kathynorth

You are not automatically linked for MDR dinner because you have a common specialty dining reservation. 
 

We are traveling as a party of 7 booked into 3 cabins on the eclipse this June. We all have select dining. The other day I linked our dining reservations and were able to book us as a group of 7 on some nights and 4 on others. You can book your MDR reservations now. You don’t need to wait. Go into your cruise planner, click specialty restaurants, and scroll toward the bottom of the page. You’ll see a link to reserve times for select dining. There will be a tab to link dining. You'll need the reservation numbers for your friend's reservation to do the link up. Plug in their numbers and you’ll be linked. Then you can choose which dates you plan to eat in MDR and who you want to be seated with. 
 

On 4/28/2023 at 11:28 AM, Rondo said:

Shuan must be popular, as I did not get booked with him as he is full for the date I needed.😐He did give me two other possibilities, but have not heard back from them. I am afraid I might have to settle for a lesser tour on Viator. Seems like Volunteer Point tours are sold out for Jan. 11.

You should keep checking in with them. Beg to go on the waitlist. The other couple in our vehicle said they were about to book about 1 month before our cruise after being told they were sold out. It's likely someone cancelled and they just happened to be next in line. It was quite an experience. I was wearing an apple watch and I clocked in 16,000 steps while riding in the vehicle on the way to Volunteer Point.

We went with El Pedral Lodge on Peninsula Valdes and were very satisfied. We were told the colony there started around 15yrs ago when a handful of penguins nested on that beach. When we visited in Feb 2023 there were tens of thousands. We've also been to Punta Tombo. In comparison, more than 1 million penguin nest at Punta Tombo. Both of our trips were in the beginning of February and we didn't find one to be better than the other, just different from each other. We've also been to Magdalena Island out of Punta Arenas, which is another very large penguin colony, but requires a boat ride to access. 

On our first trip we stayed at the BA Hilton in the Puerto Madero section. It was nice, in a decent location for restaurants, but very expensive with a loud central court area.We needed to take taxis to any of the sites we wanted to see that were outside of Puerto Madero. For our 2nd trip we stayed at the Palladio Hotel MGallery that is located close to downtown and on the outskirts of the Recoleta neighborhood. We found a great rate at this hotel via SuperTravel. It was very nice, quiet, with a decent restaurant. Centrally located, so we were able to walk to most of the sites we wanted to see. However, if I were to visit BA again we'd likely book a boutique hotel in the Recolleta neighborhood. 

On 3/28/2024 at 12:05 PM, Ombud said:

Any info on: HOTEL PRINCIPADO? Looks like its close to the terminal. 

I would not stay close to the terminal. That's not a safe area. Taxis or uber from a hotel in better areas are very inexpensive. 

I know this is not the same, but we've let the dining room staff know when we are celebrating a birthday and they sent a small cake to our table after dinner at no charge. They gave us a plate with cover so we could bring the cake back to our room. As for decorations, we haven't done this but a fellow passenger told us they gave room decorations to their cabin attendant along with a nice tip. When they returned to the cabin it was decorated. 

Thanks for the review! I find it helpful to read others' perspectives. 

We took the Iceland to Boston cruise and spent 6 nights precruise touring the south shore and Golden Circle. It was a wow trip for us. Your cruise itinerary skips over the south shore where there is so much to see. Have you considered renting a car to DIY or taking day trips via a tour company during precruise? IMO the more precruise days you can manage the better. There's lots to see and do outside of Reykjavik. We spent our first day touring the Reykjane peninsula, where there has been recent volcanic activity. We were able to see lots of geothermal activity in this area, even when the volcano was quiet. Then we headed toward Vik for a few nights and visited Inside the Volcano, The Lava Center, Seljanlanfoss Waterfall, Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach, Jokulsarlon Lagoon, Diamond Beach, and Skogafoss Waterfall. As we headed back to Reykjavik we visited all the Golden Circle sites. Instead of visiting Blue Lagoon, we spent a wonderful evening at the Secret Lagoon and also visited the Mynath Baths when the ship stopped in Akureyri. 

On 3/30/2024 at 9:19 AM, kathynorth said:

Does anyone know if there is a minimum age limit to the glass blowing class?

In answer to my question, we called Hollywood glass and asked this question. They indicated they don't have a minimum or maximum age limit in their land-based studio and don't have a formal policy for the ship-side program. However, ships may institute their own rules so we'll need to get our answer when we are onboard. 

1 hour ago, melbrook said:

My husband and I would like to do this together but just make one piece.  Do we need to book the double or will they let us both participate and made one item?

You won't know for sure until you are there, but my guess would be that there isn't enough room for two people in the work space. Making a piece requires lots of movement and safety is a major concern. I suppose it's possible for the instructors to identify a point in time where one of you leaves the area and the other joins, but the pause in production might have an impact on the integrity of the product. Making my fish while on the Equinox last Feb was lots of fun and I'm looking forward to making another one when we cruise on the Eclipse this June. 

9 minutes ago, miched said:

We were on the Beyond in Feb. This was posted in the casino.  It is the qualifications for a comped cruise. 
 

