Mum2Mercury

But people fly Spirit Air for the lower price. If the price were the same, they'd fly a full-service airline. In this situation, RCCI is asking us to keep paying the same (recently increased) price, while accepting less service. Misdirection has ever been the friend of advertising/marketing. This is not what I've seen personally. Yes, I do mind this. Honestly, RCCI could employ an individual to do nothing but "circle the ship" picking up dishware outside rooms. All that walking (and the subsequent returning to clear the cart) would fill a work day.

Here's a similar story: While waiting to board Independence, I went into the terminal bathroom. Who was in line ahead of me? My brother-in-law's sister! Someone I know but kinda only see at family events -- neither of us knew the other would be cruising.

Because you can skip the expense of airfare and night-before hotel, it sounds like Oasis will be considerably less expensive. How much does this matter to you? I have no great love of Miami. It's crowded, and the traffic is crazy. When we sail out of MIami, we stay overnight in Fort Lauderdale (much cheaper hotel rooms), and it's less than an hour's drive to the port. Both cruises hit CocoCay, which is a big positive in my mind. Looking at the other island stops, Harmony seems to have the edge. Aruba is nice, and Curacao is certainly head and shoulders better than Nassau. Is the Port Canaveral stop short? It seems to be on some cruises, and that really affects what you can do. Pros and cons each way.

I rarely buy anything during cruises, so I forgot about the straw market -- nothing special. Having said that, I assume your beach bag has a small, solid zippered pocket for storing a few dollars and your ship ID. The private islands are pretty safe. Thanks -- yes, when my girls were younger, they always behaved better /we rarely ever had any conflict when I spelled out my expectations clearly. That was never my goal! Yes, I have a personal spreadsheet, which I update for each cruise -- I print out a copy to have in the room. Thanks! I think it's handy to know how other people have handled their kids on board -- not that you'd adopt every word, but it's nice to have a starting point. A note about ordering in the MDR: When my girls started cruising, they were young /not that used to ordering for themselves. We "practiced" with them beforehand, having them order an appetizer, an entree and a dessert. It made them feel competent. When my kids were younger, we used to get a separate paper Kids' Compass /Teen Compass each evening. Is that gone? Some ships have an interactive deck plan & Compass near the elevators. Kids can stop and check out the daily activities for their age group. We loved our Promenade View Room -- we didn't see any parades, but they had music several times, and we loved our front row seat. The 70s show was the best. I didn't know you could get a full box pizza. Maybe I should keep that information from my husband.

Safes are easy to use and secure. We have a medium-sized travel document bag that holds our passports, money, and prepared excursion envelopes. This bag + our car keys doesn't even come close to filling the safe. We keep our phones and my camera in nightstand drawers. I bring one simple necklace and a pair of earrings. If I take them off, they're almost always in my nightstand drawer. Having said that, ours on Explorer wouldn't lock /stay closed. Our cabin steward (they are the keepers of all wisdom) called someone to fix it. The only negative was that my husband had to stay in the room about an hour waiting for them. This was a pain, but it's also an unusual situation. I haven't been to Labadee in years. I was at Coco Cay last week -- they have towel service and lockers. I'd suggest leaving your money, etc. on the ship when you go to a private island. Your food will be no-cost, and if you buy a drink it can be charged to your sea pass. As for towels, my personal system is to check out towels on the first night of the cruise ... and EXCHANGE THEM rather than turn them in. That means my number only goes in once /comes out once. Fewer opportunities for a mistyped number. Most rooms have "coolers" not real refrigerators. On Explorer in September ours was good and chilly, but on Indy last week it was barely cold. My personal habit is to pick up a cup of ice from the Promenade Cafe or Windjammer and pour my soda over that. You can ask your room steward for a bucket of ice for beer or wine. No temptation in the fridges. Plenty of room for your sodas. Have you loaded the RCCI app on your phone? It will let you see the shows, movies, events and menus ahead of time. Menus will pop up soon. Shows may not appear until literally the day before the cruise. We have never reserved and have never been turned away. When my kids were that age, I set down some rules -- and I was more strict that the average cruiser. No apologies for that. Let me think about what my rules were: No going into other people's cabins. No friends in our cabin. Do not accept a drink from anyone except a bartender (I have all girls). We did get them the soda package because we didn't want them to feel "they must" finish a drink that'd been out of their sight. We get off the ship together. You may plan breakfast or lunch with friends, but we have dinner as a family. After dinner, you are either with us doing family activities OR you're in a supervised activity in the teen club -- no wandering around in the dark with people you don't really know. We did not allow our kids charging privledges. We brought sticky notes (a color for everyone) and left notes on the room TV about where we were. We never had a single minute's trouble with our kids on the ship -- and I think it's because we made our expectations clear ahead of time. Good advice.

