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Yeah the 12 cans per stateroom (not person) is a bit annoying. We're going on our first RCI cruises next year and might give the spread out trick a try haha. The soda package is good value for adults, but for younger kids where you might want them to maybe have one drink a day while on holidays, the value simply isn't there.

Thanks! I figured it would be something like that 🙂 Was just weird.

So we put down deposits for our first two RCI cruises on the weekend and now they're appearing in my online account. Hoorah! But the weird thing is that when I click through on each of them (Greek Isles on Explorer and Transatlantic on Odyssey), they take me to completely different cruise planner websites. Are these two ships on different systems or something? Seems so weird, but I assume there's some sort of reason for that, and none of my bookings are broken in some way 🙂

Yep this is the right way to do it IMO 🙂 Good luck and I hope you enjoy it.

I like something in the 150-200 pppd range, but at this stage we're travelling with 4 which might skew the numbers a bit - and we like 2 week cruises if possible, which leans to a lower per day cost. But it really depends on a few things - length of cruise, line, type of stateroom, itinerary etc.

Because of recent history, I kept thinking the Bombers would keep coming back, but they had the fumbles like we had last week. Good solid win for Sydney, it was one that we were expected to win and just had to, because it gets tough over the next few weeks.

Of those options, I would 100% do the one-way cruise on Princess. We did pretty much that same itinerary in 2017 on Star Princess. This is for various reasons: 1. Glacier Bay. It's amazing, and one of my non-negotiables when it comes to Alaska. 2. The one-way cruise allows you to spend a few days at the end to run up to Denali National Park - it's my second Alaska non-negotiable 🙂 I understand that due to time constraints you might not be able to do that though. 3. Another advantage of the one-way cruise is that it minimises the sea days that you'd need on a round-trip Another thing to consider is that in Alaska, you want to spend time and money on shore excursions as others have mentioned. I don't even think a Balcony is that important - I prefer to spend time on deck because then it gives you the flexibility to view the scenery from either side of the ship. Good luck! Alaska is one of my favourite places in the world. We went in 2007 for our honeymoon and then again in 2017 for our 10th anniversary.. Hoping to go again in 2027 🙂

I usually just put the contact details of the first hotel. Too hard otherwise 😄

Considering doing our very first RCI cruise in Oct 2023 on Explorer (followed a few days after with a TA on Odyssey). I'm sure they will work out the kinks by then. 🙂 I foresee a few rough months ahead until they get crews bedded in again after shutdowns.

Wonder? I think next to no chance. They love having those big Oasis ships running endless lucrative Bahamas and Caribbean cruises, especially the brand new ones. IMO there's no chance they'll send Wonder, Symphony or Harmony. If anything, I reckon it's just generally to talk RCI up, and see if they can boost sales and get support for having a ship in AU year-round (even if it's an older and smaller vessel)

We actually first visited New Zealand between the two major earthquakes. The damage in Christchurch was evident. On our final day, I thought, oh I would love to climb the cathedral tower but we don't really have time. Maybe next time. Oh well.

Good point. I have never sailed that part of the world so I wasn't sure if they would get close enough to land to see anything. From memory on our last NZ cruise in 2018 we could see land often enough that I felt it was well worth getting our port-side cabin. Next one in January will be forward facing, so that won't be an issue.. I think 😄 If there's a lot of land approaching our cabin in a hurry, we've got problems.

Is it going south or north? I think I'd want something that looks at land. The sea is fine but gets a bit samey after a while 😄

Yeah I reckon that's what they'll go for. Happy enough to pick up the plus package for our upcoming NZ cruise for $30pppd. It has all we need. You would have to look very carefully at this new package to determine if it's worth it. It's interesting they they cap the specialty dining benefit at 2, compared to every other entitlement which is ongoing throughout the cruise. So it would be great value for a 3-night cruise, but not great value for a 21-night cruise. We've enjoyed having the all-inclusive photo package in cruises internationally (for whatever reason they don't offer it on the AU cruises) and we do have multiple devices we like to connect to the internet.. but I am still not that sure it would be worth it for us for $85 pppd

I'm curious to see what happens here. From what I can tell, Vanuatu and NC in particular seem to be on a different timeline to Au/NZ? If ships cannot stop there, what will that do to itineraries?

Yes. I don't know if there's any lines that provide free laundromats? RCL and I think a couple of others don't even have laundromats available for passengers to use.

I think either way the 2 remaining passengers are going to have to pay up the full twin share rate. I would advise asap though, so that the person dropping out has a better chance of obtaining refunds, and the room attendants have as accurate information as possible to prepare the stateroom. Same for whatever reservations they already have in place for dining etc.

Location and itinerary would be useful! 🙂 January is a great time to cruise in Australia and the South Pacific, but not great in Alaska

Sidebar... I sent the link to my wife to say "hooray, we can go on the shark bus in Auckland again".. but now I see the aquarium has sold the shark bus? Nooooooooooooo!!!!!! (same response from my wife 😄 )

Excellent! Can now breathe a bit easier for our Jan cruise on Majestic 😄 😄

Majestic will be at OPT, 100%. Unless they find a way to raise the height of the harbour bridge 😄 Good luck! We will be sailing on her in Jan for the second time.

We are looking to do something in Europe in around 18 months. Will it be totally safe by then? Who even knows. What I do know is that we're not getting any younger, and the kids won't be kids forever. So we're proceeding with planning, cautiously.

My in-laws have done two. They're comfortable but by no means rich. I think if you save up for it, don't have a lot of debt, you can do it. Considering your meals are covered and you don't HAVE to spend a cent extra if you don't want to, I believe the per-day rate is excellent, especially if you get on it as soon as they're released and secure one of the cheapest interior cabins. For me, it'd be finding the time off to do it. So even though it IS something that I would like to do, it'll have to wait probably until we retire, or at least until the kids have finished school.

IMO, if you have a good agent, then book through your agent as they will do the chasing around, sitting on hold to the lines, and able to quickly make arrangements if you have cancellations, change of plans etc. We've used the same agent since 2002 and she is fantastic. However, not every agent is a good agent, and if you don't have one, then book direct.

Hello RCL boarders 🙂 I have never been on RCL (We've sailed a number of times, mostly on Princess, P&O Australia and Disney) but have always wanted to try one of the mega ships to see if it's a style of cruising that we'd enjoy. We've not been able to do a big trip for a couple of years for... reasons. But we are looking at one in Oct 2023. We'd like to do one of these trans-atlantic cruises: 14 night from Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale on Symphony of the Seas, or 15 night from Rome to Ft Lauderdale on Odyssey of the Seas. Now we have never been to Europe so we're wary of knowing what to do, deal with the language difference etc, so we'd ideally like to pair that with a shorter cruise, maybe one of these: 3 night from Rome to Barcelona on Symphony of the Seas (and linking up with the 14 night above) 7 night from Barcelona round trip on Symphony of the Seas (likewise linking up with the 14 night above) 5 night from Barcelona round trip on Serenade of the Seas (and linking up with the 14 night) 7 night from Rome to Rome on Symphony of the Seas (and linking up with the 15 night above) I would love to do the Symphony/Odyssey double so I can finally try the Oasis and Quantum class ships. But if time and funds only permits us to do a transatlantic, does anyone have any opinions on which of the Oasis or Quantum classes would make for a better experience? We're a family of 4, 2 daughters will be 10 and 15. I would love recommendations or opinions from anyone who's cruised on any of these 3 ships (or other ships in the same class which might be similar). TIA 🙂