Pima1988

That is strange to me. How would the pharmacist or the bank teller know? I work retail (specialty) I know many of my customers personally, but someone coming in off the street I would not know if they were a nurse/doc, etc. I have no need to ask, thus, I cannot fathom why the bank teller or the pharmacist would ask since it has nothing to do with the transaction. Honestly, as I said to @Lovetocruise2002 in that theory, they should keep me off the ship since I have a high risk of exposure. That bank teller is probably at a higher risk than you. Think about it, money is not sanitary. I have to visit the bank to make deposits for the store. They are not wearing gloves when they do it. In that theory, they better list a "NO SAIL" order for careers all over the place. IE my DS works as a Bio Chemist, and deals with blood products. He could be infected. My DD is a school teacher. My other DS is a pilot. So, just in my family I would have 4 out of 5 that would be considered high risk. OBTW, thank you and your husband for being there for all of us. It is a calling, and unfortunately people forget the personal sacrifices that you make.

I agree. As I have stated I work for a national retailer. Outside our door is a big sign and it states "Are you feeling well? If not we ask you to use our curbside delivery" You cannot miss it as you open the door to enter our store. Do you think I actually believe 100% of our customers would be honest regarding that question? Absolutely not, and we are not talking about a vacation that have paid for at least 90 days ago.

We are the 15th. It was actually showing that way months ago. We upgraded back in end of May/early June and got the 2nd to last available on our deck. I than went on in July and looked to see what was available for any balcony cabin type and I was seeing maybe 1 or 2 per deck, that was probably in early August. I agree that I think a lot has to do with L&S. Yes, maybe they have already removed the remaining, but it was looking pretty full (90%) back 2 months ago. Thus, my question is still even if they want to get to a 75% load, they have to kick some of us off the ship for our sailing.

LMAO. We were told to SMILE with our eyes when dealing with customers. I never thought about fake eye lashes! I work for a men's retailer. I am the only female in the store. I can see it now...Pima, can you put on mascara/false eyelashes for me so I can smile? Back on topic. One additional thought. My Symphony cruise in May looks pretty full. I tried to do a fake booking for balconies, including the neighborhoods, and they are 95% gone, basically 1 or 2 on every deck. So how will they limit the capacity? Should I now be waiting for RCL to say, due to lower capacity, we are canceling your reservation? How are they going to pick and choose if they have to cancel reservations to reduce the load? Date reserved? C& A level? Cabin level? $$$ you have spent on excursions (IE, we have purchased the thermal pass, spa couples massage, coco cay beach club day pass, cabana at Labadee, and excursions via RCL at every port, plus UDP, DBP and Voom)?

I am one of those retailers. I have to play mask police everyday. I have had customers argue with me, telling me it is not a law or mandate. The only thing I can say is, that for our company we require everyone to wear a mask. IMPO that is exactly what RCL is saying. It is their company and they can set regulations regarding health and safety. The problem that does occur in the retail world and I suspect will happen on the ships is: You become use to everyone wearing a mask, thus, you look at their eyes only. Eventually, there will be someone that doesn't wear it and it will take quite sometime before you realize OMG they don't have a mask on. That is when the ire comes out from the customer whom you ask to place on a mask. They will eventually says it is not a law. In turn, our response is: Yes, but our company has made it a requirement. I don't get the argument regarding the mask. In VA there is not one place you can go to without a sign saying NO MASK = NO ENTRY.

That is hard for me. It is a tie. Coco Cay Cabana and Chef's table....oh maybe I should add the 70s party....oh, but was that better than Quest? Okay, let's just go with my favorite memory of my last cruise was walking onto the ship so I could have all those memories! What is easy for me to say, is my biggest negative memory, not because of RCL, but because of crazy passengers. We loved doing the trivia in Schooners. It was fun and let's be honest, what did you win... a key chain you never used or a highlighter? On our last 2 cruises people were acting like they were going to win a million dollars and pulling out their phones to google/bing the question. They lost site of the fact that is suppose to be fun and laugh at the crazy answers thrown out when they ask for people to scream out the answer before they gave the correct answer, instead it was I have to win! We stopped going by day 3 of our 10 day cruise. Back on topic.

