GeorgiaGirl85

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the 7-day itinerary aboard Eclipse (Sitka, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, and Ketchikan) round-trip from Vancouver. I'm going to keep an eye on the price of the 9-day cruise, but for now, a 7-day introduction to Alaska works great for me and my budget. To say I'm beyond excited is putting it mildly -- especially because it'll be interesting to experience yet another cruise line and get a unique experience (though I must admit, by the time I take this cruise in May 2021, I'll feel like I'm cheating on RCCL, since I'll have been on two cruises with them by then! ??

The awesome thing I discovered while comparing the cruise value (not just the price) was that if I pick the right 3 perks (classic beverage package, $300 OBC, and prepaid gratuities), I actually come out ahead, since as a solo cruiser, I'd get the entire OBC amount added to my account. I can do the upgrade to the premium beverage package and still have plenty left to put toward excursions or a specialty dining experience or something! ? I'm not sold on unlimited internet, simply because Alaska is port-intensive, and I'd have at least some semblance of mobile data and the ability to make calls in port. I honestly like the idea of "disconnecting" while I'm on the cruise, and just doing brief check-ins in ports. The one school-related thing I'd need connectivity for, I can simply do offline aboard ship, and then send it when we get into port using either my mobile data or wifi.
And I may book the refundable fare just because it's a bit further out than I want to chance, and then change to the nonrefundable fare later, like shortly before final payment.
So, I'm settled on X for sure. Now, to just decide between a 9-day journey or a 7-day journey (using the extra savings from the 7-day toward excursions or my airfare/hotel for one night each before and after the cruise).
I really appreciate your answers and insights! ?

I think the reason that people jump all over cruise industry is it is perceived as luxury/non-necessity. People must fly and stay in hotels for work. 
Cruising also has a snobby rep that as @CrznTxn explains is unearned. I admit that I don't really proselytize about the virtues of cruising because most people just don't get it unless they have cruised.  

Good thing you looked it up I was too scared to. ?

runs to online dictionary. Now THAT is a word.

oops... yeah I paid to learn the big words so I use em. ?

I know catchy title but the worst happened this week. I have a cruise for this Sunday, 8 March 2020 on Oasis of the Seas. We booked this cruise a year and half ago and was really looking forward to it. I woke up Tuesday morning with the room spinning out of control and feeling very nauseous. I knew that feeling, it was the flu. Knowing I couldn’t just ride it out I had to go to the doctors and get a note indicating my status to inform RCI.  Under the rules I had to be 14 days well to sail and I was well within that window.  
So off I went to the walk-in clinic where they jabbed a cotton swab so far up my nose I thought they were hitting brain. Nurse puts it in a container and says I will be back in 10 minutes to let you know the results. PA walks in next and says what I already suspected- Influenza Type A....UGH! There goes the trip. At this point I send an email to @michelle at MEI to let her know what was going on. 
Michelle let us know our options - Go to insurance (always get insurance people) and get the money back or she would TRY and rebook us but no promises. She had me choose 3 cruises by priority and she would give them a call. This morning I woke up to a new cruise in December 2020 and all the previous items for the Oasis cruise will be refunded and the cruise money itself will transfer over to new cruise. I just have to replan the cruise for what we want to do. I love doing that already so I’ll have fun doing a new cruise planner. 
I found about MEI from this blog, as I have never had an agent before, and this is a classic case of why they are so important. I have learned so much from this site so thanks to @Matt for starting this blog forum. 
Plug for Michelle - she did an awesome job in a very short amount of time and I am so thankful for her help. If you ever thought of an agent but said no, I could do it myself, think again...I would still be on the phone with the flu trying to fix this mess. Instead I was home in bed taking Tamiflu and getting rid of this flu without having to rebook or fight the insurance for a refund!
Thanks again and maybe this thread can help someone else in the future if the worst happens to you pre-cruise week. 
 
