BND

That wasn't from the water or probably even the chlorine. More than likely it was from the sunscreen that comes off in the water.

Ah, point chasing. Just do what most of us did and cruise until you hit it. We're rapidly approaching Pinn (635 pts) but we aren't booking cruises just to hit it. We're cruising at our current normal 4-6 per year (I'm retired and DH is working part time and only gets paid for the days he works so no leave required) and we'll hit in Spring 2025, but not because that was our goal. Cruising is our only goal.

I think the money aspect is purely out of curiosity and not about saving money or how much you can afford. As in, what does a trip like this cost for the average cruiser onboard? It's one thing to know the base price, but quite another to know what is spent to actually get a great/full experience.

Why can't someone just post a link?

I think you missed my point and it wasn't about you. I was referring to the credit debt in this country. Everyone uses plastic to pay for almost everything nowadays. Whether they pay it off every month is a different story. We wouldn't have the consumer debt we do if they did. Our grown sons and their wives pay theirs off every month, but a lot do not. They never had the expectation that they had to do something just because it was new or unique or "cool". Kind of like the idiotic current thing about a metal water bottle. Living the lifestyle some of the 20 and 30 somethings I see isn't possible without incurring debt. And, I do think the expectations of some kids today are way out of line with what is reality for them when they are on their own. Too many do not know what delayed gratification is.

And, then there are people like us with grown kids, no debt and multiple sources of income in our 60's. We could afford to do Icon, but why waste the money to be among the first? At the end of your life, people will not care that you were. Heck, the week or two after you go, no one else will care lol. I know families who used to go to WDW every year when our sons were growing up. No trip was every really special. Our boys went twice while growing up and those were special to them. When we were kids, us and almost all our friends were lucky if we got to go anywhere during summer vacation (usually visiting family out of state with a side trip to an amusement park like Six Flags or something). Forget getting out of school to go on a family vacation. We all survived and had lots to look forward to as adults. Kids now expect to continue the lifestyle their parents have taught them is "normal". They see everything being paid for with plastic without learning what that really means, whether it's for convenience or if it's the only way it can be paid for.

"reports of 8-18 degree list"? First, there's a huge difference between 8 and 18 degrees. Second, I would only believe what the Captain actually states. Rumors are of no good because most people can't classify what degree a list is.

Icon does not appeal to us. We just returned today from a b2b on Wonder and it made us really look forward to our b2b on Vision in April. The Wonder cruise that left today had 1086 kids onboard according to the suite concierge who spent some time in the Crown Lounge. We had less the last two weeks and it was very kid heavy. We were the recipients of a late night door knock one night done by roaming kids and lots of running and yelling. Icon is way overpriced and I don't need to be one of the first to sail on her.

There's a lot of people who "regularly sail" with Royal and have done so multi generationally, so I wonder how exactly they chose you. We absolutely have no plans to sail on Icon but there are so many who fit that description and would love to. We just got off a b2b on Wonder today and were in Coco Cay with Icon on Jan 15.

Icon has it's first official inaugural cruise starting today from Miami. You're seriously asking a question about something you saw almost 3 months ago?

We're on Wonder for the second leg of our b2b. It absolutely has diving when it's not dangerous for the performers. We saw it on the first leg and it was great. The modify it for the wind and waves we had this week. The OP obviously doesn't pay attention to announcements. It's amazing what you learn when you do. A pet peeve of mine is people who talk through the announcements so no one else can hear and then they are the first to complain about what they don't know.

Our b2b starting on Sunday is the two Yeshiva cruises (1/14 and 1/21). That means the Solarium Bistro is closed as it will be used for Kosher meals. $70/p/day and limited access for those onboard for that group. So, we can't even check it out on Wonder this trip. We'll be back onboard her in Nov though.

And, I've never seen plastic. 🙂

We've attended several on Vision class and no, they don't put plastic down. The eggs are usually encased in something. We also have enjoyed the paper airplane contest a few times.

Because no one else does.

This is new information. Normally, they do not. Sometimes I wonder who is posting.

For some reason I thought you were a lot older than that.

No idea as we've never had the need. So, @island lady what's going on onboard tonight?

We're boarding WOS in one week (Jan 14) for a b2b. Looking forward to the differences as we've been on Oasis, Allure, and Harmony.

They can provide a lot of prescription meds for emergency purposes, but they aren't in the business of filling full prescriptions.

We're on Wonder Jan 14-28 (b2b) and for the first stop at CC, beach club is $245.99 currently. We're the only ship there that day so it apparently hasn't sold out since they don't have to share with another ship. For our second time there on the second leg, it's $235.99 and there's 7 spots left. We're there with Freedom and we arrive an hour later than they do which means they get first crack at seating. We don't buy it and we'll probably stay onboard for that visit. We do have hideaway booked in April, but we got it at a low price (something like $45.99). Just want to check it out.

Our prescriptions are done by mail (express scripts) as we have Tricare. DH has medicare and Tricare for life and since I'm 63, I have only Tricare. Dr will give out longer prescriptions but getting them filled for more than 90 days at a time is virtually impossible so I don't know what we'd do except go to a pharmacy and pay out of pocket. It might be doable, but I would forsee hours on the phone with express scripts.

My grandmother's hearing started going in her 70's. My mother who is 86 had chemo in her late 60's which impacted her hearing and hers is getting worse. Both wear/wore hearing aids which are much better now than when my grandmother had them. Our oldest son has a hearing loss (appears he was born with it) but, you'd never know as he developed at a normal rate and is a math whiz who majored in math in college so he also wears them. His speech was a little impacted but only letters that are typical for a lot of kids. My FIL had hearing loss and DH has the typical male hearing loss plus a little more from his time in the Navy. So, apparently, I'm the bad guy because I don't need any volume turned up lol.

They usually photograph much better than viewing by the naked eye. Colors in photos are much more intense and much more visible.

LOL. People got the cabin they paid for, regardless of status, just like any cruise.