marvelous35

I researched this previously. Radiance class ships can sail out of Baltimore. Larger than Radiance class cannot.

Basic card counting is pretty simple. I suspect most people could master it with a little practice. This is plus one for every 10, J, Q, K, and A played. Minus one for every 2-6 played. So you can gauge how favorable the deck is. This can change the odds slightly, possibly in your favor, but you are not going to get rich. I doubt casinos are concerned about this. I have a friend who was seriously into card counting. I don't know the details, but different cards are treated differently and then how you play the hand changes based on cards remaining. I suspect this can swing the odds much more in your favor. To me, this sound exhausting and makes the game no longer a fun diversion. It is work to make money this way. By the way, he was pretty sucessfully playing blackjack and he did have concerns about being barred from casinos.

I booked a cruise prior to the changes to the All Included packages. If I have gratuities included in that, plus I also prepaid for gratuities, what happens if I do nothing? Will the prepaid gratuities be refunded? Or will everyone get gratuities twice?

Can Bayonne have more than 1 ship at a time? If not, Jewel needs to leave Thursday.

We booked a Celebrity cruise on Royal Caribbean. The Next Cruise person actually printed out Celebrity's Future cruise benefits for us so we were all on the same page. I think our agent was the head of the Next Cruise group.

I am looking to book a transatlantic cruise in the spring of 2025. Anyone know what time frame Celebrity will release the schedule?

Just a quick thought: Covid is mostly not passed by touching contaminated surfaces. So wiping things down thoroughly does not help prevent Covid. It is mostly short range air borne transmission. Norovirus is completely different and wipe down with disinfectants will help with that. How it spreads is really pretty gross.

My personal opinion: the key issue is branding. Celebrity is definitely marketing to a different people than Royal Caribbean. The more they have in common, the murkier the difference in the brands. Royal Caribbean has nailed their brand with "WOW" and all the stuff for kids to do. I think Celebrity is struggling a bit for their brand and differentiators.

I went to Coco Cay on the Celebrity Mercury in 2009.

I think Royal Caribbean has hit home runs with Cococay and the Oasis class ships. It really plays to the families they are target marketing. I think Celebrity has had a harder time positioning itself in the higher end cruise market. There is actually no reason Celebrity can't go to Cococay. But maybe Cococay is not the best fit for the luxury cruisers they are targeting. Celebrity used to go there before the Perfect Day days.

Can I just make multiple purchases with the same credit card on the website?

My quick thought: the per cabin part was never enforceable. People in the same cabin can go through security separately or just act like they are not together. I doubt that security ever asked to see cabin assignments to enforce the alcohol carryon policy.

I voted 8184 just to leave the cabins near elevators for people with mobility issues.

I think this really is splitting hairs. If mobility is not an issue (and it is for a lot of cruiser) or if you have small kids and think you will be running back to the room all the time, the extra steps from being further away from the elevator costs almost nothing. On message boards, I have never heard someone complain about noise from elevators/stairs. So that is a minor or non-issue. I personally prefer to book starboard. Some think you get better views starboard and ships prefer to dock on the starboard side. I have no idea if it is true.

I have asked many questions on this topic for Royal Caribbean cruises. Per the travel agent at the time, if you change cabins on the same ship, it is not a cancellation. You will be booked at the current rates and keep the same reservation no. If you change ships or sailing dates, you are cancelling and starting a new reservation. Also, you cannot change from a non-refundable to a refundable fare.

To summarize, apps like imessage and whatapp are internet based. So if you have ship wifi, you can use them and there will be no charges. Leave you phone on airplane mode, to guarantee it cannot search for cell service.

I thought a transatlantic cruise in the April/May 2025 might be nice. Anyone know when Celebrity will announce these?

I think this is a design flaw by Royal Caribbean: the Quantum class ships have a lot of Obstructed View Balcony cabins on Deck 6. If you reserve a Guarantee Balcony on one of these ships, you will likely get an Obstructed View just because there are so many of them. We have sailed on Anthem of the Seas and had an Obstructed View Balcony cabin. But we have picked our own cabin and gotten one will less obstruction. Also, these cabins are frequently as cheap as the interior cabins. I believe most of the other classes of ships do not have nearly as many Obstructed View Balcony cabins.

Go to Celebrity.com and log in. From there, click you name, then Manage Reservation. This page will show your upcoming cruises. Click on Plan my cruise, and any OBC from Royal Caribbean/Celebrity will show up there.

I am a shareholder and have a lot of faith in Royal Caribbean. But I am concerned that that at 95% capacity, they still lost money. My question: Do they every break out the financials between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity? I am under the impression that Celebrity is not doing as well as Royal Caribbean. It seems like they they have more unsold cabins and they need to roll out bigger discounts.

Where are you seeing all these codes? I would like to look at mine.

One thing about the smaller ships: they have less balcony cabins.

We got an ocean view from $2800 back in April. That includes taxes. It is a group rate and I think the last one they had.

There is a pretty good thread on RCCL stock in the Royal Caribbean boards: One person is a finance guy and he is concerned about all the debt they have due to the pandemic. Personally, I bought during the pandemic near the low and I am holding on to some shares. I also bought and sold some recently. I am not sure it is a good buy at the current prices. Expecting the stock to get back to pre-covid valuations is not realistic because of all the debt. But I believe in Royal Caribbean to deliver a good product and to be able to make money. That is a reason to own the stock. I view the OBC benefit as a dividend on the first 100 shares. It is nice, but probably not the best reason to own the stock.

I called Celebrity about the wifi discount. He said I am eligible for the 30% discount and then quote me a price higher than the discounted price on Cruise Planner price. I pointed that out, he put me on hold, the came back and quoted a rate lower than 30% off the Cruise Planner price. So I purchased that and locked it in. I think he was a little mathmatically challenged.