Chadster

Same here. My travel agent before I found MEI put everything in a group rate in order to be able to show lower rates. But like you, I found it to be too much of a hassle to deal with.
UNCFanatik, I hope you're able to get a price drop! 🙂

Same here. My travel agent before I found MEI put everything in a group rate in order to be able to show lower rates. But like you, I found it to be too much of a hassle to deal with.
UNCFanatik, I hope you're able to get a price drop! 🙂

So, I was idly sitting here on this Friday afternoon after finishing my work, and as is often the case, I started poking around Royal Caribbean's website, just to look at prices and ponder. I saw that the same cabin that I have for a B2B later this year is available on the cruise before the first leg. If I were to book it, I'd be aboard the same RCCL cruise ship and in the same cabin for a total of 28 days.
No, I haven't YOLO booked it...as of when I type this, anyway. 🤪
It got me thinking, though. For you -- especially those of you who have cruised a lot -- how long would be too long aboard a ship before you needed to take a break? Yes, I know, responsibilities throw a curveball in that decision, but just from a standpoint of having the time and being able to do it...what would be the limit before you decided it was enough for a while? 🤔

Same here. My travel agent before I found MEI put everything in a group rate in order to be able to show lower rates. But like you, I found it to be too much of a hassle to deal with.
UNCFanatik, I hope you're able to get a price drop! 🙂

@Matt, thank you.
Because we were in a row on the restart cruises weeks 2, 3, 4, & 5 our ability to get to know the crew was awesome.
Our Genie said more than 80% of the crew recognized us and most of the rest knew about us.
We would be walking places and hear a new voice call out, "Mr Jack, Mrs Sue," or "Austin Powers" or "Jack and Rose."
They knew my wife's name is Sue, but they fondly called her Rose.
When we heard our names and turn around, there was always a new face smiling, and/or waving, dancing, or a combination.

By the middle of week 3 I understood the term "Sea Legs."
The crew laughed when I asked them if it was normal to discover you had muscles in new places, and they ache.
Several told me they brought their ointments and such when they were called back.

However, your ship, after ship, after ship with reviews, blog reports, and videos in a short time after the restart is more impressive.
I was watching and reading them, and waiting for new ones multiple times a day before the cruise.
A couple of times during the cruise I dropped in on for a short watch of your live reports while you were cruising.
First thing I did when I got home was to go over your reviews.

Thank you so much for this site, your work, and 'Everyone' on this Blog that helped me be well-prepared for the B4B cruise.
Yes, @WAAAYTOOO, @twangster, @AshleyDillo, @cruisellama, @LovetoCruise87, and so many others it would make this a long post.
All of you prepared the wife and I very well for the B4B.

Have to say this is a great itinerary. Southern Caribbean is my favorite followed by Eastern. Plenty to do in St Maarten for 2 visits. Are you a Star Wars fan? Fun fact: there’s a great Star Wars museum in St Maarten. A guy who worked on the films operates it. Lots of props etc. 

I personally can't get enough sea days! In the 28-day scenario I laid out above, 11 of those days are sea days (not counting embarkation/debarkation days, which are technically partial sea days). The journey would be aboard Anthem, so I think there'd be plenty to keep me busy -- even if I just wiled away some time sitting at the Dog House and enjoying a hot dog or seven, or sampling the bars -- or jumping between doing each. 😄
The awesome thing about these B2B2B cruises is there wouldn't be a ton of repeated ports. I'd get a nice sample across the Caribbean: 8 ports, with only one repeat (Philipsburg, St. Maarten). And there's a day at Coco Cay in there, too. Plus, it focuses on the eastern and southern Caribbean; I did the Western Caribbean on my first cruise, and I was not overly impressed.
 

New life goal.  Spend long enough on a cruise ship that getting my sea legs hurts!  Apparently, a week isn't enough!

It's kind of the same thing. If you are onboard for long enough the body will adapt to keep you from being unsteady on your feet. It's engaging muscles to assist with the extra balancing effort. Those muscles don't get used in the same way on land, so they can start to feel sore if you aren't used to it. It's the same thing that contributes to you still feeling like you are moving when you get back on land.

28 days is not long enough. I got on Symphony Aug 21st (Cruise week 2 of the restart) and got off Sept 18th (End of week 5), a total of 28 days.
Prior to that cruise, I had never cruised for longer than 7-days in a row.
If not for my Mother-in-Law's 90th Birthday party this week, I would have at minimum booked a 5th week interior.

