PRebecca

We cruise an average of once per year, although 2022 will be a make-up year for 20 and 21.  We find that we notice things that are different as we sail different ships, e.g., the furniture on an older ship was a little scratched, and we hated the shower curtain.  However, we were bothered most by the attitude of rude guests, some of whom sat at our dinner table.  We note differences in customer service, but they are due to the differences in people.  On the whole, we find the more we cruise, the more tolerant we are, the more realistic our expectations become, and the more coping strategies we employ.   I can't think of any cruise we didn't rate a "10", even though some were better than others.  Any cruise, for us, is fantastic.  Do we notice it when something we like is missing?   Yes, but inevitably we find something else to enjoy just as much.  If one dessert dish is no longer served, there are many others to choose from!

My wife and I have been cruising since we were married in 1983 and we scraped up enough money to take an Anniversary Cruise on Song of Norway.  We had a cabin on Deck B and was awestruck by literally everything about cruising. As the years went by we were fortunate enough to be able to afford many more cruises (we could never afford the new loft suites with a Genie) and enjoyed every one.  Cruising, like people, change over time and we found ourselves adapting to these changes.  We still enjoy cruising and interacting with other cruisers and crew members. I now find it a bit harder to cruise as we have in the past but that is because of my health and nothing to do with experiences onboard any ship. Luck holding out, I plan to take a few more cruises in my lifetime. Here's to many more and may we continue to enjoy! 

I think that there are people who are critical of most things in life, and there are others that are Pollyannas.  Some of us see the glass as half full, others as half empty.  Some have gratitude in their hearts for the little things, some can't find anything to be grateful about.  Add cruising to the mix for each type, and you have some that complain about everything, while some see the entire experience as great.  🙂
We love traveling.  We have never had a bad trip, even though we have had some difficult circumstances happen during those trips.  Most of the time, we have an optimistic attitude, and once we have recovered from the shock of something bad happening, we make the best of it.  Even when our transmission went out in our car while on vacation (when we were young and money was tight), we were thankful the resort we stayed at had loaner bikes.  Instead of whining and complaining about our circumstance, we have a great time riding those darned bikes everywhere! lol  Not to say there wasn't stress, because there was, but we didn't want to let the stress ruin our vacation.  I have friends that would have come back home from the same situation, and complained bitterly about it, seeing none of the good that happened that week.
I don't know why some people cruise, because I've heard the complaints too.  I think we all have.  And we avoid those people when we run into them, because we don't want our joy over the blessing of being able to cruise to be diminished.   🙂

For me….no. It does not. I love cruising, and everything about it. From researching, booking, following price changes, cruise planner purchases…all the way to packing, traveling and boarding. I love it all! And that’s even before I’m aboard. The cruise itself is always a relaxing, enjoyable and entertaining vacation. I refuse to let it be anything else. I’m easygoing and usually like to be on my own. So I travel solo most of the time. No need to make plans or arrange schedules with others so everyone gets what they want. I absolutely HATE drama and the kings and queens who feed on it. I can’t stand loud complainers, even if they’ve got a point. Take it elsewhere! I have learned to really appreciate and respect the crew. With me being solo, it seems many of them love to spend time talking about their experiences if someone is really interested in listening. I’m a good listener. 
I think repeat cruisers learn more about service differences based upon comparisons from cruise to cruise. I know I do…but I really like to focus on the positive. I’m on a cruise! Again!
As soon as I step off the ship on disembarkation day, I can’t wait to get back on! I don’t think I will ever tire of this…I’m on the Wonder now, on cruise number eighty-nine since 2015. It’s still as special as cruise number one.😎

With regards to folks wearing their nameplates, if that's what works for them... go for it!  It's a great conversation starter and I've met plenty who were fantastic sources of information and lots of fun to be around.  I certainly didn't mean for this to be a "bash the Pinnacle's" post.  

April 10 -17 2022
Who is on this trip: 7 of us !
It will be my hubby and I and the crew of 5. It was suppose to be 8 but my sister went with us in February because she couldn’t make this one.
Itinerary:stops will be St Maarten , St Thomas and perfect day. When we booked it was suppose to be Antigua but it was later changed to St Maarten.
We had our covid test today (Friday). Now we are waiting for all results so far 5/7 are back and negative. 

Travel 
We are driving to Port Canaveral. Plans for tomorrow night staying 6 miles from port. We will leave early Saturday morning from Birmingham Al. We have plans to stop in Port Orange to eat at Aunt Catfish’s.
Our genie for this trip is Alexa. We have received our schedule of shows and restaurants. I’m sooo excited for Grease. It just has to be so much better than Cats.

I was kind of hoping that we'd have better luck with Royal Up going from an Ocean View cabin to a balcony of some type, but starting to lose hope that could be the case. Either way, very happy with our cabin location on deck 8 nearby Central Park. 
That said - considering printing my luggage tags just so that my cabin might change shortly after 😅

7 Nights 4/23 Symphony
Royal Up from Balcony Ocean to Sky Loft, $800 USD PP x 2 
 
Approved 18 Days prior to sailing 

Doesn't happen at my house, as soon as the wife gets home she has a drink in her hand 15-30 minutes later she's has her supper delivered to her. 
She's running me ragged and to top it off unlike on the cruise she no longer tips

I booked our next sailing!!!! STAR CLASSS! We booked Harmony a deck 9 2 bedroom ATS. ohhh my god it’s happening again lol! 7 day may 27th 2023 let’s goo! 

