Steppy08

We just got off Mariner on Monday. We had a GS (the RoyalUp fairy paid a visit). 
loved the suite, the balcony, and all the little concierge services but especially the suite lounge happy hour. It was empty most of the time. 
As much as l loved the GS, it would not have been worth it for the full fare difference in a JS. Although we almost drank the difference in prices in the suite lounge! 
id book the JS and see if a Royal Up offer comes along. 

I would be very tempted to upgrade to a balcony for Alaska. We practically lived on our balcony for our Alaska cruise. Avoided the crowded public areas while sailing Glacier Bay, had breakfast lunch and dinner out there one day 

Just got off Mariner yesterday and did the Tulum Ruins (and the cenotes). There were at least 3-4 variations of the Tulum tour that included a beach break, just Tulum, or the one we did. 
We’ve done many tours both with the cruise lines and on our own. Given the time frame we would never do this one on our own. We were the first group off the ship at 7am and the last group onboard at 4:40 (all aboard was 4:30). Royal arranged for the fast ferry to come right to the dock (as opposed to taking a bus to the other dock in Cozumel where the ferry normally goes)

45 minutes on the ferry, about 45 minutes drive to Tulum. We had about 2.5 hours in Tulum, about 1 hour was guided and the rest time to wander around. They provided snacks and a bottle of water. The ruins looked to be in the same condition they were in 2005 I guess? That’s the last time I was there. 

I thought it was a good tour and worth the cost. We enjoyed Tulum (my husband had never been before) and loved the cenotes as a refreshing end of the tour. 

8 hours ago, Cigar King said:

We were considering somethi8ng similar, including international flying just to be able to complete the interview when we returned.  What a pain.  How long did it take to complete the process once you did the interview?

I had my known traveler number at the conclusion of the interview and the Global Entry Card within a week or two. 

On 3/24/2023 at 3:27 PM, Cigar King said:

I know this thread is about Passports, but as a tangential data point, we applied for Global Entry.  It was supposed to take 3 months.  We got conditionally approved 8.5 months into it, and we still need to do an interview in May.  My understanding is all these programs are WAY behind.

I got conditional approval within days (I applied February of 2022) but scheduling the interview took almost a year. I was hoping to do it at my home airport (PIT) and after months of waiting for open appointments I made one in Cleveland for January 2023 and drove 2 hours. For a 5 minute interview. 🙄 At least its done and now my husband and i both have it (and TSA pre-check!)

1 hour ago, GTO-Girl said:

Wow!!!  So sorry that happened to you!!  So far we have not had a problem in the last five cruises….

I feel like our crew member was new or didn’t know what to do… they are absolutely supposed to go over the life jacket wearing and when to assemble at the muster station and he did none of that, and obviously didn’t correctly check us off! This was our third cruise since the restart and the previous two did their safety spiels for muster. 
 

we sit there and complain about the people who still haven’t done theirs at 4pm when technically it was us! 🤣

3 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

We did our safety video at the hotel before leaving for the terminal.   Once onboard we went straight to our muster station and they checked us off.

 

And yet….on every cruise…..as late as 3:30-4:00pm they are still begging people to complete their muster!!!  I say cut their card off until they comply!!

We did the same. Our muster station was literally at the aft end of the Royal Promenade and on our way to everything, so it was the first thing we did on the ship. The crew member scanned our SeaPass (digital) and said “okay!” I was like, um, “don’t you need to give us the spiel and life jacket talk?” He said no. We thought we were done. 
 

later that night we get a letter in our stateroom saying we missed the drill and please go to the lounge for a makeup drill at 7pm. (We got this letter at 7:30pm) I was mad bc it’s literally the first thing we did. Somehow we didn’t get checked off. 🙄

Mine was validated right away, my husband’s (same booking etc) took until a few days before boarding. 

19 hours ago, norboy76 said:

I have some nice vintage glasses for various cruise ships and lines such as:

1. Costa Riviera (2 different versions)

2. Regal Empress

3. SS Norway

4. Sunward II

5. MV Tropicana

6. 2 Royal Caribbean (both show the fleet names showing only 5 names: sun viking, nordic prince, song of norway, song of america and sovereign of the seas)

7. SeaEscape

8. Cunard (2 ships named on this one Cunard Princess & Cunard Countess)

9. SS Meridian 

10. Carnival (Looks like a whiskey glass)

11. Carnival Hurricane Glass

12. Princess Roly Poly Glasses

13. Ove Skou sherry glasses from 1950

14. Festival Cruises

15. Crown Cruise Line

16. BC Ferries Queen Of Esquilmalt tea cup and saucer

 

Very cool! Were the teacups given away or purchased? 
 

I honestly don’t remember them giving you an option to NOT get the souvenir glasses at first. We ended up with so many of them. I was also underage and not paying for any of it so I didn’t pay attention. (This was also back when you could drink on the ships at 18 and no one really checked IDs to begin with)

8 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

well I switched my cruise to something else as I do not wish to give them $40 went all the poorer islands in the Caribbean are not asking for money.   Besides, the last time I was in Bermuda in 2016 the roads were so very crowded with cars and the downtown area looked a bit dumpy from what I remembered in 90's

To each their own. 
it’s still a gorgeous island, even if they have a money grubbing government. my 70 year old mother wanted to see it so we still went. 

3 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

yea that is what I am thinking.  they like the income and I think it is tacky.

There’s a reason it’s one of the most expensive places in the world to live. That and their government is 1) pretty corrupt and 2) trying to recoup 2 years of pandemic loses especially w their new airport 

I was on the Enchantment June 24 6 nt Bermuda. The service was good but they were short staffed ESPECIALLY in the bars. One bartender and one waiter for a crowded bar. 
 

