jticarruthers

Definitely depends. West tends to be more ports, East more sea days. Depends on what you are in the mood for and which you did more recently. On balance I think I prefer East but I wouldn't turn down a cheap West either :)

I received a small RFID wallet/card holder a couple of years ago and it works great for me on the cruise. Has room for about 4-5 cards and a little cash, so on sea days it just holds my seapass card, on port days, add my ID, a couple of credit cards and some cash and we are ready to head ashore. It is slightly larger than a credit card (height and width) and probably about 1/3" deep so its reasonably compact and is water resistant (at least judging from the results of failing to remove it from my shorts before jumping in the pool at Chankanaab last year).

We have been cruising with our son since he was about 5 or 6, we have always given him the option of having pizza/buffet/burger, etc. and then going to kids club or joining us at dinner in MDR. About 99% of the time he prefers MDR and especially the last couple of years (he's now 12) he looks forward to it. He really enjoys dressing up a tiny bit and respectfully requesting what he would like from the waiter.

Its been a no brainer for me to book for the OBC everytime ... I would much prefer to manage my own reservation through RCI directly but for the money involved I have gotten comfortable with my TA being in charge. Couple of data points: My springbreak cruise was on Jewel, cruise price was about $2500, price was exactly what I could get through RCI (Called and had it repriced on a couple of occasions and the reprice was always to RCI advertised price), OBC was $180 from TA. Upcoming thanksgiving cruise is on Freedom, cruise price is about $2600, originally booked through RCI, transferred to TA and knocked down on a reprice as well so again it ties to the RCI price, OBC of $180 from TA on this one as well. Last Thanksgiving on Indy, cruise price at $2800, OBC $210. The OBC is a % of commissionable cruise fare (excludes Taxes& Fees and a little bit of the cruise fare), so if you are taking 3/4 nighters only, you wont see big OBC but it adds up over a number of cruises.

I only prebook if there is something I want to do on a specific night, so for Allure last year we knew we wanted to do Rita's Fiesta on day one as a sail away add-on so we booked that. Also knew we would do Chops one night (free coupon) and wanted to try Samba's, but we were flexible and left those bookings to do on board once we got the lay of the land. We generally don't do a lot of Specialty (I am firmly in the camp of MDR is good for me and although not a lot of money I don't feel the need to pay for dinner again on top of the dinner I already paid for), but they always seem to be hurting for business ... rarely do I see them full when walking by and there seem to be frequent "specials" on board.

Two different answers but I think the message is the same. 1. My TA informed me a couple of years ago that RCI does NOT allow any of their travel partners to offer a lower fare than you can get direct from RCI. On the occasions that I have checked around different sites I always come back to the exact same quote for the cruise on RCI that I get from other sites. 2. TA's are allowed to offer you incentives that effectively reduce the price but they cannot just reduce the price. So they can offer you OBC, Free Specialty Dinners, Free Drink Packages, Prepaid gratuities, etc. they just cant reduce the price by those amounts. So ... you should always end up saving money if you give up control and book through a TA but you should never save that money directly on the price of the cruise, you save it by getting freebies added that effectively reduce the price. In my case I typically plan on getting about 8% of the price back as OBC, it is actually a complex formula based on the proportion of the fare that is commissionable to the TA and then a % of that, but it typically averages about 8% of the total. I figure so far giving up the control of booking direct has saved me somewhere around $3000 or basically one of my cruises was free.

1 flat, 1 way up, no savings for me :(

If there are no freestyle machines then you have to go to a bar and request a soda from the bartender. You should still receive a soda cup, but the options are more limited to basically just a handful (I don't know them but I think it is basically, coke, diet coke, sprite and that's about it ?? Anyone know the exact list ?) Cant tell you whether the replenish would be worth it or not, depends on how much you are going to use the non-soda portion of the package vs. buying it for soda. If you are really only interested in the soda though, there is a soda only package for something like $8/day for adults, $5/day for kids (prices are probably wrong but its close to that, not much if you are a soda drinker though).

I believe it is now $12 (amount was increased)

When you book on board they automatically attach the reservation to your existing TA, however, you can request that they not do so. Once it is assigned then you are stuck but if you tell them not to assign it at the beginning of the process you can break the chain.

Oasis/Allure have a dedicated terminal in Ft Lauderdale. When we did Allure the parking lot (open air not covered) was right outside the doors of the terminal, I think it took us about 5 minutes from clearing customs to being in the car and on the road. Saves some money to park offsite but the convenience of that parking lot in particular was worth it to us. I know there is also a covered parking lot around the corner that uses a shuttle service (free) but if you are going to get stuck shuttling anyway then you might as well look at an offsite lot and save some money as well.