Sometime in week 3 (Sept 4th cruise) I discovered what they mean by "Sea Legs." You start to ache in places you didn't know you had muscles.
The crew I asked laughed at me. Apparently, they knew about that and many brought their own ointments, we recalled.

To the question is 28-Days too long? 

No- Book It!

So, I was idly sitting here on this Friday afternoon after finishing my work, and as is often the case, I started poking around Royal Caribbean's website, just to look at prices and ponder. I saw that the same cabin that I have for a B2B later this year is available on the cruise before the first leg. If I were to book it, I'd be aboard the same RCCL cruise ship and in the same cabin for a total of 28 days.
No, I haven't YOLO booked it...as of when I type this, anyway. 🤪
It got me thinking, though. For you -- especially those of you who have cruised a lot -- how long would be too long aboard a ship before you needed to take a break? Yes, I know, responsibilities throw a curveball in that decision, but just from a standpoint of having the time and being able to do it...what would be the limit before you decided it was enough for a while? 🤔

That would be amazing; I see those cruises and always find myself wanting to do those!
I got to thinking about this question because I was looking at that 28-day stretch aboard a ship this holiday season; it's in stark contrast to how overwhelmed I felt on my first (and only, so far...thanks COVID!) cruise, and it was just 5 days. I had fun, but by the time it was over, I was ready to head home. I definitely feel like now, though, I'm much more receptive to longer cruises the more I've thought about it and the more reading I've done about people's experiences (particularly aboard RCCL, in this case, thanks to the Blog).

What kind of crazy question is this? 🤣

If I learn the secret knock and handshake will you let me in? 😂 If not I’ll put a glass to the wall from the Diamond Lounge to hear what y’all are doing in there! 

Many years ago, when we took a Med cruise on Brilliance, it was about two weeks.  I remember thinking at the time that I was ready to go home.  However, in retrospect, I think that partially has to do with how busy that cruise was.  Not many sea days, mostly port days.  It is one of my favourite cruises to date, but while I am in no way opposed to a long sailing (or sailings), I think I would make sure there is enough down time.  Because we love our sea days.

When I retire in 9 years, Hubby and I want to take one of those world cruises.  What is that?  Like 3-4 months onboard?  That sounds awesome!

We are currently on our last day on Independence. We have had a wonderful time. The number of guests is 1398, so around 35% occupancy.  The ship never felt empty but it definitely was not crowded.  The staff has been wonderful and the shows have all been very enjoyable.  I'm so glad we came.

Gotta say, Royal is doing it right -- ship was about 30% capacity -- (I heard everything from 1200 to 1400 passengers).  The crew was incredibly attentive and happy to be sailing.   Chops Grille (my first time there) was delicious.  Check in was simple and staterooms were ready when we got on board.   We had a bit of a scare.   on night 3 (Nassau) We were scheduled to leave the port at 9pm and didn't leave until around midnight due to a passenger that needed medical attention.   I heard that the passenger had a fever and needed to find a hospital bed, but I also heard that the passenger was injured and needed medical attention.   Gotta admit it was a little worrisome, but AGAIN, Royal handled it as best they could. 
Now counting down to my next one in 7 weeks!!!   

Thanks for layin' the groundwork for those of us heading out in the next couple of months!! 😁

Just don't go commando under the robe.  We have seen that at the thermal spa and a guy we call Mr Todd only wore his robe around the ship, he even wore it off the ship but not far.

The last 18 months have changed my perspective on these kind of things. It's now limited to:
Shoes on? Hands clean? Vaccinated? Mask properly worn when appropriate? Other than that, not caring much. 
Also, the robe is better attire than what a lot of people wear anyway.

Just for the record, I no longer wear Bathrobes outside my stateroom, unless it's in the pub. haha

We are sailing Allure on Dec. 30 of this year. We started with a GTY Oceanview and over the past two months have had 7 price drops along with the move to a GTY Balcony. Keep checking!!!!

So glad to hear this. I was definitely trying to figure out how they'd make that work, since the Air2Sea balance got lumped in with the other cruise charges as part of my total. I had horrid visions of having to try and get Royal to understand that this smaller payment I'm making before final payment is for a specific line item, and could they please apply it directly to that... 😬

me too!  5 solo cruises between now and the end of 2022!