Temeculaguy

Everything listed is liked and used by someone in our group as we usually go with other couples in their 50's with different likes or with our adult kids and  grand kids.  Recently we cruised with about 20 friends and family and I liked that everyone can find something on RCL, unlike some luxury lines where we can only really go with our peers in age and financial situation. What I've never seen anyone in our groups enjoy is the art shows, we've bought art while traveling but not on the ship and I've never actually met anyone who bought it on a cruise.  I'm sure it appeals to some or they wouldn't do it.

We were asked for our physical card on all our earlier cruises that started in Galveston and Nassau and everyone had the actual card out. In March 2022 we boarded in Los Angeles, completely different, most used the California APP or similar QR code APP. Los Angeles county and it's 8 million people had to show their cards to go into restaurants and other public places, not just large events and hospitals but just to live their daily lives, those people's cards are probably unreadable by now and it's quicker to scan a qr code than to look at a hand written card. Part of me thinks it's just that port so we are bringing our physical cards next week to Alaska. I felt like others but in March I brought my adult children and their spouses, 2 of the 4 hadn't seen their card or needed their card for a year, they always use the app. I made them go to where they got their shots and get duplicate physical cards because I thought cruises needed them. But when we got there they happily pointed out everyone was using the app.

I've found Kendall Jackson cab on four different ships in the last 18 months, just within the DBX limit and all of our fav amongst the included reds. They ran out on a few of our sailings, but slipping the waiter a $20 miraculously resulted in a found bottle here and there. Suite or diamond lounge never seemed to run out of the better wines. Vintages was iffy in August of 2021, seemed to improve as time went on. I stopped looking at the app, each bar/restaurant had different selections from the app and there is fun in the easter egg hunt of knowing where and when you could find what.

Have some perspective, covid today isn't covid of 2020. I have 4,500 employees, in 2020, a few died and about every 20th one to get covid was hospitalized, Many were in the ICU, it was no joke. In 2022, I've had over a thousand catch it this year not a single hospitalization. These last few weeks at any one time 100 have it, 10 a day come back, 10 go out, I give them all free 2 weeks of paid leave if they test positive and it does not come out of their regular leave balances so as to not encourage people working sick so it is not under reported and I get daily reports. In January this year  me and my three Moderna shots, wore a mask, still caught it. Wife got it in June, same shots. So why would I give a a darn about covid, masks, or tests, we caught it six months apart, had our shots at the same time, still shared a bed while we were sick, still kissed goodnight and didn't even give it to each other either time. Just stop the testing, I'll walk into a covid ward and kiss everyone there, nothing can stop it and I am not afraid of it. Even the head of county USC hospital in Los Angeles (the furthest from right wing conspiracy theorists you can find), in a county reimposing masks said that almost nobody in the hospital with covid is in the hospital because of covid. It's over!

P.S., my employees are about 65-70% vaccinated, in 2022 there is no discernible difference in their odds of catching it or how serious it is based vaccine status or mask wearing or prior infection, not in catching it or catching it twice. What was true on 2020 and 2021 is not applicable to 2022 My study, because of workman's comp is in depth and is as big or bigger than other studies you read online and from my data, nothing stops it and its no big deal if you get it. If you are on death's doorstep or scared to death, stay home. It's endemic and it is the common cold now, let's move on, nobody was wrong and nobody was right, stop blaming but do accept that it is over.

