jticarruthers

Just saw a banner about "Up to $200 off and BOGO 60 for 6 days" so I guess it is an actual sale not just an IT screwup ... who would have thought it ....

Interesting not sure what it is but savings for all 8 cabins I have booked on Freedom for Thanksgiving 2017 :) Thanks for the tip !! No joy on this Thanksgiving, prices are up too high already but the "bonus" deal is there ..

I understand the reasoning but do find it annoying. Will I quit cruising over it - no, will I consider an alternative to RCI just because of it - no, is it one of many small things that is leading me to consider other alternatives to RCI - yes, absolutely.

Just did a "learn to Segway" tour in Nassau and highly recommend it. We have been wanting to try a Segway tour for years but the pictures always seemed to show the group riding along a busy road and I didn't feel comfortable doing it with my son and feeling like I would be terrified of him going into the road. For the one we just did in Nassau (through NCL) there was a short bus ride to a park area just past Junkanoo (sp?) beach. They gave you several minutes to get used to the Segways in the park and then we all rode in convoy along the beach and back, ending up at a bar for a refreshment break before heading back to the park for a "boys vs girls" obstacle course race. Felt very safe throughout and no concerns about "being in traffic" ... somehow the guys bought the guides beers and still the girls got the favorable calls at the obstacle course :( At the end of the tour they will bus you back to the terminal or let you do your own thing, we walked back through Junkanoo beach and made a few strategic bar stops as we wandered back. Highly recommend it if you are interested in trying Segways.

Very limited feedback as our son has so far pretty much passed on the teen club, his reasoning though is that on the two occasions available it has been "all teens combined" and very loosely supervised (Teens are all free to come and go as they wish to start with and then many of the activities are cancelled and turned into "free time"). As a barely teen he is not comfortable hanging out with the older teens and discussing "older teen" activities so he has bailed and hung with us both times.

I bumped my wifes Premium to Ultimate last summer when they were running the "buy an ultimate get a free replenish" promo. Figured for the extra $10/day I covered my wifes 1 specialty coffee per day and got my son his "virgin cocktail" fix as well. When they tried to renege and make it a Refresh package instead, I told them to cancel it since it was no longer worth the upgrade .. ultimately they gave me OBC for the difference between refresh and replenish so it all worked out but generally I agree premium makes sense, Ultimate only if you are into the speciality coffee/fresh juice add on.

Honestly I don't think Royal is too worried about their customer base, seems they have hung their hat on high gloss, high energy "Wow" to attract new cruisers like crazy and fill the boats. Its been observed many times that seasoned cruisers don't spend as much onboard and it appears to me Royal has recognized and that and is not too worried about keeping customers as long as they have a pipeline of new customers that they can milk instead.

Nothing wrong with Indy, did Thanksgiving aboard her a couple of years ago and had a great time !

Dining provided by TA can be tricky. I know when I first started with mine she would give me certificates for "1 free dinner" and buried in the fine print was "must be booked on board, must be on a port day, etc, etc." So to redeem that we would head straight to Chops when we got on board and make a reservation. Not sure specifically how the "free dinners" are arranged in your circumstance but might be similar. I later learned that it is really just all OBC and now my TA just gives me the OBC instead and I don't have to pay for dinner I can just pay the grats/drinks instead.

I think you will find they are more alike than they are different. Have not experienced the Quantum class (Ovation) but have sailed both Disney and Royal. For me Disney does better on service and food but neither one is bad by any means, Disney's pricing is too much for the difference though so Royal is our default except for a couple of splurges here and there. Staterooms are very hard to compare directly since it depends on the class of room, etc. but I would say like to like are similar in size. Ovation being brand new is probably a little nicer and it sounds like you are considering a suite vs a regular room on Disney in which case you will definitely notice the increase in size/amenities and the additional service from being suite class should easily offset any difference (as perceived by me) in service level between the lines. Personally if cost was not an issue we would always choose DCL over RCL, however, in the real world for comparable costs you are likely doing a suite on a new ship with RCL vs. a regular room on an older ship with DCL, which tips the scales to RCL for me.

Disconnecting from the "real" world ... no phone, no email, no texts, no newspapers and since there is crap on TV no TV so no news there either. Pretty tough to get that disconnected any other way .. think about how many TV's you see with crawl bars running, how many conversations you "overhear" about the latest bad thing in the world, etc. Personally I would be happy to pay to have them NOT upgrade the internet connections aboard ship to keep people from trying to give me updates from the real world.

Think that's it for RCI, they seem to be turning their attention back to Miami and basing a bunch of ships there again. Wish they would put more at Canaveral myself, far more convenient and easier to get in and out.

Caveat the drink of the day is included but if it is served in a funky/souvenir glass of some kind the glass is NOT. So you have to make sure and ask for it in a regular cup. Sometimes this is an issue, sometimes not, depends on where you are buying it. Typically if you order it at a bar, not a problem. But if you are ordering from a wandering waiter with a tray of them premade, problem.

Just off NCL Escape, generally found it very comparable to Royal. Seemed to us to have a little more focus on pushing people into the bars and the pay restaurants where Royal seems to have more of what we would call "quiet lounge" spaces. That might be that we never found said lounges, might be just the cruise we were on or could be a true statement, hard to say. For example we enjoy sitting at the pub on the Freedom/Voyager class ships, maybe playing some cards or just chatting and people watching. The similar environment on Escape was the District (I think that was the name) which was a great bar with a lot of beer options, but it had fairly loud music piped in all the time. Similarly we enjoy Schooner lounge on RCI, sit enjoy the water, play some trivia, people watch, etc. Closest comparison on Escape was the main atrium. Except again, it was non stop activity so it was loud for a half hour, then quiet, then loud, etc. Thought we found a great place to hang out in the on board Margaritaville until our poor waiter came by to tell us they had closed and we needed to leave so he could clean up and go to his next job .... it was 4.30 in the afternoon ... why the heck is the bar/restaurant on the top deck closed at 4 o clock ?? Would definitely consider NCL again and it was a good cruise, but not so good that we wont still look at Royal options. Price/Value leans NCL's way though, especially with the free drink package that they consistently offer.

