JLMoran

I haven't actually taken the cruise yet, but thanks to you good folks here I learned to book just one excursion in any given port (unless we plan to split up and do different things at the same time).

They do with the pork, soft boiled egg, etc.

They have ramen?!?
 
Dammit, now you've forced me into booking a cruise on a ship with a true Izumi on board and not just Izumi express. Lucky for me, Anthem has one and I'm already planning on that Bermuda cruise next year. ;)

Yes, I only have the iOS apps at the moment. Sounds like I need to log into FB when I get home and get the Flash versions set up so I can build those hotels! I assume they're important for building up loyalty more quickly (or at least getting more chips to gamble with and get the loyalty that way )

Two bottles of wine in your carry-on bag / backpack is the way to do it. They will visually inspect your bag, see the unopened bottles and verify they're not over 750ml each, and you're good.
 
If it's in the checked suitcase the porters take onboard, the bottles show up on X-ray scan and the bag gets flagged / put in security storage. Then you get a "nastygram" message to go to security, where you'll open the bag and show them it's valid bottles of wine, at which point they release the bag and you can take it up to your room.
 
Definitely best to have it in the carry-on! ;)

Great recommendations, Matt! Pretty much what I was planning to put until I saw your reply, and not just for Izumi but any sushi restaurant. :)
 
One minor correction -- Nigiri is the thin sliced fish on top of a small ball of rice. The hand rolls are maki. Both, as Marti noted, are "finger food".
 
I honestly prefer nigiri to rolls, as you are getting a good-sized piece of fish per piece and not just filling up on rice. That lets you really pick up on the flavor of the fish and decide what you like and what you don't. But it's a lot more expensive to get 18 pieces of nigiri as opposed to a typical 3 maki rolls (6 pieces per roll) for one person.
 
Some other nigiri I'd recommend for a beginner are:
shrimp -- not served raw, but cooked to meet US health regulations flying fish roe -- a small clump of tiny fish eggs (about the size of grains of sand), served on a ball of rice that's wrapped in a small piece of seaweed to keep the eggs in place. The flavor is very mild, with a slightly spicy finish salmon roe -- larger fish eggs (about the size of small peas), served the same way as flying fish roe. No heat, another delicate flavor to enjoy without an overwhelming texture.  
Once you're feeling more adventurous, mackerel and eel are both good choices. Both are cooked, like the shrimp, and the eel is actually reheated before serving. I know it's a cliche, but I always find that eel tastes like slightly soft, seasoned chicken. Mackerel is somewhat oily, but has a good strong flavor.
 
If you're really feeling bold, and the restaurant serves it, I find the best nigiri of all is Uni (sea urchin). I won't lie -- it looks digusting! It's this blob of brownish goo served like the fish roe, and the only real option is to pop the whole piece into your mouth. Chew it slowly so the texture doesn't overwhelm you, and you'll find it's some seriously great-tasing sushi! Considering it tends to go for upwards of $5 or $6 a piece, it's a good thing it's so tasty!
 
It's a lot, I know, but I'm a serious sushi lover and like getting new folks into this really different cuisine. The best meal I ever had, bar none, was the deluxe sushi platter served at the sushi and hibachi restaurant (Taka?) in the Japan section of Epcot. It was about 15 pieces of assorted nigiri and two maki rolls, and it was heaven on a plate! My daughters had the same thing and we all couldn't stop talking about it, even weeks after we got home!

Great recommendations, Matt! Pretty much what I was planning to put until I saw your reply, and not just for Izumi but any sushi restaurant. :)
 
One minor correction -- Nigiri is the thin sliced fish on top of a small ball of rice. The hand rolls are maki. Both, as Marti noted, are "finger food".
 
I honestly prefer nigiri to rolls, as you are getting a good-sized piece of fish per piece and not just filling up on rice. That lets you really pick up on the flavor of the fish and decide what you like and what you don't. But it's a lot more expensive to get 18 pieces of nigiri as opposed to a typical 3 maki rolls (6 pieces per roll) for one person.
 
Some other nigiri I'd recommend for a beginner are:
shrimp -- not served raw, but cooked to meet US health regulations flying fish roe -- a small clump of tiny fish eggs (about the size of grains of sand), served on a ball of rice that's wrapped in a small piece of seaweed to keep the eggs in place. The flavor is very mild, with a slightly spicy finish salmon roe -- larger fish eggs (about the size of small peas), served the same way as flying fish roe. No heat, another delicate flavor to enjoy without an overwhelming texture.  
Once you're feeling more adventurous, mackerel and eel are both good choices. Both are cooked, like the shrimp, and the eel is actually reheated before serving. I know it's a cliche, but I always find that eel tastes like slightly soft, seasoned chicken. Mackerel is somewhat oily, but has a good strong flavor.
 
