twangster

Agreed, which contributes to my low participation there. Back in the day of free JR the lunch lines became absurd which is why they claim they introduced the $4.95 fee (at that time). Why does JR serve breakfast only on Oasis class ships? Why not on Freedom and Voyager class? I also think $50 for Chops is absurd. For a couple that's a $100 meal for a slightly better than MDR steak.

I was all over when they were pressure washing waiting for my 6am room service breakfast window. I found the Solarium fire doors closed on deck 14. Some passengers ignored them and went through. The bridge wings have signs that state the hours are 6am to 6pm yet at 6am the Solarium fire doors were closed. I'm hoping the marine maintenance department that does all the pressure washing figures out they need to set their alarms an hour or so earlier in Alaska. I noted it in my survey comments.

The lower hull is baby blue, same as Anthem. In these photos you can the white side of the ship deck 5 and higher and the blue color of the hull down low by the waterline, deck 4 and lower. When I was on Anthem at Captain's Corner this topic came up. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5068-anthem-112517-712-b2b/&do=findComment&comment=51116 The blue color of the lower hull was a marketing decision. In the Captain's words "they wanted to make the ship look more white so they painted it blue". He said it's a challenge because the sun causes paint to fade and trying to touch up various shades of blue over time is very difficult. It was much more simple when the lower hull was white - they just painted it with more white.

Ouch! Hefty increase. On the surface it may seem like "Oh so what? If spending $2,000 on a cruise who cares about a 90% increase in port fees" but wow. Looks like the City of Galveston has found it's cash cow.

No words or rumors yet, although rumor is that Icy Strait Point *might* expand somewhat. While seemingly unrelated it does open up additional options for itineraries since Glacier Bay NP is right beside ISP.

Buy the Voom multi device plan for as many devices as you will want to be connected at the same time, it doesn't matter what cabin your daughter stays in. You'll want to activate airplane mode then connect to the ship wifi. If you have never used wifi calling on your cell phone at home make sure to set it up and test it at home before sailing. Most US post-paid cell plans include wifi calling, not all pre-paid services do. It depends on your cell phone company. If in doubt talk to your cell company now, well before sailing. You can test wifi calling and wifi texting at home before sailing assuming you have wifi at home. Turn on airplane mode, connect to your home wifi. Try making a call. Try sending a text to your daughter. That is pretty much how a paid Voom plan will work once on the ship. If it doesn't work at home, it won't work on the ship with Voom. By testing it now you have time to troubleshoot any issues you have.

Regular individual beach loungers are included. There are some with a clamshell cover pictured above that vary in pricing depending on ship and sail date. You'll find these in the cruise planner sometimes called "Beach Loungers for Two". Price is for two, you don't have to buy it for each guest. Here is the price for an August visit:

The doors from the passenger hallways to the Solarium on deck 13 are marked "Crew Only". I checked this out for a future booking. In theory you are supposed to go up to 14, into the Solarium and back down to 13 within the Solarium to access the bridge wings. Still a quick trip, just didn't want you thinking you can go straight from deck 13 into the Solarium.

Adding too that all airlines including the LCCs and ULCCs keep an eye on oil prices which can influence their fuel costs. If oil prices are stable and predictable so will airfare be. If there is turmoil or projected turmoil in oil prices the airlines will protect themselves from the uncertainty by nudging airfare up until they have a better projection how fuel prices will actually be getting closer to the flight. Sometimes this plays into the 90 day rule and sometimes it is at odds with the 90 rule.

The 90 day concept is centered around legacy carriers. The Delta, American, United, Air Canada type carriers. It does not apply to LCC or Low Cost Carriers (Southwest, JetBlue, Westjet, etc), or the ULCCs - Ultra Low Cost Carriers (Sprint, Frontier). The LCCs and ULCCs tend to have a fixed number of cheap seat and once they are gone they are gone. Next they have some cheaper seats but as not as cheap as the lowest cost seats. These can fluctuate based on supply and demand rules with no time period involved. If demand is strong at 90 days prices remain high, or at 120 days , or 60 days, or when ever. Lastly the LCC/ULCC have business rates that are often higher than even the legacy carriers. These are just for frequent business travelers who aren't paying out of their own pocket. The variable to the 90 day concept is that the legacy carriers price against the LCCs and ULCCs. If Southwest is charging $245 from Phoenix to New York, American or Delta is probably going to be in that vicinity until a capacity threshold is crossed. So it depends who you are thinking about flying and it isn't written in stone, it's too competitive for airlines not to be aware of market prices.

I found some time to stitch together a series of video clips that I took in between taking still photos of our morning in Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier. 11m52s

Approximately one week before sailing you should be contacted by the suite concierge. Reply and ask them.

Either. Both.

So like everyone who has sailed on a group cruse with me knows my name. You should try it sometime. A group cruise that is.

I've made the same mistake, no worries.

Just received this update stating payment is pending in the amount offered on the phone call.

Article here as well at RoyalCaribbeanBlog: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/05/21/royal-caribbean-extends-singapore-season-quantum-of-the-seas-2021

For those interested in Alaska you can check out my previous trip reports here at RoyalCaribbeanBlog,com: Celebrity Millennium June 2017 Southbound Seward to Vancouver Explorer of the Seas June 2018 Seattle RoyalCaribbeanBlog Group Cruise! Radiance of the Seas August 2018 Southbound Seward to Vancouver For anyone new to Alaska cruising my best advice is to book it! You won't regret it. Don't spend too much time over analyzing which ship, which itinerary or which side of the ship. If you can, budget some extra money for excursions. Go and experience Alaska, it's a pretty amazing destination.

