ravensbad

3 hours ago, shadowmeboy said:

As you mentioned it was 5 years ago, wow, and while I cannot tell you a name of the shop I remember roughly where in Juneau it was.

 

 

The store I got it at was on Franklin, past the Red Dog Saloon, on the left hand side of the road when walking from the Alaska Short Company or Goldbelt Tram. I want to say it was closer to the lucky lady pub, but I am not sure of that.

 

Another shop I would suggest checking out, in Juneau, for unique and Alaskan made items is Caribou Crossings. They are closer to the tram on the right side of Franklin. 
 

I always love finding something unique and that moose definitely fit the bill! Happy hunting and enjoy that Alaska cruise!

Thanks, that is really helpful and I will definitely check out Caribou Crossings too (and that maple syrup shack in Carcross, I've been dreaming about all the delicious things I can bake with that Bourbon Maple Syrup).

On 12/5/2019 at 12:07 AM, shadowmeboy said:

 

 

Having been to Alaska 5 times, we have a lot of souvenirs. I am always looking for something unique. The moose there came home with me, plus it was 40% off due to being end of the season! Score!

@shadowmeboy I know this is from a few years ago but do you remember where you got that moose? I love finding unique souvenirs and even though that shop may not have those exact things anymore I'd love to check them out if they survived covid. I'm finally going to Alaska this year after multiple cancelled trips so I really appreciate your reviews

8 hours ago, Jayhoaps said:

 

Hey seems like they have increased the price of the excursion and it's a bit pricey. Just wanted to ask your honest opinion, was the tour worth the money? Still contemplating If I should go to this, thanks in advance. 

When I took this tour in 2015 it was $80 per person, which was almost double the cost I paid for tours on other islands. St. Maarten and St. Kitts were both $45 per person but they were not booked through the cruise line. So even at the time this tour was more expensive than your average island tour. I did think it was worth it at the time, especially since there were pretty limited options at this port and it really did turn out to be a fantastic day. They took us out one way (through the jungle) and back to port a different way (along the coast) so both ways you had different scenery which I liked. I just went and searched and it looks like Princess is charging $100 per person now, so that doesn't seem out of line compared with the 2015 cost (not with how bad inflation has been the last couple years, anyways). I'd happily pay that to do this tour again.

5 hours ago, Jayhoaps said:

 

The cruise I'm taking is Princess which offers this tour. Thanks again for your detailed review and sharing the pictures. It has really given me great insight to book this tour. Thanks again at this time. 

Oh, yea, sorry, no idea where I got Celebrity from but hope you have a great cruise! 

4 hours ago, Jayhoaps said:

Also is this the same tour you did Rabensbad?

The one I did was through Royal Caribbean but based on your description it does sound like the same tour. Royal and Celebrity are owned by the same company so I would imagine many of the excursions are the same.

2 hours ago, irishgirl666 said:

So sorry to hear this ravens bad.  My neighbor is devastated over hers being cancelled on 10/31.   Just wondering Ravensbad where were you cruising out of?

I was on the Vision out of Ft. Lauderdale. After my initial reply I found this thread that lists a whole bunch of cancellations that went out yesterday:

They must be doing a new round of cancellations because my December cruise got cancelled yesterday. I figured it's something to do with it being an 11-night cruise and them proceeding slowly with their re-opening plan. It sucks, I figured a December cruise was relatively safe when I booked it but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Just found out about this today and came to post but I found yours first. If you have a Chase Freedom card you can pair with this offer (by paying with paypal) for 15% off. That's a pretty great deal.

12 minutes ago, puppymama1 said:

We have 2 different card numbers (and 2 different logins) for our Delta Platinum Amex.  I used the backdoor link and added the offer to both cards using the 2 different logins.  The TA had Princess charge $500 to each card.  We immediately got an email saying my husband's card had used the offer.. and the $100 credit has been posted to the account.  But we never got the email that I had used the offer on my card.. and the credit is still not showing as posted to the account for my card.  I KNOW the offer was on there before the charge was made, and when we didn't get the 2nd email saying I had used my offer, I double-checked it and it was still showing up in my "offers added to the card"... But today, when I was checking to see if the credit had posted, I looked again and it is not showing up in the offers on my card... Any suggestions on what to do?  The Amex website says if the credits aren't posted after 90 days, you should contact them... Should I contact them now?  Or did they figure out it was the same account, just 2 different cards, and we aren't eligible for the offer?  

