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ThyriC

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  1. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from cubancruiser98 in Travel router crack down?   
    A way around the power strip/surge protector problem is that many devices we use these days are USB charged.  A USB charging bank has yet to be on the prohibited list (may only be a matter of time)  If your device is USB charged, plug it into the USB bank instead.  If you travel with a laptop, use the laptop's USB ports for charging your USB charged devices, and if you bring a laptop with you (I dont travel without my laptop, one of these years I'll do a fully unplugged from the outside world cruise but... not today LOL)  you can bring a USB hub with you.  I have a cheapy one I got at a trade show or was a promo or something, I forget where I got it from but its promo branded and has 4 USB ports on it.  Slam that into the laptop and I've expanded 1 USB port to 4 USB ports and all of them can be used to charge stuff (camera, phone, gopro, tablet, nintendo DS, vape pen for designated location use only!).  A small USB hub should cost under 5 bucks, you dont need bells and whistles.  Same with a USB charging bank.  You dont need one with power levels or charging statuses, or a massive bank.  4 ports should be more than enough for all of your charging needs.  I also highly recommend bringing a USB adapter.  I have one from my company (I have a ton of promo gadgets/gizmos for some reason) and it converts from standard USB to Lightning, mini USB, and like 5 others.  That way the number of charging cables I need to bring are at a minimum.  And I'm going to throw out this recommendation for cable management when travelling.  I color code my individual charging cables with a small piece of colored tape.  I keep a piece of paper with the colors for the cables and their associated device, and I check in the cables when packing to leave for the cruise, I check them out when I unpack, then check them back in when returning.  I havent lost a charging cable yet when using this method.  Helps around the home too when wanting to locate charging cables and all of them wind up looking alike and you wind up with a drawer full of a tangle of charging cables.  
    Also, dont be afraid to ask your cabin steward for a power strip once onboard.  They have a limited number of power strips onboard (same with extension cords for CPAP users)  If you're a CPAP user and need the extension cord, dont forget to fill out the special medical needs form!  This will make sure your CPAP machine has the necessary water and extension cord.  
    Another way to get an extra plug out of your cabin, normally the older cabins have 1 US outlet and one .... not US outlet (sorry dont know what they're called).  A travel adapter will allow you to use both the US and the non US outlets, maximizing what outlets you do have access to.  
  2. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from roybthered in Dining and Drinks - 1st time Cruiser   
    Most ships do offer a by the glass Riesling in the MDR and most specialty restaurants (likely exception being something like Johnny Rockets)  I'm partial to Sauvignon Blanc and was delighted when I saw not one but 2 offerings.  One goes slightly over the cost of what's allowed in the deluxe beverage package but I'm more than willing to spend a little more to try something new.  Not to mention if I happen to love the wine, I can buy a bottle of it at a reduced price with the deluxe beverage package.  
    Also keep in mind that you can bring 2 bottles of wine onboard.  So if there's a particular Riesling that  you prefer, bring it in with your carryon luggage!  You can ask to be served that for dinner and they will store your wine for you.  A corkage fee MAY be imposed but if you're particular about your wine, its a small price to pay to have your preferred wine (imo)
    Also tell your waiter, the maitre d, your room steward, anyone who may serve you more than once, that you're celebrating your 25th wedding anniversary!  That corkage fee may magically not appear on your bill, that 20 dollar glass of wine may magically become part of your deluxe beverage package.  You never know.  But it never hurts to say something.   
     
