twangster
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Posts posted by twangster
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8 minutes ago, JLMoran said:
Ugh, more confusion and tough decision making!
Grandeur's pricing is better for suites by $400 pp at the JS level, even better with higher suites; OV / Inside rooms are better by $200. But Anthem's pricing is better on balconies, to the tune of $600 better! My game plan was either a JS for wife and me, balcony for the girls; or if the budget was just too tight then two balconies. That would put the advantage back on Anthem.
I assume that's because Anthem is almost entirely balconies, with a far bigger supply than Grandeur can match compared to the other room categories.
Why do these things have to be so darned difficult?!?
Young grasshopper, a wise man on this site once said "YOLO!, book it!"
Discussion with girls - "We can find you a sitter for while we are gone, or you can cruise in an OV cabin. What would you prefer?".
- Boston Babe and JLMoran
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And Voom at $17.99 to $19.99 for many of my 2019 sailings!
14 nights @ $19.99 - $280 for internet. Yikes!
There goes the live blogs...
- Boston Babe, JLMoran and cruiselife
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- RestingBird, coneyraven and JLMoran
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Personally I love sea days for the relaxation they offer. I don't need a cruise director loading up the schedule with hairy chest or belly flop contests to keep me occupied. Give me sea air and a sunny day - I'm all set.
Homework, hanging out in the pool, rock climbing, maybe some trivia, bring a book book to sink into. Quality family time without bumper cars or a flow rider. But only you know you, and you are not me. Nothing wrong with that. Research the ship, if you are concerned it isn't right for you, listen to your gut. Not every ship is right for every person.
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My best guess is that the port couldn't accommodate her on a specific date. The port in Barbados isn't that big. With other cruise lines adding ships it's possible they gave that slot away to another cruise line or maybe they have to do dredging operations one week.
I can only imagine the logistics of trying to plan cruise itineraries. Calculating range, fuel consumption, ports that can take mega ships versus smaller ships, or 1 mega ship and two small ships, or 3 large ships and a medium ship, or 2 large ships plus 3 small ships, or...
At a certain point like a game of musical chairs someone gets blocked out of the port.
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Just now, Lovetocruise2002 said:
Well while you're at it, you might as well book Mariner for August!
If I lived in FL I would have by now.
Flying all that way for a 4 night cruise? Airfare is expensive right now. I think not.
You'll just have to come on a group cruise!
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7 minutes ago, JLMoran said:
Doesn't this throw off getting your next crystal block on... Symphony, was it? Or is this group cruise and the other one you booked after you'll have gotten that block?
Symphony block is in the fall 2018.
This augments my 2019 block strategy nicely including getting one on Vision.
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38 minutes ago, MaryCS62 said:
Loved the blog!!! All those reports of the weather makes me a little nervous -- we're sailing in January!! However, it's a 12 day to the southern Caribbean, so hopefully will have warmer weather for the bulk of it.
I did 19 nights on Anthem in December, a 7 followed by a 12 night B2B. I live blogged here:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5068-anthem-112517-712-b2b/
In January I did another 9 nights and live blogged here:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5387-anthem-11919-9-night-bahamas/
Between the 3 cruises I sailed up or down the coast 6 times, 3 down, 3 up. I recall talking in my blogs about the dreaded "long pants day". Fortunately Anthem is a perfect cold weather ship with a huge indoor pool that is kid friendly plus a huge adult only solarium. It's a nice solarium too. I wasn't in a suite though, that would have been sweet!
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All this talk about booking cruises has caused me to book two more!
Who started this thread anyways? It's his fault!
RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com Group Cruise aboard Freedom of the Seas - Here I come!
My 2019 cruise ship dance card is starting to fill in nicely.
Both booked through MEI Travel in appreciation of their support towards this site.
Somebody stop me. Seriously, somebody needs to stop me.
- JLMoran, Lovetocruise2002, Matt and 2 others
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3 hours ago, jwutony16 said:
I watched a documentary on the Allure and they make all of the pattys in house for ALL dining venues including Johnny Rockets. I wonder why they raised the prices when it is literally the same type of burger you can get at wipeout cafe or Windjammer. With that being said I am still going to eat there.
Welcome to the message boards!
The patty and buns are identical to WJ. The sauce they use and the availability of onion rings is the key differentiator IMO.
- Sweety, jwutony16 and CruisinUngs
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Just now, Lovetocruise2002 said:
the list goes on....
