frank808

On 4/7/2024 at 10:18 AM, mafig said:

The Haven has some larger suites that accommodate families, so if you're "unlucky" you might get a sailing with a lot of children.  We were.  The kids were always in the pool.  They considered it theirs and any adults who ventured in got splashed a lot.  It seemed on purpose.  

 

The Haven restaurant was great, even though the menu doesn't change.  DH still talks about having lobster every day.  They do have a strange water policy, though

 

We were on Joy.  We'd still consider  booking another Haven cruise.  We've also been on MSC's Yacht Club and liked that too.  Royal Caribbean's Crown Loft Suite on Symphony is next.  I'll let you know how it compares.

CLS is a lot nicer than the YC1 suites for sure.  The only suites that compare to CLS are the two story suites I have seen on euriba but still not the wow factor of a CLS. MSC two story YC rooms are smaller and are enclosed compared to CLS.

Hope our cruising paths cross again. We will be on MSC for a couple Med cruises in October, then sailing the last Med cruise on explorer of the seas and staying on for her TA and the next 3 cruises out of Miami.  Those last 3 cruises are long 10 and 11 day itineraries. Maybe you two can join us as we will be in your neigborhood?

Stay safe and happy cruising.

When shares of RCL were under $20 we bought some. We have paid off 100 shares from just the OBC we have received on our cruises. Now will be working on getting OBC to pay for the next 100 shares.  When dividends come back, it will make paying off the shares we bought even faster than just getting OBC for cruises.

On 3/24/2024 at 3:08 AM, island lady said:

Just shy of 2 weeks for me, sent on the 12th which was priority mail (though idiot USPS did not complete tracking) they cashed the check on the 19th.  Paid for expedited service.  

 

Still nothing yet, but also includes passport card with it, which could slow it down a bit.  

 

Though I WAS doing the happy dance yesterday when we finally received our Global Entry cards!  Whew...that was a long process!  

Your passport and passport cards will come in separate mailings. There will be a tracking number provided by email when the passports are sent out. Then you will get a 3rd mailing with the documents you provided for passport. If you log back into passport website you will see if the passport has been sent. If you see the documents have been sent back notice, your passport was probably sent back a week before that date. 

Just got back our second GE renewal. It was within 48 hours of online application, got the approval for renewal with no need for an interview.  Our first and only (thankfully) in person interview was done at Houston Bush airport. Scheduled a long layover from our HNL to MCO flight and did interview there. There was appointments available for all days and most hours. There was no interviews available at the HNL location for at least 9 months.  This was about a decade ago, before covid shutdown, and appointments were already scarce then.

Hope our paths cross soon. Wife and I are scheduled to do Med in Sept with MSC and then board Explorer for the TA and then B4B. Plan to return home in time for Christmas 2024. If god be willing we will be cruising a lot more in 2025 and forward. Have not cruised out of Port Canaveral since 2018. Pricing of RCL has been pretty steep and with Navigator out of San Pedro she has been our port of choice since restart from covid.

Just renewed last month and it took about 4 weeks.

Have and explorer cruise out of Miami over thanksgiving 2024 and could not get the single solo supplement code to work. Few cruises before and after this date the supplement was valid.

9 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Mid tier D+ ( 350 or 525  range) benefits are very close to Pinnacle. (same dinner BOGO, same laundry, same lounge use, same 3 amenities for 525 and Pinnace, just one less drink a day,   If there is another category with increased benefits, then a new D+ category could very easily have better/more benefits than Pinnacle!  

 

M

You forget the all important free internet (well at least to me) for the voyage.  That is what I look forward to the most on hitting P.

12 hours ago, Mick B said:

Sorry, my comment about the pool hogs was a poor attempt at humour.

 

However, I do believe they published some literature somewhere stating that anything left unattended on chairs for more than 30 minutes would be removed and taken to the towel station for collection. So in effect, unless that is just bull on Royal's part, then I would actually image they would have someone available to carry out just such an action.

 

Anyway, back to the Crown Lounge, I do feel a bit sorry for the Diamond members who may lose out on the HH perk depending on capacity. One of the reasons for limiting the available space in there is partly due to RCI limiting the amount of Pins in the CL and therefore moving them into the Crown Lounge. 

 

I think a better way to handle this on ALL ships on ALL sailings (since they know how many C&A members Diamond and above will be onboard) is to simply allow everyone in the Crown Lounge and also open up a overspill nearby like they do on ships like the Anthem where they open up part of the Music Hall next to it, or on ships where the Viking Lounge is adjacent.

 

Its not like RCI are saving anything as everyone has to use their drinks vouchers to obtain a drink now.

