MamaFej

8 hours ago, canderson said:

I've even had SS washed undershirts come back on hangers!

 

We had that on Azamara, as well. 

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Galapagos was so great (we did it on Celebrity Xpedition back when that ship had 100 pax) that it is the main place DW wants to revisit.  This time I'd like to add Machu Picchu, which Celebrity offers – but I don't see it on the Silversea website?  

 

[Tauck does offer Galapagos on SS Origin + Machu Picchu – but we will probably do their other version on Isabella II since that ship has a glass-bottom boat and we don't snorkel]

Thank you for this! 

One of my dearest friends also happens to be my travel agent, with whom we often travel. He did Galapagos on an Agent Rate on the flora, and loved it! He did Machu Picchu on his own on a different trip before flying down to do Iguazu Falls, then boarding a Celebrity ship in Buenos Aires to go around the horn, up to Valparaiso while we were in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific using up 2020 and 2021 Covid credits... otherwise, we probably would have been with him. 

All that to say that we are definitely open to a variety of Galapagos options. It is a high priority. 

Almost a year ago, a rather rare (1/5000) genetic heart disease caught up with me. I had been lucky until then, but I'm 98% positive that Covid finally made me susceptible, as I have obviously had the gene my whole life. It usually hits folks in their teens to early 30s. My cousins were 17 and 29. My late brother was 25, I was 56. Not everyone with the gene gets the disease. My 81 year-old mom does not have the disease, but she has literally sat in a recliner for most of the last 20 years, "living" in fear. I refuse to do that, I'm not sure that Machu Picchu is even still a possibility, but I'm hoping! A year ago, I was averaging walking 7.5 miles a day, and could do 9-11 mile hikes with 1500 foot elevation changes with no problem. I took a 5 mile walk every night after dinner. Then, BAM! I could barely walk from my bed to my couch, then I needed 20 minutes to recover. I've gained over 30 pounds in the last 12 months. It is not pretty! 

Anyway, I have NO desire for sympathy. I can afford to cruise. Very few of the 8+ Billion people on the planet can say that. I have never had to worry if I can feed my kids. I have never had to worry if I can find shelter. The only nights i have gone without running water and electricity have been by choice (I love camping).

PLEASE do NOT pity me! 

All of that is to say that I will add Tauck to our list of vendors we are considering for the Galapagos. 

Thank you!!!!!

We will also be seriously looking at Galapagos expeditions on SS. With the 10% discount and the 5% book on board discount, we might be looking at doing the Galapagos for my 58th or 59th birthday, instead of waiting for my 60th, since booking for then won't be availble yet. 

I suppose there is noting wrong with moving a milestone in order to save money. 

2 minutes ago, Emdee said:

Laundry is a game changer on an expedition. Though in the case of the Endeavour we noticed that there was hardly anyone in the laundry room and the Crystal built ship had an excellent laundry room. The previous year we were on the Cloud and we gave our clothes for washing  a lot as the laundry room wasn’t great. 
Enjoy your trip on the Endeavour ….such a fabulous ship. 
 

Thank you.

This is Hubby's 60th birthday trip, and we are taking the adult offspring with us. They have all been on 2 Celebrity cruises, and are Classic Level, so they won't get the laundry benefit. It's nice to know that they will have a good laundry facility to use. I'll appreciate using it for the things I prefer to wash myself, such as things I don't want to be machine dried. It will be nice not to have to wash some things in the sink. 

15 minutes ago, late2cruisin said:

I agree that it's a great perk and we use it frequently. But it's wash and fold only, so the clothes are still a bit wrinkled and there's no place onboard to iron them yourself. I'm assuming on SS that the clothes we send out will be washed and pressed? That will be really nice!

That would be nice. Since I'm doing an expedition, I'm less concerned about wrinkles. Still, clean and possibly wrinkled clothes are better than not having the benefit, for sure. 

7 hours ago, pghflyer said:

The issue is nothing is ever really "free", they just hold or raise the cruise prices, or reduce / eliminate OBC, or don't offer drink package discounts, etc.........so if you happen to not want the "thing" they are using to support their price, you are actually paying more.

I totally agree, that's why I called "free" airfare "included." Viking doesn't do this out of a sense of generosity. 

I was trying to come to the defense of those opposed to it. I don't think they are being contentious. I think they are being honest that it doesn't work for them. No one is happy about paying extra for stuff they won't use. 

