mathbees

A couple of years back, I got one of these... https://www.uglychristmassweater.com/products/griswold-family-christmas-ugly-christmas-sweater-led-lights. Wish I could show it to you in person.

Beats the obstructed view of the ocean I have from Colorado...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Just told my wife we should start cruising during hurricane season and showed her that picture. She rolled her eyes.

My wife and son swear by them. Both are prone to motion sickness when we drive and they've both done multiple cruises with the bands with no sea sickness. I'm an ex-sailor... what motion?

We did Wonderland on the Odyssey and they were very accommodating to my seafood allergy. My wife got plenty of seafood and they made non-seafood versions of everything for me, so I didn't feel like I missed out on anything. Overall I would say it is a good restaurant to experience once (or when travelling with others who haven't experienced it), but I wouldn't go out of the way for it. Our next cruise will likely be on the Wonder and we'll opt for the Mason Jar instead of Wonderland.

We did a cruise out of Port Canaveral in March and we opted for a couple of nights at the Orlando airport hotel (Hyatt Regency). We did this for a number of reasons, one of which was all the restaurant and shopping at the airport, even if it is a little expensive. We just wanted a different experience and we had a late night flight, so wanted to get to bed as quickly as possible. I will say it made for a different experience. It was especially fun, in an odd sort of way, to see all the stressed out travelers - parents with children in tow, people obviously running late, etc. I think sometimes when we travel we forget what an experience it is. We then took an Uber to the port (left airport at about 8am), dropped our luggage with the porters (about 9 am for an 11 am boarding time) and then walked over to the Grills Seafood Deck & Tiki Bar for breakfast. We have family in the area and they met us there for breakfast. This was an awesome start to the cruise. We were able to watch the ship as it got prepped and ready for us. Having said all that, the next time we cruise out of Port Canaveral, we'll likely stay near the port on the way out. Lots of opportunities. I'm considering the Holiday Inn Club Vacations Cape Canaveral Beach Resort, but since we don't have the next cruise planned yet, it will depend on many factors. There are also many Hiltons and Marriotts near there.

Oh, sorry, didn't mean to imply MEI doesn't give OBC, just that they do so much more than just OBC.

The biggest perk I've gotten is saving thousands of dollars over multiple cruises due to the diligence of the MEI agents (yay @michelle). The onboard credit and such are nice, but at the end of the day, I want someone who can be reached quickly, can solve the problems encountered, coordinate between me and family members booking other cabins, and basically just make the entire experience better. I never had good luck with TAs before, since I usually spend hours looking for exactly the cruise I want, the cabin I want, etc. and often found myself more knowledgeable than the local TAs (in Colorado). But I find handing it over to an MEI TA makes for a wonderful experience because they give advice on things I didn't know or missed, watch for the better deals, and can get me repriced, etc. Definitely worth giving up a couple hundred dollars of an onboard credit gimmick for lesser service.

I'm curious if you (or anyone reading...) have ever shipped bottles from home to your hotel?

Depending on your ability to travel, doing a short cruise, either solo or in a suite, can be a great way to bump over into diamond and may save a LOT of money, depending on whether you need a drink package or not. If you are, say, 3 or 4 points from diamond, even a 2 night solo/suite will get the double points and get you diamond status and could be less than the cost of a drink package on a 7 or 8 day cruise. Remember, too, that your spouse shares the status when booked into the same cabin. And even two people getting solo inside cabins can be worth the price of this trick. My wife and I did this route. I did a solo 3-night cruise (booked into an inside cabin) since we were 6 points away from diamond. She couldn't get away or we might have done a suite or two insides instead, but with 4 drinks a day being more than enough for us, we'll save a fortune by not buying the future drink packages. I was lucky to have both airline and hotel points so the entire trip was basically just the cost of the inside cabin, plus a little extra for food pre/post cruise.

Too funny!!!

For our cruise out of Port Canaveral in March, we dropped our bags at about 9am and then had breakfast with some family at Grills next to the pier. We had an 11 am check-in and had no problems.

I just did a mock booking for a 3 day out of Ensenada in June and with 4 people in the cabin (4 adults or 2 adults/2 children) it only gave an option for category 3B. With just two adults, it was a 3B or a 4B, but the 3B added an extra $100 or so to the price, presumably to make up for the lost revenue on the higher capacity cabin.

If I'm not mistaken, the $114.18 for taxes and fees must still be paid, even if the fare is free. Adults: $784 x .7 (30% off) = 548.8 x 2 = 1097.6 Taxes and fees: $114.18 x 4 = 456.72 1097.6 + 456.72 = 1554.32 1554.32 - 76 - 146 = 1332.32 (rounding error?) I think as someone else pointed out, the 2 person vs 4 person room are priced differently. I'm assuming they would actually be different categories.