twangster

Not the ones available on select Oasis class ships in Vitality Cafe. Those are exclusive to earlier Oasis class ships.

The app is outsourced to a 3rd party.

Nope. I get my son's email for his cruises but so far my account is okay. It's gets confusing when we sail different ships at the same time then I get my surveys and his surveys but the surveys don't name a ship so I'm not sure which is which. He was in a suite last year and his concierge email came to me. Their IT systems are really bad. I still can't get any marketing or casino emails. Good luck.

I've run into Barbara a number of times who is also well above the average frequent cruise approaching 8,800 points. I wonder is she #2?

He moves around but tends to stay awhile when he moves.

Yes. MoveUp https://www.celebritycruises.com/bid-on-cruise-room-upgrade

Mariner has more slots compared to Voyager so it's not the smallest in this class. More than the earlier classes of ship too. Casino Royale offers are often made available for Radiance and Vision class ships which have much smaller casinos. Why did you choose Mariner if you prefer a larger casino?

Last point - You will never hear any cruise line executive asking for these laws to be reformed. They know that if the US were to reform laws that the US would stand back and review the laws from all perspectives including taxation. The cruise lines we all know and love are foreign companies operating foreign flagged ships. They are not US companies. They do this to avoid paying US taxation to the largest extent they can. If the US were to reform cruise ship laws the US would most likely also change the operating environment that allows these foreign companies to generate trillions of dollars collectively between them all while paying no US taxes on the assets that generate this revenue. Reforming a law is not a simple task. It takes a huge effort to reform a law because there are always unintended consequences when law is changed. It would take a significant effort to reform the PVSA largely because of the international implications. It would cost millions in legal costs and analysis. All so that foreign companies operating foreign ships avoiding paying US taxes can make even more money? I don't want my tax dollars being spent to help foreign companies make more money while avoiding more US taxes. That makes no sense at all. We have a lot of issues we need to fix in the US that can keep our lawmakers very busy for a long time. Reforming the PVSA is very low on that list.

The other component that cruisers often overlook is immigration law for the crew on foreign flagged ships . Cruises are cheap because the vast majority of crew are not US citizens and US labors laws cannot be applied to foreign flagged vessels. Foreign crew are required to obtain crew based C1/D US VISAS if their ship will be entering a US port. These VISAS limit how long a person can stay in the US when they arrive as a crew member on a ship. They are allowed to transit through the US briefly such as arriving by plane and boarding the ship to work, in reverse when leaving a ship to return home. They can't stay in the US for very long and be a tourist for example. They can't work in the US beyond their duties on board the ship while the ship is in port. There are time limits that apply. The ship can't stay in port for days without implications to US immigration laws. When a ship only visits US ports and never visits a foreign port, the crew has never left the US. They were never processed by another country for a ship's visit to another country so technically they never left the US. Passing through international water on the way to another US city does not count as leaving the US from an immigration perspective. For a cruise ship to only visit US ports the crew must be all US citizens with very few exceptions allowed. Cruise costs would increase substantially with US labor laws applied. NCL faces this exact issue in Hawaii for the one ship it has that is allowed to sail exclusively between US ports. NCL can't employ mostly foreign workers on it's one Hawaii ship because that would violate US immigration laws. The vast majority have to be US citizens and/or eligible for employment in the US. This creates a lot of issues to crew one ship. It's hard to find US citizens willing to do this work yet US immigration laws require exactly that when a ship never leaves the US. In the US you will not find foreign cruise ships offering cruises to nowhere. It's not the PVSA that prevents cruises to nowhere, it's immigration laws that prevent cruises to nowhere from the US on foreign flagged ships.

The PVSA is a complex Pandora's box because it applies to all passenger vessels not just cruise ships. It is wrapped tightly with international treaties and laws, with significant implications for foreign flagged ships. Looking at it at a simplistic level, on an international basis the countries of the world view all passenger vessels as one concept, a commercial vessel that carries passengers. That applies to all commercial passenger vessels from small duck boats, a water taxi, ferry to the largest cruise ship in the world. From an international perspective they are all the same thing - a passenger vessel. The US can not dictate international law and treaties. The US can not create the concept of many types of passengers vessels and apply that globally. The US must respect international treaties and laws. Within the US, for ships flagged and registered in the US, the federal government can create whatever laws and policies it desires. It can create rules for one type of US flagged vessel versus a different type of US flagged vessel. That power and authority only applies to US flagged ships. Through international treaties and laws a foreign flagged ship can visit another country. Through these treaties and laws a country has limits to what it can enforce or apply to a ship belonging to another nation. The USCG can inspect a foreign vessel to ensure it complies with internationally recognized safety standards for example. There are limits to what any country can do to a foreign ship for very good reasons. The US can not create arbitrary policies and laws and apply those to foreign ships if the policies and laws are not recognized on an international basis. If the US were to allow any foreign flagged passenger vessel to participate in coastwise trade transporting passengers within the US, embarking and debarking within the US, that would then apply to all foreign flagged passenger vessels. From ferry boats, water taxis, duck boats, cruise ships, literally any vessel that carries people. It would open the door for all foreign flagged passenger ship of any size or type to participate in coastwise trade within the US. For example Chinese ferries could offer service within the US and force US ferry companies out of business. It's not so simple as to say cruise ships (which didn't exist when the PVSA was crafted) are exempt. It's very easy to declare the PVSA needs to be reformed. However everyone who has tried quickly finds themselves embroiled in extremely complex international treaties and laws with significant implications to world wide shipping.

