JLMoran

A unique look at Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas South Pacific cruise February 2017.
 
https://youtu.be/dtD6rAQFpMk

I can say for a fact that TA's are fine with you making just the deposit up front, and then making payments over time. I'm doing that right now through my agent Heather at MEI Travel. Just put $400 towards our cruise this week, and she said just email her whenever I want to make another payment.
 
Don't know about the "little extras" (yet), but Heather did make a point of putting notes in all caps on our reservations that my wife and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary, and that our older daughter is graduating high school (plus a comment that all of us are first-time cruisers). Will see if that brings us anything after we're on board. ;)

Well, you will. But not until the Icon class ships are out there with their fuel-cell and LNG-based propulsion. :)

It's a great trip. We did a Norway/Iceland on the Brilliance. You can here me discuss it on the podcast here: http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/podcast/episode-107-brilliance-of-the-seas-norway-iceland-listener-cruise-review
 
I'd rank it as the best cruise for scenery and natural wonders and that's after having sailed Eastern Canada and Alaska twice.

Some people hate the hump cabins on Radiance and other class ships because of the loud music noise coming up through the centrum, several threads about this on another site. We have had hump cabins twice, never had a problem sleeping.
 
Aft cabins are far away from elevators, OK by me. It tends to be very quiet at the end of the hall, no foot traffic. Some aft cabins have larger balconies(do your homework), don't go by deck plans. The view is great, but I like the side view also.
 
Bottom line, I would take either one for the right price and itinerary.

So I've seen a few posts here now where people commented on the desirability of an aft cabin. I had read earlier (on other sites) that getting a mid-ship cabin (especially on the "hump") was ideal. Partly because of the larger balconies / better view in a "hump" room, but also because mid-ship had the least movement.
 
So what is it about an aft cabin that you all find makes it more desirable than mid-ship? Genuinely curious, especially since my own pair of connecting balcony cabins on Freedom for our 2018 sailing is more aft than mid-ship (a little more than halfway from the aft end of the hump to the aft-most cabins).

I've seen the "around the world" cruises they offer that pretty much hit every major port on the planet. That could be an absolutely awesome bucket list sort of thing, I'm just not sure I could stand over 50 days on a single ship, with the same entertainment over... and over... and over again. If the ports weren't regularly changing and giving me new scenery, I'd be convinced I was transported to the movie Groundhog Day. ;)
 
Seriously, how do they keep the ship provisioned with a good variety of meals over that long a span, and the entertainment on a good enough rotation to avoid boredom? I'd imagine they must have to plan out several different shows, maybe with cast changes every few ports when they also load up new food supplies.

I'd love a cruise that started in Italy, then made its way north and west to Spain and Portugal, then went up through Northwestern Europe and Scandinavia -- Northern France, England / Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden.
 
If there was a way to expand that to start more in the Mediterranean and also include Croatia and Greece, so much the better! Cover all my bucket list destinations in one fell swoop!

Just found this while searching for an example full wine list at Vintages. It's a good use of technology, not sure how long ago they released this video as there's no date I could find on the page, also not sure if / when this is being rolled out to the rest of the fleet. Should be an easy thing to apply fleet-wide as it doesn't require anything more than getting the iPads and iPod Touches and installing the apps / integrating to the ship's SeaPass card system.
 
https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/182/savvy-sommelier-digital-menus-at-vintages/
 
You can now order wines via iPad, and the order is transmitted to iPod Touch units carried by the wine tenders. It will recommend wines based on your existing tastes, and everything is displayed in a much wider selection of languages than RCI could manage with printed menus. And if you order in, say, German, that order shows up translated to the English equivalent on the wine tender's iPod Touch (or, I'd assume, whatever language that person set as their preference).
 
Apologies if this was actually posted a while back. Searched this forum before posting, didn't find anything.

It's begun! Finally on a new billing cycle, and I just purchased a Nellie's Beach over-the-water cabana and also four all-day passes for the alpine coaster. Will make new purchases each month as we go along to spread those expenses out!
 
And will also keep an eye out for any excursion sales to see if I can save some money down the road. But at least that hard-to-acquire cabana is taken care of!

I think I found the post you're referencing: 5 things to bring to Labadee to make your visit awesome
 
Looked at the men's water shoes Matt linked to there, not sure about them in terms of the seeming thinness of the sole and the surrounding material.
 
 
 
 
These look like they might be a better option. Sole looks thick enough that my cobbler might be able to put a lift in them (he has to slice the sole lengthwise and then puts the lift material in between the pieces like a sandwich). and the surrounding material also looks thicker and more durable. Seems a bit like a Teva shoe in terms of the semi-open sides, but going to put this one in my "Cruise Prep" shopping list on Amazon while I keep looking. Only caveat I see with these is that they only come in a standard "D" width, and my feet are a "EE" (wide). But if they're elastic enough, it may do for the short periods I'd be using them.
 
