bighairtexan

Royce, I will pass this info on to her in the event that she can't make it. I'm an RN and worked for a while on a neurology/neurosurgery floor and all my possible scenarios are NOT GOOD. Not just for the cruise, which is certainly not the main concern, but for my friend's health. (maybe this is a case of a little bit of knowledge being not such a great thing??) She just got over a sore throat so I'm worried about Guillian-Barre'. Maybe too much doom and gloom though.

She's a very experienced cruiser and traveler (married to a lawyer) so I'm pretty sure she and her DH will be doing their due diligence. She's never HAD to use her travel insurance before but there's always a FIRST TIME.

My other concern. We have to be 100000% sure if SHE cancels, that the entire reservation isn't cancelled b/c I'll go, one way or the other. I really don't want to show up at the pier to be told that the entire reservation was cancelled. I'm very good at "WORST CASE SCENARIOS" as y'all can see! LOL This was done through a TA, btw. Large cruise booking TA. So I'm sure this isn't the first time they've had to deal with this.

I shall pass on all pertinent info should the probability become a certainty.

Again much appreciate the input!

EDITED TO ADD: Yes I suppose this is really 2 separate but connected issues.

1) what she has to do to be within the requirements of her insurance (she'll have to pursue this)

2) what I need to do IF ANYTHING, to make sure I can still cruise, solo if need be.

My cruise is on 9/3. No one on the roll call who's bid has heard yes or no AFAIK. I get the gist that it's a last minute type notification. They reserve the right to notify up to 72 hours before one sails so that's probably about when most people hear.... later rather than sooner.

Thanks for all your good advice and well wishes. She's an absolutely wonderful human being and I'm hoping (cruise aside) that this is just a small speed bump. Of course the cruise is just a blip on her radar in the grand scheme of things (ascending numbness and tingling started in her feet on Saturday and now it's her lower legs, both sides, and of course we're both scared).

I shall pass on your words and suggestions, and mostly I'll keep out of it rather than make things more confused. I tend to be a bit of a control freak and want to "fix things".

I just want to "fix" the cruise situation, "fix" the insurance situation, and most of all "fix" her health situation. I need to realize some things are beyond my fixing them. I think 11 days chilling in the Equinox Royal Suite would take her mind off things IF she's cleared for travel. As for me? If we don't even get off the ship I don't give a rip. It was more about "hanging w/ my home girl". (A 70 year old home 'girl'). LOL

Taking a deep breath and stepping back is HARD people!

Let me see if I have this right.

My BFF is supposed to meet me in Miami this weekend for the 9/3 cruise on the Equinox. I'm flying out from DFW and she from LAX. We do a cruise together once every couple of years to "catch up."

We each have insured our own portions of the trip separately since we're just friends rather than relations and have different addresses and different costs based on our ages.

She is very suddenly having a serious health problem and isn't sure if she will be cleared for travel pending results of an MRI on Thursday.

I plan on going on the cruise.

SOOO if I go and she's a no show, this shouldn't impact either my ability to sail OR cost me anything, correct? She'll go against the insurance for any reimbursements but that's up to her, correct? We got our insurance through the trip insurance store.

Is there anything I should be doing (besides prayer and positive thoughts for her health I mean)? I'm not sure I want to call our insurance over something that MIGHT or might not happen as I don't want to red flag anything prematurely.

I loved your review. As for Blu I could have written your exact viewpoint ... though not as articulately (esp the marketing ploy aspect) for each of my 3 cruises where Blu was my assigned dining. Never again. I have no issues w/ the MDR if I won't be in a suite.

Saying that, I agree spot on with your assessment of Luminae and look forward to eating there next starting next Monday on the Eclipse. Your review "whet my whistle."

**Laughing about the arm gesturing** too true and too funny.

I love it when someone goes w/ limited expectations and then is so pleasantly surprised.

I kind of did the opposite by being a long time Celebrity cruiser and when I tried RCI a few years ago I wasn't expecting it to be nearly as good as it was. It's nice to have more than ONE cruise line to consider when planning a vacation. Though the 2 lines IMHO are more alike than different, just the slight tweaks on each line helps me to appreciate things about the other line.

I don't hesitate to cruise on either of them.

Thanks for such a balanced and positive review.

I was going to say that I thought you might be even more WOWED on one of the S class ships. But then I tell myself that about the "big girls" on RCI since I've not done anything larger than the Freedom class. So many cruise ships. So little time! :D

BRIAN thanks for the info! My one week out will be Monday. You're only the 2nd one I've read about who actually "won the bid" so congrats.