This is where I disagree but I had a bad experience that may skew my opinion. We had booked premium economy flights to rome, 3 days of an air bnb before and after a 7 day MSC cruise of the med all pre covid for late March 2020. We bought the insurance from MSC and from Luftansa. Flights and cruise were both cancelled, airline gave us credits, cruise and air bnb gave us refunds, but insurance gave us nothing and kept the premiums. Reputable insurance companies as well, their response was the insurance doesn't kick in until trip starts, since it never started, they keep our money since the world fell apart two days before trip started. Insurance wasn't cheap, I'll never buy it again. To me it's personal, I'm well off and  I travel regularly, I'm exactly who they want as a customer and when they got scared they screwed me (luftansa kept my money for my seat upgrades to first class as well) so I have a list and I'm sticking to it. I vote with my wallet, even if I believe in the concept of travel insurance, they lost me forever. MSC was great but I'm loyal to Royal now so unfortunately I won't go on MSC ever just because the company who they aligned their insurance with. Royal has been accommodating during challenges and thus has earned my loyalty. Me and my demographic should go with a premium line next, but other than a river cruise that royal doesn't offer were staying with Royal because of how they acted when the chips were down. It speaks volumes and in the end it's how you treat people, royal has treated us well, despite multiple lifts and shifts and cancellations outside of their control. Now I'm a shareholder and continue to add to my position, I truly believe on this company based on how I'm treated as a customer.

I just watched a Ben and David video on youtube who wanted to find out if nassau was really the worst port RCL visited as polls suggested. They went to Margaritaville and loved it. Even without kids/grandkids it appears that it is a game changer.

On 7/15/2022 at 4:48 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

I've had GE for many years and I've never heard of Sentri !!  Is that something for the US/Mex border (kinda like Nexus) ?

Sentri is the VIP of the southern border with Mexico, comes free with GE but not with TSA precheck. Only applies to land crossing on foot or by car so not everyone will benefit. In San Diego it's a big deal, but outside of border towns it's probably not that big of a deal. For us, El Valle de guadelupe is a foodie and wine region we like to visit and just an hour or so drive, if you go with another couple and you don't have sentri, you literally cant go in their car or all of you have to go in the regular lanes and wait hours. Same as on foot, non sentri people aren't invited or they slow up the group. It is hard to explain to people who don't live on a border. You get invited to events on both sides, botox is half the price, people without dental insurance or rx benefits go there for the deals, then there's just the weekend  or day trips. I realize it freaks some people out if you don't speak Spanish or only know what you read, but we live in a region with 3 million people on one side and another 2 million on the other, all within a few miles of each other. It's a region, yet two countries, its a New Jersey/New York or a Minneapolis/St paul or a Vancouver/Seattle. Being able to move between the two without hassle is a real convenience to locals but not to everyone else. Yet I still wonder why anyone would get TSA pre check and not spend the extra $15 to get GE, if just for the customs benefit for international flights.

side question but along the same lines, we have an alaska cruise in August in a JS on Radiance, when we booked we we under the impression we would get 4x points, making us diamond after that cruise. All our previous cruises post pandemic were GS or OS and we got 4x points, double points when we booked under the promotion and double again for suites. Then I read one of the articles that said you get 2x for JS only on quantum or oasis class. We got got 4x on non quantum/oasis but were higher than JS so I may have calculated this incorrectly. now I'm doubting that will happen.

I'm a huge fan of global entry, only $15 more than TSA precheck ($3 more a year) and includes TSA pre-check and Sentri. TSA IS $85 but everything comes with global for $100 for 5 years and global gets you to breeze through customs. In little airports it's not as big of a deal but we live between 4 international airports (LAX, San Diego, Ontario and Orange County) and the international prices are usually best at LAX, sometimes by 30% but customs is atrocious (we've been in line for 2-3 hours after a 20 hour flight). While TSA/global is nice at regional or medium sized airports, total game changer at top ten in the world airport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_airports_by_passenger_traffic

7 of the 10 are in the US, of course pandemic travel skewed things but atlanta, chicago, los angeles were pre pandemic powerhouses. Looking at the top 20 its all US and china plus mexico city, I was in mexico city a few weeks ago, its pretty efficient as are most of the top 20, phoenix, houston and vegas I think are great. But if you have to travel through Chicago, Atlanta or LA, get global entry. It's worth the in person interview to acquire it.

But i live close to mexico and have crossed via car and on foot at least once a year, sentri is a godsend, also included in global but not included with TSA. So if you only travel domestically then I guess TSA by itself saves you $3 a year, go for it, bit it's not for me as an a la carte purchase.