Oh BTW - someone should be getting a Royal-up for Junior Suite 12636 soon since I had to cancel. And, I did have a flu shot this year so It didn’t work so well. 
 
 
 

You cannot check-in via the app on Brilliance.
Gotta do it on the website.

Hey All,
Just wanted to share my personal review of our Jr. Suite on Symphony (16-636). We originally had booked an ocean-view balcony but won an upgrade to the Jr. Suite from Royal Up. I regretted having made a bid for one, especially after having won, but we lucked out a bit and apparently 636 has a slightly larger balcony than the other Jr.s which was nice, and the location was great! 
On to the review!
Note; This is just my personal opinion and it will sound very nit picky, but I did love the room and would like to provide as much detail as possible. Also worth mentioning I've never cruised before and having nothing to compare against.
Location (and noise):
This was a terrific spot as far as being away from the "action" and constant foot traffic. We had our share of yelling from people passing by early in the morning on shore days and of course running, but I feel it was pretty minimal overall. We could only hear music from the pool area when out on the deck, and even then it seemed like it was only during sail-away parties.
No noise otherwise and it would have been easy to fall asleep out there. For the first few days though the room to the upper right of us (Grand Suite? Huge balcony..) had a kid doing laps back and forth early in the morning which our neighbors also mentioned in passing. That thankfully didn't last long.
Privacy was great for 90% of the balcony, but due to the shape (somewhat slanted), if you were to stand on at balcony edge itself, you and everyone else were in sight, including neighbors to both sides. Not a big deal but awkward when I made direct eye contact to a neighbor once ?
What might be some of the more appreciable things of this particular balcony is that there are no cameras pointed at it unless you stand AT the edge, and even better was that the ship speakers were located on the balconies to the sides of us!
You're gonna need to walk a fair distance to any elevators/stairs, though it's great if you dine in the MDR as the nearest "lobby" drops you right at the MDR entrance (and a few other venues).
A few comment specifically for room 16636: If anyone ever books it on Symphony, I will warn you that the left window trim has a horrible popping sound under the riveted trim when in higher winds (25+ kt wind, and/or 10+ ft swells). It was jarring at first, but even for me being a light sleeper I got used to it. I didn't bother with maintenance call given it was under the riveted part.
The other comment is either our cabin attendant hated us, or our room was the most convenient, but her cart and bags were always flanking our door. At one point the cart handle was actually in front of the door.. I swear we didn't do anything to upset her, at least that we're aware of! It wasn't a big enough issue to ask her to move them, but it was a bit interesting.
Bedroom:
The room size was great for two of us. Plenty of room to move around and not bump shoulders at all.
The closet had the perfect amount of space for both of us, though trying to do anything (change, find clothes to wear, pack/unpack) in there with more than 1 person is difficult but doable. There are three luggage racks but I unloaded my suitcase on the ground. They seemed like they were screwed into the paneling only and like they'd rip out under any sort of heavier (30lb+) load. I'm sure it was fine, but I didn't want to even risk it.
The TV is located in front of the couch in the little lounge area, but pulls out and points perfectly at the TV for short spurts (an hour long TV show episode before bed, for example), but anything longer starts to hurt the neck as you need to either lay/tilt yourself on your side to see from the bed, or turn your head. Ideally you'd be doing things other than watching TV in bed (sleeping...!) but if it was a long day and you just needed to relax, it's a so-so setup. 
The TV has HDMi ports accessible on the right side, but you'll need a tiny hand to get the cable plugged in. I tried doing it with the TV pulled out as well, but the bracing blocks off most access to those ports. One other thing is that the remote didn't allow us to change the input to HDMI 1. I had to use the TV power button to navigate (press once to bring up menu, press briefly until the selection is on Input Select, then HOLD the button until input changes). The input resets after power-off so this needs to be done every time you want to use HDMI 1!
The lounging couch was great - very comfortable but still firm enough you didn't just sink into an abyss, and setup in such a way that you can lay around inside looking out the windows and enjoy the sights.
The AC did a pretty decent job cooling down the room. We had it cranked to max coldness, but rarely found that to be too cold. We're from CO though, maybe that's a contributing factor ?
There is a very small table in the "lounging" area, but it's not conducive for meals. In fact, there's no good surfaces for meals beyond one person. Room service was tricky - we had items on the desk and the coffee table even though it was just 1 tray and a 2nd plate. It means no area to eat together unless you want a plate in your lap. 
I did really appreciate that the giant mirror opposite the bed is lit - for me to apply sunscreen, the wife for makeup.
The bed itself was fairly comfortable, but the mattress topper did seem to move around a bit. Easy enough to fix but on occasion I'd wake up to a bundle of it sticking into me from my tossing & turning. The bed was the two twins pushed together with the "bridge" in the middle. It wasn't noticeable at all until at some point we managed to push them slightly apart. Easy fix, though.

