rudeney

Sort of like in the days before selling the DBP where they said it was too keep people from drinking too much and endangering themselves and other passengers. I guess it just too the bean counters a while to figure out the right price point for it. Which, of course, challenges people to drink more than they might in order to "get their money's worth". 🤣

We could hold off until Oct. 1st for both ArriveCAN and testing to see what happens. In fact, you can even hold off on doing ArriveCAN until after boarding and sail away. It just has to be completed before arrival at at the first Canadian port. I've been hearing of people on current sailings getting called to GS the night before arrival in Canada because they did not fill out ArriveCAN yet.

Yep, 95F here today, but hight tomorrow is only 80F. Hopefully it's the end of the 90's for us this year. We are soooo much looking forward to our CAN/NE cruise in 10 days. I now understand how people up there feel can't wait to head south to Florida in the middle of the winter!

We have a roll call, but it's not terribly active. I have not heard of anyone setting up a meet.

Headcounts for muster stations also come into play but still has nothing to do with booking a cabin for fewer people than it can accommodate. Popular rumor is that they are trying to pack in the most passengers to maximize onboard revenue. It could also be that they want to keep the higher-capacity rooms available for those who really need them. I remember once trying to book a 2BR GS when we took my MIL on a cruise. It would be perfect because it had two bathrooms. I think back then it was called a 2BR Family Suite or something. Anyhow, they told me it require a minimum of 5 guests. We ended up with a GS + JS and it worked fine.

My wife and I are the same cruise and while it's possible the requirement might change, I've already scheduled our tests with RapidTestAndTrace.com fro Friday the 30th. If it does change, I'll just cancel and be out the $40 I had to prepay. But I suspect nothing will change for cruise ships.

I've heard the same, and it has been raining and cloudy up there this week so I'm sure that makes it much worse.

I had a boss who at the company Christmas party, instructed the bartenders to switch to the "cheap stuff" after the first hour. I don't think anyone noticed the difference.

I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing this moment with us and I am sure this will be a huge help to others.

Check the bar menus in the app - I just looked at mine at it lists this, so you shouldn't pay extra:

That seems to be the norm. I believe they have it all tied in with the ship's manifest, so they know it's all completed and there's no need for anyone to verify it on the app.

Whew, I'm glad its just an IT glitch! Have a great cruise!

I could not care less if credit card companies worry about fraudulent use of my card - that's their problem. Laws protect me from having to pay for fraudulent charges. BTW, the chip cards were marketing as "better protection for customers". Not really. It was better protection for the credit card companies. If a merchant accepts a card and it is NOT ac hip transaction, and then that transaction is reported as fraud, the merchant is now on the hook for it.

I will bet that this does NOT apply to cruise ships. Remember, on their website, it says pre-arrival testing is NOT required if entering by air, land or sea, but then there's the link below all that for, "Oh, wait, you're entering via a cruise ship? Umm, yeah, we have special rules for those giant petri dishes of COVID..."

Option 1: Both of you get one coffee each and enjoy them. When done, go back and get another coffee each and enjoy them. Option 2: One of you takes both SeaPass cards and gets two coffees. Hand the cards off to the other person who then goes and gets two more coffees.

Someone on the social media site that shall not be mentioned posted the same thing - the app shows "Voyage cancelled" for the Sept. 25th sailing (unless that is you, @publicpersona?)

I have heard people mentioning not paying tips at all. They usually say things like, "It's not my job to pay the crew!" But like @not-enough-cruising, I believe this is rare.

Back when the pandemic started, I saw several medical professionals who strongly urged people to wash their hands with soap and water and only use sanitizer when there was no other option. It wasn't because of skin issues, but because soap and water literally washes the germs off of your hands and down the drain. Sanitizer relies on it coming in contact with every germ in every nook and cranny on your hands to kill them. Fail to get enough sanitizer around a fingernail and you still have germs. Even years before the pandemic, I got into the habit of washing my hands before eating, or after I had been out in public touching a lot of common surfaces. I'm not a germaphobe and I think I have an excellent immune system, but I just feel cleaner when I wash my hands.

No gym and few stairs for me (too much arthritis and a hip overduer for replacement) but like you, I lose a few pounds on a cruise because I can really stick to a low-glycemic diet with all the choices available.

That is exactly how I feel about it. I also remember those "less crowded" last nights in the MDR. I loved it when the cruise lines started letting us use vouchers instead of cash. I guess now I look at it as the vouchers are "automatic" so I don't have to go to guest services to get them. But I am also a bit disenfranchised over not knowing exactly who gets how much of my tip money. Like you, I've never heard of back-end kitchen or laundry staff being tipped in any industry, so the rumors that part of the auto-charged tips going to them just don't sit right with me. Not because I don't want to pay them, but because it means my tip money isn't all going to the people who personally served me.

That is a good question, although I have occasionally seen the concierge on boarding day on Freedom and Voyager class ships. But without a SeaPass card, I guess you can't get into the SL unless the concierge is there.

He has photos - doesn't look small to me:

Here's what I think. RCCL should boot everyone out of their cabins by 7AM, and have them ready by 11am for arriving passengers. That would solve all of these issues.

Please don't get me wrong - I'm not arguing. 🙂 I'm just relating my experiences and what I do based on situations I've been in. Luckily, I've never lost or broken my phone when traveling so I've never had to go back to that paper, but I have traveled with others who relied strictly on their phones and ended up having to figure out on the fly how to fix that situation. And for some people who may be a bit challenged to find things on their phone quickly (which can sometimes include me!), having the few pieces of paper in hand can make things easier. And I apologize if I recently posted my comments on this - I'm in several different forums and this seems to be a recurring topic.

I much prefer to help with tips to cruise ship crew, land-based servers, and donations to charities, civic organizations, etc. when I see how hard those people are working toward their goals. Even a sub-par server who is really trying and realizes that improvement is needed is deserving of a tip from me.