Spurschick

Hubby and I are cruising 10/1 with our 15 month old. Any tips? (And leaving baby at home isn't an option) ��

Make sure you have the essentials. We took baby medications just in case, and an easy to use travel stroller.

When DD was that young we had to take our own diapers but I believe you can now order diapers and food to be delivered to the cabin if needed.

We also got a clip on battery operated baby safe fan to attach to the stroller for the hot weather.

You will enjoy and ignore the negative comments.

Way too young .

Says who? I am sorry but we started cruising with DD at 7 months old. We took her to Disney at 1. Cruising is no different to any other holiday or do you think babies shouldn't go on vacations? We also took her to Milan at 5 months. Cruising was the easiest vacation.

They really don't have a clear policy . . . even when it comes to having tax withheld. On our last cruise on Explorer, I had to pay tax even though I'm Canadian and lottery and gaming winnings are not taxed here but on the Anthem, my husband didn't have to pay tax because he's Canadian. (He had a hand-pay, even with his small bets)!

Exactly, it is inconsistent. On several ships they don't want to withhold taxes as its too much paperwork for them:rolleyes:

From experience, when they say photo ID required we have only occasionally been asked for it. As such we take photo copies of our passport page and never had an issue with that. It reduces the risk of it being stolen, lost or damaged especially if doing a beach/ water type excursion. Some port securities just want to see a picture with a name that matches the sea pass card as you come back into port.

If doing an excursion that states passport required then original documentation would be required.

Phone a few times. The agents' responses vary considerably. I was told by one agent, whose offer was far better than others, that he had the authority to make changes, which others couldn't.

D

I have probably spoken to everyone there! Yes I agree there are some that are more helpful than others. I have 4 cruises booked through them and even on the short ones as they are not listed on the free sailings I have been told no. Now we are getting some wonderful rates and discounts, which is fine, but I have categorically been told no to the free cruise of our choice.

It is frustrating because our last cruise I had free cabin certificate and DH had higher free cabin certificate. There was one cruise on his list that caught our eye but it was not on my list on the certificate so they said no we can't combine.

With all the inconsistencies in how people are being treated and the lack of a clearly defined program it has made us start looking at other lines.

Celebrity recently brought out a very clear and well defined program. The program is clearly stated online with no ambiguity. CR said they were hopeful the new program would be sorted soon. Given they said it would be in place by March 2016 and we still haven't got any info I'm not holding my breath.

My experience has been that you can book any cruise, and any date. It doesn't have to be those listed on the certificate. But a lot depends on the Club Royale agent you speak to. I have had different answers from different agents.

Then you have been far luckier than us because both myself and my husband get free cruise certificates and have never been allowed to use for a free cruise on a sailing of our choice. We can use trade in value for any cruise we want but not the free cruise. The free cruises generally are not listed for peak times.

There seem to be some misconceptions about the new casino rules. We were on the Anthem last week. My husband, who plays the minimum on penny machines and played with less than $500 in 6 days, accumulated 2,400 points and a certificate for a free cruise (inside stateroom on Freedom class and below, with a trade-in value of $500). He did spend many hours on just a couple of machines. I played larger denominations and earned a free cruise (balcony stateroom on the Quantum class and below with a trade-in value of $1,000) plus an OBC credit. And, in spite of the casino host telling me that the offers cannot be combined, it states very clearly on the certificates that they can be combined for up to a Junior Suite. And even though the certificate states that cruises must be booked within 30 days of the issue date, our recent cruise was booked 8 months after the last certificate "expired".

I think the OP is not questioning whether two people with certificates can combine their certificates but whether they can get a discounted cabin and apply an additional discount for the value of the certificates.

Whenever we book we get a casino rate for the cabin, which is quite heavily discounted, and then apply both mine and DH's coupons to that casino rate. It is rare for us to be able to sail on the cruises listed due to our daughter being in school and peak sailings are not normally offered.

The OP is saying that now if you have a low value certificate you do not get the discounted cabin as well.

You started a thread with the same question yesterday. Ken kindly posted a link to the weeks planners.

The first night on the planner shows AO meet and greet on the first night. Activities do not start to the second day.

I would book Mamma Mia for a different night.

