kennev

On 12/26/2023 at 9:41 AM, chereya said:

FYI I just checked the VV website and it looked like the status match expiration date is next year Dec 31, 2024, not this week.

read that it was december 2024 but when my wife tried a couple of days ago she got a message saying it finished december 2023

On 3/28/2020 at 5:13 AM, joeyancho said:

I'm staying home. 

Hundreds of thousands due on our riada world wuide every year.

Does it stop you gettung in a car?

so the cruise is over and you are back to reality. tell us how you went. did you get to the square, did you enjoy the cruising experience. give us all the gossip!!!

Hey, we'll be cruising on Royal Caribbean for the first time in January 2015, so I was online checking out potential drink packages. When looking at them, the lists of available alcoholic beverages indicated beer, wine, cocktails and of course non- alcoholic soft drinks. However, as cider is my favourite alcoholic drink I was looking for it and couldn't see it listed in any of the drinks packages. Rather than simply assume that it was cateogorised under beer, I rang up Royal Caribbean, and here's the thing- the young guy I spoke to didn't have any idea what cider was! So, I asked him what he thought it was - JUICE was his reply! Needless to say, my husband and I decided not to bother with drinks packages! As the cheapest package starts at approximately $45.00 Australian per person per day, the fact that we're allowed to bring 2 bottles of wine each onboard at the start, plus we'll probably get drinks at the Meet and Greets, the Captain's Cocktails, possible champagne at Art Auctions, possibly there will be a Champagne Fountain, and plus we'll be wine tasting in New Zealand - hey. .. we're not going to bother with drinks packages- especially when it doesn't look like I'll be getting any cider on Royal Caribbean, because they don't know what it is!!!!😞😞😟😛

You can only bring on one bottle of wine each, not two, as another poster has said. However new Zealand has some great wines, especially their sav blancs and pinot. You can buy these at any supermarket for similar prices to Dan Murpy and BWS etc. Can you bring it onboard? It depends on who you ask as to the answer you will get for this question. We were on Sea Princess earlier this year and one of the responses was that you would pay $15 corkage regardless of where you consumed the bottle onboard. So we bought a bottle each for less than $10 and paid $15 corkage and we were drinking a better wine than the ship was charging $35 a bottle. The next two stops we were waved on and not charged. Some we drank in our room as pre dinner drinks and some we took to the dining room. We were able to try a great range of drinks this way. So at your first stop just bring two bottles on, declare them and see what happens. At worst they will keep them until you finish the cruise, at best you may pay a corkage but get to try some wines you would not see in OZ. Dont bother asking at reception, we tried that and got three different answers! It really comes down to who is on security and how fastidious they are.

I agree. Generally speaking, I find that many U.S. residents are not that knowledgeable about fermented beverages. So nobody should be surprised if a CS rep has little or no information about beverages that are not very well known.

As another poster from england has pointed out;

fermented hops and barley is beer.

fermented grapes is wine.

I am sure every american has come across one of these.

In england cider (as in alcoholic stuff) is on tap in most pubs alongside beers. In australia it is mainly bottled but some pubs are now serving mostly the english ciders on tap. In australia we call it apple juice if its of the non alcoholic variety and cider if it is alcoholic.

But would you be happy paying for fermented Barley or Hops, or even Grapes ??

As in Beer or Wine :eek:

Hahahahahaha...great come back!!!!

We will be taking an Alaskan Cruise next July on the Princess Line. We have taken several Caribbean Cruises with Carnival. We have done the formal nights with Carnival before except for our last cruise, when we decided we just didn't want to go to the trouble. It was no big deal on Carnival, we just hung out by the pool and ate pizza, lol. It was great, it wasn't crowded for once. I'm not sure if this will go over well with Princess? Does everyone do the formal nights on Princess? How many of y'all does the formal nights and how many doesn't?

Being a tradie i dont get to dress up for my work so i quite enjoy the formal nights. Not your cup of tea? simple, just go to the buffet on formal nights. Our last trip was on sea princess to new zealand and they had a great little italian cafe that served good pizzas and a selection of pasta dishes. we only ate lunch there ourself but others dined there and were very happy with the food. And its free!!

