kmorg1234

On 6/24/2023 at 1:46 PM, smokeybandit said:

OK, does your hotel room get cleaned twice a day when you're on vacation somewhere other than a cruise?

Yes, in fact that does happen quite consistently in the upper echelon hotels that we stay in worldwide.

Sorry, no.  Just no.  It is an official abbreviation.  I am sorry that it offends you.  

I am glad that others had positive experiences with Allianz, but my experience was vastly different- I submitted document after document, only to be told after a full year that the claim was denied because it was “timed out.”  Granted, it was during covid, yet this claim had nothing to do with covid.  But because of the huge delays in processing, they took forever to get back to me, and then denied in the end because of elapsed time.  Quite frustrating.  Also know they are not primary insurance, they will only cover what your usual insurance does not.  

We are doing a back to back on Resilient, and I do not see a Scarlet Night on the second leg.

Wow, I hope things get better!  We are booked for February, but it sounds like a miserable waste of money experience.  Not sure what to do at this point.  

The passport agency had some sort of an equipment failure a few weeks back and everything got backed up.  I saw on the national news that expedited passports were now taking 5 months to receive.  Don’t know whether they have caught up at all, but I do know my son applied for the expedited service back in February and he is still waiting.  Since our cruise is coming up in 3 weeks, we are planning to use the birth certificate/RealID option as a backup.  Not ideal, but what can you do?  

ShakenBake, are you sailing SeaDream I or II?

This is a horrible story, and it begs the question as to why you were not given a refund because you could not get to the ship due to no fault of your own?   What was their rationale?  This is actually crazy scary.

3 hours ago, moonltnite said:

I found it on this site:  http://www.blisscruise.com/Our_Cruises/Oasis_Nov_2021

They're doing the Eastern Caribbean itinerary. It says St. Kitts was changed to St. Maarten.  It's a fully-vaccinated cruise. They also have a requirement that cabins be double occupancy with "one male one female".  I checked into it further - and it's a "swingers" cruise.  

That much I knew, but I want to hear what the crew thinks about it!

Have you asked the crew about next week’s charter cruise?  Would love to hear their comments.

Just like I don’t understand how people pay full price for the cruise itself without looking for the discounts!  Even if it isn’t in cash, there are tons of TAs out there that have OBC out there- I’ve gotten thousands (yes, thousands) of $ back over the years by booking my cabin with RCI, then going to the cruise compete website to get TAs to compete for your booking.  

It’s a great perk, but I can think of many others that are even better.

14 hours ago, ChC said:

I always book direct online or on rare occasions on the ship. But it never gives me any perks. Being a younger generation, booking direct online is what I do and feel comfortable with. Yet I am more frustrated cruise by cruise because I basically get noting, no free onboard spending (unless you book onboard), no prepaid gratuities, no surprising voucher for thanking me booking online to save RCL agent fees...On one recent cruise, the onboard sales person was surprised that I do not have TA, because the person said a lot of people book in NextCruise and send the booking to their TA so the TA give perks like prepaid gratuities, drink packages etc. It made me feeling bad for save RCL agent fees.

 

Go figure.

Yes, CHC, This!!!!  Book through RC, then transfer to a TA because they will give you extra $$$ and perks.  She lead you to the water….. up to you to drink and take advantage of it now.  Listen to the advice!

12 hours ago, molly361 said:

I also met my TA on a cruise.  At the time he was just a CC member but he has since become a TA.  Great guy!!!

But does he give you amazing OBCs or rebates on the cruises you have booked?  It makes a HUGE difference-they are making a ton of money that they can be sharing with you.

16 hours ago, spooky981 said:

Always book directly with RCL, then shop around for TA's that give you the greatest rebate or OBC. Transfer to the one you like best. The key is to already have the reservation made because then the TA's know there's not much work to be done. They tend to be more generous.

 

In August I booked a suite for $16,000.00. I shopped around to about a dozen travel agents and the best offer was a $1,700.00 rebate plus $350 onboard credit. All I did was give her my reservation number and it was transferred within an hour.

 

Just be mindful that you only have like 30 or 60 days or something like that after booking to transfer to a TA.

This is exactly what I have done for many years now- we have saved thousands of dollars.  People who use TAs without their  TAs  rebating them some of the $$$$ have been bamboozled!  RC is giving them big $$ for their bookings, and the best ones are sending some of those dollars right back to the clients.  Spooky, should we give them the website to get the TAs out there to compete against themselves to give the best deals?  

On 9/16/2021 at 10:17 PM, brillohead said:

Do I get double points for a Pin in a Suite?  Or just an extra point?

I would think you would get 100x points for that- they are exceedingly rare.

Does anyone know if Reyno will be returning?  He was great!

That is great- enjoy the upgrade!  Now hopefully the test kits will arrive in time- I called OptumStore today, and they are inundated with orders-never expected them all, and they are way behind.

I put in for a RoyalUP Bid on the Symphony (for the 50th anniversary cruise, no less!) and then looked to see what it would cost to just book the Aquatheatre suite without the RoyalUP form the suite we were in.  Turns out it was MUCH cheaper just to cancel and rebook the Aqua Suite.  We had a blast on that cruise- Reyno was our Genie in the upgraded suite.  

So just saying that perhaps price drops and whatever may come into play, so it doesn’t hurt to look.  (Yes, I made the final suite booking 2-3 days prior to sailing date, so that may have made the difference?)

Thank you- this is very helpful.  

There is another thread that goes into the quick expiration dates of these tests- just another thing to worry about.  I’m wondering whether you have to call to see if your particular test has the automatic extension, and if so,  how long is that extension?  SO confusing and stressful.

You can def shop TAs to see who offers the highest amount of OBC- we do this all of the time with cruise compete.  Highest OBC we’ve ever received was $1750 for the larger Loft Suite on Oasis Class.  We did book the Royal Suite on Jewel about 4 years ago, but I do not recall the specific $ amount we got on that sailing.  

The only reason I would cancel is that my company just imposed a mandatory 14 day unpaid quarantine for post trip for anyone traveling ANYWHERE outside  of the US.  Seems a little crazy since the virus will be all over the USA in a matter of weeks.....

So I just had an online chat with them, and they claimed there are no laundry packages at all.  Gave me the ala carte price list.  I’m a little confused.  Does anyone know what the real story is?  Thanks!

9 minutes ago, aring75 said:

 

I absolutely love your underwater photos! Obviously I am going to need to book SEVERAL more cruises so I can get some more practice. 
 

French Polynesia you say? Oh Mark...

😁😁😁

Thanks!  I highly recommend the cruises for the practice, now that you have the camera......

FP was spectacular.  I’d go again in a heartbeat.  Def tell Mark!