 

The whole point of benefits is to not only award repeat cruisers with loyalty, but to also make them feel special and part of something. It isn't nice if you are given it but then find out you can't have it during a particular cruise, but you could have had it if you had gone a week earlier or later when the numbers were lower etc.

 

If you are like me, I didn't cruise to get to D+, my wife and I cruised because we liked what RCI did for us with food and shows etc and also to visit certain ports where we only wanted to visit for a few hours and not stay. Getting to Diamond and then D+ was a bonus, and a very nice one too. 

 

Sadly, at some point in time, unless RCI start changing the way points are kept/accrued, then more and more perks will probably be removed for Diamond and D+ folk. I get that and that's why I enjoy to the max what I can currently get. What I don't like is finding out once on board that certain things you were promised in advance are suddenly removed for the duration of that cruise only.

Can anyone remember when they started limiting access to the CL for D+ members when too many Pins or Suite guests were sailing that cruise. Well in the end they axed D+ members' entry to the CL full stop - so if that's anything to go by then you know what may happen soon. Really hope it doesn't come to that.

 

Mick.

 

It was right before covid in Jan or Feb of 2020 that D+ was eliminated from Concierge Lounge. I was on one of the first sailings this happened. At least we got to use the concierge lounge for a few times while not in a suite before the expulsion.

On 2/4/2024 at 1:51 PM, bucfan2 said:

Don't do MSC Yacht Club....good chance you'll be ruined. Blew away anything we've ever done, including CL's on Royal. Our anticipation for Pinnacle in the near future just had the brakes applied in a big way after our YC experience last week. 

You are right about taking longer to make P. We started MSC YC about 2018 when we were about 200 pts into C&A. Have done about 10 more cruises with MSC YC in past 5 years.  I love the YC space and pool on every class of ship (fav is Seaside class) EXCEPT the Europa we sailed last year. The ship is amazing (reminds us of Oasis class) but the YC pool area was small and the outdoor grill/bar was not on the pool deck. We booked a few YC cruises for Europe and the TA on MSC for 2024 but went with Royal instead for Europe and TA to hit P instead. Will sail MSC in early 2025 on Seaside and then see what to book after that. YC used to be a great price and now it has crept up in pricing...just like Royals.

On 1/27/2024 at 9:31 AM, Ashland said:

We love the Navigator out of San Pedro (our home port) and sail on her usually a few times a year. She has one of the best ice shows fleetwide !!!

 

Glad you enjoyed her.

Love that drone show.

The only Amex card I got this offer on was the Green Amex card. None on my Marriott Brilliant, Hilton Aspire, Blue Cash, Hilton Business or Marriott Business.

I have cruised 12 times with MSC on Seaside, Seashore, Divina and europa in Yacht Club. I will say it costs less than sailing Sky class on the Oasis and Quantum class ships. Though the YC1 rooms are about the size of JS on Royal. Cabin is not like a crown loft suite but the shower is the next best after the showers on Oasis and Allure. YC lounge and restaurant are larger than SL on Royal. Plus included drink package, wifi and spa access.   No need to worry about chair hogs and such in YC.

Still cruise Royal but have started to do more cruises with MSC now.

That many times on that seat with the drops going full blast, your rear end must have been sore.  Or did you have some type of cushion?

I went 20+ rounds with my son and I was sore. I can only imagine doing it 72 times. Must have been very few people riding that day that you hit 72 trips. At 5 minutes a ride, it would take 6 hours to do it 72 times! It took us about 7 hours to do the 20 something trips when we last rode it. Get off and walk back to the boarding area and wait 15-30 minutes in line to get back on.

If our cruising paths ever cross on Labadee, we will have to get together and ride the coaster!  A fellow kid at heart would make for some great times and laughs!

Bring a towel so you can fold it up and put it on the seat. Helped a lot when my son was small and we rode it over 20 times in one day.  😩

For explorer sailings in Nov 2024, Deluxe Beverage package is down to $47.99 a day. Lowest I have seen in over 4 years.

22 hours ago, Mikew0805 said:

I laughed so hard at this I snorted.  

 

 Last weekend on Independence they gave me the "upgraded amenities" which happened to be the same products that were already in the tub, just in a smaller tube. 🙄

 

In a JS our cruises this month and got the white tubes. Since we are supposed to get upgraded bathroom amenities, room steward got us the Loccitane big tubes that GS and above have. Just had to ask this time but in prior cruises it was already done.

