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omeinv

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  1. @20165 Great, San Juan: Don't bother. The good diving in PR is nowhere near San Juan. St. Maarten, the diving is not the best in the Caribbean, but it's not bad. I use Dive Sint Maarten. They're at Bobbie's Marina, which is either a long walk, or short cab ride from the port. You can also take the water taxi, but make sure you tell them you want to go to Bobbie's Marina, as only the smaller boat goes there. (https://www.divesintmaarten.com/) Antigua: I've dove there, the diving is not close to St. John's where the ship ports. It's quite a hassle to get from the port to the diving, so I'd recommend something else in Antigua. Saint Lucia: Saint Lucia has very good diving at Anse Chastanet. It's also one of the easiest ports to arrange diving. Contact Eget and Donovan at Eastern Caribbean Diving. It's about a 30-40 minute boat trip from the port to the dive sites, but they pick you up immediately adjacent to the ship's pier (it depends which pier your ship docks at as to exactly how it happens, but your walk will be less than the length of the ship). An extra bonus is as you're going back and forth from the port to the dives sites you'll pass countless boats with the ship's tours on full of people who paid more than you did for diving, just the views you'll get on the trip. (https://www.easterncaribbeandivingstlucia.com/) Barbados: The diving is perhaps not as good as St. Lucia, but I always have a great time here. Peter Grannum, and now his son Brandon, make it diving with friends. They'll pick you up at the port gate and return you. If wreck diving is your thing, there are many good wreck dives here, with the Stavron Ikita being the jewel. During COVID Peter went to cash only, and as far as I know this is still the case, so plan accordingly. (https://divewestsidescuba.com/about-us) Dominica: Dominica isn't an easy place to arrange diving, as many operators went out of business due to a hurricane; then before any real recovery could take place, COVID happened. However, it's worth finding a way, as the diving is excellent. I'd suggest Nature Island Diving. Simon there may be able to set things up for you, including port pick-up and return. I'd suggest starting your efforts as soon as you can here, as they can be slow to respond. (https://natureislanddive.dm/) Harris Denver, CO
  2. @20165 Which ports are you visiting. Chances are I know a guy. Harris Denver, CO
  3. For those who own RCL, it was announced today there will be a 40 cent per share dividend with the first payment date October 11, 2024. Harris Denver, CO
  4. @CruiseDuds You are correct that you really cannot go wrong with either island. For diving on Curaçao, I would recommend CURious2Dive. Hans there will pick you up at the port and take you diving up in the tugboat/directors bay area. More often than not you would be the only Divers with him from my experience. I think the maximum group size would be four people. (https://www.curious2dive.com/en/) For Bonaire, it’s a bit expensive, but I’ve always had good luck with VIP diving. They pick you up at the port and you can pretty much plan that they will take care of your entire day. Nitro is included with their price if you are nitro certified. if you do some research before going, they will take you to whatever diets you like. That means anywhere on the island, so you get something of an island tour as well as your diving. (https://vipdiving.com/) Harris Denver, CO
  5. If they've moved to the Dockyard, that's good news. I dove with them years ago, when they were about five miles away, and that necessitated a fairly expensive cab ride. At the time they were good, but the ease of diving with Fantasea Diving right at the port tipped the scales. it's great if there are options now. Harris Denver, CO
  6. It's been years, but TopDive is my strong recommendation. (https://topdive.com/) They have centers on most, if not all, of the islands you're visiting. It appears they no longer have a center in Moorea, which is too bad, because that's great diving. What they do have is a multi dive package you can use at all their locations, so it works out perfect for a cruise, since the six dive package can get you a two tank dive on three different islands, and so forth. You're correct that pre-planning is going to be key, but when you do that I found that TopDive made it simple with port pick-up and return, and good awareness of your ship's actual arrival and departure times. Be prepared for prices higher than what you're used to, but that's French Polynesia. The upside is the diving is magnificent. Harris Denver, CO
  7. @Kevin's girlSorry, my answer above didn't format correctly: The AirTags send a relatively short range signal. In and of itself, it is nothing but a unique code to identify the particular AirTag. If and when that signal is received by any Apple ios device, that device sends it's location and the fact that it received a signal from an AirTag to Apple's server. Then when you look at your "Find My" app you can see the location where your AirTag was last reported to the network. The receipt of the signal,a nd transmission of the location are done completely without any action by the owner/user of the detecting device. Only you can track your device unless you choose to share the tracking information with someone. To prevent someone for surreptitiously using an AirTag to track someone, if your phone detects an AirTag traveling with you you will get an alert. Weaknesses: If the AirTag is not near an Apple device, its position will not update, so it will show as still being at it's last known location. This can lead to some tension when using them to track luggage, particularly on larger planes (i.e. wide-body planes) where the luggage is placed in containers prior to being placed on the plane, as the AirTag generally loses contact at that point. There also can be anomalies if the apple device that picks up the signal is connected to a satellite Wifi system, like on the ship, as it may show the terrestrial base of the Wifi, rather than the actual location. Because it will show the last location until it gets a new signal, if an AirTag moves without it's signal being detected you won't know where it's gone. Strengths: If luggage goes missing, you can help yourself by being able to tell the airline what city it's in, in a manner that is often more accurate than the airline's system. The airline's system relies upon scanning of the bar code label as the bag moves through the system. A missed scan, or a missing label can result in wildly inaccurate information. Harris Denver, CO