MTD always had a line, even w reservations we waited every night. Not long but it was a bottleneck. 
 

Enchantment was nice, but not the same level of product or quality as on the bigger ships. And I’m not talking about entertainment options or all the crazy extras. The food and service was just better on the Allure two weeks after my enchantment cruise. 

Just off Allure to both these ports. We were the only ship in Aruba, and Mariner was docked with us in Curaçao 

Both port areas seemed congested but honestly the only places that seemed overrun with tourists were the obvious tourist areas (the lighthouse in Aruba, the caves in Curaçao). Both ports were able to handle the amount of people. They even built a giant pier in curaçao to handle the big ships. We did not do beach things at either port, we toured the islands. Loved both ports, especially Curaçao 

I bet Bermuda will drop the negative test requirement but they won’t drop the $40 “travel authorisation” form. 💰 

Any of the testing sites will walk you directly through it on their website or app. You don’t need to open up a separate window or Zoom or anything.  It’s pretty easy. You just need good Wi-Fi. 
They will email you results. You can screen shot it or print it out and have a hard copy for check in.

Remember getting loads of souvenir glasses on ships? 
I’ve kept only two since my mom downsized and made an Aruba Ariba today using the one from my first cruise ever. 

I haven’t sailed MSC since 2016, but I found their food very comparable to the other lines, perhaps a bit better in some areas. 
 

The cheese selection on board was something I still talk about. I ate so much cheese that week. 😂

the one thing I was disappointed in was the pasta. I guess I was expecting it to be better since, you know, they are Italian and European. It was mediocre. That was of course in the main dining room so the speciality restaurants may be better. 

Just off Allure last Sunday and it was decent. Weirdly sometimes it was better in our cabin than in public areas. 
 

WAY faster than the internet on Enchantment. Either because it’s a newer ship or because the amount of ships in the Caribbean means there’s way better satellite connections than out to Bermuda. 

24 minutes ago, hucifer said:

My son and I were on the same cruise. I absolutely love the Allure and her crew, but she is starting to show her age and desperately needs some updating in a few places (like the carpet).

 

I realize that RCI is having issues with getting back to the usual crew quantities, but the lack of things to do on the ship was apparent. Remember when Oasis class had TWO pages of activities in the Cruise Compass? So we had almost 6,000 guests and 1/3 of the activities, which meant if you didn't show up to trivia 30 minutes early, you weren't getting a seat. That got old real quick. 

 

Mama Mia was outstanding as usual. I noticed that no one left the theatre during the entire performance (*cough*CATS*cough). And the aqua show...well, that's the whole reason you book an Oasis class. 

 

Absolutely loved to see Indian food in the WJ every lunch! And did you try that Jerk pork on the last sea day? OMG. To die for.

The Aqua show was good. It seemed like it hadn’t changed much, if at all, from 2013. 
 

We didn’t really notice any lack of activities, but then again we don’t really participate too much in the organized stuff. Only airport/airline related trivia which was apparently in port at Curaçao. 
 

I actually thought the Indian food on Enchantment in the WJ was far better and better variety than what we saw on Allure. did not try the jerk chicken, we ate at Johnny Rocket’s the last lunch (it was kind a disappointing too so bummer).

Mama Mia was well performed. But IMO both it and Cats are terrible shows. But hubby and I are both musicians so we are picky about such things. 

10 minutes ago, AlohaLivin said:

You use the Reserve one? I stay on the fence about bumping up to that partly for the lounges (since we get a holly reduced rate on the Delta Lounges with the Delta American Express). Has it been worth the 550/yr for you? We love the travel insurance with the Chase Sapphire cards too. I haven’t used it for the airline miles much as we primarily fly Delta, but no doubt we will at some point.

Husband handles this card and most of our travel stuff… I think it’s the reserve? I thought the yearly fee was $350. You get a credit back if you spend at least $300 on travel during the year, so it’s a no brainer. 

1 minute ago, Another_Critic said:

Even cheaper to get an inside solo.  😉

Please don’t encourage my husband. I took my mom on a cruise so I’m 6 points ahead of him. He’s already got eyes on a 3 day cruise by himself to catch up since I told him I wouldn’t share my Diamond status unless he behaves. 😂

We’re sitting at 71 points right now and planning (hopefully) a 12 day arctic cruise next summer.

it is cheaper for us to do a jr suite on Grandeur for a cheap 5 night to get to Diamond than it is to get the drink package next summer. 
 

We’re all about fiscal responsibility. 

I believe it’s on all the cruises. 
We saw it last week. it was really well executed with a great cast and orchestra. 
The show itself? At least it wasn’t Cats. 😂

2 hours ago, AlohaLivin said:

We really like our Chase Sapphire Preferred and use it for as many expenses as possible. I wish we had more expenses we could use the card for, but utilities, pre-paid taxes and mortgage vendors either don’t allow us to use a Cc or charge a large enough fee for using one that it is not useful. One of my patients used to fly regularly to New Zealand in first class lie-down seats using credit card points - but he had a construction-related business where he bought large amounts of building materials on his credit card that were later covered by his customers. Lucky duck 😂 We also use the Delta Amex for a few extra flight-related benefits.
 

We have considered getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve which offers even more benefits but a $550/yr fee. Maybe after retirement we will try that when we travel much more. 

We also have the Chase Sapphire for travel. It’s paid many hotels and flights for cruises and what not with miles. It also has no international fee and gets us into the priority lounges in airports. 

5 hours ago, KansCocoa said:

I’m still mad you didn’t take me with you like you did the last time on Allure!! 😝

Is it too late for me to fly to Alaska and stow away???? 😂

we are looking at Arctic circle for next year!