leaveitallbehind

You can always change specialty restaurant reservations on board based on the actual menu options, or just wait until you board to make them. I doubt you will have any issues getting restaurant choice dates and times that would be suitable. Just as a side note we usually wait to book our SR's on board. For us it actually is easier to do it on board in person to confirm our preferred schedule. I say this as we typically eat most of our meals in the SR's. It's just what works for us.

Appreciate that as often different ships do the same thing differently. Just haven't experienced that. Always good to hear others' experiences.

Perhaps something else was taking place in the SOL? Who knows? Or maybe that's just where Solstice held it. But in our experience on "M" and "S" ships it has been in the SOL which is why I referenced that venue.

In our most recent experience Karaoke was facilitated with music track CD's, not a band. Or am I misunderstanding something?

I guess the point is to take both to be sure. If there would be question raised with the PP, the BC would be the valid back up. Also not sure what you mean by "leaving ship in the passport area to go quicker". Check in is exactly the same and with the same agents with or without a passport - there is no separate passport area. And once on board you don't need either a PP or a BC to disembark in any port of call. You just need your SeaPass card and in some ports your drivers license or other valid photo ID to confirm by photo that you are who your SeaPass card says you are at the port boarding security area.

I'm a little confused how anything in particular can be "taking over". With "S" class ships, the silent disco, when held, is typically found in the Sky Observation Lounge. Karaoke, is usually held in a venue forward portside on deck 4. Other live music is played in the Atrium. There also are music productions in the theater. Live music is also frequently played in the Ensemble lounge, and occasionally in the Oceanview bar. But all of the options are spread over the ship and don't interfere with each other. And they all seem to be equally offered. There are selections and venues for just about everyone's tastes and no one offering dominates over the other. If there is something that is not to your liking, you can go somewhere else to find what you might like. How good or bad the entertainers may be, or whether or not you enjoy the silent disco, or can have a good time listening to fellow passengers attempt Karaoke is completely subjective. But with the variety of choices offered, I certainly don't see anything worth jumping ship over. JMO.

@CDNPolar 's comments are dead on. To add, unless they are self employed, an agent splits the earned commission to some degree (often as much as 50/50) with the sponsoring agency and they rarely see all of it themselves. And along with port fees and taxes, there is a portion of the fare that is non-commissionable, which means $0 commissions are paid on that portion. And BTW, airlines don't pay a commission for their bookings. But more importantly, a TA does not get paid on a booking until after the cruise is completed and the cruise line closes the books on that cruise, and then it is entered into the cruise lines next payout schedule. Which means their commission is not received by them until 30-90 days after the cruise is taken. Booking a year in advance means they wait up to 15 months to get paid for it. This is why I am always curious, along with the expectation with TA's, whether or not other people would be willing to share their income with a prospective business client.

As far as short itineraries are concerned, 4 night cruises typically have one day at sea.

Just to add, there are some ports of call where the casinos will be open. Typically it would be when a ship is docked overnight and an agreement with that port of call's government exists for them to be open. This usually involves a written permit with some amount of fee paid to that government. Bermuda is one example of this with Celebrity and other lines. This would not be the case with Nassau or Bimini per the OP's itinerary.

Whether or not an individual TA is willing to give you part of their income in order to entice you to book through them is not something that is easy to determine up front. And not something I would ask. I guess you can only compare the total value of what one TA can provide versus another. But I always wonder how willing someone would be to share there earnings in any other situation with a client to garner their favor. Not criticizing, but always curious. JMO.

In our experience in the recent couple of years the times are not typically enforced. @neverbeenhere IMO boarding early allows for early muster drill completion as you indicate, as well as confirming any diner reservations at specialty restaurants or at the MDR, exploring the ship if one is new to it, getting an early lunch ahead of most of the crowds, and just relaxing awaiting the staterooms to open. Again JMO.

The casinos with most cruise lines typically open 12 nautical miles away from the US once at sea and typically are closed while in ports of call. The ship will post their hours of operation.