I have to share my experience from July 2019 that's similar to@SpeedNoodles . I placed a Royal up bid and was notified we won but the card was declined. I was able to immediately resolve it and provide a new card to secure the bid we'd won. 
 
I don't remember all the details but I know that I was immediately able to resolve it with the information provided to me from Royal or the the Royalup folks. 
 
Congrats to all who won and happy cruising!

I think we need to get used to it. This issue is not exclusive to Symphony of the seas or Royal Caribbean it’s just the way the world operates at this point. Can you tell me a place on planet earth that has a fully functioning and trained staff, no impact from COVID-19 and the equipment and material available to meet anyones needs? Personally I have not been to a single place yet from the local Starbucks to the Home Depot that can actually accommodate pre Covid capacity. Once you accept the new reality it’s much easier to enjoy that tasteless steak or wait an extra few minutes for that cold beer on your cruise. It’s not an ideal scenario but I would have to say that anyone on a cruise enjoying life in any way should consider themselves lucky & fortunate. 

I love the new member rant posts.

Maybe cruising every month makes it harder to just enjoy being on a ship no matter what the little disappointments might be. Our first cruise since the shutdown is coming up this month, and I would be happy to help serve meals or clean stairwells, just to not be doing it alone in my own house!

So much for boarding late. Symphony never made it into port. Allure ran into mechanical problems blocking the dock.  They can’t get us to the next port, so they put us up in a different hotel and our flight home is not till the day after our cruise was scheduled to end.  It could be worse I guess, just nothing we had been planning for months. 😕

Forget the suite perks.  I just don't know how we'll ever survive without two bathrooms in our cabin again.  

So have you heard about the PADI 5 star dive centers aboard the ships?  They offer a range of certifications and...

Hi everyone. Sometimes it feels like things will never get here. I booked this sailing an entire different world ago. It’s crazy to think that back in November 2019 (18th to be exact) we were fun and fancy free. Running around without masks, no vaccines and a stable supply of light sweet crude oil. 
It was 867 days ago and when I put down the deposit for this sailing after having had FOMO from one too many of Sabrina’s live blogs. 
We’re now three weeks away which means from booking to sailing it’ll be 888 days (which definitely means I should head to the craps table or roulette wheel.) I’ll be sharing a bit about the voyage every day or so leading up to departure and will keep up onboard as much as my blood alcohol level let’s me. 

Anytime between now and dinner on the first night. My last 3 cruises since restart I've received notification a few days prior

Anytime between now and dinner on the first night. My last 3 cruises since restart I've received notification a few days prior

Anytime between now and dinner on the first night. My last 3 cruises since restart I've received notification a few days prior

Could be holding out for last minute cancellations/those who cancel due to COVID results etc. 

This'll be our third cruise since it restarted! First one was on the Celebrity Edge in Sept, followed by the Disney Fantasy in Jan.
We will be going on the Symphony on the April 23rd Western Caribbean and Perfect Day cruise. At CocoCay we will be having a Beach Cabana at Coco Beach Club, very excited about the views and food! First time there. My wife and I also have passes to the thermal suite all cruise, so hopefully it's not too crowded.
Day 1 - Depart Miami Day 2 - At Sea Day 3 - Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico (Possibly Mexican Salsa Experience and Beach Break) Day 4 - Roaton, Honduras (BOSS Underwater Adventure) Day 5 - Cozumel, Mexico (Legacy of the Maya: Ruins and Chocolate Tasting) Day 6 - At Sea Day 7 - Perfect Day at CocoCay (Beach Cabana at Coco Beach Club) Day 8 - Worst day ever, Disembarkation My wife and I are VERY excited for this cruise. We're going with her parents, aunt, cousin, sister, brother-in-law, and two friends. All in all, there will be 10 of us, all with the UDP, my wife and I are planning mostly everything, so it'll be fun trying to make those reservations the first day... We all either have the UDP or Refreshments Package. This is our second cruise on RCL and most of the parties first cruise ever. All of us will be in Balcony rooms, but we submitted a Royal Up bid for a 2-Bedroom Aquatheatre Suite and a Star Loft Suite, for that Genie Service. We only put in the minimum bids, so not expecting to get them.
This community has been so great answering questions about all things cruising. Probably have the entire cruise ship memorized from watching hours and hours of Youtube videos. Let me know if you guys have any recommendations. Will update this as we get closer to the date!

Anyone have experience renting these? We're on Oasis for a 3 night April 7th. It says FCFS, time on reservation says 9 am. Wondering if anyone has experience with how early I need to show up to pick our casita?
Anyone have tips on best spots that may be hidden or missed by a first time Casita renter?
 
I love the idea of having a spot on deck secured, even if they used to be free 🙂

I think the chemicals are reasonably strong from experience, which isn't a bad thing with the volume of people going in and out of them.