Jerel

We're excited about it. Today the price went up to 2000 CAD for a garenteed balcony, Yesterday we paid less than 1200, that's a big jump for one day! Plus they gave us our room today, not obstructed! I'm also happy because many of the rooms look straight down at a roof, ares does not.

I agree, balconys aren't worth the extra money. Although sometimes you can get a deal and this discount helps, not much but it does. Kind of off topic.. We booked a Alaska cruise that is coming up in 3 months. We got a inside cabin for about 1200 CAD a person. A balcony would be nice for the views but they are going for 2400 CAD a person, not worth it, I'll hang out up on deck. Yesterday we landed a garenteed balcony for a grand total of 268 extra, for both of us. I'm excited, we may get a obstructed view if I can't get a better room but that's still a great deal.

For me the big perk is to get in a shorter line at boarding, if you get there early it's not that big of a deal but still nice. The top tier event was nice too, they had lots of free drinks, tables full of different flavours, just walk up and grab one. And although not much but the balcony discount did save me some money on upcoming cruises. Plus you can feel all high and mighty. On the last group cruise I was platinum for the first time and made a point to tell all these pathetic gold members how important I now was, lol. The term 'Gold lives matter' was thrown around more than once.

We just had the same issue, cruise planner said we owed 590 less than we should, paid that then the cruise planner said we were paid in full. Then got the email saying we still owe 590. Called in and got a useless person on the phone...again! English was not her first language and found her very difficult to understand. She couldn't do anything for us because we were logged in and she couldn't access our info!?! Now thats bad IT. She said we should call back later, smartest thing iv heard.

Wow Mason, that's a impressive looking fleet!! Looks like you will need a new cabinet, especially once the Symphony comes out. BTW, it still bugs me that the Independence model is smaller that the rest of the Freedom class ships.

A CLS would be amazing! Whether or not its worth it is hard to say, after all it is a treat. If the price dropped and you think you can afford it I'd say go for it, splurge, it's got to be a experience to remember. My only worry is that I'd spend all of my time in the room and not exploring the ship.

What excursions did you pick?

Not sure who has the best poutine, that may take some research. The Coast is a local publication that may be the authority on that, they tend to rank the best and most popular places to go in Halifax. They should have a top 10 of just about everything. A Donair is a local favorite, tends to be what people miss the most after moving away. When your hammered and hungry it's the go to feast, not the healthiest thing in the world. Basically it's alot of meat covered in amazing sauce. It might compare to what you would call a gyro, except it's almost impossible to wrap with the amount of meat they give you. Normally you eat most of your meat just to find a wrap at the bottom of the pile, then wrap up your scraps. Don't ask me what kind of meat it is, not sure anyone knows, lol. I'd atleast try donair sauce, it's very good, any pizza place will offer it with a slice.

Is it possible you didn't calculate for the port fees and taxes, or maybe the gratuity charges? Maybe it is the exchange rate. Iv noticed it's not always a straight exchange. Being Canadian iv noticed some times Canadian currency is the better deal, sometimes USD is the better deal. No rhyme or reason to it, sometimes different currencies get different rates for some reason. Either way I hope you get it figured out, now one wants surprise increases to their cruise.

I agree about MEI travel. Iv used them through the blogs group cruises and had the opportunity to meet many of the agents, it's clear they care and are very knowledgeable. My agent was great but I really feel like it's a group effort, they seem to work as a team. Whichever agency you decide to go with its good to pick one that specializes in cruises. Hearing stories from the agents it's clear that dealing with these cruise lines has its own chalenges, experience counts.

Sounds like old bitties on cruise critic I admit I'm a bit of a Royal fan, but I feel at some point one takes a leap of faith and trusts the cruise line as a whole. In my opinion the standards are relatively equal across the fleet. In my years researching iv never heard of a black sheep ship, it's not like there is one ship you should stay away from. There is however many different styles of ships that offer different things. Huge mega ships with different neibourhoods, large high tech ships, large promenade ships, mid size promenade ships, smaller ships offering many views of the ocean, tiny ships offering short trips to different ports. All these different styles offer different experiences for different people, the debate over what's best (subjective) will NEVER end. But there is no bad apple or ship to stay away from, just different flavours.

