MisterBill99

Just checked and stuff is not on sale for my September 2024 sailings They are showing a 4-device basic Wi-Fi package on Infinity for $16.99, but I assume that is a typo, and they'd probably only give me one device, since my Silhouette cruise shows that price for a single device.

Also, worth checking your cruise price. I was able to save $200pp on a cruise I had booked for next September. I had been watching it since I booked it in February, and this is the first time the price had gone down (other than when they removed the $200 OBC and the price went down by the same amount). Had to give up the bonus $50 OBC (and an equal amounted from my TA due to the price decrease) but worth it to save $400. I suspect the $50 will come back for Memorial Day, but didn't want to take a chance on the price going back up. Could have saved another $100pp by switching to a guarantee, but I like my cabin.

The second cruise I had booked also went dow from the recent price, but not to less than the price I had it for (which had gone down two days after I booked, but I was still on the ship and had not assigned it to a TA, so I had the Next Cruise person who booked it reprice it).

On 4/12/2023 at 1:41 AM, cantgetin said:

Interesting...but "UP TO $1200" doesn't mean you'll get that discount.  I repriced out cruise.  For us, it was a $500 discount for the airfare and they had removed a discount that was there as of yesterday.   The bottom line was a very minimal difference between yesterday's and today's price.

That's disappointing. I guess that even though they claim to do things differently from other cruise lines, they still play the same games with promotions.

BTW, I also noticed that it does not apply to sailings out of San Juan.

4 hours ago, RuthC said:

Notifications can be turned off. I've turned mine off to replies, but do get them when tagged. 

Well, then I guess you won't get notified about this reply. I'm not going out of my way to tag someone in my reply, when simply replying to their post should suffice.

22 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

@MisterBill99, best to tag @Native Floridian 26 to get their attention to answer the questions. 

I replied to their post, that should have been enough to get them notified. But thanks.

On 4/2/2023 at 8:45 PM, Native Floridian 26 said:

It's interesting this thread went for 20 pages, and noone has discussed the issues the Nieuw Statendam had last week with the azipod.  She is scheduled for her Transatlantic Crossing this Saturday.  Does anyone have any detailed information on her current status and how it may affect our crossing?

In addition to what CruiserBruce said, I see nothing when searching about an azipod issue with NS. Are you sure that you're not confusing the ships? It would be a major story if the new class of ships had azipod issues.

3 hours ago, mduffy1834 said:

We are booked on this tour the end of April - there are 8 of us.  Questions:  did the van accommodate larger groups?  where did they pick you up?  did you need extra money and, if so, UD dollars or credit cards?  Thanks

If you were able to book the tour for eight people, wouldn't that by definition mean that she was able to handle a group of that size??

1 hour ago, PeaceOut22 said:

Hey that's great! Thank you for responding.

 

Seems like they say it's only a hard limit (pardon the pun) outside of Europe -- "We regret that we are unable to accept a second suitcase or any luggage exceeding these limits on any Avalon vacation outside of Europe."   "

3 hours ago, chamima said:

 

 

We had the same question and it seems, yes, if you get it from the casino they will charge 5%. Non-refundable OBC is used first (and also disappears at the end of the cruise if not used on board). Sometimes OBC from the travel agent is refundable, sometimes not. Check your account when you board.

 

The problem with doing this is that if you book another cruise while on board they will charge it to the credit card on file. Our Amex is our oldest and most steady card so we like future cruise deposits to be on it. That way if we cancel we know the deposit won't get lost on a cancelled card.

I have never had TA OBC that is not refundable. Obviously, it's possible, and as you said, check when on board. 

I covered the casino 5% in my other reply. Bottom line, I don't believe it is charged if you have a credit in your account. Someone is free to correct me based on their personal experience (not what the fine print says). As with the AMEX offer, things often do not work the way the fine print would lead you to believe.

As for the issue of booking a future cruise, you can give them a different card to use when you book it. Did that on my latest cruise. If you do not give them a card, it will default to your card on file. I used a Bank of America card where I get 5.25% back on travel. Obviously, I did not want to use that for my large refund of refundable OBC.

5 hours ago, jameslee said:

oh I don't mind walking with the cash, it is better then getting from atm. I was wondering though I read the obc online it says "Please note that a 5% handling fee will be assessed if the credit is redeemed in the casino." so for the obc if I buy $1000 i cannot use it at casino otherwise they charge me $50? but at the end of the cruise if I don't use the obc I can completely cash out it without paying the fee?

 

Also, I have some free onboard credit from TA. Is the non-refundable obc used first before the refundable? 

