PRebecca

My one tip is to use a good trusted Travel Agent. No matter how well versed you are at booking vacations online, Travel Agents are great to save you time and money

Brilliant!

Omg I'd love to cruise solo!! Go wherever whenever I felt like it!! Naps! Midnight coffee! Whatever! Enjoy! I can see where it'd be intimidating, I hope you find your groove and love it

I have to say this makes me feel better; I am a sucker for FOMO when I see so many re-pricing for X amount off their cruise or 'free' cabin upgrades; I reached out to my TA and he assured me there's very little chance that will happen for me as A. he gave me a group rated he as a TA gets on cabins and B. I booked early so there's a good chance the price won't go down. I still go and mock book to make sure every now and again but try to just be happy I got a great rate to begin with.

I would love to back after your trip and let us know what a great time you had and in which rooms?

Beautiful!! Is this Chill Island (the beach pic)?

This is great info, thanks for sharing your thoughts and observations! In the 4 months I've been (virtually) hanging out here, I've booked 3 RC Cruises. I do believe I'll have to book a Celebrity next! It'll have to wait till May 2021 which is a bummer as there seems to be a $25 deposit sale for a few more hours but alas, no more before May 2021!

Weeks in advance! Started a bag for our January weekend cruise week after I booked it 60 days before sailing. Like others I have the 'cruise/travel shelf' in the guest closet for things like luggage tags, dry erase board, sanitizing wipes, etc that I only use for travel. I lay out the suitcase weeks in advance (simply because I am excited) and start adding stuff I know I wont need before the cruise. The key for me has been listing what I do add to the bag, like someone mentioned when packing for any travel I would pack early and forget if I already packed X or not, take apart the suit case and repack several times so now instead of using a list and adding things to the suitcase off the list, I list what I have already packed so I don't end up with 3 bottles of X and 0 bottles of Y and I don't have to keep unpacking and repacking.

On this note: I started going to the outdoor pool showers to cool off instead of getting in the pool! Quick cool off and no need to wade between bodies ?

Yes this is what we did, and when we got home and called the TA the price dropped significantly but we kept the original OBC from Next Cruise and gained more from the TA. We did NOT have any MyVegas benefits so can't speak to that but the rest of it yes, and we could have changed ships/dates but ended up just sticking to the one we booked at Next Cruise.

I have the patience of a 7 year old on Christmas morning; but I like the GTY to save a few bucks. I tried the bar code scanner (thanks!!) and it gave me a room that doesn't appear to exist (9625 on Mariner) so I will just need to keep obsessively checking each day, it's NBD since I am already checking for sales on DBP and excursions ?

@parothead We had Chill Island cabana #9. We loved the water view, and although there were cabanas on each side of us it felt private. This was just a couple weeks after Hurricane Dorian and not many cabanas were booked that day at all so that may account for it. It seems they arrange them so you have a great view from any option but that's the only one we tried. I would have been happy with any of them. Enjoy your trip!

Agreed! I purchased it for our January sailing on Mariner after weighing out the worth for me. It was priced right for my budget on that sailing and for just a 3 nighter it made sense in our case; we plan to use the FlowRider and slides and have an extremely flexible schedule so won't mind using it during port or dinner times. Another reason this time was for priority debarking. However I did not purchase it for our seven night Allure sailing next year because the price was a bit higher and our schedule/vibe is a little different for that sailing (might change my mind ?). Priority disembarking not important that time, schedule won't be quite as flexible, and we will need only 1 Voom device. I definitely don't feel judged by anyone who offers their opinion as to why it is or isn't worth it for them, I appreciate the variety of opinions and viewpoints to help me make an educated decision, including yours!

@johnjrThere's the answer from Wednesday earlier this week if that helps.

fantastic!

I spend WAAAYTOOO much time on the boards!! It's my favorite place online to be! You're all awesome with your humor and helpful answers. Know that folks appreciate your time and knowledge!!

Recently saw a post about being able to hit the dot to go to the first unread post in a thread, has made my week! ? Thanks

After I chose enhanced as the check in doc only a handful of stares popped up as acceptable and FL not one of them so that squashed my hope, thanks so much for this additional info though!!

Loved following along, thanks for sharing your experience.

@AshleyDillo ok gotcha, understood. Thanks for taking the time to respond, I am done with travel doc questions! ?

I went last month for the 1st time in recent years and have already booked 2 more in the 30 days since we sailed. I am sorry you had that experience, everything we experienced was top notch with the exception of one 'minor annoyance' that we did not let ruin our cruise. I don't think we'll ever take another land vacation or cruise another line. Our only previous experience was with another 'mass market' cruise line and they paled in comparison to RC. I can't say enough great things about our quick 3 night trip we took. We loved the food in the MDR and Windjammer, our cabin steward, entertainment, the personalized service, everything! We were on Navigator and I am not at all experienced like some here so I can't compare to your sailing but am sorry to hear you didn't have the best time.

Piggy back if I may beat the dead horse. When checking my cousin who is traveling with me in (I know he should have a passport, he doesn't and won't, I got mine at the suggestion of these boards) I noted for the document options there are BC+State ID listed and variations of 2 document options relating to a BC. If you choose Passport or Passport Card that's the only option you have to choose. We have the option to choose "BC+DL" OR "Enhanced DL" all by itself and I can't help but notice if you choose 'enhanced' rather than just plain "DL" at check in it doesn't require the second form of ID (BC) to go along with it. Not trying to beat the dead horse, but wondered if it may possibly be a new change. Or maybe the check in part of the website is simply misleading for not listing birth certificate with Enhanced DL option next to it. I see Ashley above mention that RC hasn't yet implemented the Real ID in lieu of Passport but I couldn't help but wonder if it's possibly a recent change, that they are now accepting Enhanced DL? The only reason I ask is because of their check in options pasted below. An example of the 'old' new license and NEW new license are below; we only recently started using these licenses, the last time i got a duplicate license it was the one on the left (within the last couple years i think) but when i replaced my damaged license a couple weeks ago I got the one on the right. Is there someone at Port Authority or RC that I may be able to ask do you think? PS: I know how much simpler it would be if he got his passport.

@teddy came across this searching for Tulum and breach break info- how much beach time did you get after the ruins? Thank you for the info you've provided here!

I got this the other day but it corrected itself when I closed and reopened the app.

I've seen this advice over and over and I went ahead and got my passport book after seeing that said so many times. I agree and appreciate the advice! I'm traveling with someone who for whatever reason is hesitant to get one so I was hoping to avoid any hold-ups on their end. I really appreciate and listen to all the advice that you experts give here ??