Roland4

The 2020 World Cruise I did the jacket with/without tie every second Formal night, and Leo seated us every time. I think I like my chances come September. 🙂

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem dressing for the occasion, or wearing the tux, when there are multiple formal nights, but our upcoming cruise will apparently have one, so a jacket, and if The Boss decrees, a tie, will suffice. After all these years I very much doubt Leo, the Maitre D', will direct us to Tastes.

That is always the risk you take with a Guaranty booking. Some "upgrades" are better than others, but if you are not fussy about where you are, it can be a good deal.🙂

I have not had any current experience with NC, but I can offer some clarity on the concept as most lines work the same way. When a room category is getting close to full, the lines will offer a Category XX Guarantee at a price. You will get Category XX or higher when the rooom is assigned. The other category is, for example, Balcony Guaranty. In this case you could be assigned a balcony cabin anywhere on the ship, and as a result, it is at a lower price, as you could be in a higher category than the XX Guarantee, or a lower category. Unless you are worried about location, the Balcony Guaranty can be the better deal. In either case, the actual room number may not be assigned until two weeks to ten days prior to sailing, and in extreme cases, not until you check in at the pier.

If they have a "Guest Chef" onboard they will also sometimes have a VR prepared by that chef. The cost is higher, but the wines can be special!! We did one in 2018 when there was an Australian guest chef onboard who prepard the VR dinner. If I recall, we went through six or eight bottles of Penfold Grange that evening!!🙂

There is no question all of the major lines lost people during Covid. They did not need as many reps, and I suspect like a lot of service industries, not all of those reps came back when things returned to "normal". What also compounds the problem is the lines still have reps working "remotely", which means they can't easily get help if they have a problem they can't deal with. Being a "realist", it is slowly getting better, but we are not all the way back yet.

Many lines?? All lines! I have been in the industry almost 20 years, and while the quality of the "ground staff" has always been variable, in the last two years, the number of times I have hung up and called back in the hope of getting someone "competent" has increased dramatically!

Commission is paid on the full fare, net of the Administration Fees (formerly the P,S & H charges). The EI voucher does not affect the commission received.

I suspect Crystal commission-protected the EI in order to avoid further antagonizing the agent community. Given the significant dollars that I suspect even one 20% tranche represents, deducting the commission would be a significant hit to the TA. An EI voucher of $10K at 15% would be a "hit" of $1,500.00 off the commission if the commission was paid "net" of the EI voucher. I actually expected them do exactly that and was pleasantly surprised that they paid on the "gross" rather than the "net".

As a regular on this board, BWIVince famously called it, Olive Garden of the Seas!!! 😁

Actually the full commission has been protected since the EI programme started. We booked fairly early for 2024 and the full commission was reported on the Agent Copy invoice. This is actually not new. With a few notable exceptions, all the lines fully protected agent commissions through Covid, paying full commissions where owed on cancelled sailings, and protecting commissions on replacement cruises booked using the FCCs issued to clients for Covid-cancelled cruises.

We have the Tastes cookbook and it is surprisingly easy to make. It does, of course, lose something when you make it at home without the bread bowl!!🙂🙂

As the son of a professional proof-reader, I approve this post!!😁😁😁😁

For fun, I checked one of our air consolidators, and it can be done with one or two connections on the outbound, but for some reason all the inbounds had two connections. This is from Toronto, but I suspect the same would be true from most major eastern US hubs.

As the son of a professional proof reader, I feel your pain!!😁😁

We did a 14 night Trans-Atlantic on Seven Seas Splendor last November. I was chatting with the Onboard Consultant and he made the comment 'Travel agents never really retire.", and it is true. I have about 50 active clients who have become friends, and they keep me busy. I am also the Office Manager so the mathematics of commission payments, and training the "newbies" keeps my mind active. One of these days I may decide to put my feet up, but for now, life is good!

💔💔💔

We did this same tour in 2011. They were taking down scaffolding in front of Lenin's Mausoleum, so I asked our local guide about it. He said it was seating for the Shakira concert the day before!!! I suspect Lenin was spinning in his glass-topped coffin that night!!😁😁

I think Hobart was one of the first places we ever saw that. It was outside the terminal building, along with a large caution sign for drivers "CAUTION!! Cruise passengers crossing street". 😁

I believe many, many years ago, all named hurricanes were female. (old child joke; Why? Because they are HERicanes!!) I think they went to the male/female alternate when they started running out of female names!! Or Germaine Greer got upset. One or the other.😁

I had nothing to add to the discussion, but I have been following this thread. Thank you for including us on this most personal journey! 💔

I have often wondered how many times a horse can beaten on this board before the coroner/medical examiner certifies that it is officially dead!! For those on both sides of the "management did/did not know" argument, we have been down this road at least twenty times in the last two years, so for God's sake, GIVE IT A REST!!!!!! I suspect that I am not alone in being really tired of the repetition of the same tired, old and really pointless arguments from BOTH sides!!

Tell that to my shoulder! Admittedly after twelve years of weight training I am somewhat broader than I used to be.

It's not just the legroom, Patty. I have fairly broad shoulders and Economy seats have gotten narrower to the point that sitting in an aisle seat, my shoulder keeps getting bumped by people (and service carts) moving in the aisle!🙂

Actually, yes if you are oiutside a lot. It was so bad while we were away three weeks ago that one of our patio tables was covered in a layer of "grit" that took a hose and scrubbing to get clean!😬