PRebecca

Time to have John Popper from Blues Traveler call. I hear he’s going at asking about getting the runaround ?
 
 

Status Update - Claimed Denied
 
Thank you for choosing Allianz Global Assistance to protect your recent travel investment. We are sorry that your travel experience did not go as planned.
We have completed our review of your claim, and unfortunately are unable to provide benefits under the coverage you purchased because:
Your insuring agreement provides coverage if Your airline, cruise line, or tour operator stops offering all services for at least 24 consecutive hours from where you are departing, arriving or making a connection for specific reasons. Unfortunately, we have no evidence of a 24 consecutive hour cessation of services.
Based on the claim documents you submitted, we regret that we are unable to honor your claim.
Please refer to your copy of the Certificate of Insurance/Policy and Letter of Confirmation for more information on the specifics of the policy that you purchased.
If you have additional questions, please call us at 1-866-884-3556. Sincerely,
Claims Department Allianz Global Assistance
Encl:

I am glad you are able to make peace with it.
None of us plan these things but we do have the power to handle it with grace when it occurs.

I know we shouldn’t deal in generalities, but they seem to hire angry Eastern Europeans that make me want to gamble less and less. At least when I’m in Vegas losing my shirt, there’s a dealer with a great life story who can regale me with tales of how great Vegas was in the 70s and that time he was working for the Mob. 

Not just first time cruisers. Up until Friday, hubby was telling everyone that we were flying to Florida. At the border into the US earlier the conversation with the customs officer went like this:
CO: Where are you headed?
Hubby: New Jersey
CO: How?
H: uh...by plane
CO: What airline?
H: uh...(looks at me)
Me: Delta
CO: When are you coming back? 
H: uh....
Me: on the 17th
Not sure at this point if he knows what ship we are on tomorrow. ?

I bought the package for our 20th on Freedom of the Seas in July last month.  I did not know when they would deliver them.  
They were already up when we went to our room after 1:30.  Our room attendant had hung them up.  This is what it looked like when my wife walked in

Thanks for the welcome and tips. Me and the wife plan on Cruising a lot so I'll be on here bugging yall. lol.

Good grief, there's a whole post on "how to"; I should have gone there first, thanks for pointing me in the right direction!!

You might also want to check out the list under "the Periscope Peeps" section here that @CruisingKat(Kathy) posts every month of those who will be planning to scope.  She has all their handles listed and you can find people to follow that way if you are interested in their ship or itinerary.
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/forum/10-periscope-peeps/
There is also a RCPeriscopers FB page that you might want to join as many of those who scope are on there.  The monthly list is also posted there.
Also, keep in mind that not all the people who frequent the message boards are on Periscope.  And some are on Periscope but just watch and don't scope.  
It's a complex community but a great one.  Took me a while to figure it all out too.

Live blogs are different from Periscope.
A scope is a live video chat basically where someone scopes and you can interact with them and they can answer you back.  Similar concept to FB live or Instagram live video.  You can also watch this back on replay but you will lose the live interaction.
A live blog is basically someone who is documenting their cruise "live time" while they are on the cruise with entries throughout the day or once a day etc.

@twangster ahh, those things all do make sense... and I will say that the last place I want to be is somewhere where 21 yr old's are power drinking... so curbing that is definitely a good thing!

You said it, I was thinking it! Ha! 
I bought a pair of speedo brand bathing suit (but it's a regular man's bathing suit) just so I can do this joke: "be right back, going to put on my Speedos!" ... They are usually relieved to see a "normal" bathing suit when I return.

Thank you all! Now how do I get my picture to fit? ? 

Navigator September 13th, in 44 days!
Preparing/researching for this has provided me with so much excitement and joy! I can only imagine the blues when it's over but it's not dampening my spirit ? I think a good solution is to try to always have one booked; I would be happy if cruising is our forever yearly vacation plan. Wondering (sorry if this isn't the right place) the routes people take to book future cruises? It seems like I may get more benefits (OBC, less deposits) by using a TA (I have reached out to the website's sponsor a few minutes ago) and wondered if there is a method that anyone else uses, or if it's strictly on personal preference for booking?

