santley88

I am cruising solo next year (May HoTS) my last cruise, I got the UDP and made full use of it.  I didn't get the DDP and honestly didn't miss the alcohol much, but realized that a few margaritas, etc would have been nice.  I am not a heavy drinker.  probably would average two to three adult beverages a day.  I am curious if some of the posters would weigh in on whether or not the DPP would make sense, in your opinion, or just paying outright?

A few drinks will be cheaper than DX. I brought a package once, didn't get my monies worth. Now I am diamond, so I get 4 free drinks,  I use those with my UDP. I can't really do more than 4 drinks and even without my status I wouldn't get my money worth with the DX. 

Well this just throws a wrench in my day! Now what else am I going to do at work today without being able to second guess my booked excursions and dinner reservations??!!

I understand.  I can be a bit obtuse at times...  ☺️  And, as I stated, it all worked out.  I guess there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between some of the RC staff and our TA counterparts.  But, you live and learn.  So next time, I'll know....  Thanks for the confirmation, though.  

All of the restaurants are included, but not the specialty experiences such as wine pairing, Chef’s Table, Taste of Royal. However, you do get a discount. For instance, Chef’s may be around half price at $50ish. 

Maybe it was just my particular circumstances, but I booked a Junior Suite on FoTS this past January.  After I paid my balance and a week or so later, I was given the opportunity to Royal Up.  I was doing a solo cruise, so I checked with my TA and she said that since I was cruising solo, whatever I bid would be JUST for me and she said that they had verified that through RCI.  
Unfortunately, that proved to be not true for me.  I bid $300 for a GS.  They accepted the bid, but then tried to pull $600 off my card.  At the time, I didn't have that much room on it, as my bill was due in a couple of weeks anyway, so I ended up not getting the upgrade (which wasn't so much of an issue, as JS proved to quite sufficient).  The point is, for me, anyway, it seems that whatever I put as the bid, it is based on Double Occupancy, even though I was cruising solo.  I don't know if that is a change in policy, or if that is the way that it has always been. I don't really see that detail delineated anywhere.  My TA was surprised too.  (Us solo cruisers can't seem to get any love!  😞  ) Anyway, YMMV, but something to keep in mind.

Chef’s Table and Taste of Royal are not included. 

Long time lurker, first time poster 🙃
 
Just booked my second cruise ever.  7-day cruise Caribbean/Perfect Day.  My first was Freedom of the Seas this past January.  Looking forward to it.  I'll be solo cruising it.  Would be interested to hear of other solo cruisers!

Eight Days and Counting
 We have eight days to go and we are already packing. In our defense we leave town in either five or six days. I want to leave on the 18th and my wife wants to leave on the 19th (we will stay with my parents so we won’t have to pay for a hotel). Like any good couple, we will calmly discuss why we want to leave when we do. Have a civil debate before coming up with a compromise, which means we will do whatever she wants.
We have two large suitcases, a carry on, and my C-Pap machine. We decided because we have two suitcases, we will put half my clothes in one suitcase and the other half in the second suitcase. We will do the same with my wife’s clothes, that way if one of our bags gets lost on the flight from California to Florida, we’ll each have some clothes to get by. My wife and I have been married for 30 years and together for 33, we have weathered many storms including the awful plunger incident of ’91 (which she brings up at least once every few months), and most recently when she reset my Wordle stats back to zero. But I will tell you right now, if we don’t separate our clothes and one of our suitcases gets lost in transit forcing my wife to wear my skivvies for seven days, we’ll probably never recover from that.
Since I’m retired and my wife still works, I offered to take a load of her shoulders and pack for both. She responded with an enthusiastic, “Not a chance in Hell, buddy.”  She would rather spend all day in work meetings that easily could’ve been an email than have me pack for her or myself or anyone for that matter. I am so bad at packing that she wouldn’t allow me to even pack for her worst enemy.  I don’t blame her one bit, I mean last time I packed for myself I ended up with two pairs of jammies, one shirt with a mustard stain, and eight pairs of undies for a 3-day weekend getaway, because when I pack underwear, I am like a fricken Boy Scout, “Be Prepared.” Here is how I pack my chonies: one pair for day one and one pair in case I poop myself. One pair for day two and one pair in case I eat Taco Bell for lunch (If you know, you know). One pair for day three and one pair for…surely it can’t happen three days in a row, but just in case, one more pair. And finally, two extra pairs just because. I always forget socks. It’s like my hidden talent to forget to pack socks. My wife is afraid if I pack for myself I might end up bringing three pairs of snow pants to the Caribbean, but hey, you never know when you need a good pair of snow pants.
We have stacks and stacks of new clothing my wife has been buying since we booked the cruise almost six months ago, yet I am not allowed to wear any of them. I swear, you get one little mustard stain on your shirt every time you wear one, and suddenly your wife doesn’t trust you around clothes…and food. Remember when you were a kid and you went to your friend’s house where the couch was covered in plastic and you weren’t allowed to sit on it? It’s the same thing with my stack of cruise clothing.
My wife is packing and I’m in the room to lend moral support, but I’m not paying very much attention. When I arrive on the ship and open my suitcase it will be a surprise, like when my kids were younger and they opened their Christmas presents in front of me and I see for the first time, what we got them.
I’ll be back in a few days to report on my pre embarkation testing and our traveling from rural county in California to the Sacramento area.  

