rudeney

It depends on which version of Cruise Planner your ship uses. Some quote the price with the gratuity included, others will add the gratuity at check-out. But I do remember the old days when the specialty restaurant upcharge was sort of consider the gratuity in and of itself.

I'm a "paperless" person. I scan and store all my docs that aren't required to be produced in original form...except when I travel. I always take paper copies. I don't want to rely on my phone or Internet service, etc. to make sure I get on that ship or plane. I'll use my phone, but the paper is there as a backup.

Ask someone in your roll call who is on the same floor as you to forward a copy of their luggage tag page, then photoshop it for yourself. The colors are important because they indicate the ship and floor. Make sure you get the ship location correct on the diagram. I use clear luggage tag holders and photoshop my tag to remove the "staple here" lines and resize it so it's a perfect fit. Yes, I am slightly OCD.

Can the D-Lounge concierge, like the SL concierge, do most everything GS can do? If so, that would be your "express line" for GS.

So with ArriveCAN, you setup an account and added profiles for both (or all ) of you? And you scanned in your COVID vaccine cards and your passports (or DL+BC)? Yep, that's all you can for now. Sometime between 3 days before boarding and right before boarding, you need to complete ArriveCAN with you prot ino (it will be the first Canadian port you enter - they have a lookup tool in app) and answer all the questions. Have that and you negative COVID test taken 2 days before boarding ready at the terminal and you're good to go. Note that no one may ever ask for your ArriveCAN QR code, but I would print it out on hardcopy "just in case" you are asked or God forbid your phone (or the app) breaks. I actually do this with my Set-Sail Pass, too. I have a fear of being "that guy" holding up the line because my phone died!

On thing to consider about arrival/boarding time: If you want to eat lunch in the specialty restaurants, they may close (or stop seating) at 1:30, so if you are later boarding, you may not get to do that.

I am all for helping out my fellow citizen, but I believe that people who have severe health issues, such as being immunocompromised, are always going to need to be in charge of their own health just as I am with my own. I had "original recipe" COVID in November 2020 and luckily for me, it was just a head cold. I've since been vaccinated and boosted, and have been exposed to Delta and Omicron multiple times, but so far I have not been infected by those variants. Ironically, I've had a head cold since last week. I've test every day - all and negative. Still, because I obviously have "something", just as I would have three years ago, I will limit my contact with the public.

Supply chain issues, labor shortage issues, and high demand are straining all cruise lines. The OP, a new member, came here and posted one time with a rant. This was not a question or call for help but a rant. That sort of post is always going to get met with a lot of sarcasm and disdain. Maybe the OP would have received some more friendly replies had the post was along the lines of "Something unfortunate happened on my cruise and I heard that other sailings were compensated more. Is this normal and does anyhow have any ideas about how I might escalate this?"

Yes, mine didn't open until sometime after 12:10am. I'm in CDT and the port is EDT and I usually stay up until 11pm anyhow, so I started checking. I have checked every few minutes up until 12:10am EDT when I decided to turn in, but check once more and it was open. People on my cruise reported still being able to get a 10:30am arrival time at 8am EDT.

Go watch Brokedown Palace then decide.

Or Republic or Eastern... I also remember when flying first class, the attendants would send us off the plain with barf bags filled with miniatures of whatever we had been drinking on the plane. I always found it humorous that the y gave us the barf bags as if it were a complete "party kit".

Download the app - the menu is there under dining. The one time I did room service years ago it was fine - equivalent to pretty much any hotel room service The food was not piping hot, but not cold.

Yeah, unless this was a kid I knew, no way would I put myself on the hook to be responsible.

Based on the rules for ArriveCAN, it should, but that doesn't mean it will. As long as you meet Canada's vaccine and testing requirements and fill out the info in the ArriveCAN app before boarding, it shouldn't be a problem. Of course there could be other issues for going into Canada, such as people who have ever had a DUI or felony conviction are not allowed to enter.

Mine has a loop inside the "hinge point" where the lid meets the main compartment where I hook the hangers. Then I tighten the strap at the 2nd panel hinge point over my clothes, then place the foam bar over the 3rd panel hinge point. This all gets tightly folded into the lid and everything stays nice and flat with pretty much no ironing needed.

I had an old hard sided Samsonite that was one of the first suitcases with wheels. It was great! I now have an ultra-small Samsonite carry-on that I use mostly for my computer and it's great, too. They make very good luggage. I only chose the TravelPro that I have now because it has the internal bracket system for folding and securing hanging clothes. I find that works best to keep my clothes looking god when traveling.

I like those brackets, too Check out the TravelPro - it has the bracket and is what I bought last year. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DL4DYMW

I totally agree! I don't really have high standards, but there are places I avoid because their food is either not very good to me. For example, I cannot stand Applebee's. I call it "boiler bag" food. They don't prepare many things fresh (the tell-tale sign of this is when you can't order a dish without an ingredient). Not only that, most of their food is loaded with empty carbs, and the scarce meat is either horribly overcooked or very poor, tough cuts. On the other hand, I can be just as happy with a $25 steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse as a $125 one at Ruth's Chris. Of course the Ruth's Chris steak is better, but not 5x better to me. I have also had some ridiculously expensive meals (expense account for entertaining clients) that were amazing, but again, I can be just as happy with much less expensive meals. Even a really good handmade burger is good for me.

I don't buy expensive luggage, but I also avoid those "second-tier designer bags" they sell at places like TJ Maxx. You know, the Vince Camuto, London Fog, Steve Madden, etc. My daughter bought a set of luggage like that for about $120 and it didn't make it through the first trip. My wife once bought some expensive luggage with cute red and white stirpes and a lot of fancy trim. The first trip we took, they ripped off one of the handles and the white fabric was horribly stained. She learned her lesson. My 25+ year old Delsey finally bit the dust - all the plastic stiffening inside disintegrated due to age, but the rest of the bag was still going strong. I replaced it with a TravelPro. We'll see how it does. It's survived two trips so far.

If the mRNA vaccines make you very sick, then it's likely that you had "original recipe COVID" prior to being vaccinated. People who had COVID before the vaccines came out (like me) were recommended to get the J&J vaccines because it had fewer side effects and its efficacy was increased when combined with naturally acquired antibodies. Last week, my daughter (who also had original recipe COVID prior to the vaccines) had some mild symptoms like a headache, sinus congestion, and sore throat. She took a COVID test Monday and it was a weak positive, but then on Tuesday it was negative. Saturday, I started having the same symptoms and have tested negative every day. My wife is not sick at all. I suspect we both have Omicron, but with the vaccines and antibodies, it's not enough of a viral load to pop positive on a test or make us really "sick".

Yep, no one ever posts there! Looking at weather for next week in Bar Harbor, the high will be around 70. I'll bet it will be cooler in 4 weeks - the kids might want to bring wetsuits!

I traveled for years with a black Delsey bag that looked like everyone else's black bag. Like your husbands company, my company had distinctive, bright yellow luggage tags made with the company logo made for trade show schwag. On more than one occasion, I'd see someone grab my bag off the carousel, with the big yellow tag flopping around. Ugh!

My wife and I are also on that cruise. Besides the time onboard, the only thing you'll miss is if you want to eat lunch in a specialty restaurant - they stop seating at 1:30pm. It's probably going to be too cool (for most people0 to enjoy the pools, so really, you'll just miss some time onboard. The good news is that your rooms should be ready by the time you board.

It shows in CP for my next cruise:

Most modern luggage has closed pockets to hold a concealed name tag. Make sure you have that filled in with the correct name and phone number. I also place a copy of that info on the inside. I've never had a problem, but I like to be prepared.