iancal

We have done last minute Xmas cruises on Celebrity and on NCL. They were slightly different but very much along the lines as described above. On both a combo of extended families and older couples. Just the two of us. Do not remember poolside being a zoo....and we spent a fair amount of time there. The one downer for us was both times we felt sorry for the crew who were so far away from their families. We were too however it was by choice.

We always assume that cruise air tickets are consolidator fare code tickets even though some are not. As it happens the last RCI cruise air ticket home from BCN was indeed a consolidator fare code on BA with a change in LHR. Oddly enough both other times we have purchased one way consolidator class tickets to Europe have been on BA. Perhaps because both segments of the route we well serviced by BA. They may have had more excess seats to sell off. We are careful what airlines we select and are not interested in a routing that encompasses two different carriers or a carrier that has few scheduled flights on the route. We tend to consider them for flights returning home or flights where we have days or weeks of land travel prior to a cruise. We would not consider a cruise air ticket if we had a tight connection to get to a cruise. Nor would we typically consider them during inclement weather periods. Like all other travel purchases you really do have to understand exactly what you are buying....right down to the T's and C's.

Just booked antigen tests in Toronto on the SDM website yesterday for a test location near our hotel. That website asks if the test is for travel. The test is required for our Portugal flight. We then had to input some ID, in our case it was passport numbers.

After almost ten years of very frequent and extended international travel (with the exception of covid) our equity position has doubled. Perhaps retiring early was the best financial decision we could have made. But that does not matter as much as the freedom, the experiences, and the good health that we have enjoyed post retirement. We could never put a value on those. For us it has always been about moving forward with our lives, with our careers, based on the stage in life we happen to occupy at that time.

Be prepared not to be able to use the elevator at some Trenitalia stations. We found them to be spotty. Not a big issue for us but it clearly was for those with physical challenges or heavy bags.

Why on earth sweat the details so far out? Chill out and cut HAL a little slack. Who knows what boarding challenges they may have in the background. Just use the last boarding time that you get prior to embarkation. It is hardly the end of the world that HAL changes some cruiser's boarding time. Does it really matter that there are changes so far out? The ship will probably leave the dock at the scheduled time. As long as you are on it all is well.

On our last pre covid land trip to Greece we went to Kefalonia expecting to spend 5 days. We stayed for 10 days. And we plan to return!

There is another part of airline booking strategy that is seldom mentioned. From time to time we have found airline prices less expensive on third party sites that we have on the airline site. We have found this on domestic flights in Turkey, Greece, and Mexico. Our last Westjet flight from Canada to Dublin was about 20 percent less expensive on Expedia that it was on the Westjet site. We have purchased (pre covid) domestic fares on Olympic/Aegean that were prices as much as 25 percent less than the airline web site. For Argentina, we saved about 25 percent on domestic fares by calling down to their BA call center and booking vs. on their international web sites. Ditto for one of our flights to Bangkok several years ago. Matrixit listed the flight (and the fare codes) of our preferred routing for $1019 CAD. I immediately called the carrier, Air Canada, with the details. Their lowest price was $1500 same for same. Several on line booking sites (Expedia, etc) were the same as AC direct. Finally we found the fare and the fare codes on Orbitz at $1019 and immediately booked it.

Celebrity correctly gauged where the market was going and reacted accordingly. As in hockey...you want to be positioned where the puck is going, not where it was in the last play.

Many brick and mortar TA's may have shorter work hours than Princess. Our on line TA certainly has as long or longer hours. Similar to the cruise line's, on line TA's have to be available and serve multiple time zones, holidays, etc We have called our on line TA agency at some very unsocial hours in order to secure a price decrease or take advantage of a price/cabin offering inside the final payment window. We have never had an issue. If our TA was not available, there was always another TA on duty to take our call and make the appropriate arrangements.

Yes...and we have had some very good calls with our TA. Who has the most influence? Me who might book two cruises a year or my on line TA whose agency booking THOUSANDS of cruises each year? On one occasion we were about to book a last minute cruise on another cruise line. Our TA suggested we reconsider. She had feedback from a number of her customers that the ship was a dog. Issues with mtce. Flooding, A/C issues etc. We went on to the CC reviews and discovered that she was right. The ship was a dog at that time. Would a cruise line employee have told us that or would the agent just signed us up and told us it was a wonderful ship???

