alfaeric

It’s always funny to KNOW that people notice and are so bothered by the Pin name tag. Add that to the lanyard, it’s like a game of people who care so much about what I wear. I have had people roll their eyes at me as if they already know 100% because of what I have on. Glad it works so well. lol. instead of how amazing the sunset is, you notice what others have on. It’s your money, I guess.

If they are overspending as much as you think, they will end up struggling to put food on the table. I'm not sure why you are so convinced that so many people are going into *that* much debt for a week vacation. Some, sure. A ship full? Every week? For all cruise lines? No. And they are the same ones who are buying RV's at a really high rate, too? No. I'm still convinced that for a majority of cruisers, even when they are using a CC to pay for it, they have the disposable income over a year to deal with it. Feel free to be a pessimist about people and the economy. But people are spending money in multiple sectors of the economy, and cruise ships are sailing full at really high prices- so high that people are constantly complaining about it. And cruise ships fares are driven more by demand than basic inflation. Demand of a luxury item. Still, if people want to blame anyone for the high fares, it's the people spending that much money on cruises. The cruise lines are just taking advantage of this time period.

It's non zero, sure, but they also won't be paying super premium prices like we are seeing on non premium cruise lines. Previous economic slow downs very much show that. Again, 2009. When you are struggling to put food on the table, it's very unlikely you will be spending $3000/pp for a 7 night cruise.

Just depends on how you see it. Especially remembering when the economy was really bad back in 09 and how cheap cruises were then. So even if they are spending money they don't have, they sure seem to think they will get it soon enough. When you don't have money, you go into debt to survive. When you have it, you go into debt for fun. Forgive me for thinking that spending 2-3x old normal rates to cruise isn't to survive.

Cruises seem to be sailing more full than not, with premium fares. Which tells ME that there are a lot of people out there with disposable income. Far more than we had back in 2009 as we were recovering from the 2008 drop. Seeing really full campgrounds and noting that RV sales are still high (but declining) really tells me the same thing. As well as all of the new reservation requirements just to get into some national parks. Complain all you want about inflation- a lot of people in this economy have a lot of money to spend.

Ship is more full than not? Has happened to us even before COVID.

The true blame if to your fellow cruisers who are willing to pay that kind of money for the cruise. If RCI can charge it, and people are willing to pay it- then they should go for it. They don't cruise for charity's sake. Someday, this post COVID surge will end. I hope. But in the mean time, one has to book as early as possible to get decent deals. The days of last min cheap cruises is over for a while.

Having seen an 80's party on a ship previously, I'm betting you should talk to the Cruise Director about the suggestion. They are the ones who run the entertainment. But I doubt they will change much until the crowds that attend really start to go down. And if the current 80s party results in low crowds, those CD's will tell the others.

Not by much. It was less than $1k addition to move from the 15 day Greenland to the 16 day TA. Very much worth it. And that was comparing our original fare from Feb to the current Jewel fare.

We moved our Greenland cruise from Grandeur to the TA on Jewel to get both Iceland and Greenland. Looking forward to it.

Have to? No. But it sure helps. But the 45-55 days is about right- we have Dec cruises on the Symphony, and they opened up on the same day a week ago. One thing to note- we've had better luck seeing the reservation system on the web vs. the app. No idea why.

But they also did the aerial shows on the longer cruises. Which added up to 5 or 6 shows a week when it was 7 night sailings. The interesting thing to me is that if they are doing 5 shows a week of Hairspary, that prevents some other shows- pretty much a serious headliner on a 3 night cruise (can't do the show twice in a day w/o a sea day). Actually saves a little money.

