ownedbypets

3 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

Just to clarify the kid count. Source is from our Genie. 800 teens and 1,300 kids under 12. Sold out sailing with 6,700 on board. 
 

My ears are still ringing from the slippery when wet concert, the screaming girls from Jersey. 

How is your genie?

Happy Birthday Dani!!

2 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

Owen, went back a little early from the beach break. You up there?

 

 

Great pic of my favorite balcony and I'm not there. Depressing.

Portside was not open for lunch when we cruised in November. We ate at Playmakers.

3 hours ago, CruisinShips said:

We just booked a last minute Mega that leaves next month.  Very excited!  Pretty much nothing available with the better restaurants, but on the advice of many in several threads, we won't stress and will deal with it when we board.

That being said, I got an email about connecting with an agent to make pre-cruise arrangements.  I called and left a callback number earlier today.  Does anyone know what kinds of things we discuss (and if they do actually call you back!)?

 

Thanks again!

We got a call back today. I was told the email was just to inform us of what is available to us. Since we have our dining and transportation already arranged the only other thin they offered was to take our requests for our in room bar. Everything else has to wait until we get to the port.

49 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

He said that he could do this but we feel that it is a waste of his time. He could be doing much better things than personally holding a table. Clearly whoever made the rule of no reservations has missed the mark for Star Class.
 

If the Captain or Cruise director wants to eat there they won’t hold a table?  For the limited amount of Star Class cabins it seems strange they won’t do it for Oasis but no issue on Symphony. 
 

It is nice to read positive things about Derick. I understand he has been part of the Genie program from day one. 

Derick told us during pre cruise emails that he couldn't reserve a table for us at Playmakers and we were ok with it but disappointed because it wasn't the same as Symphony only a few months prior. I did mention that we wanted to eat there for lunch on embarkation day and for college football in my first email to him. It was never mentioned again and was a total surprise when we saw him there.

I hope you like him. He is at the top of our list for favorite genies.

57 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

That sounds like he did great considering all he had working against him. Sounds like the guests were also very understanding as well.
 

It is good to read this as we have Derick in just over a weeks time.  We are going into it with an open mind, as always, but when he said he couldn’t book us a table for playmakers on Oasis we were rather surprised. Especially when I know someone who had it done last year on Oasis. 
 

Maybe email communication isn’t a strong point and hopefully everything will work out as we only requested meals and show reservations and nothing more. 🤷‍♂️

Derick told us the same about Playmakers but he magically was sitting at a table both times we went. The second time he had gone to Portside and had brought over wings for my husband.

3 hours ago, CruisinSinceIwasBorn said:

We had a genie, Derick Martis, that during the Omicron phase was covering 7 star class suites versus a normal 3 because of genies out with Covid. Despite this workload, he was absolutely incredible. He popped up everywhere, covered all the little details, and took care of everything immediately. 

 

I also think it's important to provide genies feedback. Every passenger is different. Your needs are different than mine. They try to strike a balance, but that may not be what you want. We often give feedback to make it a more tailored experience. If you don't give feedback, then they will continue what they have been doing and it may not be what you want. Our genie's have appreciated it because then they weren't guessing. It also helped them to get to know us more and we formed a great relationship and had a wonderful vacation.   

Derick is amazing!

17 minutes ago, topnole said:

Is that 8 adults in that suite?   I’m all for

SC, but 8 adults in the 2Bdr ATS is not going to be a luxurious experience for at least 6 of the adults. If it works that’s great, but I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone having 8 adults in that cabin.  
 

The ship tours are take or

leave it for us.  We would only do them if included, so it’s not like it’s 1200 we’d pay otherwise.  And they aren’t always a guarantee.  Even before Covid we had one trio where they had to cancel them for varying reasons. 
 

You may want to add wifi to your total. That’s about 1200 give or take. 

Need to add laundry too!

27 minutes ago, TwinMamainMN said:

Maybe? Which would mean once we get to the cruise terminal we could book it.

 

Anyone know if it's wheelchair accessible? Our daughter would like to do it, but uses a wheelchair. We have some escape rooms near us that have things to climb or go through as part of the "escape" and something like that would not work for her. TIA!

There is nothing to climb through and the room is pretty wide open with just some desks and furniture. 

21 hours ago, new2cruising2006 said:

Do you know if they pair you with others?  There is only 2 of us and wanted to know if we would be doing it alone or with strangers.

There were 4 of us and they paired us with 2 other groups of 4.

On 12/31/2022 at 8:09 AM, mac_tlc said:

I agree. The use of WhatApp worked so well. We had 8 of us in the 4 Bedroom Villa suite and he responded so quickly to any of us. 
 

Not sure he will remember but tell him Mike, Terri and the family of 8 from August say HI!

 

If you happen to see Mariana, she is a Loft Attendant on that side of the lofts,  in the hallway tell her Mike and Terri said Hello. She is one of the sweetest people we have met. 

 

Have a wonderful time ! 
 

BTW, I still miss periscope! 
 

 

mac_tlc

I'm really late on this but I agree that Marijana is a great suite attendant! We had her last year when we were in 1722.

7 hours ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

 

I wish I had known you were going to be in my neighborhood.  We live not far from where she is.  We could have met with you, your husband and your daughter to welcome you all to the area as fellow CC members on Dani's thread.  I guess I missed a lot of information from this thread since I'm always so behind, I just skip pages.  Is she here for an internship at Stanford or a temporary job?  Sounds like she's found a good place to live for now.  There's a lot good eating places around there.  Sorry for the cold and rainy weather.  Wish it was warm and sunny for her.  Please let me know if there's any questions or help that you or daughter may have with her stay here.  I hope we can be of help to you/her.

