barbeyg

Even before our free Diamond drinks, we never bought the drink package. There were several days where we would have 4-6 drinks, but there were also days we were onshore and didn’t drink nearly as much onboard. If you drink less onboard on those days, the package is more pricey. If you still drink the same, or get bottled water, espresso coffee drinks in addition to alcohol, etc., then the package could be your best bet.

I would def recommend conferring with IT. We have added precautions on our laptops due to HIPAA concerns. Addressing while at home is easier than trying to figure out issues while onboard. Have a great cruise! 🙂

As others have said, have good insurance, credit cards, and accessible money in the bank, if traveling internationally especially. No one can prepare for every contingency, and trying to would cause unnecessary stress. Only you can decide what your tolerance level is for international travel. 🙂 That said, we currently have multiple cruises booked and two of them internationally this year alone. While I keep up with the news, and stay current with what is going on, it’s mostly clickbait sensationalizing these days. 🤷🏻‍♀️ If every variant of some illness had run rampant (like they constantly warn), we’d all have succumbed by now.

130 posts in before I stumbled across this. 🤦‍♀️ Have a great cruise, y’all! Thanks for taking us along, Andrew! 🙂

I think sometimes you almost have to go back a page and refresh on here. I’ve missed stuff before, and KNOW I was picking up where I left off. The site can be wonky at times, IMO. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Check them out. Amazing!

I agree with OB. I really appreciate your taking the time to share here. If there is anyone on the ship (or boarding) and lurking on this thread, please step up. This is a friendly, encouraging thread, unlike some of the others here. 🙂 Thanks, @CSHS1979 for taking the time to share John’s pics here. Really appreciate it, and WOW on the bridge climb photos. They are beautiful! 😍

Back then, we were booking in December mostly. And I can’t remember what the reason was for RCI dropping Labadee from our two cruises that were booked. Some kind of issue there. We will make it one day! 🙂 And since we are retiring, there won’t be a work schedule we have to adhere to. 😁

I can’t answer your question, but you may get a better response to your question in the Ports of Call/Mexican Riviera board here.

I just assumed it was just our luck with CocoCay. 😂 They said it was high winds each time. Labadee, once was weather, the other two times were changes to the itinerary to remove Labadee after we had the cruise booked, if I remember correctly (long time ago). And we haven’t had an itinerary with Labadee included since. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Before the dock, we missed 3 of 4 stops there due to weather. After the dock, we’ve not missed one stop there. And we’ve missed 3 stops at Labadee as well. Still haven’t made it to Labadee. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Thanks for sharing your pics with us. We’ve really enjoyed them! 🙂 Have a great time in Australia!

We also look for variety in ports and sailing different areas. We mainly sail the Caribbean when there is a great price on a suite, or on a cruise that others we have met here are sailing. But we prefer sailing other areas. The majority of our cruises are still with RCI. We really enjoy the energy and the shows, and will continue to sail them when there is a bargain to be found, but I agree that the itineraries have gotten stale. 🤷🏻‍♀️ We just booked another B2B, sailing the Caribbean, with X. Because the price was right on a suite. We now search multiple lines for the best bang for our buck. RCI making changes we didn’t care for, including $$$ increases, encouraged us to do that. Guess we have them to thank for it. 🙂

And the people working in the trenches have to deal with the angry results of their ivory tower decision-making. 🙄 I feel sorry for the employees who have to face the angry travelers.

I think most of this was around back then too, but if not, some “do ahead” planning: 1. Book any specialty dining ahead of time, and/or dining packages, if you want those, 2. Book the shows that need to be booked ahead, usually released the beginning of the month before your cruise, 3. If going to CocoCay, it has been amped up since you last cruised. If you want to get into the Beach Club, water park, or other additional pay area, watch the prices and book when on sale. You don’t have to pay to enjoy CocoCay, so I suggest watching videos to see if you are interested in any pay areas, 4. if Diamond or above, a # of drinks are available free each day. Lost of threads about those. Also, look at the drink packages and see if those would be of interest to you. Have fun on your cruise. We are sailing Symphony for the first time ourselves next Feb. 🙂

I understand and think that would be the hardest part for me too, on an extended cruise. 🙂 One of the ways I “love others” is to serve/ cook for them. And I enjoy coming up with something that tastes great…and uses healthier/better ingredients.

I think many businesses, especially the Travel industry, has beaten that “staffing shortage” excuse to death. 🤷🏻‍♀️ That, and supply shortage. After cutting them slack for quite some time, I see the issues as trying to squeeze the budget more and more, to see how far they can push profits before they start losing customers. It’s much like restaurants on land. We personally eat out less often, and in better quality restaurants these days, I’m an excellent cook, and love cooking. Most restaurants use substandard, or lesser quality, ingredients these days, and it shows in the food they offer. That’s why we are seeing restaurant chain closures. People have decided they aren’t willing to spend on inferior products in those restaurants. There will be a tipping point to cruises too. If there isn’t, like many others, we will sail less, and spend our $$$ on a better travel product. We aren’t the only ones who would rather reserve our travel budget for better choices. 🙂

👍🏼 🙂 And the alternative bars might have a better view.

Other lines have gone up too. What we have discovered is that all lines have particular cruises that are less expensive, at different times. You have to hunt for them. By doing that on multiple lines, you can find more bargains. For example, we love Celebrity’s suite class (much better than RCI), and shop until we find a great price. We don’t really have a preference on when we go, other than I won’t cruise the Caribbean during the summer (after decades on the Gulf Coast, this Tennessean hates the heat then). We found an itinerary we loved on NCL Prima from Iceland to GB, sailing the Norwegian Fjords. It was priced less than RCI’s older, smaller ships doing similar itineraries. If we had only been willing to sail RCI, we would have paid more, for a lesser experience. So yes, the more lines we are willing to consider, the better bargains we will find. 🙂 At least, that’s what we are finding.

We are sailing the occasional other line now. RCI is still our preference, but we are booked up till Feb 2026 with decent group pricing. We do have a ceiling of what we are willing to pay. We don’t max out our benefits for D+, but do factor that in. Jason Liberty still thinks RCI is priced too low compared to land trips. 🙄 Guess he is comparing them to Disney…we don’t travel there because of the ridiculous pricing. If we can’t get decent group prices going into 2026, we will travel more on land. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Which is less expensive for us, contrary to what Jason thinks. We cruise because we enjoy it, but we do enjoy land travel as well.

And posted about it on their feed on X (Twitter)?

One of us should be able to take care of that. Hoping all goes well, Laura!

I have to confess we enjoy staying onboard some port days too. 😁 And I would never bet against anyone saying this is the last world cruise by RCI.

One of the reasons RCI stays at the top, IMO. They get that, obviously. 🙂And provided two options.

We would want ports. Lots of interesting places to visit. But that’s us. 🤷🏻‍♀️

They also have to take into consideration the number of sea days, though. 🙂 Option 2 could be interesting on TicTic, with all the sea days and potential drama resulting (for TicTocers not even onboard 🙄), but I would be surprised if people chose that many sea days after so many thus far. I agree though, that 50% off may be enticing for some. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. 👍🏼