  3. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from AnnetteJackson in MEI Travel   
    I have Pam Richter and she's been awesome to me, asking on my behalf to Royal about some weirdness on their cruise planner, and handling my multiple payments.  She has made everything super simple for me and very confident that I'll have a wonderful trip for my hub's first cruise.
  4. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from Mikeb1892 in All Access Ship tour   
    And just to reiterate the importance of booking something like this when you see a price you're comfortable with.  On my Grandeur sailing in October, the price went UP!  To $75!  So now I'm watching and waiting for it to go back down and then definitely snagging it.  I love the ship tours.  Especially the bridge.  And seeing the bridge on different ships is awesome too.  Like seeing it on Allure is very different from seeing it on Grandeur, how everything is laid out.  
  5. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from Mikeb1892 in All Access Ship tour   
    I think it really depends on you if its worth it or not.  If you want to see the galley, where the luggage is stored, how they manage to get so much luggage to so many people in such a short amount of time, the laundry, where all of the food for thousands of people is kept, as well as the bridge, then I'd say its a good use of a sea day.  However if your situation is between a shore excursion in a place you've never visited before, and the ship tour.... I'd personally go with the shore excursion.  There are several ship tours (usually with the exception of the bridge) available to watch on youtube, but shore excursions are usually experience based and you may have more fun with a shore excursion.  
    If you've booked well in advance, you may even find you can do both!
    I think for first timers, the ship tour is a must to better appreciate the grand scale of the ship and how so much gets done on these floating cities!  But I'm just a fan of logistics so seeing how everything works like a fine tuned machine is really exciting.  But also if I had to sacrifice a shore excursion to do that, I would have to take the shore excursion first.
  6. Haha
    ThyriC got a reaction from RWDW1204 in The Suite Life on Grandeur of the Seas to Bermuda 10/26-10-31 (live-ISH)   
    SUCCESS!  Through persuasion from mother in law and myself.... Hub's bringing his suit for formal night!!  He was going to do a button down shirt and nice pants, but... I got jacket and tie and dress shoes from him!!
    I did promise him though that he only had to wear it for dinner and once dinner was over he could run back to the cabin to put on his jeans again.
  7. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from RWDW1204 in The Suite Life on Grandeur of the Seas to Bermuda 10/26-10-31 (live-ISH)   
    Well I got my concierge email for Grandeur.  It looks like my concierge is Ilona.    Oh and @WAAAYTOOO  I picked the Owners suite.  I have a tendency when I get to rambling to not get the actual point.
     
    This was my letter in case anyone was curious what the letter looks like and what the perks on Grandeur are.
     
    Dear Suite Guests,

    Its my pleasure to welcome you onboard via e-mail the beautiful Grandeur of the Seas. We are honored that you have selected Royal Caribbean International for your cruise vacation.

    My name is Ilona Tsyhaniuk, your Suite Concierge onboard. I am available to assist you with any special requests you may have throughout your cruise vacation. My desk hours in the Concierge Club are daily from 8:00 am to 11:00 am and 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm.

    As a special VIP guest you are offered exclusive amenities and services not available to other guests onboard Grandeur of the Seas. For your convenience, here is a brief summary of those services:
    Access of the Concierge Club, located on Deck 11 just right beside the Viking Crown lounge. ( Using your GOLDEN sea pass card ).     Upgraded amenities for the bathroom. Continental breakfast and special coffee served in the lounge daily from 7:00 am to 10:00 am Lunch on Boarding day in The Great Gatsby Dining Room Deck 4 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm Hors d’oeuvres, petit fours and complimentary bar setup served in the lounge every evening before and after dinner from 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm.  Daily menus displayed at the lounge and pre-ordering for your dinner wine.  Full Dining Room room-service  privilege (available when Dining Room is open times only)  Reservations for our Specialty restaurant, sports activities, Shore excursion! Spa appointments.  Arrangements for private parties.  Spa Bathrobes for use onboard. Business services such as copies, statements and any print outs, boarding passes, etc... Reserved VIP seats for production shows.(Please show Cruise Director’s staffs your Gold Sea Pass card at the entrance).       Exclusive Suite private breakfast at CHOPS GRILLE from Day 2 onwards at Deck 6 Aft 7:30 am to 9:30 am, Including departure morning (6:45 AM to 8:00 AM).

    The Concierge Club is a private area accessible on a 24-hour basis, with your golden suite key you will have access. For grand suite and above guests and the top tiers that have access to the lounge.

    The private lounge has been designated a smoke-free area. We respectfully request that guests observe a Smart Casual dress code when visiting the lounge (no swim or pool attire is allowed, footwear is required at all times). To ensure all our guests are able to enjoy this exclusive lounge we require that all guests 20 years and younger must be well behaved and accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times.