Y'all have convinced me to try the spaghetti.

On the one hand, I see your point. It doesn't allow you to "group" today's drinks + tomorrow's drinks into one big evening binge. On the other hand, this is assuming behavior not applicable to all cruisers. For example, if I drink an alcoholic beverage, it's almost certainly at the pool in the afternoon OR during the evening show. I'm always awake late-night, but I'm not drinking alcohol. I'm not a big coffee drinker myself, but I can absolutely see how this would upset someone who wants to have a specialty coffee "on the way out the door". Additionally, I think it's just plain HARDER to remember how many drinks you've had since 5:00. Midnight seems to be an easier cut-off. And I maintain that the best thing for the customer would be to have X number of drinks awarded on Day 1 /to be used any time on the cruise. I really do think a fair number of cruisers would zip through them and pay for more later.

Well, to be argumentative, if you had 79 days, Royal would not say, "Oh, you're close enough -- let me give you some drinks." This is business, and a line is drawn somewhere. Again, I'm being argumentative, but I think it'd pay Royal to give you X number drinks for the whole cruse ... on Day 1. Most people, if they have free drinks available, will slurp 'em up right away. Then they'll want more and will pay. Just my thought. Might or might not be true.

Lightening doesn't usually strike twice. You were SUPER LUCKY last year, but it's not likely to happen again. Two thoughts -- which one seems most like your thought process? - If you WANT this cruise, go ahead and book it -- if you get a drop, wonderful! If not, you're booked for the cruise you want. - If you're HO-HUM about the cruise; that is, if you could take it or leave it, roll the dice and see whether you win.

I'd rather see their Fish & Chips instead of the salmon. I've liked most of what I've had in the MDR, but you're saying it well when you advocate for the "safe options". Surely you mean you've just tried the spaghetti on RCCI? Surely you haven't gone your whole life without eating spaghetti?

I just wear one simple necklace and one pair of simple earrings ... and use them for the whole cruise.

You're not wrong. My rules: - Dinner clothes don't 'specially get dirty /sweaty, so I hang them and wear them again -- either as dinner clothes or as afternoon-clothes after an island stop. I usually keep dresses hung for the rest of the cruise. - I don't get 'specially hot/sweaty walking around the ship, so I hang those things /wear them again -- I only wear shirts twice, but shorts I often wear 2-3 times. - I know I'll "ruin" whatever I wear on an island, so I wear something that's already been worn around the ship -- no point in getting sweaty in something "fresh". Once I've worn those items, they go into the dirty clothes. - Being Southern, I wear a lot of light, gauzy blouses. If necessary I'd wash these out in the sink, but this is a rarity.

I've cruised twice in the last four months. I asked both cabin stewards for a Day 1 Compass AND asked at Guest Services. No Compass for me. But my cabin stewards have been great about bringing me the "next day" Compass each evening, and I appreciate that.

Oh, wow -- good for you. My oldest daughter is an RN, and it was a hard degree -- but she's had some great career opportunities. She graduated from college in 2016 and has already left what she calls "bedside nursing" and is in nurse management. She doesn't have a Masters, but she worked her way up from Clinical Nurse 1 to Clinical Nurse 3.

