JLMoran

AFAIK, Chops will definitely require something a bit nicer than athletic wear. It's "Smart Casual" like the MDR on non-formal nights. Do your boys wear jeans at all? They might be able to get away with a good pair of jeans and a polo shirt or short-sleeve button down shirt, if that was something that wouldn't be as tortuous as wearing khakis and long-sleeve button down.

IIRC from posts I saw here, about $20 for an 8x10.

I was going to suggest that since you're docking in Bayonne, do what Matt suggested with a hotel in the Newark area. Lots of affordable subway and bus transportation to Manhattan from Newark, and then you just need a short Lyft over to the hotel from the port. When you're done you could pop back over to Newark, get your luggage, and then get another Lyft or taxi to the hotel by LaGuardia. Do it late enough at night and it might even be a reasonably quick ride. I have to ask, why LaGuardia instead of JFK or Newark International? LaGuardia has the worst rep out of all three.

Well, yeah, I kind of figured that was a part of it. But how the heck does someone actually make that their profession and earn a living off of that? I mean, I'm an "influencer" among my friends and family when it comes to tech and home theater gear, but there's no way I could give up my day job for that. If the people buying the stuff he recommends are the ones paying him, then isn't he an advisor or a freelancer? If it's companies paying him to review and then push their merch on his followers, why would his followers trust his word on the matter with the obvious conflict of interest? "Show me the money!!!!!"

I would say that @twangster and @monctonguy are your best bets on this topic, maybe also @firegal2539 IIRC; from what I gather on their posts, they always travel solo and probably have a lot of experience they can share. "The family business"... "casues a lot of stress"... Why am I suddenly hearing the theme song from "The Sopranos" in the background?

I can recommend my agent Heather, from site sponsor MEI Travel. She's good about returning calls emails quickly. Private message me here and I can give you her contact info. You don't want to just cancel the cruise, that will incur the penalty. You need to call and speak directly, or ideally let Heather or whichever agent you choose take care of that headache for you. In the conversation with RCI, the goal is get a cancel with immediate rebook so the penalty doesn't apply. I don't how that really works under the hood or if there's a special set of words you have to use to make it work that way.Yet another reason to let the TA make those calls and deal with those hassles.

Which experience package did the room come with? Keep in mind, based on what I've heard from multiple places, that Bella (bottom-line experience) is no-frills and you'll be paying for a lot more on board than you may be used to (e.g., no complimentary coffee with dinner), and even Fantastica (next level up) appears to be somewhat limited in what you get.

Man, sorry to hear about the bad experience you're having! I'd definitely go with what @LetsTryThisTech recommended and find out the no-penalty cancellation window in case you do need to cancel, as otherwise that non-refundable deposit will more or less lock you in to that booking. That said, I don't think I'd go with such a drastic action as that; see if you can get in touch with a travel agent today who can help you out and maybe clarify the issue with RC around this promo code you mentioned. I have to say I'm a little confused with what you mean by "promo code on top of the existing promotion". I have watched the site for over a year now to keep an eye out on price changes for my own bookings, and in all that time I've never seen a separate promotion code that I could enter separately / in addition to whatever promotion was being marketed on the site at the time. Usually, promotions end at midnight on Sunday or Monday, and the new promotion kicks in on Monday or Tuesday as a full replacement (always with completely new baseline pricing underlaying the promo rate in effect, so the new rates may or may not be less than what was quoted in the previous promo). Are you 100% sure this new promo is not a replacement of the promo that was in effect on Sunday? For sure, a travel agent could help with this kind of situation; either clarifying that this is a new promotion (in which case the rep at Royal was wrong and you should just be able to do a cancel and rebook to get the new rate), or that this is some rare additional code that would truly only apply to a booking made today and that can't be retroactively applied to and old booking (in which case, I'd argue you should still be able to cancel and rebook at the new adjusted rate with this code added on). One thing to keep in mind -- while you booked with a non-refundable deposit, this does not mean that you cannot follow the standard cancel-and-rebook strategy to take advantage of new promos and price changes. As long as you stay in the same room, on the same ship, on the same sailing date, you can cancel and rebook as many times as you'd like without penalties or change fees applied. The only time the change fee comes into play is if you change the room on the ship, or change to an different ship and/or sail date. I hope this helps you out. I remember how stressful honeymoon planning can be, and that was almost 20 years ago for me! Do your best not to get too flustered with all this, It will all work out in the end and you and your new bride will have a great time.

