Jump to content

fonemanbob

Members
  • Posts

    656
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Reputation Activity

  1. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to VillainsGin in Drink package   
    Based of my personally drinking habit *especially on vacation* I think the drink package will definitely save me some money!
    I hypothetically planned out my day from morning with a few mimosas, afternoon in the sun with some fruit mixed drinks, dinner with a glass of wine or two, and late night with some hard liquor! 
    Sprinkle in some water bottles, coffee, and juices here and there daily and you'll be ahead of the game.
  2. Like
    fonemanbob got a reaction from spiralqueen in The best thing about about pre-cruise   
    We are 23 days away from  sailing on Anthem and we don`t have time to barely think about the cruise.  We are putting our house on the market this Thursday  and have been working on the house everyday and then some.  We are SOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward  to this cruise.   Wife now fears a quick sale which we dearly want,  but that means when we get back from the cruise we will  have less than two weeks to pack.    Oh yes and by the way we will be at future cruise desk for sure.  And enjoying libations. 
  3. Like
    fonemanbob got a reaction from RCIfan1912 in The best thing about about pre-cruise   
    We are 23 days away from  sailing on Anthem and we don`t have time to barely think about the cruise.  We are putting our house on the market this Thursday  and have been working on the house everyday and then some.  We are SOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward  to this cruise.   Wife now fears a quick sale which we dearly want,  but that means when we get back from the cruise we will  have less than two weeks to pack.    Oh yes and by the way we will be at future cruise desk for sure.  And enjoying libations. 
  4. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to RCIfan1912 in The best thing about about pre-cruise   
    The best thing about pre cruise is the building of excitement. You book and you are super excited, you are going back on a cruise, but usually you are still months away or a year away. It's the building ever day to the cruise that's incredible. Usually 30 days out it's bonkers time with excitement. We are 32 days from Anthem and it's really building here. We are all talking about it everyday. God cruises really are the best vacation and Royal Caribbean is the best cruise line. 
  5. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to WAAAYTOOO in What does ICON Class mean for us?   
    Not THAT terrific...
  6. Like
    fonemanbob got a reaction from Hoski in Frequency of Alcohol Fuelled Incidences   
    We have seen a few incidents over the years that were taken care of immediately.  All in all you will be fine.  The best story we heard was a few months ago friends of ours were on a cruise and this guy did not show up for muster. They went to his cabin and he was belligerently drunk.  He was escorted off the ship.  Nice cruise HUH.  
  7. Thanks
    fonemanbob got a reaction from raahc in Luggage Tags   
    Never put your address on the tags. Name and phone number only.  Reason being:  Oh look they are going on a cruise for a week. We have their address. Lets pay that house a visit.  Or posting on Facebook. Look we are boarding the ship.  See you in a week or so.  Don`t make a crooks life easy.  
  8. Like
    fonemanbob got a reaction from jill wozhere in Frequency of Alcohol Fuelled Incidences   
    We have seen a few incidents over the years that were taken care of immediately.  All in all you will be fine.  The best story we heard was a few months ago friends of ours were on a cruise and this guy did not show up for muster. They went to his cabin and he was belligerently drunk.  He was escorted off the ship.  Nice cruise HUH.  
  9. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to Baked Alaska in When to expect the future summer cruises in 2021?   
    The heck with cruise planner sales, the stock market is on sale!
  10. Like
    fonemanbob got a reaction from ChessE4 in Edocs?   
    Ours were found after the last page of the Guest Ticket book which is 15 pages long. Our travel agent gifts then the luggage tag.
  11. Haha
    fonemanbob reacted to rjac in Did I pick bad rooms? If so can I change?   
    Oh dear, could it be old age setting in at an early age or practicing for cruising when you are old? 
  12. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to WAAAYTOOO in Royal Poker Tour   
    They hold qualifying tournaments throughout the cruise (usually on sea days) with the final on the evening or afternoon of the last sea day.  If they have enough Entry money to cover the cost, the first place prize is a seat in the final tournament (usually held in early December on one of the big ships) and the complimentary 7 night cruise for 2.  If they do not get enough Entry fees to cover the cost of the cruise + tournament entry, they just give cash prizes to the top few winners.
    Dan won a satellite tournament years ago and we went on the free cruise and he played in the final tournament.  He went out the first day and we were able to thoroughly enjoy the rest of our cruise without the stress of worrying about the tournament !
    I came in second once and got about $1200 as I recall.
    We rarely even enter anymore. 
  13. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to WAAAYTOOO in MEI Travel   
    I have transferred my older-than-60-days reservations from Royal (or the casino) to MEI many times. It can take a few days longer but I have never been unsuccessful.
  14. Like
    fonemanbob got a reaction from WannaCruise in Anyone Get Drink Package for Convenience?   
    Unless there  are several sea days it is not worth purchasing.  We spend about half of what the package costs.  That would be 4 drinks per person per day.  With the free drinks we get daily  and wine we brought on we are only buying one or two drinks a day.  $ 50 a day vs. $ 120  a day is a no brainer.  And a big cost savings.
  15. Like
    fonemanbob got a reaction from gmanager in Anyone Get Drink Package for Convenience?   
    Unless there  are several sea days it is not worth purchasing.  We spend about half of what the package costs.  That would be 4 drinks per person per day.  With the free drinks we get daily  and wine we brought on we are only buying one or two drinks a day.  $ 50 a day vs. $ 120  a day is a no brainer.  And a big cost savings.
  16. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to WAAAYTOOO in My cruise is sold out?   