T-Minus 12 Days 
I must admit, I’m quite envious when I hear about people booking over the water cabanas at Perfect Day at Coco Cay, or eating at Coastal Kitchen, or emailing back and forth with their Genie because unless I find a magic lamp on St. Kitts, I’m not getting a Genie. How I wish I could book a suite, I mean who doesn’t want to stay in the owner’s suite with all the space, all the amenities, and a bidet, I will miss having a bidet, but since I’m on a tight budget, my rump and I will rough it in a balcony room. Like many Americans, I live from paycheck to four days before the next paycheck. Being a cheapskate comes naturally to me. Some might even say it’s a gift. Okay, okay, no one calls it a gift, especially my wife.
Here I will chronicle our seven-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Harmony of the Seas while attempting to save as much money as possible without compromising on having fun.
I pre-booked our cruise, the deluxe drink package, internet package, and two excursions. I rushed to book the cruise instead of taking the time to try to get the best deal possible; although, I’m pleased with our deal. The reason for rushing the booking was the sale was set to expire in 1 hours and 52 minutes and I didn’t want to miss out. Little did I know that this is the sale that never ends, it goes on and on my friends. I suspect that this current sale and all the extensions date back to the day when Noah chartered the Ark of the Seas from Royal Caribbean during the Great Flood. I think I might have been bamboozled by the threat of the sale ending.
I booked all the add-ons we wanted; repricing, cancelling, and rebooking when the prices dropped. We saved on the internet package by booking one internet package with two devices instead of two individual packages. Originally, I booked the deluxe drink package for $77.99 per person/per day. My wallet wept that day. I cancelled and rebooked when the price dropped to $72.99 pp/pd. And did it once again when the price dropped to $65.99 pp/pd. My wallet no longer weeps uncontrollably, but it does whimper from time to time, not to mention, my liver is not so pleased either.
 
I’m not going to go all Ebenezer Scrooge to the point we don’t enjoy ourselves, but we are not going to spend freely like the Real Housewives of the Seas. This is our first cruise in what seems like forever and that’s a might long time, but I’m here to tell you, there’s something else, the barometer. A world of measuring how we can save on future cruses, such as the four-day Catalina and Ensenada cruise we have booked in November. The November cruise we will be thriftier. 
There are a few things I won’t skimp on and they are as follows:
1.      Gratuities. We prepaid our gratuities, but I plan on tipping above and beyond, because I may be a cheapskate, but I’m not an A-hole. Well, I may be an A-hole, but I’m not the kind of A-hole that would screw over someone else on tips just to save a few bucks.
2.      My wife made it clear that she wants something special from the ship. I plugged the words “something special” into my husband/wife translator and it comes back as jewelry.
3.      Souvenirs for the grandkids. I am thinking of something loud and obnoxious; payback is a…, well you know.   
4.      And finally, I will not lie, cheat, or scheme to get something for free. For example, if we eat at a specialty restaurant, I won’t lie to the waitstaff telling them there’s a toe in my risotto (or would it be risot-toe) just to get a free meal. Even if my risotto has a toe in it, I hate confrontation, so I’ll probably keep quite while eating around it. I’m almost certain that quality control on the Harmony of the Seas is good enough to catch a stray toe in the food being served, at least I hope so.
I will be updating a few times leading up to our cruise with my observations on the preparations and then once we board I will live blog our experience.