RorySC

Yes, if you have a band, you can take them down to GS and they will reprogram them for you. BUT....they no longer sell them at GS anymore. Not sure if this is a covid thing, or if they are finding out that because you have to remove them to order a drink at the pool that they are more trouble then it is worth.

If they are going with "Highly", that means that they are taking the middle of the road approach. So the same as it is now. For the moment, new name or term, but no changes.....FOR THE MOMENT! Check BACK IN 10 MINUTES

Put your seatbelt on!! You are going to have the time of your life!!!

Easy now.....though 8x would be great, I do not thing the extra 4 would go with a Royal up. I was told that if you RU (ex. Balcony to a Jr) you get the discounted room, but not the double points.

I just did the same thing, you can make a new booking BUT....you must do it with the special reservation number associated with the double points. That reservation must be used before 12/31/2022 I have had to move my double points reservation a number several times. Also if you happen to book a Jr. Suite or higher, you will get 4X's the points for the sailing.

I wonder if there is a way around that? Such as if you were to book through a TA located in the US?

Makes sense, was just scared to loose another bag. It is about time for new luggage anyway. I am thinking I will purchase bags that are so ugly and wild colors that nobody would grab them anyway.

Normally, we have always put all but 1 small bag outside our room the evening before. Recently, we got off the Harmony after a BtB. We tried something different. We did not put our bags out the evening before, and wheeled 2 bags each off the ship by ourselves. This was defiantly much faster doing it this way, but while pulling the bags through the terminal it kept crossing my mind if we were being rude? I could see that there were some people not thrilled that they needed to go around us because we were not running as fast as they were? Also we waited to be called, and did not get off @6am it was more like 945 ish. Was this a no-no?

I think someone is pulling your leg. There would be lots of hole punchers being brought on the ships. But who knows, I have been wrong before!

I agree, it is very tempting. We enjoy longer sailings. We usually do BtB in order to make it a longer sailing. We just did a BtB on Harmony over Christmas and New years, and are doing a 13 night at the end of April on Adventure. We seem to handle them with ease. Next April, will be a test. We hooked a 17 and a 10 together on Quantum out of Australia so we will see how that goes.

So if you look back at what I originally posted, you will see that it would be mentioning that it is not realistic...BUT something people may have thought about for a moment prior to doing the reserch and finding out it is harder then It looks. But more of a Super Mario situation of living on a Cruise ship full time, as a guest. If you do not know who Mario is, he is a guest who literally lives on different cruise ships almost to all year long. If I am not wrong, he will stay on a ship for several months that alternate itineraries till he wants to switch to another ship for several more months. I think he is a Financial adviser, who works solely from his phone and laptop. You can find many interviews about him and his lifestyle on the web. I find them to be very interesting. Now of course it is not for everyone by all means. You have to be in a unique situation, such as for my wife and I. We have a very flexible work schedule, we do not have children, pets or many responsibilities at home. This makes it a little easier to allow your mind to wonder. But also, I have spoken to people who are at a point in there life, where their children are grown and out of the house and are in similar situations with freedom. So it was not exactly a post of reality but more of a posting did you ever think of "What if".

I know I have!! We mostly are all here for our Love and passion for cruising right? But, fess up. Admit it. Just spill the beans now! I know I have several times.. You know what I am talking about. Your on a cruise, sitting in a lounger near the pool. Maybe chilling at one of the bars just loving life, or maybe your sitting at a nice comfy quiet spot in Central Park just feeling the moment. Then it hits you, you think to yourself, "I can just do this everyday". The gears start turning in your head, you start thinking about all those videos you watched about Super Mario or life as a crew member, you feel the energy that just pops out of your screen or speakers when you watch or listen to Matt daily. You know what I am talking about, saying to yourself shoot....I can bartend, or I can do dishes or straighten up a cabin. Heck I can work in the Windjammer!! I can scoop eggs onto peoples plates, or stand by the door and say "Good Morning! Please Washy Washy" even the hours and pay does not bother me that much. You start thinking things like (to live on board) the cost can go down, well when I get to Pinnacle Status fast, and then things become free, and or get even cheaper and more discounted. Plus I get special invites to special occasions and treated like a VIP. How many of you sat down, with a calculator? When nobody's around (to not get caught) and started doing the math. Figure out what your bills are at home, vs. what it would cost to actually leave it all behind. I am going to live on a ship like Mario? I mean the hard math. Like ok, with internet I can work from the ship. If I don't have a mortgage or rent, no need for a car and or insurance, loose all my grocery bills, Just EVERYTHING. I will stay with a inside cabin. You attempt to work every angle that you can think of. You don't mention it to many people for the fear that they will think you are our of your mind, and or piss people off when they think you are deserting your friends and family for LONG periods of time Was it a 5 min thing....or did you really spend hours and or days researching as much as you can? Now's to time to fess up, lets hear it.