Bathroom:
The bathroom was a good size, but the shower/tub combo was honestly terrible. The combo has the front half enclosed in a glass "door", but the rear half completely exposed. If you keep the water flow low it's not much of an issue, but anything up to the button limiter and beyond guarantees you're going to have a puddle on the floor without a towel down. Not a deal breaker for never picking the room again, but a nuisance for sure. The BIGGEST issue I had with the tub/shower is that it's too damn narrow! It was a constant battle with stepping on the drain cap or getting my feet just right to the sides so I wasn't closing the drain and not standing on the tub's slopes. My wife got so fed up with it she eventually pulled the drain cap out altogether! We're pretty tiny (5'8 and 5'4), so it's not like bigfoot is trying to shower..
The shower is big enough for two people (tested, verified), but you're going to get water everywhere and really only one person can be in the stream at once. We tried every orientation of standing and risked death multiple times to verify it's a no-go.
There doesn't appear to be any sort of vent/fan either, so expect a lot of steam (which I've read here is great for releasing wrinkles but I wasn't so lucky!) One downside to that is your mirror will absolutely be fogged - it's not heated.
The walls between bathrooms seem pretty thin. At one point I could clearly hear my neighbor talking to his wife. It didn't sound like he was yelling, but maybe he was. You can ABSOLUTELY hear any conversations in the hallways. I heard my cabin attendant all day, every day when she was in the halls.
Oh, and the toilets are interesting. I can only describe them as airplane toilets when flushing. So, any late night/early morning trips can be startling..?
The L'octane bathroom amenities are nice, but I didn't get the room for them. They felt/smelled no better or worse than most 4/5 star hotel amenities and were restocked any time we were low (while leaving the near empty bottle to avoid needless waste)

Parting thoughts:
Overall, it's a nice room. Would I have paid what I actually did after the upgrade? No, probably not. There wasn't enough "wow" for me to justify the cost difference, even with the larger balcony and the closet. We didn't use the extra balcony space (there's still only 2 chairs and a small table), and while hanging our clothes up was nice, they were already wrinkled from the suitcases so without doing laundry, it wasn't a huge boon for us. If I had to nail a price on it and assumed an ocean view (standard size) balcony was going for $1800, I'd cap myself at 2-2100 for this room. Since this was our first cruise, we did NOT try Coastal Kitchen, so I'm leaving that out of my price/thoughts as it would be unfair. We wanted to stick with the MDR as a level-set of expectations for dining, outside of the one complimentary specialty dining we had a voucher for (used at Hooked).
I'm curious what others who have been in the room think! Also, if there's any specifics you might have, let me know and I'll either add them, or reply!

I do this also at hotels and the housekeepers always look a me funny. I always put the remote in the safe with anything else I don't want to leave out for the day. If I am staying more than 8 days at a regular hotel, I tell them to come and clean every other day. This is because I don't want to come in from a long day and re-wipe everything down ?.