I would suggest just waiting, I don't always get an email and sometimes it takes a few extra days on one card vs. another for no apparent reason. If the credit doesn't show up after a week or two (especially with the holiday) of the charge posting then you can give Amex a call but I doubt that will be necessary and they would probably just tell you to wait until 90 days anyways. You are eligible to use it on the main and authorized user card as long as the authorized user has their own login and the card number is different so it sounds like everything is fine there, no worries about eligibility.

On 11/18/2019 at 1:33 PM, Cruise Raider said:

I have a question for everyone ....

I've used these offers so many times in the past that I am surprised I don't know the answer to this yet.  Anyhow, here goes ...

 

My DH and I are under the same Amex account, our bill is paid as one but we have different credit card numbers.  Can I use this offer under both cards and get two statement credits ... eg:  put $500 down on one card and another $500 down on the other card.  Their verbiage on restrictions is below:  

 

Enrollment limited. Must first add offer to Card and then use same Card to redeem. Only U.S.-issued American Express® Cards are eligible. Limit 1 enrolled Card per Card Member across all American Express offer channels. Your enrollment of an eligible American Express Card for this offer extends only to that Card.

 

How might you all interpret this?  I've added the offer to each card individually ... and don't want to be greedy but also don't want to spend another $500 at this time if it isn't going to lead to any savings (you know, with the holidays being upon us).  Thoughts?  

 

What you're describing is a credit card with an authorized user. Amex does authorized user cards a little differently from other issuers and the authorized user card has a different number and separate login. In this situation you are able to add and use Amex offers on both the main card and the authorized users card without issue. What Amex does limit, as noted above, is the adding of an offer to multiple different cards under the same login. Once you add an offer to one card under your login it will disappear from the other cards under your login. So if you are an authorized user on your DH's card and you also have your own Amex card and the same offer shows up on both cards you will only be able to add it to one card or the other. I believe that the MR offer (get 10,000 MR points back for $500 spend) and the cash back offer ($100 back for $500 spend) are considered separate offers so if you are lucky enough to get both offers on the same login you would be able to add and use both of those offers.

On 6/9/2019 at 11:34 AM, jenseib said:

I thought our excursion on a whole was good. We had a great team guiding us.  I just expected better snorkeling with more colors.  We saw a lot of colorful fish, but the coral was kind of plain.  Bonaire is known for great diving, so I expected the snorkeling to be some of the best ever, but it wasn’t.   I did have a good time and glad we did it though.

Hey Jen, first let me say that I really appreciate your reviews. I've never been to Disney or on DCL but one day I'm going to bite the bullet and just pay the money because it looks like a lot of fun (they're so expensive though...ugh!). I haven't finished reading this one yet but going through the Bonaire section and wanted to comment. I was really surprised when I saw where they took you to snorkel... There is much better snorkeling over by that island you were talking about where they quarantined people, Klein Bonaire. I've gone snorkeling with Woodwind twice in Bonaire and it has been phenomenal both times. Definitely suggest checking them out if you plan to go back. They do tend to book up far in advance because they're so good but there are several companies that can take you out to Klein Bonaire. Also, it's drift snorkeling, so you don't even have to do a ton of swimming you just float and let the current move you. I've read that you can also take a ferry over to the island and then do your own drift snorkeling from one part of the beach to another and then walk back but Woodwind is awesome so I've never seriously considered doing that.

Speaking of the cruise planner... is anyone else having trouble with it? I know issues pop up from time to time but I have never experienced it. I log in to the website and I can see my cruise on the dashboard. I click on "Plan My Cruise" and it takes me to the old style page where it asks me for my reservation number, name, date of departure, and ship name. I enter all that stuff in and click on "submit" and then I get an error page that says the webpage doesn't even exist. I've tried multiple browsers, clearing cookies/cache, etc. not sure what else to do at this point.

