averbeck

I've been on 18. For a while it was a goal. Just like visiting all 50 states (I have Maine (Scheduled for Sept) and South Carolina left). But as Twangster said, several of the ships stay in the Pacific and at this time, with young children, I'm not likely to hit those up any time soon. Depending on your view, we been on a "rut" of Oasis class cruises since our kids love the Boardwalk and we like to convince friends to go with us and we like to showcase the Oasis class.

I can confirm what Antonio said. iMessage has worked for me on both Harmony and Quantum. I had heard that it's because the new App is going to use the same port (not ship port) as iMessage uses so they can't block it. Plus, I think they realize there really is no harm in allowing it. Just connect to the wifi on airplane mode and you should be able to send iMessages assuming your phone knows that the other phone is an iPhone (aka it sends blue text bubbles instead of green)

I became Diamond Plus by marrying someone who was Diamond and then we cruised 2-3 times per year for a few years. ? We have some young kids 2 and 4. And the concierge lounge used to allow kids where Diamon lounge didn’t, which was an advantage. But now the DL also allows kids. Don’t worry. If we go there, we bring iPads and headphones to keep them entertained and quiet as to not bother other peoples’ experiences

30 years old

Deleting post

I couldn't find this question being asked on this forum so I apologize if it has been asked before. (Found one on another site but I trust you guys a lot more) Next week I'll be going to Labadee and we decided to get one of the Over the Water Cabanas. Does anyone happen to know if RCI offers life jackets/preservers on the island. I've been there close to 10 times but since I've never needed one for our kids, I've never really looked around for them. Wondering if I should bring our own from home. (My kids are roughly 3 and 5) Note: This is not in regards to the water inflatables area, this is just for swimming in front of our cabana. I know they have life jackets over there. Thanks in advance.

The Trojan horse was really just a wooden towel animal and you saw how that worked out for the Greek-Trojan friendship. j/k

My only suggestion would be to get there early and then tip the waiters on the first day. Then they recognize you and are more likely to stop by more often. Now that I have small children, we rarely go to the diamond lounge, but if I do, I'll stand up near the "bar" and order my drink when they walk by. They tend to be too busy for a casual stopper-by like me.

Just to make sure you know. Chairs themselves are free (you can tip the employees who drag them over to where you want them). Of course these are the chairs without cushions and you'd have to find your own shade.

@KathyC My last post indicated that it was showing me Serenade in the filters, but she is not actually in Europe.

Yeah, for some reason the filters were showing Serenade as a filter option, but when I removed the Europe filter, it was actually in Alaska/Panama/West Coast during the date range I picked. So Phase 1 is really just 2 ships...boo

Am I correct that "Phase 1" of Europe seems to be 3 ships that are deployed to England? Haven't seen anything else this week.

I had mixed results the one time I tried to use a walkie talkie. Half the time the signal didn't penetrate the large amount of metal around us, and then you have to carry it around with you and have it out in order to hear that someone is trying to talk to you. On our most recent cruise, iMessages and GroupMe both worked without purchasing the internet package but I don't know that I'd count on that. Sticky notes work the best to say where you PLAN on being. But doesn't help if you change your plans

Pretty sure you can rent movies through the TV menu. But the prices tend to be a little higher than I'm willing to pay. You're better off looking at the cruise compass and they may have a movie up on the pool deck or in the theater. Check out the past cruise compass section of this website to see whether they might typically play movies. There is also a "movie" channel. Where they play the same 3-5 movies over and over throughout the sailing. Typically I'll put them on when we're getting read for dinner and I'll be lucky if I get to see 33% of each movie.

The ones I've seen kind of have a mattress that slides out like a drawer where your shins are when you sit on the couch. I know on 1 cruise, it only slid out far enough for 1 person to sleep the same way you would lay on the coach. But that room may have had a pullman out of the ceiling to allow 4 people in the room. Often my wife says the couch is more comfortable than the pull out bed.