Good letter Crusin' till I'm Dead. And I had no idea about the re-bid procedure you mentioned.

I had no idea of the changes in the slider as time went on and how a once strong bid is now weak and that the upper limits changed.

I made my bid as soon as I got the letter, and didn't look back so was unaware. So what you're saying is: my previously "WEAK" bid is now probably a "SERIOUSLY? ARE YOU KIDDING ME" bid! :D

I'm 9 days out and none of us on the R/C have heard (though I fully expected the 72 hours pre-sail point to be when we heard so this is not surprising).

I got my shore side concierge pre-cruise call and it APPEARS that the PH (the only thing I bid on) was actually booked a week or so ago, so IMHO everyone who bid on the PH COULD at this point be notified "thanks but no thanks" except perhaps the top couple of bid just in case there's an extremely rare event that someone in the PH couldn't cruise at the VERY last minute.

So while I know that the move-up is 99.9999% for Celebrity to maximize revenue, I also feel waiting until the 11th hour is unnecessary, but then again Celebrity didn't ask me.

While I'd bet the farm that the PH is GONE, I'll still come back and let people know what happened in general on our r/c which has a few people who mentioned bidding on various categories.

I've eaten on Sabor on several ships (there are 2 menus depending on the ship) and there was no Kan Kan pork chop (which I agree is in the photo) on either menu.

Based on itinerary I'd go w/ Freedom OTS.. ABC's are some of my favorite ports. Also considering your age group, there's more night life and active things to do on RCI too during the day.

Celebrity is more sophisticated but not stuffy (anyone remember that ad campaign in the 90's?) and has what I consider to be better food and SLIGHTLY better service.

More kids on Freedom for sure, so I don't know how/if that factors into your considerations.

In my experience (I've been on some partial Pied Piper charters), Celebrity is quite gay friendly.

Following along. I'll be getting on the ship as you're going home.

Other than Luminae and Michael's the thing I'm most excited about is SLUSH. I've never been on a ship which had SLUSH even though I've cruised Equinox several times. Please have one of every drink on the Slush menu and report BACK w/ your recommendations! :D ;)

Hey it's a dirty job but somebody has to do it!

I've cruised a fair amount and have done 20 on Carnival. My last one being January of this year and it WILL BE MY LAST! It was on the Breeze out of Galveston. We were in the largest suite they have available and it's a good thing b/c I never spent so much time in my cabin. The MDR was FILTHY (my forearms literally stuck to the table which had neither place mats nor table cloths.

One of the waiters even complained to us (we were kind of staring at each other, like "he's really saying this??) about how they all have more tables to wait on and how they can't get to know the passengers and banter with them (we were in Select/My Time). Then I think based on our looks he backpeddaled to say how "I am very grateful that I have a good quality of life at home thanks to Carnival. But it's just not the same."

I also always was of the opinion that it makes NO DIFFERENCE to me what people wear in the MDR. I always THOUGHT it would have no impact on my dinner. WRONG! Sitting catty corner from a man w/ sweaty armpit hair poking out of his tank top as he was constantly adjusting his baseball cap DID impact my dining enjoyment.

Oddly there were way more suits in the MDR on "formal" night than you'd see on Celebrity or RCI on "chic" or whatever it's called on various lines. I was also laughing about how many baseball caps (worn forward and backwards) were worn w/ their suits. My B/F is kind of a blue collar guy and even HE was commenting. The baseball caps didn't affect my dining like the dirty tables or sweaty armpits.

Service was hit or miss. Some stars and some duds. Disembarkation was a cluster.

HOWEVER based on your list, Carnival might not be as heinous for you. They have excellent burgers and Mexican food by the pool. Trivia. A dedicated comedy club, game shows, poker tournaments... basically EVERYTHING you have on your list you can find on a Carnival cruise out of Galveston.

As for me after 20 Carnival (I'm also E+ on Celebrity and Plat on Princess etc) ... there will never be a 21st. BLEAAHHHH.

I assume I can do this since I'm not advertising a travel agent. If not then I also assume it will just get pulled.

This is a screen shot from an upcoming cruise I have booked. Perks 1-4 are provided by Celebrity for the booking promo for a suite. Perk 5 is from the TA. There's also a small Loyalty OBC that shows up elsewhere.

My $700 OBC is not a compilation. It's for anyone booking a higher value cruise. Basically it's 10%. So a Penthouse is going to get a LOT more than in inside; In fact it's going to get a lot more than $700. But it's approx 10% off your cruise price (usually not for taxes and port charges but YMMV)

I'm with you for $25. The TA I use basically "rebates" around 10% as OBC. Also for RCI and X there may be "group rates".