No comment. I'm not touching that list!
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1 minute ago, Todd W said:
one other question in regards to TA's, not sure if anyone can answer but are perks greater if the TA originally books for you as opposed to first booking through RCI and then switching over to a TA? also do TA perks change or increase based on the frequency that a customer uses them? I've only used a couple TA's in the past and the only perk i've had was $25 OBC so far.
Direct bookings can be switched to a TA but there are rules that have to be followed. These are there to safeguard and respect each agency as well as the guest. You wouldn't want an illicit travel agency slamming your booking over to them when you have never heard of said travel agency. It generally has to be switched before final payment due date. There are likely other rules that I don't know. There is an exception process that I've had to use after final payment due date to effect a switch.
Do perks change with volume? Sure. Like most companies, repeat customers tend to be rewarded. As far as MEI - they sponsor this site. There are costs to running this site, posting cruise compasses, storing photos that some people like myself post a lot of, etc. It is not insignificant to operate this site. MEI through their sponsorship helps towards that. While one TA might give you OBC or a dinner or a bottle of wine in your cabin, MEI helps to keep the lights on at RoyalCaribbeanblog.com.
All things be equal, since there are no downsides to using a TA that I've found, if nothing else using MEI allows this wonderful site to exist. Eventually once you build a relationship with them as a repeat customer, what ever you work out is between you and them.
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9 minutes ago, tiny260 said:
As someone that also works in IT, you don't schedule an outage during the day unless it is an Emergency, or was this one of those "No outage" changes and then an Oop's?
I have seen people lose there job for less than this, especially since this is revenue generating.
Or the cleaning people unplugged the server under someone's desk that holds a script that no one knew about yet the whole website database relies on.
I'm still trying to figure out if RCCL is one of those companies that only sees IT as a expense on a balance sheet and refuses to fund it properly. When it comes to IT, you get what you pay for.
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Just now, princevaliantus said:
An interesting question was ask to me in PM, but I couldn't adress it as I've never used MEI. What, if any, does MEI charge for changes, rebooking, cancellation fees, hidden fees, etc.? Some people are sooo scared to post anything online. We don't bite, unless you ask nicely!
No fees that I've experienced.
Last week I booked the RoyalCaribbeanblog.com Mariner Double Dip to Cococay Group Cruise through MEI. I booked the B2B in a balcony. A day or two later I changed my mind and decided to downgrade to an inside cabin. I'm doing Mariner in an aft balcony this year so I figured I'd save some $$$ and I plan to spend most of the group cruise out of my cabin so I"ll be fine in an inside. No change fees or complaints from MEI despite what I am sure was a bunch of work with Royal to effect my switch on both sailings of this B2B.
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Just now, WAAAYTOOO said:
US based agencies ? Not sure to whom this refers.
I booked Quantum out of Singapore for 2019. If this rumor comes to fruition, I wouldn't be able to book Spectrum using the same agency.
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9 minutes ago, Matt said:
And happy birthday @twangster!
Haha - Fake FB birth date. You see? You can't believe anything on FB...
- accio7, Lovetocruise2002 and JLMoran
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50 minutes ago, Boston Babe said:
Can't get into either this morning (sigh)
Both work for me, plus the Celebrity website appears to be normal. Happy Friday!
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More Spectrum rumors - US based agencies may not be able to book Spectrum for a period after launch. Might be a couple years. Pure gossip at this point.
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MEI has been a wonderful agency to work with, proactively letting me know if my fare is still the best, sale after sale.
Long before I joined this site, over years of travel I built a relationship with others and I maintain that relationship.
Once booked, you are free to continue to use the cruise planner to make My Time reservation, entertain reservations, Voom purchases and so on.
The only thing I've noted using a TA if if you want to change cabins. If you booked cabin 1234 and suddenly cabin 4567 becomes available, instead of calling Royal you have to call your TA. That has yet to stop me with 34 Royal cruises booked or completed.
In the end, all of those 34 will have involved a TA (plus many others on other cruise lines before I came over into the light). I've yet to find a reason why not to, even when applying C&A balcony discounts.
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22 minutes ago, Skid said:
Hello @twangster - two questions please:
1. I just did a mock booking and the website did show the refundable option after filling in the passenger info. I booked my 2019 cruise on their website earlier this month with the refundable deposit. Seeing as I have NEVER seen any misinformation from you, do you think that maybe they are showing only NRD on some sailings and not others?