If you're really feeling bold, and the restaurant serves it, I find the best nigiri of all is Uni (sea urchin). I won't lie -- it looks digusting! It's this blob of brownish goo served like the fish roe, and the only real option is to pop the whole piece into your mouth. Chew it slowly so the texture doesn't overwhelm you, and you'll find it's some seriously great-tasing sushi! Considering it tends to go for upwards of $5 or $6 a piece, it's a good thing it's so tasty!
 
It's a lot, I know, but I'm a serious sushi lover and like getting new folks into this really different cuisine. The best meal I ever had, bar none, was the deluxe sushi platter served at the sushi and hibachi restaurant (Taka?) in the Japan section of Epcot. It was about 15 pieces of assorted nigiri and two maki rolls, and it was heaven on a plate! My daughters had the same thing and we all couldn't stop talking about it, even weeks after we got home!

I will say that email does seem to be the preferred means of communication, most likely because it's the most common now and also the simplest. No chance of a missed call, the other person can reply at their leisure and be sure that the TA will see the reply when they get back.
 
That said, not getting back to you for 3 days isn't right, especially if that only happened because you called them again. I'd have ditched the agent as well.
 
If you do decide to give Heather a try, I'd suggest letting her know up front that you prefer that "personal touch" of a direct phone call for all correspondence and that email really doesn't work for you. She does call back quickly the times I've had to leave a message for her, and if she's going to be away for a while she makes that clear on her outgoing voice mail message.
 
Even if you go with another agent, I'd advise making that request up front. I'm sad to say, but the days of people calling everyone are basically done with unless you ask for it. If the agent is someone who really prefers email, they should tell you that up front and you can make an easy decision to look for another agent.
 
Regarding not hearing anything from the TA about a particular sale, I will relay my own experience for comparison (some of the details around timings might be off, but the key points are all true):
Made the initial booking with Heather at the end of December last year RCI announced a new sale in January; called Heather and asked if she could check on that Heard back from Heather by phone, told me the sale only shaved about a hundred bucks off the total cost. She also reassured me that she would be checking each sale as it came out and would let me know if that particular one saved us some more February WOW sale came out at the start of the month; I decided to "test it out" and didn't email or call Heather No contact from her through the first half of February New sale after President's Day weekend came out that Tuesday, which further boosted the current WOW sale; I wasn't even aware this had happened yet Got an email from Heather at like 9:30 or 10:00 AM, telling me the new sale had just started and she checked it out, saw it would save me a ton on our current reservation She had already rebooked us, and included in the email was an updated invoice showing the new price of our cruise -- to the tune of $1600 less than before, plus the $200 in OBC available for our two balcony rooms! I called her on the phone to thank her, happened to catch her while she was still in the office. She said she has never seen a promotion that saved so much off the original booking, especially when we had originally booked 18 months out. So they absolutely do that legwork for you, but you shouldn't expect a contact for every single new promotion that comes along. They'll just reach out when there's actual news to report. :)
 
I hope this is reassuring, and makes you feel more comfortable with using a TA / finding one who "fits" with you.

There are some I know who would say that Starbucks IS swamp water coffee. ;)

I second DocLC's recommendation for Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, ME. I went to college in Maine and Bar Harbor is a nice, very friendly town, and Acadia is gorgeous!

Thanks, Mark. That definitely helps! And your comment reminded me that in the case of the 5-night itinerary, the trip satisfies my desire for 50/50 balance on sea and land time. :) For some reason, I was inflating the sea time and thought it was two days going out, two days on land, and two sea days going back.

Our family did the 9 night Bermuda and Caribbean on Anthem last year as our first ever cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Anthem was great with plenty to do on sea days. In Bermuda we stayed in the Royal Dock Yard area as the weather was very wet in the morning and had a good look round the many shops. For lunch we went to the Frog And Onion which served good food at a reasonable price. You must try the Dark and Stormy if you like Rum.

There are some I know who would say that Starbucks IS swamp water coffee. ;)

I've done that exact itinerary .... only out of Baltimore on Grandeur .... so, I can speak about Bermuda, NOT the ship...
 
To put it plainly .... my wife and I LOVED it ... so much so, we booked the exact same cruise this coming September (we were there last September) ...
 