    Please come and visit me in the Concierge Club or contact me by dialing 4446 from any ship phone. If there is any way I can be of assistance to make your cruise vacation more enjoyable, please do not hesitate to ask. We hope you will have the vacation of a lifetime onboard the Grandeur of the Seas.
    Salon & Spa appointments, shore excursions and some of our other services often get sold out. Therefore, it is recommended that these be booked in advance either through the Royal Caribbean website at http://www.royalcaribbean.com/home.do or if you prefer, by emailing me and I will make the reservations for you.  
    Once the reservations are made, I will send you an email confirming the details. If you have any further requests please do not hesitate to contact me.

    Please see the below menu for the SPA.



    If you have any dinning room request with regards to timing, location or if you are travelling with friends or family and would like to be seated together, please let me know via email at your earliest convenience. The 1st seating is at 5:30 pm and the 2nd seating is at 8 pm.

    Kind Regards,

    Ilona Tsyhaniuk
    Suite Concierge | Grandeur of the Seas®
  8. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from RWDW1204 in The Suite Life on Grandeur of the Seas to Bermuda 10/26-10-31 (live-ISH)   
    Ok I guess I'll jinx myself like @Matt and start the live-ish blog early.  
    So this cruise was many things to my husband and I.  First, it was a yolo black friday sale and I had been eyeballing cruises to take my husband on for a while.  He's not really the vacation-y type and I adore exploring and vacationing.  I've been very comfortable travelling solo but I really wanted him to experience a cruise.  He's a Marine so his idea of a cruise is hot bunking, doing fire fighting training onboard a carrier and being miserable while the Navy got him where he needed to go.  Vacationing to me is at least 4 star hotels, gourmet meals, relaxation, spa visits, etc.  We're like night and day when it comes to travelling.  His last experience with "Thyri Style" travel was our honeymoon in the Poconos doing the whole champagne glass whirlpool thing.  He needs to get out more.
    I adore cruising, I adore the water.  I'm not married to any cruise line in particular but Royal does give us the option to sail out of Baltimore, which is a 20 minute drive from our house.  
    So when the price was right on black friday, I asked hub, "can I book this PLEASE?  I need a vacation, WE need a vacation"  mega SWMBO guilt trip pouring on and he allowed it.
    5 nights to Bermuda.  But it has to be "Thyri style".  So I debated for about 20 minutes between the Grand Suite and the Owners Suite.  I knew I didnt want or need the Royal Suite because well, my logic is I dont play piano.  The price difference wasnt too much, and the larger balcony just sealed the deal for me.  So I booked it.  
    Then I found this blog and these forums and learned about MEI travel.  I was considering being my own travel agent for this but Pam Richter at MEI really has been a godsend.  She sorted me out on a name discrepancy on our tickets and our travel documents.  Hub's last name has a III at the end.  That wasnt on our tickets.  Pam to the rescue!  She also helped us sort out travel insurance.
    I kind of was excited, relieved, and nervous at the same time.  I've wanted to go on a cruise with hub for a very long time.  I also must be the only woman on the planet who cant remember her anniversary to save her life.  I realized at the time of this cruise, it would be 15 years of putting up with each other.  
     