Our last day is June 24th. I have a floating holiday, so I will be on a cruise the last day of school.

It was up in the air whether this was going to happen or not. So I was just excited that I was able to book it that I wanted to share my enthusiasm!

Hello,
Our agents will do a gift in the room but if you are looking large OBC they may consider that your gift as well.  Many people like the surprise of a thank you, while others want to have money to spend up front. ?
 

Hi Matt:
I went on Symphony of the Seas last August departed Rome doing the 7 night Western Mediterranean Cruise.
Enjoyed a Junior Suite & had an awesome time.
I also went on a 5 night Bermuda Cruise out of Bayonne, NJ this past June.
I live on 30 minutes away from the port, so it was a great perk for me.
This is my question:
Can you please give us some advice on departure day on whether we should have the bellmen take most of our luggage the night before.
Which way is the most efficient & less stressful?
I love your You Tube Channel & all of your advice. 
Thank you very much,
Angela Roman
Paterson, NJ

Sigh. Not to be disrespectful to your opinion but this hard to read and my eyes just rolled to the back of my head. Everyone should wear a swimsuit in the pool, if they so choose...whatever they may weigh. I say this as someone who refuses to wear a bathing suit because I think I look awful. Honestly, I love seeing confidence in anyone, no matter their weight. My issues are mine alone and I would never impose them on anyone else. We should all be comfortable in our skin and not make people feel bad for how they look.
 
 
Even bigger sigh.
 

I've not seen it with my own eyes but I often talk to the crew and hear interesting stories.  Bartenders who work the pool bar see a lot.  
When Freedom came back from Europe in 2017 she had an area marked for topless sunbathing.

Sadly did not see any participants.  Maybe all my camera gear scared them away.

Hi @Blackmagic17, welcome to the forums!
If you're asking if thong / spaghetti-strap bikinis and speedos are the norm on the ship, most definitely not! Lots of people in one-piece bathing suits or swim trunks and a swim shirt for some sun protection, along with the folks who are comfortable in a two-piece bikini or just the swim trunks. You may have the occasional person harkening back to the 70s and 80s in their choice of swimwear, but they seem to be few and far between.

SAME! So glad I found this site and that others are as preoccupied with their future sail dates as I am ? I am considering changing my mindset from  "BUY/BOOK <upgrade room/extra excursion/over the top decorations/etc>, you only live once" to "hmmm if I scale back the unnecessary costs on this cruise I can justify booking another while on board"  That may be the way I go!

I wasn't sure I would live blog this trip but Empress is secret favorite of mine and she doesn't get much attention here in the live blogs.
Empress is a small ship yet she doesn't feel small on board, as long as you pick the right cabin.  In the wake of the abrupt Cuba changes fares have been very reasonable including Junior Suite rates.  On a small ship the added space and balcony of a Junior Suite goes a long way to not feeling the size of the ship. 
The fact that cruising solo in a suite will net me triple Crown and Anchor points wasn't lost on me.  That's a whopping 42 points for the price of a 7 night cruise in a balcony on an Oasis class ship.  
Since I'm flying to the ship I always prefer a B2B.  If I'm coming all this way I might as well cruise twice.
I thoroughly enjoyed my last Empress cruise so given the great last minute rates and affordable suites I couldn't pass up the opportunity to sail this little beauty again.
Itinerary 1 - 6 nights
Key West, Costa Maya, Cozumel
Itinerary 2 - 8 nights
Key West, Costa Maya, Belize, Cozumel, CocoCay
I like to scuba dive so the opportunity to visit Belize again was appealing.  This will also be my first trip to see the new Perfect Day additions.  Cozumel is a perennial favorite as is Key West.  Costa Maya is also an easy port to spend a day at. 
Put it all together and the answer computed to... YOLO, why not?
I am going to take a more relaxed approach to blogging this one.  It is after all a small ship and I've got two weeks to spread my posts over so I may not be as active on this one as I have on other cruises.  
Flying in the night before my plane takes off in a couple of hours.  Time to finish packing and get moving.