The place is clean, beautiful, and the people are amazingly friendly.  Thanks to the local bus/ferry network, getting around the island is incredibly easy..... plus, you can get a 1 or 2 day Bus/Ferry pass, ride anywhere as often as you like.
 
Let me know if you have more specific questions.
 
Mark

I can help with this one. :) I asked a similar question for trying to do some night time star photography a couple of months ago. ( http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php/topic/3007-newbie-questions-about-ship-life )
 
Go to the helicopter deck, it's the darkest area on the ship at night (although according to the linked post's replies, there are still ocean view rooms there that could be shining light into the area from their windows). If I'm remembering right, should be reachable from a door in the front-most part of the Star Lounge on deck 5.
 
Apparently they sometimes take passengers to the deck as a planned astronomy / stargazing event from time to time, would be in the Cruise Compass if planned for your trip.
 
Hope this helps!

Day 6 – Abu Dhabi
Coffee Stroll Periscope in the morning – Fail.
We had no idea what/where to go or do in this port.  We just winged it.  We left the ship, got in a cab and headed to anywhere.  I had picked up a map from the hop-on-hop-off bus so I had an idea of where things were, but had to ask where the ship was on the map.  We were told that the taxis here operate on the meter so no need to do any haggling.  The taxi driver we ended up with was trying to get us to pay for a full day’s touring at a cost of $150.00.  We ended up going to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. 

We paid $30.00 but I think we might have gotten ripped off.  It would be good if the ship told you what kind of taxi fares to expect to pay.  My wife was concerned with not having the appropriate clothing for the mosque.  At the entrance to the mosque, women that are not appropriately dressed are ushered into a side room where they are given a robe to wear.  Entry is free to this mosque.  It is a beautiful place and we easily spent an hour looking around and taking pictures.

We then found another taxi to take us to one of the large malls in the city.  I think it was the marina mall.  This place was the smallest in the city but it was absolutely HUGE. I’d hate to get lost in the largest.  We found a place to eat lunch, did a bit of looking around and shopping and headed back out.
The Red Bull Air Show was taking place in the marina area next to the mall.  By this time we were a bit tired of standing and walking and the weather was starting to get a bit hot so we just grabbed a taxi back to the ship where we could cool off with the obligatory pool drinks.
Dinner was in the main dining room.  I remember this meal.  Getting fed up with the lack of beef on the menu, I ended up ordering a Fillet from Chops for an additional $20.00.  That meat was superb! I would have to say it was the best meal I had on-board.  At the end of the meal, when the bill was brought, the waiter had discounted the steak by 25% so that extra $5 ended up as an additional tip.
Today was a long day and tomorrow will be a late night so we retired for the night.
The drink counts for this day were:
Coffee = 3; Tea = 1; Orange Juice = 2; Wine = 4; Beer = 0; Cocktails = 0; Mixed Drinks = 8; Coke (Glass) = 0; Bottled Water = 2 – Which put us about USD $30pp over what we spent.  At this point we could have not had another drink and still made out on the drink package.  Stay tuned to tomorrow’s review for the final talley.
Cruise Compass - Day 6 – Abu Dhabi

I'll add that it's not a bad idea to register your other family members with C&A (even the kids) so they can all start accumulating their points and build up their levels. I was advised to do that by my TA, so that when the kids turn 18 and can actually get their own card they'll already be at a level that reflects however many cruises they'll have been on by that point. I hadn't realized until then that minors can be registered with C&A.
 
For fun and amazement -- I was flabbergasted when I heard DocLC give a rundown of his most recent cruise on the Cruise Dudes podcast and found out that his son, who isn't even 18 yet, has already been on something like 26 cruises and will "start off" at Diamond Plus by the time he gets his card at age 18.

OK, there's been the whole discussion here about everyone's favorite ship, and the recent discussion about the upcoming 2019 Caribbean bookings got me wondering -- what is everyone's preferred cabin type, and why? Kind of an "it depends" question, I know, but for most of your cruises, what do you typically get?
 
I know Matt loves his inside rooms, not only for price but also for the dark that lets him and his family sleep as long as they want / need. I gather that Kris also prefers inside rooms, at least on the port-heavy trips that don't offer a lot of scenery.
 