I agree. I am willing to do whatever they require. Like I said, if the pools are closed and they have removed 50% of the loungers, it will be no biggie to me because I have a balcony with loungers. I have no problem doing RCL excursions, just let me cruise. Guessing the sad fact will be The Quest will no longer exist for at least a while.

I don't know how they can enforce the non-RCL excursions. Look at Bermuda as an example. Many people hop on the pink bus, take a taxi, or rent scooters to go to Horseshoe instead of paying the price of RCL. How will they verify that they did any of the those three options? Are they not going to let you off the ship? We did Waitlings and Grays Chocolate tour in Bahamas last yr, but not through RCL, it would be impo a non-rcl excursion, but it would be considered verified. We walked off, got in a taxi and went there. How would they know I got into a taxi, unless they are going to stop any taxis outside of the port? We did the same when we went to Halifax @3 yrs ago regarding the Titanic Museum, that time we walked it, but we stopped to get Lobster Rolls, flight of beers and some stores. I could add in Key West and para-sailing. You could go with theirs or find your own. Are they going to put a tracking monitor on you, so when you come back they say, OH we see you used XYZ, and they are not verified? My husband and I are in a way scaredy cats when it comes to excursions, especially if it is a short port time or our 1st time at that port. We prefer to use RCL, even though it is typically cheaper to do it on your own. We like the guarantee that we won't be the runners that everybody posts on YouTube from the decks/balconies as the ship pulls away! Our Symphony sailing in May is all RCL excursions, and we booked them during CoVid. There was another reason we did this besides being a dock runner. It is tied to our cruise bill directly, and we have travel insurance. We didn't want to risk that if the cruise was canceled or the company went out of business due to CoVid that we would have to fight to get our money back. RCL was on the hook to reimburse us.

I can't see how this is going to work from a pool perspective, especially regarding chair hogs. It was already bad enough when every chair was slammed right next to each other, now do social distancing (IE remove loungers) and you might as well bring your blanket from the cabin and go to sleep on the loungers at midnight to save them for the next day. If they follow organizations like Disney regarding the mask issue, you will probably see a ton of drunk/fat people, since that is one reason you don't have to wear a mask....just keep drinking/eating, drinking/eating, drinking/eating (Dora from Finding Nemo) I have not read it all just the highlights that @Mattposted this a.m. on the home page. I wonder 1 more thing that might be in those pages, and ties back to my 1st response above. POOL. I know in my area in VA, and my family in Central NJ, pools did not open at all this summer due to what the governors mandated/required for them to re-open. Basically most HOAs and community pools said it was too costly to open the pools and required too much for them to do to keep it up on an hourly/daily basis. Think draining the pool and sanitizing daily. Plus, limited number allowed in at any given time. Now on the flip side my GF that lives in my old neighborhood with a community pool opened bc they live in NC. Just saying I wonder what that guideline will be from the CDC? Will they open the pools at all? I know RCL has lifeguards, unlike other cruise lines, but will these people now need to be doing a head count for social distancing, instead of making sure nobody is drowning? Anyone that has cruised knows at points the pools/hot tubs are shoulder to shoulder with people. If we have to wear face masks at the pool, well I know where I will be....on my balcony lounge chairs listening to the water, music from our laptop (VOOM), and walking to the nearest bar from my cabin to get a drink to bring back to my cabin. It is funny if you think about it. People always say 1x you go to balcony level you will never go back (exception is @twangster) Now it is even more desirable than just having breakfast on the balcony as you sail into port, or hearing the ocean late at night, if this will impact the pools and wearing a face mask you will only want that balcony, that is probably a big plus for RCL from an ROI aspect. Plus, G forbid you get "lockdowned" at least you still have outside to get fresh air...down side you might be charged with murder for throwing that cabin mate over the balcony once you have been locked in the cabin for days.

