DCThunder

4 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Many ports are industrial areas.  Civitivecchia/Rome, Southampton,  Bayonne/NY, San Pedro/LA, Seattle, Whittier AK are all rough areas one would not want to spend the day.  Thus you get a taxi or bus and leave the port to visit nearby points of interest.  Actually the same for Portland UK and nearby towns where a shuttle was available on my last visit.

If you think those ports are bad, you've obviously never docked in Callao, the port for Lima, Peru.  You must take a shuttle bus from the ship for about 15-20 minutes to a very rough looking transfer station where the tour buses or taxis meet you for a good hour-long ride into downtown Lima.  And Lima traffic and drivers makes Rome look tame.

27 minutes ago, cruisinsince75 said:

Laughing.  I ordered a tuna melt one time on the menu at lunch and it arrived without cheese on it and it was cold.  I told the waiter and he said it doesn't come with cheese.  I asked then what part of the sandwich was a melt?  He brought another one back with a slice of cheese on it.  Still cold and un-melted.  I gave up and just had a tuna sandwich!  😁

You could have gone all Jack Nicholson in "Five Easy Pieces" and asked for a chicken sandwich on toast, hold the chicken!😉

29 minutes ago, Ideb said:

Thank you. Do you know if the one formal night will be on the second night or next to the last night?

When is your sea day?  The "formal" night is almost always on a sea day.

34 minutes ago, Seafan22 said:

I was thinking more fore my own weight.  I will check out the gym.  I'll be on a 32-day trip and I think it may be a good idea to keep an eye on things.

The scales I've seen in the fitness center are the complicated ones and are mainly used by the fitness center staff who are selling a "body composition analysis" and that kind of stuff.  I'm not sure a civilian can use it without the assistance of the staff.  I haven't seen a traditional, old-fashioned, medical office scale with the sliding weights.

Unless it has been updated, the biggest issue with the Chat function in the Medallion app is that there's no tone or other indication that a new message has come in.  So unless you're constantly checking the Chat, you won't know when someone has read your message or that they've seen yours.

Much easier to set up a group chat on your phones.  At least there you get a "ping" when a new text comes in.

2 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Was moved on my last cruise as I tripped over it and called for medical assistance.  It blocked 90% of the hallway.  Was gone in minutes and never reappeared.

I have also seen scooters (and regular wheelchairs) parked in the elevator lobbies mostly late at night, although that could be 8:30 pm!😉

22 hours ago, memoak said:

That is a pretty typical Crown Grille menu. It used to be more Cajun centric

I was on a cruise on Island when the menu switched from being a "New Orleans influenced" menu to the more standard Crown Grille.  I wasn't a fan of the NOLA oriented menu; the new one is much better.

18 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

Perhaps this is why they are discontinuing it.  Elite is150 days. If you have to go to the bottom of the barrel to get attendees then what's the point?

There's a big difference in the number of days required to be MTG on a milk run 7-day Caribbean/Alaska cruise and a repositioning or other longer duration cruise.

26 minutes ago, 555 said:

That's a different twist.

During all of our bridge tours we were never told about not taking photo's.

I did an Ultimate Ships Tour on Queen Elizabeth in June and we had to sign an affidavit that we wouldn't take any photos on the tour and in fact had to leave phones in our cabins or at Guest Services before the tour started.  So no photos is a thing on Cunard, at least.  Also, no champagne on the bridge.

11 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

@DCThunder It is very difficult to predict future staffing as every staff officer/crew member is on a different time table/contract.  🤷‍♂️

@LACruiser88what you say is true, but those on Crown this summer may have heard senior staff discussing when they go on vacation and so may have intelligence on future staffing.  And a major shift of operating location is often a time for captains/ED/CDs contracts to end.

Does anyone know if the officers and CD/ED will be staying on after Crown finishes its Alaska season and heads Down Under for the winter/summer (depending on your hemisphere)?

Starting in late September, I'm going to be on Crown for 60 days doing the Trans-Pac repositioning cruise and then an Around Australia cruise and am curious who's going to be in charge.

58 minutes ago, memoak said:

Kind of like hiring someone to sit at slot machines with your money while you hang out at the casino bar

Is that a thing?  Could be a great side hustle...

2 hours ago, lidodeck03 said:

Do they use the traditional bingo cards and daubers, or do they use the "electronic" bingo cards on the Island Princess?

TY

I was on Island as recently as December 2023 and they used both electronic and paper cards and daubers.  They did bingo in the Explorers Lounge, and Fortuna Luck was as annoying as ever.

1 hour ago, judithzuz said:

Thanks, Peter. I hope you are doing well. Heading to Antarctica. I hope you are some place fun.

I'll email you.  Hope you're well...

When I had an aft cabin on Enchanted, I found that the soot on the balcony was impacted a great deal by which way the wind was blowing.

You could also try emailing the old shareholder OBC address and ask them to see if they can fix the issue with your specific booking.  The worst they can do is not reply or tell you they can't help.

53 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

We sailed Grand Princess last year for 63 days straight. We sailed out of San Francisco and, for the first 31 days, all charges were in USD. Once we got to Australia/New Zealand all charges were in AUD. Princess plainly spells out that charges will be in AUD. OBC is also in AUD which meant that we received significantly less value for the OBC. That is also plainly stated by Princess.

This is exactly what we've been told to expect for 60 days on Crown from SF to Sydney and then around Oz and back to Sydney.  USD on the first leg, AUD on the 2nd.

 Nice 🎣 job, So_Tweetie.  You're getting a good haul of 🐟  for your efforts.

Thank you to everyone who has responded.  Very good information.  My biggest concern is the 12 hour layover and being able to immediately recheck luggage for the flight to CLT.  But I'd guess that connecting to redeye flights to the East Coast is not uncommon for people coming into LAX from Oz or Asia, so they should be able to accommodate this.  

Later this year I will be flying form SYD to LAX on Fiji Airways and connecting to an American LAX to CLT flight.  Fiji is a OneWorld partner of AA.  I know I have to clear Customs in LAX, but can I then recheck my luggage for the CLT flight without exiting the security zone?  I have a 12 hour layover in LAX and the last thing I want to do is schlep luggage around and wait to check in again.  I just want to go to the Admirals Club, get a shower and see where I go from there before the red-eye home.

All this additional revenue from this new Premier package price increase must be well received by the investor community, since CCL stock is up 6.71% today. 🍸

1 minute ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

It’s just one option. Don’t choose it if you’re not comfortable, even if what you choose has a higher price. It’s not worth the worry. 

Right on.  People build too much angst into their travel plans just to save a few bucks...

2 hours ago, Chefaleslie said:

We saw that if you take an uber to the port, they don't have the same priority as a taxi so you get dropped off very far from the entrance to the que.

This is definitely the case in Vancouver.  Taxis can go into the underground area at Canada Place's parking structure to unload, but Uber's can't.

7 minutes ago, Chefaleslie said:

We are staying close to SEA, so we could just go back to the airport to catch the shuttle if it means that we don't que with luggage. 

How are you getting from the airport to your hotel the day before when you arrive? You'll have to schlep your luggage to the hotel (via a hotel shuttle perhaps) and then back again to the airport the next morning in the same hotel shuttle.

Once you're at the hotel, I think its preferable to just get a cab/Uber from the hotel to the cruise port and not fool around with going back to the airport just to catch a shuttle.  Then drop off the luggage at the cruise port, pay the cab/Uber, and proceed to check in for the cruise.

Pro tip:  If you put the hooks on the overhead/ceiling, they hold a lot more weight than on the wall.  They tend to slide down the wall if overloaded.  And the rare earth magnets hold more than regular magnets.