We've done land based all inclusive hotels and cruised during hurricane season, I prefer cruises as they can outrun or adapt to the weather while we were sitting ducks at a resort.

This is really good advice, I generally pay in full asap because once I almost lost my price because of a small balance due on an alaska cruise in peak season when rates had quadrupled since I booked. But now I realize a midsummer Alaska cruise is an anomaly and holding back might have it's advantages. Thanks

We stayed in Nassau prior to the restart when Royal was sidestepping the CDC by not touching the US  and sailing out of Nassau. In my opinion, that port had very little to offer by comparison to other ports . We did knock around town, dine at out our hotel at the colonial hilton and made the best of it. Perhaps it was the mid covid experience that soured us on the bahamas (freeport was even worse) but I found both ports as not worth the effort of getting off and rank them as the two worst ports RCl visits.  As a reference point, we find fun in most places, including Ensenada and Costa Maya, two ports that that don't receive high marks but we still enjoy them. I am intrigued by margaritaville, it wasn't open yet when we visited and we are going there next year. If I had grandkids with me we would have gone to Atlantis but I like that royal is exploring/investing in a bahamas private experience in Nassau to make it more marketable.

everything looks pre pandemic to me. Our alaska cruise in 3 weeks is sold out except for one room, the 12k royal suite. I searched cruises from San Diego which is most convenient for us and the 2023 panama canal is sold out except for inside rooms. Our May 2023 transatlantic that we booked in jan of 2022 for a GS on is sold out for suites. Not sure if it is revenge travel or a glut of FCC but it is a struggle getting rooms. Were trying to book our 2024 cruises and it's a struggle and pricey. Same GS we booked an 11 day transatlantic costs more for a 7 day coco cay, bahamas out of new  jersey on the same ship , same port, less days for 2024.  The only consolation prize is my RCl stock should bridge the gap as it seems to me cruising is back with a vengance, now if I can only get my CCl stock to cooperate in a similar manner.

Perhaps we've just been lucky but I suggest you look at your insurance card and call the international or travel number on the back of the card. We never asked for or requested travel coverage on our employer provided HMO health insurance but found both our Anthem Blue Cross years ago and our current Kaiser plans had it included. The two times we used it we had to pay the international provider then months later got reimbursed (mostly). It ended up costing more than our co-pay at home but they reimbursed me for most of the bill. My parents recently were on a cruise on another line and their medicare advantage Kaiser was accepted by the Ship's doctor.

Another factor to consider is where you are traveling to? Some countries have very inexpensive medical services. My son was in Vietnam, caught dengue fever and spent 5 nights in the hospital, private room, private nurse, in an english speaking "american" hospital. Total bill was 3K. We got all but about $800 back and some of that was because we chose a private room and a private nurse who had only my son as a patient. Those were my decisions and I was completely fine not being reimbursed for that $100 a day fee, otherwise our cost would have been $300, which is 10%. Now if he was in a different country when this happened, we may have to add a zero or two at the end of the numbers I quoted, changing the benefit of the add on travel insurance.

Best deal I ever got was booking onboard via nextcruise. I need to book a Feb 2024 cruise for a family members birthday and am waiting until I'm onboard next month in hopes that it is a better deal, 'I've found it is the same price but you get more OBC, hundreds more. But like has been mentioned, know the website price before boarding.

I wear a tux on the first formal night, if it is not a tropical locale and not hot and humid, tux for both. I own a tux, have owned one since I was 19 and like others have said about who they dress for, I wear one for my wife not for me.  I'm 54 and on my third tux in my lifetime, they are not super expensive to buy and if you get a classic black one, they never go out of style (the closet does shrink them every 10-15 years or at least that is what I tell myself). For cruises I just pack the jacket and a bow tie, regular black slacks, regular dress shirt, regular dress shoes, cummerbund optional. 1960 James Bond, 2020 James Bond, same tux, men are lucky in this regard and a few hundred bucks and you get 10+ years, the cost of two rentals. Started with fraternity/sorority formals, then weddings (mine , countless friends and two daughters so far, with one to go, cruises and charity black tie events), I've gotten my money's worth, plus my wife loves how I look in them and I get extra kisses when she sees me in it. I'm more casual than the next guy, flip flops and a nat nast are business casual here in So Cal, but I suggest you buy a tux. My wife spends hours getting ready for formal night, it seems a small task to break out my tux that takes no extra effort or cost than a suit or a sport  coat.