    Fast forward to tax time.  I had expected my work bonus as well as my tax refund (YAY), and I just said the heck with it and paid off the cruise.  I wanted it done, I wanted it to be "complete".  I wasnt planning on changing cabins or ships.  I knew I could get the time off of work because I always book my time off so far in advance before anyone else can take it.  So now what else.
    I decided to completely splurge and do the "as close to all inclusive as you can get on a cruise" method.  So there was a WOW sale that happened with a deal of $52 for the deluxe beverage package and the voom internet.  Ok that was a no brainer, I wanted a beverage package anyways.  I'm not a huge drinker, but I do like the convenience of being able to have that extra drink after dinner, or at a show, or a latte with breakfast.  I also wanted that convenience of knowing that was all taken care of before the cruise.  And the price was nice for both the drink package and the voom.  Then I started looking at specialty dining.  I knew I wanted to do that.  I kind of like doing a "pre dinner" at a place like Izumi and then go to Chops or Giovanni's for the real dinner.  Or have the option to go to the windjammer for pregame, go to Chops for the main course, and then maybe have dessert by room service.  Again this was more about the flexibility than it was "getting the most" out of specialty dining.  I'm sure my hub and I wont come close to making the ultimate dining package worth it, but its the flexibility for us.  Also I can devour a lot of sushi.
    Ok with drinks and food taken care of.  I pivoted to excursions.  I really wanted to show hub the beauty of Bermuda, the history.  And about 24 hours to do it in, it would be challenging but I'd use this as a teaser to go on more cruises.  So I booked a snorkeling excursion and a glass bottom boat ride for our first day, and a history bus tour on the 2nd.  Well unfortunately the history bus tour got cancelled, so our 2nd day has become a free day.  Personally I want to explore more of the Dockyard this visit.  I really REALLY wanted to go to St George but with all of the activities booked on day 1, it just wasnt going to happen.  I figured that the first day it would give us something fun, and then something relaxing while really taking in the sights of Bermuda.  
    I also decided to "treat yo self" and get a few things for the room as well.  I got the anniversary decorations gift thing, I got a bottle of champagne, 2 beach towels, a tote bag, rum and coke, and some sodas.  Since hub is a bit of a homebody, I didnt want him missing out if he didnt feel up to going out and about with me.  I wanted things to be as absolutely smooth as possible for his first cruise.  Excessive?  Possibly.  But that's just my kind of style.  
    And that was it for the planning phase.  Then it was 10 months of waiting.  Stalking the cruise planner for better deals (except on the intern mistake day of course).  Reading the blog, chatting with other cruisers.  I was in full cruise planning mode and 10 months felt like forever.
     