iPhone user? Apple uses non-standard video formats. Android videos post without issues.

So glad I didn't know this existed. Except now I do. Ugh.

First you need to convert it and then... nevermind.

Do you let each person use their own sea pass card while playing?

It's not 2000 to 4000 per cruise because apparently that gets you no offers. Speaking for a friend...

Seriously, it takes about 15 minutes to pack. Go hubster.

Depends on the ship. The cruise compass section of this site contains the information you seek. Cruise length and region doesn't matter. Pick your ship any date and its usually on the day one pages. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass

I don't find the MSC loyalty program to be that great.

I've always found downtown Charlotte Amalie to have great variety but it does depend what you are looking for. The shops in Crown Bay I have found to be limited and the shops at Havensight I've found to be expensive.

If your booking is updated before the cruise to remove the other guests you will receive extra points.

If any of the clan have transportation challenges ping me, despite the rude and uncalled for rejection

I had what I thought was clear communication with shoreside. I was impressed, it must be getting better I thought. Once on board Genie confirmed she, nor Utopia, were in the loop. Genie made it happen on board. #firstworldgenieproblems I'm off my current cruise 3/9. If you still have room on your balcony, it's not too late to add me...

Yes I can completely see their IT department figuring out how to code that.

I've done four MSC to the Caribbean and have mixed feelings about MSC. A recurring analysis is... go Yacht Club or don't go. I've done non-YC and it's okay. Just okay. I like the simplicity of Ocean Cay and an overnight stop is pretty cool. I can see why people desire YC. Pre-cruise Customer Service with MSC is really, really bad. If you are lucky enough to book on the web and never need to contact them you won't experience this. The last straw for me resulted from an IT glitch. If you touched the booking for certain items like adding gratuity it caused the booking to reprice at prevailing rates. They refused to honor my original deposited rate. I had a problem with them increasing the cruise fare for a confirmed booking. Escalations didn't work. It's clear they don't like Americans. Fortunately their deposit was refundable so I refunded it and haven't been back to MSC since. Two of my cruises were never recognized in the loyalty program. They claimed I didn't sail. I did sail. I still have my cards from those cruises. Loyalty status expires every 5 years if you don't sail. Apparently they are trying to get my loyalty status to reset. I am/was Black now Diamond. It expires next year. No current plans to prevent that. Bars were slammed and understaffed. Princess has some interesting pricing models with drink and wifi packages bundled. I've sailed a newer but not brand new ship. The decor was identical to the first in that class. The cabins looked tired and dated despite being newer. The steak house was bad. MDR slightly better than Royal. Medallion was flop. My pre-ordered one had a weak battery and had to be replaced on board. No refund for dead one. It worked to get me on the ship but not at most bars. Princess was okay but I missed things about Royal. I wasn't a fan of the live musicians at various venues. Their Caribbean offerings don't appeal to me. I haven't done NCL in decades. I don't like the mismash of ships that have little consistency across the fleet. Many of their ships were acquired new builds when some other cruise failed. As a result some of their ships aren't their design, the deck plan is wildly different than anything else. Free at Sea is a joke. The fees for Free At Sea are terrible. What a scam. That's a big turn off for me. Celebrity is great as long as you don't need a lot of physical activities to entertain like zip lines, skating, rock climbing, etc. Definitely a more refined audience. Non-smoking casino is awesome. The price models aren't very solo friendly so they typically price themselves out of the field. If you come across a Celebrity deal jump on it. Royal feels like home but I don't like these price trends.

They may delay opening the gangway when your ship is first. They don't want people wandering about on the pier while the 2nd ship is setting their lines. Chances are the first ship may open their gangway first. Despite that it's not a scene from MadMax trying to find the best spot first. Many people are not early risers. Many people on both ships will be eating breakfast and trying to corral their herd of cats, (family) and get them ready to get off, well past gangway open times for both ships. IME there is no need to be putting a lot of effort being chief herder of the family cats urgently getting everyone off the minute the gangway opens. By 10am or 11am the front rows of the pool or beach may be gone but there will be loungers to be had. You are on vacation, take your time, don't stress over it.