BunnyHutt

4 hours ago, May26 said:

I’m on the July 16th Encore Alaska sailing and I paid $339 for the thermal suite pass a couple of weeks ago! I was on Encore’s Panama Canal sailing in April and used the spa every day and it added so much to my cruise experience…so although it’s a little pricey, I do think it’s 100% worth it! 

Thank you for this! Yes, the plan would be to use every day. 😁

My friend and I opted for the larger balcony (deck 8 forward) for our Alaskan cruise as we plan on spending quite a bit of time out on it. 😄

Thanks, everyone! I’ve got VZW and will just plan on reaching out with to my fam while in ports. 😁

Can anyone advise the quality of cell service they had while in Alaskan ports? Trying to figure out if I want/need to upgrade to unlimited (non-streaming) package. 
 

And before anyone says anything about not keeping my head stuck in my phone/computer while cruising, I’m vacationing with a friend and leaving my husband and teens back home. Awesome for me but I’d still like to be able to keep in touch fairly regularly. 😉

Interesting. I noted water listed in the various promos when I received our notification for final payment for our September cruise (booked last September). I thought maybe it was something our TA added in. Who knew?!

My best friend and I are going on this same cruise in September so I appreciate the review. 
 

What kind of cabin did you have? We booked a balcony room so we would have our own designated space for Glacier Bay. Hoping that is sufficient!

Is there any kind of entertainment in the evening other than Choir of Man or the lounge acts? Not the first cruise for either of us, but first on NCL (several on Royal and Carnival) so we’re used to having some sort of evening show.

You mentioned a spa pass… Curious about pricing as that is something I am quite interested in and there’s no pricing on my app as of right now. 

How long did it take you to disembark in Seattle? We arranged/purchased our own flights as we live in 2 different cities and are both flying in day before but my flight is out at 1:40pm on Sunday. Hoping that is enough time!

Finally, happy anniversary!!

Thank you for your thorough review! Add me to the list of September Alaskan cruisers - will be me and my bestie, sans spouses and children. First time on NCL for both of us. We’re nearing our window for restaurant reservations and this helps considerably. 
 

We are, in fact, booked in club balcony suite (or whatever it’s called) but we have no grandiose illusions. We just wanted the bigger bathroom. 😆

On 4/21/2023 at 1:49 PM, ColeThornton said:

 

 

Some more info on that program.

 

https://www.portseattle.org/page/port-valet-enjoy-seattle-luggage-free

Thank you for this! It never would have crossed my mind that a service like this exists. 🙂

We moved our NYE 2020 to Christmas Eve 2021. Bummed for several reasons but it seemed like the most prudent decision. 

Our son won a RC beach towel playing Bingo in the kids club, lol. 

Not Royal, but hubby and I won $750 playing bingo on our honeymoon cruise in 2003. Not only was it a lot of money for a couple of broke 20-somethings, bingo was a heck of a lot cheaper to play back then!

13 hours ago, bucfan2 said:

 

Different perspectives are certainly interesting.  I live in Fl, and am scheduled to attend my niece's wedding in Cincinnati in August.  I wish I could be in the 'I would not plan to visit the state of Ohio in August' group.

In case you weren’t already aware, Ohio has issued a travel advisory and FL is on the list of states where a 14-day self-quarantine has been requested (not required... yet). 

4 hours ago, bigrednole said:

We are on a Nov 22 cruise. I already know it will be canceled. The problem now is waiting the 2 months for them to do it. I thought Jan 1 would be good, but it is looking more like April 1 now.

This is why I went ahead and L&S our NYE cruise. Thought about just waiting for them to cancel but then decided I didn’t want to make final payment and then deal with cancellation 3 months later. 

Hopefully Dec 2021 is a safe(r) bet, lol. 

One word.... Bingo. 

It used to to be cheap - and fun - entertainment. Heck, hubby and I won $750 on our honeymoon cruise back in 2003. It’s not either of those anymore. 

I wonder if a massive wave of refunds went out this week (sounds like people who canceled months ago are now getting cash at the same time those who canceled weeks ago did) because it’s the beginning of a new fiscal quarter? 🤔

Gotta preserve that balance sheet at quarter-end and this is the first full quarter experienced across the industry since the shut down began. 

Lifted/shifted 6/23 (planner items automatically canceled). Refunds posted to my CC today, 7/6, and were dated 7/1. 