I wish WWCruisers would weigh in b/c for decades she refused to use a TA (based on a previous bad experience). She and I decided we'd cruise together and I insisted we use my TA. So I booked a Celebrity Suite on a 7 day cruise and my TA "gifted us" w/ an OBC of $700ish. In addition to Celebrity's included perks. She and her DH kept wanting to know the "catch" and I said there WAS NONE! I can't understand booking directly when it's "free money".

HOWEVER on Princess and Carnival, even in a suite, the "rebate" from the same TA was $100 or less and I agree... not worth booking with them for $100 or less OBC.

Book a Royal Suite or a Penthouse. Almost everything is included in the price including laundry, premium beverage package, the normal suite perks of Go Best, and unlimited specialty dining. Plus the mini bar stocked daily AND a couple of full sized bottles of spirits. Add the $300 from X to the possible $1,000 (and up) from a TA along w/ a small "TA Loyalty OBC" or so for a week's cruise and that's a decent chunk of OBC. Trust me, I'll spend every cent. It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it! ;)

C/STITCH great comprehensive list! TYVM.

Sometimes there's a group that's moved to other social media and created their own page.

I felt my "minimum bid" was more than fair but they have this little "meter" indicating the strength of your bid. SO the minimum was VERY WEAK and I added $200pp and it was still deemed "WEAK". Stronger bid were not my sweet spot and I could have booked the actual cabin directly at that price. I had nothing to lose and I'd have been happy to pay that for the category I wanted. I'm leaving in 2 weeks and haven't heard. But the category I was bidding on has now been sold out for days so the chances of getting it area bout ZERO. There are only 2 penthouses so I'm guessing the probability of one of them cancelling last minute are PRETTTTTTY low.

And if you take the cabin class which the Casino comps you, at a later date you can also go and pay a VERY REASONABLE upgrade if there is one available. They're very easy to work with either during booking or calling later to see what they can do for you.

I agree with what VAROO said about GE being worth it. And while there aren't that many cruise ports in the US that have dedicated kiosks, I would hope that it would change over the years. I had free TSA w/ my credit card but paid full boat to add GE and then my CC reimbursed me for the entire thing anyway. (sorry don't remember but I think it was an American Executive thru Citibank.)

I'm on that cruise also and on my iphone I don't have the ability to check in. I've just gone ahead and done it online and printed my Xpress pass. As above, it's a work in progress. If you check (at least for me) it shows 7 days of menus instead of 11. It's not syncing to our cruise. Yet.

But then what if ONE of you gets the moveup and the other bid (even if it is identical) is rejected. Once you are awarded the bid they charge your card and it's a done deal. No way of knowing if you're both bidding on the same category is there one cabin available? 5? 2? How many other people have bid what you have? So many variables. Since they reserve the right to let you know up to 72 hours before sailing then you could wind up w/ only one of you upgraded at the last minute and not the other. From other threads it appears that they tend to wait until VERY close to sailing to let people know and going by the previous threads, VERY FEW people win a moveup bid. If it's important for you both to be eating in the same dining venue, in your place I'd either pony up the cash to upgrade or stay where I was and not do the Moveup bid. Just my opinion. I myself bid a week or so ago and still waiting to hear for my 9/3 sailing. I would put my chances between slim to none. My bid was reasonable to ME and all I'm willing to pay, but it was deemed WEEK by the meter on the Moveup page. The bids deemed STRONG actually made the suite even MORE expensive than I could have just paid to upgrade. A LOT more.

Did this really happen???

YES THIRSTDAY, it really happened (If I'm going to make something up it won't be about a support dog!) :rolleyes: and I've been wracking my brain to remember which ship. I am often comped (fully or partially) by the Blue Chip or Casino Royal "Clubs" and so always introduce myself to the casino host/ess. I went to do this and the hostess was carrying around a small fluffy dog (papillon I THINK but I didn't ask). I mentioned "I didn't realize staff and crew could bring their dogs aboard" and she said it was a casino player's emotional support dog. I asked where the owner was and was told only that she was "playing". While the dog itself didn't bite, bark, yap or anything like that I was still very much bothered. I'm concerned that if can cast skepticism on others who have true service dogs... like gee I wonder why this person brought his/her dog.

Also true service dogs, while working, aren't supposed to be pet and fondled and carried around by strangers.

I cruise both lines in suites and a Sky Suite is like a Junior Suite in area but a WHOLE lot better perks IMHO.