It's not really how much you've spent (i.e., lost), it's how much you've cumulatively bet, which is a whole different thing. If you are like the OP and bet $50 a hand at blackjack, you could bet a total of $2,500-$3,000 while only being out of pocket for $500 or $1,000 if your play is good, you have some decent luck (and all good table mates who also know proper betting strategy!), and you can manage to win a fair bit more often than you lose. On the other hand, you could be a blackjack player like me and be out of pocket for $300 in 20 minutes!

Thanks! Here's a link to the actual suit, if you're interested -- note that the clearance sale from yesterday is now replaced with a new "clearance" sale at more than double the price (which, interestingly, matches the price that I saw on the physical tag when I was first shown that suit to try on and which I'd have been willing to pay). I have no idea why this suit is described as a "classic sharkskin"; it is neither shiny like newer artificial fabric sharkskin-style suits from the god-awful modern era, nor is it an old-style classic blend of wool, mohair, silk, etc. (see this short description on Wikipedia, which is my only reference, and notice how the stock image from Jos A Bank doesn't have any of that shine from the artificial fabrics or the texturing of the older style shown). The product description clearly states it's 100% 150's wool, so if there's someone with a lot more sartorial knowledge than me on these boards who can explain how this suit could be "sharkskin", I'd genuinely love to learn. Regardless, when I looked in the mirror after putting it on, I thought it looked really sharp and classy, even more than when I just had the jacket on to try the fit and I was just eyeing the fabric. I'm not someone who gives two particular figs about fashion, and I rarely dress up any more, but I definitely know what I like and think looks good when I wear it. And damn I liked this suit, I can't wait to wear it on formal night and get a photo or two taken!

In that CruiseRadio podcast episode I mentioned, the person giving the review said that they smelled something faintly as they boarded on Deck 5, but apart from that he noticed nothing out of the ordinary. The other comment I found interesting from him was a confirmation of some of the "class separation" that has been reported. The specific example he gave is that people who purchased the Aurea or higher level experience, when they asked for water with their meals, were given bottles of sparkling Italian water (maybe Pellegrino?); whereas those not at that experience level were given water from the tap served from a carafe. He said there was nothing wrong with the tap water, it was totally drinkable and didn't have any bad taste or odor; but it was a very visible difference in treatment if you were sitting at the same table as, or within earshot / eyeshot of, someone at that other experience level, and it was a small but noteworthy feeling that there were definite old-school "classes" of passengers.

Is that a 100% fair comparison, though? I thought HAL was more of a premium line, at the same level as X, than a mass-market line like RCI or MSC. If that's correct, wouldn't it be totally in line for the prices on HAL to be noticeably higher than MSC's?

Oh, and if you want a recent review of MSC Seaside, listen to the latest "bonus" episode of CruiseRadio's podcast. You can also go onto YouTube and search "JimZim MSC Seaside"; he gave a couple of video reviews and those link to a lengthy written review where he actually does make comparisons against the other domestic lines, including Royal. But take his review with a grain of salt, as some of his comments on the food and some other aspects left a few of us here thinking that some things he found dislikable would actually be totally fine for us.

Paging @DocLC and @L454S!

Soooo... if we see you enter formal night with the kilt on, we should all beware?

Confirmed. Went onto cruisedeckplans.com and verified 10238 is a JS. OCD in me wouldn't let it go until I knew for sure.

Is this something you recommend even for older teens? My kids are 17 and 14, both have passports, and we had only planned on bringing those after going through the time and effort to get them. It's easy enough to pull them from the safe deposit box before we go, but that's one of those items I'd really rather not be worried about carrying around with me in addition to the passports in this age of identity theft.

