packercruising

What Gina said, It is a very nice, smaller ship. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of larger ships, but if you like the more intimate atmosphere, you will really like it.

We use two TAs. The local one is for group cruises. She travels with us and the reason we started cruising in the first place. We use an online TA for other cruises. Same guy each time. We don't see any disadvantage.

Did somebody mention beer? :blink: :blink:

David, that is an interesting scenario. You want to remove gratuities for a person that doesn't exist for services they won't receive. :) There should be a way to do that.

We have been forward, aft and midship ocean balcony. It's all good! We do prefer midship with cabins above and below us.

That certainly put us off any more flights across the pond. :) Good thing our bucket list has pretty much been completed. We have had need for the medical staff on board the ship before and them seemed quite competent.

Just remember that your children are on the ship and are having service given to them. If you remove the gratuities, you are removing part of the wages for the people providing that service, many of whom have children of their own to provide for.

When is your cruise? If you have some time, and haven't already, become familiar with persicoping and check out the Persicoping forum here. You can watch people currently on your ship show you around. :)

Any excuse to not do a second formal night, that my wife will buy, is good. :)

Sounds like you will adjust just fine. Happy cruising!

We have been on several RCI cruises and this is a first. Hopefully someone has a good answer for you. One year ahead of time should have been plenty to reserve one or the other.

We have an inkjet printer, but that sounds like a good idea, :)

Alright! Congrats. We will be 4 points away after our Allure cruise. You got some bragging rights now. :)

Absolutely! I wish I had a beer for every time we changed our plans once we were on the ship. :)

I went to AWE's website. They are available on Amazon Fire TV, which I have! Cool!

Your vacation, your choice! Or your wife's choice. :)

Is Dream Cruises only on Awe, or is there another way to see it?

Love to hear good reports of customer service!

Is it mostly or all about cruising? We have DISH and get the standard HD antenna channels.

If you do not have passports already, it is too late to get them. If you were going overseas they would be required. It will cause you the fewest problems to have one for your next cruise. Make sure you make a copy, not for security, but in case something happens to the original.

Don't suppose that would work with dogs. :) It would almost be cheaper to bring them with them have them watched.

Alas poor Vision, I knew her well. We did B2B 11 day cruises on Vision to Norwegian Fjords and Baltic. That is a nice ship. Don't listen to rumors. :)

Are you flying down a day or two ahead of time? Considering all these computer glitches the airlines are having, it might be a good idea. When you check in, you will have your picture taken for your Sea Pass and it will be taken again as you board the ship, if you want to purchase it. Have your documents handy for every step of the process, as you will need it several times before you get on the ship. If you haven't already done so, let your credit card company (s) know that you are going overseas. There will be a lot of opportunities to have your pictures taken while on the cruise. It does not cost you anything to have the pictures taken and you are under no obligation to buy any of them. But them have very good photographers and since this is your first cruise, you might want to budget a little extra.

Cruise tag holds look like a good idea!

First of all, be assured that your gratuities do not include paid beverages. Those are included in the price of the drink. I think the casino is the same way. We never go to the casino, so we are in the same boat (so to speak) if our gratuities go for that. Secondly, you cabin steward has to clean and prepare for 4 people, regardless of their age. I have seen 10 year olds eat on the ship and am not sure I agree that they eat less than adults. :) My hope and feeling is, that once you are on the ship, and see all the services they do provide, you will have no more qualms about paying the gratuity. These servers work hard to provide for their families and go for months without seeing them. Whatever you decide, enjoy your cruise!