Vitality08

It is just like booking any where, the deposit will come off the credit card on file with S&S card.

I book one almost every time. Last week on the Legend I knew what date I wanted & cabin, just wrote it all down & gave it to Mike as soon as we ran into him. He got us all booked & we got the $150. OBC.

Char

When I looked into booking a cruise, you could use any cc not just the one on file. I think you have to actually produce the card, they won't just charge it to the s&s card.

I feel kind of silly now...lol.

I still don't see it on my confirmation, but I'm just noticing that when you do a mock booking the colored box around the letters match the colors of the rooms on the deck plan.

Thanks for the help. It does appear I'm in N category.

I'm on b2b on the Jewel next Jan and Feb. For leg 1, I'm in 3075 and leg 2 I'm in 3077.

I'm trying to find available rooms in the same category I'm currently in so I can change without having to pay more but I don't know which letter category responds to the cabins I'm booked in.

Can some point me where to find this info or let me know if you know?

Thanks.

So I had purchased travel insurance the same day I purchased my cruise. Something kept nagging at me and prompted me to check on the coverage if (heaven forbid) one of my parents died while I am on my cruise and I need to go home (my Dad has diabetes). What I found is interesting to say the least. While most insurance companies will cover if a relative dies while you are away, they will NOT cover it if there was a way to foresee a possibility of them dying. For example, a parent who has been ill or diagnosed with some disease/heart condition/diabetes, etc...if they then die while you are away, you are NOT covered. A waiver of pre-existing conditions has nothing to do with relatives staying at home, so getting that will not help you either (pre-existing conditions only apply to the people traveling).

 

There is only ONE insurance company that will cover a death of an already ill or elderly family member who is not cruising with you, and that is Travel Guard. They are the only ones who say death is ALWAYS unforeseeable, and as such will cover any death of an immediate family member, no matter how sick they are already prior to you taking out insurance.

 

Now, if you were to call your insurance company, many will say all they need is a death certificate as proof and you will be covered. Please know this is NOT TRUE if the person already has a diagnosis of some sort before you take out insurance. Part of the evaluation of a claim is getting a doctor's certificate or statement that certifies this death was in no way foreseeable and not due to a prior diagnosed illness that has gotten worse.

 

Just a head's up, as my search found a lot of misinformation on threads about this topic.

That's terrible. People can be diagnosed and given a time frame of life...like 2-5 years. So, it sounds like if a person travels within that time frame it could be considered forseeable?

Does your policy allow you to cancel is an immediate family member become gravely ill right before traveling?

Are you still outside of the penalty phase? If so, I'd check the prices and see if your cruise is one without a single supplement.

If so, you would save money by cancelling and rebooking or something similiar. Remaining quiet is only a good idea if you are Early Saver, inside of penalty, or don't have insurance.

We've always had early seating, and no problems getting to any shows.

 

This upcoming cruise on the Liberty, we are waitlisted for early seating. We've never done late seating, and I now hear that many folks complain about not being able to make it to the shows afterwards. Nor have we ever tried anytime dining. What is the earliest time you can arrive with this option? What are the drawbacks to this arrangement?

I prefer early. My first 2 cruises I booked late based on a suggestion from a friend. I found myself tired at dinner. On my 3rd cruise I did anytime dine which was fine because I was traveling with 2 other people. Since then I've traveled solo so I do early because as a solo I'd rather have a set dining time to increase the chances of having dinner mates. I don't mind eating alone in the buffet but it seems a bit weird in the dining hall.

Where did the money go if OP paid for the cruise but it was a free room?

Enjoying the review so far! We'll be on the sunshine in November and I also found the airfare out of Richmond to be much cheaper, even though we are closer to national or Dulles. I'm not sure why I never thought to check there before!

 

 

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Not sure where the Sunshine will be sailing from in Nov but check Frontier Airlines from Dulles. They will start flying from Dulles in Sept and they have some great prices on direct flights.

But why would they need to bring it, your post is for guests under 21, which they are not...

They wouldn't need it. I'm almost sure at that age they can book a cruise if they were married or not.

I am constantly searching for cruise deals and see lots of last minute deals. I find myself thinking "if I had a FCC, I'd only owe $175!" The deals are still good but I wonder how many people are in the same boat as me...as in would bite the bullet more often on a last minute deal if I could apply a FCC.

My next cruise is on RC and the one I'm eyeing after that is on the NCL Escape. If I enjoy those cruises, I'll probably pick up 1 or 2 of their versions of FCC and at taht point not sure how often I will purchase a Carnival cruise.

Does anyone think they'll ever bring them back? Probably not if they are marketing toward the first timer market and sail full anyway. It was just really nice when I had a couple of FCC to use when jumping on a deal.

