Mum2Mercury

Exactly. To my knowledge, all credit card reward cards work like this: - You spend. - At the end of your billing cycle, the points are awarded. What I was saying is that if you pre-pay your gratuities, you earn your points before your trip and can use them for OBC for this trip.

So you spend on Monday and your points credit /are available for use on Monday? Before you've even paid the bill? I think that's unusual.

I was thinking the same thing.

Okay, two different answers. We will be bringing our adult daughter on an upcoming cruise, and she will be sleeping on the pull-out. Given that we're paying three gratuities for the room, I do expect all our beds to be managed. I've never even considered removing gratuities, but if the steward doesn't manage our daughter's bed, I might.

The chances of having bad service aren't all that great. Yes, but if your credit card hasn't cleared the billing cycle /credited your points /if you haven't had time to have the OBC credited, you'll have to wait until your next cruise to use those points. That assumes you choose Royal Caribbean again for your next cruise; if you opt for another cruise line, those points could "sit there" until they expire.

Sorry, but that's just funny -- when it happens to someone else.

For our first cruise we reserved an inside guarantee and were bumped up to an oceanview.

Hands down, this distinction goes to Nassau. We were there in December and agreed that we'll never leave the boat again in Nassau. They're doing construction, and people are shuffled through a small bottleneck ... I genuinely felt unsafe because of the crowded conditions. Once we reached the town, the salespeople were aggressive. I would put up with these things (except the unsafe entry) if we'd seen anything of value or interest in the town, but we didn't. Never again.

I always pre-pay. Reasons to do so: - I like to take care of all my necessities in one fell swoop. No need to think about tips onboard. I can't forget or come up with too little cash in my wallet. It's just easier for me (and easier for the crew). - I pay with my RC credit card, so by paying tips ahead of time I earn points, which can turn into OBC. By paying ahead of time, this OBC might be available for this cruise. - In reality, the money I'm "losing" by not keeping my money in my savings account is negligible ... like less than a dollar. Yes, as others have said, if you're already booked, you'll need to make a phone call to add tips to your account.

What I think happens: They bring in a bunch of envelopes and throw them in a pile. If yours happens to be at the top, you get quick service. If you're unlucky enough to land on the bottom, slow service. Even when my passport was in the mailbox, it still said "In Progress" online. I don't know if this is typical.

No to ballroom dancing. I haven't done the escape room myself, but I've heard that it's hard -- too much for a child. Regardless, I wouldn't want to send a 9-year old in to interact with a bunch of strangers. Instead, count on Adventure Ocean to provide him (or her?) with age-appropriate activities. My kids LOVED Adventure Ocean. No one can tell you whether the refreshment package will be worth it to you. Count up how many drinks you'd likely have during the day and consider the price of the package for your specific cruise.

Is it appropriate to tip for this "taste"?

You just never know. My husband and I sent ours out at the same time: - His zipped back in something like three weeks. - Mine didn't come and didn't come. I had resigned myself to sailing with my birth certificate ... I had already packed it. I had literally had just placed our suitcases in the trunk of the car for the next morning's drive, and I went to the mailbox ... where my passport was waiting! My husband saw me opening it and whooped, "The luck of you Irish!"

One hang-up with this idea: You're paying the port taxes whether you leave the ship or not. As such, I'd try to choose a sailing with few stops /lower port taxes.

If you're a person who's bad about losing key cards, it might be a good choice for you. I found not one, not two, but THREE lost ID cards at various times on my last cruise.

- When I book far in advance, I assume the price is going to come down between the booking date and the payment date. It usually does. - I'm sure someone paid more and someone else paid less than me, but what I don't know doesn't hurt me nearly as much as what I do know.

I also like taking this particular fan on cruises because it "folds flat" (it's sized kinda like a large/square hardback book), whereas most fans are round and take up space in your suitcase.

I have a small fan that folds flat and runs on batteries. It's ideal for cruising. We always bring two sets of batteries and have never needed the second set. We bought this fan originally for camping -- I think it came from the camping section at Walmart, but it's so old that I'm not really sure. It's ideal in a small tent, as it circulates the air /bounces it off the back wall and back again.

