rum & monkey

Both my husband and I have Diet Coke picked as ours and we usually get 1 Diet Coke and 3 waters, the last time we got an Orange soda and 4 waters (we always have the drink package anyhow so never have complained to the stateroom attendant). My 3 daughter's all have apple juice picked, they got two apple juices and a sprite. I think they put in whatever they have on their cart. I am sure you can get it fixed with the stateroom attendant but not really worth the hassle.

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I have wondered about this myself. I have not sailed out of Galveston yet, mainly from NOLA. We are sailing in mid May. Is fog a big problem then typically? I know the weather can be unpredictable (last week we had almost sixty degrees on Monday and an ice storm on Friday), but generally how is the weather in Galveston in May. Is it rainy, foggy? I am assuming it is warm. Around here its not usually super rainy, but you never know.

Hot!!!

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Yeah, try this on an 18 night cruise. Same one free day of internet! ;):p:eek:

That's just not right!!! We are a ways away from retirement so I don't see an 18 nighter in our near future but I cannot imagine leaving for 18 nights with no internet (we connect to home through I-message and e-mails)

The discount is per member. So on the 4 day, get a day with the first coupon and then on day 2 buy the remaining days package - similar for D+ on the 5 day. No need to buy pre cruise on short cruises.

Definitely what we will be doing

(Perhaps surprisingly) they are the same. (Except for laundry)

 

 

 

As diamond, you still get your one free day.

 

 

 

As Diamond plus, you still get two free days.

 

 

 

:)

Wow, that is great for the internet one! I would have expected it to be less.

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30% off is about as good as it gets.....

Sometimes an OBC is also added or an extra instant $ off along with the % off but would agree that the 30% off is one of there best.

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I am particularly interested in the Internet coupon at diamond and diamond plus level but would be interested in all coupons. I am assuming they are different than a 7 day. We have a 4 day coming up at diamond level and will have a 5 day at the plus level. If it were a free day for the 4 night we would not need to buy Internet at all but if it is a % off we may be better buying on a pre-sail sale.

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We did Emerald pools and Trafalgar falls through the ship. Our guide was as wonderful as any private tour we have ever taken (but that is just luck of the draw) The island is probably our favorite to date. It is one big rainforest and very lush, whether you go through the ship or private I would definitely recommend a tour. There is not a lot at the port so you will not need a lot of time here but this island is definitely about nature. If you're not real picky about the beach I would suggest a beach at a different port and doing the falls. We do not usually do a lot of bus tours but I am glad we did this one it was well worth the money & time.

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Another question, since I'll be arriving and boarding right around 2pm what time can I expect my luggage to arrive at the room? Just wondering if it'll be there in time for dinner in the MDR.

No rhyme or reason to this. You may or may not. Last year we were onboard by 11:30 so our luggage was dropped way early. Mine was there before the rooms were opened, my husbands was there after 8:00. They would have been checked at the same time. Earliest we have had any bags on a ship is before the rooms opened latest is around 9:00 PM. Could be anytime, we always take an extra change of clothes, swimsuit, meds, and our toiletries in a carry on. Plus watch the weather and if any rain is in the forecast we pack our clothes inside trash bags so if the suitcase winds up sitting outside in the rain the stuff inside the suitcase is not getting wet.

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The final option is to go after the cruise since my flight isn't until 4:20. I read about that place that stores baggage, but they don't open until 10-11?

Most hotels, especially the large chain hotels will store your bags for the day, you will need to tip them both when dropping your bags and when picking them up. Some hotels will charge a fee for each bag some will not charge anything but we have never paid more than $5/bag. You can be dropped off at the hotel, drop your bags and walk to the fort then catch a cab to the airport from the hotel. I think you are going to have a very hard time doing the fort the day you get there if you want to do the whole fort. My advice would be to stay the night in Old San Juan Saturday and do the fort Sunday before going to the port. You do not need to be the first one on the ship, the rooms aren't ready till later anyways, and the ships do not leave till late out of San Juan. Treat the first day as a port stop and do your excursion before boarding.

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Thanks Bob. I didn't know they expired and I went to the website

 

and saw that some expire next month.

 

If I redeemed it for $500 off a cruise itinerary, does the cruise

 

need to be within a certain time frame? I have 7 cruises booked but

 

I wanted to use it on the most expensive one. But if it's either

 

use it or lose it, I will apply it to one that's coming up.

 

If you could refer me to what site shows the "fine print" on redemption

 

I would appreciate it.

If it works like the free cruise you have 180 days to use it after redeeming. So we needed to redeem by March but did not have to sale until August.

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does the Aruba trikes company also rent motorcycles? We will be there next November and our favorite excursion to date was the Harley tour of Cozumel. It looks like the cruise line no longer has motorcycle excursions.

They did not when we used them but do the trike tour. It was a blast and you can ride a motorcycle anywhere. Seriously it was a lot of fun and a great way to see the island. Get out of your box and try something new, you won't regret it.

Adventure Ocean (up to age 11) is free until 10pm. From 10pm-2am they charge $7 an hour. Teen Club (12-17) is free.

Not sure if they changed this or if it was just different for a holiday sailing but in Dec. 2013 my daughter was 11 and my niece was 10 and there was no charge for them. They had late night activities and could sign themselves in and out but definitely no charge. They were there each evening till around midnight.

Their age group was 10-13 but they change the ages slightly sometimes depending on the # of kids in each category. Our older daughters were grouped in 14-17 (they were 15 & 17 at the time)

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Whether they give you your future balcony discount or not book as early as you can and take advantage of a possibly lower fare. After you get your new balcony discount, as long as you are not past final payment call C&A they will rerun your booking and see if you can get a lower fare with your new discount, if you can they will redo it. As previous poster said sometimes while waiting for the discount to be effective the cruise fare may go up in price greater than the discount. Always book as early as you can as they will give you the lower fare if it comes down before final payment. You do lose OBC that was part of your booking bonus if you rebook at a lower fare so make sure your savings is greater than promotional OBC.

