rudeney

I understand the aggravation with all the automatically added gratuities, but if they didn't add them onto the DBP purchase, how would you calculate a tip at the restaurant? Would you go with, "I paid $200 for the DBP, I'm eating 8 specialty meals, so $25 each, and I'll leave a $4.50 tip," or, would you decide, "Even though I only allocated $25 of the DBP to this meal, it's individual onboard price is $50, so I'll tip $9." Personally, having the tips included or automatically added means I don't have to tip at the restaurant because it's already been paid. Of course if the service is excellent, I might leave a bit more, but it's not (or shouldn't be) expected or required.

That's been my theory, and experience, too. But we also always cruise in suites, so I wondered if they handled that luggage differently. Several times our luggage was waiting on us when the room was ready. I don't think it's ever been delivered later than 2pm.

Even on smaller ships, it might be "worth it" if the MDR food is not so good or you are just tired of the menu. We are on Voyager next month and I went ahead and bought the UDP even though the only choices are Chops, Giovanni's and Izumi. We don't cruise that often (once every year or two), but we've just tired of the same old menu in the MDR and while the food isn't bad, I consider on par with "banquet food". Contrast that with every meal we've had in specialty restaurants being great. I'll report back on my final evaluation in 5 weeks.

I think it depends on which version of Cruise Planner your ship uses. Our next cruise on Voyager uses the old version, so UDP shows as $245, and no additional gratuity is added, but for ships with the new version, it would show something like $208 and then add 18% ad checkout.

So if CAS status has no bearing on luggage delivery, what does? If you board earlier, do you get it earlier, or does it mean it's at the bottom of the pile, so you get it later? Do they handle suite luggage differently?

That brings up an interesting situation. Even when the vaccine requirement age was 12 and not 5, and before the FDA had EUA for vaccines for kids under 12, I guess that someone with a child that was currently under 12 but would turn 12 before boarding would have to really keep up with the dates to make sure there was enough time before the cruise to get the child vaccinated. Of course that's different than this case where the rules were changed after the cruise was booked, but it just goes to show how complicated all of this can be.

J&J is only for people age 18 and over.

I always have to laugh when I hear the word "free". One of the first things I learned in life is that nothing is "free". The "government" has no money - they have my money that they spend. All the money that my health insurance company has is money that I and other customers of theirs have paid in premiums. My primary care "internal medicine" doc does not provide any COVID testing. The chain store pharmacies claim that they do testing, but searching their websites for testing "appointments' yields no results within then next 10 days. Think about that: Why would I need to make an appointment to test for an infection for more than 10 days in the future when I'm sick "today" and likely will recover in about a week?

My wife and I renewed in April and our pages are like the normal ones - not hard plastic.

My Samsung shuts off all communication features (cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.) when I put it in Airplane Mode. I guess iPhones don't do that. Or maybe there is a setting somewhere to choose to leave WiFi and BT on?

I think that some rental companies get around this by charging different rates at different pickup/drop locations, but it won't be listed as a one-way drop charge.

I think this is because Florida has a law that prohibits rental car companies from adding "drop charges" for rentals within the state.

This is literally like every other shopper in a Costco.

COVID didn't change that for me - it was so many trips around the sun that did it. I knew it was happening when I started yelling at kids to get off my lawn.

Because some people actually need mobility scooters because they cannot walk any distance. A trip form the stateroom to the MDR would not be possible without some sort of mobility assistance. I think the problem is that most of those scooters are rented and the drivers are unfamiliar with them. They may use one at home, but the rental units may drive differently. Also, it is not as easy to stop a scooter as it is your body. If I'm stepping into an elevator and realize someone is popping out from around the corner, I can instantly stop and backup. Doing that in a scooter is a multi-step operation and not fast at all. I'm not defending the rude and careless scooter drivers, but I do know that even the best people sometimes have problems driving them.

I was at a conference in Nashville back in May with over 2,000 attendees. It's normally held twice a year, but had been on hiatus since 2020 except for one very poorly attended socially-distanced one last year. Anyhow, we were all unmasked and there was a lot of hugging and handshaking going on among many of us old-timers in the industry. We had plenty of tightly-packed events and dinners, plus two nights out in packed honky-tonks. The Monday after, a mass email was sent out to all attendees urging us to test because there had been some reports of attendees with COVID. I tested and was negative as were the others in my company that were there with me. I spoke to two customers who I had spent a great deal of time with who had tested positive. Neither had any symptoms and would not have known they had COVID except for being urged to test.

They are optional for crew now, but can be reinstated by the captain. I follow Jordon Bauth (on of the ice skaters on Voyager that does a blog) and her vlog last week said they had gone back to wearing the "blue" RCCL surgical masks. I'm not sure how long that lasted.

Ignore the "SALE!" banners- they are just marketing hype. On our next cruise, the lowest price I've seen is $65, but it's also been as high as $80. Right now, it's listed at $70 with no "sale" banner. I once saw it as BOGO50% where the price was $100 for the first one, $50 for the 2nd one, so $75 each). The $65 was advertised at 30% off one day and 35% off another day. And yes, you can cancel one for a refund and repurchase at a lower price. I've done this with several Cruise Planner items. I check prices every...single...day! The only caveat there is that it can take a while to refund your credit card (it takes about 4-5 days with AMEX for me). Also, be careful doing that with excursions and other things that can sell out - rebuy first, and then if it doesn't automatically cancel the other one, you can then do it.

That's what I assumed (regarding sales tax collections).

I looked at some receipts from a sailing out of Galveston, TX in 2015. Not only was the liquor selection limited, but they charged sales tax on drinks we purchased while in port.

Thanks to your son for his service! And thank you for raising a son who served our country! ❤️

That's why I do, but it only works for full suite (GS+) guests. If you are not in a suite, there is no concierge access.

I learned in my 40 years of traveling for business to always pack extra underwear and socks. Between unexpected trip extensions to flight cancellations, it is a requirement.

I am not a big cigar smoker, but I will occasionally have a cigar at a social outing. I hate that ships no longer have a good place for those who enjoy them. Given the smoke wafting from the casinos into other areas of the ship, I can't imagine they closed the cigar bars for "health" reasons. My guess is they couldn't make enough money on them. If they do want to send cigar smokers outside, then the least they could do is give them a nice seating area to enjoy them with a drink.

No, with Airplane Mode on, it shuts of all cellular communication. Actually, it shuts of all communication connections, so that's why you have to switch WiFi back on. And if you have any Bluetooth devices you'll want to use (watch, earbuds, speakers, etc.) you'll need to switch tit back on, too. Note that if you have an iPhone, I highly recommend that you periodically check to make sure that Airplane Mode is still on. iPhones have been known to mysteriously and randomly turn Airplane Mode off. That works as long as both your phone and carrier support WiFi calling. It routes all data (voice and SMS) that would normally transmit over the cellular network to use The Internet. There are some carriers and older phones that don't support WiFi calling. That's the only reason why you might want a 3rd party app.