Woodwind is FANTASTIC. Have gone with them twice and they are, by far, the best snorkeling excursion I've been on. They go out of their way to make sure your equipment is fitted properly, they split you into groups based on experience so those who might need extra help/attention get it (although they don't split families/groups up), and they actually point to things underwater and talk to you on the boat about what to look for and things you should expect to see. Plus they have a photographer who takes really great photos underwater so you can just enjoy the excursion without having to worry about taking your own pictures, although you are welcome to do so. They even have both full-face and traditional snorkel gear (I encourage you to try full-face if you haven't). And the snorkeling is the best I've experienced in the Caribbean. They take reservations 2+ years out and they always fill up because of their well-deserved reputation.

There you go! I purchase everything thru credit cards as much as possible simply because of points, then pay them off each month. The points add up quickly!

I do the same because even though 2% doesn't seem like much when you get it across all spending over the course of a year it can be hundreds of dollars. That's in addition to the other benefits, like purchase protection, not being responsible for fraudulent charges, signup bonuses, Amex offers, etc.

Yeah, I stopped using deticade credit cards since I can get higher percentage back on other cards, plus in the form of cash back toward any account to be used on any kind of vacation or purchase. There are 1.5% and 2% cash back cards that have no annual fees, plus up to 3% on select purchases, like gas or groceries, etc. Plus, if you're an Amazon Prime member with the Amazon Chase card, you get 5% Amazon rewards, which can also be used for cash back. We added a Disney World vacation before our cruise tomorrow just because we had the points, plus with the Southwest points we had, just had to pay the security fees.

Several cards out there like the Discover it and Chase Freedom cards that are no annual fee and 5% back on rotating categories. Discover even doubles your cash back after the first year, so it's effectively 10% back the first year which is pretty great.

I had no idea people actually used this credit card (or the other cruise line ones). I mean I guess there must be people who use it otherwise they wouldn't offer it, but why? Why wouldn't you just use something like the Citi Double Cash that gets you 2% cash back on everything everywhere, instead of a cruise line credit card that gets you 2% back in the form of OBC (much less flexible than real cash back) on cruise line purchases and 1% on all other purchases?

Here is an article that has a video in it too. If you use Google Chrome it can translate the page for you so you can read the article.

http://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/1210455-410/incendio-little-french-key-turismo-honduras

I was able to redeem OBC for my MyVEGAS acct and my husbands MyVEGAS acct! It says one per person, so I think they’re now allowing more than one obc per cabin.

The wording of the terms and conditions on the website hasn't changed but the email they send you doesn't match what the website says. On the myVegas reward screen where you purchase the reward it has always said "Limit one cruise reward per player, per sailing" but then the email they send you says "One reward redemption per booking (stateroom)" and also "Only one myVEGAS Reward can be used per reservation". They have been enforcing the website wording rather than the email wording for a long time. I would still only redeem the rewards one at a time though, just in case they change their minds.

I would not pay $50 more to get a $75 on board credit as everything on board is way overpriced so I don’t think you are really gaining $25.

If you don't pay your gratuities ahead of time you're going to be spending at least that much onboard and you could use the OBC towards that

I was just wondering because we were not that impressed. We did a snorkeling tour with Woodwind and were not that impressed with them, either. Water was pretty rough, we didn't see much, and we wondered if they could have gone to a better location. I was pretty surprised given how everyone says they love it so much and they get great reviews. We also walked around the shopping area and everything was pretty expensive.

 

Having said all of that, the best place we've ever been snorkeling was Hol Chan Marine park in Belize. We flew over to Ambergris Caye on a little plane from Belize city. Fantastic, but probably not a lot of cruisers would feel comfortable doing this. We took a chance and it was great! :D

I'm sure Woodwind has good days and bad, like everyone else, maybe you caught then on a bad one. FWIW Belize is my second favorite snorkeling behind Bonaire, swimming with the nurse sharks and rays after the snorkeling was awesome.