I lived in the UK for 4 yrs. I don't think we never didn't tip. However, let me preface and say that my husband and I during our college years worked in the restaurant business, thus we know how hard they work and the long hours they endure for every shift. It really would have to be absolute disgusting service for us not to tip. Our tips are always tied to the level of service, it increases with the quality.

Yes you can. We booked The Gift, WWRY, and Spectra prior to sailing. I want to say it was 60-90 days out, can't recall (sailed in 17) We also booked NorthStar. You have to look on your planner, I want to say it is entertainment. The Key gets "designated" seating for the shows. Non-Key holders/suites will need to be there early since it is a free for all regarding seats. If they state that you can't book on your planner, as soon as get on the ship go and make reservations, especially for I Fly and NorthStar.

This is also why I think wait staff around the world loves the US because we automatically tip. I lived for 3+ yrs in the UK. I have traveled across Europe and Australia, I know they have a VAT, but as Americans we still leave another tip on top of the bill. OBTW, I am a military wife (DH is now retired) guess what? If you purchase groceries on base/post you actually do tip the baggers. They are paid min. wage. They bag your groceries and walk them out to your car, plus put them in. So yep, in some parts of the US we tip grocery workers. They are paid min. wage. We also pay a 5% surcharge for shopping at the commissary. I honestly, do not tip at the bars in the pool. However, we love Schooners and go there for pre-dinner cocktails. We tip there, not to get better service, but bc after a few days they are our "local" bartender. They remember our orders and as we pony up to the bar they ask your usual, followed by the order. They also would go in the back and bring us a cup of nuts or snack for us. Finally, I don't think it is about the tip per se. I think it is about respect. We all forget that while we are having fun, they have personal lives that have to be placed into the back of their mind. They have to smile, and maybe they just heard their parent thousands of miles away was diagnosed with cancer. Yes, they signed up for it, but they are still humans with emotions, yet expected to serve us all with a smile. Let's also be honest. I get the 18% argument, but really, you pay how many thousands for a cruise, not including airfare, and we are now talking about maybe 5 bucks a day for a bartender? I say 5 going with 5 alcoholic beverages. What is that 1% of your cruise cost?

I don't know if your builder does this or Florida allows it, but I did this for many of my new construction buyers. They actually would take the credit on certain items. For example, they did not take the appliances. Why pay a 20-30 yr loan on your fridge, because in essence that is what you are doing with a mtg. Instead, they purchased on their own the appliances. The only thing that creates an issue is that you will not get a CO (Certificate of Occupancy) from the county on the day of closing because you do not have your appliances. They would get keys that day, and have the appliances delivered the same day or the next day. The inspector would come out and give them the CO the following day. The other thing I would suggest is to take their bottom line flooring if you are going down there. My Mom was the one that taught me this trick. She knew this would be a long time home, or as she always said, they will take me out of this house feet first. She wasn't going to settle on the flooring. She took the basics. The day after closing she had all of it ripped out and had a specialty flooring company come in and do it the way she wanted. (extended the foyer into other areas), and with the floors she wanted, laid the way she wanted (she wanted diagonal 12X12 tiles in the kitchen, but they only offered only 8X8 block, that and specific gout colors). They had it done and move in ready 3 days later. It actually was cheaper to take their basic, rip it out and place in her higher quality than if she did their top tier upgrade which was still lower than her product. As someone that built my current house, I don't envy you on that aspect. As a realtor, I can tell I would cringe on those days, especially if they have a showroom you go to for their site. It takes a full day because you go from outside to inside including everything from the roof color to the faucet on the sinks. You will think I got it all, and than when the list is printed, you start to say...wait, I chose black granite with black faucet, but stainless steel appliances...what will the cost be if I change the appliances to black stainless appliances? Should I now change the faucet to stainless to match the appliances? If I do that should I change the granite? If I do that, than should I change the bathroom faucets too? Every change you make after that 1st print out needs to be re-inputted. That being said it is fun picking out the things. Just be ready for the sticker shock when you do the options/upgrades. Rule of thumb is add in $$$$ for those upgrades. For me when I did it with clients in VA, it was 20% of the price of the home if they did everything with the builder.