You have no hope of getting a paper Day 1 Compass. Ask your cabin steward to leave you one each evening with turn-down service.

As a previous Diabetic who cleaned up her diet and is now a Pre-diabetic (not sure that's something about which to brag), I'll add this: You can have an Iced Coffee with cream and sugar-substitute. And you can have a diet soda. I'm trying to understand, but I don't get it. Where's the cutback? - You still get 4 drinks per day. - Are we SURE drinks don't start until 5pm (after sail-away), or does the first day start at 5 am before we board? - Even if it doesn't start until 5pm, you have twelve hours to drink that first day's drinks. That's a great idea ... not that my husband would ever have "leftover" beer.

Charlie & Cindy, I love your door sign!

Yes to not cooking or making my own bed. I've often thought about that. Personally, the best food we ever eat is something my husband cooks up on the grill or something I cook in our own kitchen -- but we enjoy /appreciate top-notch restaurant meals as well as frozen pizza. People who just "can't be made happy" come off looking fake. Things we like about Coco Cay: - Getting on/off the ship is easy. - If one person wants to return to the ship, it's easy. - You don't have to spend money to have a great day. - Plenty of chairs and umbrellas. - We feel safe leaving our things at our chairs (though we don't bring money or electronics). - Whether you want a quiet day or a loud, energized day, you can have it. - Lunch is provided right there, no need to search out something. - My husband loves to nap in a hammock in the shade. - They have a great kids' area.

Do not bid. You're already in one of the best cabins on the ship. I've not sailed in that exact cabin, but I've sailed in another 10th deck aft balcony cabin. They're the best. I'm pretty sure that Royal Up winners don't get suite benefits -- just the bigger room.

I say get your manicure before the cruise. It'll be significantly cheaper than doing it on the ship.

Nah, they'd be easy-peasy to pack: Fill them with carefully folded clothes and put them on the bottom of a suitcase -- it'd be like a packing cube. I am an excellent packer and can fit SO MUCH into a suitcase. I've thought about a Kyss bag. I've about talked myself out of the Boggs Bag because they don't have a smaller one. I have two good backpacks -- the one I bring on cruises now is an Osprey Day Lite, which is on the small size. Excellent pack. I'm just looking for something a little different.

Not to be argumentative, but back when the tips were $14.50/person/day, the stateroom attendant got $3.55/person/day ... so, assuming two people in a cabin, the steward was getting $7.10/day for a cabin ... more if the cabin holds a 3rd or 4th person. Now it's a little more since tips have gone up to $16/person/day. That seems pretty fair. For the record, I am pretty cheap.

I did learn something about other people "caring what you wear". I took a tee-shirt that my friends gave me when I retired in June: It says "RETIRED ENGLISH TEACHER. Fix the grammar yourself". I love this tee; I'm actually wearing it right this minute. I took this tee and gray Sophie shorts for the gym, but I ended up putting them on kinda late at night when I was going down to the Promenade to get a snack /drink to bring back to the room. EVERYONE read that tee and laughed. EVERYONE. Then I felt like I couldn't wear it again. I felt like it'd be "obvious" that I was wearing it again. I won't take a "memorable tee" again. Teaching or studying?

You'll find LOTS of great things onboard: - The ocean is still one of the most beautiful things on the planet. - Cruising is more casual than it was a decade ago. - You may find something you don't like, but most of the food is good. - I love MUTS -- movies under the stars. Not something that gets a lot of play around this board. - Playmakers Sports Bar is fairly new, and my husband loves it. - Because you have to sign up for a 30 minute time slot, boarding is easier /less crowded than it used to be. - Getting through Customs is faster than it used to be. - Coco Cay is wonderful! - You'll have as good a time as you decide to have!

Choices are good. Having a laundry room opens another choice to cruisers.