sarahlfiles

Yay! Are you on our roll call here or on our FB group? It would nice to keep up with this for when and where it's happening! (You prob don't want to put it on FB for her to see though). :eek:

I'll be on this one, too! This should be fun. Let us know what your son comes up with. I'd love to see this go down!!!

Prayers, good vibes, positive juju.. You get it all girl. And when you get past this, you'll have the best cruise of your life!

TWENTY DAYS HERE TOOOOO!!!! On Dream out of New Orleans! So excited. Our vacations are gonna rock!

Not sure if anyone here is familiar with "Where's George", but it's a website that you can track U.S. currency as it travels. So I always tip extra in cash, stamped with the "Where's George" information and note on the website that it was spent on the cruise. Whenever someone else finds the bill, and enters it on the website, I make a donation to the local animal shelter, so this way the crew get something they need, as well as dogs and cats that are waiting for their fur-ever homes.....

What a great idea! I love this :)

Here's to you making it to the port in time!! [emoji256][emoji256][emoji256]

24 days! But who's counting?!

Bags are checked at port, delivered to your stateroom and left outside your door. Some people prefer to keep their bags with them because they are uncomfortable with that. We've always checked bags and have never had any problems. We also get FTTF when we sail because we like not having to wait in line at Guest Services and we really enjoy priority tender and zone 1 debarkation. Have a fun cruise!

We leave on the auto tips and tip additionally:

-$10/day room steward (more if they're awesome)

-$20 to head waiter and $10 to each of their assistants

-$1 per drink served

Other than drinks, we hold all tipping until the last night. We take thank you cards and fill them out, but you can also pick up envelopes for tips at the Guest Services desk.

Hope this helps :)

Congrats! Spa cabins are nice because you get to enjoy all the awesome steam rooms and the giant hot tub. We spent a ton of time in there when we had a spa cabin!

Counting down our 7 weeks until it's our turn! I hope you have a BLAST!

Often I see 'pack and go' deals this time of year. I'm strictly guessing here, but you should be able to book. If you want to guarantee it, you can book and the their protection plan which would mean you can cancel for refund.

We stayed in a Spa Cabin 11 Forward on the Magic last year. If there is movement at all, you will feel it there for sure. If sea sickness is a problem, I would avoid higher floors, stick to center ship level 6,7,8 and just pay for the weekly spa pass instead. The spa pass includes all the benefits of the spa cabin (except the Elemis samples in your room and the different paint on the wall).

Hope this helps!

It's 100% true. You can stuff yourself like a pig.

 

 

 

And then come here and complain about how bad it was.

This is so true, it's hilarious!

I have sailed on Triumph twice since the updates. Both cabins were forward-facing with obstructed view. The first, in January, was a wheel-chair accessible room and it had received no attention. The carpets were old, the tv was tube and the bathroom was a wreck. The tiles were lifting and grout was cracked, when you stepped on the floor water and bubbles would come up through the grout. It was also very fishy smelling. We kept that door closed at all times and showered in the spa this trip! The second room, in July, was great. The bathroom had been redone with the blue, solid-pieced flooring, the tv was updated with access to room service ordering and Sail and Sign account via the remote, and the carpet was new. Some lights didn't work but overall it was great.

Other parts of the ship have received extensive work and look brand new. Most public areas are in great shape.

What did you both do to earn such great offers? Are you big spenders in the casinos?

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We have never cruised with our kids before so I can imagine that the picture number would go through the roof! This was just a daddy and mommy trip with some friends.

 

I think I take so many because I want to do the review. When I do a review, I really want to do it from a point of view that I would like to read after personally. I like to see reviews with pictures so hopefully that seems to make sense.

Looking forward to your review!

I fill up a dozen SDHD cards, and come back with about 4-8 thousand images between an SLR and one or two point-and-shoots. But I may take as many as 50 of the same subject (nature), so when I've culled everything down, I may have about 100 keepers.

 

It took me a couple of years to get used the idea of clicking dozens of shots of the same subject -- still holding onto worrying about the cost of film and photo developing from the old days. When shooting super close-up photos of butterflies and other insects, and wildflowers that sway in the tiniest breeze, it's possible that only one or two shots are crisp and free of motion blur, so I click away like a maniac. Other than a tiny bit of camera wear and tear, clicking digital photos is basically free. It still feels odd to throw out dozens of perfectly good digital images, but unless you want to bore the daylights out of people with fifty views of the same Caribbean sunset, and swamp your hard drive with half a million photos, then it's important to cull.

Do you have a public photo album? Would love to see some of your nature pics!

Mick- they moved my post so that it is now on family cruising board!

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Fancy giant hot tub= thalassotherapy pool

Lol- thanks Yank! I could remember what it was called.

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Thanks for all of your help! I'll check out the family board now :)

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I am leaving on Thursday on the Triumph with my mom and 9yo niece. I've cruised 3 times previously but never with any kiddos. Tomorrow night I'm going to sit down with her and go over some rules... I'm just not sure which rules I should go over! We are going to talk about safety, of course, and checking in and out camp etc. But what else is important enough to mention pre-cruise?

Thanks and happy cruising!

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Hubs and I debated this a while back. We decided on a regular spa balcony on Magic last spring break. We LOVED it. The spa is wonderful. Even on spring break it was never over crowded. Most times we had the fancy giant hot tub to ourselves. We also enjoyed the various steam/heat rooms every day. I can't say if a suite is worth the extra money, but the spa balconies are! We didn't spend much time in our room that cruise anyway... We were always at the spa!

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Soda and alcohol are extras. Juice, milk, coffee, water and tea are included.

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Just wanted to mention that while on the Valor in Jan., with the cheers program, I wanted a plain cranberry juice from the bar. They said I could not do that. However, I could have them pour vodka into 1 glass and cranberry into another glass and have that count as 1 drink.

 

Seems as though that needs a clarification too.

That's silly. My guess is that they were 'bending the rules' to make the customer happy (without getting themselves in trouble), as CCL most likely gave them a list of not-approved beverages.

Pbsteve: you're awesome! Thanks so much for compiling this info. (Still undecided if we want to commit to $700 of alcoholic beverages on our next cruise, though!)