Worst advice I've ever received "you hardly spend any time in your room, get the cheapest available inside cabin." 

We found it fairly loose, since the restart we've sailed out of Nassau, Galveston and Los Angeles. Like most here, were planners so we arrived about 30 minutes early factoring in potential delays that didn't happen and there was no delay in boarding. We traveled with family who had different check in times and still we all boarded together. Keep in mind these times were all within 30 minutes of each other so it was not a significant variance from our time of arrival. I think some had 11 and some had 1130 and we arrived about 11 so they let us all on together. One other caveat, those three cruises varied between 25% and 65% capacity so there were really no lines, those days are clearly behind us.

We were in Liberty in January twice, I think it was $30 to start but for $60 or $90 or whatever the special was, that was all than two people could manage. I think that was 3 ipads and a bunch of sheets for 60 or 90. The increase was warranted, spend twice as much get 4x the cards, I can't remember specifically but going cheap was a serious reduction in the odds, so we split a package, my BIL won much more than his investment, we didn't win anything but had fun. Considering how fast we can lose at the casino, it seemed like a bargain to only lose $45 each over the course of an hour or two as a worse case scenario. Jackpots rose as the days wore on, so later in the week had better payouts at the same cost but it seemed to happen most days we just only went when convenient. Those were the mask indoors days so I spent as little time indoors as possible.

15 hours ago, Atlantix2000 said:

It will probably be fine but might require talking to more than one person since that's not really the proper chain of documents.  It would be better to also bring the first marriage license but since you are asking this question I'm guessing you no longer have that.  As the chain of name changes gets more complicated, it's much simpler to have a passport but that's going to be a difficult option in 18 days.  Good luck!

Just bring your marriage certificate and everything you have showing both names and you will be fine. We have a daughter who had her maiden name on her passport and her married name on her license, another daughter in law who had a passport from a foreign country in her maiden name but a drivers license from here in her married name and a permanent resident card in her married name, her name actually changed more than just the last name because in her culture they have more than three names. Have taken them both on cruises and the magic document was their current marriage certificate tying together their maiden and married names, None were delayed more than a few seconds. We actually got married on a cruise but didn't change any names until we got back to the states so that was simple. US Customs deals with this regularly, very common for newlyweds to travel and not all travel the day after the wedding so just bring all your documents and I think you will be pleasantly surprised how easy it is. 

I think it has a a lot to do with the room you are starting from, the ship you are on, the breakdown of the room mix and the capacity or at least the availability of rooms above where you are at. I've found the older ships have fewer suites and a different mix. cruise mapper lays out the room numbers by type. Navigator of the seas is a medium aged ship. With 8 OS, 22 GS, 82 JS, 671 balconies, 202 OV, 138 Promenade view and 514 inside you can see the ratios are uneven, so where you are and where you want to go can vary. The sweet spot might be OV to balcony or JS to GS and GS to OS. Balcony to JS is 8-1 odds which is the worst while JS to GS is 4-1 and GS to OS at 3-1. Those aren't the actual odds but the competition. 671 rooms trying to get into 82 is far worse than 22 trying to get into 8. Its not an even pyramid and all ships are different. Newer ships it is more pronounced, Wonder has 115 JS and 1480 spacious balconies. Some really old ships its actually bad too, Radiance has 513 balconies and only 36 JS, but 17 1 br GS so the JS to GS is 1 to 2.

Summary, balcony is the worst launch point for a royal up on any ship, some worse than others, getting to a balcony from an OV or getting out of an Inside might be the easiest. Now that ships are back to near full getting to a GS from a balcony might be near impossible without a bid that might be costlier than having booked it outright  a year in advance.

