HappyTexan44

They might not be used for washing (although maybe soaking small things), but I don't believe they were ever washed. I've more than once seen lipstick stains or mystery white substances on glass drinking glasses that were wrapped in plastic to supposedly indicate that they were clean. For some reason most often at Marriott Resort-level.

Prices seem to vary so much. But when I booked our Feb 2024 cruise on Voyager, two connecting promenade rooms were cheaper than one 4-person interior. Connecting or non connecting was the same price. Since we could have have gotten the GTY rate with just one room it cost a tish more to preselect our promenade cabins, but I considered the extra full bathroom made that a bargain. The promenade rooms are 2 person cabins.

Haven't several people said that workers have told them that they don't get all the money? It should be easy math at least for the cabin attendant category since that should be going to just one person. I'll admit that "A worker told me ..." isn't exactly proof but we don't have anything better.

Thank you for doing the numbers calc on the food costs. I wish my food at home went down by as much.

In addition to wanting my tips going to the positions that provide actual service, i.e. cabin attendant not laundry, I want my tips going to my people within those positions that *I* interact with. I don't want any of my money going to a different cabin attendant because someone else gave mine a low rating. Or, Royal pocketing some of the tip money. p.s. I haven't been on my starter cruise yet.

Well, it is a bigger problem when you stiff people than when you give them extra money. I used to spend a few weeks a year in Germany on business. There were those situations where Germans would tip but answers were vague on how much, like a taxi. So I learned to hand over a cash tip that I thought was good using small bills. Then they'd look at it and hand me back most of the money keeping what they thought was a good tip. I'd take it without fuss happy that I'd tipped the right amount. I'd also gotten my bosses permission to tip 15% of the bottom-line price at restaurants. Why? Not because that is 'what I know', but because I got better service and I returned to the same places.

It would have never occured to me that there were any cabins without a fridge. Another example of where I got lucky when I booked.

That is horrible! With prices having gone up unless you wait awhile to take your trip you might still be out money.

I guess they would have to pay close attention to the photo during that type of check.

That would make sense to have it done ahead of time. Each cabin could have a printout of their special requests and that could be handled during the change-over cabin clean. They'd even be removing the extension cords from rooms that don't need them anymore, so then they could just use them right away in another cabin. I've read lots of people say here that their pre-boarding special requests were ignored. Note, I still plan do those special requests pre-boarding. Seems to me that if I wait until we're onboard to request for example CPAP stuff they would be allowed to say, "We are out. Too bad, so sad." But, if I requested it ahead of time I could point out that I requested it ahead of time and they need to find one. The cruise for us AND the cabins on either side would be ruined if he didn't have his CPAP.

Someone could be tossed overboard deliberately. Murderer could then scan their seapass card.

I think that "I found something to eat every night" is not an endorsement. That is what I say when we go a restaurant I don't like, but we go because DH or DD really like it.

I had to ask. It was 10.

And it used to be that only the upper middle class cruised. I grew up in an upper middle class neighborhood, and while some parents cruised it was a Big Deal and certainly not something they did every year. I never knew a kid that was taken along. But, there seems to be a lot more cruise ships now. They'll have empty spaces unless they expand the market some other way. Which means prices will have to come down. An interesting idea might be for them to say, "The price is $$$ and it comes with $$ spending credits." Sort of like cheap comedy club tickets that came with a two drink minimum.

When my friend brought them home from Disney, I was spending 50% of my nights in hotel rooms for work. There are internet instructions on how to find bed bugs. They bite people sleeping in the bed, and then go hide during the day. Headboard as mentioned earlier and near there are prime spots. Also, on the edges of the mattress and box springs are those ... I don't remember what they're called, but move those around and look on the underside. And, yes, the black light does show you disgusting things. Which is why the very first thing I do is to use two fingers to put the bedspread(s) in a corner and then wash my hands. At least in hotel rooms, they aren't cleaned (I don't know about cruises). Think about what happens in hotel rooms. Stuff you see on the walls you can mostly forget,

Think about the definition of nickel and diming. After all, it isn't "ten dollars and twenty dollars." It means getting small amounts here and there.

Don't bring your luggage in until you check. Turn off the lights as much as possible and look for tiny brown lines around the bed. They are like ants following a track and the brown is dried blood. I have a tiny blacklight flashlight about the size of my thumb. I use that to look for them in the places they can hide in the edges of the mattress. They'll be bright spots. Look in the drawers with the blacklight. If you don't have a blacklight with you, #1 - #2 should most likely be good. I'm a gadget gal, so I think its cool to have an excuse for another gadget. I have a friend that brought them home from Disney. You can get them anywhere since the person before you might have brought them. She spent months and $XXXX to get rid of them at her home.

Someone joked about an ice cream package. But, I would totally get that for the girls. DD's friend that is going with us told her about the max number of ice cream cones she ate in one day on a cruise. DD wants to beat the number. I think this was with free pool-side self-serve

I guess I should say I've only noticed when it was something important. Things I know have been left, My High school Class ring, possibly there have been two rings. One of DD's stuffed animals that was loved and a part of a set. A book I was in the middle of reading, This sort of applies, since it was me hustling everyone to the car, my Dad's favorite pillow. We were coming back from my Grandfather's funeral and we'd spent the night. Wake up to hear that an ice storm is on the way. It was right before Thanksgiving and I said, " I am NOT spending Thanksgiving in (podunk town halfway between DFW and MSP)"

And now they think that some of the paralysis cases attributed to Polio were actually from DDT.

If something is left, it is always something important. We clear a corner of the room, then pile all the hotel's bedding in the corner. All the hotel's towels go in the floor of the shower. That makes it easier to spot our stuff. About 10% of the time we find stuff left by a previous guest. We also triple-check each others work. (Each person does a complete sweep of a cleared room). I'd put myself around 9.2 anal also. Some people might think I'd be more, but I sometimes forget to do a pre-move in bedbug check.

Me, too. I think part of it is that I just hate to drive. Well, driving isn't really the problem, I hate commuting. So, I'd really rather work than commute. And I often work Sat and Sun mornings until the family wakes up.

The photo of the small cruise terminal reminds me of my local DMV. In fact if someone had captioned that "Photo of our new DMV office", I'd have yawned.

Yeah, I recently got a copy of my marriage license and when they handed it to me I thought it was the receipt since it went straight from the printer to my hands. I don't even think it has a watermark. But they assured me it was official.

In the past, I normally didn't get travel insurance. I think maybe once or twice I got it. Now we are older and our parents are older and we have a child. And we are going on a cruise rather than driving within the U.S. Our two major concerns are Medical since we'll be out of the country, and cancelling the trip because something happens with one of our parents. When we bought the cruise I signed up for the Royal Caribbean insurance mainly because that seemed easiest at that point. I thought I'd cancel that if I got something else later. I looked into Allianz annual since technically we have three trips planned for next year. But the other two are driving trips, staying in hotels and if cancelled at worst we'd be out one night's hotel stay. So, it wasn't worth the increased cost. The price is the same whether it is from Allianz or Royal. Does any have a recommendation? Do either of those pay medical directly?