ZoeyVictoria

We were also on that cruise, and agree with your opinions. I also was not happy to book Fantastica and be assigned to ATD. I waked all over the ship and asked four different employees for guidance before finally finding the mostly-hidden area to request a change to early dining. I explained what I wanted and gave a reason, and was told, “No problem! ATD starts at 5:15, just go then”. I told her I had been on the ship in May and had seen the ATD lines. She laughed and found a table for us in early dining. People watching was fantastic from that table. Several very large groups kept us well entertained. The only odd experience we had was at the time cabins became available on embarkation day. Several elevators stopped and doors opened to reveal not an inch of space. Finally one stopped that was only about two-thirds full. My SO stepped into the elevator and was told, “We are full. You have to get off the elevator.” That did not happen. We have sworn off three night cruises a few times, but every once in a while one fits into our schedule so perfectly that we go anyway. We go knowing that it will be a different experience from longer cruises, and with adjusted expectations This cruise was actually better than expected. My favorite memory of the cruise was early in the morning of the second day at Ocean Cay. I was off the ship within twenty minutes of the gangway opening, and walked to Lighthouse Bay. Very few people were on the beach, with only three of us in the water. I started my day floating in that gorgeous water with the ship on one side and the lighthouse on the other. Beautiful morning.

Yes, it was the only one that didn’t conflict with something we already had booked. Dates ranged from November 27 through mid-December. I believe there was a total of 6-8 choices. We realized quickly that there was only that one possibility and called immediately to make sure we got it. The rep said, “There is plenty of availability”. I didn’t keep the list, sorry.

Thank you, Calnev1! I have not had an Amex offer in quite a while, probably because of the $1,735 I have already received in cruise offers since 2016. But I had the 15% off on my Chase Freedom and have paid off my December cruise that was due in early September.

I received that offer and thought it was nothing, but called anyway. Four nights on the Serenade for $395 total for two ($89 pp plus port fees/taxes). Definitely better than the math would indicate, and I am glad I called. My first call was made before my SO was awake, so I called again and the second rep had the same price. Not an isolated error made by the first rep. We booked the cruise.

This is a for a comped Prime casino cruise on the Wonder in January. $27 decrease, wonder if that will be a refund.

I have no idea, lol. We are retired, so no kids who would be interested, and live in a condo, so no room for extra or silly things. We might be the only people with senses of humor odd enough to hide them on other cruise lines.

Don’t worry about it. There is no way thousands of debarking passengers are going to miss “bagfuls” of ducks 🙄

Keep checking at odd times of day. I booked two cruises for July (MSC and Royal) a month in advance. Just one cabin became available each time, priced lower than they had been. One popped up at 1 a.m. and one at 5 a.m.

There are fewer cruises to Labadee than Coco Cay, so I would take advantage of the Labadee option. But the Monday - Friday cruises have a more relaxed vibe than sailing over a weekend. This is a tough one!

How cute! We don’t look for ducks, but when we find them accidentally we take them home and hide them on our next cruise, on a different cruise line and ship. There has been only one we kept for ourselves, but I would want to keep one of the crocheted ducks. This is the only one we ever kept:

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I earned an instant certificate a few months ago that had all of six cruises listed. Five of them were out of Europe, so we are taking the single choice in Florida. I would have been furious if there was nothing at all out of Florida. My offers have consistently been $100 off. I could have actually used one for a quick, last-minute cruise on the Serenade last week, but the effective dates were all October 1 - December 31. This week’s offer is effective September 1 and is $100 off plus $25 free play, so I guess I can say they are improving 🙄

We have our first cove balcony booked on the Celebration in October because of all the rave reviews. It is on the port side in the middle of the ship, so no lifeboats above us, and hopefully no other issues.

Is the Dream docked at the pier closest to the (now renamed) Mega store? We have a cooking class at 11:30 on the Celebration in October, so not much time to do anything that afternoon. We went to Mega a couple of years ago, but the only thing we bought was cookies, based on the picture on the package since we do not speak Spanish. The cookies were good, but ended up costing $23 because we needed a taxi to get there.

I wonder if they hope that assigning guilt to Royal will somehow assuage the grandfather’s guilt?

I am booked on the October 1 Celebration and just looked to see what is available. I had been checking frequently, but once the prices were quite a bit higher than I paid, there was no point and I quit checking. Cove balconies were sold out a long time ago, so I was surprised to see eight available today. Other than Columbus Day being a federal holiday, I had no idea there was such a thing as “fall break”. Interesting thread, thank you!

I used to like Heidi. We were on a ship for four days last week, with a row of four Heidi machines set at max volume, and all four were constantly busy. It will take a long time to get that song out of my head and be ready to play again.

Thank you. I have no plans to go to the water park, but always appreciate hearing about any kind of a price drop.

We are certainly not tech, just grateful for the help to remember things we are likely to forget. We are 71 and 74, so who knows what the percentage of forgotten thoughts might be these days 😂

We are extremely neat (almost OCD level) and don’t mind using towels more than once, but it is still somewhat disappointing to walk into a cabin at the end of the day that looks exactly the way we left it. It was a special bonus to have that second visit, and we do miss it.

So far, so good. I have never missed a monthly vitamin D capsule, changing an a/c filter, or checking in for a cruise. And my grocery lists are always complete. The only person we really miss whike on cruises is Alexa 😂

I keep a spreadsheet for cruises, with a column for total cost and one for balance due, along with the date. But my usual method for any kind of reminder is to tell Alexa. She never misses a reminder, and between the verbal reminder, email, and text, there is no way I can miss it.

Yes, but it was time not spent on planning dinner, cooking, serving, and cleaning up!

I have won the free bingo cards twice. Both times, the first thing they tried to do when I picked up the cards was sell me an “upgrade” for $23. And both times, the game was at 6 p.m. on the last night.

There was a group of about six adults in the hot tub inside the solarium on the Explorer last year. They had an unhappy infant in there with them, and laughed every time she/he screamed. We gathered up our things to leave and by the time we passed the hot tub, the baby was gone and there were two people from Security talking to the remaining adults in the group. Off-topic: That was the cruise we saw Security in action four times. Some people next to us were kicked off the island when two large groups (15-20 each) clashed on Labadee. They visited the cabin next door to us with two very minor children (approximately 5 and 9 years old) who were screaming and jumping against the walls from one bed to the other after 11 p.m., while their parents enjoyed their own cabin 6-8 cabins down the hall. And there was a chair sitting outside another cabin for a Security member the last 36 hours of the cruise.