2. Can you share who your travel agent is?
Anything is possible on a cruise by cruise basis. I should have prefaced, "From what I am seeing..."
I would advise caution though as what used to be presented as a light blue box (non-refundable) and a dark blue box (refundable), now is presented (in my experience) as "We pick the room" (light blue) and "You pick the room" (dark blue). YMMV.
My TA - I have bookings with three at the moment. MEI Travel is one of those and I greatly respect and encourage their contributions to this site. If it were not for them, this site would not be what it is. For that reason and out of tremendous appreciation I recommend you contact them first.
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In Summary
Both are open and progressing well. Have no reservations or hesitation about visiting but when you do, remember what they have gone through. Be understanding and generous, if you can.
I've been to both and live blogged, capturing my experiences here on RoyalCaribbeanblog.com as I experienced it.
You will likely see some storm damage, make no mistake. I've chosen not to focus on that so much, but on the positive energy of the people as they move forward which they have in leaps and bounds.
St Maarten
St. Maarten got it hard but this isn't their 1st tango with a hurricane. They've rebuilt before and they are rebuilding again. I've been to St. Maarten 3 times since they started accepted ships again. On no occasion did I feel unsafe or unwelcome. In fact, they very much made me feel very, very welcome.
Most recent St. Maarten visit in May 2018:
April 2018 St. Maarten here:
and
Christmas Day 2017 stop in St. Maarten:
St. Thomas
St. Thomas I've been twice since the storms. I used to work and live on St. Thomas so it's closer to home and I lived through it (VIA former co-workers and friends). While not as bad as St. Maarten they got hit pretty hard too. However life is very much back to normal and they are ready, willing and able to accept cruise guests. In places you would have no idea what had happened but then you turn a corner and see some damage.
St. Thomas in April 2018 here:
and Dec 6, 2017 here (right after they started accepting ships again):
from the same trip
It's potentially a valuable lesson for our youth. We've got it pretty good here in the US.
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Interesting experience tonight booking Radiance. (YOLO moment).
It's a 2019 cruise and I wanted something refundable so I emailed my usual TA. I received a bounce saying she is out of the office and I was interested in a specific cabin so I called Royal direct, given that the website doesn't offer refundable anymore. I booked direct it, refundable and paid the $450 deposit.
Had I fully read the bounce email from my usual TA I would have seen she was actually working tonight which I learned when she called me.
For the same refundable cabin, she was $200 cheaper, I get $50 in OBC, a spa treatment, one specialty dinner, plus 15,000 miles on my favorite airline. Oh, and no deposit.
I cancelled my direct booking and booked it through my normal TA. Same cabin. I added the prepaid gratuities and I'm still less than RCI direct without prepaid gratuity.
Other observation - I first called the RCI 866 number and listened to MOH (Music on Hold) for about 10 minutes. I hung up and called the C&A number who answered immediately. I booked it through the C&A team, then an hour later cancelled it through the C&A team. No issues cancelling the refundable booking but it will likely take a few days for $450 deposit to appear as a credit.
Radiance here I come!
EDIT - To be fair, I don't get spa treatments and specialty dining on every cruise booked. They are occasional perks typically on longer cruises but with double digits of cruises booked, I've yet to find a downside of using a travel agent.
The airline miles are nothing to sneeze at. I'm flying on points to 3 cruises this year (so far) including Barcelona in the comfort plus cabin for Symphony and will likely get a 1 or 2 more cruise flights for free before 2018 is done.
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Years ago my dad was fastidious about doing this with all of our cameras and lenses (long before cell phones, laptops and tablets).
Now I don't bother and I carry a significant amount of electronics with me. Of course I could eventually produce receipts and display ownership before leaving, but in pure technical terms your mother is correct.
Can she most likely travel and be okay? Probably. However if a newbie customs office sticking to the books greets you upon your return, you might have a problem without talking with customs before leaving. Having said that, I don't know what proof they will demand that the piece was originally declared and imported legally 30 years ago.
Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants? Show up with all the right intentions and have them seize it because she can't prove she imported it properly 30 years ago. I'd call them first and ask a bunch of questions, or visit without the piece (or leave it in the car).
Flying out of MIA
in Royal Caribbean Discussion
Posted
Seems to vary by cruise port. Port Everglades cut the forms some time ago. Cape Liberty still used them a couple weeks ago.
it's up to US Customs, not the cruise line.