Croooser

Too many ships coming to fast, all well and good but when they start to cut crew numbers like they tried on Seaside it will only end in tears!

So, have they corrected this? What is the current effect of crew levels on Seaside?

18009. Looks like we have cabanas over us. We like being high up and forward, so we're willing to take the risk. We're up early anyway. I'm so excited!

 

Trying to sign up for their Voyager's Club, but that website is acting weird right now. I even tried switching browsers. I might just call.

 

Is Seaside one of their newer ships? I know nothing about MSC. I have some homework to do! :)

 

What were some of your favorite things about the ship? Food in YC restaurant good? Is it like Celebrity where the YC restaurant is your MDR? Favorite specialty restaurants? I don't even know what they have. LOL.

If you have status from another cruise line loyalty program, they will status match. They told me that they would reprice a booking (from the USA) with the 5% discount once you get your status match.

Hey Tina,

 

I wish you a really nice cruise!

 

For your boarding Meraviglia in Hamburg tomorrow:

 

We learned the hard way, that the suggested boarding time is not the best boarding time...

 

I would suggest boarding at noon and have lunch already on Bord, if you do not have excursions planned for Hamburg. For our cruise they scheduled all information sessions on Bord about 4 hours before our listed boarding time.

 

Cruise cards and prepaid vouchers are distributed in Hamburg directly during checkin, and not as for some other MSC cruises in the cabins, so you will have them right after checkin.

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

Following

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

was on O's website to check a booking and saw in FAQs:

 

There are Visa's required for my sailing. May I elect to stay onboard while we are in port and not purchase the Visas?

If Visas are required for the sailing you will need to obtain them either independently or though Oceania Cruises. You may be denied boarding if you do not obtain the proper Visas required for the sailing

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

Try Geoblu for medical only. It does not include cancellation. It is medical only and includes evacuation. The best evacuation is Medjet Assist...but is costly and does not include medical.

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

This is another endorsement for Dimitrije of monttravelers. We spent a half day with him in September. He is very personable and was focused on what we wanted to see and learn. We arrived in Kotor with no prior knowledge of Montenegro but left understanding quite a bit of the history and culture while seeing the sights. Our expectations were met and exceeded.

We just did this in September. Got off at 6:45 and had 7:00 cab prearranged (important to arrange in advance). We were at the airport by 7:30. HTH

 

 

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

Since the ship is docking the day before you should be able to disembark at anytime after the port clears the ship. Many passengers have disembarked in the wee hours of the morning. You probably need to take your luggage with you and not put it out at 10 pm like others. I would contact Oceania and let them know you need an early departure and then notify the ship again once you are on board. I would arrange a private transfer to be waiting there for you so you are not dependent on the availability of cabs. The time it takes to the airport depends on traffic but it is usually no more than 30 minutes. You should be at the airport around 2 1/2 before flight times.

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

What a coincidence. We board Riviera in a few hours and will be in......7009. Thanks very much for posting.

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

We will be ending our cruise with an overnight in Rio next January. We are not spending any additional days there. We need to be off the ship by 9 AM, but most flights to the U.S. don't depart until that evening. Has anyone used a service that picked you up at the ship (with your luggage), gave you a tour of Rio highlights and then dropped you at the airport?

HTH

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

Oceansandseas

You should read the CC guidelines at the top of the page

if guides are promoting their tours they will be quickly banned same goes for TA's

 

I am Canadian

I use a US TA ...just shop around

I am happy with her service

Oceania have some cruises where you can pay in CAD or you can get a USD VISA card & bank account from TD or CIBC..maybe other Canadian banks also have this

When the exchange rates are good I buy USD & put them in my TD account

If you do a search on Oceania discounts, some TA links will be in the results. However, I have found that I must call them to get pricing/incentives/obc/discount/rebate info. They are not permitted to post this info on their websites. After calling a few of the search results I found what I was looking for.

HTH

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

Celebrity is now Evening Chic instead of formal. Hope this link works. http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/15047638_CEL_Evening_Chic_Overview_Flyer.pdf

Regal Princess sails that itinerary and has a first rate buffet for dinner with LOTS of choices and good service levels. We would choose that ship for that type of group.

HTH

We were on Celebrity this past Feb (for Carnival). We used Visa Central. Their service and communication was good but they have fees that they do not disclose until passports are returned which is when they invoice you. I would not recommend them for this reason. Our total invoice for 2 persons was $676.22.

BTW, if visiting Rio, I do recommend Do BrazilRight. He provided first rate tours and we felt completely safe at all times for the three day tour.

