Neesa

@SweetPea funny about Coco Cay. When I saw your blog I checked our Coco Cay day to see if we were there the same day, I was like I'm gonna meet Sweet Pea and Batman in the flesh! But alas, we are there with ICON. We embark on June 7 so it would have been your second visit. 

@Ampurp85 I'm so happy it worked out for your friend, I am a big believer in the universe works for us if we just allow it. I'm not good at waiting on the universe as it moves at a snails pace in my world. I can't believe our situation is so similar to what you described. Kiddo worked her tail off and was awarded merit scholarships as well for a nice chunk, but one must be careful as SOME scholarships have nasty tax implications plus add on costs if you accept, the shenanigans that take place (as the school gets a piece of the pie) gave me pause. It's the lack of transparency and the left hand has no idea what the right hand is up to as well as the " oh just pay it, we will refund you later" song and dance. Nope not today red pitchfork man!   LOL, I know it will work out but its exhausting the games people play. After navigating this I can never complain about Royal customer care again!

Now to our regularly scheduled programing, sorry for the hijack @OCSC Mike . 

Welcome @CruisingTeddy. My famous last words that hubby constantly repeats back to me, just one honey!

Well all these years later I still can't get enough. There are so many food venues included and Coastal Kitchen if you are in a suite first time out I would pass on the dining package. We never felt we were missing anything when we sailed. We never felt the need to add even more, the sailings are beautifully decadent on their own.

With school in session in September it should be an amazing time to sail. Enjoy the journey, take in everything. Fall in love with the sea, we have and it's always our vacation of choice!

Awww, such kind words @Ampurp85 you made my day. On the phone all morning with the college finance office, now that is trifling. It's a game everywhere, how much $$ can we seperate from you? Ugh, so frustrating to say the least. Terms + costs should = payment.. but alas it does not....oops I digress!   

Our June sailing was slated for Allure as in I was waiting for day 1 to book and then she never appeared. In the interim I picked up this Adventure sailing day 1 because I was so unsure of Allure, and my gamble was correct as I'm not a fan of the shorties. 

Things seem to have changed a bit and the art of relaxation seems to have taken a back seat to dare I say lack of etiquette and decency while sailing. My last experience on my demon ship (7 night Wonder, I know I was blessed with a bad week) (sorry @OCSC Mike)  really had me saying no way to the shorties where cruise etiquette seems to suffer a bit more as it feels bad behavior is amplified. I did check like @asquared17 the Celebrity offerings and will sail on RC sister ships most likely out of PC in the future. 

Our exception shorty is the 3 night Utopia inaugural but I am the first cabin outside #CK and I booked truly for the first sailing festivities. I have never experienced an inaugural before. Im thinking there will be lots of TA's as well as seasoned cruisers on her so I will suffer this shorty quite handily. I wasn't feeling staying on as the itinerary is a snoozefest so it will be a one backpack each event! 

I will now go listen to my Abba soundtrack 

I'll claim Allure! I loved her. I wanted to sail her again until she started this shortie nonsense. I enjoy Mama Mia so much, and I like the fact that the big purple monster is still missing! Allure gets top billing from me!

They "MSC" status match with Royal, I just did it for us as a Formula One Monaco sailing is on our bucket list. Not as good of a program as Crown and Anchor but we are Gold now at MSC. In my perfect world I would love Symphony out of PC as well. @OCSC Mike the last one I had to cancel was out of Port Everglades. 

18 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Congrats! Symphony is missing from my Oasis class bingo card & it will likely stay that way for the foreseeable future.

Same for us! Symphony continues to elude us. First the shutdown ans then the great "switch the spring break dates school board for no good reason" We had to cancel, that one hurt to my core. Could never find another good fit!  

@smokeybandit question for you, please? I believe you have sailed Adventure recently in a suite. Where did they assign you in the MDR? I was going to request a table just for us I'm thinking about asking for deck 5 because we never dined up there before. Part of me wants to leave it to chance, thoughts? I just don't want to be in the middle of the dining room as the volume of everything is sometimes uncomfortable. 

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. 

If you go to their website (on the desk top for me) sign in and click past cruises. There is usually an invoice displayed there you can download from that sailing. They don't stay long so good luck!

Add me to the Google look up crew... yikes!

Dear @Ampurp85,

I really appreciate you bringing us along! I have no idea how I will proceed this weekend knowing there will be no more posts to look forward to. Ugh, I'm exhausted for you. Please know I truly looked forward to reading your posts every time my notification sounded.  Have a safe and uneventful rest of your journey, all the best to you and your brother. Until next time

Happy Birthday!! You are amazing, cheers to you! 