We had a lot of SBC so my wife and I both ran it thru the VP machines once to “cash’ it out.    I did about $500 or $600 and my wife did about the same.  At the end I had 54 points.  Bonus was 50 points also gave $1 free play.   My wife ended up with 47.   It wasn’t worth playing more to get the extra 3 points for a $1 free play.   We ended up losing about 8% of our SBC.     It looks like we got around  100 points/ $1000 played.     At that rate I would have to play $4000 thru the machines losing $320 to get $100 off  

 

I think regular slots earn more.   Don’t know what table game earn.  
 

Good luck gaming 💰💸🎰

 

 

If you use one of these cruise rewards certificates on a future cruise does this need to be booked onboard? Do you have to book the future cruise via Blue Chip or can you gain the $off booking through any TA like you can when you book onboard and transfer to a TA for additional OBC?

We really enjoy eating in Murano with our most recent visit this pas Feb. It’s way better than Blu. We both had the lobster Murano and chateaubrianne with no extra charge. Also had delicious GranMarnier soufflés for desert 

On 3/26/2024 at 6:18 PM, justcrusn said:

we have an upcoming (next month) cruise. just booked because of time off work concerns.

DW strongly desires dinner in lawn club and murano on her birthday and our anniversary.

no open dates shown in cruise planner. I have purchased unlimited specialty dining in the hope that they will somehow accommodate us. will this work ?

We had a package on the Equinox in Feb. We were lucky enough to be in the 11:30 boarding group, dropped our bags in our cabin, then headed straight to Murano to book our reservations. I came prepared with a list of which restaurants we wanted for each date and told the attendant we wanted reserved times for 6:30, 7:00, or 7:30 each night. He set everything up for us and we were happy with the outcome. This was the first time we didn’t need to haggle over dining times since eating very late doesn’t work for us.

On 3/29/2024 at 9:58 AM, finoky said:

We are sailing our first Celebrity cruise next weekend on the Reflection. Have sailed 25 cruises with other lines mainly Carnival. Well, we had originally booked an inside on deck 3 with the all-included back when you got the tips as well for $1600. Today I got an email from Celebrity with new documents and luggage tags that has us in a balcony on deck 6. For free! I didn't bid or call or anything. Our original cabin wasn't an HC cabin. Just a regular inside for 2 people. I am overjoyed!!

Congratulations! Maybe there is a family who needed an inside across from a veranda? At any rate, lucky you! Have a great cruise.

Another possibly stupid question. When you purchase cruiseline insurance, can you insure just 1 person in the cabin or do you need to purchase for both occupants?

Does anyone know if there is a minimum age limit to the glass blowing class?

9 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

What do you mean by "legit"?

If it's "is this worth the money", then.... what *exactly* is covered, and what are the payments for those problems?

GC

Maybe I used the wrong term. This is the cruise line insurance and it covers trip reimbursement as well as medical and evacuation. I understand the limits of ship sponsored insurance is a bit low, but we do have reimbursement through our regular insurance. Because the price of the cruise is so low the insurance rate is also low. I’m wondering if we will still be covered if there is an emergency because the price is so low.

We have a comped cruise with a cost of $60pp due to a room upgrade. We just need the emergency medical and evac backup, so we purchased through the cruiseline for $78. Does this seem legit?  

Here's the link to the webinar. I hope it works. They said it was OK to share with others, so here goes.

I watched this webinar today and it was an excellent northern lights history lesson! We were told that a link to the recording will be emailed to us. I'll post the link if I'm able to figure out how to do that. 

Thanks for the suggestion!

OP, so sorry this happened to your DH. I'm not sure how I'd react if in the same situation, but I know it would be some level of upset. There does seem to be a lack understanding of how serious of a potential medical problem this could be for your DH. My suggestion is to stay as calm as possible and revisit GR and medical with a pen and paper in hand. Begin asking everyone for their names and official titles. Be sure to say, "Please be so kind as to spell your last name for me." You'll be surprised at how responsive staff become when they realize their name might be mentioned. I agree with the other posters who say compensation is warranted. At the least I'd be looking for complimentary laundry, the equivalent of 2 days FCC for the 2 days disrupted trying to address the situation, the requested paperwork within 24hrs, and a pampered dinner at Murano to help you both feel better. 

We were in Grand Cayman 2 weeks ago. There's a bar in the port area that advertises free internet with a bar purchase, but said their antenna was knocked out during a storm a few weeks ago. Maybe it'll be available by the time you visit. The bartender said a bar just outside the port gate and to the left had internet available, but I can't verify that since we decided to skip internet at that point and instead wait to access the internet in Aruba later in our trip.  

I had a 1yr OBC with 1 yr expiration that expired on Jan 1st. I expected they would automatically refund. We were on the Equinox 2 weeks ago and asked about the refund timeframe when we visited Future Cruises. They confirmed that our certificate had expired, but was still showing in the system. The rep needed to request the refund and said it could take 4-6 weeks. 

CDNPolar, I appreciate your response. I was looking for information on the cruise line or other tour company that was used for the Northeast Arctic cruise. We are searching for a cruise that will take us to the Pond Inlet area without emptying our bank account. We know this will be expensive due to the remoteness of the location. thanks again.