Thanks for Black Friday tip!

[Travelgrrl]

In the past, I've been a frequent cruiser, both as a regular passenger and as a lecturer/crafts class leader/face painter, most often on RCCL, but also other lines. Royal being my favorite!  I had been booked with my daughter on the old ship Rhapsody in the Mediterranean for fall 2020. In a feat of spectacular misjudging of the universe's timelines, I had booked the cruise in fall 2019, and paid for airfare and hotels in Venice and Barcelona, in January 2020. Then, things happened.

 

I ended up losing one of the hotel room's cost (BOO Hotel Olympic in Venice, I used to love you!) and the other offered me a comp room for one year though obviously I haven't been able to use it in that timeframe (YEA Hotel Continental on Las Ramblas, I still love you!).  I also lost almost all of the British Airways flights cost, only getting back about $400 from a $1500 fare.  And no credit on a new ticket. Long story.

 

But I still had $500 in RCCL credit, which I kind of figured I would never use. It made me sad to think I might not cruise again, or that cruiselines would even open again. My deadline to use was originally this December, and I scheduled a land based vacation for this December instead, figuring I'd lose out on the $500 as I had the other hundreds I'd lost back in 2020.  Then RCCL moved the deadline into 2022, and cruises started running again!

 

A few weeks ago I bit the bullet and started looking for a spring cruise. Was looking at March but there was a super cheap Jewel cruise in February, so I booked that for myself and my childhood friend of 56 years. We've cruised before and she's a ball of fun! The price was so low that I could not use my credit for anything less than a 4N cabin with a window - fancy digs for someone who's used to the worst inside cabin doled out to bartering lecturers, or bargain hunters!  (Me)  So my total amount due for the cruise was less than $400 for two, minus the sunk cost of the deposit from 2019.

 

Fast forward to this week, when lovely people from this forum alerted me to the chance of Black Friday deals!  First I was able to score the pop package for myself for $6 a day!  (I prefer cans of Coke rather than fountain and the package price is usually more than what I'd spend in cans per day, but this was a deal. Perhaps with copious tipping I may score some canned Coke.) And I grabbed a case of canned water for my friend who doesn't drink pop for half price too. Yesterday, I double checked on my cruise and it was $90 less!  I barely made the threshold to have the cruise fare be more than my credit. Now I owe less than $300 for a 6 day cruise for two!  So thanks for the tips, Cruise Critics!

[SummerBeee]

I’ve booked quite a few on Jewel with the low solo supplement. Hopefully we will cross paths in February 

[FTLCruiseGal]

Awesome score!  Enjoy your cruise.

[Travelgrrl]

4 hours ago, SummerBeee said:

I’ve booked quite a few on Jewel with the low solo supplement. Hopefully we will cross paths in February 

 

I used to be tall and thin and my friend was short and fat, and now I'm tall and stocky and she's short and adorable.  Life!  😂

[Travelgrrl]

I left out of the story that RCCL allowed me to transfer the $250 credit in my daughter's name to my friend.  They required a note from my daughter saying she doesn't plan to cruise again - which she doesn't as she was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes at age 27!  So she is rightfully concerned about cruising given that and the increased risk of infection for someone with her type of Diabetes.

 

Very decent of Royal Caribbean!

[DEBCAT65]

23 minutes ago, Travelgrrl said:

I left out of the story that RCCL allowed me to transfer the $250 credit in my daughter's name to my friend.  They required a note from my daughter saying she doesn't plan to cruise again - which she doesn't as she was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes at age 27!  So she is rightfully concerned about cruising given that and the increased risk of infection for someone with her type of Diabetes.

 

Very decent of Royal Caribbean!

Please let your daughter know once she is comfortable, she can do anything she wants!  Type 1 diabetes is not the end of the world.  I was diagnosed at 28 and I am now 56.  I use a pump and a CGM, and I travel, cruise, and even scuba dive.  I have had COVID, and I survived.  Life is too short to let Diabetes control you.  Once she is comfortable, she will be able to resume her life as it was before.  

[Travelgrrl]

6 hours ago, DEBCAT65 said:

Please let your daughter know once she is comfortable, she can do anything she wants!  Type 1 diabetes is not the end of the world.  I was diagnosed at 28 and I am now 56.  I use a pump and a CGM, and I travel, cruise, and even scuba dive.  I have had COVID, and I survived.  Life is too short to let Diabetes control you.  Once she is comfortable, she will be able to resume her life as it was before.  

