melmar02

I've never seen this as a suite privilege, was your sailing maybe partially chartered?

This too. Any OT DH works we immediately transfer into a vacation savings account. His thought is he has to take time away from the family to earn that money, so it should be spent on something that we do together.

I home school our kids and don't work a 9-5 job. I do live in a state that has a generous cottage food law though, and I make wedding cakes from my home kitchen. I've been in business for 10 years now, and while I don't produce what a commercial bakery does, I generally have a wedding 3 weekends of every month and run my business like a business. DH's salary covers the ordinary expenses (bills and savings), so we can use my business profits for fun stuff like cruising. Since I set my own schedule (and the kids for that matter) we can cruise when it's cheapest. We took a long 9 year break from cruising and started back just this past September. We want to cruise twice a year now that we've started again, and we like to stay in suites, so I don't see me closing shop in the foreseeable future. Right now we have a 5 day booked for February, a 7 day in November 2020, and are for sure doing Alaska in 2022 for DH's 50th birthday. We want to save for flights, excursions, and a land tour in Alaska, so we think will do just do a 5 day sometime in the spring of 2021 as well. If those plans all hold, we'll be diamond after the Alaska cruise so we can take advantage of greater discounts too.

I must drink faster than you guys! ?? We brought silicone straws for everyone in our family on our cruise back in September, and stopped using them after the second or third drink. We didn't have any issues with the paper straws. My son is a very slow drinker and had no problems with the paper straws disintegrating, and my "super taster" daughter even said they didn't change the flavor of the drink at all. It became a hassle to keep up with the silicone straws, so they were taken to the room, washed, and packed away. Turned out to be a waste of money for us.

We're 91 days out from our next cruise, and I'm patiently waiting for online check in to open tomorrow. Ok, so it's more like that old Mervyn's commercial where the lady is standing at the store window chanting "open, open, open". ? We're bringing my MIL, and we're all staying together in a 2 BR suite. It's her first cruise, and she's very excited and wants to experience the process of check in as much as me. I've created a monster, and she hasn't even set foot onboard yet! My question is, can I check in myself, DH, and our kids tomorrow and then walk her through check in when we see her at Thanksgiving? For pricing purposes, she's on the same reservation with me, DH, and one of the kids. I would think this is the same as checking in and adding your passport number at a later date, but I didn't want to assume. Is there anything different about the process when people on the same reservation don't live together and need to check in separately?

Here's an extensive drink list - scroll to page 6. I don't remember who originally posted this, so unfortunately I can't give proper credit to the author. I love this because it includes what is typically in the drinks. Make sure to ask for a specific brand of liquor in your drink if you want something other than what's listed. Drink list - page 6.pdf

Bring your patience. Some people will act rude, but go into the trip with a vacation state of mind, and any absurd actions from other passengers will roll easier off your back.

Based on the title of this post and yesterday being Halloween, I totally thought this was going to be about a haunted cabin. ?

They have to build the new terminal first. It won't be in 2020. For entirely selfish reasons, I'm hopeful it will be late spring 2021.

No, you can usually find a chair very easily if it isn't in the immediate pool area.

My 11 yo daughter has a lot of food aversions related to Autism. She generally sticks to the kids menu wherever we eat, but she discovered shrimp just before our last cruise and had a shrimp cocktail every night. She loves the coconut shrimp onboard too. She felt more adventurous onboard and tried lobster (ordered a second even), lobster bisque, and the chilled strawberry soup.

I've repriced our November sailing 4 times since we booked onboard in September. We still have our Next Cruise OBC. It makes me nervous every time I call our travel agent - I'm expecting someone to push the wrong button or something!

I was thinking the same thing!

I just heard on another cruise podcast that Carnival started selling 9 night sailings from Galveston on their Radience beginning May 2021. They will have a couple different itineraries - eastern Caribbean and partial Panama Canal. With an Oasis ship coming to Galveston once the new terminal is built, do you think Royal will expand beyond their typical western Caribbean offerings?

I try not to look after final payment date since I can't do anything about it anyway. Instead I try to focus on tracking price drops for any cruise planner purchases I have made or looking for more cruises that would work with our schedules...time to plan the next one!

We're going to Vegas next month, and I plan to put a dollar in, get a car...put a dollar in, get a car. ? I had a Real ID and didn't realize it. Some states have already been issuing them - Texas started in 2016. A Real ID driver's license has a gold circle with a star inside it in the upper right corner. Enjoy your cruise!

Welcome! You could always start here and whatever isn't covered, feel free to ask. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/getting-started

Yes! It's Oasis - last episode of the (first) season. I love this show!

Just like escargot! Then dip the bread in the extra butter. Mmmmm. ?

It is on both sides on Liberty and Indy. All seats on one side, and a few seats with the bar and dance floor on the other.

It wasn't super-spicy, more of a subtle kick. Put that "try new drinks" benefit of the drink package to good use! ?

I loved the Habanero Grapefruit Daiquiri on the Schooner Bar's menu! It was my go to drink for trivia there.

We're going on Liberty again November 1, 2020.

No problems. Brought both in our carry on bags.

A good suggestion for the whole trip! ?