whitsmom

I have been "Playing" Daily for 4-5 years. I have never paid a dime. On weekdays, I spend 1 minute collecting from my strip in the morning and another minute in the evening. On Saturday, I start a 500 spin game before I run and shut it off when I return. The secret to my success has been consistency. That said, every year my wife and I have enjoyed free room in Las Vegas, and Biloxi, MS. I still had 1.7 Million Loyalty points before buying this cruise, I still have 922,000 points left. We will spend time in Las Vegas this year and enjoy rooms and shows for free. 

Good Afternoon RCB folks,
 
I am writing at Matt's request to let you know about how my wife and I are going on a free(yes, you read that correctly, free) cruise this March 25th out of Ft. Lauderdale on the Independence of the Seas. 
 
A little background here: I have been "playing" the MyVegas games on mobile and desktops for years. My wife and I usually use the rewards to add weekends to our annual trip to Las Vegas and a free weekend to Biloxi, MS yearly. But, last year RCCL became a sponsor and added discounts for cruises that were meh. This year they added free cabins on select sailings. My wife is a teacher so her vacation time is set in stone. Well as luck would have it, the stars aligned and we secured a reward for a free trip and $250 shipboard credit. The process as stated in the purchase seems straight forward, but, I will document the process for those that come after us.
 
Have a wonderful week
 
Russ Stringer
MAJ (Ret.), US Army

That is correct.

I too had this same issue.  RCI could not get it resolved, so I had to set up a new email & password.  However, I not cannot pay on my cruise on line as it was already "claimed" by my old login info!  I can do extra stuff (excursions, internet and etc) but just not pay toward my cruise.  I either have to call or do online bank check.  I have been sending my online bank check and they send me an updated cruise balance in 2-3 days of receiving my payment.  It totally sucks, but it is working out so I try not to stress about it.  RCI tried and tried and they couldn't fix the issue for me.

I think only the Quantum Class Ships and Harmony of the Seas currently have this type of checkin process.  The rest of the fleet use the traditional online checkin process.

Good news, your math is wrong.  When you book a bungalow or cabana, you book it for one person and it's good for up to 6 or 8 guests (depends which one you're booking). So the cost is only $250 for the whole bungalow for your family, and yes, your family can come and go.  It's pretty laissez faire.

Not that I've seen. You will be in good company with other folks who are holding onto the side railing for dear life  :D

Oh thank you!  This is so helpful!

We cruise June 4th and I booked mine last week.

This blog post should be helpful: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/07/23/first-time-cruisers-when-can-i-prebook-entertainment-dining-and-more-my-royal-caribbean

Here is a good primer on booking entertainment: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/07/23/first-time-cruisers-when-can-i-prebook-entertainment-dining-and-more-my-royal-caribbean
 
It's only available on Oasis & Quantum class ships, and there are no physical tickets.  It's all on your SeaPass account and the crew member just scans your SeaPass card and you are good to go.

For what it's worth, even when I can't live stream video onboard, I've always been able to Facetime.  Must be something with the compression or something.  Hopefully it will work for you!

Hi Gingy5,
 
Navigator isn't known for having the fastest Voom, but I can't speak to whether or not facetime would work.  If you purchase Voom, you won't be needing cellular data (and in fact, you'll want to disable roaming or turn on airplane mode to avoid a giant bill).  Matt and I have some good info on what you'll need to know at the below link.  Give that a read and then let me know if you have any questions.  Hopefully someone can chime in and let us know if they had success with Facetime on Navi.
 
http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/07/27/how-stay-touch-someone-your-royal-caribbean-cruise

I always just stay on board until they practically literally throw me off.  I'm never in a hurry to leave.

You can choose the option to take your own luggage off the ship, if you feel that you can do that. You will be the first passengers off when it clears customs. On my last cruise in November passengers lined up on Deck 5 starting at 7 am, the crew tried to stop them, but when you have a stampede, five crew members can't control them. The line started at the elevators (blocking them so passengers couldn't get on or off) and went around the whole ship, almost back to the elevators. What was funny, there was a problem with customs and the very first passengers in line stood there until 9 am before they could disembark. If I could drag my large suitcase I would do the self disembarkation.

From what I can remember, its about 9:30 am that the last "group" is scheduled to leave the ship.....so it defn wouldn't be later than 10am...and really its a madhouse that last morning trying to do anything or go anywhere on the ship.
 
If you have a rental car waiting, I would get off the ship when its convenient for you and then take 3 or 4 hours to enjoy some sightseeing or an excursion to kill the time till you need to show up to the airport.

I agree with everything that Matt said. Regardless of the last time off the ship they want you our of your cabin as early as possible.  It is a daunting task to clean and prepare all the cabins on turnaround day so they want as much time as possible.

I don't know if there is a universal time about when you have to be out of the room by.  Usually it's all communicated in the final day cruise compass that will be in your stateroom.  
In my experience, they are pretty adamant about getting you out of the room.  If you don't put up a Do Not Disturb sign on your door the night before, expect a lot of knocking to see if you are still there.

Totally understand being a planner. There is so much to do on Oasis, so make sure you plan "exploration" time.

I can easily relate to the "were all set" feeling you are describing. I felt exactly the same way one year ago for my Allure cruise in Port Everglade. 

It's getting real folks!  Flights are booked (got to use Skymiles for everyone), Pre-cruise hotels booked, rental car booked from airport to hotel/port and from port to airport.  Our first night pre-cruise hotel is the night before our flight and we can keep our vehicles there and they will shuttle us to airport and then the other hotel will be in Orlando and we booked two 2-bedroom suites using my son-n-law's points.  There are 9 of us going so it takes some planning to get everything organized.  Needless to say, we are all getting super excited.  This will be the first cruise for my four Grands, and it will be the first airplane ride for 2 of them. 
 
Now we just need to start looking at all the excursions.... :)

https://www.amazon.com/Cruisetags-Cruise-Ship-Luggage-Tags/dp/B007UXMQXO/ref=sr_1_6?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1482459665&sr=1-6&nodeID=7141123011&keywords=cruise+ship+luggage+tags
These are the clear luggage tags I bought on Amazon, they have the loop. A set of 8 for around $9 and I have been using the first two for over two years. They fit all cruise line luggage tags. I have never had a problem with them and I wait until I hit port to put them on, so less chance of them getting ruined.

We have cruise many times, however for our next cruise (July Oasis), we are flying in the day before and will be carrying on our luggage.  I will print out our luggage tags so with that done, can we leave them with RCI at port and they take them to our cabin or will we have to lug it all around until our cabin is ready?

I've only done it once, and I know my cruise buddy never has, which I'm sure is why she seemed so excited about it. We'll see if she actually goes for it. The comedian better hope he's up first, cuz ours will be a tough act to follow...

I do agree showing up early is important. Not sure about 30 mins early, but I do agree show up a few minutes before opening to ensure you get in first (and don't have much of a wait).