remydiva

I use Lysol wipes and wipe light switches, door knobs in/ out, sliding door handles , TV remote, phone received and buttons, fridge had he, ice bucket top, sink taps and faucet .. anything that the steward may have wiped or touched using a cloth no doubt used in previous cabins. I do this every time we return to cabin when I can see steward has been in. After 20 cruises, several with code red Norwalk cases, we have remained healthy ( also do other precautions like don’t use elevator, use arms not hands on hand rails etc)

Good point re getting off ship days. Also my hubby non drinker yet he’d have to pay too. I’m a cheap date /light weight so it just didn’t make sense for us.

thanks that's good to know 😉

The two shore excursions I wanted on our recent TA happened to be on the cheaper end of the scale. Both were sold out and no waitlists (I phoned) 3 months in advance. I think perhaps that a lot of independent tour operators might have gone out of business during the two year lapse of no cruises. In the past, whenever something was sold out, they always added another bus on to accommodate, sometimes only the day before notice, but I've never not gotten what I wanted.

now that you mention it...YES. We were on April 16-30 TA and I always wore a sweater. Not drafty but yes cool.

It would seem so. We only travel with carry on whether it’s a 7 day, 15.day + or month land tour. Obviously we are not tuxedo and tiara people but one can get creative and still feel well dressed.

Good catch and better description!

Vines no longer offer flights and tapas now from 6-8 pm. Agree that most seats taken up by people playing cards or on their phones or listening to music in piazza.

Yes but I asked for vineyard name from somellier and got it.

You have a different captain than we did on the TA immediately before. We had Captain Aldo ‘forget last name’. rest of crew looks the same.

Our recent 14 day cruise had two formal Nites and two ‘Dressed to Impress’ nites. The second Dressed to Impress nite was subtitled ‘White and Gold’ theme. I had clothing options to partake but noticed as others have, the number of passengers who dress up at all for formal or ‘dressed to impress’ is waning.

Wow I had no idea.. so much behind the scenes! I guess I’ll never know for sure as I’m not phoning back.

Thanks I did search prior to posting and couldn’t find anything. needless to say I am NOT phoning back.

I just got a phone call message from the promo dept wanting to “fill me in on all the new exciting additional perks to the Platinum and Elite loyalty program. AND they’d really like to talk to me about our recent cruise” ( I’ve gotten 4 emails in the one week we’ve been home asking me to fill out the post cruise survey) Sounds like a sales gimmick as it was not from my personal cruise planner. Anyone else get this phone call?

Same with me. After 6 sea days on TA when wifi likeky would have been spotty at best, we just found wifi at bars and cafes at the ports. I did buy ‘till end of cruise’ wifi package which , as discussed on another thread, seems to be cheaper than the per diem rate. I got the last 3 days for $22.50 ( elite rate 50% off the $45 rate ) to check in airlines and print boarding passes.

Thank you. We just took a couple of empty bottles with us and refilled ( I brought a small funnel too) from glasses of water at buffet or pool. This would have been a good option as well.

You can order water ahead? Is a case 6 bottles or the costco sized 24? Is it delivered to your room?

I know they have special drinks only at P&E HH as a lady we sat with ordered some blue martini thing that was only available during that time. But don’t know if it was a special price. The whole P&E is run differently now. No card in your room telling what appies are available or special drinks on west dates. Just a letter ( which our steward never left for us; I had to check at CC loyality desk several days into cruise to see if they even had it anymore) that said where and when it was plus the Grapevine tasting,

I do realize that and explained it further in a later post. To clarify , we pay the daily crew appreciation AND tip extra to those who go above and beyond,

I agree …I thought it was odd number given my 50% discount. I checked on Weds nite and clicked ‘till end of cruise’ ( cruise ended Sunday morning) and it was $30. I checked next morning Thurs and it was $22.50 and lasted till we got off ship Sunday. I think you’re right that a multi day rate seems lower than per diem.

Kept automatic crew appreciation AND tipped steward extra. I never remove some or all of the crew appreciation as I know that automatic daily added tip is how all staff ,including those behind the scenes, gets tips.

“This analysis is a fundamental life skill that should be acquired early in life. Do these same folks go on Facebook or NextDoor and ask “Should I buy a home?” or “Should I start a family” Thanks for the laugh!!

Agree with you.. do the math. I also tipped our room steward separately.

Just back from 14 day TA on Regal. We got the basic fares only vs paying $60 US pp per day to get included tips, wifi and drinks. For us, it was absolutely the right choice. here’s why.., I’m Elite; hubby is Platinum so we got one minibar set up. I customized it to suit our drinking habits. Swapped out sodas and whiskey we don’t drink ; for more beer, gin, Pellegrino and tonic for my G& Ts. I even got limes from bar to keep in fridge so it was very civilized! I forego needing wifi as we checked our emails when in port having coffee or wine at local cafes. I did buy a ‘Till end of cruise’ wifi package to be able to check in and print boarding passes for last 3 days so as Elite it was $22.50. I drink 2 glasses of wine most nites.. one at HH and one with dinner. Three nites I had a nite cap. At Captain Circle nite, drinks were ‘free’. I bought a bottle of wine the first nite at Crown Grill and took rest back to the cabin to supplement the mini bar options. Hubby had total of 4-5 drinks/ beer over 14 days in addition to mini bar offerings. Our total bill was under $900 US to cover tips at $16 pp per day, drinks, additional Crown dinner added on board, and 3 day wifi. vs Plus package at $60x 2x 24= $1680. absolutely the right choice for us. your mileage may differ 🙂

Back from 14 day TA on Regal and agree with the barking seals comment. We wore N95 masks at all times except outside on loungers or in our room, A pain but even with 5x vaccination, we are seniors and hubby is higher risk. Very few others wore masks of any time. As cruise went on, more and more coughed.. some very ‘juicy’ coughs. We and one other couple actually left our group ‘happy to share’ table one evening when a very sick looking woman was sat with us ( table for 10) and actively juicy coughed then handed bread basket, butter dish etc. The unmasked lady who coughed in her hand and openly coughed over the keyboard at Internet cafe on last day as others were printing boarding passes was a prime example of not taking even minimal precautions to protect others. I took CoVid test kits and meds with us. We tested negative once home and laid low for another 5 days. In spite of WHO declaring the covid ‘emergency’ is over, it and RSV are here to stay. Remember the ‘good ol days’ when we only had to worry about Norwalk?!