Quips, quirks, and biases

One of the great things about cruise vacations is that, in many cases, they are what you make of them. Because of that, I always like to include this little introductory section where I describe where I'm coming from, as context definitely colors any review. This was my 14th cruise on Royal Caribbean, and 24th cruise overall. I've been "loyal to Royal" lately because I like their ships, have received competitive pricing, enjoy the C&A Diamond perks. I sailed on the Mariner in May when she went on her single Astoria Pacific NW run and was glad to be returning to her. I sailed this time with my father who just retired and is also a frequent cruiser.

This cruise was booked in early July, so about a month from the sailing date. I used that site for competing prices and found a travel agent that offered both a fare discount and prepaid tips on top of the military rate that my dad made us eligible for. I was a bit skeptical, but after talking to the guy over the phone, decided to give it a shot. Thankfully the booking was genuine, though those onboard credits ... who knows until you're there. Oh ... and one other note ... once we made the booking, my dad forwarded his stockholder information to customer relations for OBC. We found out, however, that the discount given to us by the agent was some sort of RCCL-based promotion and we had the choice of either $100 off the fare (the original offer) or $100 OBC with the stock. No surprise, we took the money-in-pocket option. This gummed up the booking for a few days so I learned a new lesson ... I need to mention stockholder credit to the travel agent I'm using before just sending it along just in case the fare is coming from a promotion I'm not aware of. Read more