Tatka

But why? It is like somebody is asking if he/she can sing karaoke. And opinion: I never understood people who want to sing karaoke, when they can dance? 🙂

Only Spectra's requires reservations, but it is shown so many times during a cruise you can get in. Do not forget there is a second floor (a balcony) of two70 which is less popular. There are no new shows that I am aware off.

Why do you need to understand other people preferences? If action breaks some laws or rules it is one thing, otherwise it is a pure judgment of other people preferences for which they can have perfectly reasons. For example tight time and wishing to fit more things into it. Some people do not understand why others travel in inside staterooms, others why people travel in balconies. Some people do not understand why people cruise or do not cruise. 🙂

Smuggling off? What a wording… Unless there are specific rules against it… it’s not smuggling at all. And yes, there are prepackaged food one can take off the ship and some excursions offer.

As embarkment gift in your cabin. Not in DL.

It is only natural that with higher number of cruisers reach level benefits cannot be at the same level. Can you imagine overcrowded Suite Lounge with all D+ ? We are completely fine with it. We just take d'oeuvres and use our drink and find some place near large windows. In VCL for example or somewhere else. We do 11 dayer to Southern Caribbean in January, 12 dayer to Southern Caribbean in March, 7 dayer to Bahamas in May/June, 9 dayer to New England/Canada in September and 7 day cruise to Bahamas on Thanksgiving.

In comparison to Royal even most mass market pales. Luxury and near luxury lines have different priorities. I never sailed on Viking, but many of my friends and family do sail.

I don’t know. We are only D+ , but we enjoy RCI. Honestly we were not loyal, but benefits that come with their program are nice. Viking may be nice, but they don’t have so many ships we can reach easily.. and entertainment isn’t as good. Maybe for occasional trip they will work, not for 5 a year.

We are reaching 30th cruise (280+ nights) with RCI this year 61th overall and it is still very important for us. It was not the only reason why we switched to sailing with RCI almost exclusively, but it was important reason.

We cruise from Bayonne and Baltimore and usually sign up for 10:30 (earliest) boarding. It is usually a breeze anyway for all.

Every review is a bit like equation with multiple variables or parameters. You don’t know who writes it, why, how truthful are statements. Just think of it.

If you book 10 cruises for next several years do you still want to tie them all? It is not a matter of not having money for us. It is just money can be working for us differently. Google have pretty good scheduler as some other apps.

Yes. We make it 2 weeks before due date. Not sooner than two weeks because: Not to keep money tied. To have time to make adjustments if needed without waiting for refunds Not later than two weeks because: To have make sure sure payment goes through.

You cannot stop something that was requested. (Icon was requested long time go). Besides more ships in a future lower prices (supply - demand). If people cannot/won't pay prices will come down. It is always like this. Simple.

Quantum class for amazing Solarium and Indoor pool (we should see how Odyssey without Indoor pool will work out) Smaller classes for Viking Crown Lounge. (especially ships that have Boleros)

I am not a pizza gourmand and trying to avoid pizza due to high calories intake (and my husband long time ago had a side job with pizza deliveries so he cannot even look at pizza), but we absolutely loved Primavera Pizza on Liberty in May! It was probably the second best pizza or even equal in quality to one we ate while visiting Italy (that one was not Primavera, but consisted of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella) We basically binge on that Primavera several times. 🤣

We do little tailgate parties before boarding so by the time we board mental state is pretty good. 🙂 No, we do not go overboard (no pun) with celebrations.

I do not think it is difficult to answer but we were not. Mostly out of Bayonne and Baltimore. The very first was out of FLL.. that one I do not remember.

At boarding? Never. Only during check-in in app.

Last reservation I remember were 10+ years ago. Then they were giving out free tickets on Promenade. I recommend checking for schedule. On our last 5 dayer on Liberty shows were scheduled 1 show for the first evening 2 pm and 4 pm on last day. Apparently majority wanted to see it during the first night. There were so many people!

Haven't witnessed it on any of my 12 rci cruises postpandemic.

I am struggling with this. We don’t cruise with kids anymore so we don’t need towel animals , year most of the time we get it. I feel bad that stewards feels need do this and don’t feel comfortable to ask not too.

I described you real life where million kids lived like this daily and there was no mass abductions of children. You are taught and you practice daily. It becomes your rule. Of course everything may happen, but you cannot live overprotected life. Overprotected 10 years old may easily get into difficult situation due to lacking skills of being independent.

I remember myself at this age, kids around me. I raised kids and watching kids around me. I can absolutely confirm that unless child is severely neglected or has developmental delays at 10 he or she can assess many things. For example what may happen if she/he crosses a street without looking walks with a stranger plays with a matches etc, etc, etc Of course if parents treat 8-9 yo as 3-4 years old this may never happen. Then people are surprised older teens behaving as if they were young kids. Why would they behave differently if they are treated as if young kids for so long? As I already described in this thread and with a picture in my country we mostly lived in midrises (5-16 floors). Most if not all apartments had balconies. We did not have rules about when kids can be home alone so majority of kids if they were not signed for afterschool program just walked home and spent time alone doing homework, attending activities in various places (sometimes taking public transportation) since they were 7 years old. Kids were not falling from balconies. Btw we did not have micriowaves till late 80-s (and then only some people) so many kids warmed prepared food in gas or electric stoves. (I do not remember fires or explosions of gas) When I was 6, I and my friends were walking several blocks for baby food provided by city (for all kids) for our baby siblings. It involved crossing one large road. It was late 70-es. It was pretty common practice and everything worked fine. Families mostly had 1-2 kids sometimes 3 so it is not like we were replaceable and our parents did not care if we would die. I am describing very late 70-s and 80-s.

I am trying to understand connection between DL and what you saw in hot tab. Unless hot tab was in DL I cannot.