Thank you both so much! Sorry I totally forgot to reply, probably a bit soon to be taking the chill pills, maybe I should stop them for a fortnight :D.

 

What you say does make sense, we will be up at 3am to get to Venice so we will be feeling pretty exhausted by the time we get there.

 

Thanks for the info re the ferry, interesting that its only 17 mins back! That could make a difference. Im going to get on the ship then try to muster the energy to just go and stand in the piazza and grab an ice cream, but keep an open mind. If we are exhausted we have to face facts and keep Venice for another trip (maybe without the kids ;)). Thank you so much again.

 

Its funny, since they brought in this fining system headteachers are now just refusing to authorise absences and in a lot of schools its just become "not the done thing". My sons school is certainly one of them. Its good for kids to not miss school and I totally respect that. But this has gone too far now.

since my last post i google earthed where exactly the cruise terminal is in relation to st marks. Its not that far, in fact if there was a lineup for the ferry you could probably walk there and back in well under an hour.(as long as the boys are not exhausted by then) Or leave your other half to babysit and do it solo!?! Just remember to get a bank loan for the ice cream! I was there about 5 years ago and to sit outside on the chairs of the cafes in the square and have a coffee was about 20 euros a cup...and a very small cup at that! If you take the walking option make sure you get a map as it is a bit of a maze. Enjoy your cruise, some great ports and not much rest in between so you are going to have a full on cruise so save some of those chill pills for later in the cruise!!

Oh good I'm glad you like it! Never even considered cruising before and we only booked this 2 weeks a go for October, so with the kids being young I'm feeling quite out my depth!

 

 

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with two young kids in tow and on your first cruise and trying to do a dash to venice make sure you take several chill pills. the adrenallin will be pumping at various times. when you are ready to explode just take a big breath and count to 10....slowly! taking luggage with you will be a disaster. narrow streets and bridges everywhere. waiting for the next water taxi with a mass of people in front of you and you are clock watching? (take another pill!!) Venice is not that big and can be done in a day. Its a shame that you are not arriving the day before. The 120 for pulling the kids early would be money well spent. given that you are on ryanair its probably not possible to change the booking without a penalty. Still, its worth asking. when i get on the ship i just want to explore , even after several cruises!! i will be very surprised if you finish up going to venice. Get on the ship and then see how you and the family are feeling. You are flying into a country you dont know and trying to navigate airports,buses, water taxis and a cruise ship. This will all take extra time and time is going to be your enemy.On sighting the ship for the first time the reaction is going to be "wow". So, please, get onboard and then make the decision....and enjoy the view from the top deck as you sail past venice. When you get back home start saving for your next cruise and fly into venice a day or two earlier and have a relaxed time before the cruise. There are many cruises departing venice so you will have lots of options. Good luck and enjoy your first cruise. If you have not already done so join the roll call for this cruise. You will get lots of help and suggestions for the cruise you are doing.

I've seen some posters allude to it being poor etiquette to discuss cruise pricing. Is that really true? Why?

 

I'm not an experienced cruiser so when I start shopping I have no idea what is a 'good' price. Further cruise pricing is far less transparent than, for instance, airfare or hotel pricing. It seems some people have 'secret TAs' and 'special promos' and so it becomes very difficult to know when to pull the trigger.

 

So we're cruising this holiday and feel we got a very good/fair price, but don't know. And when we buy our next cruise, how will we know then?

there are some precious petals answering this query. If i am asked how much i paid i am more than happy to talk dollars and if someone has a better price i ask how they achieved that price. not out of envy but in the hope that i can learn something for my next cruise. i get posts from three separate cruise websites and emails from princess and royal carribean so i am constantly looking for bargains. if a fellow cruiser can give me an insight into how to travel at the best possible price that is a godsend. Cruise lines want their ships to sail with a full contingent so they can maximise the onboard upselling. Consequently fares go up and down based on how well sales are going. What i have learnt from talking prices to fellow travellers has given me an insight into how to get the best price. Thank god i was lucky enough to talk to people who are happy to share and not the miseries who are frightened someone had a better deal than them!