hallyluhopper

I will definitely be there! Can’t wait to cruise with you!

Hello, my name is Joy. My husband and I live in Washington. I have been cruising since 2006. Our first RC Cruise was in 2008 on the Vision of the Seas. I am looking forward to my next cruise, and the cruise after that. Looking forward to making new friends from all over the world who love to cruise too. Nice to meet you all.

15 hours ago, Matt said:

Yes, anything related to new events, signing up for them will be distributed to you by your TA.

Thanks Matt. I like being prepared.

Besides the Facebook page and RCBlog event page; how do we get additional information regarding the GC? We booked with MEI Travel for the Symphony of the Seas group cruise. Will there be a hotel with blocked rooms? Will our TA have that information and disburse it to us? I just don’t want to miss anything. 

14 minutes ago, Wineo44 said:

Military doesn't always get discounts, and not everyone will criticize for asking that question.. My husband is retired Military, and there weren't any discounts from RC. The only time we were offered a discount was from another cruise line. My sisters husband works for the state department, and although they are government employees, they do not get the recognition that the military gets. So I ask "why not state department?" We can ask "why" for almost every career, and we won't know the answer. Maybe someday they will recognize teachers. I hope that happens. 

2 hours ago, jurrjurr said:

The big box electronics stores should carry them.  Amazon has them as well http://a.co/dT0iRCG.  

Thank you! This will help a lot

5 hours ago, bhageerah said:

 Please go and have a great time but please have someone with them at all times.

We will be with her. I used to work in an assisted living/memory care facility, so had some training. This will be her last big trip with her, and want her to have a great time before she forgets

14 hours ago, jurrjurr said:

  We would take a photo of her everyday and every time she changed her outfit.  We also used photo magnets of people who she was familiar with and put them on her cabin door.  Just make sure you do mention to the cruise line of any medical condition.  We also used a bluetooth tracker like Tile.  Attached the Tile to a piece of clothing or in her pocket.  Have a plan.  We told her to go to any stairway/elevator and stay there.  

The Bluetooth tracker sounds like a great idea, where can we get something like that? We are going to put magnets in the door, never thought to put our faces on their too. Thanks for the great idea.

17 hours ago, arebee said:

  Of all the people we cruised with we had the most fun with them.Of course someone was with him 24/7 but they are a fun couple.

 

We plan on being with her 24/7 too, she is looking forward to ziplining across the ship, and going on the slides. She is 72, and still loves to have fun.

21 hours ago, pamw said:

This answer is very much depending how far down the line this person is with this condition. If the the loss of a short term memory is now present I would suggest someone is with the person at all times as they may not have the capacity to move around the ship simply because it is very large and unknown to them. They may not remember their way on a daily basis? Only you know what stage they are at with this condition.

She still remembers most things now, but the cruise is in a year. Not sure where they will be when it’s tine to go in the cruise. She was joking the other day that she can’t wait to get lost on the ship. I just rolled my eyes ??

Have you cruised with someone with Dementia /Alzheimer’s? Our family member is going to cruise with us. We plan on adding magnets to the door, and showing her the area we are in (staying in Cental Park). Any other recommendations help her and us?

My first cuisecwas on Holland America, it was a chartered cruise. I've cruised twice on Princess and twice on RCL. I loved the food in Holland American, princess is nice but it doesn't have the quality RCL has. Princess also doesn't have as Manaus activities RCL has either.

6 minutes ago, DocLC said:

I often book early as odds are that prices will only increase, not decrease, as time goes by. While there have been occasional Cruise Planner sales as of late, I prefer to lock in the price and then rebook if a better price/sale comes along later. This has saved me money. For example, I purchased a drink package early on and then avoided a price increase that was announced later. The same thing occurred with an excursion that was increased dramatically in price.

Awesome! Thanks, this helps a lot

14 minutes ago, Matt said:

Never too early.  As long as you can cancel without penalty, you only stand to benefit by planning well in advance.

Thanks Matt, I kind of figured as much, but wanted to make sure. I've tried to put in cruise documents, but it won't let me for some reason

My cruise is more than a year away; is it too early to start making reservations and booking excursions? 

14 minutes ago, RestingBirds said:

I have one booked in March, final payment due in Dec, i plan on paying it off in Nov, in case something comes up last minute.

Someone said earlier that they pay it off a couple weeks early if they have a flight to take to get to the port. 

1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

I'm also in the "pay a bit each month" camp. I try to pay the same each month so when final payment comes around it's a few hundred left.

I combine that with purchasing one shore excursion / drink package / internet service package each month leading up to final payment. Pay in full each month, and by cruise time it's all paid for and I can get off the ship with no extra balance due.

This is my thinking too. I've even taken what I owe and divide it by the months I have left to figure out my payments. I haven't thought of figuring the other stuff though. Good idea!

1 hour ago, EmersonNZ said:

As many have mentioned there is no right or wrong answer for this.

For some, they will prefer to pay a certain amount each month off the total to avoid having to find a large lump on the payment due date. If you don't regularly save and find it tempting to dip into savings then this is a great idea.

Personally, I do something simular but instead of paying the money to RCL I put the money into a separate savings account and then pay a lump sum the day before the cruise needs to be paid off. In our case this because we have an offset mortgage (i.e any positive funds in our bank accounts reduces the principle we have to pay interest against) it is better for us to keep the money in our own accounts as long as possible which reduces the interest charges on our mortgage. If I didn't have a history of saving I would probably pay off a certain amou8nt each month but I am confident of not touching the money so in our case it is better to not pay it until the last moment possible.

It really is up to you and what makes you feel more comfortable.

Hmmm, I have done this too. My mom always taught me to save everything I needed for a vacation, even fun money. This helps when the cruise is over cause I can go on with my life not owing anything.

2 hours ago, whenismynextcruise said:

I wonder how long it will be before they do start charging interest...........

I hope they don't. Interest free is the best. I hate giving away my money ? 

3 hours ago, ellcee said:

I put the deposit down and put a little each month. I'm paying it off, no interest fees.

That's what I was thinking about doing myself.

31 minutes ago, FManke said:

• It would be nice if the cruise came as soon as it was paid off. Then there would be a reason to pay it off early!

Haha, so true. I have over 460 days until I board ?

2 minutes ago, DocLC said:

I agree with @FManke; there's no benefit to paying off your cruise early and giving a free loan to the cruise line. That said, don't wait until the very last minute, either. I usually pay the cruise off about two weeks before final payment date.

If I'm having to pay for expensive airfare, I might pay the cruise off a bit early so that the airfare and final payment don't hit the credit card at the same time as I don't carry a balance and would prefer not to have both in the same billing cycle.

 

That makes sense. I  don't like carrying a balance either. We are flying to Miami from Seattle, so I will take that into consideration.

We've taken them ourselves. We just had to meet the criteria for the photo. No double chin if we do it ourselves too ?

Just curious;when is the best time to pay off a booked cruise? Is it better to pay off your cruise right away/ASAP, or wait until you get close to the final payment date? Please explain.

27 minutes ago, FManke said:

I agree.

Would you rather drive an economy car on a great vacation or a luxury car to the proctologist? Think about it.

I don't know...seemed like a good analogy to me.

Haha, that is a great analogy. We definitely drove an economy car on our Pricess cruise.