Itzmeigh

I hope you have a very "close" relationship with your in laws. I have been married 19 years, and when my MIL comes, she gets her own room......just a little tight otherwise. FYI, our normal cabin is a 5 person ocean view on NCL, but when on Carnival, we go with the 2 room option.

They aren’t in the room with their in laws. The in laws are paying and only want to pay for one room, not 2. So their family of 5 (mom, dad, 3 kids) are going to be in one room.

The trundle should go back under the bed easily during the day. Not pushing the twins together to make a king might help you feel like there is more space.

But maybe my family is just weird. We could all easily share 185 sqft for 7 days with ease. Especially with so many things to do around the ship. You’re rarely in the room.

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I think a “must have” for us was a set of magnetic hooks and some metal cloths pen type clips. It gave us another level of space to hang damp clothes to dry.

Also, we liked our whiteboard for the door. I got a flat one that is about 11x17 and it made keeping up with everyone a breeze.

My whiteboard and hooks/clips took up no extra space at all. The hooks and clips fit in a sandwich size ziplock and the whiteboard rolls up in a tube with markers and erasers that is about 1.5x11 inches. Easily placed anywhere in a suitcase.

Things we didn’t need were towel clips for the chairs and over the door type hangers.

We did bring our own shampoo and conditioner but we didn’t fly so didn’t have any kind of size restrictions.

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According to them we have 2 twin beds, 2 pull down beds and one of the twins is a trundle bed. I keep trying to explain to my wife that we will be severely cramped. Nobody wanted to listen to me when it was being booked that for us we should probably get 2 rooms. I think they saved 100 bucks by not getting us 2 rooms.

We had 4 “adults” (my husband, my mom, myself and my 13 year old son) in a interior room and it really want all that bad. We were very rarely in our room.

We never had a showering conflict. I don’t know how, but it just worked out.

I think we could have done 5 just as easily.

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Unfortunately yes, at least they were on Allure in 2013. If you are taking them for hiking on an island somewhere I apologize, but I've encountered them on the running tracks on many ships and I can't see why people would need them there. As annoying at the guy walking laps reading a book on his tablet and wandering all over the place.

Well I actually said “Not for use n the ship...”.

But why would you care if someone was using a walking stick or hiking pole on the track? The ship does move and maybe they feel more stable with something to lean against.

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Note to self.... bring dry erase markers to randomly make comments on fellow cruiser's white boards. "Mom and Dad are having some alone time, don't come in" ;)

 

Dan

This was actually one of our favorite things about the whiteboard. We had a fellow traveler named “Troy” who we started tracking as well. It was all good fun.

And we left our pens in a basket on the door so you wouldn’t need to bring one.

My sister set her board up for people to leave comments on each day. Every day she would start a question and people would stop and leave her notes. It was pretty fun. (She’s an English teacher, go figure!)

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We bought a whiteboard for about $15 on Amazon. I chose a flat on that was like a big magnet (this one to be exact... https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0786VXPMG?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title )

I wrote everyone’s name and when you left the room you put where(ish) you were going. That way if we needed someone we had some idea about where to start looking.

We found it worked pretty well. We also ate supper every night at 7:15 so if anyone was just super lost they knew they could find us at dinner.

Once we had a little “oops” where we left the 13 year old in the teen club and told him we would meet him at 12:30 to eat at Johnny Rockets. Something went weird and he went back to the room at 12 instead. Then we couldn’t seem to meet him. So we just put Johnny Rockets on our name and headed to wait... sure enough, at even before we got a table he and my mom (separate from each other) managed to find us at Johnny Rockets. The trick was staying where we said we’d be.

Sometimes we would put “Wandering around” or “Deck 5” or “Poolside”

The whiteboard never failed us.

But, that aside, I think for the next cruise I’ll do the WiFi package. The whiteboard worked, but it would have been easier to just text.

We did see a few people with walkie talkies. They were super annoying. They were always shouting to be heard and there was a lot of “what?!?” Just as you’d imagine with a walkie talkie.

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You apparently don't have any physical problems that make hiking difficult. I love to hike but my knees don't. My hiking poles allow me to do a lot of hiking with a lot less knee pain.

That’s a little unfair.

I don’t have any physical problems that make hiking difficult but I do enjoy to have a hiking pole handy.

I rather like having something in my hands. And while I don’t have any physical limitations, having a hiking pole at hand makes stepping up or down on rocks or shelves much easier. But, I also like to use a handrail when going up or down stairs.

You can get a retractable hiking pole pretty cheap at Walmart. They are decent poles and it would give you an idea if you like it or not. Being retractable, you can try several different height settings. Some people like a tall pole like a walking stick reaching up near their head, some people like it Low like a cane. I like mine so my arm is about a 90 (ish) degree angle (depending on what kind of hiking I’m doing.)

