Momof4crazytocruise

Just got off Enchantment yesterday. My favorites were the Mojitos (frozen and not frozen), the Grey Goose Cosmopolitan, and the ringer was the Michelada by the pool before noon! (think bloody mary, but with beer and SPICY) Perfect when you're all sugared out by the frozen drinks. I enjoyed sampling the specials in Boleros, but can't remember what they were called. 

We both had drink packages when we sailed with our 4 children. I won't say we didn't let them sip on the bottled water we collected for the excursions (honestly, the bartender just hooked us up when the saw the 4 littles with us), but they were perfectly fine with the complimentary beverages on the ship. The 2 mocktails we did order for them, we paid out of pocket. 

February 21-25, 2020  - Enchantment of the Seas

November 5-9, 2020 - Odyssey of the Seas Inaugural

Which airport?

$52 isn't a bad price. I have seen it lower. I have seen it much higher. Best advice is to buy it at a price that is "acceptable" if you know you are going to buy it anyway. Then keep watching, and that ONE day, that one tiny 4-hour window that it drops (maybe), cancel and re-book it at the lower price. Generally the '30% off sale' is a better deal than the 'Buy one, get one 50%' deal' so watch for those (typically around holidays).

We booked last week. I blame you all, and MEI for emailing me about it  Totally a YOLO booking  Gonna be fun. At some point, will need to tell the husband... LOL

I just found some pop up hampers the other day at Walmart for about $3.50 and they were slightly better quality than my dollar tree ones (which I was looking to replace because my kids have destroyed them). They are the twisty kind that collapse down to about a 6-inch circle. Look in the laundry basket area.

37 minutes ago, Cruise Newbie said:

All Great Tips!!! I'm taking notes. Leaving in 11 days. Pop up hampers is a really awesome idea.

I keep pop-up hampers from the dollar store in my suitcases and use them whenever we travel. Best idea I've ever had. Then I can just dump the dirty clothes back into the suitcase for the trip home. 

Pop-up hamper

Mesh Laundry Bag

Towel Clips

Air Freshener and Poo-Potpourri

Lanyards

Small kit with pens, highlighter, post-it notes, and small pair of scissors

And now straws, apparently

Probably not the best idea, but we put ours on in the shower! We like the spray too, and that seemed like the best option to keep it contained. Only downside is it took a while to air out the scent.

13 minutes ago, tzb said:

I agree 100%!!!

I know this may be a bit off topic, but I didn't want to start a new thread for it and couldn't find the answer at RC's site or by doing a quick search of the forums. The continental breakfast room services was included just over a year ago on our last cruise on Freedom. Does anyone know if it is still included or if they have plans for phasing this out? I really hope not! We are sailing on Oasis next April and this is quite literally one of my favorite things about cruising - having my coffee out on the balcony with our daughter, looking at the ocean and the flying fish early in the morning, while my wife sleeps in.

Continental breakfast is still available for free, but tip your delivery guy! 

We have some Android/iPhone cross pollination in our family too. We use the Duo app to make video calls between the 2 phones, all via WiFi and have great results. Haven't tried it on a cruise ship yet, but will be trying it out in about 2 weeks!

3 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

I was on the Allure sailing right after yours and I went to Guest Services with no luck.  The lady that helped me said she had seen the photo already and knew exactly what I was looking for when I asked her.  Hopefully they will turn up and someone will reach out to you!

okay, so you're awesome for checking on this. What a nice thing to do. I hope OP finds the babies! I know my 8 year old would be devastated if she lost her 'cheetah'.

RCL forever has my loyalty for this most excellent humanitarian (and publicity) effort! Good on them! 

I'm wicked impressed. I just emailed the rcldining@rccl.com about 40 minutes ago with our table requests, and have already gotten a response! Hopefully they can work it out for us!

I think you probably get different 'minimum offers' based on what class of cabin you are originally booked. Meaning, a starting bid for an interior room to upgrade to a JS or higher class would be more $$$ than say an original balcony booking, because balcony has already paid more. So my minimum bid to go from Balcony to Owner's suite is $200, but someone on the same sailing, in an interior cabin may be asked to bid a minimum of $350/person, that way RC maximizes on profits. Because meanwhile, while I am bidding on Owners, someone else is bidding on my balcony.

21 minutes ago, marti314 said:

Have you cruised out of Galveston yet?  ahahahahahah 

Yes, comparable to prices at airports is probably as accurate as it gets

Yeah, it's pretty awful. LOL. But it works to get me on a boat to enjoy my over-priced drinks! 

I liken the prices to what you would pay at the airport, pretty much anywhere. They charge it because they can, and people will pay it. Sure, I don't *need* a $13.95 - 24oz glass of Blue Moon, but I'm probably going to pay that while I wait out my flight delay, because frankly, I'm bored. And I like beer. And when you factor in the logistics to get that booze to the port, loaded on a cruise ship and distributed to the bars - there is some level of upcharge vs. the Bud Light truck pulling up next to the dumpster at your local dive bar due just to plain logistics.  

So there are pretty much 2 categories of "My Time Dining" - the first is making a reservation for any time OTHER than the traditional early or late seatings. Those are available in the Cruise Planner, and I have seen reservations as early as 5:45. The second is the true 'my time' - which is come whenever you feel like eating,without a reservation, and hope/wait they have a table for you. The Cruise Compass time is option 2 I think. So check your cruise planner to see if they have a reservation time available for you. 

On 8/23/2019 at 8:33 AM, USCG Teacher said:

Those little Mio concentrated "water enhancer" packets can go a long way to keep the tap water more interesting, too!

We take these for the kiddies. They don't drink soda very often, if at all, they like the lemonade at in the dining rooms at meals (milk at dinner) - and we use these type of flavorings to mix it up a bit. We do get the drink package for us, and we do let the kids have a few mocktails - but we pay out of pocket for those. 

Sounds like I need to find my way into a casino on my next cruise....

(honestly, I can't handle the smoke, so I've never played on board. May be time to invest in a gas mask?)

Maybe try on the app? I had no issues on the app, but get an error on the webpage. 

Looks like they have luggage storage for a fee:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/FAQ_Answers-g56003-d669494-t1329098-We_will_be_travelling_with_luggage_arriving_to.html

We shop around. Because we primarily cruise without flying to the port, airfare and luggages cost recovery are not as important to us as say, medical coverage and medical evacuations, etc. I have found very reasonably priced travel insurance just by shopping around. (For example, for my upcoming 5 night cruise, I paid $58 for the both of us for pretty good coverage. For or Feb cruise where all the kiddies are coming, I went with a different company with better medical coverage and paid $88 for all 6 of us).

1 minute ago, 1978bucketlist said:

I was discussing my upcoming cruise with a coworker today. She informed me that she was going on a RCCL cruise next May. Being curious I asked her if she got the $18 dollar drink deal. This is what blew me away. She told me their travel agent told them they can’t book anything until onboard ship. I told her about cruise planner and how to sign in.

Whoa. She needs a new travel agent. My guess is they charged her a fee to book it as well   (My travel agent emailed me and told me to log on and get the $18/day price when it was available! - I had already gotten it, but dang -she's my girl 4 life now!)