packercruising

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!

Print your documents out and you can make as many copies of the luggage tags as you want. You can use wide Scotch tape to protect them if you want. We have never had a problem. If you are flying in, you will want to wait until after you get your luggage to put the tags on. A small stapler works well for this.

We have been to Key West 3 times as a cruise itinerary and it rained twice. :) There are several good thriller authors that base their stories in Key West.

If you have a good TA, they should be able to reconcile this for you. It is quite possible you will need to wait until you board. Enjoy the cruise!

Thanks for that info! We cancelled a cruise with an overseas flight,because shortly before the final payment was due, my wife had heart palpitations. They never pinned down the cause and they stopped after awhile. We wondered what might happen at 40,000 feet over the Atlantic.

Good response. :) As mentioned, we do not generally use the loungers by the pool, but we do like to sit at the tables near the pool. What upsets us is smoking. A lot of ships allow smoking on the port side on pool deck but not on starboard side. Smokers will come to the starboard side and smoke if there are no loungers on the port side.

How long were you away from the chair?

What Gina said. I would fold the towel up and put it under the chair.

The quickest way to get off the ship, is if you can carry your own luggage off. Possible delays have already been mentioned. If we were doing it, I would aim for 8:30. Then if you can get off by 8:00 you are ahead of the game. Good luck and have a great cruise!

Personally, especially on an Oasis ship, we couldn't care less what order the ports are. B) There are probably a lot of valid reasons why it could make a difference, though.