Hiking poles also come in handy when you need to poke something with a stick. You know, like that dead animal... you know the one! Or that weird looking bug! Or to knock down spider webs or to hold aside spiky vines or tall grass. Or to fish your hat out of the water when a big gust of wind blows it in.

There are just so many things to do with one besides just lean on it!

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Really good idea about staying on the line Melissa.

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But I've gotten every other communication from them. I can see if my receipt went to my kids rooms, but the other 2 rooms have nothing to do with me, and they didn't get one either. I had to call 3 times yesterday and enter 3 different account numbers and was told I would get a receipt within ONE hour 3 separate times, and have gotten none of them. I understand NOW that I should have taken time to wait in line, but disembarkation day was a bit of a mess trying to get 12 people together in that madhouse. And I don't even know if I have a charge to dispute, I just want to see them! I also need copies for records since this was a Girl Scout trip and money came out of that account. So, I know I should have waited in line, but I didn't, and I don't know why it's so hard to get a receipt after the fact.

Yeah. I get ya.

Next time (regardless of the cruise line) stop trying to keep everyone together. Set a meeting point and make everyone responsible for themselves. It will take a TON of stress off of you!

We traveled as a group of 9. The only people I worried with was myself, husband, son and Mom and I only half worried about Mom.

I left my sisters to worry with their families. We set meeting points and had cellphones to text as needed (didn’t get WiFi on the ship but service in all ports.)

On disembarkation day we just met outside at the pickup lanes. We all arrived there at different times. My oldest sister and her husband walked off at 8am and drive themselves home. As did my BIL to go get the van to pick the rest of us up. As we were exiting my sister was stopped to go back to CS. He son had already passed through the scan so he stayed with us while my sister went back to CS. She still managed to find her way out all on her own!

We also all boarded in small groups. My oldest sister got there first. We rode with my middle sister but went on in with my mom while she and her son waited for her hubs to park the car. We had no trouble at all meeting up with each other once we were all onboard. I can’t even imagine trying to control them all through check in and out.

I have no reason at all to manage another adult getting on and off a cruise ship. Trying to keep a group that size all together and moving the same direction will make you old.

Maybe the lesson for next time is to focus on a smaller group of people. That way things won’t slip through that could be easier to handle in person. The way I understood the compass, if you didn’t dispute your charges before leaving the ship you were accepting them as your own.

(And I can’t even imagine asking another family to “pay me back” for a vacation charge. I mean, maybe if it was like $100... but a misapplied drink or candy purchase... can’t even imagine!)

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So we had 5 rooms total. My husband and I (on paper we had to split ourselves with my son and his GF who are 20) so me and GF in one room, husband and son in one room, daughter and 4 friends in one room, mom and dad of friends in the other 2 rooms. No one got an emailed receipt. My main concern is the 4 girls, since there were 4, I want to make sure the charges are all correct. I pretty much know what my husband and I spent, but not my son (not a big deal) but if one of the other girls charges are on MY card, I would like to know so the other family can pay me back. Not a big deal, but we all thought we would get a receipt so we could settle this all after the cruise. I think it's strange that we haven't gotten one, and I also have multiple charges from RC so I would like to know what they are for. It's a lot more than I was expecting so I'm curious.

Right. We understood that.

The ship most likely left the paper receipt in one of the rooms. Maybe not the one you were physically staying in.

Or maybe the emailed receipt has landed in someone’s Spam email box.

It really seems very odd that RC just would be ignoring your request for a receipt.

Maybe they have copied your email address incorrectly. (My email address as a zero which is often mistaken for the letter O even when I speak ZERO.)

Maybe you should have taken time out of your busy waiting to wait in line at CS. On the last day of the cruise you can bet money that they will resolve your issue before 10:30am because that’s when the next group starts to board. So you know you can’t be in line all that long.

But I’ve never seen issue with RC just removing a disputed charge. They didn’t even question us. We said “not ours” and they took it right off. That simple.

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Did the other 2 cabins get a receipt?

 

 

 

Bill

Good point. If all the rooms were going n one card maybe the receipt ended up at one of the other rooms.

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Just returned from LOS cruise and never could get it on my TV.

It was on the TV on the LoS. We were on the June 10-17 sailing and I looked at it a couple of times in the TV.

It was a little hard to follow on the TV and I think our remote was low on batteries because it wasn’t very responsive.

But, since we had our credit card set up we got a receipt on the last morning. It was folded and slipped into that “mail slot” behind the room number. We had, like, 3 charges that were questionable. My husband had the deluxe package but I only had the Refreshment package. It looked like 3 times my Folio number was charged at the bar for his drink instead of his folio number. (All 3 questionable charges were at bars and were on my number.). Most likely they were the times we ordered together, giving both cards, but only 1 number was recorded.

