jticarruthers

All the instances I have heard reported have been from mid to late in the cruise.

Not military myself but one of the group that travels with us is and he always has me ask. As far as I have been able to tell the military discount for RCI is like the resident discounts and is only offered at certain times on certain cruises (basically as a marketing promo). On the cruises I have priced for him we have only gotten the military discount to come up one time out of about a dozen or so that we have looked at. I could be completely wrong but that has been my experience in asking for it.

You don't have to have it for every day but you cant pick and choose the days. Once purchased you have to have it for the rest of the cruise. Worth it or not is very much a judgment call based on your drinking plan :) In general the breakeven point is averaging about 5 drinks per day ... mixed drinks tend to be around $10-$12 so 5 of them would have at around $50-$60 which is roughly the package per day. If you enjoy specialty coffees and/or bottled water then picking a package that includes those makes your payoff a little lower. Beers are typically $5-$6 but the beer only package is cheaper so the 5 per day rules is still close.

Not done it, wife has and my son and I watched a bunch of people waiting for her. My understanding is that the reclined position is recommended to ensure you pick up enough speed to make it to the end but it doesn't have to be a "full" recline, my wife was able to us her camera coming down and got some pics/video.

There is a pasta option, spaghetti and sauce IIRC, can be ordered plan as well if preferred. Don't recall veggies but would imagine they can just do a side of the adult vegetable choices with no issued. Plain salad and Caesar salad would both be options as well. Once our son found out he could just order off the adult menu he hasn't looked back though :) Anything on the main menu can also be ordered by a child and you can swap sides, etc. as well so there is a lot of flexibility.

All their sales are basically the same deal just with different packaging, every now and then one is actually "better" than a predecessor but only through random luck.

Hopefully something minor and not a repeat of the issues that plagued her not long ago ...

I was about to say the same thing monorailmedic, if in doubt just keep asking and someone will eventually not know better and find a way to do it for you.

Bingo usually has some "banter" and play elements but not as much as Disney. From memory the cheapest to play is about $25 as stated above, which gets you something like 3 cards to play in 3 or 4 rounds of bingo. There are usually a couple of more expensive packages, a mid range maybe $40 or so that gets you something like 9 cards and then the expensive option for about $60 or so that gives you the electronic machine with something like 30 cards loaded along with 3 paper cards. All numbers are guesstimates and probably vary by ship but should give you an idea. In my experience it is typically close to an hour for the 4 rounds of bingo.

Spring 2017 I think .. they typically do an annual roll forward each spring. Seems to be a complete screwup each year but I would expect somewhere between end of Feb and end of March.

Not sure what size fan we are talking, we have a desk fan (probably 9-10 " tall) that we put through in our suitcase every cruise, never had an issue. If you are talking a 2 foot tall full size fan that might be a different animal.

Going to echo Matt, I have never seen a day one discount on the drink package. Sounds like there are some "experimental" options with drink cards, discounts, etc. that are at the ship staff discretion to roll out later in the cruise but I would be shocked to see a day 1 discount.

Freedom class were basically "super-voyager" designs so they are very close in size/look/feel to the Voyager class ships you have already been on (Voyager/Explorer). Freedom is definitely the "favorite" of the class though and received another round of upgrades last year. About the only thing she doesnt have is water slides ;) Flowrider, Rock Wall, Ice Skating, mini golf, good pools, kids splash area, Dreamworks experience.

The 3 nt/4 nt rotation generally does get run by the older/smaller ships .. 3 nt weekend cruise, 4 nt midweek cruise , rinse, repeat, etc. The 4nt/5 nt rotations sneak into some of the better ships like Naviagtor/Indy, etc. depending on port and time of year.

Checking appts daily, still waiting for my wife and son to get approved though so theres no point in selecting one for me yet if its going to involve a "trip" to go do it.

Next appt in Dallas right now is for Sept 7th ... It pays to scrub through the list and look for alternatives though ... I just noticed Sanford (smaller airport in Orlando area) is on the list and has appointments in late June ... so I will be driving to Orlando instead of Miami ...1 1/2 hours vs 4 1/2 .... yay !

Sorry to dredge up an old thread but thought it more relevant than starting a new one. Decided to go ahead and sign up for GE since we wil be traveling a fair amount this summer ... did the app two weeks ago and just got my pre-approval notice .... yay right ? Except the next open appointment to do the interview in Tampa is not until mid September ???? Or Orlando .... August .... or Ft Lauderdale ..... August ..... No wonder they cant get people to sign up for this freaking programs, not only do you have to pay a non-refundable fee to try and get it but by the time you are approved you wont need it anymore. So it looks like a roadtrip down to Miami will be in my future, need to wait for the wife and son to get their approvals though and then try to find a day when we can all drive down to Miami together to do our interviews :( What a PITA

Is the "no-discounting after 90 days rule" a US thing or worldwide? I know on the US side the "last minute" deal is no longer what it was for RCI, wondering if it is a different booking rule on the asian side ?

Not sure wihout checking but there is probably only one (or a couple of them) so if it is booked it wouldnt show up?

My wife collects sand from all the different places we have been to, on one occasion (I think Cozumel of all places) we were stopped and told we could not take sand on board the ship and had to throw out the bag. Could be because sand could have living organisms in it, could be a million reasons .... but we didn't ask just complied and moved on. I would think a clean dry shell would be no problem though as long as it is not an "endangered species".

Shaking the magic RCI 8 ball and the answer is ... probably. It would seem logical that you could but RCI is notorious for having multiple possible answers to every question ... if you try and get told no, ask someone else, repeat this pattern until you either get the answer you want or get tired of asking and move on to something else. I have never tried it but believe I have spoken to others that have successfully done it so I really do think the answer is yes :)

Really tough one to give input on since there are a ton of variables in play ... Indy > Vision but Vision is not bad 16 > 12 but a 12 day isn't bad either Oceanview > Inside Lots of new interesting ports in both options for me, not sure if any of them are old hat for you though ... My gut reaction is too stick with Indy but its a hard one :)

I wouldn't leave a laptop/cell phone sitting in plain sight but do leave them tucked out of sight and so far as others have indicated no issues. I have seen security on several cruises, I would say they remind me a lot of mall/hotel security ... guys in uniforms with no obvious weapons and no clear idea what their background is. Not sure about the brig but I have seen a family "detained" in their cabin with a security guard posted at the door until we get to the next port at which point they were escorted off the boat, so there is definitely some level of "going to far" to keep in mind,

Hmm, anywhere near the Bermuda triangle ;)

Gonna go with Passport, Credit Card and a swimsuit .... that's all I need to get on board and spend a week poolside :)