snorkelman

So, since I am diamond and will be sailing on Oasis, how does the free wifi work?

Do I just pick what day I want to get my free wifi and it automatically starts the 24 hour clock?

Do I have to coordinate it with someone at guest services, or is there some pre-arranged day of the sailing when my 24 hours becomes valid?

My wife brings plenty of full sizes stuff for her and our two girls. She has a small hard suitcase that she puts all that stuff into. We drive to the port so we don't care how many bags we bring, and the small, hard suitcase can easily be set on to of our regular wheeled suitcases when we return and have to go out to our car (if we do not use a porter).

I appreciate everyone's feedback. I am learning some things from this thread. Other things I have personally experienced some things differently than others, but it is nice to see feedback.

I never considered the foreign currency aspect.

Booking in advance is a great thing to do. Not everyone can do it, and the longer you wait, the more likely the cabin selection is reduced, and prices tend to increase. One concern is if there is a large group that targets your sailing, hundreds of rooms can disappear very quickly, day after day.

Not true in my experience.

 

I have received price drops and additional OBC credit after cruise was paid in full but before final payment deadline.

I personally would view OBC for a price drop as a negative. In the event I already had adequate OBC from other sources, I may not need any more, and then I either lose 5% or have to tangle with the chaos at the end of the cruise to get it back without losing the 5%.

What exact "negatives" are you referring to?

It is my understanding that you will not get a price drop after you have made a final payment (with limited exceptions such as maybe within 48 hours)

If you want to change the date of sailing, you will have lost much more money, as not 100% will be transferable.

Not everyone keeps liquid assets in a checking/savings account, but even for those who do, that small amount of interest could be a negative for paying off early.

I only see a lot of negatives.

Other than mentally knowing that you are committed (which could be a "pro" for some), why would you ever pay early?

You might be an alcoholic if you start a thread with the title ...

In the past, we used the 50K redemption to get $1000 off on a 3 or 4 day cruise. However, since the never ending BOGOHO prices, that redemption is now worth half as much.

Yeah, 120k points was worth a $1200 reduction today

I had 122k points. My wife and I put them all towards paying our upcoming 7 day cruise on the Oasis.

After auto gratuities, taxes and everything else, I will only be paying $967 for the two of us.

Plus I will still be getting $100 OBC from my TA.

Curious what others did with their points.

I almost did OBC, but figured that I probably would just waste some on stuff I really don't care about.

There are a LOT of things tied to formal nights that generate money - not just pictures.

The spa makes a ton of sales with hair cuts, coloring, facials, etc.

Passengers also tend to order wine and other expensive alcoholic drinks when they are dressed nice for formal nights.

I don't give it a second thought. I personally will walk past the sanitizer machine by the Windjammer entrance if I happened to have used the restroom just outside the Windjammer, as I will have just washed my hands with soap.

That being said, I assume that the ladles and tongs used my passengers to take food from the buffet line onto your own plate have been contaminated with germs, and I will use my own personal sanitizer when I sit down, before I eat.

...

That's Atlantis in the distance.

I have walked from Atlantis back to the ship once when I was bored and had time to kill.

Listen, if you are eating dinner in the dining room at a table with other people there is no way that you can expect to roll in at 8:00 or 8:30 and expect to make a 9:00 show. If you eat that late, you need to see the earlier show. Even 8 is unrealistic because others at your table may order stuff, send it back, you all chat, things get drawn out.

Now, if you eat at a table for 2, then yes you can tell your waiter that you are trying to make a show, but even that will not work for dinner at 8:30 and a show at 9.

Why are people jumping all over the OP? She is just relating an incident that happened on this ship.

Relax. This is exactly how rumors start and how certain websites grab them and repeat them as fact. There is nothing wrong in questioning the accuracy of the details. I never called OP a liar. I certainly don't believe suitcases were floating. When one part of a story is questionable, it makes sense to question the other parts. Here we have multiple people reporting that some flooding took place. Nobody in this thread has corroborated that the suitcases were floating.

I believe that Jim Walker's Cruise Law is run buy a lawyer who makes his living suing cruiselines. He often has articles about stuff that happens. For instance, he had an article in January 2015 about this same ship where he reported that "A passenger says that the cruise ship was partially flooded during a heavy rain storm. The Coast Guard says a broken water pipe caused the problem."

I believe he takes liberty in his reporting and often just repeats stuff passengers claim. If he reports this incident, I hope he relies on more than the questionable "facts" being spread.

It appears that nobody in this thread knows for certain whether suitcases were floating. The Suite occupants may have inflated the story when they relayed it. That is common when someone may hope for free stuff from a cruiseline.

What were the sail dates of this repo cruise?

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Did you provide your negative feedback about Cats being boring to RCI or only here on cruise critic?

I also question the veracity of this allegation. Floating suitcase? Sorry, but without pictures I will simply not believe that. Therefore, I must question whether any of this is true.

I am an attorney and had a trial scheduled for a month before a cruise, but due to inclement weather that closed the courthouse during the days of trial, the judge rescheduled the trial on his own without coordinating with anyone. i didn't file a notice of unavailability because my cruise was scheduled for after the trial date. Judge picks the week of my cruise. I filed motion but judge didn't care.

Guess what? Being ordered by a federal judge to attend a trial is NOT covered by RCI's travel insurance.

My law firm had to eat the couple thousand dollar cost.

I prefer boogie myself, but I agree with the advice you gave. I feel that pretty much anyone with any athletic ability should be able to self-start on standup after a lesson or certainly by the end of a week with no lessons. That is the biggest benefit on the stand-up side because that is the only requirement to being able to go during the "advanced" time. You get so much more time on the water when you can go during "advanced" so it really is helpful to be able to learn that early in the cruise.

IMO it makes no difference whether you have ever surfed or snowboarded before because they are completely different. Those with that experience simply have experience with balance and adjusting, but the foot placement and weight distribution is not the same, so you really are not at any disadvantage if you have no such experience. Now, once you get the hang of standup on the flowrider, then experience on snowboard or surfing in the ocean can come into play when it comes to doing tricks.

Don't RCI ships have the Coke Freestyle machines? If so, then there are a LOT of options.

Isn't there a feature on the phones that RCI rents you that includes a GPS that is accurate up to 15 feet?

It is pointless to attack the cruise line for reducing costs while demanding lower fares. I don't complain about the price of a cruise either. Nor do I attack the CEO for wanting to do away with last minute discounts either.

I agree. People in general like to post in threads feeling sympathetic for the "little guy" because it makes them feel good, but I am confident nobody ITT who thinks this is a travesty is doing anything about it other than whining in this thread.