    Yes, unfortunately, once your sailing is completely sold out it disappears from the website.  I really dislike this feature and wish they would keep the sailing on the site and just list it as "sold out".  It is very disconcerting to have your sailing completely disappear !!!
  17. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to Floski in Shopping Onboard.....   
    ftfy; no charge
  18. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to monorailmedic in Crown and Anchor   
    There are a few points that I can't shake when thinking about cruise line loyalty programs (for RCI and others):
    I've yet to find any reasonably attainable perk that is worth compromising new experiences for.  Companies have loyalty programs because they can offer things of less than consequential value to keep customers.  If the benefits held that much value, it wouldn't make any financial sense for a line to offer them.  Digging in deeper for a loyalty program is, in a funny way, showing to cruise lines that they work - they can offer something of little value and get you to shell out more money. Loyalty program perks/rewards are benefits one gets FOR cruising with a given line, and shouldn't be seen as THE reason to cruise with a certain line.  The reason TO cruise with a given line is because you like their product!  If I have a local ice cream place that gives me a free scoop after buying ten, it'd be odd to keep going there for the "free" (definitely not free - you paid to get that perk), it makes sense to go there if you like their ice cream.  That's why you went the first and second time, right? Now, all that in mind, I recognize that there are certain circumstances in which "strategic escalation" might make sense, but they're very slim cases.  An example might be if after your next cruise you'll be just a point or two away from Diamond, and you know that the cruise after that you'll be sailing solo.  Since you'll get a much more favorable solo rate on that next sailing if you move up, you might do the math and find (depending on the rates), that a suite upgrade on your sailing has somewhere around a net-zero cost (or you might not - many variable exist here).  Again though, those are fringe cases.
    Remember why you cruise a given line (or lines) in the first place - the things you like about that experience are the reasons to cruise.  The loyalty perks are just that, perks - not the part of the offering anyone is trying to sell.
    A final thought (from me at least) on this: While I don't aim for loyalty levels, I'll of course welcome the benefits as they come.  This is much easier to do with Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society, as they do have much more to offer than some other companies.  Ric and I went over perks of various lines on the below/linked podcast, and I think most here will see that they don't have it too bad at all.  
    https://www.cruisehabit.com/podcast/loyalty-programs-do-past-passenger-programs-keep-you-coming-back-more-episode-5
  19. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to coneyraven in Benefits of using MEI Travel   
    I'm on board with the rest of the posters here ...... All of my cruises in recent years have gone out of Baltimore to Bermuda (I live in Maryland) ----
    Easy Peasy ---- I can handle it myself.  On top of that, had a less than positive experience with a local travel agency here, so I stuck with doing things on my own.
    But now, with 2019 approaching, and especially 2020, we'll be on different ships out of different ports going to different destinations...... way out of my comfort zone.
    (Especially with the 2020 ---- Freedom out of SJ to the Eastern Caribbean) ---- the whole experience will be new to us....
    So, I contacted Michelle with MEI (after hearing so many positive things from here)--- for us, she's semi-local (northern Virginia), but what really sold my wife and I was Michelle, the person.  She answered every question (no matter how mundane) with knowledge and enthusiasm -- she also understood that we were also skeptical when it came to TA's after the negative experience we'd had.  She's incredibly patient with us.
    Even though our relationship with Michelle is in its infancy, and we are in no way a huge book of business for her, you'd never know it by the way she treats us like gold.
    So, to wrap this post around --- this site is what brought us to Michelle, but it's Michelle that will keep us with MEI ---
    Mark
  20. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to JLMoran in Benefits of using MEI Travel   
    Exhibit A:
    I won't say that you will not find this level of service with AAA if you run into the same kind of problem as @alamode123 got slammed with. But at least you now know you will have it with MEI, even if you don't get a lot of extra perks up front. It may not spare you a lot of stress while waiting for the outcome, but it certainly takes a load off knowing you have that person undeniably in your corner and working to at least try and make things right.
  21. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to WAAAYTOOO in Crown and Anchor   
    If you are going to continue to sail with Royal Caribbean, then there is nothing but up sides to climbing the ladder.  Status for the sake of status makes no sense but status to enjoy the benefits of status, does.
    When they started converting the Concierge lounges to Suites Lounge and kicked the D+ down to the DL they ALMOST lost me but I played their silly game and began cruising nearly exclusively in suites. I guess I showed them !  ?? 
  22. Haha
    fonemanbob got a reaction from ChrisK2793 in Perfect Day Cabanas include what?   
    An empty pocketbook.  
  23. Haha
    fonemanbob got a reaction from Ladyxsuebee in CDC Vessel Sanitation Inspections...Royal gets 4 of only 6 perfect scores   
    WASHEEE  WASHEEE    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  24. Like
    fonemanbob got a reaction from Ala_Paul in Is 12 nights too much?   
    The longer the better.  As long as you can get off the ship every so often.  Over the years we have met people who are on  the ship 6 months or longer at a time.  Last cruise this lady has been living on the ship for several years.  She stated it is cheaper than being in any type of retirement setting.  And on more than 1 cruise we have seen and met the 2 German fellas who are on board for 6 or more months at a time.  You can`t miss them as they dress up for dinner nightly in outlandish outfits.  Looking forward to doing the top and bottom back to back  out of Sydney.  A mere 30 days. Plus spending 5 days in Sydney.    
  25. Like
    fonemanbob reacted to WAAAYTOOO in Carnival & Royal Joint Venture !!   
    Personally, I don’t see it ever happening. Too much local resistance 
×
×
  • Create New...