rodndonna

Thanks TlBecker, We rebooked also, but onto a Celebrity Hawaii itinerary. 4 weeks is much more of what I would have expected. I'll poke our TA again and see if I can get something better of an update.

We had a cruise booked with Royal for Hawaii Sept 2024 which was cancelled by Royal in February this year and was offered alternatives which we declined for a refund. It has now been 10 weeks with no refund. After reaching out to the TA we booked with, we are told it is normal and could be a bit longer. I know during Covid there were lots of delays in processing cancelled cruises and such, but is it really normal to take this long to refund a cruise that they cancel?

We considered POA for our 1st (and good chance - only) Hawaii trip, but finally went with Celebrity for Sept 20, 2024, It's a pretty good itinerary (4 island, 3 overnights) and is unidirectional. https://gangwaze.com/cruise-lines/celebrity-cruises/celebrity-edge/2024-09-20/12-nights I figure this way we have 5 sea days of Celebrity cruising (which we know we like) to adjust for time zones before we arrive in Hawaii and then can spend an extra night or 2 at the end if we want. Splurged on a Sunset Balcony for this one...😎

We are retired, so the "printing at work" days are behind us. 😉 There is no need to login to another computer or touch anything, most places ( like Staples) allow you to log in and send your file from home which can be just picked up, or you just do it from your phone on location (I don't see too many people still bringing in USB's) At some point, you do have to trust their IT, but of all our IT dealings, sending print job is the least of our worries.

Library printing is great - it is more than likely cheaper than home printing (printer , paper and ink cartridge costs) better quality printed materials and machines are likely better maintained (no more hassles with paper jams and such) supports you local library! ...win, win, win ....

We keep all the e-docs and just print if absolutely necessary. With HAL we now print nothing but as X was our first X cruise we printed the boarding doc (at the library)

Or Staples (or any paper supply store) etc. No young person now owns a printer, so places to print are plentiful (and cheap)

I normally HATE buffets, but on our recent (and only) Celebrity cruise I actually really liked it - the abundance of offerings for healthy eating (we are non-meat eaters with indulgence in fish when out) was really nice.

We only got rid of ours this last year after having keeping it in a closet and being pulled only soley to print for cruises at which time it was inevitable out of ink again!!!???. If we need something printed no we can do it at Staples or our library.

No suites for us poor folks - We purchased airport transfers

As your daughter is only 15 but looks like she is being charged at the included rate for alcohol for sure I would say not a good deal. Do you really have to pay the full rate for her? Do they give her the much cheaper Zero Proof package (which is better for the non-alcohol options offering smoothies and such)

We don't have a home printer anymore so that is what we did (except it was at the airport with the transfer rep). The handed us the coloured tags to fill in and attach.

By playing with your card in the machine of you are a slot player.

I agree - especially if you are thinking there is any "relaxing" in that 2 weeks. Regardless of whether you cruise or do land, in 2 weeks, you will only be scratching the surface of Europe. Cruises allows you to nibble more widely while removing most of the hassle. Th hardest part for me with land holidays in Europe is the stress of "picking" where to spend my time and "how many days" per place. The more places you want to sample, the more time and hassle is spent packing and unpacking and travelling (which can be a lot of fun when you are young, likely less as you get older) and the less you will see. There is a lot to be said for heading back to a ship tired after a long day exploring, having a relaxing (kinda free dinner!), going to bed and waking up someplace totally new to explore.....

I keep seeing both statements (depending on what I am reading). On our cruise last week, before we left I read through the massive pdf they supply for the cruise before you leave. And in that document it stated 2 per person which really surprised me and I assumed it was a mistake. We had a package so we didn't test it.

Congrats! Yes it works. We've never upgraded cabin, but have added HIA when booking. In the end you should be saving the base rate of inside cabin (before tax) on your booking, so it's a really good discount on your cruise. Not surprisingly (not big players) we do not get them anymore, but we did take advantage of them when we could (booked 2 sailings with a "free" cabin).

I think that is a great approach, find the lowest cost cruise line that meets your needs (within reason). Being inherently frugal I can compromise on pretty much anything as long as my basic requirements are met and I think what I am getting is good value for what I paid. I am curious about MSC as well mainly because of their cost, but a lot of folks seem to really like them.

I am pretty sure the Cellist in your picture was on our last HAL cruise when it still had Lincoln Centre Stage. She was part of a quartet that were all quite youthful and seem to be actually having some fun during their set. Really enjoyed them.

Nor sure about the Beyond, but just off Millennium and they did a version of Karaoke where the live band provided the music you sang to (and I believe that was the only version of Karaoke on our cruise).

We had travelled some in Europe (has a sister living there) before taking out first European cruise which was also our first cruise, and it sold me on cruising. Assuming you want to dabble in a few places, I think it is great way to get a taste. A major benefit of cruising in the Med especially is the views from the ships can be stunning. We did a roundtrip from Barcelona and stayed a couple of days at start and end of the cruise - so was a good mix.

Just off the Millennium and in the Casino someone asked about Bingo returning - the staff member said that the company that was running it for X went bankrupt, but there are plan to bring it back. It surprised me as I assumed it was run under the Casino business (I think this is the case on CCL as you get Casino playing credits when you play Bingo)

I agree.- but they aren't my pics - they are just pics I lifted from another poster @MeganGC1983 who is currently on the cruise following our cruise last week and posting - so I'm just reliving the experience through her posts and photos 😃

This post (hope this works) has pictures that shows the ceiling (was not the point of the post though) on the X Millennium that we just came off. The flat panels all had little holes (like acoustic tiles would have). We didn't eat in the second floor with the higher ceiling, maybe that floor was noisier.

I thought the bread was similar, but really liked the dips/spreads on X for the bread, The wine steward was a nice touch. Can't say I remember the silverware though , but I'll be checking cruise....

That was my assessment. On our HAL cruises we avoided the buffet at all costs, but was very pleasantly surprised on our experience with X's buffet . Somehow on HAL I just felt like being back in a dining hall at University in the 80's ... and then with X it was like "wow, this is actually kinda nice!"