I have a full pack of SONO wipes in my checked and a half empty pack of SONO wipes in my backpack.  I have every intention of wiping my seat area on my next airplane ride.  A benefit of growing older is not caring what people think.    
Over years of business travel across the US I often got something on those trips from "common colds" to things approaching the flu.  I blame the airplane or the nasty TV remote in the hotel room.  Wipe it down.   

People have laughed at me while I wipe my seat down, the neck rest, the tray table, anything I may come into contact with and if I can, the person next to me. I've also had people ask for a wipe. I take medical grade ones on the plane. I'm not sure how effective it all is but I have a bad tendency to touch my face or bite my nails so I like to be protected. Plus, I've gotten noro before and it was one of the worst sicknesses I've ever had. I haven't gotten the flu in a decade - not saying it's all the wipes and stuff but it makes me feel better.

Yea you're not racist, you're just prone to fear and hysteria. Asian people who's not been to Asia recently are no more dangerous than any white or blacks that hasn't been to Asia recently. Royal is already banning anyone whose been to Asia recently. Which is enough!!! Btw if you're that fearful, you should just cancel your cruise instead of having those that really want to go be punished just because of their ethnicity. Better safe than sorry right?

So wrong the ban was lifted.  RCCL is worried about a discrimination lawsuit.  Shouldn’t they be more concerned about an outbreak on the ship?  Better safe than sorry.  I’m not a racist by any means, but will shun Asians until the outbreak is over.

Yes.  I booked a Courtyard in Newark. Site unseen. On the fly. In the Uber. Livin’ dangerous.  ??

The Survey Debacle
Not too long after booking (I believe we booked the weekend of 3/15 or thereabouts for our 4/27 departure) we received the infamous Genie survey for all Star Class guests.
For some reason, known only to the cruising gods, they chose to send said survey to Batman, not me.
Bad idea. Horrible, in fact.
It probably seemed like a good idea at the time.
Why Batman would be the lead on any vacation is mind blowing. 
Batman has never booked a vacation in his life. Batman is Mr. Just-Tell-Me-Where-and-When-to-Show-Up-and-What-to-Bring.
Must.
Be.
Nice.
(I kid.)
(Sort of)
Surely, he is going to grasp the magnitude the survey responses carry. I can trust him with this. Batman knows what’s at stake, right?
Right?!
Um…..
Let’s hope they do not read the surveys at all… That they are merely a means to entertain yourself while counting down to your cruise.  (Humor me this.)
 
Survey: Complete this sentence: “The hardest I ever laughed was when …”
Batman: When SweetPea began speaking in text. “Dub Tea Eff” (WTF), Bee Tea Dub (BTW), Eye Dee Kay (IDK), etc
Really, Batman?  Really?!  Dude, that was literally 10 years ago. That was the last time I made you laugh like that? 
"It was classic."
Let's be clear. Not Audrey Hepburn in an LBD classic. Blue eye shadow and leg warmer classic.
You at least could’ve made it relevant. Like when I insisted my skin looked pulled tighter lying down, looking face up, and I tried to take a selfie in that position for the required security photo for online check-in “to speed up the embarkation process.”
Fun fact: my skin did not look pulled tighter. I just looked like a mannequin.
 
Survey: If you could invite 3 people – famous or infamous – throughout history for a dinner party, whom would you invite?
Batman: Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman
One) Great. Not to diminish the comedic genius of the Carol Burnett Show, but now Royal also thinks we’re “dinner at 4pm” people. Two) If I get a Blu-Ray edition of Harvey Korman’s Greatest Hits as a random gift …
 
Dub Tea Eff would I do with that? Batman, you know I do not have an eBay account, right?
 
Survey: If you could only bring three things with you to a deserted island, what would they be?
Batman: SweetPea, Satellite Service, a SMART TV.
First, I mean, hey. Priorities.
Second, it’s sweet that he wanted me with him on the island. Honestly. I mean that. I do. But that should’ve been a GIVEN, no? Clearly Royal assumes your stateroom party will be stranded TOGETHER.  I was a wasted pick!! You get 3 items, Batman, and you just wasted 33.33% on me! Besides, every chick knows that if you’re going to be stranded on a deserted island, you need a high-quality lip balm with no menthol and an SPF of at least 15. And iodine for drinking water. Please.
 