We pay ahead of time: - Cruise tickets - Pre-paid gratuities - Trip insurance - We are careful to pack all the essentials we're likely to need (sunscreen, Tylenol) so we don't have to overspend for these things on the ship or islands Getting to the ship expenses: - Gas - Meals on the road - Night-before hotel (usually we get free breakfast at the hotel) - Parking deck fee - Tip for the porters when we drop off our luggage During the cruise: - A few drinks - A handful of singles for tips, though, to tell the truth, now that tips are up, we tip "extra" less often Island stops: - Whatever excursions we've planned (we prep envelopes with cash inside /meeting details, confirmation numbers, etc. on the outside ... and we include enough for tips and sometimes meals - We don't really buy souvenirs You absolutely CAN spend much more than this, but we are happy at this level.

We're retired and can cruise when we please now, and we're only paying a couple hundred for any given cruise ticket. Seriously ... our last three cruise prices were $364 (7 days on Grandeur), $380 (8 days on Explorer) and $99 (3 nights on Indy). The point: An inside can save real money. Totally agree. I understand the thought process behind a balcony. I understand the thought process behind an inside. But what does an ocean view offer? Lots of us CAN afford the $$$ but don't see the point in spending it. Eh, I don't know. When our kids were still at home, we always went with a balcony ... we needed the space. At that point I figured, "This is the room we'll always choose". But then, once we retired, we wanted to see just how cheaply we could cruise and have a good time, and we found that an inside is great! We really weren't sure when we went into an inside the first time ... but it took us about a day to realize we were entirely satisfied, especially for the price we paid! In all fairness, you can end up with a bad neighbor in any room, BUT it's likely to affect you more if you have a balcony. Something we used to do when our kids were small: We'd bring light sticks ... like the ones kids use at Halloween. You can get them at the Dollar Store. They're a soft light, just enough for a kid to keep in bed as a small light /just enough light to go to the rest room /not enough light to fully wake you, if you're sensitive. Then we're oddballs too. I won't say I prefer interiors, but I do prefer cruising more often /spending less. If the rooms were the same price, I'd take the balcony, but since that's never going to be the case, I like spending less.

I understand ... I do not like to eat outside.

I've heard people say that, but the super-dark room for sleeping is a non-issue for me. We have done three guarantees and have been given great rooms three times! They've always been midship, good rooms! Oddly, we always seem to land on Deck 6, which isn't a popular deck, but now we love it. One floor down to the Promenade for snacks or drinks, close to dinner in the MDR, close to Deck 4 (which is a great place to sit or walk if you don't have a balcony). Admittedly, I've never had a virtual balcony, but I don't get the point. I can see the weather (or time of day) on the regular stateroom TV. I would not pay extra for this "benefit". I think two different topics are going on in your post: - Interior room vs. fancier room - Older ship vs. newer ship Yes, the price difference between an interior and balcony is rarely going to be $150; in fact, it's rarely going to be $150/person.

We were just one floor above the Promenade, and we enjoyed sitting on the little sofa people-watching. We had a front-row seat to the 70s party and a couple other events. The windows have two sets of curtains: - A sheer that you can keep closed for some privacy /still allows some light to come through. - A blackout curtain that makes it plenty dark at night. This curtain includes a velcro dot to keep the curtains closed.

Now that the kids are out of the house and it's just the two of us cruising, we decided we'd see just how cheaply we could cruise /have a good time. Now we LOVE inside guarantees. Sure, for the same money we'd rather have a balcony, but since the money will never be the same, we downright like insides! Specific thoughts: - A cheaper room means we can cruise more often. - We're not in the room all that much, so why not pay less? We pick out a couple spots around the ship where we can sit outside and enjoy the ocean ... they just aren't ours exclusively. - For two people, the space and storage is comfortable. - We leave the TV on at night, which gives us an idea of the time of day ... works great. In my opinion, it's the Oceanview category that's not worth it. It doesn't give us any more space, isn't conducive to sitting and looking at the ocean -- just a view. Not worth more money. I read somewhere that you want a balcony for an Alaskan cruise because of the scenery /because it's chilly to stand out on deck. This isn't experience talking, just what I've read. Even at home we like to sleep with a fan to keep the air moving. The fan does take up space in the suitcase, but we feel it's worth it. A promenade cabin IS an inside cabin. We had one on our recent cruise (inside guarantee), and we loved it.

Don't pay any attention to 20% or 30% off or BOGOHO ... instead, just look at the price. They juggle the numbers so that 20% off or 30% off can actually be the same number. Just look at the price.