NutsAboutGolf

Interesting. They did that social media ship name poll, at that time I said if I could bet on the name I'd take Excel/Xcel if for no other reason, its was far more familiar than "Vertex". Guessing Vertex came about from someone who only used a thesaurus (lol)

Guessing they'll announce the 5th E-Class's ship name, either the Excel/Xcel or Vertex

Enjoy! Be sure to try the Eden Cafe's (lunch only) chocolate cake, it's the only complimentary baked dessert that's not bland and therefore worth the calories

We do have some time, if I were in charge of X logistics I'd send all passengers an email that we are monitoring the situation before changing the itinerary but if conditions do not improve expect an itinerary change. The Solstice did a multiple sailing TP, the first sailing was from Vancouver to Hawaii originally included Maui. It was horrible what happened to West Maui and X was quick to cancel the West Maui port stop (scheduled 5 weeks after the fires) but other cruise ships continued to dock in North Maui which did help out the rest of Maui. We checked and on the day we were supposed to stop in West Maui, no ships were docked in North Maui so it would appear X didn't attempt to see about switching ports. Many Maui businesses were struggling because of a lack of tourists

Yup, an invasive species and the shop will give the lionfish to a nearby restaurant so you are being helpful if you decide to go that direction. Lionfish hang out on reefs which is where you'd dive regardless if you decide to hunt or not The liveaboard sounds spectacular. Just letting you know you have a 99% to dive with Manta in Kona, HI as they come out every night and you possibly may see sharks. 99% you can dive with sharks in nearby Oahu HI, Riveria Beach FL, Bahamas (Nassau, Bimini and super expensive Tiger Beach), St Kitts, St Marten and the Bullsharks in Playa Del Carmen

Aircraft swaps do happen but I stand corrected for the reason. I was told this by an extremely knowledgeable traveler; I trusted them and never verified. Thanks

100%! What can happen is you book and pick your seat with one aircraft and later downsizes to a smaller plane due to not having enough cargo and passengers to fill the plane. When this happens, often not only do you get an older plane with possibly bad or no wifi but may give you a worse seat

Yes. If you look at the (smallish) screenshot on post #14 they're listed under the miles requirement. They always have a free trial so I'd recommend just trying it

DOT requested a schedule of all KLM flights, that's it so far

I wouldn't call P-Cola to Tampa or to J-Ville remotely close. Where is your starting point, NOLA? If so, P-Cola would be your best option for the panhandle as they have many wrecks. On the other hand, if you plan on staying for a few nights, Tampa and J'Ville are much larger cities than P-Cola. P-Cola Viz is best in the summer but should still be good in Oct. If you're looking for unique experiences, about an hour north of Tampa is Crystal Lake which is one of the few places you can legally snorkel with the manatees. Venice FL, roughly an hour south of Tampa, they get to go hunting for fossilized shark teeth including the megalodon. Find a big one and you can sell them for hundreds and in some cases $1,000+

May 2024 is still showing Turkey

I've scuba dove with Stuart Cove, they offer snorkeling which I've never done. They're the ones that contract with the cruise ships. Once you get out of the secured port area there's the main road and a bus stop, the bus stop is where they pick you up

The DOT has already started: https://onemileatatime.com/news/united-states-retaliates-netherlands-flight-cap/

Why not post them? Also are the MDR menus updates?

Rule enforcement is the second most talked about cruising topic; tipping is #1

I'm hearing this more and more yet it's usually reported as the app menu not being updated

I totally understand some are too busy to bother with the points game or simply have no desire to learn it. The $5 24 hour pass on points.me does exactly the same thing as a consultant. In general, wouldn't convert MR/Amex or UR/Chase points to say United and then book a United ticket. You would transfer your MR/UR points to a partner like Air Canada miles and then book the United flight on Air Canada. The other part is knowing when airlines release their business/1st "saver" award space. As I'm sure everyone knows, and dreads, flexibility is the key. If you need a pre-cruise flight, you're probably not going to find a favorable reception. Therefore in many cases with a cruise that has fixed dates, the best use of UR/Chase points would be to covert them to Hyatt points I already feel like this is going to be information overload for most reading this, perhaps this simplifies it: 1) Check weekly for credit card points transferring to an airline with a bonus; totally fine if there aren't 2) If you need a hotel, check out Hyatt to have a baseline redemption 3) Go to points.me, pay the $5 24 pass and start hunting; the tool is very useful with calendars 4) If you find a flight with a favorable redemption, call the airline and request they put it on a courtesy hold. This is because your award space could be grabbed by another before your points transfer 5) Transfer your credit card points to airline points/miles 6) Once the points appear in your account, call the airline again to apply the points to the flight that's on hold

Completely understand yet just pointing if one is attracted to an OBC to use the shareholder route

Standard practice is to keep selling tickets until some Gov't tells you to stop...lol

If I'm understanding correctly, you're on a cruise that stops in both ports? As I'm sure you already know, nothing is guaranteed with visibility and strong currents Curacao has better diving, you're nearly guaranteed to see sea turtles and possibly a sea horse. A kind of cool thing to do is the lionfish hunt, you pay a little extra, and they'll you a spear and training. If you're able to spear one you give the whole spear to the guide who will put the fish in their zookeeper and give you back the spear. As @ROUS points out, the dive bus would be a great option if you're there for a land stay but they have strict deadlines and you need to take a 15-minute taxi ride each way at tourist pricing. I recommend Scubaçao Diving Adventures which offers free pick and drop off and you also don't pay until the pick you up so if the ship can't make it or is super late, you won't even be charged in the first place Aruba, the Mermaid II dive boat mooring is about a 10-minute walk from the ship gangway. Aruba has two relativity intact jumbo jets you can swim in. It's been a year but they only charged $75 for a two-tank boat dive if you had your own gear. The plane wrecks aren't too deep and not too far from shore so it's possible to snorkel yet I'd research that more as your party's fitness level may be a factor. It should be noted visibility will most likely be worse in Aruba and there isn't a ton to see marine life other than small reef fish If it were me, I would dive both (lol) in the morning and join the rest of the party to snorkel in the afternoon

Most of us passport point brah's use www.points.me which usually has a free trial. Once the trial is up we pay $5 for the 24-hour pass and just park ourselves by the computer all day and research. Pretty good article explaining things: https://milestomemories.com/point-me-review-flight-award/

The spend required to get the OBC is ridiculous. All are without annual fees Chase Freedom Unlimited, Citi's double cash, and Citi's Costco card (if you have and plan to maintain a membership) give much better rewards with far fewer spending requirements. Also, why not invest in RCG to get the OBC?

It's a very conversational policy by the Dutch Government. All the buzz right now is will the US Govt take any retaliatory action and would that action be enough to make the Dutch change their mind

Technically using a VPN to change your location on a streaming service is a direct violation of their terms in conditions and some claim you can forever be blocked. They're even illegal with fines in some stricter countries For today's lesson, I almost typed Bl--kListed yet someone recently brought to my attention that the terms "Bl--kListed" and "CakeW--k" are offensive terms which I verified by googling

Once on board, you'll see a Continental Breakfast menu doorknob hanger. You don't need to use it, you can call room service during breakfast hours and order from the Continental Breakfast menu without a charge