Suzieanna

How wonderful! seriously, I think she is great. Loving the swimming costume and the rubber ring!

HAHA! Yes I do... well, it's more of a sick to the pit of my stomach feeling really. But it's my own fault!!!!

I see a "WOW!!!!!!!!! £600 ONLY!!!!!!! you can look this gorgeous on our Riviera Deck in your straw hat too!" and I get very excited and then set my heart on going on the trip:-

then I realise that the week I want to go on is £800;

then I realise that's the price for a deck 2 inside - and a D2 is £1,400pp;

then I remember its pp - so x by 2 for my husband - £2,800;

then I remember my little girlie - so now we are up to £4,000;

then I remember flights x 3 to get off this Island £4,600;

then 2 x stopovers £4,800;

then suitcases £4,920 .

So, my £600 is suddenly £5,000 (or $7,500 approx - and I haven't even so much as sniffed a Pina Colada, bought a ticket for BIRG or paid an entry fee into Chops yet......................................... OUCH!!

You can do it!!

I spend a lot of time on this board. My family are nowhere near as excited as me... I bet they dont even know what ports we are visiting!

Whereas me - I know which bus to get, what the best local food is, what the coolest things to do are. I probably know Rome and Barcelona and 100 other European cities (through google maps) better than I do the town down the road from my own :D

I also try to get myself ship shape. It's not going very well to be honest. Less than 3 months to go and I am still carrying my winter blubber :eek:

Am I right in assuming that only difference in the ultimate package and the one below it is the coffee and the fresh orange juice. ie. are the alcohol choices the same?

Alcohol................ the cause of most arguments since time began!

There is one massive difference between what you might expect to pay in a fancy hip n trendy bar - you are probably only there for a few hours in one night, so can write the extravagance off to a certain degree. When you are on a ship for 14 nights, and maybe paying for a family of 4 those extra 15 dollars a "round" very quickly add up.

The price difference isnt even so much as about comparing RCI bar to a local bar.... its about comparing RCI bar prices now - to RCI bar prices of the very recent past.

We have been on quite a few cruises, only one RCI in the past admittedly, and I will be honest - it was the price that has kept us away for so long. We are not short of money, neither are we cheap - but we don't like the feeling of being screwed over. Royal C customer services cannot even confirm if the ONE drink my husband can tolerate is even part of their package. And now we have to ask how much a drink costs to find out if we are "allowed it" ???!!!

It confused me as well! I thought why would somebody spend 40 dollars a day on water? I think the site I saw did say the price was per day as well.... obv. a typo!

Bring your swimming stuff... There is cleopatras pool and it is very good for the skin!

Thanks for responding so quickly Petra. I am going to look out for them for sure.

Isnt Cruise Critic great! Learning something new every day!

Thanks for your post, fab pictures ... I didnt know you could go up in the monument of the discoveres?

The tuk tuk looks fun! was it expensive?

I am quite old fashioned and like paperbacks. I have about 4 electronic reader Ipad type things, but still keep going back to the old ways! I like folding the corner of the page down, I like the fact that I can leave it poolside and not worry about it getting wet (or worse) I also like that if I find a real gem I can pass it on to somebody else to read.

I bring about 3 books and will leave them on the ship, so if you see turned down pages you know I have been in that Library!

I think the real reason I don't like electronic books though - is that I am an absolute flop at remembering to charge things up!

I think this is quite a hard question to answer, because one persons "must do" - is somebody elses "blah"

example - I dont like Florence in Italy. Nobody can understand why I dont like it, so I could not recommend somebody to go there - yet lots of people love it

My experience of cruise excursions are that they are expensive, esp if you are paying for more than one person!

There are 3 things which might help though:-

1) If you are a solo traveller or mobility is an issue, then you know you will be safe on a cruise excursion (ie you cant get lost or miss the train!)

2) If it says Port X (for attraction Y), you can safely guess that attraction Y is a quite some distance away

3) Research. Find out what you want to see, and how easy it is to get to it before committing yourself to anything.

If I was going to Ireland I would for sure want to go and kiss the blarney stone!

that would be about right - haha! All my meals are booked for around the 7pm time..

I love the music of the Beach Boys, but from the (albeit tiny) bit I know of backstory - I dont suppose its the best choice

Thanks for posting. I have been wondering when they are going to announce our entertainment.

Sounds like one of those running around and barefeet floating dance things. My daughter will love it.... my husband?? probably not! I remain open minded and will enjoy whatever is going on.

Thanks for your quick response icsys

no OBC for me then :( ah well, it's what I expected, so no real shock... its always good to ask things though - dont ask, definitely dont get!

My soft sides skatewheeled case was murdered on a baggage carousel at Manchester Airport, and they very kindly replaced it with a hard shelled skatewheel type. This case has been everywhere with me since, I have never seen another one that even looked a bit like it, and it has been great.

It is quite heavy though because of the hard shell, so I have to be extra careful in that it weights about 5kg empty!!

It takes up a lot of room in the boot of the car when we are driving to airports, so it sometimes means that someone else's case has to go in a passenger seat.

I have a cabin size suitcase that has 4 spinning wheels, and to be honest I struggle with that a little. I find when it is on 4 wheels it is my elbow that is doing all the work in pushing it along, as opposed to the muscles that works when a case is being pulled on 2 wheels.... Does that make sense?

Exciting stuff! Yes, I am ready to ROCK!!

All this not knowing though - it is probably what it used to be like in the days before the internet when you just went along for the ride, so to speak - and we managed okay!

I can remember my first ever vacation as an adult - it was to Majorca. I didnt even know Majorca was an Island! Yet, thanks to Google I know more about European cities than I do about my own home town...... and the more I know, the more I want to to know.

Still no word on entertainment yet???

I know - I feel the same. Not interested in cheap wine or beer, so the package was not really a major plus for me.

How does a person get on board credit? is it offered as an incentive to book - or is it something you are given after you have booked?

I am pleased you got a good result - and I am glad that you have posted here to highlight to people who may not be aware of this situation.

I think I would be worried if I was on this sailing, not so much for the fact that there is building work going on - but more the fact that something I value quite highly as part of my vacation (music and dancing) is being taken away to provide something I am ambivalent about (gambling and shopping)

If I wanted to go to a casino every night as my main entertainment, I would go to Las Vegas.

I hate moaning - and I am not averse to change, but I do expect a close approximation of the product that I spent lord knows how much time researching - and the high K's paying for!

Thank you so much for that very informative and detailed response!! I appreciate it a lot! If I ever see you I will buy you a large drink xxx :)

Thanks again

Suzanne

Thanks for that wonderful review! I bet it took you ages!

I heard that some seats in 270 are not great to say the least for watching shows. I am wondering if you would be kind enough to tell us if you experienced issues and if so, which ones are particularly bad. I always seem to find the worst seat in the house! Thanks in advance. Suz

Darn it! I think I knew the answer anyway though....... maybe I will go to the scrapbook class or Art Seminar 101 instead!