Thank you so much!  She is a travel nurse. The weather was miserable when I was there but she has lived in Chicago for the last 5 years so she is used to extremes. I will definitely reach out if she has any questions. Thanks again!

On 12/31/2022 at 5:28 AM, ReneeFLL said:

We lived in Mountain View (Moffett Field is right there where Mike was stationed) for about a year in 1987 before we bought up in the foothills. Back then it was a nice area and we liked it. Hopefully it hasn’t changed much. I think she will like it there. 
 

The ‘89 earthquake was awful. We were so happy go get out of there after that. Of course it helped that the Navy moved us to Key West. 😄  Hurricanes I can deal with. About how often do they have big ones in that area? Wasn’t the next big one down in the Los Angeles area or somewhere down there?

I just got back from a very busy, 4 day, trip to CA. Our daughters move went well. She and her cat are living in a gorgeous airbnb in downtown Mountain View with access to caltrain and the bus so she does have options to get to Stanford. We knew her commute wouldn't be quick but it's not as bad as we thought. She is taking an Uber today.

The weather was cold and rainy but we were determined to have one fun day after all of the packing and shopping was done. We went to Pier 39 and has as much fun as possible while shivering and soaking wet.

My husband and I lived in the East bay in 1989  so when we drove under the Bay Bridge it brought back earthquake memories.

Charlotte has lived away from us for 5 years and has traveled the world but this is the first time she has ever really been on her own. She knows no one near so that resulted in a lot of tears when it was time to say goodbye. Hopefully 13 weeks will fly by!

I remember someone posting about a can opener, in a rental, a while back so that was the first thing I looked for and smiled when I found it. It's the small things.

6 hours ago, Jimbo said:

So did your daughter's flight get canceled for today? Has she rebooked and found a hotel to stay in that takes pets?

After a 2 hour delay her flight just took off. O'Hare was so cold that she could see her breath inside the terminal but she and her cat are on their way. We are leaving to pick her up.

10 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Here is Chicago's forecast, got to think chances of her getting out of Chicago on Friday aren't looking good.  Does she have a plan B on getting out?

 

Description

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON THURSDAY TO 6 AM CST SATURDAY... WHAT...Snow and blowing snow producing occasional white out conditions expected. Total snow accumulations of 2 to 5 inches, most of the snow occurring Thursday. Winds gusting as high as 50 mph expected. Wind chill values of 25 to 35 below zero expected. WHERE...Portions of east central and northeast Illinois. WHEN...From noon Thursday to 6 AM CST Saturday. IMPACTS...Falling or blowing snow may result in white out conditions with zero visibility at times, making travel extremely difficult. Power outages will also be possible as a result of strong wind gusts to 50 mph. Roads will likely quickly become ice covered as temperatures rapidly fall Thursday afternoon. ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Dangerously cold wind chills as low as 25 to 35 below zero are likely Thursday night through Friday night. Wind chills of this magnitude can cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 20 minutes. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPARED

 

 

No other plan for getting out other than to wait it out and get on a flight when she can. The power to her apartment in Chicago is being turned off on Saturday so she really can't stay there and since she is traveling with her cat she has booked a hotel, if necessary. We don't have our hopes up that she will make it to FL for Christmas.

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I wish her the best with her new job.   Hopefully her kitty cat will travel well.  😀

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone that gave housing suggestions for my daughter moving to CA in a few weeks. There was nothing available in Palo Alto so she will be living in Mountain View. She sold, donated and sent to storage everything but her cat and some clothes. Her next step is her flight out of Chicago on Friday, if possible. Thanks again!

16 hours ago, brillohead said:

Here are some websites she can try:

 

https://www.furnishedfinder.com/

 

https://www.theblueground.com/

 

https://www.apartmentlist.com/

https://www.hellolanding.com/

 

 

Thanks! I'll pass it on to her.

12 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Jim graciously provided his email --

"my email address is in my signature  jim dot smaltz at GMAIL dot Com"

Thanks! I just sent it to her.

9 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

** Off-topic**

 

Hi Jim,

 

May be you can help... I have a long running thread on Royal's boards, and one of "my" long time posters, @ownedbypets, is looking for advice --- Thank you in advance, Dani

 

"

My daughter is a travel nurse and starts a new contract on Jan 2. She will be in Palo Alto CA at Stanford Medical and there aren't very many Airbnb close to the hospital. Can any recommend any nice, safe cities that are near there? She doesn't have a car so she will be using Uber. Thanks!  "

 

Thanks Dani!!

2 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

My father was born on this date 127 years ago.Can you imagine life in 1895 ? There were no in home radios,no TV’s ,no electrical appliances.

My grandkids cannot understand how I lived without TV or a telephone till 1952.

Your father shares his birthday with my grandmother. She was born 12.12.12

Just now, Jimbo said:

How long is she staying there and what is her budget?

She will be there for 3 months and is hoping to pay about $5,000 per month.

2 hours ago, h20skibum said:

When my son and his wife did their Post-docs at Stanford, they had an apartment in Sunnyvale, not far from the Caltrain station.   From what I recall, that wasn’t a bad area.  I know housing is very expensive in that area.  She could expand her search, if she looks at areas that have train service.  That is probably less than Uber.  I think the train from Sunnyvale to Stanford is around $3-$4 for a 20 minute ride.

I'll tell her to look in Sunnyvale. It sounds familiar to me but we left the area 30 years ago. Thanks!

2 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I'm not sure if this site is any better than airbnb but try vrbo.com 

 Thanks, we'll try.