Do you really think ships are being totally filled, constantly, with just RCI cheerleader? Seems that's not really sustainable. Ships are more sold out than I've ever remembered, based on the lack of price drops as time goes on combined with the increased penalties for canceling. Not that I'm trying to talk people to go back to cruising- quite the opposite. I'd rather have more and more people cancel their trips for any reason- so that prices will go back down. I do find it funny the tone of the MDR food. Every single time it changes, the exact same words are used. Both for the people who were tired of the old menu and wanted something new and are happy, and for those who hate the change and think the new food is horrible. The more things change, the more they stay the same. FWIW, for a 7 day sets of menus, there are only two of them that we don't like- the rest are better than before. Add to that, our ability to go to CK for dinner, and we are all set. To do a full apples to apples comparison- for ships that are "cheaper"- we'd have to throw out all of the C&A benefits we get. And even on Celebrity, that calculation matters a lot.

Wow, we must have been pretty unlucky on our first cruise, as I remember the food as being not all that great. This was in 2001. And the entertainment? Most of what we saw on stage was was the CD staff doing stuff. Since then, the entertainment has gotten light years better- it's been pretty stable for about a decade now- the ability of the stage entertainment to come out to perform is more up to the CD than corporate- so we remind them that we want to see the ones who *want* to perform out in smaller venues. And the food is still way better than that first cruise. For many things I do think corporate greed is a big deal in high prices- but for the travel segment, a big part of that is also demand. If ships were not full, they would not increase prices over time for a released cruise. As far as we can tell, the booked cruises we have are still a really good deal if you get into them really quickly from release. But, unlike in the past, the fares go up constantly over time- the odds of getting a better price has gone way down as well as getting cheap upgrades over time. Maybe it's more TA's booking large group cruises, but I see more full cabins when we try to book than not. The people who I really feel for are the workers- who has had their staff cut and their workload increased- they should most certainly be paid more for what they do. RCI can afford to pay down their debt on schedule and still pay the workers.

Even when there were a lot of people active on a roll call, hardly anyone went to M&M's. I went to one that the drawing for swag meant everyone got something out of the small bag of stuff brought. It is about money and time- what's the point of having it when the roll calls are a tiny fraction of what they used to be, and even then- the people who go are a small fraction of that.

For those of us in selected border states, it may be worth while to get an Enhanced Drivers License. They are allowed for land border crossings to Canada as well as ship travel in the Caribbean. We are getting those as backups for an upcoming cruise while we are within 6 months of the passport expiring. States are Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington.

Bad situation to be in. But it seems as much an issue with the TA as it is with Royal. And I agree that you need to talk to a person as opposed to emails. Or at least email the top boss- which comes up pretty regularly here. That, I bet, would work- as it did for us concerning a much more minor concern. At least they should be able to change it to a future cruise credit.

This needs repeating. We’ve had to do that a few times, and it always works.

Since staying at hotels is the right thing to do before a cruise, some have massive stocks of half and half packets. Just sayn.

Op, yes, you can carry on cartons of cream and half&half. We have been doing that for many years, as we make coffee in our cabin, especially now with the machines in the suites. I’ve never found actual cream for coffee in our 20+ years of cruising. As for the machines in the lounges, yes it’s milk. As it’s supposed to be in cappuccino and other espresso based drinks. Most ports have stores nearby where half and half is easy to find. Heavy cream is more of a challenge, as you have to find a real grocery store.

Odd that the port of Ponce is so open, and so little goes through there. But the act does prevent forgiven flagged ships from moving stuff from the US mainland and Puerto Rico. Which does raise the prices of stuff since anything brought from the US is fixed to specific ships.

Some of the bad side effects is how our territories ship stuff. Like for Puerto Rico, everything has to go through the mainland, which not only hurts trade, it also hampers international aid after a disaster. This treats us citizens very badly.

They know which dining room you eat in every time you eat there. So the waiters who served you will get the tips you pay. I know this as we were eating dinner in the MDR when the head waiter in CK called the section head waiter to talk to us. It's fine to pay more tips-we do, too. But your base tips follow where you eat.

One thing to add- you can go there for boarding lunch. Much better than the W.J. or Park Cafe.

Since you asked how long you will be off the ship, you can leave the port if you want to. Perhaps to buy two bottles of wine, perhaps to tour something. If you plan on that, they will give you some cards or documents that will allow you to skip all but the security line. Can't help with the lunch- we've not done it for a really long time. Not because it was poor, but we just wanted to do something else.