A lot more vacations like this - we drove cross country and are spending a week socially distancing on horseback. 

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Maybe I'm missing something here, how are you happy L &S from a 8 day cruise to a 7 day cruise, price protected? I would want something thrown in for losing 1 day? OBC or $$$ off of some kind?

My fare is less for 7-night, so while I was “price protected” against a higher fare, I’m still paying about the same price per night as I was for the 8-night. 
 

It is a bummer to lose a night but at least I’m more confident the Dec 2021 sailing will go. 

My kids and I were supposed to be on the NYE cruise on Anthem this year (so the week following yours, I think?). Anyway, the online form told me Enchantment was my only option. 
 

I contacted my TA and she was able to get an exception from Royal to get us on the 7-night Anthem cruise on 12/24. We’re even in our same cabin. Strangely enough, the 9-night Western Caribbean was given to her an an option - without having to ask for any special exceptions - over the phone but it sails on 12/31 and wouldn’t have worked with the kids’ school calendar. 

Smoke and mirrors? Nah, not really. 
 

My husband is a pilot. I’ve been telling wives in various FB groups that just because flights are starting to fill back up - and will continue to do so, even as schedules ramp up - it does not mean everyone should be surprised when quarterly revenues are still in the toilet. Heck, I took our spring break airfare and used it for Thanksgiving - so while we are occupying seats, it’s still $3k we didn’t spend on airfare this year. I don’t expect to see revenue uptick (and I’m not even talking full recovery) in the travel industry for another year or once all the rebooked fares have been exhausted. But, on the plus side - and this is where they’re talking about bookings being up - passengers are choosing to rebook versus taking cash refunds. 
 

As far as increasing fares, it’s always a simple supply and demand issue (pardon me while I dust off my 20 year old unused Econ degree, lol). Even though they’re not “new” bookings, ships/planes/etc are filling up. This reduces available spots for new bookings. Supply is down, the thought is that demand will eventually go back up and your equilibrium price will creep up. The only question is which curve will shift sooner and at what rate. 

5 hours ago, irishgal432 said:

Once you start the online lift and shift, does it give you the option to go back.  I am afraid to put anything in and then have it not be able to be reversed.

Yes, as mentioned, you can exit out at any point. 

FWIW, my TA was able to L&S me to a sailing that was not given as an option on the online tool. We were booked for 8-night NYE on Anthem and the only options the site gave me were the 8-nights on Enchantment. Instead, we shifted to the 7-night Christmas  2021 cruise on Anthem. We were even able to secure our same cabin. 

I tried the form online for funsies and will still be using my TA to L&S, should I choose to go that route. The only options I was given online for my “holiday” 8-night on Anthem were for 8-night itineraries on Enchantment. No thank you. 
 

My TA was told by Royal that I could L&S to 9-night on Anthem next NYE (???) but I’m hoping they’ll let me switch to the 7-night the week prior. If not, we’ll just wait for the inevitable cancellation of our 2020 cruise and take the refund. 

On 4/11/2020 at 5:31 PM, UrbanGirlie said:

I'm so sorry.  This is such a nightmare to be out so much $ with zero recourse.  Never again.  Viking returned $25K of my money with no questions asked.  Classy company.

How long did it take for Viking to refund your money? My parents had their April Netherlands tulip cruise cancel the first week of March and they’re scheduled to take a Panama Canal transit cruise this coming December (booked late 2019). They were told it would be up to 60 days to get their funds returned and they’ve decided that if they don’t have them before final payment for the December cruise is due, they will be canceling that one as well. 

I needed this today.... thank you. 

Have an Anthem NYE cruise booked, we’ve (not surprisingly) not made any changes to those plans. 
 

My bestie and I were kicking around the idea of going on a Canada/NE cruise on Grandeur in Sept. Hadn’t booked yet because she’s trying to conceive so we had to wait and see if/when she got knocked up before the cutoff to cruise. Not sure if we’ll explore this option in 2020 anymore. 

4 hours ago, Newleno said:

CDC is recommending this but yet airlines are still flying, filthy airlines, people all crammed together.  Airlines definitely the superspreader.

Um, people aren’t exactly “crammed together” on most flights of late. My husband had 5 other people on his flight from NYC on Monday. Friday there were 124 open seats when he flew down to Orlando. 

 Now the dumbass who flew from FL to NY and back to FL while suspecting and then knowing he had CV.... that’s a different story.