PRebecca

Would you mind elaborating on this? We will be in St Thomas on my birthday next year on an Allure sailing, and the itinerary says we're there 12-7. What dictates a "good candidate" for a St. John trip from St. Thomas, in your experience? There seems to be lots of great options for things to do in ST and would like to research the St. John option as well. TIA for your input.

That's great news! Enjoy!!

is it known if the JS on Independence have the walk in closet and bath tub?

I'll be there with you! I thought this was a great relax and lay back cruise- force the DH to relax, whether he wants to or not ? I want the Beach Club pretty bad, but not enough to pay for a Beach Club cabana. When we went to PDCC in September we hung in a cabana most of the day and spent a little time at the Pool. That really is enough to keep us happy.

So relatable! In the past right thru the last few weeks I was checking to see if my Royal up was accepted or if my GTY cabin was assigned. I have neither of those things happening so really I open the Planner... and that's it. Nothing to "do"! My husband wanted to wait to take his reward cruise in December and I told him I couldn't take it, we had to go sooner!

amazing as always; thank you for sharing!!

Whoo hooo!! Have a great time!

Whoo hooo congrats that's awesome!

$61 instead of $19? The $61 is for the DBP and the $19 is for the refreshment, I don't drink alcohol at all so my husband and I have different packages. We just booked this this week so I'm not sure where it was before that but we should have the same cruise planner prices if on the same sailing ? See you in 87 days!!

Not at all, May 11th, 2020 (87 days!!) on Independence.

@Ogilthorpe I really don't want to be a PITA to the agent so I tried that first and they confirmed if I booked through an agent the agent has to be the one to do it. I'm just trying to get it right for next time. I think I have book it myself in the future and that's ok.

The agent for my November 2020 Cruise said he does do repricing (I found the email where he said that) but as a guest I have to ask him to do it when I see that my price has gone down. Since my cabin category is sold out I could not tell but all the categories around it went down so I told him with that information could you please check. He said since it's sold out he can't see if it's a lower price or not. This whole situation has me so frustrated, as that's one of the reasons I booked early. My November 2021 and may 2024 both booked with Mei so lesson learned, I'm just frustrated. For those of you getting price drops that's awesome!

Here's what is advertised on my sailing, and what I purchased yesterday. I was charged $19 and $61 pp/pd plus 18% grats.

Hey I'm that cruise with you!! First time at Labadee for us too! We are going to Amiga Island for this sailing and getting a cabana for November. That could change- but it's what we have scheduled for now. We booked this as a total R&R trip. This doesn't at all answer your question (sorry) but surely someone will ? Happy sailing!

May 11, 2020 Independence of the Seas, Labadee and Perfect Day! Thrilled to break up the countdown from almost 300 to 90!

Looking forward to it! Thanks in advance for sharing! @Ampurp85 go to Disney, kids or not ?

I can't express how much I love your husband's shirt! Great family pics Glad it's a great time!

If we were still going in May it'd be Indy because we'd be in a OV Balcony at best, and smaller cabin is ok on a bigger/amp'd ship. The responsible adult decision maker (DH) made a great point that if we wait till December work will not be as busy and we will have more time to save for/ purchase the extras and splurges so that 'quick book it now' mentality yielded to carefully thought out non impulsive behavior . He is not #TEAMYOLO yet? I suspect it will be Brilliance in December because budget allows for a JS; he agrees to try the 'older smaller' ships if we can get into a little bigger JS cabin, thinking they will have a bigger bathroom like they do on Navigator/Mariner. This is the trip he earned from his job, his employer is rewarding him with the cruise in an interior cabin and we're choosing to pay for the upgrade. Now that it's not right around the corner urgent I will research cabins to see if that's an accurate guess or not. I did see that the Brilliance lends itself (in theory) to that old school cruising idea along the lines of the ocean being the highlight and focal point of the ship rather than the bells and whistles the new ships have. I think we'll be absolutely thrilled on either ship and the key is to have proper expectations, so once I get the details on cabin differences I think we'll be on Brilliance in a JS instead of an OV Balcony on Indy which is what we'd have done if we were going in May. I'm sorry did you ask for my entire thought process? ? BRILLIANCE FOR THE WIN! probably. But Indy is still on the list for one day ?

Hello master cruisers! We are booking a 5 night cruise for April or May out of Florida (husband awarded for being an awesome employee ? ) and was hoping for some help in narrowing down ships maybe. We know it'll be 5 nights, and out of Florida. We've recently sailed Mariner and Navigator and have Oasis and Allure booked so I was thinking one of these 2 would be a new experience. Are there any right off the top differences you feel like mentioning to help me figure out which to look into? None of the itineraries really stuck out to me as avoid or must haves (although somewhere in that window I think I saw a Labadee and Cococay itin!). It's just going to be the 2 of us, we don't participate in the rock wall/flowrider type activities (nor the shows for that matter). I think we are the type that enjoy relaxing by the pool and at beaches. We're still pretty new at this and don't have any must-haves. The employer is paying for an interior room and we'll pay to upgrade to a better cabin (most likely OV balcony) and I am trying to narrow options down before getting a price from our (now MEI) agent. Any striking differences you wish you knew before booking either of these beauts? I will do my research but thought I'd put a feeler out here as well 'cause ya'll are the bomb diggities who think of things I may not! TIA! **EDIT- NEVERMIND a quick google search let me know what I needed to know!! I guess this is a very common topic on the old interwebs, shoulda searched first ?

Thank you! I wasn't sure it was allowed if it was booked thru a TA but it's for sure worth a shot!

I considered pushing that very issue but quite frankly don't have the... let's say 'gumption'... to do that. On the other hand, if I was able to find the email where I thought I asked if he provided that service and thought he said 'of course', I would take those steps but even with all my email filing that one is no where to be found. Hence my attitude that I must have misunderstood at some point and am accountable for having a non repricing TA. All in all a lesson learned ? Your input is always appreciated!

That's awesome service! My hiccup is that I already booked my November 2020 sailing with the TA who doesn't reprice ? So I am stuck with that TA for that booking, but am hoping for some workaround for repricing. My first thought was if I see the cabin category I'm in is now less than I paid I could tell the TA that and see if he would push the magic buttons on my pricing since I did the research to find out it was cheaper- but my cabin category (JS) is sold out so I don't know how to tell. I did note the price of the GS had gone down, but am afraid to ask about mine since he already told me he doesn't provide that service because he has hundreds of bookings and no time ? Oh well, I got the OTW Labadee cabana for $250 less than it's currently priced (Did not know those prices fluctuated like Cococay does), and a great price on the drink packages and other excursions so now it just feels a little greedy on my part. **Letting it go now** ?

Question on this: I booked with a TA and found out this week they don't offer re-pricing as a service. I misunderstood when I asked them about it with our first booking. I've made my brand new booking with MEI who does perform this service but for the several month old booking with the non repricing TA: will RC allow me to reprice thru RC since my TA doesn't offer that service or am I just out of luck? I got what I feel like is a fair enough price in my inexperienced opinion and don't want to be greedy- but if there's a normal work around for this scenario I would be happy to hear it. If not, lesson learned and I have switched agents to MEI

awesome, happy sailing!!

Thanks for sharing all this great info and your trip with us, it was great to read along. Till next time!