I have a nice fake leather travel document holder that I use for all our cruises, passports go in one side and the tickets/boarding passes, etc. go in the other. I also keep $200 cash in there for every cruise. Usually about half in 20's the other half in small bills (mostly 5's and 1's). Generally I bring most of it back with me but I like to have the small bills in particular for tipping randomly. When we get back I refill the cash portion and its ready for next time out. I have an upcoming cruise in Europe, will probably pull about $1000 for that one just to avoid having to use ATM's to pull cash, again probably wont need it all but easier to bring it back than deal with getting cash there. (at least for me)

If the 4 night is a requirement you could also consider the Monday - Friday cruises out of Canaveral/Miami. I think its Majesty and Enchantment at the moment. Not as big as Indy/Navigator but still good ships from all accounts and that would have you on board for Thanksgiving rather than boarding on Thanksgiving.

Looking at Thanksgiving options for this year: Brilliance, Navigator and Indy all seem to be doing the 4 night Cozumel run, with Brilliance and Indy leaving on Thanksgiving day and Navigator leaving on the day before ? Alternatively, Brilliance and Indy are doing the 5 nt Cozumel run leaving the Saturday before Thanksgiving and getting back on Thanksgiving day, while Navigator is doing ??, Edit - thought so Navigator is coming back from the UK which is why the four night cruise is a weird Wednesday departure, trying to rotate her onto a schedule. Not sure whether you were hoping to be "on the boat" for Thanksgiving or just using that week of time to take a cruise. Based on itinerary above though I would recommend Navigator so that you are "on the boat" for Thanksgiving day and able to relax and enjoy it rather than spending the day dealing with boarding, etc. Unfortunately Navigator is out of Miami though so you get to deal with a slightly longer drive but not the end of the world. A glance at pricing says the three cruises listed are pretty close starting at just over $400 per person but it could vary significantly once you get into higher cabin categories, etc. If you can swing the extra time/money though I would highly recommend the Freedom of the Seas sailing on 11/20 instead. You bump up to a 6 night, pick up Grand Cayman and Costa Maya to go with Cozumel and get to be on a ship that has the slightly larger size of Indy along with the upgrades of Navigator (I don't think Navi has anything Freedom didn't get too?). I believe you would end up with Thanksgiving day in Cozumel. Also sailing out of Ft Lauderdale so not as convenient as Canaveral or Tampa but not as far as Miami. Prices start in the $600 range so not insignificantly more expensive but for my money worth the extra.

Couple of threads popping up over on CC that several more Empress cruises are cancelled. Not sure if there is enough there to consider it fact but it doesn't sound good.

I use the plastic sleeves with two per bag, so far so good.

We had the same experience on Vision back in 2014, the kids ended up ditching the cups and just getting plastic cups from the bars since they 1) had to go up to the bar anyway and then 2) had to show their cards anyway .... the souvenir cups were more an annoyance at that point.

Officially - no absolutely not. Unofficially - if you are on a ship with freestyle machines the machine only knows if the cup is valid, not who is holding it so anyone can walk up to the machine with your cup and get a soda, if you are on a ship without freestyle machines you have to ask a bartender to put soda in the cup and the bartender is more likely to wonder if the person holding the cup is allowed to put free soda in the cup ;)

Generally disappointed, I really have two cruise windows, Springbreak and Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving 2017 is a steaming pile of you know what and Springbreak 2018 the only thing I see that is interesting is one of the 9 nt Navigator cruises that "may" end up falling over springbreak. Put down a deposit on Freedom for Thanksgiving last night just to catch the free grats promo (had to fight about that for an hour because IT "forgot" to load the promo onto that cruise), probably throw a deposit on the Navigator just as a speculative to see if it ends up working but even after being slightly disappointed with NCL Escape, giving strong consideration to throwing a deposit on Getaway for Thanksgiving as well and may have to consider Carnival as well. Wish RCI would wow me and take my money but it is getting harder for me to find cruises to book with them not easier .... and I finally made Diamond as well and really really want to enjoy it !!

You must keep at least one name the same from booking to sailing in order to keep the pricing intact. Apart from that though you can change out others right up until a few days before sailing (or at least so says my travel agent, I haven't actually had to try it yet)

Heard for years that Miami was the worst of the Florida ports and based on our 1 actual experience (3 weeks ago), Miami is the worst port. Vastly prefer all of the other florida ports but maybe we just had a really bad experience. Boarding was the worst process we have ever gone through and disembarkation actually managed to trump that by being even worse than boarding. The port itself seemed fairly well setup, the traffic pattern was bad though with cars driving to drop off luggage having to cross back and forth through cars trying to pull in and out of the parking garage,etc. We were using both Terminals B and C for the NCL Escape.

If you are booking under the US booking rules you are able to cancel up until final payment date and receive a full refund. For a lot of their new offers RCI adds language about "for new bookings only" but in reality if you push they will honor the new deal for you anyway since you ultimately have the right to cancel your existing deal and then rebook the new deal. For bookings under other countries rules this is not always true but it looks like you are in the US so the best strategy is definitely- Book now and rebook later if deals get better.