HTH

The Miami Herald has obtained an advance copy of tomorrow's statement.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article156337129.html

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks for posting the link. Still not enough info to understand all of the implications for those of us booked on cruises but looks like we might be able to salvage our trips.

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

We had 1140 on the Infinity in Feb. It has the movie theater directly above on deck 12. They had programming from 10 AM until 11 PM every day - mostly movies.

We are aft junkies and hoped that we could ignore it or grin and bear it but that was not the case for us. No quiet time on those balconies. Particularly annoying during the sail aways. It was not an issue inside with the balcony door closed.

The noise from the oceanview outdoor area on deck 10 was minimal and not an issue for us.

The balcony is huge and the views are great but we would not book any of the deck 11 aft again.

HTH YMMV

Interesting to read the various opinions and experiences. FWIW, here's mine. We fall into the 8-10% OBC category on our Celebrity and other mainstream cruises with the TAs that we have used.

Finding a good TA first requires that you determine your priority. To wit:

1) CONTROL - the ability to maintain complete control all day, every day to manage category and/or price changes as well as other booking details. For this one should book directly with the Cruise Line and bypass the TA. You will give up some $ but will maintain the ability to avoid that middleman.

2) EXPERTISE and ADVISE - the ability to solicit knowledgeable and objective advice on the various cruise lines, specific ships, itineraries, land and air arrangements, etc. For this one needs to find a very experienced individual and build a relationship. One must go through the TA for changes and should not expect the very best inventives. That expertise comes at a price. Best way to find such an agent is through client references. CC does not permit that but other sites do. Fellow cruise passengers are another source but one should be careful to validate recommendations.

3) BEST $ DEAL - the ability to obtain the best deal when taking into consideration group rates, OBC, added percs, etc. For this the large online TAs, the sites that allow you to have TAs bid for your booking and the large warehouse clubs can all be sources. Booking and cancellation fees can be evaluated along with the incentives, available hours, etc. We have used all three of these sources to find a TA for a cruise with success. The warehouse club that we used offered a little less in incentives but was available 7 days a week with whoever answered the phone able to work on our existing booking.

Although this is a Celebrity focused thread, I will add one other thought. When you move from the mainstream lines to the more upscale lines, rebates can come into play and the % of incentives can increase.

On our upcoming Oceania cruise, we will receive from the TA approx. 20% of the fare less taxes/fees. That is a combination of rebate check, refundable OBC and prepaid gratuities. In addition, we will receive free unlimited internet, and $900 nonrefundable OBC from Oceania. So, our Oceania per diem still comes out higher than Celebrity by quite a bit but the incentives do get quite a bit better. No intention here of adding a debate about mainstream vs upscale. Just thought that it was worth mentioning that the metrics change.

OOPs wrong thread!

September 2015 we were able to do it. We carried our own bags off at a few minutes past 7 and were 2nd passengers off to get a taxi - so no wait. As said above - about 30 minutes with no traffic on a Sunday am. We were able to self check bags and make it through security in 30 minutes or so and were at our gate about 8:45 or so.

Of course, it would be less rushed and more room for delays with a later flight.

Duplicate Post

We recently booked rt biz to EZE from Orlando. For the first time in our experience Choice Air did not offer reduced prices compared to booking direct. We wound up booking Copa via Panama City.

We are just starting to think about trying a river cruise and I am finding your work extremely helpful. Thanks for sharing and don't let the observer critics get to you.

Once you go aft, you'll never go back. Pun intended.

I have rebooked several times after final payment and Princess has refunded the difference. I don't see any risk.

 

This is how I do it:

 

1. Sign in to the booking for your cruise in your Cruise Personalizer on the Princess Website.

2. Click on Flights & Transfers.

3. Select Booking Flights with eZAir.

4. Your flight information will be displayed - Select Add or Modify Flights.

5. Wait a few seconds and you will see your flight with its price. Click on Edit Your Flight

6. Click on Search

7. If a flight comes up that you like better, then select it. Otherwise do nothing and you will keep you existing booking.

I have changed flights twice since I made final payment on my current booking (Emerald Princess 20 day TA to Barcelona on April 19) and I still have about 67 days until the flight from Barcelona to Seattle on May 9. I check daily and won't hesitate to change again if I find a better flight.

Dragging up this old thread to say thanks for posting this. I just saved $150 by following your instructions. I owe you a cold one!

Once you go aft, you'll never go back. 4th year in a row back there for us coming up on eastbound Equinox.