CharmMicah68

@Neesa Iove following this channel right now.  Some fun people who I    would enjoy sharing a beverage with.  So, I    need you to hide a duck super good, we are on WOS again July 16.  We found a duck in February and hope to find another.  ALSO, you inspired me to keep trying the Royal UP program.  It can't be just luck.....I hope....but it sure feels like it.
I bid upgrades on each cruise we go on. NEVER won....UNTIL YESTERDAY! Booked a GTY Balcony (props to MEI) and assigned 14 floor Central Park.  So I Bid on 3 different cabins barely above minimum. Weird, the bids expired and I was allowed to bid again. So I did. Same numbers. Only this time, I threw a RCC credit card points stateroom upgrade on it. This is another weird thing....I didn't get the lower cabin upgrade, I got 2 bumps up cabin upgrade. Not a JS, but still large ocean view balcony on a great floor.
Is it a coincidence I did it with RCC points.....???? Maybe. I choose to believe to give me hope
Have a great cruise!

While I'm no @twangster or @Lovetocruise2002 I have to thank them both for teaching me how to post photos. OMG still calling for people to do muster, ugh!!! 

@Neesa Iove following this channel right now.  Some fun people who I    would enjoy sharing a beverage with.  So, I    need you to hide a duck super good, we are on WOS again July 16.  We found a duck in February and hope to find another.  ALSO, you inspired me to keep trying the Royal UP program.  It can't be just luck.....I hope....but it sure feels like it.
I bid upgrades on each cruise we go on. NEVER won....UNTIL YESTERDAY! Booked a GTY Balcony (props to MEI) and assigned 14 floor Central Park.  So I Bid on 3 different cabins barely above minimum. Weird, the bids expired and I was allowed to bid again. So I did. Same numbers. Only this time, I threw a RCC credit card points stateroom upgrade on it. This is another weird thing....I didn't get the lower cabin upgrade, I got 2 bumps up cabin upgrade. Not a JS, but still large ocean view balcony on a great floor.
Is it a coincidence I did it with RCC points.....???? Maybe. I choose to believe to give me hope
Have a great cruise!

@Neesa Iove following this channel right now.  Some fun people who I    would enjoy sharing a beverage with.  So, I    need you to hide a duck super good, we are on WOS again July 16.  We found a duck in February and hope to find another.  ALSO, you inspired me to keep trying the Royal UP program.  It can't be just luck.....I hope....but it sure feels like it.
I bid upgrades on each cruise we go on. NEVER won....UNTIL YESTERDAY! Booked a GTY Balcony (props to MEI) and assigned 14 floor Central Park.  So I Bid on 3 different cabins barely above minimum. Weird, the bids expired and I was allowed to bid again. So I did. Same numbers. Only this time, I threw a RCC credit card points stateroom upgrade on it. This is another weird thing....I didn't get the lower cabin upgrade, I got 2 bumps up cabin upgrade. Not a JS, but still large ocean view balcony on a great floor.
Is it a coincidence I did it with RCC points.....???? Maybe. I choose to believe to give me hope
Have a great cruise!

@Neesa Iove following this channel right now.  Some fun people who I    would enjoy sharing a beverage with.  So, I    need you to hide a duck super good, we are on WOS again July 16.  We found a duck in February and hope to find another.  ALSO, you inspired me to keep trying the Royal UP program.  It can't be just luck.....I hope....but it sure feels like it.
I bid upgrades on each cruise we go on. NEVER won....UNTIL YESTERDAY! Booked a GTY Balcony (props to MEI) and assigned 14 floor Central Park.  So I Bid on 3 different cabins barely above minimum. Weird, the bids expired and I was allowed to bid again. So I did. Same numbers. Only this time, I threw a RCC credit card points stateroom upgrade on it. This is another weird thing....I didn't get the lower cabin upgrade, I got 2 bumps up cabin upgrade. Not a JS, but still large ocean view balcony on a great floor.
Is it a coincidence I did it with RCC points.....???? Maybe. I choose to believe to give me hope
Have a great cruise!

As a general rule, MEI does not provide any booking incentives (OBC, gift card, etc.) but they more than make up for that with their wonderful customer service.  Since any booking incentives must be paid for by the Agent, it is generally not done.  There may be an occasional bottle of wine or specialty meal given, but again, that comes straight off the top for the individual Agent.  In all the years of using MEI I think I have gotten one of each of those gifts.

Because there is WAAAYYY more money to be made at PDCC than at Labadee….….and the proximity of PDCC to SoFla is also very important.

