smplybcause

2 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

If closed loop there is no need to visit a "distant" foreign port. 

No, but a stop at a foreign port is required for closed loop cruises. It's why congress had to do something so this last Alaska cruise season could go. 

2 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Now it seems that everyone gets all of the perks on every cruise. 

Hmm so I was thinking it was more of a covid thing to get people to book, but now from your post I'm thinking that maybe all perks are here to stay. Pushing the numbers down so much make it more sustainable to keep. 

I don't think insurance has ever covered credits except maybe insurance through the cruise line. 

Make sure your insurance covers getting sick with covid. 

Wonder if you sail solo whether you get the two logins or if you now get 100 minutes less. 

1) The cruise lines don't want to have to deal with determining whether the notes are fake (because how hard is it to type a letter up on your computer and end it with Dr Something) these days. 2) As someone else said the antigen test NCL is doing at the pier only pops positive when you actively have covid and has a very very low false positive rate (though its false negative is rather high) 3) The natural immunity you get from having the disease is no where near as good as once thought. Omicron is reinfecting a lot of people 4) If the wrongly board someone testing positive on their ship it's their butt on the line and having to deal with the fallout so it's just not worth the risk

If you have a positive test you won't be getting on the ship. 

Do a PCR well before the one needed to board to see if you should be OK or if you likely should plan on not going. 

Windjammer was open for dinner for the NYE cruise. But I think that was the largest capacity Brilliance has had. 

3 hours ago, stuball2500 said:

The adult shakes are included in drinks package so I presume vouchers

Wonder if I can get an adult shake with the booze on the side with my drink package. Sometimes you just want a regular milkshake but I don't want to a pay for it if I have the package!

Revolving bar is still there. Once the group that was up in the club at night figured it spun someone was always yelling for it to go around. 

The two times I flew out of SeaTac the security lines were crazy. And even the pre-check isn't always the greatest - only one checkpoint has precheck. It took a lot of time to walk from where I checked my bag (though hopefully your cruise would have it so you can check your bags through) to the precheck area and then back to the terminal my flight was at . Took a good 30+ minutes just to get from checking my bag to my gate. 

Also - what day is the Ovation sailings? Last year they were on Fridays. You have to go through downtown Seattle to get to the airport so on Friday you'd be dealing with rush hour traffic. When I sailed on a Sunday (NCL) I got off the ship to find out a ton of downtown was blocked for a foot race. Definitely took longer that I expected that day and NCL's port is prob 20 minutes closer to the airport by car. 

1 hour ago, TickledBlue said:

I think this was long coming.   At 49 points, I think they made me gold even though, at the time, I should have been silver (haven't cruised with them in a few years).  Now, I'm still gold but quite a bit closer to platinum.

 

I'm not sure if Royal will do anything with their loyalty levels other than naming the D+ ones that they already have as discussed before.   They're in a hard spot adjusting them because if they make it easier to get to a level, the existing loyalists will complain about eroding their status.  I haven't looked at the NCL forums but I'd be surprised if there weren't some heated debates going on there.

I haven't popped over there - but since they didn't decrease any of the perks and a lot were probably bumped up to the next level for it they're probably not mad unless they think it will be followed by getting rid of perks. 

Though I suppose on some ships it might be a bit harder to get your two free specialty meals.

It's up to I think 3 days before the cruise. The close the planner when it's 2 days before the cruise. 

The on board price is $88 so that's the highest it gets. You should be able to get it cheaper if your cruise is far enough away. I would expect something in the 60s and be happy if you see it under 60. 

Though on one of the last sails my April cruise had $88/day as the sale price! Which was really weird because drink package + wifi was $78/day. On the last sale someone in  Royal IT must have realized they screwed up because it was back to normal sales that are actually below on board prices and drinks + wifi costing more. 

I'm surprised they lowered the amount of points along with the addition. I'll take it though. I'll move up a level if my Feb cruise still goes in time to get priority tender on my next cruise with them that has a few tender ports. 

Happy they didn't get rid of benefits with the change. 

If you're going to get covid on the ship - get it early. Those oceanview covid rooms are first come first served. 

I remember when I first flew to Canada with my passport I only got when they started requiring it. 19 year old me was so confused and disappointed I didn't get a stamp that the customs agent gave me one anyways. 16 years later I fly to Mexico and my response is dammit I hope I don't fill up all my pages before it expires.

6 minutes ago, dsvd79 said:

Can I ask again?

Can we use the FCC's toward cruises already booked for 2022?

I know someone who has in the past. It's been a while but I'm guessing you still can. At least worth a call to ask. 

You can do that. BTW When I was just on brilliance escargot was on the menu every night. Likely is on your sailing.

You won't be ready to board until someone at the terminal checks everything off for you. 

Was on Brilliance for NYE and they had a lot of the bowl games playing. Several up on the pool deck...not sure if they were on the schedule or not. Then the pub had several games and the one TV in Schooner had some too. 

All day Saturday was bowl games on the pool deck with all day Sunday being the NFL games. 

My guess is it'll be played on the pool deck and in the pub like the other ones. Saw enough of the frigging commercials for it while watching all the other bowl games. 

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You can absolutely change a refundable group rate to a non refundable FIT rate at any time.  You still remain in the group and will pick up the group amenity.  No different than booking a non refundable suite and moving it into the group for the amenity

Ah, might be just how Costco does their groups or their workers just don't know. Only option was refundable and only very specific cabins could be in the group. ie they booked someone out of the group because either there was no availability of the cabin they wanted in the group or it never was in the group. 

It sounds like you might be booking a group rate. So if so there's no non refundable option to switch to as I believe all group rates are always refundable. 

Just off brilliance. Nothing to sign with the drink package or diamond and above drinks unless you go over $13. No package you sign. 

It was about 50/50 on whether they asked for your room number or card. 

If cruises out of Vancouver are out, so are the other Alaska cruises unless congress acts again as I believe the exception was only for 2021. And considering it's an election year that might make it less likely. 

1 minute ago, Sunshine3601 said:

also makes it easier for them to bring room service, and have specific people assigned to handle those cabins instead of  "regular" crew members 

That's the logistics part. But it's without a doubt being able to easily keep positive people in their room. Room service is dropped off with the doors closed and anything is picked up with them closed.