So, I cruise (second time ever) in 10 days!! I've read all the tips and secrets threads, but I still have a question...

 

How much do you tip your room steward on the first day? And what about the bartenders? We want to make sure that we tip them appropriately and that they will take care of us. (It's a 7-day cruise.)

 

Thanks in advance!!!

Tipping up front isn't necessary but if you're gonna do it I'd say $20. I don't tip up front. I pay my gratuities with my cruise fare and will leave something in the room at the end of the cruise. That depends on the length of the cruise but somewhere between 10 and 20.

What I've discovered is, you can spend as little or as much as you want. Since this is your first cruise, the excitement might cause you to buy, buy, buy. The most I've ever spent was on my first cruise and that was on pictures. There were about 11 of us on board and the teenagers took a bunch of pictures just for fun and bought just about all of them! Since then, I've purchased maybe 5 pictures.

I'm currently booked as a solo and got a great rate. My base rate was $876 (yes, as a solo). If I were to add someone would the taxes and fees just be added to the rate I received or is the whole cabin repriced to the current rate?

Make sure you have some singles & fives to tip for room service. We are very frugal. I take out cash beforehand and divide it into envelopes that I label. & keep in the room safe. One env per excursion will have cash to tip guides, buy souvenirs. & food & possibly the cost of the excursion as well if I haven't paid in advance . Another env will have what I've allotted for the casino, usually about $100. Another has the small bills for room service. It's very simple to keep from overspending with a little preplanning. Last cruise, we debarked owing only 78 cents on our S&S card!

 

 

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LOve this idea. Will be using it on my next cruise. My next cruise is a b2b visiting 10 islands in 14 days. Budgeting will be essential this time around.

Thanks! From what I have read it sounded like you really do control what you spend once the cruise is booked! I was hoping that would be the case and there aren't any hidden expenses once we get on board!

I don't think there's hidden expenses but I bought a bunch of pictures my first cruise and also the jewelry by the inch. I hear those get many first time cruisers. Learned my lesson though. I've bought a couple of pictures since then and no jewelry. One thing I like to get is magnets of the ships I sail and I always love the tshirts in the gift shop. Plan for those if that's something you are in to.

I hope this isn't against the rules but...

Frontier is currently having a sale to celebrate their new direct flights leaving from IAD to 14 destinations. Some include Fl destinations and the prices look really great.

The flights are for this fall, so if you have a cruise booked and live in the DC area check them out to see if the sale works for you.

*I don't work for any airline, just trying to help folks out.

One of our group is paying cash for everything. She is required to open an account and post $700 towards purchases.

If I use a credit card, does the cruise line require a certain amount of credit on the card for me to use it. I only have a $1000 credit line and I am sailing with my wife and adult son. The card will cover all three of us.:confused:

I don't think they REQUIRE anything for onboard purchases (if that's what you are talking about) Those amours are recommendation. Your friend can give cash for her onboard purchases.

Good point I had not thought of that! thanks.

 

 

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On my last cruise (Carnival) my steward mentioned in passing that this was his last cruise before going home. I think it's best to tip at the end of each cruise in case your steward is going on break and won't be there the next week.

Is the sofa bed comfortable?

Not the one I slept on on The Valor but some people on here say they are very comfortable.

I've read other accounts on here of people doing it.

From what I've read, they reverse the charges.

So I did lose my $100 in OBC but "because I'm a returning customer" they didn't make me pay full deposit. They transferred my $125 over to the new booking. I had to get a new booking number because I had the cruise on a 24 hour old that had the CAS rate plus a military discount. The military rate is gone today so I had to keep the hold confirmation number.

After hanging up the phone, I booked the next week online so I'm officially booked for a B2B!!!! My very first one. I'm not in the same room but only one door apart from each other. Later on I'll try to get the same room but since the military rate disappered on both sailings I don't know if they'll give me a hard time about picking other rooms.

Moving right next door isn't that big of a hassle so I'm not too worried about it either way.

Can you change the ship and sale date for a cruise booked during a WOW sale?

I was hoping to just move my booking number but not sure I can do that?

Have you checked out the Crown & Anchor Society Exclusive Rates? I just booked the Jewel for next March and was able to save about $200/ person.

Okay, you all are going to think I'm crazy. I logged into my RCCL account to check rates and low and behold that's why it was such a good deal on the Jewel. When I checked again yesterday and this morning, I wasn't logged in. I logged in and checked again and the low Jewel rates are back.

I feel so silly.

The saying "you snooze you lose" is definitey true.

Prices on the Jewel are now the same as the Adventure so unless they dip again I'm sticking with the Adventure.

Thanks for the help.

If it's a package of stuff you only drank, they would probably loose money on every package which is not what they want.

The company is hoping you will buy the package and not really use it all that much. That way they make money.