Yes, many people sell mutual funds to purchase their homes. Many buyers, myself included have private mutual fund investments on top of our 401K and IRAs. You typically find this occurring because the ROI is higher than a savings account, plus if you are like us, we invest every month, thus, when we sell our tax burden is from long term not short term gains. That tax burden of the capital gains is cheaper than having to get PMI. If you do not have 20% to plop down, they will usually charge you PMI. There is a second reason people do this. When the broker pulls your credit they do not see your investments per se without you submitting that paperwork. However, they will immediately ask to see your bank accounts for the last 60-90 days. Removing that money can hurt the buyer because now the bank account is drained and they may qualify for a lower loan, or be given a slightly higher rate since the broker may feel they are house poor. Thirdly, home equity loans disappeared for many years unless you had an amazing credit score. Now, with the housing market finally coming back, people are able to get the equity lines easier than it had been historically over the last decade. The trick that was occurring back before the housing crash was you would take what is called an 80/10/10. 80% 1st loan, 10% 2nd loan and 10% down. People were pulling 10% from their home equity on the one they were selling for the downpayment on their new home. If the market crashes than you can see the Treasury Bill rate to increase which is tied to mtg rates. That is also why they do it now. 1st time homeowners do have that option. Mine and my husbands 401K allows us to take out of our 401K with no penalty as long as we re-pay it in 12 months. They immediately take that money out of our paycheck every pay period so it is re-paid within 12 months. Now here again shows you how the market will impact them. As a matter of fact my DD and SIL just purchased their 1st home. They took out of their 401Ks to get that 10% down. They have what I described above, and 80/10/10. Hope that clarifies my position. For Raye I am sure that since she is doing 20%+ down, their process will be what brokers joke about.....just take a pulse to make sure they are alive! My favorite lender gave us the best synapsis of how they see clients. I share it with you so you can see how they view credit scores. plus a chuckle. 800+ They will eat their skin before they miss a mortgage/credit/car, etc payment due on the 1st. Payment is there on the 23rd. 700's They will eat Ramen, payment due on the 1st is mailed out on the 28th, or on-line at 11:00 p.m. on the 30/31st, but still there before the 1st 600's They will eat hot dog and beans, payment due on the 1st, but late fee does not occur until the 15th. Payment is submitted after the 1st, but before the 15th 500 and below. They will go to McDonalds for lunch daily and will pay the late fee.

I can't tell you how many times on my FB groups that I tell them go to this site. FB members can be nasty or go off topic from the OPs question. Saw it today. Poster asked will Symphony be one of the 1st to cruise, it would be her 1st cruise with RCL. The posts ranged from I hope so I am suppose to sail in Nov. to you are stupid to think there will be any cruise before July 2021 (NOTE she did not state what date was her sailing, just if SoS would roll out 1st). Not one person before me responded and said "according to RCL...." That was all she was looking for. I told her to come here because there is no such thing as a stupid question.

I do too get the cold calls everyday. I belong on facebook our community/town page. Realtors are now even trying to invade the page (it is private) asking for anyone that is considering selling to please contact them because they have customers searching to purchase. We are in a unique area in No VA. The majority of our town by PW county regulations requires all lots be 10 acres. The other part of the town can be no less than 1 acre. Add in the location to 95 and 66 and everyone is trying to get in. @WAAAYTOOO will have no problem selling because I know as a Realtor where her location is, and it is prime pickings. My bet it will be sold on the same day as the sign goes up, or maybe even before. When we sold our 1st home in NoVA back in 2005 @ her area within 3 hrs of putting my house into the MRIS, I had 3 offers and all of them had escalation clauses. sold it for 50K over my asking price with no inspection. I see the market now like it was in 05, the only fear I see is the election. Not trying to be political, so please let's not make it into a Trump vs Biden aspect. I am saying that due to the mail in aspect we might not have a winner for weeks/months which will make the stock market volatile. If the market tanks like it did in 06 with banking, than people will not have the $$$ to purchase a home, thus it will become a buyers market...sorry for raining on your parade Raye! As a retired realtor, I would say sell now and rent for a yr. because I have seen the market flip on a switch when the market becomes skittish.