For some reason if I clear my history on my I-Pad it will work.....for a little while...

 

Worst website ever!!!!!

Trust me, I recently made a booking with another cruise line and their website is so infuriating I actually started to miss RC's :')

I had heard that there were lots of complaints that people that were getting the lower value certificates were also getting the same discounts on cabins as the high end gamblers getting free certificates with choice of free cruise or trade in value.

I agree that someone getting a $100 certificate for 400 points should not get the same cabin discount as someone that gets over 2400 and only gets an extra $400 off. 2000 points at $5 played which is $10,000 played for $400 was not fair.

Sorry if you don't like the loss of discount but under the old program you wouldn't have even been invited to the club if you were only getting 400 points. They tried opening it up to the masses which was not without issues. Yes it made it great for low level players but for higher level players no it was not fair. It was realized with all the complaints it needed to be fixed. Sounds like they finally got round to doing it.

If you get a high enough certificate then yes they will be combinable.

These two posts of yours, combined, are VERY confusing.

My interpretation is that it is not the call center closing but just the C&A department that is being removed from the call center.

Oregon is where Club Royal is located so I suspect from the comments about people being moved to different departments that is where they will most likely be moved to.

Since the casino program changed their department takes a lot longer to get through to.

Was this on Anthem? There is one guy there that we should have walked away from. We were trying to book an Alaskan cruise on Radiance and he kept telling us we really needed to book Celebrity in Alaska because it is much better. We said no thanks and he just grumbled. His attitude completely changed when his boss showed up though.:rolleyes:

Interesting. On Freedom we were told not to bother booking RC on board. It was better to wait until we got home. They would quite happily sell us Celebrity though:confused:

Agree with everything except sometimes they DO have a two night minimum - one example being Dickens weekend in early December.

I have stayed at multiple hotels on the island at various peak times of the year. Whenever I am pricing up a hotel online and it says 2 night minimum I gave called the hotel direct (not central reservation but the direct line) every time I have explained that I am going on a cruise they have given me a price for the one night. Never had an issue with 2 night minimums. Now whether or not I like the price is another matter. The Hilton has become very expensive lately for dates I need.

I would take the cash with you and keep it in your safe. If you are on a tour you may not have an atm easily accessible.on board atm's charge fees as well as bank charging a fee in most cases. On board exchange rate at guest services is always a very bad rate.

This package is being advertised for an upcoming 5 night cruise I have booked for $120. That's with the supposed 60% off. :eek: Full price definately not worth it. I don't want to feel like I have to eat in a specialty restaurant on sea days for lunch (as I only have 2) to get value for money. Personally I think the 5 night package is better value.

JMHO.

If you do the caves I recommend wearing sturdy shoes with a good grip. My daughter found some of the steps quite steep at that age and a little on the slippery side. One of the caves was quite cold whilst the other was quite hot and humid. Very enjoyable though.

We also did a dolphin interaction where she fed the Dolphins up close and played with toys with them. She really loved it.

Never received anything at boarding. Print yourself and take a copy.

if you are looking for a more all inclusive I would go Celebrity Suite as their suite benefits are better than what you would get on Freedom.

I really enjoyed both ships.

When we sailed out of San Juan the queues were big in the morning, but once checked in were on ship quickly. I would say around 11am.

NCL has full sized bowling alleys on a number of their ships. I find they're not utilized all that much. They're not gyro stabilized. Costs about $7pp/per game. We did one while docked in port and there was a slight list (due to current) and it did make for a great hook on my shots though :)

Hopefully the ones on MSC won't be busy then!

DD's wish list

Laser tag

Stargazing observatory

Lazy river with option to be closed for set times to kayak in it!

5 D cinema

Bowling

Better suite perks on non Oasis/Quantum class ships

Freedom let D+ use it as well

 

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Yes, the looks we had for using it:eek:

I see Bella's going to be lonely for a while!

Your signature just says ( Completed Cruises) ? What do i take attention of?

Your comment to me was to sail on Cunard if I wanted to see snobbery. My response was I have if you read my signature. Perhaps you need to expand it to see it.

Really not that hard. [emoji12]

 

 

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Thanks John. I was looking for a picture. Exactly they show pictures of what the card should look like and people still don't get it:rolleyes: