or a customer service rep does it on my behalf, my preference always disappears.
I asked them to escalate to their web dev management, and they confirmed they have.  So far, so good.  Don't know what they did to my account but it seems to have stuck this time.  YMMV.

I emailed RCI support and described how I have been repeatedly and randomly unsubscribed fro RCI promotional emails (preferences check box magically un-checks itself).  The first reply I got was a fairly generic, "So sorry.  We've re-subscribed you."  That lasted about 3 days, so I emailed back and re-iterated that whether I check it myself or a customer service rep does it on my behalf, my preference always disappears.
I asked them to escalate to their web dev management, and they confirmed they have.  So far, so good.  Don't know what they did to my account but it seems to have stuck this time.  YMMV.

During this round of website upgrades, there have been tons of issues for everyone.  It's not really about logging out.  I've had several periods where the RCI website showed me with zero C&A points, no upcoming cruises (with 3 booked), etc.  The fix has been to go to my browser settings, search for any cookie that has "royal" in it, and delete it.  Logging in after that... everything is back to normal.  Procedure for doing this is browser-specific but if you Google "delete browser cookies" + Safari or Firefox or whatever you use, you'll get the gist.

Awesome info.  Thank you.
For my upcoming cruise in the 2BR Aqua Suite I'm 99% sure a couple of friends I cruise with regularly are going to join me and take the second bedroom.  For me, the math works out.  I'll be in Star class for about the same price I usually pay for Sky with a solo supplement.  I've sailed with the same friends in a shared cabin... without separate bedrooms... and nobody strangled me.  I think we'll be fine with two bedrooms.   

My "suite point" (pun intended) is under $1K/night.  If I really shop around, I can get something like an L1 Loft for ~$800 per night.  Star anything is usually almost double the expense for the same number of days.  For me, the only way I'm ever going to sail in Star class is to add 2-3 people to the cabin.  And they're going to have to be outside of my snoring radius ?
 

Called in for an October cruise I'd booked on Oasis in an L1 Sky Loft.  Re-priced $672 lower.  Ka-ching!  My other two cruises after that have gone up in price since booking.
Original fare:
Cruise Fare    $8654
BOGO NO REF DEP    -$2127
MEM NO REF DEP    -$150
Taxes, fees, and port expenses    $113
Total Charge    $6490
Re-price:
Cruise Fare    $8654
RES NO REF DEP    -$635
BOGO NO REF DEP    -$2114
DBUP NO REF DEP    -$200
Taxes, fees, and port expenses    $113
Total Charge    $5818
Both $100 OBC.

For me, the secret is to always get the horseradish and a bit of au jus.  I friggin' love horseradish, so your mileage may vary.  The au jus also makes it a little sloppy.  I'm OK with that.  I'm a little bit sloppy as well.
I find a dark corner and eat my daily ration of one sloppy Kummelweck sandwich per day, with jus dishonorably dripping down my arms.  Just the one, as far as anyone else knows. 

For me, the secret is to always get the horseradish and a bit of au jus.  I friggin' love horseradish, so your mileage may vary.  The au jus also makes it a little sloppy.  I'm OK with that.  I'm a little bit sloppy as well.
I find a dark corner and eat my daily ration of one sloppy Kummelweck sandwich per day, with jus dishonorably dripping down my arms.  Just the one, as far as anyone else knows. 

For me, the secret is to always get the horseradish and a bit of au jus.  I friggin' love horseradish, so your mileage may vary.  The au jus also makes it a little sloppy.  I'm OK with that.  I'm a little bit sloppy as well.
I find a dark corner and eat my daily ration of one sloppy Kummelweck sandwich per day, with jus dishonorably dripping down my arms.  Just the one, as far as anyone else knows. 

Most RCI ships I've been on have 3 smoking areas.  Pool deck starboard side aft, the casino itself, and the starboard side deck area just outside of the casino.

After the 3rd night, there was a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries in my suite with a tag on the bottle saying it was from the casino.  Another bottle appeared in my suite on the 6th night, but didn't have the casino tag on it -- but I presume it came from them.  The $750 off was great, but I think the biggest savings came from calling the casino agent line to apply it.  She caught a bunch of additional discounts I could use (I'd booked a cruise for this December via NextCruise while onboard).
With the $750 cert and a bunch of other discounts it knocked my (solo occupancy) Grand Suite from $5258 down to $2295.