I've dirty danced with a cough(man)cough.

In short it's a adult oriented game show where people willingly makes fools of themselves. Lots of fun to watch. The audience is split up into teams, each with 2 representatives (captains) on the floor. The host may ask for a foreign drivers licence or maybe a picture of the white house (20 dollar bill). The captain retrieves thes items from the audience and produces them for points. It doesn't take long before they are asking for girls who are wearing red thongs and to prove it on stage, or even ask a captain to produce 4 bras, many women will quickly rip them off btw. Also it's pretty much guaranteed to see men dirty dancing with each other and/or hairy men dressed up in women's clothing. It tends to be on the last night, I assume because you may not want to be seen in public the next day.

I'd take the 30 percent off deal, maybe you can get a group discount but I doubt it. There will be no discounts once onboard. I get a one device plan and share with my wife to save money, it works for us. Basically it means only on device can be online at once. So if I'm online with my device and she wants to go online with her device she can do that, I'll just get kicked offline. Many devices can use the 'one device' plan, it's just one allowed at a time. For us it's perfect because we just like to check our mail. For people who need to be online at all times a multi device plan may work better, it'll just cost much more. Maybe a multi device plan would be best for your group, I believe you can get up to 5 devices online at once, very expensive though. If people in your group are willing to share plans it would save lots of money.

Yes but that takes all the fun and confusion out of it :) Sounds like MKSglitz went on quite the journey before finding the right cruise, sometimes the journey is the exciting part ;)

I'd consider Coco Cay a beach day, not much else to do, maybe snorkel. Buitiful little island with some great beaches and trails but mainly it's a place to relax. BTW I'd like to recommend not settling in on the first beach you see, walk a little and you will find some nice beaches with less people. I believe 'barefoot beach' is a good one.

Iv noticed that and was completely shocked. While on the elevator iv watched people hit the close door button (rapid fire) the second it opens, barely giving anyone a chance to get on. I want to call them out on it but I find it hard when im on vacation. One thing that amazes me is how people push their way on the elevator before letting anyone off, it's hard to get off when you have others pushing their way one. And I mean pushing, no hesitation either. On one of our last group cruises I asked Matt if Americans wait for people to get off the evevator before they go on. I wasn't trying to be sarcastic or critical, it was just getting to the point where I thought it was a cultural thing. He assured me that they do wait normally, I guess it's just the vacationers mindset sometimes.

Yes, but they will be Italian bars :)

I'm on the same sailing (woo who!) but will not get the drink package. Mainly because the sailing is very port intensive, only one sea day over seven days on ship. That really cuts into the profitability of the package. Plus these are very exotic ports (atleast for me) and I'll be spending much time on land, we have 12 hours in some ports.

Hmmm, that is odd. I had to double check it for myself but your dates are correct. All the same ports too, it's like they are giving you the option of hopping on the same looping intenerary at any of two points. Iv never seen that (not that iv seen everything). Hopefully I wise soul can tell us whats going one.

Please let us know how it turned out. Hopefully they don't suspect anything and it turns out to be a huge surprise.

I think this is why they come down hard on smokers that won't listen to warnings and ignore the rules. If they know someone wont stop smoking on their deck it's like knowing about a fire hazard and doing nothing.

Seen this posted near the bottom of the Royal website, it was a link to a PDF file but the most I can muster is a screen shot. I just found it interesting and thought you might too.

I believe the Celebrity Edge will be taking her place. The Edge looks pretty freak'n cool btw.

Another reason why they shouldn't use the Voom name for all ships, it just cheapens the respect that the Voom name had. BTW I heard a wise sole say that near the teen club gets the best signal.