7 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Hi Frank!  Sure hope we get to cruise together someday in the future.  Still in Hawaii?  I know you were just on an interesting cruise.  My time again is Sunday on Wonder.  🙂 

Yes still on Oahu. We just got back on Oct 4 from Alaska followed by TP to Hawaii. Love these long cruises with so many sea days. Met so many fellow cruisers in the DL. This was on Brilliance so took over half the vortex lounge every evening for happy hour. Met many like minded cruisers from all over the world. We had so much fun, that we are booked for the TA on explorer out of Barcelona next year.

This is the best part of the DL. A place where like minded folks go that helps break the ice. I know one thing, that whoever is in lounge, we share the love of cruising(well maybe not  everyone but 95%). No unlimited happy hour drinks but I still went to DL every evening to meet new and old friends. Have not found that kindred spirit on our 10 MSC cruises. Have made a few friends on MSC but not the same.

Hope our cruising paths cross one day and I can finally meet you and bucky in person.  enjoy Viking and Celebrity. A lot of our friends that cruise a lot have gone over to Celebrity. They tell me that the food reminds them of Royal of yesteryear.

On 10/19/2023 at 2:04 AM, island lady said:

 

The free unlimited internet is my favorite perk!  🤗

That would be the biggest perk for me when we get there.

5 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Correct, just like Icon.  Sky Junior and then Junior

What is about the difference in price between Sky JS and JS on the same sailings?

3 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

I don't think they went through the process of renaming and changing signage on a bunch of ships to keep everything the same. This company is not in the position to spend money for no gain. It may be months or years but change is a comin'. 

 

 

mac_tlc

Agree. RCL did not even finish the Concierge Lounge to Suite Lounge name change on all the ships. If they are going to change DL to Crown Lounge then something is coming up!

1 hour ago, ReRe71 said:

We have Oasis booked for the Mediterranean in September 2024, paid around $2800 for a balcony. I, too, am afraid airfare will be much more than the cruise 😩

Just book business class roundtrip 😜

12 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

As do we !!

 

We have done some O class since they started sending one to NJ. About 100 miles away. None scheduled since suite prices are too high for us and the value isn’t there. Would probably jump on a bargain but …
 

We did book a HAL Hawaii cruise in January 2025 R/T out of San Diego! Looking forward to seeing your beautiful state — with no long flight and lots of sea days !!!

 

All the best,

mac_tlc

 

 

Yep with RCL crazy prices it is driving wife and I towards MSC YC bookings. I will say we are about 50/50 between RCL and MSC now. Although MSC has raised their YC prices it is still a bargain compared to Sky class with RCL.

Wife and I just got off Radiance last week and it was great. Only had to fly one way to Vancouver and 6 wonderful sea days coming home. Sure beats even flying Polaris back home!

Keep in touch regarding your HAL cruise here to Hawaii. When you stop in Honolulu wife and I would love to show you around. Just hope that we are on island when your ship docks in Honolulu.

Stay safe and happy cruising!

Frank

Pre covid,I have had refundable(travel agent) and non refundable OBC. MSC would use the non refundable first. I got cash for the refundable portion from the concierge.  Withdrew the non refundable from the casino.

This past June/July all my credit from the travel agent was non refundable (same TA as used for MSC previously). Maybe different OBC rules for European sailings?

13 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

As someone often pushing a wheelchair down the hallway, scooters, strollers and room service trays are not my friends. Even the housekeeping carts can be a challenge depending on where in the hallway they are and whether there are towels, etc. hanging off the sides. 
 

Most times any of these result in a Stop. Stand. Fold. Walk. Stop. Unfold. Sit. Resume. sequence of events. 
 

No way two scooters or wheelchairs can fit. At least with the wheelchair, I can fold it up and let the traffic pass. The only hallways I have seen where two can pass side by side is the Crown Loft deck 17 hallways. For me, they are a thing of beauty. 

 

 

mac_tlc

Sure miss those double wide hallways. Have not been back on an Oasis class ship in probably 4 years or so. RCL doesn't sail that class out of the west coast much! 

Hope to cross cruise paths again with you and your wife.

Just off Radiance. JS and lower cabins are blue cards. GS and above is silver and P got gold cards.

On 10/5/2023 at 9:53 AM, Tree_skier said:

You are right... that does sound like they got the months mixed up.  Either way Radiance is westbound in Sept and eastbound in May. 

Sounds like a conversation I just had in the DL this past week. Husband informed me that they just booked the April 2025 sailing of Ovation from Honolulu to Australia. I told him that he probably meant Honolulu to Vancouver as this is when ships reposition to Alaska for the summer season. He got agitated and replied I was wrong. Said he would show me the booking to prove it. I said no need to and enjoy his cruise in April 2025. Then excused myself to talk to other friends. Just avoided talking to them again for the last half of cruise.