So with my kids who are sailing with me in a month, they'll still officially be gold status after this first trip (8 nights) for us all, right? My older daughter turns 18 in September, so she'll be "cut loose" well before her sister (only 14 now) and before either of them get to go on another cruise with my wife and me next year.

Yeesh, they're really designing those tiers to push people up into the highest price ranges. Assuming everyone who looks at that does the quick mental math, it's super-easy to see you make your price per chance the lowest by buying the $69 option. Even doing the not so quick real math, it's still painfully obvious you don't want to spend less than $59 to make the price per chance in line with a state lottery or Powerball ticket. $39 for 3 = $13 per chance $49 for 6 = $8.16 per $59 for 21 total = $2.80 per $69 for 42 total = $1.64 per Problem being, from everything I've read here from people who did try out the Bingo, it doesn't make your actual odds of winning any better to get those big packages, as the odds seem to pretty clearly be Powerball level slim even when you have all those dozens of chances.

Quick update on at least one part of St. Maarten. I sent a short email to Capt. Bob of Soualiga Destinations, to ask if the lunch place they traditionally would stop at (an on-the-beach cafe in Grand Case) had been rebuilt after being totally destroyed by hurricane Irma. I was hoping it had been restored so we could give the owner our business and further help the local economy when we're there in a month, but it's not to be. Here is his exact reply: I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, I think it's good that people who lost their homes are getting those restored as fast as possible around the constraints on available supplies and labor. On the other hand, what good is having your house back if you don't have anywhere to go to resume earning the income that paid for that house and the groceries and all the rest? Never mind the point previously mentioned in other topics here that being able to go to work and provide for themselves and their families gives a welcome sense of returning normality. Hopefully people like the cafe owner have found another place to work and are getting at least some of that feeling of getting back to normal. As our trip with Capt. Bob is all day and we're getting back to the dock only just in time to make it back for All Aboard call without being one of those runners, we won't have a chance to do any more for the locals than what we've paid to Capt. Bob and his crew. I'll just have to tip extra well and hope they spread it around that way.

Looks like a decent (if somewhat narrow) cabin. How is the width / access to the bed compared to other Interior class rooms you've booked? Is the noise level OK, given your right at mid-ship by the elevators? Good to see the shower has a proper sliding door instead of a Hollywood Special grabby curtain!

Last post to close out this thread. I’ve been driving for the last few days, with the longest time spent today while I finally bought a new suit, which will get its inaugural wearing on this sailing’s formal nights! And I’m feeling so normal that I forgot the prohibition about lifting nothing heavier than a gallon of milk for another couple of weeks, and proceeded to carry not just a gallon of milk but five other plastic bags of groceries into the house after getting stuff for dinner and the pantry on the way home. Grateful I didn’t inadvertently hurt myself! The suit was an absolute bargain. Joseph A. Bank had a clearance sale, and I picked up a Select Gold 100% 150’s Italian wool 3-season suit that looks really sharp and has a (probably very inflated) list price of $1,100 for $160! Plus a couple new matching ties on BOGO sale. I’ve read and guessed from past experience that this particular place is known for stupidly high markup on their list prices, so I’m taking the final value with a grain of salt. But I also read that this line of theirs normally doesn’t go on clearance for less than $250-$350, so that’s a definite win! And there’s no question after trying it on that it looks great, fits really nicely, and the material feels fantastic! Tailor is making alterations, and I pick it up on March 16. 33 days, 2 hours, and 32 minutes until sailaway day. Not that I’m counting or anything. ?

Following!

I’m leaning towards this myself when I board Freedom, if only because they have by all accounts the best margaritas of any bar on board, and that’s what I want my “I’m FINALLY on the ship!!!” first drink to be. ??

Like I said, long as the flight doesn't become a redeye or dawnbreaker, I'm fine. Would actually prefer a 12 PM or 1 PM flight home, they just didn't have one at a price I was willing to pay when I booked. I probably got pushed to this 3 PM flight because it had been sitting there for weeks with an utterly ridiculous price per Economy seat (something like $700, IIRC), and now they need bodies on the plane to justify flying it.