    Now its 10 days and I'm starting a blog.  I'll do my best depending on the Voom to post as many photos and details as I can.
    At 10 days out I have not heard from my concierge yet.  But I'm expecting to hear from them in the next week to book dining reservations.  I do tend to be a little cavalier with my dining on a ship though.  So I just want to book Chops on the first day because hub desperately wants the seafood tower and I promised I'd get him one.  We even say to each other now "seafood tower?" and give a thumbs up.  I fear our little inside joke will happen onboard when we actually get it.  
    But I'll do my best to share the suite life on a Vision class ship.  
  9. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from whenismynextcruise in Cruising to Bermuda   
    The docking at St George is HUGE for Empress.  St George in my opinion is the best part of Bermuda.    That alone would drive my decision even if Summit and Empress were the same, which they're not.
    That said Summit is a very nice ship.  
    So I think it really depends to me what you want out of this vacation.  Is your trip about the ship?  Or is it about the destination?  Both?  
    If its more than 50% about the destination, I'd go with Empress.  If its more than 50% about the ship, I'd go with Summit.  
  10. Thanks
    ThyriC got a reaction from Noonstar in Is a culturally enriching cruise a good idea?   
    I think a culturally enriching cruise would be GREAT!  Especially since its culturally enriching.  You're not going to be culturally enriched if you're not immersed in that culture.  
    What I would suggest though, if you're sailing out of china, read up on the visas.  DO A LOT OF READING ON THE VISAS.  China isnt somewhere where you just take your passport and you're done.  Same with reading up on Chinese culture norms.  They're much different than the USA.  And that's a good thing.  Just realize, its their culture, their country.  
    Also I'd recommend spending a week in China before your cruise (or after) because you're travelling all that way.  Really get to know the local culture, local food, local people.  Really get enriched.  
    I'm adventurous when it comes to not speaking the local language.  There's a lot of pointing that happens when you dont speak the local language.  And pointing in a good way.  Your mobile device is your best friend when it comes to your pointing game.  Want a particular food?  Bring it up on the phone and point!  A good translation app helps a lot as well in understanding chinese characters.  
  11. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from Hoski in Cruising to Bermuda   
    The docking at St George is HUGE for Empress.  St George in my opinion is the best part of Bermuda.    That alone would drive my decision even if Summit and Empress were the same, which they're not.
    That said Summit is a very nice ship.  
    So I think it really depends to me what you want out of this vacation.  Is your trip about the ship?  Or is it about the destination?  Both?  
    If its more than 50% about the destination, I'd go with Empress.  If its more than 50% about the ship, I'd go with Summit.  
  12. Haha
    ThyriC reacted to twangster in Bermuda Triangle SMH....   
    This explains it.  Money keeps disappearing from my wallet on cruises. 
    Now it hits me...I've been sailing through the Bermuda money triangle.    
  13. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from WAAAYTOOO in The Suite Life on Grandeur of the Seas to Bermuda 10/26-10-31 (live-ISH)   
    SUCCESS!  Through persuasion from mother in law and myself.... Hub's bringing his suit for formal night!!  He was going to do a button down shirt and nice pants, but... I got jacket and tie and dress shoes from him!!
    I did promise him though that he only had to wear it for dinner and once dinner was over he could run back to the cabin to put on his jeans again.
  14. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from Sweety in The Suite Life on Grandeur of the Seas to Bermuda 10/26-10-31 (live-ISH)   
    SUCCESS!  Through persuasion from mother in law and myself.... Hub's bringing his suit for formal night!!  He was going to do a button down shirt and nice pants, but... I got jacket and tie and dress shoes from him!!
    I did promise him though that he only had to wear it for dinner and once dinner was over he could run back to the cabin to put on his jeans again.
  15. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from ellcee in The Suite Life on Grandeur of the Seas to Bermuda 10/26-10-31 (live-ISH)   
    SUCCESS!  Through persuasion from mother in law and myself.... Hub's bringing his suit for formal night!!  He was going to do a button down shirt and nice pants, but... I got jacket and tie and dress shoes from him!!
    I did promise him though that he only had to wear it for dinner and once dinner was over he could run back to the cabin to put on his jeans again.
  16. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from JLMoran in The Suite Life on Grandeur of the Seas to Bermuda 10/26-10-31 (live-ISH)   
    SUCCESS!  Through persuasion from mother in law and myself.... Hub's bringing his suit for formal night!!  He was going to do a button down shirt and nice pants, but... I got jacket and tie and dress shoes from him!!
    I did promise him though that he only had to wear it for dinner and once dinner was over he could run back to the cabin to put on his jeans again.
  17. Like
    ThyriC reacted to WAAAYTOOO in Odyssey on sale   
    Interesting that they will have an Izumi and a teppanyaki in separate locations.
    I am very surprised to see that they will continue with the Concierge Lounge and have not switched over to the Suites Lounge.
    I also notice that they did NOT adopt the ship-within-a-ship concept for the suites.  Very happy to see that the downgraded the aft suites on deck 10 from Star Class.  They were not SC caliber AT ALL.
  18. Like
    ThyriC reacted to heffy2 in Anthem 10/24-11/2 The Last Canada/NE of the Season   
    Hello! This will be my first attempt at a live blog, and it just seemed right to do it here as opposed to CC. The Blog and podcast have been instrumental in my return to Royal Caribbean. I've been on 4 prior RCI sailings on the Viking Serenade and Rhapsody of the Seas, the last one being in 2007. I was convinced to sail this itinerary by @twangster's wonderful Snowbird Migration blog last year, and have been addicted to all of your awesome Live Blogs. I'll be sailing with my mother, and have been waiting for cruise day for about 367 days, but who's counting? I've taken much of the advice that I learned here and have pre-purchased most everything except Vroom. I'm kicking myself for not buying the Deluxe Drink Package before this last weekend, as it did go up slightly. Two weeks ago my Royal Up bid was accepted for a total of $150 for a Large Balcony cat 1C from a standard balcony. Today is my last work day, and I don't think I'll be able to sleep for the next 72 hours! I'll add more as soon as I get off work.
  19. Like
    ThyriC got a reaction from CNA Jacksonville in How do I save money on bookings?   
    @CNA Jacksonville  Its not that the TA will get you the best price initially, however some offer something like a small amount of onboard credit.  Where I found their real value comes in, is the checking for price reductions as time goes by for your cruise.  Sometimes the TA has a block of rooms reserved from Royal at a discount rate, and if they do, awesome!  But in the case of the non block of rooms, they can reprice your cruise.
    So say you book initially and your TA got you a price that was 1000 dollars.  You put down your refundable deposit and are all excited.  3 months later your TA working hard for you sees that your 1000 dollar cruise is now 800 dollars, and they get your cruise repriced at the lower rate.  You just saved 200 dollars without lifting a finger.  
    Cruise planner extras are a little different.  Say you buy a drink package, and it comes out to be 60 dollars per person per day.  You buy it because you're comfortable with that price.  Well, you have an awesome TA who has been tracking cruise planner sales for you as well, and they tell you to check the cruise planner because there's a sale.  Well you do as your awesome TA says, and that 60 dollar beverage package is now a 42 dollar beverage package, so you cancel your 60 dollar one and repurchase the 42 dollar one and a few days later the refund arrives for your 60 dollar one.  Your amazing TA has saved you yet more money.
  20. Thanks
    ThyriC got a reaction from mikebarr in Smoking in Casino   
    To be honest, its unpleasant as a smoker to smell stale smoke in a room.  I'm more than content to go to a designated smoking area.  All I ask is for some shade, that its not in a dark dangerous alley, and that there's somewhere to sit.  I'm rather easy to make happy with smoking.  I'm not going to smoke on my balcony, I'm not going to smoke anywhere other designated areas, because we all have to exist in the same space.  Smokers and nonsmokere, vegans and carnivores, rock and roll, etc.  
  21. Love
    ThyriC got a reaction from raahc in How do I save money on bookings?   
    @CNA Jacksonville  Its not that the TA will get you the best price initially, however some offer something like a small amount of onboard credit.  Where I found their real value comes in, is the checking for price reductions as time goes by for your cruise.  Sometimes the TA has a block of rooms reserved from Royal at a discount rate, and if they do, awesome!  But in the case of the non block of rooms, they can reprice your cruise.
    So say you book initially and your TA got you a price that was 1000 dollars.  You put down your refundable deposit and are all excited.  3 months later your TA working hard for you sees that your 1000 dollar cruise is now 800 dollars, and they get your cruise repriced at the lower rate.  You just saved 200 dollars without lifting a finger.  
    Cruise planner extras are a little different.  Say you buy a drink package, and it comes out to be 60 dollars per person per day.  You buy it because you're comfortable with that price.  Well, you have an awesome TA who has been tracking cruise planner sales for you as well, and they tell you to check the cruise planner because there's a sale.  Well you do as your awesome TA says, and that 60 dollar beverage package is now a 42 dollar beverage package, so you cancel your 60 dollar one and repurchase the 42 dollar one and a few days later the refund arrives for your 60 dollar one.  Your amazing TA has saved you yet more money.
  22. Haha
    ThyriC reacted to twangster in How do I save money on bookings?   
    Spreadsheet grew too unwieldy. Just picked up an old Cray Supercomputer on eBay for the task.  
  23. Love
    ThyriC reacted to Matt in How do I save money on bookings?   
  24. Wow
    ThyriC reacted to princevaliantus in Can You Just Imagine ?!?!?!?   
    Pure A - W - E - S - O - M - E - N - E - S - S !!
     