Myself, I can't imagine not having at least a window to look out and give some natural light and a sense of day vs. night. So I'd say my own minimum is an Ocean View, or on an Oasis class ship a Park View. I might be able to tolerate a virtual balcony room if the monitor used for the fake window is really high quality and doesn't look like a giant TV turned on its side, but I think I'd have to see one in person as part of a tour before taking a gamble like that. Especially since the space in those rooms is really tight, and at 6' 3" and slightly klutzy I need maneuvering room. ;)
 
Certainly for trips like Alaska or the Mediterranean, I'd prefer a true balcony that I can go out on and enjoy the view as well as the ocean smell and feel of the wind. But even on less scenic or climate-friendly trips, that window really matters.

That's good to know about the upgrades. Personally, I'm wishing on a star that as our cruise gets closer (still a little over 400 days away!) we'll be told that a JS with connecting balcony has magically opened up and that we could switch to that for just a couple hundred more than our current booking in two connecting Superior Balcony rooms. Or they magically moved us to that because they saw on our reservations that it's our 20th wedding anniversary and older daughter's HS graduation. (and hadn't booked the room anyway, or had a last-minute cancellation ;))
 
Of course, I'd be happy to just get bumped up from the "steerage" line for boarding, given it's our first cruise and we have no loyalty buildup yet. After hearing Matt say how he got that surprise perk for one of his earlier cruises after the line attendant saw his wife's "Just Married" shirt, I had my wife order us a pair of custom "20th Wedding Anniversary" shirts. Cause hey, you never know! ;)

Upgrades are extremely rare, even for those of us who have senior loyalty status.  I have only had 1 such upgrade in my 10+ years of sailing with RCI.
 
For those who do get lucky enough to get an upgrade, it can happen in a number of ways.  Some have no idea they've even been upgraded until they get to the port and just find that they have a different room than they thought they did.  Some get a call from RCI prior to the cruise to inform them that they are eligible for an upgrade and ask if they want to be upgraded (this was my experience) and some just notice in their cruise planner that the room number has been changed.
 
Since your cruise is less than 90 days away I wouldn't hold my breath on getting your rooms changed to accommodate proximity.  It should be fairly easy to look online and see what rooms are still available.  If you want to switch rooms and remain within your room category it's fairly easy to do.  Just call the CS number and ask.  My guess is that your sailing is probably pretty well sold out at this point and moving cabin locations is going to be fairly difficult, I would think.  But you never know !  Maybe a couple of you may be able to move and get closer to one another.

I was experiencing the same frustration not long ago, and my cruise is even further out than yours! (March 31, 2018) I even posted about it here, just like you, only a few weeks ago. And magically, a day or two after posting, I was able to start booking excursions and spa treatments. Still can't book beverage packages, internet, dining plans, or other on-ship things besides the spa, I guess they don't unlock until more like 3-6 months out from sail date. But at least the doors cracked open a little. ;)
 
I don't know if it's a matter of their system needing a certain amount of time to work your account info through their systems, or each cruise has its own timetable of what opens up when, but I can say that it will happen eventually. And I also booked through a TA, so that definitely doesn't play any role.

I laughed out loud when I read this. I'm a current IT guy and my day job is making well-designed and useful web applications, so I seriously feel your pain! :D

Assuming you live in NJ like me, I shudder to think what that one-way airfare to Newark from Galveston must cost.  :blink: 

Targeted to first-time cruisers, but I think it sums up a lot of the reasons that keep getting cited here on the boards: Why first-time cruisers should use a Royal Caribbean travel agent
 
Main advantage is that the agent does the work of tracking new promotions, figuring out if they'll actually save you any money over prior booking, and then waiting on hold to re-book and get you those savings.
 
They're also great for when something goes wrong, and now they get to sit on hold and rail at the customer support people over their mistake instead of you losing work time or weekend time or whatever. That happened to me right when I booked through my TA -- she was told by RCI that they reserved two connecting cabins as requested, she relayed the cabin numbers to me, and when I checked online I saw they weren't connecting at all! Emailed her, and she took care of straightening it out while I continued to work on my current project.

Hey all. RC website now shows the WOW sale is going on -- 60% off second guest, bonus OBC, and $50 off deposit.
 
Just got an email about this from my TA. Saved us a TON as the sale knocked just shy of $800 off each of our state rooms (having originally booked during the end-of-year sale) as well as giving us $100 in OBC.
 
I know there's been a lot of discussion here lately about how the rates really are best if you book 18-24 months ahead, and that they just don't get any better even with promotions; but seeing as we could "only" book 15 months out, I'm really glad our TA Heather at MEI Travel was able to get us these savings!
 
And THIS is why you use a travel agent.  :D