Thanks, both of you!

Just remembered a really good sci-fi thriller -- Sphere, by Michael Crichton. If you saw the movie with Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L Jackson, just forget that and give the book a chance. As typical, the book is WAY better than the movie. Not set on a cruise ship, rather it's about people who have to dive to the ocean floor to investigate a mysterious object that appeared out of nowhere.

matt had a blog post about some sort of water shoe and I purchased them for my western Caribbean cruise and wore them everywhere!
 
They really were great. and only about $20

I have these and I love them.  Very supportive, pretty much like a regular sneaker.
 
https://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Supervent-Fashion-Sneaker-Charcoal/dp/B01015XQ2M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486733829&sr=8-1&keywords=columbia+mens+supervent+ii

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 

I agree about the portability of a Kindle vs. a set of physical books. But I still prefer the feel of a real book as well as the better experience with my aging eyes. (needing trifocals sucks!) Maybe if I invested in a Kindle Paperwhite...

I agree about the portability of a Kindle vs. a set of physical books. But I still prefer the feel of a real book as well as the better experience with my aging eyes. (needing trifocals sucks!) Maybe if I invested in a Kindle Paperwhite...

Well, in other threads about pricing, some folks were saying that RCI plays with the base price to control how fast the sailing books up. Maybe they didn't have as much booked on this particular sailing as they needed / wanted / expected, so they threw in a base price drop in combination with the promo to spike the sales a bit or get some room classes better filled out.
 
Whatever the reason, believe you me that I'm not complaining! Here's hoping people continue to not buy cabins on that ship and help drive the price down more! ;)

I'm probably not the one to ask...my idea of a great cruise breakfast is a plate of corned beef hash, smothered in sausage country gravy, and a side of smoked salmon.
 
I'm not kidding.  At least through day 4 anyhow.

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 

Some helpful info on what to expect on embarkation day: What to expect on embarkation day on a Royal Caribbean cruise
And in podcast form for your listening pleasure ( ;) ): Going curb to ship on Royal Caribbean

So for everyone who's started playing these games, I have some tips I've figured out after playing the mobile version of MyVegas Slots and MyVegas Blackjack for a few days:
 
Unlike the Facebook version of the game, it seems like the best / fastest way to earn loyalty and level up is not just from playing games for hours on end and making huge bets each time. The "Journeys" challenges (which unlock after I think level 4 in slots and level 6 in blackjack) are a much faster and easier way to earn loyalty points, especially at the lower levels where I'm at. When unlocked, you get a "path" to go down with several challenge stops along the way. The challenge at each stop has three levels (bronze, silver, and gold), and from what I've seen they all fall into just a few categories:
Find X number of some symbol on a specific slots game (just has to show up on the board, doesn't have to be part of a win) Get X number of wins of a specific type in a specific slots (e.g., get 35 3-Prince wins in Excalibur) Earn X chips in a specific slots game Earn X experience in a specific slots game Earn X loyalty in a specific slots game There are probably categories I haven't uncovered yet, but you get the idea. Now here's the trick with these:
 
For the "find X symbols" or "win X times with this specific win type" challenges, always bet the minimum. There's no advantage to betting higher, as the symbols / win types come out just as (in)frequently with a minimum bet as a max bet. So especially at lower levels, where chips are scarce, going with minimum bets lets you complete the challenges more quickly because you can get that many more spins.
 
For the other category types, bet as much as you can manage while still doing 25 or 50 auto-spin runs. Here, you want to get the goal as fast as possible with the fewest spins, and that means better bigger for larger payouts and better multiples. Where it can really pay off is in the bonus games each slot game offers (like Sir Froggy's Spin in Excalibur), as those have bigger chip values when you bet bigger, and hitting a lucky multiplier can give you a huge chip boost.
 
I haven't done enough yet on the blackjack side to see how much it parallels slots, but I imagine it's pretty similar as I've gotten challenges like "hit on an opening 13 X times" or "get X blackjacks", or "win X chips/loyalty in <specific game>".
 
Hope this helps everyone to get to that free cruise just a little bit faster!

According to Matt's podcast about the Icon class (both his own and one he did with The Cruise Dudes), the passenger capacity of this first Icon ship will be slightly less than the Oasis class. Estimate at the moment for Icon is about 5,000 passengers.

Ah, sorry.
 
You walk off the ship, and all the way to the end of the pier.
 
As you get enter the actual island, there will be some golf carts to the right side of the path.  As a cabana guest, they will pick you up there and bring you to the beach to check-in for your cabana/bungalow.

The over the water cabanas at Nellie's beach have stairs directly to the water from the cabana. Or you can walk up the beach and back to the cabana. It's up to you