the penguins

Love your CC name. Don't rely on the app or smart phones. Have paper copies of everything, vacs certs, boarding passes etc.

A great example of why you should never travel without travel insurance - everything you described would be covered by ours - hospital, hotels, return flights etc.

I love your strategy and it's right. My entire portfolio of single company shares is 100 Royal, bought and basically ignored except for applying for OBC. The dividends have been spent on our grandson when we visit him in Dallas (we live in the UK). The shares have also been left to our grandson in our wills. Perhaps it's why our American friends call us the Crazy Brits. Keep cruising.

We will. However everything you said is based on hindsight. Until Covid neither the price nor the dividend had ever dropped. Whatever price we had sold at we would have had to pay more to buy them back for the next cruise. Enjoy your cruises.

They didn't pick a Monday just the last day of the month just as they have for months. You are responsible for meeting the requirements of each port. Just stop looking for certainty, things change every day even after the cruise has sailed. Just relax, go with the flow you booked when testing was needed so nothing has changed.

Bought for the OBC. Covid has temporarily stopped the Divi. Yes we could have sold at 136 but no-one was forcasting Covid at that time, nor that cruiseing would stop for nearly 2 years. Hindsight is wonderful. We have more cruises booked so more OBC to come. Will sell when we stop cruising. I just posted our experience not a recommend to buy or sell.

The ship has spares of pretty much everything even the captain. Just be polite and friendly, ask for help and don't demand. Remember the old saying "you catch more with sugar than salt".

I am no expert but my experience of owning 100 RCCI shares to date is: Cost:💲2200 OBC : 💲4600 Dividends:💲1200 Current share value:💲3800

We have had this once. Cabin Steward's solution was a board under the mattress. Tried it for 10 minutes, totally unacceptable. Went down to Guest Relations (always face to face never on the phone) to ask if there was anything they could do to help - not to complain or rant just to ask if they can assist. Ten minutes later a new mattress had been brought to the cabin. Another tip, from day 1, we always strike up a friendly relationship with the Guest Relations staff. We try to pass by the desk early in the mornings when they are not busy just to say hello. Most nights we go down to wish them goodnight. It works wonders if we then have an issue that needs sorting.

No, what the current regime of vaccines and tests does is virtually guarantees that noone on the ship passenger or crew will get seriously ill from Covid.

Depends on your definition. True, at least in the UK , that no hospital came to a standstill or stopped admitting patients for more than a few hours. However this was only achieved by delaying thousands of "elected/non emergency" operations (hips and knee replacements, heart transplants, cataract removal, etc, etc.) which has had a dramatic impact on people's everyday life.

We would never upgrade to Aqua. The fact that it's being offered free proves X can't sell it but can sell your current cabin. Stick with what you have. My mantra is " the more X push something the less of a bargain it is for me".

Always get the printed copies of all from the NHS. Do not rely on the app/ smart phone. WiFi and lighting are notoriously bad at Southampton and the check in staff there, who have to take photos of each doc will be delighted if you have paper copies. Same applies to boarding passes etc - paper is king. Pre sort each set into the appropriate passports and check in will be a breeze ( we have done 4 cruises through Southampton since August last year).

If only, it was increased in May from 💲14 to 💲21. It's the principle rather than the cost. The efficacy of the vaccines is indisputable and even if the benefit for young people (what is your definition of young - we have a 40 year old friend who is now wheelchair bound with no hope of recovery from Covid) is negligible it is not zero. We have happily been cruising since August 2021 but would not continue to do so if cruise lines dropped the vaccination requirements now. Everyone and every country has to make its own decisions. The UK dropped its testing requirements for entry long before the US. Finally we must consider the situation of the crew without whom we would not have the previelege of cruising. Testing/vaccinations is a small price to pay.

All correct but no extra benefit for having more than 100 shares.

Looking back at our cruises the greatest memories are of the places visited and the people we travelled with. The accommodation is way way down on the list. Health/mobility issues have now made a basic balcony the minimum but anything above that is a total waste of our budget.

The USA has been charging us to visit for years. Or as we would say in the UK "you want to have your cake and eat it". Please note we visit the US regularly and we have family that are US citizens.

To protect others, reduce the spread and to reduce the risk of serious illness to themselves. Exactly as for everyone else.

The highest rate I have seen reported on a Celebrity ship and have experienced on 2 cruises is 3%.

Cruise lines are still required to meet the requirements regarding, vaccines, testing etc from every other port they operate from/to worldwide. Testing may well be stopped but I believe vaccination will be required for some time.

There are almost always deals on Speciality Dining regardless of your CC status - start by asking the Manager for a 2 for1 for one deal in any restaurant at a day and time of their choice and negotiate from that.

As with all insurance decare everything as otherwise, in the event of a claim, you are leaving loopholes that the insurance company can/will exploit.

We play Roulette to convert OBC to cash and have come out ahead on every cruise. We only play on the 💲5 tables (one is usually 10) and if possible on the the one with the single Zero. We buy a l💲50 of chips at a time. We play each chip to cover 4 numbers (making sure there are no overlaps). Keep the promotional chips and the winning chips separately. When all promotional chips have been played cash out and walk away. Repeat daily. With this method we have a bit of fun most evenings with very little risk ( and if you don't have a drinks package a free drink whilst playing) and convert most, if not all of our OBC to cash - for us it's a win win.

For Chips go to the Cashier. For Slots you can create an account on any machine and download how ever much you want at a time. Easy to do, the Casino Staff will talk you through it.

No charge when using OBC.