AlohaLivin

As @twangster explained so well, the ability of spouses to link accounts can be very valuable! I learned about the importance of this perk through a couple we met on a cruise. We sailed on the Allure and they invited us to share their Cabana (we had “met” the wife through a roll call and then in person during a cabin crawl). She is Diamond Plus snd is cruising at least monthly, but he hardly cruises. She retired, but he is still working and so she had started cruising alone and often (occasionally with a friend) in inside cabins. So she had really racked up points while he was home working to pay for her cruising ? But because they have linked accounts, he is also Diamond plus and so can take advantage of everything that she can on s ship (with or without her). He quite enjoyed his free tour of the bridge during that sailing ?

I’ve already said this in a recent tips thread I know, but we take a couple of plastic food prep containers with clear lids (the kind that can be thrown away before you leave). Room service is fine, but the items tend to be greasy and that isn’t what I want later in the evening. It’s not that I care about taking the dishes for the venue, but the food that I am taking is for a small snack for later and so the lid really matters because (1) the lid keeps the food from the kind of sliding / spIlling you would get if using a plate {important unless your cabin is somehow next to the buffet!) snd (2) the lid helps to keep the food fresher (my little Kaiser roll late-night snack will be far less yummy if it’s hard as a rock from sitting out.

You would be beyond the date for final payment when you book and so would very (very) likely owe the full fare on making the reservation. Once full payment is made, they will not re-price. On occasion they’ll offer some onboard credit beyond final payment if there is a significant price drop, but even then in my experience it’s shortly beyond the time final payment was due. P.S. I may be wrong, but it seems very unlikely there would be a major drop between now and a June cruise. Might as well go for it! Happy sailing.

True - and they don’t necessarily send you emails either I emailed about that, got silence in return. I haven’t spent a ton of time with their charts, but the two time that it seemed to go down by their numbers RCL (via an independent agent) said otherwise (in one case no change and in the other actually an increase). If anyone has more experience with their data, how do you “translate” it when comparing it to numbers at RCL?

@Andrew72681 and @TheHobbys so, I need you both to be my new best friends or low cost advisers ??. I cannot lie, I have been hoping that @Lovetocruise2002 would take me up on that offer for some time now (after all, there are no 2 friends more compatible than a Scorpio and a Cancer ??? Come on, I can make you laugh (just don’t require circus tricks, I am just past the age those are workable!) Lynn ??

Kate Spade? ? Where? Let’s go, whatcha waiting on?!?! ??

Since you enjoy this so much my twin, I want to help you and send you my list so you can add to your fun! You see how nice I am wanting to add joy to your life?! I will also forward my cell number so you can text me in the case of a sale emergency ?

Right?! It would be great if I could find some method of auto checking pricing as every other day they claim they are having a “sale” ?? and it is beyond tiresome to click through all that I must to check pricing yet another time (and finding it the same or higher). I can wish! ???

Grandeur - May 30 - June 8, 2019 Adventure - November 23-December 1, 2019

Thanks! And I know what you mean by the pools! I grew up in area with a lot of pools (and near beaches too but I liked sea water much less because it made me feel sticky and it tasted awful every time that it got into your mouth). When my parents took us with them on a cruise the first time when I was about 9, my brother and I were so happy at first that the ship had a pool... that is, until we got in. ? What the %@*&$!*?!? It wasn’t a pool at all, but instead it was a big, square, deep, and dark hole full of salt water ?? I may never recover! ? Funny Fact - my first Disney Cruise they ship had a casino and allowed smoking.

I’ve seen those ships when several singles are sharing a cabin. It always reminds me of college back back in the olden days before cell phones when there was a pay phone in the hall and people used the one on your door to let you know who had called ???

Oh gosh, there are so many “musts” I have now (so many that I keep a permanent list of them and it definitely includes some of those shown above {like the wrinkle spray and a mesh bag for dirty clothes to hang inside the closet}).. But here are the ones that I have added to the list in the last year:: 1. small sissors (small, blunt ones such as the type for nails or the small ones used for needlework and tip cover that comes with them). I am always shocked at the number of things that I need to cut when I’m on a cruise! 2. Moisturizing eye drops (I have spent my life near water, including the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, but the water in the Caribbean seems 50x saltier and my eyes really hurt after a dip!). So, I now always carry this if I am headed to the beach or snorkeling and it really makes my day much nicer. 3. 1-2 disposable food prep containers - sometimes I want a small snack at night, but the room service menu is almost solidly very greasy foods and that is the polar opposite of what I want in the evening. So when I get a chance I sometimes squirrel away a roll and a small slice of cheese or a less sugary pastry into my lidded, thin food prep container that I can toss at the end of the cruise). Happy Sailing! ????

We are in panoramic suite on Adventure for Thanksgiving and hubster is more excited about it than usual! I am glad to hear that you enjoyed the location as it is hard to find good videos of the surrounding areas.