Survey: Are you more of a morning person or “night owl?”
Batman: Midnight Mongoose.
 
Succinct. I like it. “Mongoose” though??
 
Survey: What are your culinary delights and loves – for meals, snacks, and “comfort food?”
Batman: If SweetPea asks for breakfast, she means a Bloody Mary. Spicy. With a slice of bacon.
 
Credit where credit is due: #NailedIt
 
Survey: Over half our guests onboard are celebrating something – are you celebrating anything?
Batman: Me, making it to 50! Oh, and SweetPea has a birthday on the ship (Wednesday)
 
Batman has declared 2019 as the Year of Batman: he gets one vacation for every decade he’s “made it” to. This is vacation #2, with 3 planned and 4 and 5 TBD (that’s Tea Bee Dee, if you’re keeping up). So yes, although it's my birthday on the ship, he's commandeered this vacation as 1/5th of the Year of Batman. 
 
Survey: Are there any morning rules we should know about?
Batman: What is this “morning” you speak of?
#Truth. Even a broken clock ….
 
(Both Batman and I work shifts; never 9a-5p. The older we get, the harder it is to adjust to a normal schedule when we’re not working. If you read live blogs for breakfast food pics, you should stop reading now to avoid future disappointment).
 
Survey: Is there anything else we need to know?
Batman: We are leaving two black cats at home who we will miss horribly.
 
If our beautiful stateroom is made into a quasi-cat sanctuary for our cruise so we “don’t miss our cats so much,” please call the Coast Guard in advance as there will be a man overboard. I will allow him to dress warmly and put on a life jacket first. I’m not completely inhumane.
Perhaps though we won't need to miss one of them at all, if this guy has anything to say about it. I've heard there may be a dog called Tommy onboard. Maybe he'd like a playmate? ?
 
 
 
I digress. Of course, those are not all the survey questions. @Lovetocruise2002 has them all listed in her brilliant "I Dream of Genie" blog. I only note these here to see how (if? God, I hope it’s “if” and not “how), these in particular are interpreted onboard.
I can't even stand the suspense. 

Ok after perusing your list, I found one thing that was left out!  Sending me an invitation for a prepaid cruise!!!?
 
 

Excellent, that’s definitely me. Thanks!
ETA: Yes, I AM already researching and planning for sky class in 2 years time, why do you ask? This is totally sane behavior. Don’t judge me. 

Here is a true service animal, his name is Dray, and he’s amazing.

Being on the pool deck, I'm pretty sure this dog was just trying to sneak back into the Windjammer.
The floor of the Windjammer at lunchtime on a sea day would be total doggie nirvana, no?
 
Really, I'm no different for the Tutti Fruitti salad in the MDR. I just sit at a table with a white table cloth. So theoretically, this could be a picture of me.
 

It walked past me several times and didn't detect her medical condition on me so that was good.  
I felt much better knowing I don't have her condition, whatever that was.  In that sense I was emotionally supported as well.  
This dog had ultra long range sensors that worked even when the owner was in the North Star where the dog couldn't go.

You can. Don't expect that they'll necessarily stay there.  My magnetic decorations began to walk off within 2 hours, and the white board I used on the next cruise was defaced at least 4 times a day until I finally had to give up trying to leave messages for my friends.

Are your friends taking applications for additional friends?

Seems like a lot of people are experiencing this, there have been a few posts here with people on January 2020 sailings (various ships) that have not been able to book entertainment yet.  We're sailing in Feb 2020 and it isn't up for us yet either.  Customer service said its usually between 60-90 days out, so I just check daily. 

DH calls it my 'research' - my side hustle now that we are both retired.