I work retail. That is how we do price adjustments. We actually require you to return the item (just a receipt needed) and than have you re-purchase it at the lower price. We do not use that old transaction number and than give you back the difference. So, it might be more on the lines that their hands are tied by the credit card companies requirements when doing price adjustments. I have worked for 3 different national retailers and they all operate this way with price adjustments. The only difference is that for retailers nobody is going to scoop up that product during the transaction. For us cruisers, where we do much of it on line. Thus, for RCL with hundreds of people looking at the same product at the exact same time, and a limited quantity they do not know if you are truly canceling or trying to do a price adjustment. Look at the beach club, they only have 225 passes, or the cabanas where they have 20 at Chill. When the sale occurred they may have had only 2 left, but 10 people are looking at it. You return it, and by the time you repurchase they are now sold out. We always use a TA. We found out that trick a couple of yrs ago from our TA when she rebooked our cabana at the lower price. She called RCL directly and they walked her through it the way I explained in my previous post. We are using a TA for this cruise too, but our TA had a death in the family so we tried it on our own and it worked. The drink package is different. Except for a few weeks ago where they had the very limited quantity at the low price, which only lasted for a few hrs., it really is always unlimited in quantity offered. Hence, that is never a real factor. Even with that sale, I want to say it was 47 for my cruise, but Voom was 12. We had purchased DBP and Voom for 58, so it turned out to be 1 buck more pp for us if we jumped on the 47 DBP when we added in Voom.

That is high, but I doubt it will stay that high. I got mine originally at 79 for May 2021 on Symphony and thought that was a bargain. A few weeks ago I was able to cancel and rebook at 44. per adult. OBTW, the way we did it so not to lose out (limited quantity). The 79 was under my hubby's name. He book the 44 under my name for the two of us. Once that was done, he came back and canceled the 79. I only state this because the beach club is like cabanas, limited in number. If you cancel your original 1st, it might be by the time you purchase at the lower price, they are "SOLD OUT". If you purchase the new price under the other person's name, and than cancel the old, you are golden

That is why the market is now considered a "sellers market" My DS purchased a new construction home in Feb. and he got a 2.875 rate DD purchased her 1st home (re-sale) in July and got the same rate. We re-finance last fall (jumbo loan) at 3.375. I agree with your realtor. Long term on stock market your ROI will be 10% over a 10 yr period. Keep your cash for more cruising.

Hubby and I have decided that for our trip to visit the grandbabies in Nov. and our cruise in May we are flying FC. The cost was @$75 more pp rd trip out of Dulles compared to economy. I told him that I am ok with it since I will have more space @ me than in economy. Plus, we get 2 checked bags pp for free instead of paying 25 per bag. For the cruise that means it actually only comes out to about 50 pp more (if I take 1 bag pp) It seems that airlines are doing upgrades at a low cost now. I have never seen them this low when you look at Econ/Econ Plus/Bus to 1st class. Albeit, we are not flying a 767 or Airbus250. However, we are also not flying puddle hoppers either. Congrats on the new house. I am sure that where you live your home will sell within a day, week or month. The market is really hot in your town, speaking as an ex-realtor for your zip code. The mtg rates are driving the market to be a sellers market. My DD just purchased a home, it was on the market for 1 day, and she had to write an escalation clause.

Same is true for Malbecs. My husband drinks Malbec and he usually has to pay the same amount for a good one. I hate red wine, so for me I have no problem getting a good Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio with no upcharge.