Not worth it to me. Although, being Diamond Plus, we typically get 2, 2 day internet passes (depending on the sailing, sometimes it's just 2, 1 day internet passes), and then several free drinks in the evening. The things that I carry on, are things I think I might need during the day, so dropping them off isn't really a value to me. I can carry my backpack and diaper bag around the ship for 2-3 hours.

Agree with yzfmik. It's super easy. Just go into the cruise planner and you can see all of the stuff you've already purchased and you can cancel them. Then re-purchase. The only complaint I've ever heard is that the cancellation/refund takes a few days to hit your credit card so there is a a couple day period where you've paid for 2 but haven't gotten the refund yet.

For those that don't cruise often, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Essentially you get 2% on RCI purchases, but I have a Citi Double Cash card that gives me 2% on EVERY purchase. And on top of that, I can use those rewards for statement credit (aka I can use it right away). The RCI card can really only be used when you go on another cruise. So often you're sitting there with points accrued and a) You don't have enough to get anything b) you have to wait 4 months before you can realize that reward. Also, there aren't really any intermediary things you can by. And by that I mean, you need lots of points to buy anything and there's nothing you can really spend any extra you have on, until you accrue more again. I agree the sign up bonus was really the only perk that caused me to get it years ago. I never use it now.

I will say, though I am neither suggesting or not suggesting. That you can go to the front desk and ask to have the automatic gratuities waved for your small child. Then you can opt to tip various crew members that you feel deserve the additional tip caused by the infant. (Maybe the stateroom attendant did a great job making sure the crib was set up every night or the dining room waiter provided applesauce and milk). I know it was hard for me to swallow the 3rd person gratutity when our infant slept in our bed, so no additional work for the stateroom attendant, and she ate only what we brought for her, bottles and pouches. We would then be able to tip the Adventure Ocean staff on the ships that DID have a nursery...which doesn't apply to you. Couple other tips... We still tried to go to some shows but sat in the very last row in those kind of bar stool seats, so we could leave the moment the little one woke or got fussy. Sometimes they like the singing and dancing. You're technically not supposed to push a stroller through the casino. Viking Crown is a great place during the day to just run around because it is USUALLY empty. Sometimes if there are other people up there it might not be a great place. They often have a family play time in Adventure Ocean where you can come and they set out a bunch of baby toys and you and other parents just watch them play. Bring a few floaty pool/bath toys to play with in the pool area. They are always a hit (we always bring extra because you may lose one or often there are other kids in there that want to play with your kid). Take turns watching the kid in the pool. You want to relax by the pool, but you also have to keep your eagle eyes on your kid. I find it best if we take turns so that we aren't both watching at the same time. All specialty dining, including Johnny Rockets are free for kids...not sure whether you're feeding the little one, cut up hot dogs yet or anything. (might be a tad early) We also buy a cheap toy or 2 that we give them on the boat that is new that they will play with. (A little dinosaur, or super hero or my little pony). We are often losing and finding them throughout the cruise though, so don't get anything expensive.

I also have the same feeling. Was wondering if it's me and my expectations or my particular TA.

I think the general rule of thumb is that dinner can take up to 2 hours. You could also look at past cruise compasses to see what typical times of the shows are. I'd also add the shows are generally timed to align with either early seating or late seating. So your Mytime dining is smack in the middle so my opinion is that you will either be rushed or miss the beginning/end of the shows.

When I repriced my cruise last week with this latest Nov special, the RCI guy said, make sure you check back for our Black Friday deals as well. So he seemed to think there'd be some sort of sale in a few weeks. Not sure whether or not he'd be the best source of information for saving money or not.

If the cards are RFID, which is only a handful of ships, I have a phone case that has some card slots in the back. The RFID door opening also worked with out me having to take it physically off of the phone. But they'd still want to you to hand it to them at bars because you don't want to hand them the whole phone. With a lanyard, if it's RFID, you might not have to take it out. But if it's the swiping, magnetic kind of card, you'd have to take it out every time for sure.

My Harmony of the Seas entertainment showed up today or yesterday. It's about 85 days out.

As Matt says often on his Podcast, it varies. It's USUALLY out there 90 days beforehand. But not always. Keep checking back every week after 90 days out.