     
     
  25. Love
    ThyriC got a reaction from spiralqueen in The Suite Life on Grandeur of the Seas to Bermuda 10/26-10-31 (live-ISH)   
    Ok I guess I'll jinx myself like @Matt and start the live-ish blog early.  
    So this cruise was many things to my husband and I.  First, it was a yolo black friday sale and I had been eyeballing cruises to take my husband on for a while.  He's not really the vacation-y type and I adore exploring and vacationing.  I've been very comfortable travelling solo but I really wanted him to experience a cruise.  He's a Marine so his idea of a cruise is hot bunking, doing fire fighting training onboard a carrier and being miserable while the Navy got him where he needed to go.  Vacationing to me is at least 4 star hotels, gourmet meals, relaxation, spa visits, etc.  We're like night and day when it comes to travelling.  His last experience with "Thyri Style" travel was our honeymoon in the Poconos doing the whole champagne glass whirlpool thing.  He needs to get out more.
    I adore cruising, I adore the water.  I'm not married to any cruise line in particular but Royal does give us the option to sail out of Baltimore, which is a 20 minute drive from our house.  
    So when the price was right on black friday, I asked hub, "can I book this PLEASE?  I need a vacation, WE need a vacation"  mega SWMBO guilt trip pouring on and he allowed it.
    5 nights to Bermuda.  But it has to be "Thyri style".  So I debated for about 20 minutes between the Grand Suite and the Owners Suite.  I knew I didnt want or need the Royal Suite because well, my logic is I dont play piano.  The price difference wasnt too much, and the larger balcony just sealed the deal for me.  So I booked it.  
    Then I found this blog and these forums and learned about MEI travel.  I was considering being my own travel agent for this but Pam Richter at MEI really has been a godsend.  She sorted me out on a name discrepancy on our tickets and our travel documents.  Hub's last name has a III at the end.  That wasnt on our tickets.  Pam to the rescue!  She also helped us sort out travel insurance.
    I kind of was excited, relieved, and nervous at the same time.  I've wanted to go on a cruise with hub for a very long time.  I also must be the only woman on the planet who cant remember her anniversary to save her life.  I realized at the time of this cruise, it would be 15 years of putting up with each other.  
     