Although the snorkeling in Bonaire is good, I absolutely hate that island so hopefully will never go back.

Have been to Bonaire twice and never even saw enough of the island to form an opinion. Woodwind is literally a 5 minute walk from the ship and when you're done you can get some gelato at Gio's, do some shopping, and then get right back on the ship without having gone more than a few hundred feet from the pier. Even if you do hate the island I'm not sure why this would keep you from the amazing snorkeling :)

Bonaire, by far. Curacao and Belize are runners up for me. Barbados, Cozumel, and St. Lucia are third tier (and roughly in that order). Aruba is last. Grand Cayman is supposed to have good snorkeling but we did something else the one time we were there. Roatan is supposed to have good snorkeling but we didn't see much.

I was recently on the NCL Pearl out of New Orleans. I've posted about it previously but I was very unimpressed. I tried to go into it with an open mind and just enjoy that cruise on its own merits but a lot of things just did not come close to my experience on Royal Caribbean. It wasn't bad, and I didn't have a bad vacation, but if everything else is the same it's the little things that count.

The staff in general was not as friendly and helpful, and I even had some servers give me an attitude (which absolutely shocked me, I have never experienced this on a cruise before and it happened multiple times at different restaurants on the Pearl). I mean, something as simple as requesting to skip dessert because the meal had run longer than we planned and we wanted to make it to a show caused a server to be very rude. I wasn't rude, wasn't complaining or asking her to go faster, I just said we needed to head to a show so we'd be skipping dessert and she apparently did not like that one bit. And that was not an isolated incident.

The food everywhere but the MDR and O'Sheehan's was worse and the food in the MDR was about the same when compared to Royal. The specialty restaurants especially were very disappointing. I couldn't get a properly cooked steak to save my life and the food just was not as good as any specialty restaurant I've been to with Royal.

Tendering was an absolute nightmare. Seriously, you would have thought no one on that ship had ever tendered before. In Grand Cayman the last group of passengers didn't make it off the ship until around 3pm, 4 hours after tendering was supposed to start. Also, a ton of the technology was not in working order on the ship. Like that map on the tv that shows where you've been, or current time/temperature/sunset/sunrise. They had tv screens in all the elevators with the current date and time and I swear every elevator I was in that had the screen working showed a different date and/or time.

Some of that stuff might seem silly, but I'm just relating my experience. None of it was enough to ruin my vacation but when taken as a whole it definitely says something about the NCL experience.

Now, to be fair, NCL did do some things better than Royal. Late night food was definitely better, and O'Sheehan's in general was great. Also, NCL had more gameshows (though this is heavily dependent on the CD no matter the line) which we enjoy. I did miss the Quest though. They also had more trivia, and you even accumulated activity points you could trade in on some coveted NCL logo merchandise at the end of the week. I don't know if the newer Royal Ships do this differently, but on the Serenade if you show up without a reservation to the MDR you have to stand in this huge line. I liked on NCL that they give you one of those buzzer things like you get at a regular restaurant so you don't have to stand there in line for 30+ minutes. I also like that you get some included freebies with NCL. We got free gratuities, which seems to be a rare promotion, and free specialty dining so we saved a good chunk of change on stuff we would normally spend. I also like NCL's NextCruise program a lot better than what Royal is doing right now.

All in all I enjoyed my vacation but if I had the choice of two equal cruises (itinerary, price, etc.), one from Royal and one from NCL, I would book with Royal 100 times out of 100 and not even give it a second thought.

This was the last list I recall seeing (D+ sheet is a little further down the thread):

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=50334240#post50334240

It's almost 2 years old at this point, not sure how much has changed if anything.

I've never seen a cruise that's 8 months away, and not a holiday cruise suddenly jump up so significantly in price literally overnight, and become so much higher than any other sailing on this or similar ships. Something weird going on

This exact thing happened to me a couple of years ago for an 11-night Serenade of the Seas cruise the first week of December. Booked it onboard a year ahead of time and when we got off the ship and I verified my reservation I noticed the cost of OV cabins had gone up over 50% for new bookings. It was because OV's were nearly sold out.