jbrinkm

Yes, Indy has been released. I was waiting for her itineraries because we want to sail on her, so was checking the website every day.

Indy is up! Four and five night cruises from Miami.

Speaking with your physician might be a good idea? Just to see if he/she has any other ideas or suggestions for you?

Thank you! Honestly, my eyes just unconsciously kept kind of sliding over that thread and ignoring it because it was so long 🤣 But now following!

More info here:

Personally, I don't like the Mahahual. It felt really crowded to me, not relaxing, and fewer things to do in the water. Really it depends what you are looking for. If you just want to hang out, sit in a chair, drink and eat and watch the ocean with a bunch of other people around, you might be fine at Nohoch Kay (I haven't been there specifically but was at Jaime's last April and felt I overpaid for what I got with the AI plan). I booked Maya Chan for my next cruise, upcoming in April, and I'm really looking forward to it. I hear SO many good things about Maya Chan. It seems like it is more similar to what we think of as a beach club rather than just a cramped bar on the beach, which is what the Mahahual felt like to us. If we don't enjoy Maya Chan, we won't get off at this port again unless the water park reopens.

I don't see any cruises listed for her next summer - is she going to drydock? Or just not decided yet?

When I log into the RCI website and go to my planner ("manage my cruise"), I see my OBC in two places at the top of the screen (pics). I don't see the information when I look at the app. Someone else may know if there is a place in the app where you can see it.

I got a group rate that my TA's agency pre-bought and it was significantly less expensive than the rate price. Plus I got to pick my rooms from what they had available without an extra fee. Plus I was able to put my teens into a room right next door without an adult in the room. I know we could sleep wherever but it is just always easier for me if people are sleeping in rooms they are assigned to... I'm on another board specific to my cruise line and the agency I use is often recommended over there - that is how I found my TA.

Does anyone have suggestions for things that teens might enjoy? DH and I would love to do a cruise to Bermuda but wondering what the teens might enjoy once we get there.

I'm seeing this a lot more (hearing this a lot more?) on airplanes now these days as well.

We booked a hotel with Dayuse last year when we had an evening flight after our cruise. We all took a nap, left the luggage in the room and walked around to get lunch locally, used the hotel wifi and we had access to the pool but none of us wanted to use it. It was nice to just chill and relax, catch up on some things, and not worry about our bags. P.S. I see some around IAH with hotel shuttles with great prices (I'm sure depending on the date you need...)

I wish there was a way to confirm this for sure. We had an unexpected situation during one of our port stops on our last cruise and ended up spending a lot of our extra cash that we had with us and didn't have what we wanted at the end of the cruise to do all the extra tipping we wanted to do. I didn't know about the casino hack for cash, so I filled out one of those forms and used our OBC to tip our cabin attendant. I left a note for him the last night saying we had given him some extra through the form and when we saw him again later and I asked if he had gotten the message, he said yes but seemed disappointed. I might have been reading too much into it, or it could have been about something else, but I've wondered since then if the staff does not prefer to receive tips that way. Maybe they get taxed on it if it goes into their paychecks? For our next cruise, we'll bring extra, EXTRA cash along with us!

Inquiring minds want to know... how was she able to do it? Did it just finally appear, or was there a special trick?

Perhaps the Space Center? What cruise line? RCI is offering a transfer with a Space Center trip in the planner. I was looking at it but we leave out of IAH at 2:30pm so just barely not enough time. Hobby and 3:30pm seems like it would work perfectly and handle your luggage at the same time. We ended up just booking a private transfer at 10:15am and will just do a leisurely breakfast and stroll off with the last group called, as late as they allow us.

Yeah, I was just asking about the 2 bedroom suites. If we didn't do a suite with our friends, we'll all just work out our own rooms (my family uses 2, don't know what they would want to do...)

Update app? Uninstall and reinstall? Log out and log back in? She didn't change a date to see what was happening on an earlier date of the same ship and forget to switch back?

It is on sale today for National Pizza Day in the planner - if you are thinking of booking a dinner and don't have a dining package, you might be able to get it for less than usual.

$32 (i.e. $31.99) for refreshment package on my April Allure sailing now. REALLY glad I got it at the Black Friday price. Deluxe is now $73 but I saw it a week or two ago for $68 - thought that was a pretty good price but it wasn't there for long.

It may be a luggage "wrap." I've been seeing these offered more and more. Supposed to protect your luggage also from scratches. Once when I flew into Chicago, we were waiting and waiting for our last piece of luggage to come out. We were towards the end of the carousel, close to where the luggage goes back in, rather than where it comes out on the conveyor. We waited and waited, almost everyone was gone, no more new luggage was coming out, and I tried to talk to the worker who was "running" that section and she was in a horrible mood. I got flustered and couldn't remember what color my luggage was, dark blue or black (we had just gotten it for Christmas 2019 just before lockdown in 2020 and this was the first flight we had taken in a year and half, first time using the luggage. She grudgingly finally got someone to walk me to the "office" which was just outside the building in a little trailer (which was weird) so I could file a claim. Filled out the paperwork, then the guy was walking us back in to a different office (I don't know why...) and we went back past the conveyer. I heard the nasty lady calling my name - from my luggage tag! I told the guy that my luggage was found, he left, I went to get my bag and the worker literally sneered at me - "It was here the whole time." I'd had enough of her at that point and raised my voice - "It. Was. NOT. HERE. We stood here, looking at every piece, checking luggage tags for anything close and IT WAS NOT HERE!" Then a really nice family nearby who was still organizing/gathering themselves after getting their luggage shouted over - "another family took it and then realized it wasn't theirs and just put it back." I said to her "Did you hear that??? It wasn't on here." She just walked away, no apology, nothing. But I was really glad to have our bag!!!

Sounds like a better arrangement for a large or extended family, rather than 2 families traveling together. Unless you're REALLY close with your friends LOL

Related question - how do 2 bedrooms hold 8 people? (literally, as in, where do they all sleep) I see that a select few of the 2 bedrooms can hold 8, but where do the other 4 end up?

Our first night at MDR dinner in April, I mentioned how much I used to love the cold fruit soups and asked if they might have a night when one was offered during our cruise. They responded by making a cold soup for just us, EVERY NIGHT, a different flavor each day (recycled peach, our favorite, the last night). I was blown away by this! They even seemed excited to "surprise" us each night with the flavor. It was so nice and we felt so pampered.

Yes! The desserts in the MDR are the main reason we always try to eat there rather than ever at WJ. I thought I was the only one who didn't like the WJ desserts - I always see everyone taking them! Glad to know so many agree. There is sometimes a one-off that surprises (people have mentioned a few), but as a whole, blech...

I'm really disappointed that the Indian meals that are now offered are not vegetarian. It was something you could always count on.