We check out 2 towels per person at the beginning of the cruise.  Then we just keep exchanging them for dry ones all week.  Show the attendant 4 wet ones, get 4 dry ones back.  We don’t actually return the towels til the last full day.  Then I ask the attendant to confirm all towels have been returned & we’re done.

So not HOSH, HOKE or HOCK, but HOTCH.

Great, now we'll have to rely on twangster to interpret anything Matt says since he'll be required to speak in Pinnaclese among us peons.  I think they call it Pin Latin.
 
Congrats Matt, hell of an accomplishment.

June 17, 2023
On board the RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com Group Cruise on Navigator of the Seas Matt and Marissa become members of the Pinnacle Club!
 
 

Does the drink package cover all of the bourbon options at the Mason jar?

+1 on the spicy jalepeno marg!!
(how the heck did i forget to add this pic??? 😅)

Getting rid of the bionic bar and Wonderland would be great improvements.

Definitely not loyal.  On multiple occasions Royal has provided an over the top experience and on multiple occasions Royal has stated loud and clear they feel no need for any loyalty in our business relationship.   From those multiple occasions where they threw me under the keel it was absolutely clear we have nothing more than a business relationship. 
I sail multiple lines and during the restart I made a point of spreading my money across five different cruise lines.  Two of those were Royal and Celebrity but the other three were not in the RCG family.
Royal is the line I like the best, right now, but I will continue to test the waters elsewhere to validate I still feel that way and Royal will continue to throw me under the keel when it suits them.  I do most of my cruising with Royal but I'll eagerly cruise with other companies when something catches my eye just as Royal will drop me like a wet paper bag full of groceries if they can make a dollar more with a cancellation.
I feel like we both have a very clear understanding of our business relationship and it is not exclusive in either direction.  I think we are both okay with that.  

Offering more or less really has no barings imho. I have won every RUB I have placed on minimum bids. I also have talked to people who place the max and never won. So just bid what you are comfortable with and hope for the best.

Treat your RoyalUp bid like a crock pot. Set it and forget it.
 
Just assume you're not getting it, then you can be pleasantly surprised if you do.

I don't think it was that bad, just traumatic for some guests. 
Pipes on ships break sometimes.  The flooding video I saw appeared to be a water or drain pipe that let loose. That happens on a ship.   The storm may have played in a role in this pipe letting go when it did but the storm may have just accelerated the inevitable.  Ship happens.
It's not like it was seawater that was entering the ship.  
A news crew sticks a mic in front of a debarking guests and it won't take long for one of them to say something they can use on the news.  I'm sure they didn't include the responses from folks who said something like "It was a bit rough but oh well, we are home now, all is well".  Drop a fishing line with a worm on a hook and sooner or later something will be nibbling at it.  That's pretty much was the local news folks do.  

There were plenty other ships that also sailed through that area while heading back to the East Coast ports.  Although no one heard about their experiences…they were larger ships so most likely handled the rough seas and winds much better.
@twangster you are so right about the news media and how they fish until they get the response they want and that’s the one that is let loose all over the internet!  Having grown up in the late 50’s and 60’s…I know enough not to pay attention to a lot of today’s media frenzy!  I am also on no social media sites…perhaps I still want to live in the society where not being in touch every second with everyone and everything was a peaceful way of living!

Wonder if Carnival needs to hire a chief meteorologist now.

Read the thread and it motivated my to replenish my humidor. We're in St. Maarten this summer and will have to pick up some DAS

Not an aficianado, hell I don't even know what I'm doing inside a humidor. Nonetheless, there's something about a cruise, a cigar and a drink. Last November on our Oranjestad, Aruba port call, I found the Authentic Cigar Lounge very close to the port off the main drag/shopping area. Told the extremely knowledgeable lady behind the counter I wanted a nice, mild cigar that wasn't the size of a sequoia tree. She suggested a local hand rolled cigar of Dominican tobacco, sized as Roger Miller said in song "short but not too big around". Bought 3, lit one up and stopped and bought a $4 cup of ice cold Montana Beer, sat at a table and watched the passengers as they walk back to the pier, Jewel in the background. Nirvana............
Makes me wonder why I spent 50 years in Marlboro Country.

Sorry, I was playing with my new Royal Caribbean battleship board game and I got carried away.
Found Navigator! 

And no being saved by spell check on that one.  LOL

Yes, they show on my May 25, 2024 Icon.  
Your theory is that they take something they can charge 200-300 for and make it a free benefit for suites like BF Beach instead?  That kind of silly talk will get you thrown out of the meeting room.  The model is move free things to paid things, not paid things to free things. 🙂