Tatka

We live in the best place in US (unless you absolutely hate snow) 🙂 And we have so many cruises from many ports, we do not even fly/drive to Florida for cruises anymore. As for other lines... We did sail with 8 lines up to pandemic, but we hit D in 2018 (before 2016 we only had 5 cruises with Royal) ... and started cruising more and more with Royal out of Northeast. Our first cruise after restart was on Celebrity Edge as it was the very first ship sailing from US (Florida).... and it was a great cruise. Then 12 (I think) now are all with RCI from NJ or Baltimore.

Nice! That's truly a lot. After pandemic we sail almost exclusively with RCI, but we are "insiders" . 🙂 So single points for us.

Interesting. Block is sent every 70 points (if requested on the ship of course in case they do not have it). They do not send blocks for prepandemic achievements and they did have blocks on ships in 2021. This means you accumulated 420 points through 2022-2023. You either cruised 420 nights, or 210 nights in suite or 140 nights in suite alone.

Do you cruise so much you receive multiple blocks with new design? My last block was from June 2022 cruise and I will be only getting my first colored ones this fall.

No stranger can get on grounds of decent AI hotels in Mexico, DR etc. They are well protected.

We had somewhat nice shows in Iberostars. Again aerials , dancing was not on the same level as even weaker RCI examples. But RCI also has various musical bands in Schooner, Bolero's, Pub.

Very rarely even the best A/I reach the level of entertainment of RCI. Even when it is not the best RCI entertainment.

For us advantage of cruising (at least from US) includes possibility to drive to several ports (4 are relatively close, and several are far away,but still reachable) rather than flying to A/I. Makes it cheaper.

We just got bored in A/I after several times and switched to cruising. It was a wonderful chain Iberostar... and we used it twice during Covid again, but for us cruising is more. Visiting various places Way better entertainment. We LOVE sailaways and many other things about cruising. We LOVE being in a middle of the ocean. Just all around more interesting vacation for us. As D and now D+ we get enough included drinks now.

Thank you. We once were on Queen Mary 2 in 2017 for 4th and docked in Boston. I asked captain Christopher Wells how come we are on (almost) British vessel celebrating Independence from Britain. He proposed gathering tea all over the ship and throwing it overboard.

This is just like everything else.. about avoiding confrontations. It has literally NOTHING to do with languages, People who cruise internationally know one of 6(?) languages used for warnings at least on basic level. And if not ... will they allow bringing alcohol and such? 🙂

We don’t book inside guarantee with RCI as upgrade to ocean under promenade deck would be a downgrade to us. We don’t need a window, but need location. Also with betting system chance of placement to higher category is slim.

I was thinking the same… Infants or even toddlers should not be in whirlpools due to health hazards. Parents just want to enjoy their vacation without thinking about their poor babies. Unacceptable

🙂 Maybe. JFI I’m a backpacker and a camper… heck I’m even a climber and ice climber on occasion. I own jeans and shorts with holes… I just see MDRs on ships as a place where such cloth doesn’t belong.

We absolutely LOVE Anthem solarium. We live there. Even with 1350 kids during thanksgivings it’s a quiet adultplace. It’s the best for us, but also enjoy Oasis, Liberty, Adventure and so on.

We have multiple sailings (about 10) booked up to April 2025 with refundable deposits. Prices are nowhere close to what RCI is offering today. However just recently my DH adjusted price for one of our cruises. If you have a refundable deposit you always can cancel & rebook. Knowing this agency are adjusting prices on such bookings

Yes, it is very safe. I always have it there. 5 cruises a year. Sometimes for work. Completely safe.

I’m referring to use in ports, if one doesn’t need to be 24/7 on line it works. On ship is Starlink

We have regular unlimited T-Mobile plan. It gives it 256 kbp data in 215 countries and free text. Calls cost 25 cents a minute, but I never tried to call. I call via messengers, Google, Viber, Whats App. I read that in Europe much faster data is included.

I am so very sorry.

With Bermuda you need to be ready for any weather during summers. First time in 2011 we went on NCL Dawn for 3 days 2 night in July... There was overcast and rain at times we only saw Sun by midday of day #3. 🙂 Second time also in July 2015 it was similar, but a bit better. In the beginning of September 2019 we had 4 days 3 nights of perfect sunny weather and water was 90F! There was so much fish in snorkeling park by the Fortress ... it was fish soup. 🙂 During the same time hurricane was raging from Bahamas to Canada! Several times we went via Bermuda to Caribbeans in July and August weather was fine. Worst weather we experienced on May 11 of 2016(?) ... It was 66F and crazy rain... This May (almost June) we had pretty much overcast and some son. Still very beautiful, but I felt for people who went on a trip of their lifetime. (I hate when weather is not perfect because I want people experience what we did) .

I think 5 days itinerary out of Baltimore is not a very good one as you really have only 2 half days due to how long ship needs to sail out of Baltimore (I love that sail during deep Caribbeans cruises, but ...)

Also after many years in 2018 0r 2019 they reopened The Commissioner House inside of Fortress. It is a huge attraction of itself. Beautifully restored.

We did 3 days (almost full)/ 2 nights twice on Celebrity Summit out of New Jersey and NCL once out of Boston. One Summit cruise actually turned into 4 days/3 nights in Sept 2019 as Grandeur could not sail from Baltimore due to hurricane. We were booked on Empress for Summer 2020 to do 3 nights (1 in St George's and 2 in Hamilton), but obviously it did not happen due to Covid. During our travels we LOVED Bermuda. Just taking a bus through this island is a pleasure. We loved Hamilton, Crystal Caves, St Georges, Horseshoe bay and Long Bay and some other places

Eh.. there is a beautiful Fortress with a great museum. There are dolphins inside too. Beach is right next to it, so you can walk there. Stores, blowing glass show, restaurants. I thought West End had tons of things. We sometimes sail there for 3 days/2 nights and just spend all time there. Month ago we took ferry to Hamilton. Beautiful sail.