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We are booking in the final payment period and in some cases quite close when we are on a land trip and near to the embarkation port. For a long time we did not have this flexibility. Now that we do, we are taking advantage of it. Did that on our last trip (it worked out very well) and will be doing again this winter.

We met two other couples on our most recent cruise who are doing exactly the same.

Just got off an RCI cruise...only our second. BUT, our Celebrity Elite status meant that we got RCI Diamond status. We were surprised.

What we got/ used:

-$200. discount on our balcony cabin (Ok but we usually compare cruises on a net net price basis)

-60 minutes of fee internet time each

-concierge lounge for continental b'fast and for evening drinks (very nice for our 3 caps with a double shot each and every morning)

Three free drinks each loaded onto our room keys that we could use in any bar between 5-8PM

-a couple of 2 for one drink coupons

-water and juice bottles in the cabin when we arrived, bag of biscuits (no big deal from our perspective-lots of water in the tap and we could have done without the biscuits.

What...no calendar? Well maybe. There were probably other perks that we did not bother with or did not know about. We got a couple a lapel pins-they went straight into the bin. Who on earth wants an RCI lapel pin- especially since we do not attend formal nights in the MDR.

And we did not go to the special meet the officers cocktail event that we were invited to..but we never really bother with them on any cruise line.

It is a crap shoot. Went over on UA in Sept. and back on BA two weeks ago.

UA was a disaster. Very mediocre service, terrible food. We usually try go Lufthansa or Air Canada and we very much noticed the difference.

BA back was very good. Food reasonable. No problem whatsoever getting that second serving of wine.

Flights were full both ways.

We do carry on.

Has absolutely nothing to do with baggage fees. In fact most of our flights have no baggage fees. I realize that some people cannot do this either by preference or because they carry sporting/hobby gear.

When we do carry on, our bag arrives when we do. It does not get lost or not make it onto the ship. Nothing gets stolen. It arrives in our cabin at the exact same time we do. And we do not have to put it outside our cabin door the night before disembarkation.

But the biggest benefit is it gives us many more options in the event of an airline re-schedule, flight, or airline change. We don't have to concern ourselves about where our bag is or wait for it to be offloaded.

As we travel, we meet more and more retired people who are doing exactly the same thing...if only because they have trouble physically handling too much luggage.

Yes, and I did exactly that when we boarded a ship two weeks ago. The cold was gone in a day.

We were a bit surprised on RCI. We assumed that the sixty free minutes that we were given was per stateroom based on our Celebrity status.

Turned out it was per person so we had 120 in total. We did not really need it since we prefer to connect on land because of the response time.

Nor were we charged for printing our four airline boarding passes. Seems to me on a prior cruise, forget the cruise line, that they charged us .50 for each page. At the time I thought that was very tacky but such an insignificant issue that it did not really stick in my mind.

HAL's loyalty program is hardly earth shattering but we usually do not find out about any cruise line loyalty benefits until after we are on board and get the bumph. So many of the benefits have zero value. We don't need the free bottle of water, thanks. Lots of water in the tap. So it does not figure into our decision process. We have no interest in pins, pictures, medals, magazines, lunches, or meeting the officers. But, getting a $200. discount on our balcony cabin was one loyalty benefit that surprised and pleased us.

We are travelling more, for longer periods, and we are packing less and less to the point where the last few trips were carry on only. Cruises are typically part of an extended land trip.

We met a retired nursing supervisor on our last cruise. She told us that while working she met too many people who saved all their lives but never took those trips they talked about.

She said she was not going to be one of those people. Neither are we! We do not know what is ahead of us so we are making the most of our ability to travel, and to be flexible enough to take advantage of last minute offers.

OK...as long is it is 'flash frozen', defrosted properly, and handled properly.

It would surprise many people who eat in top flite Vancouver seafood restaurants that much of their salmon has actually been 'flash frozen'. Surpised me until I heard it from a leading chef in the city. Not certain about the 72 hours in our neck of the woods though.

Agree...we do not expect, and we feel that it is unreasonable to expect, good 'local food' served to us on a cruise ship...the exception might be a salmon barbeque as long as the salmon is fresh and they do not overcook it.

So, does this mean that because perhaps up to 10 percent or so (who knows) of the cabins were sold at fire sale rates that everyone eats hamburger even though the other 90 percent paid the going rate for steak? Not a great way to retain a customer base.

There were lots of comfortable places to read on the ship-and many with great views. That was not an issue. The library consisted of a few bookcases filled with books left behind by other cruisers. And they were almost all in German except for numerous English language copies of some religious book which some zealot had inappropriately left in both cabinets.

Don't get me wrong. RCI did not suddenly become the best cruise line in the business to us. We don't have one, although all things being equal DW leans to Celebrity. We find that they all have their strengths and weaknesses relative to our preferences. For us HAL is falling a bit behind because of maintenance issues and the deep staff cuts that cruisers seem to be complaining about these days.

What about the front desk service folks?

