livingonthebeach

You'll have to complete the cruise before you can take advantage of the Diamond Plus level though -- unless you sweet talk the Loyalty Ambassador but they mostly don't let you have the benefits until you have completed the cruise even if you make a new level while on the cruise.

Here is the loyalty points chart:

Fair enough. Some of the passengers can get unruly, wild, obnoxious and drunk, however we don't have to deal with them unless they are traveling with us. We do have to deal with the CSRs though, unless we go through a good TA.

I see them here on the beach wearing their speedos all the time -- I leave them alone too 😇

That's smart as it happens in the US as well especially tourist areas. The thieves can spot the tourists right away. When I lived in France you could spot an American tourist from miles away. Here in the Miami area the thieves target rental cars, hotels and shopping malls.

I have sailed on three different RCI ships after the lockdown and didn't encounter any major snafus. The first one I had to wear a mask indoors -- not fun. Other than that, supplies were plentiful, food was good and service was up to par. I did enjoy my Celebrity cruises more than RCI but haven't been on Celebrity recently. Can't say the same for Carnival, NCL and Princess. I want to try MSC for something different especially if they still have the matching loyalty levels. Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw and not the actual cruise company. It's a good idea to try different lines before giving up on cruising altogether. Just my two cents worth.....

Yes and out of quite a bit of money as well - poor but fashionable. Those designer clothes don't come cheap. The ships have overpriced stuff as well. They must have brought some clothes to the room other than what they were wearing, I would imagine.

The edit feature disappears after some time -- not sure if it's 10 or 15 minutes.

There's a lot of pick pocketers as well trunk breakins. The takeaway is don't put your wallet in your back pocket or hanging out of a purse and never leave luggage in the trunk of a car. I had friends that got their luggage stolen in France and the police told them it happens a lot.

I've heard of this happening in Europe a lot. They seek out Americans because they are known to leave stuff in the trunk. I never understood why you would leave stuff there overnight. This could happen anywhere in the world but it seems it happens more to Americans in Europe.

I guess if you can buy a fake negative covid test you can buy a fake positive test and get your money back if not insured.

Correct -- and there are fake tests and fake vaccine cards as well. Nothing prevents people from lying on the health questionnaire -- they could have a myriad of communicable illnesses like chicken pox, mumps, hiv, hepatitis, legionnaire's disease, norovirus, tuberculosis, regular flu, rabies, shingles, zika, ebola, etc. etc. etc

Same for South Florida -- occasionally, you see some wearing a mask but for the most part no one wears one and they are not required and haven't been for quite some time. Recently I went to Michigan and didn't see anyone wearing a mask on Mackinac Island. Didn't see any at the Detroit airport or on the plane either. At the beginning of the restart of cruising masks were required indoors (Freedom) they lifted the mask thing the day we got back to Miami. I'll never cruise again on a ship that requires masks. I'm okay with testing but masks -- no way.

Yeah and while we're at it, let's ask him why the CSRs don't know their a$$ from a hole in the ground.

If you like cheap bubbly then by all means attend if it doesn't conflict with any other activities.. Think they stopped giving out notepads and the like. Rubbing elbows with Pinns is an added bonus 🤣

That's exactly why you shouldn't ask an attendant -- just follow the directions posted above. It works -- done it several times on different ships.

If you booked direct with RCI and don't get your desired results, call and call again. Lately I've found there are a lot of new CSRs that leave a lot to be desired.

I've found that right after the restart you could basically name your price --- not so much now since demand has increased. It all boils down to how many cabins are available on which ship at which price which is impossible to know. Congrats on your winning bid!!!

I hear you -- I don't understand it either -- guess it's complicated. This go round I'll stick with my non-discounted purchase and pretend I ordered a few speciality coffees onboard that I accidentally split. Oh and those coffees have about four or five names so I guess it's justified.

Maybe not....but would be nice if they could --- and then if all you wanted was the cash, the place where you make donations on the ship can walk you through how to get it. 😇

Just go to any slot machine and cash out your OBC for cash.

The before dinner cocktail was the Saint Peter's Spritzer. Made with aperol, st-germain liqueur and I can't remember the rest 🤣

Really? You asked and they gave you a breakdown? Was it in writing? Do you mind sharing?