  8. 888-461-7170 Harris Denver, CO
  9. The AI inclusions are a package offered at the time of booking. If you want to add or subtract them later, it is the same as creating a new booking, which - of course - would be at prevailing prices. If you simply called in and asked the AI items be removed from your booking, that's what would happen, and apparently did; no change in price. You would need to price the cruise at today's price (assuming you're outside final payment) and see if today's price without perks is less than you're booked at. Harris Denver, CO
  10. The lunch recently became a stated benefit. Prior to that it sometimes happened, sometimes didn’t. It can be in a specialty restaurant, often in Blu, and it can be in an otherwise unused section of the main dining room. Harris Denver, CO
  11. Allocation of gratuities with the advent of anytime dining. Harris Denver, CO
  12. If you're a scuba diver, it's very nice. Harris Denver, CO
  13. Since the question seems to come up with every webinar, I timed this one. It's a tad under 43 minutes from when I pressed "Start" to when the "Webinar Ended" message appeared. Harris Denver, CO
  14. There is no laundry benefit with either Concierge Class, or a Sky Suite. You get one free bag as an Elite Captain's Club member. Harris Denver, CO
  15. Yes, you can. I do it as soon as I book a cruise, so often over a year in advance. Harris Denver, CO
  16. This thought occurred to me not because I've heard of Blue Chip using an outside travel agency, but because internally Blue Chip Club bookings are coded as if Blue Chip is a travel agency. New agents sometimes don't recognize that Blue Chip bookings are actually "Celebrity" bookings, and will try to tell you to "go through your travel agent", when it's actually a Celebrity booking, albeit handled by a different department. However, in this case the fact they provided a number for Expedia, AND Expedia can actually see the booking, I strongly suspect it was a case of fat fingers when the booking was being accessed for service - most likely for the addition of the Shareholder Benefit. Harris Denver, CO
  17. Hanlon's razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." It's most likely that in processing a stack of Shareholder Benefit requests someone put something from one reservation onto a second. For there to be monetary gain, and thus the potential for a kickback, the customer would have to remain unaware, and keep the booking with the travel agency. Not likely. Harris Denver, CO
  18. @AbbyCruiser45 While this is certainly a strange occurrence, the resolution would be to have the travel agency release the booking back to Celebrity. Starting with Captain's Club would be as good a route as any, but you will need the Resolutions Department to correct this. Normally releasing a booking back to the cruise line is because a customer has a specific complaint with how the agency is servicing the booking. In your case, it would be the agency was given the booking in error. While I would be curious as to what happened, questions along those lines will not help in resolving your issue, so I would focus only on getting the booking released from Expedia back to Celebrity. This generally takes an agreement by the travel agency to release it, or a total lack of response from the agency. In this case, presumably Expedia would have no issue in authorizing release, but of course there are two large corporations involved, so it may take a bit of time. The good news is you do have some time for this to get corrected prior to final payment date. I would NOT make any payment to Expedia, since that would then make it seem you're working through them after all. Harris Denver, CO
  19. Ha Ha, OK, I was wrong when I said "a few years. Make a liar out of me over 3 months. Harris Denver, CO
  20. While the terms make that allowance, it has never happened since the beginning of the program. The offer has always been Power Up Points in multiples of ten, so the Captain's Club Points have been awarded in whole numbers. 10 PUP = 1 CC, 20 PUP = 2 CC, 30 PUP = 3 CC and 50 PUP = 5 CC are the only denominations I can recall. The 20 PUP activities were early in the program, and I haven't seen those for a few years. Harris Denver, CO
  21. You will have the benefits of the retreat, but not the benefits of a suite. That is to say, you will have dining in Luminae, and access to the retreat lounge and sun deck. You will not get the perks of the suite (Premium Drink Package, or Premium WiFi). If you have those from your original booking you'll keep them. In the Retreat areas, drinks are included, so if you have no package, or only the basic package, you can order premium drinks in the Retreat. Harris Denver, CO
  22. (800) 760-0654 for North America Harris Denver, CO
  23. @BF3 There are several sites around Kona that you can expect them, Maui and Oahu less so.. In the Caribbean, they're far from guaranteed, but good chances on Bonaire and Aruba. They're fairly common throughout the Caribbean, but I can't think of other spots where I'd think snorkelers would have very good chances of seeing them. Harris Denver, CO '
  24. @Nike4000 Good question, but not to worry. There is no time limit on this portion of your training. There can be issues if there is a delay between the when a student finishes class/pool portion and completion of the certification dives. Clearly that won’t be an issue for you doing the course on the ship. Harris Denver, CO
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