If you mean that you are considering using multiple agents to book different pieces of the same trip, IMO I see no need to do that. That would just confuse things with different agents assisting on different components. Most TA's - at least those in the US - all have similar access to the same rates for the cruise, hotels, flights, and the rest. If you want to compare total packages between a couple of TA's that might be OK as one may use different hotels or other associated land packages. But IMO, in general most of the major component pricing will likely be similar with all of them.

Typically show scheduling opens after the cruise check in date, which means it should be any day now in your case.

@Fly and Sail it would seem this might be your answer.

Well no offense, but as I am not a player that email ended up being placed by me in my junk mail file.

I believe those are the annual '24 - '25 Blue Chip program tier renewal dates. I don't participate so I cannot say for certain, but received an email today indicating that.

Correct - not directly for the booking. But there are definitely TA's that will charge fees outside of those charged by the cruise line for modifying, changing, or cancelling a booking made through them. I do understand if a nominal booking fee is charged for direct airline bookings as most airlines don't pay a commission back to the TA for their bookings. Other than that, not a good practice IMO, as those additional fees come directly from the client.

RCCL's newer ships have similar dedicated suite areas. As mentioned Celebrity has the Retreat, but it truly is a dedicated area as you describe only on their newer ships. The older ships have certain dedicated areas (restaurant, lunge, sundeck) but not quite in the multi deck manner of MSC. RCCL older ships are similar to Celebrity in that manner as well. My only comment regarding MSC is that while YC is truly an upscale suite experience, the suite sizes are compared to those offered on NCL, Celebrity, and RCCL, while nicely appointed, are in general not as large or as impressive. You are paying mainly for the experience and not the suites. Again, JMO.

Someone with too much free time on their hands.........LOL

So the price reflects either the better of the sale price or the CC discount, based on your tier status based on your booking number through the planner? Did not realize that and thought the price shown was the Celebrity sale price at the time. Good to know. Either way, I always call CC to confirm.

Pretty difficult to answer with any objectivity as the prices can vary not only between cruise lines, but between ships and itineraries within a given cruise, and sales impact these packages frequently. Each cruise line may vary the offerings as part of the fare, or separate, or as a promo. Package offerings can vary as well. Too many variables IMO. And what are you considering to be the top 4 or 5 cruise lines? That, too, can vary depending whether you are thinking of mass market or premium lines, etc. I don't think this is going to be easy to answer other than by subjective opinion.

Typically the published price on the planner is the Celebrity sale price - not the Captain's Club tier price. As that varies by tier, it would be calculated separately and is, in our experience, based off the full price. Also you cannot stack discounts - you will pay either the sale price or the Elite discount price, whichever is the lower. We always call CC and they sort it out and apply the best pricing.

Correct. They would do all they can to assure the best fare as confirmed by the cruise line's updated booking confirmation. But as I mentioned, that does not assure a different outcome - just the voice of an advocate, who as the sales extension of the cruise line, may have contacts at the cruise line not typically available to the direct passenger. Each situation varies. We had one in 2015 with a booking where certain categories on a ship were published in error at a very low rate. A number of people were able to capture that rate before the cruise line caught it, but it was honored as the bookings were received with a deposit and confirmed as such. Similarly in 2019 (just prior to the pandemic) another fare was issued in error but the cruise line refused the deposit and readjusted the fare even though a number of people had initiated bookings. The key difference was no money was accepted, therefore no confirmation provided. But my understanding is even with a deposit, a pricing error may not need to be honored. Perhaps the position is that deposits can be returned as they are only to secure a future booking not yet paid for. An answer for minds smarter than mine!

Typically when weather poses significant threats to cruise itineraries, there is information regarding affected sailings posted on their website. In the past this has been as a banner or announcement near the top of the main page. If there are changes made to your specific itinerary you (and/or your travel agent if you booked through one), will receive an email notifying you of the specific changes as they are made.