My mom went to GS on check out morning and was back with the charges removed in about 30 minutes. She just wasn’t going to bother if there was a long wait but it went fast and was easy to dispute.

Even my sister got flagged leaving the ship, as you scan you seapass the last time before stepping off, they sent her to GS and she was back going through the line to get off just as we exited Customs. (Somehow, her name had been removed from the CC they had on file. Her husband was linked and their teen was linked but she wasn’t linked. She just had to add herself back.) So, like less than 30 minutes for her to walk back to GS, stand in line, solve the problem and head off the ship again.

Any time I had to visit GS it went super fast. Usually they had a couple of workers floating around the end of the line to triage the line and make sure they couldn’t quickly solve your problem first. (I had a flickering light in my cabin and showed them a video and she called it in from the back of the line instead of making me wait.). I never saw anyone wait longer than 20-30 minutes.

OP - Maybe you had a receipt and just over looked it. Or maybe if you thought it was going to be complicated you should have taken the time to just wait and resolve the issue. I mean, the last day all there was to do was sit and wait anyway. Maybe your wait time would have been better spent in the CS line.

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What I've brought on board was recommended by a well respected member on this site, and based on their extensive knowledge, I assumed it was within the guidelines. I have seen it used as an example of what to bring on several other sites as well. Apparently they were incorrect in recommending it, and me for not checking it.

Well that sucks because the rules clearly say “No Surge Protector” and the description of the item you linked very clearly states that it is a surge protector. So looks like a random internet stranger gave you bad advice.

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First of all, I didn't realize that the rules had changed...I have taken that on every cruise I've been on, and had no issues. I literally was just commenting that I got off a ship this morning, and what I took was not taken. Seeing as it is just now being shared on here, I would venture to guess that there are a lot of people taking them on the ship without realizing they shouldn't have them.

 

 

 

I didn't ask about it, becuase it has never been an issue before. If it got through becuase it's so small, then they need to look into how they're scanning things.

 

 

 

Finally, I resent your passing judgement of me. Your final sentence is insulting at best. You do not know me, nor how I operate. To accuse me of thinking I'm above the rules is insulting and pathetic.

The “no surge protector” is not a new rule the rules for that are pretty clearly stated in the paperwork that you sign to get your Set Sail pass.

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I was just commenting that I had a different experience out of a different port, in the very recent past. Thanks though.

You just didn’t get caught. Probably because it is small and not obvious on the X-ray. Had you asked about it you would have been told no. So, you didn’t really have a different experience, you just got “lucky”and put a ship full of people in danger because you didn’t feel you needed to follow the rules.

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Update:

Pretty big Non-Issue for us. The 16 year old didn’t like the Teen Club and the 13 year old did go to a few teen events but not too many.

I found that most teen events either took place over dinner or were canceled by rain or high winds.

Neither of our boys are really into just randomly hanging out so probably didn’t utilize the teen area as well as they could have. Plus, both being only children they are use to just doing whatever we do and getting them to venture off on their own can be difficult.

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Update!!

I took my poles. Mine are missing the rubber tips on the end and my bag was sent to the Naughty Room while my mom had her rubber tip and hers made it through fine.

At the Naughty Room the guy at the scanner made a big deal about them, asking why I needed them, how often I used them, if they were necessary, inspected the tips (without the rubber ends there is a metal “point” at the end)... then turned to the woman sitting at the table labeling the confiscated items and said something to her (like, “what about these?”) and she gave him a weird look, hardly glanced at the poles and said “those? Those are perfectly fine”. I was handed back the poles and my bag and left.

After that I secured them to the side of my backpack and they were never questioned again. (I feel if they had been that way when I boarded they wouldn’t have been questioned.)

They did come in handy in Tulum. (Well, one did. The other was never used. One is mine and one my son’s because he usually wants what I have unless I bring him his own and then I have to carry it) and past that they are lightweight enough that they weren’t a bother at all.

Glad I took them.

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We saw the same thing happening on the Liberty June 10-17 (2018). Our USB only power banks made it through but any type of power strip, surge or not, was confiscated. (We were sent to the naughty room for wine and hiking poles, both of which are allowed.)

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There are 3 drink packages.

Coke Only

Beverage

Deluxe

The Deluxe includes alcoholic drinks and the rules state that everyone over 21 in the cabin has to buy this package. But, if you call customer service they will sell you one Deluxe package as long as the other “Over 21” guests buy the Refreshment package.

The Refreshment package includes exactly the same things as the Deluxe, just minus the alcohol.

