island lady

As they say..."the only thing that stays the same...is change". Very specifically spelled out in the C&A language that the program can be changed at any time. When we started sailing with Royal, there were no Pinnacles...no Emeralds. There were no Diamond Lounges, no Suite's lounges....just the concierge lounge that allowed GS pax and above in ....and Diamonds and above in. Then the Diamonds were kicked out of the CL...now the D+ are kicked out of the CL on ships that still have them. D+ never allowed into the newly created SL. Now Pinnacles not in a GS and above can find themselves kicked out of the CL or SL. So yeah, angry Diamonds were kicked out suddenly with no notice some years ago. But they are not the only ones affected. And so it goes.

OOhhhh no!! Bad bartenders...bad!! 😄 😄

Oh gosh no...it's just awful to do that. 😉 😄

Shhhh...don't tell anyone. 😉 On Odyssey, the bartender at Giovanni's wine bar taught me that trick, but he swore me to secrecy, due to not really being allowed to do that. He charged me 5 vouchers for a bottle of Kim Crawford SB that they normally get the usual 5 servings out of. 🤭 He knew I wanted to have an extra bottle in the cabin.

Almost always...enjoy. 🙂

Congrats my friend...on turning D+! 🙂 Woohoo...5 drinks a day per person now! 😄

Mmm...nice! He did manage a couple of those 2 years ago when we spent a few nights in Barcelona before we boarded for the B2B in the Med on Wonder, which we stayed on for the TA to PC to start her runs out of here a couple years ago. 🙂 Looking forward to seeing Barcelona again.

I got lucky and pretty much had everything I needed for the over 2 month 1st quarter WC... including bringing my 2nd larger duffle bag that held the foam mattress topper I brought on board and then cut to size (those are not true King size mattresses) on embarkation day. Sooo glad I brought it indeed! This gave me a par of what we will need for the 4th quarter 2 months in July. Just some minor tweaking, and should work out OK again. I did bring too many dressy blouses, but they were light and easy to hand wash.

The confusion for the staff, as I mentioned before...is in the wording. If pax explain they are getting a C&A percentage discount on the bottle of wine, they can understand that. But asking for a bottle of wine using your voucher...is where the problem is. Vouchers are individual for individual drinks. Tier levels at 4 (D) 5 (D+) 6 (Pinnacle) per person per day.

Absolutely true statement. Have witnessed several times with missing pax and what the crew does.

Yeah, indeed resurrection....but hey...before Allure leaves our local home port...damn if I don't want to hop on board for a "quickie'. Have never met Allure yet, it's local (for now) and I do want to see Mamma Mia. Sooo...we have a quickie 4 night booked for early May. 😉

Yumms! 😉

Yumms...the wonderful freebie "drinks" they pass out at the top tier. 😜 We stop by one of the few bars open that early, pick up a bloody mary with our vouchers and walk into the event. Some years ago, they used to pass out much better drinks, including good Bloody Marys at the earlier top tier events. No longer. Probably because anyone can just walk into these events now. Get what you pay for. 😉

Thanks my friend...we will be sure to look for it. Bucky is a Lager beer fan. 🙂

Nah...he loves wine also...actually more than beer. Mmm....south of France...Moule Frites and a really cold, very dry Provence Rose. Heaven!! 😋

Interesting no one talked about Passport card. We leave our passport book in the safe, where the ship's crew would look for it if needed. The passport card goes with us, which we use instead of DL for government issued photo ID. And for those that insist they have their passport with them in all countries???...you would not have liked the World Cruise around South America. All passports were taken from all pax at check in before we left Miami. The authorities at each country came on board to check the passports stored in large boxes that were kept in the ship's safe, then the ship locked them back up after being stamped. The same thing when we did our 3 week river cruise on Viking in Europe.

Our tour...if it goes...is through the ship. I would just like to cancel, but Bucky wants to see how it goes. Either way, I would not do this as self tour in this situation. We are covered if something delays our tour. IMHO...I think the ship will cancel the tour. No big deal.

And, not just the overnight stay...but also add in possible rental car, transfers, flights, wine/booze/beverages, admission fees, restaurant meals, buying food to consume, tips, etc. Indeed it all adds up. $$$ Though I do like my land based trips, I still love to cruise. This last cruise took us through the Carib, Mexico, Central America, all the way down the coast of South America, Antarctica, around the horn, back up the other side of South America/Central America to LA. I could not have done that with a land based trip...not to mention the logistics of packing/unpacking/packing up again. 😉

Don't worry...this thread should be hanging around mostly back on page one again by July. 😉 😄 😁

Yes, land based trips are great...and sometimes cheaper (though if you really add everything in...is it?). But why choose? Why not mix it up and do both? We do. 😉

With all the cutbacks that are going on...I would not gamble on trying to get non qualified pax into C&A events. It's only fair anyway. And it is uncomfortable to the crew members when they are asked to do something that is not right.

Were they still checking cards when they released the seats to pax with no reservations at 10 minutes before the show? Or do pax not need to make reservations for that event? Have not been to Quest for many years now.

Thanks Frank! Yes, that was the same when we renewed our passports and passport cards (love those things!) the last time. Came in separate envelopes, separate mailings. It's USPS I have a problem with. Uggh... Indeed will be nice when we renew our Global entry in five years...much more simple than the frustratingly long and complicated first application. Our next cruise is not until early May...so should be OK waiting for Bucky's new passport to come by then. But I do want to get Bucky's new passport number into our Viking cruises to complete the registration. They keep bugging me with emails to do so. And those cruises are not until next year. They are just anxious, with really early pay off and want their files updated right away. Otherwise, we love the Viking line. 🙂

A report I sent to USPS pointing out that my tracking was showing my priority envelope I sent to PA as still not delivered. Though I already knew they had it when I saw the check amount go through my account. I made them search for it. They finally checked and affirmed it had been delivered, but they had shown me no progress once it got to PA for over a week. The same thing happened with my passport. So apparently the application letters being sent to processing center in PA are not being scanned in properly at the processing center by USPS. Your government dollars at work. 🤪

Did you opt/pay for expedited service?