Quietly now, did anyone get a RUB offer for this sailing? Don't tell @OCSC Mike I'm asking......it's for a friend! LOL, I really am curious because I do love my cabin and detest deck 18 so, but usually day 60 the offer arrives, nothing. Maybe it's with the Royal Railway information/offerings, LOL

Okay cool, Dancing Drums! I know this is a slippery slope, but I'm going to try it! Dancing drums please!! Point me in the right direction. I always look at that free play and stare at it. Thanks so very much! 8 cents sounds perfect! Is it a slot machine? I can do that

Packing my red and purple undies!!

@WAAAYTOOO and @Ampurp85 please advise! I always have free play and in all this time have never used it, I'm not familiar with casino things. 

If you were me, very first time...armed with 12.00$$ free play, I'm using Cabash/Vintage Magnets as well, what would you play? Where would you start? 

Adventure of the Seas

I am going to dip my toe in so to speak, thanks for the suggestions

@TheoneandonlyMICAH I was on a Thanksgiving sailing with a sold out ship. I was in an OS (Serenade) and asked the concierge about the cabins being booked because I bid on the 2 bedroom. He said he was in communication with all families and the 2 bedrooms were spoken for. 2 nights before the sailing a freak snowstorm up North and a family canceled last minute. My credit card notifications came through first, wait what? I was awarded the RUB the very last day, you never know. But you are correct, love the cabin you booked and if the RUB comes to be fantastic, if not you will still have an amazing time!

FYI, we are taking the advice of @WAAAYTOOO and booked 1200 Chops embarkation day. I finally landed on my boarding outfit, white denim skirt and a shirt that resembles the thin blue line repeatedly. I'm a happy chubby lady, I'll be with a bald guy ( probably with some type of baseball hat ) and under armour shirt and kiddo who is turning 18 on this sailing. 

If you see us, please say hello! Same goes for Mr and Mrs @smokeybandit ! 

We are celebrating High School Graduation from the International Bachelorette program as well. We are all exhausted, cheers to an amazing sailing. 

And I know it's controversial right now but I'm hiding ducks! Quack quack!!!

I wonder if the "revenge travel crowd" is starting to slow down a bit. I'm thinking as a business Royal has $$ milestones to meet, maybe the spend factor once onboard is starting to slow. Icon pricing is pulling her weight I'm sure, but what about the other ships? I'm thinking this is just a refreshed promo to separate more money from the consumer. This is not a negative statement mind you, Royal is ultimately in business to provide an enjoyable vacation but also to make a profit. So I'm thinking they are just trying to stimulate more "spend" with inviting offers such as this. I agree with someone else here that they are missing the boat (pun intended) with Royal Branded Merch! It's so sleepy and ho hum at this point. Most times I'm looking for something, I don't know what but almost every time there is nothing interesting. For example I would purchase a quality beach towel from every ship if it had the ships name on it. So I say come on Royal, think outside the box!

OMG, Thomas the train and Sheriff Andy! Thanks your post made my night!!

@TheoneandonlyMICAH was thinking about you sending positive juju! With final payment looming there are previous booked suites opening up. Yesterday I saw an OS today 2 grands. Fingers crossed you are awarded the RUB!  Come on RUB, let's do this!!

* I'm so silly, my final payment looming statement was for my August 2024 Adventure sailing, so sorry. BUT @TheoneandonlyMICAH OS 1300 is still available, sorry for the confusion. Wrong sailing 

Just read this on X, posted today 5/15/24. It's regarding the Effectors show.  It was a response to someone who stated Royal will never be the same after Nick's departure. We may never know the why, but this is a very classy exit!

While it was something I was interested in experiencing IF it's that costly it would sadly be a hard no for us. I hope this is incorrect but honestly wouldn't be surprised. Oh man, possibly priced out....hum, maybe I could write a song?

RC holding the patent is good news. In June 2023 when I stepped out on RC (I Know, I know) regular muster drill was as awful as ever. I found myself thinking why, why??? Bodies on top of each other standing for 30 minutes waiting for others who thought, I'll just send one representative of the family who cares!! I am so spoiled by e muster, we go straight away as soon as we board, just get it done and enjoy our day! Ugh, I still feel the frustration boiling up about that & we did a B2B so it was double the fun! 

I wish him well & hope he enjoys an amazing future. 

Excited for this sailing, Happy Birthday to you both again! Can you remind me what are the points milestones where you are awarded the block?

Also, if mom does not get her Emerald pin please PM me. We can rectify that I'm sure 

So very much appreciated, thank you so much! 

@smokeybandit wonderful, great info! Who was the concierge may I ask? I know we will get an email but I honestly can't think of any requests besides PLEASE, I need a tea pot for my cabin (we are tea drinkers all day, every day) but this I usually just ask the stateroom attendant when we meet onboard. 

There is one night (Aruba) night 5 where I am taking @WAAAYTOOO advice and writing out our dinner order requests to set up delivery for 1830hrs because our excursion is a late one and we won't make our MDR reservations so I want to give them the heads up so the table will be free for other passengers. This request I won't place until that morning. We never dine in cabin from MDR before so we wanted to give it a try.