I'm happy that it does work for others. I can no longer sit without my legs elevated for a flight from  the Southwest Coast of the US to Europe. If I could, or I were flying from farther east, included airfare might work for me, as it can have a lower overall cost than purchasing the cruise and economy airfare separately. Instead, I look for lower cruise and/or accommodation prices and points and miles deals when I can't find good cash deals for airfare. 

Different things work for different people. 

Oh, as a point of clarification, one does not need to be a Zenith to get laundry benefits on Celebrity. Zeniths do get unlimited laundry. However, Elites get one bag each, and Elite Plus folks get two bags each. There are also dry cleaning benefits.

For us, that is a fantastic perk, especially since X does not have self-serve laundry facilities. 

On 5/31/2024 at 4:56 AM, Neilio said:

No different than what hotel chains have done after acquisitions. In almost all cases an integration of systems, policies and perks takes place. The bottom line is that the corporation needs to grow their revenue and earnings. Cost cutting and synergies are a natural outcome. I can still stay at a St. Regis/Ritz-Carlton and use my Marriott Bonvoy benefits that I accumulated via stays at a Courtyard. The proof will be if the cruises are full and demand keeps growing. As many previous posters have noted the age demographic for most of these luxury cruise lines (exception being Alaska and Expedition) is 70 years plus. The cruise lines must find ways to attract and maintain a younger clientele. Happy Sailing to All.

This is an interesting perspective. Thank you for that. I definitely leverage points and miles earned on the less expensive rooms and flights for nicer rooms, upgrades, and BC on longer flights for special trips. I've never considered it "travel hacking," but playing the game well, while following the rules. 

I'm feeling less guilty over what seems a like really unfair benefit for folks like us. 

We've earned E+ status on Celebrity, with most of our points earned since the restart. 160 of those points were extras granted with the 2x points promotions just as European cruising was reopening. 

When the sale of Azamara was announced. I jumped on a B2B I'd been hemming and hawing over. Knowing that it would grandfather us into the same level (Elite/Discoverer) helped me get off the fence. Then, the programs took longer to sever than originally planned, and we unexpectedly got points on two early 2023 Celebrity cruises, moving us up not only to E+ on Celebrity, but also D+ on Azamara.I know from reading here on CC that we were far from alone in getting unexpected points. 

Now, we will get the 350 night benefit on SS, on only our second expedition cruise with them? That seems to definitely tip in the favor of folks moving up to SS. 

I appreciate the folks saying that this is good for the company and for shareholders (including us). I think they are right. It does, however, feel we are getting a better deal than we deserve. I can certainly understand any resentment some X cruisers are feeling about Royal cruisers, and that some long-term SS cruisers are feeling about Royal and X cruisers. Of course, if this program helps keep SS up and running in the face of growing competition, I suppose it benefits them as well. 

We tend to do itineraries of 10-17 days, and have never even been to the Caribbean, so I suppose we aren't the "typical" cruisers. I've never been interested in Royal. However, if we ever have grandchildren, that could change, and loyalty benefits might sway us.

In the meantime, I am super grateful to have the laundry benefit on our upcoming Arctic expedition on Endeavour.

I don't see "free" (included) air as a point of contention. I see it as something that works well for some, but not for others. 

1 hour ago, Haelmai said:

Y’all, as a new Azamara cruiser, I love this spreadsheet so much. Thanks for all the comments, time, and effort you all put into compiling it! Can’t wait to set foot on the Journey in Athens on June 15th! You guys are the best!

Thanks, especially, to @Grandma Cruising, who maintains this spreadsheet, and generally helps us all stay up to date on all things Azamara. 

There are many helpful folks on this board. I appreciate them, too. 

Being able to go home is worth a LOT.

11 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

You have to make a booking using the free nights within a year of reaching a level - here’s the quote from the website FAQs.

 Complimentary nights must be used on a new booking made within 12 months following the sailing when the new level was reached. 

Thanks. yes, I do see that. I was mostly wondering how strict that policy is, especially given all the changes that were happening at the time we hit the points threshold. Also, since most of our points were earned on Celebrity, I imagine it's likely a moot point, though I did not see that caveat still listed when this thread inspired me to go look again. 

As for "Clear as mud," I see where @Ayden is coming from. 

Thanks to all. 

We had to move suites on our Silversea expedition due to a leaky verandah door. Our butler moved with us to a different deck. I would imagine that could have been requested. 

I no longer see anything about more than 50% of points needing to have been sailed on Azamara (most of ours were earned on Celebrity). It is a completely fair rule, and I would not be surprised if it is still in effect, and I'm just missing it. I would also not be shocked if it was jettisoned as the two programs were separated, as the whole data separation was a bit messy. 

