Happiest when cruising

We have never been to it as it isn’t for us, but there were lineups outside the Crown Grill so I wondered what was going on. There was no line up for lunch in the MDR, as long as you didn’t want to eat right at 12. I just can’t understand why people start lining up at 11:30. It just makes for unnecessary waiting and then a reason to complain about waits.

It happened on the Crown on our recent Hawaii cruise in April, as well as on the 6 night coastal cruise to Vancouver this week on the Crown.

Thanks for advice. I have many friends who keep telling me the same thing. I guess if I was a drinker, I’d stick with vodka based drinks.

We did not get our elite set up until I called room service on the 3rd night, after dinner. There was basically no choice left by then. I have no idea why it didn’t arrive, and no explanation was given. It was our first time being eligible for it on the second half of our btb that ended on Friday.

You certainly don’t need to, but some people said they were just tired of drinking for the fun of it and it was not their usual pattern at home. Just trying to get their moneys worth, was the answer. Some people said they only had a couple of drinks a day and just wanted the convenience of the package and had OBC to burn, so they bought the package on the first day.

Haha…it was actually more than enough and I was onboard for 21 nights. I keep trying wine, but I just don’t love it.

I’m glad you got a good deal. Now..had you had to pay for it, would you have purchased it?

Thanks for your response. I did ask the bar staff last week, if the drink sales taper off towards the end and he said they did not vary too much from the beginning. The passengers we interacted with on the ship said they definitely had cut back on their consumption as the days went by.

Well, you need to be able to purchase the USD at some point to pay for the purchases being made in USD. I still factor in the exchange, even if I have had the USD sitting in my account. For me…I still decide if paying about 18.00 CAD for a standard cocktail is acceptable. I have a USD bank account and a USD credit card for convenience, but I don’t pay any fees for either, as I used to work for a Canadian bank and get that as a benefit.

You are correct. If you buy it for one day, it’s 20.00. If you wait and just buy all of the last few days, you pay the 15.00 fee per day.

Well, you might be waiting a few days for your mini bar set up when you board, ours came only I after I called room service on the third night. They did not offer OBC as an exchange. Before it finally arrived, we just purchased a few cans of pop in the venues at about $3 each. After that, we just took it to the venues and asked for a glass of ice and it was no problem, at all. We could have asked our room steward for a bucket of ice daily and used that, but we just didn’t bother. If I had that much non refundable OBC, I’d probably just take the plus package, though. I had one fun drink at a deck party, it was about 13.00 plus 18% gratuity. I thought that was high, as I also am Canadian and with an exchange rate of almost 40 percent...it made it an expensive drink, so I just didn’t bother with any more. At $60 USD pp per day, having a package is just not worth it, for us. We just paid the gratuities using some of our shareholder OBC, bought one Wi-Fi package at the discounted price, just for the second half of our btb, as we had a family emergency and I needed more contact with some people at home. We brought on 2 bottles of wine, which was more than enough, too. I never thought I was being deprived of anything, and also I felt we drank a lot less calories that way, too. Those fun, sugary drinks can take a toll on my dessert intake. everyone needs to decide for the self which way works best. we still had a good time and didn’t feel

Are you sure? It does show as complimentary on the cruise summary, even though you paid for it as part of choosing the plus or premium booking package. Even on a 7 night, for 2 people it would 840.00, so that seems like a very generous gift.

I’m just curious to know if that daily intake of all kinds of beverages would be the same if you were at home. Of course, if it’s your usual pattern then of course it makes sense to purchase it.

That’s right, for sure. The only thing people seem to track is whether they make the most travelled list so they can go to the luncheon.

We love the Circle Caribbean cruise. Not having to go back and waste a day in FLL is worth it for us to only get one cruise credit.

We also just advanced, but the mini bar never arrived without me calling room service on the 3rd evening. By then, they only had Vodka and Scotch left. We don’t drink beer, so we got mostly soft drinks and water.