I actually feel that just like any "chain" steak house like Mc Cormick and Schmidts or Capital Grille, it can vary by location and design of the interior. I feel that on the smaller ships it always seems better service and quality. We felt the food was phenomenal on Adventure, along with the service. I have seen many posters also say the same when they go on a smaller ship like Lady G, however, when they go to an Oasis or Quantum class it loses that edge. I would agree that at 50 it is too high, but if you do the 3 night, you can usually pick it up for as low as 79 or up to 90. Right now you could get on my sailing unlimited for 8 nights for 179 pp. When you even break it down to the 3 night the 30 pp + 18% = 35 bucks pp it is well worth it as a meal. However, I am a huge fan of 3 items on Chops menu that you will not get in the MDR. Item 1. Goat cheese salad. Item 2. Branzino (crazy to order fish, but I do) Item 3. Red Velvet cake. OBTW I love the bleu cheese wedge salad, but I have learned on night 1 in the MDR tell the staff you want it tomorrow night and they will bring it to you in the MDR even if it is not on the menu. I am not an anti MDR person. As I stated earlier with RCL pushing the unlimited dining, I find the MDR less crowded now than prior to the UDP. We only purchased the 3 night for 79 bucks on our Symphony cruise (5/2021) because we are in a suite and can access Coastal Kitchen.

I have to agree with @WAAAYTOOO I have never had to pay an additional fee on any cruise for any drink, be it specialty with a "call name" or getting a specialty coffee, such as an ice coffee with a double shot of espresso. My husband and I drink either Bulleit Bourbon or Gentlemen Jack and never paid an additional cost. My BIL drinks Patron, I believe he did pay a $3 buck more charge, but it wasn't because it was Patron, he called the higher level Patron. I don't drink Patron, but I am sure those that do know there are different levels, just like you can request Johnnie Walker, and I bet Red, and Black (or maybe it is gold, don't drink it), but if you order Blue than you are going to pay the difference from the 13 marker. Lastly, if you order their specialty drink in their specialty souvenir cup (typically at the pool) you will pay the difference. On every one of my RCL cruises you have to sign the bill at the bars even with the DBP, that includes at Coco Cay or Labadee. The only time I cannot recall signing for a drink was in the dining room. In the dining rooms we just gave them our sea pass card and they delivered it to us. Caveat, in the specialty restaurants we were required to sign at the end of the meal. Hubby always takes care of this, but I seem to think that the sign off was more about giving a tip for the server than our drink orders, but again I won't swear on that. I am just saying he always turns to me and says...I am going to tip them X amount, I never look at the paper receipt. The receipt might just be our drink bill. We tip in cash.

I have always had paid for duplicates when my children were born. Our children are 30, 28 and 26. We were a military family for decades and knowing that we would move often, we were told to do this by the legal advisers. 1 we kept with us. 1 was given to my Mom, in case it got lost during a move. The lawyers not only advised us to do that, but also during his active duty career my Mom had an official copy of our marriage certificate, living wills and last will and testaments. Once we retired and grown kids, I got the birth certificates back from my Mom. My kids have their original in their home, and I have an official in my home. Point being it is smart investment to do so for the just in case.

That happened to us on our Adventure cruise last yr. The access was though in the hall right outside of our cabin. It took them hours to fix it. Came to find out that several decks above us a passenger in their cabin decided to flush feminine products down the toilet, a big no no and posted in every bathroom throughout the ship, which in turn clogged the pipes. They were snaking it all night because they had to keep pushing it down deck levels. We found this out because the passenger in the cabin got fined several hundred dollars and were bemoaning this fact in the casino that night. They basically said they did indeed flush the item, but it was RCL's fault for building ships with too small of plumbing pipes to handle it and felt they should not have been fined. I heard them and said well I am here gambling on free $$$ because my toilet would not work, due to that they gave me a $50 OBC for my toilet being out of use from midnight to 7 a.m. I also told them that when I was in the line at the guest relations desk was 20 people deep complaining about no toilets working, plus we heard them snaking the pipes all night, and we were all on different decks. I recall how their attitude immediately changed because all of the sudden they realized that their action impacted passengers on decks below them. They went from indignant to oh my bad. OBTW their toilet worked the entire time. They were shocked when RCL staff knocked on their door to address this issue. They couldn't figure out how they knew it was their cabin. I was told that somehow by them that they were informed that RCL can track it back to the actual cabin due to pipe design, not sure if that is true or not, but in this scenario it did turn out to be true.