    Fast forward to tax time.  I had expected my work bonus as well as my tax refund (YAY), and I just said the heck with it and paid off the cruise.  I wanted it done, I wanted it to be "complete".  I wasnt planning on changing cabins or ships.  I knew I could get the time off of work because I always book my time off so far in advance before anyone else can take it.  So now what else.
    I decided to completely splurge and do the "as close to all inclusive as you can get on a cruise" method.  So there was a WOW sale that happened with a deal of $52 for the deluxe beverage package and the voom internet.  Ok that was a no brainer, I wanted a beverage package anyways.  I'm not a huge drinker, but I do like the convenience of being able to have that extra drink after dinner, or at a show, or a latte with breakfast.  I also wanted that convenience of knowing that was all taken care of before the cruise.  And the price was nice for both the drink package and the voom.  Then I started looking at specialty dining.  I knew I wanted to do that.  I kind of like doing a "pre dinner" at a place like Izumi and then go to Chops or Giovanni's for the real dinner.  Or have the option to go to the windjammer for pregame, go to Chops for the main course, and then maybe have dessert by room service.  Again this was more about the flexibility than it was "getting the most" out of specialty dining.  I'm sure my hub and I wont come close to making the ultimate dining package worth it, but its the flexibility for us.  Also I can devour a lot of sushi.
    Ok with drinks and food taken care of.  I pivoted to excursions.  I really wanted to show hub the beauty of Bermuda, the history.  And about 24 hours to do it in, it would be challenging but I'd use this as a teaser to go on more cruises.  So I booked a snorkeling excursion and a glass bottom boat ride for our first day, and a history bus tour on the 2nd.  Well unfortunately the history bus tour got cancelled, so our 2nd day has become a free day.  Personally I want to explore more of the Dockyard this visit.  I really REALLY wanted to go to St George but with all of the activities booked on day 1, it just wasnt going to happen.  I figured that the first day it would give us something fun, and then something relaxing while really taking in the sights of Bermuda.  
    I also decided to "treat yo self" and get a few things for the room as well.  I got the anniversary decorations gift thing, I got a bottle of champagne, 2 beach towels, a tote bag, rum and coke, and some sodas.  Since hub is a bit of a homebody, I didnt want him missing out if he didnt feel up to going out and about with me.  I wanted things to be as absolutely smooth as possible for his first cruise.  Excessive?  Possibly.  But that's just my kind of style.  
    And that was it for the planning phase.  Then it was 10 months of waiting.  Stalking the cruise planner for better deals (except on the intern mistake day of course).  Reading the blog, chatting with other cruisers.  I was in full cruise planning mode and 10 months felt like forever.
     
    Now its 10 days and I'm starting a blog.  I'll do my best depending on the Voom to post as many photos and details as I can.
    At 10 days out I have not heard from my concierge yet.  But I'm expecting to hear from them in the next week to book dining reservations.  I do tend to be a little cavalier with my dining on a ship though.  So I just want to book Chops on the first day because hub desperately wants the seafood tower and I promised I'd get him one.  We even say to each other now "seafood tower?" and give a thumbs up.  I fear our little inside joke will happen onboard when we actually get it.  
    But I'll do my best to share the suite life on a Vision class ship.  
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