Will they have enough of the usual horse manure to spread about to customers?

It is for us, or it was, but getting much less so.

We now download books from our local library on to the ipad. We get a much larger selection of books and can do searches. We no longer bother with a separate reader device or for that matter a cell phone. Land based libraries are moving very quickly to encompass electronic format. It enables you to borrow/download books virtually. You can be a world away as long as you have an internet connection.

The only trick is not to do it on your ship internet. Do it prior to boarding or in port where you can get a better/faster internet connection. And in our case, after the lending period, say three weeks, the book actually disappears from your device. No late fees!

On the downside...this ship had virtually no library and the casino was not smoke free so we never bothered with it.

Serenade of the Seas. One of their older ships, and a little smaller I think. It was eight days Rome-Barcelona. Our last RCI cruise was an Alaska cruise on Legend....in 1998 or 1999. We booked well inside final payment window. One of the plusses was they had an excellent price on one way air fares home (we did a land trip and went over on a one way ticket).

We prearranged for open seating dinner reservations prior to boarding. Worked like a charm except for a ten minute wait on the first night.

We just got off an RCI cruise..our first in a number of years.

So, I keep reading about how RCI is full of children etc, and how the rock climbing wall must be an indication of a ship gone mad. Well we had a rock climbing wall but never saw anyone on it. Very few children, mostly late forties and older. No surprise given the time but it did fly in the face of some pre conceived notions we had prior to actually cruising on RCI. The big surprise was that after Barcelona, where we disembarked, they were expecting just under 1000 Diamond Plus members to be on the TA. That is incredible repeat cruising and it reminded me of HAL's high repeat number. That number was exclusive of guests at other RCI membership levels.

Apart from the great benefits that we had based upon our Celebrity status (we are quite low...elite I think)- lounges for breakfast and pre dinner drinks, concierge services, free pre dinner drinks loaded on the room card, free hour of internet each, etc. RCI had two things that we had never seen before.

The first was a small sheet of paper delivered at night. Great for those who did not plan to do ship based excursions. For each port we got a 'how to' paper. Where to get the local busses, the local trains, how much they cost and how long it took. In some instances this data could be construed to be in direct competition with the cruise line excursions/transfers. It was very helpful and we heard a number of positive comments for other cruisers about this data sheet.

The second was a 2 foot by 4 foot touch screen by each of the elevator banks. It was like a large iPad. First option was where is the nearest restroom, next was how to get to my cabin. Others included what restaurants were open with sub categories to today's menu. There was one option for the activities for the remainder of the day..movies, entertainment, shows etc. It was simple to use and extremely intuitive. And of course they had on line account access in each cabin.

Just wish all lines had this. But we would not even had known these types of things had we limited ourselves to another cruise line exclusively.

We thought that both were outstanding ideas. The industry is changing rapidly and responding to customer wants and desires. Sometimes just reading about it is not enough. You need to step out and try it for yourself.

We were told by someone who lives in Florida that when HAL and others are flush with empty cabins fairly close to the sailing date, they send a platoon of agents out to the retirement homes to flog the cabins off at a very low price. Apparently this person's mother and friend jumped on these offers whenever they came around. Don't blame them.

Just got an email today from MSC with the same type of pricing for a late Nov. cruise.

Must be more cabins than cruisers in FLL/MIA. Would not be surprised if one or two other cruise lines are doing something similar to HAL and MSC.

Last winter in Thailand we often ate at night markets. And we bought great cooked food from the vendors on the beach. Satay chicken, salads, pineapples etc. We were never ill. In fact it changed how we eat at home. We will be doing it again this winter. Cannot wait.

We flew United from Houston to London in Sept. Worst transatlantic flight ever. Poor service, Terrible food. We very much prefer Lufthansa.

Came back on BA last week. OK, nothing special other than LHR was not a great experience. Service good, food good, and no issue getting a second round of wine.

We just got off this ship last week. We did anytime dining. 7PM. We made reservations but really did not need them. Only waited in line the first night, for 10 minutes. On all other nights we were seated within minutes.

Cannot comment of formal nights...we did not bring any and did not dine in the MDR on those nights. But I would certainly not recommend that you spend money. Formal nights are not as formal as you would imagine or might be led to believe. Lots of jackets, ties, and slacks vs suits and tuxedos. Your children will be fine in neat slacks and a collared shirt. Some may disagree with this however it is certainly our observation after many cruises. Besides, why pack all that extra clothing for only a few hours on two or three nights.

I know a couple of old nags who might enjoy this cruise.

Send them on the other ship!

Wish we could grab one of these.

Trying another cruise line is a great way to see what is new and experiencing changes in the industry and ship design, etc. This industry is changing so much-some good some not so good for our tastes and preferences.

We just came off an RCI cruise-our first in about 14 years. Some things we very much liked, some that were very different from other ships/cruise lines that we have experienced, and some things that we found to be very mediocre. Now we know. And it was a fabulous cruise that we were fortunate enough to be able to do.