Blog tricks :) Positioning the cursor to the left of an image and hitting enter will insert a space between images. It's easier to do on a laptop versus a phone/tablet. I do most of my posting using a laptop so it's easier to visualize and arrange images.

Look for the first "free" time slot right after the paid reservations are finished in Endicott Arm for views like this:

Port day. The views of Skagway from North Star were captured in this post: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/12630-ovation-goes-north-way-north-to-alaska-11-nights-may-13-2019/&do=findComment&comment=126313 On sea days it's cool but nothing to see. Keep in mind that using the RoyalIQ app on board you can cancel any North Star reservation made now if you see a better or more desirable time offered on board. By all means grab something now but adjust it on board when even more slots are made available.

That's the dining package team. Dx team does pricing on "bring your kids to work and let them do your job" day.

Status Update: It's been a while since I updated the thread and it's been an interesting journey. I've been on a cruise recently with limited communication so that delayed working through this process. It took numerous attempts to escalate. Escalation and appeal is by email only - they don't let you talk to a person in this process. This is going to get lengthy but I want to you to see how this unfolded and how their claims process works. A couple weeks ago I received a voicemail from someone at Allianz in response to my email appeal. They left an extension number and "direct" phone number. I've made numerous attempts to call that number prior to cruising. One occasion the contact center that answered informed me that their computers were down and they can't transfer calls when computers are down. On another occasion the contact center repeated past information about my claim being denied and refused to transfer me. On another occasion they stated they need more information and had sent me an email (didn't get it but got have received other emails from them with my denial status). I checked spam filters and junk mail and made sure their domain was whitelisted. They couldn't tell me what additional information was required. "I'm sorry we can't tell you that on the phone, it has to be sent to you in an email". Three attempts to have the email sent and resent were unsuccessful despite numerous emails about being denied. On my eighth attempt to return the phone call from the voicemail, I convinced the contact center agent to transfer me to the extension provided. Phew. A human answered. My claim of trip cancellation was changed to trip interruption because they could find no proof that my airline had incurred "24 hours of cessation of services". I informed her I was documenting this for an internet forum and asked very specifically what does "cessation of services" mean? Basically the airline has to stop flying. All flights, anywhere. I asked her to clarify specifically with Southwest Airlines. Do you mean that every single flight that Southwest flies anywhere has to be grounded for 24 hours for cessation of services to be satisfied? Her response, correct. The Airline has to cease operations. If one Southwest plane takes off anywhere completely unrelated to me getting to Houston then cessation of services has not been satisfied. They use FlightStats are a data source and had documented in my claim that Southwest did not cease operations. But wait. I checked my policy and no where is cessation of services mentioned for this coverage. It's because of the date of the incident she said, side stepping my comment. Had I got sick on April 5th and cancelled then it would be Trip Cancelation but because it occurred on April 7th it's Trip Interruption. My policy doesn't state anything related to date of cancellation. No where does it state a number of hours or days before a cruise or trip for a claim to be cancellation versus interruption. We went down this rabbit hole several times until I asked her to read to me where in my policy is a date qualification noted. She stated I would have been covered if I flew to Cozumel and boarded the ship side stepping my request. Coverage would have been up to $250. I told her Southwest doesn't fly to Cozumel. My airline couldn't get me there. She then went back to cessation of services. I repeated that's not in my policy as a qualifying condition (it is for car rental coverage in a different section, but not for trip cancellation or trip interruption). Then she went back to trip interruption however since I didn't try to fly to Cozumel, I'm not covered. I repeated I couldn't fly to Cozumel because Southwest doesn't fly there and asked her why isn't this trip cancellation? I pointed out that as soon as Southwest cancelled my flight on that day I called their claims department and was informed I am covered and was advised to file trip cancellation. She stated she didn't know why I was given this incorrect information. Then she stated: Oh look, here is something in your policy that I overlooked. "Non-refundable payments and deposits. Payments and deposits you made before your trip was canceled, less any published refunds you’re entitled to receive." At this point she started looking at my receipts and confirming I paid an additional amount for transportation services (Houston to Galveston shuttle). "This is my fault, I missed that section of your policy". The words I had been waiting to hear... "Okay, I am going to process the full amount of the cruise fare and shuttle less the port fees and taxes as indicated by Royal Caribbean". Success. I have some thoughts on this experience but I'll leave it up to you to decide if you think they were hoping with enough road blocks, unrelated terminology and verbiage that isn't in my policy that I might just give up and go away.

You can declare a "relationship" for a significant other or children under 18 years old. In your case I don't see how your relatives who are D+ can declare you to be in a relationship with them unless you are under 18.

Water levels in Alaska are driven by Ocean levels. Tides impact the inside passage as illustrated in Skagway at the end of Taiya Inlet. As oceans rise so will water levels in Alaska. Levels in Lake Mead on the other hand are influenced by human demand pulling water out of the Colorado River. As growing communities along that river pull more and more water, less makes it into Lake Mead. We had a banner year of snowfall this year in Colorado. 99% of the state drought free. Perhaps all that snowpack will help the water levels in Lake Mead, or perhaps more communities along the Colorado River will draw even more water from it.