 

That's so encouraging and nice!  She's made the adjustment very well, and eats a pretty low carb diet so she doesn't have to use much insulin (she can explain it much better than me!).  She's joining me for our Dec land based vacation, but cruising is just too big a step for her now.

 

I'll make sure to pass your words on to her!

[loman]

On 11/25/2021 at 11:13 AM, Travelgrrl said:

In the past, I've been a frequent cruiser, both as a regular passenger and as a lecturer/crafts class leader/face painter, most often on RCCL, but also other lines. Royal being my favorite!  I had been booked with my daughter on the old ship Rhapsody in the Mediterranean for fall 2020. In a feat of spectacular misjudging of the universe's timelines, I had booked the cruise in fall 2019, and paid for airfare and hotels in Venice and Barcelona, in January 2020. Then, things happened.

 

I ended up losing one of the hotel room's cost (BOO Hotel Olympic in Venice, I used to love you!) and the other offered me a comp room for one year though obviously I haven't been able to use it in that timeframe (YEA Hotel Continental on Las Ramblas, I still love you!).  I also lost almost all of the British Airways flights cost, only getting back about $400 from a $1500 fare.  And no credit on a new ticket. Long story.

 

But I still had $500 in RCCL credit, which I kind of figured I would never use. It made me sad to think I might not cruise again, or that cruiselines would even open again. My deadline to use was originally this December, and I scheduled a land based vacation for this December instead, figuring I'd lose out on the $500 as I had the other hundreds I'd lost back in 2020.  Then RCCL moved the deadline into 2022, and cruises started running again!

 

A few weeks ago I bit the bullet and started looking for a spring cruise. Was looking at March but there was a super cheap Jewel cruise in February, so I booked that for myself and my childhood friend of 56 years. We've cruised before and she's a ball of fun! The price was so low that I could not use my credit for anything less than a 4N cabin with a window - fancy digs for someone who's used to the worst inside cabin doled out to bartering lecturers, or bargain hunters!  (Me)  So my total amount due for the cruise was less than $400 for two, minus the sunk cost of the deposit from 2019.

 

Fast forward to this week, when lovely people from this forum alerted me to the chance of Black Friday deals!  First I was able to score the pop package for myself for $6 a day!  (I prefer cans of Coke rather than fountain and the package price is usually more than what I'd spend in cans per day, but this was a deal. Perhaps with copious tipping I may score some canned Coke.) And I grabbed a case of canned water for my friend who doesn't drink pop for half price too. Yesterday, I double checked on my cruise and it was $90 less!  I barely made the threshold to have the cruise fare be more than my credit. Now I owe less than $300 for a 6 day cruise for two!  So thanks for the tips, Cruise Critics!

Hey , you called  it pop instead of soda . Thats a very canadian term . 

Im careful to call it soda as there are more americans on this site and they refer to it as soda mostly. 😀

[Coralc]

53 minutes ago, loman said:

Hey , you called  it pop instead of soda . Thats a very canadian term . 

Im careful to call it soda as there are more americans on this site and they refer to it as soda mostly. 😀

We're fine with it!  Canadians also use a lot of extra "U"s in their spellings of common words. Also fine! 

[Travelgrrl]

1 hour ago, loman said:

Hey , you called  it pop instead of soda . Thats a very canadian term . 

Im careful to call it soda as there are more americans on this site and they refer to it as soda mostly. 😀

 

Hahaha!  I'm from the Midwest, and we call it pop there, too.  But do you say 'drinking fountain' or 'bubbler'?!

 

Language is fun.

[loman]

10 hours ago, Coralc said:

We're fine with it!  Canadians also use a lot of extra "U"s in their spellings of common words. Also fine! 

Its funny that those words with the extra vowel highlight as being spelled wrong so i just correct it to the proper spelling , lol , and continue on . 😀

When Canada went to the metric system ( and the USA didnt ) i never adopted it as i was schooled with the imperial system and being in a technical job, i would never talk metric.I could only visualize in imperial. 

[loman]

10 hours ago, Travelgrrl said:

 

Hahaha!  I'm from the Midwest, and we call it pop there, too.  But do you say 'drinking fountain' or 'bubbler'?!

 

Language is fun.

Neither actually . Just good old pop . Never heard the term bubbler .

[Travelgrrl]

On 11/27/2021 at 8:32 AM, loman said:

Neither actually . Just good old pop . Never heard the term bubbler .

 

Just a regional difference for a water spigot or drinking fountain..

[bunzini]

Ohio girl here and it is pop to me!