We only booked the standard fare and just got back from Hawaii on April 29. I only purchased it for a couple of days when I needed to check on a family member and it was ok. Be aware, if you decide to buy it on a per day basis, you do pay 10.00 per day, not 7.50 if you get the loyalty discount. I asked a few people who had it every day and all said it worked just fine, with no problems.

The price onboard to buy a day here or there is 10.00, if you get the discount. I was surprised and expected to pay 7.50. So many people posted it was the same price and it is, if you buy it for the whole cruise. I just got off the Crown yesterday, so this is current information. If I bought a few days in, until the end of the cruise, it would have been at the discounted price. Something to think about, if you only need it a few days at the end.

We just stayed in San Pedro. The Uber cost at 7:45 pm the night before our cruise was 48.00 plus tip, 3 weeks ago. We wanted to be as close to the port as possible in the morning. The people working at LAXit were very kind, and showed me how it worked there and directed us to the right location for our pick up. I had never used an Uber before. The believe taxi fee would have been higher. We’ve paid about 75.00 a few times, depending on time of day.

We just got off yesterday from the btb to Hawaii and then up to Vancouver. The ship was fine. There were definitely signs of aging in the dining room banquette seats, lots of places where they were cracked. Our cabin was ok, and we asked for foam pillows, which were better for us. We have cruised on the newer ships and I do think I like them better. I like the contemporary look of them. My husband has no preference and likes the older ships with the wood railings, etc. The Piazza and buffet just seemed so small and cramped to me. They did set up the special lunchtime dessert on the last sea day at Caribbe Cafe, I think it was only open a couple of other times over the 21 days. We have another cruise booked on the Ruby, that I just might cancel and rebook on a newer ship.

We just got off the Crown from a BTB. We turned Elite on the 2nd cruise. The first cruise was 15 nights, the next was only 6. I went to see the loyalty desk staff a couple of days before the 2nd cruise started to make sure we were set up properly. I sat with Rheanna for a couple of minutes. She spent a few minutes entering our new loyalty level on her computer as she said sometimes it isn’t correct. She said…great. You are all set up now. I said, great..so I can send out laundry today? No…she just set it up manually. She made a handwritten note on her calendar to make sure our medallions were changed to the correct colour at the start of the new cruise. I never heard from her and just went to guest services and had them changed there, when the new cruise started. At the very least I expected a phone call to congratulate us on the big occasion and make sure everything was fine. We also waited until the 3rd night to call and ask when our mini bar would be set up. I had read it could take a day or two, so I didn’t worry too much about it. It did seem weird, since we were already on the ship, you would think it would have been one of the first cabins done. It didn’t feel special, at all to have to ask for something we earned. They had no explanation or apology of why we didn’t get it. Of course there was no choice left of which little fun bottles of alcohol to get, either. We don’t drink much alcohol, but that wasn’t the point. So.. they gave us 20 drinks..which were mostly useless as 2 of the last 3 days were port days, so we were gone off the ship all day on those days. There was one of those, how are we doing? notes left in our cabin at the start of the cruise. On the Tuesday, I wrote a few lines about how we were disappointed about not getting the mini bar and having to ask for it, and that we did not feel appreciated for our loyalty. The form asked for feedback, so I kindly told them that not having to ask for something we earned, would be a good start. I hand delivered it to guest services, but never heard from “Tim” the hotel manager, to ask me more about my comments. I’m sure it just got recycled. So,our start to their highest loyalty level left me feeling underwhelmed, to say the least. I hope others had better experiences with the CC desk and staff. Oh…I did send out a small load of laundry, so that was a nice perk. It came back in 2 days.

Same for us and we just got back to LA from Hawaii today.

This is the one you can walk to in about 10-12 minutes. They also run a free shuttle to the little shopping area that is right there, too. I’m not d sad Ute the beach had a name, though. Just exit the port and follow the people walking to the right. You really can’t miss it. They rent chairs and umbrellas from Dukes, but I thought it was pricey at 65.00. The chairs in the photos belonged to a hotel. Most people just dropped down their towels and swam.

Thanks for the update on the pricing.

Thanks so much and I totally understand that things will change based on any feedback they get, and the interest level of passengers.