To paraphrase : If you like your balcony location, keep your balcony location. If you aren't worried about it, take the guarantee for a random Junior Suite, more space and double cruise points.

If you would ordinarily eat at the specialty restaurants regularly its a great deal. If you really aren't interested in the specialty restaurants , nothing to see here <-- me If you are on the fence and thought it was a bit pricey and weren't really sure, your more likely to try it now, so this is probably where RCI is hoping to pick up a bunch of people that will pay for the package and give it a try when ordinarily they might not have.

Nope, might do one Specialty Dining night on any given cruise (and usually only because the TA throws a freebie on the account), no interest in paying to eat every night when the MDR is already there :) If I ever do a Q class, possibly.

We have sailed Jewel (Radiance) and Navigator (Voyager), Did not really feel a difference in the crowds between the two classes. Layout/feel of the ship is different though. Jewel felt more "old fashioned/elegant" with Navigator being more "modern and activity driven". Both have the pool/activity decks on top, Jewel is centered around the Centrum and the lounges on deck 6(?), Navigator more around the promenade deck. Kind of a coin flip for us between the Radiance and Freedom classes for our favorite (we don't see a lot of the Voyager class in FL, but Freedom and Voyager are almost identical especially with the upgrades). Vision class was a little too small for our taste, not enough activity options to keep us going. Oasis class had plenty to do but felt like being at a hotel at home with a lot of poor attitudes and didn't really wow us. Crowding really hasn't been an issue on any of them for us though,

Thought about doing one, but after really thinking about it, I don't think its worth it. Just enough time to start figuring out what you like, knowing your away around the ship, etc. and then your in line to go home. Plus the prices don't seem all that cheap by the time you had in the port fees & taxes that don't seem to be significantly lower than a 7 nighter.

Soda package can be a much better option if you are on one of the ships that has the coke freestyle machines. The machines also include Dasani flavored water, sparkling flavored water, lemonades, powerades as well as "soda" so the variety of options is much greater. Soda package on a bar service only ship is basically just soda so a much more limited proposition. My son for example does not really drink soda but loves creating concoctions out of flavored lemnoades, powerades and waters.

I have never had a "bad" cruise, I have had cruises that didn't live up to my expectations and that were disappointing in some way, but I have never come off one thinking "god that was awful, I wish I had stayed home".

I don't know but I would think that as long as you are not trying to "block off a venue" they would not have a problem with you dressing up in your best and taking pictures, all booking the same restaurant at the same time and then all going to the night club together. The only thing that might be a problem (IMO) would be a professional photographer working on board. A "friend" taking pictures would not be an issue but if this is a professional and obviously so that might get their attention.

We have heard a little bit of noise from neighbours at times but no big deal. The above/below comment is definitely of more concern !! Our first Disney cruise we received a free upgrade to a balcony cabin from our inside cabin .... yay !!! Didn't realize it was directly above the nightclub until 10pm the first night when the bass kicked in and we were "floating" on air as the soundwaves blasted through our cabin. Spent the next two hours on the phone with guest services until they finally found a cabin to move us to. Above and below I check carefully now on every booking :)

When DD was being discussed for Oasis/Allure it was indicated that the menus at all the restaurants would change mid-cruise. It was never really clear whether that would also apply to the Quantum ships since they had more restaurant options so "boredom" might not have been as much of an issue. Basically there were fewer "included" options on the Oasis version of DD so the menu flip was proposed to offset that concern. Havent really followed the details of Choice to know whether the menu flip has been talked about or is just assumed still. Having satisfied myself that I wont run into a DD ship for at least a couple of years, I stopped following the details :)

End of June would indicate you have passed the final payment date. For a US Booking they would not allow you to rebook to take advantage of the change in price, they would possibly grant you a free upgrade if the price of the next class up drops below what you paid though. It looks like you are out of Ireland though, which means a different set of rules apply that I am not personally familiar with so it might be in your favor although I don't believe so.

Complicated question, it depends on whether the new cabins are in the same category as your existing cabin. If they are you should be able to switch cabin within the same category without any penalty. (It sounds like this might be a UK booking though and I know there Terms and Conditions are different, but I cant imagine they would be that different!) If it is a different category then things could get crazy in a hurry ;)

UK does have very different policies in regards to cancelling/rebooking for better pricing, etc. But that absolutely does stink that it is not clear which set of policies were going to be in effect when you booked on board.

yes,if the wine is more expensive than the limit on the package you pay the difference but you can use the package in the dining room.