First, my experience is that OBC from TA's has always been refundable. Only OBC from the cruise line is non-refundable.

Similarly, I don't think they're not going to charge you 5% to access your refundable OBC that you have on your account. I believe that would only be if you had no credit and pulled more on your account, which would be charged to a credit card. People have even reported being able to access non-refundable OBC from slot machines and then cashing out, and I've never heard anyone talk about a surcharge.

As for getting cash, if I am flying home, I prefer not to have to carry a lot of money in my wallet if there is a good option. If I drove to the port, it's a different story, although I'd still need to get to an ATM to deposit the cash since I charge everything I can and would have no use for that much cash.

On 3/22/2023 at 7:32 PM, jameslee said:

oh I see. Do you know if I purchase $1000 in obc by calling in then I don't use the obc, can i get it back out as cash from guest services? 

You don't even need to do that if you don't want to walk around with that much cash. They'll just credit back to your card on file whatever refundable OBC you have on your account at the end of the cruise. Just make sure it isn't the AMEX card you used this offer on, or they'll claw back the points. You also don't want to send the money back to a credit card that offers cash/points because you'll be "charged" whatever percentage you'd get on a purchase. What I know that I have money being refunded at the end of a cruise, I use a debit card for my shipboard account, so it goes back without costing me anything. It shows up really quickly, a day or two after the cruise.

On 3/22/2023 at 6:55 PM, Lewisinde said:

Actually, I believe that when passengers purchase the drink packages from Celebrity, they will find the 20% gratuity added to their bill.

I'm not sure what point are trying to make, but you can't buy the drink package and then find that you have to pay for the gratuities later once you're on the ship. So there's no way that the TA would have paid for the package without the gratuity being included. Not that they're likely paying for it that way that you or I would. It's obviously part of a deal they have with Celebrity.

Thanks @Kenster for the detailed response. I actually had someone ask me about water levels when I told him that we had booked an August river cruise.

1 hour ago, jsn55 said:

Much better booking air yourself if you're an experienced traveller.  The 'free transfer' means very little.  The issue is that booking one-way tix can sometimes be a difficult mess.  International O/W fares can be all over the place, I've often seen them double the price of a R/T.  So I'd advise that you start looking and keep track of what you find.  When the price gets to a point you think is fair, pounce on it.  It's worth a call to the TA (unless it's just an online booking service) who booked your cruise, just to see what they might offer you for air.  If you cruise often, they might extend themselves a little to attract your future biz.

Thanks, I've been doing this. I want to book a  flight on DL (they're the only non-stop), and when you buy it on their website, it prices it in CZK, the Czech Koruna. The price is $679 right now for Non-refundable Main Cabin, $1003 for Refundable Comfort+ (no NR C+ pricing available).  It's been trending up a bit over the past few days (when I started looking), but that could be due to currency conversion (not sure how stable the CZR-USD rate is). Other sites like Expedia that sell in USD are over $1000 for main cabin. So I'm wondering if Avalon would even be able to be cheaper, or anyone else (and the two lines that code share the flight are a bit more than DL). Sadly, Delta wants an obscene amount of miles to book the flight, over 100k even for coach. In comparison, I got a premium economy ticket to Budapest on AA for 40,000 piles.

Can't imagine my TA offering anything. They already gave me 10% off on the cruise (plus they somehow had access to a 50% off promotion on Avalon).

1 hour ago, kaysha2004 said:

When you use a third party, whether it's your TA or the cruise line or an OTA, you lose control of your flight.  If you have any problems with the flight, i.e., cancellations or delays, you have to use that third party for everything.  The so-called "flight departments" of your TA or cruise line are still understaffed, and due to time differences around the world, you may not even get through on the phone.  Your ability to upgrade your seat with miles or cash is nearly impossible because the airline won't deal with you.  They'll tell you to call your TA because they're not allowed to make changes to your booking.  You can book a flight cheaper on your own and you have the flexibility to make changes.

 

The free transfer from Avalon is not worth the headache of having them manage your flights.  Uber is cheap in Prague.  I recommend not using taxis in Prague, as they're known to rip you off.  Youtube has some great consumer educational videos about Prague's taxi scams and money scams.  It's worth it to have a look.

Thanks. That was my other unasked question, about the transfer from the hotel to the airport. Sounds like it's not worth it. As for booking the flight through the cruise line, I was just hoping that they would be cheaper than booking it myself.  I was actually shocked that the had flights already booked on my courtesy hold. Sadly, either were flights that i wanted, and the price added to my invoice appeared to be higher than I could do myself. And they didn't even book me on the non-stop flight from PRG-JFK.

