bob brown

Based at BWI? That's a given...😉

Agree with all of this. The one advantage of the international plan on VZW is if you need to do a lot of voice calling, (more than 40 minutes), not using wifi...the $10. per day gives unlimited voice calling, no per minute charge. As said, the $10. charge is only made on days you actually use it.

MSC currently requires at least one cruise every three years to maintain status level…

Seems to me that across the board, among many cruise lines, so many passengers have achieved the highest levels, that they feel the need to add ever more higher ones. They may or may not keep or take away perks from existing program levels. My hope with Oceania is that they award levels based on individuals records, not shared, to simplify. Further, I think it’s time that they give credits based on days traveled like most of the industry does, including NCL, rather than by cruise.

Just an update to my situation... My travel agent, who has close contacts at Oceania, after a few attempts to get it for me, was told that they were "looking at making changes to the club"....whatever that may mean. Whatever it is, it doesn't help my current situation. I have thrown in the towel on this, and have low expectations of receiving anything further from them.

If they’re going to charge me in the main dining room for a glass of tap water, then I must remember to bring a refillable water bottle, given to me by another cruise line. I will fill it myself, where able, and bring it into the dining room with me. Tacky? Yes. But so is charging for a glass of plain water, at dinner. JMHO…🤷‍♂️

Charging different people different prices for such basics as plain water, is taking "airline yield management", to the extreme....🙄

Maybe they offer tap water on request, but if you want bottled water, that is when they charge you? I was on the Meraviglia in 2021. I don't recall them charging for water (tap) at our dining room.

I'm not clear about this...if you're sitting at your table in the main dining room for dinner, will they bring you a complimentary glass of tap water? And refill as needed?

Is it possible to book your complimentary specialty dinner in advance of your cruise? Some cruise lines offer this...

So, I wonder who, if anyone, they will book Great Lakes cruises on going forward? I booked on ACL's sub Pearl Seas...

The "guess the song" game at Martini's, usually has at least one "showtunes" night. The afternoon trivia, as well as the evening "brain teaser's", occasionally has a question or two that are concerning music of different types...

That wasn't a very long tenure...

Sure… https://www.msccruisesusa.com/manage-booking/msc-voyagers-club After you log in, there is a tab for the Voyagers Club..

Yes, that makes it more difficult, but not impossible to workaround…

Agreed. Parents sailing with older children do this all the time, when they want a second cabin for children. The cruise line requires an adult booked in each cabin, so they book it that way, then occupy the cabins the way they want to…

This question comes up in many different cruise line loyalty programs. The gist of it is, does each member of a loyalty program sailing on a cruise receive individual perks based on their personal loyalty level, or if two members are in a cabin, must they then share the benefit (usually to the member with the higher status). The cruise line will invariably interpret in their own favor. As a "workaround", you could maybe split your booking, so that each of you sailed with someone that had no status. Of course, no one is actually checking to see who really is occupying each cabin, but this would be not be "legal", and could result in penalty, if caught. Not worth the risk, IMHO....

My question is how do I know what my Voyagers Club actual expiration date is? When I logged in to MSC's website, and clicked on Voyager's Club, it showed my name, the date 01-11-2024 below that, my Club number, and my status. I received my status match sometime early in 2021, not sure of the exact date, but it might have been January...again, not sure. I took my first MSC cruise from October 21 -October 28, 2021 According to the 'fine print' on the Voyager's Club status, it said I had to sail at least once every three years to maintain the status and points earned. So by that, I interpret I must begin another cruise by October 28, 2024. I wasn't certain what that "01-11-2024" number below my name indicated...was it my expiration date? And if it was, was it January 11, 2024, or November 1, 2024? I tried calling MSC, and the agent said it was January 11. This puzzles me, as other places on the site, use the dd/mm/year format, not mm/dd/year. And, why wasn't it three years from my last cruise, which would have been in October of 2024? I suppose it could be three years from when they gave me the status match, but again, that is contrary to what the fine print says about maintaining status. The call center reps were not clear.🤷‍♂️

I forgot to mention, that we did arrive in the next port, Natchez ahead of schedule as a result, and we got to spend the evening and overnight in Natchez, which was nice...

Just to follow up, our cruise concluded okay, but we did get assistance from the towboat to maintain our schedule...

It should be interesting to see what shakes out on the river's, with new entrants like Viking.... As much as I enjoyed the American Queen, I too would think hard about booking another cruise with them. I have related in another thread my disappointment with the cancellation of my Great Lakes cruise. The recent problem with the American Queen losing a "Z-drive", doesn't help, either...

We had a group, (not sure how large), on our Red Wing to New Orleans sailing, but other than them having their own representative desk opposite the Purser's window, and their exclusive use of the Deck Three theater a few times for presentation's, they ("Road Scholar's", identified by their group lanyard's), were not at all an issue on our cruise...🤷‍♂️

We learned from our Riverlorian during a lecture, that prior to our current voyage from Red Wing to New Orleans, that somewhere along the way, one of the two Z-Drive’s that supplement the steam powered stern paddlewheel got snagged, and ripped off the boat. They are still searching for it. As a precaution, the Coast Guard required that AQ engage the services of a tow boat to accompany us, until such time as they can replace it. Captain “Rob” assured us it would not affect our safety, nor hamper our schedule. So far, tug “Jean Marie” has just shadowed us along the way, and went thru each lock with us.

Our current voyage on the American Queen, will bypass Vicksburg , as well, and have an extra “river day” instead.

I see what you mean… We were still waiting for our deposit of $2,000. for the 2024 Great Lakes cruise that we made on July 26, 2022. AQV decided early this year (at least), to exit the Great Lakes market, and we never were notified of the fact, until alerted here on Cruise Critics by others. I contacted my TA in June 21, to inquire, and it took a week for them to confirm the fact back to my TA. I then asked for a refund, rather than a discount on a future cruise credit. This was on July 20. I finally got the refund credited to my card on September 29.