As a drunk middle aged man I resemble that comment! However as a man who has never cheated on a wife or a girlfriend in my life and plan on leaving this world with my perfect record intact I have found that cruise ship staff not only love talking about their family (no you do not ask women if they have a husband) but they love talking about  their country. Most are very proud of their home country and will give you tips on where to stay, what to avoid, what to see and when to visit. I have found the international staff on cruises to be better advisors than any travel website or writers for giving advice on travel. My wife and I have taken trips based on their advice and it has made a huge difference in our experience on those trips. In fact my plans to propose to my wife were altered by none other than a cruise ship waiter who gave me some fantastic advice since my original plan was to take place in his home country and her ancestral home country which she had never been to. I used his insider tips and all these later she still tells the story with pride to anyone who will listen.  Every time I see a name tag from a country I haven't been to I ask questions, they love talking about it and you may find yourself having a totally unique experience, it's like having a cousin in every corner of the globe. Imagine if you were living and working in another country and someone asked you about your home state or city that they wanted to visit, you would not only enjoy talking about it but be in a position to give them priceless advice, that is how I see it. 

Ditto, I've ordered the water package and we usually book bigger suites which come with a few fancy big water bottles for free. Yet no matter your room category with the beverage package there is free bottled water given to you by every waiter/bartender if you ask. After a few days you end up with a bunch of bottles in your fridge by bringing them back to the room after each foray out. My wife prefers the bottles included with the package to the cans you pay extra for (actually she also prefers the provided reusable big cup that the beverage package entitles you to filled with water and ice from a soda dispenser to the cans so the cans end up being a waste) and her last choice). My opinion, like everyone else is to forgo the extra expense of water cans in your room and fill your reusable soda cup or ask for a water as you head back to room each time, regardless of the economy of it, more so to avoid canned water.

4 hours ago, AlmondFarmer said:

A friend of mine, who is a dentist, thinks that including the sofa package with cruise fare is a good idea.

This is the same friend, who when he worked construction, oddly liked when a hurricane hit his town. 

reminds me of the joke of the joke about sugarless gum commercials that used to advertise that 4 out of 5 dentists recommended sugarless gum, who was the 5th dentist?  The dentist on their new yacht telling people to consume all the sugar they want.

I prefer they don't price everything in, my travel posse of 3-4 couples that includes two people that don't drink alcohol but they do drink soda and fancy coffees instead. With land based all inclusive resorts they are required to pay for alcohol, on cruises they can opt in to what they want. Same seems to hold true for those who don't like soda, why make them pay for what they don't consume.

I buy the DBX, we are mildly finicky red wine drinkers, my drinks are at or exceed the max allowance, but that's my responsibility not the person who has two beers a day. I see it as splitting a restaurant check evenly but i ordered steak and some one else has a small salad, we shouldn't chip in the same. This way everyone can do their own math.

In fact, one of my favorite things about royal is they allow me to pay the difference between the glass of wine I want and the max allowance per drink, while other lines force you to pay for the entire retail price if you exceed the price, even if it is just a dollar. This customization is one of Royal's strengths, not a weakness.

8 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

So you went to NextCruise and put a deposit down on a cruise and asked them to apply the $500 off? Just want to make sure.

I have heard NextCruise doesn't always get the casino bookings set up correctly but you should be able to call Club Royale to get it straightened out.

If the code from the certificate you got on the cruise wasn't applied, it should still be available under your offers at https://www.clubroyaleoffers.com/

I had almost the exact same experience. I had a $500 off code for cruises not listed but nextcruise couldn't apply the casino offer for some reason. I was instructed by next cruise to call the casino royale number once I got home, I did and they applied the discount and kept the OBC nextcruise gave me. So it wasn't either/or, the casino was able to make it work in conjunction with the nextcruise desk, just not onboard. I have nothing but great things to say about the clubroyale staff.