13 minutes ago, Kenster said:

There is no reason in the world that you HAVE to go through a travel agent to book a flight. And I can think of many reasons NOT to. In fact, the only reason I would ever book air through a TA us if she saved me a ton of money, which is unlikely. 
Travel agents are wonderful and can be very helpful for many travel needs. Booking flights is not one of them. There’s nothing a TA can do that you can’t just easily do.  

TMLAalum was responding to my post about getting airfare through Avalon and whether I had to go through my TA to do that. Agreed there is no good reason to buy airfare from TA's.

I booked a cruise for August through a TA who had a promotion that was better with the fly free offer that Avalon is offering on their website, so I did not get my flights from Avalon. I booked my own flight over using AA miles, but need a flight back. Delta has a non-stop that I want to book (the only non-stop PRG-JFK). Will Avalon book me just one way, and can I call them myself (as I do with Celebrity and HAL) or do I have to go through my TA? Is the price likely to be any cheaper than buying it myself? In theory, if they book it I would get a free transfer from the hotel (which is part of the cruise) to the airport, so that could be advantageous. 

On 2/4/2023 at 11:34 PM, TFree said:

@azalice: I should have added one more thought.  I think either AMA Waterways or Avalon (or perhaps both) also offer a Jewish Heritage itinerary. 

I just wanted to mention that although AMA has a page dedicated to Jewish Heritage cruises on their website, they only appear to do it when you put together a group of 20+ passengers. They do not have anything scheduled that you can book into, as Avalon and Uniworld do.

"With a group of 20 fellow cruisers or more, you can customize many excursions on your itinerary, strengthen your bond with your family and community and celebrate Jewish tradition and culture as you sail along the Danube River"

On 2/5/2023 at 11:01 AM, Daisi said:

Avalon has 2, both on the Danube, and both in August, which can be difficult if the rivers are low. I know they have other cruises that will stop at Jewish sites as a alternative or sometimes alternate tours, but haven't taken any of them. I do know the ones who took them on our Rhine cruise did enjoy them. 

I just booked the Avalon Jewish Heritage cruise for this August. There's actually only one cruise, but they sell it with an optional two-night package in Prague at the end of the cruise and list it as two cruises. We have been looking to do this itinerary for a long time, and my wife really wanted to do a Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, but I had not found a cruise line that did both. I had been looking at Uniworld since as mentioned above they have a lot of sailings with JH tours. I finally called them this week after seeing their ad in my wife's Hadassah Magazine. Turns out that the Danube itinerary Uniworld does the Jewish Heritage cruises on does not stop in Linz, and that is where Salzburg tours typically start (there are other places you can get there from, but they were further away). I asked on a social media group and was pointed to Avalon, and it turns out that they have an extra-cost Salzburg tour available on their JH cruise.  The timing worked for us, so we booked to get it off the bucket list.

Hopefully we will not have river level issues.

3 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Possibly different rules in different countries

Unlikely, but you and I are both in the US. No idea where CruizinSusan70 is.

On 1/27/2023 at 11:23 AM, tce40 said:

Here's the answer from Amazon.  It is a NO.  🙂

 

This is actually incorrect. I have purchased Netflix and Chipotle gift cards using my Amazon gift card balance.  Even used a 40% off promotion from AMEX with it so long as I redeemed a single Membership Rewards point and then paid for the rest from my GC balance.

So there was no Stowaway Pianist on our Anthem cruise. The CD told me that they are having problems finding people for the job. Not sure if that was true or not, but we didn't have anyone.

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I should have mentioned that we're sailing on Anthem tomorrow and was wondering if anyone has seen him (or her, or them) on that ship.

8 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

It must have been his brother.

I can’t understand for the life of me why they have a tip jar ,no body carries cash .

I actually brought a couple of singles with me one night after we'd enjoyed his performances on previous nights. Plus, I think it's the whole piano bar thing.

12 hours ago, granddutchess said:

NutsAboutGolf I agree about having Global Entry which I do.  I was just stating that for those who may not have GE staff shortages impact all aspects of travel. I am glad you are not experiencing any travel delays.

Best to do Enrollment on Arrival if flying into a qualifying airport from an International Flight. I don't think it's available at any cruise ports (would be great if it were, but they don't typically have enough people there to handle it). My wife will have her interview at JFK when we return from Buenos Aires at the end of February. 

We actually could have done it last year in Nassau, Bahamas when flying back from a Crystal cruise (before they went out of business, obviously). The US immigration is actually in Nassau, and they do EOA there. But I had not applied for her GE at that point. They've been piloting online interviews, but that hasn't been rolled out yet.