That said, we reached the D+ points threshold more than 12 months ago. We have not sailed Azamara since 2022. I imagine we are out of luck for using complimentary nights? 

We do have two Azamara cruises booked and fully paid at the moment. I am wondering if we might be able to use the promotion to book a future cruise onboard. 

If anyone has any relevant information, I would love to hear it, please. 

Thank you so much, @Grandma Cruising! 

That got me even more exicted for my two upcoming Azamara cruises, and for potential future ones. 

I'm a firm believer in attitude gravity.  I look forward to what flows downhill from this leadership team. 

2 hours ago, ghstudio said:

We are already booked on that cruise (12/3 on the Journey) as part of a B2B to/from Panama from Ft Lauderdale. Nice unexpected enhancement to that cruise.

We are on the cruise boarding in Panama, after having sailed up the Amazon on Viking. 

Cheers! 🥂

I've just checked my emails, and I have not received anything from Azamara with the name "Dondra," or the word "webinar"  included. 

I would be quite grateful if someone would share.

For the first time since 2017, I don't have any large ship cruises booked. I do have cruises on Silversea, Ama (river), Azamara (2), and Viking booked. We have learned in recent years that we prefer the smaller ships. I'd love to see if Dondra can convince me further. 

17 minutes ago, jelayne said:

We had about 10-12 movie choices, about 4 times what we would watch in a 30 day sailing.  On the plus side every NBA playoff  game was available and we were in the  South Pacific- GO MAVS‼️‼️

I'm so old, I remember when the Lakers would reliably make it into the late rounds of the Playoffs, and often into the Finals. I do believe I remember a Three-Peat.

Sigh.

There is NO danger of them doing that these days. 

2 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Personally MSNBC and FOX are booth too polarized in their respective views for me to watch.   I will usually settle on BBC or SKY.   Since I travel with a steaming stick and VPN I usually watch my home news using YouTubeTV (recorded at 6AM, 7AM, Noon, 5PM an 10PM.   Choosing the most recent. 

I really appreciate BBC, as it has a much moe international perspective. I make myself watch a bit of the polarized stuff, just to make sure that I am informed about different perspectives. but I admit I usually can't handle them for long. 

I haven't quite figured out the streaming stick thing, but we do download stuff to an iPad before leaving, 

6 minutes ago, didicruiser said:

I can only moment on the news channels. BBC,MSNBC,Fox

I'm a news hound, so I tend to bounce between those, as well as CNBC for financial news. In Australia, they had two Australian news channels, also. 

There is usually National Geographic, which I often enjoy. 

Additionally, X has a pretty paltry selection of movies on demand. If one is used to the sort of selection they have on Princess, they'd be rather disappointed. 

Oceania and Viking could probably re-forest the Amazon pretty quickly if they'd back off on the glossy brochures. I'm starting to get them from Silversea, too. 

I wonder if browsing on an incognito window would help?  I don't get calls, but I work with a TA, who is also a very close friend. 

1 hour ago, upwarduk said:

Well, I’ve taken a screenshot of the final page, which I’ve had to use numerous times to claim my points when they don’t through on 14 th of the following month.

Yikes! I forgot to do that this time. 🤷🏼‍♀️

In my limited experience, door decorating has been largely cultural. Prior to 2023, I saw very little of it. Those cruises were in Europe, the Americas, and Antarctica, with mostly North American and European passengers.  However, we sailed 7 times to, from, and around Australia last year. We saw oodles of door decorations, many very exravagant, often extending to the walls, once around a corner. 

We also saw LOTS of lanyards for holding sea pass cards, many more than I'd ever seen before. 

This year, we've sailed on X 60 days (five cruises) in Asia. There were very few Americans onboard. Most folks were from the UK, Ireland, and parts of mainland Europe. There were also quite a few folks from Australia and New Zealand. I saw more door decorations than I've seen on cruises with mostly Americans and Europeans, but not as many as on the cruises that were mostly Aussies and Kiwis last year. 

I've never seen them on river cruises. 

I do think they are becoming more popular, and I've seen ideas pop up in my online crafting groups of mostly Americans recently. 

I fall into the "You do you, as long as you aren't harming others" category. 

2 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Not sure that will work on a ship, but I’ll be sure to suggest it to the i lounge people🤔🙄🤪

It took nearly two hours in my motor home in the mountains. Every time I would get frustrated at the freezing, I remiinded myself that I was. . . in my notorhome up in the mountains. 

Technology has certainly come a long way.