I have read all those 'control 'posts. Twenty plus cruise booked through a TA. I have yet to have someone clearly enunciate why I would loose 'control' by booking through a TA.

I cannot speak for Princess folks but our former on line TA used to do the same. What if the agent was aware that prices were going up at the end of the day. He did something that was entirely reversible should you decide NOT to take the offer and he gave you some price protection. Over the years our former on line TA gave us that kind of direction. More than once, when booking inside the final payment window she told us to hang on. Took our details and said we should book 'next week'. That price was always lower. More than once she told us to book that very day, now. Yes, the price went up. Once, when we had booked outside the final payment window she casually mentioned that we could cancel and get a full refund. Then we could rebook inside the final payment window. We took the hint. It saved us just over $400. per person and got us a slightly better balcony cabin. In all instances she clearly knew something we did not, she could not communicate it directly to us, but we clearly understood her meaning and took the cue.

Exactly the same for us. We only travel with a 20" roller carry on each.

Beware of the new hire keener. Most especially if the check is not terribly busy. Just the same for going through security.

Some posters are very strange. They do not understand that not everyone acts or thinks in the same way that they do. Over the years we have had comments like...don't you want to dress up for your wife to please her. Well er no.......DW is the better half who first suggested, in the middle of a cruise, that we go casual from now on. And then there were other comments such as .....you can always buy an inexpensive suit or tux at a charity shop. Some even included a link to an on line store where inexpensive tuxedos could be purchased. I had a closet full of suits that I wore every work day...THAT was hardly the issue. Other than cruising who on earth would take a tux or a suit on vacation. Not me! Or...you could always rent on on board. Really why would I want to rent someone else's clothing?

I do not see the issue. We stopped dressing for so called formal nights years ago. Never an issue for us. We simply dined in the buffet. We enjoy seeing others dressed up but we have no desire to do so. Life if too short. Live and let live. There is room for all on a cruise. Really...why sweat the details over one, two, or more nights on a cruise. Hardly worth the effort. We do no really care what others wear. We cannot control it so why get our shirts in a knot over it. This is the purview of the ships management team...not us. Besides....how many cruisers actually read this form. And for those who do, how many care about the opinions of others on this issue. We certainly do not.

We short list first on the basis of ship. There are some ships that we have no interest in. Then we look at itinerary-ports AND time in port. Then we compare price. If we are booking, as we typically do, inside the final payment window and require air we also take a look at the cruise air offering. After our Oct. Med cruise a few years ago we needed one way air home. RCI's late booking combo of cruise fare and one way cruise air home was substantially better than anything else on offer. In terms of itinerary, price and cruise air routing.

I can fall asleep between leaving the gate and take off. Lots of lots of business travel. We have not seen the lie down cubies on NA flights. Only on flights to Europe, SA, and SE Asia/Australia. We have done standard economy to SE Asia and Australia multiple times. We can do two 10 or 12 hour flights with a stop in between. After that it becomes somewhat tedious.

Does it really matter what HAL calls it? People will wear what they want to so what is the point? Besides, formal night or whatever the cruise line chooses to call it is hardly a special event any more.

We have used the airport bus. No issue. We have used public transit to get to Montserrat. We bought a three part ticket from the railway store at P. Catalunya that included the subway ticket to the rail station, rail trip to Montserrat, etc. Very easy, very fast.

We feel exactly the same way when someone asks a question ....what is the best restaurant in Rome, or the best hotel in Athens. To this day we still do not know what those asking the question mean by the word 'best'. It is such a relative term. Ownership changes, business changes. Pre covid and post covid. Our reality is many places (and some cruise lines) are only as good as our last experience. Not someone else's.

Not certain how the sargassum seaweed issue is in Coz. My understanding is that it is at it's very worst ever across the water in Playa and Puerto Morales. Terrible smell. Last time we were in PM they were raking it up and using some sort of tractor pull. My understanding is that is currently so serious that the authorities have resorted to using bulldozers and payloaders which also take away some of the sand.

Ditto to the above. Global entry only. Most of our flights are to destinations outside of NA or connecting to destinations outside of NA. Never an issue...where there is provision for them. Also pre covid they were good for vehicle border US/Canada border crossings.

We stopped doing formal nights a long time ago. The revised smart casual guidelines are such that even we can easily meet them. Despite that we both travel with carry on only.