When it comes to the Alcohol package, we tried with and without a package. Without, we found it to be stressful (Always counting, or looking at the bill every evening) we lost $ every time paying a la carte. Our daily routine: We found that with a fresh squeezed OJ in the morning, a water or two for excursions, a coffee or two that is not pee pee water, a Gatorade, and then 2 or 3 drinks a day each was way more then the drink package. So the package pays off for us big time. You have to have at least 5 drinks or a combination of about 5 of anything on this list per day to make it work. What I usually do, is when I book my cruise I purchase for whatever the price is at the time. Then since my face is always buried in my computer or phone most of the day. I will try to look once a day to cancel and rebook when the price drops. So here is how I break it down. For argument sake, lets go with $80 a day per person. Minus out the cost of the zoom, lets say $15 a day. Now you are at $65 per day for drinks. Lets use the number someone said of $10 per drink. It is more like $13 when you add in the gratuities for each drink. So @$10, that is roughly 5-6 drinks right? So like I said earlier (2) Specialty Coffee, (1)Fresh OJ I enjoy in the morning, (2) waters we take on board, keep in our room, and we also take then when on excursions especially when in Mexico, (that is a story for another day) we also stop by the little cafe outside the GYM where you can get Gatorade/Powerade then...about 3 alcohol drinks per day. Well....you do the math. But, many times If I am persistent and patient I find the package for about $66 a day. Depending on the itinerary. Your thoughts?

Thank you Edmund, Great topic! Will be following this one very closely.

We now live Charleston, SC...but because we are still active both 52. No children, very flexible work schedule. We are big kids, that absolutely love to cruise. We feel that being Floridians gives a lot of financial benefits. Not only taxes and weather, but we are big foodie people as well. I wont even get into the topic of finding Italian food in SC. We like to be able to walk around Disney area, stroll the beaches, and most important. Hop on a weekend cruise for the weekend when we want. The only issue we have had is trying to find WHERE in Florida we want to live. We have looked everywhere not far from the coast from Ft. Lauderdale up as far as Vero, as west as Orlando. Have not landed on anything just yet. So the hunt still rages on.

Every time for as long as you own the stock.

Well....I am sure that Jamie Oliver will agree when I say that these restaurants are there food in name only LOLOLOLOL

I agree, we love the Oasis class. There is the Oasis class...then there is everything else!

$250 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 14 or more nights $100 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 6 to 13 nights $50 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 5 nights or less Applicable on any eligible Royal Caribbean International or Celebrity Cruises voyage. Excludes any charter or Galapagos sailings Royal Caribbean Group will no longer honor Shareholder Onboard Credit requests for Azamara received on or after March 19, 2021 as this brand is no longer part of the group

I see what you are saying (and not because I am reading it off the screen) We are not nearly high rollers. We budget $100 a night each to play. If you have left over, well more for the next day. If you are there all evening with what you have for the night....then you have a nice evening of entertainment. So I guess for a 7 night, we are willing to loose $1400 down there. We no longer do the photos thing, sometimes will do a excursion or two and places like Nassau don't even get off the ship anymore. We have been pretty lucky as far as with our OBC from booking, then more from the RCCL Stock OBC, then some from our TA we have been having small bills at the end of the trip. I will say that, because I feel over the years the menu in the MDR has been feeling a little warn out. We have been doing more Specialty dining lately. But even that you can purchase a unlimited dining package and get great value from it. The amount of drinks the give us is enough for us. I do not think I will ever make it to Pinnacle before I am dead. Unless they have another Double point special again. But Royal is very innovative, they will always come up with new things to peek your interest and grab that $, and I am ok with that.