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Charge for late night is younger kids only, no charge for older kids. Last cruise teen activities went till 2:30 AM with their late night dance party on Harmony. Most ships we have been on activities ended by 1:00 AM but no charge with that age group. Not sure what age the charge ends at but we never paid anything when they were in the club when they were at least 10 or older.

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We have just used our points for a free 3-4 day cruise. It became difficult because the voucher winds up to be a maximum value of $1000 for the 3-4 day. We did not have enough points for a 7 day and you have to keep an eye on the points because they do expire, it is not like other cards we have that as long as you use the card it renews all your points. With the Royal card they just expire after so long. As Bob said the voucher is not combinable with any other sale, with the 3-4 day voucher it can not be used on a new ship that is less than 12 months old. And guess what when we went to redeem ours they consider Empress a new ship! We did finally find a 4 night on Indy that came to a total of $900 and something so we did get a free cruise to ..... wait for it. . . . Cozumel & back. We tried for one on Anthem to Bermuda and back but would have had to pay an additional $1000, and could not do any on the New ship Empress. You have 180 days to book after redeeming. To redeem for a free cruise on 3-4 day one it requires you to book the highest available ocean view room then they discount it by the $1000 and you pay the rest. So the trick is to find one under that price. We needed to book by August so we only had one choice for a truly free cruise. You still pay port fees, taxes, & gratuities. We paid a total of $157 for port fees & taxes for two of us. You will also pay a cruise fair of $1 a person if you want your C&A points for the nights.

Not necessarily for the balcony but we bring oversized clothes pins that we use for towels on the chairs. Dollar tree has packages that are big and perfectly shaped for the tubes on the lounge chairs (a lot cheaper than the flamingo/parrot ones and we don't care if we lose any on the beach). We also use them to put our wet clothes on the chairs on our balcony to dry after an excursion. Other than that I can only think of more smaller bills for room service tips if you are going to order room service for breakfast on the balcony.

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Thanks for the heads up. I have 2 cruises on Harmony that will require the extra cards. Do they sell the bands at guest services??

 

 

 

I guess we will get the bands on the first cruise and then use them again on the next trip.

Yes bands are sold at guest services. Hopefully by the time you sail they will have guest services straightened out. There was a non-stop line there all hours of the day and the people they had working guest services were struggling to keep a line moving. Most working on Harmony either came from a smaller ship or were brand new, we didn't talk to one crew member that had come from either an Oasis class or Quantum class ship. Most were trying to go back to a smaller ship when we would ask how they liked it. The people at guest services came from other ships that use the Lenovo computers and everything on Harmony is Apple, there clearly was not enough training with the computers as they would have to stop and wait for someone to come and help them. Definitely keep an eye on the line and go when they can contain the line in the queue area. (Maybe as soon as you board). It truly was the only area of the ship where it felt like there were over 6,000 passengers onboard (that & the windjammer that we just stayed clear of as the couple times we went for breakfast we could have waited an hour to find a table (park cafe for breakfast was way better))

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Got it, very new to cruising and the intricacies of the different ship classes.

Not so much the class but how new the ship is, so far it is Quantum class & Harmony of the seas.

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I apologize if I am answering the "wrong" question here....

 

We sailed on Navigator over Thanksgiving and had my wife and I in one room and my boys across the hall. I was able to get extra room keys (not Sea Passes) for the two rooms without issue (maybe because of the class of the ship?)

They do not have the chip technology on the older ships so there are no wow bands and the keys are mag stripes. Getting extra keys was the way it was always done which is why OP had questions on the changes for Harmony.

Well this makes it a little more difficult to put people in different cabins for balcony discounts and then switch when onboard. Can you get a wrist band or sea pass card for $5 with just the ability to open a cabin door?

When we got the extra wow bands they gave us the option to use it just as a spare key or to program it with charging capabilities. So they can program them both ways.

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Not sure why, guess sentimental or just pack rat but I have kept all our sea pass cards each time we sail, I put the two wow bands we now own with them so I will have them if we sail again on a ship with newer technology. My husband does IT consulting/PM mostly in security and he said one of the chip cards costs as much as a whole box of mag strip cards. I guess when you have over 6,000 cards a week it adds up so they decided no extra cards. We might do Anthem sometime and the new Oasis class ships will have the same technology so we will just save the bands.

Quantum class

You can buy a wow band for $5 (kind of like a Disney magic band). Looks like a watch that you wear with a chip in it. The sea passes on Harmony have chips in them and are not cheap like the old sea passes. So they will not do extra keys, however if you lose a sea pass they will remake one for you as you will need one to get on and off the ship but they will cancel your previous sea pass. We tried to get an extra key for our kids room and would only sell the wow band (you can keep them and take them on future cruises as they are reprogrammable). The last day however our oldest daughter had left her key in her shorts and packed them, the luggage had already been picked up before she figured it out. She would need her sea pass to get off the ship so we went to guest services and they made her another one but when they cancelled her old sea pass they cancelled all the keys to that room and then had to remake two new ones for our other two daughters. So they will make replacements but not extras other than the $5 wow bands.

This is our first time MTD too. My question is, are you rushed at all to fit everyone in or do you have as long as traditional dining?

 

 

 

Thank you.

Never have felt rushed with MTD but have felt rushed before with traditional as the waiters seemed in a hurry to reset the dining room