SpeedNoodles

It's not, I clean it out every other day. I'm not sure I need it, or that I have time to sit on the phone for 20 minutes waiting for someone to help me - I just thought it was weird.

That's what I figured. It's been 2 months, lol - again, not worried about it - I've checked in and everything - I just went to compare some fares and realized that I wasn't sure exactly what I paid.

Love, love, love the big smile! Thanks for taking the time to blog - it's so much fun to follow!

Is it odd that when I booked my upcoming cruise directly with Royal Caribbean on the website that they never sent me an invoice? I mean, it's completely paid for, I have my Set Sail Pass, everything is cool, but if anyone asked me how much I paid for my cruise, I'd be doing some real thinking to be able to break it down. (Yes, I booked my subsequent cruise with Michelle at MEI - I learn eventually!)

Aaaaand, now I want to sail on Empress, too. Thanks, guys $$$$$$$

Well shoot, now I wanna sail on her, too (and I don't have time in the foreseeable future ?). Wonderful blog - -thanks for sharing your photos and experience!

I just thought you were really bragging about being retired! ?

It's definitely a learned skill ?

And thank YOU! My husband is also a LEO!

Thanks. I honestly wasn't sure if it was worth it for me because I'm not sure how much flying we'll be doing. My husband is going to try flying again for our Alaskan cruise in June, but historically it hasn't gone well because he has a major flying phobia - we typically drive to the ports (from Minnesota - explains one reason why we rarely travel). If it doesn't go well, we'll either be driving to Miami next year for our Symphony cruise, or canceling it altogether. :(

I got what I believe to be a decent price at the Atton Brickell - I couldn't find a bad review. But no way would I personally classify it as cheap. That's really a relative term.

You may want to define inexpensive as it means different things to different people.

Thought about TSA precheck. Not sure it'll be worth the money or if I'll have time to do it before I go.

Count me in! (22 days until Mariner)

On my first Alaskan cruise, during a sea day, we were in the MDR and suddenly a couple of the waiters started yelling "Dolphins! Dolphins!" - everyone ditched their tables and ran to the starboard side, where there was an ENORMOUS pod of White-Sided Dolphins, as far as we could see, swimming along with the ship. The crew there said they'd never seen it before - so you just never know what you'll encounter in Alaska!!

I don't think Vancouver/Alaska is ever NOT scenic.

9 is fine. I'm just happy I don't have to be out by 7:30. It'll probably take 4 hours to get through airport TSA anyway, assuming they still exist in February.

So for my Mariner cruise in early Feb, I will only have a carry on. On disembarkation day I'm in no hurry to get off of the ship as my flight doesn't depart until 1:40 pm. I've purchased The Key, and would like to just relax and have breakfast and not hurry off really early. Can I head out and have breakfast and leave my bag in the room until I"m done with breakfast, or will I need to bring it with me? What's the latest you can hang around? It's been so many years since I've cruised that I don't even remember ever getting any food the morning of disembarkation, so I don't remember what we've done in the past.

Literally the next day I believe - I listened to the podcast Wed night, and then Thursday....BAM!! I chucked a bit.

I'm on dog shift, too. Usually 10 hour (9pm-7am), but we're so understaffed that it's often 14 hours (or on my supposed weekends). I've got Free Cell down to a science.

I agree, sort of. Getting time off at my job is SO difficult (we pretty much have to arrange it 6 months in advance and then ask coworkers to switch days with us to make it happen - we don't actually get time OFF most of the time - we simply redistribute when we work it) that rebooking would be really difficult. But, not the fault of the cruiseline - things happen. At least they are doing the best they can to make it right.

@lauraodonnell86 me too!!! Although they banned personal devices at my center so I just use one of my multiple monitors for cruise-related things, LOL.

Thanks. We'll see if she's willing/able to do it more than once, lol.

I have 7 monitors at work. One is always dedicated to cruise research (I don't believe that was its original intention, but there it is). I don't get to choose how productive I am, it's either busy or it's dead (this time of year, it's pretty much dead between midnight and 6am), so I have a LOT of time to plan/dream. Plus it keeps me awake (usually).

I'm so glad that I started using Michelle at MEI as well. I hadn't found this site when I booked my Ovation cruise last June, and the travel agent charged us a $100 service fee. Today she also emailed me about flight prices and there was a $50 booking fee included (I'd already made flight arrangements on my own). I'm annoyed that I was so uninformed last summer. But still, Ovation in Alaska!!!