OK, time to show just how weird I can be at times when it comes to thinking. I have pretty much remained Loyal to Royal for several reasons, but here is just a few. 16 cruises, 12 with Royal Royal (Majesty of the Seas) was the first cruise I was ever on I think it was back in 1997. From that point I was deeply hooked on cruising. I have also tried, Celebrity, Holland America, Princess, and regrettably paradise Bahamas. (That's a story for another day) but have always came back to Royal. I have always been someone looking for the so called Cruise Hacks type of thing while remaining Loyal to Royal. I am originally from NJ, now living in SC..looking to move to FL. Interested in moving to FL for several reasons, but some of them are cruise related. I was playing on paper one day to figure out, just what we spend on travel to and from ports, luggage fees, hotels the night before, and sometimes a night the day we arrive back to home port. Alcohol package, and Internet. Sometimes, adding this all up came to 2-3 thousand. Sometimes more/less. When it comes to the Alcohol package, we tried with and without a package. Without, we found it to be stressful (Always counting, or looking at the bill every evening) we lost $ every time. Our daily routine, we found that with a fresh squeezed OJ in the morning, a water or two for excursions, a coffee or two that is not pee pee water, a Gatorade, and then 2 or 3 cocktails a day each was way more then the drink package. So the package pays off for us big time. You have to have at least 5 drinks or a combination of about 5 of anything on that list per day to make it work. So then I was thinking if I became Diamond or above, I would get 4-6 free drinks a day depending on what tier you are at, and discounted Voom (about 20%). A while back I had hoped to be able to push myself up in tier levels with purchasing points. NOPE, Royal does not offer this. So had to come up with a new plan. I started listening to Matt @ RCB, and now shop early and often to lock in rates on everything cruise related. I do 99% of my bookings downstairs in Next Cruise for the added OBC and reduced Deposits of only $100 pp, then have the reservation switched over to my TA. If we have to cancel or make a change, we only lost $100 pp or during the Cruise with confidence no loss at all. This made it even more easy. We also were purposely booking Jr. Suites because they will normally let us board around 11am, and you get double points for each night. Since we normally sail BtB or longer sailings, we have been getting 28 points per sailing. A added plus is when Royal has a special (like during the early time of Covid) they had double points. So our 28 points were 56 points for a sailing. We pompously booked cruises during covid knowing that they would be canceled so we would get a 150% FCC. With the extra 50% FCC we switched up to a Jr. Suite We hunkered down and booked as much as we can just to take advantage of the double double points and extra FCC's, pushing us up to Dimond Plus real fast. Now we can relax a bit. We can drop down to a regular Balcony room, with the added discounts for Diamond, made a regular balcony even cheaper, and we get 5 drinks a day each. so no more drink package a savings of around $1,000, per sailing and we even get a discount on the Voom. Also staying Loyal to Royal, keep an eye on RCCL stock. The days leading up to Covid, the stock was about $135 ish. This morning it is around $80. I have seen it up to around just under $100 in recent months. It is up & down but I am sure over time, it will go back up and even pass the high of $135. The day the CDC announced a shut down for Covid in 2020, the stock dropped to around $19. (I scooped up a 100 shares) If you got in soon...Score!!! If you own 100 shares or more, you get OBC for each sailing that range from I think $50 up to $250 per reservation depending on the length of sailing for as long as you own the stock Now here is what we are really excited about. With Celebrity Honoring our Diamond status in whatever they call their comparable status, we have a whole new list of Itinerary's and ships to try and we still stay within the family Loyal. BUT, if you ever feel the need to "Jump Ship" (no punt intended) some other lines are honoring your RC status on their lines as well. Such as MSC if you sail with them. But we are Loyal to Royal...and staying here. P.S. When we move to Fl, we cut out flights, baggage, hotels so there is a nice savings as well. Yep.....told ya we are weird and or to much time on our hands to think