Hi ? MLife really needs to correct that wording, it is ridiculously confusing. There was a discussion on this very topic recently within another thread - this link is not to the original post, but takes you to what I think will be the pertinent part of the thread. As you will see, you aren’t the only one confused (I surely was...):

Glad Matt sent you in the right direction because it is tough to find - I ended up in a google search to find it (they clearly aren’t interested in anyone knowing about the option since we only knew about it because some friends of ours cruise almost monthly and rent a tux on every possible cruise).

I am glad that we both have such *excellent* taste ? Let me know if you get to Atlanta, Georgia and we will show you around!

True. But the Haven suites/villas are like they are on most of the ships with wonderful bathrooms (an odd thing to say about bathrooms, but watching Alaska float by as you shower is just fabulous!). Still, the conceirge staff isn’t nearly as good as in the other Havens IMHO, the ship layout is odd, and it creaks and sways endlessly (including all night long, every night). I am not sure I would do the epic again if you gave me the haven at no charge ? For now I think we will go with RCL through 2020 when we should be Diamond and we might branch to some of the associated lines then. At least that is the current plan! ? As everything seems to note - *subject to change without notice ?

We love the Haven on the NCL ships (with only one exception - the Epic), especially the medium sized ones going to Alaska (the perks with the Haven can make it a once in a lifetime experience). We now sail more often with RCL, but the Haven can be amazing (royal class is similar, but it for us is almost embarrassingly like have a servant rather than simply first class service as with the Haven). But we love the sky class suite experience on the larger RCL ships ?

If it makes you feel any better, my husband served 30 years in the US military and we have never gotten a discount of a cruise for that service. To be clear, it is only active duty and retirees that receive a discount the few times it has been offered (rather than anyone who ever served). The few times I have even seen one come up it wasn’t ever as good as the current “sale” or even the 55+ rate. Once in a while living in GA helps in terms of a tiny discount since we are so close to many of the RCL ports. I do sincerely understand how you would feel, but I promise you that in real usefulness with most cruise lines there is none. That said, I love the people of Australia and of New Zealand - some of my favorite humans come from one or the other (and it doesn’t hurt that I have a husband with a big chunk of Maori running around in his DNA). ???. @GlowTheWeird and @WAAAYTOOO yup! They are not ever useful. @twangster “Since the discount often doesn't actually apply, it seems odd to proudly offer something that isn't really a thing.“ EXACTLY. Most of the time, the so-called Veteran’s discounts are not “discounts” at all set up only as a way to show the company is “doing something” for Veterans when the truth is that most of the time it is all show and no action (although there are exceptions, including the MGM and Harrah’s groups and Disney properties). Honestly, we would much rather someone do nothing for us than to produce a fake discount so they can look good (only the latter tick me off ?).

Great deal! I think I went overboard on the dress that I wore for my step son’s wedding, but then I intended to look as fabulous as I could manage since I was going to have to spend the entire evening with my husband’s ex wife and I wasn’t about to go in looking second best no matter what it cost ??

Those dresses can easily be $500, no sense wearing them only once!

I thought the chance of ours almost doubling when all others dropped was low, but I will keep my eyes opened across the summer. I have tried to use cruise fish to alert me of price drops, but I have not as yet figured out how they are calculating a fare for 1 person (e.g., one person base fare or the net fare after the funky RCL accounting like 2nd passenger 30-50% off). We also have a 3rd person added in complicating matters further.

On re-pricing: We booked the panoramic suite on the adventure next November; there are only two and both are taken, but I noticed that the other suite’s had dropped 6-16% (16% was a JR Suite). So I called the agency to check on re-pricing and the rep said that when she checked the RCL system. Of course she pointed out that it was sold out, but then I pulled out my mighty @Lovetocruise2002 sword and told her that it is my understanding that RCL would continue to show a pricing for a sold out cabin types and the rest of the category had dropped. She then paused a while, typing, and came back and said that she had looked at what the price would be if we booked it on “Standby” and that despite, the other prices dropping, our specific suite had almost doubled from what we paid. Clearly that made no sense! I asked her to call them anyway and she said they told her exactly the same thing. Not much I can do, but it all seemed odd to me. Now I just have to hope that there is a drop around one of the next 3 holidays!

Apparently the research shows 54 days is on average the lowest price so right there in your range. Of course destination and time of year matter (we got the Delta One seats on the non-stop to Honolulu nearly a year out). Luckily Atl has a lots of flights each day into every Fl location. But I can rarely wait that long since we like that 11-1pm Atl to Florida and those seats tend to get booked (we try to use our miles to upgrade to 1st class for the 2 free bags each with a max of 70 lb ? ). I never claimed that I am a minimalist packer ?

So @Matt, can we consider a “slap” reaction face?! ??