Another idea is to buy 2 Refreshment packages and then order a shot of “whatever” to add to your virgin drink. If you don’t drink a lot of alcohol this might turn out cheaper. (Or, just one Refreshment package. Only the Deluxe package requires everyone to buy that package.)

We did the Refreshment package for my mom and myself but my husband got the Deluxe and my son got the coke only. By the end we felt that the only thing we would do different was get my son the Refreshment as well. The Liberty doesn’t have coke machines for customer use and he isn’t the type of kid to go up to a bar to order a coke and he much preferred our virgin “fruity drinks” to sodas anyway.

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We have the same ones Clarea linked on Amazon and we loved them. They looked nice and held up well.

I also put one on our backpacks that we took out of the room just in case we were separated from them maybe they would make their way back to our cabin. (I tucked them inside.)

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We just got back off the RC Liberty the 17th.

First, we ended up with 4 bottles of wine in one cabin and weren’t caught. It was an oversight that I’m sure happens often. It actually made me wonder if they even count the bottles.

My sister was in room 661 and we were in the connecting room 663. She traveled in from Arkansas but we are local so I made all the luggage tags so that all the luggage was assigned to my room (663) just so she’d have one less thing to worry with remembering.

Then last minute we decided to take wine. She packed 2 bottles for her room in her luggage and I packed 2 bottles for my room in my luggage. It wasn’t until we were at the port that we realized that all the luggage tags were to one room which made it appear that we had 4 bottles of wine in one room.

Sure enough, both “Wine Bags” ended up in “The Naughty Room”. We headed down ready to surrender 2 bottles if required (we didn’t really care, we aren’t really big drinkers.) her bag was tagged as “liquid” she was asked if she had alcohol and she said “yes” and they said “ok take it” and she did. But my bag was behind security and I had to go through a more secure check. My bag wasn’t flagged for the wine. It was flagged because I had 2 hiking poles. They didn’t even question my wine. They cleared my hiking poles and gave me my bag and sent me on my way.

As for corkage, we showed up to dinner the last night with a bottle of wine we brought only for my other sister (not the one in the connecting room!) to proudly hold up her bottle of Champagne! Haha!

We’d both thought about brining it down in glasses but decided the corkage fee was worth it. Turns out we weren’t charged the corkage on either bottle. Our waiter took both bottles, chilled both bottles, and opened and poured both bottles. I would have gladly paid the $15 for their service but it didn’t show up on our bill.

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We just got back off Liberty and really the whole towel thing wasn’t at all that complicated. There had to be something more to it because there was no way they were keeping an accurate count of towels.

Sometimes I turned in or took towels without needing to scan my badge. A few times we seemed to magically acquire towels here and there. I’d have 2 towels and turn to look and my kid would have a towel from??? Who knows where!

I just didn’t worry about it. There were so many towels just randomly laying around I figured it would all work out in the end, and it did.

The last day we got a note saying we were short 2 towels and I sent my mom out to turn in 2 more towels. She went down to the towel stand and had it settled in minutes. (I think we actually had a couple in the shower.)

It really wasn’t too bad.

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yes, baggage has wheels but have you ever watched them stack them onto the cages.... they don't wheel them up.. :)

No joke. Can you imagine if they wheeled all the bags! They could move 2 at a time... how many trips would that be!

Yeah, I still say that if the cruise lines have issue with schlepping water anywhere they would ban people from bringing it or just say “that has to be in a bag” or something. Clearly it isn’t an issue with people just slapping a tag on it. But if it makes you feel good (I mean, you’re already breaking the rules anyway) to put it in a bag than go for it! (“You” = any person bringing water. Not “You” the person I replied to.)

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Highway robbery is an overused, and overly dramatic comparison. Does your cheaper water include being delivered to your room? Royal also has to handle the trash to get it to their processing and dispose of it. so I have to pay more for my water because you are chear. I don't worry about a $4 bottle of water when I am in the middle of the ocean and the nearest Quijkee mart if 500 miles away. Spend $3k on a cruise and complain about the price of water.?

But isn’t that really RC’s fault for allowing people to bring their own bottled water? I mean, it is expressly forbidden in their own rules and yet they clearly allow it.

So if RC was concerned with the extra waste and work they’d just say “sorry, not allowed!” just like they do with other forbidden items.

(I didn’t bring a dog to this fight because I’m perfectly happy to drink tap water. I find most bottled water gross.)

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I think I’m the one who mentioned you and balconies.

In one of your posts you mentioned that some people like pictures of your dog, some off your balcony, some something else... and I referenced back to that in my post.

But I don’t really get your obsession with trying to pin Red Sox Fab 42 down to an admission.

Who the hell really cares.

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