OK, time to show just how weird I can be at times when it comes to thinking. I have pretty much remained Loyal to Royal for several reasons, but here is just a few. 16 cruises, 12 with Royal Royal (Majesty of the Seas) was the first cruise I was ever on I think it was back in 1997. From that point I was deeply hooked on cruising. I have also tried, Celebrity, Holland America, Princess, and regrettably paradise Bahamas. (That's a story for another day) but have always came back to Royal. I have always been someone looking for the so called Cruise Hacks type of thing while remaining Loyal to Royal. I am originally from NJ, now living in SC..looking to move to FL. Interested in moving to FL for several reasons, but some of them are cruise related. I was playing on paper one day to figure out, just what we spend on travel to and from ports, luggage fees, hotels the night before, and sometimes a night the day we arrive back to home port. Alcohol package, and Internet. Sometimes, adding this all up came to 2-3 thousand. Sometimes more/less. When it comes to the Alcohol package, we tried with and without a package. Without, we found it to be stressful (Always counting, or looking at the bill every evening) we lost $ every time. Our daily routine We found that with a fresh squeezed OJ in the morning, a water or two for excursions, a coffee or two that is not pee pee water, a Gatorade, and then 2 or 3 drinks a day each was way more then the drink package. So the package pays off for us big time. You have to have at least 5 drinks or a combination of about 5 of anything on that list per day to make it work. So then I was thinking if I became Diamond or above, I would get 4-6 free drinks a day depending on what tier you are at, and discounted Voom (about 20%). A while back I had hoped to be able to push myself up in tier levels with purchasing points. NOPE, Royal does not offer this. So had to come up with a new plan. I started listening to Matt @ RCB, and now shop early and often to lock in rates on everything cruise related. I do 99% of my bookings downstairs in Next Cruise for the added OBC and reduced Deposits of only $100 pp, then have the reservation switched over to my TA. If we have to cancel or make a change, we only lost $100 pp or during the Cruise with confidence no loss at all. This made it even more easy. We also were purposely booking Jr. Suites because they will normally let us board around 11am, and you get double points for each night. Since we normally sail BtB or longer sailings, we have been getting 28 points per sailing. A added plus is when Royal has a special (like during the early time of Covid) they had double points. So our 28 points were 56 points for a sailing. We pompously booked cruises for cheap at times knowing that they would be canceled during Covid so we would get a 150% FCC. With the extra 50% FCC we switched up to a Jr. Suite We hunkered down and booked as much as we can just to take advantage of the double double points and extra FCC's, pushing us up to Dimond Plus real fast. Now we can relax a bit. We can drop down to a regular Balcony room, with the added discounts for Diamond, made a regular balcony even cheaper, and we get 5 drinks a day each. so no more drink package a savings of around $1,000, per sailing and we even get a discount on the Voom. Also staying Loyal to Royal, keep an eye on RCCL stock. The days leading up to Covid, the stock was about $135 ish. This morning it is around $75. I have seen it up to around just under $100 in recent weeks. It is up & down but I am sure over time, it will go back up and even pass the high of $135. The day the CDC announced a shut down for Covid in 2020, the stock dropped to around $19. If you got in then...Score!!! If you own 100 shares or more, you get OBC for each sailing that range from I think $50 up to $250 per reservation depending on the length of sailing for as long as you own the stock Now here is what we are really excited about. With Celebrity Honoring our Diamond status in whatever they call their comparable status, we have a whole new list of Itinerary's and ships to try and we still stay within the family. BUT, if you ever feel the need to "Jump Ship" (no punt intended) some other lines are honoring your RC status on their lines as well. Such as MSC if you sail with them. But we are Loyal to Royal...and staying here. P.S. When we move to Fl, we cut out flights, baggage, hotels so there is a nice savings as well. Yep.....told ya we are weird and or to much time on our hands to think.